Two hours earlier.
In the closed hospital room, Song Xuan wore a medical gown for the checkup, with one leg crossed over the other and his body leaning back casually.
“At least pretend to look the part,” his manager said as he packed up the clothes Song Xuan had worn earlier. “We’re here under the pretext of getting stitches and resting from the checkup. Don’t go out looking like you just woke up from a full night’s sleep.”
“Hahaha, don’t worry, don’t worry.” Song Xuan was in a good mood. His gaze slid over his manager’s perky buttocks before he reached out with one hand to wrap around his waist. “Where did you get Yu Xi’s dirt on him?”
“I’ll tell you on the way back,” the manager replied, already completely accustomed to Song Xuan’s little gestures. He swatted his hand away. “We’re about to withdraw from the show. Right now, you need to think about how to fool the audience.”
Song Xuan shrugged. “What’s so hard about that? Have I not done enough performances like this before? Oh right, after quitting this crap variety show, there’s Director Wang’s new movie, isn’t there? And that cute pet variety show invitation too—the pay is way more than this trash show.”
He leaned back leisurely against the chair. “Once I get the money, I’m going to try every one of those new toys out there.”
“Still playing around?” the manager said. “Be careful not to flip the car again.”
Song Xuan leaned in again and lightly pinched behind his manager. “I’m not afraid. I’ve got you. Sigh, my wife really can’t handle things. If I left it to her, she’d send me straight to jail. Should’ve known not to get married so early—should’ve married you instead.”
The manager replied, “Two male Betas can’t get married.”
Song Xuan planted a kiss on his manager’s lips. “Even without marriage, we can still live like a married couple.”
The two didn’t stay long at the hospital. Once the checkup results came out showing no need for hospitalization, they decided to head straight back home—it wasn’t like they were going to be admitted anyway. Song Xuan had prepared all sorts of protections in advance knowing there might be a car accident, so he wasn’t hurt badly. The staff in the front seat, however, had sustained more serious injuries and was still lying in a hospital bed.
On the way back, Song Xuan didn’t forget to check online.
Thanks to all sorts of hype-chasing marketing accounts mindlessly reposting, plus the water army they had arranged in advance stirring the pot, the incident snowballed and grew even more severe.
Yu Xi had been drowned out by all sorts of comments—no one paid attention to Song Xuan’s car accident anymore.
Perfect.
He had to admit, netizens these days really knew how to curse. They had ten thousand novel ways to insult someone, and even the tiniest flaw on a celebrity could be spun into a full-blown attack.
Song Xuan scrolled through the online battlefield over and over. Yu Xi himself hadn’t responded at all yet, and even the live stream room for Weekend Go Where that Yu Xi was in had been shut down.
Seriously feeling guilty?
Planning a cold treatment?
Song Xuan let out a sneer and tapped into the Weibo post that had dug up “Yu Xi’s girlfriend.”
An utterly ordinary Beta girl—nothing like the ones he usually played with. Yu Xi was in the entertainment industry, after all; his tastes should’ve been spoiled long ago. How could he fall for her?
“What was the situation at the scene that day?” Song Xuan asked, a spark of interest lighting up.
“Don’t know,” the manager answered. “Weren’t you photographed going in and out of the casino a while back? When we went to buy those photos, we found out the paparazzi had dirt on Yu Xi too, so we bought it all together. Figured it might come in handy someday.”
“See?” The manager shrugged, a bit relieved. “It really did.”
Song Xuan laughed and pulled his manager’s shoulder over, kissing him directly.
The driver was long used to this and kept his eyes straight ahead, driving forward in a straight line.
Not long after—
Bang.
The front door was flung open heavily, and the two men, locked in an embrace, crashed against it.
With the driver gone and no one else around, Song Xuan kissed his manager even more recklessly.
“Wife… is home,” the manager said in a voice that broke intermittently.
“No need to worry,” Song Xuan said. “She’s on a business trip. She won’t be back so soon. It’s just us today.”
With the curtains tightly drawn, the two kissed their way from the first floor all the way to the second-floor bedroom. Song Xuan deftly undid the man’s clothes, and they tumbled onto the soft bed together, everything ready as they charged into battle.
At the height of their most vigorous assault, a barrage of fierce knocking and a piercing roar exploded from below, right in their ears.
The knocker pounded with such force that even the windows rattled.
“Song Xuan, have you no shame???”
“If you’ve got the guts to spread rumors, come out here!”
Song Xuan’s legs trembled at the roar, and he instantly sobered up, all desire vanishing. His manager shuddered as he crawled off the bed and quietly peeked through a corner of the curtain. His expression changed drastically.
“Yu Xi’s here.”
Song Xuan: “?”
Song Xuan: “What the hell is he doing here?”
The manager looked worried. “Does he know it was us?”
“Just a rabid dog biting randomly,” Song Xuan said dismissively. “Ignore him. Let’s keep going.”
The live stream chat had already exploded in shock.
[?]
[What’s going on?]
[Why’d the live stream start again?]
[Isn’t this… Yu Xi and Yi Chen’s show live stream?]
[Didn’t Song Xuan get in a car accident? Why’s Yu Xi at his house?]
[See? Let the bullet fly a while!]
[Does the production team just let him harass our Song Xuan? Can’t they stop him?]
[Exactly! This isn’t scripted, right? They can’t rehearse something this disgusting just for views!]
[Is this how the production team treats our Song Xuan? Letting someone curse him out at his door? He’s the ratings king, you know!]
[This is invading personal privacy! Shut down Yu Xi’s live stream now!]
The staff had asked the director about similar comments: “Shouldn’t we stop Yu Xi?”
The director: “Stop my ass.”
“Signing up for the show while hiding a criminal record, staging a car accident that wrecked my employee and the live stream vehicle, and now wanting to exit smoothly while making me take the risk and pay the breach fee? Pfft. Tech team, full support to keep Yu Xi and Yi Chen’s live stream running smoothly!”
Yu Xi knocked on the door for a good while, but no one came out.
Yu Xi took a deep breath.
“Isn’t it just that you can’t get a clean criminal record proof and want to shift the spotlight?”
“Ha, fat chance!!”
Song Xuan: “?”
Chat: [?]
Yu Xi gathered his qi in his dantian, about to shout, when Yi Chen silently handed over a megaphone.
Yi Chen: “Use this to yell. Don’t hurt your throat. Switch is here.”
Yu Xi took the megaphone. “Song Xuan, you were arrested by the L District Public Security Bureau on charges of cross-border gambling and operating a casino.”
Song Xuan’s weapon instantly went limp. “Fuck! How does he know?!”
Still no one came down. Yu Xi continued reading: “The L District Procuratorate has lawfully filed for prosecution. Now announcing the verdict results as follows…”
Click.
The tightly shut door finally opened. Song Xuan snatched the megaphone from Yu Xi and forced a smile. “What’s going on? Come in and talk, come in and talk. Careful not to disturb the neighbors outside.”
Clearly, he had rushed out in a hurry—his shirt buttons weren’t even done up properly, and one pant leg was rolled up.
Yu Xi didn’t engage. “I’m not stepping foot in this house. Wouldn’t want anything broken and pinned on me again.”
“How could that be?” Song Xuan poked his head out. Yu Xi only had Yi Chen with him; no one else. Xiao Chen, Xiao Liu, and the production staff were all in the car not far away, showing no signs of getting out. Song Xuan let out a long sigh of relief.
He had no idea how Yu Xi knew about his past.
But with no one else around, he at least had a chance to negotiate.
—He’d come down too rushed to check his phone, so he had no clue the live stream chat had completely blown up.
[? Huh??]
[He’s speaking the same language as usual, right? I understand every word, but together it makes no sense!]
[Is he reading a public verdict document?]
[Song Xuan ran a casino, cross-border gambling??]
[No wonder he can’t get a clean record proof!]
[Wait, conspiracy theory: He got in that car accident right after showing his clean record… was it on purpose?]
[Don’t believe it, rumors, leave us alone!]
[Why not come out when he was knocking, but the second he reads the verdict, the door opens?!]
Soon, the manager came out too, now properly dressed, and warmly draped an arm over Yu Xi’s shoulder. “Let’s talk this out nicely.”
Yi Chen stared intently at the manager’s hand—no, claw.
That claw had nearly touched Yu Xi’s gland.
Yu Xi shoved the manager’s arm away and rejected him outright. “I’ve got nothing to say to you guys. I speak bluntly, so if that upsets you, sorry, but I can’t help it.”
Song Xuan chuckled. “How could we be upset? Speaking your mind is a good trait…”
His voice cut off.
Yu Xi’s chest pocket wasn’t thick; the tiny red power light from the mini camera flickered faintly through the thin fabric.
Song Xuan’s tone suddenly turned grave. “You’re wearing a camera… from the production team…”
His eyes widened in shock. “You’re live streaming?!”
Beside him, the manager jolted and hurriedly pulled out his phone.
The preview live stream for Weekend Go Where was still going. Yu Xi and Yi Chen’s room had reopened not long ago, and Fu Le, Wu Zhiqi, and Fang Peng were watching it in their own stream.
He and Song Xuan’s shocked, panicked faces were right there on the screen.
Messages across all social platforms had completely exploded.
#SongXuanGambling
#SongXuanCasino
#SongXuanVerdict
These three hashtags blazed at the top of every platform, each marked with a bright red 【HOT】.
His phone was blown up with calls from the company’s PR department.
“You, you…” The manager couldn’t form a complete sentence. After struggling, he finally spat out, “What the hell do you want?!”
“Didn’t want anything. Just wanted to give the public the truth.” Yu Xi pulled out the mini camera. He’d hidden it only to catch Song Xuan off guard and capture their unprepared reactions—mission accomplished, no need to hide it anymore.
“You get to splash dirty water to shift the spotlight, but I can’t reveal the truth?”
“You couldn’t get a clean criminal record proof. You didn’t want anyone to find out. And your way of dodging the public eye was to dump the blame on me!”
“You’re the one using me as a shield!”
Song Xuan was a pro at playing public opinion.
Of course he knew that those few seconds of fawning smiles, panic, and shock were enough to make Yu Xi’s claims stick online.
Since it was beyond saving, Song Xuan dropped the act entirely. His gaze turned vicious. “Is this dirty water? This is traffic I’m giving you! You could refute it, debunk it, spin it white—you’ve got ten thousand ways to monetize this wave of buzz! I’m helping you! I’m sending you heat!!”
“Heat?” Yu Xi truly thought this guy was beyond redemption. “You think I want this kind of heat?!”
Yu Xi’s tone was deadly serious, enunciating each word: “What I want is… my innocence!!!”
