The film crew resumed work after the Lantern Festival. After the New Year, the actors' physical conditions and figures had all changed from before, making it unsuitable to film scenes that needed to be continuous with the previous ones. Fortunately, Director Pang Zhonghua had saved the grand scenes that required many extras for later. Xie Guan's final scene was the end of the selection tournament. Chen Yi makes a comeback from a position of extreme disadvantage, defeating the opponent he had never been able to beat and clinching the championship of the selection tournament. All the contestants walked to the center of the arena together. The ten-thousand-seat stadium was completely packed, and the cheers and applause from the audience nearly threatened to blow the roof off the venue.

In the coaches' area, all the coaches of the national team stood up and applauded in unison. Chen Yi was panting heavily, his clothes soaked with sweat, yet he smiled and looked towards the front row of the audience seats. His girlfriend, Tang Ou, was clapping vigorously while tears streamed down her face.

He Qiao and the second male lead, Wu Xiaofeng, who had lost the match, couldn't stand the sight of each other. At this moment, he deliberately provoked him, slapping Chen Yi hard on the back: "A beautiful win!"

Wu Xiaofeng gave a helpless smile. Although he didn't hide his regret, he still maintained a sincere and gracious demeanor, patting his shoulder: "Good kid. Let's spar again when we have the chance. I'll definitely beat you next time."

Xie Guan was the last one to walk up to Chen Yi. Chen Yi was about to be slapped until he coughed up blood by this group of teammates who didn't know their own strength. Seeing this consistently gentle and calm captain extend his hand, his first reaction was to close his eyes and shrink his neck, an expression of someone bravely facing their doom practically written all over his face.

The team members burst into roaring laughter. Xie Guan smiled faintly, but merely raised his hand to straighten his slightly wrinkled collar.

"The path of martial arts is endless. No matter how far we go in the future, we must not forget our original intention for learning martial arts," he said, "The selection tournament is just the beginning of our journey. Technique is certainly important, but the indomitable courage and the never-say-die spirit displayed by every team member in this competition are the true soul of the sport of martial arts."

"I hope you will forever remember the pure, brave, and unwavering selves you are today."

He turned to face the entire audience, and behind him, all the team members raised their right hands high in perfect unison—

"Invincible!"

"Cut!"

The entire set fell silent. The director reviewed the clip he had just filmed, paused for two seconds, and then announced loudly: "Final scene, that's a wrap! Jingwu Youth is finished!"

The set erupted in thunderous applause. The actors hugged each other, congratulating one another on the successful wrap, and thanked the directing team and all the staff. Chen Yi's assistant ran over with a camera and took a group photo of the entire cast and crew.

"We've finally wrapped up," Li Yan said, putting his arm around Xie Guan's shoulder, smiling as he watched the staff busily packing up the equipment on set, where a few of the main actors were taking photos and signing autographs with the crew. He suddenly remarked with emotion, "I've never been on a set like this before. This time, I'm actually a bit reluctant to leave."

The atmosphere on Director Pang's set was very harmonious. Both the main and supporting actors were easy to get along with. They adapted to each other during the filming process, and by the end, they had forged a bond like comrades-in-arms.

Xie Guan patted the back of his hand comfortingly and said with a laugh, "Is the great artist getting sentimental again? If you're really so attached, why don't you use this momentum to write a theme song for our crew. Who knows, if the director is happy, he might even let you come back and film a few more scenes."

"You mood killer," Li Yan's heart full of parting sorrow was completely dispelled by his teasing. "Stay away from me. Every second of your existence is a detriment to my artistic life."

Xie Guan also felt a pang of sadness in his heart and could only cover it up by joking. Huang Cheng came over to urge him to remove his makeup. Xie Guan sat before the dressing table, hesitated for a moment, then asked him for his phone and sent a WeChat message to Huo Mingjun: "I've wrapped."

Last time on the phone, Huo Mingjun had paid the price for his sharp tongue—Xie Guan hadn't spoken to him for two whole weeks. It wasn't that the two were truly fighting. It was pure childishness, getting restless if they weren't stirring up trouble. Right now, Xie Guan was moved by the parting, feeling a little vulnerable inside. He urgently needed to find a sense of security from someone who wouldn't leave him, so, he subconsciously unblocked Huo Mingjun.

It seemed Huo Mingjun wasn't busy, as he replied quickly: "Congratulations on wrapping up. Rest well. What are your work plans next?"

Xie Guan's makeup wasn't heavy to begin with, so it was easy to remove. He finished the battle in five minutes, and in the interval while changing his clothes, he seized the opportunity to bicker with Huo Mingjun: "You even know when and with whom I go drinking. Do you really need to ask me about something as trivial as my work schedule?"

Huo Mingjun sent a smiley face emoji that looked extremely sarcastic: "I'm just trying to make small talk."

Xie Guan: "..."

"Are you free tonight?" Unsure if it was because he was affected by the impending separation, he suddenly made up his mind and replied to Huo Mingjun, "I'll treat you to dinner, and you can tell me your story. You in?"

Fang Hui knocked on the office door and entered after getting Huo Mingjun's approval: "Boss, there's a welcome dinner for the economic forum tonight. They'd like you to attend..."

"I'm not going. Decline it." Huo Mingjun gave Xie Guan an affirmative reply, and without looking up, he said to Fang Hui, "I have something on tonight. Unless the company is about to go bankrupt, don't bother me."

Assistant Fang was frightened by the three-meter-high murderous aura emanating from his back and quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes. Don't worry."

This time, Xie Guan didn't ask to meet Huo Mingjun at home. He had just wrapped up filming, and it wouldn't be right for Huo Mingjun to trouble him to cook personally. The restaurant was chosen by the one treating. Although Xie Guan wasn't very wealthy, the person he was treating was Huo Mingjun, after all, so he still chose a high-end, private fine dining restaurant. He was bored while waiting, and as he surveyed the furnishings of the private room, he recalled how, a few years ago when CEO dramas first became popular, he had followed the trend and read some terrible drama scripts. The most common trope was the commoner female lead taking the CEO, who held the world's economic lifeline in his hands, to eat at a street-side stall. The CEO would inevitably nitpick about the hygiene facilities first, but would eventually be conquered by the chubby owner's secret recipe grilled skewers/malatang/crayfish, and would think the female lead was so pure and unpretentious, completely different from those glamorous vixens outside who ate shark fin and abalone.

He tried to imagine casting Huo Mingjun as the domineering CEO... and immediately felt a cringe-inducing tingle run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. The consequences were simply too dreadful to imagine.

Just as the drama unfolding in Xie Guan's mind reached its climax, the door to the private room was pushed open from the outside by a waitress, who said in a soft, gentle voice, "This way, sir."

Xie Guan stood up to greet him. Huo Mingjun walked in. Their eyes met, and in their familiarity was a hint of strangeness from not having seen each other for a long time.

In the span of just a few months, they had gone through arguments, the cold shoulder, disputes, and breaking the ice. They had been just one step away from never speaking to each other again for the rest of their lives, but were precariously saved by a twist of fate. It seemed as if an invisible thread was tied to them both, and under the polishing of unpredictable events and deliberate schemes, it had only grown more resilient.

In the end, it was Huo Mingjun who came to his senses first. He walked towards Xie Guan and naturally placed a hand on his shoulder, turning him gently and guiding him towards the dining table: "You've finally put on some weight after the New Year... Sit. Just got back from the set?"

"Ah." Xie Guan dazedly found himself being the one taken care of, and followed the force of his hand back to his seat. Huo Mingjun sat down opposite him, casually handed his overcoat to the waitress, and asked, "Have you ordered?"

"Not yet," Xie Guan passed the nearby iPad to him. "See what you want to eat."

"Any recommendations?" Huo Mingjun asked, flipping through the menu. He added jokingly, "Why the sudden idea to eat here?"

Xie Guan felt that he might have been brainwashed by the little skit in his head earlier, and blurted out without thinking, "If you want to try a different flavor, there's a place downstairs from my apartment that sells grilled squid on a hot plate."

Both Huo Mingjun and the waitress stared at him with an "Is this guy an idiot?" look.

Xie Guan coughed awkwardly twice: "I mean... that grilled squid is really good, seriously."

Huo Mingjun looked at him speechlessly for a moment, then turned to the waitress and asked, "Do you have grilled squid?"

The smile on the waitress's face froze slightly: "I'm sorry, sir, we don't have any squid-related dishes. If you like seafood, you could try the pearl abalone with chestnuts and dried bamboo shoots, or this dish of sea cucumber with dried abalone slices. We also have braised fish maw with fish fillets and jade ring prawns."

"Alright, alright," Xie Guan frantically stopped Huo Mingjun from embarrassing him further. He said to the waitress, "Ignore him. Let's order."

After the two had finished ordering the main courses, the waitress asked again, "What would you two like to drink?"

Xie Guan didn't take the drink menu she offered. He said directly, "A pot of warm huadiao wine."

Huo Mingjun raised an eyebrow in surprise. Xie Guan immediately said, "Don't look at me, there's none for you. Your throat isn't good, so stay away from cigarettes and alcohol."

Huo Mingjun: "The storyteller doesn't even get a sip of wine?"

Xie Guan pulled out a thermal flask from the side and pushed it over. He said lazily, "Drink this."

Huo Mingjun had originally felt a bit slighted that Xie Guan hadn't cooked for him personally. But when he opened the lid of the thermal flask and saw the still-warm snow fungus and pear soup inside, he immediately felt much better. However, in order to maintain his hard-won warm and considerate persona, he still had to feign politeness: "You finally finished your work, you should be resting well. Why go through all the trouble of making something special?"

"Come on. If I didn't make a gesture after failing to cook for Boss Huo personally, wouldn't you get mad at me," Xie Guan gave him no face at all. "I haven't seen you smile once since you entered the restaurant. That long face of yours, you think I can't tell?"

Huo Mingjun asked thoughtfully, "Was it that obvious?"

Xie Guan: "So you're enjoying this, are you?"

Huo Mingjun continued with a sigh: "Last time it was six dishes and a soup, this time it's just one soup."

"Six dishes and a soup is the standard for treating a friend," Xie Guan said. "You should be glad you even have soup. Be content."

As expected, this remark left Huo Mingjun speechless. After a moment, he said, "I'll buy you a couple of grilled squid skewers on the way back. Can I apply for an upgrade to two dishes and a soup next time?"

Xie Guan said: "I suggest you go back and continue sleeping now."

After finishing a round of verbal sparring, the two looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously turned their heads away and burst out laughing at the private room's walls.