Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 99

“Your footsteps will not remain here forever, Tang Wen. This is merely a transitional place that fosters your growth and occasionally gives you a moment to breathe.” Yu Wenrong stood on the observation platform, looking down at over a hundred soldiers on the drill ground shouting slogans in neat formation, and slowly said to Zhan Hang: “Your goal lies in higher and farther places.”

Zhan Hang’s pupils trembled slightly, and a resolute light faintly showed in his eyes, as if only at the story’s end did he finally understand his master’s painstaking efforts toward him from before.

“I understand.” He said in a low voice: “I will not disappoint you.”

Yu Wenrong said: “You should not take my expectations as your motivation.”

Zhan Hang straightened his back and stood at attention, saying loudly: “Yes!”

The camera slowly pulled back, sweeping past the ranks of soldiers, then cut to a long shot, slowly fading out.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Ren Jiayuan did not call cut midway. He only nodded slightly, watching the display screen with focused attention, then raised his voice to announce that “Sharp Sword” was officially wrapped.

The celebratory cannon that had been prepared early exploded with a bang. All the actors and staff cheered and applauded together.

Only upon hearing this abrupt sound did Zhan Hang seem to wake up, looking at the people around him clapping and smiling with slight surprise. Yu Wenrong laughed and patted his shoulder: “It’s over. Come, group photo.”

At the end of every television drama’s filming work, by convention, all participants take several group photos together.

Zhao Kaile knew this was another moment to reflect billing order, so he stood waiting curiously to one side.

Ren Jiayuan and the supervising producer unsurprisingly stood in the center. He specially called Zhan Hang to his side. Yu Wenrong, who had originally wanted to stand beside Ren Jiayuan, had his smile freeze for a moment, then naturally walked to the supervising producer’s side, pretending nothing had happened. Song Yiming stood thoughtlessly beside Zhan Hang. The other few male leads laughed and cried at the same time, outwardly deferring to each other while actually all wanting to move toward the center.

Zhao Kaile secretly laughed in his heart, quietly giving Zhan Hang a thumbs up. Zhan Hang smiled noncommittally and turned his face toward the camera.

After filming ended, it was still the usual wrap banquet, appearances, socializing, and relationship building, maintaining public interactions with various actors to help the production team with marketing.

But in reality, the online attention for this drama was not very high. Calling it marketing was more like the cast’s fans and capital entertaining themselves internally. It only made quite a splash within the industry, after all, because of a mysterious major investor behind the scenes who only put in money without revealing their origins, which was still relatively rare in this circle. When all was said and done, besides seeking money, these investors also sought fame. Once they had fame, money came faster too. It was truly rare to find someone who only invested money without seeking fame.

A few days later, the two returned to Zhan Hang’s home that he had been away from for so long. Zhao Kaile hurriedly ran to the cat room to see his two precious sons. The temporary cat sitter that Lu Jiayin had contacted had not left yet, and was startled to see him return.

The two greeted each other. The girl said shyly: “Hello. KIKI and TITI are both in very good condition. Their appetite is normal, and their bowel movements show no abnormalities.”

“Good, good.” Zhao Kaile said politely: “Thank you for your hard work these past few days.”

The girl packed her things and went downstairs. Zhao Kaile followed to see her out. When they reached downstairs, Zhan Hang was sitting on the sofa.

His ten fingers were crossed against his chin. His two eyes quietly stared at the floor, not speaking a word, as if completely unaware that there were other people nearby.

The girl was startled, hesitating to greet him in a small voice, but Zhan Hang showed no reaction at all.

Zhao Kaile hurriedly said: “He might be in a bad mood. Let me see you out first. Sorry.”

“Okay.” The girl’s face was slightly red, and she left awkwardly.

After sending the guest off and returning, Zhao Kaile stood nearby observing Zhan Hang curiously for a while, discovering that he really seemed to have entered a meditative state. Talking to him got no response, and waving a hand in front of his eyes got no movement.

Zhao Kaile: “……..”

What was going on? Was it really possible for someone to sleep with their eyes open!

Just as he was biting his nails thinking about how to pull Zhan Hang out of this strange state, Lu Jiayin called.

“Sister Li was right. ‘Sharp Sword’ really seems like it’s going to flop. Not even a splash on Weibo.” She seemed to be walking while talking on the phone, with noisy voices nearby: “There’s no need for us to follow up with subsequent activities either. I’ll push back the trip to X Province for Hang-ge. Let him seize the time to rest for a few days. I’ve also looked at several new scripts. I’ll bring them over for you to pick from later.”

“Sister Jiayin.” Zhao Kaile cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered from the side: “Hang-ge seems to have had his soul leave his body……”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiayin’s heel slipped and she nearly twisted her ankle. She hurriedly supported herself against the wall and asked: “What soul leaving his body? What’s wrong?”

“He sat down on the sofa as soon as he got home. Not talking, not moving, just sitting there spacing out.” Zhao Kaile said with slight panic: “He doesn’t seem like he’s about to get angry either. I don’t know what’s wrong with him……..”

Lu Jiayin was silent for a while, then said: “It’s fine. Aftereffects. Too deep into the role, temporarily hasn’t come out yet.”

Zhao Kaile frowned slightly. Previously at the hotel, Zhan Hang would only occasionally call his name wrong for a character from the drama when he was drowsy at night, but he had never been this severe before.

Lu Jiayin thought for a moment and said: “It’s also rare to see him in this condition. I’ve seen it once before, when he filmed ‘Shadow.’ I don’t know if you’ve watched that drama.”

“I have.” Zhao Kaile said: “He acted very well.”

Lu Jiayin said: “Yes, precisely because he was too invested, too deeply submerged. After that drama finished filming, he didn’t talk to us for several days. Sister Li was also startled. I thought he was really depressed.”

Zhao Kaile said somewhat worriedly: “Okay……. Is it really okay like this.”

“It’s fine.” Lu Jiayin said: “You just stay awake. Remember to feed him on time.”

Zhao Kaile: “…….Okay.”

The two ended their call. Zhao Kaile walked up to Zhan Hang and squatted down to observe him.

Zhan Hang’s expressionless face was the same as usual, but the feeling he gave was completely different from normal. He seemed to still be sitting on the high platform under the moon, swearing to his sacrificed comrades in arms. Neither sad nor happy, only the will in his heart remained resolute, pressing forward without hesitation.

Zhao Kaile tentatively asked: “Tang Wen?”

Zhan Hang’s eyelashes trembled, and his eyebrows raised slightly, which counted as some response.

“The sacrifice of Xu Zhiqiang and the others was unavoidable. That you could remain means you represent the will that all of them wished to carry on.” Zhao Kaile recited from memory: “Those who survive must be even more clear-headed, even more brave.”

Zhan Hang finally raised his eyes. In his dark pupils, Zhao Kaile’s face was reflected.

“Hang-ge?” Zhao Kaile opened his eyes slightly wider, calling back his name: “Zhan Hang?”

Zhan Hang’s brows furrowed. He looked at him for a moment, then asked in a low voice: “What?”

His tone was a bit cocky, a bit impatient, becoming the Zhan Hang that Zhao Kaile was familiar with.

“Hang-ge??” Zhao Kaile’s delight showed on his brows, surprised: “You still know who I am?”

Zhan Hang: “…….”

The moment Zhao Kaile saw this contemptuous look in his eyes, he knew his soul had returned to its proper place. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and stood up as if a heavy burden had been lifted. However, he had squatted too long, and his feet were terribly numb. The moment he stood up, he uncontrollably pitched forward, nearly performing a grand bowing ceremony for Zhan Hang. Zhan Hang reacted extremely quickly and supported him, scolding from his mouth: “Be careful!”

Zhao Kaile laughed while hissing and sucking in air, his expression extremely twisted. Under Zhan Hang’s support, he sat down to one side.

Zhan Hang pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing he still hadn’t quite recovered, his mind in chaos. If Zhao Kaile hadn’t said those few sentences to him just now, he probably really would have sat on the sofa all day.

The next day, Zhan Hang took someone to Jiang Wenjing’s consultation office.

Zhao Kaile waited outside. Zhan Hang and Jiang Wenjing sat face to face, calmly communicating about his current psychological state.

“It’s really difficult to guarantee sleep quality on set. I’ve been trying my best to fall asleep according to the schedule you planned for me.” Zhan Hang said helplessly.

“It’s not too serious. Not having insomnia is already tremendous progress.” Jiang Wenjing said: “Mr. Zhao’s approach yesterday was very correct, pulling you back from the character into the real world in time. If you had been left sitting on the sofa all night, you might have opened the door in the middle of the night, gone out to lurk in the grass, and prepared to deal with enemies. It’s not impossible.”

Zhan Hang: “…….”

Jiang Wenjing couldn’t hold back her laughter: “Just joking. How did you feel when you woke up this morning? Did you dream of any related information fragments last night?”

“No.” Zhan Hang said: “I can’t remember clearly. This morning I just felt like I was still on set, and even had Zhao Kaile help me tell the director I’d be a bit late, and also……” And was laughed at by him.

Jiang Wenjing said: “You don’t seem to have had such symptoms with previous dramas. It seems this role has brought you quite profound influence.”

Zhan Hang said frankly: “A bit. I rarely have this kind of feeling. It might be because this director is very skilled. When he explained the scenes to me, he always hit the mark in one strike, knowing how to bring me into the emotions I should have.”

“This is a rather good life experience.” Jiang Wenjing said gently: “You can occasionally recall it, but don’t always immerse yourself in the memories. After the story ends, you are still Zhan Hang. You merely briefly experienced a segment of another person’s life journey.”

Zhan Hang rubbed his temples and sighed: “I’ll try my best…….”

“Go read a book, or watch a film.” Jiang Wenjing said: “Web novels are fine too, anything at all. Or take your assistant on a relaxed and pleasant trip.”

Zhan Hang pondered for a moment, then nodded.

The setting sun was sinking in the west. Zhan Hang came out of the office. Zhao Kaile was sitting on the small stool at the doorway hugging his bag, quietly waiting for him, his head leaning against the wall, nodding bit by bit, dozing off again.

Zhan Hang’s heart warmed slightly. He walked slowly up to him, looked at him with gentle eyes for a moment, then unceremoniously reached out and pinched his face hard, saying coolly: “Wake up.”

Zhao Kaile cried out with an ah, suddenly waking up with a start, bouncing up and reflexively wiping the corner of his mouth.

Zhan Hang smiled, casually smoothing down the stray hairs sticking up on his head with one hand, and said from his mouth: “Let’s go home.”