Chapter 24 : Shen Dou Dou, A Self-Proclaimed Fujoshi

Three days went by too quickly. Shen Jingwei barely spent enough time with his family before he received a call from Zhu Dongyi, who reminded him of his upcoming trip to the next shooting location.

Shen Dou Dou, who helped Shen Jingwei pack up, took care to sneak in several copies of "Dance Of The Dragons" among the souvenirs and local treats Shen Jingwei planned to distribute among the crew and cast members.

"Dou Dou, what are these?"

Shen Jingwei lifted the stack of books with one hand.

"I told you about it. Please ask Author Lu Shui to sign them all. Thank you, Big Brother!" The girl snatched the books off Shen Jingwei's hand and stuck them into the latter's suitcase again.

"Why are there seven books?" Shen Jingwei asked wearily. "And they are all of volume 1!"

It would have made more sense if Shen Dou Dou wanted to have all volumes in her collection signed.

The girl grinned at him.

"Big Brother, promise you won't get mad?"

"... No."

"Anyway, we have a reading club in the college, consisting of me and six other girls. When I told them about you coming home, they all begged me for this favor. Big Brother, you won't say no, will you?"

"Why would they ask you this favor just because I was coming home? What else have you told them?"

Shen Dou Dou cleared her throat, a sheepish smile lacing her lips when she spoke.

"I might have told them that you are a successful actor on the rise."

"... Dou Dou..."

"And that you are the one playing Xie Jianyu."

"... Dou Dou...!!!"

Shen Jingwei groaned.

"How could you."

"I can't help it, Big Brother!" Shen Dou Dou cried out. She threw herself at her brother and hugged him.

"I am just so proud! And all the teaser images released on Weibo are more valuable than gold!"

Not caring about the anguish in Shen Jingwei's heart, Shen Dou Dou proceeded to show Shen Jingwei the images she just mentioned.

"....."

The promotional images looked amazing indeed. But that was not the point here.

"I thought I told you not to tell anyone," Shen Jingwei growled.

"You said not to tell Mom," Shen Dou Dou gently reminded him.

"That's before I found out that you have six other girls who like reading BL novels!" Shen Jingwei snapped. Not that it mattered now, anyway. The milk was spilled. The rice had already turned into porridge.

Shen Jingwei shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't know what's wrong with you seven girls. Why would you read BL novels?"

Shen Dou Dou gave her brother a look.

"Big Brother, who do you think read BL novels?"

"Men," Shen Jingwei answered without delay. "Homosexual men," he added, just to be sure.

Shen Dou Dou rolled with her eyes in exasperation.

"No, Big Brother. The majority of BL novel readers are female. Heterosexual females who like men," she added, just to be sure.

"...."

Shen Jingwei's three-world view was fractured a second time.

"Anyway, 'Dance Of The Dragons' is popular. The novel is popular, and the drama is going to be on the list of top ten C-Dramas of the year for sure," Shen Dou Dou exclaimed, brimming with confidence.

An eerie sound escaped Shen Jingwei's lips, reminiscent of the gurgling noise made by a strangled man.

Somehow, he was not so sure about that.

It was already a miracle for BL novels to be adapted into animation or drama series. Whether or not they would release them was a completely different story.

Shen Jingwei could enumerate several excellent works, which donghua and drama adaptations failed to see the light of day*.

"Don't be so pessimistic, Big Brother."

Shen Dou Dou tapped at her phone, right beneath the image of Yan Renzhong holding him up.

20M likes, 69k shares, and 3M comments.

"..."

"Also, Big Brother..."

Shen Dou Dou heaved a sigh.

"Dou Dou was only fifteen years old when it happened, but trust me that things have changed. You can still be a successful actor even if you start dating a man."

"Male actors rely on female fans to rise in popularity. I will lose fans if I start dating anyone. Might as well go home for good if I start dating a man."

"Arghhhh."

Shen Dou Dou was utterly frustrated.

"Big Brother, have you not been listening? All your fans want to see you date a man! Even better if you can get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby!"

"....."

Give...

Birth...?

It was too much for Shen Jingwei to digest.

His eyes rolled backward and he soon fainted from lack of oxygen in blood.

"Waaaaa, Big Brother, don't die now!" Shen Dou Dou cried out, clearly panicked. "You have to finish shooting the drama first!"

"....."

Just what happened in the past three years that led to Shen Dou Dou having such inconceivably specific fantasies about male romance...?

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Author's note :

*Shoutout to TCGF season 3, SVSSS season 2, Immortality, and many others. This author is shaking her fist angrily at the censorship department, who deprived her and many other poor fujoshis of the joy!