Chapter 70: Low Fever

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Su Xin gritted his teeth and laughed coldly: "Ying Huai plagiarized me? How come I didn't know about this myself?"

The manager's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

He didn't know what to say for a moment, laughing awkwardly: "Teacher Su, please don't be like this. I was trying to help you and Teacher Ying. Please don't get so worked up. I also believe our Teacher Ying wouldn't do something like this..."

He rolled his eyes, smiling apologetically as he spoke: "Why don't you first tell me if there's anything that feels off to you normally, so I can..."

The manager had originally been trying to get Su Xin to recall past conflicts with Ying Huai, but the next second, he heard Su Xin directly cut him off.

"Help us?"

"I think you just want to use me to hurt someone." Su Xin laughed coldly.

The manager choked on his words.

He opened his mouth to say something more, but saw Su Xin cross his arms and speak first: "The burden of proof lies with the accuser. Would you mind, Manager — first stating your factual basis?"

The manager was rebuffed without mercy. His face grew somewhat awkward for a moment. He gritted his teeth and didn't speak immediately.

The live stream chat started flooding with comments first.

[What plagiarism? What nonsense is this manager spouting?]

[Accusing someone of plagiarism only to have the person supposedly plagiarized personally oppose it — is this manager trying to deliberately stir up conflict between the two?]

[Weren't there always rumors that Su Xin and Ying Huai didn't get along? Maybe this manager was trying to sow discord based on those rumors, but ended up kicking an iron plate hahahaha.]

[Wait, why is everyone discussing the sowing discord thing? Doesn't anyone think Ying Huai actually plagiarized?]

[? Because Su Xin himself said it couldn't be plagiarism?]

[Agree with the person above above. I just went and listened to both songs, and indeed there are a few sections of melody with a strong sense of déjà vu. Emmmm, I can't really say.]

[Just looking at release times, Su Xin's song was released much earlier than Ying Huai's. Could it really be plagiarism?]

[There's no actual evidence right now. Can a sense of déjà vu and an earlier release date count as proof of guilt?]

[The ones above must be paid trolls. What kind of brainless attacks are these.]

The live stream chat was in complete chaos for a moment. Liang Shining scrolled through quickly and frowned.

This was clearly a professional team steering public opinion. Liang Shining's eyes flickered, and he switched directly to his chat with Li Xiang.

On the other side, Ying Huai's manager finally forced himself to calm down.

Things had reached this point. He could only stick to his story.

"Teacher Su, I really am trying to help you and Teacher Ying resolve this matter — you were asking for my basis just now, weren't you?"

The manager took a deep breath and pulled out a document from his bag.

"I received an anonymous report, with various supporting evidence and comparison results attached."

Su Xin reached out to take it, but the manager didn't seem to have any intention of giving it to him.

"We still need to further verify the authenticity of these materials on our end, so we may need to trouble Teacher Su to cooperate later..."

Su Xin raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't help but laugh coldly.

"So you haven't even confirmed the authenticity of the materials, yet you came here to directly make baseless accusations?"

Su Xin reached out directly: "Give it to me."

The manager hesitated.

The materials had actually already been verified. He had brought them today intending to present them on the spot.

But he hadn't expected Su Xin to suddenly jump out and oppose it, and for a moment he didn't dare actually hand over the materials.

But if he didn't give them now, Su Xin might continue to say things unfavorable to the situation.

The manager gritted his teeth and ultimately handed over the materials: "We've actually already verified the authenticity of the materials, which is why we came directly to Teacher Ying and Teacher Su for confirmation. We just need to remain rigorous, haha. If Teacher Su wants to look, you can take a look first."

Su Xin took the materials, and his brow furrowed little by little.

The text before him clearly compared his and Ying Huai's songs, but what surfaced in his mind was an entirely different memory.

Those inexplicable memories from before seemed to be quietly linking together. Su Xin's brow furrowed tightly, and for a moment he couldn't say a word.

The manager didn't understand what was happening, but seeing Su Xin's reaction, he silently exhaled.

His courage gradually grew.

"Based on the evidence provided in these materials, we've conducted a point-by-point comparison of various aspects of the two songs..."

Before the manager could finish speaking, a lazy voice suddenly came from the side.

"My Pre-release Track has only been out for one day, and the company has already done this much analysis behind the scenes."

Ying Huai leaned back in his chair, half-propping his chin on his hand, and curled his lips into a half-smile.

"How come I didn't know the company valued me so much?"

Some people in the live stream chat beside them suddenly realized as well.

[Right, hasn't Ying Huai's company always ignored him? Why are they so proactive this time?]

[I remember the last few times Ying Huai got sick while filming shows, his company never showed up, did they? It was always Liang Shining taking care of him.]

[And the early production and promotion of this album were almost entirely done by Ying Huai and Mu Heguang together. What exactly did the company do?]

The wind in the live stream chat seemed to be shifting. The manager's brow twitched.

He forcibly steered the topic back: "The company has always been very attentive to Teacher Ying's situation. Otherwise, we wouldn't have responded so quickly to this incident."

He stood up, almost frantically opening the document on his phone from earlier.

"These analyses were put together by the company overnight. We've compared similarity across melody, harmony, lyrics, and rhythm, and you can see the overlap is quite high..."

"But this evidence is complete nonsense."

Before the manager could finish speaking, Song Xingzhou beside him suddenly spoke up and cut him off directly.

The manager was stunned.

Song Xingzhou said calmly: "If there's a case for plagiarism, there should also be room for a case against it, right?"

"The main point in judging whether music is plagiarized lies in whether there is substantial similarity[1]. More specifically, it's determined by combining lyrical and melodic structure, melodic direction, rhythmic arrangement, musical character, and listening feel — to supplement the points Teacher Manager didn't fully cover just now."

The manager's face turned ashen.

He listened as Song Xingzhou continued: "Because Teacher Ying's Pre-release Track has only just been released, due to time constraints, I can't list out all the evidence at once like Teacher Manager did."

Song Xingzhou glanced up at the manager with implication. The manager's face was ugly. He wanted to retort but seemed to have some reservations, and ultimately swallowed his words.

Song Xingzhou didn't mind, took out his phone, and continued speaking to himself: "So let me just give a few 'simple' examples first."

"First, melodic direction."

"I looked at the comparison in your materials just now. Melodic judgment isn't made by simply stacking scores. You first need to transcribe both pieces and unify them to the same key — that is, filtering out BPM, effects, riffs, and most of these ornamental musical design elements."

"Leaving only the main melody, harmony, and bass voice."

"I just did a rough operation with a phone app. The melodic direction and melodic combinations of these two pieces basically don't have any large sections of similarity, which doesn't match the 'essentially identical' claim in Teacher Manager's materials."

Song Xingzhou spoke with great logic in every word, completely unlike the 'simple' examples he had mentioned.

Su Yun beside him listened in a daze, and couldn't help but whisper: "Teacher Song is amazing. The examples he gives all seem very well-founded, much more complex than what Teacher Ying's manager said."

"Because he's a pure college student with that kind of free time." Chu Ming beside him also whispered, "Although I don't know how his attitude toward Brother Huai changed."

Su Yun turned his head in some confusion. Chu Ming paused: "When I was in college, I once stayed up all night marking every page of my textbooks."

His voice grew even quieter: "Just so I wouldn't have to review."

Su Yun: ...?

He turned to glance at Chu Ming, and couldn't help but whisper: "Aren't you worried, Teacher Chu?"

"Worried about what?" Chu Ming asked, baffled.

"Worried about Teacher Ying," Su Yun whispered. "This is clearly slander. They're bullying Teacher Ying..."

"What's there to be nervous about? You said it yourself, this plagiarism thing is complete nonsense."

Su Yun silently glanced at Chu Ming's continuously trembling hand and decided not to expose his lie.

"Brother Huai isn't that fragile. Don't worry." Chu Ming, completely unaware that Su Yun had seen through him, reached out his trembling hand and patted Su Yun's shoulder.

Su Yun started trembling from his patting too.

"Tch, why are you trembling? Don't be such a coward." Chu Ming frowned at him.

Su Yun wanted to say he wasn't the one trembling, but the next second, he heard Chu Ming speak quietly.

"I know Brother Huai. The way he is right now, it's obvious he anticipated this long ago and is planning to use the situation to catch the person behind it — ah, that would be my father."

Su Yun: ?

He turned back in confusion, and heard Chu Ming continue: "Don't worry, I won't help my father. My father's mental state is completely abnormal right now. I can't talk him out of it. I can only try my best to protect Brother Huai."

Chu Ming shrugged: "I also hope he can give up quickly and not get in any deeper."

Su Yun was stunned for a moment.

He hesitated, wanting to offer comfort, but saw Chu Ming turn his head again and thoughtfully stroke his own chin.

"What I'm more curious about right now is why Song Xingzhou and Su Xin are suddenly so nice to Brother Huai."

Chu Ming frowned, then suddenly clapped his hands: "Oh no, I haven't gained two more romantic rivals, have I!"

Su Yun: ......

He swallowed the comforting words on the tip of his tongue and silently turned his head away.

—Sure enough, he'd better just pay more attention to Teacher Ying. This blockhead Chu Ming didn't need his concern at all.

—Let him tremble on his own.

On the other side, Ying Huai's manager's face had already darkened like still water.

His face twisted: "That's only one point. Didn't you just mention listening feel? There are already many people online saying parts of these two songs sound similar—"

Before the manager could finish speaking, the expressions of the people around him instantly turned strange.

Chu Ming didn't hesitate to snort with laughter.

"Can outsiders stop pretending to be experts here? If you don't understand, learn more — even I know listening feel isn't your kind of 'ear-test plagiarism detection.'"

Su Yun beside him looked up in surprise and caught a glimpse of 'Baidu Baike' on Chu Ming's phone.

Su Yun: ...?

Ying Huai's manager's face was ashen. Song Xingzhou nodded as well.

"Yes, listening feel involves analyzing a certain instrument in the song, and from there distinguishing the singer's breath and vocal technique."

Song Xingzhou, as if afraid Ying Huai's manager still didn't understand, kindly gave an example: "For instance, by feeling the vibration of guitar strings or the resonance of a drum surface for auxiliary analysis."

"Teacher Ying's song is basically carried by Drum & Bass throughout, while Teacher Su's is primarily guitar-based. They're fundamentally different."

"And most importantly."

Song Xingzhou looked up, a smile playing at his lips: "Most of the song segments compared in your materials aren't even in Teacher Ying's officially released Pre-release Track."

Song Xingzhou said innocently: "You didn't happen to hear a pirated version somewhere, did you?"

Disbelief flashed across the manager's face. He slammed his palm on the table before him with a bang.

'Can you shut the fuck up—'

The manager had already grown impatient when Song Xingzhou first stood up to refute him.

But due to certain considerations, he barely held himself back.

Now, seeing the situation turning against him, he finally couldn't hold back any longer and issued a veiled warning: 'Stop talking nonsense here, or you'll bring trouble on yourself...'

Before he could finish, Su Xin, who had been silent beside him, suddenly spoke.

'Is what I'm saying now also nonsense?'

The manager froze for a moment, then quickly schooled his expression.

'Of course not, Teacher Su. If you have any concerns, you can raise them now, and we'll definitely give you a response as soon as possible...'

Before he could finish, he saw Su Xin turn his head calmly: 'No need to investigate.'

'Ying Huai didn't plagiarize me.'

The manager froze.

'What?'

His expression shifted, and he forced a smile: 'Teacher Su, are you sure? If you have any doubts, we can investigate further...'

'I said it already — Ying Huai didn't plagiarize me.'

Su Xin raised his head and said, enunciating each word: 'The Demo Version of his song predates mine. I saw it with my own eyes.'

Ying Huai, who had been listening, looked up at the sound. Su Xin gazed at him deeply for a moment, then slowly shifted his gaze away.

'There is simply no possibility of plagiarism.'

·

The live stream fell silent. The manager stood there, stunned.

His face went pale bit by bit. He opened his mouth soundlessly, unsure what to say, but the Live Stream Chat beside him exploded with comments.

[I knew Teacher Xiao Huai couldn't have plagiarized! He could improvise on the spot during the Variety Show — why would he plagiarize with that kind of ability?]

[Where are those paid trolls? Why aren't they daring to show up?]

[Those spam trolls are finally gone... Someone in the industry here — even if there really was a problem with the song, this manager's way of handling it is abnormal.]

[First, the manager needs to gather all the information about the album release in advance, then guide public opinion in a positive direction.]

[Second, after the song is released, if any negative issues arise, the manager should first privately contact the artist to understand the actual situation, and at the same time — immediately begin PR work. Everything must prioritize protecting the artist's reputation.]

[It's obvious Ying Huai's manager didn't inform him in advance. Not only did he not try to minimize the fallout, he actually exposed it during the live stream, wanting everyone to know — that's itself a huge red flag.]

[I know you just want to hate for the sake of it, but could you at least do some research before you do? (shrugs)]

[The person above is so professional. Now I understand where Teacher Xiao Huai's past scandals came from — just baseless attacks like this.]

[Seeing everyone mocking them puts my mind at ease. As expected, everyone believes Teacher Xiao Huai.]

The situation both inside and outside the live stream reversed simultaneously. The manager's face turned ashen.

He took a deep breath, barely managing to calm down: 'Then perhaps I... no, the company got it wrong. Let me go back and verify, we'll definitely give you results as soon as possible...'

He spoke while already turning to leave, but the next moment, he heard Lu Jing suddenly speak from behind.

'There's no need.'

Lu Jing stood up and said indifferently: 'You've been fired. You're no longer Ying Huai's manager. Ying Huai's affairs have nothing to do with you from now on.'

The manager's steps halted.

Disbelief flashed across his face. 'On what grounds?'

'On the grounds that you maliciously spread rumors about Ying Huai, and that you colluded with outside parties to publish false information about him.'

Lu Jing said coldly: 'There's more. Do you need me to list them one by one?'

'I didn't! Ying Huai is my own artist — why would I do that!'

The manager's face contorted: 'You can't do this. I'm an employee brought in by the old President Lu. You can't just fire me...'

Bloodshot veins burst in the manager's eyes: 'Didn't you say you'd already left the Lu Corporation? Right, you've already left — you have no right to fire me...'

He suddenly raised his head, his gaze falling on Song Xingzhou beside him, and instantly remembered something.

He pointed directly at Song Xingzhou: 'You gave me all this stuff too — don't think you can escape...'

Song Xingzhou stood still, an innocent look on his face.

'What are you talking about, Manager?'

'Everything I sent you was song segments that weren't used in the Pre-release Track.'

The manager's words cut off abruptly. Song Xingzhou raised his head, his eyes curving obediently: 'You did ask me about Teacher Ying's songs before, but I thought you just wanted to use that information for song promotion, so I gave you some unused segments as preliminary promotional material.'

'And you can check — all the other song information I sent you can be found online. There's no such thing as a source leak.'

'As for how you wanted to use this information... that's none of my business.'

Song Xingzhou stood in place, looking up innocently: 'After all, I wouldn't have known that you, as an employee of the Lu Corporation, would actually be... in contact and cooperating with Chu Hongsheng's company.'

The live stream erupted in an uproar. The manager's face turned iron-green.

'You—'

He instantly understood something and lunged forward.

'You fucking people are all in cahoots with Ying Huai — you, Lu Jing, Su Xin — you all deliberately set me up...'

But the moment he took a step forward, the security personnel who had been waiting nearby immediately stepped in and blocked him.

The manager struggled violently. The next moment, Lu Jing stepped forward and placed a document on the table.

The manager instinctively turned his head for a glance, and froze completely.

—The document was, unmistakably, his bank statements from the past several years.

'The evidence of you accepting bribes was compiled overnight by the finance department yesterday and has already been handed over to the relevant authorities for investigation.' Lu Jing said calmly.

'I left the Lu Corporation because I couldn't tolerate its former darkness and corruption.'

Lu Jing lowered his eyes, his tone indifferent: 'But now, the Lu Corporation is something I built with my own hands.'

He raised his head, his gaze falling on Ying Huai not far away.

Ying Huai's eyes flickered. He listened as Lu Jing's voice gradually softened, each word seeming to carry a double meaning.

'So the me now — and the Lu Corporation — are completely different from the past.'

·

The live stream was quickly cut off, but the topic had already surged in popularity on Weibo.

After Liang Shining contacted Li Xiang, Li Xiang quickly arranged for relevant personnel to have major bloggers post clarification announcements under the trending topic #Accusation of Ying Huai's Pre-release Track Plagiarism#, directly controlling the information landscape.

At the same time, the trending topics #Ying Huai's Manager Secretly Contacted Chu Hongsheng Company# and #Ying Huai's Innocence# were quickly pushed up.

[This is the first time I've heard of Chu Hongsheng's company. What do they do?]

[I just looked it up. It seems to have originally been a subsidiary under the Ying Corporation, but for some reason it was cut off by Ying Corporation Headquarters last year. Now it's basically... independent on its own?]

[This is the company of Ying Huai's half-brother's maternal uncle. I just checked, and people say both Lexi and Song Fengyi have business dealings with this company. So was this a deliberate attempt to harm Teacher Xiao Huai...]

[Oh god, that's terrifying. Based on what Lu Jing just said, were Teacher Xiao Huai's past scandals also released by him?]

[So scary. He's been hiding in the shadows all along, and now he's finally been exposed.]

While everyone online was buzzing with discussion, the people at the center of the storm appeared unusually 'calm.'

The Assistant Director, knowing that handling this situation would take some time, thoughtfully moved the start of recording to the evening.

At this moment, Ying Huai sat on the sofa, a fat Bouquet in his arms and the Panda Cat asleep on his lap, an innocent look on his face. Beside him sat Liang Shining, whose expression was as calm as ever.

Chu Ming stood across from them, pulling Su Yun along. Song Xingzhou stood somewhat at a loss beside Ying Huai.

'What is this? Are you guys interrogating me?'

Ying Huai rubbed the ears of the fat Bouquet in his arms and looked up with a half-smile: 'Getting bold?'

Chu Ming pursed his lips, trying to maintain his imposing air: 'We are interrogating you! What exactly happened just now, Huai-ge? Are you hiding something from us—'

Before he could finish, the next moment, he saw Ying Huai suddenly sit up straight and slightly raise his arm.

Chu Ming's expression instantly panicked, and the imposing air he'd been trying to maintain vanished.

Before he could react, he instinctively dropped into a squat right in front of Ying Huai.

Ying Huai's movement paused.

He glanced at Chu Ming, his peach-blossom eyes curving, then slowly reached out and pulled the Panda Cat, which was about to slide off, a little closer to himself.

Chu Ming: ........

'What's wrong? Weren't you about to interrogate me just now?'

Ying Huai unhurriedly pinched the ears of the fat Bouquet and looked up with a smile: 'You haven't even started interrogating, and you've already squatted down yourself?'

'I was wrong, Huai-ge.'

Chu Ming's face instantly fell.

'I know you must have had everything under control, but I was still worried something might happen to you. What exactly happened just now?'

Ying Huai kept his head down, focused on petting the cat. After waiting a while, Chu Ming slowly shifted his gaze to the side, landing on Liang Shining's expressionless face.

He paused, then finally turned his hopeful gaze to Song Xingzhou.

'How about Xingzhou tells us!'

Chu Ming reached out and grabbed Song Xingzhou's hand: 'We really owe it all to Xingzhou just now. I had prejudice against you before — that was my problem. Please don't take it to heart.'

Chu Ming had always been the straightforward type who said whatever was on his mind. Song Xingzhou wasn't used to Chu Ming's sudden change in attitude and was, for once, somewhat at a loss.

'No, it's nothing, Teacher Chu. It was my own problem before too. You don't need to apologize...'

Before he could finish, Ying Huai beside him said with a smile: 'This time, we really do need to thank Xingzhou.'

Ying Huai raised his head and curved his eyes at Song Xingzhou: 'Tell him what happened, or this blockhead will keep asking you all night.'

Song Xingzhou looked at Ying Huai, his face inexplicably reddening a few shades.

He took a deep breath and quickly turned his head away: 'Okay, Teacher Ying.'

'Back at the Villa... I had already apologized to Teacher Ying and decided to put on an act with him.'

'Before, Chu Hongsheng used my brother as an excuse to get me to help him harm Teacher Ying. Before the Pre-release Track was released, Ying Huai's manager suddenly contacted me, asking for some information and preview clips of Teacher Ying's Pre-release Track.'

Chu Ming clicked his tongue softly. Song Xingzhou instantly fell silent and looked up at him cautiously.

'It's fine, I'm clicking my tongue at my own dad. How can he still be doing this kind of thing at his age?'

Chu Ming realized something and quickly added: 'Don't worry, I'm not on my dad's side. Last time he tried to harm Huai-ge and even tried to pin the blame on me.'

Song Xingzhou let out a small breath of relief.

'I told Teacher Ying about this, and he had me send over some song demo clips — all segments that weren't used in the final Pre-release Track.'

'Then what's the deal with Su Xin?' Chu Ming couldn't help asking.

Song Xingzhou shook his head: 'I'm not clear on that either, but when Chu Hongsheng's side asked me who had a bad relationship with Teacher Ying, I... instinctively said Teacher Su at the time.'

—After all, he had just seen Su Xin acting suspicious outside the recording studio that day.

He hadn't expected Chu Hongsheng's side to be so ruthless — directly trying to turn the tables, pinning the source leak on Su Xin, then accusing Ying Huai of plagiarizing Su Xin, hoping to profit from the two fighting each other.

Instead, by a stroke of accident, they lost utterly and completely.

Song Xingzhou took a deep breath and said somewhat awkwardly: "Although we did wrong him, his reaction and movements at the time really looked like he was going to harm Teacher Ying..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw Chu Ming's expression suddenly turn strange.

Song Xingzhou instinctively turned his head.

Su Xin had walked over at some unknown point, standing not far away, looking at Ying Huai with a complicated expression.

A hint of awkwardness appeared on Song Xingzhou's face, and he turned away first.

But Su Xin didn't pay him any attention, walking step by step to stand in front of Ying Huai.

"Your shixiong is here too."

Ying Huai looked up, his eyes curving at Su Xin: "Thank you, shixiong, for helping me just now. It was all a misunderstanding, shixiong, please don't mind it..."

"You don't need to apologize to me, shidi."

Su Xin suddenly interrupted him in a low voice.

"It's me who has wronged you."

Ying Huai's expression went blank with surprise.

His eyes flickered, the smile at his lips gradually fading, and he looked at Su Xin without speaking.

Su Xin slowly crouched down in front of Ying Huai, holding Ying Huai's knees, and slowly raised his head.

"The Pre-release Track sounds very good, shidi."

"All the songs you've composed yourself before, they all sound very good."

Su Xin's voice was inexplicably a little hoarse.

Looking at Ying Huai, as if having made some kind of resolve, he said word by word in a low voice: "Your songs should be heard by everyone. You were born to stand on the stage."

"You're... countless times stronger than me."

·

The room was silent. Ying Huai frowned slightly, looking at Su Xin without speaking.

It was Chu Ming beside him who first bristled.

"What are you doing? Took the wrong medicine today? How did you suddenly change personality?"

He really couldn't stand watching Su Xin keep clinging to his Huaige, and reached out to pull Su Xin up.

"Say what you have to say properly, stop touching my Huaige. What if Huaige feels uncomfortable again?"

Su Xin stumbled back a step, and hearing Chu Ming's casual words, a flash of genuine urgency actually crossed his expression.

"Are you feeling unwell again, Huaige?"

Su Xin said anxiously: "Where does it hurt? Is it your heart..."

Before he finished speaking, he met Ying Huai's calm expression, and as if doused with a bucket of cold water, he instantly calmed down.

—He knew Ying Huai certainly didn't trust him right now.

Su Xin took a deep breath and said quietly: "I won't disturb shidi anymore. Shidi should rest well."

He slowly turned around, but the next second, he heard Ying Huai's voice from behind: "Why did shixiong help me just now?"

Su Xin's footsteps paused.

He turned around, watching Ying Huai slightly tilt his head up, his peach blossom eyes perfectly calm: "I remember I never played the first Demo Version of the Pre-release Track for shixiong. How did shixiong know about it?"

Liang Shining beside him seemed to realize something, his gaze instantly turning over, but Su Xin didn't notice.

He stood in place, looking at Ying Huai somewhat dazedly.

—He didn't know how to explain this to Ying Huai.

He could only half-vaguely say: "That first Demo Version — I heard it by accident once when I was using Teacher Mu's recording studio computer."

Ying Huai frowned, but heard Su Xin suddenly answer irrelevantly again: "Before, it was me who wronged shidi."

Su Xin lowered his eyes, his voice hoarse: "I was absurdly wrong. Not trusting shidi."

"It won't happen again."

Ying Huai frowned, but Su Xin didn't say anything more, walking quickly outward.

Song Xingzhou was also called over by Lu Jing's side to be asked about some things. He glanced at Ying Huai somewhat reluctantly, quietly said goodbye to Ying Huai, and finally walked away.

Chu Ming beside him watched these two, his expression gradually shifting from bafflement to gravity.

"Don't you think Song Xingzhou and Su Xin, these two people, have been acting really strange lately, Huaige?"

Chu Ming turned to look at Ying Huai.

Ying Huai came back to himself.

He was a little tired, relaxed his body and leaned back on the sofa, casually responding: "What?"

"I said their behavior is a bit too strange — suddenly caring about you so much..."

Ying Huai pressed his brow. He'd been inexplicably sleepy these past few days, but no matter how long he slept, his body always felt exhausted.

Although he had appeared perfectly calm on the surface during what just happened, it had still cost him a great deal of energy.

At this point Ying Huai was so tired his brain wasn't really working. He covered his lips and coughed, then said lazily: "Don't think so. Why?"

The moment his words fell, he saw Chu Ming crouch down, mimicking Su Xin's earlier action to hold his knees, frowning seriously: "Do they like you, Huaige?"

Ying Huai: ???

His breath caught, and he instantly burst into a fit of earth-shattering coughing.

·

The matter finally ended with Chu Ming apologizing repeatedly and receiving several knocks on the head from Ying Huai.

"What nonsense are you spouting? You think everyone's as bored as you?" Ying Huai withdrew his hand, speaking between laughter and tears.

"I'm not bored, I really do like you, Huaige. I'm just afraid of having more rivals — Ah ah, I was wrong, Huaige, calm down, don't hurt your body getting angry."

Chu Ming covered his forehead and looked up in a panic.

"Just shut up and I'll be fine." Ying Huai said with a smile.

He was still coughing lightly and couldn't quite stop, but his tone was smiling, and he didn't seem to look abnormal.

Until Liang Shining brought him back to the room, he saw Ying Huai's face instantly go white, clutching at the clothes over his chest and swaying as if about to fall.

Liang Shining beside him hurriedly reached out to support him.

"I'm fine, just coughed myself a bit weak... cough cough cough, I'll be fine after resting a bit."

Ying Huai leaned on Liang Shining's arm for a while to recover, then raised his head and curved his eyes at him.

But Liang Shining didn't speak.

He silently carried him back to the bed, watched him drink the medicine, and wordlessly gathered him to lie down again.

"Hey, don't look so grave, don't be angry. I'm fine, just a bit tired..."

Ying Huai reached out and hooked Liang Shining's little finger.

His eyelids were half-closed, he looked very tired, but he was forcing himself to stay awake, still wanting to say something to Liang Shining.

Liang Shining let out a silent sigh.

"I'm not angry," Liang Shining said quietly. "Sleep for a while first."

Ying Huai seemed to have been waiting for these words, and silently exhaled.

"Then I'll first... sleep for a while. When it's time to record later... wake me."

Ying Huai's hooked finger on Liang Shining's slowly loosened.

The moment his last word fell, his eyelids slowly closed, and his breathing gradually evened out.

Liang Shining sat by the bed in silence for a few seconds.

He closed his eyes briefly, then reached out and dialed Song Si Lan's number.

"Ying Huai has a fever again."

Liang Shining said quietly.

Song Si Lan on the other end of the line seemed to be walking quickly, his voice carrying a slight panting.

"Good, I understand."

"It's fine. The low fever should be intermittent — just let him take the medicine to bring it down and rest well."

"The test results all just happened to come out today. I'll go get them now. Wait for me..."

Before Song Si Lan finished speaking, Liang Shining suddenly spoke — a familiar figure flashed past the doorway.

Liang Shining instantly realized something.

He said something briefly to Song Si Lan, hung up the phone, and walked quickly to the door.

"Wait —"

But the person in front didn't stop, walking even faster.

Liang Shining raised his voice: "Su Xin!"

The person in front acted as if he hadn't heard, taking large strides about to turn the corner.

Liang Shining frowned.

He suddenly said: "Ying Huai has a fever again."

The next second, Su Xin indeed instantly stopped walking.

He turned back almost in a panic: "What's wrong? Has something happened to Ying Huai's body again?"

Su Xin had faintly heard Ying Huai's coughing just now.

He had originally only wanted to come over quietly for a look, but hadn't expected to be seen directly by Liang Shining.

At this point Su Xin couldn't care about all that, and as he spoke he wanted to quickly walk back to the room.

"Is it a heart problem again? Quick, to the Hospital, this can't be delayed..."

"Why are you so certain it's a heart problem?" Liang Shining suddenly stepped forward to block him.

"Do you know something?"

A hint of panic appeared on Su Xin's face.

He turned his eyes away, gritting his teeth: "Get out of my way first. I need to take Ying Huai to the Hospital..."

But Liang Shining didn't move, looking at him, continuing: "Do you remember anything about this matter?"

Su Xin frowned, somewhat baffled he raised his head: "What are you saying —"

The next second, he heard Liang Shining say word by word: "In the memories you've recovered — do you remember anything about Ying Huai's physical condition?"

Su Xin instantly froze in place.

He raised his head almost dazedly.