Thank you, Charlie and Shihane for the kofi.
At the hospital, it wasn’t until the doctor lifted Cheng Ran’s clothes that Ye Zhou realized the situation was far worse than imagined.
Cheng Ran’s body was covered in bruises, with his lower legs bearing the worst. A deep purple-black mark on his once-fair skin was particularly jarring. The joint connecting his lower leg bones looked visibly abnormal, with the left calf appearing somewhat twisted.
When all the test results came back, Ye Zhou couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. Cheng Ran had multiple fractures throughout his body, with his legs being the most severely affected. Additionally, his ankles and arms showed varying degrees of fractures and fissures.
If there was any part of him still intact, it might only be his face, which was slightly better off.
Besides the external injuries, it was hard to imagine that in this day and age, someone could be so severely malnourished.
Ye Zhou stood outside for a few minutes, holding the report with a complex expression. Given such serious injuries, how had Cheng Ran managed to get to the warehouse and complete the audition?
Recalling Cheng Ran’s performance at the warehouse earlier, Ye Zhou felt indescribable emotions. If initially inviting Cheng Ran for audition was merely because he happened to fit the character’s image, now Ye Zhou was truly impressed by him.
The report was actually quite thin, just a few pages, but Ye Zhou felt its weight just by holding it.
Ye Zhou paced the hallway several times, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the ward.
Cheng Ran lay in bed, the hospital gown hanging loosely on his frame. Ye Zhou had never realized how thin the protagonist shou actually was.
His eyes were closed as if napping, while beside him, the steady drip of medication flowed through the IV into his veins. His pale skin made the already prominent blue-purple veins even more noticeable.
Sensing movement, his eyelashes fluttered as he opened his eyes. Upon seeing Ye Zhou, his expression immediately became uneasy.
“You can go. I’m fine,” Cheng Ran said, lowering his head and pulling the blanket up slightly, trying to conceal his disheveled state. His voice was muffled.
Ye Zhou was almost amused by his anger, and spoke without any courtesy, “Impressive, Cheng Ran.”
“To be so severely injured yet still able to come for an audition. You’re quite capable, aren’t you?”
Cheng Ran felt a bit angry, but he, who was usually so tactful, now didn’t know how to retort to Ye Zhou’s sarcasm. After thinking for a while, he angrily pulled the blanket up further, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Ye Zhou strode to his bedside, placing the medical report on the nightstand. He muttered under his breath, “This shouldn’t be. How did it turn out so badly? Aren’t you the protagonist…”
His voice was too low, so Cheng Ran could only vaguely hear a word or two, not understanding his meaning.
“What?” Cheng Ran asked.
Ye Zhou realized he had spoken a bit too loudly and immediately fell silent. He pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat down, looking at Cheng Ran, “Hey, how did you end up like this?”
Cheng Ran clearly didn’t want to answer this question, so when he heard Ye Zhou’s words, he pulled the blanket up even further. Now even his eyes were hidden, with only a small patch of smooth forehead visible.
Seeing this childish behavior, Ye Zhou scoffed, “How old are you? You think I can’t see you if you hide under the blanket?”
Cheng Ran remained silent, playing dead.
Ye Zhou rolled his eyes and cut to the chase, “Did Jiang Yu find you?”
Cheng Ran froze, and the room fell into an eerie silence.
Ye Zhou knew from his reaction that he had guessed correctly. After all, Cheng Ran was the protagonist with plot armor; his luck should be too high for accidents like this, especially such severe injuries.
Add to that Cheng Ran’s silence, and the answer was obvious. Jiang Yu and Cheng Ran were both protagonists, and in this world, perhaps only the protagonist gong could reduce the shou to such a miserable state.
Thinking of their messy affairs, Ye Zhou rubbed his face and sighed deeply, “Fine, if you don’t want to talk about it, don’t.”
“But can you tell me, in this day and age, with all the money you have, how did you manage to become so severely malnourished?”
Ye Zhou was truly exasperated. Cheng Ran usually looked like a spirited young man, how had he ended up with so many health issues at such a young age? How come these protagonists weren’t as good at self-care as his Mr. Jiang?
Since getting together with Mr. Jiang, Ye Zhou’s lifestyle had become much more regular than before. Not only did they maintain regular schedules, but they also paid close attention to diet and exercise, never missing their biannual health check-ups.
Initially, Ye Zhou adopted a healthy lifestyle to accommodate Mr. Jiang’s habits. As time passed, he gradually discovered why more and more people were focusing on wellness – its effects on the body were quite noticeable.
Ye Zhou even gave himself a title: the Young Prince of Wellness. Mr. Jiang had one too: the Old Prince of Wellness.
Of course, these were just playful nicknames, definitely not meant to imply that Mr. Jiang was old. Absolutely not.
His question went unanswered for a long time. Just as Ye Zhou thought Cheng Ran wouldn’t respond, the previously silent Cheng Ran spoke up.
“Before, Jiang Yu liked delicate beauties, the kind of men who looked fragile and sickly.”
As soon as he said this, Ye Zhou immediately understood. He looked at Cheng Ran as if he were some kind of monster, asking in disbelief, “…So you deliberately tortured yourself to look sickly?”
Cheng Ran neither confirmed nor denied it, but his silence told Ye Zhou that this was indeed the case.
Ye Zhou marveled inwardly. Is this the power of love? Is this the influence of a scumbag male lead?
The room once again fell into dead silence. Suddenly, Ye Zhou’s phone vibrated. He took the call and walked towards the door of the hospital room.
The call was from Mr. Jiang. Ye Zhou exhaled deeply, gathered his thoughts, and relayed the information he’d learned this afternoon to Mr. Jiang.
After listening, Mr. Jiang was silent for a few seconds before saying, “Come downstairs. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
Ye Zhou truly didn’t know how to handle this situation; he’d never dealt with anything like it before. Logically, as a minor cannon fodder character and Mr. Jiang as the main villain, they shouldn’t get involved in the drama between the protagonist couple.
But while this was indeed a book, for Ye Zhou it wasn’t just a story. Everything he experienced, saw, and thought about involved real, living people with flesh and blood.
Cheng Ran had indeed been quite foolish before, but since his resolute departure from the scumbag male lead, to agreeing to the audition, and even coming for the audition despite being so badly injured, not to mention his performance during the audition…
All these things combined made it difficult for Ye Zhou to simply abandon him without care.
Jiang Tingyuan was a punctual person. Shortly after Ye Zhou went downstairs, he saw a car stop at the hospital entrance. Mr. Jiang had just opened the car door, and their eyes met.
Given Cheng Ran’s severe physical condition and his lack of close friends or family in this country, tonight’s date was clearly off.
The topic returned to what they had discussed on the phone earlier.
After quietly listening to Ye Zhou’s words, Jiang Tingyuan asked, “Do you think he can handle the role in your film?”
Hearing this question, Ye Zhou paused, thinking of Cheng Ran’s performance in the warehouse today. He affirmed, “I believe he can.”
Upon hearing this answer, Jiang Tingyuan chuckled softly and indulgently said, “Then choose him.”
“But, Jiang Yu…” Ye Zhou’s voice sounded hesitant; he was indeed very conflicted.
Although Ye Zhou acknowledged Cheng Ran’s acting skills, choosing him essentially meant choosing trouble. Despite Cheng Ran’s excellent performance, the risks Ye Zhou would have to bear might far outweigh any value Cheng Ran could bring.
This might sound cold-blooded, but it was reality.
Cheng Ran was like a ticking time bomb. Choosing him was far less prudent than selecting an actor who might be slightly less talented but carried much less risk. In the film industry, unlike others, even the slightest trouble could bring enormous risks in terms of public opinion.
For a film, risk meant potentially wasting a year or more of effort from the entire crew – from the director and actors down to the costume and camera staff.
Of course, the biggest risk in choosing Cheng Ran, apart from external factors, came from Cheng Ran himself.
Jiang Yu’s current actions could be considered extremely excessive. In fact, his behavior in the original novel was not much different from now. Yet in that book, the protagonist Cheng Ran still chose to forgive him, leading to a joyful happy ending.
Ye Zhou found it hard to guarantee that if he chose to help Cheng Ran this time, Cheng Ran wouldn’t be swayed back by the male lead’s sweet words and pitiful act in the future, potentially turning against Ye Zhou.
Ye Zhou himself didn’t mind much, but what he worried about most was that if the protagonist couple reconciled, they might blame everything on Jiang Tingyuan, causing trouble for him.
He couldn’t deny feeling sympathy for Cheng Ran due to his recent behavior, but all his goodwill towards Cheng Ran was based on not harming himself or Mr. Jiang.
Ye Zhou wasn’t a saint, nor did he have the desire to save all of humanity.
Thinking this, Ye Zhou shook his head, about to refuse, when Jiang Tingyuan spoke first.
“I’ll handle Jiang Yu’s matter.” Jiang Tingyuan reached out, his cool fingertips landing on Ye Zhou’s brow, gently smoothing out the furrow that had formed there without him realizing.
“Just do what you like. I’ll take care of the rest.”
His voice wasn’t loud, still carrying that cool, detached tone, but every word imprinted itself in Ye Zhou’s mind, warming his heart.
With his past life’s experience, Ye Zhou had always thought of himself as a very independent person. After all, in his previous life, he had walked through it alone from start to finish. Although he occasionally felt a bit lonely, overall, he lived quite freely.
But upon meeting Jiang Tingyuan, Ye Zhou found that he might have been a bit spoiled by Mr. Jiang, leading him to become increasingly unrestrained and willful. Because he knew that no matter what he did, Mr. Jiang would always stand behind him.
Jiang Tingyuan could understand and fully support each of his choices.
Whether it was when Ye Zhou packed up and said he wanted to leave, silently running off to South Africa to film lions, or recently when Ye Zhou received an invitation to go to Antarctica to film penguins, he always respected and indulged him.
Past memories flashed through his mind like a slideshow. Ye Zhou held back, then held back again, but still couldn’t resist reaching out with both hands. His voice, somehow tinged with a nasal tone, seemed to be making a request, yet upon closer listening, it sounded more like a whine.
“Come on, give me a hug.”
Hearing this, Jiang Tingyuan’s previously expressionless face, which had looked somewhat cold and rigid, now imperceptibly softened. His thin lips curved slightly upward, and his eyes, usually as deep and emotionless as an ancient well, now rippled with waves of emotion.
He reached out and embraced the person in front of him, tightening his arms gently. His tone was soft and slow, “Why are you being so coquettish?”
“What!” Ye Zhou’s face reddened, and he buried his head in Jiang Tingyuan’s chest, muffling his protest, “You’re the one being coquettish.”
“What’s wrong with a hug? Hugging my boyfriend is perfectly natural, isn’t it? Why can’t I hug!” Ye Zhou muttered randomly, tightening his arms around Mr. Jiang’s waist.
“I’ll hug if I want to, I’ll hug!”
Since we’re down to the less than 10 chapters before KMCF is completed, please help me decide what series to work on next. You can check the poll posted on my kofi page. It is open for everyone, and will be open until July 3.
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