“Tell me, Lao Wang, do you have to go this far?” Qi Jiahe sat in the room for five minutes, glanced at Jiang Yue who was playing on his mobile phone, and followed Director Wang outside.
Director Wang gently patted his chest, turned his head, and asked in a low voice, “What?”
“Making the threshold so high, Jiang Yue and I almost couldn’t make it up.” Qi Jiahe gazed into the innocence in his eyes and said in a firm tone.
Director Wang looked at him with ill intentions, and after a moment, smiled and said, “You work out every day, yet this little bit of height leaves you this tired? Aren’t you just trying to stand up for your wife?”
He knew that Qi Jiahe worked out regularly; the two of them had bonded over it when they first met in a gym before shooting their first variety show together.
At the time, Director Wang felt that this kid was very compatible with him. After chatting with Qi Jiahe for a while and realizing he was a good person, they exchanged contact information.
Hearing this, Qi Jiahe suddenly burst out laughing. Staring at Director Wang’s confident look, he said, “Director Wang, you really shouldn’t use that title in front of Jiang Yue, or he’ll throw a tantrum again.”
Director Wang snorted disdainfully. Seeing the smile in Qi Jiahe’s eyes, he couldn’t help rolling them and said, “You’re really something, kid.”
Jiang Yue caught sight of Qi Jiahe looking at him before heading outside, but he lowered his head to his phone and refused to join the conversation.
“Jiang Yue, are the rumors about you and Best Actor Qi true or false?”
Jiang Yue had originally planned to keep looking at his phone until Qi Jiahe came back, when suddenly a young woman asked him a question.
He lifted his gaze, his eyes sweeping over her with imperceptible caution. After a moment, he shook his head. “Half true, half false, I suppose.”
The woman’s name was Xu Na, and she had always been a regular guest on the program. It was rumored that Director Wang doted on her like his own daughter, and she was an omega as well.
As soon as he said this, Xu Na’s interest spiked dramatically. She quickly pulled out the stool beneath her, sat down right next to Jiang Yue, and looked at him curiously. “Then which parts are true? Which parts are false?”
Jiang Yue raised his eyes to meet hers, the corners of his lips curving upward slightly as he whispered, “Which parts do you think are true?”
Hearing this, a male alpha sitting nearby suddenly stood up and walked over to them, wearing an unfriendly expression. “Now that you’ve hooked up with a Best Actor, things are different, aren’t they? Acting all high and mighty.”
Before Jiang Yue could even speak, Xu Na, sitting right in front of him, frowned and blurted out, “Song Qianming, what do you mean by that?”
Jiang Yue knew this person named Song Qianming. They belonged to the same agency; Song had quite a few fans, but very few solid works to speak of.
Jiang Yue raised his eyes, a probing look flashing across his face.
Song Qianming snorted, his eyes filled with contempt for Jiang Yue. “Can’t you tell? It’s probably this guy who bought the trending searches, riding on Best Actor Qi’s coattails. Acting all superior like everyone else isn’t even worth his time.”
At that, Jiang Yue clicked his tongue internally.
From the moment he stepped through the door until now, he hadn’t participated in the conversation simply because he didn’t know how to join in. He never expected it to be twisted into such a meaning.
Keeping his expression completely neutral, Jiang Yue stood up and looked at Song Qianming, intending to retort, but someone suddenly grabbed his arm.
Then, he saw Qi Jiahe holding his hand as he walked out from behind, stepping right in front of Song Qianming with dark, somewhat aggressive eyes.
“Do you think Jiang Yue is using me to build a fake shipping pair?” Qi Jiahe’s voice was deep and fierce, as if he wanted to swallow the person in front of him alive.
Hearing Xu Na’s voice from outside, Qi Jiahe had initially thought she was arguing with someone, only to come inside and discover it was Jiang Yue quarreling with someone else.
Song Qianming looked at Qi Jiahe, swallowed hard, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes as his gaze drifted aimlessly elsewhere.
“Do you need me to pull out our marriage certificate and show it to you? To prove whether it’s real or fake?” Seeing that Song Qianming remained silent, Qi Jiahe impatiently raised his voice. “Speak!”
Perhaps feeling humiliated, Song Qianming walked right past Qi Jiahe and left.
Jiang Yue, standing behind Qi Jiahe, naturally heard every word he said. He tugged on Qi Jiahe’s hand and whispered, “Why are you saying things like that? Aren’t you afraid he’ll leak it?”
Qi Jiahe raised a hand to smooth down the hair on top of Jiang Yue’s head, saying softly, “What are you afraid of?”
Jiang Yue let out a huff, pulling his hand away, only to see Xu Na sitting on her little stool, covering her mouth and giggling.
“Original this is real?” Xu Na giggled endlessly, making Jiang Yue feel rather uncomfortable.
Jiang Yue desperately wanted to refute it, but Qi Jiahe beat him to the punch. “Didn’t Director Wang tell you? The two of us have been married for two years.”
Jiang Yue quickly covered Qi Jiahe’s mouth and threw a couple of punches at his chest.
Witnessing the entire scene, the smile on Xu Na’s face turned increasingly bizarre. “Oh my, look at those tiny fists beating his chest.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yue wished he could give Xu Na a couple of punches right now, but unfortunately, Xu Na was a female alpha, making it hard for him to strike back.
He glanced at Xu Na and issued a warning. “Ahem, watch what you say.”
The Wild New York Small Courtyard had been built by Director Wang a year ago during the summer. When this variety show started filming a year ago, it had already run for two seasons, and many items in the courtyard had been added during this period.
On both sides of the entrance were bamboo stalks lining the wall. Directly facing the door was a living room, to the right of whose entrance stood a peach tree. On the other side of the door was a small pavilion. Walking right from the main entrance led to several bedrooms; the far right was the kitchen, and the far left was the utility room.
In front of the utility room was an open space outfitted with neon lights, a semicircular hanging chair suspended in front of the lights, a path decorated with small gravel pebbles in front of the chair, and a small fish pond right across from it.
Holding fish food in his hand, Jiang Yue squatted in front of the pond, scooped up a small handful of pellets, and slowly scattered them over the water surface.
“What’s going on with this Song Qianming?” Qi Jiahe was on the phone in a small corner, his eyes fixed intently on Jiang Yue.
The person on the other end of the line was silent for a few seconds, seemingly flipping through documents. “Boss, Song Qianming and Jiang Yue are from the same company, both under Guan Ge.”
Qi Jiahe clicked his tongue. “I’m not asking about that. I want to know if there’s any conflict between Song Qianming and Jiang Yue.”
The person on the other end said “Oh,” flipped a page of documents, and spoke in a low voice. “There is a conflict. Song Qianming was originally locked in for a role in Jiang Yue’s last drama, but because Jiang Yue was on an upward career trajectory, Wang Chenyang stepped in halfway and snatched the role for Jiang Yue.”
So it was a battle over a script.
Qi Jiahe looked thoughtfully at Jiang Yue feeding the fish, and after a moment, replied, “I get it. I’ll contact you if anything comes up. Hang up.”
Song Qianming was merely an amateur who broke into the industry halfway, completely different from someone formally trained like Jiang Yue. Jiang Yue could be chosen unconditionally, but Song Qianming could not.
“Jiang Yue!” Qi Jiahe put his phone into his pocket and walked toward Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue looked up, shaking the remaining fish food off his hand.
Qi Jiahe felt a coolness on his face. He quickly raised his hand and touched it. “What the hell!”