The campus premiere of "A Hundred Diseases" was scheduled for Friday, and the policeman probably took time off work to accompany Xie Qingcheng.
The theatre is dimly lit and He Yu sits in his seat, staring blankly at the two men in front of him.
He was wearing a baseball cap and a black mask. There are many people who dress like this at HU, as there are many child stars enrolled in the School of Arts, and they often dress like this on campus. Some of the more handsome students don't like to show their faces, so a black mask and hat are standard.
So Xie Qingcheng didn't notice the boy behind him.
"Chen Man: your popcorn."
"Thanks."
He Yu leans back in his soft chair with his arms wrapped around his head and listens, raising an eyebrow as he does so.
Chen Man .
So this strip is called Chen Man ......
He Yu suddenly remembered the phone call he had taken for Xie Qingcheng earlier. It seemed to be the same name that was displayed on the phone screen at ......?
Yes, that's the name.
His already cold face had dropped a few degrees, and his almond eyes were almost frosty beneath the black hood and brim of his hat.
He continued without saying a word, looking indifferently at the two men in front of him.
He knew Chen Man was an acquaintance of Xie Qingcheng's, but the fact that he knew him so well still made him uncomfortable.
The film is a joint production of the University of Shanghai Medical Science and the University of Shanghai, and will only be shown on campus, meaning that it will only be shown to students of the University of Shanghai and the University of Shanghai Medical Science.
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What's the matter with this police academy graduate cop?
Plus, Chen Man, did he do anything? Is he the action director of the play or the police support? Neither.
So what's he coming along for the ride.
He Yu's mentality is actually quite distorted at the moment.
On the one hand, he denies that he is gay, believing that his desire for Xie Qingcheng is nothing more than a normal physical desire, that he misses the madness of his sexual entanglement, not the person of Xie Qingcheng.
But on the other hand, because of his male nature of exclusivity, he feels that what he has eaten cannot be touched by others, even if he does not want it, and it is not the turn of others to get their hands on it.
That's why he now looks at Chen Man with a cold look, like a wolf staring at a hyena coveting its prey.
Chen Man felt a prick in his neck and instinctively touched it, looking back.
Xie Qingcheng: "What's wrong?"
Chen Man: "It's nothing ...... suddenly a little hairy. Maybe the air conditioning is on low."
He then sat down next to Xie Qingcheng.
The film begins.
The monodramas, small units cut into individual stories, but with a dark thread running through them, linking the people and events of the story together in the end.
The film was two hours long and the students were absorbed in watching it. As all the participants were from their own school, it was inevitable that everyone had to get up in arms with the people involved when they encountered certain explosive scenes, so the theatre was much livelier than a normal cinema hall.
He Yu didn't watch much of the film, just watched Xie Qingcheng from the back of the room.
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He deliberately positioned himself behind Xie Qingcheng's side so that he could see his face clearly.
In the flicker of the screen, the hard, cold contours of the face appear as if covered with a light veil, the shifting glow of which makes Xie Qingcheng's face look like a precious object submerged in water, its taut skin emitting a faint softness.
The knot in He Yu's throat twitches a little.
He's really not good looking.
He thought so.
It was as painful as self-punishment to see an indifferent man so close up.
But he never took his eyes off it, punishing himself thoroughly.
It was only when Xie Qingcheng looked at the screen and frowned slightly that He Yu realised that he was on screen.
He didn't have too many scenes. After the editing it was even less.
"How much do you love me? What would you give for me?"
On the silver screen He Yu and the seniors' same-sex couple are in conversation.
That was the episode where Xie Qingcheng helped He Yu with a scene during rehearsals.
A segment of the play with a kissing scene.
In retrospect, both Xie Qingcheng and He Yu feel somewhat subtle.
At the time they both still felt disgusted even with a kiss ......
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But what about when the film is released?
What they should and shouldn't do, everything has been done.
He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng and lowered his eyelashes, as if He Yu in the film had brought back some very uncomfortable memories and he turned his gaze away.
After a while, it even simply closes its eyes.
He Yu: "......"
Xie Qingcheng has probably not had a good time at the moment, with slightly sunken cheeks and some light greenish stubble on his chin, which is not particularly cleanly shaven.
He closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded his head slightly forward.
I can't believe I fell asleep ......
He Yu sat in the back row and watched him, wondering how he could even close his eyes with all this noise.
After another ten minutes or so, Chen Man seemed to have a plot he wanted to discuss with Xie Qingcheng, so he turned his head sideways to talk to his brother Xie. As soon as he turned his head, he saw Xie Qingcheng with his face downcast, already sleeping heavily.
Chen Man: "......"
The air-conditioning in the theatre was low and he was worried that Xie Qingcheng's fever was too strong for his body.
He felt that his brother Xie, who was such a strong man, had been in increasingly poor health over the past few years.
I don't know if it's because he smokes too much or because he puts too much pressure on himself at work, but Xie Qingcheng has been coughing a lot lately and his eyesight isn't as good as it used to be.
On a few occasions, Chen Man saw him reading on the computer and wearing glasses, whereas Xie Qingcheng's eyesight used to be 5.3.5.1.
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Chen Man sighed and gently took off his jacket and carefully covered Xie Qingcheng with it.
He Yu looks on grimly.
The more he looked at it, the more uncomfortable he became, and the sense of irritation that he had been advanced upon grew.
But it wasn't long before Chen Man looked at Xie Qingcheng and could not help but do something else that broke the string in He Yu's head.
-- Chen Man cautiously, carefully, touches Xie Qingcheng's hand on the armchair in the audience.
Xie Qingcheng's fingertips twitched slightly.
He was vaguely aware of something, but he was too tired, he had endured too much torture for days -
The clues to his parents' deaths were cut short before his eyes just as they appeared.
He had just tried to treat He Yu as someone he was really close to when He Yu took revenge in such a crazy way.
The Qin Ciyan affair is like mud that has been deposited for a long time, only to be stirred up again in the middle of a storm.
Private information published, bright red paint thrown on, neighbours innocently implicated ......
In the darkness of the night, the silent, wordless eyes of those loved ones who were the only friends he had around him.
"Brother, can't you even tell the truth with us ......"
He cannot.
So many things weighing down, the whole world, the whole earth, there is no one he can talk to.
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He was a reticent keeper of secrets, in the great abyss, never caring whether light would come or not.
All these things, all these pressures, stacked together, no one in heaven or on earth, except Xie Qingcheng, could be as strong as he was.
He was bemused and very calm, no longer feeling bitter or aggrieved.
He doesn't even feel alone.
For so long, he hadn't shed even a single tear easily. The dead straight man is very much a gender-consolidated man who believes that weakness is a woman's thing, as well as a waste of men, and has nothing to do with him.
He was a man who could barely feel pain.
But he is flesh and blood, after all, and at least he gets tired.
He was so tired that when Chen Man went to touch his hand, he just instinctively moved his fingertips.
Xie Qingcheng did not wake up.
Chen Man also stopped watching the film and just watched him, his heart swirling with emotions. There happens to be a section in "A Hundred Signs of Sickness" that deals with same-sex relationships, the one in which He Yu plays.
Chen Man is touched by the reality of the film. He feels that it is very similar to the film, and that it is very difficult to say what he feels for someone of the same sex. He is in love with Xie Qingcheng, but he is afraid to say so.
At this moment, because of Xie Qingcheng's slumber, because the film has touched his heart, Chen Man is more or less tempted to lower his head, to hold his breath, and to put his whole hand on the back of the man's hand.
Fingers folded over fingers.
The palm clasps the back of the hand.
That was something He Yu had only ever done to Xie Qingcheng in bed.
Advertisement
He Yu seems to have melted completely into the darkness, only his skin is pale.
He wore a mask so that no one could see his full face, and his emotions were like a spilled paint box.
He didn't even want to look at Chen Man, it was ridiculous, what rubbish, horny! A gay man, how could he not see it in the canteen?
How old is this cop? In his twenties? Like Xie Qingcheng Doesn't he think he has too much taste?
And they are both male.
What a disgrace...!
And Xie Qingcheng.
Aren't you usually alert? Did you sleep it off?
Can't even feel your hand being touched like that, loser!
He Yu's mentality has been twisted to the point of being comparable to that of a Munch painting.
Without a word, he stares intently at Xie Qingcheng's sleeping face and the hand Xie Qingcheng is holding in Chen Man's.
And then -
He couldn't take it anymore.
Seeing Chen Man staring intently at Xie Qingcheng, he turns his face sideways, closer and closer to the man's face, which is framed by the light of the screen in a pale blue hue ......
You'd be a fool to sleep again!
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He Yu was so angry that he couldn't sit still and grabbed the iced lemon soda he had brought with him from his seat and without saying a word, he threw it directly at Xie Qingcheng!
Chen Man: "......!!!"
Xie Qingcheng: "......"
Chen Man's move to approach Xie Qingcheng was interrupted and he immediately sat up straighter, a face that turned red and white, white and green again.
Xie Qingcheng had no idea what was going on and was drenched in a bottle of soda while he slept.
The young policeman could not hold back even if he had a good temper and turned around and said angrily, "What's wrong with you? What are you doing?"
He Yu sat with the brim of his hat pressed low and his long legs folded behind him, indifferently and elegantly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't hold it steady."
His voice is soft, the scene is chaotic, and there is a lot of movement from the film, so neither Xie Qingcheng nor Chen Man realise who he is.
Chen Man frowned at He Yu and said, "Look at him! He's soaking wet!"
"...... forget it's okay." Xie Qingcheng was always more calm, since it was a careless act by a student in the back seat, getting angry wouldn't do any good.
But he did get soaked through, and Chen Man sat next to him, and the student's water spilled all over him, without wasting a drop.
Xie Qingcheng looked at his own wet shirt and autumn jacket, sighed and looked down and said to Chen Man, "I'll go backstage and ask Xie Xue to borrow an air dryer. You sit and watch it yourself."
Then he left the field.
He Yu watched his figure grow farther and farther away in the darkness, finally disappearing at the security exit connected to the stage backstage. He sat still for a moment, but got up without moving and followed him.
Xie Qingcheng has borrowed the backstage dressing room.
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If the Shanghai Theatre was performing a play, it would be a busy place with people coming and going, but this time it's a film and the dressing rooms are just empty and unoccupied.
Xie Qingcheng asked Xie Xue for the keys, and Xie Xue was surprised: "Brother, why are you so wet?"
"...... student in the back row accidentally spilled his water, it's fine. I'll borrow a hairdryer."
"Oh good, there are several hairdryers, the stationary one in the changing room is the best one to find, go and have a look."
Xie Qingcheng then went in.
The three locker rooms inside, all embedded with wall-mounted hair dryers, were renovated a few years ago, and the rector also tastily installed a sensor light in the locker rooms.
What a mess, not only were his clothes wet, but his hair was also soaked.
Xie Qingcheng pulls up the red velvet block curtain and loosens the buttons of his soaking wet top.
The man in the mirror was tall, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, his soaked shirt clinging to his slender frame. But it was true that he had been too haggard for a while, and once his shirt was fully unbuttoned you could see that he had lost far too much weight and his skin was so pale as to be almost transparent; there was hardly any blood too vivid all over his body, even the hue of his lips was pale.
There is a round stool-style changing chair in the changing room for people to put on their shoes and change, but Xie Qingcheng is used to being tense and prefers to stand, so he just stands and turns on the hairdryer to blow out his short hair and drenched shirt.
The noise was so loud that he didn't hear it when someone came.
That is, until the red velvet was lifted and the welcome sensor lights plunged on once more.
Xie Qingcheng glanced back and met He Yu's eyes.
"Xie Qingcheng ."
He Yu said softly.
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He had taken off his hat and mask, revealing an extremely handsome, yet eerie face. The boy was dressed simply, in a casual autumn shirt, jeans and even sneakers.
Xie Qingcheng looked him over from head to toe and suddenly understood...
"...... Was that you just now?!"
He Yu smiled, but there was no hint of laughter in his eyes.
He squeezed into the changing room and clutched Xie Qingcheng's hand, pushing him violently against the changing mirror.
"It's me, but unfortunately you found out too late."
The campus premiere of "A Hundred Diseases" was scheduled for Friday, and the policeman probably took time off work to accompany Xie Qingcheng.
The theatre is dimly lit and He Yu sits in his seat, staring blankly at the two men in front of him.
He was wearing a baseball cap and a black mask. There are many people who dress like this at HU, as there are many child stars enrolled in the School of Arts, and they often dress like this on campus. Some of the more handsome students don't like to show their faces, so a black mask and hat are standard.
So Xie Qingcheng didn't notice the boy behind him.
"Chen Man: your popcorn."
"Thanks."
He Yu leans back in his soft chair with his arms wrapped around his head and listens, raising an eyebrow as he does so.
Chen Man .
So this strip is called Chen Man ......
He Yu suddenly remembered the phone call he had taken for Xie Qingcheng earlier. It seemed to be the same name that was displayed on the phone screen at ......?
Yes, that's the name.
His already cold face had dropped a few degrees, and his almond eyes were almost frosty beneath the black hood and brim of his hat.
He continued without saying a word, looking indifferently at the two men in front of him.
He knew Chen Man was an acquaintance of Xie Qingcheng's, but the fact that he knew him so well still made him uncomfortable.
The film is a joint production of the University of Shanghai Medical Science and the University of Shanghai, and will only be shown on campus, meaning that it will only be shown to students of the University of Shanghai and the University of Shanghai Medical Science.
Advertisement
What's the matter with this police academy graduate cop?
Plus, Chen Man, did he do anything? Is he the action director of the play or the police support? Neither.
So what's he coming along for the ride.
He Yu's mentality is actually quite distorted at the moment.
On the one hand, he denies that he is gay, believing that his desire for Xie Qingcheng is nothing more than a normal physical desire, that he misses the madness of his sexual entanglement, not the person of Xie Qingcheng.
But on the other hand, because of his male nature of exclusivity, he feels that what he has eaten cannot be touched by others, even if he does not want it, and it is not the turn of others to get their hands on it.
That's why he now looks at Chen Man with a cold look, like a wolf staring at a hyena coveting its prey.
Chen Man felt a prick in his neck and instinctively touched it, looking back.
Xie Qingcheng: "What's wrong?"
Chen Man: "It's nothing ...... suddenly a little hairy. Maybe the air conditioning is on low."
He then sat down next to Xie Qingcheng.
The film begins.
The monodramas, small units cut into individual stories, but with a dark thread running through them, linking the people and events of the story together in the end.
The film was two hours long and the students were absorbed in watching it. As all the participants were from their own school, it was inevitable that everyone had to get up in arms with the people involved when they encountered certain explosive scenes, so the theatre was much livelier than a normal cinema hall.
He Yu didn't watch much of the film, just watched Xie Qingcheng from the back of the room.
Advertisement
He deliberately positioned himself behind Xie Qingcheng's side so that he could see his face clearly.
In the flicker of the screen, the hard, cold contours of the face appear as if covered with a light veil, the shifting glow of which makes Xie Qingcheng's face look like a precious object submerged in water, its taut skin emitting a faint softness.
The knot in He Yu's throat twitches a little.
He's really not good looking.
He thought so.
It was as painful as self-punishment to see an indifferent man so close up.
But he never took his eyes off it, punishing himself thoroughly.
It was only when Xie Qingcheng looked at the screen and frowned slightly that He Yu realised that he was on screen.
He didn't have too many scenes. After the editing it was even less.
"How much do you love me? What would you give for me?"
On the silver screen He Yu and the seniors' same-sex couple are in conversation.
That was the episode where Xie Qingcheng helped He Yu with a scene during rehearsals.
A segment of the play with a kissing scene.
In retrospect, both Xie Qingcheng and He Yu feel somewhat subtle.
At the time they both still felt disgusted even with a kiss ......
Advertisement
But what about when the film is released?
What they should and shouldn't do, everything has been done.
He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng and lowered his eyelashes, as if He Yu in the film had brought back some very uncomfortable memories and he turned his gaze away.
After a while, it even simply closes its eyes.
He Yu: "......"
Xie Qingcheng has probably not had a good time at the moment, with slightly sunken cheeks and some light greenish stubble on his chin, which is not particularly cleanly shaven.
He closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded his head slightly forward.
I can't believe I fell asleep ......
He Yu sat in the back row and watched him, wondering how he could even close his eyes with all this noise.
After another ten minutes or so, Chen Man seemed to have a plot he wanted to discuss with Xie Qingcheng, so he turned his head sideways to talk to his brother Xie. As soon as he turned his head, he saw Xie Qingcheng with his face downcast, already sleeping heavily.
Chen Man: "......"
The air-conditioning in the theatre was low and he was worried that Xie Qingcheng's fever was too strong for his body.
He felt that his brother Xie, who was such a strong man, had been in increasingly poor health over the past few years.
I don't know if it's because he smokes too much or because he puts too much pressure on himself at work, but Xie Qingcheng has been coughing a lot lately and his eyesight isn't as good as it used to be.
On a few occasions, Chen Man saw him reading on the computer and wearing glasses, whereas Xie Qingcheng's eyesight used to be 5.3.5.1.
Advertisement
Chen Man sighed and gently took off his jacket and carefully covered Xie Qingcheng with it.
He Yu looks on grimly.
The more he looked at it, the more uncomfortable he became, and the sense of irritation that he had been advanced upon grew.
But it wasn't long before Chen Man looked at Xie Qingcheng and could not help but do something else that broke the string in He Yu's head.
-- Chen Man cautiously, carefully, touches Xie Qingcheng's hand on the armchair in the audience.
Xie Qingcheng's fingertips twitched slightly.
He was vaguely aware of something, but he was too tired, he had endured too much torture for days -
The clues to his parents' deaths were cut short before his eyes just as they appeared.
He had just tried to treat He Yu as someone he was really close to when He Yu took revenge in such a crazy way.
The Qin Ciyan affair is like mud that has been deposited for a long time, only to be stirred up again in the middle of a storm.
Private information published, bright red paint thrown on, neighbours innocently implicated ......
In the darkness of the night, the silent, wordless eyes of those loved ones who were the only friends he had around him.
"Brother, can't you even tell the truth with us ......"
He cannot.
So many things weighing down, the whole world, the whole earth, there is no one he can talk to.
Advertisement
He was a reticent keeper of secrets, in the great abyss, never caring whether light would come or not.
All these things, all these pressures, stacked together, no one in heaven or on earth, except Xie Qingcheng, could be as strong as he was.
He was bemused and very calm, no longer feeling bitter or aggrieved.
He doesn't even feel alone.
For so long, he hadn't shed even a single tear easily. The dead straight man is very much a gender-consolidated man who believes that weakness is a woman's thing, as well as a waste of men, and has nothing to do with him.
He was a man who could barely feel pain.
But he is flesh and blood, after all, and at least he gets tired.
He was so tired that when Chen Man went to touch his hand, he just instinctively moved his fingertips.
Xie Qingcheng did not wake up.
Chen Man also stopped watching the film and just watched him, his heart swirling with emotions. There happens to be a section in "A Hundred Signs of Sickness" that deals with same-sex relationships, the one in which He Yu plays.
Chen Man is touched by the reality of the film. He feels that it is very similar to the film, and that it is very difficult to say what he feels for someone of the same sex. He is in love with Xie Qingcheng, but he is afraid to say so.
At this moment, because of Xie Qingcheng's slumber, because the film has touched his heart, Chen Man is more or less tempted to lower his head, to hold his breath, and to put his whole hand on the back of the man's hand.
Fingers folded over fingers.
The palm clasps the back of the hand.
That was something He Yu had only ever done to Xie Qingcheng in bed.
Advertisement
He Yu seems to have melted completely into the darkness, only his skin is pale.
He wore a mask so that no one could see his full face, and his emotions were like a spilled paint box.
He didn't even want to look at Chen Man, it was ridiculous, what rubbish, horny! A gay man, how could he not see it in the canteen?
How old is this cop? In his twenties? Like Xie Qingcheng Doesn't he think he has too much taste?
And they are both male.
What a disgrace...!
And Xie Qingcheng.
Aren't you usually alert? Did you sleep it off?
Can't even feel your hand being touched like that, loser!
He Yu's mentality has been twisted to the point of being comparable to that of a Munch painting.
Without a word, he stares intently at Xie Qingcheng's sleeping face and the hand Xie Qingcheng is holding in Chen Man's.
And then -
He couldn't take it anymore.
Seeing Chen Man staring intently at Xie Qingcheng, he turns his face sideways, closer and closer to the man's face, which is framed by the light of the screen in a pale blue hue ......
You'd be a fool to sleep again!
Advertisement
He Yu was so angry that he couldn't sit still and grabbed the iced lemon soda he had brought with him from his seat and without saying a word, he threw it directly at Xie Qingcheng!
Chen Man: "......!!!"
Xie Qingcheng: "......"
Chen Man's move to approach Xie Qingcheng was interrupted and he immediately sat up straighter, a face that turned red and white, white and green again.
Xie Qingcheng had no idea what was going on and was drenched in a bottle of soda while he slept.
The young policeman could not hold back even if he had a good temper and turned around and said angrily, "What's wrong with you? What are you doing?"
He Yu sat with the brim of his hat pressed low and his long legs folded behind him, indifferently and elegantly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't hold it steady."
His voice is soft, the scene is chaotic, and there is a lot of movement from the film, so neither Xie Qingcheng nor Chen Man realise who he is.
Chen Man frowned at He Yu and said, "Look at him! He's soaking wet!"
"...... forget it's okay." Xie Qingcheng was always more calm, since it was a careless act by a student in the back seat, getting angry wouldn't do any good.
But he did get soaked through, and Chen Man sat next to him, and the student's water spilled all over him, without wasting a drop.
Xie Qingcheng looked at his own wet shirt and autumn jacket, sighed and looked down and said to Chen Man, "I'll go backstage and ask Xie Xue to borrow an air dryer. You sit and watch it yourself."
Then he left the field.
He Yu watched his figure grow farther and farther away in the darkness, finally disappearing at the security exit connected to the stage backstage. He sat still for a moment, but got up without moving and followed him.
Xie Qingcheng has borrowed the backstage dressing room.
Advertisement
If the Shanghai Theatre was performing a play, it would be a busy place with people coming and going, but this time it's a film and the dressing rooms are just empty and unoccupied.
Xie Qingcheng asked Xie Xue for the keys, and Xie Xue was surprised: "Brother, why are you so wet?"
"...... student in the back row accidentally spilled his water, it's fine. I'll borrow a hairdryer."
"Oh good, there are several hairdryers, the stationary one in the changing room is the best one to find, go and have a look."
Xie Qingcheng then went in.
The three locker rooms inside, all embedded with wall-mounted hair dryers, were renovated a few years ago, and the rector also tastily installed a sensor light in the locker rooms.
What a mess, not only were his clothes wet, but his hair was also soaked.
Xie Qingcheng pulls up the red velvet block curtain and loosens the buttons of his soaking wet top.
The man in the mirror was tall, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, his soaked shirt clinging to his slender frame. But it was true that he had been too haggard for a while, and once his shirt was fully unbuttoned you could see that he had lost far too much weight and his skin was so pale as to be almost transparent; there was hardly any blood too vivid all over his body, even the hue of his lips was pale.
There is a round stool-style changing chair in the changing room for people to put on their shoes and change, but Xie Qingcheng is used to being tense and prefers to stand, so he just stands and turns on the hairdryer to blow out his short hair and drenched shirt.
The noise was so loud that he didn't hear it when someone came.
That is, until the red velvet was lifted and the welcome sensor lights plunged on once more.
Xie Qingcheng glanced back and met He Yu's eyes.
"Xie Qingcheng ."
He Yu said softly.
Advertisement
He had taken off his hat and mask, revealing an extremely handsome, yet eerie face. The boy was dressed simply, in a casual autumn shirt, jeans and even sneakers.
Xie Qingcheng looked him over from head to toe and suddenly understood...
"...... Was that you just now?!"
He Yu smiled, but there was no hint of laughter in his eyes.
He squeezed into the changing room and clutched Xie Qingcheng's hand, pushing him violently against the changing mirror.
"It's me, but unfortunately you found out too late."
