The sight of Xin Hulei disquiets Yao Shen. They have to reshoot the scene three times on account of his inattention.

By the time his eyes drift towards the spot where Xin Hulei was standing, he\'s no longer there.

After they\'re done shooting, Gao Wu comes to see him, drifting in his direction as if blown by an invisible wind or a magnetic current.

Yao Shen expects him to mention their semi-disastrous date, or to ask him if he liked the fans that Yao Shen hasn\'t even taken out of the packaging.

Instead, he looks down at his script and chews on his bottom lip, lost in thought. "Director Chen wasn\'t happy with my performance. I think I\'m gonna have to reshoot the closeups later."

Yao Shen hums in understanding. He makes the kind of commiseration whine that is the universal sound for "don\'t I know about it?".

But Gao Wu isn\'t looking for sympathy. He continues worrying at his bottom lip while the hairstylists fix Yao Shen\'s wig so he can move on to the next scene.

"I just can\'t get into his headspace," he says, flicking the script in the air as if swatting a fly. "I don\'t know what he\'s thinking as he watches Yan Shuyi be whipped for something he did."

Yao Shen sees a sudden flash of Xin Hulei\'s wounded gaze, from when he was looking on at the scene being shot.

"I think he regrets that Yan Shuyi is being hurt for something he caused." He pauses, tasting the words before saying them, trying them on for size, "but I think he\'s jealous too."

"Jealous?"

"Yan Shuyi selflessly sacrificed himself to protect Xie Huan from the scorn and violence of the other sect leaders. Rong Zi has to be asking himself if he would do the same for him."

Gao Wu\'s eyes widen in understanding. "I see, thank you gege."

He flashes him a brilliant, dimpled smile, before bounding off to confer with Director Chen. Probably asking him to reshoot his closeups right away with a different approach this time.

Yao Shen\'s gaze once again drifts off towards the spot where Xin Hulei stood moments before.

He might understand Rong Zi\'s motives, but what about Xin Hulei\'s?

Where does fiction stop and history start?

---

Yao Shen spends the rest of his day filming a series of grueling and emotionally exhausting scenes, each of them chipping away at a little bit of his composure.

By the time the day comes to an end and he can return to his hotel room, he\'s  practically non-verbal. Exhausted at having to occupy Yan Shuyi\'s skin, and having to endure what he did.

He knows he\'s taking things much harder than he would normally because Yan Shuyi was a real person. It\'s one thing to play a character who suffers unfairly, it\'s another to know all those awful things happened to a living, breathing, human being.

Yao Shen emerges from his bath with a renewed appreciation for his past ignorant bliss. It really is for the better that \'xianxia biopic\' is something the average person considers an oxymoron.

Still dripping, Yao Shen throws himself on his bed, settling above the covers with a yawn. Yao Shen is tired, but it\'s too early to sleep, if he goes to bed now he\'ll feel like he did nothing but work all day.

So he picks up his phone from the nightstand and wastes some time online, to fool himself into thinking it counts as \'entertainment\'.  He\'s too exhausted for something actually fun like playing video games, reading, or watching a movie.

So mindless scrolling on weibo, with his brain at 20% battery it is.

It\'s all very average run of the mill funny posts mixed in with the usual celebrity gossip until he stumbles on a familiar sight.

It\'s a photo, taken at night of three blurry people inspecting a stall at a night market.

The post has drawn moderate attention, but because the picture isn\'t clear some netizens are questioning its legitimacy.

[Sisters, I didn\'t believe my eyes at first, but it really is Xin Hulei, Gao Wu and Yao Shen, leisurely enjoying a warm late spring night in Hengdian! I apologize for the terrible quality of the photo but my hands were shaking so much, it\'s the best I could do]

[Big fish, small pond: Those are just three guys!]

[Red triangle: Are you stupid? It\'s clearly XH, GW and YS! I could recognize Leilei anywhere by the swoop of his shoulders]

[Big fish, small pond: That\'s creepy. You realize that\'s creepy, right?]

[\'Original poster\': I know it seems hard to believe but it\'s true, it was the three of them! And to tell you more it seemed like Gao Wu was buying gifts for Yao Shen]

[Ting Ting: Now that\'s just too much. This little fresh meat shows up and the Male Lead actor and Second Male lead actor fall in love with him? There\'s wishful thinking and then there\'s whatever this is. You\'re reading too many webnovels]

No one seemed to be taking the photos all too seriously, so for once, Yao Shen actually gets to kick back and enjoy all the wild speculation.

Turns out, that it can be pretty entertaining when his career and reputation aren\'t on the line.

[Yellow is the warmest colour: I don\'t know, I wouldn\'t mind [REDACTED] that little fresh meat myself, I bet his [REDACTED] is great salivating.png]

Yao Shen is so glad for the profanity filter -- he really doesn\'t want to know what \'yellow\' was talking about.

Many of the replies go along those lines, people who believe the photos are real, people who swear they are fake, and in the end no faction can come to a consensus, keeping the whole thing safely out of the trending topics.

Yao Shen is almost about to tap away from the post and the amusing fan speculation when a username draws his eye.

[Heimao: What did Gao Wu get Yao Shen?]

[Original Poster: I was too far away to see clearly, but it seemed like he got him fans. The kind that look traditional but have amusing sayings on them, you know?]

[Heimao: Thank you]

Yao Shen rereads the exchange again and again, but comes to the conclusion that the whole thing is a coincidence.

Xin Hulei has better things to do than create fake accounts on weibo to look up gossip.

It\'s more likely that Heimao has already cultivated a human form and is keeping it a secret from Jincan to avoid his wrath.