Chapter 37: The Small-Time Star and His Short-Tempered Sugar Daddy (Part XXXVII)
Fang Yinnian glanced at the mineral water bottle in his hand, his voice still sounding a bit nasal:
“I’ve drunk from it. I’ll get you another one.”
Xiao Ji refused. “No need.”
Fang Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji’s face through his sunglasses, unable to figure out what Xiao Ji was doing. In broad daylight, on a live broadcast across the entire internet, he wanted to drink from the same water bottle so casually?
He didn’t think Xiao Ji holding his hand meant he wanted to reconcile.
He understood now—Xiao Ji didn’t love him. Holding his hand in the car just now was nothing more than comfort given because he saw Fang Yinnian was emotional.
For the first time in his life, Fang Yinnian felt he was pathetic.
Although he had planned to part ways with Xiao Ji after the show ended and never interact again, he had never intended to cut off Xiao Ji’s future path.
Xiao Ji had said he wanted to join the show to improve the audience’s perception of him, to wash off the “homosexual” label, and to develop better in the entertainment industry.
“Two grown men drinking from one bottle, what does that look like? If you don’t despise me, I should be the one despising you.”
As he spoke, he pulled a new bottle of mineral water from the backpack behind Xiao Ji, twisted it open, and handed it to him.
Xiao Ji didn’t take it.
Fang Yinnian frowned. “Don’t be crazy.”
Xiao Ji lowered his eyes, took the new bottle of mineral water, drank more than half in one breath, stuffed it into the side pocket of the backpack, and continued walking up the mountain.
Along the way, Fang Yinnian offered several times to help share the burden.
But Xiao Ji ignored him. Moreover, he seemed to handle it with ease, not looking like he was forcing himself at all.
Carrying a large pack on both his front and back, he walked with wind beneath his feet, moving swiftly. He walked on the countless steep steps as if walking on flat ground, quickly leaving the others far behind.
Fang Yinnian worked out year-round and considered his stamina quite good, but following Xiao Ji’s pace constantly, he still felt the strain as they neared the summit.
While unwilling to show weakness and chasing after Xiao Ji, he secretly cursed Xiao Ji for being a stubborn mule.
By the time everyone reached the destination, it was already past noon. The group chose a spot and began setting up camp and pitching tents.
Back at the grand residence, there were triple rooms and single rooms, but the tents prepared by the program team were all for two people.
Eight people, four tents. They needed to reallocate.
Everyone could see the atmosphere between Xiao Ji and Fang Yinnian was off.
Su Yu, knowing a bit more of the inside story, kindly suggested:
“President Fang and Xiao Ji stayed in the same room before, so there’s no need to reallocate them, right? The rest of us who stayed in the triple and single rooms can just sort ourselves out?”
No one had any objections to this. Even Li Yun, who initially had some thoughts about Fang Yinnian, didn’t object. Including Xiao Ji, no one made a sound.
Only Fang Yinnian, seeing no one speak, took the initiative to say, “No need. Let’s all draw lots again.”
When the small lottery box was placed in front of everyone, 037 asked: [Need help?]
Xiao Ji refused: [No need. He doesn’t want to live with me.]
Thus, after the results came out, Xiao Ji was paired with Gu Yao, while Fang Yinnian was paired with Cheng Nuo.
Fang Yinnian looked at the number on his slip, identical to Cheng Nuo’s, and felt it was utterly unlucky. he regretted his loose tongue just now; it would have been more comfortable to lie in awkward silence with Xiao Ji.
He threw the slip back into the box, ignored everyone, and went to pitch the tent on his own.
As he worked, he thought about Xiao Ji.
He thought Gu Yao was actually quite pretty, and he knew that on the first night of filming, Gu Yao had called Xiao Ji.
Now that he and Xiao Ji were done, tomorrow morning, when everyone went down the mountain, he wouldn’t return to the grand residence. Little Lin would be waiting at the foot of the mountain with the car to take him directly back to Haicheng.
Xiao Ji would stay on the show. Without him, Xiao Ji could develop better relationships with the other female guests.
Thinking about it carefully, perhaps chasing after Xiao Ji into the show from the start was a wrong decision.
The more Fang Yinnian thought, the more annoyed he became. Halfway through pitching the tent, he quit and turned to curse at Cheng Nuo:
“What are you standing there for? Waiting for me to serve you?”
Cheng Nuo didn’t talk back to Fang Yinnian. He said nothing, obediently taking over the work from Fang Yinnian and continuing.
Once everyone had set up their little nests for the night, there was another chaotic round of washing vegetables and cooking.
Conditions in the mountains were limited. With so many people, hot pot and barbecue were the most convenient options.
Even so, by the time they had eaten and drunk their fill and cleaned everything up, the sky had turned dark.
Unfortunately, the mountain climate was changeable. The sky was covered in dark clouds, with neither stars nor moon in sight.
“Looks like we won’t see stars tonight. Just our luck,” Gu Yao said with a sigh, looking up at the sky.
Li Yun stood beside her. “It’s good enough that it’s not raining.”
After a tiring day, everyone was exhausted. Since stargazing was hopeless, everyone said goodnight to each other and returned to their respective tents.
Due to the special circumstances and the guests’ obvious fatigue, continuing the broadcast would likely only show scenes of people sleeping.
So, the program team issued a statement and ended the live broadcast two hours early.
At this moment, under the canopy outside the tents, only Fang Yinnian, Xiao Ji, and Cheng Nuo remained.
Cheng Nuo’s gaze wandered between Xiao Ji and Fang Yinnian for a moment before he too got up and left.
Neither Fang Yinnian nor Xiao Ji moved.
After a long time, when nothing but the sound of insects and wind could be heard, Fang Yinnian was the first to speak:
“After tonight, I hope we don’t meet again. I won’t cancel your contract, nor will I help you again. Whether things go well or badly depends on yourself.”
Xiao Ji looked at him. “I said, when the program ends, I’m retiring.”
Fang Yinnian opened his mouth, remembering that Xiao Ji had indeed said this a few days ago. “Is it because of me? You already planned to part ways with me after filming, right?”
Xiao Ji spoke directly, “No. I don’t like acting, and I don’t like facing the camera. In this industry, the more famous you are, the less time you have for yourself. Filming a drama means months in the crew without going home. When you do go home, you have to worry about paparazzi watching you all the time.”
“When I said I was retiring last time, it was because I wanted more time to accompany you.”
Hearing such words, Fang Yinnian felt a bitter astringency in his heart. He laughed self-deprecatingly:
“Stop saying such high-sounding words. You never even liked me, so why would you want to accompany me? Do you think I’d believe that?”
Xiao Ji’s Adam’s apple moved. “It’s not necessarily that I don’t like you…”
“Shut up, Xiao Ji.” Fang Yinnian interrupted him. “What are you doing? Insulting me? Don’t you know in your own heart whether you like me or not? What the f*ck does ‘not necessarily’ mean?”
Fang Yinnian’s anger surged. He felt Xiao Ji’s words were simply an insult.
Who was he, Fang Yinnian? Did he lack love?
It was true he had fallen for Xiao Ji, but it hadn’t reached the point of no return. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t live without Xiao Ji. Separation might hurt for a few days, but that was it.
Xiao Ji saying such ambiguous things now to keep him on the hook—waiting until the day he truly couldn’t leave Xiao Ji, only for Xiao Ji to say something like “Sorry Brother Nian, I still can’t bring myself to like you”—where would he go then?
What kind of godforsaken lovesick fool would continue to pester someone and give them the chance to hurt him, knowing full well he wasn’t loved?
“Get up. Stay away from me. Looking at you annoys me,” Fang Yinnian cursed.
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