At 7:00 p.m, HEX4's RUI's Weibo page was updated.
There wasn't much content in the post apart from a photograph of the account owner sitting in a peach blossom tree that was just beginning to bloom. He was wearing a high school uniform, its top two buttons undone to reveal the collar of a black tee inside. His navy sweater vest, which was part of the spring dress code, had been removed and was tossed casually over one shoulder. He looked relaxed but not slovenly, like a lazy cat that had just woken from a nap but was in a surprisingly good mood. A light breeze scattered a smattering of petals, one of which had landed in a soft, wispy curl of his dark hair. His eyes were crinkled and the sunbeams streaming down through the branches overhead illuminated his smile.
There was only a one-line caption above the photograph and it read "Sunshine boy Chen Wen, I will do my best to accompany you as you grow up."
At the same time, the official page for 'The Wallflower Becomes a Diva' liked and forwarded this post. The comments section on both pages blew up:
[Ahhhhhh! Big Brother! You've finally risen from the grave QAQ you don't post anything for months and then suddenly you deliver this nice surprise?!]
[No way omgggg I'm a big fan of this novel too, Big Brother fits the role of Chen Wen perfectly, he is both so hot and so gentle! Are there any sisters out here who love duality as much as me?!]
[Good luck hubby!!! The production team made such a good choice with you, I can't wait to watch!!!]
[Thank you Director Fu for choosing our RUI, please please take good care of him ><]
But of course, it wasn't all sunshine and roses.
[??? Have all these rabid fangirls forgotten? Their 'big brother' still hasn't explained his clubbing scandal or how he treats women like trash?]
[The person above, you're internet navy hired by a competitor to stir up shit, aren't you?]
[Can't stand seeing all these stupid girls defending a scumbag, I'm a fan of the novel too but I'm stating here that I'm not going to watch it. Is the casting director blind? What part of Wen Rui even remotely fits the role of Chen Wen? Any other member of HEX4 would be more suitable.]
[…you're the blind one then, my bias is JUN but even I have to admit that saying he would be more suitable than RUI to act such a bright, charismatic character is pushing it…also, I went through your account, you're Sisi stan huh…that explains so much…just come right out and say that you're salty your fave didn't get chosen for the role, don't drag the other members into this, thanks]
[ +1, I'm going to carry my Mumu away, leave him out of this]
…
The one good thing about acting in this high school drama was that a large portion of the scenes took place in the day. Therefore, filming had wrapped up pretty early and he'd gone home first before posting. There would be night scenes in the future, Director Fu had said, but he didn't have to worry about those until they changed filming locations.
Zhou Ye wasn't at home, so Wen Rui opened his 'Are You Hungry' app and called in a bowl of black pepper crayfish rice and a variety of skewers, the sort of delicious but unhealthy food he wouldn't be allowed to have if he were still under supervision.
Without anyone else in it, the apartment was too big and empty. Wen Rui didn't like the yawning silence in the dining room so he ended up having dinner in his bedroom, takeaway containers piled on top of his computer desk in front of the keyboard. Even back in the dorms in high school, he'd been careful to maintain a zealous sense of self-discipline, enforcing the good habits of eating proper meals at proper times that his mother had instilled in him.
But he figured that one day of cutting himself some slack, especially on this tiring first day on set, wasn't going to turn him into a hikikomori. He scrolled through Weibo as he ate, even though he knew it might give him indigestion. But he couldn't help it. It was like watching a trainwreck. He knew that he was bound to see something unpleasant but he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Wen Rui might be new to the industry (again) but he had already anticipated the wrangling and backlash online. It wasn't as bad as he'd expected, actually, although the frustration of seeing the Club Apex incident brought up again and again like someone was purposefully digging up his corpse to flog was also tangible. Although Wen Rui had his suspicions that the woman in his father's house had something to do with it, he had no evidence. He also had no means of obtaining any for now.
Apart from that, the other vicious comments from haters that targeted his appearance and his acting skills didn't so much as leave a ripple on his emotions. He was confident about his looks and as for acting, there was no denying that he was a complete beginner. But who didn't start from somewhere? As long as he invested the effort, if he was made for this career, he would be rewarded for the time spent perfecting the art. As someone who grew up practising music and dance, this gruelling training process was second nature to him.
Once he had one or two productions that were worth watching, the doubts about his abilities would lessen.
But as he scrolled down through the comments, he noticed that the vibe of them started changing to something…inexplicable.
It started with a couple of hater's remarks:
[Hah, those saying that Wen Rui would be such a perfect boyfriend, please wake up, have you forgotten? He's more likely to be the perfect boytoy]
[…no, wait, someone please educate the sha B (1) in the post above, are you seriously bringing up the Zhou Ye incident again?]
[Some people just can't leave old fake news alone because Big Brother is so perfect, he doesn't have any faults for them to nitpick]
[Fans will stupidly believe anything their idols feed them, you really buy that rubbish about being 'just friends'? I'm gonna wait, one day your big brother will fuck up, don't cry when naked photos of him taking it in bed show up on the internet lol]
[…am I the only one who thinks that they're…kinda cute together though?]
[That sister in the post above, you're not alone!!! ><]
[+ 1 too, they're so easy on the eyes? I know that photograph caused Big Brother RUI a lot of trouble but I can't help but ship it, don't you think they have a lot of chemistry? The bossy CEO that dotes only on the ice prince]
[AND THE ICE PRINCE WHO THAWS ONLY FOR THE BOSSY CEO >< I can totally ship it too111!1!1!]
…
What. The. Hell?
Wen Rui remembered reading that old post by his supposed ex-classmate about girls 'shipping' them together in school. It was common back then for guys to sometimes deliberately tease their close male friends ambiguously by sitting on their laps or slapping their bums. There was no harm in it, everyone knew that everyone was straight and dismissed it as playfulness.
But Wen Rui had always been out of bounds for his guy friends, even with this sort of joking. This was because he had a strong sense of personal space and didn't like to be touched. His nickname 'Little Prince' wasn't without reason.
Now that he considered it carefully, he couldn't think why the girls in school or even these fujoshi netizens would see anything worth shipping between Zhou Ye and him. He stared in horrified fascination as the comments spiralled out of control, even going so far as to designate a ship name for him.
[Ahhh, I can't help it anymore, my brain keeps coming up with images! Do you think this is what Wen Rui looked like in high school? If it is, I can only say to CEO Zhou, WHY HAVEN'T YOU BROUGHT HIM TO THE BUREAU OF CIVIL AFFAIRS YET]
[The person above, calm down, that's moving too fast. CEO Zhou, IF YOU LIKE IT THEN YOU SHUDDA PUT A RING ON IT]
[Someone needs to write high school fic of them oh wait that's CANON]
[I am aboard this pirate ship and I know there's no turning back. Zhou Ye x Wen Rui, ZhouWen? YeRui? YEWEN (2)?!]
[Hahahahahahah YeWen! This sovereign likes it! This ship is stronger than any other!]
…
Wen Rui rubbed his temples and put his phone aside. Forget it. He was exhausted trying to keep up with this ridiculous train of thought. All things considered, shipping was a pretty common phenomenon in the industry and he wasn't dumb enough to try and defend himself. The more he denied it, the more they would think he had something to hide.
Not that they were wrong. He had a whole marriage just lurking beneath like a time bomb, waiting to explode in his face.
He didn't want to think about it anymore. The best thing to cure his troubles was to log into his favourite computer game. He didn't manage to try the new PvP arena out properly yet and tonight was as good a time as any.
But his plans on conquering the leaderboards were quickly derailed when he opened his friend's list and saw a name flicker from online to offline.
It was 'Nacht'. He was back.