Hyperventilation

He took a deep breath, suppressed his panic, and began to sing.

Since his voice was on the thinner side, he chose a song in a higher register.

His singing drifted on the wind into everyone's ears. Several people put down their chopsticks and couldn't help looking up at Chu Xinghui as he sang.

It wasn't exactly professional, but his voice was very soothing to listen to.

"He's really talented!"

Man Feiluan swallowed the leafy greens in his mouth and whispered into Yuan Zhanpeng's ear:

"Why did he go into acting?"

Yuan Zhanpeng watched Chu Xinghui's increasingly shaky hands, thought for a moment, and said:

"Maybe there was another reason."

[??? Handsome, who are you?]

[What do I do? This feels like the dumbass childhood friend next door suddenly turned into an idol...]

[If he sings this well, why did he go into acting?]

Chu Xinghui had barely practiced singing over the past few years. As the song went on, his entire voice trembled, and he even went a little off-key.

He could feel the scrutinizing gazes from several people, and even those behind the cameras.

An enormous sense of anxiety pressed down on Chu Xinghui like a boulder, and the people before his eyes grew blurry.

The sounds around him gradually became indistinct too, replaced by a loud ringing in his ears.

His breathing grew increasingly rapid, until he was only breathing in and not out. The air he inhaled felt terribly thin. His hand shook too much to hold the microphone, and it finally fell to the ground before the song's climax.

The microphone hitting the ground sent a tremendous crash through the livestream.

Chu Xinghui collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, his whole body curled into a ball and trembling uncontrollably.

I should have stopped singing earlier, Chu Xinghui thought just before losing consciousness.

No one had anticipated this, and for a moment, no one reacted. Chu Xinghui seemed to have collapsed in an instant.

By the time the director reacted and told the camera operators to turn off their cameras, Pei Hanmo had already rushed over and gathered Chu Xinghui into his arms.

[Is he okay?]

[I know this. Isn't this hyperventilation? Was Chu Xinghui too nervous?]

[Is he okay? I mean, I hate him, but this is a bit...]

[The livestream went black?!]

"I'll go find a doctor."

The director's face was full of guilt. He had thought Chu Xinghui was merely shy and wanted to make the show more entertaining. He hadn't expected that he genuinely couldn't sing.

Without looking back, Pei Hanmo carried Chu Xinghui toward a dark corner:

"No need. It's just psychological. Give me some time."

The others had wanted to gather around to check on him, but seeing Pei Hanmo like this, they decided not to get in his way.

Pei Hanmo set Chu Xinghui down in the shadows, sitting him with his back against the wall.

He reached out and gently covered Chu Xinghui's face, hoping to help him recover, then released soothing pheromones. His voice was low and coaxing:

"Be good. Breathe slowly. Don't be nervous. No one's watching you here."

Smelling the familiar scent, Chu Xinghui briefly regained awareness. He clutched Pei Hanmo's hand tightly, wanting to draw more from it.

His breathing was extremely loud. Although he inhaled plenty of air, it never seemed to be enough, and his head swam.

Everything before his eyes was dark, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

Cold sweat kept trickling down his forehead, mingling with his tears to form long trails that ran down from the reddened corners of his eyes.

His other hand clutched Pei Hanmo's clothes tightly, afraid the person before him would leave.

Fox ears had also emerged from his head, drooping limply on either side.

Although there had been some relief, he still didn't seem able to recover completely.

Chu Xinghui's hyperventilation had become more severe. Pei Hanmo reached that conclusion almost immediately.

He withdrew his hand, tilted Chu Xinghui's chin up, and released more soothing pheromones:

"Open your mouth."

Despite the loud ringing in his ears, their high pheromone compatibility allowed Chu Xinghui to make out Pei Hanmo's words, and he obediently opened his mouth wide.

Pei Hanmo pinched Chu Xinghui's nose with one hand and wrapped the other around his waist, leaning forward to gently seal his mouth with his own.

The touch of soft lips startled Chu Xinghui. He hadn't expected Pei Hanmo to help him this way.

Unable to breathe, Chu Xinghui's face gradually reddened, but he could finally sense a large amount of pheromones.

Guided by the pheromones, he couldn't help sticking out his tongue, unconsciously tracing Pei Hanmo's snake fangs.

Feeling the tip of Chu Xinghui's tongue, Pei Hanmo was so exasperated he wanted to laugh.

Had Chu Xinghui known he would become this unaware of his actions, he never would have agreed to sing.

His heartbeat gradually steadied too, and eventually, breathing rapidly, he broke free of Pei Hanmo's embrace and gulped down air.

He choked and coughed several times.

The scene before him gradually came into focus, and Pei Hanmo's gentle voice sounded in his ears:

"How do you feel? You're okay now, right?"

He looked up. Pei Hanmo had already risen from the ground and extended a hand, coughing lightly twice:

"Come on. Let's go tell the director."

Chu Xinghui took his hand and stood up, nodding.

After all, this counted as a livestream incident. He couldn't leave the director waiting.

Although there was surely no explaining things between them now, Chu Xinghui still waved his hand, dispersing the excess pheromones around him.

Seeing this, Pei Hanmo said nothing and simply waited quietly beside him until Chu Xinghui finished dissipating.

"Are you okay, Xinghui?" Seeing Chu Xinghui emerge, the director hurried over to him, his eyes full of apology:

"I really didn't expect this to happen. Really. Next time, just tell me if there's anything you can't do. I thought you were only shy..."

"It's okay, Director." Chu Xinghui shook his head and reassured him. "I'm better now, aren't I? Are we continuing filming?"

"No, no." The director was still somewhat shaken. "Just get some proper rest today. You must be exhausted after working all day."

Everyone had more or less finished eating. After checking on Chu Xinghui one by one, they returned to their rooms to get ready for bed.

Wen Liangtian, however, trailed silently behind Chu Xinghui, staring fixedly at Pei Hanmo.

Chu Xinghui had just checked his phone. Wen Liangtian was probably worried about him. He was practically a walking comment feed. Chu Xinghui hadn't expected him to have so much snark on the inside.

[The Landlord’s Foolish Son: You sing pretty well. With some practice, you could be a singer. What possessed you to become an actor?]

[The Landlord’s Foolish Son: Holy shit, why'd you collapse? Forget it, you'd better be a chef.]

[The Landlord’s Foolish Son: What's Pei Hanmo playing at? Is he better than a doctor? What did you two do??]

[The Landlord’s Foolish Son: Come sleep in my room later. It's safer. I know a bit of martial arts too.]

The others had more or less picked up on Chu Xinghui and Pei Hanmo's relationship and were certain the two were already very familiar with each other.

Helping someone you knew through an episode was actually quite normal. After all, no one else here knew this much about hyperventilation.

But Wen Liangtian was different. He simply believed Pei Hanmo lusted after Chu Xinghui's body and was being attentive to get his hands on it.

So he trailed silently behind Chu Xinghui, terrified that the scheming bastard beside him would swallow Chu Xinghui whole.

Chu Xinghui was actually quite a nice person. Wen Liangtian's opinion of him had already improved a great deal.

If Chu Xinghui could overcome this condition, he could actually build a career in entertainment.

"You can stop here." Chu Xinghui turned to Wen Liangtian behind him. "It's okay. We have two bedrooms here. I'm perfectly safe."

It wasn't that he couldn't stay with Wen Liangtian. Chu Xinghui was mainly worried that the director might start livestreaming first thing tomorrow morning. If he was seen in Wen Liangtian's bed, there would be no explaining it.

He smiled and reached out to ruffle Wen Liangtian's hair. "Thanks!"

Wen Liangtian swatted his hand away, his mouth full of protests, though the corners of his lips were practically up in the sky:

"What are you thanking me for? Teach me to cook when we get back to the company, got it?"

With that, he turned around, blushing, and returned to his room.

Pei Hanmo had entered the small villa first. From the second floor, he saw Chu Xinghui ruffling Wen Liangtian's hair and suddenly felt that Gu Chupei's plan did seem quite effective.

There was jealousy, all right. But Pei Hanmo was the jealous one.