“I’m not treating you like a girl, Jiang…”
Yan Jie had been angry for quite a while. Even now, he didn’t want to recall the scene he saw when he rushed to the corridor corner after sensing something was wrong.
At that moment, under the cold fluorescent lights of the corridor, there were glass shards all over the floor. Jiang Nan’an was lying on the ground, curled up with his body trembling, raising his hands to protect his head, looking like a severely bullied puppy.
In that instant, Yan Jie couldn’t think of anything else-his mind had only one thought:
How dare this bastard touch him?
There was a commotion outside the door, probably the police arriving soon. The person in charge was overwhelmed and hurried out to help the others.
After the person left, Yan Jie took a breath and was about to turn around to check on Jiang Nan’an, but when he turned, he found the person on the sofa staring at him intently.
“What are you looking at?”
Yan Jie went over and sat down beside Jiang Nan’an, immediately taking his wrist without hesitation:
“Does your hand still hurt? Look how bruised it is. Maybe we should go to the hospital for an X-ray after all.”
“No need.” Jiang Nan’an discreetly withdrew his hand:
“I’m not that delicate.”
“Tsk, I should have kept you with me longer tonight, or escorted you back and waited until I saw you enter your room before leaving. To let you encounter such a disgusting creature on the way. Don’t worry, you don’t need to take those filthy words he said to heart. By the way, did his dirty hands touch you anywhere? Tell me quietly, and I’ll go give him a couple more kicks before the police arrive.”
“What filthy words?” Jiang Nan’an said coolly:
“Didn’t he want to beat me up?”
“Huh? He…”
Beat him up?
Hearing Jiang Nan’an’s choice of words, Yan Jie was momentarily stunned.
Looking at Jiang Nan’an’s somewhat bewildered expression, for a moment he actually felt a sense of shame.
Did he mishear or did Jiang Nan’an mishear?
In this situation, was he genuinely clueless or pretending to be?
What should he say now? Explain to him or let him remain confused?
Jiang Nan’an stared directly into Yan Jie’s eyes, only looking away after a moment.
There was something he had never quite understood:
“You all seem to treat me like a girl.”
“Hmm? Why do you think that?” Yan Jie came back to his senses.
“I heard him. He called me beautiful, called me his wife, said he wanted to f*ck me, but I’m a man. Maybe my long hair misled him, and when he realized I wasn’t a girl, he got furious and wanted to beat me up. Is that it?”
Jiang Nan’an calmly looked at the increasingly dumbfounded Yan Jie:
“And you too.”
“Huh?” Yan Jie’s brain was nearly smoking from trying to follow Teacher Jiang’s train of thought:
“Me too?”
“Yes. Your behavior from just now until now has been very much like someone facing a… woman who has experienced sexual harassment and molestation?” Jiang Nan’an searched for the appropriate words:
“But I haven’t.”
Originally, Yan Jie was considering not explaining it to him after all, since ignorance can be bliss.
But after this statement, he abandoned that idea.
Isn’t the entertainment industry supposed to be wild, messy, and morally corrupting? Even if he hadn’t experienced it himself, shouldn’t he have heard about it? But whether due to being too slow or being too well-protected by those around him, Jiang Nan’an was like an innocent child when it came to these matters. It wasn’t that this was bad, but it made him far too vulnerable.
“I’m not treating you like a girl, Jiang Nan’an.”
Yan Jie composed himself, feeling it necessary to explain clearly:
“These things don’t discriminate by age or gender. Women can experience sexual harassment, men can too, even children. Let me put it this way: romantic relationships aren’t just between men and women of appropriate ages. In this world, besides heterosexuals, there are homosexuals, even those with fetishes or pedophilia. So, regardless of whether it’s someone of the same sex or the opposite sex, regardless of age, if what they say or do to you exceeds normal social boundaries, that’s sexual harassment. Don’t listen to some scumbags saying, ‘Oh, we’re both men, I’m just hugging you or touching you to express my friendliness…’ It’s not like that. No matter how nicely they phrase it or how dignified they make it sound, they’re just trying to take advantage of you, just thinking about dirty things.”
For a moment, Yan Jie felt exactly like a kindergarten teacher, so he immediately took on that role:
“So what should we do when we encounter this kind of situation? When we realize we’re being harassed, we should distance ourselves from that person and loudly tell them, ‘Excuse me, you’ve crossed a boundary and offended me.’ And if the situation is more serious, what should we do? Then we dial one-one-zero and call the police officers to come and uphold justice for you, just like we did tonight. Understand?”
“…” Hearing these words, Jiang Nan’an seemed lost in thought, as if recalling something.
After a moment, he lowered his eyes slightly and opened his mouth with an ambiguous meaning:
“…Ah.”
Seeing Jiang Nan’an’s reaction, Yan Jie raised an eyebrow slightly, something stirring within him.
He couldn’t have…
Before Yan Jie’s thought could fully form, Jiang Nan’an looked at him again.
Then he asked with perfect enunciation:
“So how would he f*ck me?”
“?”
Hello, is this something that can be asked so openly?
Yan Jie was truly at a loss with this teacher.
Was he serious? Did he really want to know?
What to do? Should he actually follow the topic and give him a formal sex education lesson? No, even sex education doesn’t specifically teach how gay men have sexual relations.
There were very few people and things in this world that could make Yan Jie feel awkward, yet Teacher Jiang Nan’an occupied a major position among them.
For some reason, Yan Jie suddenly found himself unable to face Jiang Nan’an’s knowledge-seeking eyes. If this conversation had happened at any other time or with someone else, he probably could have brazenly explained the matter clearly. But at this moment, facing Jiang Nan’an, he found it somewhat difficult to speak.
Yan Jie blamed this on his sense of shame that had suddenly revived after many years. He was rapidly thinking about how to resolve this painlessly, but fortunately he wasn’t troubled for too long, as the police knocked on the door to verify the situation with the two parties involved.
After dealing with a mess of things, the night was almost over.
Qi Hong was informed of this incident immediately, but it was too late, so she could only book the earliest flight the next day. As soon as the plane landed, she came in her high heels to confront the production team.
Overnight, the police had interrogated that perverted scumbag and the people around him, piecing together the cause, effect, and the full picture of the incident.
The man’s name was Zhang Qiguo, 35 years old, single, a local from Linyun. He used to run a small electronics repair shop, but it went bankrupt. Currently unemployed, he spent his days drinking, cursing, playing mahjong, and surviving on odd jobs. He had also been detained a few times for petty theft.
Besides this, Zhang Qiguo had another identity-he had been a devoted fan of Jiang Nan’an for seven years.
This man’s obsession with Jiang Nan’an reached fanatical levels. His home was covered with Jiang Nan’an’s posters. He didn’t date, remaining single well into his thirties. His friends said he neglected his responsibilities, treating a male celebrity as his wife all day.
When “Burning Eternity” was initially setting up the recording location, Zhang Qiguo happened to be hired as a temporary worker to help move things for a couple of days. Somehow learning that Jiang Nan’an was a guest on the show, he developed sinister intentions, carefully noting the building layout and surveillance blind spots. During the most chaotic time in the building, he installed several pinhole cameras in hidden places.
Later, when the show began recording, he delivered food in the surrounding area for a while to familiarize himself with the layout. Knowing the compound was difficult to enter, he persistently dug a “dog hole” in an inconspicuous area outside the compound for entry and exit, and somehow stole a staff uniform to wear. Fortunately, the building’s access control was also very strict. Without an ID card, Zhang Qiguo couldn’t enter, so he could only wander around the building looking presentable, occasionally capturing glimpses of Jiang Nan’an from the pinhole camera surveillance.
Last night’s incident was purely coincidental. Zhang Qiguo had been drinking and had nothing to do. His cameras had been completely dismantled by the production team, so he snuck in again to try his luck.
Coincidentally, the staff on duty that day wasn’t paying attention and forgot to lock the side door of the building. This door was normally used for delivering food supplies to the cafeteria, but now it facilitated Zhang Qiguo’s entry.
So he entered the building through the small door, found no one inside, and initially wanted to take the opportunity to visit Jiang Nan’an’s dormitory, but couldn’t open the door lock. He was wandering around and about to leave when, by another coincidence, he encountered Jiang Nan’an returning to his dormitory alone, which led to the subsequent events.
“A dog hole?!” When the person in charge relayed this, Qi Hong found it laughable:
“This is too ridiculous. A sasaeng crawls in through a dog hole, coincidentally the door wasn’t locked that day, and coincidentally he encounters an artist alone in the building and harasses him? Do you even hear how absurd this sounds?”
The impact of this incident was extremely negative. The production team suppressed the news from leaking out, disciplined a string of employees behind closed doors from top to bottom, and gave a strict order to relevant personnel to appease Jiang Nan’an and Madam Qi Hong. Therefore, as soon as Qi Hong got off the plane, people followed her, explaining and apologizing all the way, annoying her throughout the journey.
“After the camera incident, you said similar things wouldn’t happen again. What happened? Did you eat your promises? It’s only because the artist didn’t suffer any major harm, otherwise I’d like to see what you’d say to shut me up!”
Qi Hong shook her head angrily and waved her hand dismissively:
“If you can’t even guarantee the safety of artists, we might as well withdraw from the competition. It would save me from constantly worrying and running back and forth, while the artist still has to endure this mistreatment.”
Upon hearing the word “withdraw,” the person in charge was alarmed.
But Qi Hong ignored his pleas and looked at Jiang Nan’an:
“Jiang baby, I won’t make the decision for you. It’s up to you. If you don’t mind these things and want to stay and continue, then we’ll give them face. If you don’t want to play anymore and want to go home and rest, we’ll leave. No one here can stop you!”
Jiang Shanshan passed by the reception room three times early in the morning, eavesdropping outside the door and hearing this statement. She quickly slipped back to the training room to report the news.
Yan Jie was leaning on the sofa sleeping. He had stayed up all night with Jiang Nan’an and was now really exhausted, trying to catch a quick nap on the sofa. But he was awakened by Jiang Shanshan’s earth-shattering announcement: “Teacher Jiang is withdrawing from the competition.”
“What? Who wants to withdraw from the competition?” He opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.
“Jiang Nan’an, apparently. His agent thinks what happened last night was too serious and that the production team can’t even guarantee the artist’s safety, so she doesn’t want him to stay,” Jiang Shanshan sighed.
“And he agreed to that?” Yan Jie had just woken up, his brain still not fully functioning.
“I don’t know… I didn’t hear. But if it were me, I’d definitely leave if I encountered something like that. Still, if it really came to that, I’d at least think about Blue for a moment-after all, I haven’t played games with him since graduating high school, and it’s rare for us to be together again… But for Teacher Jiang, I don’t think that’s even a consideration. It feels like he came to this variety show with a ‘just going through the motions’ attitude, like he doesn’t really want to be here, just clocking in and out, not really attached to any of us…”
Jiang Shanshan rambled on, clearly worried.
Yan Jie let out a long sigh, rubbing his face:
“Leave? If he wants to go, then let him… that’s fine too…”
“Click-”
As the two of them were talking, the door to the training room opened and Jiang Nan’an walked in.
Jiang Shanshan immediately fell silent, and Yan Jie sat up, then stood to greet him when he saw who it was:
“How are you, Mr. Hang? Is your hand okay, does it still hurt? If you need, I’ll help you pack your things, don’t move around.”
“?” Jiang Nan’an was a bit baffled to hear this as soon as he walked in:
“Pack what?”
“Your luggage,” Yan Jie replied, his sleepy brain finally starting to work:
“Aren’t you planning to withdraw from the competition?”
Jiang Nan’an didn’t know where they got their information-so well informed.
He glanced at Yan Jie:
“Yeah. That’s what Hong-jie said.”
“Okay, that’s fine.”
“But I didn’t agree.”
“When are you planning to leave, I-huh?”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t agree?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re not leaving??”
“Aren’t I speaking Chinese?”
Those few light words from Jiang Nan’an hit Yan Jie like a dream.
Others might not know, but Yan Jie knew better than anyone why Jiang Nan’an came here, and how he’d been hoping every day to be eliminated and sent home early[1][2][4]. Now, after suffering such a big grievance, with his agent backing him and giving him permission to withdraw, he should be overjoyed to go home and study his brick-thick history books-so why wasn’t he leaving now?
Yan Jie couldn’t figure it out, so he asked:
“…Why?”
Jiang Nan’an glanced at him, then walked to his station:
“Isn’t it what you said?”
He pulled out his gaming chair and, before putting on his headphones, simply said:
“…To win together with me.”
—
(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]")