The Vicious Cannon Fodder Despised by Everyone Really Doesn't Want to Go Viral - Chapter 17

“Brother Lin!” “Teacher Lin! Teacher Wen!”

A chorus of gasps and shouts instantly erupted. The crew rushed forward as the wire operator frantically tried to pull the cables, but the sudden weight and violent shaking caused everything to spiral out of control.

Lin Zhiyu felt the world spin. A sharp, knife like pain radiated from his back, making his head buzz and his internal organs feel as if they had been rearranged by the force of the jolt. When he finally regained his bearings, he saw Wen Lu hanging below him, wailing in agony, “Ah! My hand! Someone check if it is broken!”

Medical staff had already arrived with stretchers. After a brief examination, both were rushed to the hospital. As he was being lifted into the vehicle, Lin Zhiyu thought he heard Zhao Jinyu throwing a fit back in the studio: “Do you not even know the basic rules of wirework? If your foot slips, stabilize yourself! Why did you have to drag someone else down with you?”

Lin Zhiyu did not forget to look back at the assistant director who followed them. “The takes we finished earlier should be fine, right? Can I file for workers’ compensation for this?”

The assistant director did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Teacher Lin, you are in this state and you are worried about that? Just get to the hospital!”

“Workers’ compensation.”

“The production will definitely cover it!”

Satisfied, Lin Zhiyu lay back down.

A few hours later, Chen Chen drove Lin Zhiyu home. The examination results showed that Lin Zhiyu’s back and abdomen were mostly fine; he had suffered soft tissue contusions from the excessive pulling of the wires and needed a few days of rest.

Wen Lu, however, did not have it so easy. Driven by momentum, he had slammed into the eaves, resulting in a fractured left arm. His manager had already processed his hospitalization. When Lin Zhiyu left the hospital, Wen Lu was still making a scene in his ward.

“It is a good thing the staff pulled the wires in time. Otherwise, falling from that height could have killed you or at least left you half dead,” Chen Chen said indignantly. “This is entirely Wen Lu’s fault. He is beyond ridiculous!”

Lin Zhiyu rotated his wrist tentatively.

“Everyone on set saw him grab you, Brother Lin. Yet he has the nerve to claim that if you had not yanked him, he would not have broken his arm. What kind of logic is that!”

Lin Zhiyu painfully raised a hand to pat Chen Chen’s seat. Aside from sitting still or lying down, any movement made his waist throb.

“Focus on driving,” he reminded him, adding, “At the time, I just instinctively feared he would fall, so I grabbed him. Was I wrong to do that?”

“It has nothing to do with you, Brother Lin,” Chen Chen’s tone softened slightly. “Any normal person would try to grab someone they saw falling. If it were not for him, you would not be injured like this! I tried calling Brother Xu at the hospital, but he did not pick up, so I sent a message explaining the situation. Once I drop you off, I will call him again, and I need to contact the production too.”

Lin Zhiyu suddenly felt that this intern was much more reliable than his manager. The silly kid’s image was becoming quite heroic in his eyes. However, before he could feel truly touched, Chen Chen’s sudden spike in volume shattered the moment: “Brother Lin! You really live here?”

Lin Zhiyu looked at the wide eyed, stunned face turning back from the driver’s seat and teased, “Easy now, your jaw is going to drop off.”

He rolled down the window to speak with the security guard. Five minutes later, after the guard confirmed with the homeowner, the gate was opened.

Even as Lin Zhiyu unlocked the door, Chen Chen looked as if he had lost his soul. Lin Zhiyu gripped the intern’s arm and limped back to the bedroom, collapsing onto the bed like a salted fish. He turned to see Chen Chen still standing awkwardly by the bed, his eyes darting around, unsure where to look.

“Snap out of it.”

Chen Chen sighed in a daze. “Brother Lin, people always said you braved the entertainment industry for love. I thought it was an exaggeration. It turns out you really are a rich second generation who has to go home and inherit the family business if you do not make it big?”

Lin Zhiyu explained helplessly, “This house is not mine.”

“Huh?”

“A friend is helping me out,” Lin Zhiyu said. “I am just a poor little cabbage; my father does not love me, and my mother does not care. Luckily, this kind and beautiful friend took me in; otherwise, I would be living on the streets. Alright, help me check my waist. I feel like I have been snapped in two. It hurts so much I can barely feel it anymore.”

As he spoke, Lin Zhiyu reached back and pulled his shirt up. Chen Chen knelt, rummaging through a bag for ointment while carefully observing Lin Zhiyu’s condition.

Deep purple bruising extended from both sides of the spine, covering almost the entire middle and lower back. Near the tailbone, it even faded into a shocking blackish blue. The worst part was the left waist area, where the skin was swollen and blood had pooled beneath the surface. There was also a ring of varying red scratches around his lower back, left by the harness as it tore at the skin.

“This is too severe. How can they call this a soft tissue contusion?” Chen Chen muttered. “The doctor has a lot of nerve. That must have been the most optimistic diagnosis they could find.”

“You sound like you are the doctor,” Lin Zhiyu gritted his teeth. “Stop dawdling and put the medicine on.”

The ointment brought a slight chill to his back, but the relief was short lived as the pain intensified under Chen Chen’s massage. Lin Zhiyu buried his face in the pillow, his groans of pain muffled. Cold sweat soaked his hair. “Not so hard. Be gentle.”

Chen Chen lightened his touch as much as possible but still clicked his tongue. “Brother Lin, this injury. Are you really not going to hold Wen Lu accountable?”

Lin Zhiyu let out a muffled grunt, half out of endurance and half out of weakness. “Let the production handle it.”

Chen Chen was about to argue when he heard a faint friction sound. It was so soft it was almost inaudible, like a breeze fluttering paper or a cat’s claw scratching. Normally, no one would notice, but soon, a voice drifted from outside the bedroom: “Lin Zhiyu, are you not going to explain the situation to me?”

The deep voice carried a hint of anger, instantly freezing Chen Chen in place. He snapped his head around to see a wheelchair rolling quietly across the wooden floor, stopping right beside them.

Mu Sui’s narrowed eyes stared directly at Lin Zhiyu’s back. His tone remained chillingly cold: “The agreement stated that bringing outsiders back is prohibited.”

Chen Chen stared at the man’s face, then looked back at Lin Zhiyu, too stunned to speak. Brother Lin never told him that the friend was the Big Boss!

Lin Zhiyu exhaled and shifted his head from the pillow. His sweat soaked hair clung messily to his face, and his flushed skin hid his true expression. His eyes were misty and the corners were rimmed with red; he looked absolutely pitiful.

Lin Zhiyu’s eyes seemed unable to focus, so he tracked Mu Sui’s position by a blurry shadow. His voice was thick and groggy. “Mr. Mu, why are you back?”

“Zhou Ming said you sent him a message,” Mu Sui said coldly.

“Yes. The car could not get in,” Lin Zhiyu explained. “Something happened during filming. I could not move on my own, so I had to ask my assistant to bring me back. He will leave soon. I am sorry, Mr. Mu. I thought the rule about outsiders was for other kinds of visits.”

He could not see Mu Sui’s expression and did not know his mood. The gaze lingering on his back made him uncomfortable, and his injured skin felt as if it were heating up. Fearing Mu Sui was truly angry, Lin Zhiyu shifted slightly to tug at the man’s sleeve, saying pleadingly, “Please do not be angry. He will only stay for a moment. I really cannot apply the medicine myself.”

Mu Sui’s gaze swept over the back, which was dominated by dark purple bruising. The remaining porcelain white skin looked startlingly bright in contrast. He looked down at the hand clutching his hem. The fingers were draped loosely; likely lacking strength, they were trembling, and the knuckles had turned white. The hand looked just as pitiful as its owner.

He reached out to pry Lin Zhiyu’s fingers away, but his voice lost its sharp edge. “What do I have to be angry about?”

As he spoke, he experimentally pressed down on Lin Zhiyu’s lower back. Before Chen Chen could stop him, Lin Zhiyu let out a weak gasp.

“It hurts.”

“Let him finish the medicine and then leave,” Mu Sui said, withdrawing his hand and inconspicuously rubbing his thumb against his fingertips. The residual sensation was strange and new. He pressed his lips together, his eyes dark and unreadable.

Lin Zhiyu hummed in response and moved his hand back under his chin. Mu Sui turned his wheelchair and looked at Chen Chen.

Chen Chen, who had been standing there awkwardly, felt even more misplaced under Mu Sui’s gaze. He felt like he could die of embarrassment, finally stammering out, “Mr. Mu, I. I am just helping out temporarily. I will not cause any trouble in your house.”

Mu Sui glanced at Lin Zhiyu again, seeing the injured man offer a messy, weak smile. He did not speak, simply tilted his chin up, and wheeled himself out. Once the sound of the wheelchair faded and the study door at the end of the hall closed, Chen Chen finally exhaled.

He collapsed onto the edge of the bed and clutched his chest. “Brother Lin, that was intense. For a second there, I felt like I was being caught in an affair. You should have told me earlier; you scared the life out of me.”

Lin Zhiyu lay there weakly, too tired to correct the choice of words. He just closed his eyes and muttered, “Can you please watch your mouth?”

“But Brother Lin,” Chen Chen said, “The Big Boss really is something else. That look he gave just now. It felt like when my mom saw me scrape my knee as a kid. I was afraid he was going to hit me.”

Lin Zhiyu: “…”

Seeing no response, Chen Chen picked up the ointment and continued his work. Not long after, the silence of the bedroom was shattered by a loud ringtone. Chen Chen wiped his hands and answered the call. After listening in silence for thirty seconds, he said dejectedly, “Brother Lin, this is bad.”

“Wen Lu just posted on Weibo.”