Chapter 9: Eye-Opener

Editor: A Friend

This time, Feng Yue wanted to shoot an outdoor sports short film, and they finally decided to shoot it in a suburban area called Xiaoxi Mountain.

When Li XingQian saw the shooting plan Fang Qun sent him, he only flipped through two pages before happily agreeing.

“You’re really easygoing, aren’t you afraid I’ll mess with you?” Xiao Qi dodged an attack and laughed into his mic, talking to Li XingQian.

“Why would Xiao Qi mess with me? We have no grudges.” Li XingQian chuckled.

Xiao Qi thought, that’s not necessarily true, but he just smiled without saying anything.

Wherever he went, Xiao Qi watched the game character next to him. This person had been sticking close to him since the beginning, helping block damage and giving him items.

This person was brought by Li XingQian, so Xiao Qi could only ask him, “Why isn’t your friend using the mic?”

“No worries, he’s mute,” Li XingQian replied.

“Huh?” Xiao Qi was stunned, awkwardly apologizing to the person, “I’m sorry…”

The character suddenly stopped moving, and after a while, a message popped up in the team chat.

c77: “It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

Xiao Qi felt even more apologetic, sincerely saying, “I really didn’t mean it. Thank you for blocking the damage for me.”

Li XingQian couldn’t help but laugh, “Didn’t expect Xiao Qi to be so polite.”

Xiao Qi ignored his teasing. After a while, c77 sent another message.

c77: “No need to thank me.”

Tang YiRu suddenly patted Xiao Qi on the back of his head from behind, asking, “Who are you apologizing to?”

“A friend,” Xiao Qi replied.

“You really have the energy. You used to play games under the covers at night during school, and now even with your busy job, you still find time to play. With that time, ZhiMan could’ve called me mom by now...” Tang YiRu tugged at his ear.

Ever since meeting Ren ZhiMan at Manting Zhuang, Xiao Qi felt that Tang YiRu had been coming home more frequently, subtly probing about his follow-up with Ren ZhiMan, completely ignoring Xiao Qi’s claim that they didn’t fancy each other.

Xiao Qi muted his mic, “Mom, it hurts!”

“Hurting is good. This year, you must bring home a partner.” Tang YiRu patted the mask on her face, dropped this line, and went upstairs to sleep.

Looks like moving out is indeed necessary, Xiao Qi thought. When both parents were always traveling, it wasn’t noticeable, but now it’s really inconvenient.

Turning the mic back on, Li XingQian asked, “Xiao Qi, are you looking for a partner lately?”

Xiao Qi focused on the game screen, casually replying, “Yeah, looking.”

“Any gender preference?” Li XingQian suddenly asked.

“Do you want to introduce someone?” Xiao Qi stopped him, “I’m already too busy lately. You’ll have to wait in line.”

“Who said I wanted to introduce someone?” Li XingQian said.

Xiao Qi was about to say something when c77 sent a message.

c77: “Behind you.”

On the first day of shooting the commercial, Xiao Qi and Fang Qun went to the shooting location together.

When they arrived, the director was directing everyone to set up the scenes and move the equipment. Xiao Qi sat next to the director, flipping through the script and shooting plan without much interest.

When he saw Jiang QingChi's name on the crew list, Xiao Qi paused, looked around, and then looked down again.

“Xiao Qi, you’re here early today. We probably won’t start shooting until mid-morning, so you’ll have to wait a bit,” the director, a familiar face from RuiChuang, said to Xiao Qi. “The people from Feng Yue aren’t here yet.”

“What’s the situation?” Xiao Qi looked at his watch.

“They said the photographer had some issues,” Director Wu clicked his tongue, “wasting everyone’s time.”

“Such things happen. Remember who you told me about last time? The one who woke up from a hangover right before the shoot.” Xiao Qi noted Director Wu’s dodging eyes and stopped there, then asked, “So what’s the issue with the photographer?”

“His car got rear-ended.” Director Wu shared.

Xiao Qi stopped flipping the pages, stayed silent for a moment, and didn’t ask more.

When Jiang QingChi arrived at the shooting location, it was already ten-thirty. The car could only go to the mountain’s base, and he had to walk the rest of the way.

Rolling up his sleeves, Jiang QingChi carried the big bag of equipment on one shoulder and took the insect repellent from the medical kit with his bandaged hand.

Yu MinMin watched him with hesitation, finally reminding him, “Chi Ge, don’t forget the bandage for your hand. We might have to stay on the mountain for two nights.”

Reminded by her, Jiang QingChi threw a couple of rolls of bandages into his bag.

When they reached the set, the scenes were already set up. Jiang QingChi apologized for being late, reconfirmed the scene requirements with the director, and after a brief preparation with the staff, started shooting.

Meanwhile, Xiao Qi quietly sat in a corner from the moment Jiang QingChi appeared, not looking at him or asking about his injury. Jiang QingChi glanced over several times, but Xiao Qi’s eyes were on Li XingQian.

“Chi Ge?” Yu MinMin called out from a few meters away, handing him a bottle of water, her face full of concern, “Is your hand okay?”

Her voice was loud enough to attract curious looks from people around them, but Xiao Qi was over there chatting and laughing with Li XingQian, completely oblivious.

As Jiang QingChi walked past him, he said, “Not great, it hurts a lot.”

“Just wanted to ask, what happened to your hand?” Li XingQian noticed Jiang QingChi approaching, seemingly more amused than concerned.

Jiang QingChi looked at the mosquito bites on Xiao Qi’s neck and said to Li XingQian, “Two fingers broken. Wanna try?”

Li XingQian shook his head with a laugh. Just as he was about to show Xiao Qi his new gear, Jiang QingChi suddenly grabbed Xiao Qi by the neck and led him toward the rest area.

Xiao Qi was a bit stunned. He wasn’t used to Jiang QingChi’s casual touch and didn’t know how to react.

Their friendly actions now felt awkward. Jiang QingChi let go of Xiao Qi and asked, “Being so cold-hearted?”

“Not talking to you much is cold-hearted?” Xiao Qi repeated his point.

Hearing his response, Jiang QingChi felt a bit relieved, thinking at least he wasn’t completely ignored, just not actively engaged.

“It’s not just that. Not replying to messages, pretending not to know me,” Jiang QingChi lifted his bandaged fingers, hinting, “You don’t even check on me.”

His righteous tone made it seem like Xiao Qi was supposed to care.

“Are you crazy?” Xiao Qi frowned, scratching his neck, “Do I need to reply to your daily ‘Have you eaten?’ messages? So what if you broke two fingers? Should I care? When I broke my arm in high school, you were busy chasing someone and didn’t care about me!”

“How could I not…” Jiang QingChi paused, noticing Xiao Qi’s scratching, and grabbed his wrist to stop him, “Don’t scratch, you’ll break the skin.”

It was probably the first time Xiao Qi unintentionally voiced his grievances, causing a wave of sorrow to well up inside him.

“I don’t need your care,” Xiao Qi said coldly, trying to use his other hand to scratch.

Jiang QingChi instinctively blocked him with his bandaged hand. Xiao Qi’s strength lessened, and his hands were immediately pinned behind him. Xiao Qi stepped back, nearly stumbling, but Jiang QingChi pulled him close by the waist.

Fragments of their bed memories, blurred by alcohol, flashed in Xiao Qi’s mind. Memories like Jiang QingChi deliberately going deep and hard, and pulling Xiao Qi into his arms to switch positions when Xiao Qi almost hit the headboard.

“First time seeing someone like this,” Jiang QingChi said, his tone a mix of confusion and frustration, “You’ve really opened my eyes.”

“Good, you haven’t seen it before! I’ll not only like you this way, but I’ll also like others the same!” Xiao Qi retorted defiantly.

“Alright, alright,” Jiang QingChi tried to calm him down, handing him the insect repellent, “Apply this before liking others.”

Knowing that Jiang QingChi wouldn’t feel any regret or sadness about Xiao Qi liking others didn’t make Xiao Qi feel any less upset.

Xiao Qi suddenly went quiet, seemingly obedient, opened the insect repellent, sprayed it casually on his neck, and handed it back to Jiang QingChi.

Thinking he had calmed Xiao Qi down, Jiang QingChi relaxed, but then he saw Xiao Qi’s expression.

“Why are your eyes red?” Jiang QingChi’s tone had a hint of panic.

Xiao Qi wasn’t someone who cried easily. He usually seemed in a good mood in front of others, but maybe because Jiang QingChi saw his tears the first time they met, he always felt he could see Xiao Qi’s sad moments.

As a kid, Xiao Qi would wait until everyone left before crying in front of Jiang QingChi after a fall. When he was older, he only cried

 over his pet goldfish in front of Jiang QingChi. Later, he stopped crying, but Jiang QingChi could still sense his sadness, especially during moments like now.

Whenever Xiao Qi was in these moments, Jiang QingChi always felt a sense of urgency and confusion.

Because he didn’t bring candy once, Xiao Qi was silent. When Xiao Qi said he was moving away and Jiang QingChi shouldn’t wait for him, when Xiao Qi stopped asking him to play games frequently, when Xiao Qi admitted his feelings over the phone, and now.

Growing up hearing praises for his maturity and stability, Jiang QingChi found himself becoming disoriented whenever it came to Xiao Qi, unable to reject him cleanly, often using terrible methods, and then being clueless on how to handle the aftermath.

Xiao Qi didn’t hide his expression, his emotions calm but his reddened eyes beyond his control.

“Nothing,” Xiao Qi said quietly, “Thanks for the repellent.”

Why did it end up like this again? Jiang QingChi was a bit frustrated. After a long pause, he asked, “I heard from my grandpa you went on a blind date?”

Xiao Qi paused, “I did.”

“Did it work out?” Jiang QingChi asked.

Xiao Qi glanced at him, then replied irritably, “None of your business.”

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