The Night is Called Gentle - Chapter 48

Just spoil me a little more, Teacher Yan.

Yan Huaiqing’s examination results came out, just as she had anticipated,

Extensive soft tissue damage in her right shoulder, with a minor fracture above the scapula. Fortunately, the tendons and nerves remained unaffected.

The doctor recommended immobilization for two weeks, followed by four to six weeks of rest, and advised against lifting heavy objects or engaging in strenuous upper-body activities.

The injury met the criteria for a minor wound, and Lin Zhixia insisted that the doctor issue a medical certificate.

That evening, Yan Huaiqing still took the stage.

It was the final night of the tour, and the audience’s enthusiasm was at its peak. After receiving a painkiller injection and applying an ice pack for half an hour, she insisted on performing.

Everyone tried to dissuade her everyone except Lin Zhixia. The show must go on; there was no need to say it twice.

What Yan Huaiqing needed was never pity or sympathy. She only needed someone to understand her choices and silently support her by her side.

Moreover, after what had happened with her senior, Lin Zhixia believed she knew her limits and would never treat her own body recklessly.

Lin Zhixia stayed by her side every step of the way, serving tea, applying medication, icing the injury, helping her change costumes and put on performance shoes. It seemed she had truly become her assistant, taking care of every task that required the use of her hands.

Except for stepping onto the stage.

As the stage lights brightened and the familiar rhythm of the huqin filled the air, Yan Huaiqing walked gracefully onto the stage, greeted immediately by thunderous applause from the audience.

Lin Zhixia remained standing in the wings, her eyes fixed intently on her.

She watched every turn, every lift of the arm, fearing she might make a mistake due to the pain, yet also worried she would push herself too hard for the sake of perfection.

Fortunately, the performance went relatively smoothly. Her steps were light and steady, her flowing sleeves billowing like clouds. No one could tell she was enduring pain.

Su Wangyue’s coordination was also exceptionally seamless. In many of their scenes together, she subtly adjusted the intensity of her movements, ensuring the storyline remained unaffected while easing the strain on Yan Huaiqing.

Especially in the scene where she had to slap her, the action appeared just as fierce as before, but in reality, she only exerted force on herself. Apart from the seasoned theatergoers who attended every show, almost no one noticed anything unusual.

When the final scene concluded and the lights brightened once more, dozens of banners unfurled simultaneously from the second-floor boxes. The spectacle was unprecedented. The entire audience rose to their feet in applause, while fans in the front rows gathered near the stage, whistling and cheering.

On stage, Yan Huaiqing carefully read every banner, her eyes glistening with tears. Summoning her strength, she bowed and waved to express her gratitude.

Many of the actors also had red-rimmed eyes. Su Wangyue cried the hardest, her eye makeup slightly smudged.

Yan Huaiqing raised her left hand and gently patted her back before turning to the audience to take one final bow.

At last, the curtain fell, bringing the tour to a perfect close.

Lin Zhixia stood waiting in the left wing, watching from afar as Yan Huaiqing walked toward her, cradling her arm. Her smile was as bold yet restrained as the day she had kissed her utterly captivating.

No, today, with the faint glimmer of tears in her eyes, she was even more beautiful.

This time, however, she did not open her arms for an embrace but simply walked slowly toward her.

Lin Zhixia hurried over, stretched out her arms, and gave her a gentle, almost airy hug, then blew a soft breath near her ear.

“Good luck. You’ll be fine, Teacher Yan.” She smiled at her, her eyes curved, but she did not cry.

“Good luck. You’ll be fine, Teacher Lin.” Yan Huaiqing curved her lips into a smile and did not cry either.

“What a relief! It finally went smoothly.” Su Wangyue was still crying pitifully, her eyes red as she squeezed her head between the two of them, stretching her arms to embrace both.

“It’ll be okay, Teacher Su.” Lin Zhixia reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, though she didn’t blow any “good luck” her way.

Yan Huaiqing also responded with tacit understanding, offering a faint smile. “Teacher Su, things will get better.”

The more comfort one receives, the more one feels the weight of their grievances.

Su Wangyue’s nose tingled with emotion as she sniffled, wrapping her arms around both and sinking to the floor, pouring out her woes.

“You have no idea how hard it was for me.”

“Even though she was the one injured, I was the one feeling the most uncertain.”

“She at least knows her own condition, can anticipate the severity, and understands her limits.”

“But me? I had no idea what state she was in or how much she could handle. I couldn’t be too gentle or too rough I was terrified of hurting her further…”

“During that final scene, when I had to pull her, my heart was in my throat. If I’d pulled too hard and ruined her career, I would’ve had to apologize with my life.”

“Only when I took my final bow did I finally breathe easy. My legs went weak, and I nearly stumbled right into the orchestra pit.”

The two sat on the floor beside her, listening to her troubles. Lin Zhixia’s eyes reddened as she listened.

Many other actors gathered around upon seeing this, forming a circle backstage as they shared their own harrowing experiences from the play.

After two busy months, all the pent-up emotions were finally released in that moment.

Though worried about Yan Huaiqing’s injury, Lin Zhixia didn’t dampen the mood, laughing and crying along as they shared their stories.

After everyone had dispersed, Lin Zhixia helped Yan Huaiqing remove her makeup.

She undid the costume she had carefully dressed her in earlier, piece by piece, her expression solemn and her mind focused, her movements as gentle as if handling fragile porcelain.

She also removed the headpieces hairpins, pearls, earrings, and the floral wreath at her temples with utmost care, one by one. Finally, under Yan Huaiqing’s guidance, she loosened her hair bun.

Her long hair cascaded like a waterfall before them. Lin Zhixia took a deep breath, first gently combing through the strands with her fingertips, then massaging her scalp to relieve the tension.

Yan Huaiqing seemed to transform into a delicate puppet in her hands, allowing herself to be tended to without resistance.

Yet, with her gentle expression and a faint smile lingering at the corners of her eyes, it was as if she willingly became this puppet in her palms.

Once everything was tidied up, Lin Zhixia stood behind Yan Huaiqing, gazing at her reflection.

The mirror showed two faces one still adorned with unremoved, heavy stage makeup, the other pure and unadorned like snow. They smiled at each other in the mirror, then tacitly packed their things and headed home.

Lin Zhixia stayed over again.

She helped Yan Huaiqing remove her makeup, dried her hair, and even shared a late-night snack with her.

The injury on her shoulder had indeed worsened the original purplish bruise had turned dark purple, swollen and raised.

Lin Zhixia applied ice, sprayed medication, and rubbed ointment on it for her.

She was still the attentive and diligent life assistant.

The script discussion originally scheduled for Monday was postponed by a day. They went for physical therapy at the hospital in the morning and to the police station in the afternoon.

After a day, the results of the interrogation and investigation came out.

The four girls two from No. 7 Middle School, one from Lakeview Middle School, and one from Experimental Middle School were all high school students who excelled academically and behaviorally at their schools.

According to the investigation, they had met through a public account whose owner had created a group chat filled entirely with Yan Huaiqing’s anti-fans, where the discussions grew increasingly extreme.

The group owner and several administrators frequently shared blurry photos and videos in the group, making sensational claims alleging that Yan Huaiqing had framed her senior sister, suppressed colleagues, dined with wealthy leaders to climb the social ladder, and even spreading rumors that she had been kept as a mistress, married twice to relatives of the whistleblowers or wealthy business figures from their hometowns. They even posted photos of children with blurred faces.

All of it was speculative storytelling and malicious slander, some even fabricated using AI and intentionally blurred.

Under the guise of “internal information, not for external distribution to avoid retaliation,” they deceived group members into staying within their small circle, repeatedly fueling their disgust and hatred.

This hatred was then relentlessly spread by group members across every platform and corner of the internet, growing in momentum.

The group owner even repeatedly suggested taking offline actions like splashing paint or throwing rotten eggs, with some members echoing calls to run Yan Huaiqing over with a car.

The paint-splashing incident was initially proposed by one of the group administrators. Amid the heightened emotions, it became a discussed course of action. The four girls, who happened to live nearby, were repeatedly egged on until they resorted to extreme measures.

According to their confessions, they had originally planned to smash the paint bottles on the ground to create a mess, take embarrassing photos and videos, and then leave. They hadn’t expected Yan Huaiqing to remain so composed, which led them to panic and throw the paint at her directly.

Before they set out, group members had repeatedly urged them to capture unflattering photos and videos to share and expose online, warning them, “Don’t come back empty-handed.”

Clearly, this was incitement to commit a crime.

Moreover, the group owner and relevant individuals have since been arrested and have confessed.

They operated 17 public accounts, hundreds of groups, over 200 Weibo accounts with thousands of followers, more than a dozen with tens of thousands of followers, and numerous accounts on Douyin, Tieba, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili.

They not only targeted Yan Huaiqing’s fans but also slandered all popular opera performers, creating dedicated groups for each, managed by specialized personnel.

Through their operations, accounts across different platforms formed a coordinated matrix, employing tactics like pitting individuals against each other, exaggerated praise and criticism, sarcasm, and spreading baseless rumors to repeatedly provoke conflicts and fuel hatred online.

They profited from this through rewards, donations, advertising fees, and even charged for writing smear articles.

Among the tens of thousands of “anti-fans” and “obsessive fans,” many were still students, at an age where they were passionate and easily swayed. They were deliberately mobilized and gathered from various platforms, then molded into tools for profit.

The more extreme and frenzied the fans’ words and actions, the more material these operators had to work with, driving up engagement and, ultimately, revenue.

Ironically, all four girls believed they were acting in the name of justice and refused to believe the truth when confronted.

It was only when evidence was laid out before them that they broke down in tears, overwhelmed with regret.

They wanted to apologize.

Whether sincere or not, the collapse of their beliefs was real when they witnessed their own idols being similarly slandered in another group by the same people using identical tactics hated and cursed by others just like themselves.

In an era of boundaryless scandals, everyone is under scrutiny, exposed without mercy. No idol is respected, and no one can exit with dignity.

The internet is amplifying the most extreme emotions, inciting conflicts among all groups.

Your love and hatred have merely become profit-making tools for others.

And the resonance you perceived was nothing but a customized pig-butchering scam tailored just for you.

Stepping out of the police station, the twilight was heavy, as if rain was imminent.

While descending the steps, Lin Zhixia steadied Yan Huaiqing with a hand, and the two walked in silence for a while.

“Xiaxia, thank you,” Yan Huaiqing suddenly spoke, her voice like the sigh of a cello’s strings in the dusk.

Lin Zhixia turned her head to look at her. “For what?”

“You handled it very well,” Yan Huaiqing said, gazing straight ahead, her jawline appearing especially sharp. She seemed to have grown thinner again.

“Did I?” Lin Zhixia chuckled softly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

The four individuals weren’t held legally responsible but were detained for twenty-four hours and received educational counseling.

All involved accounts were permanently banned one by one.

The instigators hiding behind the scenes had all been apprehended and would soon face prosecution by the procuratorate. Most of the vehicle damages would also be covered by them.

What was initially thought to be just a farce ended with an outcome no one had anticipated.

“You always handle things so well,” Yan Huaiqing stopped walking and turned to face her. Her eyes, deep as ink in the twilight, held complex emotions.

“Professor Yan,” Lin Zhixia lifted her head slightly to meet her gaze directly, “do you think such incidents will ever stop?”

A gust of wind blew by, carrying the distinct scent of damp soil before rain. Yan Huaiqing’s coat fluttered gently as she remained silent for a moment.

“Perhaps not, or perhaps they will,” her reply carried a tone of resignation.

Lin Zhixia abruptly changed the subject: “Professor Yan, when is your birthday?”

Yan Huaiqing was taken aback, then a slight smile touched her lips. “December 7th. Coincidentally, it’s also the day of the Major Snow solar term in the traditional calendar.”

“Major Snow.”

Lin Zhixia naturally knew this, a glimmer flashing in her eyes. “Then you should be the white snow resting on plum branches, Professor Yan pure in origin and returning to purity, refusing to let this world taint you even slightly.”

Yan Huaiqing gazed at her, curiosity in her eyes. “And what about you?”

“Me? I’ll be the heavy rain of early summer,” Lin Zhixia took a step forward, gesturing toward the oppressive dark clouds overhead. “Coming swiftly, leaving swiftly, determined to wash this earth clean.”

“Then your path is harder than mine.”

“Is that so? Then you’ll have to cherish me all the more, Professor Yan.”