Qi Jiahe let out an exclamation.
Jiang Yue looked closely and caught sight of the fish food on Qi Jiahe’s face. He widened his eyes and quickly bit down on his lower lip to keep from laughing.
“What are you laughing at?” Seeing him biting his lower lip, Qi Jiahe frowned and asked with a light smile.
Jiang Yue clenched his jaw, raised his hand to touch Qi Jiahe’s face, and brushed the fish food off for him.
His shoulders trembled slightly, and with an upturned smile, he gave Qi Jiahe’s cheek a playful pinch, whispering, “Sorry, I accidentally flicked the fish food onto your face.”
Qi Jiahe glanced at him, reached out to grab his hand, brushed it lightly across his own cheek, and said with an expressionless face, “Next time, don’t flick dog poop onto my face.”
Jiang Yue pulled his hand out of Qi Jiahe’s grip, glared at him, and turned to walk into the living room.
Inside the living room, a camera was set up in the corner. Director Wang was sitting in a single-seater sofa, while Xu Na and another person sat at the extreme ends of the long sofa, heads down and looking at their phones.
Jiang Yue walked in, and Director Wang lifted his gaze for a moment. Jiang Yue chose a single-seater sofa in the corner and sat down.
A moment later, Qi Jiahe also walked inside and sat on the armrest of the sofa where Jiang Yue was sitting.
Watching Qi Jiahe walk over and sit right next to Jiang Yue, Director Wang stood up, clapped his hands, and walked to the front of the group. “Alright, everyone is here.”
At the sound of his clapping, all four of them raised their heads to look at him simultaneously.
Seeing that everyone was paying attention, Director Wang pointed to various spots as he explained, “We are about to start shooting. Using lunchtime as our benchmark, in a moment Qi Jiahe will redo the entrance sequence, and Xu Na will handle the kitchen work. Sound good?”
“No way!” Just as the words left the director’s mouth, Xu Na quickly raised her hand in objection. “I just got my manicure done yesterday, so it’s not suitable for kitchen work. I can do anything except the kitchen.”
Hearing this, Jiang Can raised his gaze and looked at her. Xu Na’s raised hands indeed had nail art pasted all over them.
Director Wang naturally noticed this as well. After hesitating for a few seconds, he looked toward Song Qianming and asked tentatively, “What about little Song? Can you handle the kitchen?”
Song Qianming looked at Director Wang with an expression of profound regret flashing in his eyes, and slowly chimed in. “Well, Director Wang, I don’t really know how to cook.”
The kitchen is just three words: dirty, chaotic, and exhausting.
Whoever wants to go can go. I’m certainly not going.
Song Qianming thought to himself as he looked at Director Wang.
Hearing this, Director Wang sighed and turned to look at Qi Jiahe. Qi Jiahe met his gaze and used his thumb to point at Jiang Yue, who was spacing out nearby.
As if grasping at a straw, Director Wang nodded quickly.
“Well, Jiang Yue.” Director Wang shifted his gaze to Jiang Yue and asked softly.
Jiang Yue snapped out of his daze, let out an ah, and quickly raised his right hand. “I’ll do it. I know how to cook, so I’ll go to the kitchen.”
Since Qi Jiahe had the largest fan base, he couldn’t possibly do manual labor in the kitchen; otherwise, the director would likely face heavy criticism online.
Hearing this, Director Wang breathed a sigh of relief and offered a gratifying smile.
Jiang Yue is truly a wonderful kid. No wonder Qi Jiahe likes him.
Catching the smiles on the faces of Jiang Yue and Director Wang, Song Qianming couldn’t help muttering under his breath. “Tch, Jiang Can, isn’t your popularity already high enough? Why are you still trying to grab the spotlight?”
Although he spoke very quietly, Xu Na, who was sitting close to him, heard every single word clearly.
Hearing this, Xu Na was the first one to take offense. “Song Qianming! What did you just say? Do you dare say it louder?”
Since Jiang Can was effectively stepping into her usual spot, he was doing her a huge favor—she used to occupy that exact position. Hearing Song Qianming talk like that, she was naturally furious.
“Why are you trying to grab the spotlight? Are you out of your mind or something?” Xu Na bounded off the sofa in a couple of swift strides, marched right up to Song Qianming, and glared fiercely at him.
Seeing her approach, Song Qianming refused to back down. He stood up from the sofa as well, standing face-to-face with her, and raised his voice slightly. “What about it? What does it have to do with you?”
The other three people who had been quietly discussing kitchen arrangements in the corner turned around at the commotion, looking completely bewildered.
“What’s going on?” Director Wang hurriedly took two steps in three, pulling the two of them apart. He was utterly frazzled, staring at the pair with no idea what to say.
Seeing Director Wang step in to block them, Xu Na suddenly gained momentum. She pointed straight at Song Qianming and bellowed at the top of her lungs, “He was talking behind our backs, bad-mouthing Jiang Yue!”
Hearing this, Jiang Yue glanced at Song Qianming without saying a word.
However, Qi Jiahe, standing right beside him, didn’t have such a forgiving attitude. He stared at Song Qianming, let out a yawn after a moment, and said, “What did you say? Why are there always people who never learn their lesson?”
“Exactly!” Xu Na snorted in agreement.
Caught in the middle and at a loss for what to do, Director Wang could only pat Xu Na’s shoulder and then Song Qianming’s shoulder. “Stop arguing for now, everyone. If we just cooperate and finish the shoot peacefully, we can all rest.”
Xu Na was extremely dissatisfied with his handling of the situation and muttered under her breath, “Why should I?”
Even so, her voice was so soft that nothing could be made out clearly, and Director Wang standing right in front of her couldn’t hear it either. For the sake of the shooting schedule, he simply let the matter drop.
A moment later, Jiang Yue was in the kitchen preparing lunch. He diced the tomatoes on the chopping board, placed them onto a plate, mixed the sauces, and tossed them into the pan.
By this time, Qi Jiahe had finished shooting his segment. He stretched his arms and noticed Song Qianming sitting in the living room playing on his phone.
The expression on Qi Jiahe’s face gradually grew cold. He put his phone away into his trouser pocket, walked over to the living room, and paused at the entrance to look at Song Qianming. “Hey! Song Qianming! Come outside, let’s talk.”
Song Qianming’s hand holding the phone paused. He raised his eyebrows and saw Qi Jiahe’s angry expression. Nodding in response, he stood up and followed Qi Jiahe outside.
Qi Jiahe led him to the area outside the courtyard, where the two of them stood face-to-face in front of the stone steps.
Qi Jiahe sighed, reached into his trouser pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out into his hand, and looked up to ask, “Do you smoke?”
Song Qianming looked at the cigarette in his hand and shook his head. “No.”
Qi Jiahe nodded, put the rest of the cigarettes back into his pocket, and used a lighter to ignite the tip of the cigarette. As the flame consumed the tobacco, he slipped the lighter away.
“So… Best Actor Qi, is there something you wanted with me?” Seeing that Qi Jiahe remained silent, Song Qianming asked tentatively, feeling a bit awkward.
Qi Jiahe raised his gaze to look at him, took a drag from the cigarette, and slowly exhaled. The smoke drifted between him and Song Qianming, creating a quiet and oppressive atmosphere.
“What do you think?” His voice was deep and, because of the smoke, had turned somewhat raspy, sounding fiercely intimidating.
Song Qianming fell silent and offered no response, leaving the air hanging in absolute stillness.
“Jiang Yue wasn’t the male lead in his last drama, was he?” Qi Jiahe looked at Song Qianming with a gaze that feigned complete innocence.
Song Qianming shook his head.
He finally understood what Qi Jiahe had brought him out here for.
“Then why are you so obsessed with him?”
“I have warned you many times.”
“Get rid of those petty little schemes of yours as soon as possible, or else I can make sure you never appear on the internet again for the rest of your life.”