Ye Lan didn't want Jiang Chi to know that he was the one who pulled the strings for Starlight Media. In the following days, while waiting for their scenes and chatting, Ye Lan kept his mouth shut about this matter.

Ye Lan wasn't the type of person to expect repayment for a favor. Besides, in his eyes, Jiang Chi really had nothing to repay him with.

The two of them weren't that close, and if Jiang Chi found out, it would only add to the awkwardness. He hadn't wanted to contact Ye Huaquan himself before because he was afraid Ye Huaquan would tell Jiang Chi about it in the future, causing Jiang Chi to overthink things.

Ye Lan was confident in An Ya's ability to get things done. He had already reminded her twice, so as far as Ye Lan was concerned, the matter was more or less settled.

Ye Lan turned his head and put the matter to the back of his mind. Jiang Chi was completely unaware of it, and the two continued filming as usual.

...

Zhan Ming broke up with his new girlfriend over some trivial matter. Feeling upset, he went out drinking with his good-for-nothing friends, got roaring drunk, and didn't dare to go home. He had someone send him to Jiang Chi's place.

Zhan Ming dazedly found Jiang Chi's house. His footsteps were unsteady, and he threw himself directly at the door. After knocking a few times, he sat on the ground and pounded on the door fiercely.

"Pei Ran! Pei Ran!!!"

In the dead of night, Ye Lan was wailing like a banshee outside the door: "Where's Pei Ran?!!!"

After a full minute of pounding on the door, Jiang Chi opened it from the inside. Looking at the dead drunk Ye Lan, Jiang Chi remained silent for a few seconds before saying in a low voice, "Are you afraid the neighbors won't complain about me?"

Ye Lan looked up at Jiang Chi askance, radiating hostility. "Who dares to complain about you? Speak!!! Who the fuck dares to complain about Pei Ran? Get out here! Is it the one across the hall?! The one across the hall!! 202!! You people in there, get out here! See if I don't..."

"Alright, alright, stop embarrassing yourself..." Jiang Chi couldn't take it anymore. He bent down, pulled Ye Lan up, and staggered as he helped him into the house.

"Cut!"

Ye Lan's drunken demeanor vanished in an instant. He stood up straight, steadied Jiang Chi who he had almost pushed out of the frame, and turned back to ask, "Was that last take okay?"

Ren Haichuan stared down at the playback, his tone a mix of praise and sarcasm, "When it comes to acting in scenes like this, you always perform quite well."

The Assistant Director snorted with laughter.

"Nonsense," Ye Lan said. "I don't throw tantrums when I'm drunk. At most, I'll kick the door. If I can't kick it down, I'll climb through a window."

Jiang Chi looked at Ye Lan with an indescribable expression, not understanding how that was any better than throwing a tantrum.

Cen Wen, holding a down jacket on the side, stifled a laugh and nodded. "It's true, I can vouch for him."

"See?" Seeing that Ren Haichuan was still skeptical, Ye Lan said, "If you don't believe my assistant... then ask Jiang Chi. Isn't my behavior when drunk exceptionally good?"

Jiang Chi: "..."

'Throwing the topic to me at a time like this?!'

'Is that appropriate, Film Emperor Ye?!!'

Jiang Chi gave everyone a dry laugh. "Brother Ye Lan is just joking."

Jiang Chi had never mentioned to anyone the time he took Ye Lan home because of the text message mix-up.

Ye Lan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled without explaining.

The next scene was indoors.

Zhan Ming had stayed the night at Pei Ran's house. After waking up, he called out a few times but didn't see Pei Ran. Bored of sitting around, he got up to use Pei Ran's computer, only to accidentally stumble upon Pei Ran's "private collection" on the hard drive.

Most men of this age had some stash on their computers not meant for outsiders' eyes. However, Pei Ran had never been into such things since he was young, so Zhan Ming had always thought he was one of the few "truly proper" guys. After discovering his collection of films, his spirits soared and he began to watch with great interest. But after about ten minutes, Zhan Ming discovered that all the films on Pei Ran's drive were quite different from the ones he usually watched...

In the films, one protagonist was a man, and the other protagonist was also a man.

Pei Ran's secret, which he had hidden cautiously for many years as if treading on thin ice, was exposed just like that.

Having bought breakfast, Pei Ran returned home and hadn't even had time to change his clothes when he saw Zhan Ming standing at the bedroom door, looking at him with a complicated expression. He asked, "You're... gay?"

...

Jiang Chi's gaze passed over Ye Lan and landed on the computer screen in the bedroom.

Jiang Chi set down the breakfast, slowly took off his jacket, and after a moment of silence, said, "Yeah."

"I... didn't mean anything by it," Ye Lan said awkwardly. "I just didn't expect it. In that case..."

Ye Lan said out of the blue, "I broke up with her yesterday."

Jiang Chi's eyes trembled, but he still replied, "Yeah."

Ye Lan suddenly said, "Why don't... we give it a try?"

Ye Lan gave a sheepish smile. "Anyway... you like guys, and I'm tired of those other people. None of them are as good as you."

Jiang Chi turned around, his back to Ye Lan. After a long pause, he said in a hoarse voice, "Alright, let's give it a try then."

The camera finally focused on Jiang Chi's back, holding the shot for a full thirty seconds.

Jiang Chi looked down, fiddling with the breakfast he had just bought and placed on the table. His shoulders trembled slightly, and a vein on the side of his neck twitched gently.

"Cut!"

Jiang Chi wiped his face before turning around. The rims of his eyes were red, and tears streamed down his face.

"Perfect."

This shot was originally supposed to cut to Jiang Chi's face, but Ren Haichuan had changed the storyboard at the last minute, requesting to film only Jiang Chi's back.

Ren Haichuan was already very certain of Jiang Chi's acting skills, confident that he could use just his back to convey Pei Ran's years of repressed, bitter, and unrequited love.

As expected, Jiang Chi did not disappoint.

It was just that he had become a bit too emotionally invested, and Jiang Chi couldn't pull himself out of it right away. For a while after Director Ren called cut, Jiang Chi's tears still hadn't stopped.

Jiang Chi felt a little embarrassed. He took the baseball cap Li Weili handed him and put it on, pulling the brim down low. He then sat on the living room sofa to compose himself.

Everyone had read the script and assumed Jiang Chi was just too deep in character, so they consciously avoided disturbing him. The Assistant Director's eyes were red too; he stuffed a pack of tissues into Jiang Chi's hand before going off to attend to his own business.

Jiang Chi took deep breaths repeatedly, trying his best to forget Ye Lan's line from just now, "Why don't... we give it a try?"

It had been fine when they were just rehearsing the lines. But when they were filming for real with emotions fully invested, hearing Ye Lan's voice say those words to him had a bit of a huge impact on Jiang Chi.

Jiang Chi wiped his nose, feeling a little anxious, afraid that Ye Lan would see him and think he was being overly dramatic.

When Ye Lan acted, he was always able to pull himself out of the character's emotions the moment the director called cut. It was clean and efficient, without any lingering.

He was born to be an actor.

Jiang Chi sighed internally and picked up his phone, wanting to search for a few jokes to read.

Jiang Chi rubbed his eyes and unlocked his phone screen. Just as he was about to search for jokes, he felt his cap move slightly.

Jiang Chi looked up.

Ye Lan was standing in front of him, though he didn't know when he had gotten there.

Ye Lan bent a finger and tapped lightly on the brim of Jiang Chi's cap, saying with a smile, "What's wrong, little one? Big brother already agreed to give it a try with you, and you're still not happy?"

Jiang Chi froze, a dull ache spreading through his chest.

He turned his head away, and his treacherous tears started falling again.

Ye Lan couldn't help but laugh. "My god, what kind of floodgates did you open?"

"I didn't..." Jiang Chi awkwardly wiped his face messily and shifted to the side, his voice hoarse. "I'm just like this... whenever I cry, it's a whole production. My eyes and nose get all red, and it takes a while to recover."

"Mm, people with fair, thin skin are all like that." Ye Lan sat down and smiled confidently. "Just chat with me for a bit and you'll be fine. No one has ever seen me and still wanted to cry."

Jiang Chi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'This time is really different,' he thought.

Jiang Chi knew Ye Lan saw he was upset and had come over specially to comfort him a little. Even though his words didn't hit the mark, the sentiment was enough. Jiang Chi nodded, "Yeah."

"But the cost of one of your crying scenes is too high. You can't continue filming for at least an hour, right?" Ye Lan smiled. "So precious."

Jiang Chi hurriedly explained on his own behalf, "No! I just need to splash my face with cold water. Five minutes at most, and it'll basically be unnoticeable. Really, I'll go wash up for a bit and you'll see..."

As he spoke, Jiang Chi stood up, but Ye Lan pulled him back down onto the sofa. "Are you crazy? It's the middle of winter. When did I say I wanted to watch you perform a 'redness and swelling reduction' act? Besides, you don't have any more scenes for a while. There's only one of my scenes left for today."

"It's not that cold..." Jiang Chi put his hands on his knees and defended himself in a small voice, "And, I'm not always like this. If it's the kind of crying where you just shed a tear or two, then it won't happen."

"You've even got it broken down." A smile played on Ye Lan's lips. "That scene just now was good. I just went to watch the recording; the effect was great."

Jiang Chi's mood brightened a little. He said, "Thank you... It's because your acting is so good. When I'm in a scene with you, I can always perform better than usual."

Ye Lan chuckled lightly. "Such a sweet mouth."

Ren Haichuan came over to discuss the scene with Ye Lan and happened to hear this line. He asked casually, "Whose mouth is sweet?"

Ye Lan looked up at Ren Haichuan, licked his own lower lip, and said, "Jiang Chi's."

Ren Haichuan: "..."

Jiang Chi, who had been inexplicably teased by Film Emperor Ye, choked abruptly and hurriedly explained, "No, no, no, no... I was just flattering Brother Ye Lan, it's... nothing."

Ren Haichuan couldn't stand Ye Lan's dissolute behavior. He frowned and said, "Have you looked at the next scene?! I've been looking for you for ages, and it turns out you're here chatting with people."

"It's not chatting, it's cultivating feelings with my scene partner in advance." Ye Lan rose gracefully and smiled. "To prepare for the upcoming 'honeymoon period'."

Jiang Chi's eyes widened in shock. He suddenly remembered—

As the filming schedule progressed, after breaking through that layer of paper window just now, they had already arrived at Zhan Ming and Pei Ran's "honeymoon period."