Chapter 40 This world has gone mad, and Jing Yitong has gone mad too…
This tense state of mind even made Fang Xingu's hands tremble slightly. He subconsciously started walking back, wanting to go directly to 609 to find Jing Yitong and ask him everything.
At that moment, Qi Qiu's voice came from the other end of the phone. He asked curiously, "What's the situation between you and Jing Yitong?" Are they really brothers?
Fang Xingu slowed his pace and took a deep breath: "It's none of your business, so don't ask me anything."
"Hey, I'm your manager! Can't you show me some respect?"
Fang Xingu was in a state of turmoil and had no intention of continuing the conversation with Qi Qiu: "Is there anything else?"
Qi Qiu was annoyed: "Nothing else. By the way, that package you gave me before you went abroad, you told me to mail it tomorrow, right?"
Fang Xingu replied absentmindedly, "Right... never mind, it's not important now. Just send it to the address I gave you when you have time in the next couple of days."
After exchanging only a few words, he hung up the phone with Qi Qiu and hurried towards 609. He was eager to find out from Jing Yitong what big event was behind this.
As luck would have it, Liang Jiyan was also walking back at the other end. When they reached the door, the two hurried people almost bumped into each other. Fang Xin quickly took a step back. He noticed a hint of melancholy in Liang Jiyan's eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he asked with concern, "Why are you drinking here alone?"
Liang Jiyan smiled sheepishly: "It was a bit stuffy, so I came out for some fresh air."
Seeing her forced smile and empty wine glass, Fang Xingu feared she was drowning her sorrows in alcohol and reminded her, "Drinking too much isn't good either."
Liang Jiyan's expression was somewhat bitter: "I just remembered some things from the past... It's okay, I'll adjust myself."
Liang Jiyan wasn't usually talkative, but after getting to know her better recently, she often cracked jokes. However, Fang Xin noticed that Liang Jiyan was unusually quiet today.
Fang Xin suddenly remembered that he seemed to have seen someone online say that Tan Zhi ran away from "The World Is So Big" because he found out that the program team had also invited Liang Jiyan, and it seemed that the two of them had some past relationship.
Fang Xingu thought about it and felt a little speechless. Yan Tu was also a talent. He actually managed to find so many people with complicated relationships to be guests.
However, Fang Xingu wouldn't be so tactless as to bring up such a thing at this time. He himself also had urgent business to attend to with Jing Yitong. But seeing that Liang Jiyan's mental state was not good, he still tried his best to comfort him, saying, "Let bygones be bygones. Things are getting better and better now, aren't they?"
Liang Jiyan knew he meant well, and nodded with a smile: "I know, Xin Gu, thank you."
Fang Xin waved goodbye to Liang Jiyan and continued walking quickly back to 608. He strode around the balcony and knocked on the balcony door of 609 without hesitation.
Jing Yitong opened the door and saw Fang Xingu looking anxious. He asked, "What's wrong?"
Jing Yitong looked like he had just taken a shower. He was wearing pajamas, his body was steaming, and his hair was still half-dry.
Seeing him like this, Fang Xingu suddenly hesitated. If he asked now, would Jing Yitong definitely tell him?
Judging from how Jing Yitong had kept it from him before, it was clear that she didn't want him to know the truth.
Fang Xingu felt he couldn't go straight to the point; he had to probe indirectly first. So he cleared his throat and changed the subject, asking, "Have you been targeting Lu Changning all day?"
Jing Yitong was a little annoyed when he heard this topic: "Hmph, what, are you here to interrogate him?"
Fang Xingu found his attitude somewhat amusing: "What are you doing? I just noticed you've been acting strange all day, so I came to ask."
Jing Yitong leaned against the door: "Then I'd like to ask you, were you targeting Tan Zhi today?"
Fang Xingu remained silent for a moment, then imitated him and said, "You also want to hold Tan Zhixing accountable?"
Now it was Jing Yitong's turn to choke. In the end, he couldn't help but laugh: "Fine, if you don't want to say, then don't. But I can tell you, I was indeed deliberately targeting Lu Changning. As for the reason... do you really want to know?"
Fang Xingu said impatiently, "Just tell me directly. Don't mumble and ramble on like you did this morning, only to say you can't tell me yet."
Jing Yitong stared at Fang Xingu's face for a while, as if hesitating whether to speak his mind. Only when the entire space was filled with silence did Jing Yitong suddenly ask a surprising question: "Does Lu Changning like you?"
"……ah?"
Fang Xingu's eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, he even forgot the most important thing that had been on his mind. He didn't know if there was something wrong with his hearing or with Jing Yitong's brain. How could Jing Yitong say such nonsense?
But Jing Yitong's words were so impactful that they completely blew Fang Xingu's mind out of control. He instinctively retorted, "How could that be!"
Jing Yitong: "Tsk, but I think he always likes to stick to you."
Fang Xingu's brain had completely shut down, and he felt like he was going crazy: "What are you thinking! I'm the only one here who's really close to Lu Changning, so of course he'll be closer to me."
Jing Yitong's tone was somewhat resentful: "I'm not talking about today, but all along, from 'Star Path' to Nebula and now, he has always..."
Upon hearing this, Fang Xingu's focus shifted strangely: "Uh, you're so interested in us?"
Jing Yitong paused, thinking to himself, "I'm not concerned about you guys, I'm just more concerned about you." But he couldn't say it directly, so he could only forcefully continue the previous topic: "Just tell me, hasn't Lu Changning been sticking around you all the time? And you two seem to have a good relationship."
Fang Xingu was speechless at his unfounded conjecture and could only explain word by word: "That's because in the early stages of 'Star Journey,' Lu Changning's father was seriously ill, and I helped him transfer to another hospital and find a doctor, so he has always been very grateful to me."
Back when "Star Journey" had just started filming, Lu Changning's father fell seriously ill and urgently needed surgery. Most celebrities these days came from wealthy families, but Lu Changning was an exception; his family was poor, and the money for the surgery was raised by relatives. To make matters worse, his father's illness was severe, and the main hospital in their small county recommended they transfer to Shen City for surgery, because the specialists at Shen City hospitals had extensive experience treating this condition.
However, Lu's father was seriously ill and bedridden, and it was not easy to transfer him to a hospital in Shanghai. The Lu family had neither money nor connections. Lu Changning was so anxious that he almost withdrew from the competition and went home. In the end, Fang Xin borrowed some money from him and found someone to help his father transfer to another hospital and invited experts to perform surgery on Lu's father, which saved his father's life.
These things are secrets, and it's normal that Jing Yitong doesn't know them, but surely he wouldn't have such a terrifying association?
To everyone's surprise, Jing Yitong was still very petty after hearing his explanation: "If he wants to thank you, he doesn't need to keep sticking to you. I think he either likes you or wants to create a CP (couple pairing) with you. He has ulterior motives."
Fang Xin laughed angrily, then gritted his teeth and cursed, "Are you out of your mind?"
Very well, the world has gone mad, Jing Yitong has gone mad, and I've gone mad too.
Fang Xin's soul seemed to have vanished, his mind filled with Jing Yitong's shocking question, "Does Lu Changning like you?" He had no desire to ask Jing Yitong what he was hiding from him, and staggered back to 608 to play dead.
He washed up listlessly and lay on the bed like a salted fish, feeling like he had failed miserably tonight. He had originally wanted to question Jing Yitong, but instead, he was questioned by Jing Yitong and scared away by a single sentence from him.
Fang Xin covered his head with the blanket, feeling that not only was Jing Yitong sick, but he himself was probably sick too.
Jing Yitong's words seemed to have some kind of mental pollution effect, keeping Fang Xingu awake all night. The next morning, he had to chug down a glass of Americano to refresh himself and reduce swelling.
Seeing his listless and melancholy appearance, Lu Changning leaned closer and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
When Fang Xin saw Lu Changning, the question Jing Yitong had asked him yesterday, "Does Lu Changning like you?" came to his mind. He reflexively took a step back to distance himself from Lu Changning, but then realized that he had overreacted and could only awkwardly say, "Hehe, it's nothing, I just didn't sleep well last night."
Lu Changning looked at him strangely.
Today they are going hiking on the ice field. Because two new members have joined, no one is wearing the uniform jackets provided by the production team. Fang Xin put on his own black windbreaker and wore all black. His hairstyle was simple, and his hair, which had been dyed back to black, was hanging down. Only his exposed skin was white. In addition, he was in a bad mood and had a stern face, so he looked cold and cool.
Fang Xingu knew he shouldn't take Jing Yitong's nonsense to heart, but when they landed by speedboat, Lu Changning chatted with him the whole way, and he was subconsciously influenced. He often wanted to avoid the conversation, but after avoiding it, he felt that his attitude was very unfair to Lu Changning who was involved, so he had to take the initiative to talk to him again, which left Lu Changning completely confused.
Fang Xingu looked at the innocent Lu Changning and could only glare at Jing Yitong a few times. Jing Yitong looked up at the sky and pretended not to notice Fang Xingu's sharp eyes, but he was secretly amused.
The atmosphere among the group remained awkward until someone exclaimed, "Is that a whale?!"
As everyone looked in the direction of the sound, before they could see anything clearly, they saw a column of mist suddenly rise from the sea surface, followed by a dark shadow slowly rising from the surface and quickly diving back into the water. Only the water kicked up by its swung tail fin formed a perfect arc on the surface, completing another elegant tail flick.
"Wow!"
Amidst gasps of amazement, Fang Xin temporarily forgot his worries: "Is it a humpback whale?"
Guide: "Yes, it's an adult humpback whale. They must have just migrated here from a lower latitude region."
Lu Changning craned his neck to look and saw humpback whales swimming in the shallow water. When snorkeling, they would occasionally reveal a corner of their huge bodies, which was already enough to be awe-inspiring: "So elegant and beautiful."
The guide jokingly explained, "Adult humpback whales have almost no natural enemies, but newborn humpback whales are easily preyed upon by killer whales. So some people say that the reason why adult humpback whales love to cause trouble for killer whales is to get revenge for their childhood."
Li Wenyu chuckled and said, "I know that. Adult humpback whales are great ocean predators, and they specialize in dealing with killer whales and other marine scoundrels."
Everyone laughed, but unfortunately, the humpback whale that had migrated with its calf had no intention of getting close to them, so the group could only watch it swim away into the wider world.
After landing, they walked on the snow track that the expedition team had cleared in advance. It was an uphill path, and Fang Xin had put crampons on his shoes. Although this path was not as difficult as the snow mountain, it was still quite tiring. After a while, all Fang Xin could hear was his own panting breathing and the sound of his crampons digging into the snow. The penguins around them would occasionally curiously watch them.
The snow here is more than 20 centimeters thick. The little penguins are also used to being lazy. They waddle along the smooth snow path cleared by their companions, and some even pounce on the ground and slide down the narrow snow path, saving themselves the trouble of walking.
Wang Peiyang looked on with envy: "When we go down the mountain later, can we slide down like this too, just like a slide?"
Luo Da chimed in, "That's right, aren't there all these kinds of attractions now? You can ride a slide down the mountain, which saves time and effort."
Jing Yitong patted Luo Da on the shoulder: "You can try it later."
Fang Xin glanced at him and said, "Don't let Da Ge go and get scolded, okay?"
Rhoda angrily rebuked him: "Your heart is too black!"
Jing Yitong wasn't angry that Fang Xingu had seen through his little scheme. He just secretly poked Fang Xingu's arm, but Fang Xingu slapped it away without saying a word, and then continued climbing the mountain.
Lu Changning looked at the grayish-brown thing lying on the ice floe in the distance. At first glance, he thought it was a stone, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be some kind of motionless creature. He asked hesitantly, "Could that be a penguin carcass lying on the ground?"
Fang Xingu turned on his camera, adjusted the telephoto lens, and pointed it at what Lu Changning had mentioned. After seeing it clearly, he said, "That's a seal that's resting. Look, it's still moving."
Lu Changning also looked through the camera viewfinder and saw the seal suddenly stretch its body, lazily roll around on the ground a few times, and then accidentally crush the thinner part of the ice floe, rolling into the sea with a gurgle.
The two burst into laughter, attracting the attention of Li Wenyu, who was passing by: "Oh my, is that a crab-eating seal? It's so cute, much cuter than that leopard seal that looked like a monster with a snake's head the other day."
Lu Changning: "You also encountered leopard seals?"
Li Wenyu nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, we encountered it during the landing. It was hunting a little penguin, and the little penguin even jumped onto our speedboat. It was super cute!"
Listening to Li Wenyu excitedly sharing the interesting things that had happened in the past two days, Lu Changning suddenly sighed: "I'm too late."
Fang Xin turned around and looked at him in confusion: "Hmm?"
Lu Changning said regretfully, "We didn't see any minke whales or leopard seals either."
Fang Xingu laughed: "But you only stayed for two days and you touched an iceberg, and you also saw penguins, humpback whales and crab-eating seals. Shouldn't you be happy? There's no need to regret what you missed."
Lu Changning thought for a moment and smiled, "That's right, I was too greedy."
More than half an hour later, the group finally reached the top of the mountain and looked down at this world of ice and snow. They saw the long ice shelves and the pieces of ice floating on the vast ocean. Everything was so pure.
Fang Xingu put down his trekking poles and sat down directly on the snow. He loosened his collar slightly to dispel the heat from his body and looked at the beautiful scenery nurtured by nature.
In this vast world, everyone silently admired this once-in-a-lifetime scene. After a while, Lu Changning, standing behind Fang Xingu, suddenly said, "Human existence is too insignificant in the face of this vast world."
Fang Xingu assumed he was just chatting casually and gave a perfunctory reply.
Lu Changning muttered to himself, "So, those feelings of self-pity are actually useless. We really shouldn't let such emotions trap our free souls."
Fang Xingu was about to respond with a few more words when Jing Yitong, who was standing next to him, suddenly let out a cold laugh.
Fang Xin Gu, who hadn't thought anything of it before, suddenly shivered after hearing that cold laugh.
If he had heard these words before yesterday, he would have thought that Lu Changning was just making a casual remark. But after Jing Yitong stirred things up, Fang Xin's Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally realized that Lu Changning's words seemed to have some deeper meaning.
Who suddenly started analyzing their own love life out of nowhere?
Fang Xingu's expression suddenly turned strange. On one hand, he wondered if Lu Changning really liked him, and on the other hand, he felt guilty for actually speculating about this pure friendship.
It's all Jing Yitong's fault!
However, Fang Xingu really didn't dare to respond to Lu Changning's words. On the way back, Fang Xingu even fell into a state of self-isolation, barely saying a few words. During lunch, he was also in a daze. Fortunately, Lu Changning and Jing Yitong also maintained an eerie silence.
It wasn't until lunch break, when Xu Subo sent Fang Xingu a wedding invitation, that he finally managed to perk himself up.
Xu Subo: [Wedding Invitation] I'm having my wedding on the 27th. Will you be able to make it?
Fang Xin calculated the time: Perfect timing. I'll finish recording on the 25th, then fly directly over and arrive in Los Angeles by the evening of the 26th.
After attending the wedding, I returned to Beijing on the 28th, just in time to participate in the New Year's Eve rehearsal.
Xu Subo: Perfect! Send me your flight number, and I'll pick you up at the airport. [red lips]
Fang Xin gave her his itinerary, and Xu Subo reminded him: "It's almost 20 degrees Celsius during the day in Los Angeles, and about 10 degrees Celsius at night. Remember to bring some suitable clothes."
Fang Xin Gu: OK.
Xu Subo teased: How have things been between you and Jing Yitong lately?
Fang Xin Gu: ...
Xu Subo: What do you mean?
Fang Xin Gu: That's how it is, but I feel like he's acting strangely, like he's hiding something from me.
Xu Subo got excited as soon as she heard this and encouraged him: Go straight up and ask him for clarification!
Fang Xingu sighed: "I was planning to ask him yesterday, but he beat me to it. He actually asked me if my former teammate liked me. I was completely dumbfounded."
Xu Subo: ?
Xu Subo: Hahaha!
After chatting for a few minutes, Fang Xingu said he had to go prepare for the afternoon's recording, and Xu Subo exited their chat.
The wedding preparations were almost complete, and she finally had some free time. She searched online for news about "The World Is So Big," Fang Xingu, and Jing Yitong. Before long, big data, which had captured these three keywords, began to actively push videos to Xu Subo.
As Xu Subo scrolled through her videos, she came across a video tagged "Tongxinyuan". She squinted at the three characters "Tongxinyuan" and pondered for a long time - what is this? Could it be the CP name of Jing Yitong and Fang Xingu?
Weren't there rumors all over the internet that they didn't get along? How come they suddenly have fans who ship them as a couple?
Xu Subo clicked on the tag out of curiosity and found it filled with video clips of the two of them, with a high number of likes and comments. The clips showed various eye contact, micro-expressions, and slow-motion interactions, all of which seemed very ambiguous.
Xu Subo's eyes widened. She knew that Fang Xingu's relationship with Jing Yitong was not innocent, but looking at it this way, she felt that Jing Yitong's gaze towards Fang Xingu was not innocent either.
Xu Subo took a deep breath. No, she had been a fan of celebrities in middle school and knew the slow-motion techniques used by CP fans to ship their favorite characters. Maybe this was just something the fans had edited together.
She calmed down and switched to another platform to continue searching for Tong Xinyuan, hoping to find out if there was any other news. To her surprise, she found that the CP of Fang Xingu and Jing Yitong was actually quite popular, even making it into the top ten of the CP rankings. Fans had even dug up the highly overlapping life trajectories of the two, but so far they hadn't found their sweet past or any solid evidence that the two had known each other before.
"Is this just eating air? How can they be so excited about such a small amount of sweetness?" Xu Subo thought to herself, "This generation of CP fans is really bad."
She carefully studied these posts and strongly suspected that the Jing and Fang families had erased information about the two before their debut, which made it so difficult for the CP fans to expose their past. Xu Subo even wished she could take the lead herself and reveal some old stories and photos of Fang Xin Gu and Jing Yi Tong to overwhelm the CP fans.
However, Xu Supo only dared to think about it; she wouldn't actually go so far as to harm her friend like that.
But the more Xu Subo thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. Ever since Jing Yitong secretly participated in "The World Is So Big" without Fang Xin's knowledge, she felt that there must be something wrong with Jing Yitong.
After thinking for a while, Xu Subo suddenly came up with a good idea.
With a mischievous grin, she found Jing Yitong in her WeChat contacts. The two of them had never spoken a word since they added each other on WeChat. She hadn't even added a nickname for Jing Yitong. Now, Xu Subo couldn't remember how they had added each other on WeChat, but it was definitely related to Fang Xingu.
Xu Subo sent a message: [Wedding Invitation] I'm having my wedding on the 27th of this month.
But Jing Yitong didn't know whether he was recording a show or simply couldn't be bothered to reply to her until evening.
Jing Yitong: ?
Jing Yitong: Congratulations?
Xu Subo: Aren't you recording a show with Xin Gu recently? He's planning to fly directly to Los Angeles to attend my wedding after the recording ends on the 25th. Do you want to come?
Jing Yitong: ...Why did you think of inviting me?
Xu Subo: We're all old friends, how could I only invite him and not you? [smile]
Jing Yitong looked at the "old friend" message sent by Xu Subo and couldn't help but sneer. What kind of friendship did they have? Was Xu Subo trying to provoke him?
Although Jing Yitong didn't care about Xu Subo's lifelong happiness, Xu Subo's marriage was indeed a great thing for him, and Fang Xingu would also be there...
Jing Yitong didn't dwell on it much and quickly replied: Don't worry, I'll definitely come to my old friend's wedding [smile]
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Author's note: Xu Subo: Only Lei Jingyi agrees.
Lu Changning: Only Lei Jingyi agrees.
Jing Yitong: The one who is most favored will indeed arouse jealousy [sunglasses]
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