At 2 AM in the early morning, a small account on Weibo posted a video.

The video’s lighting was dim, the quality terrible. The camera focused on a woman’s undulating hips.

This made people who’d originally clicked intending to close it immediately perk up, instantly no longer sleepy.

The woman straddled a man. Their connected parts were mosaicked. Just riding up and down like this for ten seconds, then the video cut off.

This seemed like just an ordinary homemade adult video, perhaps some couple playing around. However, its repost count reached tens of thousands.

The reason lay in the last five seconds—the camera briefly moved upward, revealing the woman’s slender back.

On the back was a unique birthmark shaped like a broken feather.

Because it was late at night, Weibo’s review mechanism fortuitously let this video live a bit longer. So the video spread increasingly rampantly, soon climbing to “explosive” on trending searches.

By the time Weibo belatedly reacted and took down the video, countless melon-eating masses had already saved it.

Searching Weibo’s real-time plaza, it was all netizens who’d gone to bed early saying: I have a friend who wants to see…

In anonymous sections, topics discussing this video were already flooding the boards.

—”OMG OMG OMG did you guys see that video?”

Topic: She’s really finished, right? Just hammered herself for buying awards with reputation plummeting to earth’s core, then immediately an x-rated video leaks—what can she do? I think she can only retire from the industry…

1L: Is that video really WM? Came late and didn’t see it

2L: [Cloud drive address] Password lsp1, hurry and watch

3L: Thanks kind person, good people live peaceful lives!

4L: Holy shit saw it, that birthmark is definitely her… Who’s the guy? Can’t see him at all, completely blocked

5L: Couldn’t it be that legendary Young Master Yu??

6L: What happened, did she go fix her computer? How could this kind of video leak out?

7L: So women in relationships absolutely can’t film this kind of video, no matter how much in love

8L: Anyone have high-definition uncensored? Begging on my knees

9L: Let me point WM to a clear path—go into adult films, problem solved

*

Wu Man was shaken awake by Zhao Boyu’s call at 3 AM.

Looking at that video, she almost suspected Yu Jiaze had secretly filmed it at some point, but looking carefully, that woman wasn’t her at all.

But the woman had almost the same body type as her, the same birthmark. With this kind of rough quality, it could completely pass as real.

She was dazed for a moment, then calmed down saying: “The person in the video is Fu Jingya.”

Zhao Boyu said hatefully: “This woman, casually filming this kind of video with someone, then carelessly letting it leak—isn’t she just causing us trouble?! We were walking fine on level ground when a billboard flew over and smashed us. What kind of nonsense is this?!”

Wu Man let out a long breath: “Brother Zhao, do you think this is a coincidence?”

He was speechless: “Ah… then otherwise…?”

Wu Man pulled up Fu Jingya’s contact info. Since shortly after “Spring Night” wrapped, she’d left the team, so they hadn’t contacted each other in a long time.

She said directly and straightforwardly: “The protagonist of the video is you.”

Not until morning did Fu Jingya wake up and reply: “? Isn’t that Sister Man?”

Wu Man hadn’t closed her eyes at all, just waiting for her movement. As soon as there was a reply, she directly called with voice, which the other party rejected.

She sent a message on WeChat.

“Sister Man, I sympathize that this happened to you. But you can’t drag me down to whitewash yourself, right?”

“Why don’t you dare accept my voice call? Guilty conscience, right? Because Yu Jiaze instructed you to film that from behind the scenes.”

“I’m not answering because I know you’re in a terrible emotional state right now. Sister Man, please calm down. Don’t bite at everyone you see. I respect you after all—don’t destroy your image in my heart.”

Wu Man’s intention was to test Fu Jingya’s attitude. Through the above conversation, she was almost certain that person must be Fu Jingya.

Her reaction was like she’d anticipated this scene early on, having calculated for a long time, replying both quickly and flawlessly.

She typed five words with absolute certainty: “I know it’s you.”

The answer was a photo.

The photo showed Fu Jingya’s back. Where her birthmark had originally been carved, it had been removed and re-tattooed with a rose.

Fu Jingya followed with a text: “This was what you advised me back then, telling me to remove the tattoo and shed your shadow so I could possibly become a real actress. Now I’ve done as you said—why are you coming to pester me instead?”

Wu Man gripped her phone, a violent fire burning in her heart.

Following that came Yu Jiaze’s message, adding fuel to this fire, making it burn even more vigorously.

—”Little bird, need my help?”

—”The prerequisite is you come back and beg me, say you were wrong.”

The moment she saw the message, Wu Man’s fingers gripping the phone immediately exerted force until they turned white.

She used all her strength to avoid disgustedly flinging the phone away.

Her response to this was very simple and straightforward—block.

But even so, she still felt unsatisfied, a ball of fire burning vigorously in her chest.

The doorbell suddenly rang urgently at the entrance. She paused, walked over and looked through the peephole. Standing outside was a travel-worn Zhui Ye. The peephole magnified and distorted his face, making the wet sweat on his forehead especially clear.

Those drops of sweat pattered onto her heart, making that irritable fire in Wu Man get dampened and extinguished.

She impatiently pulled open the door, but the instant they faced each other, she stood anxiously in place, saying uneasily: “You…”

She didn’t know what he’d think seeing that video. Would he think it was her? If it really was her, how would he view it?

These questions pulled at her, making her feel like a little student falsely accused before the teacher, both annoyed and sensitively lowering her head.

What greeted her was a comforting, tight embrace.

Sweat from his forehead dripped into his eyes. Like a puppy splashed with water, he shook his head and looked at her with utmost clarity saying: “Sister, don’t worry. I’ll figure something out.”

Wu Man looked up at him, dazed: “Won’t you ask me for the truth?”

“I only care whether you’ll be hurt.”

“…” Wu Man bit her lip tightly, “That’s not me. The person in the video is Fu Jingya, my former body double.”

“So it’s her…” Zhui Ye murmured, “She won’t admit it, right?”

“Of course not. She’s not a body double anymore, has properly filmed works now. Even with a knife at her throat, she won’t acknowledge it. What’s more… she knows who’s backing her, so she’s even less panicked.”

Zhui Ye’s eyes were gloomy as he clenched his fist, squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth: “Yu Jiaze orchestrated this scene?”

Wu Man instead calmed down: “Besides him, who else would it be?”

Wu Man looked at his deteriorated expression, stood on tiptoes to pat his head: “Don’t be impulsive, hear me?”

Zhui Ye covered his head: “He won’t let you go like this—I can’t stand it!”

The two entered the room. Wu Man took a cigarette from the pack on the coffee table, lit it, and took a deep drag.

She said slowly: “I’ll let him know whether what he’s doing is refusing to let me go, or refusing to let himself go.”

“Sister…”

This time it was Zhui Ye’s turn to look over with worried eyes.

“Don’t worry, I have my limits.” She grabbed his hand like gripping a stabilizing anchor, her messy thoughts slowly becoming clear. She spoke while clarifying her thinking, but her phone’s constant vibrating really couldn’t be ignored.

She pulled it out to look—Tang Jiarong’s call.

She glanced at it, directly hung up and turned off the phone, continuing: “The New Loop’s publicity team—can you help me contact them? This news, I’m afraid only they dare release it.”

Zhui Ye grew increasingly uneasy: “What exactly are you planning?”

“Actually it’s very simple. When a scandal appears, the fastest way to cover it up is for another… more explosive scandal to appear.”

“You’re going to leak dirt on Yu Jiaze? But he’s not in the entertainment industry—what attention could that divert?”

“How is he not entertainment industry? Yu Xing is a major company in the circle.” When Wu Man said the words “major company,” she couldn’t help being sarcastic, “The waters run deep there.”

“Even if your method really can divert public attention. But…” Zhui Ye suddenly shook his head: “No. The timing isn’t right.”

“What’s wrong?”

“This kind of cover-up can indeed misdirect, transferring public attention from you elsewhere. But this video will forever be linked to you. The stain left on you won’t disappear with this transfer. There’ll always be people digging it out to flog the corpse every so often.”

“How could I not know these consequences? But there’s no better method.” Wu Man irritably shook off cigarette ash, “Fu Jingya has already removed her tattoo now. Even if she hadn’t, pulling her out would make me accused of using her as a scapegoat. The world favors the weak, much less I’ve always been cursed for bullying others with power. Unless she admits it herself, but that’s impossible.”

“Then let’s just admit to the video.”

Wu Man choked violently on a mouthful of smoke stuck in her lungs, making Zhui Ye helplessly pat her back.

“This scared Sister?”

“What are you saying…”

“Who the original person in the video is doesn’t matter anymore. Since everyone thinks it’s you, then let them think it’s you. And the other man who’s completely blocked—is me.”

“No!” Wu Man immediately interrupted him, unconsciously speaking loudly, “Are you crazy? It’s bad enough I’m dragged into the water alone—you’re jumping in too to drown together?!”

Zhui Ye soothingly rubbed her shoulder with his thumb: “Sister, I haven’t finished. Since you say everyone’s impression of you is bullying with power, then what’s their impression of me? Method actor, right? Especially now that the ‘Time Magazine’ issue is out and they know I could risk half my life to properly portray combat fighting, then to properly act the erotic scenes in the drama—if you and I really did it, so what?”

Wu Man was stunned by what he said.

“We’ll call Wang Cheng and restage a segment following the video. ‘Spring Night’ is about to be submitted to Cannes. In a while it’ll be the promotional period—everyone will even more naturally assume this is us pre-generating hype for release and box office. We just need to claim publicly that those ten seconds were secretly filmed by someone with a phone, which perfectly explains why the video quality is like that. For this reason, Wang Cheng won’t edit that segment into the final cut. Yu Jiaze also won’t dare produce new segments because more would expose it wasn’t you originally—that would collapse on its own.”

Wu Man was dumbfounded for a long time, finally digesting the meaning in Zhui Ye’s words.

She shook her head incredulously: “This is too outrageous… we’re actually filming material ourselves and rushing to give it to the whole internet to observe?!”

“Right, but we need to film with movie specifications—pretend we’re doing it, with camera positions capturing our faces. After those people see this, they’ll automatically splice together our segment with that ‘secretly filmed’ video.” Zhui Ye’s brain turned very quickly, completely using film montage thinking, “This way, after we whitewash this video, Sister, you can then release the news you want to release to divert public attention, and they won’t discuss us too much anymore.”

Zhui Ye’s tone remained very calm throughout, making this preposterous thing sound commonplace.

Wu Man carefully went through his words again. Simply summarizing Zhui Ye’s method—pretend to film a nonexistent bed scene from the “Spring Night” script again.

This could indeed swap the prince for the cat. It’s just the resulting impact would make audiences mistakenly think all their bed scenes were filmed for real.

But compared to the reputation of leaking a sex video, choosing the lesser of two evils, at least the latter might salvage a “dedicating oneself to art” professional reputation…

Wu Man was already bewildered by this operation: “This… will it really work?”

“Why wouldn’t it? Because the person acting opposite you is me. They’ll believe it.” Zhui Ye was calm and composed, “The only downside of this method is probably that neither of us will have our innocence anymore, buried in each other’s hands.” He touched his nose, suddenly grinning foolishly, “Saying it like that, actually I’m profiting.”

Wu Man was speechless: “At a time like this you’re still thinking improper thoughts.”

He said aggrievedly in a small voice: “The really improper ones, I haven’t dared mention to you yet…”

Wu Man thought for a long time. Zhui Ye saw her hesitating, understanding: “Still worried about me?”

“I really don’t want you to bear undeserved disaster.”

“I have all kinds of debauched images—not lacking this one aspect. Besides, I don’t rely on domestic entertainment to survive now. What other people say can’t affect me at all. So rest assured, I have nothing to lose.”

Zhui Ye lowered his eyes, but in his heart thought only one sentence—fuck all these high-sounding justifications, even if the sky collapses, I must protect you.

After they reached consensus, they discussed this matter with Wang Cheng. After all, when she had problems, it implicated the upcoming “Spring Night.” So even if Wang Cheng had other ideas, on this matter they’d already become grasshoppers on the same rope—he had to cooperate.

The old man’s hair turned three shades whiter, lamenting with a worried face: “Why is ‘Spring Night’s’ fortune so bumpy?”

This sigh made Wu Man feel especially guilty.

Zhui Ye patted his back, comforting: “Haven’t you heard ‘fortune follows misfortune’? Survive this wave and it’ll be time for a rebound from the bottom. I have a premonition ‘Spring Night’ will win major awards.”

His few words perked Wang Cheng right up, nodding repeatedly. Then risking getting styes, he carefully watched that mosaicked video again.

They were researching what place the background was—at least find somewhere ninety percent similar, or better yet the exact same location.

Fortunately, “Spring Night’s” cinematographer brother weakly raised his hand: “This place looks familiar—seems like a room at Huanyang Hotel.”

*

There was no time to waste. After confirming the location, they immediately rushed to Huanyang. The cinematographer brother used his ID to book a room, and several people sneaked into the room.

Wang Cheng arranged three camera positions—one medium shot capturing above her waist and back, the other two for over-the-shoulder close-ups.

To match that video, their upper bodies both had to be in a state of vacuum.

Unlike filming “Spring Night” when at least she’d worn a bra…

Wu Man stripped down in the bathroom to only the last line of defense, her hands becoming awkward as they moved to unhook the straps.

Light knocking came from outside the door.

“Sister, are you ready?”

“Are they rushing?”

“No, they went downstairs to quietly get equipment. Right now it’s just you and me here. I saw you had no movement for so long and worried something happened to you.”

Hearing him say this, Wu Man suddenly changed her mind.

She unexpectedly pulled open the bathroom door, exposing herself before Zhui Ye.

His eyes widened slightly, his gaze immediately fixing on the floor, pretending very calmly to ask: “What’s wrong?”

However, Wu Man caught in the mirror that bit of red betrayed by his earlobe.

She raised the corners of her eyes: “Help me undo the clasp on my back. The one I wore today is hard to undo.”

The purity he unintentionally displayed made one want to tease him.

Seeming to glimpse his nervousness made her become the person who could control the whole situation. She didn’t need to be nervous—no one would tower over her anymore.

Zhui Ye answered “okay,” his voice line like an over-adjusted string, very taut.

He approached from behind, but the moment his hand touched her back, Wu Man sensed something wasn’t right.

His fingertip followed the deeply sunken groove of her back, touching and rubbing as if accidentally, sliding upward. Wu Man’s whole body shivered, then discovered in the mirror his eyes had already changed.

He looked directly at her through the mirror without avoidance, the corners of his mouth hooking up a very shallow arc, as if mocking her for underestimating him.

With a “click,” he undid the clasp, lowered his head, leaned close to her ear and said: “Sister, you can take it off now.”

Now it was her earlobe’s turn to rapidly flush red.

She raised her head, staring at the mirror unyieldingly. The two competed with each other in the mirror. She yanked off the bra and pushed him away: “I’m going out. Do as you please.”

She turned sideways preparing to exit, but he grabbed her hand, pulling her back and wrapping her in his warm embrace.

His upper body still properly wore a black cashmere sweater. Her completely uncovered upper half was tucked inside, like snow-white camellias blooming from black soil, opening pink stamens.

Zhui Ye took in this scene completely from the mirror, his breathing chaotic.

He murmured through gritted teeth: “Sister, I don’t want to let you go out like this.”

Wu Man looked up at his entranced appearance, that restless stirring in her heart beginning to act up again.

She stood on tiptoes, lightly pecking his high nose bridge. With the rise and fall, her chest brushed against his almost imperceptibly.

Blue veins stood out on Zhui Ye’s hand circling her waist.

Wu Man glanced downward, extracted herself from his embrace, and before leaving leaned against the door with a mischievous smile.

“They seem to be back. You’d better hurry.”