Within seconds, the quiet coffee station was swarmed. The crew expression filled with terror at what happened to Wu Chunhua.
"Chunhua! Oh my God, your hand!" A stylist shrieked rushing forward with a wet towel.
They huddled around her,helping her up as if she were made of glass. Chunhua played the part perfectly, letting her head hang low, her body trembling as they led her toward the exit to find ice to place on her wrist. She didn't have to say a word, her sobbing spoke for her.
The director pushed through the crowd, his face flushed dark in anger. He looked at the shattered ceramic on the floor, then at the steam still rising from the puddle, and finally at Xin Yi, who stood like a statue in the center of the chaos.
Without saying a word to her, the director stormed over to the exit where Wu Chunhua was being treated, his boots echoing against the floor. He didn't even look at her hand first, he looked at the schedule in his mind that was now falling apart.
"What happened, Chunhua for heaven's sake, you're an adult, how did you let yourself get burned like this?" His voice had a mix of frustration and genuine panic over his film.
Wu Chunhua looked up, her eyes red and brimming with fresh tears. She let out a shaky breath, acting as if she were trying to be brave. "I was only trying to be nice, Director... I offered Xin Yi a cup of coffee, and as I handed it over, she... She tilted it back toward me"
She quickly gripped the Director's sleeve, her voice dropping into a pleading cry. "But please, don't blame her! I'm sure it wasn't her fault. Maybe she was just dizzy, or the wedding stress is too much...please, director, don't be angry with her."
"Don't blame her?" A voice piped up from the crowd. Liu Xia Hui, stepping forward with a look of feigned outrage.
" Director, that wasn't a dizzy act. That was a deliberate act of cruelty! I saw her face, she looked like she wanted to hurt her. She burnt senior Chunhua's skin on purpose!"
The Director's face turned red in anger. The "mercy " Chunhua was showing only made the "crime" seen more disgusting. He turned back toward the coffee station, his chest heaving.
"XIN YI!" He bellowed, his voice echoing through the entire studio.
The roar of her name jolted Xin Yi back to the cold reality of the studio . Her mind was a chaotic loop of the last sixty seconds.
Why? Why would Wu Chunhua hurt herself? Was she mentally unstable? Did she crave the adrenaline of the pain? Xin Yi's mind kept searching for a reason, unable to understand a malice so deep that a person would burn their own flesh just to win a petty war.
She began to walk toward the exit area, her steps heavy and slow. She still didn't fully grasp the trap that had been laid. In her mind, she thought the crew was staring because she hadn't been fast enough to catch the cup or stop the "accident".
But as she drew closer, the atmosphere his her like a physical wall. Every eye on her was filled with cold, sharp disdain.
Are they mad because I couldn't save her? She wondered, her heart sinking. But what could I have done? It happened so fast...
She stopped a few feet away from the director. He looked like he wanted to strike her. Beside him, Chunhua was still cradling her arm, her eyes down cast, the perfect image of a broken bird.
"Xin Yi...why did you pour hot coffee on your senior?" The director asked, his voice strained with a frustration that bordered on hatred.
"What?"
The word was like an attack. Finally, the realization hit her like a physical blow. The missing proposal, the mocking comments in the van, the fake hug. It had all been leading to this. But what had she ever done to Wu Chunhua to deserve this level of destruction?
"I didn't...she did it...she did that to herself!" Xin Yi defended, her voice rising in a mix of shock and pure terror.
"Don't you dare lie, Xin Yi!" Liu Xia Hui jumped in, her face twisted in a mask of righteous anger. "I saw you! I was right there by the equipment cases. I saw how you grabbed the cup and poured it right over her hand!"
Xin Yi Head turned toward Xia Hui. What is she even talking about? Liu Xia Hui hadn't been anywhere near the coffee station. The girl was lying through her teeth with such conviction that even Xin Yidoubted herself. Why was she so bent on ruining her.
"Xin Yi, you did something horrible and now you're lying about it," the director said, shaking his head . "Nobody is going to kill you...just accept your mistake and apologize so we can move on."
"But I didn't _"
"Xin Yi," Wu Chunhua called out, her voice cutting through the air and silencing the room. She looked up, her face a masterpiece of pretentious sadness. "I know you're mad at me. I know I haven't been the best senior since we started this movie, and I've been trying to make things right. I really have. But did you have to crush my efforts like this? Is this really how you choose to get back at me?"
Chunhua's fresh wail of despair filled the station and the crew's murmurs turned into a roar of condemnation towards Xin Yi.
"Wow," Xin Yi scoffed, a cold, dry sound that cut through Wu Chunhua's sobbing.
What a great performance. Truly, Wu Chunhua is the top actress they claimed her to be.
The crew gasped. They had expected her to cry, to beg, or to tremble. Instead, Xin Yi didn't flinch, didn't even look away . Wu Chunhua's crying hitched for a second, she was stunned. She wanted to see Xin Yi to be broken, but the girl was standing there like a queen looking down on a peasant. It felt as though Chunhua was wasting her energy on a brick wall.
By this time, people at the gate had already started whispering. Paparazzi began to swarm around the shooting area, their long lenses poking through the gates. Cameras flashed from afar, each photographer eager to capture the "Headline of the year."
"You're so despicable, Xin Yi!" Liu Xia Hui snapped, pouring gasoline on the fire. "Senior Chunhua treated you like her own sister! How could you be so heartless! I guess you just have to remind everyone that you don't have a drop of real Wang blood in your veins. You're just a girl they dragged out of the slums!"
The word "slums " snapped the final thread of Xin Yi's patience.
She has had enough. She was tired of being the punching bag for Liu Xia Hui's insecurities, If she wanted her name dragged through the drain, fine, but she wasn't going down without making her bleed first. With a surge of raw, shaking adrenaline, she stepped forward, her hand curling into a fist, ready to swing directly at Liu Xia Hui's smug face...
"XIN YI!"
The powerful roar of her name pulled Xin Yi back from the edge of a mistake. She turned, her chest heaving, to see Wang Li Chen walking toward the chaos.
He looked every bit the elite heir. His suit was perfectly tailored, without a single wrinkle, and his hair was styled with that effortless "country boy" charm that made him a national heartthrob.
A pair of Gucci sunglasses sat on the bridge of his nose, and as he moved, the high gold Wang wristwatch on his hand caught the morning sun. His black shoes were so polished they mirrored the frantic movements of the crowd.
"What is happening here, Director?" Li Chen asked, his voice low and cool. He reached up, slowly pulling the sunglasses down from his face to reveal eyes that were sharp and unreasonable.
The paparazzi have now went into a uproar. The flashes became a solid wall of white light as they struggled to get a shot of Country L's most famous actor and the man of the hour.
"Brother Li Chen..." Liu Xia Hui was the first to react. She rushed forward, her face morphing into a pathetic pout as she tried to look like the worried Messenger. "Xin Yi....she burnt Senior Chunhua's hand with hot coffee! And now she's being so stubborn, she refuses to apologize or even admit to her crime!"
Xin Yi looked directly at him, her eyes burning with a mix of hurt and defense. "I didn't do it, Wang Li Chen," she said, her voice trembling but clear.
"Xin Yi, enough!" The director roared, his patience completely evaporated. "Liu Xia Hui saw you with her own eyes, for crying out loud! Just admit that you've been holding a grudge because Wu Chunhua scolded you yesterday. Own up to it!"
"I can't admit to something I didn't do!" Xin Yi's voice cracked, the raw emotion finally bubbling over. She was at the verge of crying her eyes out, her vision blurring as she looked at the circle of accusing faces. "It wasn't me! She... she did it to herself!"
"Can you even hear yourself, Xin Yi?" Wu Chunhua snapped, stepping forward to Xin Yi. Her eyes darting toward Wang Li Chen, she wasn't about to let this chance slip away. She needed him to see Xin Yi as a monster. "How could I possibly burn my own skin? Does that make any sense to anyone?"
She took a long, shaky, deep breath, clutching her bandaged wrist to her chest. "If you won't kneel and apologize to me right now, I'm taking this to the police. I won't just sit here and suffer while you lie to my face!"
With that, Chunhua's fake tears began to pour out again, her body shaking as if she were the most wronged woman in the world.
"She's going to apologize," the director growled, turning his glare toward Xin Yi. "Look at the damage you've caused! My movie is going to be on hiatus because of your stupid, petty revenge. You don't want this to escalate any further, Xin Yi. End it now."
"I will not apologize for something I didn't do," Xin Yi said, her voice trembling but her feet planted firmly. "I'm not going to."
"Xin Yi, kneel down and apologize."
Wang Li Chen's voice echoed through the hall, cold and absolute.
The world seemed to stop for a moment, Xin Yi thought she had misheard him. She liked at him, searching his face for a sign of joke, a plan, anything. But he stood there, his expression as hard as rock. He wanted her to kneel? He wanted her to bow her head to a liar who was trying to destroy her?
"What...what did you say, Wang Li Chen?"
This time, she couldn't hold them back. The tears broke, burning trace down her cheeks. Her heart felt as though it had been physically crushed in her chest.
"Just kneel down and apologize, Xin Yi," Wang Li Chen repeated, his vice not showing any trace of warmth "It won't take anything from you. You did something wrong, so own up to it and apologize."
His words hit her harder than a physical blow. The tears rushed from her eyes even faster now, hot and stinging. She looked at him and felt a wave of nausea.
So that's what I am to him! She thought, her heart aching. He truly believed she was a person who would go to such a violent edge just to get revenge.
The silence in the studio was deafening. Every crew member held their breath, waiting for the future Mrs.Wang to hit the floor. Wu Chunhua stood with her bandaged wrist clutched to her chest, a tiny, smuggling smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.