Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 77

Zhan Hang sprinted to Ou Xiaoqin’s side, handed her the prop he was holding, and said “Go for it” while slightly out of breath. Ou Xiaoqin’s face flushed red; she was too nervous to respond and took the prop before rushing forward.

She seemed to be overly excited, and like all the standard heroines in idol dramas, she tripped over her own left foot on flat ground, executing a classic faceplant.

Zhan Hang: “…”

Nearby staff and her agent immediately rushed over in concern, asking repeatedly if she was okay. Guest contestants who were passing by also paused hesitantly. But Ou Xiaoqin sat up in a flash and shouted loudly, “I’m fine, I’m fine!”

She propped herself up with one hand, ready to stand, but her knee hurt and she plopped back down miserably. She looked down and saw a large bruise on her knee. At that moment, another guest flew past on the adjacent track. Ou Xiaoqin’s eyes went wide with urgency. She forced herself to stand and hobbled forward.

Everyone looked at each other, then finally turned to Jiang Chongyang with hesitation. Jiang Chongyang still looked like a Maitreya Buddha, smiling and waving his hand. “Respect the contestant. Let her finish.”

Sun Yimin finished his lap, came over with his hands on his hips, panting, looking like he wanted to stand up for Ou Xiaoqin. He frowned and said, “Director, let’s do it over. Don’t torment the girl like this.”

Jiang Chongyang looked innocent, indicating that he hadn’t pressured Ou Xiaoqin at all; she wanted to run on her own.

Zhan Hang couldn’t quite stand watching anymore. He jogged over to Ou Xiaoqin, leaned in and said something to her. Ou Xiaoqin suddenly froze in place, as if she had heard something unbelievable. Zhan Hang’s expression turned impatient. He walked backward and repeated it to her. Ou Xiaoqin came back to her senses and nodded in a daze. Zhan Hang stopped, crouched down, and carried her on his back. This move stunned everyone present.

Then some girls screamed softly, followed by the men hooting. The cameramen simultaneously pushed their cameras forward, doing their utmost to record this subtle moment.

Sun Yimin looked at Zhan Hang on the field, carrying someone on his back yet still walking briskly, in disbelief. As if waking from a dream, he shouted at Jiang Chongyang, “Is this even allowed?? That’s against the rules, isn’t it??”

Jiang Chongyang gave him a meaningful look. The message was clear: you yourself have exploited plenty of loopholes in the rules. You’re about the same as Zhan Hang. What face do you have to call him out now?

The show effects for this episode were absolutely explosive. Zhan Hang carried Ou Xiaoqin on his back. Originally, he had fallen behind the guests on the other tracks. However, his physique was beyond ordinary. He actually gradually closed the distance with his competitors while running with extra weight, and at the last moment directly overtook several others, crashing through the finish line and popping the confetti balloon!

The field instantly erupted into an uproar. Cheers, screams, gasps, and muttered curses rose and fell in waves.

At the finish line, Zhan Hang put down the red-faced Ou Xiaoqin and called for someone to come get her. The agent supported Ou Xiaoqin as she went to get her wound treated. Ou Xiaoqin hobbled a few steps, then suddenly remembered something. She turned around, ready to say thank you to Zhan Hang, but saw Zhao Kaile sprinting straight toward Zhan Hang, shouting excitedly, “Brother Hang! Awesome! Champion! Champion!”

Zhan Hang hurriedly reached out to catch him in fright. The two stumbled back a few steps before stopping. Zhao Kaile shoved water into his arms, then pulled out a towel, tissues, and a bottle of electrolyte drink from his bag. After weighing his options for a moment, he took the purified water back from Zhan Hang’s hand and stuffed the sports drink over instead.

“…” Zhan Hang said, “Are you Doraemon? What else did you bring?”

Zhao Kaile leaned in and whispered, “I originally brought sanitary pads to put in your shoes to absorb sweat, but I forgot just now.”

The corner of Zhan Hang’s mouth twitched. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Zhao Kaile tried his hardest to hold back his laughter, lowering his voice. “You didn’t see Sun Yimin’s expression. He was completely stunned, kept calling for the director, and the director completely ignored him… You’re too strong!”

After Zhan Hang caught his breath, he took a sip of the drink and said nonchalantly, “Ou Xiaoqin doesn’t weigh much. It’s nothing. Don’t keep making such a fuss all the time. People who don’t know better will think I won a gold medal at the Olympics. It’s embarrassing.”

Zhao Kaile paid him no mind, his eyes shining. “I recorded it all! I’ll post it on Weibo later!”

Not far away, Ou Xiaoqin sat letting people treat her wound. Her gaze kept sweeping intentionally or unintentionally toward the two of them, a faint, strange sense of loss welling up in her heart. The agent’s hand pressed a bit hard, and Ou Xiaoqin immediately hissed in pain.

“Bear with it.” Her female agent frowned slightly, her tone not carrying any apology.

Ou Xiaoqin said uneasily, “I’m sorry.”

The agent didn’t respond and continued applying medicine to her.

The first half of filming ended. Zhao Kaile enthusiastically edited his Weibo post.

Zhan Hang watched him type beside him, then looked at the images he had attached. He immediately frowned, reached out and snatched the phone away, deleting all the images in one go.

Zhao Kaile clicked his tongue in amazement, thinking, what now, what now! Isn’t this super cool!

“Don’t post pictures of me carrying her,” Zhan Hang said. “Post solo shots.”

Zhao Kaile was stunned for a moment, then reacted, reopening the album to look for pictures.

“Pick a few handsome ones. Can you do some light editing? How do you always manage to get my ugly pictures? Are you planning to secretly sell them to my antis later??” Zhan Hang fired off like a machine gun. “Other people’s assistants all come with built-in photo editing functions. Can you find some time to practice?”

Zhao Kaile broke out in a cold sweat. “Got it!!”

The two huddled together whispering for ages. Zhan Hang was extremely picky; this one wasn’t good, that one wasn’t good either. In the end, he deleted the day’s photo library down to only three pictures. They couldn’t even make a nine-grid collage. Zhao Kaile’s face went dark. He barely managed to post it.

Not far away, Ou Xiaoqin walked with unsteady steps, head lowered, saying something to another female guest with a troubled expression. That female guest looked up at her and shook her head. Zhao Kaile’s ears twitched slightly, as if he had heard something. So he said something to Zhan Hang, then got up and went over to her with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Miss Ou, would you come with me for a moment?” Zhao Kaile asked hesitantly.

Ou Xiaoqin looked at him in confusion. Zhao Kaile opened his bag to show her the contents, and she immediately understood.

The two went to a spot shielded by the building. Zhao Kaile handed her the pack of sanitary pads he hadn’t had the chance to give to Zhan Hang.

Ou Xiaoqin took it. Her expression clearly showed she was thunderstruck, but out of politeness she couldn’t say much. She said extremely awkwardly, “Thank you… uh, why are you…”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, don’t get the wrong idea!” Zhao Kaile hurriedly clarified. “I’m not a pervert! I bought these for Brother Hang!”

Ou Xiaoqin’s expression grew even more shocked. “He he…”

“No no no no.” Zhao Kaile said, “To absorb foot sweat! He doesn’t get periods!”

Ou Xiaoqin: “…”

A moment later, Ou Xiaoqin came out after getting herself sorted. Zhao Kaile was holding his phone, head lowered, replying to messages seriously, not noticing her scrutinizing gaze.

“What’s your name?” Ou Xiaoqin asked.

“I’m… Zhao Kaile.” Zhao Kaile looked up at her, his expression a bit belatedly embarrassed. “Are you okay?”

Ou Xiaoqin shook her head.

Zhao Kaile asked, “Where’s your assistant? Why didn’t they buy them for you?”

The two walked side by side, not too close, not too far. Ou Xiaoqin smiled and said, “That’s not my assistant, that’s my agent. Before this, she only handled very senior veterans at the company. I don’t know why the boss suddenly stuck me with her… I didn’t dare ask her to go.”

Zhao Kaile suddenly understood. No wonder. The company didn’t even assign her an assistant. That agent lady must be extremely resentful of the company’s arrangement, so she was taking it out on her own artist. Anyway, Ou Xiaoqin wasn’t that famous yet. Offending her own agent would only make her path harder in the future.

“Everyone has it rough.” Zhao Kaile thought for a moment, then said to her, “It’ll be better once you have popularity and heat later. I’ve heard your ‘Where the Butterfly Flies.’ It’s very good.”

Ou Xiaoqin smiled. “Thank you.”

“Does your foot still hurt?” Zhao Kaile asked.

“It’s nothing, just scraped skin.” Ou Xiaoqin said shyly. “It’s my own fault for having poor athletic nerves. Luckily Brother Hang saved the score. He’s really amazing.”

Zhao Kaile heard her praising Zhan Hang and immediately looked immensely proud. “Indeed! Brother Hang is basically Superman! Have you seen that previous fight scene video? It’s truly smooth and flowing!”

“I’ve seen it.” Ou Xiaoqin looked at the road ahead and smiled. “Very cool… Hmm, Kaile? Is this how you two normally get along?”

Zhao Kaile moved his eyebrows, looking at her in puzzlement.

Ou Xiaoqin said, “I just really admire the dynamic between you two. It’s not like an artist and an assistant, it’s more like…”

“Like friends, right? We’re super good friends.” Zhao Kaile said seriously, “Brother Hang is very loyal. Don’t look at him like he has negative EQ. Actually, he’s the most reliable at critical moments.”

After he finished speaking, he felt a bit guilty. He prayed silently in his heart for a moment, thinking, sorry Brother Hang, let me brag a bit.

Ou Xiaoqin wanted to say something but stopped, then nodded.

Zhao Kaile then shamelessly said, “That’s just how people interact. Who treats you well and who treats you badly, you actually know in your heart. It’s like drinking water; you know whether it’s warm or cold…”

He rattled on and on. Ou Xiaoqin just patiently responded and didn’t interrupt.

“Hehehe, I talk too much. Don’t mind me.” Zhao Kaile finally realized something and stopped the topic, embarrassed.

“No, chatting with you is very interesting.” Ou Xiaoqin let out a breath and showed a somewhat melancholic smile. “My mood gets better.”

“…” Zhao Kaile immediately imagined her being squeezed by her company and agent every day, depressed all the time, and finally successfully driven mad by all sides’ pressure. She would stand on the top floor of the company building with an elegant smile, wearing a white long dress, like a butterfly fluttering down to the ground floor in a tragically beautiful scene.

His face immediately turned green. “No no no… How about we add each other on WeChat? If you’re in a bad mood, you can chat with me. Don’t do anything stupid. Staying alive is the most important thing.”

Ou Xiaoqin: “Huh??”