Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 86

The promotional photoshoot went relatively smoothly, with no further mishaps. That afternoon, the director arranged for them to start filming the first scene.

The two of them ate lunch in the car. Zhao Kaile held his boxed meal, suddenly recalling the days when Little Li was also there, and couldn’t help but feel emotional. Zhan Hang ate a few bites casually and then continued reading over his first scene, muttering under his breath, seemingly more nervous than usual.

Zhao Kaile took the trash and got out to throw it away. Along the way, he heard quite a bit of gossip.

It turned out Zhan Hang’s concerns were not unfounded. Yu Wenrong was indeed intentionally being a bit warmer toward Zhan Hang. Not only him, but more than half the crew seemed to be somewhat fawning over Zhan Hang, because everyone in the industry was saying that the anonymous major investor who made a substantial additional investment in “The Sharp Sword” later on seemed to have come specifically for Zhan Hang. Zhao Kaile felt vaguely uneasy. The fact that they could create such a spectacle meant this investor had indeed put in quite a lot of money, otherwise they couldn’t have made Bai Li, who always insisted on her own opinions, relent.

Then who exactly was this person? Why throw out a huge sum of money and then hide? Spare no effort to throw money at Brother Hang, could it really be just pure appreciation and silent support? What if before the filming even finished, they used this as a reason to threaten and coerce him, to lure him into unspoken rules… Were they trying to keep Brother Hang as a sugar baby? If only I had that much money… What if it’s true? Brother Hang would definitely rather die than submit and then have a mutual destruction showdown with the sugar daddy! Then maybe the entire entertainment industry would blacklist him…

NO!!!

The more Zhao Kaile thought about it, the more scared he became. He returned to the car with a deathly pale face, looking at Zhan Hang with extreme worry. Zhan Hang was reciting a line he had messed up many times, looked up and met his gaze, and immediately forgot it again. So he speechlessly tapped his head with a rolled up paper. “Stop staring at me, go play by yourself.”

Zhao Kaile nodded, sat quietly for a while with difficulty, then got out again restlessly and leaned against the car for a while. A WeChat notification sounded. He came back to his senses, looked down at the message, and discovered another row of red dots in the app.

Li Wenyao: What ward is your brother in?

Li Wenyao: Reply when you see this.

Li Wenyao: Never mind, I found it.

Xiao Mian: Mrs. Wang, we’ve already taken care of everything on this end! It should be deposited into the bank card you provided in about seven business days! Please check!

Ou Xiaoqin had also liked the Moments post where he shared the birthday gift pictures, leaving a comment: Was it a gift from Brother Hang? Happy birthday.

The copyright fees are coming soon!

Zhao Kaile’s heart lit up with joy. He replied to them one by one. Li Wenyao replied instantly: Finally got a reply, I thought you were kidnapped, almost called the police.

Zhao Kaile: …I’m working!

Li Wenyao: What’s going on with your brother, getting beaten so badly for no reason, did the other side pay for medical expenses?

Zhao Kaile: I don’t know, they said it was brothers who used to do business with him, what brothers my ass… The shop went under, and on top of that he got lured to Northern M to do fraud, really too unlucky…

Zhao Kaile: I’ll check again after the disability assessment results come out. Brother Hang was also dragged down by me… Anyway, the specific situation is very complicated, I’ll tell you in detail when I have time.

Li Wenyao: And there’s Zhan Hang’s matter too? I did hear some rumors, saying some male artist at my sister’s company got into a fight and almost got detained, so it was Zhan Hang.

Zhao Kaile: You must not go around talking about this!!

Li Wenyao: Don’t worry, brother understands.

When the first scene started filming in the afternoon, Zhan Hang quickly entered character, as if he had already repeatedly rehearsed dozens of times before filming began. Even the director was a bit surprised. Among the several young male actors, he was the only one who didn’t get stage fright when acting opposite Yu Wenrong. The others were all crushed by Film Emperor Yu’s momentum.

Thanks to Zhan Hang’s good fortune, when Zhao Kaile stood outside for a short while, someone eagerly brought a chair over and invited him to sit. Zhao Kaile was overwhelmed by the favor, declined once, and was pressed into the chair by the other person.

“…” Zhao Kaile said with a face full of cold sweat, “Thank you.”

The other person was an assistant to someone of some standing on set, and even smiled as he brought him a cup of hot water, so obsequious that he was practically ready to massage his legs and shoulders.

“Teacher Zhan Hang has a bright future ahead,” that person chuckled. “I heard the director added a lot of scenes for him to get him into the cast, and only then did he agree!”

Zhao Kaile thought to himself, has it already spread this ridiculously? He could only force a laugh. “Is that so? Hahaha, who did you hear that from, it’s not true at all. We happily agreed to take this project as soon as we received it, hehehe.”

That person made another sound of surprise, slapped Zhao Kaile’s shoulder with one hand, nearly knocking him into the ground, then let out a bell like laugh, swaying his hips as he walked away.

Zhao Kaile’s face was full of terror, thinking to himself, monster!

Zhan Hang was busy filming and rehearsing, and Zhao Kaile wasn’t idle either. He continued reviewing drafts for Zhou Jiyang. Except during Zhan Hang’s rest breaks, he was buried in hard work. By the time the sky was darkening, he had finally finished reading through most of it, and sent back all the notes and suggestions he had circled and written out to Zhou Jiyang.

Zhou Jiyang: Thanks thanks.

Zhao Kaile: You’re welcome… I should also thank you for helping me so much. #awkward

Zhou Jiyang: Huh? What did I help you with?

Zhao Kaile: Sister Jiayin said Brother Hang was followed when he went to the hospital, and you helped handle it. Helping Brother Hang is helping me, your great kindness I will never forget! #crying

Zhou Jiyang: #laughing.

Zhou Jiyang: Alright, Zhao Kaile, you’re a good person, Zhan Hang didn’t misjudge you.

Zhao Kaile: #smiling.

Zhao Kaile: By the way, do you know who made the additional investment in “The Sharp Sword” later on?

Zhou Jiyang: I don’t know, maybe some big boss who wants to launder money. Bringing out Zhan Hang was probably just something said casually. When investing big money, you always need to find a decent sounding reason, right?

Zhao Kaile thought to himself, that makes sense too. You can’t use the values of ordinary people like himself to measure the world of the rich. Maybe this amount of money was just sprinkling water to them. They casually found a reason and invested it. Maybe the big boss himself didn’t even think that much about it.

Zhou Jiyang: What’s wrong? Did some gossip spread again? Saying Zhan Hang is being kept?

Zhao Kaile: Not yet, but I estimate it won’t be long…

His premonition was very accurate. That night, similar posts appeared on Weibo, but before they could spark anything, they were squeezed out by other trending topics. Zhan Hang’s anti slander station worked diligently, quickly reporting the dozens of posts with higher heat until they were completely gone.

Zhan Hang had been intensely acting in dialogue scenes all afternoon. When he came off set, his eyes were about to dry out from staring. He maintained his posture and got in the car, then leaned against the seatback half dead, resting. Zhao Kaile hurriedly closed the car door when he saw this, terrified of being photographed by someone and used as black material.

Zhan Hang said tiredly, “Eye drops, quick.”

“Coming coming.” Zhao Kaile hurriedly fished out the medicine bottle, half kneeling on the car seat to drip them for him. After finishing, he maintained this posture, reaching out to rub his temples and massage his shoulders.

Zhan Hang closed his eyes, let out a long breath, and asked, “Do I have scenes tonight?”

Zhao Kaile said, “There are two indoor scenes. Are you very tired? Anyway, they haven’t left yet, should I talk to the director and ask him to help us switch the schedule?”

“Don’t.” Zhan Hang opened his eyes slightly. “Just this morning alone I already heard quite a bit of gossip. If we make another fuss tonight, by tomorrow they can fabricate a hundred and eight versions of tabloid news without repeating a single one, believe it or not?”

Zhao Kaile said meekly, “Yes yes… I believe it.”

Wasn’t it so? Those black accounts on Weibo almost portrayed you as a kept pretty boy who sleeps with both men and women… One of them seemed to describe it in such detail, as if they were right there in the crew… Wait, could they actually be in the crew? There’s a Zhan Hang anti in this crew?

Zhan Hang hissed, frowning. “Lighter.”

“Oh oh.” Zhao Kaile guiltily reduced his strength, slowly massaging his shoulders.

There were still scenes at night, so the artists’ costumes and makeup weren’t removed, saved for continued filming in the evening. After the afternoon wrap, everyone retreated to their cars to eat. Among them, Yu Wenrong’s trailer and assistants were the most extravagant.

It turned out Zhan Hang’s stomach was quite delicate, but after Zhao Kaile came and made different nourishing side dishes for him every day, now he could also eat slightly inferior boxed meals.

The two of them were holding their boxed meals, looking at each other speechlessly, when suddenly a car horn sounded outside the window. A black Mercedes slowly approached and stopped next to Yu Wenrong’s trailer. The door opened, and several uniformed waiters got out, each carrying dishes, and orderly boarded the trailer.

Zhao Kaile instantly lost his expression, staring blankly out the window.

Zhan Hang mocked him, “What’s wrong, little frog.”

“…” Zhao Kaile said, “Brother Hang, should I also order something more for you?”

Zhan Hang poked at his boxed meal, unconcerned. “I don’t want to make a special case. Didn’t you see the director’s expression.”

Zhao Kaile said, “But the director also went up to eat with him…”

“…” Zhan Hang said, “Damn it.”

Zhao Kaile couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter. Zhan Hang tapped him on the forehead with a chopstick, indignantly saying, “After wrap tonight, we’re going for late night snacks.”

“Ah…” Zhao Kaile rubbed his forehead, hesitating. “But Sister Li said this project has half naked scenes, and told you to definitely maintain your figure.”

Zhan Hang asked irritably, “Is my figure bad right now?”

Zhao Kaile: “No no… very good very good.”

Zhan Hang was a bit unconvinced. He grabbed Zhao Kaile’s wrist with one hand and placed it on his own abs, one eyebrow raised high, indicating for him to feel for himself.

Even through a thin layer of inner clothing, Zhao Kaile felt the temperature transmitted to his palm was especially scorching. His mind went completely blank, his heart experiencing landslides, tsunamis, and nuclear explosions.

Zhan Hang mischievously touched the back of his hand, and asked with a straight face, “Not bad?”

Zhao Kaile withdrew his hand, and when he opened his mouth he nearly bit his own tongue. “N n not bad.”

Someone knocked outside the window. Zhao Kaile hurriedly rolled it down. It was Yu Wenrong’s assistant.

“Brother Hang, would you like to come over and eat together?” the male assistant said politely. “The director is also there.”

“No need.” Zhan Hang also smiled politely. “You all eat, I’m about done.”

Hearing this, the other person didn’t press further, nodded, and left.

The window rolled back up, and Zhan Hang instantly returned to his true form, resentfully closing his lunchbox. “Putting on airs right in front of me.”

Zhao Kaile didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He tidied up a bit and got out to throw away the trash. Passing by a small lit room in the corner, he smelled the aroma of food, so he curiously peeked in. Inside, a woman was cooking over an open flame.

This crew actually had a private kitchen!

Author’s note:
Just a reminder, it’s almost New Year. When withdrawing money from ATMs, remember to cover your hand to prevent criminals from seeing and laughing at you.