At the end of June, the location shooting for "The Rising Tides of the Azure Sea" temporarily came to an end, and the crew returned to the film studio to continue filming. Xie Guan was still unable to get in touch with Huo Mingjun and could only rely on following online news for information. However, in this day and age, spreading rumors was a free-for-all, with all sorts of claims making it difficult to tell fact from fiction. Huang Cheng, seeing him so anxious he was about to self-combust, simply followed Director Bai's instructions and confiscated his phone.

On June 25th, "Jingwu Youth" premiered on Hulu TV. Following his appearance in this year's winter vacation slot, Xie Guan once again became a hit in the summer vacation slot. "Jingwu Youth" dominated the summer slot, and on the fifth day of its broadcast, its viewership ratings broke three percent. Chen Yi, Xie Guan, and Li Yan entered the top 20 of the New Media Index for artists. Compared to his less than ten episodes of screen time in the TV series version of "The Rising Tides of the Azure Sea," this time, Chen Duqiu's role ran through the entire show. Xie Guan's popularity skyrocketed, and appearance requests and collaboration invitations piled up in his agent Lin Yao's inbox.

Just then, an unexpected person bypassed Lin Yao and came to the film studio to find Xie Guan in person.

"Hello, Mr. Xie," he said, pulling out the chair opposite Xie Guan and sitting down. He introduced himself, "I am Huo Zhirong, the president of Xuandu Pictures."

Xie Guan finally saw a member of the Huo family in the flesh. He nearly failed to suppress his anxiety, nodding calmly and saying, "Mr. Huo, a pleasure to meet you."

They had heard of each other but were meeting for the first time. Huo Zhirong was unsure of the depth of the relationship between Xie Guan and Huo Mingjun and wanted to probe a little more. Xie Guan, however, couldn't be bothered with that and asked directly, "Mr. Huo, please forgive my presumption. I know I shouldn't be asking directly, but I truly have no other way, so I must ask you: what exactly is the situation with Huo Mingjun? Will he be alright?"

Seeing him so anxious, Huo Zhirong knew at a glance that their relationship was far from shallow. He immediately felt half-relieved, thinking to himself that his request today was likely to succeed.

He had gentle features and the handsome looks that ran in the Huo family. A pair of rimless glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, making him look very elegant and refined. Unlike Huo Mingjun's cold and imposing aura, he had naturally smiling eyes, looking as if he were holding a hint of a smile even when not speaking, which made a good first impression on people.

"Don't worry. During this special period, it's not convenient for him to contact the outside world. The day before yesterday, I heard from my brother that the investigation is progressing quite smoothly. Although the matter is thorny, with Big Brother overseeing it, I'm sure there won't be any problems," Huo Zhirong comforted him. "Most of what you hear outside is just gossip. Some even say our family has gone bankrupt, but it's not that serious."

Xie Guan closed his eyes. It felt as if, on the verge of suffocation, a sudden rush of fresh air had flooded in, yet every breath was a sharp, needle-like pain.

He slowly exhaled. "Thank you..."

Huo Zhirong was slightly surprised inside but didn't let it show on his face. He said casually, "I've long heard that Mr. Xie and my big brother have a good relationship. Thank you for thinking of him at a time like this."

Xie Guan, who had been on edge for days, suddenly relaxed. Feeling a bit weak, he just smiled and said, "It's what I should do."

Huo Zhirong was completely reassured and stopped beating around the bush. He said frankly, "Actually, I came to find you this time to ask for a favor."

Xie Guan raised his hand to refill his tea. "Please, go on."

"Xuandu Pictures completed its acquisition last year and formed a new film and television team. Before 'The Rising Tides of the Azure Sea,' we also invested in a movie, which is currently being filmed at a studio in a neighboring city." A worried look appeared on Huo Zhirong's face. "But then the Pingcheng incident happened. An actor in the cast, worried about being implicated, is planning to break his contract and withdraw. His agency is also one of the investors, so if he leaves, all his previous scenes will have to be deleted and reshot."

Xie Guan nodded, understanding what he meant. "You're looking for someone to take over his role?"

"To be honest with you, of the actors we've approached, either their schedules are full, or once they hear the reason for the other actor's withdrawal, they're unwilling to get involved in this mess. Although I'm from the Huo family and know this matter isn't as exaggerated as the rumors outside claim, others don't necessarily believe it," Huo Zhirong said. "After thinking it over, the only one who fits the criteria and isn't afraid of trouble is you."

Xie Guan listened quietly, his gaze fixed on the teacup in front of him, saying nothing, as if lost in thought.

Seeing his silence, Huo Zhirong's heart sank. He thought, "Don't tell me he's an ungrateful bastard?"

Tea was placed before them, and wisps of white steam rose from the cups, blurring the face of the person opposite. Amidst the flowing sound of silk and bamboo music, he heard a very light sigh.

"I owe him so many favors. I always used to think about paying them all back, but I never expected that the first time I'd repay his kindness would be under these circumstances." Xie Guan spoke in a low voice, as if talking to Huo Zhirong, but also as if to himself. "Since it's come to this, rather than getting hung up on how to repay the favor, it's better to just hope that he'll be safe and sound from now on and never run into this kind of trouble again."

"You..."

"Please arrange for me to meet the director," Xie Guan said. "I'll go back and discuss it with Director Bai Luzhou to see how we can arrange the schedule."

Huo Zhirong hesitated for a moment. Although he knew in his heart that Xie Guan was the most suitable candidate, he still advised him out of kindness, "Aren't you going to discuss this with your agent before making a decision? I have to remind you, you're currently filming 'The Rising Tides of the Azure Sea,' your TV series is a hit, and taking on another movie will put you under immense work pressure. Also, even though this is to save the day, if someone with ill intentions catches on, you could be accused of 'set-hopping.' On top of that, you'd be getting involved in the Hengrui Group incident. Your agency might not be willing to take on such a huge risk."

"It's fine," Xie Guan said without hesitation. "I'll handle all of it. Don't worry, Mr. Huo."

Huo Zhirong waited for a moment. Seeing that he showed no signs of wavering, he stopped trying to persuade him and said seriously, "Thank you. You've helped us out immensely."

Xie Guan waved his hand to dismiss the thanks, then remembered something and said, "By the way, my acting fee..."

Huo Zhirong immediately said, "We'll pay according to your company's quote."

"That's not what I meant," Xie Guan smiled. "It's like this, my quote for a movie is generally no more than 1 million. I have a 40-60 split with the company. When you settle the payment, just pay the company's 40% share of the quote. This is my personal decision, so it's not right for the company to suffer a loss because of it. I don't want the rest."

Just agreeing to help was already going above and beyond, yet he even offered to do it for free. No matter how much of a ruthless businessman Huo Zhirong was, he wouldn't dare exploit him like this. "There's really no need. We may have lost an investor, but we're not so poor that we can't afford an actor's fee. Besides, if Big Brother finds out you worked for free, he'll probably flip my office upside down when he gets back."

Xie Guan thought to himself, 'You think he won't flip your office for badmouthing him behind his back?' He shook his head and smiled, "Mr. Huo, don't be so polite with me. I can't help him much, this is just a small gesture. Besides, this way it can be considered a friendly guest appearance, which will also prevent people from accusing me of set-hopping in the future."

Huo Zhirong was speechless for a long moment.

"My big brother really is..." He picked up his teacup and sighed emotionally, "He really didn't misjudge you."

A few days ago, Xie Guan had asked Director Bai for a promise, and now he went directly to discuss it with her. Bai Luzhou also had a righteous and forthright personality. The moment she heard it was for Xuandu Pictures, who had once served justice, she agreed without a second thought. Fortunately, most of Xie Guan's major scenes were already filmed. The remaining ones were mostly fragmented, making it easier to coordinate the schedule.

After getting Director Bai on board, he contacted Lin Yao. Just as Huo Zhirong had predicted, Lin Yao was unwilling to let him get involved with Hengrui Group at such a critical and controversial time. But when she thought about who Xie Guan was doing this for, Lin Yao couldn't stop him either. Her head was aching. After some thought, she felt the matter was too important and decided she should pass the buck to the top boss.

After Ye Zheng heard the whole story from her, he felt that for Xie Guan to still think of not letting the company suffer a loss was quite touching.

Xie Guan had been placed under his care by Huo Mingjun in the first place. Now that Xie Guan wanted to do something for Huo Mingjun, not only would Ye Zheng not stop him, he would even give him a push. "If he wants to act, let him be. Xie Guan will likely have many collaborations with Xuandu Pictures in the future, so there's no need to hold him back on this."

Lin Yao was still unwilling to give up and wanted to try to argue her case, but Ye Zheng said meaningfully, "Don't you get it yet? From the very beginning, he was never one of our Xihua people. The one who truly calls the shots is the person behind Xuandu Pictures. With a seedling like Xie Guan, you just need to weed and catch the pests. But for anything else, don't you dare touch a single branch."

In early July, Hengrui Group finally held a press conference to announce the results of the first phase of their investigation. This included the cause of the accident, the responsible parties, and a preliminary compensation plan.

Because Hengrui Group's confidentiality measures in the early stages had been extremely tight, the public had grown tired of baseless speculation and had a much higher level of anticipation and trust in the official announcement. At the same time, the Pingcheng police released a report, and some of Hengrui Group's investigation documents were successively declassified online to corroborate the truth of the facts announced at the press conference.

The investigation showed that the main cause of the accident was the panic triggered by a large-scale power outage. The collapse of the skywalk did not cause any actual casualties; the two deaths and five injuries were all caused by pushing and trampling.

Pingcheng had developed its mining industry for many years, and the ground beneath the city's outskirts was almost completely hollowed out, leading to varying degrees of land subsidence and foundation instability. From May to June, Pingcheng had experienced one moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.5 and two magnitude 3 aftershocks. The area to the west of "Yihe Yipin" had already shown signs of ground subsidence. The earthquakes caused structural deformation of the skywalk. Compounded by the sudden power outage, a large number of people crossed the skywalk, and the already deformed structure could not bear the load, ultimately collapsing.

As for the cause of the large-scale power outage, the current investigation indicated that a construction crew elsewhere had severed a power cable, but whether it was an accident or intentional required further investigation.

Besides Hengrui Group, the responsible parties for the accident now included the design firm, the construction company, and the property management company for the "Yihe Yipin" skywalk. All parties would share the compensation costs according to their respective proportions of responsibility. At the same time, regarding the civil lawsuits filed by the victims, Hengrui Group also stated that it would respond to the suits according to regulations and actively seek settlements.

At the end of the press conference, Hengrui Group's current chairman, Huo Mingjun, took the stage and personally bowed in apology to all the victims and customers.

Xie Guan watched the recording of the press conference on his way to the other film set. The moment Huo Mingjun bowed, he felt as if someone had seized his heart. He slammed his phone face down to the side, his chest aching so much he could barely breathe.

The image of Huo Mingjun seemed to be clearly imprinted on his retina. He stood there like a stone statue that knew no pain and felt no fatigue, carrying the future of the entire massive conglomerate on his back, facing a torrent of sharp criticism and knife-like rumors.

In that high and lonely place, too cold to bear, he was always alone.

In the dark of night, the lights on the highway outlined the road ahead like a winding river with no end in sight. Everything was dim, and only their small reed of a boat was still adrift. Xie Guan turned off his phone and propped his head on his hand, looking out the window at the dark, rolling hills. Huang Cheng, distracted for a moment, glanced at him and advised, "Hurry up and get some sleep. By the time we arrive, the sky will be bright. You have to be up at six tomorrow morning for makeup."

Xie Guan blinked his red, sleep-deprived eyes, the fatigue on his face seeming even heavier than before. "I can't sleep. Don't worry about me. Just focus on driving and be safe."

Huang Cheng fell silent and didn't say another word.

He could already foresee his own fate when Huo Mingjun returned, but he couldn't persuade Xie Guan either. When a person was this desperate and determined, any attempt at dissuasion was nothing but pointless words in the face of his resolve.