The assistant stared at the two malicious private messages for a moment, furrowing his brow instinctively. “Has this person even graduated from middle school yet? Xian Sui-ge is clearly just working.”
To top it off, he didn’t forget to comfort Xian Sui. “It’s fine, ge. Once you get more fans, this kind of thing just happens. Gu-ge probably gets plenty of them too. They’re all talk and won’t actually dare to do anything.”
“I didn’t take it to heart.” Xian Sui exited the Weibo interface, pretending he had seen nothing at all. The assistant put away his phone and headed to the dressing room first to pack up Xian Sui’s personal items, while Xian Sui himself walked toward the changing rooms, only to realize along the way that his path happened to coincide with Gu Fanzhou’s, though they eventually parted ways at the end of the corridor.
Xian Sui changed back into his usual clothes, and right after leaving the changing room, he bumped into a staff member delivering a huge bouquet of flowers, which immediately caught his assistant’s eye. “Are you sending Xian Sui-ge such a huge bouquet? I wouldn’t have guessed a grown man like you would know how to pick such pretty flowers.”
“It’s not from me,” the man hurriedly explained. “Someone outside sent this for Xian-xiansheng, along with this gift box. It must be from a fan.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” Xian Sui took the gift from the staff member. A delicate little box was tucked within the bouquet, and he removed it to open and inspect it out of curiosity.
The packaging looked very high quality. Xian Sui originally worried it might be something valuable that would need to be returned through his assistant, but upon opening the box, he found a finger-sized doll inside with a bizarre appearance, completely stained with blood. The assistant leaned in for a look and recoiled in fright by several steps, his earlier joy for Xian Sui instantly vanishing into thin air. “Who is playing such a sick prank on Xian Sui-ge? Did you see who brought this over?”
“I, I don’t know either. Someone else passed it on to me, I never expected it would be something like this.” The man looked thoroughly panicked as well. Xian Sui quickly snapped the box shut, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “This isn’t your fault. We can’t just let this matter slide, I think we still need to call the police.”
“Of course we can’t let someone like this get away with it,” a wave of anger suddenly surged in the assistant’s chest, his thoughts involuntarily connecting back to the Weibo private messages from earlier. “Ge, do you think it could be the person who sent you those private messages?”
Xian Sui paused for a moment. “We don’t have any evidence, so let’s not make random guesses. Let the police handle the search.”
“Do you think we should hire bodyguards or something? It’s just a shame we don’t have much money right now, and without fame, the company won’t care about us either.”
“It should be fine, don’t worry.” Xian Sui gently patted his assistant’s shoulder in reassurance. The assistant was deeply moved; clearly, Xian Sui was the one being targeted, yet he was the one offering comfort.
Having finally calmed his racing heart, Xian Sui tossed all the gifts straight into the trash can. Before he could even leave the corridor, Gu Fanzhou’s voice suddenly rang out from behind. “Hire what kind of bodyguards?”
“Brother Gu.” Xian Sui turned around and greeted Gu Fanzhou. Instead of acknowledging him, Gu Fanzhou walked straight up to the trash can, fished out the gift box Xian Sui had just thrown away, and opened it to take a look.
Likely worried that Gu Fanzhou might be startled, Xian Sui’s assistant stepped forward to stop him, but Gu Fanzhou had already clearly seen the blood-stained doll inside. “Who brought this over?”
“Brother Gu,” the male staff member who had brought the gift over hurriedly apologized, “I don’t know who dropped it off either. I was just passing it along. Next time I’ll make sure to verify everything before bringing it over, I won’t let Brother Gu and Xian Sui-ge see this kind of thing again.”
Gu Fanzhou had no intention of blaming the staff member, turning his gaze to Xian Sui instead. “How are you? Are you alright?”
“It’s just a doll. Looking at it won’t make me sick, I’m fine.”
“Weren’t you just talking about hiring bodyguards?”
“Brother Gu, I was just talking nonsense,” Xian Sui’s assistant said awkwardly. “As if we’re big enough stars to need that.”
“If you’re not hiring bodyguards, then I’ll drive you back.” Gu Fanzhou fished his car keys out of his pocket and motioned for Xian Sui to follow him.
Xian Sui could hardly believe his ears. Upon hearing this, the assistant immediately whispered advice in Xian Sui’s ear, arguing that the fan sending those private messages was simply resentful of him getting too close to Gu Fanzhou and resorted to intimidation, and if this person found out he was still hanging out with Gu Fanzhou somewhere else, they might fly into a rage and resort to even more extreme actions.
“But I’m not the one in the wrong, so I’m not the one who needs to change,” Xian Sui thought for a moment before speaking up again. “We shouldn’t compromise for this kind of person. The police will catch them sooner or later.”
After chewing over Xian Sui’s words, the assistant decided it made sense and stopped trying to block Xian Sui from leaving with Gu Fanzhou, heading off to wrap up work and go home himself.
Gu Fanzhou’s vehicle was still the usual black sedan. Xian Sui settled into the passenger seat, and after the other man set the navigation destination, the car soon started moving.
“Any leads?” Xian Sui knew Gu Fanzhou was referring to the gift delivery incident earlier.
Hesitating for a moment, Xian Sui decided against revealing the Weibo private messages to Gu Fanzhou. Firstly, he didn’t want Gu Fanzhou to worry like his assistant did and let it interfere with their normal interactions, and secondly, there was no need to involve Gu Fanzhou since this was his own private matter, which shouldn’t drag anyone else into it. Even the main star involved shouldn’t have to deal with extreme fans directly. “No.”
“Report it to the police early. I’ll report this situation to the company for you.”
“Will the company care?”
“Star Award places a lot of importance on Peach Blossoms Unseen. Xie Zhuangqiu won’t want any accidents on set, so at the very least they’ll step up security.”
The car soon arrived at the narrow alley in front of Xian Sui’s house, and Gu Fanzhou brought it to a stop.
After Xian Sui stepped out of the car, Gu Fanzhou didn’t immediately drive away, intending instead to get out and walk Xian Sui right up to his door.
“There’s no need, Brother Gu. It’s just a short stretch, nothing will happen.” Xian Sui hesitated for a moment before honestly confessing, “Actually, the security around here isn’t great. If you’re not around, I’m worried someone might scratch your car.”
“Is society under the rule of law and people are still this arrogant?” Gu Fanzhou furrowed his brow unconsciously.
“Yes, Brother Gu.”
Refusing to believe he could be that unlucky, Gu Fanzhou ignored Xian Sui’s warning and stepped out of the car anyway. Entering the narrow alley that could barely fit two people walking side by side, he quickly escorted Xian Sui right up to his front door. The house Xian Sui lived in was very old, and the iron gate was already rusted over.
“You can head back from here, you should go check on your car.” Xian Sui pulled his keys out from his pocket and unlocked the iron gate. “Next time I’ll invite you over to my place for a drink, though my house is really small, I’m not sure if you’ll be used to staying here.”
“Mn.” Seeing Xian Sui’s figure vanish behind the door, Gu Fanzhou walked back to his car, only to find that his car body had indeed been scratched with two lines, with a few characters scrawled below them: Damn rich people.
Suppressing his rising anger with nowhere to vent, Gu Fanzhou realized the culprit was long gone and there were no security cameras around, so he vowed never to park his car in this kind of place ever again.
Just as he was about to get into the car, a mongrel dog suddenly darted out from somewhere nearby and began barking furiously at him, as if he were a thief. Fortunately, there was no one around at the moment, otherwise such loud barking would have certainly drawn a crowd of onlookers.
“Ridiculous.” Gu Fanzhou climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the car door shut with a heavy bang.
Xian Sui headed to the local police station first to file a report. Reluctant to take the items away, he instructed the staff before leaving not to empty the trash cans on set until the police arrived to investigate and process the scene.
Because of the gift incident, filming at the set was delayed, pushing back the start time. Hearing about what happened, Yu Zhifu took a moment to offer Xian Sui some comforting words, noting that such incidents occasionally occurred and the police would handle them properly.
Xian Sui wasn’t overly worried, as his top priority right now was preparing for the next scene. This sequence began with the outbreak of war as warlords suddenly invaded the city to persecute the common people. Worried about Jian Shuyu, Fu Minglou headed to Jian Shuyu’s residence with the help of a close friend.
“I never expected our reunion to happen under such circumstances,” Fu Minglou sighed as he faced his friend dressed in military uniform. “If you hadn’t led me through the back alleys, I wouldn’t have been able to get here.”
“Our bond back then was deep, why are you speaking like this now?”
His friend stated that he was about to head off to the distant battlefield, and Fu Minglou gave his shoulder a firm pat. “Be careful on the road.”
“Once I return victorious from defending the city, we’ll drink together again.” Leaving behind those final words, his friend disappeared into the alley entrance without looking back.
Watching his friend depart, Fu Minglou stopped in front of the door of Jian Shuyu’s residence and hammered on it heavily several times, but received no response. Still unwilling to give up, he called out Jian Shuyu’s name repeatedly, and when no reply came, he became certain that the house was indeed empty.
Where would Jian Shuyu go early in the morning? Mulling it over, Fu Minglou suddenly recalled having once seen Jian Shuyu at the military officers’ quarters, where he had snuck in to save a child while dressed completely differently from his usual attire at the City of Night.
Since that child wasn’t Jian Shuyu’s own flesh and blood, where would Jian Shuyu need to go to dress so plainly and interact with children?
The answer seemed ready to emerge. Fu Minglou immediately took a detour through the side paths and headed straight for the orphanage in the city center. The moment he stepped through the front courtyard gate, he spotted soldiers guarding the building, looking nothing like friendly forces.
To be safe, Fu Minglou hid in the shadows for the time being, sneaking inward along the courtyard bushes until he discovered soldiers guarding a group of orphans. The children were at most seven or eight years old, and upon seeing the muzzles of the soldiers’ guns, they couldn’t help bursting into loud wailing.
The soldiers quickly lost patience with the crying. “Stop crying! Cry again and I’ll put a bullet through every single one of your heads!”
Frightened by the threats, the children cried even harder. Fu Minglou deliberately picked up a large rock from the ground and hurled it toward a distant fence, producing a loud crash.
The soldiers immediately noticed the commotion Fu Minglou caused and raised their guns to search everywhere. A smart child seized the moment when they weren’t looking, stood up, and bolted far away. The others followed suit and scattered, leaving only a single soldier fuming with anger in frustration.
Continuing to conceal his presence, Fu Minglou stealthily entered the interior of the orphanage, managed to evade all the soldiers, and finally found Jian Shuyu in a bedroom. Upon seeing him, Jian Shuyu immediately pulled him under the bed to hide. “What is Young Master Fu doing here? The northbound warlords launched a surprise attack before dawn, and the garrison troops were forced to engage them. The battle hasn’t settled yet, and soldiers are already looting treasures and forcibly seizing women in the city.”
“This faction is completely inhumane.” Fu Minglou couldn’t help feeling furious. “I was worried about you.”
“Shuyu is fine. The problem is that the soldiers captured the children and are demanding valuables from the director, but there’s no money here.” Jian Shuyu’s tone carried both hatred and anxiety.
“I just came past them, the children are safe, they ran away.”
Only then did Jian Shuyu let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for the trouble, Young Master Fu.”
The two of them dared not make any reckless moves until news of the garrison’s victory came from outside the city, at which point the city barely returned to peace. Both Jian Shuyu and Fu Minglou knew deeply that a war like this was neither the first nor would it ever be the last.
Fu Minglou had kept Jian Shuyu shielded in his arms the entire time, only letting go now.
Noticing blood stains on his clothing, Jian Shuyu looked down and realized Fu Minglou’s palm had been slashed. He quickly tore a strip of fabric from the hem of his own garment and bound it around Fu Minglou’s wound.
“Shuyu, I am not your customer right now, am I?” Fu Minglou asked, watching Jian Shuyu bandage his wound.
Jian Shuyu’s movements paused markedly. “If it were anyone else passing by, Shuyu would do the same. Shuyu thanks Young Master Fu for his care just now. The next time you come to the City of Night, Shuyu will treat you to a drink.”
Fu Minglou’s gaze lingered on Jian Shuyu’s back.
“Shuyu, I don’t even know if I’ll end up dead under the muzzle of a gun tomorrow for no reason. Must you treat me this way?”
Jian Shuyu’s steps paused imperceptibly, but he quickly strode forward again, vanishing from Fu Minglou’s sight without looking back.
After filming wrapped up, Xian Sui planned to head to the dressing room. Gu Fanzhou specifically intercepted him to ask if there had been any abnormalities lately. Knowing the other person was still concerned about last night’s incident, Xian Sui replied that the trip to the set had been very normal with nothing special happening.
Only then did Gu Fanzhou feel reassured enough to let Xian Sui leave.
It wasn’t until right before the next scene that Xian Sui went to the makeup room for touch-ups. Raising his eyes casually toward the makeup artist in the mirror, he noticed the person was wearing a mask, and their hairstyle seemed slightly different from before. “Did they change staff? Are you a new makeup artist?”
Without replying, the makeup artist secretly fished a pair of scissors out of their pocket.