YPHC Chapter 10

Jiang Nan’an knew the show had invited thirty guests in total, but he didn’t know who the other twenty-nine were. He only knew that the dormitories in the training camp were double rooms, meaning he would be eating and living with a stranger for a long time. Originally, he had hoped that at least he could choose his roommate, but he didn’t expect the production team to be so ruthless-how was this keyword selection any different from opening a mystery box?

 

Jiang Nan’an truly disliked socializing, and disliked having others involved in his life even more. Sitting with people to play games was fine, as that counted as work, but if he had to randomly pick one of twenty-nine strangers to live with, he hoped this person would at least have a quiet and steady personality. Of course, the emphasis was on quiet.

 

After leaving the phone-surrender room, the staff gave Jiang Nan’an an entry questionnaire, mainly asking for basic information, as well as his preferred positions and heroes in the game. Jiang Nan’an filled it out truthfully and exchanged the completed questionnaire for a room card.

 

Today’s filming schedule wasn’t heavy. The morning was for trainees to enter the camp and be assigned roommates. After all thirty guests arrived, the afternoon would be for ice-breaking and practical division sessions.

 

“Burning Eternity” was filmed in a film and television park in Linyun City. The dormitory environment was quite nice-double rooms with private bathrooms, desks, and a well-lit large balcony. Jiang Nan’an’s luggage had already been delivered to the room by Xiao Sun. He hadn’t brought much, just one large suitcase, which was neatly placed next to the bed with his name card.

 

The cameraman approached Jiang Nan’an and his suitcase, with Little Li asking beside him:

 

“Teacher Jiang brought very little luggage. What did you bring?”

 

Jiang Nan’an knew that reality shows always had segments checking guests’ luggage. He thought for a moment, didn’t answer, but instead directly unzipped his suitcase and laid it flat in front of the camera.

 

Then Little Li and the cameraman saw what was neatly arranged in the suitcase… a complete set of “History of Xuan.”

 

Artists coming to record shows normally bring clothes, cosmetics, snacks-but a set of history books? What’s going on??

 

Jiang Nan’an didn’t notice the staff’s silence as he went about unpacking. Little Li watched and found that apart from the books, there was nothing unexpected in his suitcase-just some regular clothes and skincare products.

 

“I saw other guests brought lots of snacks. Didn’t Teacher Jiang prepare any for himself?” Little Li asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Teacher Jiang’s things are all very practical…”

 

The conversation became strangely awkward. Little Li pursed her lips, about to force another topic to ease the rigid atmosphere, when suddenly she heard a jumble of footsteps in the hallway outside.

 

It sounded like other guests had arrived. Jiang Nan’an raised an eyebrow and instinctively looked up. Sure enough, seconds later, a tall figure appeared at the door.

 

He was a young man who looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, with short hair, thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes, a steady demeanor, and extremely proper features.

 

The moment their eyes met, both of them were slightly startled.

 

“Xiao Shan?”

 

“Brother Jia.” Jiang Nan’an stood up and shook hands with the man.

 

He really hadn’t expected to meet someone he knew in this show.

 

The man before him was called Sheng Yujia, twenty-five years old, considered one of the more outstanding young actors in Chinese entertainment.

 

They had met two years ago on a set when Jiang Nan’an had guest-starred in Sheng Yujia’s drama. After a few scenes together, they both respected each other and had wanted to find an opportunity to work together again, but for various reasons it never happened-they always lacked that bit of fate.

 

Perhaps seeing that both men were a bit stunned, Little Li couldn’t help asking:

 

“Brother Jia, you didn’t know Teacher Jiang was coming?”

 

Hearing this, Sheng Yujia shook his head, then nodded:

 

“I saw people saying online that you had invited him, but I thought it was just a rumor.”

 

Sheng Yujia’s appearance and temperament were very proper, often teased as “righteous” or “determined like he’s joining the Party.” He lived up to these comments, with a very upright and steady personality and way of doing things. He even had a nickname: “Wooden Jia.”

 

Little Li had heard that Sheng Yujia had also chosen “Harmonious with i” when selecting his roommate keyword. She would definitely suggest that the post-production team add a caption saying “Mutual Roommate Attraction” when editing this segment.

 

Jiang Nan’an was famously aloof, and Sheng Yujia was famously taciturn. The result of putting two introverts together was that after greeting each other, they each went about their own unpacking, without even a moment of forced small talk.

 

Perhaps filming two men silently organizing their belongings was too boring-Little Li briefly explained the afternoon’s schedule to them and then left the dormitory with the cameraman.

 

Later, Xiao Sun came by once. He knocked and entered the room, then was surprised to see Sheng Yujia:

 

“Teacher Sheng? You’re here too? That’s wonderful, woo-hoo…”

 

Xiao Sun’s anxious heart finally relaxed the moment he saw Sheng Yujia. For him, it was the best possible scenario that Jiang Nan’an’s variety show debut would be with someone he knew and understood a bit. Moreover, Teacher Sheng was so reliable that he could now confidently report back to Sister Hong that all was well.

 

After mentally wiping away tears of relief, Xiao Sun remembered to discuss the important matters with Jiang Nan’an:

 

“By the way, Brother, I just took a tour around this building. This place is quite large, and I’ve scouted it all out. This is the third floor, A section, right? This area should all be men’s dormitories. If you go out and walk toward the other end, you’ll reach Section B’s gym. The floor above should be the women’s dorms, and the second floor has training rooms, therapy rooms, the dining hall, and tea rooms. There’s not much on the first floor… Oh, are you done unpacking? Do you need any help? We’re almost at the scheduled time. I can take you around for a bit later. By the way, Brother, what would you like for lunch? I can order takeout for you. We don’t know how late we’ll be filming this afternoon.”

 

“No need. I’ll look around myself, and I’ll just go to the dining hall when it’s time,” Jiang Nan’an replied.

 

Xiao Sun nodded and didn’t insist, only saying:

 

“Alright, Brother. I’m staying in the building next door. If you need anything, just message me… Oh, you’ve turned in your phone. No worries, I’ll beg them in a couple of days to see if they can give it back to you! If you need anything these two days and don’t see me nearby, just find our FPD, that Teacher Li. I’ve added her on WeChat, so you can ask her to call me.”

 

Jiang Nan’an looked at Xiao Sun’s bright, eager eyes but didn’t respond to his words. After staring at him for a moment, he finally said:

 

“You don’t need to watch over me all day for this job. The scenery around Linyun is quite nice. You can go explore and play around. Just count the expenses as travel costs, and I’ll reimburse you.”

 

Hearing this, the smile on Xiao Sun’s face froze, then rapidly faded into sadness within seconds.

 

He had been with Jiang Nan’an for quite a while. Although he called him “Brother” out of respect, in his heart, he truly regarded Jiang Nan’an as half a real brother. His brother didn’t like having too many people around him, so he usually only had Xiao Sun, who had long grown accustomed to following him and taking care of every detail. He had even crowned himself “Brother’s most attentive little housekeeper.” Once, someone saw how clever and capable he was as an assistant and tried to poach him from Jiang Nan’an, but he firmly refused-all because the bond between him and his Brother Jiang was so deep, and definitely not because his brother paid him such a high salary… In any case, this was the first time Jiang Nan’an had rejected his service, saying he didn’t need him to follow and wanted to give him freedom.

 

Xiao Sun suddenly felt unwanted!

 

Even though this freedom came with paid vacation, travel, and full reimbursement, what kind of freedom was it if he wasn’t needed?!

 

“Brother…” Xiao Sun’s face fell:

 

“…Well, take good care of yourself! Don’t eat anything strange! Drink warm water, cold water hurts your stomach! If anything happens, have Teacher Li call me right away! Don’t overexert yourself, don’t get upset, don’t suffer, Brother!”

 

Xiao Sun’s demeanor was exactly like a father sending his child away from home for the first time, just short of wiping away tears and saying, “I’ll go buy some oranges, you wait right here, don’t move.” Even Sheng Yujia looked at their interaction with some surprise.

 

“…” Jiang Nan’an silently shifted his gaze away.

 

Xiao Sun left with a cloud over his head, and Jiang Nan’an had almost finished organizing his room. He attached the name tag provided by the production team to his clothes, said a word to Sheng Yujia, and decided to go out and explore the building on his own.

 

The building’s layout was more or less as Xiao Sun had described. Jiang Nan’an took a tour of the third floor, roughly memorized the routes, and planned to go down the A section stairs to check out the second-floor dining hall for lunch.

 

The third floor’s A section was mainly men’s dormitories, but the rooms were quite far apart, with tea rooms, makeup rooms, study rooms, and other facilities in between. It was now lunchtime, and the production staff had all left, so the building was quite quiet. The guests were probably all in their rooms unpacking, as Jiang Nan’an hadn’t encountered anyone else during his tour.

 

He walked along the corridor looking for the A section stairwell. The small money trees placed as decorations on both sides of the corridor were growing nicely. Jiang Nan’an gave them an extra glance and gently brushed his fingertips against the green leaves as he passed by.

 

Just then, he suddenly heard a soft sound of a door lock opening and closing behind him.

 

For Jiang Nan’an, this was supposed to be rest time, and he didn’t want to engage in business socializing during non-working hours. So he initially planned to pretend he hadn’t heard anything and quickly walk away. But a few seconds later, he suddenly heard the person behind him call out:

 

“Mr. Hang?”

 

Jiang Nan’an froze.

 

He instinctively turned around at this nickname and saw a young man leaning lazily against a doorframe not far behind him, arms crossed, with a lollipop in his mouth.

 

Meeting his gaze, the man seemed momentarily stunned.

 

But quickly, he raised his eyebrows at Jiang Nan’an, tilted his head slightly, and curved his lips into a casual, flirtatious smile.

 

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(advanced chapters available on kofi)