The days slipped away one by one, and in the blink of an eye, the final rains of August had fallen. This heavy downpour ushered in September, bringing with it the true essence of autumn.
Filming for *Hidden Shadows* was progressing smoothly. Only five or six scenes remained for the residential area sequences. Once those were finished, they would move to a green-screen studio. The studio wasn't as close to the hotel as the residential area; it was a thirty-minute drive away.
Today, Zhang Jin’an had two scenes: one in the afternoon opposite Ge Qianxu, and one at night outdoors with Jiang Siyang.
After dinner, there was a ten-minute break, and everyone found a place to sit and rest. In autumn, the sky darkened noticeably earlier than in summer. It was only just past six, yet half the sky was already draped in shadow, and the production lights had been switched on.
Li Qiang sat on a chair in the corner, his face partially obscured by shadows. He sat with his hands clasped over his mouth, his eyes fixed intently on Zhang Jin’an, who was going over the script with Jiang Siyang not far away.
Fourteen days had passed since Zhang Jin’an had come out to him, yet Li Qiang hadn't seen him make a single move. He acted exactly as he always did. Even his attitude toward Jiang Siyang remained unchanged—serious when discussing the script and relaxed during casual conversation, just as they were now.
Li Qiang watched as Tang Shang walked up to them. The three of them chatted about something and burst into laughter. Zhang Jin’an was laughing so hard he clapped his hands, eventually leaning his head against Jiang Siyang’s shoulder as he chuckled.
Li Qiang: "..."
He had half a mind to suspect that Zhang Jin’an had already forgotten he liked Jiang Siyang.
Who on earth conducted a secret crush like this?
"There’s no way!"
After observing for a few more minutes, Li Qiang couldn't take it anymore. He excused himself to Jiang Siyang, saying he needed to borrow Zhang Jin’an for a few minutes, and pulled him to a corner about five or six meters away from the crew. Taking advantage of the lack of bystanders, he began to interrogate him.
Upon hearing the question, Zhang Jin’an looked genuinely shocked. "Who would forget something that important?"
"It looks to me like you did," Li Qiang said.
"Me?" Zhang Jin’an paused, glancing toward Jiang Siyang. He lowered his voice as if afraid the other man might overhear. "How have I forgotten? I’ve been working hard to grind favorability points lately."
Grinding favorability? Since when?
Li Qiang was utterly bewildered. "When did you do that? How come I didn't see it?"
Zhang Jin’an tucked his left hand into his trouser pocket and began counting on his fingers with the other. "Haven't I been chatting with Siyang very frequently lately?"
Li Qiang recalled and nodded. "Yes."
"And haven't I told you a lot of things about Jiang Siyang?"
"...Yes." Usually, eighty percent of their conversations were about work. Now, the remaining twenty percent was entirely about Jiang Siyang.
"And whenever Siyang has to leave for other schedules, don't I message him whenever I have a free moment?"
"...Yes." Every actor in the crew had their own schedules and promotional events to attend. Jiang Siyang was the busiest of them all. Ever since *Friday Morning* became a hit, his follower count had been steadily rising. His company had capitalized on the hype by adding several more engagements to his plate. Fortunately, as the second male lead, Jiang Siyang didn't have an overwhelming number of scenes; over the past two weeks, he had only been away from the set for four days in total.
During those four days, Zhang Jin’an had messaged Jiang Siyang for casual chats whenever he had the chance.
Zhang Jin’an spread his hands, looking at Li Qiang with an "I’m right, aren't I?" expression. "See?"
Looking at Zhang Jin’an’s somewhat smug expression, Li Qiang didn't know what to say.
At first glance, it did seem like he had done quite a lot. But if you thought about it carefully, something felt very off.
"...But," Li Qiang took a deep breath and said slowly, "wasn't that exactly how you two interacted before?"
Now it was Zhang Jin’an’s turn to be stunned.
"Oh, I guess you're right," Zhang Jin’an actually started to laugh. "So, if we round it up, does that mean Siyang and I have been together for a long time already?"
Li Qiang: "?"
It was a good thing he wasn't drinking water, or he would have spat it out.
"You call that rounding up? That’s not rounding; that’s a leap of a thousand miles!" Li Qiang retorted.
Zhang Jin’an looked innocent. "I read some relationship Q&As, and their featured answers all suggested this route."
"..." Li Qiang was speechless.
In truth, there was nothing wrong with the methods Zhang Jin’an mentioned; the "ambiguous phase" before dating usually looked like that.
The only thing wrong was that Zhang Jin’an hadn't noticed the prerequisite for this method.
There was a very important condition for these favorability-building actions to work.
The person doing them couldn't be Zhang Jin’an, and the recipient couldn't be Jiang Siyang.
These two were far too straightforward. They said whatever was on their minds with complete transparency; it was impossible for them to have an "ambiguous" or "vague" stage.
Li Qiang thought for a moment and asked seriously, "Jin’an, you’ve acted in so many TV dramas and movies. Haven't you learned any tropes or tricks?"
Although Zhang Jin’an hadn't starred in any same-sex media so far, the methods of pursuing someone were more or less the same. He had acted in so many romance dramas; surely he must have picked up a few tricks?
Li Qiang waited expectantly for Zhang Jin’an’s answer, only to receive: "Are TV dramas and reality the same?"
"How are they different?" Li Qiang asked immediately. "Isn't it all just falling in love?"
Zhang Jin’an shook his head. "Whether it's a drama, a movie, or a novel, it's all fiction. The two people in them fall for each other for no apparent reason—they meet in the first episode and get married in the second. Is that possible in reality?"
"...That’s true," Li Qiang was convinced.
"Even in gay literature, no matter how realistically they write about men, it's still someone else's story. I’m not the person in the book, and neither is Siyang," Zhang Jin’an smiled. "I know you're looking out for me, Qiang-ge, but everyone’s perspective is different. Like when you were pursuing Sister-in-law—you sent her a flower every day. Do you think I could do that to Siyang?"
"...You’re right," Li Qiang sighed, looking toward Jiang Siyang. "I was being too impatient."
Zhang Jin’an placed a hand on Li Qiang’s shoulder. "Actually... I wouldn't say there’s been no progress these past few days. A few days ago, I tentatively asked Siyang about his thoughts on same-sex relationships..."
Li Qiang’s head snapped around. "When was this? How come I didn't know?" He had been closely monitoring their movements these past few days; how could he have missed something so significant?
"It was on the day you weren't here," Zhang Jin’an replied.
Li Qiang: "...Damn it." He had only stepped out once in the last few days, and he had actually missed such a major event?
"Quick, quick, what happened? How did you ask? What was his reaction? Give me the details!"
Zhang Jin’an began to reminisce. "It was during a break. At first, everyone was just chatting..."
Time: September 5, 2015, 9:11 AM.
Location: A bench in a residential area in Binjiang, Hangzhou.
After the first scene of the morning was finished, there was a short break. Since they were outdoors, there weren't many chairs, so everyone sat wherever they could. Zhang Jin’an found a bench nearby and called Jiang Siyang over. The two of them sat there chatting about nothing in particular. Later, Yuan Yuan joined them, and the three of them gossiped together until the conversation somehow turned to the topic of fans.
"Hey, Siyang, do you know what CP fanfiction is?" Yuan Yuan asked.
Without even thinking, Zhang Jin’an answered for him. "He knows. He got a crash course on it during his last interview."
Jiang Siyang looked at Zhang Jin’an in surprise. "Brother, you watched my interview?"
"You even watched his interview?" Not to mention Jiang Siyang, even Li Qiang was surprised.
Zhang Jin’an, however, acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Of course. He can even recite my lines from memory; would it be right if I didn't watch his interviews? Besides, I like him now."
Li Qiang looked thoughtful. "Fair point... so, what happened next?"
***
