ABOES 59: Call An Ambulance

Noticing that Xu Li wasn’t pushing him away, Ning Chu grew even bolder.

Kissing and sucking one after another.

No matter what he did, Xu Li remained frozen, motionless.

No reaction, no response. Like a lifeless block of wood.

The joy Ning Chu had just felt was quickly replaced by bitterness. He slowly pulled away, tears slipping silently from his eyes.

He shook his head slightly, vision blurred.

“Cut!” Li Chao suddenly stood up from behind the monitor and called out, “Got it! That’s a wrap!”

Duan Zhiyan lowered his gaze slightly, taking a quiet breath. He quickly withdrew from the scene and looked up at Chi Yunxing.

Chi Yunxing’s eyes were red, his lips glistening, though he didn’t seem to notice. His tears still fell unconsciously.

Duan Zhiyan stepped forward first and asked gently, “Are you okay?”

Chi Yunxing stared blankly, not quite understanding the question.

Liu Ran had been waiting nearby. He hurried over and handed Chi Yunxing a tissue.

Seeing the tissue brought him back to reality—he was acting.

The scene was over. He wasn’t Ning Chu anymore.

Chi Yunxing took a deep breath, accepted the tissue, and thanked Liu Ran with a hoarse voice.

He wiped his face clumsily.

Duan Zhiyan watched for a moment, then pulled a fresh wet wipe from Liu Ran’s hand and said softly, “Look up.”

Chi Yunxing looked up in confusion, meeting Duan Zhiyan’s dark, inky eyes. His heart skipped a beat.

Duan Zhiyan’s gaze lingered on his eyes for a second before shifting. He gently dabbed the tears from the corners of Chi Yunxing’s eyes.

Then he took a clean tissue and wiped a small, barely noticeable patch of moisture from the corner of Chi Yunxing’s lips.

Chi Yunxing had still been dazed, but that last gesture snapped him back. It reminded him, those lips had just kissed Duan Zhiyan’s…

His face flushed red in an instant.

Flustered, he lowered his head and wiped his mouth with his own hand. “I—I’ll do it myself.”

Duan Zhiyan hadn’t thought much of it until he saw Chi Yunxing’s reaction. Only then did he realize that his gesture might have been a little too intimate.

“I—”

“It’s fine,” Chi Yunxing cut him off quickly. “We were just acting!”

Duan Zhiyan chuckled softly and nodded. “Mm, so don’t feel awkward.”

He almost reached out to ruffle Chi Yunxing’s hair again, but after a moment’s hesitation, he held back.

Forget it, he didn’t want to make Yunxing even more uncomfortable.

So he changed the subject. “Want to go watch the playback?”

Chi Yunxing had never seen raw footage before and got curious. “We can?”

“Of course,” Duan Zhiyan said.

He led Chi Yunxing to the monitor. The assistant director saw them coming and made room.

Li Chao was watching the playback and lit up when he saw them. “Perfect timing! Come, take a look!”

Chi Yunxing had seen himself on camera before, but only as himself. This was his first time seeing himself act.

The person on screen was him, but also not him.

More precisely—it was Ning Chu, played by Chi Yunxing.

He watched himself on screen carefully hiding his feelings, fingers brushing Duan Zhiyan’s furrowed brow.

Then came the argument. The audio had background noise, not quite like the polished dramas he’d seen, but it was interesting.

Then he saw himself walking closer and closer to Duan Zhiyan. His lips pressed against Duan Zhiyan’s.

Chi Yunxing’s ears burned.

He raised his hand, trying to hide them, and glanced stealthily at Duan Zhiyan and Li Chao.

Neither of them seemed to be watching him, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He took another breath and turned back to the screen—not realizing that, the moment he looked away, Duan Zhiyan had glanced over.

Noticing the red tip of Chi Yunxing’s ear between his fingers, Duan Zhiyan’s lips curved faintly.

When the video ended, Li Chao couldn’t help but exclaim, “That was perfect! Exactly what I imagined!”

He turned to Chi Yunxing. “Teacher Chi, you were amazing! I can’t believe this was your first time acting!”

Chi Yunxing felt a little embarrassed and finally lowered his hands from his ears. “Really?”

“Of course!” Li Chao said. “Would I lie?”

He went on praising Chi Yunxing enthusiastically until the poor actor’s face was completely red.

Finally, Duan Zhiyan cut in. “Any more scenes today?”

Li Chao stopped and replied, “Nope! First day’s meant to be light and help everyone ease into the role. That’s it for today. Teacher Duan, Teacher Chi, go get some rest!”

After removing makeup and changing clothes, Chi Yunxing sat dazed in the van.

Xie Yi had napped in the van all afternoon. Now awake, she noticed his expression. “What’s wrong? Didn’t go well today?”

Before Chi Yunxing could answer, Liu Ran turned back from the front seat. “What do you mean? Chi Ge nailed it today! Only NG’d twice!”

Chi Yunxing flushed. “Two NGs isn’t ‘nailed it’!”

Liu Ran grinned. “Still great! I was right there, Director Li couldn’t stop praising you.”

Hearing that, Xie Yi’s smile grew even wider. Her eyes sparkled with pride.

She knew it. Chi Yunxing belonged in front of the camera.

Back home, Chi Yunxing showered. It was only around 6 PM, and he was debating whether to visit Grandma in the hospital when a message from Tan Yao popped up.

She asked if filming had wrapped.

Chi Yunxing smiled and video called her.

She answered quickly, and from the background, he could tell she wasn’t at home. “Mom, are you at work?”

Tan Yao nodded with a smile. “Yeah, something came up at the office today, so I stayed behind.”

Chi Yunxing knew her job well. The Chi family’s company was huge. Chi Ling handled overseas affairs, while domestic operations were mostly on Tan Yao.

He didn’t know much about the company’s specifics, so he didn’t ask.

“You’re off so early today?” she asked, surprised.

Chi Yunxing smiled. “It’s our first official day, so the director only scheduled a few scenes. We wrapped up early.”

She asked casually, “Oh? What did you film?”

That moist kiss immediately popped into his mind. His smile froze, and his back stiffened.

Tan Yao noticed the pause. “Yunxing?”

Heat rushed up his body to his face. He fanned himself awkwardly and stammered, “Just… scenes from college life. I—I don’t really know how to describe it.”

Tan Yao realized her question might’ve made things awkward and quickly said, “It’s fine! I was just asking casually, you don’t need to explain everything.”

Chi Yunxing relaxed a little.

But before he could fully exhale, Tan Yao added, “I’ll just watch the drama when it airs.”

Chi Yunxing: “…”

He really wanted to ask her not to. But after debating with himself, he swallowed the words.

Luckily, Tan Yao didn’t linger on that and switched topics. “Oh, Yunxing, I saw today’s trending searches and your photo with Zhiyan.”

She had seen all the trending posts from last night and today. She’d been a little upset at first, but seeing that Chi Xiwen had handled things well and that Duan Zhiyan had joined the cast, she relaxed.

She even messaged Duan Zhiyan to thank him.

It helped to have someone familiar on set to look after Yunxing.

“That photo’s beautiful. I was thinking, once Grandma’s out of the hospital, we should take a family portrait. What do you think?”

“Of course,” Chi Yunxing nodded. “Actually, I was thinking of visiting Grandma today.”

Tan Yao checked the time and shook her head. “It’s already late. If you go now, you’ll get back around midnight. You’ve got filming early tomorrow.”

Chi Yunxing knew she was looking out for him and didn’t insist.

He just promised to visit the hospital in the next couple of days, even if he had to take leave.

Tan Yao laughed and chatted with him a bit more. Just before ending the call, she suddenly asked, “Oh right. Yunxing, are you and Zhiyan playing a couple in the drama?”

She had seen the trending comments filled with things like “I’m obsessed” and “I’m inlove with this CP.”

Tan Yao wasn’t a fangirl, but since Chi Xiwen ran an entertainment company, she understood the lingo.

Chi Yunxing almost choked. He coughed twice and answered awkwardly, “You… you already know?”

She grinned. “I just think you and Zhiyan make a much better pair than that Xiang-something guy. It makes me feel a lot better.”

Chi Yunxing understood what she meant and agreed. “Yeah, Zhiyan Ge takes really good care of me.”

“Good,” she said. “And if he doesn’t, call Aunt Yu. She’ll show up on set in five minutes.”

Chi Yunxing couldn’t help but laugh.

Tan Yao giggled too.

After they hung up, Chi Yunxing was still smiling.

Then he remembered her mention of the trending topics and opened Weibo.

He hadn’t really checked all day, he’d been too anxious about the kiss scene.

Now he saw that Xie Yi had already shared the drama’s official post. For the entire afternoon, the hashtag #DuanZhiyanXuLi hadn’t dropped off the trending list. Keywords related to Secret Crush were still on the chart.

Xie Yi hadn’t bought any trending spots for him at his own request, so his name only briefly trended before fading.

But in that short time, he’d gained over 100,000 followers.

Under his latest post, comments were pouring in.

【This CP is killing me!】

【Compared to Xiang Che yesterday, that was so awkward! Xingxing and Movie Emperor Duan are the perfect pair!】

【As a book fan, I approve!】

【Why didn’t you kiss all the way?!】

Chi Yunxing’s face burned hotter the more he read.

He’d expected something like this but not this fast.

Chi Xiwen hadn’t expected it either.

When the official posters dropped, he knew trouble was brewing.

Sure enough, after some initial shock, fans and netizens were all drawn to that final still.

【They look perfect together!】

【OMG, I felt that in my bones!】

【Mom, I want to see them doi.】

…

The comments were endless. Chi Xiwen’s frown deepened.

He’d already had PR redirect the discussion, but the netizens kept circling back to the “CP chemistry.”

The Chi Yunxing × Duan Zhiyan ship was gaining more attention than the actual leads.

He was furious.

Once filming ended, he called immediately. “Didn’t you promise not to hype a CP? What is this now?”

Duan Zhiyan sounded tired. “Can’t you tell we didn’t push it? Did my team step in?”

Chi Xiwen fell silent.

After a pause, he grumbled, “Then what about that last photo?”

“The photographer asked for it,” Duan Zhiyan replied calmly. “The production team posted it. I just shared it to cooperate. Did I mention the CP at all?”

…He really hadn’t.

Duan Zhiyan’s repost was just four words: I’m honored.

Chi Xiwen tried to nitpick, but found nothing he could pin on him.

He was furious. “I don’t care! You promised me you wouldn’t hype a CP with Yunxing! So what now?”

Duan Zhiyan frowned, then gave up arguing. “You’re being unreasonable,” he said and hung up.

Then he blocked Chi Xiwen.

Acting like a kid, honestly.

When Chi Xiwen realized he’d been blocked, he fumed for a while.

Eventually, when the buzz died down, he let it go.

Meanwhile, Chi Yunxing gradually got used to life on set.

Since school started in September, Li Chao scheduled all of his and Duan Zhiyan’s scenes in August, pushing the leads’ scenes back.

Nearly half a month into filming, Chi Yunxing had gotten into the rhythm.

It helped that Li Chao hadn’t scheduled any kiss scenes after the first day.

He said that Ning Chu and Xu Li’s kisses were few but important, so he wanted to film them all at once later, rather than making the actors search for the right mood every time.

When Chi Yunxing found out, he had mixed feelings.

He couldn’t help thinking, Kissing Duan Zhiyan several days in a row… maybe it would’ve been better to space them out.

But he kept that thought to himself.

That morning, it started pouring heavily just as Chi Yunxing arrived on set.

Even with the bad weather, the crew kept working hard because today was a key scene, when Ning Chu and Xu Li finally confirmed their relationship.

After Ning Chu’s desperate kiss, Xu Li had started avoiding him.

He would leave the dorm before Ning Chu woke up, and return only before lights-out.

Their relationship was at a standstill.

Ning Chu couldn’t sleep for nights on end.

He regretted it—regretted the kiss, regretted revealing their fragile connection.

But there was no undoing it.

Even in pain, he could only move forward.

On graduation day, diploma in hand, Ning Chu made a decision.

He told no one and quietly bought a ticket to another city. It rained hard that day, with strong winds.

He vanished into the rain.

On the train, he texted Wu Xiao: [I left.]

When, where—he didn’t say.

Wu Xiao panicked, and only then did she realize how much had happened between Ning Chu and Xu Li.

She found Xu Li and told him.

He froze.

He’d been avoiding Ning Chu, not out of hate, but because he hadn’t sorted his feelings.

He didn’t know how to face such overwhelming love, or what to do with their relationship.

The more he tried to “handle it,” the more he couldn’t.

So he ran away.

But he never expected Ning Chu to leave.

Panicked, Xu Li dashed into the storm alone.

He realized: whether or not it was love, he didn’t want to lose Ning Chu.

Just the thought of never seeing him again made his chest ache unbearably.

…

Chi Yunxing remembered this part of the script and thought the rain would be artificial.

He hadn’t expected Li Chao to wait two weeks for the real thing.

Looking at the stormy sky, Chi Yunxing felt uneasy.

This scene didn’t involve him much, but… wouldn’t Duan Zhiyan get sick in this weather?

He got up and knocked on Duan Zhiyan’s door.

Duan Zhiyan thought he had questions. “What’s wrong? Not ready for the scene?”

Chi Yunxing shook his head quickly. “No, I just wanted to check in.”

Duan Zhiyan’s gaze darkened slightly, but he smiled. “Checking if I’m ready?”

Chi Yunxing was used to his teasing by now. “No, I just think the rain’s too heavy…”

And cold. They’d turned off the AC, but he was already chilly in a thin T-shirt.

Duan Zhiyan looked out at the sky. “Don’t worry. If I get it in one take, I won’t be out there long.”

Chi Yunxing thought for a second. “I have cold medicine. Want some before you shoot?”

Duan Zhiyan hesitated, then nodded. “Sure.”

“I’ll get it now.” Chi Yunxing beamed and left quickly.

After he was gone, He You asked, “Should I call the doctor ahead?”

Duan Zhiyan hesitated. “It should be fine. I’ve been doing okay. Don’t say anything, you’ll scare Yunxing.”

Before He You could say more, Chi Yunxing returned with the medicine. He swallowed his words and stepped out to call someone anyway. It’s better safe than sorry.

Inside, Chi Yunxing watched him drink the medicine and finally felt relieved.

Yet he hadn’t expected it to be useless.

…

As filming began, Chi Yunxing sat beside Li Chao to observe.

Li Chao shouted “Action!”

Jiang Jin burst into the dorm, soaked. “Xu Li—something’s wrong!”

Xu Li was already suspicious, but when he heard that, he stood. “What?”

“Ning Chu… he’s gone.”

Xu Li’s face fell. “What? Where? When? Did he go home?”

Jiang Jin shook his head. “No idea. He just texted Wu Xiao from the train station. He didn’t say anything else—hey! Xu Li!”

But Xu Li didn’t hear a word. He just grabbed his phone and ran.

Their dorm was on the sixth floor. Ning Chu had always been the first up, buying breakfast for everyone, all year round.

Xu Li had asked Ning Chu before, “Don’t you ever get tired?”

Ning Chu smiled. “No.”

Why did he always do it?

He hadn’t answered, he just looked at him.

Back then, Xu Li didn’t understand.

Now he did.

Ning Chu only wanted an excuse to bring breakfast for Xu Li—one that no one would question.

…

Xu Li ran fast, his eyes stinging.

Rain pounded harder. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed as he turned pale.

Chi Yunxing’s chest tightened.

Rain soaked Xu Li’s clothes and lashes, like a stream of tears.

Suddenly, Xu Li realized. He couldn’t catch up.

Ning Chu was already gone.

The realization shook him.

He staggered—then collapsed.

Chi Yunxing frowned sharply.

He noticed Duan Zhiyan trembling harder and harder.

He was sitting on the cold ground, eyes bloodshot. His mouth opened but no sound came.

He wasn’t speaking. He was gasping for air.

Duan Zhiyan couldn’t breathe!

Chi Yunxing jumped up and ran into the storm, yelling to Liu Ran, “Call an ambulance! Hurry!”

Thunder cracked again, and the set plunged into chaos.