Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 128

Since the two leads had already met before, the adjustment period wasn’t too long, and Zhan Hang quickly settled into his role.

After gaining some popularity, Ou Xiaoqin had taken on two TV dramas, but neither made any splash. This time, being able to get a role from Chen Fang and act opposite Zhan Hang, one could easily imagine how much effort her agent had put in behind the scenes.

After several months, Zhao Kaile saw her again and felt rather emotional. When they first met, she was completely unknown, and her company wouldn’t even arrange an assistant for her. Now they were actually willing to invest effort in pushing her to this height. Truly, once a person becomes popular, everything becomes possible.

Clearly, Ou Xiaoqin was a very well mannered girl. During breaks, she even actively came over to greet Zhao Kaile.

Zhao Kaile was a bit flattered. Actually, after they added each other on WeChat, they hadn’t contacted each other in a long time. They only occasionally liked each other’s Moments posts.

“I’m actually still a bit nervous. Whenever I’m face to face with Hang, I always want to burst out laughing.” Ou Xiaoqin covered her mouth and laughed embarrassedly. “I don’t know what to do.”

Zhao Kaile said, “It’s fine. Just imagine him as a tree, a head of cabbage, a radish or something…”

“…” Zhan Hang said to her, “If you work hard to get into character, you won’t want to laugh. You need to have a sense of belief. Do you understand?”

Ou Xiaoqin said, “Okay, okay…”

Seeing her eager to learn, Zhan Hang’s desire to teach instantly exploded. He enthusiastically shared some of his insights on acting with her.

This situation was actually quite rare. After all, Zhan Hang himself wasn’t very old. Those he worked with were either seniors or peers. Among his peers, there were many with higher status than him. Even if they knew their own acting was lacking, they would be too proud to discuss acting issues with Zhan Hang. Ou Xiaoqin was different. She was completely a blank slate, not from a professional acting background, and fully aware she had no foundation. She could lower her pride and was willing to be a student.

Zhao Kaile really admired this girl. He thought to himself, it should be someone like Ou Xiaoqin who becomes popular. If she doesn’t become popular, who should?

The break quickly ended. Ou Xiaoqin and Zhan Hang returned to the set and began rehearsing their scene.

Zhao Kaile was sitting and replying to messages when Zhao Kaiming secretly transferred some money over, saying it was this month’s income. Two thousand.

Although it wasn’t a large sum, it truly shocked Zhao Kaile.

Zhao Kaile: Bro, what’s going on… Why are you suddenly sending me money?

Zhao Kaile: Say something! Where are you!

Zhao Kaiming: Was just busy.

Zhao Kaiming: Paying back the money, aren’t I? Didn’t I owe Boss Zhan over a million? I’m saving up slowly to pay him back… There’s really nothing more this month. Right now I only have leftover food money on hand.

Zhao Kaile: #crying, Mom!

Zhao Kaiming: Mom what mom, our mom is in heaven.

Zhao Kaile: …

He looked at this transfer with a solemn expression, still somewhat in disbelief. Then he reached out and pinched his own arm.

It hurt. It was real!

Zhao Kaile immediately covered his mouth with emotion, tears streaming down on the spot.

However, he hadn’t been happy for long when a sudden commotion came from the set.

In this scene, the male lead was supposed to see someone pickpocketing the female lead’s phone, tap her shoulder to warn her, but get misunderstood by the female lead and slapped in return.

Ou Xiaoqin’s emotions had been fully present up front, but she always dropped the ball at the crucial moment when she was supposed to slap Zhan Hang’s cheek. She would either suddenly burst out laughing or her emotions wouldn’t be in place, and the slap would land soft and fake. The scene had been retaken back and forth five times. During this, Ou Xiaoqin kept apologizing. Chen Fang’s expression was a bit unpleasant. Probably finally feeling the pressure, on the sixth take she finally made a painful decision and slapped Zhan Hang hard across the face.

But it was this slap that caused trouble.

According to the script, Zhan Hang should first make an expression of disbelief, then gracefully reach out and grab the female lead’s hand that was about to slap again, and with his last bit of gentlemanly composure question her with a deadpan expression.

Zhan Hang did grab her hand, but his expression didn’t look right. His eyes didn’t carry a hint of disbelieving anger, but rather mixed suspicion and hesitation.

Chen Fang picked up on this sensitively and immediately called cut. With a bitter smile he asked, “Don’t tell me you’re going to take turns having issues? Want to take another break?”

“Sorry, give me a moment…” Zhan Hang slightly frowned, one hand hovering near his right ear, then put it down again. A continuous buzzing sound kept flashing through his ear, unceasing.

He couldn’t quite hear what Chen Fang, who was standing a bit farther away, was saying. Ou Xiaoqin’s face drew closer in front of him, her expression worried, her lips moving. She seemed to be asking if he was okay.

Zhan Hang looked at her, his expression still maintaining composure, and said, “I’m fine. It’ll pass in a moment.”

From off set, Zhao Kaile knew immediately what was going on. This was Zhan Hang’s after effect from the previous impact trauma acting up.

He was a bit anxious. He got up and moved closer to the set, casting Zhan Hang an inquiring look. But Zhan Hang only met his eyes and didn’t say much more, just shaking his head slightly.

That night when they got in the car after wrapping, Zhao Kaile immediately told Ding Peng to drive to the hospital. Ding Peng nodded and was about to head toward the hospital when Zhan Hang waved his hand to stop him.

“Don’t go. I’m fine. Going straight from the film set to the hospital, aren’t we just waiting to get photographed?” Zhan Hang frowned and said.

Ding Peng made an “oh” sound and was preparing to turn around at the next intersection.

Zhao Kaile said again, “We have to go. If you spot any suspicious people, just take a detour and shake them off. The doctor said if there are any discomfort symptoms, go back for a checkup immediately. Ding Peng, to the hospital.”

Ding Peng: “Okay…”

Zhan Hang: “I’m really fine. There’s so much to do tonight. Where do I have time to go to the hospital? Right now I can hear clearly how many dogs are barking within a ten mile radius, okay? Ding Peng, back to the hotel.”

Ding Peng: “…”

Since the two of them started dating, Zhan Hang rarely had such stubborn moments. Zhao Kaile didn’t quite know what to do. He let out a breath and turned to look out the window.

Ding Peng gripped the steering wheel and asked weakly, “Uh, so where exactly are we going?”

Zhao Kaile didn’t answer. Zhan Hang coughed and said, “Hotel.”

The car was quiet for a moment. Zhan Hang said in a low voice, “It’s really not serious. I figure it was just that slap that shook things up. Look, I don’t usually have this happen much, do I?”

That expression and tone of his was rather like he was lowering himself. Ding Peng in the front seat heard it all clearly and was incredibly shocked. He really couldn’t understand why his boss had suddenly started acting so submissive.

Zhao Kaile was clearly still a bit angry. “Do you understand the severity better than the doctor?”

Zhan Hang was silent for quite a while, then said, “How about this. If it happens one more time this month, I’ll go to the hospital immediately. Not a moment of delay. Is that okay?”

Zhao Kaile still didn’t look at him, thinking to himself whatever, it’s not like I’m the one who’ll be buzzing in my ears and hearing people talk like gibberish.

Zhan Hang reached over and hooked his pinky finger. Zhao Kaile held out for a long time but couldn’t maintain it. He finally broke, lightly pressing back into his palm.

It was true that the evening was busy. After lying around doing nothing for a month, Zhan Hang had too much to make up for. Just reading scripts and making gym workout plans was enough to keep him occupied.

That night Zhao Kaile accompanied him and seriously went through the upcoming scenes with him. He didn’t tell anyone about what happened during the day, nor did he bring up the hospital again. Only Ou Xiaoqin sent an apology message.

Although Zhan Hang told her not to worry about it, she always felt it was because her slap was too heavy, and she carried guilt in her heart.

The next day, the sky was overcast.

Ever since Zhan Hang’s accident, whenever the weather was gloomy, Zhao Kaile would always have a faint sense of foreboding in his heart. He was especially careful when going out with Zhan Hang.

Around eight in the morning during filming, a few crew members off set suddenly huddled together whispering about something. Then someone looked up toward Zhan Hang, who was concentrating on working in the set, with a somewhat surprised expression in their eyes.

Zhao Kaile had been feeling uneasy since early morning. He quickly picked up on these strange looks. He immediately pretended to throw away garbage and passed by those few people, preparing to listen to what they were talking about. However, as soon as he walked over, their voices dropped much lower. There was also a girl who seemingly couldn’t help it and glanced at him a few times.

Zhao Kaile: “???”

He simply stopped pretending. He went straight over and greeted that girl.

Girl: “Hi…”

“What were you guys just talking about? Was it about Hang?” Zhao Kaile put on a fake smile and asked politely.

The few people looked at each other. The girl hesitated for a moment, leaned in closer, and said in a low voice, “Go check PP Forum yourself. There’s a post. It’s about Zhan Hang… It’s being shared like crazy.”

Zhao Kaile froze for a moment, then his heartbeat suddenly accelerated. He hadn’t expected his bad premonition to actually come true.

He returned to his spot, pulled out his phone, and opened PP Forum. Sure enough, he saw a post highlighted in red that had been artificially pinned to the top. The comment count, share count, and view count were all visibly surging at breakneck speed. The post title was written in bold letters: Let me introduce you to an unknown, real Zhan Hang.

As the title says.

Everyone thinks Zhan Hang is a self made, inspirational artist from a grassroots background who made it through his own abilities, right? I remember last month there was a post saying he was a rare decent person in this filthy entertainment industry, praising him to the skies. May I ask that original poster, how much did Qihua pay you?

Before we talk about him, let’s first discuss his family. Baidu Baike only says his parents divorced and are both abroad. That’s not true at all. Let me tell you who his father is. His father is Zhan Hongyuan, a fugitive who was just captured overseas a few days ago.

(Attached image)

The image seemed to be captured from a video that was already not very clear, so it was also a bit blurry when posted in the text. The so called fugitive had a black hood over his head, completely hiding his face. But for some reason, Zhao Kaile could recognize at a glance that it was Zhan Hongyuan. Cold sweat instantly broke out on his palm. He suppressed his emotions and continued scrolling down.

Last month, a girl jumped to her death from the A Building of Zhongxin Tower. When you see this kind of news, you definitely scroll past it without batting an eye, right? You might not even come across it at all.

That girl was my younger sister. She was only twenty years old. Very young. She didn’t understand anything. Very pure. Very easy to fool.

The one who deceived her was this beast Zhan Hongyuan. These chat records, photos, all the evidence, I will post below. You can verify it yourselves.

(Attached image)

The evil deeds Zhan Hongyuan committed are far more than these. He was running dirty business! He should have been in prison long ago. I don’t know why he’s only being locked up now!

Comment 1: What does any of this have to do with Zhan Hang? Is the original poster just clickbaiting? The man in the picture has his face covered. You say it’s his dad and it’s his dad? Speechless.

Original poster reply: My beloved sister is already dead. Why would I still make up lies to deceive you! Zhan Hang grew up spending Zhan Hongyuan’s money. Is he clean? How does the son of a criminal deserve to continue being a glamorous public figure?? My sister died without a sound, yet Zhan Hongyuan’s son can remain safe and sound in the public eye. How is that fair??

Comment 2: Sigh, original poster, please accept my condolences. Stop arguing upstairs. How could anyone joke about the innocence of a deceased family member.

Original poster reply: Thank you for your understanding. I really can’t control my emotions.

Comment 3: But this is bad stuff his dad did. What era is this, are we still doing collective punishment? And your picture doesn’t really prove that this Zhan Hongyuan has a substantive relationship with Zhan Hang, does it?

Original poster reply: Having the same surname is already quite a coincidence. Didn’t you see the group photo I posted? Don’t they look alike?? If you’re going to deny even this, I really don’t know how else to prove it.

Comment 4: I understand the original poster’s feelings, but let’s not jump to conclusions. How did you confirm they are father and son?

Original poster reply: A friend in the industry told me. It’s really not convenient to reveal their specific information here.

Comment 5: But Brother Hang himself hasn’t done anything bad! Why are you using your sister’s death to leech off Brother Hang’s popularity? How unlucky!

Original poster reply: I don’t know what kind of malice you carry to say such things. Truly heartbreaking.

For the first several dozen comments, the direction still leaned toward Zhan Hang’s side. However, as the original poster posted more and more pictures and information, and their statements grew more and more emotionally resonant, the direction gradually shifted toward the original poster’s side. A few hundred comments down, countless level three and four accounts suddenly began intermittently posting comments defending Zhan Hang. At a glance, it was the style of paid internet trolls. Bai Li’s handiwork.

Zhao Kaile calmed himself for a moment, opened WeChat, and found that Bai Li hadn’t sent any message.

He thought for a moment and sent the issue to Lu Jiayin.

Lu Jiayin replied quickly: Hard to say. You stabilize Hang first. We just contacted the forum admin to delete the post.

However, even if this post was successfully deleted now, it was too late. Countless related derivative posts were already fermenting continuously. Clearly, this time the various parties muddying the waters were far more numerous than in any previous public opinion crisis Zhan Hang had encountered.

Half an hour later, the original post was successfully deleted. New posts that had just popped up on the forum homepage were quickly pressed into the recycle bin. But this couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the vast melon eating netizens. They frantically posted screenshots they had already saved onto various major websites. With capital power mixed with netizen power, they successfully pushed this public opinion onto the hot search.