After Xiaoxiao fixed the dress, the crew rushed to pack up. Only one person remained quiet—a silence so heavy it felt chilling.
Qin Mu stood not far away, leaning against a prop rack, watching Xiaoxiao tidy the table with reddened eyes. He had been there the whole time. In the chaos, no one had noticed, but he had seen everything.
He saw her being scolded, blamed, and misunderstood. He saw her choking back tears while mending the dress. He saw her trembling with frustration yet holding her ground.
Qin Mu's brow remained slightly furrowed. He rarely had emotional outbursts, but now his knuckles were white as he gripped his script so hard it nearly snapped.
He walked over to the wardrobe table and asked in a low voice, "Did Ye Xiaoxiao cry just now?"
The wardrobe assistant jumped, startled. "Oh... yeah... but Qin-ge, it's not what you think. She... she probably just didn't take good care of the costume..."
Qin Mu's voice was flat but icy. "She didn't break the dress."
"Huh?"
Qin Mu's gaze swept across the floor near the rack. There were tiny fragments of thread and frayed fabric—bits that had clearly been stepped on. That wasn't normal wear and tear; those were signs of something being "pulled" and "ripped" by force.
"Someone did this on purpose," Qin Mu said softly.
The assistant's face paled. "How do you..."
But before she could finish, Qin Mu was already walking toward Xiaoxiao. She was still tidying up, blinking hard to stop herself from crying. Suddenly, a pair of clean white sneakers appeared in her vision.
She looked up. He was standing right there.
His voice was lower and deeper than usual. "Don't be sad."
In an instant, her eyes welled up again. Seeing her struggle to hold back her tears made Qin Mu's chest tighten strangely. He never thought he'd get angry on someone else's behalf, but at that moment, he made a decision: he would find out who did this.
The next afternoon, Wayne burst into the studio wearing a magenta sequined trench coat, shouting, "Make way! Wayne is in a BAD MOOD today!"
The crew scrambled to clear a path. He looked like a brilliant "peacock bomb" as he marched to the wardrobe table, hands on his hips.
"Who bullied my Ye Xiaoxiao yesterday? Step forward!"
"Wayne-ge, don't—" Xiaoxiao started.
"Hush, baby! This is Big Brother's time to shine!"
The entire crew trembled. Someone whispered, "About that dress yesterday..."
Wayne exploded instantly. "A dress gets damaged and it's automatically her fault? Is everyone's brain malfunctioning?!"
"But the costumes were with her..." a colleague murmured weakly.
Wayne slammed his hand on the table, his sequins shimmering so intensely everyone recoiled. "Ye Xiaoxiao break a dress? She folds clothes more meticulously than any of you!"
The crew went silent. Wayne's sequins were practically vibrating with rage. "Let me tell you something! I looked at that tear. It wasn't a natural rip—someone pulled it with their fingers! I can see that with my peripheral vision!"
"Your peripheral vision is terrifying..." someone muttered.
Wayne sneered. "Bully my apprentice? Fine. Wayne won't let this go—"
"I won't let it go either." A cold, lethal voice interrupted from the doorway.
The crew turned. Qin Mu was standing there in a simple T-shirt and track jacket, yet he seemed to bring a frigid wind with him. "I want to know who did it, too."
The atmosphere plummeted to zero degrees. The crew exchanged frantic looks: Qin Mu is involved too? Since when did he care this much? Whoever did it is dead.
Wayne crossed his arms. "Mr. Qin, it seems we are on the same side for once."
"We have the same goal," Qin Mu replied.
Wayne narrowed his eyes. "Protecting my apprentice?"
Qin Mu glanced at Xiaoxiao, his gaze softening by a fraction of a millimeter. "Yes."
Later that afternoon, a wardrobe assistant found a clue: scraps of the same fabric were in a trash can near a blind spot in the surveillance. Only two people frequented that area: Xiaoxiao and a production assistant named Xiao Li.
When confronted, Xiao Li's face stiffened. "I wasn't there." But her eyes were darting everywhere.
Wayne sensed it immediately. "Why are your hands shaking?"
"I... I'm not—"
Qin Mu stepped forward, his presence heavy. "The cameras don't cover the corner, but they cover the path. You were the only one who went there last night."
Xiao Li's face turned translucent. She tried to stay stubborn. "I was just... looking for something..."
Wayne laughed coldly. "Looking for something and coincidentally ripping the lead actress's dress? Do you think we're blind? Or did you suck away our IQ?"
Finally, Xiao Li snapped. "Why does a girl like her get to be here?! She's short, fat, and ugly! And yet Qin Mu actually—actually talks to her!"
The room went dead silent. Xiaoxiao froze, her eyes widening in shock.
Xiao Li pointed at her, screaming through tears, "What is she?! Why is everyone so nice to her?! She's just a bottom-tier assistant! Why does Qin Mu initiate conversations with her?!"
She covered her face and sobbed. "I've worked so hard, and I've never even said a full sentence to him! But her... she gets to chat with him! Why does everyone like her?! I don't understand!!"
Wayne took a deep breath and smoothed his sequins. "Ah... so it's just jealousy."
Qin Mu didn't say a word. He just stared at Xiao Li with eyes as cold as winter ice. Finally, he spoke one word: "Apologize."
It was a command that couldn't be refused. Xiao Li trembled as she looked at Xiaoxiao. "...I'm sorry."
Xiaoxiao's eyes were brimming with tears, but she only said softly, "I don't hold a grudge. I just don't want this to happen again."
Xiao Li ran off in tears.
The silence lingered until Wayne broke it. "I hereby declare—" he pointed at Xiaoxiao with absolute authority, "—that from this day forward, if anyone dares to bully my precious apprentice, I will blind them with my sequins!"
Qin Mu added quietly, "I won't let anyone touch her again."
The two men exchanged a look—a rare moment of total agreement. The crew was stunned: She has Qin Mu and Wayne protecting her. This assistant has the ultimate backup!
Xiaoxiao stood there, her nose stinging, but she managed a small, tearful smile. That day, for the first time, she felt it: someone believed in her. Someone was on her side.
And that "someone" wasn't just one person.