Isn't This a Contract Marriage? Why Are You Sneaking Kisses! - Chapter 30

Shen Silie finished changing into his costume and prepared for the scene. Beside him, Xu Tang shared a silence with him.

The two of them had maintained this mode of interaction for some time. He and Xu Tang had no prior intersection and this was their first collaboration. However, like Lin Chu, she was a former child star who had grown up in the industry. Coming from a film and television family, her parents were directors and stars; she had even collaborated on two family sitcoms with Lin Chu. Naturally, their relationship was close.

Silie and Xu Tang only spoke a few words during rehearsals; otherwise, there was no extra chatter. Xu Tang didn’t do anything to target him; she simply worked diligently alongside him. But because of her status as Lin Chu’s friend, their roles as close friends in the drama were always a bit awkward.

Shen Silie lowered his head, set his phone to airplane mode, and reviewed his scenes and lines once more.

In the script, although Wan Sinian couldn’t stand the female lead’s childhood friend, he hadn’t actually fired him. He merely targeted him a few times, but far from having the intended effect, it only pushed Song Wuyu and Cheng Muxia closer together. Seeing himself become completely invisible to Cheng Muxia while she protected Song Wuyu time and again, Wan Sinian—a total novice in love—had no idea what was wrong with him. His behavior became increasingly erratic, and his conflict with Cheng Muxia grew.

Originally, on Cheng Muxia’s birthday, following a friend’s advice, Wan Sinian finally swallowed his pride. He prepared a firework display as a gift to apologize for recent events, hoping to ease the tension. But unexpectedly, Cheng Muxia, thinking Wan Sinian was going to find trouble with her, brought Song Wuyu along.

Seeing Song Wuyu, the male lead—who had carefully prepared a gift and an apology—left in a fit of rage and drove down the mountain alone. Distracted by the night’s events and fueled by anger, he got into a car accident. Fortunately, the female lead realized he had prepared a surprise for her. The third male lead, Su Xi, drove her down the mountain to chase after him, only to come across the scene of the crash.

Filming officially began.

The air was thick with the sharp, clinical smell of disinfectant. Cheng Muxia stood frozen outside the operating room, her entire body trembling unconsciously.

Song Wuyu stood behind her, his pale fingertips twitching slightly. He tentatively reached out his hand, wanting to comfort her. But before he could speak—before his hand even touched her—Cheng Muxia suddenly spun around and shoved his hand away.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her once-exquisite makeup ruined by tears. Her voice was filled with suppressed collapse: “He’ll be fine. He has to be fine.” Her voice cut off abruptly, as if choked by immense guilt and grief. She staggered back a few steps.

Song Wuyu stepped forward to steady her.

“Don’t touch me!” Cheng Muxia choked out as she pushed him away. Snapping back to her senses, she couldn’t help but apologize: “I’m sorry…”

Song Wuyu froze in place. The warmth of her tears remained on his fingertips for a fleeting second before vanishing, leaving his heart aching with a searing pain.

The smell of disinfectant grew even more pungent. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something comforting.

A flurry of hurried footsteps and the clicking of high heels echoed from behind as a middle-aged noblewoman rushed toward them, stumbling. Although she was well-maintained, her age was still apparent. Her coat slipped from her shoulders as she ran, her elegant face streaked with tears. Behind her was a handsome middle-aged man carrying the aura of one long in power, though his suit was wrinkled and messy, and his brow was etched with undeniable worry.

“My Xiao Nian…” The noblewoman stumbled toward the operating room. The man beside her hurried to support her trembling shoulders.

Yu Qiuchi looked toward her son’s childhood friend, Su Xi, asking repeatedly what had happened. Su Xi’s Adam’s apple bobbed; he was speechless for a long time before he managed to stumble through the night’s events.

Learning that her son had crashed because he was angry, Yu Qiuchi suddenly turned around. She had long noticed her son’s recent abnormalities and had heard him complain about company matters many times; she quickly identified the source of the trouble.

She didn’t notice Song Wuyu’s frozen expression the moment he saw her.

Yu Qiuchi was so furious that the muscles at the corner of her mouth twitched. She stepped forward and delivered a sudden, violent slap to his face. Seeing his wife take action, Wan Yunheng stepped in front of her to try and restrain her.

Yu Qiuchi screamed at the man: “Wan Yunheng! Our son is lying in there, and we don’t know if he’ll live or die!”

Song Wuyu was knocked back half a step by the slap. His lower back slammed into a fire hose cabinet, and his glasses hit the metal casing with a clatter. Song Wuyu leaned against the wall as double vision exploded before his eyes. The smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint metallic scent of blood from his nose rushed to his head.

His ears buzzed. Yu Qiuchi’s sharp reprimands sounded as if they were coming through a curtain of water: “It’s all because of you! If anything happens to Xiao Nian…”

He didn’t hear the rest of her words. Being naturally half a beat slower than others, he didn’t even have time to process the physical pain. He just stared blankly at the woman.

Without his glasses, his vision was a blur, and he shouldn’t have been able to see clearly. Yet, Yu Qiuchi’s face was exceptionally vivid, as if slowed down and magnified a thousand times. Memories surged forth; images that had faded in his old mind suddenly became sharp.

The woman before him was wearing ruined makeup but was clearly well-pampered; she was a world away from the unrecognizable mother in his memories. Only the burning hatred in her eyes was exactly the same as it had been back then.

It burned until Song Wuyu’s eyes felt hot.

In the script, Song Wuyu had lived with his mother for three years, and the family had a portrait. Growing up looking at it, he naturally recognized Yu Qiuchi. Thus, upon seeing her, Song Wuyu was supposed to rush forward frantically and hug her, calling out “Mama” repeatedly, while a furious Yu Qiuchi would think he was just playing dumb or going mad. Finally, Song Wuyu would be pulled away by Wan Yunheng, which is how Wan Yunheng would discover the truth of Song Wuyu’s identity.

Seeing that Shen Silie had failed to deliver his lines, the assistant director beside Song Yuan was about to call a stop when Song Yuan held him back.

In the camera’s frame, Shen Silie only tilted his head up, trembling.

“Ma…” The syllable squeezed out of his throat, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to swallow it back down.

Yu Qiuchi was held in Wan Yunheng’s arms, still screaming curses. Her gaze was so piercing, carrying the most intense hatred in the world. The surrounding air seemed to freeze.

Song Wuyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed continuously; he felt he could no longer breathe. Cheng Muxia’s suppressed sobbing, Wan Yunheng’s attempts to calm his wife, and Su Xi’s explanations all blurred into a background hum against the constant drone of the monitors in the operating room.

No matter how dull he was, no matter how much slower he was than others, after years of working, the adult Song Wuyu understood exactly what his mother had endured back then. He knew it wasn’t abandonment—it was an escape.

The longing that was about to burst out was crushed and swallowed by him; only an indescribable agony and bitterness fell along with his tears.

He had fantasized about a reunion with his mother countless times. He wanted to apologize, or just look at her from a distance. But at the actual moment of reunion, he only felt that everything was absurdly cruel.

Yu Qiuchi struggled forward and grabbed his collar, shouting something. But he couldn’t hear her.

Scalding tears fell uncontrollably. Song Wuyu stared at the Yu Qiuchi inches away from him and bit his lower lip hard until his mouth was filled with the taste of blood, yet he still didn’t dare let go for a second.

He was terrified that in the next moment, a single slip would reveal the truth—and destroy his mother once again.