Morbid Attachment

Chapter 29

In the end, what was Ji Wang's response to Ren Ran? He said, Ren Ran, leave me alone.

At that time, Ren Ran showed a very surprised expression, and Ji Wang couldn’t remember much of the fight after that.

He seemed to be caught in a stress reaction and all kinds of memories during that time were not very clear.

In this matter, Ji Wang believed he owed Ren Ran a debt. No matter which point of view, he wasn’t a competent friend. He didn’t give Ren Ran the result he wanted, nor did he clean up this relationship.

Qi Boyan asked him in the hospital room just now if he'd broken up because of Ren Ran. Qi Boyan complained as if he’d forgotten the real reason for their fight on the day they broke up six years ago.

More than just because of Ren Ran, it was simply the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Six years ago, Ji Wang didn't have the guts to ask for proof. He just wanted to drag on a little longer, trying to maintain a false stability until he could no longer deceive himself.

Ji Wang was awakened by the long honk of a car, and a beam of light fell on him, causing him to withdraw his foot from the side of the road. On the opposite side of the sidewalk, the pedestrian light was red, but Ji Wang didn't notice.

He watched the cars come and go and after a long pause, he stepped back and hid in the darkness. He slowly squatted down and buried his face in his arms.

Song Ge waited at his house until midnight before calling Ji Wang, "Where did you go in a hurry, did something happen?"

Ji Wang's voice was hoarse on the phone: "Song Ge, I forgot your motorcycle somewhere else."

Song Ge was almost scared to death, "No way! That car cost me bonuses from several projects!"

Ji Wang dully replied, "I'll go back and find it now."

Hearing that Ji Wang’s voice sounded wrong, Song Ge straightforwardly said, “It can’t be that you’re crying because you lost it. Brother, it’s unnecessary, just repay me with the latest model after you become popular.”

He blatantly told Ji Wang the names of a bunch of the latest models of heavy motorcycles and was finally relieved when he heard Ji Wang laugh and scold him for opening his mouth like a lion.

Song Ge, "Where are you squatting? I'll pick you up."

Ji Wang asked curiously, "How do you know I'm squatting?"

How could he not know? Ji Wang had been a brother for so many years, and when Ji Wang was uncomfortable, he liked to squat down and stall. Something must have happened outside that he didn’t want to talk about. Since the other party was unwilling to say, Song Ge wouldn’t ask.

Adults weren’t short on anxieties. Brothers can talk about everything, but they know the limits better than outsiders. That’s what makes them brothers.

In the end, Song Ge wasn’t allowed to come over. Ji Wang smoked half a pack of cigarettes under the tree, then took a taxi to retrieve Song Ge’s motorcycle. He drove to the other’s house and stayed overnight, sleeping solidly all day.

It was no big deal, just wake up and pull yourself together again.

Ji Wang continued to live his original life, going to classes when he should, working when he should.

After half a month, over the weekend, Ji Wang officially joined the production crew of “On the Road”. The filming site of the first episode was on an island. You could obtain survival materials from the program team through games, or you could exchange food with villagers on the island through manual labor.

In summary, it was a program that would be full of hardship, and would be very sad to record.

However, in order to make the program come out well, the program team also wanted to hype CP1. Ji Wang looked at the official recording’s list of members, which included two omegas, two alphas, and one beta.

When Ji Wang got out of the car, there was already a person in the room assigned to them by the show crew.

The man was chatting with the show crew in full swing, trying to act spoiled and cute to ask the producers for some favors.

Ji Wang saw the other's face and determined the identity of this person.

It was a male omega named Duan Yinyu. He debuted at the C-position2 in a talent variety show, and had a good sense for variety shows. He recently stood out in an interview show, and there was a movie out in theaters. The box office was good, and he was clearly an artist with good momentum in the industry.

Duan Yinyu let out a “hey!” and quickly stood up. "Finally someone is here."

He walked to Ji Wang and didn’t regard him as an outsider at all, grabbing Ji Wang’s arm and denouncing the black-hearted program team with him, “You don’t know, this room doesn’t have anything, it’s all dependent on your struggle, going to the mud pond and to the seaside and to the fields! Damn it, I feel like my skin will be played into a layer of leather by the program team.”

This was the first time Ji Wang encountered Duan Yinyu and he didn’t expect the other party to be this way, but Duan Yinyu was good-looking and most of these complaints were humorous, not annoying.

Soon, there was another movement outside the door. This time, it was one of the big names invited by the program team. Zheng Qihong, who had debuted for 30 years, was an old bone in acting and a female omega.

Another beta also came in right after. It was the well-known host Zhang Muxian, who was from the same TV station as the film crew. This was the equivalent of digging up a pillar to engage in this variety show, making the expectations for this variety show visible to the naked eye.

This made Ji Wang even more curious as to why he, a little-known actor, appeared in such a place.

The four people who arrived first were warm and affable under Zhang Muxian’s lively atmosphere. Everyone had worked hard in the entertainment industry for many years, and naturally they wouldn’t show any bad attitude, especially in front of the camera.

They hadn’t all gathered yet, so everyone could only wander around the house to check the environment where they would live for a week to shoot.

It was said that this episode also invited a flying guest3 who would arrive tomorrow.

Since the start of filming, Ji Wang had looked at the door several times. One person after the other entered, all of them well-known seniors. Why hadn’t Qi Boyan arrived yet?

Not because he missed him, but because he was afraid that being late to the first episode would leave a bad impression among the other variety show members.

Because it was a house offered by the local people, in order to cater to the shooting, they chose a single house with better conditions on the island. The three-story building had a large courtyard and the yard had a vegetable garden and a chicken coop.

Ji Wang lived in the countryside with his grandmother when he was a child, so he immediately knew he should go check the chickens and see if they had laid eggs. According to the poor nature of the program group, the subsequent game sessions would be more torture for the guests.

He didn’t know if they would be more generous because the older Zheng Qihong was in their team.

As soon as he went to the chicken coop, there really was a reward. There were a few eggs in the nest. Ji Wang was about to announce the good news when he heard a movement from the gate. Qi Boyan had arrived.

Unlike when other guests arrived, Qi Boyan was full of arrogance from the moment he got out of the car to entering the house.

Wearing big sunglasses and looking bright and neat, he looked very out of place stepping into this gray house.

Ji Wang silently looked at Qi Boyan, always feeling like this person was sent to the countryside to undergo reeducation4. This type of appearance simply invited a beating no matter how you looked at it.

Maybe Ji Wang was the only one who thought so, because the other guests gathered around and warmly greeted him. After Qi Boyan took off his sunglasses, he smiled apologetically and asked his assistant to send gifts to each teacher.

The assistant was not Li Feng, but a new face.

The program team was cautious and said to Qi Boyan, "Food can’t be gifted."

Qi Boyan glanced in surprise at the producer who spoke. "Who would give food?"

Then, for the entire rest of the day, Qi Boyan regretted this sentence.

The program team was not so cruel to Zheng Qihong and asked her to go to the town to learn how to hand-dye cloth with the villagers. All the others were sent to the fields for manual labor, digging lotus roots.

A basket of lotus roots could be exchanged for a bag of rice. If you could catch fish, it would be even better, your meat dishes were taken care of. A group of four people entered the field like dumplings, and after a while they labored until their faces were covered in mud.

Ji Wang didn’t care much. He even quickly and efficiently dug out lotus roots and threw them into the basket on his body. In any case, he found his place in the program group; he does what others can do, and he helps do what others cannot do.

During this period, Zhang Muxian and Duan Yinyu were talking like they were performing crosstalk5, digging lotus roots and finding joy in their sorrows. You talk and I respond, chatting non-stop.

Because it was interesting and funny, Ji Wang was like a spectator and he was happy to listen in.

Duan Yinyu fell while walking, his entire body sinking into the mud. His delicate face was all smeared and he screamed as if a fish had gotten into his clothes, saying, “My Duan Yinyu’s innocence is being destroyed in the hands of a fish today! Come and help! It’s going to get into my pants! Ah!!”

The scene was tragic and funny. Zhang Muxian almost fell over laughing, and Ji Wang couldn’t stop laughing until his stomach hurt. He stepped forward to dig Duan Yinyu out of the mud pit.

However, he underestimated Duan Yinyu’s strength while struggling and this pull directly brought himself in. Duan Yinyu had just gotten out of the mud with the help of his strength, but was pushed back by Ji Wang and almost died on the spot.

At this time, the fish flew out of Duan Yinyu’s clothes. As if the god of variety shows had descended, the fish tail arrogantly slapped Ji Wang several times in the face before returning to the lotus field with a thud.

Zhang Muxian directly supported himself on the field next to him and laughed so hard he couldn’t move. Ji Wang lifted Duan Yinyu and both angrily and laughingly said to Zhang Muxian, “Xian-ge, stop laughing, come and help!”

Finally, Zhang Muxian came over and the two of them worked together to dig Duan Yinyu out. The three of them leaned on the shore in a mess to rest.

Duan Yinyu said bitterly, "When I go back I'll change my fans' nicknames."

Ji Wang casually said, "What's your fans' nickname?"

Duan Yinyu spit a few mouthfuls of muddy spit out: "‘Fish meal’, I don't think it’s good, fish and I are incompatible. And my name is Yinyu. ‘Three years of college entrance exams, two years of internships’ are more suitable for them, they all need to study well for me!"

With such a fuss, the program team captured a lot of material. On the other hand, Qi Boyan, who went down the pond with them, dug further and further, like an awkward and lonely boy who didn't participate in the fun at all.

However, several cameras followed him in all directions, taking footage of the big celebrity doing manual labor.

Ji Wang casually glanced at him and was about to withdraw his gaze when in the corner of his eye he saw that Qi Boyan had fallen.

This man didn’t say a word and wanted to get up, but found that the lotus field was very viscous and it was difficult to apply force.

Moreover, the disgusting mud poured into Qi Boyan’s clothes, making the already slightly germophobic Qi Boyan almost choke.

There was a loud movement behind him, but Qi Boyan didn’t look back, trying to stand up again.

The visitor didn’t help him right away, but first sarcastically said, “It took so long to dig only so much?”

Ji Wang looked at Qi Boyan, who was quietly sitting in the field. In the end, he still reached out to help him take the basket off his back. He was about to dig Qi Boyan out of the mud when he felt the other’s arm avoid his touch, although it wasn’t obvious.

He looked at the cameramen who had been filming the entire time and gritted his teeth. He stretched his hand directly through Qi Boyan’s armpits, lifting the person like a child.

There was really no other way. Who ordered big celebrity Qi to only turn eight years old this year, awkward and childish.

’CP’ means ‘couple pairing’ or shipping people. ↑”C-position” means central position, or the lead position. ↑A temporary special guest who only appears on one episode rather than the entire season ↑During China’s cultural revolution, anti-intellectualism and class struggle resulted in many privileged urban youth being effectively exiled to the countryside to undergo “reeducation” and learn from working class farmers. You can learn more if you look up "Down to the Countryside Movement". ↑Crosstalk is a form of Chinese comedy that involves comedic dialogue between two people, using banter and puns ↑