Chapter 56 [VIP] “Or did you go to the cemetery in the middle of the night to rob a grave?”

Sheng Li opened the door. Yu Chi, standing outside, glanced at her with his eyelids raised, then quickly walked in. He pressed his hand back, and the door clicked shut. The room fell silent instantly. Sheng Li looked up at Yu Chi, raising an eyebrow with a smile: “So you really came to settle accounts with me?”

Yu Chi looked down at her with a sneer: “Did you think I was joking?”

Speaking of which, they had to thank that kissing scene that had gone wrong over a dozen times. The sense of distance between them had almost completely disappeared. After all, they had been so intimate before and still liked each other; even their bodies remembered the affection.

“So...” Sheng Li took a step forward, hooking her arms around his neck, and smiled as she looked up at him. “Are you settling the score for today’s kissing scene or for our breakup back then?”

You’re quite self-aware.

Yu Chi looked at her expressionlessly: “Let’s settle both.”

“Uh...”

Yuan Yuan quietly stepped out from the side to remind the two that she was still here! Yuan Yuan, smiling, pointed towards the door, “Sister-in-law, if you want to settle accounts, can you wait until I leave?”

Yu Chi paused, realizing there was another person in the room.

Sheng Li chuckled and winked at him: “Since you’re here, before we settle accounts, can you accompany me somewhere?”

“Where?” Yu Chi frowned, looking somewhat discontent.

Sheng Li pursed her lips, not wanting to immediately tell him about losing her earring, and simply asked with a smile: “Will you go or not?”

Yu Chi didn’t know what she was planning again, but his intuition told him it wasn’t anything good. He sneered: “Of course I’ll go. Why wouldn’t I?”

Sheng Li turned to look at Yuan Yuan. Yuan Yuan immediately understood. She timidly asked: “You’re really going?”

Sheng Li nodded: “Call Uncle Liu.”

“No need to make it complicated. Wherever it is, I’ll drive.” Yu Chi interrupted her.

Sheng Li put on her down jacket. Before leaving, she said to Yu Chi: “Call Xiao Chen too. It’s better with more people.”

Yu Chi glanced at her, pulled open the door, and called Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen was still keeping watch at the safety exit, just about to head downstairs to sleep when he received the call.

Five minutes later, the four of them exited the elevator. Both Sheng Li and Yu Chi were wearing hats and masks, covering themselves thoroughly. Xiao Chen walked briskly ahead, opening the rear car door, and the two got in one after the other.

Xiao Chen drove, while Yuan Yuan sat in the passenger seat.

After the car started moving, Xiao Chen finally asked: “Uh, where are we going?”

This city was unfamiliar to them. Yuan Yuan opened the navigation app and entered the destination. Xiao Chen glanced at it, shocked: “To the cemetery? Did you... enter it wrong?”

Yuan Yuan checked the time; it was already past midnight. She also felt that going to the cemetery in the middle of the night was eerie, but they had no choice. She steeled herself and said: “No, it’s correct.”

Xiao Chen: “What are we going to the cemetery for?”

“Uh...” Yuan Yuan didn’t know how to respond.

“You lost something?” Yu Chi’s down jacket was unzipped, and he leaned lazily against the seat back. Removing his mask, he turned to look at Sheng Li.

Sheng Li blinked guiltily: “How did you know I lost something?”

Yu Chi sneered: “Or did you go to the cemetery in the middle of the night to rob a grave?”

Sheng Li: “...”

Yuan Yuan: “...”

That joke was really cold.

Xiao Chen couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then quickly coughed to cover it up, driving seriously.

After a while, Yu Chi quietly asked: “Did your earring fall off?”

Alright, nothing could be hidden from him.

Sheng Li sighed helplessly: “Yeah.”

Yu Chi rested his elbow on the car window, lounging with his legs spread apart, saying nothing more. He turned his head to look out the car window. The neon lights streaked across his face as they sped along. Sheng Li felt he had changed a lot since he was 18. His facial features hadn’t changed much, maybe he had just matured, or perhaps the entertainment industry had polished him. Even though he was casually leaning against the seat, his presence was much stronger than before, and his charm was even more captivating. She stared at him dreamily for a moment, leaned closer, and whispered: “What are you thinking about?”

Yu Chi turned to look at her: “I’m thinking about how to settle this account if we can’t find the earring.”

Sheng Li: “...”

You’re a Cancer, holding grudges more than my Scorpio self. Is that reasonable?

At this moment, both their phones vibrated simultaneously. Sheng Li looked down and opened WeChat; it was a message from the main creators’ group.

Jing Yi Ming: [@Sheng Li, did your earring fall off at the cemetery? Is it very valuable or important?]

Chen Yuan: [Should we call someone to help look for it?]

Several men expressed willingness to help. Although going to the cemetery in the middle of the night was creepy, with more people, there was nothing to fear.

Sheng Li replied: [@Jing Yi Ming, yes, it’s important.]

Jing Yi Ming: [The meteorological bureau says it will snow heavily tonight. Looking at the sky, it seems likely. If you want to find it, you should hurry. Once the snow covers everything, it might be impossible to find.]

Sheng Li looked up at Yu Chi. Yu Chi was reading the messages, his fingers typing quickly on the keyboard.

Yu Chi: [We are already on the way.]

Jing Yi Ming: [Huh? Yu Chi, are you accompanying Sheng Li?]

Sheng Li quickly typed: [I just met Yu Chi in the corridor and told him about it. He kindly accompanied us with Xiao Chen. We’ll arrive soon.]

Met by chance? Kindly?

Yu Chi snickered and replied: [Yes.]

Chen Yuan: [Be careful there. Call if you need help. You’re the lead actors tomorrow morning.]

Sheng Li: [...Director, your words are spooky [shivering].]

The car sped along and stopped at the cemetery gate.

The cemetery keeper probably didn’t expect anyone to come so late. Holding a flashlight, he walked out and said in dialect: “Who’s there? What do you want?”

Xiao Chen parked the car and rolled down the window, shouting: “Uncle, we have something to do.”

The old man didn’t hear clearly what Xiao Chen said and shouted: “What?”

Outside, the mountain wind howled, chilling to the bone. Yu Chi pushed open the car door and got out, walking briskly against the wind. The headlights illuminated his tall figure, making him look especially dashing. Sheng Li put on her hat, opened the car door, and shivered as soon as she got out—it was freezing.

Yuan Yuan, who was afraid of ghosts, shakily got out of the car and quickly ran to Sheng Li and Xiao Chen.

By the time they walked over, Yu Chi had already communicated with the cemetery keeper, who remembered them as the actors who filmed there earlier in the afternoon. He even lent them a big flashlight.

Honestly, Sheng Li wasn’t particularly scared, but in the dead of night, with biting winds whistling through the graves, it felt like stepping into a horror movie scene. If Yu Chi hadn’t appeared so calm, she wouldn’t have dared to enter.

Poor Yuan Yuan was terrified but didn’t want to bother them. She tugged on Xiao Chen’s clothes, trembling: “L-let me hold on to you. I’m a bit scared of ghosts...”

Xiao Chen: “...”

Why bring up ghosts now!

The cemetery’s maintenance was average. Yu Chi kept one hand in his pocket, holding the flashlight in the other, leading the way. Sheng Li lagged behind him, tripped on a stone, and quickly grabbed his sleeve. Yu Chi stopped and turned to look at her: “Sister, are you scared too?”

Sheng Li said solemnly: “Yes, I’m so scared.”

Yu Chi silently smiled and continued walking. Sheng Li’s hand gradually moved from holding his sleeve to clinging to his arm, and eventually slipped into his pocket, her cold fingers touching his warm, dry hand.

Her hand moved around in his pocket. Yu Chi grasped her hand and whispered: “What are you doing?”

Sheng Li smiled contentedly: “Nothing, your hands are so warm.”

A few minutes later, they arrived at the filming location. Sheng Li watched the video again, found the spot where the earring fell, turned on the phone flashlight, and squatted down to search. But no matter how hard she dug, she couldn’t find it. “It definitely fell here. How could it disappear? It definitely fell here.”

Yuan Yuan squatted beside her, feeling extremely scared: “Waaah, it can’t be that unlucky, can it?”

Xiao Chen: “...”

Yu Chi glanced at the anxious Sheng Li and softly said: “Don’t jump to conclusions. A small earring doesn’t weigh much. With such strong winds on the mountain, it might’ve been blown away. Let’s look around nearby.” He turned on the flashlight and began searching in that direction.

The temperature on the mountain was extremely low, and the cold wind stung their faces. Sheng Li felt her hands and legs were already frozen. She looked back at Yu Chi’s back and deeply regretted her carelessness earlier in the afternoon. She should have been more cautious and stored the earring properly.

Sheng Li blew warm breath on her frozen hands and got up to search nearby.

Everyone quietly searched for the earring. No one spoke for a while, only hearing the whistling sound of the cold wind. This feeling was terrible. After searching for more than ten minutes, Sheng Li started to lose hope. With such strong winds, wouldn’t the earring be blown away? Where would she find it?

She bit her lip and looked back at Yu Chi. Suddenly, her face felt cool. She shivered and touched it, only to feel a flake of white snow.

It started snowing.

Before coming, Sheng Li fully expected to find the earring easily. But after nearly an hour of searching without success, and now with snow falling, such large snowflakes would cover the ground in less than half an hour. How could they possibly find it then? She couldn’t help but feel despair. Maybe she should give up and let Yu Chi give her another one. Continuing to freeze like this might result in everyone catching a cold.

Depressed, she supported herself on her knees and stood up, stiffly taking steps towards Yu Chi.

Yu Chi was crouched in front of the neighboring tombstone, holding the flashlight on his lap with one hand and brushing aside messy dry grass with the other. His gaze was calm and meticulous as he searched. His down jacket zipper was open, seemingly unaffected by the cold. When he couldn’t find it there, he expanded his search further.

Suddenly, his eyes fixed on a spot. Carefully brushing aside the pile of dry grass, the small star-shaped earring caught the light, emitting a soft glow.

Yu Chi let out a heavy sigh of relief, picked up the earring, blew off the dust (though unsuccessfully), and wrapped it carefully in a corner of his shirt to clean it thoroughly. He looked at the earring in his palm and silently curved his lips upward. It was truly hard to find.

“Ahh!”

A scream pierced the eerie silence of the cemetery, sounding particularly chilling.

Sheng Li was so startled that she almost jumped up, her first instinct being to rush towards Yu Chi.

Yu Chi had just stood up and turned around when someone crashed into him, hugging him tightly. Instinctively, he embraced her.

Then they heard Yuan Yuan wail: “It’s snowing! What should we do?”

Sheng Li clung tightly to Yu Chi, frightened and shivering from the cold. Being held by him made her nose suddenly sting, and her emotions were on the verge of collapse: “Wuuu, Yu Chi, what should we do? The earring you gave me is lost.” She clung to him desperately, her red eyes looking up at him. “I don’t care. You can’t blame me, and you’re not allowed to be angry. You have to give me another one, otherwise... you won’t get me back.”

Yu Chi looked down at her: “You didn’t cry when we broke up, so why are you crying over a lost earring?”

Sheng Li’s eyes welled up with tears: “So are you giving me another one or not?”

“Sister, didn’t you say you don’t eat ‘regret grass’?” Yu Chi lowered his eyes to glance at her, smirking indifferently. “Are you threatening me to reconcile now?”

Seeing her cry, he still managed to laugh. Sheng Li couldn’t help but pinch his waist angrily: “Yes, you’d better agree quickly. Once this opportunity passes, there won’t be another.”

Yu Chi was seeing her like this for the first time—her flushed eyes on the verge of tears—but he was pleased. It seemed that watching her panic and cry made him feel her affection for him.

He raised his hand, wiping away the tears at the corner of her eyes, then opened his palm and whispered: “I found it.”

Sheng Li’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked up at him: “Is it really mine? Or are you using your own to comfort me?”

“Mine is in the hotel.” Yu Chi smiled.

The mountain wind continued to roar, the cold wind biting, and goose-down-sized snowflakes fluttered down, carried away by the wind, lightly landing on them, adding a touch of human romance to the lifeless cemetery.

Sheng Li rubbed her face against his clothes, then fished out the ear plug from her pocket and handed it to Yu Chi: “Put it on for me.”

Yu Chi raised his hand, tucked her hair behind her ear, his slightly cool fingers touching her earlobe. He gazed deeply at her and whispered: “Sister, do you really not regret breaking up with me?”

Sheng Li looked up at him with a radiant smile, her tone earnest: “I still don’t regret it. If we hadn’t broken up back then, we might not have the Yu Chi we have now. I said you were a treasure I discovered. Look how amazing you are, winning awards one after another, even becoming the youngest Best Actor. I’m so proud of you. It proves my judgment is impeccable.”

He was silent for a moment, then bent down to put the earring on her: “Once it’s on, we can never talk about breaking up again. If you dare mention breaking up again,” he whispered menacingly in her ear, “I’ll haunt you even after death.”

Sheng Li: “...”

Her body trembled. Who did he think he was trying to scare by saying such things in a cemetery!

“Baby, do you know how popular you are right now? How many women want to chase after you and sleep with you?” Sheng Li looked up and kissed his lips. “I must have been stupid to mention breaking up.”

Yu Chi pressed his hand against her waist, bent down, and nibbled her lips a few times, coldly saying: “You’d better be thankful, you little flirt.”

Sheng Li: “...”

“Let’s go back.” Yu Chi draped his arm over her shoulder and turned around, facing Yuan Yuan’s phone lens, his lips twitching slightly.

As they approached the cemetery gate, Yu Chi released Sheng Li, and they walked side by side.

At the entrance, Yuan Yuan suddenly turned around, bowed deeply towards the cemetery, and muttered: “Sorry to disturb all the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters. Please bless the CP I ship to live long and prosper... uh, no, I mean, a hundred years of happiness... yes, a hundred years of happiness. Thank you, thank you...”

—

On the way back, the group sent another message asking if they had found the item and whether they were back.

Sheng Li replied: [We found it. We’re on our way back, probably reaching the hotel in about twenty minutes.]

The car was warm inside. After replying to the message, Sheng Li lazily leaned into Yu Chi’s embrace, yawning sleepily. She fell asleep within minutes. Yu Chi looked at her for a long time, then gently touched her ears.

It was nearly 2 AM when the exhausted group returned to the hotel. As soon as Sheng Li and Yu Chi exited the elevator, Jing Yi Ming popped his head out of the room: “Finally back.”

Even Chen Yuan came out to take a look and said: “Come back early and rest. You’ve been up all night; you still have to film tomorrow.”

Sheng Li apologized: “Sorry, everyone had to stay up late because of me.”

Yu Chi lived next door to Jing Yi Ming. He kept his hands in his pockets, walking nonchalantly. He pulled out his room card and opened the door. Back in the room, he sent Sheng Li a message: [Take a hot shower and don’t catch a cold. We’ll settle accounts later.]

Sheng Li: [...]

Well, thank you very much.

The next morning, Sheng Li, feeling dizzy and groggy, leaned on a chair getting makeup done. She sneezed loudly, and the makeup artist asked concernedly: “I heard you went to the cemetery last night to look for an earring and returned at 2 AM. With such low temperatures, did you catch a cold?”

Sheng Li grabbed a tissue to wipe her nose, her voice a bit hoarse: “Mm, I feel a bit uncomfortable.”

Just then, Yuan Yuan ran over with her phone: “Holy cow, holy cow, Lili, you and... you and Teacher Yu are trending! And it’s exploded!”

Sheng Li: [...]

She took the phone and opened Weibo, indeed seeing the top trend:

#ShengLiYuChiLateNightSecretMeeting#, followed by a red “Explode.”

Title — At midnight, Sheng Li and Yu Chi, along with their assistants, exited the elevator, got into Yu Chi’s car, and drove away from the hotel.

Attached was a five-minute video showing Sheng Li and Yu Chi, heavily masked and capped, getting into the car. The paparazzi followed them and provided commentary, initially excitedly stating they had been following Yu Chi for months and finally caught something! They were thrilled at first, but then followed them all the way to the cemetery, full of question marks representing the paparazzi’s confusion.

The comment section was even funnier. Some commented without even finishing the video.

[What?! Yu Chi and Sheng Li? These two? Is it real? Didn’t he chase after his first love anymore?]

[What chasing first love? I always said Yu Chi was pretending! Self-promotion. Not long after joining the cast, he’s already hooking up with a female co-star.]

[How many people’s ships sank?]

Not long after, the comments shifted:

[First celebrity graveyard rendezvous in showbiz.]

[???? Graveyard rendezvous? That’s so extreme!]

[Who the hell has a rendezvous in a graveyard! Stop slandering my Yu Chi! Paparazzi have no heart. To get this ‘explode,’ they’re willing to do anything. This title misleads everyone. It’s clearly not a rendezvous. They didn’t even clarify the facts before spreading rumors.]

[Exactly! Our Lili definitely had a reason to go there. Maybe it was related to the production team!]

Sheng Li browsed Weibo thoughtfully for a few seconds, thinking to herself that she and Yu Chi really did have a date at the graveyard.