Zhu Huai hadn’t slept very well the previous night. In the half-dreaming, half-awake state between sleep and wakefulness, he had even had a rather unpleasant dream. But once he opened his eyes, he couldn’t remember what he had dreamed about. All that remained was the oppressive feeling lodged in his chest.

He lay in bed, muddle-headed, thinking about it for a long time before finally recalling a fragment.

He had dreamed that Jiang Sheli had publicly announced his marriage.

Zhu Huai jolted. Most of the fog in his mind instantly cleared, and he hurriedly grabbed the phone from his bedside table. As luck would have it, he spotted an unread message sent in the middle of the night.

It was from Jiang Sheli.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: Jiang-ge, do you play Sword Shadow Mobile too

JSL: Occasionally.

Just one simple word. His tone was hardly enthusiastic, either. Yet the gloom that had been building in Zhu Huai’s chest all morning simply dissipated, and his mind cleared completely. He withdrew the finger he had been about to use to open Weibo.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: Jiang-ge, which server are you on? Are you going to participate in the Heroes’ Cup?

The morning sunlight streamed through the curtains, which had not been fully drawn, spreading a thin layer of golden light across the floor.

Zhu Huai checked the time. It was only seven in the morning. If Jiang Sheli didn’t have an early scene to film, he probably wasn’t awake yet.

Zhu Huai got out of bed. His mother and Qi Baojia weren’t home. They had left a note and some breakfast behind before heading to the large market to buy groceries. The couple had also invited several of Qi Baojia’s old friends over for the evening.

After breakfast, Zhu Huai got himself ready, put on a mask, and headed to the most bustling shopping mall in the city. He had searched online and found that there was a famous cake shop there with excellent reviews.

When Jiang Sheli replied, Zhu Huai was agonizing over whether to choose a trendy cash-filled cake or a motivational-message cake.

JSL: Server Six. I’m not participating.

Zhu Huai stared at the first two characters for a moment, surprised. What a coincidence! He was on the same server as Lijiang.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: I’m on Server Eight. I want to participate in the 5v5 competition, but we don’t have enough people, so I only registered for the three-player competition.

JSL: Mm. Good luck.

This was the second time Jiang Sheli had wished him luck. Zhu Huai replied with a cute sticker, then cautiously asked, Ge, are you free right now? Could you help me with something?

JSL: ?

Zhu Huai took photos of several cakes he liked and sent them over.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: Which one is better?

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: [Image] [Image] [Image]

JSL: [Is it your birthday? 】

Zhu Fei Pig: [Not mine, my stepfather, fifty full birthday. 】

Jiang Sheli was sitting in a shaded director’s chair on the filming set. His fingers, which had been turning the pages of his script, came to a halt.

This was the first time the two of them talked about their families.

These were personal matters that people generally shared only when their relationship went beyond that of ordinary friends.

“That’s certainly an extraordinarily ordinary friendship.”

Li Yun’s words from the previous night replayed in Jiang Sheli’s mind.

Jiang Sheli frowned slightly.

He opened the photos Zhu Huai had sent and examined them one by one.

Liu Qi approached in his costume, a smile on his face. “Jiang-ge, I’m a little unsure how to act in this next scene. Could I trouble you to walk me through it?”

As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently fell on the phone Jiang Sheli was using to reply to messages. In an instant, his feet seemed to have been nailed to the ground, and the smile on his face stiffened into a bizarre expression.

JSL: The second one, then.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: [Well-Behaved Baby OK.jpg]

He had been on the same team as Zhu Huai for two years, and they also belonged to the same management company. There was no way he could mistake that WeChat name.

Zhu Huai had never changed his WeChat ID.

A fine layer of cold sweat appeared on Liu Qi’s back. His breathing grew slightly rapid as the strain on his cardiovascular system increased; if one listened carefully, one could even hear his increasingly heavy exhalations.

These were involuntary physiological changes that occurred when a person was consumed by anger and jealousy.

When Liu Qi learned that Jiang Sheli, the accomplished actor playing opposite him, would be his co-star, his company had already drawn up a detailed plan for what was to come. These days, male-male CP pairings were far more appealing to fans than male-female ones. He didn’t need to interact with Jiang Sheli in any particularly ambiguous way—indeed, he knew perfectly well that he had no chance with him, and Jiang Sheli himself would never lower himself to such tactics.

Fortunately, the script of The Unfaithful Minister was already enough for CP fans to imagine an entire tragic romance of lovers who loved and fought each other to the death, filled with heart-wrenching devotion. Liu Qi only needed to occasionally arrange a few shots of himself and Jiang Sheli appearing together off-screen. Someone from the production crew would naturally “accidentally” record them.

But he had never imagined that Zhu Huai and Jiang Sheli would be so familiar with each other.

What gave him the right?

After replying to the message, Jiang Sheli raised his head and looked at the person in front of him. “Which one?”

*

After replying to the message, Zhu Huai pressed his lips together in a small smile. Pointing at the cake decorated with a little house and a tree standing beside it, he said to the shop assistant, “I’ll take this one. Can I pick it up this afternoon?”

After leaving the cake shop, Zhu Huai did not hurry to leave the shopping mall. Instead, he wandered through a few clothing stores. He rarely came home, and since he found it troublesome to carry extra luggage just to bring gifts back from elsewhere, he decided to buy a few items of clothing for his mother and stepfather right there in the city.

He sent Jiang Sheli photos of the styles he thought looked good, and the two of them chatted intermittently.

After Zhu Huai sent another photo, Jiang Sheli suddenly initiated a video call.

Zhu Huai jumped in fright and fumbled around before managing to press the answer button. Fortunately, he had been connected to his wireless earbuds the whole time, so the sound did not play aloud.

On the other end of the video call, Jiang Sheli himself was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was an open area where people could occasionally be seen walking back and forth. He was probably still on the filming set.

Zhu Huai’s heart leaped into his throat. “Ge, you scared me! I’m in a shopping mall. It would be a real problem if someone saw you.”

Fortunately, he had the rear-facing camera switched on, so it was not pointed at anyone’s face.

Jiang Sheli moved his right thumb away from the red hang-up button and asked, “Am I so shameful that I can’t be seen in public?”

It was a perfectly ordinary sentence, yet Zhu Huai imagined a hint of resentment in it, as though Jiang Sheli were a lover hidden away in a golden house.

His face reddened, and he hurriedly explained, “No, it’s just that I’m afraid of causing trouble for you…”

Jiang Sheli chuckled softly on the other end of the video call. “What trouble could you cause? If anyone’s going to have trouble, it’ll be you. Do you think they can crawl through the internet cable and come after me here? …Why is your face so red?”

Zhu Huai turned his head toward the brown glass display cabinet on his left. The lighting reflected his face clearly in the glass. Even with his mask on, the flushed skin left exposed was impossible to hide.

He pulled his mask a little higher. His voice was slightly hoarse as he said, “It’s stuffy in the mall.”

“Drink more water.”

“Mm.” Zhu Huai obediently accepted the film emperor’s utterly straight-man response.

Jiang Sheli did not have many scenes to film that day. It was rare for him to have enough free time to chat with Zhu Huai about trivial everyday matters. He could even offer useful advice when Zhu Huai was unsure which clothes to buy.

“This one would go well with a beige scarf. It suits someone around your mother’s age.”

“What about this suit?”

“Too formal. Your uncle won’t have much use for it while driving. The one beside you would be fine.”

“Then I’ll buy that one too. It’ll be perfect for Dad Qi to wear to his company’s annual meeting.”

“Mm, this one would go well with a pair of cuff-links from G.”

Zhu Huai laughed. “The brand you endorse?”

“That’s right. Show my business a little support, little friend.”

The little friend asked, “What do I get in return?”

Jiang Sheli replied, “Isn’t spending the whole afternoon with you for free enough? Do you know how high my appearance fee is?”

Zhu Huai walked toward the checkout counter and said softly, “Then… then could I pay you later?”

Jiang Sheli found this amusing and asked, “If I said yes, what would you want to do?”

Zhu Huai’s eyes sparkled brightly under the dazzling lights of the shopping mall. Looking a little nervous, he asked, “Could I… book a few more hours of your time?”

The shop assistant following behind him with an armful of clothes stumbled.

There was no sound from the man on the other end of the video call, as though Zhu Huai’s words had left him stunned.

As soon as Zhu Huai finished speaking, he felt unbearably embarrassed. He was just about to find an excuse to take back what he had said when Jiang Sheli replied in a perfectly natural tone, “Sorry, little friend. I don’t offer credit.”

Jiang Sheli’s distinctive, rich voice played through the phone’s loudspeaker, filling the shop in every direction. Several nearby customers turned to look.

Only then did Zhu Huai realize that his wireless earbuds had run out of battery at some point, and the Bluetooth connection had automatically disconnected.

Jiang Sheli had no idea what was happening on Zhu Huai’s end. Just then, Li Yun happened to walk over. Seeing what was on his phone, he asked in his nasal, duck-like voice, dripping with sarcasm, “Video chatting with Zhu Huai?”

Before his boss could get angry, he hurriedly added, “Ordinary friends, ordinary friends. Got it, got it.”

Jiang Sheli gave him just one look.

Get lost.

When he lowered his head to look at his phone again, the video call had already been disconnected.

“…”

By the time Zhu Huai hurriedly ended the call, the cashier had already processed his card payment and politely handed him the receipt to sign.

All he could do was steel himself and sign his name neatly.

The shop assistant who had been following him earlier suddenly grew excited. “Excuse me, are you Zhu Huai from SYA?”

Zhu Huai pulled his mask higher and denied it. “No, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

“But…”

Before the shop assistant could finish speaking, Zhu Huai grabbed his bags and rushed out of the shop.

Only after reaching the first floor did he take out his phone again. His heart pounding wildly, he sent a message.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: Aaaaah! I was almost recognized by the shop assistant just now!

JSL: Head back early. Stay safe.

It’s Zhu, Not Pig: Okk. (NT: in English in the raws)

Before turning off his phone, Jiang Sheli stared absently at the WeChat conversation screen.

The voice-call and video-call buttons sat one above the other, right next to each other.

The famously aloof Film Emperor Jiang Sheli, as cold and untouchable as a flower growing on a high mountain, rarely swore to himself. But this time, he couldn’t help it.

Piece-of-shit WeChat. It’ll be dead before long.

Zhu Huai walked toward the mall exit with his head lowered. As his gaze casually swept past a luxury accessories store, he suddenly stopped.

A shop assistant stood at the entrance to welcome customers, wearing a professional smile. “Would you like to come in and have a look, sir?”

Looking at the large G-brand logo, Zhu Huai turned and walked inside. “Mm.”

“Is it for yourself, sir, or are you buying it as a gift?”

Zhu Huai had been wearing his mask for quite a while. The air in the mall was poorly ventilated, and he was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so he simply pulled his mask down a little, revealing the attractive contours of his nose. “For someone else.”

He was carefully examining the items displayed in the cabinet and failed to notice the look of surprise on the shop assistant’s face when he lowered his mask.

“May I ask who the recipient is?”

“It’s a senior who’s been very good to me…” Zhu Huai had only gotten halfway through the sentence when the words “thermos,” “massage chair,” and “brewing goji berries” suddenly flashed through his mind. He immediately changed his answer. “He’s a friend who’s been very good to me. A male friend.”

“Then please come this way.” The shop assistant led him to a display counter. “Everything here is from the men’s collection.”

Zhu Huai examined the items one by one. When his gaze landed on a particular piece, it stopped moving.

They were a pair of Swarovski crystal cuff-links. Three starry-sky diamonds were set into the middle of the side of the main body. The black design was understated yet luxurious, and under the lights, it resembled a vast, dazzling sea of stars stretching across the universe.

Jiang Sheli’s cool, distant gaze immediately appeared in Zhu Huai’s mind. “I’ll take these.”

The shop assistant followed the direction of his finger. Once she saw which design he was pointing at, a strange, ambiguous smile appeared in her eyes. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but the prospect of making a sale made her hold her tongue.

“Certainly, sir. These cuff-links also have a matching tie clip. Would you like to take a look?”

Zhu Huai hesitated for a moment. These cuff-links were already expensive given his current financial situation, and if he added a tie clip…

The shop assistant encouraged him, “Our brand is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this month. If you buy the matching set, you’ll get a twenty-percent discount. You’ll also receive a membership card.”

“…”

“You can also enter a prize draw.”

“…”

“The first prize, in addition to a gift, is a life-size standee bearing Jiang Sheli’s handwritten autograph.”

Zhu Huai expressionlessly pulled out his bank card. “I’ll take them!”

 

Translator : DarNan