Chapter 31
Ji Yuan did not believe the person she liked was a scumbag, so she put on her headphones and chose the path of peace through not hearing it.
As for Ji Ran, who had once liked a scumbag himself…
His face was dark with misery, and he practically wanted to grab Lin Zhiqiao by the shoulders and shake him like crazy.
Eat gossip if you want to eat gossip!
Why did he have to keep dragging him into it?!
Who didn’t have a first love they couldn’t proudly show off!!!
Ji Ran refused to admit that his first love was even more unspeakable than other people’s.
The few people present who had been single since birth all cast Ji Ran silent looks of sympathy.
This gossip, however, had clearly not reached its end.
After sighing his fill, Lin Zhiqiao noticed that the director still showed no sign of calling for filming to begin, so he chose to keep eating gossip.
[Xu Mu’an had known for a long time that he wasn’t straight. At the age when first love starts to stir, the boys around him were all secretly watching those awakening films, and when Xu Mu’an realized he felt nothing watching them, he understood where the problem was.]
[In high school, Xu Mu’an started trying to date. Over those three years of high school, he changed boyfriends nine times!]
[How many? Nine?! Good grief—other people’s high school years are about drowning in study and grinding through mistake notebooks, but his high school was about collecting stamps? Collect nine boyfriends and summon the dragon?]
Lin Zhiqiao silently shed tears. [Compared to him, I’m being angered to death. He’s already dated nine, and I still don’t even know which corner of the world my boyfriend is in, QAQ!]
888 comforted him. [Don’t be too discouraged, host. Quality matters far more than quantity. Maybe one boyfriend of yours could equal ten of his.]
Lin Zhiqiao thought about it, and his little face instantly turned impure yellow. [You’re right, hehe.]
888: [?]
Its host seemed a tiny bit indecent.
[Wow, Xu Mu’an’s ninth high school boyfriend—his last boyfriend—is actually still with him now! Looks like he found true love.]
[Wait, wait, wait—doesn’t that mean Xu Mu’an got together with Ji Yuan before breaking up with him? So he really is straddling two boats too! He’s exactly the same as Princess Ranran!]
Ji Ran, who had once again been dragged in: “…”
Not far away, Ji Yuan: “…”
Why was it that even wearing headphones couldn’t block out Lin Zhiqiao’s voice?!
So angry she was nearly smoking, Ji Yuan moved her small stool all the way to the farthest edge of the shade structure, as far from Lin Zhiqiao as possible, but she still could not block out his “demonic sound pouring into her ears.”
[When Xu Mu’an graduated from high school, he had come out to his parents. But both of them said they wouldn’t accept it and hoped he would get married and have children.]
[After that, Xu Mu’an and his boyfriend stopped contacting each other on the surface, but in reality they were still together and had not broken up. So after entering university, the two of them switched to a secret underground relationship.]
[To put his parents at ease, Xu Mu’an then found himself a girlfriend. First, she would be a shield for his real relationship, and second, Ji Yuan came from a good family and could help pave the way for his acting career?! And later, after marriage, he could even…]
[What kind of trash is this, still thinking about marriage?! A gay man pretending to be straight to deceive a woman’s feelings, and even planning to trick her into marriage too—if he really did get married later, would he also be planning to trick her into having children just to make his parents happy?!]
Lin Zhiqiao could not help it and began cursing under his breath.
[In our gay world, someone like this would be nailed to the pillar of shame for life and permanently blacklisted, okay!!!]
A harsh crackle sounded—it was Ji Ran failing to control his strength and crushing the empty mineral water bottle in his hand.
He turned and looked toward Ji Yuan, who had retreated to the edge of the shade structure, his expression vicious and his teeth grinding.
Good. Very good!
Xu Mu’an, was it? He’d better pray Ji Ran never got the chance to be alone with him!!!
Ji Yuan had obviously heard everything Lin Zhiqiao had just said as well.
There was no doubt she was furious.
But her good nephew looked even angrier than she was.
Ji Yuan rarely saw Ji Ran this angry. It was true that his temper was explosive and easy to set off, but genuinely being this angry was actually very, very rare.
Because of that, the pent-up anger in Ji Yuan’s stomach over her boyfriend being “slandered” suddenly deflated like a popped balloon.
At this point, she even kind of wanted to laugh.
Before her brain had fully processed it, her body had already moved first.
She raised her camera and snapped three quick shots in a row, clearly capturing Ji Ran’s face twisted in fury.
Ji Ran: “…”
He had finally seen it clearly.
His little aunt was beyond saving.
Lin Zhiqiao had not seen the full process of Ji Ran’s expression changing. He glanced at Ji Ran in confusion when Ji Ran suddenly twisted his head away, then withdrew his gaze and kept eating gossip.
[When Xu Mu’an was in university, he was one year above Ji Yuan and in the student union. Before Ji Yuan had even officially enrolled, he had already gotten the incoming student list in advance.]
[He knew Ji Yuan was the Ji family’s daughter, so he set his target early. On the day she registered for school, he stayed guarding the freshman registration point for five whole hours, and finally waited for the late-arriving Ji Yuan.]
[Good grief—even their first meeting was deliberately designed! What a scheming man!]
Ji Yuan could not stop herself from recalling the day she entered university.
More than four years had already passed since then, yet now that she thought back on it, that memory was still astonishingly clear.
[White shirt, gentle and handsome, incredibly considerate senior… tsk tsk tsk, what fresh new junior brother or junior sister stepping into university for the first time could resist that kind of persona?]
[Of course our innocent and green little aunt couldn’t resist either! Love at first sight, she took the initiative to ask for Senior Xu’s contact info, and then launched a fierce pursuit!]
[Sigh—if all of this hadn’t been designed by Xu Mu’an, then that first meeting really would have felt like the perfect opening of a youthful campus romance.]
Ji Yuan gave a cold snort in her heart.
Setting aside all the obviously “made-up” parts… she would just take it as Lin Zhiqiao praising her romance for being sweet.
But this kind of description of the scene, as if he had personally seen it with his own eyes, left Ji Yuan deeply puzzled.
Where exactly had Lin Zhiqiao heard all this from?!
[Ji Yuan followed Xu Mu’an into the student union, and the two naturally got together, becoming the fairy-tale couple in everyone’s eyes.]
[Sigh, the only pitiful ones are little aunt, who’s been kept in the dark the whole time, and Xu Mu’an’s underground boyfriend… hm? Wait!]
[The suggestion to get Ji Yuan as a girlfriend actually—actually came from that underground boyfriend in the beginning?!]
Lin Zhiqiao’s worldview exploded for the third, fourth, fifth time.
[The underground boyfriend said he couldn’t bear for Xu Mu’an to fall out with his parents because of him. He said he was willing to sacrifice himself for Xu Mu’an’s family harmony, so he proposed that Xu Mu’an find a girlfriend while he himself would voluntarily become the underground boyfriend.]
[Xu Mu’an even felt deeply guilty toward him because of this, saying that once he got famous later, he definitely wouldn’t forget his sacrifice… what kind of deranged idiot from an ancient melodramatic script crawled out here, ahhhh!!!]
If there had not been so many people around, Lin Zhiqiao might have started performing an on-the-spot mental breakdown.
[Every time after accompanying Ji Yuan, Xu Mu’an would rush over to accompany his boyfriend. When Ji Yuan wanted to wear matching couple outfits, Xu Mu’an, to “compensate” his boyfriend, would secretly wear the same shoes as him.]
[And if the three of them were all in the same setting, afraid Ji Yuan might notice something wrong, Xu Mu’an and the boyfriend would secretly wear matching… uh, matching couple underwear?!]
Lin Zhiqiao sucked in a breath of cold liangpi. [What kind of explosive lunatics come up with matching couple underwear as a couple outfit!!!]
People around them drank water, lowered their heads and coughed, stuffed watermelon rind into their mouths… all desperately trying to keep their expressions under control.
[Wait!] Lin Zhiqiao suddenly grasped the key point. [So Ji Yuan and that underground boyfriend actually have met before? And not just once?!]
[Poor little aunt. In this three-person stage play, only she gave a sincere performance as the naive sweet girl. She thought it was a script of three people getting along well, but in reality she was the only one holding the fooled-and-kept-in-the-dark script. Too tragic, way too tragic.]
Ji Yuan’s thoughts unconsciously ran off in the direction Lin Zhiqiao had pushed them.
She suddenly remembered that Xu Mu’an had one very close friend, someone he always said he had played with from high school all the way into university.
Ji Yuan remembered that the first time she saw that friend, the two of them had been wearing matching watches. According to Xu Mu’an, it was because there had been a promotion and the second one was half-price, so they bought them together.
If what Lin Zhiqiao was saying was true, then wouldn’t that mean…
Ji Yuan froze, then violently shook her head to throw that thought out of her mind.
Absolutely! Impossible! It! Could! Be! True!!!
Ji Yuan’s round eyes widened, and from across the distance she threw a whole combination punch toward Lin Zhiqiao in the air.
[With Ji Yuan opening the path for him, Xu Mu’an successfully landed the role of second male lead before even graduating. That drama is supposed to air in a little while.]
[Hm? The title is Qingquan? Why does that sound kind of familiar…]
Lin Zhiqiao thought for a moment. When he couldn’t remember where he’d heard it, he simply gave up.
[After Qingquan, Xu Mu’an has now also taken on a new drama, Yu Sheng You Nian. He just entered the new production team and again got the role of second male lead… holy crap, incredible!]
This time, even Ji Yuan couldn’t help holding her breath, waiting for Lin Zhiqiao’s next words.
[Xu Mu’an’s underground boyfriend actually also landed a role and entered the same production team! In the daytime the two of them secretly exchange meaningful glances, and at night the door closes and it’s warm… relying on the fact that Ji Yuan isn’t there, they’ve been playing very, very boldly!]
Lin Zhiqiao raged helplessly. [So exactly how boldly are they playing?! Can’t this part really be expanded into ten thousand detailed words?!]
The others nodded with deep feeling, expressing full agreement.
Only Ji Yuan froze abruptly and suddenly remembered that Xu Mu’an really had mentioned to her before that that friend of his… had also passed the audition for a supporting role in his new drama.
For the moment, Xu Mu’an’s gossip reached a temporary stopping point, and everyone continued today’s ad-filming task.
Lin Zhiqiao and the others had eaten gossip until they were fully satisfied, but the actual person involved—Ji Yuan—ended up distracted and absent-minded for the entire afternoon because of it.
Reason told her she should not start doubting the boyfriend she had dated for four years just because of a few short words from someone else.
But in her mind, one suspicious point after another kept surfacing uncontrollably.
For example, Xu Mu’an and that friend really were very close. Close enough that they would swap clothes with each other.
Ji Yuan had always taken that as perfectly normal behavior between good bros. After all, many girls did the same thing too. But now that she thought about it, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling there was something strange about it.
For another example, Xu Mu’an would occasionally bring that friend along even when he was on a date with her.
But each time Xu Mu’an told her in advance, so Ji Yuan never minded. Sometimes she even brought her own friends too, so it wasn’t really a date anymore, but more like several friends hanging out together.
And another thing—Xu Mu’an often went with that friend to gaming hotels to book a room and play games, staying there the whole night.
Boys liking games was completely normal, and of course Ji Yuan had never suspected anything.
Besides these, there were even more tiny details that had never seemed all that obvious.
Even when Ji Yuan had noticed them before, she never paid too much attention to them. But now, paired with everything Lin Zhiqiao had just said…
With so many coincidences, could they really still just be coincidences?
Ji Yuan felt that her thoughts were already slipping beyond her control.
Anxiety and unease took over her emotions, leaving her muddled and dazed all afternoon. She barely took any photos at all.
Even later that evening, when Ji Ran took everyone out to dinner and said Father Ji was footing the bill, even the delicious dishes on the table could not stir her emotions.
Ji Yuan found she had no appetite at all.
Once the seed of doubt had been planted, suspicious points sprang up everywhere.
After dinner ended, everyone sat around the table chatting.
Ji Ran glanced at Ji Yuan and poked her secretly. “Have you figured it out yet?”
Ji Yuan had not heard a single word he said. She responded automatically, “Mm-hm, ah-ah, oh-oh.”
Ji Ran: “…”
He sighed and suggested, “If you’re really that torn up, then why not—” go confront him face to face.
As someone who had already gone through it, Ji Ran felt he could pass on some of his experience to a lost lamb.
But before he could finish, Ji Yuan had already taken out her phone and started a video call to Xu Mu’an.
Lost inside her own world, Ji Yuan did not notice that everyone who had just been chatting happily all lowered their voices with remarkable tacit understanding, their gazes all drifting subtly toward her.
The ringtone rang for quite a long time before Xu Mu’an finally picked up.
In the video, the young man’s hair was faintly damp. His face and neck were both slightly red and carried a faint moist sheen.
Ji Yuan froze for a moment, suppressed all her emotions, and acted as if nothing was wrong, whining to him in the same spoiled way as before.
“Why did it take you so long to answer!”
Xu Mu’an brushed back his hair, sounding helpless. “I just got out of the shower and was blow-drying my hair. The sound of the hair dryer was too loud, so I didn’t hear the phone ringing.”
As he spoke, he even lifted the hair dryer in his hand to show her.
The explanation was perfect. Ji Yuan couldn’t find a single fault in it.
Xu Mu’an asked her, “How are you feeling? You’re not uncomfortable or anything, right?”
Ji Yuan answered on instinct, “No, I’m perfectly fine.”
So he was still remembering the expression she had shown earlier during the day, the one that had looked like she was “not feeling well.”
Ji Yuan’s heart softened, and she suddenly felt a bit guilty.
A person so considerate and attentive, someone who cared so much about how she felt—how could he possibly be the kind of scumbag Lin Zhiqiao had described? A man straddling two boats, pretending to be straight while being gay, cheating feelings, even planning marriage fraud?
Ji Yuan’s wavering heart tilted back toward Xu Mu’an once more.
“That’s good.” Xu Mu’an let out a breath of relief on the video. “Tomorrow my scenes will finish in the morning, so I can come see you in the afternoon… tsk!”
His expression changed slightly, and he suddenly sucked in a breath.
Ji Yuan immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Xu Mu’an grinned a little. “I accidentally hit my toe.”
Ji Yuan still wanted to ask more, but the moment she heard the sound from the other side of the video, she froze. All the words she had been about to say got stuck in her throat.
Just now… she thought she had heard another person’s voice from the video.
It had only been a very light, very light sneer, but it sounded familiar. Ji Yuan felt sure she had heard it before.
—It sounded very much like the voice of Xu Mu’an’s so-called friend.
The person on the other end did not notice anything strange about her. “You’re still outside right now?”
“Mm, I’m out eating.” she answered automatically. “Ji Ran’s treating.”
Xu Mu’an nodded. “Okay. When you’re done, remember to have Ji Ran send you back. Don’t go back by yourself. It’s too late, and it’s not safe for you alone.”
Ji Yuan did not reveal anything odd. She nodded and said, “Mm, got it.”
“Then I’ll hang up first. I’m about to go rehearse lines with the others.” Xu Mu’an smiled at her. “Take care of yourself. See you tomorrow, baby.”
Ji Yuan let out a quiet “mm.” “See you tomorrow.”
But the usual baby she called back to him never came out of her mouth.
That sound just now… had it only been her auditory hallucination?
Ji Yuan clenched her phone, unconsciously biting her lower lip so hard it turned pale.
In theory, since Xu Mu’an’s friend was in the same production team as him and had scenes opposite him, it was perfectly normal for them to rehearse together during their break.
But the abnormal part was that Xu Mu’an had not told her.
If it were just normal line rehearsal, Xu Mu’an would never have failed to tell her that the person rehearsing with him next was that friend of his.
And besides… Xu Mu’an had said he had just been showering.
If he had just finished showering and then immediately answered Ji Yuan’s video call, then that friend could not possibly have come after he finished showering.
It could have been while he was showering. Or before he showered. Or it could even have—
Ji Yuan did not dare continue thinking any further.
Ji Ran was sitting right next to her and immediately noticed something was wrong with her mood.
“You… okay?” he asked.
Ji Yuan glanced at him but said nothing.
Lin Zhiqiao was eating fruit after the meal, and very coincidentally, it was watermelon again.
The watermelon this season was especially sweet. One bite after another, it was impossible to stop.
[Sigh, stop guessing, stop guessing. It’s exactly what you think!] Lin Zhiqiao held his watermelon and crunched away. [The person in his room is that underground boyfriend of his. The two of them showered together, only got through a little appetizer, and then your call interrupted them!]
[They prepared quite a lot of tableware for the main course later too. Tsk tsk tsk. Apparently they planned to sample Chinese food, Western food, Thai food, Japanese cuisine… all of it!]
[Instead of sitting here thinking seven thoughts and eight thoughts, why not just leave immediately? If you move fast enough, you might still catch the dessert course!]
Everyone around him froze, hearts pounding with sudden temptation!
Ji Ran racked his brain, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to persuade Ji Yuan to go do a late-night surprise set visit.
But Cheng Xia, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up. “Didn’t Xu Mu’an send you watermelon takeout this morning?”
Ji Yuan did not react in time. “Yeah? So what?”
“Then you can also bring him a little surprise.” Cheng Xia said. “If his girlfriend shows up late at night with midnight snacks to visit the set, he’ll definitely be happy, won’t he?”
These days, what young person didn’t like a good late-night snack?
Ji Ran secretly gave Cheng Xia a thumbs-up.
A perfect reason!
So flawless it was impossible to pick apart!
Ji Yuan’s expression twisted with hesitation. Clearly she was still not mentally ready for an immediate catch-the-cheating-and-eat-the-gossip operation.
“What are you still waiting for! If you go late, you won’t get to eat the— I mean, you’ll miss the best midnight snack timing!” Ji Ran blurted out, almost letting it slip.
[Yeah, yeah, hurry up and go. Better a short sharp pain than a long dull one. Better to live in painful truth than drown in lies. Be a clear-minded person!]
Lin Zhiqiao gave himself a thumbs-up too.
Even with a brain full of gossip, he could still pop out such a philosophical line!
That one sentence struck Ji Yuan.
No matter how much she wanted to run from it, reality was still reality.
If all of this really was just her own suspicion, then fine—everything ended here, and tonight would simply be a pleasant little set visit with midnight snacks.
But if Xu Mu’an really had been deceiving her all these years…
While Ji Yuan was still hesitating, Ji Ran and Cheng Xia had already completed a full chain of preparations for her.
The midnight snacks were ready, and so was the car.
By the time Ji Yuan came back to herself, Ji Ran had already unreasonably stuffed her into the passenger seat.
“Ji Ran, you—”
Before she could finish, she saw through the rearview mirror all the people sitting in the back seat.
Ji Yuan turned around to look.
Aside from herself, Ji Ran, and Cheng Xia, everyone else was also there. Not one missing.
Ji Yuan: “…”
She took a deep breath. “I’m going to see my boyfriend. Why are all of you coming along?”
Pei Ning was perfectly calm and answered off the cuff. “The hotel I booked happens to be nearby. I’m just hitching a ride.”
Wen Li reacted just as quickly. “I’m not full yet. I’m going to grab a bite of the midnight snack too.”
Tang Zhou thought for a moment. “There’s going to be so much midnight food. I’m worried you won’t be able to finish it, so I’m going to help.”
Jiang Qianqian looked pitiful. “If you all leave, I’ll be scared being by myself in the middle of the night. Surely you wouldn’t have the heart to leave a weak little woman alone to take a taxi by herself?”
Ji Yuan: “…”
Lin Zhiqiao: “…”
[No, but how are all of you this good at lying on the spot?! Then what about me? Why am I going?!]
Ji Yuan turned toward him. “And you? What are you going for?”
Lin Zhiqiao racked his brains. “…”
Ji Ran was snickering in the front.
With helplessness, Cheng Xia said, “Ji Ran said before that he’d drive him home.”
Lin Zhiqiao hurriedly nodded. “Yes, yes.”
Ji Yuan: “…”
Ji Yuan turned back around.
Forget it. It was probably better if everyone went.
If a fight broke out later, their side had numbers. No need to be scared!
*
Deep Forest Theme Hotel.
The entire twenty-eighth floor had been booked out by the production team of Yu Sheng You Nian.
And right now, Room 2808.
Xu Mu’an hung up the video call with Ji Yuan and covered the bite mark on his waist. “A-Qin, you bit way too hard!”
Though the words were a complaint, his tone sounded especially indulgent.
He was not wearing a single stitch of clothing on his body, only a bath towel loosely tied around his waist in a disordered way that clearly showed it had been hastily wrapped on.
Xu Mu’an was leaning against the headboard. Beside him, Zhang Ziqin was completely naked, looking at him with a half-smile.
“I did it on purpose.” Zhang Ziqin gave a light snort. “I got jealous.”
He mimicked Xu Mu’an’s tone in a strange, mocking voice. “Baby, are you still uncomfortable? I can come see you tomorrow afternoon, baby. Baby, baby, baaaaby~”
Xu Mu’an held his face and gave him a soothing kiss.
“All right, all right.” Xu Mu’an’s tone was helpless. “You know I don’t really like her. I’m just going through the motions with her, saying those things on purpose to coax her a bit.”
“Of course I know that.” Zhang Ziqin said. “If it were real, then a single bite mark would be far from enough.”
He brushed back his hair. Large areas of exposed skin were scattered with little traces of ambiguous marks.
Xu Mu’an asked, “Then how do you want me to make it up to you?”
“Stay with me tomorrow afternoon.” Zhang Ziqin said.
Xu Mu’an looked troubled. “But I already made plans with her…”
“Stay with me.” Zhang Ziqin’s tone was unquestionable, almost like an order. “Stand her up. Stay with me.”
Xu Mu’an seemed tempted, though still hesitating. “But I already canceled on her not long ago. I’m afraid she’ll get suspicious.”
“Just tell her the production team suddenly has something going on and you can’t get away.” Zhang Ziqin said. “She’s not in the production team. She doesn’t know your schedule. She won’t find out.”
He let out a low laugh, his brows and eyes filled with arrogant mockery. “Besides, after all these years she still hasn’t noticed. She’s stupid enough already. What difference would one more time make?”
“You’re right.” Xu Mu’an instantly defected. “Then I’ll do it your way.”
What he didn’t know was that at that exact moment, Ji Yuan had already arrived at the hotel entrance with a whole car full of sturdy backup.
