Early the next morning, Ye Shanshan found himself awake even before Gong Yue, which unexpectedly filled him with a strange sense of pride, as if his life had been sublimated. After lying with his eyes open for another twenty minutes, he glanced at the time and realized that it was almost time for the family doctor to come and change Gong Yue’s wound.
It was time to wake Gong Yue up — the first opportunity in years to wake him up, and Ye Shanshan estimated that there wouldn’t be another chance in the future. So, he felt that he couldn’t be ordinary! After some thought, he suddenly came up with a clever way to wake up the big demon king.
He took a deep breath and then gently leaned in close to Gong Yue’s ear, starting to recite the square root of 2, “The square root of two equals 1.4142135623…”
An infinite non-repeating decimal, it was so long that he couldn’t finish reciting it!
After reciting with extremely strong rhythm for two minutes, Gong Yue reluctantly opened his eyes and saw Ye Shanshan smiling at him from up close, his dimples seemingly hooking onto his heart. Because Gong Yue always saw Ye Shanshan through multiple filters, even the sleep marks on his face looked exceptionally good.
So, Gong Yue finally uttered four words, “Shanshan, good morning.”
At eight thirty, the doctor arrived with an assistant to change Gong Yue’s dressing. Ye Shanshan watched anxiously by the side, repeatedly reminding them more than ten or twenty times to be gentle.
The wound on Gong Yue’s arm looked terrifying, and just by looking at it, Ye Shanshan’s heart felt a twinge. As the doctor began to change the dressing, Gong Yue endured without making a sound, except for a layer of cold sweat on his forehead, there was no other reaction.
Standing aside, Ye Shanshan couldn’t help but inhale sharply, as if it was not Gong Yue who was injured, but himself.
The doctor, seeing Ye Shanshan staring intently without blinking as he changed Gong Yue’s dressing, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Indeed, the relationship between Mr. Ye and the young master was truly good.
Gong Yue couldn’t help but laugh at Ye Shanshan’s continuous sharp intakes of breath. “Shanshan, aren’t you supposed to go to the set today? Let the driver take you.”
Ye Shanshan, still staring fixedly at the wound, spoke without thinking, “My scenes are only in the afternoon, but the director wants me there before eleven to watch others act and then have barbecue together at noon.”
“Barbecue?”
Suddenly covering his mouth, Ye Shanshan widened his eyes, realizing that he had said something he shouldn’t have — could Gong Yue pretend not to have heard if he retracted his words now?
He used to avoid eating spicy and stimulating food, so Gong Yue always excluded barbecue and similar items from his diet.
But now he had inadvertently revealed it. Feeling incredibly foolish, Ye Shanshan felt he couldn’t face it and hesitated for a moment. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, he turned and walked away.
Gong Yue watched his retreating figure and said, “Shanshan, don’t eat too much.”
As Ye Shanshan walked away, Gong Yue suddenly stopped him with surprise — wait, did the big demon king just agree to let him have barbecue?
Looking up at the sky, Ye Shanshan silently wondered if today was a day of unexpected good luck.
At the set, it was only half past ten when Ye Shanshan went to watch Zhang directing a scene with Lin Xiaotian. He realized that the person acting opposite Lin Xiaotian was actually Xu Tian. However, there was no deep-seated enmity between him and Xu Tian, so when he noticed Xu Tian looking at him, Ye Shanshan greeted him friendly. After all, they would be seeing each other often on set for a long time to come.
Xu Tian seemed a bit surprised and took a few seconds before responding.
After finishing the scene, Director Zhang called Ye Shanshan over to discuss the scene with Yan Ke, which was a very direct way of giving him special attention. The people nearby glanced at them before busying themselves with their own tasks. Eye contact was something that couldn’t be forced.
“…In the first scene this afternoon, your interaction with the female lead, you were previously in a romantic relationship, but later broke up because of Jiang Rui’s hidden agenda. However, both of you still have lingering feelings for each other, so Jiang Rui comes to find you out of fear. Shanshan, what’s the focus of this scene?”
Being called out, Ye Shanshan paused, thinking carefully. “It should be suspicion, right? After all, two people have died by then, and Jiang Rui is highly suspicious. So when she comes to find Wu Qian, there must be something fishy going on!”
Using the script rolled up in his hand, Director Zhang tapped the stubble on his chin, pondering. “Shanshan, have you never been in a relationship before?”
“Oh, right, I haven’t.”
With the rolled-up script, Zhang lightly tapped Ye Shanshan’s head. “I knew it. Your way of thinking is very dangerous, my dear. With that mindset, you won’t find a girlfriend.”
Seeing Ye Shanshan’s bewildered expression, Director Zhang glanced around and noticed that Zheng Dong was indeed absent today. So he lowered his voice and covered his mouth with his hand,
“As an actor, you’ll definitely have to act in love scenes in the future. From what I see, I suggest you find someone suitable and experience a relationship, regardless of its duration or outcome. At least you can gain some experience.”
He added meaningfully, “Experience is gained through practice, not just from theory. The ancients didn’t lie to you.”
Nodding half-understandingly, Ye Shanshan scratched his head. “Relationship?”
It was the first time someone had brought up this question to him. Both Zheng Dong and Xu Luoyang had instinctively avoided the topic of love, and Lin Xiaotian, Hawk, and the Butler had never mentioned it either.
—So, up until now, Ye Shanshan, who had learned various knowledge, surprisingly felt curious about the vague concept of “being in a relationship” for the first time.
Believing in doing things well if he did them at all, after Director Zhang left, Ye Shanshan searched for the concept of “being in a relationship” and found that the explanations were all very abstract. It was either the illusionary feeling of “love at first sight” or the incomprehensible version of “seeing you, my flowers bloom.”
Feeling very distressed, Ye Shanshan noticed that Yan Ke was still sitting nearby. After some thought, he moved the plastic stool a bit closer and asked, “Brother Yan, can I ask if you’ve been in a relationship before?”
Looking into Ye Shanshan’s clear eyes, Yan Ke nodded. “Yes, I have.”
Upon hearing this answer, Ye Shanshan’s expression lit up, feeling that he had asked the right person. So, eagerly, he asked, “What’s the principle behind being in a relationship?”
When faced with a scientific question, Ye Shanshan was always very rigorous.
Then Yan Ke was stumped.
After some consideration, Yan Ke earnestly replied, “Love isn’t very scientific.”
Ye Shanshan frowned, “So, is there any inherent logic to it?”
Yan Ke was stumped again. Even when he was dating his wife, and now that they were secretly married, he still hadn’t figured out his wife’s ways. So, he shook his head, “There’s no logic.”
No principle, no logic, not scientific—this left Ye Shanshan deep in thought. He felt that this question was too difficult, beyond his capabilities.
So, during a break in filming, Ye Shanshan decisively decided to seek help from the big boss. He sneakily sent a text to Gong Yue.
“The director said I should find someone suitable and experience a relationship to gain some experience.”
However, after sending the text, it seemed to sink like a stone into the river. Even after finishing another scene, he still hadn’t received a reply.
In his study, Gong Yue gestured “pause” to his assistant Qin Xuan, who was reporting work progress. Then, he read the text message over and over again.
He edited and deleted the reply he had prepared multiple times. There was something he wanted to burst out with, but Gong Yue slowly suppressed it back.
—Can’t be impatient, must take it slow, can’t scare him, can’t disrupt his thoughts.
He had handed all the initiative over to Ye Shanshan himself.
Finally, Gong Yue slowly pressed the button and sent a reply, “What are you thinking?”
Ye Shanshan was drinking water when he saw the reply. He quickly typed, “I feel a bit curious. What does it feel like to be in love?”
This time, Gong Yue’s response came quickly, “You’ll know in the future.”
During filming, Lin Xiaotian was browsing posts about Ye Shanshan on the Haijiao Forum.
In recent days, even though Mingming Yingshi Company was on the verge of collapse, they were still spending money to hire internet trolls to smear Ye Shanshan’s reputation. It was unclear what they were aiming for. Zheng Dong knew that Ye Shanshan never cared about these things, so he asked Lin Xiaotian to keep an eye on them.
Previously, the official account of “The Examiner” announced Hu Yan’s casting choice, and overnight, many posts related to Ye Shanshan popped up, along with the usual jokes about his acting skills or plastic surgery. After several days, the ones left on the front page were all quite “substantial”, mostly with thousands or tens of thousands of comments stacked up.
Moreover, even though the hype was dying down, fans who came to visit Ye Shanshan’s class yesterday posted another wave of photos and videos after they left. Somehow, Ye Shanshan became hot again.
So, the threads that were almost reaching their peak started piling up layer by layer again.
“—I watched the behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot you guys mentioned. Isn’t it just posing? Where’s the acting? This time, Director Zhang probably just chose based on looks. I bet the movie will be mocked when it comes out!”
“—Even though my idol’s acting skills are so good, they’re being brushed off. How many roles has YSS played in a few dramas? And they dare say they have acting skills? Their thick skin is impenetrable! For those who pointed out YSS playing the piano live, what’s wrong with playing the piano? Maybe they couldn’t make it in the classical music circle, so they came to the entertainment industry to make money.”
“—I laughed when I saw the words ‘making money’! I’ve been holding back for a long time. Is our Master Ye short of money? [Images] Aren’t you guys the only ones who noticed that during Master Ye’s first live piano performance, it was clearly at home, but didn’t you notice, that piano, the black ebony Steinway, costs at least seven figures! And the place where he plays the piano is obviously a glass conservatory, where you can see random places through the lens, pause and take a look at the flowers, those rare species, at least one pot costs tens of thousands. Not to mention, the clothes Master Ye wears in his daily photos are all designer or custom-made, and the tableware he uses, just adding a few pieces, will scare you with the price.”
“—After reading what was said above, I quietly went to watch the live video again and found that I seem to have really become a fan of a tycoon. PS: Watching live streams is all about looks, and even watching replays is about looks, so I’ve never paid attention to the background. Forgive me!”
“—I feel like only a wealthy family could raise our Shanshan, probably at least three generations of wealth! PS: Like the baby above, screenshots were taken throughout, no explanations needed!”
“—Right, after all, our Master Ye grew up drinking dew, this is a big expense!!”
“—No, you young folks are all wrong. Our Ye Master, obviously, raises pigs! Who dares to argue?”
“—Yes, with video evidence, irrefutable, giving props to the commenter above.”
“—Quietly adding one, the reputation of the Holy Light Pig Raising Child is undeniable!”
Lin Xiaotian watched as the threads completely veered off course, struggling hard to suppress his laughter.
He always felt that fans of their young master Ye had a very strong ability to twist threads, whether they were negative or positive posts. Anyway, in the end, they would twist them into something outrageous, creating their own unique and bizarre style.
※※※
At four o’clock in the afternoon, Ye Shanshan had two scenes left and finished shooting today’s scenes.
Seeing that he had five minutes to spare, Lin Xiaotian quickly took out his phone, opened WeChat, and showed Ye Shanshan the message Zheng Dong had sent:
“Ye Shao, Zheng-ge says it’s been a while since you last live-streamed, so he suggests you find some time in the next two days to do a live stream, at least to show your face.”
With no advertisements, variety shows, or scandals, Ye Shanshan’s exposure wasn’t high, so Zheng Dong had racked his brain to prevent people from forgetting about Ye Shanshan too quickly.
Taking a sip of water, Ye Shanshan looked up at the sky, counted on his fingers, and realized it had been over a month since his last live stream. Was that a bit—sorry to his conscience?
With a serious expression, he took another sip of mineral water and instructed Lin Xiaotian:
“Post a notification on Weibo for me, saying that in an hour, I’ll be live streaming in Room 33 on SanSan, um, for about half an hour.” That way, he would be almost home by the time he finished.
So, after saying goodbye to Zhang Dao and finishing work, Ye Shanshan got into the nanny car and opened the live streaming platform, only to find that the number of online viewers in the live room had exceeded five million, and it was still rising rapidly by tens of thousands.
Feeling a bit dizzy, Ye Shanshan leaned in to count the string of numbers. “There are really millions? Why are there so many people…” His mutterings were broadcasted in the live room, and the comments section started to flood.
“—Excitedly running laps, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
“—Ah ah ah ah, besides ah ah ah, I don’t know what else to say ah ah ah!”
Placing the phone on a lazy stand, Ye Shanshan turned on the camera. “Can you see me?” Before he could finish speaking, the screen was flooded with “Ah ah ah, Master Ye” and “Ah ah ah, real person!!”.
After confirming that the camera was working and visible, Ye Shanshan began straightforwardly:
“My agent said I haven’t live-streamed in a long time, and you might easily forget about me. I think he’s right, so today, just after finishing shooting, I’m on my way home and decided to do a live stream for everyone.”
He ran his hand through his messy hair. “As for today’s theme, um, let’s make it a Q&A session. You ask questions, and I’ll answer them. Randomly selecting questions, and by the time we’re done answering, it’ll be about time.”
The comments section paused for two seconds, then erupted with various questions, all coming in at the speed of light.
Ye Shanshan randomly selected one and read it aloud. “‘Are fluorescent colors really good-looking?’ Well, I think they’re very nice, don’t you guys think so?”
The fans in the comments section were very supportive. “—Yes, we think they’re really nice! The most dazzling color in the world! Fluorescent hair looks even better!!”
Nodding, Ye Shanshan finished reading, feeling proud that his aesthetic matched that of his fans.
“Well, I also think it’s the most dazzling color! Let me see, the next one, ‘Why did you choose the role of Hu Yan in “The Examiner”?’ The reason is simple, after all, when Hu Yan gets ruthless, even he kills himself!”
“‘Why did you decide to take on the role of Side Shadow?’ I didn’t have any second thoughts about it, it was completely because I was captivated by the charm of that character. Not showing my face and all, it’s especially mysterious! It’s this kind of mystery that attracted me!”
“Regarding the question ‘Is Master Ye’s family running a pig farm?’ A pig farm? Well, I actually thought about it. After all, I have inherited the ancestral pig-raising techniques. The pigs raised by me would definitely be lively and cute. But for now, I haven’t found a partner, so I came to make movies instead.”
“‘How did you meet Xu Luoyang?’ Hahaha,” Ye Shanshan burst into laughter after reading it, struggling to contain himself. After finally regaining his composure, he cleared his throat.
“Luoyang, I hope you’re not watching this video right now, um, if you are, then I hope your phone is conveniently broken! Anyway, you said before that this matter could be made public as long as it’s not in front of you!
Speaking of which, it’s actually quite simple how I met Luoyang. One day, the sun was shining, not a cloud in sight, and I went to the men’s restroom to wash my hands. When I was about to leave, I heard a weak voice from one of the stalls calling out to me, saying that he ran out of toilet paper, his phone was dead, and he had been in the restroom for almost an hour, asking if I could help him get some paper.
I was quite helpful at the time, and later found out that there was no paper left in the entire restroom, so I had to go downstairs to the restroom to get some paper for him. Maybe it was because I helped him in his time of need that we became friends.”
The screen was filled with “Hahaha”, “@Xu Luoyang”, and “No explanation needed”, followed by everyone tagging Xu Luoyang.
Ye Shanshan looked seriously at the camera, “Luoyang, the person who just spoke, you definitely got it wrong, it’s definitely not me!”
With that insincere statement, he continued to look at the comments section.
“Okay, next question, ‘Is Little Immortal really raised on dewdrops?’ This question is quite clever! I won’t hide it from you all, I really was raised on dewdrops. Let me tell you secretly, the material conditions in heaven are actually quite poor, there’s hardly anything to eat, so I could only drink dewdrops since I was young. It wasn’t easy for me to grow up like this.”
As he earnestly spouted nonsense, the comments section was flooded with “Ye Shanshan is toxic, I really believed it!”
Running his hand through his increasingly long bangs, Ye Shanshan continued reading.
“Someone asked, ‘Are there many people in heaven?’ This is also a good question. There are quite a few people in heaven. I’ll answer the next question along with this one, ‘Is heaven crowded?’ With so many people, it’s definitely crowded, so I descended to the mortal realm to avoid the crowds.
Someone asked me what kind of tribulation I’ve experienced, of course, it’s the foodie tribulation. After all, I grew up drinking dewdrops, it was really tough, so I quite like this tribulation! I kind of don’t want to go back to heaven…”
“Huh, someone asked if I have abs? Of course, I do. I used to have eight, known as the Little Eight Prince. Now I have nine, yeah, nine blocks, don’t believe it? Haven’t you heard of ‘Nine nines return to one’?”
As he touched his increasingly soft belly, Ye Shanshan suddenly missed the feeling of touching Gong Yue’s abs!
—-
Author’s note: I apologize for any inconvenience caused by changing the name and cover of this article. However, we cannot use the previous name and the word “main” along with related terms like “thighs”, “bags”, or “raising”. Hugs~
1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ❤️”
