But after Lu Yu entered, there was no sound of the door opening, and the embarrassing situation of being caught in the act did not happen. Before Chen Fu could even breathe a sigh of relief, the scene in front of her changed rapidly again.
This time it was the dressing room for the "Cultivation" drama crew. She was wearing her costume and was pinned against the wall by Lu Yu, ready to continue their kiss.
Lu Yu gripped her waist firmly and pressed both of her wrists against the wall with one hand. This position brought Chen Fu and Lu Yu extremely close, and all she could see was the presence of the person in front of her. In the ambiguous atmosphere, Chen Fu heard soft footsteps. Xiao Lingdang asked her from outside the door, "Sister Fu, are you in the fitting room?"
The awkward situation forced Chen Fu to try her best to hold her breath. She gently pushed Lu Yu and said to him, "Let go. There are people outside. Do you want our relationship to be made public?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Yu sneered.
"So what if it's made public?"
This was said in anger, as revenge for rejecting her.
Physiological tears slid down her cheeks. Her earlier accusations had no effect. Lu Yu gently rubbed her reddened eyes and leaned in to kiss her again. Startled by the sudden kiss, she shrank into a ball. As if sensing Chen Fu's distraction, Lu Yu gently bit the tip of her tongue.
Not getting a response, Xiaolingdang stepped forward suspiciously and pushed aside the curtain of the fitting room with one hand.
The moment the sunlight streamed in, Chen Fu closed her eyes, silencing Xiao Lingdang's exclamation. When she opened her eyes again, Chen Fu was lying on the hospital bed, with Lu Yu in front of her, his face grim.
Do you think I would give up like this?
As a response to Chen Fu's thoughts, Lu Xiaomi's expression was somewhat downcast.
This was a question without an answer. Chen Fu covered her eyes with her arm to avoid meeting Lu Yu's gaze. After several scenes, she actually felt an urge to laugh.
Unfortunately, it was a bitter smile.
She had never met anyone in her life who treated her so sincerely.
Then let's do our best to accompany Luyu to "love" for a while.
*
When Chen Fu woke up, she felt a splitting headache, her whole body was sore and weak, and she had no strength at all.
The lights were off in the ward, and the air was hazy with the aroma of fish soup. Little Bell placed the prepared dinner on the table.
"Sister Fu, are you feeling any better?"
Today, Xiaolingdang accompanied Chen Fu on set. She witnessed six explosive charges detonating simultaneously, and the intense fire terrified the little girl, causing her to burst into tears immediately.
Little Bell's words brought Chen Fu back to reality, and she looked around blankly.
This shouldn't be a dream anymore...
But why was she in the hospital room?
The door creaked open, and the doctor who was changing her dressing said that she was extremely frightened and had a mild case of severe carbon monoxide poisoning. After taking the medication, she was fine and could be discharged tomorrow.
Carbon monoxide poisoning?
The headache intensified, and Chen Fu slowly remembered that she had been filming a scene on set. It was an explosion scene, and due to improper handling by the crew, six explosives detonated simultaneously. In the critical moment, Jiang Qing rushed forward to save her.
Thanks to Jiang Qing...
This was something everyone could see, but Chen Fu still felt that something was off about her thinking.
She remembered someone rushing in before she lost consciousness. Because she couldn't dodge in time, the flames burned the person's left hand, leaving a series of hideous scars.
Who is that person?
Little Bell brought the soup to Chen Fu.
"Today was really dangerous, thanks to Brother Jiang... but thank you also to President Lu, who came over right after the meeting."
The person who was mentioned snorted unhappily.
Luyu is here too?
Chen Fu turned her head and found that Lu Yu was sitting next to her the whole time.
Chen Fu had just woken up and was weak in her hands. Her hands, which were holding the fish soup, were trembling. Seeing that the fish soup was about to spill, Lu Yu quickly held the lunchbox.
Her left wrist was exposed from her sleeve as she moved, and Chen Fu saw a series of flame-like scars on it.
The scars were exactly the same as the ones Chen Fu had seen in her dream.
Lu Yu clearly noticed Chen Fu's gaze as well. She pursed her lips and took the fish soup with a displeased expression.
"What... what happened?"
Lu Xiaomi said sullenly,
"To save someone very important."
Chapter 26 cp26
This accident ultimately attracted widespread attention, with many media reporters coming to interview afterward. With Xi He's intentional or unintentional manipulation, the accidental explosion ultimately became a publicity tool for the drama "Cultivation".
On the day of the explosion, three related hashtags trended on Weibo: #Improper Operation of Explosion Scene in "Cultivation" Film Crew#, #Jiang Qing Rescues People from Fire#, and #Jiang Qing, a God-like Actor in the Chinese Entertainment Industry#.
The first trending topic was a brief description of the accident, roughly stating that the crew of the TV series "Cultivation" was filming when, due to improper operation by the crew, six explosion points that were supposed to be detonated sequentially were detonated simultaneously. Apart from the female lead suffering from mild carbon monoxide poisoning, no one else in the crew was injured.
After the incident, Yanshan immediately launched a detailed investigation. The dosage of the explosives was the result of his repeated experiments and could not possibly be wrong. So he immediately had the detonation device used at the time examined and found that the device had been tampered with.
He interrogated everyone in the props team sternly, and the answer he received was that no one had ever been inside the storage room where the explosive devices were stored before filming.
This answer was clearly unacceptable to Yanshan. The storage room was located in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, and there were no corresponding surveillance videos available. In order to restore the truth as much as possible, Yanshan stayed up all night to watch all the surveillance videos that could be retrieved near the storage room, and finally discovered that a staff member wearing a baseball cap may have entered the storage room the night before filming.
It was clearly difficult to identify the person based solely on their build in the surveillance footage. However, Yan Shan was determined to find out who had tampered with the explosive device. He gathered all the staff members whose builds resembled the person in the surveillance footage and compared them one by one, finally finding the person who appeared in the footage.
This person is indeed a member of the film crew.
But he's no longer on the set.
This person was an assistant to Han Xiao. After Han Xiao finished filming, he left the set with his own artist, but for some reason, he appeared near the storage room the night before the explosion scene was filmed.
The investigation was thus forced to stop, and Yanshan, knowing the outcome, calmed down.
Han Xiao has already left the country, and the most suspicious staff member also left with him. Too many coincidences only make the truth more elusive.
Yanshan knew that this meant he could no longer investigate further.
He could only console himself with a kind of spiritual victory, telling himself to think more positively, that the explosion wasn't all bad.
Indeed, apart from some property damage, the production team suffered no other losses. On the contrary, the accident brought many benefits to the publicity.
Topics and attention are always the two most important things in the Chinese entertainment industry. The explosion accident made the crew of "Cultivation" gain a lot of attention from the audience even before filming was completed. The unresolved accident further fueled everyone's curiosity. Several different versions of the truth about the cause of the accident circulated online. These so-called crew secrets are always the most talked-about gossip rumors for outsiders.
The biggest beneficiary was naturally Jiang Qing, the male lead of "Cultivation" and the hero who saved lives in the accident.
His act of rushing into the inferno quickly became the top trending topic. Clicking on it led to a video of the scene, clearly showing Jiang Qing rushing into the flames after the explosion. He braved the thick smoke to break into the abandoned warehouse, carrying Chen Fu out and shouting a heart-wrenching cry to the stunned crowd.
"Help!
Those who watched the video were deeply moved by Jiang Qing's act of saving the woman. Jiang Qing, with his handsome and dashing appearance, had previously been criticized as overly effeminate and pretentious. This heroic rescue completely changed people's stereotypes of him, resolving a long-standing problem for him. Not only that, many previously unknown people became his fans, and with fans' overwhelming promotion and explanations, Jiang Qing's popularity doubled, making him one of the most sought-after male celebrities.
"The moment you rushed into the fire, you were not just an actor, you were a hero worthy of respect."
"Other people's idols are posing and showing off on stage, but my idol sacrificed himself for others in a fire."
"It started with your looks and ended with your character. Jiang Qing, it's my honor to be a fan of you."
"How could you be so foolish? Everyone praises your act of bravery. I'm not that righteous. Rather than being a hero, I only wish you peace and happiness."
...
Countless similar statements quickly flooded Jiang Qing's social media feed. Several hours after the incident, Jiang Qing finally responded. He declined all interview requests from the media, instead posting a very brief Weibo message.
"Today I only did what I should do, and I had no intention of taking up public resources. Let's encourage each other."
...
Jiang Qing certainly deserved these praises, but the subsequent public opinion gradually became strange.
A netizen claiming to be a staff member at the scene said that the explosion was indeed caused by improper operation, but not by the staff member's improper operation, but by an actress at the scene.
"I won't say who it is, haha, it's that guy who's always clinging to the male lead. He's some nobody, holding an explosive device in front of the male lead and acting scared and cute, breaking the equipment without saying a word. He brought this on himself."
Although he didn't say who he was talking about, his words were practically a euphemism for Chen Fu's ID number. This explosion scene was a scene between Chen Fu and Jiang Qing, and Chen Fu was the only female actress on set. As if he still felt the reference wasn't clear enough, an earlier interview with Yan Shan was later unearthed.
When asked in the interview how the production team selected the male and female leads, Yan Shan laughed twice and said that the first consideration was how well the actors matched the characters, and the second was whether there was any chemistry between the two people.
The reporter was quick to follow up, noticing that Yanshan seemed to have something to say, and immediately asked him if the director thought the two actors had a great chemistry.
At that time, Yan Shan had just teased Lu Xiaomi about the relationship between Chen Fu and Jiang Qing. When someone suddenly asked him this question, he reflexively blurted out the disgusting things he had said to Lu Xiaomi that day. He said, "Yes, I heard that Chen Fu used to be a fan of Jiang Qing."
All of this led to public opinion quickly pointing to one person – Chen Fu.
Chen Fu, having made little impact in the entertainment industry, was considered an easy target. Dozens of marketing accounts launched a coordinated attack that very night, spreading increasingly outrageous rumors that created a bizarre persona for her. Some said she was a manipulative, scheming woman who clung to Jiang Qing on set all day, clearly with ulterior motives. Others accused her of ignorance, recklessly tampering with such crucial explosive equipment. Still others speculated that she orchestrated the accident herself, confident Jiang Qing would come to her rescue, hoping to use this connection to create a romantic relationship, leech off his fame, and ultimately climb the ladder of success.
Upon reading these comments, Lu Xiaomi immediately vomited blood. She hadn't been this angry in a long time since she transmigrated into the book.
"Don't worry, I'll contact the public relations department right away. The news and trending topics will be taken down soon."
Chen Fu calmly scrolled through her phone, reading every single sarcastic comment.
No rush.
She said to Lu Xiaomi.
"The faster and more widely these unfounded rumors spread, the fiercer the counterattack will be."
The sudden explosion made her look even more haggard, her skin even whiter, and her aloof and cold demeanor even stronger.
"I'm waiting for the day he retaliates."
*
After the accident, the filming of the entire crew was nearing completion. Now, with the Lunar New Year's Eve approaching, Xihe is preparing an annual party program, and as a production project of Xihe Films' SSS+ division, the entire crew of "Cultivation" is on the invitation list for the annual party.
During a break in filming, Jiang Qing leaned over to ask Chen Fu how the preparations for the annual party's program were going.
He spoke with a hint of caution. After Chen Fu was discharged from the hospital, she was troubled by unfounded rumors for a long time. Jiang Qing apologized to Chen Fu for this, saying that he immediately stood up for Chen Fu after seeing those rumors and hoped that she would not take these nonsense words to heart.
Upon hearing the apology, Chen Fu was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Why are you always like this?"
"We've known each other for so long, why do you still act like it's the first time we've met, apologizing to me all the time?"
Jiang Qing paused for a moment, then laughed along with Chen Fu, saying that he was afraid Sister Fu would be upset if she saw those contents.
"What's there to be sad about? I've been in the industry for so many years, what haven't I encountered? This is such a small thing, of course I won't take it to heart."
These memories were deeply etched in Chen Fu's mind. As she spoke, she carefully observed Jiang Qing, trying to take in every subtle expression on his face. She had misjudged Jiang Qing; he was far more shrewd and cunning than she had imagined.