“Brother Ji, please do not scare me!” Xiao Lin’s voice was trembling.
“Do not look at me like that.” Ji Xing looked guilty.
“What is actually going on? Why did you suddenly ask me to buy that?”
“I am just taking precautions. You saw what happened to Xiao Huang, and I thought it would be safer to be careful.” Ji Xing felt uncomfortable under Xiao Lin’s gaze, so he turned his back to him.
Xiao Lin was not so easily fooled. He might not dare to speak about others, but he understood Ji Xing’s character well. If the other party wanted this, it certainly would not be for the future; it must be because he needed it right now.
“Brother Ji, that night, between you and Teacher He… cough, cough. Did Teacher He not wear protection?” Xiao Lin asked.
“We were both drunk that night. He probably did not,” Ji Xing replied.
He did not tell Xiao Lin that he had thought he was in a dream at the time, and he had no idea that men could get pregnant in this world. If he had known in advance, he would have done anything to remind He Mingchen to take safety measures.
Wait, if he had known in advance, he should have prevented that night from happening in the first place.
“Do you have any symptoms?” Xiao Lin asked again.
“What… what kind of symptoms?”
“I mean, in your stomach.”
“As for my stomach, I cannot really say.” Ji Xing finally found someone he could confide in and immediately told Xiao Lin about all his anxieties. “But I looked it up online, and they say that if your appetite increases and you like to sleep, you might be pregnant.”
Increased appetite and a desire to sleep—did these not all match?
Xiao Lin sighed, his brows furrowed tightly.
“Do not worry. What if it is just a coincidence? Perhaps you are just eating more and sleeping more because you are too tired from the show.” Xiao Lin forced himself to stay calm and said to Ji Xing, “Stop scaring yourself. I will go buy it now, and we can test it to see.”
He said he was about to leave, but he stopped at the door.
“What is wrong?” Ji Xing asked.
“There are many paparazzi filming secretly nearby, so I cannot buy it here. How about this: tomorrow, after you go to the set, I will wait for the paparazzi to leave with you, then I will quietly take a taxi further away to a place where no one knows us to buy it.”
Ji Xing did not expect him to be so thoughtful, and he felt much more at ease.
Xiao Lin was calm in front of Ji Xing, but once he returned to his room, he was so worried he began pulling out his hair. It would be fine if it was a false alarm, but if Brother Ji was truly pregnant, it would be a huge problem.
If it were any other artist, they would at least have a company to protect them, but Ji Xing was different. Their company was ruthless; if they found out, not only would they not protect Ji Xing, but they might even push him to blackmail He Mingchen.
If the company took the opportunity to hype up the situation for quick money, Ji Xing’s future would be destroyed. He would offend He Mingchen, ruin his reputation with the public, and perhaps disappear from the industry entirely.
The only hope was that He Mingchen truly cared about Brother Ji and was willing to do whatever it took to protect him. However, Xiao Lin had seen too much of the industry’s cold reality, and he had not seen much genuine love.
He Mingchen treated Ji Xing well on the surface, but it did not look like he was completely head over heels. A top-tier movie star like him had plenty of traffic and great work; could he really risk so much to protect Brother Ji?
Xiao Lin was not optimistic.
Xiao Huang was a living example. The pregnancy and miscarriage caused such a huge scene that it was on the trending topics for a day, and Xiao Huang was slandered in every possible way. If the other father of the child had stood up to say something at that time, even if he were just an ordinary person, he could have helped share some of the heat for Xiao Huang.
But that man seemed to have vanished, never willing to show his face.
Xiao Lin sighed and prayed that heaven would help, hoping his Brother Ji was not pregnant.
While Xiao Lin was too worried to sleep, Ji Xing lay down early.
However, since the matter was unresolved, he tossed and turned, only managing to fall asleep near dawn.
He finally fell asleep, only to have nightmares all night. In one moment, he dreamed he was filming the show with a large belly and being scolded by netizens for his chaotic private life. In the next, he dreamed he was caught by He Mingchen while taking a pregnancy test, and the man hauled him away to keep him imprisoned. In the latter half of the dream, He Mingchen did all sorts of indescribable, exhausting things to him.
When washing his face in the morning, Ji Xing looked at his exhausted self in the mirror and felt full of melancholy. He could not handle He Mingchen’s antics even in his dreams; would it not kill him in reality?
Perhaps because of this emotional turmoil, his appetite was poor that morning, and he felt full after only a few bites. Xiao Lin was also preoccupied and ate even less than Ji Xing.
After breakfast, Ji Xing followed the show’s bus to the filming site, while Xiao Lin took a taxi to the city center after everyone had left. To avoid being followed, he even went to the mall to watch a movie and walked around until he was sure it was safe before heading to the pharmacy.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
When Ji Xing reached the site, he learned it was his group’s turn for a livestream.
Because the livestream segment in the first phase of the show received great feedback, the production team continued this content in the second phase, setting up a dedicated stream at the filming site.
Since their short film was different from filming a full television series, they were not afraid of spoilers or leaking content in advance.
“Ji Xing, there are many of your fans in the livestream today, so you must do your best. Do not be like you were yesterday,” Chen Feng reminded him half-jokingly while waiting for their cue.
“Mm.” Ji Xing nodded without saying much.
Although Chen Feng’s tone sounded friendly, his words clearly had a hidden meaning.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the audience in the livestream chat quickly grasped the point.
Livestream Chat:
What happened yesterday?
Did Ji Bao have trouble filming yesterday?
That cannot be, was Teacher He not there?
Ji Bao looks a bit unhappy.
Where is his boyfriend? Come comfort the baby.
At this moment, He Mingchen was sitting in front of the monitor, watching the footage from the set.
For this shoot, the mentor had many responsibilities, so the role of executive director was delegated to staff. As the artistic director and producer, He Mingchen only needed to sit in front of the monitor to control the overall effect.
In other words, he did not need to be on set unless necessary.
On the monitor screen, the executive director was giving Ji Xing instructions. They had rehearsed that scene many times; it was the part where the young master and the villain were alone together shortly after meeting. At this point, the young master was simple-minded, had no defenses against the villain, and trusted him completely.
Ji Xing had performed smoothly during rehearsals, but he could not find the right state during the last two days of filming.
“You have no defenses toward him right now. You should be in a very relaxed and natural state. Do not be too tense,” the executive director told Ji Xing.
Ji Xing nodded, but when they started filming, he still could not grasp the feeling, and they failed to get it right after three takes.
“Let’s take a ten-minute break,” He Mingchen said over the intercom.
“Understood, Teacher He.” The executive director signaled for the staff to take a ten-minute break.
The livestream continued.
The audience in the chat also sensed the problem and was very worried about Ji Xing’s state.
In the first phase of the show, Ji Xing had fully demonstrated his talent for acting. Whether it was in the edited episodes or the livestreams, he had never dropped the ball.
His performance today was clearly below his normal level.
Livestream Chat:
Why does Teacher He not help Ji Bao?
Ji Bao looks so frustrated. I want to hug him.
What actually happened?
I remember a teacher saying before that Xiao Ji is an experiential actor who is very dependent on his state of mind.
Why has Emperor He just been sitting there watching?
Am I the only one who feels they are both in a bad mood?
Did the couple fight?
Wuwu, do not fight. Please make up!
Ji Bao is so cute, how could he fight with him?
The show’s group director had been monitoring the livestream. Since the director was changed after the first episode, the new director had not interfered much with the site.
But this time, she watched He Mingchen sit in front of the monitor for two days and felt puzzled.
If she remembered correctly, Teacher He had always taken care of Ji Xing. In the past, if Ji Xing had performed poorly, he would have stepped up to help him rehearse immediately. But this time, Ji Xing had been off since yesterday, and he was still not performing well today, yet He Mingchen showed no intention of helping.
Did they have a private argument?
“I feel like Ji Xing still lacks experience and really needs a teacher to guide him at this stage,” the director said.
She had muted the livestream audio for He Mingchen’s side, so their conversation would not appear in the stream.
“Young actors easily encounter these problems,” He Mingchen said.
“Is Teacher He not planning to help him?” the director asked again.
He Mingchen’s gaze fell on the monitor. In the corner of the frame, Ji Xing was sitting on a folding stool by the field, holding a disposable paper cup and looking very frustrated. He had the kind of face that could not hide anything; his emotions were written all over his face when he was happy or sad. He looked so pitiful that one would want to go and comfort him.
But He Mingchen held back.
He looked away and signaled via the intercom for the site to continue filming.
For the entire morning, Ji Xing was in a poor state.
Perhaps it was because he had re-shot too many times, but his frustration had accumulated to the extreme. He even began to doubt himself: could he not act at all?
Why could he not perform well in such a simple scene?
“Why do you not go ask Teacher He for help?” Chen Feng sat down in the seat next to Ji Xing.
“I…” Ji Xing was about to say something, but remembering the livestream, he swallowed his words.
He had seen the hot searches before and knew he had many CP fans with He Mingchen. In the past, he might not have cared, but after the events of the last two days, he realized that the more popular the topic of himself and He Mingchen became, the greater the backlash would be if something happened in the future.
Although Ji Xing was slow, he had a strong sense of crisis.
He could also feel that Chen Feng had deliberately mentioned He Mingchen to him.
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Feng finished speaking, the audience in the livestream reacted.
Livestream Chat:
Chen Feng, ask a few more questions!
Why is Ji Bao stopping himself?
He does not even want to say his boyfriend’s name. They must have fought.
I am dying of anxiety. Can someone make He Mingchen hurry over here?
I want to see them in the same frame!
They are clearly in the same studio, yet they act like lovers separated by the Milky Way.
“What is wrong? Is something on your mind?” Chen Feng continued to ask.
“No, thank you,” Ji Xing said.
“Teacher He has not seemed to appear on set since yesterday, right?”
“Seems like it.”
After Chen Feng’s reminder, Ji Xing noticed this too.
Although he did not know why, He Mingchen’s performance was vastly different from before. In the past, even though he was strict, he would actively help whenever a trainee had performance problems. But Ji Xing had been stuck since yesterday, and He Mingchen had not appeared at all.