When the Stars Tremble

The Forty-Third Star

“What do you mean?” Xin He calmly glanced at the two of them.

Zong Ye’s lips curled slightly: “Hmm? What do you think?”

Wang Tan really couldn’t stand his subtly smug look, “Alright, that’s enough, stop showing off.”

Xin He finally had an epiphany: “You actually managed to get Jiang Chuyi?!”

After a pause, Zong Ye smiled helplessly, “Can you be a bit more tactful in your speech?”

“Just a few short months… I was only gone for a few short months,” Xin He murmured. “What about my cousin? What about my cousin’s happiness for the rest of his life?”

Jiang Chuyi almost spat out her drink.

Except for Fu Cheng, whose expression remained calm, Ji Kai was stunned for a few seconds before he couldn’t hold back: “Zong Ye and Teacher Jiang?! When did this happen?! How come I didn’t know anything about it?!”

Seeing Wang Tan’s obvious look of being in the know, Ji Kai quickly asked Fu Cheng: “Did you know?”

Fu Cheng sneered: “What do you think?”

Ji Kai: “…”

“I’ve been left out?”

Ji Kai couldn’t accept this fact. He went over and hooked his arm around Zong Ye’s neck, repeatedly questioning, “How come they all know, and I’m the only one who doesn’t? Zong Ye? Don’t you consider me a bro?!”

Zong Ye, being choked backwards, smiled bitterly and pleaded for mercy.

As they roughhoused, Jiang Chuyi obediently moved away, sitting a bit further. She couldn’t help but softly remind them: “Zong Ye just had eye surgery, be careful.”

Xin He called out to Jiang Chuyi in a deep voice: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“What?”

“Don’t feel sorry for men. Feeling sorry for men is the beginning of misfortune.”

Ji Kai kept chattering: “Why does everyone know except me?”

“Stop fucking yelling,” Wang Tan said irritably, his head aching from the noise. “Do you think with your idiotic behavior, you’re suitable for people to confide in?”

…
…

Soon, a staff member came to notify them to go to the front for preparation.

At the premiere, “Catching a Star” was screened in full, running for nearly two hours. The main cast all sat in the front row to watch with the audience.

Every time BloodxGentle appeared together on the big screen, they would appropriately elicit sighs from the audience.

The “Peak of Looks” team indeed lived up to its name.

The director knew how to highlight strengths and avoid weaknesses, and also understood what fans wanted to see, capturing the essence of commercial films to the fullest. The focus was on precise camera work, fully utilizing the advantages of their appearances, allowing “face fans” to immersively watch handsome men. Even in moments where the acting fell short, one couldn’t help but be forgiving—with faces like those, they could act however they pleased.

As someone who had been in films under Qin Tong’s guidance, Jiang Chuyi had to admit that the production quality of “Catching a Star” was fully qualified as a commercial film targeting the National Day box office. Combined with BloodxGentle’s current popularity, she could already envision that the box office would be quite good.

Staff members held cameras filming the reactions of the main cast and the viewing group.

When the film ended and the lights came up, applause erupted in the theater.

Jiang Chuyi’s neck ached from looking up, and she rubbed the back of it.

The host quickly came to the front of the stage, inviting the director, producer, and several actors to come up.

Jiang Chuyi stood up with them, lifting the hem of her long dress as she walked to the right side.

As she climbed the stairs, Zong Ye gentlemanly extended a hand.

Jiang Chuyi took it, smiling, “Thank you.”

The positioning on stage hadn’t been rehearsed beforehand. The director and producer jokingly said they would give up the center position. Jiang Chuyi tactfully moved towards the edge of the group, but Wang Tan called out: “You two actresses stand in the middle.”

Fu Cheng and Zong Ye had already made some space, with Ji Kai and Wang Tan separating from them in pairs, leaving a space in the middle.

Finally, Jiang Chuyi and Xin He were sandwiched between the four men, and staff members distributed a microphone to each of them.

The host joked: “Our handsome guys here are all very gentlemanly.”

The premiere followed the usual procedure, with reporters present taking turns asking questions. Because Zong Ye had disappeared for a while and was making his first public appearance today, he was cued more often.

The host, holding cue cards, asked them which scenes left the deepest impression during filming.

Xin He thought for a moment and answered: “Probably the scene where I argue with Fang Qing. I cried until my tears dried up.”

Zong Ye: “There are two scenes. One is the final scene in the snow, and the other is the scene where I’m sleeping and someone peeks at me.”

The host was curious: “The final scene in the snow is…?”

The director explained with a smile: “It’s the snow scene where Fang Qing says goodbye to Lin Xiangyuan. There’s actually a behind-the-scenes tidbit here. The hug was actually added at the last minute, and Zong Ye didn’t know about it beforehand. Everyone kept it a secret from him, so when we were officially filming, he was stunned for quite a while.”

When it was Jiang Chuyi’s turn to answer a question, her voice cut out after just a few words. She tapped the microphone, but there was still no sound.

Seeing this, Zong Ye handed her his microphone.

From somewhere in the audience seats below, a voice shouted: “YiJianZongQing is real!”

Everyone was stunned.

Zong Ye raised an eyebrow and looked towards the audience.

After “Shining Stars” aired, #YijianZongQing had trended so many times that many people knew it was the CP name for Jiang Chuyi and Zong Ye.

Laughter and teasing sounds came from the group of reporters.

Jiang Chuyi’s expression remained unchanged as she pretended not to hear the shout, calmly continuing to answer the host’s question.

After all the actors had been asked questions, the host began to interact with the viewing group in the audience.

Many industry bigwigs had been invited to today’s premiere. They were dressed low-key, wearing sunglasses and baseball caps, blending in with the fans in the audience seats. It wasn’t until each was called upon and had to stand up and remove their masks that a wave of gasps arose.

Besides Xin He’s uncle Lai Yushan, there was last year’s Golden Horse Best Actress from Taiwan, a movie star ranking top three in mainland China’s personal box office, the “big brother” of the variety show world Quan Yongning, and even a crosstalk performer…

After these people had each shared their viewing experience and a few fans had been selected for interaction, the premiere was drawing to a close, reaching the final segment: a group photo of everyone.

Returning the microphones to the staff, the main cast gradually left the stage. Xin He turned her head to whisper to Jiang Chuyi, “Want to go eat together later?”

“Sure.”

Just as Jiang Chuyi answered, she caught a glimpse of a figure in her peripheral vision.

Suddenly, a man in black burst out from the crowd of fans, lunging towards them.

In the emergency, Jiang Chuyi immediately turned back, trying to pull Xin He away, but was knocked to the ground by the man in black.

Everyone was stunned by this unexpected turn of events. After a few seconds of shock, the nearby security guards reacted and immediately rushed forward.

The man in black, quick and agile, tightly embraced Xin He.

Xin He screamed repeatedly in terror.

In the chaos, Jiang Chuyi fell sitting on the stairs. When she tried to stand up, a searing pain shot through her ankle. She sat in place, anxiously looking towards the situation over there.

Zong Ye immediately pushed through the crowd to her side, trying to help her up. “Chuyi, are you alright?”

Jiang Chuyi pointed towards where Xin He was: “I’m fine, I’m fine. Quickly go pull that person away.”

After much effort from several men on the scene, the overzealous male fan was separated from Xin He.

Xin He, still in shock, was supported by someone.

Before the overzealous fan could steady himself, Fu Cheng went over and kicked him hard in the waist, knocking him to the ground.

The man in black let out a cry of pain.

Ignoring others’ attempts to stop him, Fu Cheng viciously kicked the man on the ground in the stomach again. He was beating him mercilessly.

Seeing this scene, Li Heyin took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, and held her dizzy forehead. When she saw Zong Ye, she immediately instructed, “Quickly go and pull Fu Cheng away.”

The man in black was subdued on the ground by security guards, still shouting incessantly. On the other side, several people were quietly trying to persuade Fu Cheng to back away.

Zong Ye’s face was calm as he walked towards that area.

He patted a security guard, gesturing for him to make way.

The security guard was stunned for a moment, watching as Zong Ye stood for two seconds before half-squatting beside the man in black. He reached out, grabbed the man’s hair, forcing him to look up.

With so many eyes watching, Zong Ye still wore a kind smile. Using the gentle tone of everyday conversation, he patted the man’s face with the back of his hand and asked softly, “Didn’t your mother teach you to be polite and not to be rough with women?”

The surrounding people fell silent.

Li Heyin paced back and forth, turning in circles on the spot, nearly fainting. She finally couldn’t hold back her rage and shouted, “Enough! What kind of behavior is this?! You’ve all gone too far!! All of you, stop right now!”

IM’s staff also went to the audience seats, blocking the reporters’ cameras. “Please, give us some face, stop filming.”

*

This highly anticipated premiere had turned into a huge mess, and IM didn’t even have time for emergency PR. The news of Fu Cheng and Zong Ye’s outburst of chivalry, physically attacking the overzealous male fan on the spot, spread quickly.

Originally, the main discussion points of this premiere would have been “Who among BloodxGentle looked the best tonight”, “Being able to steal BloodxGentle’s center position is probably the highlight for nobodies like Xin He and Jiang Chuyi”, “CP fans are really the most brainless group in the world, the idiot who shouted ‘YiJianZongQing’ is truly stupid, they should keep their fantasies private, how dare they bring it in front of the actual people”…

While various fan groups were fiercely debating “who outshined the other three backup dancers tonight, who is the shame of IM’s strong promotion”, and Zong Ye’s solo fans were fighting with CP fans, this shocking news broke, causing the topic to truly explode.

The “Catching a Star” premiere became a “phenomenon-level event”. Besides Weibo and Douban’s eight major groups, even non-fandom outsiders began to join the discussion.

[Damn, Xin He is a bit pitiful, but also quite lucky. As expected of Hua Rui’s precious little princess, what kind of Mary Sue script did she get? I’m envious. Two top stars from BloodxGentle fighting to defend her on the spot, so dramatic, I’m stunned…]

[Thinking about Zong Ye’s previous rumors with Xin He, and combining it with his behavior today, hmm, it’s a bit intriguing…]

[I’m imagining a melodramatic love triangle. As far as I know, Zong Ye’s temper is quite good, right? He’s basically never shown anger before. What happened today…]

Wang Tan and Ji Kai’s fans remained in a peaceful state of watching the drama unfold, laughing as they watched the other two groups fight.

[Laughing hysterically, do you cunning “City Management” fans have nothing better to do? Don’t try to drag your Ye dad into this mess. Zong Ye isn’t like the ugly Cheng who kicks people. Why don’t you collect money to send ugly Cheng to Shanghai Mental Hospital? We’re really worried about his mental state. By the way, stop sending brainwashing packages, OK? Zong Ye didn’t hit anyone. We’re tired of being tied to you guys.]

[Who wants to be tied to a bastard? Don’t be too funny, toxic fans. Is it okay to say your bastard looks like a murderer? Your idol is incompetent, so you start going crazy and blaming us for tying you to us? You’re the ones who should stop mentioning us.]

As the two groups of toxic fans argued fiercely over who truly had secret feelings for Xin He, the YiJianZongQing army finally couldn’t hold back and joined the battle.

[How could Zong Ye possibly have a secret crush on Xin He? He didn’t even glance at her once. So, is it possible that there was another female celebrity at the scene who was also pushed down by this guy?]

[Let me tear off your skin to see what you’re really made of, how can you be so stupid? Oh, I see, you’re a CP dog from that super topic. Never mind then, no wonder your comments are so brain-dead. The water used to fill the sea is less than what’s in your brains. What kind of trash jumps out to seek attention like this? You’re truly like a lingering ghost. Can you stop adding your own drama?]

While the battle raged on one side, a small-scale war broke out on the other, with a self-proclaimed YiJianZongQing CP fan who was present at the scene engaging in a verbal battle against the masses.

[If you’re going to say that, I’ll get serious. I’ve already posted my ticket stub from the scene, and I saw everything that happened with my own eyes. Jiang Chuyi was indeed pushed down by that male fan, and Zong Ye was the first to go help her up. He even took off his own coat and put it over her, only then did he go to confront the male fan. Isn’t it obvious who Zong Ye was angry for? I don’t know what the solo fans are being so noble about…]

[Solo fans are indeed nobler than freeloading CP dogs. After all, we’re not like you with half our brains filled with water and half with flour paste. When you don’t move it’s fine, but once you do, it turns into paste.]

[The toxic solo fans are starting to lose it again. I’m stating facts and reasoning with you, and you’re battling me with personal attacks. We might not be as professional at fighting as you fandom veterans, but I have to say, even from my grave: Zong Ye only loves Jiang Chuyi—]

The YiJianZongQing support team began to join the fray, revealing for the first time “unknown details and sweet moments from the essence posts in the super topic”, uniformly posting [Zong Ye only loves Jiang Chuyi], turning the scene into a battle between CP fans and toxic solo fans.

As they competed, it even escalated to discussing who would get the top three positions in the chart battle for BloodxGentle’s fifth anniversary album coming out next month.

The pushed-aside Fu Cheng solo fans watched in shock as they fought tooth and nail with Zong Ye’s fans.

The rival they had suppressed for years finally met a worthy opponent. Fu Cheng’s solo fans momentarily admired the formidable fighting power of the CP fans.

As the internet was in an uproar over this incident, amidst a wave of criticism, IM finally came out with PR, issuing an announcement about what had just happened.

However, the comments section was a disaster.

Zong Ye and Fu Cheng’s fan groups temporarily reached a truce to control public opinion, and began to flood forums and boost data on Weibo.

…
…

Fortunately, Xin He wasn’t seriously hurt, just shocked by the unexpected incident. After calming down in the backstage rest room, she waved her hand, asking all the staff surrounding her to leave, wanting to be alone for a while.

Once the room was quiet again, Jiang Chuyi spoke up: “Are you sure you don’t need a doctor to check you again?”

“No need, I wasn’t injured,” Xin He patted her chest. “It really fucking scared me to death. I thought he was going to stab me with a knife. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just twisted my foot a little. It’ll be better in a couple of days.”

Xin He frowned: “Are you stupid? Next time there’s an emergency, just get out of the way.”

“I didn’t have time to react, I just instinctively tried to grab that person,” Jiang Chuyi smiled.

Before they could say much more, there was another knock on the rest room door. Xin He called out, “Who is it?!”

Wang Tan pushed open the door, poking his head in, “It’s me. I came to check on you.”

He and Ji Kai walked in.

The two found a place to sit down, “Are you both okay?”

Xin He was tired of answering this question, “I’m fine. What about Fu Cheng and Zong Ye?”

“Those two? Listen for yourself,” Wang Tan tilted his head. “They’re getting scolded right now.”

From just beyond the wall, Li Heyin’s angry voice could be faintly heard.

“Are you both pig-headed? Is the premiere a street market? Huh? Have you no sense of propriety?! Fighting with someone like little hooligans in public, what kind of scene is that? Are you two elementary school kids? Huh? Do you know how bad it looks when word gets out?! Do you know how much it affects your image?!”

“I can’t deal with either of you anymore. Both of you get out of here.”

At the height of her anger, Li Heyin shouted again: “And Zong Ye, I told you to pull Fu Cheng away, not to grab someone’s hair. Have you lost your mind?!!”

Xin He eavesdropped for a while and couldn’t help but shudder, “Damn, your manager is fierce.”

“Will they be okay?” Jiang Chuyi looked worried.

“It’s fine, Sister Yin is just routinely furious. Let her scold them and it’ll be over,” Ji Kai laughed gleefully. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard Sister Yin scold anyone. It makes me want to go over and yell a bit too, just for the satisfaction.”

After who knows how long, the scolding from next door gradually subsided. A while later, Fu Cheng and Zong Ye came in.

Jiang Chuyi sat in her chair, observing their facial expressions.

Fu Cheng calmly walked up to Xin He and asked, “How are you doing?”

Xin He rolled her eyes and said pitifully, “I’m still very scared. I need a hug from you to feel better.”

Fu Cheng stood still without moving.

Xin He pouted and took the initiative to reach out and wrap her arms around his waist.

Fu Cheng raised his hand slightly, sneered, and then ruffled her hair.

Seeing Zong Ye walk over, Jiang Chuyi asked softly, “Is your manager very angry?”

“It’s fine,” Zong Ye looked her over, “How’s your foot?”

Sensing his current mood wasn’t good, Jiang Chuyi quickly said to lighten the atmosphere, “My foot is fine.”

She wanted to stand up to prove it, but after just two steps, her ankle throbbed with pain again. Jiang Chuyi maintained her expression and turned around, hopping back to the chair on one leg in front of Zong Ye. She said sheepishly, “It seems to still hurt a little. I’ll just sit for a while longer and it’ll be fine.”

Zong Ye: “…”

He smiled and sighed, as if he didn’t know what to do with her. Zong Ye rolled up his sleeves, layer by layer to his elbows. He knelt on one knee on the ground, carefully examining her lower leg.

Jiang Chuyi froze.

After a while, Zong Ye lowered his eyes, his eyelashes casting shadows on his eyelids. He grasped her ankle, gently removing her high heel, then rested her foot on his leg, lightly massaging it with his hands. “Does it hurt here?”

Jiang Chuyi’s foot was resting on his suit pants. She suddenly came to her senses and immediately tried to pull her leg back, “No need, no need.”

“Chuyi, don’t move,” Zong Ye’s voice was slow and gentle, with a smile on his lips, but his eyes were dark, “Let me massage it for you.”

Ji Kai was bewildered, not knowing where to look.

Having been forcefully fed dog food by the two couples in front of him, he couldn’t take it anymore and turned to say, “Brother Tan, we’re so pitiful. Should we hug each other?”

“Fuck off, why don’t you go die?”

As Ji Kai bantered with him, a bone-chillingly cold voice suddenly rang out — “Well, well, what do I see here?”

Wang Tan turned his eyes and paused, “Sister Yin, calm down. Children grow up and can’t be controlled by their mothers. No matter how upset you are, remember to smile.”

Taking in the scene unfolding in the room, Li Heyin leaned against the doorframe, tilted her head back, and muttered, “Zong Ye, Fu Cheng, good, good, you’re both doing so well.”

Zong Ye didn’t stop his hand movements, turned his head to look at her, and chuckled softly, “What did I do?”

Li Heyin stepped forward, closed the door behind her with a loud bang that seemed to shake dust from the walls.

Xin He jumped in fright, guiltily releasing Fu Cheng immediately.

He lowered his eyes and casually said, “What are you afraid of?”

Staring at them intently, after a full minute of silence, Li Heyin breathed heavily: “I’ve spent five or six years on you guys, worrying myself sick over you.”

The people present had heard this speech eight hundred times. Ji Kai silently continued, “For you, we haven’t even had a…”

Her voice was a bit unsteady: “For you, we haven’t even had a good night’s sleep. I’m not even fifty and my hair has turned white. I’ve racked my brains to make you famous. What was it all for? Come on, Zong Ye, you tell me, what was it all for?”

Zong Ye remained silent.

“You can’t answer, can you?”

Li Heyin forced a benevolent smile, gritting her teeth and enunciating each word, “Then let me ask you this: I’ve poured my heart and soul into making you a top star, a big celebrity with countless fans. Was it all so that you could, now, kneel on the ground, and massage, someone’s foot? Hm?”