Shen Xici was very clear that now that things had fermented to this point, this matter was no longer just about him alone, but also related to the movie “Fleeting Life.”

In the film crew, besides him, the male lead who had some fame, the other actors were all more on the veteran side, basically the type that audiences found familiar but couldn’t name. One reason was that their salaries wouldn’t be too outrageous and exceed the crew’s budget, and another was that their acting skills could pass Lu Jiming’s standards.

Therefore, once his reputation was ruined, the movie “Fleeting Life” would inevitably be greatly affected, and might even be boycotted upon its release.

Although when Cheng Mingye invested money, he thought of it as buying his life and didn’t expect to get his money back, he knew that Lu Jiming had always been thinking about making a good movie.

This movie was their painstaking effort.

Shen Xici lay on the hospital bed, having already gone over it in his mind many times. He took a white piece of paper and drew a diagram for Lu Jiming to see. “This is that white, two-story building. Wu Cisheng and I were standing in this spot going over the script. According to the video’s shooting angle, the person who filmed the video should have been standing in this position, right under that bank sign.”

After finishing the drawing, he held the paper up for Lu Jiming to see. “Do you have any impression? At nine in the morning, when we were filming the scene where I run into the chamber of commerce president on the street, who was standing in this position at that time?”

“You called me for this?” Lu Jiming also calmed down and followed along in his memories. “Here… the camera crew should have been standing here. The lighting was always off at that time. The light stand-in was constantly testing the light, and the lighting crew was messing around, but it still wasn’t right. I had the camera crew cooperate and change angles to shoot. It took a while.” He listed a few names. “You wait for me, I’ll go ask them right away!”

The video call ended. Shen Xici leaned back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling in a daze for a while. After thinking for a bit, he sent another voice message: “Xiaoshan, go and quietly ask around. Among the people around these past two days, has anyone seemed to have suddenly come into a large sum of money, or is about to receive a large sum of money, or bought something relatively expensive.”

Lan Xiaoshan had been in the crew for more than three months and was very familiar with everyone. He knew everything from how many eggs the art department assistant’s quail had laid in his room to how many succulents the makeup artist had overwatered to death.

In a short while, Lan Xiaoshan’s voice message came: “Received! I’ll go chat with them right now!”

Shen Xici sat on the bed again and wrote down the detailed process of him and Wu Cisheng rehearsing their lines. After finishing, he sent it to Ge Lanjing to look at.

Ge Lanjing called. “There’s no problem with the content, but if you post these few hundred words, you will definitely be besieged. You need to be mentally prepared.”

“Mmm, I know. Many people are scolding me, but there are also many fans who are arguing on my behalf, carefully analyzing the editing marks and unreasonable points in that video. I must give them an explanation.”

The personal studio’s solemn statement was released, and Shen Xici also posted the few hundred words of explanation on his personal Weibo. Soon, the comments broke ten thousand.

“—We believe you! The editing marks in that video are so obvious, but that group of people are acting like they’re blind and can’t see it! I believe you’re not the kind of person who would bully an ordinary actor!”

“—You say you and Uncle Wu were rehearsing lines, and the video was maliciously edited. Then where’s the evidence? If you can’t produce the evidence, then you’re lying. I’ll come and scold you once an hour! Until you leave the industry!”

“—Will there be a director posting a short essay later, an assistant posting a short essay, and the crew’s chef also posting a short essay, saying that you have a super good personality, respect the old and love the young, and are very polite to everyone? This is all just vicious competition in the industry, and you’re purer than a white lotus or a white moonlight? [clapping]”

“—Pure passerby just here for the drama, no fan affiliation. Doesn’t anyone feel that something is wrong… Let’s not talk about the authenticity of this short essay for now, but I remember Director Wan Shan said that Shen Xici joined the crew through an audition. Needless to say, the role in the second movie ‘Capital City Massacre’ was recommended by Zhong Yue. As for this movie ‘Fleeting Life’ that he’s currently filming, uh, I checked, I don’t know what the script is about, but the director is a complete newcomer with no works. It doesn’t look like a big production at a glance. If Shen Xici really has a big gold master behind him, or even several big gold masters, aren’t these resources a bit too shabby?”

“—Does it matter if there’s a gold master behind him or not? I suspect Shen Xici wants to whitewash himself from this aspect. His biggest problem is bullying on set! Boycott Shen Xici! Boycott all bullying behavior!”

Shen Xici read the top hot comments one by one. The reactions of these people were about what he had expected. He let out a soft breath. He thought that although he had spoken very lightly when facing Ge Lanjing and had been very objective and rational when analyzing the public opinion situation, plus he already had a lot of experience in dealing with public opinion from his previous life, he was also a person. People are social animals. It was impossible to be completely unaffected.

At this moment, with a light “click,” the hospital room door was opened from the outside, and Sheng Shaoyan walked in with a food container.

Shen Xici followed the sound and looked over.

This scene was very strange. A second ago, he was still trapped in a tide of malice from strangers. But in the next second, the moment Sheng Shaoyan appeared, he suddenly broke free from the storm of public opinion.

The sun outside the window was just right. Sheng Shaoyan stood in the sunlight that fell through the glass, his whole person as if covered in a faint halo.

Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, he placed the dishes on the table one by one. Sheng Shaoyan turned his head and asked him, “Are you hungry? Do you want to eat now?”

Being reminded, Shen Xici finally felt hungry. The aroma wafted into his nose. He got off the bed and, wearing slippers, peered at the dining table. “It smells so good. It smells a lot like the dishes your family’s chef makes.” Saying this, he felt he must have smelled it wrong. The recent filming location was near Hu City, which was at least a two or three-hour drive from Ningcheng. It should just be that the dishes were very similar, or that his hunger was causing him to have illusions.

Sheng Shaoyan handed him the chopsticks. “Mmm, I saw you really liked it last time you ate, so I had the chef team come over. Every time you’re not feeling well, your appetite is poor. You ate very little last night.”

Shen Xici was stunned. The chef team came over?

Not knowing how to respond to such meticulous thoughtfulness, Shen Xici lowered his head and silently poked at the rice with his chopsticks.

Last night, Sheng Shaoyan had not returned to Ningcheng, but had slept in the bedroom of the hospital suite.

He knew that the moment he reached out to pull Sheng Shaoyan, it was completely irrational. He had also constantly warned himself not to indulge, that this was only temporary, just a buffer before completely quitting.

But the facts proved that he had overestimated himself.

He had always thought he could definitely handle these feelings and emotions. However, he was just an ordinary person, repeatedly wavering between emotion and reason.

“Last time you were sick with a fever, you only ate seven grains of rice in five minutes. This time it’s even less,” Sheng Shaoyan said, pouring a cup of herbal tea and placing it by his hand. “It’s already cooled down, not hot. You can try it to see if you can get used to drinking it.”

“Thank you.” Shen Xici took the celadon cup and took a sip. He didn’t know how the chef had made it; it didn’t have a medicinal taste, but was very light and sweet. But he really had no appetite. He drank two sips and put it aside.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Is your company busy recently?”

As if he knew what he wanted to say, Sheng Shaoyan replied, “I pay Lin Yueshu and the others high salaries. It’s certainly not for them to sit in the office as decorations. It’s not like the group will come to a halt just because I’m away for two or three days.”

Shen Xici poked at his rice again. “Won’t your grandfather have any objections?”

Sheng Shaoyan glanced at him. “When he was young, he once disappeared for two weeks just to have a private world with my grandmother, without telling anyone.”

The implication was that, compared to his grandfather, he was already very reliable. At least he hadn’t disappeared and was still handling work, so his grandfather had no standing to criticize him.

Why does this comparison sound a little off?

Shen Xici didn’t dare to respond. He tried his best to eat the food Sheng Shaoyan put in his bowl. His peripheral vision suddenly saw Sheng Shaoyan reach out, pick up the cup of herbal tea, and, at the spot where he had drunk from, take two sips.

If he hadn’t seen wrong, the spot Sheng Shaoyan drank from still had a little bit of the water stain he had left.

His mind went “buzz.” Shen Xici’s ears burned. His lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say again.

Putting down the cup, Sheng Shaoyan seemed to have just noticed his expression. “What’s wrong? I thought you were done drinking. Do you still want some? There’s more in the thermos.”

Is that the point?

But Sheng Shaoyan’s expression was too frank, which in turn made him seem like he was making a big deal out of nothing, caring too much.

Shen Xici hastily replied, “No need, I’m already a little full.”

After that, every time he saw Sheng Shaoyan reach out his hand, Shen Xici would worry if the other would pick up that cup again.

He ate his meal distractedly. As he was removing a fishbone, a bead of blood suddenly appeared on his fingertip. Only then did he realize his hand seemed to have been scratched by a spine on the fishbone.

Such small injuries often occurred in his daily life. Because he couldn’t feel pain, he didn’t know what kind of force was appropriate. Once he used too much force, his fingers would be scratched by sharp objects like fishbones or flower thorns.

After being scratched, he could only repeatedly analyze and try, constantly making mistakes, and finally determine which force would not cause injury. Then he would firmly remember it, and every time he did this in the future, he would use the tested force.

This was his way of survival.

For normal people, very ordinary and simple small things could be potential dangers for him that required vigilance.

And once his attention was not focused, a situation like the present would occur.

Stunned for a moment, Shen Xici was just about to wipe the overflowing bead of blood with a piece of paper, so that the person sitting opposite him would not notice, but he didn’t expect that Sheng Shaoyan had already seen it.

“You injured your finger?”

Shen Xici replied naturally, “Mmm, I accidentally got a small cut from a fishbone.”

He showed his fingertip to Sheng Shaoyan, indicating that the cut was really small and would heal in a few more sentences.

But he didn’t expect that after Sheng Shaoyan looked at it, he directly pulled his hand over. Then, he lowered his head, drew close, and gently blew on his injured fingertip.

“You don’t need to—”

Sheng Shaoyan interrupted him. “Fingertips are very sensitive. Even a small injury can be very painful. If I blow on it, it won’t hurt as much.”

Fingertips were indeed very sensitive. He could feel the change in the airflow as Sheng Shaoyan breathed, could feel the warmth of Sheng Shaoyan’s palm on his skin.

As for the rest, Shen Xici had no relevant experience. He wasn’t sure if fingertips were more sensitive to pain, nor did he know if blowing on it was useful at all, or if the effect was good.

This was his knowledge blind spot. He couldn’t refute it. He could only let Sheng Shaoyan blow on it again.

It was just that he was really too close to the other’s lips.

From his perspective, Sheng Shaoyan was holding his hand, as if he were kissing his fingertip.