Chapter 3.2
Chapter 3.2
GHML – Chapter 3.2: Trying To Be Difficult (2)
He Jiang and the female lead, Zhang Yaoyao, had both returned to shore where a thick blanket for He Jiang was already waiting in the hands of his assistant. However, before the blanket reached his hands, a sneeze sounded from beside him. He Jiang glanced at the drenched Zhang Yaoyao and gestured to his assistant to hand the blanket to her instead.
Zhang Yaoyao initially declined the offer, but at the assistant’s police insistence, she eventually accepted. At the same time, she stretched out her arm to envelop He Jiang inside the warm embrace of the blanket together with her. She exclaimed, “Thank you! My assistant is still inexperienced. Since it was sunny today, he had not brought a blanket with him. But the sea breeze is still quite chilling. I should get him to learn from your assistant!”
But before she could do so, He Jiang had taken a step in Shang Jing’s direction, causing her to grab a handful of air.
Zhang Yaoyao’s assistant belatedly approached them with two cups of steaming hot ginger tea.
Zhang Yaoyao grabbed them and chased after He Jiang, ‘accidentally’ bumped into his back. She offered a cup to him. “Here, have one.”
“Thank you.” He Jiang accepted the cup from her.
Zhang Yaoyao beamed, “You’re welcome.”
Shang Jing watched their friendly banter from a distance.
How dare he flirt with other girls in front of me?!
But that was not the only thing he had noticed. Apart from the assistant who had brought the cups of ginger tea to Zhang Yaoyao, there was another one secretly snapping photos of the couple’s interaction from behind. Beside him was a bag containing a blanket.
Lin Lin happened to return with two cups of ginger tea at this moment. She was stunned to see the cup in He Jiang’s hand, but she quickly regained her senses and handed one of her two cups to Shang Jing. “Here, have one. I added some raisins in there. It’s delicious.”
Shang Jing bit on the straw and took a sip of the tea. Then turned his attention back to the drama unfolding in front of him.
“Wait, I got the wrong cup.” Zhang Yaoyao caught up from behind. With a reddened face, she said, “I’ve already taken a sip out of that cup, you can have this one instead.”
Oh, how pretentious.
It was not just Shang Jing’s throat that was burning from the hot ginger tea. His eyes were feeling fiery too.
He Jiang wasn’t intending to drink anything from Zhang Yaoyao from the very start, and her pestering only further stoked his irritation. Thus, he decided to return both cups to her.
But before he could do so, Shang Jing approached them.
“You can drink mine.” Shang Jing took a big sip of his ginger tea before forcefully stuffing it into He Jiang’s hands. The expanded dried raisins burst between his teeth, causing a simultaneous explosion of sourness and sweetness in his mouth.
He Jiang alternated his gaze between the half-empty cup in his hands and Shang Jing. Shang Jing was glaring at him with his beautiful eyes as if saying ‘Try drinking from her cup and it’ll be the end of you’.
With the warmth of the ginger tea in his hand, he could feel a warm sensation flowing into his heart. It coursed through his veins and spread to his entire body.
A thought passed through his mind.
Those scandals were not for nothing.
Did he get this angry whenever he saw those rubbish articles written by those gossip sites?
Serves him right.
“You are…” Zhang Yaoyao looked at the pretty boy in front of her. Judging from his looks, he was most likely a newbie actor stuffed into the movie by one of the sponsors.
He is good-looking for sure. I wonder which big shot he has managed to please to dare hand the film emperor a half-drunk cup of beverage. Does he not see how dirty he is?
Zhang Yaoyao thought, totally overlooking how she had just ‘accidentally’ passed He Jiang a cup of ginger tea she had already drunk from. A sense of rivalry towards Shang Jing erupted in her.
However, just as she was about to refuse the drink on He Jiang’s behalf, the usually cold-faced He Jiang took a big sip of the tea with Shang Jing’s straw.
As though he had not gotten enough of it, he took another sip.
He Jiang briefly introduced Shang Jing to Zhang Yaoyao, “This is my… younger brother. He got injured recently so I brought him along to keep an eye on him.”
Considering the possibility of Shang Jing following him on set in the future, he decided to weave a more acceptable excuse.
Who is your younger brother?
Shang Jing threw He Jiang a glance.
The actor was truly cunning. With just a few words, he had not only painted an image of a loving brother but also subtly denied their relationship.
But Shang Jing had no intention of publicizing their secret marriage yet either. There were still too many things unknown to him. He might be placed in an unfavorable situation if he provoked He Jiang now.
“Oh, your younger brother!” Zhang Yaoyao’s eyes softened right away. “Is this your first time watching Mr. He act on set? This is also my first time collaborating with him on a movie. It’s such a pleasure to watch him act.”
“Yes.” Shang Jing nodded. He looked at Zhang Yaoyao and asked, “It’s my first time here so I’m not sure about the rules. Are we allowed to take videos with our phones here? I saw your assistant taking photos of you and the film emperor. Won’t that risk spoiling the movie? Can I do it too?”
Zhang Yaoyao’s smile froze. “Of course… not. Who is it? I’ll have him delete the video right away.”
Unsolicited photography and videography were prohibited on set. However, Zhang Yaoyao had an agreement with the film team to only release the contents during the movie promotion period, so the team closed an eye on her doing so. After all, interesting behind-the-scenes videos are sometimes more effective in drawing attention than the usual promotional tactics.
Zhang Yaoyao called her assistant over and had him delete the video in front of everyone else.
The video has been taken from a tricky perspective, capturing the sweet moment of He Jiang and Zhang Yaoyao sharing a drink. It would have made a believable video with some editing.
Shang Jing mused, “There was a photo making its rounds on the internet today morning. Was that taken by you too? The composition of the photo looks really unique! It looks like it was taken by the same person. Where did you learn that from? I want to learn it and take nice pictures of my brother too.”
He was referring to the photo attached to the article published that morning. It had hinted at He Jiang showing favoritism to Zhang Yaoyao, giving many the misconception that he was chasing her.
The article was naturally drafted on Zhang Yaoyao’s orders.
Zhang Yaoyao’s face turned a shade of green as she stood there awkwardly with the two cups of ginger tea. In her mind, she berated Shang Jing for not minding his own business. He Jiang had always been indifferent to these kinds of innocuous articles.
She took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, I’ll keep a closer eye on my assistant.”
He Jiang’s eyebrows slightly shot up. Grabbing Shang Jing by the nape of his neck, he said, “Photography and videography are not allowed on set. Let’s go, we are done here.”
Thinking about the numerous scandals ‘he’ had read about in the diary entries, Shang Jing saw this as a good opportunity to exact vengeance on He Jiang. He mocked, “You see that? Don’t talk to female stars, men must know how to protect their own integrity.”
He Jiang: “Which identity are you assuming when you said that?”
Which identity?! How could he have the cheek to ask me that?!
Shang Jing’s temper flared. He Jiang really had no respect for his wife.
But considering that they were in the presence of others, he suppressed his anger and hissed, “Can’t your little brother care about you?”
He Jiang replied coldly, “Mind your own business.”
Shang Jing: “Too bad, I’m dead set on meddling in your affairs…”
Zhang Yaoyao watched them as they left, her gloomy eyes fixated on Shang Jing’s back.
Who does he think he is?