A single brief sentence from He Mingchen nearly caused Hu-ge’s brain to short-circuit.
“He Mingchen, have you lost your mind?” Hu-ge sounded ready to reach right through the phone signal to shake some sense into him. “If you want to date, you can find anyone you want, why must you go messing around with these trainees? You know nothing about their background, what were you thinking?”
“We are not dating,” He Mingchen stated concisely.
“Not dating? You are not dating and yet you sleep together?”
If the previous statement had given Hu-ge a mild shock, this one hit him like a devastating critical strike. Sleeping together without dating meant only one thing.
Incidents like this were hardly rare in the industry, and Hu-ge had witnessed plenty, but never in his wildest dreams did he imagine He Mingchen would actually pull such a stunt. The most absurd part was the choice of partner; setting aside what kind of person Ji Xing was, the agency behind him was absolute garbage.
They weren’t even officially an item yet, and the other party’s company had already rushed to buy trending topics, and such tacky ones at that. He could already picture how much drama Ji Xing’s company would stir up if things ever blew up in the future.
“He Mingchen, what on earth is going through your head?” Hu-ge asked, his voice trembling with anger.
“I have everything under control, you do not need to interfere.” He Mingchen’s tone remained calm, as though they were discussing what to have for breakfast tomorrow morning.
“You have a damn clue!” Hu-ge roared. “Let me ask you, did that kid make any demands of you?”
“No.”
“No demands is the most troublesome part. If he quoted a price, it would be much easier to handle…”
“Do not phrase it so crudely.” He Mingchen expressed clear displeasure at the transactional phrasing.
Ignoring him, Hu-ge muttered to himself, “How about this, I will check if there are any suitable resources available to give him, and you can take that opportunity to cut ties immediately, before things…”
“We will talk later,” He Mingchen cut him off.
“What is it?” Hu-ge asked, confused.
“He is awake.”
With that, He Mingchen hung up the phone directly.
Awake?
Who was awake?
Who else could it be?
Realizing what had happened, Hu-ge came dangerously close to having a stroke on the spot.
He Mingchen was genuinely trying to kill him off early!
Inside the car.
Ji Xing blinked his sleepy eyes open, realizing the vehicle had already arrived at the hotel.
“Awake?” He Mingchen asked.
“I accidentally dozed off.” Ji Xing rubbed his eyes, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“It is fine, head back and get some proper rest.”
“Mm.”
Too drowsy to keep his eyes open, Ji Xing murmured a goodnight to He Mingchen before heading off to his room to sleep.
That evening, a major portion of the entertainment industry feasted on the gossip surrounding the two of them, while Ji Xing remained entirely oblivious. It wasn’t until the following morning, when Xiao Lin returned to the crew after his time off, that Ji Xing finally heard about the incident.
True to routine, Ji Xing woke up to his alarm that morning, washed up, and changed into fresh clothes before Xiao Lin knocked on his door. Having taken a few days off, Xiao Lin had caught a red-eye flight back to the production set early this morning.
After a few days apart, Ji Xing was genuinely glad to see him.
Yet for some reason, Xiao Lin’s mood seemed persistently low.
“Did you not sleep well last night? If you are tired, you do not need to follow me around today, go catch up on sleep first,” Ji Xing told Xiao Lin while they ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. “You were gone for a few days, and while I wasn’t quite used to it, I managed to handle most things on my own. You do not need to worry.”
“Brother Ji, did you not check the trending searches last night?” Xiao Lin finally mustered the courage to ask.
“Are you talking about the one where Teacher He has double standards? You sent that to me, did you forget?”
“Not that one.” Hearing that tone, Xiao Lin knew immediately that Ji Xing hadn’t looked. And understandably so; given his Brother Ji’s personality, if he had seen that particular trending topic, he wouldn’t be this relaxed right now.
“There was another trending search last night.” Xiao Lin pulled up the main page of the topic and placed it before Ji Xing. Thanks to Hu-ge’s swift cleanup operation, the tag had already been pulled down, but the contents remained accessible when opening the topic page.
The more Ji Xing read, the deeper his brow furrowed, until cold sweat began beading on his forehead by the end.
For anyone else, the trending topic would at most be dismissed as a tabloid rumor fabricated by marketing accounts. But because Ji Xing and He Mingchen had genuinely slept together, his immediate reaction upon seeing the headline was that their secret had been exposed.
“How could this happen? Last night, last night we just came back together.”
“The topic didn’t claim anything else, it just mentioned that you returned together.”
Looking closer, Ji Xing saw that the marketing accounts hadn’t explicitly exposed their relationship, merely stating that they returned to the hotel together, which finally allowed him to breathe a slight sigh of relief.
“Was this trending topic a big deal last night?” Ji Xing asked.
“At its peak, it entered the top three,” Xiao Lin replied.
Hearing that, Ji Xing felt half his heart run cold.
What did reaching the top three on the trending list even mean? It probably meant half the entertainment industry knew about it.
“These marketing accounts have zero bottom line!” Ji Xing muttered.
“Brother Ji,” Xiao Lin said in a quiet voice, “I suspect Brother Wu bought this trending search.”
Startled, Ji Xing asked, “Why would you think that? Buying a trending search is expensive, where would our company get that kind of money?”
“When I went to the company the other day, he treated me to a meal and asked me a lot of questions about you and Teacher He. At the time I thought he was just being caring, so I told him your relationship was good and that Teacher He frequently takes care of you…”
The more Ji Xing listened, the more wrong it felt. “You did not tell him about that night, did you?”
“No, no,” Xiao Lin rushed to clarify. “I promised to keep your secret, I would never sell you out.”
“Did he mention wanting to buy something like this?” Ji Xing asked again.
“He did not say, but after seeing the trending search last night, I had my suspicions. It is my fault for being too careless. Brother Wu never usually cares about you, so why did he suddenly ask so many questions the moment I stepped back into the office? Thinking back now, he was probably planning to hype up your relationship with Teacher He for clout.”
Xiao Lin looked consumed with guilt; if he had known better, he wouldn’t have shared so much with Ji Xing’s manager.
“I do not understand, what is the point of hyping this up?” Ji Xing asked, bewildered.
“They can ride on Teacher He’s coattails to secure high-paying variety shows or commercial endorsements for you.”
That finally made the situation click for Ji Xing. His agency was treating him like a blood-sucking tool, trying to latch onto He Mingchen’s massive popularity for a free ride before using that momentum to lock him into lucrative, restrictive contracts.
The move was shameless to the core.
He Mingchen wasn’t a fool, would he just stand by and let their company pull a stunt like that?
Thinking of He Mingchen, a wave of guilt washed over Ji Xing.
Bound by the original novel’s setting, Ji Xing had always tried to keep his distance from He Mingchen while maintaining constant vigilance. Yet looking back, ever since he transmigrated, the man had never once crossed a line, choosing instead to protect him both openly and behind the scenes.
Yet look what he had done in return…
While he had zero prior knowledge of the trending search, anyone on the outside would naturally assume he was actively trying to clout-chase off He Mingchen. No wonder some trainees had given him such strange looks when he walked into the restaurant this morning. So that was the reason.
“Teacher He, good morning…” A trainee’s greeting suddenly rang out near the restaurant entrance.
Lifting his head, Ji Xing spotted He Mingchen and his assistant walking through the doors, causing him to instantly grab Xiao Lin and bolt without looking back.
Whether it was psychological or not, once Ji Xing reached the studio, he felt as though everyone’s gaze carried a strange weight. With last night’s trending topic blowing up the way it did, the entire production crew likely knew all about it.
Caught between embarrassment and grievance, Ji Xing had no way to offer explanations, leaving him with no choice but to swallow his emotions and pretend nothing had happened.
Not long after, He Mingchen arrived at the set as well.
Keeping his head down to avoid meeting the man’s gaze, Ji Xing wished he could turn himself invisible on the spot.
Today marked the official commencement of the show’s second major phase.
During this stage, each group would film a ten-minute short film. The production style would shift closer to standard television dramas rather than stage performances, utilizing custom on-site set builds tailored to the narrative.
The prompt assigned to He Mingchen’s team was a Republican-era drama centering on a young master from a wealthy household. Sheltered and pampered since childhood without any exposure to the cruelties of the world, the young master enters society naive and unsuspecting, falls prey to deception, and is ultimately manipulated into becoming a puppet. At the conclusion of the story, unable to bear the humiliation, he chooses to go down with the antagonist.
With everyone receiving their scripts, the next step involved He Mingchen distributing the specific roles.
“The young master will be played by Ji Xing,” He Mingchen announced.
The declaration left Ji Xing startled, while the other trainees in his group exchanged complex expressions ranging from envy and curiosity to outright jealousy.
Who would have guessed that Ji Xing, who failed to secure a role in the first stage, would land the leading part straight away! Some trainees felt a surge of resentment, connecting the casting choice to the previous night’s trending search and convincing themselves the role was obtained through dubious means.
“To clarify, the role assignments for this round were ranked strictly from high to low based on your scores from the first phase. For roles where the original gender did not match, I specifically had the screenwriter make adjustments,” He Mingchen said, seemingly reading the thoughts of certain individuals. “This has nothing to do with us returning to the hotel together last night.”
The topic was inherently awkward, and nobody had dared to bring it up. Hearing He Mingchen address it so openly left the room stifled with amusement, effectively dissolving the invisible tension in the air.
Ji Xing’s stellar performance yesterday was plain for everyone to see. With roles distributed strictly by merit, nobody could find room for complaint.
“Since we have plenty of time, our schedule for the first week will focus on script reading and rehearsals, and official filming will begin in the second week,” He Mingchen announced. “I have a personal engagement tomorrow and need to leave by noon. For this afternoon and tomorrow, you will all work on reading through the script independently and drafting your character biographies.”
With no objections raised, the trainees readily agreed.
He Mingchen departed around lunchtime, giving Ji Xing a temporary reprieve. He toyed with the idea of approaching He Mingchen to offer an explanation, but after turning it over in his mind repeatedly without knowing where to begin, he ultimately abandoned the thought.
In the afternoon, while the trainees were gathered together reading through the script, an uninvited guest stepped into the studio.
To be precise, the visitor arrived without an invitation, claiming he had come to visit He Mingchen. Upon learning that He Mingchen was absent from the production set today, he smoothly altered his story on the spot, deciding instead to check in on the trainees in He Mingchen’s group.
Unwilling to offend him, the production staff could only receive the visitor with polite hospitality.
The guest sported a sleeveless purple vest, striking full-sleeve tattoos, a peanut-sized gemstone stud earring, leopard-print trousers, and a pair of short boots, resulting in an appearance that could only be described as aggressively flamboyant.
According to the resident director, the visitor was Hu-ge, He Mingchen’s manager. Yet watching him sway his hips as he walked and draw out the endings of his sentences, it was impossible to reconcile his demeanor with the tough-sounding name “Hu-ge.”
“Teacher He went off for personal business, so I am here to substitute for him today.” Carrying cups of coffee in one tattooed hand and boxes of pastries in the other, Hu-ge announced, “I brought afternoon tea for everyone. I didn’t know your preferences, so I just bought what I like.”
Though Hu-ge’s mannerisms seemed somewhat languid, his actions were swift and efficient, marking him clearly as a formidable presence.
“Help yourselves, do you expect me to hand them to you individually?” Hu-ge prompted.
The trainees, who had been maintaining their polite restraint, hurried forward to grab their respective coffees and pastries, offering profuse thanks to Hu-ge.
Ji Xing, fearing he might draw unwanted attention if he abstained, picked up a piece of cake and immediately unwrapped it to eat, committing fully to playing along as an appreciative recipient.
With his hands behind his back, Hu-ge paced around the training room a few times before halting directly in front of Ji Xing.
“You must be Ji Xing, right?” Hu-ge asked.
The surrounding trainees shot furtive glances at Ji Xing, silently concluding that he was about to meet his doom.
Teacher He’s manager had specifically chosen a day when the actor was absent to pay a visit, ostensibly to check on the trainees, but in reality, he was undoubtedly targeting Ji Xing. After all, with a trending scandal blowing up last night, any manager would lose their mind over it.
“Mm…” Ji Xing was mid-bite when he looked up, a dab of cream still resting on the tip of his nose and the corner of his lips, looking remarkably obedient and innocent.
Hu-ge, who had been glaring with wide, fierce eyes, froze upon locking eyes with Ji Xing, his aggressive aura instantly softening by a few notches. “Is the cake good?” he asked.
“Delicious. Thank you… Teacher Hu.”
Ji Xing had wanted to call him older brother, but realizing it sounded too intimate, he changed his form of address right at the tip of his tongue.
Hu-ge: ……