Chapter 10: Venting

Editor: A Friend

At 5 PM, Xiaoxi Mountain looked even more serene under the dusk. Behind the camera, Jiang QingChi wore a headset and looked seriously at the viewfinder.

Yu MinMin took a stealthy glance at Jiang QingChi, then another quick look at the man in the corner, dressed in a suit and nodding off.

The man's clean, handsome profile was drooping low. Sitting in the director’s folding chair, he seemed like he might fall to the ground at any moment. Yu MinMin was secretly worried and only moved her gaze away after a while, but then she noticed Jiang QingChi also seemed to glance in that direction.

“Focus,” Jiang QingChi told her.

Yu MinMin stuck out her tongue, thinking, why does Chi Ge even care about me looking at handsome guys lately?

Xiao Qi was woken up by Fang Qun.

The sky was left with just a remnant of twilight, and there were only a few people around. Most of the staff had moved on to the next scene.

"At this pace, we should be able to finish within the planned schedule. Luckily, the photographer’s hand wasn’t seriously injured, though I don’t get why he has it wrapped up so tightly,” Fang Qun said, remembering how he called the photographer’s assistant this morning at Xiao Qi’s request, who had assured him, “There are no injured parts, rest assured!”

"If he wants to fake it, let him. If the progress slows, we’ll just push him," Xiao Qi said, getting up.

Fang Qun nodded, then asked, “Are you staying at the hotel tonight?”

“Yeah, let’s have a meeting at seven. Have the staff accommodations been arranged?” Xiao Qi glanced at the clothing rack in the corner, then asked Fang Qun, “Was the costume and makeup arranged by us?”

“It’s all arranged, all double rooms,” Fang Qun followed his gaze and shook his head, “Ao Zhi contacted us proactively.”

“Ao Zhi?” Xiao Qi was slightly surprised, then went aside to make a phone call.

The call was quickly answered, and Ren ZhiMan’s cheerful voice came through, “Has President Xiao changed his mind?”

Since their last blind date, the two had had dinner alone once. Ren ZhiMan felt that marriage wasn’t out of the question and actually found mutual benefit in Xiao Qi's frankness about his orientation.

“Sister ZhiMan, please spare me,” Xiao Qi said, feeling troubled.

“No way, I’ve finally found someone whose looks and personality I’m satisfied with,” Ren ZhiMan teased him.

“Life decisions should be made carefully,” Xiao Qi advised, “Spending the rest of your life with me isn’t worthwhile.”

“Whether it’s worth it or not, I’ll decide that,” Ren ZhiMan guessed, “President Xiao is resisting so much. Is there someone else?”

Xiao Qi laughed and told her, “No, there isn’t.”

“Then there’s someone you care about,” Ren ZhiMan realized.

As the background noise grew louder, Xiao Qi easily spotted Jiang QingChi checking the equipment with his head down. After a while, Jiang QingChi seemed to say something to his assistant, and the next second, the assistant’s eyes were on Xiao Qi.

“Xiao Qi?” Ren ZhiMan called his name in confusion.

“Sorry,” Xiao Qi came back to his senses and got to the point, “The team you sent is very professional. I look forward to working together again.”

“Don’t wait until next time. Send me an invite to the wrap party and introduce me to Feng Yue’s President He,” Ren ZhiMan said bluntly, “Starting a business isn’t easy, I need to leverage your connections.”

“You should’ve said so earlier. I thought you genuinely wanted to marry me,” Xiao Qi joked.

Ren ZhiMan laughed, “Of course I do. The introduction is just a favor you can do for me.”

Xiao Qi chatted with her for a bit, then hung up when Yu MinMin approached him.

“Hello, President Xiao. I’m Chi Ge’s assistant. He asked me to give this to you.” Yu MinMin felt awkward being assigned to please the boss for the first time.

Xiao Qi looked at her flushed face for a moment, took the long gift box from her hand, and asked, “What is this?”

“Chi Ge said you’ll know when you open it,” Yu MinMin didn’t know how much effort Jiang QingChi had put into getting this work. She felt like she was bribing someone.

Xiao Qi saw the personal seal on the cover. Even without opening it, he knew it was the genuine work of the calligraphy artist he had mentioned wanting on his social media.

Seeing Xiao Qi silent, Yu MinMin turned to look for help from Jiang QingChi, but saw him pretending to check his headset.

“Thank you,” Xiao Qi didn’t push it and told her, “I’ll accept it.”

Although he accepted it, he had no intention of opening it. Yu MinMin thought to herself, Chi Ge’s flattery has completely backfired.

“Is today’s shoot finished?” Xiao Qi asked her.

Yu MinMin nodded.

“Thank you for your hard work. The hotel has prepared free foot baths for tonight,” Xiao Qi smiled warmly, “You should try it.”

Yu MinMin’s eyes lit up. Seeing that President Xiao had a good personality, she chatted with him a bit more before leaving and quietly wished him, “Congratulations on your wedding…”

Xiao Qi didn’t know if it was because of the argument in the morning, but Jiang QingChi seemed angry.

People said Jiang QingChi had a good temper, but Xiao Qi knew that wasn’t always the case. If Jiang QingChi got angry, he wasn’t easy to appease.

Luckily, Xiao Qi didn’t bother to soothe him now and even hoped Jiang QingChi would talk to him less.

With a mindset similar to attending a high school assembly, Xiao Qi still disliked these tedious and formal events but had to overcome it.

In the hotel meeting room, team leaders from various groups sat on both sides. Xiao Qi listened to the work reports, thinking he hadn’t brought his notebook, so there was no place to doodle casually.

Today’s shoot had gone smoothly except for the camera crew’s minor issue in the morning. The actual effect was better than expected, but everyone was somewhat tired by the end of the day.

“Thank you, everyone,” Xiao Qi said as the meeting was about to end, “Any more questions?”

Everyone shook their heads unanimously. Xiao Qi was about to leave but then noticed someone standing up faster than him across the table.

Xiao Qi sat back down and suddenly asked, “Mr. Jiang, can you proceed as planned with your hand injury?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the camera crew leader who had been addressed.

Jiang QingChi, who had been about to leave, paused and looked at Xiao Qi nonchalantly, answering politely, “President Xiao, don’t worry, it won’t affect the schedule.”

Xiao Qi nodded, saying okay. Director Wu then asked him, “President Xiao, where are you eating? Want to join us?”

“President Xiao has a date with me,” Li XingQian interrupted, pulling Xiao Qi’s chair closer to him with a smile, “No one can take him from me.”

Saying they had a date just meant having dinner together, taking a bath, and then going to Li XingQian’s room to play games. There was nothing to do near Xiaoxi Mountain, and even meals were settled in the hotel.

“Is your friend not coming today?” Xiao Qi didn’t have much enthusiasm for games today, but he felt even more restless if he didn’t play.

Li XingQian sat on the hotel carpet, focused on his game, as if he didn’t hear the question. Xiao Qi began to understand why Tang YiRu scolded him.

Xiao Qi was naturally friendly with everyone, especially with Li XingQian, with whom he had developed a brotherly bond after playing games together for so long. He gently kicked Li XingQian’s crossed knees and asked, “Do you have a gaming addiction?”

“No,” Li XingQian answered, “I might’ve gotten used to being alone since I was young. Playing games became a habit, just like how people smoke to relax.”

“If you don’t want to play, we can watch a movie,” Li XingQian suggested.

Xiao Qi was about to agree when he saw c77 had already logged in and sent two messages.

c77: “Start.”

c77: “?”

Not wanting to leave him hanging, Xiao Qi started another game.

After playing for a while, Xiao Qi could sense c77’s personality. Perhaps because he couldn’t talk, c77 was concise even when typing, yet he always chimed in at crucial moments.

Since he and Li XingQian were in the same room, Xiao Qi turned off his mic and shared Li XingQian’s.

They hadn’t said much when c77 sent a message.

c77: “Are you two together?”

Xiao Qi saw the message and replied, “Yeah, meeting a friend in person.”

“Do you want to join?” Li XingQian asked.

c77: “No need.”

“Are you going back tomorrow?” Li XingQian asked Xiao Qi, “I thought you were joking when you said you’d come to see me.”

“Don’t get too emotional,” Xiao Qi smiled, “Seeing you is just a bonus.”

“President Xiao, can I call you by your name in the future?” Li XingQian asked while playing.

c77: “Xiao Ge, help me out.”

“On my way,” Xiao Qi laughed and told Li XingQian, “

You can call me the same as him, I don’t mind.”

“I’ll stick with President Xiao,” Li XingQian said.

Li XingQian’s room was on the same floor as Xiao Qi’s. After taking a shower, Xiao Qi went over wearing just a bathrobe. He sat on the sofa, and with a couple of movements, the robe’s belt loosened.

“Your bathrobe’s loose,” Li XingQian kindly reminded him.

Xiao Qi couldn’t spare a hand to fix it and said casually, “It’s fine.”

“How did you get that knee injury?” Li XingQian asked, looking at the old scar and then noticing a similar scar on Xiao Qi’s arm.

“I fell,” Xiao Qi glanced at it, then saw Li XingQian’s gaze shift to his arm. Feeling a bit smug, he added, “This one’s from a fight.”

“Did it hurt?” Li XingQian asked.

Xiao Qi’s smile faded slightly, thinking, if you don’t recall it, it doesn’t hurt.

The injury happened when Xiao Qi was a freshman in high school. It was a rare moment of bravery in his life. Seeing a group of seniors bullying someone in the school’s back alley, he had rushed in without thinking, dropping his candy.

The bullied girl escaped with Xiao Qi’s help, leaving him to take the beating.

At that time, Xiao Qi didn’t think those seniors were tougher than Jiang QingChi. Underestimating them meant forgetting they wouldn’t hold back.

Luckily, Xiao Qi was quick-witted. He managed to escape by using a move taught by Xiao JianGang to grab one of them and hit back. But he fell from a fence while running away.

The pain in his arm was so intense that Xiao Qi didn’t even react initially. He wanted to call Jiang QingChi but then remembered their recent cold war.

Experiencing the pain of first love and heartbreak was tough. Xiao Qi couldn’t handle his feelings for Jiang QingChi well. Fearing he might show his sadness when he saw Jiang QingChi pursuing others, he chose to distance himself.

Jiang QingChi noticed something was wrong and tried to make up a few times, but seeing no effect, he stopped trying.

So Xiao Qi called Yang JiYu instead. When Yang JiYu arrived, Xiao Qi finally cried out in pain.

Yang JiYu was also scared, taking Xiao Qi to the hospital while looking more terrified than Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi took a two-day leave from school due to his arm fracture, proudly claiming he was injured in a fight.

During this time, Jiang QingChi called several times, but Xiao Qi hung up on him. When he returned to school, he heard the seniors had been reprimanded, and surprisingly, Jiang QingChi and Yang JiYu were also on the warning list.

Xiao Qi asked Yang JiYu why. Yang JiYu replied, “I guess they were helping someone vent…”

It was too coincidental, leading Xiao Qi to misunderstand. He wanted to reconcile with Jiang QingChi but was interrupted by someone’s next words.

“I heard it was the class monitor who reported those seniors. He recorded the threats when the class monitor was threatened.”

Coincidentally, Jiang QingChi was persuaded to go home for three days that week, and his grandfather gave him another two days off, personally punishing him for two days.

A week later, Xiao Qi had adjusted his mood. As long as he didn’t think about how Jiang QingChi didn’t care about his injury or how he stood up for Tan Qiu after a few threats, Xiao Qi wouldn’t feel like crying.

“If you don’t think about it, it doesn’t hurt much,” Xiao Qi said softly.

Seeing Xiao Qi’s low spirits, Li XingQian was about to send him some in-game gifts for comfort, but c77’s character approached Xiao Qi’s and set off a full-screen of fireworks.

c77: “Xiao Ge, still watching fireworks?”

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