It's My Husband

Si You still hadn't recovered from that close contact with Jiang Tingxu.

That cold, domineering aura seemed to have taken physical form, lingering around his fingertips.

Si You couldn't help gently rubbing them together.

Didn't want to scare me? Si You's heart trembled. No matter how he analyzed those words, something felt off. He could see through Gao Jin's hidden thoughts, and the dark emotion in Jiang Tingxu's eyes just now had left him with nowhere to run.

Si You felt strangely detached from reality.

Was this even scientific? Right now, he was just a washed-up nobody covered in scandals. Sure, he and Jiang Tingxu had been paired up as a CP and were filming together, but how long had it been? There were countless people in the industry who had worked with Jiang Tingxu again and again, hoping to spark something, yet he had never given any of them a second glance. So why... Si You thought it over carefully, then realized that during the audition and filming, he had revealed too much of his emotions to Jiang Tingxu. Now, he was receiving a different kind of response.

Si You raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. An answer surfaced clearly in his mind: Jiang Tingxu might have feelings for him.

So just now... Jiang Tingxu had really intended to kiss him?!

Si You sucked in a quiet breath, but he didn't exactly look embarrassed. He was more at a loss, more bewildered.

Wasn't this too hasty? Jiang Tingxu hadn't even confessed. Si You headed toward the bedroom, but stopped at the door. A maddening thirst for answers gradually boiled within him, spreading through his chest and burning away his tangled emotions until only one thought remained: Was that it?

Had Si You never eaten pork but seen pigs run? Didn't people usually make their feelings clear step by step, getting to know each other and seeing whether they were compatible? Why was Jiang Tingxu like a raging storm? He hadn't even had time to savor it before the man retreated?

Ridiculous!!!

As Si You thought that, his expression changed several times in quick succession. Then he turned and walked away. In just a few steps, he somehow carried the air of someone marching to the execution block. Without giving himself time to think it through, he knocked directly on the master bedroom door.

It had to be said that when Si You wanted to get to the bottom of something, he had a fearless kind of courage.

In truth, someone's heart was pounding like a drum. If he had superpowers, Si You would probably have shot flames from under his feet and circled the sky three times. Even Nezha would have had to call him "Big Brother."

Just as Si You was about to knock a second time, the door opened with a click.

Jiang Tingxu seemed to have just washed his face. The droplets on his jaw hadn't been wiped dry, and his hair had been forcefully pushed back. It was clear he had calmed down for quite a while, and by the time he stood before Si You, his face had returned to composed serenity, revealing nothing.

"What is it?" Jiang Tingxu asked.

Si You's lips moved. This was damn hard to say!

But things had come to this. If he was a man, he couldn't back down.

So Si You said, "I want to sleep in here." He nearly bit off his tongue, and his next words came out two degrees softer. "My chest feels uncomfortable."

Jiang Tingxu looked silently at Si You, then stepped aside from the door. "Mm. Come in."

Si You would never know that Jiang Tingxu only opened his private space so easily to him.

The person who had been clamoring about sleeping alone earlier was now back on that huge bed.

Jiang Tingxu said, "I'm done with the bathroom."

Si You understood immediately. "I'll go wash up!"

Jiang Tingxu arranged the pillow beside his, then turned to look toward the bathroom. The corners of his lips lifted slightly.

No matter how confident someone was in love, they would still lack security and accurate judgment. Jiang Tingxu was no exception. In those few minutes just now, he had fallen into deep regret and self-doubt, thinking he should have waited longer. But Si You had come back.

Si You lingered in the bathroom for ten minutes before finally turning off the light and coming out.

Jiang Tingxu sat propped against the headboard under the covers, scrolling through his tablet. Hearing him, he didn't even look up. "Did you scrub off a layer of skin?"

"..."

"You know I'm embarrassed..." Si You muttered softly.

His blunt honesty caught Jiang Tingxu off guard instead.

Jiang Tingxu put the tablet back on the bedside table and patted the spot beside him. "Come up."

Grown men didn't have that many hang-ups. At least, they could now be considered fairly close friends.

The bed was huge. Even after Si You sat down, there was still a clear boundary between him and Jiang Tingxu.

"Does your chest hurt badly?"

"It's okay." Si You gripped the blanket, his emotions surging wave after wave. Then he couldn't help asking, "Jiang, the Movie Emperor, you toward me..."

Jiang Tingxu looked over, his gaze open. "Mm?"

"You toward me, are you..."

"Yes." Jiang Tingxu interrupted him.

Si You turned his head away and stopped talking. The temperature of his whole body soared again.

After calming down for a while, Si You asked again, "Why?"

"I suppose you want to ask why I developed feelings for you?" Jiang Tingxu said softly. "There's no real answer to that question. Sometimes liking someone requires a reason, but more often than not, it doesn't. Getting to know each other may be a long process, but the heart can be moved in an instant."

Si You stole a glance at him. "Then when did your heart start to move?"

"That's beyond the syllabus." Jiang Tingxu smiled. "I need to keep some secrets too."

Jiang Tingxu paused, then added, "Sorry. I didn't express my feelings appropriately tonight."

Only because Si You had a filter for him, and because their relationship was already fairly good, had he reacted this way. If it had been anyone else getting that close, pinching his chin and brushing his lips, Si You would have thrown a whole combo at them already. Jiang, the Movie Emperor, believed that the name "Jiang Tingxu" did not grant him immunity or special privilege. His pursuit of Si You should be steady and sincere, starting carefully from zero.

For some reason, hearing that made Si You feel much better.

"I was wrong too. When I got drunk before, I said things without thinking."

"Was it only saying things without thinking?" Jiang Tingxu asked. "You didn't have even a little..."

"Stop asking!" Si You turned and buried his face in the pillow. "Have some shame."

Jiang Tingxu immediately laughed, thoroughly pleased.

"It's fine." Jiang Tingxu reached out and pulled Si You upright. "We can take our time getting to know each other."

"Mm." Si You smoothed down his messy hair and started searching for a topic. "People online said you used to argue with haters back in the day, sometimes until the middle of the night?"

Jiang Tingxu said, "Yeah."

Si You's eyes widened. "Really?"

Jiang Tingxu laughed. "What kind of untouchable figure do you think I am? I'm human too. I used to be young and hot-blooded, and I have a temper."

Si You was dying of curiosity. "How did you argue?"

Jiang Tingxu thought about it. "I argued directly in the comments, and I didn't let my fans get involved. I kept going until the other side blocked me."

"Ginger Powder was that obedient?"

"Pretty obedient." Jiang Tingxu said, "They seemed to enjoy watching me tear people apart. Afterward, they'd even circle my best lines and analyze them like reading comprehension, commenting on which parts I roasted most effectively."

Si You's eyes curved with laughter, bright and watery enough to soften anyone's heart.

"Fans need some restraint," Jiang Tingxu continued. "Back then, I didn't have many fans, so I could be more willful. Later, more and more people started following me. Many were young, and their thinking hadn't fully developed or matured. I worried they would become too hostile because of me, or cyberbully others, so I rarely spoke up after that."

When an idol was more laid-back, and the studio was capable, the fans would be influenced too and become less irritable. But Ginger Powder's strength was that they remained formidable even while being laid-back.

For example, the haters who had attacked Si You under the banner of Jiang Tingxu's studio this time had been steamrolled by a fan-site manager leading Ginger Powder. In the end, they uncovered several professional haters, while the rest were Shen Chuan fans and Zhang Haoge fans. They were exposed in the anti-hate forum, with the implication clear: Our Movie Emperor never said anything bad about Si You to the studio staff. If you want to go after Si You, show your real identities. Otherwise, we'll go after you.

Honestly, this was one of a kind in the industry. Shen Chuan and Zhang Haoge were both quite popular now. Any other fandom would definitely worry about offending their fans, but Ginger Powder feared nothing. They even added a final line to the anti-hate post: Please do not blame the celebrities for the actions of these extreme fans.

It was a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree defense without a single blind spot.

As Si You and Jiang Tingxu chatted, both of them gradually put down some of the things they had been holding up. Si You's biological clock was fixed, and as he listened, he leaned against the pillow and fell asleep.

In the end, Jiang Tingxu had to pull him lower so his neck wouldn't be pressed awkwardly.

Yet when Jiang Tingxu let go, he hesitated several times. It was as though Si You possessed some strange magnetic force. Only a small patch of his palm had touched Si You, with fabric between them, but some sensation was being infinitely amplified.

That tremor followed the pulse of his blood and surged into his heart.

As he lay down, Jiang Tingxu stared at the ceiling and thought that he should find time to memorize something like the Purifying Heart Spell.

The next morning, when Si You woke up, the space beside him was already empty. The awkwardness he had imagined didn't exist at all. He got up to wash up, looked at himself in the mirror, and found his heart still floating lightly.

Jiang Tingxu's affirmative answer still echoed in his ears. It wasn't as if no one had pursued him before, but this time was different.

When Si You finished getting ready and went out, the living room was empty. Large and small bowls sat on the table with lids to keep them warm, along with a note.

[Remember to eat breakfast when you wake up. Don't worry about me.]

The handwriting was bold and forceful, yet elegant.

Had he gone out to handle something? Si You lifted the lids and found steamed shrimp dumplings. The smell alone was enough to make him drool.

When he was halfway through eating, the sound of the front door opening came from the entryway.

Si You hurriedly swallowed his food. "You're back?"

Jiang Tingxu paused, suddenly feeling as though his once-empty home had been filled with so many things.

"Mm. I went to check on Director Zhu at the hospital," Jiang Tingxu said.

Si You was startled. "Why didn't you call me?"

"There was no need for so many people to go." Jiang Tingxu said, "Director Zhu is recovering quickly. At the latest, we'll have to return to the set tomorrow morning."

Si You sighed. "Willpower of steel." With his current scrawny body, if he drank enough to need stomach pumping, he would be flattened in bed for at least a week.

Si You was still wearing the outfit Jiang Tingxu had given him yesterday. The collar was still too loose, and his calves and ankles were still exposed. He must have eaten something he really liked, because the leg he had crossed over the other swayed lightly.

Jiang Tingxu looked away, thinking, At least my ability to withstand pressure has improved.

Si You started his livestream after lunch, only to receive some "devastatingly painful" news: Feiji had already cleared Ghost Street.

Si You clutched his chest in grief. "If I'd known, I shouldn't have slept last night!"

The moment he said it, Jiang Tingxu, seated across from him at the computer desk, shot him a look.

Si You patted his mouth lightly, signaling that it was only a joke.

[Who are you looking at? Why did you look so scared just now?]

"Mind your own business." Si You spoke vaguely. "I'm starting."

After watching Si You's recording, Feiji had successfully cleared the third stage. He had also taken inspiration from Si You and found the quest item during the final stage.

[Do you want to watch Feiji's recording?]

Si You said softly, "No."

[My husband finally recovered his Weibo password yesterday just to speak up for you and angrily roast the haters. Are you happy?]

Si You's hand slipped, and he ran straight into a fierce ghost. He was slapped to death in one hit.

[That's so appetizing! Can you even do this?]

Jiang Tingxu sat on the sofa holding his phone, his expression mild. Then he typed in the public chat: [He isn't your husband.]

That person was unhappy. [Jiang Tingxu is my husband!]

Jiang, the Movie Emperor, immediately muted them for ten minutes.

[???]

[Boss Jiang, don't you love me, your little stinky brother, the most? Why are you getting jealous over Jiang Tingxu?]

"Aiya." Si You dodged the ghost's movement beautifully while keeping an eye on the chat. "Boss Jiang liking my gameplay doesn't conflict with him being a fan. Don't randomly pair people up. And who are you calling a little stinky brother?"

Then, while clearing the level, Si You spent twenty minutes arguing over who exactly was the little stinky brother.

"Done!" Si You performed one final signature slide, and two huge words appeared on the screen: "Level Cleared."

Someone did the math. Si You had cleared the final stage faster than Feiji.

Feiji was actually watching on an alternate account too, feeling both admiration and helplessness. Seriously, you work in entertainment, yet you've come to steal food from us in the horror game category. Is that reasonable?