Day 76

My throat hurts a little.

When he opened his eyes, the world seemed covered with a veil.

The white ceiling slowly gathered before his eyes, like a field of unmelted snow. The scent of disinfectant lingered at the tip of his nose, surprisingly not pungent, but rather like the cool aroma of some herbal medicine. He tentatively moved his fingers, and what he touched was the rough cotton sheets, dry and warm, like clouds baked by the sun.

Light from outside filtered through the blinds, casting thin golden streaks on the sheets. He watched the liquid in the IV drip drip down at an incredibly slow pace, drop by drop, like the ticking of time. A burning pain still lingered in his throat, but his breathing had become much easier, as if someone had removed a tangled mass of thorns from his chest.

The nurse's footsteps echoed down the corridor, as light as wind across water. He tilted his head slightly and saw a glass of water on the bedside table. Fine droplets of water condensed on the sides of the glass, shimmering with tiny silver glints in the light.

"Are you awake?" The staff member, who had been taking care of the young man all night, was so sleepy that he took a nap by the bed. However, he woke up as soon as he felt the young man's movement, and immediately stood up to check the situation.

"Hmm." Fu Xunyan spoke subconsciously, causing his vocal cords to feel a little pain.

The staff member quickly waved his hands: "Don't talk, don't talk! Just type whatever you want from now on."

After saying that, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Luckily you're okay, you scared us to death."

He looked at the young man's face and sighed that this damn culprit had tortured the child that the entire program team had worked so hard to raise back to the fragile and empty state he had on the first stage.

She had clearly become rosy and lively a while ago, and seemed particularly high-spirited...

Fu Xunyan picked up his phone and checked the time.

The sunlight poured through the windowsill at exactly 3:17 in the afternoon.

He leaned against the soft pillows, like a leaf floating in warm water.

When the light blue curtains are blown by the wind, they cast wavy spots of light on the ceiling, like slowly swimming deep-sea creatures.

Gently lift the back of your hand, and the needle buried there no longer looks hideous, but instead looks like a piece of ice illuminated by the sun. The slight coolness flows along the veins, making the skin more sensitive to the warmth of the sun.

The pillows were fluffy in the sun, giving off the clean scent of baked cotton. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of his own heartbeat and the hum of the distant lawn mower gradually overlapping, like two trains slowly merging.

Fortunately, he did not go back, did not return to 2022, he still lived so realistically in the late spring of 2015, surrounded by friends, fans who supported him, and all the people who discovered his shining points.

That’s great.

This is life again.

No more running around in vain between subway stations, no more being silent amidst the clinking glasses of bosses, and no more envying those figures dancing lightly on the stage.

"Are you okay? Why are you suddenly smiling?" After the staff member called the nurse to check, they saw the young man looking out the window with a warm smile on his face.

It was too beautiful to be real, and he immediately spoke out to interrupt the atmosphere to prevent the overly beautiful butterfly from flying away in front of him.

Fu Xunyan was about to speak when he saw the nervous expression of the staff and realized what was happening. He then picked up his phone and started typing.

"What about tonight's ranking recording?"

"What should I do? I want to know what to do too."

Perhaps because they were of similar age, this staff member who had just been promoted from an intern sighed as he opened the porridge box for Fu Xunyan.

After a sleepless night, even the black frames couldn't hide the dark circles under his eyes, revealing a deep sense of fatigue, but fortunately, the light in his eyes was still there.

"I just told Planner Yang that you woke up. We have to wait for his arrangements. But...Brother Fu, I feel that you may still need to drag your sick body over."

The intern looked sympathetic and even called out to Brother Fu.

He had to shout. Among this group of trainees, he only admired Fu Xunyan. He was really hardworking when practicing and was definitely a representative of the top students.

Moreover, Kenny was so bullying last night, but he, a trainee without any backing, actually fought back like that. This group of young staff members praised the post-00s generation for rectifying the workplace.

The staff continued to mutter, "The news of you being in the hospital hasn't been leaked yet, and the production team probably doesn't want to bear the wrath of the fans, so you'll probably have to go to the recording tonight to whitewash it."

"But don't worry, Brother Fu. The doctor said your symptoms are not serious. You were originally hospitalized for 24 hours for observation. It won't be a big problem if you leave a few hours earlier. We will have a team of doctors waiting on the scene when the time comes."

Fu Xunyan nodded to show that he understood.

It's not that he doesn't care about his life, but this is the announcement of the second public ranking.

Thinking of the figures waiting at the gate of the base every day, they must be eager to see him take first place...

Just when we were still feeling thankful that the security at the Jingshi Hotel was good and that the news hadn't leaked out, a video came out from somewhere on the Internet, and the location was exactly inside the hotel.

In the video, three young men staggered out of the banquet hall, two of them were holding up the other one, and the one in the middle seemed to be staggering as if he had lost consciousness.

[Surfing Prince: #Beijing Hotel Celebrities Drunk# What kind of weird trending search is this? Do celebrities even get drunk and show us?]

[Clavin: #Celebrity Drunk at Beijing Hotel# Yeah, are journalists starting to lie low these days? What's so good about publishing this kind of news? You want me to get them to drink?]

[Frontline: #Beijing Hotel Celebrity Drunk#!!! I think I know why I came here...]

[Surfing Prince: #京市大酒店明星醉酒# Don’t ask for the riddle man upstairs, don’t force me to kneel down and beg you…]

[Food First Line: #Beijing Hotel Celebrities Drunk# I saw in Su Qing's livestream that the "New Century" production crew had a dinner at the Beijing Hotel around this time yesterday. Don't forget that Director Shen Ziqing and the hotel owner are good friends, so they could definitely use the banquet hall.]

[CCKKLL: #Jingshi Hotel Celebrity Drunk# huh? You're just eating melons and now you're eating the real deal? Wasn't today the qualifying match? A trainee actually got that drunk last night. Isn't that a bit irresponsible...]

[What do you care who I am when I'm online: #Beijing Hotel Celebrity Drunk# Is it necessary to make such a big deal out of it? It's just a drink, isn't it? Why don't you condemn yourself when you're having a couple of drinks with friends?]

[CCKKLL: #京市大酒店明星醉酒# huh? ? ? How can I be like them? I'm not making 208 a day... and am I poking your nose? I can tell who these three people are at a glance. Put on your skin and stop being so aggressive.]

[Zhou Zhou is number one: #Beijing Hotel Celebrities Drunk# Hilarious! Doesn't fxy always try to be an inspirational persona? How come he's already so drunk before his debut that he can't even walk steadily?]

[Treasure Hunt is my new favorite: #BeijingHotelStarDrunk#Zhy fans? Your mouth is so foul, don't force me to smack you along the internet cable.]

Half an hour later, a follow-up that no one expected happened. Some nearby residents said that at the time shown in the video recording, there seemed to be some commotion around, and they heard that someone had an allergy and was taken away by an ambulance.

Then, when Su Qing was making up for the length of his live broadcast, he was asked by fans. He was a little worried that he would be accused of riding on the popularity of the show, but when he thought of the dismal number of viewers in the live broadcast room, he suddenly became bolder.

"Uh, it seems so. Let me describe what I saw. When I went to apologize, I saw the trainees inside were all eating. Kenny was standing there, pouring wine. I don't know anything else, but half an hour later I heard the staff say someone had an allergy and went to the hospital."

Kenny's favorite: Huh? How did the fire get to my daughter? How could my daughter, a fairy who drinks dew, drink alcohol? Be careful or I'll sue you for spreading rumors!

Seeing a lot of fans rushing into the live broadcast room, Su Qing panicked and quickly explained that Kenny was not drinking, he only saw him pouring wine for others.

[In the Garden with Babies Season 2: Hmm? I remember Kenny's age was about right, and he was a foreigner. Why did he have to pour the wine?]

[Running Man Cutie: Oh my god, New Century, are you bullying me? Bullying foreigners is so shameless, and they're using drinking culture to bully people.]

[Daibi: I'm speechless. I can tell from the faces of those people from fxy that they're not easy to get along with. Otherwise, why do they always act together? Don't tell me he's been bullying people in front of the camera. He has a criminal record.]

[XiXi.Oo: Please clear your homepage updates before you start talking. Why are you making random accusations? Everyone in the country knows who was at fault for that incident. Are you truly fearless by distorting right and wrong like this?]

However, the topic of Chinese people suspected of bullying foreign friends attracted a lot of attention, and coupled with the traffic bonus of "New Century", it was pushed into the top ten of the overall list within ten minutes.

Although there was only Su Qing's "testimony" and netizens' speculation, Kenny's fans quickly rushed to the battlefield, leaving questioning messages under the high-ranking trainee's Weibo, and the more mentally retarded ones had already started to use offensive language to curse.

[Lu Xue Ai YY: His fans are really sensitive... I always feel like someone is out to harm the real person]

[I have something going on today: Yes, their products are even more sensitive than ZHY’s, no wonder their fan base is never growing, passersby will get kicked when they walk by]

Kenny's wife: ??? You guys are crazy! It's such a serious bullying incident, and instead of helping to find out the truth, you're calling the fans brainless. Are you still human?

[Something's going on again today: Huh? Did you guys investigate the truth? You weren't the ones who went to the massacre square without investigating, were you?]

[Kenny's wife: That's a problem for some fans! How can you generalize?]

[Lu Xueai YY: I'm impressed. This is also a testament to biodiversity...]

The atmosphere in the base was also very tense. Obviously, everyone should be worrying about whether they would stay or leave after tonight, but what happened last night broke the deeper depression and made people focus on other things.

"Have you found out?" Bai Wenji came to the office and saw that several other people were there.

Yang Qing was suddenly surrounded by so many young men and swallowed awkwardly.

"Uh, the police are still investigating. They took the clues you gave them back for testing. They said the cup was rinsed very clean and nothing was detected."

"Isn't that even more problematic?" Da Pei crossed his arms, his dark eyes gleaming coldly. "I clearly drank the juice, but it only contains water and detergent. It's obvious someone washed it."

"Back to the point, if that person didn't feel guilty, why did he take Xunyan's cup out to wash?"

It is very convenient to wash the cups. There are built-in toilets in the front and back of the banquet hall. In addition, because it is an internal party, the waiters are arranged as far away as possible, so it is impossible to directly ask who washed the cups.

"Everyone at the table besides Kenny, Zhou Hengyu, and Xiao Xu was here, right?"

Da Pei counted the number of people, him, Min Hai, Chen Chi, Bai Wenji, Jiang Han, Bai Zhen, that's right.

"After Min Hai and I took Fu Xunyan away, did anyone see who took the cup to wash it?"