:"Holy shiiiiiiiit!"
:"Best Actor Xiao finished showering and went into Lawyer Jiang's bedroom in pajamas?"
:"Are we worthy of seeing this... are we sure this isn't about to turn into adults-only footage??"
:"Underage Ginger Slices and Oranges can leave the livestream now."
:"Jiang Chiyan: Try me and you'll know whether there's anything wrong with my kidneys. @Xiao Cheng"
:"Just timidly pointing out that yesterday, Xiao Cheng's agent was still saying Jiang Chiyan and Xiao Cheng were brothers."
:"Socialist brotherhood. Nothing wrong with that."
:"I have a friend who wants to watch Jiang Chiyan and Xiao Cheng do the deed."
Late that night, the livestream chat exploded.
At the same time, Lu Ting, who already had a face mask on and was getting ready for bed, suddenly received a call from the studio.
"Sister Ting, look at Weibo, quick!!"
Lu Ting abruptly threw back the covers and sat up straight, asking nervously, "What happened?"
"L-Lawyer Jiang started a livestream class for the legal qualification exam..."
Lu Ting breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just a livestream lecture. What's wrong with that?"
The person on the other end was so frantic they were almost crying. "Lawyer Jiang was livestreaming his lecture from his bedroom at home, and toward the end... Brother Cheng pushed the door open and came in wearing pajamas."
Lu Ting: "..."
She immediately called Xiao Cheng. "Are you trying to piss me off to death?? What are you two little bastards trying to do? Announce your relationship or register your marriage, huh???"
On the other end, Xiao Cheng fell silent for a moment, then gave a light cough. "Sister Ting, the livestream is still on."
Lu Ting: "..."
With trembling fingers, she picked up a bottle of fast-acting heart relief pills from the bedside table and swallowed several before her heart finally felt less uncomfortable.
Lu Ting held her phone and waited a while before she heard Xiao Cheng's voice. "All right."
Lu Ting's tone was far from pleasant; she was clearly suppressing her anger. "Is Jiang Chiyan beside you?"
Xiao Cheng glanced at Jiang Chiyan beside him. "Yes."
"Have him take the phone!"
Jiang Chiyan took the phone from Xiao Cheng. "Agent Lu."
Lu Ting closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. "Lawyer Jiang, tell me how I'm supposed to handle PR this time. Unless you two are biological brothers with the same mother and father, complete with a DNA test report, you couldn't clear your names even if you jumped into the Yellow River!"
Jiang Chiyan didn't look good either.
Originally, he had only wanted to see Xiao Cheng wearing his pajamas, covered in his scent.
But when Xiao Cheng walked into his livestream...
Jiang Chiyan had been somewhat flustered.
In the domestic entertainment industry, plenty of people flirted with others of the same sex to promote real-person pairings.
But to date, the number who had officially announced they were together was...
Zero.
Although Jiang Chiyan feared nothing.
He couldn't disregard Xiao Cheng.
Jiang Chiyan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they held an unbreakable resolve and determination.
He told Lu Ting, "Agent Lu, there's no need to clean this up or issue a clarification this time."
Lu Ting froze on the spot, incredulous. "Y-you... what did you say?"
Jiang Chiyan enunciated every word. "I'll take responsibility for Xiao Cheng. Full responsibility."
Hearing that, Xiao Cheng's face turned bright red, and he awkwardly averted his gaze, not even daring to look into Jiang Chiyan's eyes.
On the other end of the phone, Lu Ting frowned. "How do you intend to take responsibility?"
She felt like a mother marrying off her daughter, like a mother-in-law negotiating with her son-in-law.
Jiang Chiyan said, "There are two options now. First, we announce our relationship."
Lu Ting rejected it without a second thought. "Absolutely not! Unless you want Xiao Cheng blacklisted. You wouldn't be able to keep working in legal circles either."
Jiang Chiyan considered it for a moment. "Then there's only the second option: Xiao Cheng and I play a couple in a drama. Everything in today's livestream can be presented as promotional fan service for the new drama's pairing."
Lu Ting weighed it for a moment and thought the idea was feasible. "The company could buy a major IP for Xiao Cheng, but Lawyer Jiang, if you appear in a screen production, would your career..."
Jiang Chiyan said coolly, "No. Not a boys' love adaptation. Find a top-tier screenwriting team to write a new script, a story of our own for Xiao Cheng and me."
Lu Ting agreed and hung up.
Just as she was about to call to arrange press releases and PR, the company called again. "S-Sister Ting... there's no need for PR anymore."
Lu Ting tightened her grip on the bottle of fast-acting heart relief pills. "What happened now?"
The person on the other end said, "W-Weibo crashed."
Xiao Cheng drew too much traffic and had too much influence in the entertainment industry.
All of Weibo's backend staff were called into the office late at night to work overtime on emergency repairs...
Lu Ting looked as though she had expected this. "If it crashed, use another media platform for PR. Do I really need to teach you that?"
The person on the other end added, "But... Bilibili crashed too. AcFun, Douban, Toutiao, and the rest-thirteen media platforms-all. Crashed."
Lu Ting: "..."
She had been an agent for eight years, and this was the first time she had encountered anything like this.
Lu Ting rubbed the space between her brows and sent Xiao Cheng two messages.
Lu Ting: "Your Highness, thank you for letting me witness the grand spectacle of thirteen media platforms crashing at once in my lifetime."
Lu Ting: "You've certainly broadened my horizons."
When Xiao Cheng saw the messages, he was lying in Jiang Chiyan's arms.
Xiao Cheng buried his face uneasily against Jiang Chiyan's chest, his eyelashes trembling. "I'm sorry..."
Jiang Chiyan gently stroked his back again and again. "Silly, what are you apologizing to me for?"
Xiao Cheng's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "I knew you were livestreaming. I barged in on purpose."
"Yanyan, I had selfish reasons."
"I don't want to keep sneaking around to be with you. I want to announce our relationship. I want everyone in the world to know you're my man."
"That way, no one will covet you anymore."
Xiao Cheng spoke frankly.
At the café today, although Fu Man hadn't felt that way about Jiang Chiyan...
Several girls in the café had stared at Jiang Chiyan with shy faces, even secretly taking out their phones to photograph his profile.
Xiao Cheng had been overcome with jealousy.
He nuzzled uneasily into Jiang Chiyan's embrace, tightening his arms around Jiang Chiyan's waist.
Jiang Chiyan said nothing.
The unease in Xiao Cheng's heart gradually grew. "Are you blaming... (me)?"
"I know." Jiang Chiyan suddenly spoke, interrupting him.
Xiao Cheng froze. "What?"
Jiang Chiyan's throat moved slightly as he let out a low, pleased laugh. "I said, I know you barged into the livestream on purpose."
"Xiao Cheng, I've been waiting a long time for your jealousy to spill over."
Xiao Cheng trembled all over and asked, somewhat bewildered, "Really? Why?"
Jiang Chiyan smiled, reached one hand out from under the covers, and grabbed the tablet on the bedside table.
With his other hand, he pulled Xiao Cheng more tightly into his arms.
Jiang Chiyan opened a video folder on the tablet.
The folder contained videos of romantic scenes Xiao Cheng had acted in with every actress over the seven years since his debut.
There were 3,782 videos in total.
Jiang Chiyan had clipped them one by one, stubbornly using AI face-swapping to replace Xiao Cheng's face in the videos.
Jiang Chiyan held the back of Xiao Cheng's head and leaned closer, narrowing his eyes. "Do you know what I want to do when I see you acting in romantic scenes with other actresses?"
"What do you want to do?"
Jiang Chiyan said each word distinctly. "I just want to announce our relationship and flaunt our love in front of the whole country, the whole world!"
In this whole incident...
Xiao Cheng had done it on purpose.
Jiang Chiyan had done it on purpose too.
They had both "schemed" against each other, but their goals... had aligned in unspoken agreement.
Xiao Cheng suddenly smiled, his eyes reddening. "Jiang Chiyan..."
"Hmm?"
Xiao Cheng said, "I. Love. You."
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(Recommending Nine Heavens' new book, "Outlaw Zhang San: He Sent the Opposing Lawyer to Prison")