Chapter 30
It was as if a bolt of thunder had split the clear sky. The auntie-smile that Ji Yuan had not yet had time to put away froze stiff on her face, looking rather comical.
The warm-up on the basketball court was still going on.
Ji Yuan held her camera and stood there dazed beside the court for quite a long while. It was not until the director called everyone to get ready for the official shoot that she finally came back to herself.
Her finger hovered over the delete button for a long time, yet she still could not bring herself to press it.
Forget it, she thought.
Now that everyone was crowded together, it was unavoidable that Lin Zhiqiao would end up appearing in the frame when she took photos.
It would be better to wait until all the photos were done, then sort them all together and delete them all together.
Ji Yuan quickly convinced herself.
She continued aiming the camera in her hand at the people on the basketball court, and her photographer’s instinct let her capture quite a few wonderful shots.
Once the basketball-court scene was done, Ji Yuan did not rush to review the photos she had taken earlier. Instead, she followed behind Ji Ran and the others and moved on to the tennis court.
The entire morning passed in a flash, and very soon it was lunchtime.
Lunch was free boxed meals provided by the Four Seasons cafeteria—two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup. Very generous.
Ji Ran dragged over a few stools and pushed them together. Everyone sat on the ground around the stools and ate together.
Ji Yuan glanced at them, then silently carried her own boxed meal over to sit beneath the basketball hoop.
“Ji Xiaoyuan!” Ji Ran waved at her. “Come eat with us! The dishes aren’t even the same!”
“I’ve told you so many times—show some respect to your elders!” Ji Yuan glared up at him angrily. “I’m not going. You all eat by yourselves. So many people squeezed together like that—aren’t you bothered by not being able to breathe?”
Ji Ran curled his lips. Knowing she simply did not want to be too close to “someone she disliked,” he did not call her again.
Lin Zhiqiao paid no attention to the aunt-and-nephew exchange.
He was eating from his own lunchbox, but his eyes secretly drifted over to everyone else’s food.
[Braised chicken drumstick, sweet-and-sour pork, sweet-and-sour tenderloin, shredded pork in garlic sauce…]
[Is Four Seasons’ cafeteria food always this amazing?!]
At the side, Ji Ran puffed up with pride.
Of course! All industries under the Ji Group treated their employees very thoughtfully and generously!
[Once I’m rich in the future, I’m definitely poaching Four Seasons’ head chef!]
Lin Zhiqiao sank into deep thought. [Wait, after the chef gets poached, won’t Four Seasons employees get so angry over the food not suiting their taste that they all job-hop?]
Ji Ran: “…”
What a vicious style of business warfare!
Meanwhile, Ji Yuan had also dragged over a stool and was reviewing the morning’s photos while eating.
By default, the photos were arranged in reverse order by shooting time.
In the first photo, Ji Ran was jumping up to serve, his arm blocking half his face.
Beside the tennis court, Lin Zhiqiao was picking up a ball.
The young man was bending slightly at the waist. His chestnut, softly tousled hair hung over his forehead, and in his pale eyes was reflected the tiny yellow tennis ball. His expression was focused and gentle, as though he were not picking up a ball at all, but interacting with some fluffy little animal.
—He himself also looked extremely like some sort of very delicious little animal.
Ji Yuan muttered that in her heart, then suddenly froze. Her face cycled through red, orange, blue, green, and purple in a spectacular display.
No, wait, she had meant to photograph Ji Ran in this shot! So how was it that Lin Zhiqiao, who had been accidentally caught in the frame, was the one who looked more eye-catching and more striking?!
Ji Ran, with half his face blocked, was dismissed.
Ji Yuan darkened her face and hurled that photo straight into the recycle bin.
The second photo—Ji Yuan remembered that what she had wanted to photograph was Jiang Qianqian and Wen Li on the court next door, bumping fists to cheer each other on.
What a beautiful friendship between two girls. Unfortunately, the top light had been too strong at the time, so the photo came out with several annoying flares.
Ji Yuan sighed, then her gaze suddenly landed on the edge of the photo.
The chestnut-haired young man had his head tilted back as he drank water, his Adam’s apple bobbing lightly. Perhaps because he had been drinking too quickly, a few escaping droplets slipped from the corner of his lips and wound their way down the elegant line of his jaw, leaving several glittering wet trails across his pale neck.
Ji Yuan’s eyes lit up.
What an atmospheric shot!
The next second, however, she clenched her teeth and angrily shoveled another mouthful of rice into her mouth.
What did a perfect atmospheric god-tier photo of Lin Zhiqiao have to do with her?
Delete it, delete it! Delete them all!!!
And yet the next one, and the one after that… almost every single photo had Lin Zhiqiao somewhere in it, and most of them had come out very beautifully.
Even though Ji Yuan had not aimed her camera at him at all.
By the end of the meal, Ji Yuan was filled with fury.
Sniffling, she looked at the very few photos left in her album and then at the recycle bin full to bursting with “discarded god-tier shots,” and she wanted to cry without tears.
Who understood this?!
Her camera seemed to have developed thoughts of its own—and defected to the enemy!!!
Ji Yuan simply shut the camera off, deciding that what the eye did not see, the heart would not grieve over.
But no matter how unwilling she was to admit it, Ji Yuan had already been forced to realize that Lin Zhiqiao was actually very photogenic. He seemed born to appear in front of the camera, naturally carrying an incredibly strong and utterly effortless camera presence.
Put simply, however casually you shot him, it looked good. Even random messy shots would come out beautifully.
That was a skill many actors and idols could only dream of.
Ji Yuan secretly shot another glance toward the group sitting in a circle, and for the first time, carefully studied Lin Zhiqiao’s appearance.
His naturally slightly curly chestnut hair was soft and fluffy, his almond-shaped eyes were round, and his pupils were a rare pale amber. Although his cheeks still carried a little baby fat, it did not make him look childlike. Instead, it made him feel full of youthful energy.
It was the sort of face with extremely high recognizability—the kind you would not easily forget after seeing once.
For an artist, the importance of recognizability went without saying.
Ji Yuan had to admit that if it were not for all his negative rumors, and if he had not reached all the way across the galaxy to leech off Lin Mubai, sooner or later Lin Zhiqiao would also have won himself a place high up in the entertainment world.
Instead of still being what he was now—a little unknown, washed-up nobody from the eighteenth tier.
What a pity, she thought.
To have such outstanding natural conditions and yet not know how to treasure them was simply a waste of heaven’s gifts.
Ji Yuan vaguely remembered that the variety show Lin Zhiqiao had joined had been a regular on the hot search some time ago.
But back then, when she heard that Lin Zhiqiao was among the guests—and since she had also been too busy to breathe during that period—she had not followed the livestream.
…She should find time to watch the replay.
Ji Yuan thought this to herself.
In case… just in case it really was like Ji Ran had said, and the real Lin Zhiqiao was not actually as outrageous as the marketing accounts made him sound?
The moment that thought appeared, Ji Yuan violently shook her head and immediately threw it out of her mind.
No, no!
Ji Yuan! You are a mommy-fan of Lin Mubai! You must not harbor any improper thoughts whatsoever toward your darling goose-son’s sworn enemy!
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Zhiqiao—who had already finished eating and was now leisurely eating his after-meal fruit—kept hearing 888’s voice ring through his mind—
[Favorability +1 from Ji Yuan… favorability -1 from Ji Yuan… +1 -1 +1 -1 +1 -1…]
Lin Zhiqiao: […?]
He swallowed the little strawberry in his mouth and poked Ji Ran beside him. “Your little aunt… is she okay?”
Ji Ran instantly became alert. “Xiao Qiao, I wasn’t lying to you. Ji Xiaoyuan really does already have a boyfriend!”
“I know,” Lin Zhiqiao said, wanting to speak but stopping himself, then wanting to stop but speaking anyway. “Maybe… maybe you should look at her?”
[She looks like… like a pitiful human whose banana got stolen by a monkey and then got slapped by the same monkey, so now she’s standing there raging in helpless fury.]
Jiang Qianqian, who was drinking water, choked and started coughing wildly.
The others all turned their heads, pressed their lips together, lowered their heads… and desperately tried to hold back the laughter rising uncontrollably.
Ji Ran: “…”
What kind of crazy comparison was that?
He turned his head to look in the direction of the basketball stand. The baby-faced girl was pacing in place, her expression shifting unpredictably between anger, laughter, and torment. Her originally neat hairstyle had already been torn by her own hands into a bird’s nest.
There was a very insane sort of comedic beauty to it.
Ji Ran: “…………”
Good lord.
So it wasn’t abstract expressionism—it was realism.
He raised his voice and called out, “Ji Xiaoyuan!”
Ji Yuan ignored him.
Ji Ran widened his eyes in shock. She had not even snapped back at him?
So he called again, “Little Auntie!”
This time Ji Yuan reacted. She suddenly looked up, resentment billowing off her from a great distance. “Wha~t~is~it?”
Ji Ran shrank his neck a little. The words he had originally wanted to say got stuck in his throat, and he changed them at lightning speed. “Do you want some after-meal fruit?”
Ji Yuan’s eyes drifted vaguely, as though some indescribable creature had sucked all the spirit out of her body. “No~need.”
Ji Ran: “…”
This was bad.
His little aunt seemed to have been possessed. What should he do?!
And over on Lin Zhiqiao’s side, the notifications of Ji Yuan’s favorability continued all the way until today’s shoot finally wrapped up.
It was not until everyone split up and were on the way home that 888’s announcements finally stopped.
Lin Zhiqiao asked, [So she finally stopped?]
[No, Host.] 888’s tone was full of exhaustion. [I got tired, so I temporarily put her on message do-not-disturb.]
Lin Zhiqiao: […]
*
The next day, Lin Zhiqiao arrived at Four Seasons headquarters on time again.
The ad shoot was divided across two days. The first day had been for indoor scenes, while today’s work was all outdoors.
Unfortunately, the sun was blazing and the temperature was extremely high. After changing his clothes and standing under the harsh sunlight, Lin Zhiqiao felt like he was about to melt.
Fortunately, with the previous day’s adjustment period behind them, today’s shoot went very smoothly.
During a break, Four Seasons staff set up a huge canopy on the athletic field, and several enormous industrial fans stood beside it, humming loudly and barely dispersing some of the heat.
“Thank you for your hard work, everyone! We’ve prepared popsicles and cold drinks for you all—please help yourselves!”
A staff member wheeled over a freezer. Lin Zhiqiao took a bottle of ice water but did not drink it right away. Instead, he pressed it to his cheek, using it to cool the burning heat on his face.
Not far away, Ji Yuan’s figure flashed past.
Ji Yuan had changed into a different outfit today. She was no longer wearing a school-style JK skirt, but instead had switched to cool, breathable sportswear that made moving around easier.
She looked even more like a high school student now.
Ji Yuan set down her camera and expressionlessly reviewed the results she had just shot—
Ji Ran starting to run, with Lin Zhiqiao warming up in the background. Wen Li sprinting, with Lin Zhiqiao sprawled out on the court nearby, eyes closed, basking in the sunlight as though he were trying to tan.
Pei Ning and Jiang Qianqian adjusting each other’s headbands, while Lin Zhiqiao squatted in the tiniest patch of shade, spacing out blankly.
Tang Zhou and Cheng Xia practicing relay coordination, while Lin Zhiqiao had somehow found a sheet of paper and was using it as a fan, waving it so fast it blurred into an afterimage.
It was as if Lin Zhiqiao was destined to pass through every single one of Ji Yuan’s shots.
Even in the casual all-group resting photo Ji Yuan had just snapped at random, Lin Zhiqiao was still the most eye-catching one.
An ordinary bottle of ice water. Slightly damp sideburns. An unsteady chest rising and falling beneath a thin sports tank. Skin flushed red from the heat…
Not only his face was red—even his neck, collarbone, and even his fingertips carried a redness that set people’s imagination running wild.
Maybe it was because his skin was so fair, but the chestnut-haired young man’s flushed color was more obvious than anyone else’s, and more… temptingly criminal.
Ji Yuan touched her nose, and both her expression and her eyes gradually turned numb.
It’s okay, Ji Yuan, she told herself.
This is just the instinct of a dirty old perv—cross that out—a photographer. You simply can’t resist a perfect bod—cross that out—a perfect divine face. You have not defected, and you do not need to blame yourself for this…
Ji Yuan successfully persuaded herself once again.
Just then, a staff member came over carrying a huge bag of something.
“Ji Yuan, your delivery arrived at the entrance, so I brought it in for you!” the staff member said, panting a little. “What did you order? Why is it so heavy?”
Ji Yuan came back to herself. “Hm? I didn’t order delivery… ah!”
She froze for a second, then clicked into her phone and, just as expected, saw the message from half an hour earlier, from her boyfriend Xu Mu’an.
‘I bought iced watermelon for all of you. It’s so hot today—have some during the break to cool down [cat peeking head·praise me quickly!.jpg]’
Ji Yuan’s expression instantly softened, and a smile unconsciously rose to her face.
She replied: ‘Okay, thank you, baby [holding and kissing.jpg]’
Then she said to the staff member, “Sorry to trouble you. Please cut the watermelons and hand them out to everyone.”
The staff member opened the insulated bag, revealing two enormous watermelons inside, along with plenty of ice.
Ji Yuan’s heart felt warm.
Lin Zhiqiao’s heart felt warm too.
He also got two large slices of iced watermelon. On a blazing hot day like this, who wouldn’t say that one bite was absolutely wonderful?
[Thank you, little uncle-in-law. Thank you, little uncle-in-law, for bringing us this cool relief in such hot weather. Little uncle-in-law is such a good person!!!]
Ji Ran choked on a mouthful of watermelon juice and coughed so hard it was practically earth-shaking.
Cheng Xia quickly handed him a tissue so the watermelon juice would not stain his clothes.
At the side, Ji Yuan’s body stiffened slightly, her face flushing red.
Wh-who had allowed him to call Xu Mu’an “little uncle-in-law”?!
That form of address… actually sounded rather pleasant.
She liked hearing it.
888 reported: [Favorability +1 -1 +1 -1… from Ji Yuan]
Lin Zhiqiao: “…”
[You turned her notifications back on again?]
[Yes, Host.] 888 sounded excited. [I wanted to see how long this fluctuation in her favorability would keep going. This phenomenon is so rare!]
Lin Zhiqiao was silent for a moment. [As long as you’re happy.]
While eating that wonderfully cool melon, Lin Zhiqiao set his sights on the gossip blind box again.
At exactly that moment, Ji Yuan’s phone rang—it was a WeChat video call from her boyfriend Xu Mu’an.
Ji Yuan did not try to hide it. Instead, she found a seat and answered the video openly and generously.
Lin Zhiqiao was sitting a little far from her, so he could only vaguely hear things like “we’re eating watermelon now” and “the watermelon bought by my baby is definitely the best” and so on.
[Ah, couples in the honeymoon stage really are sweet.]
As a single man, Ji Ran declared that he could no longer stand seeing sweet lovey-dovey couples, so he chose to move away from the clingy video-calling pair and carried his little stool over to sit beside Lin Zhiqiao.
[As sweet as this melon.]
Lin Zhiqiao took a crisp bite of watermelon and finally opened the gossip blind box.
[A certain female college student once stayed up late watching funny videos, and because she laughed too hard, she dislocated her jaw and had to be sent to the hospital by ambulance by her roommates in the middle of the night!]
Everyone pricked up their ears and skillfully piggybacked on the gossip.
But Ji Yuan, who was in the middle of her video call with Xu Mu’an, suddenly changed expression.
This was Ji Yuan’s own personal experience. Because it was so absurd and embarrassing, aside from the few roommates who had happened to be there in person and her boyfriend, she had never told anyone about it. Not even Ji Ran knew.
—So how did Lin Zhiqiao know?!
Ji Yuan’s face filled with alarm and uncertainty. She wanted to “question” Lin Zhiqiao, only to discover that she suddenly could not open her mouth at all.
On the other end of the video, Xu Mu’an noticed something wrong with her and asked worriedly, “Baby, are you okay? Why did your face suddenly turn so bad?”
Ji Yuan froze, then realized that Xu Mu’an on the video call could not hear Lin Zhiqiao’s inner thoughts.
So she shook her head and said, “I’m fine.”
Who had let it slip?
Could it be her boyfriend or one of her roommates had accidentally told Ji Ran, and then Ji Ran told Lin Zhiqiao?
Ji Yuan chatted with Xu Mu’an while absentmindedly trying to piece it together.
[A certain male college student fell asleep in class with his head down on the desk, and when he woke up, his neck was crooked! He had to stay in the hospital for a week before being discharged!]
[Hahahaha what is going on! Is today’s theme a compilation of fragile college students, hahaha!]
Ji Yuan’s gaze drifted slightly.
Wasn’t that… her boyfriend Xu Mu’an’s glorious achievement?
Lin Zhiqiao kept going.
Taking advantage of the interval, everyone tossed watermelon rinds, fetched more slices, and helped themselves freely.
There was not much watermelon left in the fruit tray. Cheng Xia took one slice for himself and did not forget to grab one for Lin Zhiqiao too, since he was so immersed in the gossip that he had forgotten everything else.
“If you don’t eat now, it’ll all be gone,” Cheng Xia said.
Lin Zhiqiao took the watermelon. “Thanks.”
[Sure enough, my good goose-son is still the most thoughtful… pfft-cough-cough!]
Lin Zhiqiao bit into the watermelon, only to choke the next second, almost spraying the fruit pulp out of his mouth.
[Good lord! Sure enough, you really should open the blind box while eating watermelon! It actually opened such a bombshell melon!]
Everyone’s movements froze at the same time. Even Ji Yuan, who was chatting with her boyfriend, could not help stealing a glance in Lin Zhiqiao’s direction.
What gossip?!
What bombshell gossip?!
Don’t stop there, ahhhh!!!
[Beneath what looks like sweet and loving romance, there actually hides such a shocking secret! When every sweet word is made of lies, when happiness is backed by nothing but deception—]
[Ji Ran’s little aunt’s boyfriend! Xu Mu’an! He—]
[Is actually gay!!!]
With a soft plop, the watermelon rind in Ji Ran’s hand fell to the ground.
Ji Ran bent down to pick it up, and took advantage of the moment to stop hiding the expression on his face. The storm raging in his heart spilled out completely at once.
After going through so much already, Ji Ran no longer doubted the truth of Lin Zhiqiao’s inner thoughts at all.
Silently, he threw away the watermelon rind, his face looking indescribably complicated.
What kind of situation was this?
He, a gay man, had looked for a boyfriend and ended up finding a straight man. His little aunt, a straight woman, had looked for a boyfriend and ended up finding a gay man?
What kind of messed-up nonsense was this!!!
On the other side, Ji Yuan—who had heard the entire gossip from beginning to end—had a face so dark it was frightening!
Lin Zhiqiao! Did he even know what he was saying!!!
With a crisp crack, Ji Yuan snapped the watermelon rind in her hand.
Xu Mu’an on the video call saw her entire change of expression and looked even more worried. “Baby? Are you really okay? Did you stay under the sun too long and start feeling unwell?”
Ji Yuan took a deep breath, grateful that Xu Mu’an could not hear Lin Zhiqiao’s inner thoughts.
Seeing this, Xu Mu’an directly said, “Go find somewhere cool and rest a little. Do you have iced water? Take two bottles and cool your cheeks and forehead. I’ll order some medicine for heatstroke for you. If it’s really bad, just go home first, or go straight to the hospital.”
He paused, sounding anxious but helpless. “I’m on set right now, and my part is about to start, so I can’t leave. Is Ji Ran with you? Hand him the phone and I—”
“I’m fine,” Ji Yuan hurriedly interrupted him. “I just suddenly thought of something extremely infuriating.”
She deliberately stressed the word “extremely.”
The comfort from her boyfriend barely managed to suppress the anger in her heart.
When Xu Mu’an still did not quite believe her, Ji Yuan reassured him again. “Really, I’m really fine! If you don’t believe me, just ask Ji Ran!”
Ji Ran happened to walk over to her right then. Hearing that, he gave the young man on the screen a slight smile. “Mm, I can testify—Ji Xiaoyuan is doing great right now!”
Of course, Ji Ran knew exactly what kind of state Ji Yuan was in. The last few words therefore carried an inexplicably sarcastic edge.
Even the smile on his face, if you looked carefully, seemed slightly twisted and meaningful.
“We’ve got something to do over here, so I’ll hang up for you first.”
And with that, Ji Ran gave Ji Yuan no time at all to react before ending the video call between the two.
Ji Yuan lowered her voice, but the anger in it was impossible to hide. “Ji Ran, what do you mean by that?!”
“Don’t you understand yet?” Ji Ran also lowered his voice. “Think about Yuan Yu! Think about how I found out and how we broke up!”
Ji Yuan froze. “You mean… when you found out Yuan Yu was actually a straight man pretending to be gay, you learned it through this same kind of thing?”
Ji Ran nodded. “Those who believe him stay far away from scumbags.”
Ji Yuan fell silent for a moment.
Just as Ji Ran thought she had finally accepted it, he instead heard Ji Yuan speak through gritted teeth.
“Ji Ran, I honestly never expected you to become this ridiculous!” Ji Yuan raised her eyes and glared furiously at her nephew. “Just because of a few words and a few coincidences, you trust him completely!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became. “Who knows where he got his information from? Just because some earlier things happened to line up doesn’t mean he’ll always be right!”
“I’m telling you! I know better than any of you what kind of person my boyfriend is! If you don’t like my boyfriend, then you don’t need to use this kind of trick to drive a wedge between me and him!”
Ji Ran: “…”
His silence was deafening.
Seeing that Ji Ran was not speaking, Ji Yuan gave a cold snort, snatched her phone back, and ignored him.
This world had finally gone completely insane in ways she could no longer understand.
Ji Yuan felt that she had never been so painfully clear-headed!
It was truly a case of everyone being drunk while she alone remained sober!
Ji Ran: “…………”
He tried to speak several times, then stopped himself.
Forget it, Ji Ran thought.
After all, back then, he had gone through exactly the same thing.
He knew Ji Yuan’s personality. Once she got stubborn, she was just like a mule—nothing anyone said would work. Only facts she saw with her own eyes could make her truly submit.
Once he figured that out, Ji Ran completely gave up on trying to persuade her. The look he gave his little aunt was now filled with sympathy.
The two of them had kept their argument quiet, so none of the others heard the specific content of what they were saying.
Lin Zhiqiao, meanwhile, was still completely immersed in the bombshell melon.
[Tsk tsk tsk, Ji Ran picked a boyfriend who was a straight guy pretending to be gay, while Ji Yuan picked a boyfriend who was a gay guy pretending to be straight!]
[What is wrong with this aunt-and-nephew pair?! Why are their tastes in people so weird—no, weirdly identical? Is it that only scumbags can catch their eye?]
[Should I remind Uncle Ji and Aunt Zhang next time to set up a special little family workshop inside the Ji household and teach some relationship-selection skills?]
[At this rate, no matter how much wealth the Ji family has, it won’t stand up to descendants who keep throwing themselves at scumbags like this!]
