Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 118

The night before joining the production, Zhan Hang sat on the bed staring blankly at his contacts list.

Zhao Kaile sat at the small tea table beside him, holding a pen, frowning and muttering to himself, occasionally scribbling on a blank sheet of paper he’d found elsewhere, completely absorbed. Zhan Hang really couldn’t make up his mind, paced around the room a few times, then over to Zhao Kaile’s side, sat down, pulled him into his arms, and continued to stare blankly with a blank expression.

Zhao Kaile turned to look at him. Zhan Hang still showed no reaction, as if his soul had been extracted by some otherworldly creature.

“Brother Hang, are you still worried about what Sister Li said?” Zhao Kaile wrote a couple of lines on the paper, then asked, “Did you think of something?”

Zhan Hang said weakly, “Nothing…”

Zhao Kaile said on his own, “Sister Li probably wants to help you clear all the landmines first, so that when the time comes, others won’t dig up any problems and make the situation even uglier.”

Zhan Hang made a sound of agreement, relaxed his body, rested his chin on Zhao Kaile’s shoulder, and lazily looked at the paper in his hands, which was covered in dense writing. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you doing?”

Zhao Kaile said, “I’ve got nothing better to do, seeing if I can tweak this script a bit… I don’t know if they’ll use it or not, but I’ll send it over when the time comes anyway. At least we can say we tried.”

“……” Zhan Hang turned his chin, forcing him to face himself, and said speechlessly, “You’re just going to do free work for them? Are you stupid?”

Zhao Kaile’s eyes widened slightly, clearly not understanding what he meant.

Zhan Hang said with exasperation, “You don’t actually believe that the original screenwriter is sick, do you? He and the investors probably just don’t want to put in the effort and money, so they found a random excuse to lock the script down and be done with it. Besides, to do suspense well, the original screenwriter might not even have that skill level, and good screenwriters are expensive these days. He definitely doesn’t want to spend that money. And here you are, so eager to volunteer your own services.”

After hearing this, Zhao Kaile’s eyes grew even wider, thinking to himself, how could this be!! Why do people in this industry talk in such winding corridors!

“But…” he hesitated and argued back, “What I change might not even catch his eye. I’m just trying it out, and if it works out, it’s good for everyone.”

Zhan Hang said with a serious face, “Why do you have so little confidence in yourself? You’re the one who chases the moon!”

Zhao Kaile said, “Don’t say that name!!”

Zhan Hang clicked his tongue and said, “Fine, fine, just go ahead and change it according to your own ideas. If it works out, I’ll pay you a salary.”

Zhao Kaile said, “No…”

Can you really bring your own screenwriter onto a set?? Isn’t that too outrageous!

“Anyway, you’re the one managing my cards, so you can just transfer the money to yourself when the time comes.” Zhan Hang said a bit troubled, “Oh no… how am I going to hide my private stash of money from now on.”

Zhao Kaile didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I don’t even really want to manage your money!”

Zhan Hang whined, “No, you have to manage it.”

Zhao Kaile swatted his hand away, indicating that he needed to get back to writing seriously. But Zhan Hang seemed determined not to let him work in peace, clinging to him from behind, occasionally kissing his ears, his whole body going limp and leaning against him.

Zhao Kaile: “……”

How did this person become so childish!!

The two of them pulled and tugged at each other, back and forth, and the rolled onto the bed in a sticky. Zhao Kaile was still worried about being late tomorrow and absolutely refused to cooperate with his little love games. But Zhan Hang was dead set on having a few rounds with him and pinned him down without a word.

The next day, Zhan Hang barely made it to the opening ceremony on time, narrowly avoiding news breaking out about some newly popular artist throwing his weight around.

The several temporary assistants Bai Li had arranged for him all came to report to Zhao Kaile. They were all young people around twenty three or four, but after hearing their names, Zhao Kaile couldn’t remember which was which at all, and could only roughly tell them apart by their clothes and hairstyles. With so many people, things got a bit chaotic when assigning work. In fact, Zhao Kaile didn’t really understand why Bai Li had arranged so many people. Before, he alone had been enough to take care of Zhan Hang quite well.

They were all about the same age as Zhao Kaile, but they were all smart enough to call him “brother.”

One of the girls seemed to be a fan of Zhan Hang. As soon as they met, she surrounded him chattering away, asking about various trivial matters of Zhan Hang’s daily life. Her eyes shining brightly, she asked, “Brother Le, when Brother Hang comes off set for a break later, can we talk to him?”

“You can, but there’s no real need. If you see he’s very tired, it’s better not to approach him.” Zhao Kaile said tactfully.

The girl said, “Okay, then can I pour him some water later? Does he need a shoulder massage?”

Zhao Kaile said, “Pouring water is fine.”

The girl: “Can I take a photo of him as a keepsake?”

Zhao Kaile: “It’s best to get his permission first…”

The girl: “Are you his personal assistant? You were the one who filmed that video with him on Weibo to clear things up, right? Wow! You’re so cute in person!”

Zhao Kaile: “……”

Another person looked over and said, “It should be him. His height matches. In the video, he was a whole head shorter than Zhan Hang.”

Zhao Kaile: “………….”

At noon during the break, the group dispersed to get Zhan Hang’s lunch, pour water, and tidy up his clothes. Zhao Kaile had been driven to distraction by all their questions, and couldn’t bring himself to just snap at them. By the time Zhan Hang came off set, he already had a face full of misery.

The production team had given Zhan Hang a private rest room. A sign was hung on the door, and the room was quiet and peaceful, with just the two of them for now.

Zhan Hang glanced at his little assistant and asked, “What’s wrong? Who gave you a hard time?”

“No one.” Zhao Kaile said weakly, and briefly told him what happened.

Zhan Hang said helplessly at this, “I told you to put on some airs, put on some airs. Now you know regret?”

Zhao Kaile said, “I’ve never been a leader… They’re all about the same age as my classmates. I don’t know how to manage them.”

Zhan Hang let out a hum of a laugh, reached out to pat his head, and gestured for him to come sit on his lap. Zhao Kaile immediately swatted his hand away and retreated far away, putting a good four or five meters between them.

“……” Zhan Hang said, “There’s no one here right now.”

Zhao Kaile said nervously, “They could come back any time!”

Zhan Hang had to compromise. “Fine, I won’t touch you. Come over here and talk.”

Zhao Kaile went over hesitantly, still a meter away, and dragged a small stool to sit down. “Show some backbone,” Zhan Hang lectured. “Aren’t you always so imposing when you’re writing novels? The moment I try to talk to you, you tell me to leave. Do I need to teach you how to throw a tantrum?”

Zhao Kaile said speechlessly, “That’s not the same thing!”

Zhan Hang said, “You’re only tough at home, only showing your claws and teeth to me. Why are you so timid outside?”

Zhao Kaile thought to himself, when did I ever show my claws and teeth to you!

But Zhan Hang spoke extremely fast with strong logic, and Zhao Kaile couldn’t refute a single thing he said, so he could only droop his eyebrows and listen obediently.

A moment later, the group came back, carrying a bag of boxed lunches. The girl proactively stepped forward to hand them out to everyone one by one. When she handed it to Zhan Hang, he didn’t take it, but tilted his head to indicate she should put it on the table.

The girl was startled, did as she was told, and then broke his chopsticks for him.

Zhan Hang yawned and said, “All of you go find somewhere else to sit. Close the door on your way out. Don’t disturb my rest.”

The girl bit her lip, hesitantly glanced at Zhao Kaile, and Zhao Kaile braced himself and said, “You… you all heard what Brother Hang said, right? Go on.”

The group made sounds of acknowledgment and left the rest room with varying expressions.

Zhao Kaile let out a breath, thinking to himself, this is so hard… It’s really so hard to talk like this. Why can Brother Hang do it so easily…

During the afternoon shoot, the assistants sat with Zhao Kaile in the rest tent, waiting to be called to the set at any moment.

A few minutes later, the girl greeted Zhao Kaile, saying she needed to use the restroom.

Remembering what Zhan Hang had said, Zhao Kaile put on a show of authority and said, “Yeah, hurry back.”

“Okay!” The girl giggled, humming a little tune as she left.

The female lead’s scenes got many retakes that afternoon. Zhan Hang went through them with her again and again. Zhao Kaile went up occasionally to bring him some water, and only after a while did he remember that someone was still missing from the rest tent.

Just as he was looking around in the crowd, a commotion suddenly broke out not far away. One of the female voices sounded quite familiar. Zhao Kaile followed the sound and got closer, and with a fixed gaze, saw that one of the parties in the argument was that girl from earlier.

“I didn’t take any photos! How many times do I have to say it??” The girl’s face was flushed with agitation. “I don’t even know him, why would I take photos of him!”

A man who looked like a director’s assistant said, “Miss, I’m still talking to you nicely right now. Whatever you took, delete it in front of me right now, and we won’t pursue this further.”

The girl repeated, “I didn’t take any photos!”

“Hand over your phone.” The man frowned. “Open your album and let me take a look. If you didn’t take anything, why won’t you let me see?”

The girl said angrily, “My phone is my personal privacy. Who do you think you are, wanting to see it just because you want to? I need to get back to work! Don’t block me!”

The man said, “What do you do? Whose person are you? During the production and creative phase of a film, all content must be kept confidential. Don’t you know that sneak photos are not allowed??”

Zhao Kaile’s heart skipped a beat at this, thinking, oh no.

The girl said, “I’m Brother Hang’s personal assistant! Don’t go slandering me! Brother Hang won’t let you get away with this!”

Everyone briefly froze after hearing this, then burst into an uproar.

Zhao Kaile hurriedly stepped forward to pull the girl aside, and said apologetically to the man, “Sorry, sorry, she’s a temporary assistant we hired. What did she take?”

The man pointed at the girl and said irritably, “She had her phone hidden in her sleeve and took a long clip with it covered up. Good thing I caught it in time.”

“Okay.” Zhao Kaile turned to look at the girl, reached out his hand, and gestured for her to hand it over voluntarily.

The girl gripped her phone tightly, her gaze lowered, seeming a bit guilty.

Zhao Kaile asked, “Do you really like Brother Hang?”

The girl was startled, looked up at him, her face full of confusion.

Zhao Kaile: “If you like him, why are you causing him trouble?”