On November 1st, Jingwu Youth, jointly produced by Xihua Entertainment and Zhongpin Pictures, began filming in B City. The main cast, including Chen Yi, Tang Ou, Dai Yanfei, Xie Guan, and Li Yan, appeared at the opening ceremony.

The main scenes of Jingwu Youth were mostly indoors, so they were not greatly affected by the weather. The production team rented a large gymnasium for filming the competition and training scenes, and also found two model homes in a nearby real estate development to set up as the team members' dormitories. After getting the basic indoor sets ready, they immediately entered the intense filming stage.

“Cut!”

Xie Guan and Chen Yi froze in their poses, only resuming their stances after a few seconds. The director replayed the just-shot clip, then looked up after a moment and said, “Good! Next scene!”

The two had gone through their fight scene a full four times before it passed, leaving them drenched in sweat in the middle of winter. There was no heating in the gymnasium. As soon as 'cut' was called, an assistant waiting on the sidelines immediately rushed over to hand Chen Yi a towel and drape clothes over him, afraid he would catch a cold. Before Xie Guan joined the cast, Lin Yao had assigned an assistant to him, but that person probably felt there was no future in following Xie Guan and was usually not very attentive. Right now, he had run off somewhere to slack off. Xie Guan didn't mind much. He went to the sidelines himself, put on his down jacket, and sat down to listen to the director explain the scene to the second group's Li Yan.

Watching this scene from a distance, Huo Mingjun frowned. A tall young man stood beside him. Seeing Huo Mingjun's expression, his heart skipped a beat, thinking things were about to go bad.

Just as he was about to smooth things over, Zhong Heguang hurried in from outside, leaned close to Huo Mingjun's ear, and whispered a few words, asking softly, “The people have arrived. How would you like to arrange for them to meet?”

Huo Mingjun's expression suddenly grew solemn. The young man followed his line of sight towards the set. Xie Guan, as if sensing something, turned his head to look where they were standing, a surprised look on his face.

A plan was one thing, but when the moment came, Huo Mingjun's heart softened after all. “I'll take him over. Tell them not to make a sound, just watch from the shadows. Don't startle him.”

“What, you have other arrangements?” The man finally sensed something was off and said suspiciously, “This sounds a lot like you're up to no good. Chairman Huo, be careful not to cross any lines.”

Huo Mingjun: “…”

As they spoke, Xie Guan had already walked over, his surprise no less than if he had seen two giant pandas, the national treasures, on the film set. “What are you doing here? President Ye… hello.”

“Hello.” Ye Zheng nodded with a smile. Noticing his form of address, he raised an eyebrow subtly.

President Ye, with a dirty mind, saw dirt everywhere. He himself had found true love through a kept relationship, which left him with the side effect of "suspecting everyone of having an affair." He was quite self-aware, and tactfully diverted attention for the two under the guise of "visiting the set." His high-profile arrival on set thoroughly startled the director and the crew.

The unprepared staff were cursing in their hearts, “Fuck, why didn't anyone give us a heads-up that the boss was coming for an inspection?!”

The main culprit, Huo Mingjun, asked Zhong Heguang for a pack of tissues, handed it to Xie Guan, and gestured for him to wipe his sweat first. “Where's your assistant?”

Xie Guan had no intention of complaining in front of him, so he smiled without answering and just asked curiously, “What made you suddenly decide to come here? Did you come with President Ye?”

Huo Mingjun retorted, “Can't I come visit the set?”

Xie Guan didn't believe him at all. “Stop kidding. Among this bunch of people, how many can you recognize, besides me… huh?”

He suddenly realized something was wrong. Huo Mingjun saw that he had figured it out on his own and actually nodded in confirmation. “That's right.”

Xie Guan suspected he might have lost his mind.

Zhong Heguang coughed lightly from behind them, reminding Huo Mingjun that there was still business to attend to.

“Alright, stop being disbelieving. I really did come to see you,” Huo Mingjun said, his expression turning serious. “Are you free for lunch? Let's eat together.”

Although it was a bit strange to specifically seek someone out for a meal on a workday, Xie Guan just assumed he was returning the favor and didn't think much of it. “I am. Wait for a moment, I'll go change and be right back.”

Zhong Heguang looked as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself. “Sir…”

Huo Mingjun raised a hand to stop him from continuing. “I know what I'm doing. There's no need for you to keep reminding me.”

Zhong Heguang had no choice but to swallow the words of dissuasion that were already on the tip of his tongue, but he felt a persistent unease in his heart, silently praying that no trouble would arise later. They could hide it from Xie Guan for a while, but could they hide it from him forever? Xie Guan wasn't a fool, and this matter was not without its traces. He would find out the truth sooner or later.

When that time comes, how would Huo Mingjun clean up this mess?

Huo Mingjun took him to a private kitchen near the film set. It was very private, so there was no need to worry about being photographed. After all, Xie Guan was now a public figure, so it was better to be cautious to avoid trouble.

Zhong Heguang went to park the car at the back entrance while Huo Mingjun and Xie Guan entered the restaurant. A waiter came forward to lead the way, taking the two to a private room.

As Xie Guan passed the room adjacent to their private room, he suddenly turned his head and glanced at the closed door, a strange look flashing across his face.

“What is it?” Huo Mingjun stopped.

Xie Guan shook his head and gave a reassuring smile. “Nothing, let's go.”

Thanks to the guidance and training from Old Mr. Chen, his instructor, before joining the cast, Xie Guan's perception of his surroundings was more sensitive than before. He had felt like he was being watched in the hallway just now, but the feeling disappeared the moment he stopped. Celebrities always had to be wary of the paparazzi, so he was particularly alert to prying eyes.

But being stared at didn't necessarily mean he was being followed. He thought he was probably overreacting; maybe they just found him familiar.

The two sat down. Huo Mingjun ordered the food and asked Xie Guan what he wanted to eat. The other's face immediately fell. “I have to control my weight. I'm eating vegetarian.”

Huo Mingjun glanced at his figure, which hadn't recovered even after returning from Hong Kong. “Still dieting?”

“No choice, it's mainly to build muscle.” Xie Guan said with a bitter laugh, “It's Jingwu Youth. I might not be a youth anymore, but if I'm not skilled in martial arts either, the director will tell me to pack my bags and get lost.”

Zhong Heguang stopped in front of the door to the room next to their reserved one, pushed down the handle, and walked in.

Inside sat a middle-aged couple, neatly dressed. The woman was even wearing a mink coat, exuding a kind of rustic high-class air. Seeing Zhong Heguang enter, the couple immediately sat up straight like startled birds, peeking at him timidly.

Zhong Heguang frowned slightly, subtly concealing his disgust for their sneaky, thief-like demeanor. This was the first time he had met the Cheng Family's parents. Although the couple's appearance was uncouth and their behavior vulgar, a world apart from Xie Guan's temperament, Zhong Heguang had to admit that the middle-aged man's eyes and brows did bear a faint resemblance to Xie Guan's.

“Did you get a clear look?”

The woman shook her head and said in a low voice, “I was just peeking out from the crack in the door, I think he spotted me.”

“There is a decorative glass window between this room and the one next door,” Zhong Heguang said in a low voice. “You can watch from there. Remember, don't make a sound, and don't startle him.”

The woman seemed very afraid of him. She nodded fearfully and, as told, walked towards the specially made glass window.

Xie Guan was discussing with Huo Mingjun how the restaurant's vegetarian goose was cooked when he suddenly heard a low, suppressed sob coming from the corner of the room.

He whipped his head around, looking in the direction of the crying. His gaze passed right through the dark glass window and met a pair of tear-filled eyes.

In that instant, a numbness shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, and a chill ran up his spine. It wasn't that he was timid; the scene was just too bizarre. Anyone enjoying a meal who suddenly saw such a terrifying sight would be hard-pressed not to be frightened out of their wits.

Xie Guan subconsciously grabbed the water glass beside him. Suddenly, a clatter of overturned tables and chairs came from the next room, mixed with angry shouts and mournful cries, as if they were arguing. Immediately after, there was a knock on their private room's door.

“Who is it?”

Huo Mingjun pulled the door open before Xie Guan could, only to be pushed aside by a frantic woman. Caught off guard, he actually failed to stop the person who rushed in from outside.

The still-stunned Xie Guan was suddenly embraced by the tear-streaked middle-aged woman, who wailed, “My child!”

The middle-aged man who followed her in was first stunned upon seeing his face, and then tears fell straight down. “Cheng Sheng… you look so much like our Cheng Sheng, so much!”

Xie Guan was completely bewildered, fumbling to put down the glass. “I'm sorry, have you mistaken me for someone else... Could you please calm down first? I don't know you…”

“Ah Sheng, you've been gone for ten years, Mom misses you so much! Mom never thought Boss Huo would really find... child, you look exactly like my son…” the woman sobbed, clinging to him and refusing to let go.

If he was only suspicious when they called him by the wrong name earlier, the meaning in this last sentence was all too obvious.

Xie Guan abruptly looked up at Huo Mingjun.

The man stood at the door, his eyelids lowered. The contrast between his black hair and pale face was stark, like a silent, handsome marble statue. On his face was an expression Xie Guan had never seen before—ashen and cold as death.

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind, chaotic and complex, sweeping over all his senses like a torrent. Yet, he hardly needed to think hard; the answer was like an unlocked box, its contents clear at a glance.

All that had passed—every encounter, every decision, even every word—turned out not to be without reason.

Xie Guan looked at Huo Mingjun in silence, while the other man stared silently at a corner. He waited for a moment, but Huo Mingjun never raised his head to look at him again.

Silence was a confrontation, and also a compromise.

“Who is Cheng Sheng.”

Amid the whimpers and sighs, this sentence sounded incredibly calm and abrupt. Xie Guan peeled the woman off of him, turned his head to Zhong Heguang outside the door, and asked, “Aren't you going to explain?”

Zhong Heguang was taken aback, then looked at Huo Mingjun with difficulty, but the latter still acted as if he hadn't seen a thing.

“Still being stubborn now,” Xie Guan sneered, no longer paying him any mind. He turned to ask the middle-aged couple before him, “Is Cheng Sheng your son?”

His aura suddenly changed, with a faint hint of command. The middle-aged man didn't dare to dawdle and nodded nervously.

“Do I look exactly like him?”

The woman seemed about to nod, but hesitated for half a second, and finally shook her head, saying softly, “Very similar… but not exactly the same.”

“Your son… passed away?”

Xie Guan tried to be as tactful as possible, but this sentence still struck the middle-aged woman's sore spot. She held back her tears and nodded, but finally couldn't help but cover her face with her hands and let out a long sob.

“What was the reason?”

“To save me.”

Huo Mingjun suddenly spoke up, interrupting his questions. He said coldly, “That's enough. Don't ask any more.”

He walked from the door to the dining table. Zhong Heguang quickly followed, forcibly “escorting” the couple who had caused this disaster back to the next room.

Xie Guan took a step back, a deliberate reminder that successfully halted Huo Mingjun's advance.

“Is there anything else Mr. Huo has to say?”

He switched back to the initial form of address, his expression changing to one of polite distance. There was no loss of composure, no rage. It was as if he had instantly suppressed all the emotions on the verge of erupting back into his body, barely maintaining a peaceful and calm facade, drawing a clear and distinct line between the two of them.

Huo Mingjun suddenly realized that something was rapidly slipping away from him. Those trivial emotions he had never cherished, which had piled up without a presence in some unknown corner, were now suddenly making him taste the bitterness of letting go.

“Since you have nothing to say, I'll speak,” Xie Guan's gaze had nowhere to land, so he looked down at his own dry, cold palms. “Cheng Sheng saved your life, but he... uh, unfortunately passed away. I look a lot like him, so all the times you've helped me, it was all because of him, right?”

Huo Mingjun said nothing, but the question needed no answer. Xie Guan could read it in his silence.

He finally understood why Huo Mingjun's attitude towards him had been so hot and cold and inconsistent at the beginning, and why he had extended a helping hand time and time again—it was because he had a face that was ninety percent similar to Huo Mingjun's savior. Huo Mingjun couldn't bear to see him struggling in the mud with such a face; yet Xie Guan's very existence was a constant reminder to Huo Mingjun: This was a complete and utter mistake.

—That person was gone. Entrusting his remembrance and compensation to a counterfeit was utterly meaningless.

Xie Guan had had his suspicions, but Huo Mingjun's silence gave him the wrong impression, causing him to put aside his speculations and see himself as the protagonist on the stage. It wasn't until the emperor's new clothes were pointed out that the tender facade fell away, revealing the mottled old stories underneath, that he finally understood he was just a nameless stand-in.

“Mr. Huo.”

Xie Guan spoke slowly, choosing his words with care, “You mistook me for someone else before, and now you know you were mistaken. To put it bluntly, this whole thing was just a misunderstanding. Since we've cleared it up, it's no big deal.”

“Although it is indeed a bit awkward, I did benefit from it, after all. You don't have to take it to heart, nor do you need to worry that I'll have any hard feelings.”

How sensible of him, Huo Mingjun thought with no small amount of mockery. To be treated as someone else's stand-in, to be fooled and led around like an idiot, and in the end, to even have to make excuses for the main culprit.

Why should Xie Guan have to swallow his pride and pay for his mistake?

“I'm an ordinary person. My looks were given to me by my parents; I can't change them. I never had the slightest interaction with you in the past, and I don't want to rely on this face to get things without earning them in the future. I will definitely repay the favors I owe you. If there's anything you need me for, Mr. Huo, please don't hesitate to ask.”

Huo Mingjun finally spoke, his voice hoarse, “You don't have to be like this…”

“This is what I owe you,” Xie Guan said, picking up his jacket from the back of the chair and smiling. “When you take something that doesn't belong to you, you have to give it back. There's no reason to claim it as your own. However…”

He paused for half a second, then continued calmly, “To avoid any more misunderstandings, it's better if we don't see each other again.”