FI CH32: Making Waves!

Separated by two tables, their gazes seemed to meet across the distance. He Zhenling’s eyes were as still as a deep pool. Lin Su’s gaze moved down, and right by his hand, he saw the silently standing Xuenima.

“…”

After a pause, he stood up and said, “Excuse me.” Then he walked over, sat down, and reached out to right the overturned teacup. “You… look at you, so unsteady.”

He Zhenling stared at him deeply. “Am I the one who’s unsteady?”

Xuenima quietly extended a foot and wiped up the water.

Lin Su poured him a new cup of tea and pushed it over gently. “We’re outside. Whatever it is, let’s talk about it when we’re back behind closed doors.”

“Heh, what door are we closing? My heart’s door?”

A hand pressed demurely and expectantly against his own chest. “You want to hide a treasured beauty in your heart… isn’t that a bit improper?”

A few steps away, Ye Yuzhu retracted her perked-up ears and turned to sit opposite a shocked Sheng Lingyu, pointing and saying, “See? Such terrifying possessiveness. It’s already subjective imprisonment. You better be careful. Big sis is here to chat with you.”

Sheng Lingyu immediately nodded. “Okay, okay!”

…

Not long after, the afternoon tea party broke up. They would continue recording after dinner, so the production team staff all entered the preparation phase.

Lin Su and He Zhenling also returned to their room.

Click. The door closed.

He Zhenling’s voice sounded at the same time. “The door is closed now. Let’s talk about your A’Ma’s problem.”

“…” Both one person and one spirit paused in unison.

Lin Su turned his head, natural as can be. “What’s wrong with our dad?”

He Zhenling saw through it. “Don’t even think about using it to take the moral high ground first.” He said with an impartial face, “Have your spiritual consciousness pay a little more attention to the occasion whenever it acts.”

Lin Su gave a light tap of his hand. Xuenima suddenly materialized, peeking out from atop his head. “…I do adjust my identity according to the occasion.”

As its words fell, it met He Zhenling’s direct gaze and immediately put up two tufts of Lin Su’s hair to hide behind.

One person and one spirit peeked out. After a moment of staring at each other, He Zhenling let out a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “…Forget it.”

At least the results so far had been manageable.

After dinner, the sky gradually darkened. The production team returned to the ancient village and resumed recording.

He Zhenling had association and company matters to deal with in the evening, so he stayed at the hotel. Lin Su idly strolled over.

When he arrived at the set, several guests were having their makeup touched up. The one closest to him happened to be Sheng Lingyu.

Under the lights, Sheng Lingyu’s upturned face had a pure, youthful feel. A fine makeup brush swept across his eyelids, sending fine dust flying, his eyelashes trembling slightly. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open—

The makeup artist: !

Then they saw him pull a piece of paper from his pocket and, humming a melody, quickly jot something down. “Sis, almost there. Almost, almost, almost…”

The makeup artist: “…”

As Lin Su was observing, someone appeared beside him. Ye Yuzhu had finished her makeup and came over. “Is this the legendary inspiration striking?”

Lin Su commented, “Judging by his state, he’s probably being drowned in inspiration.” He had already reached a state of being oblivious to his surroundings.

“It seems Xiao Sheng is truly passionate about creating,” Ye Yuzhu praised, then looked around. “Where’s Mr. He?”

“At the hotel.”

A look of astonishment was cast his way. “…He didn’t come with you?”

Lin Su tried to clear his name. “He’s not actually that petty.”

Ye Yuzhu nodded. “Mm-hm, of course I know. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just lock you in his heart, but lock you in a room.”

“…”

Lin Su paused for a moment, then turned his head. Forget it.

The recording started soon after. Lin Su returned to the control room. This time, the process went very smoothly, with no more trouble. He also paid some attention to Sheng Lingyu’s side and found that the boy’s clumsiness seemed to be from the inside out. In areas other than creation, he had a natural obtuseness. Placed in this kind of scare-themed show, it surprisingly produced a great effect.

Even Ke Juexin praised him with satisfaction. “This effect is much more natural!”

Xuenima was gratified: [It’s true that fools have fool’s luck.]

Lin Su gave it a tug. “Your praise isn’t very clean either.”

Xuenima: [=0w0=]

…

The recording wrapped up successfully before midnight. Lin Su was about to get up and leave when a staff member from the props team suddenly rushed over. “Director Ke! This prop fell and broke. What should we do? It was rented from outside.”

Turning his head, he saw a bamboo lantern in pieces. Ke Juexin had a headache just looking at it. “Can we fix it? Can it be repaired? If not, we can only buy it. Ai… but they might not be willing to sell it!”

“…We rented it because we don’t know how to make it.”

The two looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Lin Su glanced at it and suddenly spoke. “Ask Xiao Sheng if he knows how to make it.”

The two in front of him turned their heads in unison. “Huh?”

“His crafting skills are pretty good.”

Just as he spoke, Sheng Lingyu finished his work and came over. Lin Su pointed at it. “You’ve come at just the right time. Can you fix this?”

Sheng Lingyu came closer. “Oh, isn’t this just weaving a lantern?”

He reached out, took it, sat down on a nearby chair, and started reweaving it. His long, slender fingers moved nimbly, and the bamboo strips quickly took shape under his hands. The familiar movements were as if he had done it countless times, casual and natural.

The scattered bamboo lantern gradually returned to its original state.

Ke Juexin and the staff member were both stunned.

Lin Su spoke at the right moment. “Such good behind-the-scenes footage. Aren’t you going to film it?”

Ke Juexin snapped back to his senses and called for a cameraman. “Quick, come film this!”

A crowd immediately gathered around.

Lin Su let out a small yawn and left, his good deed and fame deeply hidden.

The set for this scene was prepared for two episodes. Therefore, after this episode was filmed, the production team didn’t leave the next day.

In the morning, Lin Su woke up early for a change. He called He Zhenling. “Want to go down for breakfast?”

He Zhenling stood up without hesitation. “Let’s go, lest any more strange rumors start.”

Lin Su glanced at him sideways and said in his mind: He really cares a lot.

Xuenima made an objective evaluation: [Compared to most normal people, he already counts as not caring.]

Lin Su strolled leisurely down the corridor, pretending not to hear.

The two arrived at the restaurant downstairs. Ke Juexin, several guests, and most of the production team staff were inside.

Ye Yuzhu greeted them. “Hi, morning.”

Sheng Lingyu passed by. “Hey~”

Ke Juexin also looked up. “You two are up early today.” He then realized the underlying meaning of his words and nearly swallowed his tongue.

“…”

Lin Su shook his head and said to He Zhenling, “It seems it makes no difference whether we come down or not.”

He Zhenling’s profile was refined and handsome, his thin lips lightly uttering, “What’s done is done.”

The two got their breakfast and sat back down. Nearby, Ke Juexin was on his phone, talking to Sheng Lingyu about posting on Weibo. Their show was one that posted as they filmed. They had already officially announced the guests before, and now that they had a replacement, they had to make another announcement.

Lin Su didn’t pay much attention, feeding the Nima while he ate. The Nima had recently become lost in cosplay and had even dared to cast its gaze upon He Zhenling’s plate.

Just as he was using his chopsticks to discreetly nudge the trespassing Xuenima back, a few sounds suddenly rang out beside him.

“Holy crap!” “[vocal]…?”

Lin Su and He Zhenling turned their heads at the sound. Ke Juexin and a few others were holding their phones, their brows furrowed, and their expressions were not good. Ye Yuzhu even mouthed: What the hell?

Lin Su: “…Did the internet go down?”

The few of them looked up. “…….”

Ke Juexin calmed his emotions and said, “No, we just posted on Weibo about the guest change. Less than a minute later, Bai Xuanrui’s side also posted.”

He held out his phone screen as he spoke. Lin Su’s gaze fell on it, and he saw that the other side seemed to have come prepared, immediately following up with a post:

@BaiXuanrui—Rui v: Got a scare halfway through the show’s recording yesterday, so I regrettably had to withdraw. Sorry, I really wanted to meet everyone. [sick with a cold emoji] [crying aggrievedly emoji]

“…”

The comments below had already reached several hundred in an instant.

Ke Juexin showed it to him for a glance, then took his phone back to continue monitoring the situation.

Lin Su, following the scent of gossip, asked, “Where’s the feast?”

Ye Yuzhu was in the middle of the battle. “On the Weibo Plaza.”

Lin Su didn’t have the Weibo app on his phone. He turned to He Zhenling. “Do you have Weibo?” He had only asked casually, but to his surprise, the man in front of him nodded. “I do.”

“?”

He said meaningfully, “…So you’re the one who’s riding the wind and waves.”

The phone in front of him was handed over. “You’re overthinking it.”

Lin Su took it and saw a proper, official blue “V” account: @LingshengGroup_v

“…”

He asked, “What is this?”

He Zhenling looked down at him, his tone flat. “Shouldn’t you show a little concern for your ‘beloved’s’ company?”

“…” Lin Su said gently, “Love is blind. I can’t be blamed for not noticing some corners.”

“You don’t seem to be blind, but rather have your view blocked by a single leaf.”

Lin Su, surfing the web on his main account, said, “You’re being humorous again.”

Clicking on the topic plaza, he saw that the comment sections of both the show’s and Bai Xuanrui’s Weibo posts were basically flooded by the latter’s fans, stirring up a huge wave of curses:
— You scared Brother Rui and haven’t even been held accountable, yet you replaced him first? [question mark emoji]
— How big of a scare was it? Couldn’t you wait! Huh? You just had to replace him? Who would even know about your stupid show without Brother Rui?
— Trash production team, wishing you all flop! [looking forward to it emoji]
…

Ke Juexin couldn’t help but curse. “So he’s not recording the show anymore and is just backstabbing us directly!”

Lin Su followed the official account’s trail and saw that another wave had already run over to Sheng Lingyu’s Weibo to wreak havoc:
— So it’s you, the wannabe who stole Brother Rui’s gig [smiling emoji]
— Don’t make your backing so obvious. Who gets replaced just because they got a scare? Without Brother Rui, do you think you can carry the show’s traffic?
— Waiting for you to get cyberbullied to death, wannabe [looking forward to it emoji]

Sheng Lingyu’s voice came from the side. “I’ve suddenly gained a lot of fans.”

Ye Yuzhu: “…They’re all here to curse you. Stop looking.”

Lin Su: “…”

Ke Juexin was so angry he turned off his phone. “He’s just relying on the backing he has to post these seemingly minor, ambiguous Weibo posts! We need to clarify this immediately.”

He called over a cameraman. “Quick, let me see what footage we have.”

Due to their relationship with the TV station, they couldn’t be too drastic and directly release dirt on him. Ke Juexin’s head was about to explode. After picking for a long time, he said, “Let’s first release the part where he’s in a bad state after the scare and is taken away. Show that he really couldn’t participate in the recording, and that our production team was also revolving around him!”

“As for the ones targeting Xiao Sheng… let’s release some of Xiao Sheng’s behind-the-scenes footage. See if we can turn public opinion around.”

As he was speaking, Lin Su suddenly stood up.

A hand blocked the camera screen, and his voice fell. “No need for these for now.”

Lin Su said, “Xiao Sheng has too few fans. Releasing this at the height of the storm won’t be enough to win the fight.”

Ke Juexin pondered for a few seconds. “That’s true.” In this circle, sometimes right and wrong didn’t matter. It was all about what people said.

Sheng Lingyu: “And I just told my fans not to rush in and get cursed at. I’m currently fighting with my smurf account.”

Several people turned their heads. “…….”

People with a dull sense seemed to have a very strong mentality.

In the midst of the heavy silence, a slender, fair hand suddenly took the heavy camera.

Lin Su said, “Let me see.”

He flipped through them one by one, paused for a moment, and handed the camera over. “Use this.”

Half an hour later, the official account, which had been silent for a while, finally appeared on the bustling topic plaza.

Without any explanation, they directly released two clips of behind-the-scenes footage. One was of Bai Xuanrui being taken away from the recording site after his scare.

The other was filmed in front of the door. It was labeled as behind-the-scenes footage, but it looked more like an accidentally captured tidbit. In the video, Bai Xuanrui was talking boastfully to the camera, but the Fu character in his hand was suddenly snatched away. However, before the fans could start spraying venom, a hand appeared in the shot.

Well-proportioned, fair, and slender. Under the incandescent light, it was as if it had suddenly broken through the thick night. With a sense of power, it pressed against the door.

The camera shook slightly, and there was a moment of silence. Even the screen in front of them went quiet for a second, followed by a sudden flood of comments from the onlookers:
— Forcefully controlled by a hand for 5 seconds! [licking screen emoji]
— Ahhh, what a beautiful hand! That press pressed right on my heart’s door!!
— So beauty really can attack indiscriminately [crying emoji]
— What happened! Whose hand is this! Whose! Hand!

Mixed in with the screen-licking were a few comments that found it vaguely familiar: “Wait, I feel like…”
“That’s right, I also feel…”

Besides that, people also began to guess what had happened.
— Was there a conflict? [holding melon emoji]
— Looks like he didn’t listen to instructions and tore off someone else’s Fu character.
— @SpiritDetectiveRulesOfficialV Production team, don’t just post videos, come out and explain.

The topic’s popularity quickly multiplied several times within ten minutes.

Bai Xuanrui’s fans were still being stubborn in the comments, trying to shift the focus:
— What is this? [really don’t get it emoji]
— Which staff member is this, so rude!? [eye roll emoji]
— Production team, is this how your staff treats Brother Rui? Make them come out and apologize!
…

In the midst of the bloody battle, the official account suddenly entered the fray, picking a comment from a major fan to reply to.

Reply to @ZuiXuanRuiRui v: Not a staff member. He’s the young boss of Lingsheng Group.

Attached with a link: @LingshengGroup_v

Author’s Note:
Lin Su: What is this? Xiao He’s main account. (probes)
He Zhenling: ……The dynasty has changed.

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