Setting aside all concerns, Ji Xing genuinely wanted this opportunity.
While he was not someone consumed by a deep passion for acting, he deeply loved the sensation it brought.
Unlike completely transmigrating into an alternate world, acting served as a temporary journey for performers, allowing them to use a span of minutes or hours to experience an entirely different life.
This prospect held immense appeal for Ji Xing.
“Have you finished discussing?” Pei Yun poked his head through the doorway.
“Yes,” Ji Xing nodded, eager to avoid wasting any more time.
The performance took place tomorrow, making tonight his sole viable window for rehearsal.
“Thank you, thank you so much.”
Pei Yun trotted into the room, hauled Ji Xing away with him, and blew a playful flying kiss toward He Mingchen before exiting.
A minute later, Ji Xing arrived inside Pei Yun’s team training room.
Waiting for him there, aside from the female trainee Pei Yun had mentioned, was Qin Yi.
Ji Xing possessed a personality naturally averse to conflict, instinctively avoiding anyone capable of exerting pressure on him. Yet accepting Pei Yun’s invitation tonight meant he had no choice but to face Qin Yi once more.
“I brought in backup. Ji Xing can partner with you two starting tomorrow so your group will be able to perform,” Pei Yun announced.
Hearing this, the female trainee standing nearby looked ready to shed tears of joy. Pei Yun was entirely correct; she clearly cherished the opportunity to perform tomorrow far too much to let it slip away.
Qin Yi, however, clearly held a different perspective. Lacking the courage to overtly target Ji Xing right in front of Pei Yun, his tone dripped with unconcealed skepticism: “We have spent half a month rehearsing this piece, and now we only have a single night left. Will this actually work?”
“Never mind whether anyone else can pull it off, as long as your own performance doesn’t fall apart,” Pei Yun replied coldly.
“Then I will have to trouble Teacher Ji.” Turning toward Ji Xing, Qin Yi adopted a slightly sarcastic tone: “Whether our group gets to perform tomorrow entirely depends on Teacher Ji.”
Giving him a sideways glare, Pei Yun retorted with a trace of impatience: “Do you lack confidence in yourself that badly? Why are you placing the entire burden on someone else?”
“Teacher Pei, that is not what I meant.” Flustered by Pei Yun’s sharp rebuke, Qin Yi fell silent and bit his tongue.
“Ji Xing,” Pei Yun said, turning back with a beaming smile. “Do not worry. I will walk you through the blocking personally. Memorize as many lines as you can, and we can trim away anything too complex on the spot. Our time is limited, so we only need to ensure you grasp the general staging. Do not put too much pressure on yourself.”
Nodding in response, Ji Xing remained entirely on edge.
Moments later, Pei Yun guided the three of them through the script from start to finish. To everyone’s astonishment, Ji Xing retained the vast majority of the dialogue, effortlessly reciting the general gist even through two exceptionally long passages.
“Tch, why did I not fight harder to snatch him over from the start?” Pei Yun muttered in fresh regret. During the initial auditions, he had set his sights on Ji Xing first, only to lose him to He Mingchen at the eleventh hour. What a pity!
Hearing this, Qin Yi scowled heavily, his eyes turning even more hostile toward Ji Xing. Pei Yun’s remark carried no hidden subtext, but Qin Yi’s petty nature led him to believe the director was mocking him. Being the sort of person who bullied the weak while cowering before the strong, he lacked the nerve to hold a grudge against Pei Yun and instead directed all his bitter resentment onto the innocent Ji Xing.
Pei Yun personally walked Ji Xing through the scene twice, and everything went smoothly. Just then, his assistant stepped over and murmured a few words, indicating an urgent matter requiring his attention.
Frowning slightly, Pei Yun glanced back at Ji Xing with visible hesitation. Catching the cue, his assistant whispered something else, and after a brief, low-voiced exchange, Pei Yun finally nodded.
A moment later, he informed Ji Xing that he needed to step away briefly. Noticing the urgency in his demeanor, Ji Xing nodded briskly.
Mindful of the previous incident where Qin Yi targeted Ji Xing in his absence, Pei Yun wanted to ensure no such mistreatment occurred after going out of his way to bring him in. Consequently, he instructed his assistant to pull out a phone, launch a private live stream, and aim the camera directly at the training room.
He then published a Weibo post attaching the live stream link. Within five minutes, a massive wave of fans flooded into the broadcast.
This setup ensured that even in his absence, the live stream audience could supervise the training room on his behalf. Having learned his lesson from the previous backlash, Qin Yi would surely think twice before daring to target Ji Xing again.
Many of Pei Yun’s followers already tracked Ji Xing, and seeing him in the stream brought them immediate delight. Soon enough, Ji Xing’s own fandom joined the influx, merging with the couple’s shipping fans to render the live chat exceptionally lively.
As expected, constrained by the live camera lens, Qin Yi dared not pull any overt stunts. Even though his outward words and actions remained controlled, he kept throwing petty obstacles in Ji Xing’s way during their line exchanges.
These antics included flashing provocative expressions at Ji Xing during moments meant for natural interaction, and deliberately disrupting Ji Xing’s emotional delivery when the scene required a reactive partner. Because the live stream utilized a wide-angle overview lens, none of these micro-aggressions registered on camera, granting Qin Yi a sense of unpunished security.
“Your behavior is completely pointless. If Ji Xing hadn’t stepped in to help, none of us would even have a chance to take the stage tomorrow,” the female trainee snapped, losing her patience. “Can’t you show some basic respect for everyone else’s time and effort?”
“What? What did I even do?” Qin Yi feigned complete innocence, refusing to acknowledge his actions.
“It is fine, let us just run through it a couple more times,” Ji Xing consoled the female trainee.
While Ji Xing possessed a gentle disposition and preferred avoiding conflict, he held a core of deep resilience beneath the surface. Despite the female trainee’s focus being heavily fractured by Qin Yi’s antics, Ji Xing maintained a remarkably steady performance, rendering Qin Yi’s deliberate cold-shouldering virtually ineffective.
Halfway through the scene, the female trainee looked at Ji Xing with an entirely new expression filled with clear admiration.
Yet the less Ji Xing reacted, the bolder Qin Yi became. Eventually, he grew so carried away that he forgot all about the live stream camera, escalating his physical blocking into increasingly exaggerated contact.
Even from a distance, the audience caught onto the glaring anomalies:
[What is wrong with this guy named Qin Yi? Why is he shoving him so hard?]
[Seriously, why is he still pulling stunts like this?]
[Little Ji almost got knocked over just now.]
[Does Qin Yi have some kind of surplus testosterone issue? He’s acting like a raging bull looking for a fight.]
[Where is Teacher Pei? Someone needs to come manage their trainees!]
[Oh no, I am so worried about little Ji getting bullied.]
[Where is the alpha husband? Hurry up and protect your little snail!]
“Hiss!”
A stealthy elbow strike from Qin Yi sent Ji Xing stumbling backward several steps before the female trainee caught him by the arm.
“Are you alright?” she asked, steadying him. “Maybe we should stop for tonight and wait until Teacher Pei returns.”
“I did not even use any force, Ji Xing, you are being way too dramatic,” Qin Yi scoffed.
The blow had sent a sharp jolt of pain through Ji Xing’s ribs, rousing a rare spark of genuine anger across his usually mild features while his eyes flushed slightly red. He was far from devoid of a temper; his threshold for expressing it simply ran higher than most.
At that exact moment, however, his anger reached its boiling point.
“Ji Xing…” Realizing what was happening, the female trainee grabbed his arm to hold him back.
With the live stream still active and the room under surveillance, she worried Ji Xing might act rashly and ruin his own standing.
“Block the camera for me,” Ji Xing murmured under his breath before striding straight toward Qin Yi.
Quick to understand, the female trainee hurried directly in front of the live stream lens, instantly obscuring the view behind her.
“Ji Xing, you…”
Inside the live stream, viewers could hear only Qin Yi’s sudden shout of alarm.
Out of camera range, Qin Yi clutched his jaw, staring at Ji Xing in absolute disbelief. Standing nearly half a head taller than Ji Xing, he had expected to hold the upper hand in any physical confrontation. Instead, a surprise punch straight to the jaw had left him momentarily dazed, and by the time he regained his senses, another figure had already materialized behind Ji Xing.
The man’s gaze burned with a cold, predatory aloofness akin to a beast patrolling its territory, fixing Qin Yi with a look of absolute, unyielding warning.
“T-Teacher He…” Qin Yi stammered, his voice laced with unmistakable panic.
Startled, Ji Xing spun around and realized for the first time that He Mingchen had somehow appeared right behind him.
“Why are you here?” A second ago, Ji Xing had resembled an arched, bristling kitten ready to scratch, but the sight of He Mingchen instantly made his eyes sting, bringing a sudden rush of pent-up grievances to the surface.
“Pei Yun asked me to come help supervise your training.” Glancing briefly toward the live stream camera blocked by the female trainee, He Mingchen clearly understood the broadcast was still running. His voice remained steady and flat, betraying no emotional fluctuation, though his gaze hardened as it swept back toward Qin Yi.
“Are you alright?” He Mingchen caught Ji Xing’s right wrist, immediately spotting the reddened knuckles where he had clipped Qin Yi’s jaw.
“I am fine.” Ji Xing shook his head.
“Do you still want to finish practicing?”
“There is still one section we have not smoothed out yet.”
“It is fine, take your time.” Releasing his wrist, He Mingchen addressed the female trainee, “Resume practice, I will stay here with you.”
Stepping aside to reveal the training room once more, the female trainee returned to her position.
The moment He Mingchen’s voice had filtered through the audio earlier, the live chat had already exploded into a frenzy. For the shipping fans, the chaotic excitement surpassed New Year’s Eve, flooding the screen with endless rows of ecstatic screams.
Throughout that evening, He Mingchen remained planted inside the training room. Even when stepping out briefly to take two phone calls, he refused to leave the room entirely, his eyes tracking Ji Xing’s movements the entire time. Only after Ji Xing successfully smoothed out the blocking for his entire scene did the actor escort him out.
Utterly exhausted from the intense mental focus required during rehearsal, Ji Xing drifted off to sleep almost immediately once they got into the car.
Upon arriving at the hotel, the driver parked at the entrance without waking the sleeping pair. Past two in the morning, the hotel entrance remained quiet with no passing traffic, allowing them to idle for a while without disturbing anyone.
Bathed in the faint illumination spilling in from the streetlights outside the car window, He Mingchen gazed down at the sleeping young man beside him. The youth’s long, dark eyelashes cast delicate shadows across the bridge of his nose, creating an irresistible temptation to reach out and touch them.
Acting on a sudden impulse, He Mingchen extended his hand, but at that exact second, Ji Xing fluttered his eyes open.
“Teacher He? Have we arrived?” Ji Xing blinked sleepily, his expression defenseless and completely dazed.
Suppressing an involuntary swallow, He Mingchen quietly reached over and pushed the car door open for him.
The journey up to their floor remained entirely silent, the two of them pausing simultaneously right as they reached their neighboring doors.
“I am sorry,” Ji Xing murmured softly.
“What are you apologizing for?” He Mingchen asked.
“I should not have thrown a punch.” If the production team decided to edit that segment into the weekly broadcasted episodes, Ji Xing shuddered to think how he would clean up the PR mess.
“If you lack the certainty that the other person will not retaliate, you certainly should not act on impulse.” Extending a hand toward him, He Mingchen instructed, “Give me your phone.”
Though perplexed, Ji Xing obediently unlocked his device and handed it over.
After operating the phone for a moment, He Mingchen handed it back. “Next time, call me first.”
“Understood.” Ji Xing took his phone back obediently.
“Qin Yi has a relative working as a producer at the station, which is why he acts so reckless.”
“So that is the reason.” Realization dawned on Ji Xing’s face.
“He is simply relying on connections to bully others. You can do the same.”
“Except I do not have any relatives working official positions at the station,” Ji Xing replied honestly.
“You do now. And my word carries significantly more weight than his relative’s.” Pointing toward the phone in his hand, He Mingchen gave a subtle nod.
Glancing down at the screen, Ji Xing discovered that He Mingchen had just saved his personal contact number directly into his address book.