First Kiss Diary - Chapter 40

That night, Ji Ning fell asleep again while daydreaming about the future with Song Yu.

Dreaming before sleep, dreaming while asleep, this day could be said to have a proper beginning and end.

The next day she got up a bit late, and by the time she arrived at the set, most people were already there. Zhuo Gong was still at his station doing hair and makeup.

Ji Ning had just sat down when she heard Jiang Sheng’s signature loud laughter echoing through the room.

She had already gotten used to this daily routine, but because it was lively over there, she couldn’t help but turn her head to take a look.

Before she could figure out what was going on, Zhuo Gong had already pushed his script toward her: « Scene partner? »

She was momentarily stunned, then nodded in agreement: « Sure. »

While flipping through the script, she could still hear Jiang Sheng talking over there, his pauses orderly and impassioned, like he was performing a crosstalk.

« Make it public, make it public immediately! Ji Shiyan’s new romance in the universe! »

A new romance?

Ji Ning couldn’t help but furrow his brows slightly when he heard Jiang Sheng continue to elaborate: « And his brand-new phone he bought less than three months ago—let’s give a round of applause to welcome the newcomer into the hall! »

Continuous laughter and applause followed, and during a brief pause, she heard Ji Shiyan’s voice coldly ring out.

Are you annoying or what?

You think I’m annoying? I’ve only been with you for a short while and you already find me annoying! » Jiang Sheng began to complain like a resentful wife, « I wonder how you don’t find the phone annoying?

Let’s leave it at that. Manager Jiang began vividly describing the events of last night: « As soon as work ended last night, I don’t know what he was looking at on his phone, but he just sat there smiling to himself. I went over, thinking I’d take a look, but hey, he wouldn’t show me. »

I thought maybe he was just smiling it off—who hasn’t seen some funny clips on the internet? But on the way back yesterday, he kept smiling the whole time? Let me demonstrate for you all. Back in the day, when Ji Shiyan faced the window, it looked like this—just like that, lips pressed down as if someone owed him millions… But Ji Shiyan yesterday and today looks like this…

Jiang Sheng slowly extended two fingers and pushed the corners of his lips upward.

Ji Ning was a bit curious and quietly stole a glance at Jiang Sheng’s expression and movements.

Amidst the crowd, it seemed as if their eyes happened to meet.

Before she could confirm, Zhuo Gong held up the script in front of her and said, « Isn’t that right? »

Only then did she remember she still had to rehearse the script. Ji Ning withdrew her gaze and said, « Let’s start, scene three. »

After going over the script a few times, the crew quickly began filming.

After filming two scenes, the crew moved to a new location. Some minor details needed to be reorganized, so the main actors didn’t have to shoot for the time being. Ji Ning then started going over the script again with Zhuo Gong.

This time, the scene was a bit more intimate, but not particularly affectionate. It was a moment where the two characters’ cheeks unintentionally came close while fighting over something, and when they realized it, they both froze and stared at each other in confusion—a common blurry moment in idol dramas.

Ji Ning ran through the previous lines and was preparing to roughly coordinate their movements with Zhuo Gong. While they were maintaining a safe distance and making eye contact, suddenly a hand came in from the middle and snapped its fingers.

Startled, she looked up and glanced to her left.

The man indifferently withdrew his fingers and nodded slightly, saying, « That’s right. »

Ji Ning was also a bit dazed by the sudden appearance, only reacting after two seconds, still confused: « Huh? »

Isn’t there a scene that gets interrupted later? » Ji Shiyan said seriously, « Remember the feeling just now, and act it out like that.

The intimate scene was indeed interrupted by the male and female leads’ friends in the end, so what he said didn’t seem wrong.

Ji Ning nodded thoughtfully, beginning to recall the feelings and expressions at the moment she was interrupted, pondering how to immerse herself in the scene more naturally.

She was busy scrutinizing the script, naturally overlooking the faint, triumphant glance at the corner of the man’s eyes and eyebrows as he turned toward Zhuo Gong.

///

Since « Stars » was nearing the end of filming, Ji Ning’s scenes were gradually dwindling; all the important parts had been completed, leaving only some minor, insignificant scenes, and her rest time had accordingly increased.

Of course, this was only relatively more breathing room for her; for Song Yu, her workload was still suffocating.

That day she had no plans, so she got up early to try on the qipao that T’s family had shipped from abroad. After recording all the measurements, the qipao still needed to be sent back for alterations.

Truly a renowned luxury brand, the qipao was exquisitely made, elegant and refined without being clichéd. Even the embroidery on the hems was flawless.

After trying on the qipao, she returned to the hotel at two in the afternoon. Ji Ning quickly weighed herself and recorded her weight, then saved all the measurements into her phone’s memo.

Song Yu, eating honey fries, asked her, « What are you doing? »

“The cheongsam was slightly adjusted according to my measurements today. I’ll wear it for promotion in a while. My figure can’t change too much, or it will affect the effect.”

Song Yu looked at Ji Ning, who had a strong sense of self-discipline, then glanced at her own fries, pinched the fat on her belly, and repented, “I won’t eat after finishing this pack.”

Ji Ning turned around: “Alright, I believe you.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and started reading the script as usual. Song Yu poked her over the blanket: “Are you taking another role again?”

The schedules of rising artists gradually fill up, and some popular artists have to be booked a year in advance.

Ji Ning could also take advantage of this period of popularity to accept more scripts, but in the end, she didn’t.

“Didn’t take any, just waiting and seeing.”

“I just saw some marketing accounts talking nonsense saying you’re going to take on ‘New Red Blood Jianghu’?”

« Red Blood Rivers and Lakes » is a classic TV drama from twenty years ago, and it can be considered the youth and spiritual support of a generation. Recently, ever since news broke about a remake, the internet has been filled with criticism.

In fact, remaking a classic is the most thankless task. The audience’s fixed impression remains with the original version; if you change the plot, they say it’s a reckless rewrite, and if you don’t change the plot, they say it’s just a copy of the original and not as good as the predecessor. In short, it’s very difficult for a remake to satisfy the audience. In the past five years, only one remake has had both good reputation and ratings.

Ji Ning naturally wouldn’t rush to join this hype.

They handed me a script before, but I didn’t accept it, » she said, « Just trying to gain fans.

It’s a common tactic.

Marketing accounts or the production side, in order to generate buzz, will tie some popular celebrities with the drama and release press statements. The fans of these celebrities will come to control the comments, and bystanders will also join the discussion. Naturally, the behind-the-scenes team can gain a large amount of attention this way, with low cost, so why not?

For example, the Weibo post mentioned by Song Yu asks—【 »The new drama ‘New Red Blood Jianghu’ is about to start filming. It’s said that the female lead will be chosen from among the young actresses including Ji Ning. Who would you be more willing to accept in the role? »】

The attached picture shows nine young leading actresses.

No need to think twice, the audience cannot accept it at all; this problem is meant for the actresses to take the blame.

Ji Ning didn’t even need to open it to know that all the comments below were “completely rejected.”

At this moment, Song Yu spoke up: “Everyone’s being criticized, but you’re okay. It seems like your casual fans have increased quite a bit.”

Ji Ning didn’t believe it, « Let me take a look. »

Indeed, many paths recognized her business capabilities—

【Forget about Sun He, even artificial AI can be nominated for acting; tomorrow my home’s floor-cleaning robot could be the male lead.】

【Zhao Yao? No no no no no, I still want to keep my eyes.】

【? If I really have to choose, then Ji Ning, her acting is passable.】

【If the female lead is set as Su Man, I will block everything related to this drama.】

【Ji Ning is okay, but what are the others? Just pouting and glaring, please don’t cast them as my fairy sister, I beg you!!】

【Is the third picture the girl who did the dubbing before? I think her dubbing is pretty good, her acting shouldn’t be bad either.】

So in the end, that comment thread turned into a large-scale fan recommendation event.

« Your fans are also tough and resilient; the fighting spirit of die-hard fans makes me, Song Yu, feel intimidated. » Song Yu bowed to Ji Ning.

Having gone through the previous storm of nationwide criticism, fans who were only mildly favorable to her had long left; those who remained were true die-hards, many of whom had been hardened into battle-ready fans by various hardships.

Everyone wants to protect the person they like; the deeper the sword stabs, the faster they charge forward. This is the essence of what it means to be a fan who endures hardship.

Of course, fans can’t endure being mistreated all the time; moderation is necessary, otherwise they will lose interest due to exhaustion.

Actually, recently Ji Ning also noticed that she has gained quite a few casual fans. Many Weibo posts no longer only have weak fan control comments; many casual viewers also speak up for her. All the accumulation from her step-by-step journey has finally not been in vain.

True sincerity will always be noticed by others.

By the time the « rumor debunking machine » account is gradually built up, she believes more people will see the truth and change their minds.

///

On a restful weekend, Ji Ning began recording « First Kiss Diary » again.

« Kiss Diary » took a path that many variety shows dare not take: filming and broadcasting immediately. However, a condensed version is also released weekly, featuring added behind-the-scenes footage and various mini-dramas.

With Ji Shiyan’s support, even after the summer break, the show’s viewership remains excellent.

Perhaps thinking that there hadn’t been any casual, everyday-style dates before, the production team this time set the date location at an orchard, letting them pick jujubes themselves.

Picking fruit was a novel experience for Ji Ning, so she held some anticipation for today’s content.

The orchard wasn’t extravagantly decorated, but it was fairly clean. As soon as the two entered, they saw some small baskets placed by the door, probably for holding fruit.

Ji Shiyan bent down and handed one to her. « Want one? »

Ji Ning shook her head. « I’m not picking a lot, just enough to carry. »

After saying that, the owner led her into the orchard. Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt that Ji Shiyan seemed to have chuckled behind her, with a magnetic nasal tone.

…Refuse him?

Ji Ning vaguely felt that nothing good was going to happen, and this thought quickly proved true.

Appearance-conscious Ji Ning had her eye on a jujube hanging very high. She jumped up and down, running in place for a long time but couldn’t reach it. The harder she tried, the more she wanted to grab it.

Just as she was about to make her tenth jump, someone pressed her head down. A man’s large hand held her hair down, his voice hovering above.

He pointed at her target: « This one? »

Ji Ning kept responding: « Mm mm mm. »

He raised his hand, pinched the jujube, and with the pad of his finger, effortlessly pushed it upwards, easily picking it off.

Ji Ning had already picked quite a few jujubes, her pockets were full, and just now she had even held a bunch with one hand.

Because Ji Shiyan came to help, she unconsciously switched the pile of jujubes in her hands to being held with both arms. Now trying to free one hand… was actually a bit difficult.

So she leaned forward a bit, signaling Ji Shiyan to put the jujubes into her arms.

The man raised his eyebrows slightly and placed the jujubes on top of her head.

……

First the oden box, then the jujubes—why does this guy always have it out for her head?

Ji Ning reached out to grab it, but the jujubes in her arms kept restlessly rolling down a few. She didn’t dare to act rashly and switch to one hand, so she could only helplessly hold them with both hands.

The man standing opposite just stood there watching her, seemingly finding it amusing, and even squinted his eyes.

“Don’t move around,” he said, “or be careful, or all of them will fall on your head.”

She was about to obediently agree, but then felt something was off—why was he taking control?

She felt like a pet being teased—like those videos where they put cookies on a cat or dog’s head to see how many they can stay still for.

What’s a jujube? It’s just a bit prettier, at worst it falls on the ground and you pick it up again.

Ji Ning lowered his head, ready to shake off the thing pressing down on him.

Without hesitation, the girl suddenly thrust her head forward, but instead of the expected rush of air and ease, she bumped into something… soft yet firm?

The man winced in pain, making a muffled « mm » sound, his husky groan whispering like a low murmur in her ear.

She instinctively stepped back and looked up at him.

The moment she saw the man’s palm covering his chest, she felt the temperature around her rapidly rise by eighty degrees, roasting her thoroughly from the inside out.

Had she just bumped into his… pectoral muscles?

The sexy poster images he had seen before kept flashing by like a carousel, and Ji Ning felt that if he were a kettle, he would be boiling so hard right now that the lid would have been blown off.

She felt she should be in the right, after all, he was the one who came over first, but no matter what, she couldn’t raise her voice. She asked him, « Does it hurt? »

The man laughed, « What do you think? »

Then she heard his voice still smiling, « I came to help you get something and you bumped into me, do you have a problem with me? »

She wanted to say something, but didn’t know exactly what she should say.

The orchard owner happened to be walking over from a distance at that moment: « What’s going on? I just heard some noise inside from outside. »

Seeing them holding a bunch of jujubes, the owner exclaimed in surprise, « Why are you holding them all in your arms? Eat them, my jujubes are very sweet. »

Ji Ning and the owner exchanged a glance, and the owner gave her a reassuring look: « It’s fine, no need to wash, you can eat them directly. »

Since the owner had said this much and even demonstrated it, Ji Ning put her jujubes into Ji Shiyan’s basket and ate a few.

It was indeed very sweet.

She originally thought she was fine, but unexpectedly, her stomach protested as they left the orchard.

On the way to the next destination, she began to experience severe abdominal pain.

Ji Shiyan, sitting beside her, was the first to notice something was wrong and pressed his fingers against her forehead: « Stomachache? »

She was in so much pain that she only had the strength to nod.

Probably because her stomach was more delicate, she started feeling unwell after eating unwashed jujubes.

So the filming was urgently stopped, and Ji Shiyan took her to a private hospital run by his friend nearby.

When they got out of the car, Ji Ning felt the abdominal pain ease a little, but the man’s brows were still tightly furrowed, tense as if a dark cloud was pressing down on the city.

Then he directly called an emergency for her.

No problem, it’s not food poisoning, and she didn’t have a stomach upset.

Ten minutes later, the ace attending physician Shen Xi sitting opposite frowned deeply, clearly showing the emotion of « Is this little matter really worth calling me here urgently? »

Ji Shiyan also said, « What is that? She was sweating from the pain just now. »

Shen Xi glanced at Ji Ning, then at Ji Shiyan, and announced without expression, « It should be that her period is about to start. »

……

Ji Shiyan’s fingers resting on the edge of the table paused for a moment, and Ji Ning blinked, saying nothing.

It really seemed like the cramps that come just before her period… Usually, a week before her period, her stomach would send this kind of signal, hinting for her to get ready.

Only today it was a bit too painful, and combined with having just eaten unwashed jujubes, it caused the confusion.

So, what’s the situation now?

The man called off the show recording, went through all the trouble to rush to a private hospital and get a VVIP emergency specialist appointment, pulling the best doctor in the entire hospital who had already finished work out of their room, only to find out she was just about to have her period?

Pretty impressive, looking at the entertainment industry, she’s the only idol whose fans have heard about her menstrual cycle.

…But it doesn’t seem like something to be proud of either.

Ji Ning shamefully tugged at her medical record book, said thank you, and ran to the corridor to catch her breath.

She covered her eyes, not daring to look at Ji Shiyan’s expression who had followed her out.

The man’s voice was as calm as ever: “I…”

Before he could finish speaking, another tall man ran over from not far away. The man waved at him and smiled, saying, “What brings you to visit me here today?”

It looked like friends who hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

Ji Ning didn’t disturb their reunion, glanced at a nearby lounge, and slipped in to sit for a while.

Inside, there were nurses preparing to finish their shifts. Seeing her come in, each of them was extremely surprised, but since they had all received professional training before entering the hospital, they could only calmly smile and say, « Hello, is there something we can help you with? »

Can I sit here for a while?

Of course, » the nurse pulled a stool over to her, « Is there anything else I can help with?

Ji Ning thought for a moment, « Is there any warm water? »

I’ll check for you.

Mm, thank you.

While waiting, she turned her head to look outside. This place happened to connect with another department, and she saw Ji Shiyan and the man from earlier standing together, chatting and laughing. It seemed they were talking about something, and Ji Shiyan had even put on a white coat.

The man’s figure was already stunning, with long arms, long legs, and square shoulders. Now wearing the white coat, it added a sacred aura to his entire presence.

She really had a good eye.

As Ji Ning praised herself, she also felt a bit of dryness in her throat.

The nurse walked over at this moment: « Sorry, we’re out of warm water, but we have warm drinks. Is that okay? »

That’s fine.

She took it, tilted her head to glance at the packaging, which was all in Korean and she didn’t understand, so she just opened it and drank it directly.

The drink tasted pretty good, just a little spicy. After she finished, the nurse brought her another bottle, and out of respect, she drank that one too.

When Ji Shiyan entered the room, Ji Ning was already lying face down on the table with her cheeks flushed.

Ji Shiyan stared silently at the matching white coat she was wearing for a few seconds: « Why are you wearing this too? »

Cold… ah, » she let out a small hiccup and said, « The air conditioning is on full blast, and I have… little clothing.

The man was stunned for a full five seconds, then looked up after smelling the scent: « She drank alcohol? »

The nurses started chattering.

She asked me for warm water, I said there was no water but there were drinks, so I gave her this. Is this alcohol?

Yes! This is the alcohol I left there to brew!

Who drinks alcohol warm? How was I supposed to guess!

Is it wrong for me to take care of my health… that’s not the point. The point is, this alcohol isn’t strong. Did she really get drunk? This is a flavored alcoholic drink with very little alcohol.

The man picked up the can and glanced at it, « It’s strong for her. »

For someone with such a low tolerance, drinking two cans of flavored alcohol is enough to get drunk.

Ji Shiyan touched the corner of Ji Ning’s eye and asked her, « Where is the assistant? »

Nono? » She looked up in confusion. « She’s not here. She’s not here today; she went to help me order custom shoes.

……

Then where are you going?

Ji Ning stared at him, her mind foggy and unclear, not really sure herself: « What do you think? »

……

In the end, she was carried home by Ji Shiyan.

Fortunately, she was lucky; he had an apartment nearby and had stayed there a few times before, which was relatively clean.

The girl had already dozed off in a daze when he carried her upstairs. Half asleep and half awake, her cheek was tapped twice. She opened her eyes and heard her idol in front of her ask, « Do you want to wash your face before sleeping? »

Ji Ning squinted and looked around; everything was either white or gray, vaguely feeling like she was still in the hospital.

She stared at the person in front of her, feeling something on her neck. She raised her hand to touch it and found a stethoscope there, not knowing how it got around her neck.

The girl licked the corner of her lips, an idea forming in her mind. She raised a harmless smile and asked him, « Do you want to play cosplay? »

Ji Shiyan, leaning on the edge of the sofa, fell into an indescribable silence.

11 p.m., two people, the young girl wrapped in a white coat, asked him if he wanted to play cosy?

…???

Ji Shiyan grabbed her wrist: « Calm down. »

I’m very calm, am I not calm enough? » She tried to break free, « I just want to be cosy, can’t I be cosy??

He began trying to stop her, but didn’t dare to use much force, afraid of hurting her or breaking her.

She leisurely played along with him, while a layer of restrained sweat appeared on the tip of his nose.

After a few minutes of wits and tactics with her, when the cold stethoscope was pressed against his neck, the man finally realized something.

……

………

Oh, she meant playing doctor and patient role-play, right?

……………

Ji Shiyan felt a deep sense of guilt toward his own imagination and mental fabrication.

He let out a long sigh, preparing to cooperate and let her go wash her face, but the next second, the little girl pressed the stethoscope against the right side of his chest, her other hand also pressing and searching around, exclaiming in shock, « Where is your heart? Your heartbeat? Your heartbeat is gone?! »

She stared at him in shock: « …You’re dead? »

……

« Don’t touch randomly. » Ji Shiyan held her restless hand, his low voice sounding like a warning, then slowly pressed against her wrist, switching the stethoscope to the other side.

He looked into her eyes: « My heart is here. »

By her ear, the stethoscope delivered beats one after another, rapidly tapping her eardrum——

Thump, thump thump, thump thump.