Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 111

Zhan Hang’s popularity had shot up, and none of the actors currently working with him were letting this golden opportunity slip by. Some were quietly trying to ride his coattails, while others, like Jin Wan, were brazenly dragging him off under the excuse of filming behind the scenes footage so they could snap a group photo and post it on Weibo. Usually, when posts like this went out, the team wouldn’t have her clearly state that it was for a drama they were filming together. Instead, they’d pair it with an ambiguous caption and tag Zhan Hang’s Weibo account.

Naturally, this was something the CP fans of Zhang Wenqian and Zhan Hang would never accept.

So the moment this Weibo post dropped, it was yet another chaotic free for all between three sets of CP fans and solo fans, while rival teams’ water armies and haters took the chance to stir the pot and muddy the waters.

One evening after wrapping up work, Zhao Kaile clicked into Zhang Wenqian’s Weibo, feeling a bit guilty, with a strange sense that he had stolen his goddess’s CP partner.

As for the fans’ questioning, Zhang Wenqian herself hadn’t made any response. She was still posting her nine photo selfie grids, living her best peaceful life. The comments below were all solo fans praising her looks and CP fans who were more anxious than the emperor’s eunuchs. Meanwhile, Zhan Hang had posted a vlog filmed on set, with the hashtag for the drama they were currently shooting. The message was obvious: he and Jin Wan were just filming together, a simple working relationship, nothing more.

The storm on Zhan Hang’s Weibo hadn’t even settled when Zhang Wenqian’s comment arrived. She left a message: Take good care of yourself, don’t work too hard.

Scrolling further down, as expected, the comments completely exploded.

Zhao Kaile watched, a bit confused, thinking what was going on, why would his goddess leave this comment… why did it feel like the two of them were fighting over a man?

Zhan Hang came out after his shower, drying his hair as he sat down beside him. He caught one glance at Zhang Wenqian’s selfie and immediately wasn’t happy.

“……” Zhao Kaile quickly swiped past her selfie, back to Zhan Hang’s Weibo, and pointed out the comment she left for him to see.

Zhan Hang was practically full of resentment: “I haven’t even asked you yet! And you dare ask me?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Zhao Kaile nearly laughed out loud: “I was asking, why would she… why is she putting on this, um… this jealous rival act?”

Zhan Hang said with disdain: “She and I haven’t interacted in so long. If we don’t interact again soon, we’ll basically be unbound. You think only Jin Wan knows how to ride the hype train?”

Zhao Kaile gave an “oh,” thinking to himself that Zhang Wenqian was already so famous, did she really need to keep clinging to others like this?

“It’s all free publicity.” Zhan Hang said magnanimously: “Xia Xingqing isn’t stupid. But before, they also helped me out a lot. If she wants to ride the wave, let her ride it.”

Back when Zhan Hang was at his lowest point, Zhang Wenqian had indeed helped him out quite a bit. When she held her concert, she had invited Zhan Hang as a special guest despite the lingering fallout from the scandal at the time. Xia Xingqing had also given him an endorsement opportunity. These were things that ordinary friends in this industry wouldn’t do. Their bond was truly not ordinary.

Zhao Kaile nodded along, then flipped through the schedule for the next few days: “Tomorrow night is the dinner with Director Ren. The day after, we just need to make an appearance at the Sword of Justice meet and greet in the East District. Oh, and… Yu Zhengfeng is in the hospital. Should we go visit him?”

Zhan Hang thought for a moment, then said: “Let’s go. Which hospital?”

“Seems like it’s the hospital in his hometown… in Province D.” Zhao Kaile said.

Zhan Hang: “What illness?”

“Colon cancer.” Zhao Kaile said, scrolling through his chat history with Yu Zhengfeng’s assistant, mostly to himself: “He should be able to recover.”

Zhan Hang pondered for a moment, then said: “No wonder we never saw him during the Sword of Justice promotional period.”

“People get to this age, it’s hard to avoid getting sick.” Zhao Kaile said halfway, then realized Zhan Hang had already deeply experienced this himself, so he changed course: “I see he’s been getting a lot of attention lately too. His old dramas are all being dug up again. He’d probably be happy to know that. I’ve even seen memes of you two in my class group chat these past couple days…”

Zhan Hang looked at him, seeming quite emotional.

Zhao Kaile said: “Actually… he hasn’t really missed his moment, right?”

Zhan Hang replied with certainty: “Right.”

The next day, XX Hotel.

Zhao Kaile helped Zhan Hang put on his sunglasses and mask. Before getting out of the car, he cautiously scanned the surroundings, only letting Zhan Hang step out after confirming there were no suspicious figures. Then he carefully led him through the main entrance.

Zhan Hang said, speechless: “What are you doing? With the way you’re acting right now, the most suspicious people around here are the two of us.”

“……” Zhao Kaile said quietly: “But your status now is completely different from before!”

Zhan Hang said, unconcerned: “Keep a normal mindset, got it?”

Zhao Kaile didn’t respond, acting as if he hadn’t heard. The incident where they didn’t bring bodyguards and got followed by a stalker fan was still fresh in his mind. Now he completely understood the mindset of those high society elites on TV who went everywhere with ten burly men in tow. After all, with their status on the line, being cautious when going out was completely understandable.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt danger lurked everywhere. He thought to himself, ugh! Sister Li was really something, what was the point of sending those few assistants? What they really needed were a few decent bodyguards!

Zhan Hang was the host, so he arrived first. Before long, Ren Jiayuan and several key creatives arrived one after another. After some small talk, they sat down to chat about recent developments and follow up on promotional plans.

A waiter came by with the menu for everyone to look over. Zhan Hang didn’t glance at it at all, leaving everything entirely to Ren Jiayuan and the others, only taking responsibility for paying the bill. Zhao Kaile was still a bit nervous, occasionally glancing toward the door as they chatted.

Ren Jiayuan seemed to notice who he was waiting for and took the initiative to ask: “Assistant Zhao, waiting for my friend?”

“Uh……” Zhao Kaile forced a smile: “Yeah, didn’t you mention him? I was wondering why he hadn’t shown up yet.”

Ren Jiayuan slapped his own forehead, saying: “Oh, look at my memory, forgot to tell you all. He’s busy, can’t make it.”

Hearing this, both Zhan Hang and Zhao Kaile breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief, while their faces put on expressions of regret.

Zhan Hang said: “Oh, is that so? That’s too bad.”

“Yes, yes.” Zhao Kaile said: “Brother Hang actually really wanted to thank him too.”

Ren Jiayuan said: “Won’t there be plenty of chances? How about another day…”

“No, no.” Zhao Kaile laughed and said quickly: “If fate brings us together, we’ll meet. We’re all in the same circle anyway, right?”

Ren Jiayuan smiled: “Makes sense. But…”

He left this hanging, and the entire table of people who had been talking all intentionally or unintentionally went quiet, turning their eyes toward him.

Zhan Hang asked at the right moment: “But what?”

Ren Jiayuan: “This old friend of mine also said, if I can get you to act in a film again in the future, and if we’re short on investors, I should feel free to ask him.”

Zhan Hang: “……”

The moment these words were spoken, the looks everyone at the table gave Zhan Hang all changed. Several gazes were all ambiguous and unclear.

Zhan Hang kept his composure, asking with a hint of a smile: “Just who is this amazing person? They think so highly of me?”

“Then wait until the day fate brings you together, and you’ll find out the answer yourself.” Ren Jiayuan used his momentum to push back, laughing heartily. The rest of the group followed with laughter, all teasing Zhan Hang about having found a powerful patron. Amid the banter, the dishes arrived, and everyone ate and drank while chatting about the recent film and television market. The conversation vaguely hinted that Sword of Justice might be making a run for the Silver Light Awards at the end of the year.

Zhao Kaile only half understood, not quite clear on the details.

During the toasts, Zhan Hang blocked all of them for him, saying he still had to drive later, while he himself drank quite heavily.

After the dinner ended and the guests were sent off, Zhao Kaile supported the tipsy Zhan Hang into the car. When they sat in the back seat, Zhan Hang gripped his hand tightly and refused to let go, not moving an inch.

Zhao Kaile said helplessly: “Brother Hang, if you keep this up we can’t get back to the hotel.”

“Sit with me for a while.” Zhan Hang said.

His speech was still fairly clear, so it was hard to tell how drunk he was. His mind was still in a relatively clear state.

Zhao Kaile looked around once more, making sure no one was paying attention to what was happening here, before sitting down beside him and reaching out to close the car door.

Zhan Hang muttered self mockingly: “Zhan Hongyuan is an even better actor than I am… You tell me, why didn’t he debut back then? If he had become an actor, what would there have been left for me…”

Zhao Kaile’s brain hadn’t quite wrapped around this yet, looking at him completely baffled.

Zhan Hang looked at him for a moment, then reached out to cup his face, his eyes a bit unfocused, leaning in close to ask: “Do you believe that Ren Jiayuan already knows what Zhan Hongyuan’s relationship to me is?”

Zhao Kaile blinked nervously, nodding: “I believe it.”

Zhan Hang asked again: “Can you guess why Ren Jiayuan is keeping it to himself?”

Zhao Kaile somewhat understood what he was getting at, but not entirely.

“Because Zhan Hongyuan must have played the pity card in front of him, put on a poor me act, to win sympathy.” Zhan Hang pinched his face, saying with resentment: “In front of Ren Jiayuan, he’s this old father who silently dedicated himself to his son behind the scenes but never showed his fatherly love. And me, his son? I’m the ungrateful, unfilial one who made something of himself and didn’t even bother to let his own father know…”

Zhao Kaile’s eyes widened slightly. During the meal just now, he had only noticed that Ren Jiayuan really wanted to urge Zhan Hang to take the initiative to meet this so called behind the scenes investor. But he had never thought about why he would do this. So there was this layer to it.

Zhan Hang saw his stunned expression, then suddenly laughed again, leaning in to kiss him.

Zhao Kaile: “……”

Weren’t they just in the middle of rich family drama?? How did they suddenly switch channels!

Normally, during this period, if they had free time in the evenings, Zhan Hang would grab Zhao Kaile to run lines with him. He would read the male lead’s lines, Zhao Kaile would read the female lead’s lines, and more often than not they’d end up running lines all the way to the bed.

But tonight, the alcohol Zhan Hang drank seemed to have quite a kick. Once he got back and hit the hotel bed, he was out cold. Zhao Kaile had to kneel on the bed and strip off his clothes, pants, shoes, and socks, panting from exhaustion.