Chapter 48

The medical examination results came out quickly.

Luo Qin looked at the medical report and felt much more relieved. “According to the examination, the differentiation is currently in the second stage, progressing smoothly without any complications. Keep it up. Before this stage ends, don’t stop the temporary marks. You two should stay together as much as possible—Alpha pheromones can provide some soothing effect.”

Yu Xi: “…”

He still had to be marked.

Luo Qin went on to explain many precautions. Yi Chen was even more attentive than Yu Xi, the patient himself, taking careful notes and asking plenty of related questions.

“Why are you taking it so seriously?” After leaving the clinic, Yu Xi lightly kicked the back of Yi Chen’s knee—not hard.

“I’m afraid of hurting you.” Yi Chen’s response was unexpectedly earnest.

“It’s just a temporary mark. How could it hurt?” Yu Xi avoided Yi Chen’s gaze and walked ahead.

“I have no experience.” Yi Chen kept pace with Yu Xi.

Yu Xi didn’t stop walking, but Yi Chen’s answer instantly brightened his mood.

Time flew by, and the D·A·Y promotional videos went live over the weekend.

There were three themed promotional videos, released by D·A·Y in three different time slots.

The videos didn’t explicitly name the relationship between the two—in the words of the art director, it was precisely this unspoken, almost ambiguous atmosphere that created an imaginative story.

A distant gaze upon meeting, a heart-pounding brush past each other, lingering yet restrained longing upon parting.

D·A·Y used a rhythm of fast and slow cuts, paired with background music, amplifying the emotions conveyed in the videos to the extreme. Every second pulsed with one word: tension.

The final ten seconds of the three videos connected into a complete story. They reached out to each other, drew closer, ran toward one another, embraced under the gaze of thousands, stared into each other’s eyes in an empty space, fireworks bloomed in the night sky, they stood on opposite sides of the road amid surging traffic and crowds, frozen in place.

【Rush forward through the crowd and kiss already!!!】

【That’s! Love! AHHHHHH!!!】

【I’m going crazy I’m going crazy I’m going crazy I’m going crazy!!!】

【Wuwuwuwu my god!!!】

【Is this a promo video? This is my CP video!】

【I reasonably suspect the D·A·Y director is also a Yu Xi-Yi Chen CP fan!】

【The tension is so real!】

【That ending blank space is genius, genius, genius, wuwuwu I’m gonna cry to death!】

【Downloaded and saved for my granddaughter later.】

Not long after the videos dropped, the buzz exploded past a billion views, dominating several trending topics.

“That’s about enough.” In the office, Yu Xi said.

Yi Chen sat beside him, Wang Hui across from them, with Guan Zifan and Liu Yun on either side.

Ever since Yu Xi and Yi Chen had confirmed their collaboration with Wang Hui, Guan Zifan and Liu Yun had no choice but to join their artists’ camp.

What kind of leverage could topple Ruan Yan Shan?

“I have a way.” That was Yu Xi’s response at the time.

“Are you sure about this?” Wang Hui asked.

“Yeah.” Yu Xi nodded.

“What if it backfires?” Wang Hui was a bit nervous; he preferred a conservative approach.

“Don’t worry.” Guan Zifan reassured him. “When it comes to stirring things up, you don’t need to doubt our Fish Fish Teacher.”

He quickly typed on the keyboard and hit enter hard, sending the message.

That same day, in a certain forum’s entertainment group, a well-known group leader started a topic.

【OP: Has anyone heard of The Boundless? It’s Director Wang Hui’s dual-male-lead script. I think Yu Xi and Yi Chen would be perfect as the leads.】

【What’s The Boundless? Did I miss another drama?】

The OP threw out the topic, and soon netizens dug up the script excerpts Wang Hui had previously released publicly to attract investment.

【Don’t say it, don’t say it—actually, say it! They really do fit! Hold on, I’m coming right now!】

People started editing videos based on the published script segments. Yi Chen and Yu Xi hadn’t collaborated before, so there weren’t many shots of them together. Fans directly used clips from the D·A·Y promos, interspersing Yi Chen’s affectionate gaze at Yu Xi from Weekend Go Where.

Climbing the mountain, cheeks flushed from the heat; visiting the training camp hand-in-hand, he stuffed a milk candy into Yu Xi’s mouth—they fell in love at first sight.

Yi Chen carried Yu Xi along the mountain path, they ran across the summer night tennis court, supported each other in the rainforest, guarding one another.

As night deepened, they stood on either side of the road. The footage flashed back: embracing, holding hands. They journeyed through spring and summer, autumn and winter. They had once loved, and they still loved.

【If you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have realized this was edited footage!】

【Is this from the script?】

【The editor is a genius!】

【One blood book to greenlight The Boundless!! Yu Xi and Yi Chen as leads!!】

【Here are solo clips of Yu Xi and Yi Chen too!】

The blogger posted two more videos, quite intriguing. When Yu Xi and Yi Chen were edited together, there was a natural magnetic tension, but in their solo segments, each shone with their own sharp edge and brilliance.

Ruan Yan Shan also saw today’s trends.

His gaze lingered on Yu Xi’s solo clip.

So beautiful.

The body in front of him suddenly lost all appeal.

Ruan Yan Shan lost interest and pulled out. The young man’s eyes were hazy and confused as he looked at Ruan Yan Shan in bewilderment.

He was terrified—what had he done wrong?

“Good boy.” Ruan Yan Shan lit a cigarette. “Help me with something.”

The next day, Guan Zifan slammed a delivery box onto the floor.

“Fuck, who the hell is this disgusting?!” Guan Zifan felt nauseous.

The contents spilled everywhere—images of extreme explicitness, scrawled with lewd phrases in red ink.

The package had no return address. The delivery person was bundled up in a hat and sunglasses, dropped the box, and left. The company cameras didn’t catch his face.

“Who else?” Yu Xi gathered the items one by one and put them back in the box.

“Ruan Yan Shan?!” Even though Guan Zifan had been mentally prepared, seeing such vile tactics still made him retch. “What the hell is in his brain? An eight-hundred-year unscrubbed toilet is cleaner than him!”

“Yeah.” Yu Xi fully agreed. “We need to call the police right away.”

For several days in a row, the company received these packages daily.

The contents grew even more brazen, including a camera in one box that was live-streaming images back.

A card pieced together from newspaper clippings read in crooked letters: 【I’ll always be watching you.】

When the seventh package arrived, another photo shot to the top of the hot trends.

The photo was taken that afternoon after a program event.

The quality was blurry, like a heavily zoomed and cropped shot, vaguely showing three figures. Yu Xi was swinging a fist, seemingly in serious conflict with Ruan Yan Shan, while a young man blocked in front of Ruan Yan Shan.

【Ruan Yan Shan and Yu Xi? Who’s the third guy? Don’t recognize him.】

【Isn’t that the little actor Ji Ruiou?】

【Why… is he being held by Ruan Yan Shan?】

【Yu Xi’s pose looks like he’s clashing with Ruan Yan Shan.】

【No way, what kind of conflict leads to public fighting?】

【Don’t! I’m still shipping the CP—Yu Xi, please don’t collapse!】

【Why did they even fight?】

“Aren’t you just smearing yourself?” Wang Hui couldn’t understand Yu Xi’s approach.

He could talk at length about shooting techniques and cinematography, but when it came to the public, public opinion—he got dizzy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been pinned down so hard by Ruan Yan Shan back then.

“It’s not smearing; it’s creating drama.” Yi Chen explained for Yu Xi. “Melons are fun to eat. When drama happens, people dig into why it occurred and what the consequences will be.”

Yi Chen: “Most importantly, when eating melons, you can’t deny it—you secretly feel a bit schadenfreude deep down, leaning toward someone getting punished or ruined by the fallout. Collapsing.”

Yu Xi: “Mainly, creating drama saves money, time, and energy.”

Some topics required buying promotions and hype to spread far and wide for maximum discussion.

Drama needed none—a single photo or chat screenshot could spark a full day’s chatter.

More and more people followed the Yu Xi-Ruan Yan Shan conflict updates. When biased favoritism clashed with melon-munching mentality, it always generated bigger heat.

Heat was contagious, not limited to the event itself.

【I don’t think our Fish Fish Teacher would hit someone without reason!】

【That motion isn’t hitting? Heard he went to the station last week—how does someone blameless end up there?】

【He went to report anonymous harassing packages to the company! Don’t spread lies—Yu Xi’s the victim. Victim-blaming GTFO!!】

【Yu Xi’s bad temper isn’t new! He’s quick to snap in person; hitting someone now is just natural for him. If not Ruan Yan Shan, it’d be someone else soon.】

【His temper only flares at troublemakers! He’s so kind to others—helps strangers every other time. Only constant agitators get called out!】

【Huh? Wait… I just had a thought.】

【Yu Xi reporting harassing packages and clashing with Ruan Yan Shan—any connection?】

【Those harassing packages… weren’t from Ruan Yan Shan, were they?】

When these kinds of comments emerged, Yu Xi said, “That’s enough. Don’t let the discussion blow up too big.”

Someone like Ruan Yan Shan would surely have people scrubbing the internet. Too much noise wouldn’t end well.

“See? The Boundless‘s discussion heat is rising lately.” Yu Xi looked at Yi Chen. “The capitalists can start investing in operations now. Director Wang, you need to get active on your personal account too.”

“Really.” Wang Hui opened his long-dormant V Blog. “My visitor count has indeed spiked a lot. Wait, why are they digging into me? I haven’t even mentioned The Boundless much in my recent moves.”

“You have.” Yu Xi replied.

It started with CP fans; their edited videos boosted The Boundless buzz.

Once discussions began, soul-searching questions arose: “Why can’t a high-quality script like The Boundless attract investment?”

Questions led to answers.

Netizens dug up Wang Hui’s kneeling incident and the industry’s dismissal of The Boundless.

【Why the bad industry buzz for The Boundless?】

【Guaranteed box office! Even if low budget, guaranteed awards—international ones!】

【Was he targeted? By who?】

Targeted?

Who would target Wang Hui?

Who would target The Boundless?

Life has no audience, but the internet is full of surveillance.

Even the cleanest cleanup leaves traces.

Soon, someone unearthed the grudge between Wang Hui and Ruan Yan Shan.

Wang Hui had clashed with Ruan Yan Shan too—and the reason? Ruan Yan Shan wanted physical deals with The Boundless‘s original two male leads.

Really?

Ruan Yan Shan, Ruan Yan Shan.

Why was it Ruan Yan Shan again?