The face under the brim of the hat was Xu Yi.
The reason why they couldn't recognize her from her outline just now was because Xu Yi usually dressed like a mature woman with long hair and high heels, but at this moment, she had her hair tied behind her head, wearing neutral casual clothes and sneakers, looking completely different from her usual self.
"She came here..."
Douzi had just asked halfway when he suddenly realized that what he wanted to ask was actually nonsense - at two o'clock in the middle of the night, deliberately changing clothes, and coming to an empty corridor alone, it would be ridiculous to say that he was wandering around out of boredom, right?
Thinking about it, he asked, "Why does she want to watch the surveillance?"
Xu Yi's action of looking up just now seemed puzzling to him, because since she changed her clothes and wore a hat, it was obvious that she didn't want to be recognized. But she took the initiative to look up and face the surveillance camera. This action was simply puzzling.
Song Yecheng thought for a moment and speculated, "If she knew it was a surveillance camera, she probably wouldn't have bothered to come up through the fire escape."
When Xu Yi appeared in the hallway, she wasn't standing at the elevator entrance, but at the fire escape, meaning she had walked up. Unless she suddenly felt like climbing the stairs late at night for exercise, she likely did so to avoid the elevator surveillance. This suggests she might not have been aware of the surveillance in the hallway.
"She didn't even notice such a large surveillance camera?" Douzi said in surprise with wide eyes.
Hearing this, Jiang Que silently turned his head and looked at him.
Douzi blinked in confusion, then quickly realized, "Oh, you just didn't recognize the style at the time, but it's not like you didn't notice it, right?"
Seeing that Jiang Que didn't look convinced, Douzi smacked his lips awkwardly and finally admitted defeat: "...Okay, I admit that it does look like a router, and it's hidden under the flower basket... I didn't notice it at first."
After saying that, he immediately defended himself, "But it's normal that we didn't notice it! We didn't want to do anything bad."
This explanation is indeed reasonable. For those who do not want to do anything secretly when no one is around, they will rarely pay special attention to the surveillance equipment around them.
Jiang Que didn't know whether he was convinced or just found the way he argued with his neck stiffened amusing. He turned around and looked at the screen again, half laughing.
In the surveillance footage, Xu Yi first looked up and down the corridor, as if to make sure that there was really no surveillance here. Then he turned around and looked at both sides of the corridor. After confirming that there was no one around, he walked towards the room opposite, took out the key from his pocket and opened the door.
After entering the room, she didn't even turn on the lights, and the first thing she did was -
He closed the door behind him.
"Hey?" Douzi was speechless. "It's closed again. What else can we see?"
Although everyone knew that she definitely didn't come here in the middle of the night because she had nothing to do, this kind of surveillance might not even be considered direct evidence in a criminal investigation. If it was used solely as evidence to claim that she had installed a camera on the door lock, this flimsy logical chain would even lead to the case being returned by the procuratorate and ordered to undergo additional investigation.
The door remained closed for about ten minutes. In the first one or two minutes, the scene seemed to have returned to stillness, but from the third minute on, a clear light appeared from the gap under the door.
Looking at this detail, Song Yecheng and Jiang Que thought to themselves: Unless Xu Yi really didn't do anything, isn't she being too careless? Didn't she consider the possibility that someone outside the building would notice that the light was on in this window in the early morning?
Ten minutes later, the door was opened again.
The lights in the room were still on, and Xu Yi didn't rush to leave. Instead, he stood by the open door, took out the key, inserted it into the keyhole, turned it a circle, and then turned it back in the opposite direction. Then, he stretched his head to stare at the inner door handle while holding the outer door handle and turning it left and right.
If someone uninformed saw this, they might think the door lock was broken and she was just trying to open it, but the three people in front of the screen instantly guessed what she was doing -
She was probably trying to confirm whether installing the button camera would have any impact on the door lock and whether any clues would be discovered.
Seeing this, the already clear judgment in the minds of the three people became even more certain. However, to their great surprise, Xu Yi actually took further action.
If all her previous actions were not enough to directly prove that she was the one who installed the camera, then her next move was like a heavy hammer hitting herself -
The three of them watched as she closed the door, stood in front of the door, took out her cell phone, and then, under the high-definition surveillance camera, clicked on an app on the phone screen.
The next second, a picture appeared on her mobile phone screen with the same angle as the popular candid photo. The angle of the picture also changed in real time as she opened the door again and pushed it back and forth, which was enough to prove that there was a recording device connected to her mobile phone terminal installed behind the door!
After witnessing this scene, Douzi was completely dumbfounded.
Song Yecheng and Jiang Que couldn't help but turn their heads and look at each other in surprise. They didn't know whether to feel surprised or frightened by this sudden self-destructive behavior.
While they were stunned, Xu Yi had already put away his cell phone, turned off the lights in the room, closed and locked the door, and then turned and left the corridor with the key in his pocket, as if he had accomplished a task.
The surveillance video returned to a frozen state of emptiness.
If Xu Yi had not made that decisive move, perhaps they would have continued to watch the video after she left with a rigorous attitude, to avoid the one in a million chance that she really did nothing after entering the room and someone else installed the camera.
But now... there is obviously no need to continue watching, because even that one in ten thousand possibility no longer exists.
Douzi reached out and pressed pause, leaning back in his chair as if sighing or not coming to his senses. He was stunned for a long time before saying, "Oh my god, I suspected everyone before and didn't suspect her."
Song Yecheng thought for a moment and said, "Maybe this is why she asked Xiao You to go to the city on the day of the shoot."
Douzi was stunned when he heard this, then he recalled it in his mind and soon realized it -
The scene in the secretly taken photo looked like a "hospital" to outsiders, but it was clearly a film set in the eyes of the crew, so everyone's first reaction to the photo was similar to Zhuang Yan's - they suspected that an insider who was present that day had secretly taken the photo and leaked it.
Once people had this idea, it would be difficult for them to suspect Xu Yi, because she was lying on the bed at the time and was the one being photographed, and of course she could not be the one taking the photo at the same time. And Xiao You, the only assistant in the crew who was related to her, did not show up the whole afternoon because she went to the city to buy wrap-up gifts for everyone. This was equivalent to having a perfect alibi.
After understanding this logic, Douzi couldn't help but shake his head, but soon added, "But why is she taking these photos? Letting netizens mistakenly think she's 'pregnant before marriage'? Isn't that just throwing dirty water on herself?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Que turned his head and looked at him again silently.
As soon as he received that familiar gaze, Douzi instantly became alert: "...Did I say the wrong thing again?"
Song Yecheng was like a humanoid self-propelled translator: "No, he just thinks your question is amateurish."
beans:"……???"
Jiang Que added seriously, with a look of genuine sympathy on his face, "Maybe you should check Weibo more often."
Song Yecheng almost laughed to death.
Coming from Jiang Que, who had only recently downloaded the Weibo app, these words sounded like an eighty-year-old man complaining that you were not fashionable enough. Douzi suddenly felt as if he was being ridiculed ten thousand times. He stared at her in disbelief with his eyes as big as copper bells, took out his phone from his pocket, and tremblingly clicked on Weibo.
Two minutes later, he was just like Tong Qian before, stunned by the rapid increase in Xu Yi's number of fans and the countless "kisses, hugs, and head pats" in the comment section.
At the same time, he finally realized that he had indeed asked an extremely amateurish question—
Just as Song Yecheng had previously judged, this hot search was not even a scandal, but a joke at best, because it was captured on the set after all, so it did not have much lethality at all. Just a few simple photos of the crew, a few script texts or movie clips could quickly clarify and turn the tables.
After the reversal, netizens who learned the truth would only laugh and call it a misunderstanding, or accuse the marketing account of being despicable and shameless. In any case, they would not blame Xu Yi, who was also a "victim". Instead, they would feel sympathy for her innocent experience of being inexplicably implicated while filming a movie.
In addition, this hot search is related to both "Searching for the Light" and Song Yecheng, which is equivalent to highlighting her identities as "the heroine of "Searching for the Light" and "Song Yecheng's partner", allowing her to take this opportunity to enter the sight of more passers-by and quickly increase her popularity and memorability in a short period of time.
Thinking about it this way, Lian Douzi had to admit that this was clearly an extremely successful hype, and his previous understanding of "throwing dirty water on himself" was too naive.
Thinking about it, Douzi blinked, hummed and laughed, shook his head, admiring but speechless. After a long while, he turned around and said, "So what should we do now? Should we do something?"
"yes."
Song Yecheng affirmed: "We should go eat."
Douzi: “…”Excuse me?
Song Yecheng sneered and stood up, patting his shoulder: "You can send this surveillance video to Xu Yi before dinner."
Douzi was stunned. Although he didn't know why he had to do this, his greatest strength was that he was obedient. Since Song Yecheng said so, he immediately took action, intercepted the surveillance footage after two o'clock in the morning, saved it in his mobile phone, and sent it to Xu Yi without saying a word.
After sending the message, the three of them did not stay in the monitoring room any longer. They closed the door, walked to the other side of the corridor, and took the elevator downstairs.
A few minutes later.
As the three of them stepped out of the business club, Song Yecheng's cell phone suddenly rang.
He took out his phone, saw the name on the screen, and answered the call expressionlessly: "Hello?"
Xu Yi's voice was trembling with fear, and even had a tearful tone: "Cheng, Cheng brother... please listen to my explanation..."
6:30 pm.
In the private room of the villa restaurant.
Zhuang Yan didn't even move the dishes in front of him. He sat at the table with his mobile phone in hand, watching the surveillance video on the screen.
During the afternoon shoot, Song Yecheng and the others tacitly agreed not to mention the matter. It was not until after six o'clock when the shoot was completed that he invited Zhuang Yan to have dinner together and came to this private room.
At this moment, Douzi was having a buffet downstairs with a few familiar crew members. Only Song Yecheng, Jiang Que and Zhuang Yan were in the private room.
The video was actually only a little over ten minutes long, but Zhuang Yan didn't rush to speak after watching it. Instead, he watched it again from the beginning as if he was thinking about something.
His mood at this moment was quite complicated.
If this was really done by someone from his own team, he might just feel angry or disappointed, but now that he found out that the manipulator behind the scenes was a newcomer like Xu Yi, he felt conflicted.
In all these years in the industry, he had actually seen many people like Xu Yi who had good qualifications and potential, but just wanted to take shortcuts and seek quick success as soon as they entered the industry, and finally turned themselves into "flash in the pan" newcomers.
On the one hand, he felt that doing something wrong was doing something wrong, and no amount of reasons or excuses could cover up the fact that they were seeking benefits for themselves through improper means, or even at the expense of others for their own benefit. Once the moral bottom line was broken, what awaited them would inevitably be an abyss of no return.
But on the other hand, he often couldn't help but think deeply: Why is this situation not an isolated case, but happens to newcomers again and again?
Is this a problem of their own mentality, the differences in family and education, or is it that the atmosphere of this circle itself is too distorted? Are these predecessors and leaders, including him, to blame for not setting the proper example and failing to establish a healthy and positive system of benign competition for this circle?
He still hasn't been able to come up with a definite answer to this question, and this contradiction has always been with him. Whenever he learns that another newcomer has dug his own grave, what comes out of his heart is not only sighs and regrets, but also repeated self-questions.
Zhuang Yan's thoughts turned in a thousand circles. After a while, he finally put down his phone and turned to look at Song Yecheng: "How are you going to deal with this?"
Although he was conflicted, he felt that Song Yecheng was the one who had the final say in this matter. After all, Xu Yi used the gimmick of "Song Yecheng's illegitimate son" to attract traffic and achieved his goal by exploiting his popularity.
"I sent the video to her." Song Yecheng said.
"And then?" Zhuang Yan asked, "Did she beg you?"
Song Yecheng turned the teacup in his hand and said, "I guess so. That's a lot of explanation."
During the phone call at noon, Xu Yi explained the whole story without hiding anything.
Just because her half-sister once said, "I will definitely develop better than you in the future," she is always anxious and worried, afraid of being caught up and surpassed by the other party, so she always wants to do everything possible to climb to the top as soon as possible and consolidate her position in the circle.
According to her explanation, she had repeatedly struggled and hesitated in the process of doing this. Even after successfully taking the photo, she hesitated for a long time about whether to send it out.
However, the reason why she decided to send it out actually made Song Yecheng feel a little bit ridiculous.
On the night of the wrap party, she learned from Tong Qian that she would not have any good resources for the next few months, but she happened to hear the second half of the conversation between Tong Qian and Song Yecheng, and learned that the company was trying every means to get Tang Yao on the variety show that countless people wanted to get on. So she thought that Tang Yao was the focus of the company's training, and if she missed this opportunity, she would slowly fade into obscurity in the future.
Because of this, after two days of repeated struggle, she finally made up her mind and posted the photo using the marketing account she bought at a high price.
After hearing the whole story, Zhuang Yan sighed, somewhat angrily, and said, "So what are you going to do? Are you going to make this video public or something?"
Song Yecheng picked up the cup and took a sip of tea. He seemed to be considering it for a moment, then put the cup down and said, "Not for now. I sent the video to her just to let her know that we are not fools. As for the rest—"
He paused and quoted a line he once said in a costume drama: "Considering that it is his first offense, he should be ordered to mend his ways?"
Although Zhuang Yan felt a certain sympathy, he couldn't help but chuckle when he heard this: "Considering it's his first offense, he's been ordered to mend his ways... I bet you've been called the Holy Father a lot over the years, haven't you?"
"Holy Father?"
Song Yecheng had never been told this before, so he found it a little funny when he first heard it. After a moment, he nodded and said, "Okay, let me put it in a more sinister way."
Zhuang Yan's face was filled with an expression that said, "I want to see how sinister you can be," and then he heard Song Yecheng say, "The reason a trump card is called a trump card is because it hasn't been played yet. As long as we have this video, she will only have two choices - either behave herself and be cautious in her words and actions, or continue to be stubborn and take risks."
"If she chooses the former, and stops causing trouble for the film and me, then everything will be fine. But if she chooses the latter... then the next time she makes a mistake, this video will be the death warrant for her multiple crimes, with no chance of recovery."
After hearing this, Zhuang Yan did not express his opinion for a while.
He didn't hear much of the so-called "evil-hearted" tone, but he did hear another meaning - Song Yecheng was more concerned about the movie. He didn't want the results of several months of joint efforts of so many people in the crew to be ruined because of Xu Yi's personal fault.
His consideration was indeed reasonable. The film was about to be completed. If such a thing were to be exposed, it would be more or less a scandal and would inevitably cause unpredictable consequences. His choice could be said to be the most rational and most considerate of the overall situation.
As for his theory of "trump cards", Zhuang Yan, as a person who has experienced it, agrees with it - in many cases, holding a trump card in hand is actually more deterrent than playing it out.
After thinking for a long time, Zhuang Yan finally nodded: "Okay, let's do it this way for now."
Two hours later.
Mountain Manor Forest Area.
Quiet landscape lights are dotted among the lush green ivy and trees. The early summer night breeze blows gently, bringing with it a faint fragrance.
On the Nine-Curve Corridor Bridge over the lake, Song Yecheng and Jiang Que walked shoulder to shoulder, slowly towards the villa area.
"Why didn't I see you say anything just now?" Song Yecheng turned around and asked, "What are you doing absent-minded again?"
When he and Zhuang Yan were discussing Xu Yi's matter in the evening, Jiang Que was also in the private room, but he didn't say much the whole time. He just listened quietly and added some tea to their cups from time to time.
"No," Jiang Que said, "I'm just listening to you."
Thinking about the last time Zuo Jianqing talked about the case, Jiang Que seemed to be in the same silent listening state. Song Yecheng couldn't help but wonder if he had a different opinion. He couldn't help but ask: "Do you think I did the right thing?"
Of course, he was referring to the matter of Xu Yi, and Jiang Que naturally understood it, but he did not answer immediately. Instead, he thought about it silently for a moment.
Song Yecheng thought he really had a different opinion, but after a moment of silence, he just turned around and answered seriously: "I think whatever you do is right."
If Song Yecheng chose to make the surveillance video public, he would not feel guilty about it, but now that Song Yecheng chose not to make it public for the sake of the overall situation, he felt that it was all reasonable.
In other words, what he understood was not the results of Song Yecheng's decisions, but the reasons behind each of his decisions.
Song Yecheng couldn't help laughing.
He hadn't actually thought about how it would feel to hear "right" or "wrong" just now, but now the unconditional support in Jiang Que's words was like a breeze, blowing away all the unnecessary and redundant concerns in his heart.
Walking out of the covered bridge and into the forest path, Song Yecheng's cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang with a message alert.
He took out his phone and saw a message from Douzi:
【Hahahahaha, check out your Weibo comments section.】
Song Yecheng didn't understand what was going on. He exited WeChat and went to Weibo, then clicked on the post he had forwarded during the day.
The comment section is still full of excitement over the divine word "嘤". Besides the large amount of "hahahaha" that can blind your eyes at first glance, some fans even started a doggerel battle starting with this word:
[Avel: Oh, oh, oh, Yecheng is unhappy. He lowers his head for a hug and raises his head for a kiss.]
This comment was liked and ranked at the top of the hot comments, and someone else copied it in the post:
[The Louvre is the one I deducted: Oh, Teacher Bai, listen, Yecheng is being coquettish and wants a little heart.]
Song Yecheng got goosebumps all over his body, but at the same time he couldn't help but burst out laughing. After laughing, he realized that all the avatars in the comment section were the same, as if some kind of celebration was being held.
He randomly clicked on one and took a look. When he saw the big wolfdog that was obviously based on him, he quickly understood what was going on.
Therefore, adhering to the principle of "it is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone, and it is better to include me in the happiness when many people are together", he did not hesitate to change his profile picture to the picture of a wolfdog sighing.
After changing his profile picture, he was about to put away his phone, but when he glanced at it, he suddenly found a comment in the hot comments that was very different from the others:
[Chengbi Yuan: Speaking of which... have you noticed that the author named 810 on Yundian hasn't updated in a while? He didn't even announce the recent trending searches in advance, so I even saved them.]
This comment was like a small hook, evoking the memories that countless people were about to forget. It instantly attracted countless replies and made Song Yecheng in front of the screen feel dazed for a moment.
After a moment, he turned off the screen and put away his phone. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he raised his elbow and gently poked Jiang Que: "Hello."
"Hmm?" Jiang Que asked in confusion.
Song Yecheng turned his head and looked at him: "I suddenly remembered that on the first day you came to the villa, didn't you tell me to be careful of number 28? You are not referring to Xu Yi, right?"
What he didn't expect was that Jiang Que was stunned at first when he heard this, and then he seemed to feel guilty and quietly looked away, then just blinked and raised his hand to hook his nose.
Song Yecheng was puzzled and amused: "What are you doing?"
Jiang Que stole a glance at him, then another, and after a long pause, he finally spoke somewhat sheepishly, "Actually... I just thought those guys on No. 28 were hard to deal with, so I just lied to you."
"Hey?" Song Yecheng was so angry that he immediately stretched out his hand to tickle his waist and said playfully, "Come here, you really have the nerve to say that?"
Jiang Que twisted his waist to avoid the attack while laughing stiflingly, but he still refused to admit defeat: "Anyway, you didn't believe it either, did you?"
His words were simply fanning the flames. After hearing this, Song Yecheng instantly displayed his strong physical advantage. He effortlessly clamped his waist with one hand and pinched his chin with the other hand, shaking it: "Confess quickly and I will give you leniency. What else are you trying to deceive me with?"
Song Yecheng's height seemed extremely oppressive at this distance, but there was no aggression in his drooping eyes. He looked at him warmly, not like he was questioning him, but more like... flirting.
Jiang Que's ears felt slightly hot, and he couldn't help but lower his eyes slightly, but at the same time, he strangely took the question to heart.
He kept his eyes downcast, pondering seriously for a moment, and then raised them again. Without any evasive or perfunctory answers, he whispered, "And... traveling through a book."
Song Yecheng had actually stopped taking this seriously a long time ago, but he still said "hmm" seriously and asked, "Anything else?"
This time, Jiang Que pondered for a longer time, as if meticulously reviewing everything he had said before finally giving a definite answer -
"No more." He stared into the eyes so close to him and said solemnly, "Everything else is true."
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