Chapter Eighty-six

  Fang Yu used his keen sense of smell as the leader of a small gossip team and an entertainment circle gossip red person to detect that something was wrong between Jiang Chuan and Jin Ran.

  Specifically, what evidence he has, he can't say - it's just that after seeing Jiang Chuan take the food and sit down at the edge of the table, Jin Ran followed him back, walking and suddenly stopping for a moment, not sitting next to the man, but quietly circling around and sitting diagonally across from him.

  Jiang Chuan didn't even raise an eyebrow at Jian Ran's behavior - the silence between them was palpable, their unfamiliarity with each other extreme, yet they seemed to have a tacit understanding of each other's eccentric behavior, working together seamlessly. This awkward atmosphere made Fang Yu feel like the photo he had pinned on his Weibo account, of a little devil officer and an ancient general eating boxed lunches together, was slapping him right in the face.

  This cannot be tolerated at all.

  "Fang Yu asked: 'Did you two just fight in the car?'"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Fang Yuqin didn't give up and asked again: "Did you two little demons fight in the car just now?"

  Jian Ran: "............"

  Gang Chuan: “………”

  "Where did you get such a heavy curiosity, we didn't do anything, no fight of course, and no little monster fighting," Jian Yan said with a disdainful expression, "Did you see the car shaking outside? And the little monsters were fighting quietly like two people playing house inside..."

  Just as Fang Yu hadn't finished scolding, he heard Jiang Chuan quietly adding from the side: "In such a short time, there's not even enough time to take off pants... Brother Fang, are you looking down on someone?"

  He turned his head to look at Jiang Chuan, who calmly pushed a green pepper onto the table and said without lifting his head, "As it turns out, we just changed our clothes and came down. Was I wrong?"

  "Hey, Fang Yu, you're really looking down on me by saying that. Even Jiang Chuan can't stand it when you badmouth me like this." Jing Ran straightened his head and looked at the agent sitting next to him. After clearing his throat, he continued seriously, "Anyway, I was discussing with Jiang Chuan in the car just now, and we both think that we've been getting too close lately, and the CP fans have been getting too intense, which has had a bad impact on our images... Think about it, I'm supposed to be on the path to becoming a national-level male god, and Jiang Chuan doesn't want to just be an internet celebrity either. So when it comes to online topics, we should probably hold back a bit..."

  Fang Yu: "......"

  So after getting unanimous recognition, we decided to maintain a safe distance next, so as not to let those 'Ran Chuan Party' on the internet get excited and jump up and down shouting that officials are giving out candy...

  Fang Yu coldly laughed and asked him what he was laughing at. Unexpectedly, the agent Mr. said something astonishing: "You're also very shameless, clearly knowing that this year 'Qian Ran Party' is on top of the world - don't believe me? Go take a look at the comments under my Weibo post, where 'Ran Qian Party' desperately shouted 'Ran Qian doesn't care about hugging me tight', and only got a few hundred likes. How heartbreaking!"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  "What does it mean? What's the difference whose name is put first?"

  Just as Fang Yu was about to explain, Jin Yan suddenly covered his mouth with one hand and turned to Jiang Chuan: "It's like the leading actor in a movie, whoever is more famous and has higher qualifications will have their name put first. Now some kids on the internet are arguing non-stop about who has higher qualifications between us two - I debuted so many years before you, don't you think I also have a point?"

  "Oh."

  "Ah, what was it? I'm just asking if you are or aren't?"

  Jiang Chuan lowered his head and continued eating: "As long as you're happy."

  With a satisfied expression, Fang Yu finally let go of his mouth, and the agent's enthusiasm was completely extinguished by the young man's shamelessness. He snorted and threw down a sentence: "You two are not careful, be honest and don't stir up trouble", holding the dinner plate to another table to find Bai Mei and Xu Le's agent to eat and chat - as soon as Fang Yu left, the table suddenly emptied, leaving only Jiang Chuan and Jin Ran sitting at opposite corners of the table, eating with their heads down.

  Never had he eaten such an awkward lunch, it was as if the awkwardness was being used to wash down the food. After finishing his meal, he cleared his throat and stood up, saying to Jiang Chuan "Well, I'm off then". At this time, Jiang Chuan was slowly sipping his soup, when he heard Jian Ran speak, he looked up at him and silently nodded. Jian Ran waited for a while but didn't get a response from him, so he could only turn around and leave on his own. In the instant that he turned around, he had a hint of hesitation: did he regret saying those words to Jiang Chuan in the nanny car?

  Put the dinner plate in the recycling bin, and after some thought, unexpectedly found that I wasn't too regretful. Since I realized that I might have actually developed feelings for Jiang Chuan, this matter would eventually be revealed unless it was proven to be an illusion.

  After all, it's unrequited love, so there's a possibility of being rejected.

  That's true, but still...

  The entire afternoon, Jin Yan's mood was still not good, and he made mistakes several times. The reasons for the mistakes were very unprofessional - either he would suddenly forget his lines while reciting them, or he couldn't pick up where others left off. Fortunately, he had performed well previously, so the director didn't say anything about today's occasional poor performance. Jin Yan asked for a 30-minute break to sit aside and adjust himself, meanwhile watching other actors continue shooting other scenes to get into character.

  They are currently filming the emotional scene of the male lead Bai Wenqi and female lead Dong Rui's dialogue. Next is the segment from the audition clip, which says that Saito expresses that he knows Tanaka is still in the male lead Wang Weiwu's dance hall. Although Wang Weiwu appears to be calm on the surface, sending Saito away with a few words, his emotions are unstable after returning home. The female lead Qiujie is actually a talented young woman who has always been carefully protected by Wang Weiwu...

  At this time, Wang Weiwu had already made up his mind to join the resistance organization under Qi's stimulation. After returning home, he tried to arrange for someone to send his wife away, but unexpectedly encountered strong opposition from his wife who had always been obedient to him. Yes, in this play, Qiu Ci did not have a very intense role, but she was an important existence. It can be said that the support and encouragement she silently gave to Wang Weiwu, as well as her strength and patriotic spirit shown at critical moments, greatly promoted the survival status and spiritual outlook of women during the war period in a positive image.

  In the midst of war, for the country, for love, sacrificing personal interests and even life itself is a matter of course.

  Before the TV series started filming, Wang Weiwu and Qiu Ji were aiming to win this year's Baiying Award for Best Actor and Actress, so compared to ordinary anti-Japanese dramas, "Star Fire" was personally directed by two old directors, even the dialogue became very exquisite.

  At this moment, Qiu Ci was wearing a white jade lan-colored cheongsam, her black hair was tied up with a simple jade pin, and there was a tear in the corner of her eye. She quietly leaned against Wang Weiwen's chest, whose eyes were red.

  "Thirteen years ago, you, Wang Weiwen, took me away from home with nothing but the clothes on my back. At that time, I had made up my mind that even if I were to starve to death on the streets the very next day after leaving that house, I would never regret following you. Wang Weiwen, from that moment on, I was doomed..."

  All I heard was the heroine sobbing once, and then continuing intermittently after a silence.

  "No matter what you want to do now, whether it's a life-or-death situation or not, you can't push me away. You have to take responsibility for me till the end - when I followed you, I didn't care about anything anymore. Now, there's only one person left for someone like me, and that's you."

  Dong Rui is also an old actor, and she has a good grasp of the rhythm and emotions of her lines. When you look at these lines separately, they seem a bit too sentimental, but when she delivers them in the context of the drama, they feel perfectly fitting. She looks on calmly, and it just so happens that he is currently unable to calm down and sort out his emotions due to various concerns, nor can he make any impulsive decisions. However, he can't help but wonder that if one day he decides to come out, he will probably do so with the same determination as Qiu Ci, who is prepared to die for it.

  And this is probably also the reason why he has been reluctant to come out, he must admit that he lacks a bit of courage and security, he is very afraid that after ruining his own career, he will not get an equivalent return.

  He has no confidence in himself.

  Even for someone who has yet to appear, there is no confidence.

  In life, there are always many helplessness, and life is never as perfect as the ending of a work of art... And with his current identity and position, it's even easier to accidentally fall into an abyss - just like now, he had just discovered that he seemed to be seriously liking someone, but at the very beginning of preparing to face them calmly, he decided to retreat instead.

  And so Jin Yan was easily moved to tears by Qiu Ci's last line "Now, there is only one person like me left, and that is you".

  He watched Bai Wengui and Dong Rui filming, so absorbed that he even forgot to look at his own script. At this moment, he felt someone quietly sit down beside him. He was taken aback, thinking it was Fang Yu, but when he turned his head, he found that the person sitting next to him was Jiang Chuan. The man stared at the scene being filmed in the distance for a while, then turned his head and asked Jin Ran: "Do you think that line just now was touching?"

  Did he hear it?

  When did he come?

  He stood there for a moment, unexpectedly discovering that he had not noticed the man's arrival - and it seemed as if he had been standing around here for some time.

  "It's just a script, but because of the good acting, it feels very touching." Jing Ran thought for a moment before responding to him, "What did you come here for?"

  "I've finished filming over there, come take a look." Jiang Chuan said, his gaze never leaving the young black-haired man's face - who felt somewhat uneasy under such scrutiny, and shifted uncomfortably, only to hear Jiang Chuan say next, "By the way, I also wanted to talk to you about what we discussed this morning."

  My goosebumps are almost all up.

  His scalp was numb, and although his whole body and heart were roaring "Didn't you just refuse me with a stern face? And now you're spraying beer on my face. What's there to continue talking about?" He still had to force the corners of his lips to curve up into a stiff smile and say: "Alright."

  Jiang Chuan nodded and pointed to the script in his hand, indicating that he should hurry up and finish reading it so they could leave together. Jing Ran said "oh" softly and lowered his head to read the script. After a while, he felt a moment of silence beside him, then Jiang Chuan's calm voice sounded: "The script is upside down."

  He was so embarrassed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground and bury himself, lightly coughed and took over the script, hastily scanned it for a few seconds, then threw it away and stood up to tell the director that he was okay. Shirai Kō looked at him once and then looked at Kanemori who was sitting under the sun umbrella, nodded to indicate that he could start preparing - Jing Yan reapplied his makeup, put on the little devil's military hat, and prepared to get ready on the side.

  Fortunately, this scene wasn't very difficult after all. Previously, Jin Yan had been so distracted that he hadn't been able to film it, but now under Jiang Chuan's gaze, although he was nervous, his spirit was unexpectedly highly concentrated - probably due to the instinctive emergency response of not wanting to lose face in front of Jiang Chuan. In the end, although he didn't reach peak condition, he at least managed a normal performance level. After filming one shot normally, Bai Yan Ge shouted "Cut!" and Jin Yan almost fainted, taking off his hat to reveal a forehead covered in sweat.

  He crawled into the nanny car with soft hands and feet to change his costume, following Jiang Chuan's back towards the hotel. Jiang Chuan walked two steps and suddenly stopped, Jian Ran didn't notice and almost bumped into him, before he could complain, he heard Jiang Chuan say: "Let's go have dinner first."

  Jin Ran thought to himself that he couldn't eat anything now and only wanted to vomit, but after weakly moving his lips, he still agreed to come along. In the restaurant, he watched as Jiang Chuan calmly ate a huge amount, as if storing up energy for a fight later, while Jin Ran only subtly drank a small bowl of soup, asking cautiously: "Didn't we make things clear this morning? What else do you want to say?"

  "I thought about it and realized that what I said this morning wasn't very clear," Jiang Chuan put down his spoon, furrowing his brow. "So in the end, what you meant was that because you have to consider your own career development, you're prepared to treat me like a stranger, not even as friends?"

  "...He cautiously raised his head to look around, finding that no one else had noticed them, so he lowered his voice and said, "It's not that, it's just that we shouldn't always be together for now, give each other some space..."

  "So you didn't come to watch me film this afternoon?"

  "I also went out this afternoon——"

  "When I went you were sitting there in a daze."

  "I was reading a script."

  "You're just stalling for time." Jiang Chuan's face turned pale with rage.

  He stared intently at the table in front of him, suddenly feeling an urge to bang his head against it. Just then, he heard Jiang Chuan ask in a dissatisfied tone, "What are you thinking about? We haven't known each other for long, and you're the first person to take the initiative to tell me that you like me. It's normal for me to feel surprised, right? But after you said it, you shrank back like a snail, as if I would do something to you, preparing to declare to the world that you want to keep a safe distance from me. So, what's the point of telling me that you like me? Is it just to inform me?"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan sneered and curled up the corner of his lips - for some reason, Jin Yan felt that this expression looked a bit cruel - truly cruel, the unpleasant aura on the man's body successfully enveloped him across the dinner table, Jin Yan stiffened his back, at this time Jiang Chuan got up and cleared the dishes in big strides, Jin Yan had no choice but to follow closely behind, he thought that if this scene was caught by paparazzi it would be very exciting, the big star Yuan Jin Yan following behind the recently popular young actor Jiang Chuan's butt, running like a little eunuch.

  But the funniest thing is that they publicly claimed that Jiang Chuan was the one who had a secret crush on Yuan Jinyan.

  Two people, one in front of the other, came to the corridor outside the room. Because they didn't know if there were ears on the wall along the way, they successfully kept their voices down all the way until they reached Jiang Chuan's door. They took out the room card and swiped it open, pushing the door open. Jin Ran walked in first, with Jiang Chuan behind him. When he heard the sound of the door closing, he heard Jiang Chuan say from behind him: "You're really a contradictory creature. If you're so afraid that your sexual orientation will affect your career, then just pretend you don't know anything. Why did you come all the way to tell me that you like me?"

  “……”

  Irrefutable.

  Unable to answer.

  Not just Jiang Chuan, but Jian Ye also really wants to know why.

  "Where is the person who once sat on this bed with shining eyes and announced to me that one day they would proudly come out of the closet?"

  "And what about the additional conditions? Didn't they all say that I must have a personal guarantee from you before..."

  "You mean I'm not that person."

  “……”

  His brain went blank for about five seconds, and it wasn't until the sixth second that he reacted with difficulty to what Jiang Chuan had just said. At this time, the man behind him couldn't see the emotions on his face - but that was okay, because Jiang Chuan also couldn't see the silly expression on his face for a moment. The room suddenly fell into a suffocating silence, and Jin Yan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, only to hear a buzzing sound in his mind, like the faint hum of the central air conditioner or the cicadas outside the window... After a while, he moved his lips, and then heard himself say in a dry voice that even he barely recognized: "You're not."

  Immediately followed by another long silence.

  Those few seconds of time had already been long enough to seem like a century had passed.

  "Alright, from today on, let's keep a safe distance."

  He listened attentively to Jiang Chuan's concise and meaningful response.

  For a moment, he seemed to hear his own heart falling to the ground in mid-air - although the sound of that fall was a bit loud and quickly exceeded his expectations, piercing through the earth's surface and heading straight for the depths of hell... He smiled calmly, unsure how embarrassed he looked with his back to Jiang Chuan's silhouette. He raised his hand to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead, then muttered in a fragmented tone: "Jiang Chuan, I know you're a straight man. It's actually normal for straight men to occasionally feel some desire towards the same sex... You don't need to be troubled by this. And as for me, don't worry, I'll try to adjust myself so I won't cause you any trouble. You also don't need to waste your thoughts saying things that make it seem like there's still something going on between us..."

  "There's something stuck on the back of your neck."

  "Huh?"

  Suddenly, the murmurs stopped abruptly, and before he could turn his head to look, his lips were bitten by someone. He hadn't even had time to react when he felt a sharp pain on his lips. The next second, he was pushed hard and flew onto the bed - literally flying horizontally, showing just how much strength Jiang Chuan had used. Jian Ran landed on the bed, and Jiang Chuan quickly pressed down on top of him. Jian Ran remained silent for a few seconds before stretching out his hand to grab Jiang Chuan's hair, forcing his head towards himself.

  It was like a volcanic eruption triggered suddenly.

  It would be more accurate to say they were biting each other rather than kissing, their noses colliding and becoming tender from the intense movement. Neither of them had any intention of letting go of the other. He could feel the man's large hands lifting up his shirt and slipping inside, the rough sensation on his smooth skin creating a maddening itch. He lowered his head and bit down on the man's lip, hearing his heavy gasp at the same time as he tasted the metallic tang of blood and sweat mixed together.

  When the man's lips moved down, the rough kiss slid from the young black-haired person's lip corner all the way to his neck, suddenly biting his Adam's apple without warning. The instant stimulation made Jian Ran's body arch up - at that moment, there was a kind of fear that he would be bitten to death by Jiang Chuan, followed by an unstoppable trembling pleasure...

  He grasped Jiang's hair with a slightly increased force and asked between gasps: "What is this?"

  Jiang Chuan stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his own wounded lips, saying coldly: "Break-up kiss."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan: "Tomorrow I just happen to be filming the scene where I forcefully kiss the princess, and before that I was still considering how to portray the conflicting emotions required by the script."

  "......And then?"

  Jiang Chuan said expressionlessly: "Now you've fully understood, you're indeed very good at helping others with their lines."

  The man spoke as he roughly pulled down the young black-haired man's pants, grabbing his organ through his underwear, and the latter was so suddenly taken aback that his head almost exploded - Jiang Chuan's methods were not gentle at all, but rather rough, and the frenzy and irritation on his body were perfectly conveyed to Jin Yan through the force of his hands.

  He muttered in a low voice: "Isn't it 'breakup kiss'? Are you going for the whole set?"

  At this time, Jiang Chuan's hand was on Jin Ran's buttocks. Upon hearing this, he was stunned for a moment and then muttered "stifling" and continued to knead the good-feeling lump of meat in his hand into various shapes, leaving his red palm prints on it without any restraint...

  ……

  The second day of filming in Jiangchuan was incredibly smooth.

  People watched as he rode in on his horse, wearing a military uniform, and swept the girl up onto the horse with him. The girl was shocked and struggled, but the man easily subdued her and kissed her passionately.

  This scene was magnified on the director's monitor, and everyone around him turned red with embarrassment.

  The chubby director's assistant, also a girl, was covering her face and screaming at this moment: "This, ah, ah, Jiang Chuan! This script is really awesome, the screenwriter must be a fan of Huang Zhongba! The setting is really attractive to a large number of fans in just one minute!"

  When Ding Pangpang shouted "Ka" with satisfaction, Jiang Chuan immediately pulled the reins to stop the horse and put down Bai Meimei from the horseback. At this moment, she raised her hand to touch the corner of her lips, her face turned red like a freshly cooked shrimp.

  A young black-haired person wearing a large mask covering half of their face, sitting under a sun umbrella, changed their posture, putting their left leg on top of their right leg and raising their second leg.

  Jiang Chuan and Bai Mei walked together under the sun umbrella, Jiang Chuan's expression was still normal, but Bai Mei had a lovestruck look on her face. The male lead, Xu Le, saw this from the side and shouted loudly, laughing and saying: "It's all over! This drama's male lead is going to be changed to Jiang Chuan! My wife has been kissed like that and her soul is about to fly away!"

  The crowd burst into laughter, Jiang Chuan continued to be expressionless, Bai Mei raised her foot and kicked Xu Le with a handful of sand, pouting "What are you talking about?", turned around and looked at Jiang Chuan, she seemed to feel a bit embarrassed again when speaking to the man: "Jiang Chuan, your acting is really good, that expression and emotion just now were particularly convincing, I was even scared - it's exactly like what's written in the script, I really felt like I was Princess Lingzhi, this feeling of being swallowed alive by General Xuan Huang."

  "Hmm..." Jiang Chuan responded with a sound, as if he hadn't noticed the actress staring at him with her shining eyes full of smile, but instead turned his head to frown at the black-haired young man sitting under the sun umbrella and said, "Yuan Jiran, you're occupying my air conditioner fan again, move over."

  The person who was called by name lazily responded with a grunt, shifting his buttocks - Jiang Chuan sat down in the place where he had just sat, and happened to hear Ding Pao asking: "Jiang Chuan, what did you do last night that made you suddenly change your ways?"

  The man who was bending down to adjust the air conditioner paused, looked up and glanced at Ding with a brief and concise tone: "Practiced a bit."

  Ding Bao Bao was taken aback: "How did you practice?"

  Jiang Chuan's lips moved, but before he could respond, Jin Yan suddenly said beside him: "He's frigid, last night I accompanied him to watch a paid hotel channel all night ——"

  Everyone: "......"

  Jiang Chuan glanced at the young man with black hair and a hoarse voice, surprisingly not refuting him, but instead nodded honestly: "That's right."

  ……

  That night, some gossipmonger posted "Yuan Jinyan and Jiang Chuan stayed up all night watching XXX" on Weibo, which quickly became a trending topic and remained at the top for a long time, as if to commemorate the great achievement of the two superstars.

  Then.

  After Jing Yan and Jiang Chuan decided to "break up", everyone who didn't know the truth was overjoyed: the official account sent out sweets again.

  The world is just so cruel.