Capturing My Demon King Costar

The Inspectors are good at keeping their poker faces on, but the extreme neutrality they try to efface gives them away.

Inspector Qing clears her throat. "I was under the impression that the two of you were trying to keep your relationship under wraps. A wedding is...very dramatic."

Yao Shen drums his fingers on the tabletop, keeping his tone casual. "It's not going to be an open-door wedding. It will be a private ceremony with only a few people in attendance, and we have no plans to announce it to the general public."

He can see the gears in the Inspectors' heads turning as they fit in his story with everything else they know about him.

He can see the moment they believe it. 

Xin Hulei was right. It was a good idea to admit something right away, give them anything they thought they would have to fight hard to dig out of him. It made him seem more honest, and it made the Inspectors think their investigation was moving in the right direction.

It helps that Yao Shen hopes it will be true one day, and not just something he's telling two police officers interviewing him as part of a murder investigation.

"So, it seems you were very close to the victim, if he merited an invitation in person," Inspector Wei says, his tone even. "Yet you don't seem too upset about his death."

Yao Shen frowns, offended. "I'm an actor, if I didn't know how to hide my emotions what would I be doing here? Besides, Ye laoshi informed us as soon as she found Gao Wu's body. We've had time to grieve his passing together."

The two of them write down everything he says, barely looking down at their notepads as they make notes Yao Shen can't read.

"When we informed you that his death was a murder just now, you didn't seem shocked."

That's the question Yao Shen was waiting for. "To be perfectly honest, I wasn't."

"Why is that?" asks Inspector Qing, leaning across the table, her face open and candid as if she wants Yao Shen to think of her as his childhood best friend, or perhaps an older sister who looked after him when his parents were busy.

Yao Shen sighs and rubs his palms on his jeans. "Odd things have been happening, ever since me, Xin Hulei, and Ye Fang went on that tv show to reveal the crime we uncovered."

Inspector Wei snorts. "Just one piece of advice, laoshi should stick to acting, I'm not sure that detective is a role that suits him."

Yao Shen nods seriously, pretending to take his words at face value. "I suppose we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Ever since that day, there seems to be a daily barrage of slander about the three of us online."

Inspector Qing stops him. "I'm sorry, but doesn't that always happen to you actor types?"

The condescension in her words almost makes him laugh. "Yes, but this was different. It seemed like a deliberate attack, like a concerted effort."

Both of them hum to themselves, writing something else down on their notebooks.

And just like that they've written Yao Shen off as a delusional megalomaniac, who has just made his coworker's death all about him.

They think he's a terrible person, but not the kind who would kill Gao Wu. People like that wouldn't want to take the attention away from themselves.

"Thanks for your time," Inspector Wei says, getting back to his feet. "We'll be in touch."

Yao Shen watches in silent amusement from his seat as both of them scramble to leave the trailer as soon as they can.

---

The rest of the day passes by in a blur as they continue to rush against the clock to film all the outdoor scenes. They haven't found a replacement for Gao Wu yet, and are probably trying to hold off a little while longer, to avoid claims of insensitivity. 

In the afternoon, Yao Shen shoots with Ye Fang and Tan Liansi again. The scene they're filming is one where Chao Yue and Mei Shuang are fighting, and Yan Shuyi is just stepping in as a buffer to prevent them from going at each other's throats.

Knowing what he does now, the scene strikes him as a bit more poignant. 

Despite all their differences, somehow they found a way to have a relationship and overcome everything, only to have all that fall apart with Yan Shuyi's and Xie Huan's death.

It just goes to show how a ripple in a pond can cause a flood somewhere else.

As soon as they're done filming, Tan Liansi pulls him into a corner. "Has the police talked with you?"

Yao Shen tells her everything in whispered tones.

"Okay, I'll say I was invited to your sham wedding too," she says, rolling her eyes when Yao Shen gets to that part of the story. "But that's not why I asked." She chances a sideways look at Ye Fang, off to the side talking with her assistant. "They've talked with her, and from what she told me, they weren't very nice about it. Apparently they are suspicious of her, because she was the one who found the body."

"Did they say what the cause of death was?" Yao Shen asks.

Tan Liansi shakes her head. "No, they're probably keeping it confidential and waiting for someone to incriminate themselves by mentioning it."

There's another option in Yao Shen's opinion. "Or they aren't sure either. They might know he was killed, but not how or even how his injuries led to his death, which could be important clues into who did it."

The 'who' being supernatural, of course.

"Either way, don't go around asking about that. We need to keep a low profile." She bites her lower lip. "You're sure they didn't ask you about Ye Fang?"

"No, they didn't even mention her." 

Despite his reassurances, Tan Liansi's jaw is still tight with tension. "I don't know, she can be very naive. Superstitious people always are." She points at her. "She's wearing all kinds of amulets against bad luck, as if that's going to help!"

Her tone is exasperated, but her eyes are fond when they gaze at Ye Fang.

Yao Shen elbows her discreetly on the side. "You told her already?"

"Told her what?"

"About how you feel?"

Her eyes widen at the same time that her face cycles through several different shades, finally settling on a disturbing shade of mauve. "Shut up, there's nothing to tell. Right now I'm just feeling annoyed I still have to look at your face."

She storms off after that. 

Her denial is the highlight of Yao Shen's day.

---

Back in the apartment Yao Shen is sitting on Xin Hulei's lap on the sofa, and determined not to let him move.

"You haven't told me what the police asked you yet," Yao Shen says, grinning madly when Xin Hulei tries to move but he manages to grab his wrist and pin it against the sofa cushion.

"Nothing much, I assume the same kind of questions they asked you." He tries to free his hand, using the other to pinch Yao Shen's bottom. "Why are you being so difficult."

"I feel like I haven't seen you all day." It's true, they've had very few scenes together, which is bound to change, sooner or later, but it still makes Yao Shen's heart itch painfully.

"Maybe instead of little menace I should call you little octopus," Xin Hulei says, using his free hand to pat Yao Shen's thigh.

His touch grows a little more adventurous, and his fingers are about to dip below the hem of Yao Shen's underwear when a muffled voice sounds from the bedroom.

Yao Shen is startled at first, unable to grasp why there's someone in their bedroom.

Then he recognises the voice.

"Xie Bian?"

He jumps out of Xin Hulei's lap and makes a beeline for the bedroom, and the closet where he stuffed the two-way mirror. He almost doesn't spent any time in his hotel room so he thought it would be wiser to bring it to Xin Hulei's apartment.

He takes the mirror out from between a disorganised pile of black tshirts and sees Xie Bian's face, looking up at him in disgruntlement.

"Where the hell have you put the mirror? I feel like I was at the bottom of a lake." No longer muffled, the displeasure in his voice is almost palpable. "I've been screaming myself hoarse for ages, where were you?"

"I'm here now," Yao Shen says, thinking to himself that he could have gone a lot longer without speaking to Xie Bian again.

"Oh good, he's here too," Xie Bian says, as soon as Xin Hulei appears over Yao Shen's shoulder. "Really kind of you two to fuck off and leave Youdu for us to handle."

"Did something happen?" Xin Hulei asks.

Xie Bian rolls his eyes. "Nothing worse than the usual. The other ghost kings all hate me and Fan Wujiu but that is hardly surprising."

"Did you call because you missed me, then?" Yao Shen asks, just for the pleasure of seeing Xie Bian frown.

"Oddly enough no," Xie Bian says, in the same way someone else might have said, 'get fucked'. "But there's a ghost here asking for you, and I can't stand him anymore, so you better come down here and handle him!"