Mad Dog

Chapter 64: Return – Jiang Qi, something happened to Zhi Qi.

The word “again” in Meng Chunyu’s trending topic is used quite cleverly.

Zhi Qi felt a surge of frustration as she silently opened her phone to see what had happened with Jiang Qi this time.

It was strange; according to Meng Chunyu, a star-chasing girl, the trending topics on Weibo were generally bought by celebrities’ companies for marketing purposes, except for social news. But why was Jiang Qi trending so frequently? He didn’t have a company buying trending spots for him.

As for buying it himself, that was even less likely.

Zhi Qi knew Jiang Qi didn’t have that much money to spend on buying a trending topic, didn’t she?

Because of this, she had specifically “consulted” the experienced girl, Meng Chunyu.

The answer she got was based on careful analysis: Jiang Qi’s trending topics were either the result of other teams buying black marketing to suppress him or companies wanting to sign him, deliberately buying his trending spots as a way to show goodwill.

After hearing this, Zhi Qi felt it made a lot of sense.

After all, for Jiang Qi, both scenarios were possible. She had WeChat contacts for Qu Heng, Shen Lei, and Qiu Mi, who often mentioned that many companies were trying to contact Jiang Qi to express interest in him and wanted to know Jiang Qi’s thoughts on it.

Zhi Qi thought for a moment but decided to wait.

She didn’t want to ask Jiang Qi about his future plans just yet and hadn’t brought these matters up with him. For now, she simply wanted Jiang Qi to focus on filming the ongoing project, “Arrogant,” safely and without distractions.

As for everything else, they could make plans after filming wrapped up.

Discussing those matters now would only be a distraction, especially since Zhi Qi, while not familiar with the entertainment industry’s rules, understood that signing with a company essentially meant signing a “contract of servitude.”

When someone was backing you, there were always other costs to consider.

For example, when Jiang Qi left the previous company, he was nearly torn to shreds by the media.

And now, Jiang Qi’s state was still not completely stable. At the very least, he couldn’t be as stable as an entirely normal person, so was it suitable for him to sign with a company? Zhi Qi wasn’t sure and couldn’t help him decide.

Lost in her thoughts, Zhi Qi pulled out her phone and clicked on the trending topic #Jiang Qi Body Art#.

Before opening it, she felt this trending topic was somewhat inexplicable.

After clicking in, the usually gentle girl almost exclaimed “Wow!” like Meng Chunyu.

Fortunately, she managed to hold back.

Zhi Qi stared blankly at the two photos of Jiang Qi and, without realizing it, reached out her finger to touch the beautiful figure through the screen.

In reality, she knew how many scars Jiang Qi had, so she understood the effort it would take to cover them up.

But the boy in front of her… was just too beautiful.

His body was adorned with large tattoos of butterflies, snakes, and even bird designs resembling a phoenix. Yet, no matter what, they couldn’t overshadow his inherent beauty.

The artist clearly had a mature touch, balancing shading and negative space, making Jiang Qi’s pale skin look even more stunning.

At first glance, it was breathtaking, but Zhi Qi thought to herself that Jiang Qi was even more beautiful.

Unable to resist, she saved both images.

“Wow, wow, this is really amazing! Is this the look for Jiang Qi’s new drama?” Meng Chunyu was beside her, gushing with excitement and asking, “What scene is this? Can you give me a spoiler?”

“…”

Zhi Qi could only think that she hadn’t seen the script either.

Moreover, she hadn’t specifically asked Jiang Qi, as she wasn’t fond of spoilers herself; she preferred to experience the unknown when the movie came out.

So, Zhi Qi shook her head and honestly replied, “I don’t know, really.”

However, she could guess a bit, perhaps there was a scene requiring nudity, and Jiang Qi’s scars were unsuitable, so the director had come up with this solution.

When she spoke with Jiang Qi that evening, her guess was mostly correct.

Aside from the rare hint of complaint in his tone, he seemed somewhat wronged as he said to her, “I don’t want those two women to… paint on me randomly.”

Jiang Qi reported back to Zhi Qi everything Chu Fan and Yan Sang had said to him that afternoon, and his sulky voice made the girl thousands of miles away chuckle.

“They’re not wrong,” Zhi Qi replied objectively. “Everyone has their specialty; when they’re painting you, they’re just treating you like a blank canvas.”

Jiang Qi understood this logic, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable.

…Especially since Zhi Qi’s nonchalant tone made him feel even more “awkward.”

So, Jiang Qi couldn’t help but casually emphasize, in a rather childish way, “They’re touching me.”

“That’s just a form of observation,” Zhi Qi said, still believing Jiang Qi was simply struggling with the discomfort of being touched by others. She gently encouraged him, “You have to overcome it; when we do experiments, we even have to closely observe animal feces.”

Well, that really equated him to feces.

Jiang Qi found himself at a loss for words, feeling both amused and helpless.

After a moment of awkward silence on the phone, Zhi Qi finally realized that her comparison might have been inappropriate.

Also, it seemed Jiang Qi’s main concern wasn’t about what she had just mentioned; it seemed he wanted her to show a bit more “reaction.”

“Hey, Jiang Qi,” Zhi Qi suppressed her laughter and seriously reassured him, “I actually don’t want you to be touched by others either; it bothers me a lot.”

She feigned a sense of grievance, and sure enough, Jiang Qi immediately spoke up, his voice carrying a hint of happiness: “Then I won’t let them paint on me tomorrow.”

…That wouldn’t do!

Zhi Qi quickly replied, “You can’t delay work.”

Thus, Jiang Qi fell silent again.

“Ah.” Zhi Qi sighed gently, “I guess I’ll just have to sacrifice a few days and let you be touched by those other girls; just behave and don’t move around or ignore them, okay?”

She sounded like she was coaxing a child, but there was no helping it; Jiang Qi responded well to this approach.

As expected, the boy on the other end obediently replied with a soft “Mm.”

The two continued to whisper to each other for a while until it was nearly ten o’clock, and Zhi Qi didn’t want to disturb her roommate’s sleep, so she suggested they contact each other again the next day.

Before hanging up, she heard Jiang Qi’s restrained and suppressed voice ask, “Zhi Qi, how long until you can come back?”

Zhi Qi paused for a moment, pulling her hand back from the bathroom doorknob, she smiled and bit her lip, “Miss me?”

“Miss you,” Jiang Qi replied earnestly. “Very much.”

After he said this, Zhi Qi suddenly heard him say “Wait a moment,” and then the call was abruptly disconnected.

Jiang Qi was taken aback, just as he pulled the phone away from his ear, a WeChat video call from Zhi Qi came through. He quickly pressed to answer.

The dark phone screen lit up, revealing the girl’s delicate face, her skin glowing warmly under the soft bathroom light, almost as if coated in a layer of fluorescence, pink and radiant.

“Hehe.” The girl placed her phone on a stand in front of the mirror, smiling and holding her face, looking at the boy who was staring blankly at the camera: “Now you can’t help but think of me, right?”

The screen likely captured Zhi Qi’s slim waist, her long hair loosely tied up in a bun. She was wearing a black spaghetti strap nightgown that made her skin look even more translucent.

The thin straps rested delicately on her slender shoulders, and when she bent slightly, her collarbones were so deep they seemed like they could hold wine.

Having just washed her face, her skin glistened with droplets of water, running from her chin down to…

Jiang Qi’s gaze darkened, but through the screen, Zhi Qi couldn’t see the dangerous glint in his glassy eyes. She only noticed his long neck and Adam’s apple moving slightly, not knowing Jiang Qi silently replied in his heart: I miss you even more.

Zhi Qi was indeed a torturous enchantress; just a day without seeing her made him feel restless.

And it would be several more days of longing.

Because the girl mentioned this mission would take about five more days.

Five days, one hundred and twenty hours, countless minutes… he really missed her.

After enduring several days of “torture” from Chu Fan and Yan Sang, he finally finished filming the scenes where Chen Si wore revealing clothing.

And this damn body art segment could finally come to a close.

Jiang Qi was quite dismissive of this part of the shoot, but Qu Heng praised it endlessly and claimed he wanted to incorporate body art into future films.

Now that this phase of filming was done, the movie was nearing its final stages of post-production.

“Arrogant” was a big male lead script; in fact, the other actors had mostly finished their parts, and those who needed to wrap up had already done so.

Apart from Jiang Qi, there were only Xue Ling and a few other important supporting roles left, and they only had about ten days of filming left. Jiang Qi still had nearly half a month’s worth of shooting ahead of him.

Qu Heng noticed that Jiang Qi seemed particularly distracted during the filming process this afternoon.

—Because the Jiang Qi

, who had always been nicknamed “Jiang One Take,” actually made a mistake today in a scene that wasn’t particularly difficult.

After calling for a stop, Qu Heng approached him and asked gently, “What’s wrong? Not in the zone?”

Jiang Qi’s expression was blank as he absentmindedly rubbed his wristwatch with his long fingers. After a moment, he shook his head and softly replied, “It’s nothing.”

Actually, there wasn’t much to it; it was just… today was Zhi Qi’s return day from Yingzhou. The girl had messaged him in the morning that her flight was at two in the afternoon, promising to contact him as soon as she landed.

But now it was already past five in the evening.

The flight from Yingzhou to Linlan was only about an hour and a half, and he had checked in advance. Even if there were delays, she shouldn’t still be silent at this hour. Plus, he had called her but no one picked up.

When one is worried, even a small “accident” could be magnified infinitely; the more Jiang Qi thought about it, the more he felt a strong sense of foreboding.

He didn’t know if it was a sign of good luck or misfortune, but in any case, he was restless.

Seeing Jiang Qi’s inexplicable “soul leaving the body” demeanor, Qu Heng felt something was off. He frowned, “If you’re not in the right state today, you can go back first…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Jiang Qi’s tightly clenched phone suddenly rang, the ringtone echoing oddly in the silent space.

Qu Heng was momentarily stunned, then he witnessed a rather “rare” scene—after the scene ended, the usually expressionless boy hastily answered the phone: “Hello?”

“Jiang Qi, Zhi Qi is in trouble.” The voice on the other end, which belonged to Zhi Yu, sounded strained as she suppressed her anxiety, “She’s at the city hospital. Hurry over.”

In that instant, Jiang Qi felt as though all his senses were about to fade away.

An entire afternoon of restlessness and inexplicable anxiety was eclipsed by the broken sound echoing in his heart.

It felt as if something had shattered.