The Supporting Male Characters Who Died Alone All Those Years Later

The joy of collecting eggs was unparalleled!

Fang Nanxing, with her eyes scanning the surroundings, walked through the grass and spotted several white eggs among the green foliage. She immediately broke into a smile, carefully picked them up, and placed them gently into her basket.

Especially when she found a nest of eggs under an orange tree; ten eggs in total! Fang Nanxing gasped in surprise, ran over from a distance, and frantically collected the eggs!

Please call me the little girl collecting eggs!

He Dongchen followed behind, observing the surroundings and picking up any missed eggs. Since the hillside had been converted into terraced fields, they had to follow an S-shaped route, starting from the base of the mountain and climbing up, step by step.

Sometimes, after climbing to a higher level, the view would widen, revealing that there were still eggs left to be collected on the lower levels. At these times, He Dongchen would have to climb down to collect the eggs and then climb back up with his long arms and legs.

For example, right now, after Fang Nanxing finished collecting the ten eggs from that nest, she looked back and saw that He Dongchen was no longer in sight. She glanced around and realized he had gone down to collect missed eggs, and he was quite far below, two or three levels down.

As she was about to say something, her eyes suddenly caught sight of a creature with patterns, slowly crawling past her feet. Fang Nanxing’s scalp instantly went numb, her face turned pale. After a moment of hesitation, she suddenly summoned her strength, grabbed the full basket of eggs, and leaped forward. With nearly a step per level, she soared over three levels and landed right in front of He Dongchen

Everyone was stunned by this unexpected scene, their mouths agape in astonishment.

Especially the man carrying the camera, who instinctively filmed the scene without noticing the snake at his feet.

“Snake!” Fang Nanxing only remembered to shout the warning when she landed on the same level as He Dongchen. Her body, propelled by inertia, was about to crash into the orange tree on the next level. Fang Nanxing instinctively protected her face and the basket of eggs.

Just as she braced for the impact, she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist, followed by a spinning sensation, and then her body stabilized once more.

Fang Nanxing blinked, looking at He Dongchen, who was supporting her, and was about to say something when a loud shout caught her attention. The cameraman, carrying his camera, mimicked Fang Nanxing’s exaggerated movements, leaping several times towards them.

The two-hundred-pound man came rushing at them like a mountain, his enormous shadow arriving first and enveloping them.

Everyone averted their eyes, nearly visualizing the collision of the three, with people and eggs scattered everywhere.

Fang Nanxing swallowed hard and instinctively protected the eggs.

He Dongchen sighed, pushed Fang Nanxing a couple of steps to the side, and then reached out to stop the cameraman, who was continuing his descent. Due to his weight, the two of them took a few steps forward, barely managing to stop at the edge, disturbing quite a bit of loose soil.

The cameraman, still holding the camera, looked extremely grateful. Before he could speak, the ground beneath him gave way, and he fell with a cry to the lower level, still clutching his precious equipment.

At that moment, He Dongchen quickly avoided the falling debris, stood firmly on solid ground, and shrugged his shoulders, signaling that he had done his best.

Only then did the crew react; some helped the injured, while others dealt with the snake. A few crew members who weren’t afraid of snakes went over to investigate and found it was a harmless rat snake. They promptly picked it up and threw it to the very bottom of the hill, ensuring it would have a hard time climbing back up.

Moreover, snakes generally prefer to move downward.

***

With the danger averted, Fang Nanxing let out a deep breath. Snakes, being cold, slippery, and elusive, were quite terrifying.

She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, her legs still trembling.

Seeing this, He Dongchen suggested taking a break. The group moved to a makeshift campsite outside the chicken farm. The director, having just arrived from checking on other guests, noticed the anxious faces and immediately inquired, “What happened?”

“It’s nothing, just a snake,” Fang Nanxing replied, feeling embarrassed and as though she had overreacted and delayed the filming.

Once the director understood the situation, he quickly reassured them, “It’s alright, safety is the most important thing.”

He noted that it was the production team’s fault for not thoroughly checking the location, allowing a snake to slip through, but thankfully it was a non-venomous rat snake.

The director reviewed the footage and was puzzled, looking incredulously at Fang Nanxing and the cameraman. He wondered how much fear was needed to push humans to such extremes.

A one-meter high, two-meter wide ladder, with each step captured on video, looked almost like a display of extraordinary agility.

The director was somewhat excited, seeing it as a highlight that would surely go viral, especially with He Dongchen’s heroic rescue of the two people, showcasing impressive boyfriend skills.

Though the director was pleased, he tried to hide his excitement, managing a strange expression as he advised everyone to rest and organized a few crew members, equipped to check the mountain again for any remaining snakes or other oddities.

As He Dongchen and Fang Nanxing rested on chairs, a popular young celebrity arrived to offer comfort. Upon hearing about Fang Nanxing’s daring feats, he incessantly questioned her, causing Fang Nanxing to roll her eyes in exasperation.

Other guests gradually came over to offer their condolences, including Bei Er. With an opportunity to see the “salted fish” in action, of course, he couldn’t miss it.

Seeing that it was noon and the weather was getting hotter, the director decided to let everyone rest for two hours before resuming filming in the afternoon.

Since they were in the countryside and couldn’t order takeout, lunch was prepared by the production team. After eating, everyone went back to rest, and filming resumed at 2 in the afternoon.

Before entering the chicken farm, Fang Nanxing took a few deep breaths, then held her head high and walked in confidently. The cameraman, who had also been frightened by the snake in the morning, had already taken a leave. After all, while guests could be vigilant and cautious, the cameramen had to stay focused on their lenses and might accidentally step on something.

Noticing Fang Nanxing’s pale face and fearful eyes, He Dongchen said, “You stay behind me, don’t rush ahead.”

Fang Nanxing hesitated a bit, saying, “Then it won’t be as fun.”

Collecting eggs was most exciting at the moment of discovery, much like picking mushrooms.

He Dongchen smiled and said, “Safety is important; don’t put yourself in a difficult position.”

Seeing the amusement in his eyes made Fang Nanxing’s face flush slightly. She nodded and followed him closely.

Even in a large chicken farm, there was a point when all the eggs were collected.

***

By 4 o’clock, they had finished, returned to the villa, and waited for the other guests to come back for the scenes of cooking and eating.

“What kind of egg dish are you planning to make?”

The two of them were now lying under the grapevine in the courtyard, enjoying cold drinks and feeling relaxed. Sunlight filtered through the layers of grape leaves, casting a dappled glow on them, creating a beautiful scene.

Fang Nanxing placed her cup on the nearby wicker table, looked up at the green grapes above, and thought of He Dongchen, who was always calm and composed. An idea struck her, and she smiled broadly, saying, “How about scrambled eggs with grapes?”

He Dongchen’s expression turned subtle, and he couldn’t help but cringe, looking at her seriously. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Seeing his reaction, Fang Nanxing burst into laughter, realizing that even the acclaimed actor had moments of being unsettled!

Suddenly, he spoke in a low voice, “How about scrambled eggs with snake meat?”

“You’re crazy!” Fang Nanxing, who had been slightly smug, jumped up from her chair, her skin crawling with goosebumps. She couldn’t help but hop in place.

He Dongchen’s eyes were filled with amusement.

The system scoffed, [Still trying to tease the big shot? Your skills are too shallow.]

Brother Liu, observing from a distance, looked up at the sky in speechless resignation. This approach was unlikely to attract any girl’s interest.

Scrambled eggs with snake meat; tsk, tsk. He quickly shivered at the thought.

That evening, at the full-egg feast, He Dongchen prepared a standard ham and scrambled eggs, with no snake meat involved. Fang Nanxing, on the other hand, put some effort into making sweet and sour tiger skin eggs.

(T/N: Tiger skin egg = a popular Chinese dish where hard-boiled eggs are fried until the outer surface becomes crispy and resembles the tiger skin.)

Since egg dishes were relatively common and simple, Bei Er’s bowl of steamed egg wasn’t out of place.

After the full-egg feast and filming were complete, the young celebrity bade everyone farewell and hurried off to attend another appointment. The others also left in a hurry, one after another.

***

A few days later, when the episode aired, the segment where Fang Nanxing was startled by the snake undoubtedly sparked a lot of discussion. Many viewers expressed, [I’ve had a similar experience!]

People run ahead while their souls lag behind.

Fang Nanxing had even remembered to protect the eggs while running, which was truly professional.

Later, He Dongchen’s heroic rescue of the damsel was shown, and the production team had deliberately added pink bubbles and romantic background music. Just as the audience’s hearts were starting to flutter, the scene shifted, and He Dongchen continued his heroics, rescuing the heavy cameraman.

[Hahaha, what is this nonsense! Even a scriptwriter wouldn’t dare to write this!]

[Look at the cameraman’s terrified face. He even protected the camera while falling.]

[It’s probably because the camera is so expensive…]

[Hahaha, the humble worker; so pitifully touching.]

In this episode, everyone had their moments of glory, except for Bei Er, who remained a constant background figure with a face like any passerby, garnering no discussion.

Bei Er’s manager was already scouting for new talent, and Bei Er herself was enjoying his time, watching drama and eating melon seeds. Once, she forgot to switch accounts and used her main account to like a post criticizing a certain actress’s acting skills, leading to a storm of backlash from her fans, who dredged up years of dirt on her.

Bei Er was momentarily stunned but then calmly switched to his secondary account and continued enjoying gossip with gusto.

***

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of Qincheng Entertainment, Fu Wenyu was reviewing lists and selecting suitable artists.

Compared to those who were already successful and difficult to manage, Fu Wenyu preferred to handpick and nurture a small-time artist from scratch, building them up to a high status. It was much more challenging.

“This one seems promising,” Fu Wenyu said as he looked at the profile of an artist named Bei Er; an internet celebrity with a low educational background, problematic family, and a notorious reputation. It was indeed a challenge, and most importantly, in the picture, Fu Wenyu saw the artist’s ambition and drive to rise up, almost bursting out of the screen.

He curved his lips into a smile and made a call to someone.

“Bei Er, huh? She was quite ambitious before, but recently she participated in a variety show and her performance was lackluster. She appeared completely unenthusiastic. I’ve received multiple complaints from the production team.”

Fu Wenyu frowned, glancing again at the ambitious and beautiful face in the picture. He found it hard to believe that such a person would suddenly change their temperament.

He tapped the table thoughtfully, as if a realization struck him. His eyes narrowed slightly with excitement as he said, “Has she redefined her persona?”