Chapter Fifty-Three

  Jian Ran: "............"

  I've already heard it, I've already heard it, I've already heard it, I've already heard it, I've already heard it, I've already heard it, I've already heard it.

  When the broker handed the hamster to Jiang Chuan, when he received it in his palm, the fluffy thing looked a bit stiff.

  It has to be said that Jiang Chuan seems to have grasped some key points.

  When everything calmed down and I looked back, I only felt a chill running down my spine - at the time when I sent the email, I made a hasty decision to let Jiang Chuan publicly disclose his sexual orientation... Now that I think about it, it's really terrifying. Not to mention that domestically, this aspect is still quite sensitive. Although this decision can help Jiang Chuan explain the "hype" incident, using this reason to whitewash it would be a bit like a thief telling the police "I wasn't stealing at the time because I was committing murder, and the body is still there to prove it for me". If things go wrong, it might end up ruining both him and Jiang Chuan.

  Although it may not be to the point of being completely shut down, it's possible that you'll be put on ice for a while. The entertainment industry is updated and replaced so quickly, if you're frozen out for a few years and then reappear, who will still remember who you are?

  It's fortunate that Jiang Chuan cleverly altered some plans, if it were just his one-sided "secret love" for Jin Yan, the severity of this matter would decrease greatly - firstly, such feelings would directly have nothing to do with Jin Yan himself; secondly, because Jiang Chuan's story is well-constructed and stands on its own, people easily distort the so-called "secret love" into other emotions, for example, compared to thinking that Jiang Chuan's feelings for Jin Yan are a forbidden love between two men, it's very possible that most people would view this as "pity", "sympathy", or "childhood infatuation".

  So although it's a public "confession", apart from some people who are naturally inclined to see through the phenomenon and grasp the essence, most people still think this is the legendary "bond of fate".

  Non-toxic and natural kind.

  "It's good that this matter has been resolved smoothly," Fang Yu said in a low voice, sitting on the edge of the bed. "But I'm still concerned about who sent you that email - not many people know about his sexual orientation, after all, he's always presented himself as straight outside."

  "Huh? I thought many people knew."

  "Counting you and me, there's also Jiang Luocheng."

  “……”

  Jiang Chuan looked up with some surprise and glanced at Fang Yu, who shrugged: "They're doing well."

  Jiang Chuan's eyes became slightly subtle, and after a pause, those beautiful eyes returned to calmness. He nodded: "I see, no wonder Jiang Luocheng has been a bit harsh on me since the press conference..."

  "He was dumped cleanly," Fang Yu said with a smack of his lips, "the feelings between old loves and new ones are always more complicated, enemies meeting each other's eyes are especially red."

  He chuckled lightly, seemingly careless, and reached out to touch the young man's cheek again, as if compelled by a habit - his fingertips applied gentle pressure, and the pale skin yielded easily, spreading a faint flush from the point of contact; the cheek was softer than he had imagined, lacking the stiffness of muscle...

  As for that small piece of skin where fingertips and cheeks come into contact with each other, one can easily feel the temperature transmitted from the other person's skin.

  His azure eyes sank slightly, and the man's palm pressed down a bit. For some reason, he suddenly felt a thread of unfamiliar excitement. Under the drive of this emotion, he seemed no longer satisfied with just touching the tip of his finger, and uncontrollably wanted to use his palm to fit against this skin that felt good to the touch. Just then——

  "Mr. Jiangchuan, if you're going to act, there's only me and you here, no need to be so over-the-top." Fang Yu's slightly embarrassed voice sounded, "The way you're poking his face, plus the look in your eyes that seems like you want to swallow him whole, really gives me a creepy feeling..."

  The words of Fang Yu made the man standing beside the hospital bed wake up as if from a dream.

  He withdrew his hand, and the eyelashes that fell covered up the emotions in his eyes. He was silent for a moment, then looked calm and smiled slightly, saying indifferently: "Acting to the point, Ben Jun is here, how can he not seize the time to rehearse."

  Fang Yu: "......"

  The man's ambiguous words made Fang Yu stunned for a moment, and he looked at Jiang Chuan's eyes with some uncertainty. At least in the previous moment, he felt that he saw a different emotion in those beautiful blue pupils - but, unless it was abnormal, normal people shouldn't have such a terrifying gaze towards a vegetative person who had no consciousness, right? ... Yeah, it should be like this, I must have seen it wrong. The agent let out a long sigh and muttered some complaints about being "terrible", while Jiang Chuan withdrew his hand and sat down in a chair that was some distance away from the hospital bed - and when he left, the oppressive atmosphere that had been surrounding the bedside instantly disappeared.

  Not only Fang Yu, but also Jian Chuan, who had just thought for a moment that he would be choked to death by Jian Chuan, also let out a sigh of relief on this side. He quickly broke free from Jian Chuan's hands and crawled to the bedside where he was lying, stretched out his paws with pity and touched his pale face, while sighing in his heart: Sorry, I almost did something so sorry for you without thinking.

  She retracted her claws and turned her head to glance at Jiang Chuan, who was sitting in the chair by the window. His back was facing the light, making it impossible for her to discern his expression or emotions. He sat silently in a spot somewhat far from her, lost in thought... The sunlight streaming in from behind him bathed half of his body in its radiance, and at first glance, one could see the dust particles floating in the air, creating an illusion that made it seem as though he was on the verge of disappearing into the halo of light.

  Hamster: *silence*

  At this moment, he suddenly felt that he was influenced by the person in front of him too much - the worst thing is that everything happened unknowingly, for example, if someone told him half a year ago that he would publicly come out for a newcomer who just looked good, he would definitely tell that person to take their medicine and be pitied for having delusional disorder.

  But now he really did it.

  Regardless of all his previous efforts, he forgot the expectations and longing when he first stepped into the entertainment circle; forgot how bitter it was to run around the world but couldn't get a role; forgot the determination he made when eating with the extras' lunchbox that he would do better; forgot the humiliation and hardship of being bullied by big stars when playing supporting roles; forgot all the blood and tears he had shed along the way...

  I must have been a hamster for too long and become brain-damaged.

  Serious and expressionless thinking.

  ……

  After a trip to the hospital, Fang Yu, Jiang Chuan, and even the hamster in Jiang Chuan's pocket all had very subtle emotions - the worst part was that on their way back to H City on the same day's flight, they still had to "put on a brave face" and pretend nothing had happened.

  Although nothing really happened.

  For example, Jian Ran had no idea what was going on with his host family, who looked like they were deeply traumatized and needed to re-examine their life.

  When he returned to H city in the afternoon, Jiang Chuan went to ask for leave again without discussing with Fang Yu, and asked Jiang Luocheng to take the night off together - Jiang Luocheng was about to go crazy, slamming the clapperboard and scolding Jiang Chuan for wasting so much time and money on this play. However, after checking the shooting schedule, he found that according to the original plan, Jiang Chuan only had one shot in the daytime today, and tonight's night scene was also for Wang Mo and other supporting actors.

  Nothing to do with Jiang Chuan originally.

  He silently picked up the clapperboard that had been smashed to pieces, Jiang Luocheng fell silent for a moment before speaking with a straight face and an extremely shameless tone: "Don't think this is an example, taking so many takes, if you waste film and time on me like this again tomorrow, I'll kill you."

  "Alright."

  Jiang Luocheng thought for a moment and asked: "Where are you going on leave?"

  "Dealing with some things," Jiang Chuan said solemnly, "is extremely important."

  "It's chaotic around here at night, and you've been in the news lately, so don't run around everywhere," Jiang Luocheng said. "Also, your additional scenes with Luoni were originally scheduled for today, but you took a leave of absence, so this scene has been postponed until tomorrow and must be done well - the first kiss scene is always a bit nerve-wracking, go back and mentally prepare yourself, communicate with Luoni to see how to perform better tomorrow, don't make me feel awkward at the last minute... I'm telling you, even if you're both so awkward that you want to die, this play still has to be filmed, kiss once not working then kiss twice, kiss twice not working then three times, until your mouths are swollen from kissing..."

  Loni couldn't help but pout beside him: "Director, I hate you!"

  Jiang Luocheng turned his head and gave her a fake smile.

  From head to toe, Jiang Chuan was the one who seemed particularly unmoved - in fact, when Jiang Luocheng spoke to him, his eyes were completely empty, and it wasn't clear if he had heard anything or not. It wasn't until Jiang Luocheng said "go" that those deep blue pupils finally gained some focus...

  I had no idea what was going on, but it was strange that Director Jiang suddenly became a bit more talkative and thanked me - during which I accidentally made eye contact with the director, and the two of us stared at each other expressionlessly for a while.

  "What's wrong?"

  “……”

  Jiang Chuan seemed to have remembered something, stretched out his hand and patted Jiang Luocheng's shoulder with a profound expression, as if to say "I understand you" without saying a word. Then he left Jiang Luocheng with a bewildered face and turned around to float away.

  Then Jiang Chuan disappeared for an entire dinner time plus an entire night.

  What's more, the food bowl in the hamster cage was empty and he didn't even notice.

  After coming back, I was stuffed back into the cage and lost my freedom. The sky was desolate and the earth was barren, and I went hungry for a while.

  With a heavy gait, he rummaged through the entire room to find his hidden stash from everyday, and finally, with great joy, he dug out a melon seed from the cotton wool while sleeping. At this moment, he suddenly felt as desolate as a beggar. Then, Xiao Hei flipped down from the small wooden house on the upper layer without warning and pressed onto Jian Yan's body, who was crouching in the corner eating melon seeds. Jian Yan first felt the soft, warm fur rubbing against his back, and his action of eating melon seeds paused. Just as he was about to impatiently ask the person behind him to move away, he suddenly felt the other person's breath spraying onto his ear.

  That itchy and hot sensation made Jian Ran's body tremble.

  It suddenly occurred to me that about hamsters eating their own kind - this tragedy usually occurs when food supply is insufficient.

  Jian Ran: "……………………………………"

  "Chubby, where did you go today?" Xiao Hei stretched out his paws and gently flicked the ear of the milk tea that was being pressed down by himself, while sniffing his nose. "You smell like a dog, oh my, and there's also the scent of disinfectant from a human hospital, tsk."

  Jian Ran: "............................................"

  The little black didn't get an answer and discontentedly pulled at Jian Ran's ear: "Hey, mute?"

  The shocked milk tea completely forgot that as a hamster, Xiao Hei knew what the disinfectant in human hospitals smelled like - he slightly tilted his head, silently looked at Xiao Hei who was lying on his back, and the melon seeds in his hand fell to the ground: "Don't eat me, okay?"

  Xiao Hei: *silence*

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Heihe suddenly fell silent, then burst out laughing under Nai Cha's gaze. He rolled off Nai Cha's back and laughed until he was on the soft cotton. At the same time, he saw another hamster in the small wooden house quickly retreat and press its back against the wall, looking at him with a terrified expression. Heihe finally stopped laughing, got up, wiped his face with his paws, and his smile disappeared. With an expressionless face, he asked Nai Cha: "Are you sick?"

  "What?"

  "Something's off since I got back," Xiao Hei said, taking a few steps to stand in front of Nai Cha, giving it a cold stare as it stuck itself to the corner of the small wooden house like a big pancake. It stretched out its paws and pulled on the chubby face of the hamster that was flying horizontally in front of it, "You too, and that human too, what happened between you two? Did you bite him again?"

  Xiao Hei's words fell, and he looked at the distorted face with satisfaction. The green bean eyes of the milk tea were uneasy, rolling around and shining.

  "We didn't bite him."

  Xiao Hei slightly lowered his body and released the paw that was pinching the mouse's face in front of him: "Then why does he look like his three views have been reshaped?"

  As the black-bellied hamster approached, Jian Yan's entire body slid down a bit, at this time Xiao Hei's paws were propped against the wall behind him, his round and plump belly pressed against Xiao Hei's strong (......) belly, Jian Yan's whole body shook with fat: "What three views of reshaping, you're just a hamster after all, being able to see so many things is not easy——"

  Xiao Hei heard this, paused for a moment, and then the next second, he only felt the weight on his body disappear. He quickly rolled over and crawled up, and as he was waving his short claws and shaking off the wood shavings on his body, he suddenly heard Xiao Hei ask in a cold tone: "Last time you were using a human computer to write something, I saw it."

  The movement of pouncing on the wooden chips suddenly stopped.

  "Chubby," Little Black's eyes sparkled with curiosity as he asked, "You weren't actually human before, were you?"

  "What's it to you?"

  "If so, I'll eat you," said Xiao Hei, "I hate humans the most."

  “……”

  You despise humans yet you still eat the food provided by your stupid master.

  Chūnibyō.

  He lazily didn't bother to tidy up, dragging his hungry and rumbling body to jump on the swing for a while, taking advantage of the fact that the person who would affect his thinking route and IQ was not there, he could think about life, sort out his thoughts, so as not to do stupid things that would lead to terrible consequences in the future... It wasn't until around 3 am that Jian Ran finally heard the sound of a card being swiped outside the hotel room door, followed by two beeps, and then the hotel room door was heavily pushed open.

  The hamster who had been swinging on the swing all evening was stunned, turned his head around, and then saw his master who had also been out all evening returning home triumphantly.

  From Jiang Chuan's silent and serious face, the fleeting footsteps under his feet, and the door that was heavily closed with an abnormal force...

  Jiang Chuan seems to have had a drink.

  "Ah Fei, Ah Fei?"

  He called out the hamster's name, walked to the cage, looked at the empty food bowl, fell silent for a moment, muttered "Sorry, I'll feed you now", then turned around and took a huge apple from the fruit bowl and stuffed it directly into the hamster cage. The result of this simple and rough feeding was that the uncut big apple got stuck in the cage door. The man pushed twice but couldn't push it in, so he gave up and left the apple stuck in the squeezed hamster cage door, and himself flopped onto the bed.

  Not only did he drink wine, but the hamster squatting on the swing also quietly rolled its eyes and drank a lot.

  In short, compared to his usual self, the man was acting strangely and suspiciously, and when he had just run over to feed the hamster an apple, Jian Ran smelled a suffocating scent of perfume on him - Jiang Chuan didn't use perfume, and it was rare for anyone in the crew to use it, so the only explanation was that some rebellious kid had gone out alone tonight to drink at a place where they served alcohol, and had also managed to get a strange woman's perfume all over himself before returning triumphantly.

  The hamster in the cage silently told itself not to interfere with other people's business.

  But five minutes later, when he came to his senses, he found himself struggling to hold his breath and squeeze out of the gap between the apple and the hamster cage.

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Ten minutes later, the hamster finally landed steadily on the desktop, and after another fifteen minutes, it crawled from the table to its owner's bed - while the person lying in bed seemed to have fallen asleep in the same posture as when they first fell to the ground. The breath coming out of his nostrils had a smell of alcohol and tobacco mixed with the scent of perfume on his body. As soon as the hamster approached him, it retreated three steps in a row - if Jian Ran were a hamster with infinite strength, he would have thrown this drunk human directly out of the hotel window on the 28th floor without hesitation.

  Gently stretching out his paws, he slapped Jiang Chuan's face a few times. The latter seemed to be really asleep and didn't react at all when the hamster hit him in the mouth, only letting out a low "hmm" sound. His eyeballs rolled around under his eyelids, then he turned over, and under the hamster's silent gaze, he stretched out his long arm and pulled the pillow from under his head to hug it tightly, while his head thudded heavily onto the bed after losing the pillow.

  "Ah."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  The man muttered a few words "not drinking anymore" and "stay away from me" in his sleep, hugging the pillow tightly in his arms, then turned over.

  I'd like to call 110 and report that there are underage kids drinking and fooling around here.

  Facing the man's sturdy back for a while, the squirrel finally went around to the other side with a rustling sound. First, it stretched out its body and touched the tip of the man's nose, then slid down with its paws, passing over his tightly closed thin lips, chin, Adam's apple, and finally stopping at his collar - the collar was turned over, and sure enough, a strange red lip print was seen on it.

  The hamster opened the man's collar and silently slapped his chin with a palm.

  The latter sniffled and pulled the quilt over himself with his eyes closed.

  While he was snoring with his eyes closed, the hamster had crawled into his collar and, taking advantage of the dim floor lamp and its good night vision, carefully searched around Jiang's neck, chest, and crotch to confirm that they were intact and showed no strange signs of use. Only then did the hamster calm down a bit and crawl out from under Jiang's clothes again.

  She walked around Jiang Chuan and squatted down in front of that handsome sleeping face.

  He stared at him for about five minutes, and suddenly found that his mood was a bit better than he had imagined. He reached out and pinched the tip of the man's nose in front of him: The little devil is indeed a little devil, even if he goes out to fool around, he still can't do anything, gets drunk and rolls back quietly.

  Just as the hamster was ridiculing the childish face in front of him, he suddenly saw that the sleeping person suddenly frowned and murmured vaguely: "Yuan Jinyan..."

  Jian Ran: "......?"

  The paw placed right on the tip of his nose suddenly stiffened and abruptly released its grip.

  Jiang Chuan: "I'm going to be killed by you."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Under the hamster's stunned gaze, the man grabbed the quilt to cover his face, turned over heavily, and fell fast asleep.

  Jian Ran: "What?"

  What does it mean?

  Hey, stop sleeping with your sister, wake up and explain clearly!!!!!!!!!

  ……

  The next day, Jiang Chuan's dark circles under his eyes scared the makeup artist sister.

  "Kan Ge, where did you go last night? Didn't sleep all night? Tsk tsk tsk, look at those dark circles under your eyes! Ah, don't hide, what are you hiding from? You need to put on extra layers of foundation to cover that up..."

  "Then go upstairs," the man sitting in front of the dresser, frowning with discomfort all over his body, said in a still gentle tone, "Stop shouting, your voice is too loud and it's giving me a headache..."

  The makeup artist sister who was accused of being "too loud" protested a few words with great hurt, then cooperated and shut up - quickly finishing the makeup for this guy who didn't know what he had been through last night, but looked like he had hit rock bottom. After that, she left him alone on the sofa, hugging his script and nursing a hangover...

  At this time, just as Jiang Chuan's face was solemnly holding the script and didn't know whether he had read it or not, a hand holding a hamster that was yawning wildly, and the agent also floated over, sat down beside the man with a plop, and put down the oil strip bean curd buns and hangover medicine in his hand, pointing at him to give simple orders: "Eat, drink."

  Jiang Chuan messed up his hair, making the originally neat hair a bit messy. He threw aside the script and grabbed the still warm soy milk to take a sip, gulping it down with a gurgling sound, then he let out a sigh.

  At the same time, the hamster squatting on his lap let out a huge yawn in sync.

  Fang Yu said with great disdain: "Did you all go out to commit a crime last night?"

  Jiang Chuan's azure eyes rolled around in their sockets, and he lazily glanced at Fang Yu: "The quality of the bar girls on your side is really poor."

  Fang Yu: "......"

  Jiang Chuan wiped his face: "In the end, nothing was done and they came back."

  The hamster squatting on the man's leg silently rolled its eyes, and at the same time, it heard Fang Yu say in a tone that was almost speechless: "As someone who has just declared his love for Yuan Jinran in front of the whole nation, I'm begging you to have some self-control..."

  Just as Fang Yu hadn't finished speaking, Jiang Chuan, who was sitting next to him, suddenly slammed the soy milk cup in his hand down onto the table - "Bang!" The loud noise startled both the broker and the hamster that had been dozing off on his lap, causing them to jump up together. As the hamster looked up at its owner in confusion, the broker also clutched at his heart and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

  Jiang Chuan reached out to grab the hangover medicine, then picked up a bottle of mineral water to take it with. He gulped down half a bottle of water, and casually tossed the mineral water bottle aside before responding succinctly: "Nothing."

  "Come on, calm down. What's with the sudden tantrum? No one's bothering you, I was just joking around. If you want to confess your love to Jian Ran, that's your own decision. Don't get all worked up if it doesn't go as planned..."

  Jiang Chuan suddenly turned his head and looked at Fang Yu with a expressionless face.

  Fang Yu was stared at like this and his whole body's hair stood up, he immediately shut his mouth.

  Just then, a staff member came to inform Jiang Chuan that preparations were ready and filming could begin. Jiang Chuan responded with a simple "oh" and stood up, preparing to head out. Fang Yu sat in stunned silence for a moment, glancing at the barely touched breakfast. Afraid that this crazy person would get hungry again and start looking for food, making him even more terrifying when his desires weren't met and he wasn't full, Fang Yu didn't hesitate. He grabbed the breakfast and followed Jiang Chuan out of the dressing room in a hurry.

  When he found Jiang Chuan in the crowd, he was sitting next to Jiang Luocheng listening to him talk about opera.

  It's just that the director is worried that these newcomers will be shy or unnatural when shooting their first kissing scene——Loni was also there, her face red and puffy, quietly chewing gum with her head down... Jiang Chuan also had a piece of gum in his hand but didn't rush to eat it, he just sat there quietly, looking wooden and spaced out as he listened to Jiang Luocheng say how they should shoot it to relax...

  Jiang Luocheng finished speaking a whole bunch of nonsense and asked Jiang Chuan if he agreed.

  Jiang Chuan tore open a piece of gum, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed for a bit before turning around to glance at Ronnie with the corner of his eye. The latter seemed even more embarrassed by this gaze, her head almost buried in her knees... The man lowered his eyes, then smiled slightly, saying in an ambiguous tone that was hard to decipher: "What's wrong? She's not ugly."