ASFSODS 46

The riot really did break out all of a sudden. Not just Wen Chi and his group—even tourists from other countries and the locals were all stunned by what was happening before their eyes.

It wasn’t until a scream rang out that the entire square descended into chaos. Tourists and pedestrians ran in all directions, children were crying and wailing, tables and chairs were knocked over… What was supposed to be a warm and lively fireworks party had been completely ruined by the riot.

One of the staff coordinating the outing cursed under his breath and quickly shouted to his colleagues, “Get the guests out of here, now!!”

The cameramen held their cameras in one hand and tripods in the other, while still protecting the guests.

“Teacher Xiao Bai! This way!!”

“President Qin?! Where are you going?!”

“Little master, Tian Ge, hurry, let’s go ahhhhh!”

“Sh*t, has anyone seen Teacher Xu? He’s such a big guy—where could he have gone?!”

Tong Xian’en’s eyes darkened slightly when he heard that. A dark and almost insane suspicion formed in his mind.

Zhou Yunbai heard the familiar name and instinctively looked in the direction the voice had come from. She didn’t even get a good look before a hand landed on her shoulder. Qin Xiyu’s voice came from above her, “Let’s go.”

The man’s voice was low and steady, instantly calming Zhou Yunbai’s fear and panic.

Meanwhile, in the small house behind the guesthouse, the staff responsible for the other equipment were also caught off guard by the situation.

When the assistant director stood up, he knocked over his chair. Before Director Ma could even speak, he was already shouting at the livestream crew, “Shut down the stream! Get some cars and take medical staff over there! Make sure you stay safe yourselves, but also ensure the guests and other staff are safely picked up!”

The last part of his sentence cracked from urgency.

“Don’t shut the stream,” Director Ma sat calmly in his chair, his voice so composed that others found it chilling. “Let them keep filming.”

The assistant director and producer thought Director Ma must be insane—was he seriously telling the cameramen to keep shooting in such a crisis?

Standing behind the livestream crew, arms crossed, Director Ma said, “Continue as normal with the livestream. Follow the assistant director’s orders for everything else.”

Maybe it was the urgency of the situation, but everyone who heard Director Ma’s words found them strangely unsettling.

Right—at the end of the day, even the assistant director had to obey the director.

Main Livestream Room:

[WTF? They’re seriously still streaming? Are they sick?]

[Where the hell is the rest of the crew? Are they dead or what?]

[Ahhhh I’m so anxious watching this, what do we do, what do we do, is something bad gonna happen]

[Damn, I’m just in the city next door—should I catch a flight over and check things out?]

[Girl, are you out of your mind flying into that mess?]

[Are these people insane?!]

By the time Jiang Siheng ran back to the square, the cameraman following him heard the situation through his earpiece, immediately shut off the camera, and ran after Jiang Siheng.

“Damn it, whose idea was it to come watch fireworks here?” Xiao Zou couldn’t hold back after hearing that the director still wanted to continue the livestream. He cursed into the mic, “Are you guys seriously messed up?! We’re getting chased down by lunatics with knives and you want us to livestream?! If you’re so keen, why don’t you come do it!”

Hearing what Xiao Zou said, Wen Chi could more or less guess what the rest of the crew had said. “Where’s Sang Sang?”

While shutting off the camera, Xiao Zou shielded Wen Chi and said, “Miss Sang should be safe. Don’t worry, Mr. Wen.”

“Mama?!”

Wen Chi turned toward the sound and was instantly shocked by what he saw—a foreign pregnant woman had been knocked over by panicked people running away, hitting her body against a table. She was now clutching her belly in pain, and beside her was a child who looked no older than ten. Given how chaotic and dangerous the situation was, the kid clearly had no idea what to do.

Before Xiao Zou could say anything, he watched in disbelief as Wen Chi ran past people toward the mother and child. “What the hell?!”

Teacher Wen could run that fast?

When he reached them, Wen Chi realized the pregnant woman was already bleeding. He glanced back at Xiao Zou, who was still carrying his camera gear. Then, gritting his teeth, Wen Chi summoned strength from who knows where and lifted the woman in his arms. He turned to the child and said, “You gen me, go go go!”

Xiao Zou stared at the confused child for a second before taking off after Wen Chi. “……”

He really didn’t mean to laugh.

Wen Chi didn’t dare run too fast, but he couldn’t go too slow either. Every time he looked down, he could see the painful expression on the pregnant woman’s face—it felt like he was racing against death.

“Wen Chi!”

For a moment, Wen Chi thought he had misheard. When he looked up, he saw Jiang Siheng running toward him.

“Teacher Jiang?!” Wen Chi was shocked that Jiang Siheng had come back. “Why did you come back? Run!”

Jiang Siheng didn’t respond to Wen Chi telling him to run. He glanced at the pregnant woman in Wen Chi’s arms and, without asking anything, reached out and took her from him.

The sudden absence of weight in his arms caught Wen Chi off guard. Before he could react, he heard Jiang Siheng say, “Go.”

Startled, Wen Chi instinctively reached behind and grabbed the child’s hand, pulling him along as they ran.

He didn’t know how long they ran, but it felt like they were getting farther and farther from the screaming, from all the noise—until there was silence.

The show’s cars were waiting outside. The staff had originally planned to go in, but the town’s police had stopped them, saying that only law enforcement and medical personnel were allowed in. No one else could enter, only exit.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the guests and other staff members all made it back safely.

“Where’s Chi Ge?” Sang Sang didn’t see Wen Chi and quickly asked the others.

Zhou Yunbai heard her, turned to look at the young girl. She knew she was Wen Chi’s assistant and shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t see him.”

Terrifying images instantly flooded Sang Sang’s mind.

She pulled out her phone and called Wen Chi. The call kept ringing with no answer. Her eyes turned red with panic. “Pick up… Come on, Chi Ge, answer your phone…”

Her anxious expression infected the other guests and even the livestream viewers.

Main Livestream Room:

[Thank god everyone’s okay #cryinghard#]

[I was so worried I started crying and woke up my roommate across the room]

[The younger one and Teacher Jiang are still missing]

[Chichi and Teacher Jiang’s stream went dark—the cameraman probably isn’t filming]

[Goddd, for the first time, I want the cameraman to be following them]

[Please, please, they have to be okay]

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long—Wen Chi, Jiang Siheng, and the two cameramen finally appeared.

The moment Sang Sang saw Wen Chi, she finally felt relieved until she saw the bloodstains on his clothes. Then she completely broke down.

It had been a long time since Wen Chi had seen Sang Sang cry this hard. As she threw herself into his arms, he stood there, overwhelmed and unsure what to do. “Sang Sang, calm down a bit…”

Sang Sang looked up at him with red, puffy eyes. Then something occurred to her and she quickly pulled away, her voice trembling as she asked, “I’m sorry, did I press on your injury?”

“…No, don’t worry, it’s not my blood.”

Sang Sang let out a confused “Ah?” before she could process what he meant—only to have a child suddenly handed to her. Wen Chi said, “Your English is good. Explain to him that we’re taking his mom to the hospital, and tell him not to be scared. If anything happens, he can talk to you.”

Sang Sang looked down and locked eyes with the kid—big eyes staring into big eyes. Wh-What is this?

Just as Wen Chi was about to go look for Jiang Siheng, he turned and saw Jiang Siheng getting out of a van, his clothes also stained with blood.

Jiang Siheng noticed Wen Chi standing there dazed, walked over, and patted him on the head. “I already asked them to help take her to the hospital.”

“Okay.” Wen Chi nodded after a beat, the soft feeling on his head making Jiang Siheng want to keep his hand there.

A staff member approached Wen Chi and Jiang Siheng and said, “Teacher Jiang, Teacher Wen, sorry you had to go through that. Let’s head back to the guesthouse so medical staff can check you both out.”

Jiang Siheng looked at Wen Chi first. Wen Chi hesitated before saying, “I’d like to go to the hospital and check on that pregnant woman. I was the one who brought her out, and I feel like I need to make sure she’s okay.”

The staff member didn’t say anything—just smiled and nodded. “Alright.”

He turned to Jiang Siheng. “And you, Teacher Jiang?”

Jiang Siheng nodded toward Wen Chi. “I’ll go with him.”

The staff member replied, “Okay. But I think it might be better if you both change clothes first.”

Otherwise, two men showing up at the hospital covered in blood to check on a pregnant woman? That would look weird.

Wen Chi nodded. As he turned around, he saw Sang Sang and the child about a hundred meters away—both of them staring at him with almost identical expressions.

Sang Sang explained to Wen Chi, “He says he wants to go with you.”

Wen Chi instinctively looked at Jiang Siheng. Jiang Siheng didn’t say anything, he just looked at him.

Wen Chi didn’t need to ask to understand what Jiang Siheng meant, so he told Sang Sang, “Then tell him to wait here for us. We’ll just go change clothes.”

Sang Sang nodded. “Okay.”

Wen Chi saw the other guests waiting for him and Jiang Siheng and walked over to tell them they were heading to the hospital.

Zhou Yunbai’s carefully styled hair and makeup were a bit messy by now. When she heard him, she nodded. “Okay. We’ll head back first, then. Stay safe.”

“Thanks.” Wen Chi truly admired Zhou Yunbai. After experiencing something as terrifying as a riot, she could still keep her emotions in check.

Wen Chi, Jiang Siheng, Sang Sang, and the child got into one of the show’s vehicles. The cameramen didn’t follow, so whatever happened at the hospital after that was known only to the four of them.

The incident where the Heart’s Confession 2 cast encountered a riot in a small town in Country Y made headlines immediately, even though it was the middle of the night in China. It shot to the top of the trending list, marked with a bold red [BOOM].

[So what’s the situation now? Damn, that livestream clip fans recorded scared the hell out of me]

[Urgent urgent urgent—are the guests okay now?]

[Seriously, didn’t the production team research the filming location?]

[If anything happened, they’d never be able to take responsibility]

[I watched the whole stream, and honestly, this wasn’t the show’s fault. The local restaurant staff were the ones who told the guests about the fireworks event]

[But that girl at the convenience store did warn Jiang Ge that riots had happened there before!]

[I looked it up. The riot happened two months ago]

[So what now? A resurgence?]

Around 5 a.m. China time, fans who had been anxiously refreshing Weibo for updates from the production team finally got a post confirming the guests were safe. Not long after, the guests themselves also posted to reassure fans that the livestream would be paused for now and there was no need to worry.

[Wuwuwu thank goodness they’re okay]

[So relieved, thank god everyone’s safe]

[Thank god. I’m exhausted. I can’t hold on—I’m going to bed]

[By the way, what about the pregnant woman who was saved by the younger one and Jiang Ge? And the child?]

[Yeah!! What’s the update on the mom and kid? When I saw the blood on Wen Chi and Jiang Ge’s clothes I was freaking out. Then finding out it was the woman’s blood—I freaked out even more!]

[@WenChi @JiangSiheng @WenChi @JiangSiheng]

Wen Chi had just gotten off the phone with Jin Ge, relieved that his parents were asleep at this hour.

Sang Sang sat nearby, still holding the child’s hand. She was keeping an eye on how things were trending online and happened to see a flood of comments under the show’s official Weibo, all tagging Wen Chi and Jiang Siheng, asking about the pregnant woman and the child.

She told Wen Chi about it. He paused for a second, then nodded. “Alright, I’ll go reply.”

Wen Chi yawned. His phone battery was nearly dead—it wouldn’t last much longer. He was more worried about someone not being able to reach him.

“Use mine,” Jiang Siheng said, handing him his own phone. “Just log me out and sign into yours.”

“Hmm?” Wen Chi blinked and looked at Jiang Siheng. After a second, he said, “Why don’t you reply to the fans’ comments for us, Jiang Ge?”

Jiang Siheng was honestly enjoying how Wen Chi casually said “for us”, but replied, “Nope. I’m tired. You do it.”

With that, he slouched down and leaned sideways against Wen Chi, closing his eyes for a nap.

“Is… is this really okay?” Wen Chi stared at the phone in his hand like it was a ticking time bomb.

Jiang Siheng snorted, “It’s not like I’ve got anything shady on there.”

Wen Chi’s face turned red. “That’s not what I meant…”

He stared at Jiang Siheng’s phone for a few seconds. Logging into his own Weibo from another device meant going through verification and other hassle, so he figured it would be fine if he’ll just imitate Jiang Siheng’s usual tone and reply to a few fan comments. He promised himself he wouldn’t check anything else.

He randomly picked a comment asking about the situation with the pregnant woman and child. Wen Chi thought for a few seconds, then carefully typed out a reply:

[We’re doing well]

At first, no one noticed that it was Wen Chi using Jiang Siheng’s account. But eventually, when “Jiang Siheng” started replying to fan comments with unexpectedly cutesy tones—and even threw in a kaomoji—people started catching on.

[Wuwuwu Jiang Ge and Chichi are okay, thank god! Please get some rest soon!]

At that point, Wen Chi had fully relaxed. His mind had gone a bit blank, and he forgot he was using someone else’s account. He just responded like he was chatting with fans from his own.

[@JiangSiheng: Got it~ Thanks for worrying about us～＝3＝]