He had no classes on Wednesday afternoon, so he took another dog-walking job for those three dogs.
The golden retriever Doudou and the huskies Cola and Sprite knew him now. Instead of jumping on him when he opened the door, the three dogs wagged their tails and circled him, refusing to leave until he had petted each of their heads.
The older women walking dogs in the park knew him too, greeting him with, "Back to walk the dogs again, young man?" One even wanted to set him up with someone. Song Shi'an hurriedly said, "Auntie, I'm still in school," and ran off with the three dogs in tow.
Back in the dorm that evening, he showered, slumped into his chair, and took out his phone to check his D Station dashboard.
The account "Has Shi'an Eaten Today?" was the same as ever: twelve followers and a sea of zeros for views.
He wasn't in a hurry. He had only been filming casually to record his life anyway. If people watched, great; if not, so be it.
He did a quick edit of the footage he had taken while walking the dogs and uploaded it with the title "Daily dog walking day 3," then closed the dashboard.
Chi Xun leaned down from the top bunk with a lollipop in his mouth and said indistinctly, "Shi'an, isn't Aspiration to Reach the Clouds airing soon?"
"Late September, I think."
"Isn't that next week?" Chi Xun abruptly sat up, nearly dropping his lollipop. "Does your character show up in the first episode?"
"He should. Ying Qi is the heir's personal guard, and the heir appears in episode one."
Chi Xun's eyes shone startlingly bright behind his glasses. "Then I've got to catch the premiere."
Song Shi'an smiled, not giving it much thought.
His character Ying Qi wore a mask throughout, with less than two minutes of screen time in total. His appearance in the first episode would probably only last a dozen seconds or so.
The audience was watching for Xu Che, for the male and female leads. Who would care about a masked guard?
On Friday evening, Song Shi'an returned to the dorm after finishing his last food delivery. As he pushed the door open, he noticed something was off.
Chi Xun's laptop was set up on the desk with snacks beside it. Jiang Ye sat in Chi Xun's chair, while Pei Zhiyan, for once not reading reference materials, sat in his own spot holding a cup of coffee.
The three of them were gathered around the laptop. A D Station page was open on the screen, with the cover image for Aspiration to Reach the Clouds right in the middle. The countdown underneath showed ten minutes until the premiere.
"What are you guys..." Song Shi'an took off his helmet and put it on the desk.
"Waiting for the premiere!" Jiang Ye slapped the desk. "You're not watching a show you acted in?"
"I am, but you didn't have to make such a big production of it."
Chi Xun pushed up his glasses, his tone solemn. "Shi'an, you may have misunderstood your standing in this dorm. We're currently in 'our roommate is on TV' mode. That's roughly equivalent to celebrating New Year's."
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Song Shi'an took off his delivery jacket and hung it up, washed his face, then pulled over a chair and sat beside Chi Xun.
Chi Xun shoved a bag of chips into his hands, then opened a bottle of cola for him.
The countdown hit zero, and the opening theme began.
Bullet comments instantly flooded the screen. "Xu Che is so handsome," "It's starting, it's starting," and "Can't wait for Aspiration to Reach the Clouds" piled so densely on top of one another that even the faces were obscured.
Chi Xun quickly increased the bullet comments' transparency, making the picture just barely visible.
Song Shi'an stared at the screen, his heart unwittingly picking up speed.
The first episode opened with the assassination attempt on the heir.
Dressed in moon-white robes, Xu Che pushed open the study door and stepped outside. A black-clad guard stood in the corridor, a gold-thread mask covering the lower half of his face, leaving only a pair of slightly lowered eyes visible.
He stood beside a vermilion pillar with his sword held against him. The camera swept over him, lingering for about three seconds.
The bullet comments instantly exploded.
"Wait, who was that guard just now???"
"The one in the mask!! Rewind, rewind!!"
"Did anyone get a screenshot?! I need to know who he is in three seconds!"
"Those brows and eyes are way too gorgeous. How is he this good-looking even with a mask on??"
"Do you remember that behind-the-scenes photo on Weibo?! The guard leaning against a wall, looking up at the sky! Is that the same guy?!"
Beside him, Chi Xun frantically jabbed at the screen. "Shi'an! The bullet comments are talking about you!!"
"I see them." Song Shi'an swallowed his chips, trying to keep his voice calm.
"That's your reaction?" Jiang Ye turned around and stared at him in disbelief. "You're on TV! The bullet comments are calling you good-looking! At least smile!"
Song Shi'an smiled.
"Too fake. Try again."
Song Shi'an smiled again, the corners of his mouth lifting until he couldn't hold them down.
He had thought he didn't care about any of this. After all, Ying Qi was just cannon fodder who stood around, with barely any lines and a mask covering his face.
But when he saw comment after comment drifting past, all asking, "Who is this guard?" he still couldn't help himself.
Not all the bullet comments were nice, though.
Some posted, "Why does a guard need a mask? Is he hiding his face because he's ugly?" Others shot back, "With brows and eyes like that, how bad could the lower half of his face be?" The two sides argued for several lines before Xu Che's fans flooded the screen and buried them.
Song Shi'an didn't mind. The director had made him wear a mask on set because of this face, so he was long used to it.
Once the later scene where Ying Qi removed his mask aired, naturally no one would call him "ugly" anymore.
The first episode ended, and the closing theme began.
That was all of Ying Qi's screen time for the episode: less than twenty seconds in total, masked throughout, without a single line.
But the bullet comments were already looking for his name in the closing credits.
"Ying Qi's actor is called Song Shi'an? Is he a newcomer?"
"Wait, that name looks familiar... Wasn't there a Song Shi'an on the official cast announcement for The Emperor's Ambition? The one playing Meng Zhen?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Same person!!"
"A masked guard and a eunuch? What kind of career path is this, hahahahaha."
"To the person above, okay, but both roles sound pretty tragic. One dies protecting his master, and the other gets stabbed to death by his master."
"Now that you mention it... they really do both sound pretty tragic."
Song Shi'an looked at that comment and silently took a sip of cola.
Chi Xun patted Song Shi'an on the shoulder. "It's not bad. At least you get moments to shine."
"Thanks for the summary," Song Shi'an said. "Now I sound even more tragic."
Beside them, Jiang Ye laughed so hard he kept slapping his thigh.
Pei Zhiyan had barely spoken the whole time. When the closing theme ended, he set his coffee cup on the desk, stood up, said, "Nice acting," and returned to his bed.
Song Shi'an watched his retreating figure, stunned for a second.
He hadn't seen Pei Zhiyan praise anyone since the semester started.
Chi Xun had clearly noticed too. He leaned over and lowered his voice. "Old Pei praised you. Do you know what that means?"
"What does it mean?"
"Last semester, Jiang Ye came third in the class on his finals, and Old Pei said, 'Not bad.' There's an entire Pacific Ocean between 'not bad' and 'nice.'"
Song Shi'an chuckled and finished the last of his cola.
The laptop on the desk was still playing the closing theme on repeat, with a scattering of bullet comments drifting across the screen.
Some were discussing the plot, some were discussing Xu Che's new look, and a few were asking, "Does Ying Qi get any screen time in episode two?"
He leaned back in his chair and watched those comments drift past one by one. He really was happy. Being an actor wasn't as terrible as he had imagined.