Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 43

The next day when he woke up, Zhan Hang’s cold was already pretty much better. After all, his body had a solid foundation.

But very unfortunately, Zhao Kaile had been proven right by him and also caught a cold.

Zhan Hang looked at him with an amused expression and mocked, “What did I tell you.”

Zhao Kaile pulled his mask up a bit, sniffed his nose, and stood far away from him, pretending he hadn’t heard.

The two entered the elevator one after another. From behind, Jin Mengjie shouted for them to wait, then several assistants clustered around Li Yang and swarmed in all at once. Zhan Hang was directly squeezed into the corner. Zhao Kaile accidentally laughed out loud, which immediately triggered a bout of heart wrenching coughing.

Zhan Hang: “…”

Jin Mengjie looked back and saw it was them, and hurriedly greeted them, “Brother Hang, Zhao Kaile, oh my, why are you coughing like this? Got infected?”

Zhan Hang was already thoroughly displeased from being squeezed into the corner. Seeing it was Li Yang, he became even more irritable and only nodded coldly.

“No, I just didn’t pay attention last night. My quilt fell off.” Zhao Kaile said in a muffled voice, “You all be careful. It’s too easy to catch a cold during seasonal change.”

Jin Mengjie agreed with “yes yes” and then chatted about this and that with him, as if with her around, the atmosphere would never be awkward or silent.

Li Yang looked back at Zhan Hang and asked, “Brother Hang, are you feeling better?”

“Much better.” Zhan Hang said through his mask, not bothering to put on any smiling expression, only moving his eyebrows.

“That’s good.” Li Yang said, “I originally wanted to treat you to dinner during the rest days. I heard from Kaile that you weren’t feeling well. I didn’t expect it to be that serious yesterday.”

Zhan Hang said, “Small issue. We’ll push harder today and make up what we can.”

Li Yang asked a bit embarrassedly, “Then can I still treat you to dinner?”

Zhao Kaile was a bit surprised hearing this. He felt that for Li Yang to have his assistant come help invite Zhan Hang was already quite polite. He hadn’t expected this person to ask so directly and so openly right in front of Zhan Hang. It was clear this guy really wanted to treat Zhan Hang to dinner…

But why?

“Li Yang, eating together doesn’t necessarily mean you’re friends, and not eating together doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be friends.” Zhan Hang’s reply was even more direct, “Don’t get hung up on this formality. If you have something you want to say or ask, you can chat now, or you can send me a message on your phone. I won’t pretend I didn’t see it.”

Li Yang hadn’t expected him to reject so bluntly even face to face. He suddenly didn’t know how to react and could only respond with an awkward “mm.”

Zhao Kaile hurriedly smoothed things over, “We still have to stay together in this production crew for over a month. There will be plenty of opportunities.”

“Yes yes.” Jin Mengjie laughed hehehe, “Let’s talk about it when we’re not busy.”

Fortunately, with a ding, the elevator arrived at the first floor in time, not giving this awkward atmosphere a chance to continue. Several people tacitly exited the elevator doors and got into their respective cars.

Zhao Kaile was organizing the schedule in the car and said thoughtfully, “Brother Hang, since you don’t want to sell fu with Zhao Jingran, then selling fu with Li Yang wouldn’t be bad either. He seems to really want to eat with you, and his popularity is high right now. It definitely wouldn’t be a loss for us to get on good terms with him.”

“Oh… I didn’t realize you were quite the strategist.” Zhan Hang said sarcastically, “You really think eating is just eating? Inviting someone to dinner is two different things. First is having a favor to ask, second is a proper meal. With the relationship between him and me, do you think it could be the second?”

Zhao Kaile, “Okay okay. Then you just don’t eat with him. Just be nicer to him when you have nothing to do, leech off some of his popularity.”

Zhan Hang looked at him speaking so seriously and the corner of his mouth twitched, “Who did you learn this from? Can you learn something good? Running around leeching off this and that all day. What substantial things can you leech? Honestly filming your scenes is the way out.”

Zhao Kaile, “But…”

“But what but.” Zhan Hang scolded, “Sell fu sell fu, look at what kind of people come out of selling fu. Do you really want me to find some guy to be all lovey dovey with?”

“…” Zhao Kaile, “That’s not what I meant. I just want to see you…”

Zhan Hang raised his eyebrows and looked at him, patiently waiting for what came next.

Zhao Kaile sniffed his snot and said, “Um… want to see you get famous sooner.”

Zhan Hang averted his gaze, speechless.

He could trade barbed remarks for barbed remarks. He could hurl back fierce insults without reservation, even more viciously. He could return physical blows without courtesy. But straightforward, earnest care was something he simply couldn’t handle.

He seemed born unable to openly accept this kind of goodwill.

“Who knows.” Zhan Hang said indifferently, “Maybe this drama will blow up after filming. Maybe the next one will blow up after filming.”

Zhao Kaile was dripping snot, his whole person a bit dejected, “So hard.”

Zhan Hang didn’t speak anymore. He occasionally glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, wanting to touch his head or ears or something, but even when they arrived at the set, he didn’t act on it.

The moment they got out of the car, Zhao Kaile was hit by the wind and let out a huge sneeze. When he reached the rest tent, he was still a bit shivery. Zhan Hang wrapped his own coat around him and went on set to film.

Zhao Kaiming called and nagged on and on about a lot of things. At the end, when he heard Zhao Kaile’s nasal tone while answering, he immediately caught him, “See see, I told you to pay attention pay attention. Where did you pay attention to?”

“But I didn’t know my quilt fell off while I was sleeping.” Zhao Kaile held hot water and took a sip, listlessly saying, “By the time I knew, I had already caught it.”

Zhao Kaiming asked, “Do you have a fever?”

Zhao Kaile touched his own forehead and said vaguely, “Probably not.”

“What do you mean probably not.” Zhao Kaiming said seriously, “If you really have a fever, go get it checked immediately. Take medicine if you need to take medicine. Get an IV if you need to get an IV.”

Zhao Kaile, “It’s fine… This kind of small cold will be better in a day or two.”

“Where are you right now?” Zhao Kaiming asked, “Brother will come see you.”

Zhao Kaile, “No need. You focus on your work.”

“Brother has been saving up his days off. You won’t let brother go out to find old friends to play with, so brother simply won’t take time off.” Zhao Kaiming said, “Might as well come find you.”

Zhao Kaile hesitated and said, “Then I won’t have time to accompany you to play… At most we can eat together.”

“I know you’re busy. Brother just needs to see you for a moment.” Zhao Kaiming said in a disappointed tone, “You don’t even miss your brother anymore?”

Zhao Kaile, “…Ugh, come come come.”

He hung up the phone, sent his location, then held his hot water in a daze, thinking that sure enough, when people are sick, they especially miss their family.

At noon, Zhan Hang came back to rest and brought two boxed lunches.

Zhao Kaile’s mind was muddled. Only then did he remember he had forgotten to order lunch.

He said with some apology, “Sorry, Brother Hang…”

“You’re already sick silly. Can I still exploit you?” Zhan Hang was opening the packaging, saying with a blank expression, “So many people on set. If they saw, they would definitely say behind my back that I’m utterly heartless.”

Zhao Kaile knew his mouth never had anything good to say. Having heard it so much, he could actually detect a different kind of concern, so he grinned and ate on his own.

Zhan Hang asked, “Does your head hurt?”

“No.” Zhao Kaile said, “I took medicine. It’s nothing serious.”

Zhan Hang, “If you’re really sleepy, go sleep in the car. I’m giving you the day off.”

Zhao Kaile waved his hand, indicating he was really fine.

Not far away, Li Yang saw the two of them holding boxed lunches and eating rather pitifully. He thought about it, called Jin Mengjie over, and had her bring a few dishes over to supplement their meal. Zhan Hang didn’t decline and politely thanked her.

Zhao Kaile watched with a face full of relief, nodding nonstop, thinking that Brother Hang had really grown up.

“…” Zhan Hang saw what he was thinking at a glance. He casually shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice, put down his chopsticks, and left.

Zhao Kaile asked in confusion, “Brother Hang, you’re not eating anymore?”

“Mm.” Zhan Hang said from afar, “Going to chat with the director for a bit.”

Zhao Kaile watched his back in a daze, then looked down at the extra dishes, and nodded thoughtfully.

In the evening, Zhao Kaile asked for one hour off and arranged to meet Zhao Kaiming at a hot pot restaurant not far from the CC Hotel.

Zhao Kaiming greeted him with a bear hug the moment they met, rubbing him all over in his embrace. Zhao Kaile said in agony, “My nose is stuffed!”

“Know that.” Zhao Kaiming said excitedly, “See what good stuff brother brought you.”

Zhao Kaile took the thermos from his hand, opened it and looked. It was steaming hot brown sugar ginger tea with an egg beaten in.

The two waited in the restaurant for the server to bring the dishes. Under his brother’s supervision, Zhao Kaile frowned and gulped down the ginger tea, even letting out a burp at the end.

Zhao Kaiming laughed, “How is it? Much better?”

“Mm.” Zhao Kaile said, “Much better… Is the new job good? Is the boss good?”

Zhao Kaiming said, “Not bad. The boss treats me well. Mainly because brother is handsome.”

Zhao Kaile had a face full of disgust, “You’re so narcissistic, Zhao Kaiming.”

“Brother was the class heartthrob back then okay? Even organized a band in school.” Zhao Kaiming had no sense of shame, boasting loudly, “Back then which girl didn’t get so mesmerized by your brother’s peerless looks that she couldn’t walk?”

Zhao Kaile, “Keep your voice down!”

“What’s there to be afraid of.” Zhao Kaiming said cheerfully, “Just now when we came in, there was even a little girl who wanted to add me on WeChat.”

As they spoke, a female server came to arrange the plates. Hearing this, she sized up Zhao Kaiming and cooperatively said, “Handsome guy, tidy yourself up and you could debut.”

Zhao Kaiming clapped his hands, looking proudly at his younger brother with a face full of “I told you so, and you still didn’t believe.”

After the person left, Zhao Kaile finally reined in his awkward smile and said speechlessly, “She was just being polite! Don’t take it seriously!”

“Ah.” Zhao Kaiming, “Why don’t you believe your brother no matter what?”

The two brothers bickered noisily. Amid the bustling and lively voices, Zhao Kaile suddenly heard a familiar voice.

The female server’s tone carried some surprise, “Party of three?”

“Yes.” A female voice asked politely, “Do you have a small booth toward the inside?”

“Yes.” The server said warmly, “Please follow me.”

Translation Notes:

sell fu (卖腐): Deliberately creating homoerotic subtext or fanservice between male celebrities to attract BL fans. As discussed in previous chapters, Zhan Hang views this as cynical marketing he wants to avoid.