Chapter 146

  He stared blankly at his palm, and no one around him noticed that he didn't look quite right - except for a certain someone who had been keeping an eye on him the whole time, too lazy to pay attention to anything else... At this moment, the director crouched behind the monitor to review the footage they had just shot, and found that Sid's line was still usable. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for them to prepare for the next take. Taking advantage of the chaos as the crew adjusted the cameras and moved props around, the man quietly approached the young black-haired man, standing behind him and saying in a cold tone: "What are you spacing out about? You look like you've just been possessed by a ghost."

  He was startled by the sudden appearance of a man, and before he could utter a word of complaint, he couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth. He put down his hand, regained his composure, and calmly lied: "Just now when I came down from the handrail, my palm seemed to be scratched by wood shavings... How old is this ship anyway?"

  "It's been decades." Jiang Chuan said absent-mindedly, while trying to reach out and grab Jian Ran's hand, "Are you bleeding? Let me take a look?"

  "No blood, I've already gotten rid of the wood shavings." Jian Ran slightly shifted his body to avoid.

  Jiang Chuan suddenly grasped at air, and then slightly narrowed his eyes.

  The atmosphere around him became somewhat oppressive, thinking that he was often ridiculed by men for his poor acting skills in real life and would be exposed if he lied carelessly. Just as he was getting anxious and wondering if he would be exposed again, the director started urging him to hurry over and prepare for the next shot. Coincidentally, this last shot had a part for Jiang Chuan himself, so after showing a helpless expression, the man reached out and pinched the young man's chin, gesturing "I'll settle with you later", before turning around and leaving.

  The next shot is Raymond descending from the sky, catching all the masters who are fighting on the sea in one net. The whole shot was taken very smoothly, and it's also the last shot of today. After finishing the shooting, everyone couldn't bear the sweltering heat in the cabin anymore. The staff and actors all let out a sigh of relief, cheering and shouting to finish work, going to experience the island scenery in groups of three or five, with their arms around each other's shoulders.

  Jin Yan originally thought that after finishing the shoot, he would rest well, but unexpectedly, as soon as he got off the boat, he was invited by the photography team's staff to go to a bar to have some fun at night. Subconsciously wanting to refuse, but thinking again that foreign drama teams seem to pay more attention to teamwork and cohesion, he felt that not joining in would be inappropriate, and if he stayed alone in his hotel room, he would get bored and start thinking about annoying things. After some thought, he finally agreed to go, made an appointment with the staff, and bid farewell. Jin Yan hurried back to the hotel to take a cool shower, changed into shorts and a vest, wore flip-flops without any idol burden, and went out to find Jiang Chuan to meet up with the drama team at the hotel.

  Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, he was startled by a red-haired guy standing at his room's entrance.

  "How did you run here?" Jin Ran was somewhat surprised. "Looking for me? Waiting for a long time? Why didn't you knock on the door?"

  "Because I'm not sure if you'll open the door for me." Xide said succinctly, turning around and standing up straight, facing those eyes that were staring at him, "You haven't spoken to me since arriving on set..."

  It's not that I'm ignoring you, it's clearly that you're ignoring me. Being suddenly turned around and slapped with such behavior left me at a loss for words, and after being stifled for half a day, I finally managed to squeeze out an apology. Before he could even react and realize where he was wrong, Xi De quickly followed up with another sentence: "It's okay."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Xie De reached out and closed the door behind Jian Ran, then slightly opened it to indicate that he should go first. As the young man with black hair brushed past him, he suddenly said: "I'll be at the bar tonight too, so I'll wait for you here, by the way, there's something I want to tell you."

  "What did you say?" Jian Ran asked.

  "Recently, you've been making headlines and causing a stir everywhere. Didn't you know?" The two walked side by side in the corridor, Xide turned his head, and under the dim light of the corridor, those amber eyes still looked very bright, "They all say you came out, announcing to the whole world that you like men——"

  "Uh." He blinked awkwardly, unsure of how to respond.

  "That's very brave," said Sid.

  "Huh? Huh?" For a moment, she didn't react to the other person's evaluation. She turned her head calmly and said, "What did you say?"

  "Literal meaning." Xi De said calmly, "Everyone knows that your country's acceptance of this aspect is not very high. In such an environment, as a public figure, you dare to come out of the closet openly, if I don't praise you for being 'very brave', I'm afraid I would be uneasy in my conscience..."

  He blinked his eyes, becoming increasingly embarrassed, and scratched his head: "I didn't do this for just a compliment of 'bravery', I've made up my mind to die - from the current situation, it's probably too early to say that I won't die..."

  As he said this, he slowed down his pace and wanted to take out his phone to see if there were any updates on the person who jumped off the building after it was revealed that it wasn't Jiang Luocheng - in his heart, not a shred of luck existed, wanting to rely on this obvious frame-up to turn things around was false. From the moment he knew about this news, he felt like he was vaguely expecting something...

  However, he never looked.

  Also didn't dare to look.

  There is nothing worse than a "shattered hope", and it's better to be in a state of "hopelessness" from start to finish.

  Thinking of this, he hesitated for a moment, re-locked his phone and put it back in his pocket, then turned to Xi De and said: "I saw some foreign media writing nonsense, dragging you into it..."

  "I don't care anyway."

  "...who are you kidding, I don't care about your cold shoulder and indifference towards me all these days, do you think I'm stupid?"

  "I'm just a little surprised and unhappy, you said at the press conference that you already have a partner, from your facial expression it seems to be true, and you're very protective of that person." Xi De said, turning his head to look at Jin Ran, "You came out, and you were unfaithful to me."

  “……” Jin Ran almost choked on his own saliva, and he stared at Xi De with wide eyes, unable to utter a word for half a day——At this time, the two had already arrived at the hotel lobby. Xi De stopped, standing on tiptoes as he was slightly shorter than Jin Ran, narrowing his eyes as he leaned in close to the young man with black hair. As they gradually drew closer to an extremely intimate distance where they could smell each other's breath, he finally stopped and said in a very serious tone: “You promised me you'd have children with me.”

  The air suddenly froze completely.

  Looking at the handsome face in front of him, still with a hint of youthful rebellion, filled with seriousness, he suddenly didn't know where to start. Just then, a large hand stretched out from behind him and covered his entire face, pulling it backward - in an instant, he was separated from Hider and also lost his sight. As he felt slightly startled, he sensed that his back had bumped into a sturdy chest, and at the same time, a low, muffled voice with a hint of dissatisfaction echoed from behind him: "Did he agree when you were dreaming? - Don't move."

  The last two words are what Jian Ran said.

  The black-haired young man who was pinned down by the man immediately retracted his furious state and stopped struggling, at which point Jiang Chuan removed his hand from his face and stared at the red-haired youth standing behind them with a look of discontent, saying: "The person he mentioned at the press conference is me - do you know what this means? This means that in every aspect, you have no chance - can you shut up now?"

  Xide slightly furrowed his brow: "Reins, there's a order to things, you know."

  "This guy was in a coma when you were in Germany, this guy hadn't even watched Chinese TV before he fell into a coma, where did you come from——"

  "But I'm Xiao Hei." Xi De shrugged.

  He lowered his face, and as expected, the next second he was turned around by someone grabbing his shoulder. He then met a pair of azure eyes staring at him - at this moment, the man was looking at him with the same gaze as when examining a patient: "You can stop telling me those absurd stories, but you also told your hamster story to Xi De? Are you sick? Do you want to put it online and make a serialized novel out of it?"

  He remained silent, but behind him, Xi De chuckled and said, "You told him, huh? And he didn't believe you. Look at this kind of person, what's the point..."

  He felt a headache coming on and couldn't bear it anymore, so he opened his mouth to tell them to shut up quickly. He then turned around and walked towards the hotel entrance, leaving the two people standing in place arguing with each other, simultaneously giving each other a disdainful look before chasing after him from behind...

  ……

  Arriving at the bar, he sat down in a lively crowd and found himself handed a beer by someone. Around him, Shi De and Jiang Chuan appeared simultaneously, starting to joke around without restraint - no choice, as Jian Ran had been surrounded by news recently, with rumors mainly focusing on Shi De and Jiang Chuan. These foreigners seemed not to care much, saying whatever came to mind after drinking. Peter was also sitting in a corner, being the director who controlled the life and death of the actors every day, so he was particularly arrogant. When it was his turn to speak, he smiled and directly asked Jian Ran: "Are you usually on top or on the bottom?"

  The people around him suddenly burst into cheers and applause, whistling and cheering, as he quietly spat a mouthful of beer back into his glass. The guys sitting next to him were grinning from ear to ear, patting him on the shoulder and leg, all looking like they were having the time of their lives... This scene would have been absolutely impossible if it had happened in our own country.

  At home, they would probably maintain a harmonious atmosphere and cautious mood by not mentioning certain news.

  But now it's like this... it doesn't matter anyway.

  It was said openly, but the atmosphere didn't feel particularly awkward. When Jiang Chuan asked Peter with a smile, "So curious, do you want to come to my room tonight and take a look?" Xi De, who was sitting next to Jian Ran, also shouted out, "You should ask me this question!" Peter was taken aback, cursed, and then smiled as he downed the wine in his cup: "With you two unscrupulous guys around, I'm definitely feeling embarrassed now... Ah, I heard that your country's environment is very strict about this. I hope you can get through this difficulty. Of course, as the director of 'Leviathan', I also want to help you out - it's time to teach some narrow-minded and ignorant people a lesson, such as making them understand what's most important for an actor."

  Out of nowhere, I got splashed with chicken soup all over my face.

  He felt as if he had been forcibly fed chicken soup, and for a moment, his whole being was filled with positive energy. The face that had lacked a smile for days finally managed to crack a genuine smile. He raised the wine glass in his hand, lifted it towards Peter's direction, and said sincerely: "Thank you."

  Feeling in the darkness, Jiang Chuan's large hand on his waist tightened slightly... After clinking glasses, the young man with black hair tilted his head and downed the entire cup of liquor in one gulp. He stood up, wiped his mouth, and said in a low voice that he was going to the restroom.

  "I'll go with you," said Jiang Chuan.

  "It's nothing." Jian Ran smiled and said in a gentle voice, "If you go, they'll think we're up to something."

  In Xide's smelly face, the crew members heard Jianran suddenly start teasing himself, and they all excitedly cheered... Leaving the noisy crowd behind, Jianran came to the bathroom alone, walked into a stall, closed the door, let out a long sigh, and told himself that he still had to face it, what if it was good news? Comforting himself like this, he leaned against the toilet door and took out his phone which he had been holding in his pocket all night...

  After it was revealed that the person who jumped off the building wasn't Jiang Luocheng, and Yan Ran wasn't some "white lotus flower" who drove her ex-boyfriend to death in this big show, many of Yan Ran's fans spoke out for him, but after he came out, they still had to face the fact that there were fans who couldn't accept it, no matter how hard the company's water army tried to push from behind. At this time, the voices that stood up for him still seemed very small.

  At this time, on those major portal websites, the tone of those black ones has completely changed direction, for example ——

  The person who jumped down wasn't Jiang Luocheng, and you're all so happy about it? Are you sick?

  Even if it's an innocent passerby, every life is precious, after all, isn't it still because of Yuan Yuran that she jumped off the building?

  This star is really disgusting, now he doesn't say a word and acts as if nothing happened, he should be banned!

  What kind of conscience can you expect from homosexuals? These people are mentally abnormal, otherwise their sexual orientation would not be different from that of normal people.

  “……”

  The malicious rumors have not stopped and are getting worse.

  Slowly and gently closed his eyes.

  I don't know how to describe my feelings at this moment - it's probably what they call "fearing something and then it happens". Although I had some thoughts similar to "it figures" in my heart, and I had indeed made psychological preparations beforehand, but when I saw someone scolding me as "disgusting" right before my eyes, the impact was still a bit greater than I had imagined.

  He just wants to act well and spend his days with the people he likes, that's all.

  Why is it that when two seemingly simple things collide, everything becomes a mess like this?

  So much public opinion came pouring in, suffocating him until he could hardly breathe.

  Even vaguely feeling that I have reached the limit, no matter how encouraged, how well psychologically prepared, but when finally going to the battlefield, facing malicious words and deeds, all psychological defenses will still collapse in an instant.

  He quietly lowered his head and entered his Weibo, thought for a moment, and then slowly typed "I am" two words. Just as he was about to type the next word, the door of the bathroom behind him suddenly opened, and another tall figure squeezed in, quickly snatching the phone from his hand. Frowning at the young man with black hair who was staring at his toes, he said: "Hiding here watching this kind of thing, are you very idle? Now that things have come to this, you can't still be naively hoping that those hiding behind the internet will let you off the hook because of this, right? This kind of thing only happens in fairy tales. If it really happened, then the world would truly be full of love... You're still posting on Weibo? What do you want to say at a time like this? Are you asking after those black kids' ancestors? Don't tell me it's 'I'm sorry', okay? If you dare make an apology that humiliating, I'll really beat you to death."

  The man's words were cut off by the sudden impact of the young black-haired person rushing into his arms. He was taken aback, and his mouth, which had been speaking harshly, snapped shut. Then he silently raised his head to look at his own hands, which had instinctively risen above his head. After a few seconds, he put down his hand and placed it on the back of the young black-haired person who was tightly hugging his waist with both arms. He patted him stiffly and awkwardly comforted him, "It's okay, it's okay... don't mind them, the autopsy results aren't out yet, believe me, once you've been slapped in the face, there will be a second time, let them be arrogant for now."

  The person in his arms didn't respond.

  After a long while, when Jiang Chuan slightly lowered his head and carefully tried to see if he was crying or asleep, then he heard Jin Yan say in a normal voice that was just a little melancholic: "You're coaxing a child, you, continue, don't stop."

  "Bribing a child with candy," Jiang Chuan thought for a moment and asked seriously, "So should I buy some for you?"

  “……”

  "Yuan Jinyan, I don't have any other requests of you, but on this matter, don't admit defeat."

  "......Alright."

  "I'll buy you some candy."

  “……”