Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 52

By the time they reached the company the sky was already darkening. Zhan Hang entered the main doors with a gloomy face. Along the way, employees leaving work sized him up with surprised eyes, but hurriedly averted their gazes when they drew near, afraid of being caught by the person in question.

His legs were long and his stride was large, walking with great momentum. Zhao Kaile could only quicken his pace to follow behind, suffering in silence.

The elevator reached the floor. Lu Jiayin was already waiting at the door and led them all the way to the office. Passing by the conference room, they could faintly hear the sounds of the public relations department arguing loudly and discussing inside.

“Can we trace the source of the photos? Which account did they come from? Check both sides.” Bai Li opened the door for them, one hand holding her phone, still negotiating with the other party. “We need to be fast. It’s been fermenting for nearly two hours now.”

She hung up this call, and the next second answered another one. “Hello, ah, President Lin, we’re handling it right now, yes yes……. We’ll control it as soon as possible, please don’t worry first.” After hanging up another call came in. “How can it not be deleted? Price increase??? Then add money, you decide for yourself, anything within five times is acceptable.”

Zhao Kaile asked, “How is it…….”

“Not very optimistic.” Bai Li picked up her water cup and took a sip. “Sit down first.”

Zhan Hang had already seated himself on the sofa. Lu Jiayin brought water over for the two of them, patting Zhao Kaile’s shoulder with one hand, also looking worried.

A male assistant wearing glasses asked weakly from the side, “Should we apologize to the fans first?”

Zhan Hang and Bai Li said simultaneously, “No.”

Bai Li glanced at him, “We can’t for now. Apologizing is equivalent to indirectly admitting it.”

“Sister Li, fans are chasing after our company asking on all our Weibo accounts……..” Lu Jiayin said, “We have to respond with something.”

Bai Li covered her forehead, thinking for a moment, “The best solution I can think of right now is to find Gu Shanshan herself.”

“I can’t find her.” Zhan Hang said coldly, “All her contact information is already invalid. The person who was keeping her back then dumped her long ago. Finding Li Yang is even less realistic. And even if we find her, what then? She could shamelessly make me be a happy father back then, and this time she can use this matter to squeeze another sum out of me.”

Bai Li looked at him, frowning, “Giving money is still better than having your reputation completely collapse. You don’t want to keep filming dramas?”

Zhan Hang averted his gaze and said nothing.

Bai Li asked, “What exactly happened that night? Tell me in full detail. What I found out through inquiries definitely isn’t as comprehensive as what you, the person involved, know.”

“……..” Zhan Hang’s expression was one of humiliation, and he said irritably, “I was drunk to the point of being a bit drunk, fell straight asleep, and when I woke up she was next to me, wearing nothing. A honey trap, understand??”

Bai Li asked again, “You’re certain you didn’t have anything with her…….. Then the child she aborted? It wasn’t yours?”

“Of course not!” Zhan Hang was nearly spitting blood.

He squeezed for a long time, but still couldn’t muster the courage to squeeze out that crucial fine detail from his mouth.

Zhao Kaile was watching from the side, nearly dying of anxiety, and couldn’t help but say, “It really wasn’t! Hang ge couldn’t even get it up for her at all, don’t wrong him!”

Zhan Hang: “……..”

For a moment the gazes of several people in the office all became strange, looking together at Zhan Hang sitting on the sofa. Zhan Hang turned his head and looked at Zhao Kaile with a sinister gloom, while the latter cowardly scooted toward the sofa corner, trying hard to explain, “Hang ge, this can’t go on like this. I actually think this kind of reputation isn’t that important, because you’re an actor who relies on acting skills to make a living right…….. So, so…….”

Bai Li’s face changed and changed again, suddenly not knowing what expression to use facing Zhan Hang. She could only support her forehead and say, “You……”

Zhan Hang gritted his teeth, his face dark, enunciating each word, “I. Am. Very. Normal.”

Lu Jiayin sat in place, pretending not to have heard, lowering his head to look at messages on his phone.

Now Weibo was a scene of blood and wind, search engines had temporarily paralyzed, and every refresh would add dozens or even hundreds or thousands of related public opinions.

Zhang Wenqian’s fans swarmed to Weibo to wildly spray that Zhan Hang was disgusting. CP fans were heartbroken, not only had their main ship’s house collapsed, but they were also being dragged by the hair and cursed by solo fans. Zhan Hang’s fans tried their utmost to defend him but really couldn’t withstand the combined suppression of various black forces, retreating step by step. The slightly younger girls were already being scolded to the point of tears. Another portion of netizens were investigating who the woman in the photos was, and quickly dug out her Weibo account, entertainment forum account, and accounts from various platforms from years ago. They learned she was a washed up minor internet celebrity and female model who had once been kept by a certain sugar daddy. Even more Sherlock Holmes style investigations discovered that the time this female model was being kept coincided with the time of Zhan Hang’s bed photo incident. So they became even more righteous in their indignation, accusing Zhan Hang of being outrageously bold, knowingly being the third party.

The phone rang again. Bai Li answered and finally received the first good news of the day. The other party said, “The IP has been traced, at an internet cafe in the East District, called Jinchen Internet Cafe. I casually hacked the surveillance and took a look. The person sitting in that seat was a young man in his early twenties, average looking, not like an artist. Probably a staff member or simply hired to be the fall guy. Most of the other reposting and instigating water army accounts are from Dongye Company’s accounts, the one Qiming Media frequently cooperates with.”

“Got it, thanks for the hard work.” Bai Li hung up and turned to Zhan Hang, saying, “If what Kaile just said is true, I think…….”

“It’s not true!” Zhan Hang was simply furious.

Bai Li, “Okay okay, I’ll think of another way.”

Lu Jiayin said, “How about recording a video explaining the situation? In any case, respond first. The longer we drag it out, the worse it gets.”

“What kind of stupid mess is this……..” Zhan Hang found it quite laughable, “I have to respond to something I didn’t do.”

Zhao Kaile, “How about when you respond, you have those friends of yours repost and repost? That would make it more credible.”

“No one would be willing to be dragged down together at a time like this.” Zhan Hang said mockingly to him, “Including your goddess Zhang Wenqian.”

Zhao Kaile: “…….”

He went to Zhang Wenqian’s Weibo with some indignation. She hadn’t replied to a single one of the radical comments from fans below. Her latest Weibo was still yesterday’s advertisement video. It seemed she was also waiting.

“How about we directly contact Li Yang and bluff him.” The male assistant said carefully, “First make it clear to him that his black material wasn’t leaked by us, but we have evidence of him attending wife swapping parties in our hands. That’s way more explosive than the two big melons currently hanging on our hot search.”

Bai Li waved her hand, “Why would he believe us?”

Everyone was at a loss. The messages in Zhan Hang’s phone were about to explode.

Zhang Wenqian asked him whether this matter was really true? When did it happen? If he didn’t respond soon their CP would be unbound. Yao Min’er consoled him in a blaming yet unsurprised manner, saying look at how idle netizens are nowadays, what kind of big deal is it worth causing such a sensation? Men all have moments of impulse. Every producer, director, actor, coordinator, script supervisor, and extra he had worked with sent messages to ask or tease him. There were also a few who were solely focused on work and paid no attention to outside matters, but this quantity was already enough to wear down Zhan Hang’s patience.

He slapped the sofa armrest hard, nearly causing Zhao Kaile to slide off the sofa.

However, a WeChat call ringtone suddenly sounded. It was Li Yang.

Zhan Hang immediately made a shushing gesture to everyone, answered the call, and turned on speaker.

“Seen the hot search?” he asked, “The heat is too high. Spent so much money and still can’t delete it all. Very anxious, right?”

Zhan Hang asked, “Where did you get this photo from? You can tell me now?”

Li Yang laughed, “Of course from the person involved’s own hands. You’re so stupid.”

Zhan Hang said angrily, “Your photos weren’t leaked by Zhao Kaile, why did you…….”

Li Yang interrupted him, “I know, so what? I just like dragging someone to die with me. Isn’t it lively?”

“You……” Zhan Hang was furious to the extreme, but instead laughed coldly, “Then why don’t you drag more people along? So many people at the party, piles and piles of evidence. I don’t believe you didn’t keep any of it.”

Li Yang was silent for a moment, then said coldly, “No need for you to worry. Zhan Hang, we originally always wanted to recruit you, but you’re really too ungrateful. Since you want to flaunt your individuality so much, go be your lone wolf in the sewer. I might still have room to turn things around, but you can’t.”

After speaking he hung up the phone.

Zhan Hang took a deep breath, looked up at everyone. Zhao Kaile flashed his phone toward him, “Recorded.”

Bai Li gave him a thumbs up, then turned to the male assistant, “Take it to edit, then post it and tag Li Yang and Qiming Media’s Weibo.”

Zhao Kaile, “According to his meaning, Gu Shanshan must have had some kind of interaction with him.”

Zhan Hang made a sound of agreement, “The people around him should more or less know a bit.”

“……” A golden light flashed through Zhao Kaile’s mind with a chua sound. He asked with some doubt, “Why would the two of them interact, and where would they meet?”

Lu Jiayin said with a seemingly smiling yet not smiling expression, “What else can people like them do when they meet, fight…….. um, that thing, probably at a hotel.”

Zhao Kaile asked, “Isn’t Gu Shanshan quite tall, with long hair, not dyed?”

“She is quite tall, after all she was a model.” Zhan Hang recalled, “At the time it was long hair. What she looks like now, whether it’s dyed or not, I’m not clear.”

After recalling, he looked at Zhao Kaile, “What are you thinking of?”

“Hang ge, that night at the hotel I told you about, do you still remember?” Zhao Kaile said, “Li Yang was in the room next to ours, secretly meeting an out of circle girlfriend. Is it possible that she was…….”

“The probability of that is too small.” Zhan Hang said, “Not very likely.”

Bai Li said, “Even if the probability is small we still have to check. Jiayin, go contact the CC Hotel person in charge and look at the surveillance from that day. If we can grasp evidence that their relationship is unclear, he’ll be even more thoroughly finished.”

Lu Jiayin nodded.

Zhao Kaile worried, “But she was blocking quite tightly. In the hallway section you might not be able to see her face.”

“……..” Bai Li pondered for a moment, then said, “It’s fine, let’s look first and talk later.”