Meanwhile, Weibo's trending list had already exploded.
#Jiang Jingzhe punched Shen Siyi# (explosive)
#Jiang Jingzhe, Song Nianxing, and Shen Siyi's love triangle# (explosive)
#Who came between whom? He was the other man?# (explosive)
Within moments, Weibo's system crashed twice. Once it recovered, the comments section was practically a free-for-all.
[Jiang Jingzhe actually dared to punch Shen Siyi? What on earth happened? How much bad blood was there between them? That punch was vicious.]
[Oh my god, Qiu Bailu only said yesterday that he and Jiang Jingzhe weren't on bad terms with Shen Siyi and Song Nianxing, and today they're already fighting, hahahaha. That's kind of hilarious.]
[From the video, it looks like Shen Siyi and Song Nianxing arrived together. Who knows what the three of them said when they ran into each other, but then Jiang Jingzhe threw the first punch.]
[Whatever happened, the person who hits first is in the wrong. Who does he think he is, hitting Shen Siyi's face? Jiang Jingzhe, get out of showbiz!]
[? Does hitting first automatically mean he's in the wrong? Maybe Jiang Jingzhe found out something disgusting about Shen Siyi and Song Nianxing. If you ask me, one of those two definitely wronged Jiang Jingzhe.]
[Didn't Jiang Jingzhe's fans always insist he barely knew Song Nianxing? So does that mean Shen Siyi and Jiang Jingzhe were involved first, and Song Nianxing came between them? But wasn't he hyping up his own ship with Qiu Bailu like crazy? Now Shen Siyi's moved on, he's unhappy about it?]
[Another possibility is that Jiang Jingzhe and Song Nianxing were the ones originally involved. Didn't Song Nianxing always try to stick close to Jiang Jingzhe before? And in the video, Jiang Jingzhe seemed fine at first when he only saw Song Nianxing. He only lost it and lashed out after Shen Siyi appeared. So was Shen Siyi the other man?]
[That can't be right. Jiang Jingzhe rejected Song Nianxing so many times. How could he have been involved with him? Shen Siyi doesn't seem like someone who'd come between a couple either. I think it's more likely that Jiang Jingzhe was the other man. He liked Shen Siyi, then discovered that Shen Siyi actually liked Song Nianxing, the guy he'd rejected so many times, and lost it.]
[I think that's the real answer. Jiang Jingzhe kept picking on Song Nianxing during the livestream. Maybe he was jealous.]
[Then our Jiang Jingzhe did nothing wrong. What's wrong with going after Song Nianxing, the homewrecker? And what's wrong with punching Shen Siyi, that cheating scumbag?]
[How is there nothing wrong with it? Aren't you always yelling about how Jiang Jingzhe and Qiu Bailu are true love? So even if Shen Siyi really did have something going on with Jiang Jingzhe, what's wrong with him getting fed up and wanting someone else now? Is your fave playing Snake or something, trying to gobble up everything?]
[A ship can just be publicity, but the way Shen Siyi and Song Nianxing were acting, that was clearly an actual cheater showing up with his side piece. Poor Jiang Jingzhe.]
[Exactly! Song Nianxing and Shen Siyi, apologize! Song Nianxing and Shen Siyi, get out of showbiz!]
Just as Jiang Jingzhe's fans were growing increasingly brazen, a video posted under its creator's real name shot onto the trending list, pushing the whole affair's popularity to its peak.
The person in the video claimed to have lived in the same orphanage as Jiang Jingzhe and Song Nianxing. They had gotten along quite well as children, but after being adopted, he had lived abroad ever since and had only recently returned to the country.
The man in the video recalled, "Jiang Jingzhe loved spending time with Song Nianxing when he was little. Wherever Song Nianxing went, he followed. Later, the two of them even agreed to set their birthdays on the same day."
The video then cut to footage of a return visit to the orphanage, specifically showing a wall of photographs.
On that wall was a large group photo, half of which had been burned away. The video zoomed in on it. The child standing right in the middle had turned his head to the right with a smile. Despite his young face, it wasn't hard to tell that he was Song Nianxing.
And the boy standing to his left, looking toward Song Nianxing, was easily recognizable as Jiang Jingzhe.
The camera then swept past many other photographs, including one of the two having a water fight, droplets scattering in a dazzling spray under the sunlight.
There was also a photo of the two of them holding award certificates together, wearing different-colored uniforms after getting into different schools.
There were many more group photos of their lives with the other children at the orphanage. The children in the photos changed a little each year, but Jiang Jingzhe and Song Nianxing were there every year.
And all these group photos had something else in common: in every single one, Song Nianxing and Jiang Jingzhe stood right beside each other.
The video went black at that point, but the comments section exploded over it.
[Holy shit! I was wondering why there's barely been any information about Jiang Jingzhe's or Song Nianxing's families since they debuted. Turns out they're both orphans!]
[So that's why!! No wonder Song Nianxing said last time that he didn't know his own birthday. Aaaaah, that hurts.]
[Here's what hurts even more: they agreed to make their birthdays the same day!!! Now I'm remembering Jiang Jingzhe's fans asking whether Song Nianxing was some orphan with nobody else, since he loved clinging to everyone for attention so much. Sob, he is. He really is.]
[This time, I genuinely feel bad for Song Nianxing. He was insulted for so long, but he never once said that he really did know Jiang Jingzhe, and that they were really close, too. He must have been afraid of affecting Jiang Jingzhe and Qiu Bailu's ship.]
[Every bit of that ship's manufactured sweetness is built on Song Nianxing's pain. Jiang Jingzhe is such a piece of shit, damn. His own fans were hurling abuse at his childhood friend, and he never helped him at all. Disgusting. Is this what you call barely knowing each other? Where are all those Jiang fans who were so cocky just now? Too scared to speak?]
[Well, now it's all clear. No wonder Jiang Jingzhe got so worked up on the dating show when he heard Song Nianxing and Shen Siyi had slept together. He couldn't let go of Song Nianxing, but he wanted the benefits even more. Then he found out that the close childhood friend he'd abandoned now had someone better by his side, so he lost it and hit Shen Siyi.]
[Nothing more to say except this: Jiang Jingzhe, get out of showbiz. "Gleaming Starlight" is real!]
"Hiss..."
Shen Siyi sucked in a sharp breath of pain.
The sound echoed through the quiet villa. Song Nianxing abruptly stopped applying medicine to him and grew flustered.
"S-sorry, Senior Shen. Did I hurt you? I... I'll be gentler."
As he spoke, he lowered his head in self-reproach, the tears in his eyes finally spilling over.
"It's not your fault." As Shen Siyi answered, he reached out to wipe away his tears, then continued, "I'm just rather sensitive to pain."
Song Nianxing looked up at him, feeling even guiltier. "You're sensitive to pain... and I still got you hurt. I really didn't expect Jiang Jingzhe to act like that..."
His voice gradually faded again as he spoke. Several seconds passed before it became a single sentence. "It's all my fault."
Hearing this, Shen Siyi gently pinched his cheek with the hand he had just used to wipe away his tears, then smiled. "He was the one who went too far. How could it be your fault? As long as... you stay away from him from now on, I won't have gotten hurt for nothing. What do you say?"
The frightening way Jiang Jingzhe had looked earlier flashed through Song Nianxing's mind again, and he immediately nodded vigorously.
"I'll definitely stay away from him. He was acting so crazy, he felt like the same kind of person as that creep who keeps messaging me. I hate that sort of thing! I really hate it! There's no way I'd go near him again!"
Before you continue