Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 76

Unnatural Events had finally found a replacement female guest, and filming could resume. With Deng Xiaoran’s experience as a cautionary tale, Jiang Chongyang had to make some adjustments to the subsequent content. After all, there had been viewer complaints that some segments were too scary and unsuitable for audiences purely seeking entertainment, though some people enjoyed the thrill, resulting in mixed reviews.

The new female guest still needed to get reacquainted with the existing cast members. Sun Yimin was acting unusually enthusiastic, whether out of a sense of compensation or for some other reason.

During a break, Zhao Kaile was massaging Zhan Hang while keeping his eyes and ears open. In the few weeks of filming this variety show, he had heard more gossip than in the one or two months he had previously spent on set. Stories about some actress willingly being a backup for a screenwriter and refusing to let go even when the main partner showed up to confront her, about two D-list actresses fighting over a B-list actor and having their private photos leaked everywhere before even becoming famous, about some actor refusing to be taken advantage of by a director and promptly being kicked off the production, and so on.

Zhan Hang, however, couldn’t care less about these miscellaneous and possibly fabricated rumors. He held up his phone, expressionless, reading a novel. Zhao Kaile’s new work had been serialized up to the thirtieth chapter, but the Snake Woman still hadn’t made her official appearance. The early descriptions of her were merely “a young woman with a veiled face, wearing bells, with a seductive figure and purple-tinted pupils”…

“When will I have direct contact with the Snake Woman?” he asked, raising one eyebrow, speaking slowly.

Zhao Kaile’s thoughts were pulled back, and he said seriously, “This isn’t you, this is your projection in a parallel world. She isn’t the Snake Woman either, she is…”

Zhan Hang politely interrupted him, “When will the male lead have direct contact with the female lead?”

“Probably after the Battle of White City…” Zhao Kaile said, then realized, “This is a spoiler!”

Zhan Hang said impatiently, “Give me the outline! With all this dragging on, when will I finally get together with her??”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

To be honest, this wasn’t the first time he had wanted to smash his keyboard over Zhan Hang’s head.

The two went back and forth, debating intensely for a while without reaching any conclusion. Zhao Kaile received a flick to the forehead. Nearby, Sun Yimin passed by with the new female guest, warmly introducing her to everyone: “Come, Xiaoqin, this is Zhan Hang, Hang ge, you should know him. Hang ge, this is Ou Xiaoqin, a top-notch singer who also plays piano, a true talented woman.”

Ou Xiaoqin looked at Zhan Hang, appearing somewhat nervous, and proactively extended her hand toward him: “Hello, Hang ge.”

“Hello.” Zhan Hang stood up, gave her a brief handshake, and immediately let go. Feeling he had nothing to say to her, he simply nodded and said to the two of them, “You two go ahead with your business, I’ll sit a bit longer.”

Then he sat back down on his own.

Sun Yimin: “…”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

Zhan Hang! You demon sect member! You colossal straight man!

Zhan Hang glanced at his screen, then looked up to see the two still standing there, and asked, “Then shall we sit together for a bit?”

“No need, no need.” Ou Xiaoqin was caught between laughter and tears, hurriedly waving her hand and saying, “I’ll go say hello to the other teachers, you rest.”

Sun Yimin put on an air of being extremely familiar with Zhan Hang, giving Ou Xiaoqin a teasing look as he said, “He’s usually just like this, all stoic face, don’t take it personally. Come on, let me introduce you to some other people.”

Ou Xiaoqin was actually quite magnanimous, indicating she didn’t mind, only giving a polite smile before following Sun Yimin away.

Zhao Kaile watched the two walk off, only feeling that Ou Xiaoqin looked very familiar.

“She’s quite pretty, right?” Zhan Hang said from the side with cold sarcasm: “Just a bit worse than Zhang Wenqian. Too ordinary pretty, no memorable features.”

Zhao Kaile hadn’t reacted yet, thinking what he said made quite a bit of sense, and offered a rather serious critique: “My goddess is already cute to the point of transcendence, she’s a little fairy. Miss Ou is slightly inferior, belonging to the category of a refined lady from the mortal world.”

Zhan Hang asked, “Want me to ask for her WeChat for you?”

Zhao Kaile finally sensed something was off, giving him an alert look. Zhan Hang indeed revealed his true fierce and terrifying face, poking his forehead as he lectured: “And you’re actually picking and choosing?? Get back to gnawing on your pen! Day in and day out, all you know is indulging in feminine charms. I thought you could make so many sacrifices for your dreams, but the moment you see a young and pretty girl you can’t even move your legs? A few words of encouragement and you get carried away, a little temptation and you give up. With this on again, off again attitude of yours, when will you ever make it big?? Do you know why all those female characters in your writing are so hateable?? It’s because of this vulgar hobby of yours! What kind of braindead sweet and silly girls are you writing?? Now I know where all these prototypes come from!”

Sentence after sentence, each one sharp and piercing, all hitting Zhao Kaile right in the lungs, striking every single one of his sore spots, almost bringing him to tears.

However, Zhan Hang’s lecturing voice was just a tiny bit too loud, and a passing staff member immediately looked over. Zhao Kaile was still immersed in the storm of Zhan Hang’s roaring, unable to recover for the longest time.

Yeah, Hang ge is right, so am I this kind of unmotivated waste…

Zhao Kaile whimpered a few times, brewing for a long while, then argued back sorrowfully: “But beautiful girls are innocent!”

“…” Zhan Hang was completely out of patience, waving his hand and saying: “Forget it, forget it, as long as you don’t make the Snake Woman go down this route… Don’t pull that long face, everyone is looking at you, what kind of expression is that, Zhao Kaile! Don’t embarrass me in public!”

Zhao Kaile restrained his emotions with suppressed anger, not daring to speak up, thinking to himself that it was clearly because you were the one being so loud that everyone looked over!

On the other side, who knew what Sun Yimin whispered into Ou Xiaoqin’s ear, but she looked toward Zhao Kaile’s direction with a sympathetic expression, as if she felt deeply sorry for what Zhao Kaile had experienced.

Sure enough, the next day rumors began spreading, saying that Zhan Hang had loudly berated his little assistant in front of everyone, splashed boiling water in his face, and even slapped him.

The little assistant himself looked at these increasingly absurd rumors spreading online with utter shock, and even received a call from Li Wenyao preparing to help him file a police report. He suddenly felt the entire world had become fantastical. That entire day he was earnestly explaining to Li Wenyao, Zhao Kaiming, and others that the rumors were baseless and untrue, and apologizing to Bai Li and Lu Jiayin for his overreaction at the time and his failure to control his emotions, clarifying that he and Zhan Hang had not had a conflict and that he was sorry for causing them trouble. Under pressure, he had no choice but to appear on camera and film a clarification video with Zhan Hang, posting it with a mosaic over his own face.

Since Ou Xiaoqin had replaced Deng Xiaoran’s position, the show’s popularity had actually increased rather than decreased. Because Deng Xiaoran’s big sister energy was simply too unique, she couldn’t form any proper CP with anyone, only creating a boss and underling vibe. Ou Xiaoqin was different. She had recently gained some fame from an art film, with delicate features and an elegant temperament, a typical Eastern beauty. The company’s purpose in pushing her into this variety show was obvious: to leech off the traffic of various young male actors. After all, no matter which CP she formed, she would gain considerable attention.

When filming reached the last episode of the first season, Jiang Chongyang still arranged plenty of small games designed to spark chemistry between young men and women, one of which was a relay race.

Given the physical differences between men and women, the production team even had the male guests strap sandbags to their legs, drawing groans of complaint from everyone.

The assistants came on set to help their bosses tie the sandbags. Zhao Kaile went over to Zhan Hang’s side, about to crouch down, but Zhan Hang was thinking of doing it himself and also crouched down, so their heads collided with a bang.

Zhao Kaile felt as if he had crashed into a rock or an iron gate. The impact left his head buzzing, nearly causing his ears to ring.

Zhan Hang’s reflex was to scold him again, but he suddenly remembered the recent public opinion hadn’t settled yet, so he had to suppress his urge to lecture, gritting his teeth in a fake smile: “What are you doing, Zhao Kaile?”

“I was trying to help you tie the sandbag.” Zhao Kaile said, clutching his forehead in pain.

Zhan Hang ignored him, lowering his head to adjust it himself, then catching something out of the corner of his eye, he muttered quietly: “You can’t even tie your own shoelaces properly, what use are you!”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

He didn’t even know when his shoelace had come loose, nor why it hadn’t come loose earlier or later but chose this exact moment to do so, as if it was deliberately letting Zhan Hang catch him!

Zhao Kaile muttered to himself, reaching out to tie it, but Zhan Hang leaned in first, his slender fingers flying, gracefully and neatly tying a beautiful bow for him, the movement extremely natural and fluid, as if this was how he always treated him.

The two were extremely close. Zhao Kaile looked at his lowered eyelashes and was instantly so shocked he couldn’t speak, thinking what is happening!! Male celebrity, please wake up!

Zhan Hang looked up, gave him a smile, and reached out to pat his face: “Am I good to you?”

Zhao Kaile’s face went poof and turned red.

A nearby male guest teased: “Yo, Hang ge, you’re really good to your assistant. Yesterday the internet was spreading all sorts of nonsense, I almost believed it.”

Zhan Hang stood up, adjusting his sleeves, and gave him an unconcerned smile: “I’m used to it, these people are just bored.”

Hearing this, Zhao Kaile finally understood that Zhan Hang was deliberately using his actions to clarify the recent rumors flying everywhere. He got up with an embarrassed expression, greeted the two of them, and rapidly evacuated the filming set, his heart still beating very fast—the power of Zhan Hang’s smile just now was simply too great!!

A moment later, filming resumed.

At the host’s command, Zhan Hang shot out from the starting line, leaving the other male guests far behind from the very start, his figure as swift and vigorous as a cheetah. The surrounding crowd gasped in amazement, all commenting that he truly deserved his background as an action star.

At the first exchange point, Ou Xiaoqin nervously stood in place, extending her hand toward Zhan Hang, her heart pounding. In her pupils reflected Zhan Hang’s figure, growing closer and closer.