CH 74

The netizen listed several clues to prove that this was the Civil Affairs Bureau.

However, since the proof wasn’t exactly solid, these gossipy netizens didn’t really take it very seriously. 

[Bro, you’ve seriously got an amazing imagination. I’ve been married, divorced, and remarried. I went to the Civil Affairs Bureau three separate times, and I still wouldn’t have thought of this.]

[If I’m honest, it does look a little similar, especially when there are all these couples around him. Hahaha, I feel sorry for Chi Chi. He’s surrounded by couples. Poor thing.]

The netizen wasn’t bothered. This person summed up their findings.

[Hey, I’m serious. I used to work at the Civil Affairs Bureau. All of them look kind of the same. Plus, there’s a bunch of small text on the wall. It’s the warnings and precautions of the Civil Affairs Bureau…] 

Netizens: Hahaha, what small text? Let me take a look.

A moment later…

Netizens: !!!

[Ahhhh! Mom doesn’t agree with this marriage! Chi Chi, you can’t!]

[I was so shocked that my popcorn fell out of my hand.]

[So, in other words, this beautiful person is already married?]

[How is that possible? I don’t believe it.]

[It’s not true, it’s not true, it’s not true! If you spread rumors like that, you’re going to be hit by a car!] 

[Calm down! Maybe he was just accompanying a friend?]

[Am I the only one who got distracted? Bro, you typed out a whole lot of nothing. The only thing that you needed to say was that last sentence.]

There were all sorts of comments and opinions, but …

#GuQingchiCivilAffairsBureau 

… this hashtag still made it onto the trending list.

Ye Li kept trying to remove trending searches. Not long after he removed one trending topic, another one would pop up again after a while.

Xiao Ke was a little flustered.

“Ye ge, it’s not working. Everyone on Weibo is rushing over to ask questions. Our comment sections and private messages have exploded. There are even media outlets contacting us about it. What should we do?” 

Ye Li frowned.

If this had been before, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. Gu Qingchi kept a low profile, and his fans were fairly tolerant towards him. However, his popularity was currently at an all time high. Most of the newer fans were similar to those of idols. A lot of them were girlfriend or boyfriend fans.

Once their image of their idol had been ruined, the backlash would be very severe. There were plenty of examples of this in the industry. It was very likely that he’d never be able to rise again.

This was the reason why Ye Li had tried to keep Gu Qingchi from appearing too much in public. 

It wouldn’t have mattered if this marriage issue was leaked after he established a foothold within the industry. Audiences had always been more tolerant towards actors.

However, Gu Qingchi’s fans were still mostly face-cons, as well as those who had taken a liking to him after watching the variety show.

The first character he acted as had been very well fleshed out. The movie had also gotten popular. Even now, there were still people drawing fanart and making edits based off of Gu Qingchi’s character.

However, that was the only role he had to represent himself. No matter how good of a role it was, it was still limited in its impact. The fans that he gained through that role were pitiful in number when compared to the total number of fans. Gu Qingchi could practically be considered an influencer at this point. 

Even Ye Li had to admit that Gu Qingchi was more suited to be an influencer. Gu Qingchi had a face that was made to attract people’s attention. He pretty much came with his own popularity.

So far, most of their public relations team’s funds had been spent not on buying hashtags, but rather removing them.

Even though Gu Qingchi was walking the path of an actor, he still ended up becoming a bit of an influencer-slash-idol. If he’d chosen to become an idol, he would have definitely become a top performing individual within the circle by now.

However, Ye Li still felt that taking the path of an actor was the right choice. An actor could do certain things and behave in certain ways. If Gu Qingchi were to become an influencer, he would probably end up trending for every little thing. It was rather exhausting to live like that. 

For an influencer, having a public relationship was basically like ruining your future.

So, even though he was an actor, he absolutely could not admit to this rumor while his foundations were still unstable.

Ye Li had been considering the possibility that something like this would happen ever since he signed Gu Qingchi. He’d already thought of lots of methods to deal with this issue. However, at the end of the day, they were all pretty similar.

As long as there wasn’t any actual evidence, no one can really tell if the accusations are true or not. Either way, they absolutely could not admit to anything. 

At present, the only person who knew the truth was Ye Li. Xiao Ke didn’t even know whether the things said online were true or not. However, she was smart. She probably already had a guess as to what was up, but she never asked any questions.

Ye Li was very at ease about Xiao Ke.

“Ugfqjgf beg boolmlji rajafwfca. Ycmf sbe’gf vbcf, tjcv la bnfg ab wf. P’ii ibbx bnfg la.”

Xiao Ke agreed. 

Zbwfcar ijafg, Tf Ol lrrefv j rajafwfca bc Qflyb.

[Recently, we’ve discovered that there have been various rumors and untrue statements being disseminated about our artist, Gu Qingchi, on Weibo and other platforms. This has caused a great deal of trouble for our artist, Gu Qingchi. Thus, we are hereby issuing a statement as follows:

Yeg jgalra, Xe Hlcumtl, lr jc fzmfiifca jmabg. Mlgra bo jii, kf kbeiv ilxf ab atjcx fnfgsbcf obg sbeg mbcmfgc obg tlw.

Efujgvlcu fnfgsbcf’r vbeyar jybea tlr qgbofrrlbcji jylilalfr, kf klii tjnf ab qbilafis vlrjugff. Xe Hlcumtl lr jc jmabg. Lf qbrrfrrfr jii atf dejilalfr atja jc jmabg rtbeiv tjnf. 

As an actor, Gu Qingchi is not very good at singing. Due to a mishap during the show, he was assigned to mentor an idol group and wasn’t able to assist as he should have. We humbly hope everyone can understand. We have accepted everyone’s criticisms, but there probably won’t be much improvement to this regard in the future. We invite everyone to keep an eye out for his future projects.

As for the issue regarding the center position, since he is not well-versed in the field of music and choreography, the program’s arrangement was left entirely to the company’s trainees.

Finally, Gu Qingchi is currently single. Any allegations regarding his romantic life are completely and unequivocally false.

We hope everyone will pay more attention to Gu Qingchi. Please do not interfere too much with the artist’s private life.] 

Ye Li also reposted the boy group’s explanation of things. Now that they had made their debut, they honestly explained that they had actually intended to mooch off of their mentor’s popularity.

As soon as this statement was released, a crowd of netizens quickly gathered in the comment section. The gossip mongering netizens were satisfied to have gotten a result. The fans were thrilled to have an official statement. Instantly, they felt full of conviction.

[Ahh, thank god for that last paragraph! I can die without regrets! Chi Chi is still a baby! Mom can’t bear for you to get married so soon!]

[I’m stunned. I can’t believe he was actually an actor. No wonder he doesn’t do much social media. I was just wondering whether all celebrities are this laid-back nowadays.] 

[Those gossip accounts are so disgusting, so annoying. I can’t believe they were able to come up with something like this. Literally any other rumor would be more believable. Also, some of y’all know exactly what’s going on and want to play dumb. You people will really believe anything. So ridiculous.]

[That’s what I’ve been saying. Never trust a gossip account. I wonder if he offended someone and that’s why they’re coming at him like this. @XieLuyu. Look at what’s going on! They’re bullying your kid! QAQ.]

[@XieLuyu. Come out and do something about this.]

A large part of Gu Qingchi’s long-time fans had been attracted to him because of Ke Mu. There were very many shippers among them that shipped Gu Qingchi and Xie Luyu. Thus, they all started tagging Xie Luyu. 

It stood to reason that most fans didn’t like it when their idol was dragged into muddy waters. At this time, the normal reaction would be for fans to draw a line in the sand between their idol and your idol. However, Xie Luyu’s fans were different. Both the fans and the idol were fairly unconventional.

If Xie Luyu didn’t respond, they wouldn’t respond. If Xie Luyu made a statement, they would follow suit. They were a well-trained and relatively worry-free fanbase. After all, if they started acting out, the first one to shoot back at them would probably be their own idol, Xie Luyu.

They weren’t worried to see another artist’s fans rush into their comment sections. Rather, Xie Luyu’s fans also started tagging him as they watched the show.

[Xie Luyu, quick! Your junior’s been bullied!] 

[Looks like there’s still some hope for your love life. Cheering for you.]

However, Xie Luyu’s account remained silent.

Xie Luyu naturally saw it. Gu Qingchi had been at the center of all this bad publicity.

However, this had nothing to do with him. After all, Gu Qingchi had completely broken it off with him. 

Pan Xiaocheng, on the other hand, was very nervous. If he had even a second of free time, he would go check the situation online. Pan Xiaocheng had been working within this circle for a long time. He noticed that the official statement said “currently single”. When he saw that, he figured that the rumors online were probably true.

Pan Xiaocheng was really kind of angry now. He originally thought that the two of them were genuinely in love. However, it turned out that the other guy was a player who was just trying to have a little fun.

However, none of that mattered anymore. The two of them had already broken up. Right now, the thing he was most afraid of was Xie Luyu’s impulsiveness. After all, it was one thing if the ex-boyfriend was a scumbag, but it was another thing if the ex-boyfriend was a player.

Pan Xiaocheng opened the door once more to peek at Xie Luyu. 

Xie Luyu had been interrupted several times already. He finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“What is up with you? Am I a prisoner or something? You’ve been staring at me all day.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to do something impulsive and end up on the headlines.”

“What’s there to be impulsive about? What can I do? What’s it matter to me? Besides, you’ve been managing my social media for me.” 

It was only then that Pan Xiaocheng settled down. He shut the door behind him, muttering under his breath.

“In that case, I’m leaving. Why have you been so irritable these past couple of days? I didn’t even say anything, and you already exploded.”

Xie Luyu waited for a while. Once Pan Xiaocheng’s footsteps could no longer be heard, he turned the brightness back up on his laptop.

The top part of the screen was a forum. The bottom part of the screen was Weibo. He was also logged into another account on his cell phone. 

Xie Luyu couldn’t keep sitting anymore. He was kind of half-squatting, staring at the computer screen. He clicked his tongue. Then, his fingers started flying across the keyboard.

“I looked away for a second and now there are all these new posts.”

His phone lit up. It was a message coming in through WeChat.

[I’ve already started removing the hashtags. The comments are also under control. There’s progress on other platforms too. Don’t forget to send me my bonuses.] 

After a while, another message popped up.

[My girlfriend ships the two of you. She wants me to ask if you two are real. Don’t worry. I know the rules. You already know that.]

⁂

Gu Qingchi’s various scandals have been raging online lately, but, generally speaking, there wasn’t any hard evidence. Plus, a lot of the claims out there were an obvious reach. Everyone started pitying him even more. 

After this entire debacle, he actually ended up gaining fans. It started to seem that the storm had finally passed.

[I almost laughed my head off. He’s an actor. So what if his singing is bad?]

[Am I the only one who still cares about the marriage thing…]

Even after all those twists and turns, Gu Qingchi still didn’t really know about what had happened. 

He lived at his own pace. He worked when there was work to do. If there wasn’t any work, he would stay at home and think about what to have for dinner.

Once nice thing was the fact that he now had a large garden. It came with a swing. It also came with tables and chairs for afternoon tea. If the weather was nice, he would stay outside to bask in the sun.

The issue slowly started to pass. The reaction from netizens and fans were fairly favorable.

At this time, Ye Li received an invitation from an awards ceremony in China. 

Wang Haisheng probably decided to submit the film that Gu Qingchi had acted in for an award. Now, it looked like it won.

Since everything was pretty much over, Ye Li didn’t say anything to Gu Qingchi. He simply just let him go.

Gu Qingchi went through the motions and did as he was supposed to. The organizers arranged for him to enter the venue.

The ceremony would take place in the evening. The afternoon was scheduled for a press conference. Celebrities would be interviewed one by one. 

Originally, Gu Qingchi wasn’t scheduled for a press conference, but, when he made to leave, there were various media personnel chasing after him for an interview. Other celebrities were also surrounded by reporters. However, Gu Qingchi was surrounded by the most. The crowd of reporters almost seemed to swallow him alive.

Gu Qingchi didn’t have experience with this sort of thing, so he was immediately stopped in his tracks by the media. Microphones were stuffed in front of his face. Cameras were pointed at him. Gu Qingchi stepped back and looked at the door. A lot of people had left already. He spoke hesitantly.

“The press conference is over now. Do I need to answer questions as well? They all seemed to have—”

The reporters cut him off with a barrage of questions. 

“Could you please give a direct response to the online allegations?”

Several entertainment reporters were desperately trying to squeeze their way to the front.

“What is your current marital status?”

“Is it really true that you’ve been married for three years?” 

“Is it a happy marriage?”

Gu Qingchi lowered his eyes. His expression slightly changed. The corners of his eyes were icy cold. The reporters kept urging him to answer. Gu Qingchi raised his head and looked at the camera.

“I’m not married anymore. It wasn’t three years, but two years. However, I’ve already divorced.”

He placed a great deal of emphasis on the fact that he was divorced. His response was very earnest. 

The reporters all fell silent. They quietly listened as he spoke.

Finally, he threw down one last sentence.

“It wasn’t a happy marriage.”

⁂ 

Gu Qingchi was truly in for it now.

A video of this interview went viral online.

In the video, Gu Qingchi was looking at the camera. Each and every word was crystal clear. His eyes seemed to have shattered starlight captured within them. He didn’t express any particular emotion, yet, for some reason, he looked so vulnerable and so sad.

When this seemingly untouchable person admitted that the allegations about his private life were true, it was as if a god had been pulled down from his altar. There was almost a sort of blasphemous thrill to the whole thing. 

Look, he isn’t untouchable after all. Look, I pulled him down into the quagmire.

And the first to double back to attack him were his fans.

They couldn’t accept this reality, so they doubled back to step on him. Gu Qingchi’s Weibo account was flooded with abuse, derision, condemnation.

It seemed as though any and all ugliness could exist when separated by a screen. 

[I don’t know what to say. I’m very sad and very disappointed. I’m unstanning. I wish you well, I guess.]

[I’ve been defending you this whole time. When I look back on those comments now, it’s like a slap in the face. Was it fun to deceive your fans like this? Have fun flopping.]

[I’m a little shocked. What’s the big deal about getting married? Is it worth all the outrage?]

[You lied to your fans to get money out of them. It’s disgusting. How many times have you been married, huh? I hope you get hit by a fucking bus.] 

[I can even accept a relationship announcement, but I really can’t accept something like this. I’m sorry. I may have to take a step back and digest this information.]

[This is already old news, so what are you dragging it out for? Was it fun to play around with us like that?]

This was large-scale internet violence. Gu Qingchi’s long-time fans weren’t spared from the vitriol either. As soon as they showed up, they’d be greeted with a whole host of colorful curse words. A lot of the abuse was almost without reason.

The drawbacks of his stratospheric rise in popularity were undoubtedly exposed at this moment. 

Ye Li’s Weibo account was dragged into it as well.

Xiao Ke was about to disable the comments, but she was stopped by Ye Li.

“Let them kick up a fuss. Qingchi doesn’t use Weibo. Give them a place to at least vent their frustrations. Make sure not to reveal any addresses or contact information.”

Ye Li massaged his temples. 

“Keep removing the hashtags. Once we get past all of this, we’ll be out in the clear. Don’t say anything about any of this in front of Gu Qingchi. He only knows how to use WeChat, so he probably doesn’t know about what’s happening online. I guess this could be considered a good thing. We won’t have to mentally prepare him for the backlash.”

This wouldn’t be the first time for an artist’s mental health to deteriorate due to online abuse.

⁂

It was almost exactly the same night as when the interview video was released. Xie Luyu was originally at home. After watching the video, he immediately drove to the company building and arrived at the office. Pan Xiaocheng was just about to leave. 

Pan Xiaocheng was packing up his documents and preparing to go home when he was startled by Xie Luyu.

“What are you doing? What are you looking for? Tell me and I’ll help you find it.”

“Perfect. You’re here. Hurry up and send me the password to my Weibo. I won’t have to look for it then.”

Pan Xiaocheng hesitated for a while. 

Xie Luyu didn’t even lift his head. Instead, he started throwing a pile of documents to the ground.

“Hurry up. Forget it. Just open up my account on your phone. I need to use it.”

Pan Xiaocheng turned on his cell phone.

“Fine, you’re the boss. Do whatever you want.” 

Xie Luyu just so happened to find the folder that he was looking for. He dumped out the files within the folder and poured them out onto the coffee table.

After searching for a while, he grabbed a little red booklet and opened it up. After taking a few photos, he started drafting a new post.

[Guess who else has been married and divorced? I committed a huge sin against humanity. Come at me.]

The post was accompanied by a picture of a little red booklet. The other person’s information on the marriage certificate had been blurred out. 

There in all its glory was a photo of Xie Luyu. It was followed by a line of text.

Certificate Holder: Xie Luyu.

Xie Luyu breathed a sigh of relief once he was done and collapsed on the sofa. He didn’t forget to log out of his Weibo account on Pan Xiaocheng’s phone. The password that Pan Xiaocheng set was super long and complicated. Pan Xiaocheng himself wouldn’t be able to log in for a while.

Afterwards, he started to delete the photos from the phone. However, just as he was about to delete the photo of the divorce certificate, he paused. Then, he zoomed in. 

There was a small line of text at the bottom.

Name: Gu Qingchi.