Chapter 57: Fifty-Seven Fire

“What are you looking for Fan Xian for?” Qi Sixian stood not far from the Fan residence, leaning against the wall, lazily asking Ji Ran as he passed by.

Ji Ran glanced back at Qi Sixian, his steps unbroken. “It’s nothing.”

Qi Sixian didn’t believe for a moment that Ji Ran would come to the Fan residence for no reason. He followed him closely and pressed, “Did something happen to Yan Duo?”

Ji Ran cared most about Yan Duo. Besides Yan Duo, Qi Sixian couldn’t think of any other reason that would make Ji Ran come in person. And although Yan Duo hadn’t reported to her that something was wrong on her end, that didn’t mean everything was fine.

“This has nothing to do with you, don’t get involved.”

After saying that, Ji Ran got into the car and drove away.

So it really was Yanduo who got into trouble!

Qi Sixian frowned as he watched Ji Ran’s car drive away, then turned to look at the Fan Corporation building. He already had a suspicion: there weren’t many people at Fan who most wished Yan Duo ill and yet had the means to do something about it.

Yan Duo had been on set for a few days and gradually got used to the rhythm of shooting during the day and going home at night. That day Qi Sixian specially called to tell her he had arranged for her to appear on T City TV’s New Year’s Eve song-and-dance program, where she would sing a solo.

“Sis, are you really that sure I can sing?” Yan Duo had never sung in public since debut, nor had she ever told Qi Sixian that she actually liked singing and could sing.

Qi Sixian shrugged and said indifferently, “It’s fine, anyway we’ll just lip-sync then.”

An unwritten rule in the industry: for these large live variety shows, to ensure the best presentation, almost all singing segments use pre-recorded audio The singer was lip-syncing directly at the live performance.

Yan Duo was speechless, “So basically anyone can sing, regardless of whether they’re tone-deaf or not?”

Qi Sixian: “Not exactly. For example, during the early recording stage, if someone is too hopeless, the sound engineer might report to the station that you’re beyond help, but there aren’t many people like that.”

Yan Duo understood, so it was still irrelevant after all.

After finishing the business discussion, Qi Sixian asked Yan Duo, “How have you been doing on set lately? Has anyone been giving you trouble?”

Yan Duo smiled at these words. Sister Qi’s protectiveness was really quite undisguised. “How could that be? Everyone on set has been quite considerate to me.”

Qi Sixian asked again, “You’re hanging on wires all day, and you’re inexperienced. Have you had any accidents?”

Wire work was unavoidable in wuxia dramas, and Director Zhang was someone who was meticulous about everything, not allowing actors to use stand-ins, so Yan Duo had to do it all herself.

Yan Duo thought for a moment, “It was fine, just on the last day in S City, the wire rope broke and I fell onto the cushion. Nothing serious.”

Qi Sixian understood clearly, said some more words of caution to Yan Duo, then hung up and immediately called Fang Fang.

“Go somewhere quiet to take my call.”

Fang Fang started taking the call while Yan Duo was continuing to film scenes. The call lasted for half an hour until Yan Duo took another break, only then did Qi Sixian on the other end let her go. Fang Fang sighed, feeling she was in a difficult position. When she first learned about that incident, she had considered telling Qi Sixian, but since the person behind it was the boss’s wife of the Fan Group, and Qi Sixian was an employee of Fan Group, she would be somewhat hesitant to act. So she didn’t say anything. Who would have known that Qi Sixian’s protective attitude toward Yan Duo was so strong that he didn’t even give the Fan Group any regard. Fang Fang looked at Yan Duo, who was seriously rehearsing lines with someone, and thought she was truly fortunate.

The next morning, Qi Sixian drove to Yan Duo’s film set. Although on the surface he was there to tell Yan Duo about the song to be sung and the dance to be learned for the New Year’s Eve show, his real purpose was to give Director Zhang a “warning.”

“Don’t worry, I guarantee that similar incidents will definitely not happen again in the future.”

Director Zhang felt that this was indeed his responsibility, and it was understandable whether it was Yan Duo’s husband or the management company coming to warn him. Therefore, even though Qi Sixian’s attitude wasn’t particularly good, he humbly accepted his mistake.

Qi Sixian said uneasily, “In the future, whether it’s the wire work, the costumes Yan Duo wears, or the cosmetics she uses, you need to be more careful. I hope someone will be specifically assigned to be responsible for this matter.”

When a woman truly decides to be ruthless, there’s no dirty trick she can’t come up with. Qi Sixian didn’t want anyone to actually succeed.

Hearing this, Director Zhang’s patience finally ran out. “Rather than being so cautious, it would be better to severely punish the mastermind—punish her to the point where she wouldn’t dare to do anything bad again. What do you think, Agent Qi?”

Qi Sixian choked up, glanced at Director Zhang, and said nothing. If the mastermind behind this were really that easy to deal with, would she have needed to make a special trip here?

“Then I’ll find someone else to handle this specifically. You don’t mind, do you?”

Mr. Zhang shrugged, “I don’t mind. But if you do this, how will you explain it to Yan Duo? She doesn’t know anything.”

At this point, Qi Sixian was completely speechless. On this matter, she shared the same thought as Ji Ran—neither of them wanted Yan Duo to be troubled by this incident.

In the end, Qi Sixian could only urge Fang Fang to take good care of Yan Du on one hand, and on the other hand, try her best to find out Ji Ran’s purpose for seeking Fan Xian. If it was truly for Yan Du’s benefit, she would do everything in her power to help things along.

Meanwhile, Yan Duo, who was completely unaware of all this, was using her free time to learn singing and dancing. The song she was to perform at the New Year’s Eve gala wasn’t particularly difficult, and Yan Duo had no problem with it when singing at KTV, but she was completely inadequate in the meticulous environment of a recording studio. Therefore, in order to sing well, Yan Duo even consulted with professional singers from her company, all in the pursuit of singing better.

Before going to sleep that day, Yan Duo casually asked Ji Ran, who was sitting beside her, “Do you have any New Year’s Eve shows to attend?”

Ji Ran’s eyes remained fixed on his phone as he answered, “The New Year’s Eve show on T City Television.”

“Huh?” Yan Duo froze, “Doesn’t that mean we’re on the same show? Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

She hadn’t had time to follow the news online these days, and Ji Ran was really something too, not mentioning that they would be on the same stage together.

Ji Ran: “You didn’t ask me either.”

Yan Duo felt a bit discouraged and said, “Don’t you think it’s lucky that we can perform on the same stage? Don’t you want to share this good news with me?”

In Yan Duo’s opinion, whether as a fan who had adored Ji Ran for many years or as his recently publicized wife, nothing could be better than meeting Ji Ran at the same gala. What a fateful encounter it was, but unfortunately, Ji Ran couldn’t appreciate this sentiment at all.

Ji Ran: “Although it’s the same gala, we’re not really on stage together. You perform before me.”

The entire New Year’s Eve gala lasted three and a half hours. Yan Duo’s performance was part of a medley segment, appearing fifteen minutes after the opening, while Ji Ran and the other regular MCs of “Men’s World” appeared in the last half hour. The two of them were three hours apart—how could that be considered sharing the stage?

Yan Duo was at a loss for words, then said: “I’m already very happy just to be able to appear at the same gala as you!”

T-City Television Station ranks among the top domestic satellite TV stations. Yan Duo felt that it was already very fortunate for Qi Sixian to get her in, and to even have the luck of appearing on the same program list as Ji Ran. shuyoukan.com

Ji Ran placed his phone face down, freeing his hand to pat Yan Duo’s head, and said: “We’ll have opportunities to share the stage in the future, don’t worry.”

What Ji Ran didn’t tell Yan Duo was that he had already suggested to the station that he hoped to truly share the stage with her, but the station had other considerations and didn’t agree. Of course, while refusing, they also pre-emptively gave him a sweetener, saying that if Ji Ran was willing to continue supporting the runway show, they would arrange for both of them to appear at the New Year’s Gala. However, since this matter wasn’t set in stone yet, Ji Ran didn’t plan to tell Yan Duo about it.

Yan Duo thought this was quite difficult, but she didn’t call him out on it. Instead, she shamelessly said, “I don’t doubt this at all, and I actually think that if you can share the stage with me, you’re definitely riding on my coattails. Don’t you think?”

Ji Ran tapped Yan Duo’s nose and replied with a smile, “I think you’re right.”

Yan Duo cheerfully leaned over and kissed Ji Ran, who was playing along with her act, saying, “Good boy!”

Ji Ran pulled Yan Duo into his arms, glanced at the steel pole standing to the side, and asked Yan Duo, “When are you going to continue the dance you didn’t finish last time?”

Ever since being interrupted by the livestream last time, Yan Duo hadn’t mentioned dancing again. To hint at her, Ji Ran had moved the steel pole back into the bedroom, but Yan Duo showed no reaction. After waiting for many days, Ji Ran finally couldn’t resist bringing it up.

Without even looking at the steel pole, Yan Duo said with her head lowered, “I’ve been too busy lately. Let’s talk about it later.”

That time, she had mustered up the courage to dance for Ji Ran, but fate had other plans—she was cut off right at the beginning. Now, Yan Duo had completely lost the fearless determination she once had to go all out for the sake of surprising Ji Ran.

Ji Ran knew at once that Yan Duo was making excuses when he heard this. The dance would take at most five minutes, so how could Yan Duo possibly not have time? Ji Ran didn’t pressure her, picking up his phone again to continue looking at it, while saying very reasonably, “Alright, we’ll talk about it when you have time to dance.”

Yan Duo glanced at Ji Ran strangely. The man who had given her so many hints and suggestions was actually letting her off so easily? Seeing that he seemed to be holding his phone and looking at it all day, Yan Duo curiously leaned over, “What are you looking at?”

Before Yan Duo could see what was on the phone screen, Ji Ran suddenly moved his phone to the side, “Since you won’t dance for me, I can only watch someone else dance then.”

So this was what was waiting for her!

Yan Duo snorted, got up and straddled Ji Ran’s legs, reaching out with both hands to grab his phone. “Oh really? Then let me see it too. I can learn a lot from it as well!”

She actually didn’t know Ji Ran had this kind of hobby, secretly watching other women dance? A hot dance or a striptease?

Ji Ran tossed the phone back and forth between his hands, deliberately keeping it out of Yan Duo’s reach.

“Are you sure you want to learn?”

How could Yan Duo fall for it? While continuing to grab for the phone, she answered, “Whether you want to learn or not, we’ll see after you watch!”

Ji Ran said again, “If you really want to see, then you have to promise me you’ll definitely dance for me. No fooling me.”

Yan Duo couldn’t be bothered with so much at the moment, and casually replied, “Fine, I agree.”

Ji Ran then handed the phone to Yan Duo, but before passing it, he suddenly turned up the volume, and a particularly discordant sound came from the phone.

Hearing the sound, Yan Duo quickly snatched the phone and froze when she looked at the screen. It wasn’t a dance video at all, but a censored adult film! And it was a cartoon version! Titled “Falling in Love with a Monk,” it was clearly from Japan.

“You you you, you actually have this kind of hobby?”

The more time Yan Duo spent with Ji Ran, the more she felt she was seeing him clearly. He actually watched this kind of thing?

Ji Ran didn’t bother explaining that this was his first time searching for such films either, and said to Yan Duo, “Fine, don’t watch it then. Give me back my phone. Just remember what you promised me before.”

After speaking, she reached out to take back her phone, but Yan Duo dodged.

“Who said I’m not watching this,” he said as he put his phone on the pillow and started watching with great interest. “I heard my roommates say this anime is interesting a long time ago, but I was too embarrassed to ask them for the link, haha. Today I can finally enjoy it to my heart’s content…”

Ji Ran looked at Yan Duo’s delighted expression, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. To add some spice to their life in bed, he had specially found an anime to show her. But when he had just heard her righteously accuse him of watching such adult films, he was worried she would resist. Unexpectedly, she was already a little pervert who had been wanting to watch it all along!

It was somewhat different from what he had imagined, but they reached the same destination, and the result was what he wanted.

Now, he just needed to quietly wait for her to finish observing while doing some foreplay. Soon enough, they would be acting out scenes from those adult films. Yes, not bad at all.