The woman's face cycled through a few emotions when she saw the blade, and she took a step back.
The blade fell to the ground, letting out a subtle clang, so only people up close could hear it. Everyone looked over at the source of the sound and saw a blade glued to the costume. An obvious bewilderment crossed every person's eyes. There were even people who couldn't help but whisper, "Why is there a blade in the costume?"
Earlier on, Qian Ge and her manager made their way over to a parasol not too far away before He Jichen came. They now walked over to the crowd and stopped by the assistant director's side.
When Qian Ge heard the commotion, she instantly looked over at the wardrobe assistant's feet. When she caught sight of the blade, her eyes suddenly had a tinge of astonishment.
She did ask someone to tamper with Ji Yi's costume, but she didn't ask them to put a blade in there… Could it possibly be something her manager did of her own accord?
The next second, Qian Ge looked over at the manager standing next to her, confused.
At the same time, the manager's gaze happened to turn from the blade to Qian Ge, and for a second, the two of them looked at one another incredibly puzzled.
They had been together a long time now, so there were some things that didn't have to be said because they knew each other so well.
Qian Ge realized her manager wasn't responsible for this either. Deep down, they speculated that some other person put the blade there.
Standing in front of them, He Jichen was bored of standing there as he took two steps back and leisurely leaned against the palace's white jade railing.
Right now he looked a lot calmer, showing no emotions on his face. When he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, he looked completely nonchalant.
He didn't smoke it but pinched it between his fingers and played with it.
As the ashes fell down in chunks, he raised his hand and flicked them into the trash can beside him.
As the ashes fell down, he looked up and swept a glance at the wardrobe assistant in front of him.
She still had her head lowered as she stared at the blade.
He Jichen lowered his gaze and stared at the burning smoke between his fingers. Then, as though he lost all patience, he suddenly asked, "I'll ask you one last time. This costume - besides yourself, has no one really touched it?"
He didn't wait for the wardrobe assistant to speak up before his thin lips twitched as though a thought just occurred to him. He spoke again: "There's something I have to tell you now... I don't like people who lie to me, so it's best you think about it carefully before you answer me!"
His voice was neither serious nor light-hearted, neither fast nor slow. Amidst the dullness, there was a slight standoffish air without any hints of emotion.
The wardrobe assistant started to tremble uncontrollably.
All the costumes on set were tailor-made. They were afraid that if the costumes were lost or damaged it'd delay the shoot, so she was the one who was in complete charge of them.
Without her authorization, nobody could touch those costumes besides the actors when it came time for filming. Yet she was also the one who took a bribe to mess with Ji Yi's costume. That same person clearly told her to embarrass Ji Yi, but she didn't tell her to put the blade in there…
However, if she called them out, she'd lose the money and there was no guarantee what would happen - she might even get kicked off the production team.
The wardrobe assistant's clutches on the clothes relaxed then she tightly grasped them again. She repeated this a few times before she eventually shook her head at He Jichen. "No, besides me, there was really no other…"