Chapter 10: The Fake Brotherhood is Exposed
The old man’s words left everyone on the scene stunned for a moment.
“That’s right. That boy fell into the pond last night. Luckily, Little Ze was passing by and pulled him out. I was the one who got up in the middle of the night to treat his fever!”
The old man, unaware of the complicated situation, frowned at the group of outsiders. “If you’re his companions, why are you only looking for him now?”
When the production team had arrived in the village yesterday, many people had come out to watch the excitement. The handsome men and beautiful women were quite eye-catching, and the villagers had an impression of them, but…
“Didn’t the village chief tell you not to go near the pond at night? That place is… sigh!” The old man trailed off, unwilling to reveal more, and could only sigh and lower his head.
Rongrong cried out, “At night? But wasn’t Chi Xiasheng resting in his room last night?”
Su Chimian’s heart sank. He quickly interjected, “Can we go in and see him? Is my brother okay now?”
At that moment, the dark-skinned boy’s dark eyes finally fell on Su Chimian. The boy’s skin was several shades darker than the average person, like pure chocolate. The only different color on him was the whites of his eyes. However, he had thick eyebrows and large eyes, a very bright and handsome face, not ugly at all, and even exuded a heroic air.
Nodding slightly, the dark-skinned boy, Xiao Ze, pulled the door open wider to let them in. But before they could enter, Chi Xiasheng walked out of the house.
He had been running a high fever all night, and his mind was still foggy. Now, wearing Xiao Ze’s jacket, he leaned against the doorframe, his face pale and bloodless. After a few coughs, he looked up, his skin appearing even paler in the afterglow of the sunset.
“Chi Xiasheng, are you okay? How did you get so sick?”
Qiu Li looked at him. Even though his face was full of sickness, he was still as beautiful as a fragile, exquisite piece of porcelain. It seemed as if a single touch could chip off a piece of the glaze, making one desperately want to cherish him.
Especially since Chi Xiasheng was so pale, when compared to the dark-skinned Xiao Ze supporting him… Xiao Ze looked as black as a lump of coal.
But this contrast made the viewers in the livestream squeal with delight. They loved this kind of pairing—the sickly beauty and the dark-skinned boy! It was just too easy to evoke a sense of tragic, aesthetic beauty in the fans’ hearts!
“Let’s go back first. Let Bro—Chi Xiasheng go back and get some rest.”
Su Chimian just wanted to quickly gloss over the time when Chi Xiasheng went missing and spoke up hurriedly.
“Don’t go. They’re not good.”
Before Chi Xiasheng could say anything, Xiao Ze spoke up anxiously, gently tugging at the corner of his clothes. Xiao Ze had taken care of Chi Xiasheng all night.
Thinking of this, Chi Xiasheng’s heart grew cold. “You didn’t look for me last night?”
He had been missing all night, and they had only started looking for him the next afternoon. Wasn’t that a bit too perfunctory?
“You were missing last night… But didn’t Little Mian say you were resting in your room?”
Rongrong couldn’t keep things to herself and immediately asked, “Su Chimian, didn’t you bring Chi Xiasheng dinner last night? Why didn’t you say anything when you found out he wasn’t there?!” If he had, they wouldn’t have only discovered he was missing this morning!
Although Chi Xiasheng was sick and his mind felt dull, he quickly figured out the whole situation.
“I’m afraid he never brought me dinner at all.”
Chi Xiasheng’s gaze swept coldly over Su Chimian. Seeing his stiff expression and how he didn’t know how to defend himself, he let out a harsh, cold laugh.
Su Chimian stumbled. The situation had developed so unexpectedly that he had no idea what to do.
“I’m sorry, I was in a hurry at the time, I didn’t notice you weren’t there…”
“No need to apologize. After all, it was all just fake affection.”
Chi Xiasheng’s words not only made the faces of the guests on the scene change, but also made the viewers online erupt in anger.
[So, it turns out Su Chimian didn’t even know if Chi Xiasheng was in his room, and he didn’t even bring him dinner. And I actually felt sorry for him!]
[I get scared just thinking about it now. Su Chimian’s acting was too good. What if something had really happened to Chi Xiasheng last night?]
[If you hate someone, just say it. What’s so hard about admitting it’s a fake brotherhood? You had to pretend to be so close, and now you’ve been exposed, haven’t you?! You almost got someone killed!]
Although the viewers disliked Chi Xiasheng because of his bad reputation, they couldn’t stand by and watch him die. And Su Chimian, afraid of being caught in a lie, had repeatedly concealed the truth, fooling everyone. The viewers who had previously thought he was considerate and warm-hearted were now unfollowing him in droves, wanting nothing to do with such a two-faced, black-hearted lotus.
It was only then that the director realized the livestream was still running. He had been in such a panic that he hadn’t noticed there was still one cameraman who had cluelessly filmed the entire thing!
“Turn it off, turn it off! What are you still filming for?!”
The director didn’t want this kind of thing to spread. He furiously ordered the cameraman to turn off the camera. But it was too late.
The news of Chi Xiasheng falling into the water and no one looking for him, and Su Chimian’s hypocrisy, had already hit the trending topics online.
For a slow-life reality show to trend so many times in two days, any other director would have been laughing out loud. But the director of this show had a grave expression, looking completely defeated. Now he had to figure out how to handle the PR. A guest on his show had been missing for a day and a night. Such a major oversight would be difficult to explain to the public. The production team’s lack of safety awareness, combined with their blind trust in a certain artist, had led to this result.
Although the livestream was off, the online discussion was impossible to suppress.
[This is too much. Su Chimian is so disgusting!]
[Watching the whole livestream, I didn’t see a hint of guilt from the production team. And they even told them to turn off the livestream, hilarious!]
Su Chimian’s fans were also desperately defending him, saying he had tasks to do too, how could he possibly watch over Chi Xiasheng all the time? Besides, it wasn’t Su Chimian who pushed him into the water!
But at a time like this, the best thing to do was to stay silent. Jumping out so frantically would only make the public’s perception of Su Chimian worse.
After this livestream, the goodwill Su Chimian had accumulated with the audience was almost completely gone. A simple lie might not have been a big deal, but Su Chimian’s lie not only contradicted his warm-hearted persona but had also nearly led to an accident, which inevitably left a bad taste in people’s mouths.
Chi Xiasheng couldn’t be bothered to move back and forth, so he simply continued to stay at Xiao Ze’s house. The production team had to deal with the online mess and had no time for him. The other guests could only follow them, though Qiu Li cast a worried glance at Chi Xiasheng before she left.
After everyone had more or less dispersed, Chi Xiasheng lay back down on the bed, coughing into his fist several times.
“Drink some water.”
Xiao Ze handed him a ceramic mug.
“Thank you, Xiao Ze. It’s a good thing you were passing by yesterday, otherwise…” Chi Xiasheng felt a wave of relief just thinking about it. And thinking back, he felt that his condition last night had been very strange. How could he have almost drowned in such shallow water?
The old man had taken Chi Xiasheng’s pulse earlier. Hearing his words, he just sighed.
“You don’t understand. That pond is very strange. The Fish God lives there. You young people don’t believe it, but you can’t offend the gods!”
Hearing this, Xiao Ze’s hand, which was holding the basin of water, trembled, and he quickly avoided the gazes of the old man and Chi Xiasheng.
“Fish God?”
Chi Xiasheng didn’t believe it. He only believed in science. Last night, it was most likely because he had a fever and his body went weak upon sudden contact with the water that he had almost drowned.
Seeing his disbelief, the old man sighed helplessly and left with his hands behind his back.
“I’m sorry to be taking up your bed again tonight.”
Chi Xiasheng just wanted to wait for a result now. With something like this happening on the show, someone would definitely come to negotiate with him. But he really didn’t want to see Su Chimian, so he had to temporarily continue staying at Xiao Ze’s house.
Xiao Ze was an orphan who had lived here alone for many years. He had no other family.
Hearing that Chi Xiasheng wasn’t leaving, Xiao Ze was excited and a little shy. He even ran out and, mimicking what he had seen on TV, put a few small wildflowers in the red porcelain vase on Chi Xiasheng’s bedside table.
Looking at the flowers, Chi Xiasheng’s mood brightened a little.
His fever had mostly subsided, and since he had slept a lot during the day, he wasn’t sleepy at night. He just lay in the room, staring blankly at the starry sky.
Xiao Ze loved to be near Chi Xiasheng. Even when Chi Xiasheng was asleep, he didn’t leave, sitting quietly by the door all night. He didn’t need to sleep, so when Chi Xiasheng saw him looking so energetic in the morning, he didn’t suspect that he had been up all night.
The production team had been thinking all night and doing emergency PR all night. They finally came to see Chi Xiasheng again.
Chi Xiasheng could sense that the production team was biased towards Su Chimian, but he never expected them to be so biased!
“You want me to just let it go? On what grounds?”
Chi Xiasheng looked at the director’s plump, greasy face and felt a wave of nausea. He lowered his head and coughed a couple of times before looking up at him with a frown.
