After the initial shock, Ning Qiuxiu quickly regained her composure.

It was just a plastic arm.

She’d seen much worse in her past experiences in the cultivation world.

Compared to that, this was nothing.

The real scare was Xiao Chi’s sudden scream and the shock of seeing it unexpectedly.

“Don’t be scared, it’s fake,” Ning Qiuxiu reassured Xiao Chi, who was crying uncontrollably and trembling with fear.

“Wuwuwu, Sister Qiuxiu, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so curious.”

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Ning Qiuxiu said as she settled Xiao Chi onto the sofa.

Xiao Chi clung to her, afraid to let go.

Ning Qiuxiu patted her arm and said, “I’m not leaving. I’m just going to grab my phone and call Qu Hua.”

Qu Hua was still outside.

After hearing the situation from Ning Qiuxiu, he promised to come over immediately.

After making the call, Ning Qiuxiu gave Xiao Chi a glass of water and comforted her.

She quickly tried to figure out who could have sent such a thing.

Enemies?

Haters?

Her first thought was Feng Ting, whom she had dealt with recently.

But despite her malicious nature, Feng Ting was just an ordinary person who wouldn’t go to such extremes.

After being taught a lesson, she’d likely be smart enough not to risk her current job by doing something so reckless.

The remaining possibility was that it could be a hater.

Every celebrity has their share of extreme fans or obsessive anti-fans who might do crazy things if they see their favorite stars in conflict with others.

When Qu Hua arrived, he was also startled by the sight.

He clutched his racing heart and asked nervously, “Are you all okay? Did you get hurt?”

“We’re fine,” Ning Qiuxiu replied. “Don’t worry.”

Qu Hua, relieved, used a hanger to poke at the fake arm to ensure it wasn’t dangerous before approaching to examine it closely.

It was clearly a realistic-looking fake arm bought online, with red dye used to simulate blood.

It looked horrifying at first glance.

Xiao Chi was too scared to even look at it now.

Ning Qiuxiu gestured for Qu Hua to cover it with the box lid and asked, “Qu Hua, who received this gift today?”

“It was me who had those two new assistants collect the gifts, but Xiao Chi was also present.”

Not seeing the gift, Xiao Chi calmed down a bit and said, “I remember this gift clearly. It was sent by a female fan, but she was wearing a black mask and a baseball cap, so I couldn’t see her face. Since the weather was too cold and many people were wearing masks, I didn’t pay much attention.”

There was no way around it.

With such a large crowd at the theater today, even if Xiao Chi had seen the face, it would have been hard to identify the person, let alone not seeing it.

“Let’s call the police first, Qu Hua,” Ning Qiuxiu said.

Regardless of whether the police could be of any help, this matter definitely shouldn’t be dismissed as a prank.

Who knew what kind of gift might come next? “Let’s not make it public yet; inform Director Xiao.”

Otherwise, it might cause panic and affect the filming tomorrow.

“Alright,” Qu Hua said. “Don’t worry; nothing will happen. I’ll arrange for two bodyguards to follow you tomorrow.”

Ning Qiuxiu nodded.

Although Qu Hua was trying to comfort her, he himself looked more frightened.

She smiled and said, “It’s fine, Qu Hua. Have you forgotten I’m the Mighty Goddess? If anyone really tries to harm me, who benefits is still uncertain.”

Due to her character as the Mighty Goddess, Ning Qiuxiu had carried several protective charms with her.

As long as the gift wasn’t something particularly dangerous, she wasn’t afraid of a straightforward fight.

She could handle ten of them!

Qu Hua forced a smile and said, “Of course, our Qiuxiu is amazing~ I’m not worried at all!”

You look quite worried, actually.

Qu Hua reported the incident to the police, who arrived quickly to collect evidence and take a statement.

Since the person who sent the gift was so hard to identify, they could only file a report and advise caution.

They would review nearby surveillance footage—though with such a large crowd, even if they found the person on camera, identifying them without seeing their face would be useless.

Director Xiao, who had been preparing to rest after drinking quite a bit, was called over.

Seeing that his lead actress had experienced something akin to a threat, he was both annoyed and troubled.

He assured Ning Qiuxiu and Qu Hua that he would strictly control access to the set and ensure thorough security checks, so they didn’t need to worry.

After sending off the police and Director Xiao, it was already midnight.

Ning Qiuxiu lay back in bed but found it hard to sleep, still pondering who might be behind this.

If it was a black-hearted fan, what kind of grudge or hatred would drive someone to do this?

She had been very low-key since the incident with Fang Jinran, which had stirred public anger.

If the grudge was from that time, it should have been dealt with long ago.

Now that so much time has passed, it seemed that any resentment should have faded.

So the more likely possibility was… deep-seated resentment.

Suddenly, a name that had been forgotten for a long time popped into her mind.

Could it be… Zhen Paohui, the former lead of this drama?

He had initially secured the male lead role in “School Bully” and had made an official announcement.

However, his agent’s criticism of Ning Qiuxiu led to revelations of his discrimination against homosexuals and incidents of bullying in high school, which had ruined the life of a classmate who had a delayed voice change.

The incident was quite a scandal.

Zhen Paohui’s image as a scholarly and idolized figure collapsed, his fan club disbanded, and many fans abandoned him, causing him to fall from grace and struggle to recover.

Later, he became much more low-key, but with a batch of true fans who didn’t care about his character flaws, he gradually reappeared in the public eye.

Thinking about it, Ning Qiuxiu took out her phone, opened Weibo, searched for Zhen Paohui, and went to his profile.

As expected, he had posted an update at 9 PM that night.

[Zhen Paohui]: “The moonlight is beautiful tonight, and the wind is gentle. Perfect for stabbing a hedgehog.”

It was followed by a grid of selfies.

Ning Qiuxiu wasn’t being paranoid; although she knew “perfect for stabbing a hedgehog” was an internet meme, its timing was quite peculiar.

She took a screenshot and sent it to Qu Hua.

The next day, filming officially began.

Since it was a school drama, most scenes were set in a school, so they started with the school scenes first and would shoot the outside-of-school scenes later.

In the first scene, the male lead, having been transferred to the school due to some trouble, faces harassment from the school bully.

Scene: Principal’s Office

Props were set, cameras were ready, and actors were in position.

The director sat behind the monitor, the clapperboard was used, and the director called “action,” beginning the shoot.

Due to recent school rules enforcing exercise, students were punished for skipping morning runs, and any leave had to be approved by the homeroom teacher a day in advance.

Since many girls couldn’t predict their periods, this rule faced much resistance.

The female lead, Ming Ge, was chosen as the student representative to address the issue in the principal’s office.

Ming Ge stood in front of the open door of the principal’s office, knocked on the door, and, receiving no response, looked inside and asked, “Is Principal Qiu not here?”

No one inside moved or spoke; they sat with their back to her, silent.

Ming Ge wasn’t bothered.

She didn’t turn around but instead walked in casually with her hands in her uniform pockets. “You’re the transfer student from the neighboring city, right?”

The other person continued to be silent.

“So aloof,” Ming Ge murmured, reaching the transfer student’s side.

When she saw his face, she couldn’t help but whistle, “Wow, handsome guy!”

The other person was taken aback and finally looked at her.

He wore glasses, and his eyes behind the lenses were wary.

Ming Ge continued with interest, “I heard you transferred here because of some trouble, but you don’t look like it. You seem so refined, like a good boy.”

The person continued to remain silent.

His hands behind him tightened, but Ming Ge, speaking in a rebellious tone, said, “Oh, I can handle insults and high pressure, but I can’t resist a handsome face. Don’t worry, I, Ming Ge, will look after you.”

“You’re crazy,” Song Lian couldn’t hold back any longer and finally spoke.

“Yep,” Ming Ge said, unbothered, “a love-struck lunatic, incurable.”

Song Lian: “……”

“Alright, cut!”

Xiao Sheng glanced at the playback.

When he wasn’t speaking, he gave off a very indifferent impression, his lips pressed tightly as he watched the monitor, causing everyone to hold their breath.

Then Xiao Sheng smiled and said, “It’s good. The actors’ performances are all excellent. Get ready for the next shot. Principal, take your position.”

Everyone: “……”

Taking advantage of the good mood, they quickly finished filming the first scene.

During the break while changing locations, Song Chu immediately swapped his gentle, obedient persona for his usual self.

He sidled up to Ning Qiuxiu, who was sipping hot coffee, and said, “With such dark circles under your eyes, drinking coffee won’t help. Be careful not to turn into a yellow-faced woman.”

Ning Qiuxiu knew he was mocking her and shamelessly replied, “Well, I’m already taken, so it doesn’t matter if I become a yellow-faced woman, a fat old hag, or anything else.”

“……” Song Chu was impressed by her shamelessness and nudged her with his elbow. “Hey, I heard the police were at your place yesterday. What happened? What’s the situation?”

Although Ning Qiuxiu and the others hadn’t made a fuss, all the actors were staying at the same hotel.

It was impossible to keep the presence of the police completely secret; the assistants were coming and going, so it was normal for people to notice.

Ning Qiuxiu didn’t hide anything and briefly explained what had happened the previous day.

“Damn, that’s so scary. Who’s so low-class to do something like that? Don’t you filter the gifts before receiving them?”

“It was just a random gift opened yesterday,” Ning Qiuxiu said. “It turned out to be a jackpot.”

Originally, Xiao Chi had put the gifts in Ning Qiuxiu’s room, intending for her to take a photo and thank the fans.

The gifts were to be opened by the assistants when she came to shoot today.

This was to save her the time and effort of opening them herself and to prevent malicious incidents from scaring the artist.

The gift from yesterday was different from the others because Xiao Chi was curious about the beautifully wrapped gift, which was unlike the others.

Who knew it would turn out to be a jackpot?

“Have they found out who sent it? This counts as intimidation. They should be held criminally responsible.”

Ning Qiuxiu shook her head. “It’s not that easy. If someone dares to do this, they definitely won’t make it easy for you to find them.”

“It’s disgusting. Keyboard warriors are bad enough, but bringing threats into reality is even worse. These vile haters.” Song Chu, angered, couldn’t help but vent his frustration.

Ning Qiuxiu: “… Watch your image.”

Song Chu realized it was a public setting and reined himself in a bit.

He then said, “Why don’t you let your partner investigate? Isn’t he quite capable?”

Previously, Song Chu was still troubled by the situation between Ning Qiuxiu and Zhan Qingyue and had someone look into Zhan Qingyue’s background.

The results were astonishing.

“He’s not a deity. Even if he’s capable, he can’t see through walls,” Ning Qiuxiu said with a wry smile. “Besides, I didn’t tell him.”

Zhan Qingyue was busy with Zhuo Sen’s matters, and their new entertainment company required his attention as well. Balancing both sides was already a lot of work.

There was no point in adding more worry, so she chose not to tell him.

Anyway, it was just some intimidation with gifts.

The cowardly sender didn’t dare to show their face, which only made them more vigilant about security issues, leaving no opportunity for such incidents.

As for Mr. Zhan, he should stay at home and look beautiful.

Oh, and also earn money to support the family.

The ever-beautiful and financially responsible Mr. Zhan had just received a parcel containing a book: “Smart Men Should Read Women’s Psychology.”