The man before him was very tall, at least 185 cm, with broad shoulders and long legs. He wore a thin windbreaker jacket zipped all the way up, giving him a very relaxed appearance.
He looked similar to how he appeared on livestream, perhaps even more handsome. His features were well-defined, his eye color light. Whether due to his looks, expression, or general aura, there was something roguish about him, like a big fox wagging its tail.
There was only one person in the world who would call him “Mr. Hang,” so Jiang Nan’an knew exactly who he was.
The name tag on his chest also spelled out his name-
“Spring”
“Jiang. Nan. An.”
Yan Jie stepped closer, his gaze moving downward to the name tag on Jiang Nan’an’s clothes, pronouncing his name slowly.
Then, he chuckled softly and raised his eyes back to meet Jiang Nan’an’s:
“So you’re the little celebrity who got me trending? I took quite a bit of flak because of you.”
As soon as he heard this person’s voice, Jiang Nan’an felt as if he was transported back to that surreal day. That day, he had woken up close to noon, and upon opening the trending topics, he saw his name glittering at the top of the list. The first post in the topic was a praise he had improvised for a certain jerk in the early hours of the morning, and that jerk had shamelessly pinned it with the caption “Those who criticize the ruler shall face the ultimate punishment,” making him a laughingstock to this day.
Although not paying attention to which platform account he was using was indeed his mistake, taking a hundred million steps back, wasn’t the host who organized a praise contest for himself and then shared the link forcing him to participate also at fault?
Even if he wasn’t wrong, couldn’t he be a little bit wrong?
Jiang Nan’an felt he had gone crazy. Now whenever he thought about this incident, he wanted to hang himself with a rope. After all, if this hadn’t happened, he should be sitting comfortably by the floor-to-ceiling window at home, basking in the sunshine and reading books, instead of traveling far to record a reality show, maintaining his persona 24 hours a day, and engaging in unnecessary social interactions.
Jiang Nan’an took a deep breath, hesitating for two seconds between letting loose and having Qi Hong go crazy, and finally humiliatingly lowered his head to avoid Yan Jie’s gaze:
“I’m sorry, my mistake caused you trouble, I sincerely apologize.”
Seeing his docile appearance, Yan Jie raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Oh?”
He stepped closer, and because Jiang Nan’an was looking down, he couldn’t see his expression, so he tilted his head and leaned in to examine him:
“Changed your personality? This way of speaking doesn’t sound like you, Mr. Hang?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t know anything.”
“Don’t know? Then why did you turn when I called Mr. Hang?”
Yan Jie’s presence was too strong. Jiang Nan’an stepped back half a step, turning his face to avoid Yan Jie’s examining gaze.
“What’s wrong, shy about meeting an internet friend in person? Have you forgotten the blue buff I got for you, the enemies I caught for you, the crystals I helped you destroy?”
“To be honest, I was so traumatized I suddenly lost my memory,” Jiang Nan’an started talking nonsense. He took another deep breath, his gaze empty:
“Please let me go, I’m really too introverted…”
He hoped Yan Jie would believe this clumsy excuse and lose interest in him, ending the topic so he could reasonably leave, but Yan Jie didn’t. Instead, he acted as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world:
“What are you saying, Mr. Hang? Wasn’t it you who sent a string of hearts saying ‘Brother is so amazing’? Wasn’t it you who wanted to go to the crematorium with me? Wasn’t it you who publicly slandered me, saying I stole your heart? Flirting and running away-we don’t encourage such player behavior.”
“You…”
Jiang Nan’an mentally apologized to Qi Hong. He wasn’t intentionally breaking character; he really had tried his best.
After all, facing this face and what he interpreted as a “malicious” smile, he really couldn’t hold back.
Anyway, this person already knew what he was really like and found it amusing, so he might as well stop pretending.
Jiang Nan’an made his decision in half a second, abandoning his evasive posture, pushing Yan Jie back to a safe distance, and looking straight into his eyes:
“Is this why you pinned me at the top right away and wanted to execute me, Great King Spring?”
“Ah-”
Yan Jie stood up straight, his whole demeanor screaming three words-now we’re talking!
“Memory restored? Spring truly is a miracle doctor.”
He curved his lips, looking down slightly at the stern-faced Jiang Nan’an:
“Angry? Don’t be. Back then I was just bored and playing around. Whoever gave the most satisfying praise would be pinned and worshipped by thousands. You, Mr. Hang, were in a league of your own, leaving everyone in the dust.”
Yan Jie’s tone was casual, the candy making light sounds against his teeth as he leaned down to be at eye level with Jiang Nan’an. When he spoke again, his voice was slightly lower, making the hint of huskiness more noticeable.
He chuckled lightly, in a carefree manner:
“You were so sincere, I thought you really loved me.”
The last word lifted slightly, sounding flirtatious and ambiguous-something that shouldn’t appear in a bright, spacious corridor in broad daylight, but rather suited for a dimly lit night, accompanied by soft music and carefully mixed cocktails. In other words, flirting.
This made Jiang Nan’an’s already poor impression of Yan Jie even worse.
This person must be a player, just like those indecent male artists in the industry who could date ten girls at once.
Jiang Nan’an tugged at the corner of his lips: “I would choose to hang myself to prove my innocence.”
Yan Jie raised his eyebrows slightly: “Your likes on our CP videos are still there, teacher. Don’t hang yourself, just live with it. You can’t wash yourself clean even if you jump into the Yellow River.”
“I…” Jiang Nan’an wanted to die even more.
His voice was almost gritted through his teeth:
“That was a slip of the finger…”
“I don’t believe it,” Yan Jie leaned against the wall, smiling mischievously:
“Sigh, I later went to watch out of curiosity. It was really well-edited, looked so real, especially that snowy night reunion at 2:48-everyone who watched it cried. Mr. Hang, how many times did you watch it, how many times were you moved before you dared to risk exposure and career ruin to tearfully press the like button? I can’t even imagine! Teacher, really, your love touches my heart, truly, little Chun’s heart aches. Alas, what to do? I’m not into men, but you’re so good-looking and love me so much. Tsk, it’s really difficult!”
“?” Jiang Nan’an was astounded by this person’s shamelessness.
He gave Yan Jie a thumbs up:
“You’re right, it was my humble unrequited love.”
Yan Jie patted his chest: “And I, unwilling to hurt your heart, yet wavering between societal expectations and my true feelings-I hate it! Hate my own cowardice and incompetence, hate that I cannot respond to you!”
“If you hate it so much, just commit suicide to apologize.”
“Good idea,” Yan Jie said with smiling eyes:
“Nice weather, go hang yourself?”
A double entendre.
“…What are you performing there by yourself? Huh? S-level acting explosion?”
A sudden voice interjected from behind Yan Jie, startling both of them.
Yan Jie was originally leaning lazily against the wall, but hearing this, he straightened up and looked back. Jiang Nan’an took advantage of this brief moment to get a clear look at the person speaking behind him.
It was a young man in his early twenties with deep blue hair that made his skin look very fair.
“Who’s acting alone? Our storyline is almost at the suicide pact stage.”
Discovering a third person had appeared, Jiang Nan’an was ready to flee, but Yan Jie pulled him back with another sentence:
“Let me introduce you-Mr. Hang, this is my friend, also a streamer, the young inBlue. You two are probably about the same age. Just call him Lan. Little Lan, this is my new friend, ‘Nice Weather, Go Hang Yourself,’ Mr. Hang.”
“I know, Teacher Jiang. I’ve seen your movies.”
This was probably the standard opening line when meeting an actor. Jiang Nan’an didn’t take it seriously, since eight out of ten people who said this were just being polite. He shook hands with inBlue ceremoniously, but then saw inBlue suddenly remember something and nudge Yan Jie with his elbow:
“Oh, it’s the one you made me go to the theater to watch a while back, and you even insisted on checking my ticket stub. ‘Land of Blood Silence,’ right? Teacher Jiang was killing it in that one.”
“?” Jiang Nan’an silently shifted his gaze to Yan Jie.
Yan Jie put an arm around inBlue’s shoulders, his smile containing a hint of embarrassment, which was truly rare:
“Let’s not talk about that, okay?”
Jiang Nan’an’s encounter and conversation with Yan Jie was purely accidental, and he’d been wanting to leave. Now he was desperately looking for an opportunity to slip away:
“Well, you two chat? I’ll just…”
“Hey!”
But Yan Jie wouldn’t give him that chance.
Whenever Jiang Nan’an found an opening, he would step in to block it:
“Where are you going?”
“…” Jiang Nan’an had originally planned to keep up appearances in front of others, but gave up as soon as he saw Yan Jie’s face.
He sighed:
“To eat. Okay?”
“Hey, no rush. How can you eat alone? Since we’ve met, why don’t we go together later?”
“Thanks for your concern, but my upper limbs are intact. I don’t need a caretaker to feed me, and I won’t eat through my nose when dining alone,” Jiang Nan’an said expressionlessly.
“Why are you so funny? I’m not intact-without Mr. Hang by my side, I can’t enjoy my food.”
“If I say one more word to you, I’ll starve to death.”
“Oh, you poor thing. Then hurry up, let me feed you something first.”
“…What?”
Yan Jie mysteriously raised his eyebrows and gave him a “follow me” gesture.
After a brief internal struggle, Jiang Nan’an resignedly followed Yan Jie’s steps as he kept looking back to make sure he was coming.
inBlue entered the room first. As Jiang Nan’an got closer, he heard him complaining inside:
“Come on, Old Spring, tell me what’s in those three big suitcases? How much stuff did you bring??”
“Those are all my-”
Old Spring pulled out the black one from his three enormous suitcases, opened the clasp, and laid it out in front of the other two:
“Emergency rations.”
Then Jiang Nan’an saw a suitcase full of snacks and candies.
He raised an eyebrow slightly:
“Are you planning to get rich by opening a convenience store in ‘Burning Eternity’?”
“Not quite.” Yan Jie chuckled, digging out a chocolate ball from the suitcase:
“I couldn’t bear to see Mr. Hang starve to death in tears waiting to have lunch with me. What do you usually like to eat? Take your pick.”
Jiang Nan’an looked at the suitcase full of snacks, then at the chocolate ball Yan Jie was offering:
“No thanks.”
“Really? Is there anyone in the world who can refuse chocolate? I don’t believe it.”
Yan Jie unwrapped the chocolate ball and waved it in front of Jiang Nan’an’s eyes.
Jiang Nan’an glanced at him:
“Then today I’ll open your eyes.”
Yan Jie smiled and gestured toward the suitcase in front of him:
“If not chocolate, what do you like? I’ve brought everything-any snack you can think of, I have. Just a matter of whether you can find it.”
Jiang Nan’an looked at the various snacks in the suitcase-chips, popcorn, lollipops, sour gummy candies, chocolate… He once again realized the differences between people-these things he never touched, yet Yan Jie loved them enough to collect an entire suitcase.
“I don’t usually eat these things.”
“Really? Is it that you don’t like them or you can’t eat them?”
Yan Jie seemed genuinely unable to believe there was someone in the world who could refuse snacks:
“Do you celebrities have a lot of dietary restrictions? Can you eat proper meals? Or do you maintain your beauty by sipping flower nectar and drinking dew?”
Jiang Nan’an had never met someone who could make conversation out of nothing like this.
He took a deep breath:
“You know, there’s only one type of person in the world who doesn’t need to eat, and coincidentally, you have a connection with them.”
“Oh?” Yan Jie leaned back slightly, his eyes full of amusement.
Then he watched as Jiang Nan’an, with a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes, snatched the chocolate ball he’d been holding up, wrapper and all, and without a word stuffed it into his mouth, immediately returning to a cold expression:
“S-Attribute Outburst-dead people.”
—
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
![After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Your-paragraph-text-1.png "After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]")
