Chapter Eighty-Three

  A newspaper agency

  Editor a: "Keywords, Yuan Jinyan... okay, all of these fans are flooding the screen with 'heartbroken for Yuan Jinyan' - how annoying. Next keyword, Xu Qianqian... um, Xu Qianqian is a trans person, what kind of material is this? The current online media really has no shame, no wonder they're ruining our entire industry and calling us 'prostitutes'. They must be comfortable with that. Next keyword, Xu Wenjie, Xu Wenjie... hey, boss?"

  The little editor poked the chief editor who was dozing off beside him, and the chief editor murmured and lifted his head to wipe the saliva from the corner of his mouth: "What's up?"

  Here is the translation:

  "Editor a: 'There's a Weibo post that just came out, 30 seconds ago, saying that someone threw a severed hand and foot at the entrance of H City Central Hospital. Some people suspect it might be Xu Wenjie who mysteriously disappeared this afternoon... What kind of rhythm is this? Is history repeating itself like what happened to Jiang Chuan back then? Are those IM company people secretly doing black/evil things? Who provoked whom to death? --- So now the question is, should we forward this or not?'"

  Editor A: "......You woke me up for this nonsense that's even more twisted than a fairy tale plot?"

  Editor A: "Uh."

  News Agency

  Xiao Bian B: "Boss, there's a tip from a passerby that someone just threw two seriously injured people in front of H City Hospital. The informant claims one of them is Xu Wenjie."

  Editor B: "Forward this Weibo and tell colleagues nearby to go to the scene immediately. Wait for you, we'll be right there."

  "But that person may not necessarily be Xu Wenjie——"

  Editor b: "'A midnight victim was hacked and seriously injured by a black society member and thrown in front of the hospital' is already a news headline, isn't Xu Wenjie just adding icing to the cake? What are you afraid of, running an extra trip? Hurry up."

  Editor b: "Yes!"

  A newspaper agency

  "Damn, the old media company forwarded this Weibo post! F**k, we saw it first! This group of shameless reporters... The boss has already forwarded it 500 times, no, 1000 times, damn, 2000 times, f**k, 3000 times! I'm going to die! It's spreading at the speed of light! Isn't today Wednesday? Where did all these gossipmongers come from in the middle of the night? Are they not working tomorrow?"

  Editor A: “……”

  Little A: “……B newspaper has gone to the hospital, what about us?”

  Editor A slapped the back of his subordinate's head: "What the f**k are you thinking?! We're going too!!!!! Just sitting in the office eating and drinking, waiting for death, can't even get news to fall from the sky and hit your head?!"

  C Times

  Editor C: "Both newspaper A and B have forwarded it? So brave? Okay, let's forward it too. Although we've become followers, if the facts prove that the whistleblower was blind and netizens scold them... they went to the scene? Then we'll go too, haha, followers haha... wait till dawn to get off work and can also go for a morning tea, who's turn is it this time, little C, you're treating us!"

  Above.

  When reporters from various news agencies, carrying their equipment, rushed out of their nests in vehicles with different media logos, heading to the People's Hospital in the city center due to a single Weibo post. About 15 minutes later, when that ordinary pedestrian's Weibo post was forwarded to 50,000 people, the vehicle from B News Agency, which was closest to the hospital and took action first, had already arrived at the hospital entrance. Just as the editor-in-chief jumped out of the car, he saw a guy with his own news agency ID card rushing towards him like a mad dog, panting and saying: "I said I'm the patient's brother, but I was stopped outside and they won't let me in!"

  "You're wearing a press pass claiming to be the brother of someone in the emergency room, and you have the nerve to complain to me that medical staff won't let you in? ...Damn it, who was it that gave you an interview and let you pass back then?! How can people with such low IQ get hired?!...You weren't allowed in, did you even try peeking through the door? Is that person really Xu Wenjie?"

  "Can't see clearly, face covered, the one who's already dead was pushed out, looks like the mysterious person who was said to have a connection with Xu Wenjie and the true or fake bullet incident, judging from height and figure... when he came out, Emma's bed sheet was all bloody, I'm a big man but my legs went soft..."

  "Have you taken the picture?"

  "Snap!" - The newspaper's correspondent stood up straight and proudly said, "Raising the camera is a conditioned reflex for being a reporter."

  "That's fine, at least you still remember the honor of being a journalist... If you're so focused on taking pictures that you forget about your legs, then you can go home and eat by yourself tomorrow when the sun rises..."

  The editor-in-chief spoke as he quickly walked towards the hospital, a true professional who was very familiar with the hospital's layout. He rushed to the emergency room door and happened to see a nurse coming out - she looked up and saw a group of people holding cameras pointed at her. As an ordinary person, the nurse wanted to turn around and hide, but then remembered that she was wearing a mask, which gave her some confidence. She shouted at the media crowd in front of her: "All of you go back! Who let you come here? This is a hospital, you can't mess around here, don't stand there, disrupting medical order!"

  Just as he was saying that, he looked up and saw a group of people from other news agencies rushing towards him with the same equipment.

  "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

  "Has it come out yet?"

  "Old B, what have you guys taken pictures of? Share them with us! Damn it, just because your place is close to the hospital doesn't mean you can be so sneaky! Is the person inside really Xu Wenjie or not? I'm not asking for much, just tell me if it's him or not!"

  "Is he still alive?"

  "Who is the one who died? Where did the body go? Can we pull it out and take a picture of it with the hospital logo mosaic?"

  Nurse: "...... I'm going to call security!"

  ……

  He had been on edge for the past few days, so when he received Fang Yu's call in the middle of the night, he was startled and instinctively thought something big had happened or that the things he had been worried about lately had finally occurred. After forcing himself to calm down and telling himself "to be brave", he picked up the phone, only to find out that the other party just wanted him to turn on his computer and check Weibo.

  Late at night, browsing Weibo.

  His hand holding the phone was covered in cold sweat, and his mood at this moment was like a roller coaster that had reached the ground from the top. He let out a long sigh, muttering to himself "Fang Yu, you won't get your year-end bonus this year, really not getting it". He picked up his other personal phone, which was always on, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he opened Weibo, refreshing the page casually, only to find that his homepage had been taken over by a single piece of news.

  It was a Weibo post from H City People's Hospital, the author spoke in the tone of hospital staff and told an entertainment industry ghost story at this late hour...

  It's said that long, long ago there was a small star of the 18 lines. He seemed to have deliberately plotted murder for his role. On the day of the initial verdict, under the eyelids of many people, the little star quietly disappeared without a sound. When everyone thought he had fled in fear of punishment, he reappeared, only missing one leg and one hand, becoming half an asymmetrical human stick.

  Many marketing accounts who are concerned about this matter have forwarded this Weibo and attached shocked expressions.

  He tightly grasped his phone, reading the Weibo post three times, then stared at the words "That person seems to be Xu Wenjie" for a while. After a long time, he seemed to have reacted and asked Fang Yu on the other end of the phone: "...... What's going on? What happened to Xu Wenjie? Is that person really Xu Wenjie? It can't be, he's also a star, how could he..."

  "I heard from my friend at the newspaper that they already took a photo of him, the person who was just wheeled out of the emergency room is indeed Xu Wenjie, but for now everyone is temporarily holding back from releasing it - possibly because of the bad influence from the last time when you were photographed in your hospital room, so now everyone is having some difficulty and even though they have the news, they are suppressing it and don't dare to release it..."

  He slowly got out of bed, touched his pillow, and then looked a bit at a loss as he pulled the quilt - the development direction of this matter had now somewhat exceeded his cognitive range, his brain was a bit dizzy, he switched the phone from his left ear to his right ear, licked his dry chin, and heard himself make a sound with an unknown emotion: "That day Xu Qianqian even said viciously that I would regret it, saying that we couldn't do anything about her, no matter how big IM company's means were, they could get away with murder at the police station before, but this kind of thing wouldn't happen again... now she was surrounded by the police just like Xu Wenjie, so she was very safe..."

  "That's what I didn't know, when did you say it?"

  "The day she was taken away," Jin Yan said, "I happened to bump into her in the corridor."

  "Who heard it?"

  "So many people, me, Jiang Chuan, a bunch of police officers, and possibly some customers eavesdropping at the door."

  "Xu Qianqian is seeking death."

  "Huh?"

  "Do you often go in front of a tiger and tease it by saying 'Come on, come on, you can't bite me la la la'?"

  "Huh?"

  "......Never mind, go to sleep."

  "How can I sleep now that you've woken me up?" Jian Yan turned his head to glance at the electronic clock on his bedside table, the time pointing to 4:30. He let out a helpless sigh. "I don't know what's wrong with me lately, it's as if I'm a terminal patient, every day I lie in bed worrying that today might be the last day of my acting career. Just thinking about it keeps me awake..."

  "Sleep," Fang Yu said on the phone without any emotion, "After Xu Wenjie's matter is exposed tomorrow morning, your trouble will be gone - Xu Qianqian won't say anything."

  "What's wrong?" Jian Ran was taken aback.

  "You're not very clear about what Xu Qianqian said about Jiang Chuan, are you? Actually, before you woke up, Jiang Chuan was also blackmailed once. That time, someone even threw eggs at him. Do you know what happened to that person later?" Fang Yu paused and continued, "He committed suicide in the police station. Although he was still stubbornly insisting on his innocence just a second before, after meeting a self-proclaimed lawyer, he killed himself. The identity of that self-proclaimed lawyer has not been found to this day... Later, there was also the incident where Xu Wenjie was taken away and had his hands and feet chopped off under everyone's noses..."

  He thought for a moment and asked with some trepidation: "...... what does IM company actually do?"

  "Ordinary entertainment economy company." Fang Yu said without thinking, "If we had that ability, would we be staring at the resources of Chuan Na?"

  "These things..."

  "Don't mind who did it, just remember that even you feel inappropriate now, Xu Qianqian will only feel more inappropriate - she had just said that she felt very safe and then her brother got into trouble, this is a slap in the face. Do you think she still dares to say anything at this time? Originally, it was nothing more than going to jail and taking you down together, now she also has to worry about that guy who can go to the police station, the court, again and again, and finally, even the prison where she is staying..."

  “……”

  "So congratulations, nothing's wrong, that's all, go to bed early."

  After finishing a series of entertainment industry ghost stories, the agent Mr. threw down a mysterious "Congratulations" and hung up the phone mercilessly. He sat on the bed in a daze for a while, put down his mobile phone and lay back on the bed, looking at the comments under Xu Wenjie's Weibo post about the accident...

  As expected, apart from forwarding posts expressing shock from passersby, some of Xu Wenjie's fans have started arguing with other passersby - whenever someone claps and cheers, Xu Wenjie's fans would rush over and scold "No matter what he did wrong, do you have humanity?", I thought to myself that Xu Wenjie's fans actually made sense... But then I turned my head and saw one of our own fans rushing over and slapping someone in the face, scolding "Your Xu Wenjie changed bullets wanting to murder me, does he have humanity? Haha, he's just a dog, what qualifications does he have to talk about humanity?"

  He turned over cautiously, smacked his lips, and suddenly felt that what his own wife said seemed more reasonable.

  His fingers slid down further, carefully reading through the comments and various verbal spars for a full fifteen minutes. Finally, the raven-haired young man lying on his bed successfully messed up his three views.

  On the one hand, he wanted to applaud and exclaim "Great!", on the other hand, his rationality told him that although "Evil will be punished" was a correct statement, but this kind of "punishment" seemed a bit unconventional. After thinking about it repeatedly, he completely lost sleep, staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open, as for how to view this matter, in the end, Jian Ran still couldn't come up with a conclusion, so he came up with a conclusion that "I don't care what you think, anyway, I'm dying of being entangled, my three views are super positive".

  He turned over and looked at the electronic clock on his bedside table, 5:15, it was still pitch black outside, really a good time for the night watchman to be out, he decided to go disturb Jiang Chuan.

  ……

  He thought he would be facing a disturbed and enraged Jiang Chuan.

  He didn't expect that when he opened the door, he was facing a handsome man coming out of the bath.

  The black-haired young man standing at the door asked the man who was wiping his head with a towel, "What are you taking a bath for so early in the morning?"

  "Turning around, Jiang Chuan walked into the house: 'What are you knocking on the door for at this early hour?'"

  Today's Gankawa seems a bit more violent compared to his usual peaceful days.

  Jin Ran asked a question that Jiang Chuan obviously didn't want to answer, and Jiang Chuan also countered with a question that Jin Ran couldn't answer - the two of them were evenly matched. Jin Ran walked into the house, sniffing around, but he didn't smell any scent of a woman or anything else that might have been left behind after... something. The bed had been turned down, but it still looked tidy, as if no one had slept in it. Jin Ran sat down on the edge of the neatly made bed and asked, "Did you go out tonight?"

  Jiang Chuan heard this and paused for a moment, his back still turned. A moment later, he turned around and glanced at the young man with black hair, responding indifferently with a simple "uh-huh". Before the other could ask another question, Jiang Chuan took the initiative to say: "Can't sleep, went out for a ride."

  "Oh," Jianran sat cross-legged on the bed, looking up at Jiangchuan with his head tilted back, "Have you checked your phone?"

  "Riding a bike, looking at your phone, do you think I'm riding a unicycle?" Jiang Chuan replied expressionlessly. At this time, he turned around and inadvertently met the gaze of those black pupils staring at him from the direction of the bed. He paused for a moment, put down the towel in his hand, "What's wrong, something happened?"

  "Uh-huh," he responded, noticing Jiang Chuan's changing expression, and quickly waved his hand to continue, "It wasn't me who got into trouble, it was Xu Wenjie - ah, didn't he go missing this afternoon? He just appeared, I heard someone chopped off his hands and feet and threw him in front of the hospital. He's not dead but might as well be... Just now, Fang Yu called to tell me that although we still don't know if Xu Wenjie's incident was a coincidence or for some reason, it might have a positive effect - intimidating Xu Qianqian into shutting her mouth..."

  Jiang Chuan was silent.

  He thought for a moment and it seemed that he was too excited to speak incoherently, causing the man not to understand. He calmed down and prepared to explain again from start to finish. However, he suddenly felt a faint scent of soap entering his nostrils, followed by the half-naked man sitting down beside him, his arm brushing against his. Jian Ran turned his head, his eyes filled with the sight of the other's bulging muscles, leaving him slightly dizzy.

  But at this moment, he heard Jiang Chuan ask a question in his ear: "So what do you think about this matter?"

  "Ah?" Jing Ran was taken aback for a moment, and stretched out his hand to poke the bulging muscles on Jiang Chuan's arm. The latter frowned and slapped away his hand, seemingly somewhat annoyed, asking "I asked you what you think, why are you making gestures?"

  Today's Gankawa seems a bit more violent than usual.

  Jian Ran hastily withdrew his hand, which had just been slapped by the cold and unfeeling man. Unconsciously, he raised his head to look at the man in front of him, but unexpectedly found that at this moment, the other party was staring at him with those azure eyes without blinking for a moment. For a while, Jian Ran even thought there was something wrong with his own eyes, because he discovered that Jiang Chuan had been acting strangely since he entered the house, and it wasn't because of his temper, but because... he was nervous?

  What's there to be nervous about?

  It's inexplicably strange.

  "...I don't know how to look at it, but my view on this matter is contradictory." Under the pressure of those piercing eyes, the young man with black hair had no choice but to force himself to say, "On one hand, I think it's quite a happy thing. If we follow Fang Yu's way of thinking, although it's unexpected, we've unexpectedly found a way to shut everyone up. Even the most reckless person is afraid of death, right? On the other hand, I also feel very conflicted. Actually, if I weren't worried that involving Xu Qianqian would expose my own actions and put me in danger, I would rather hope that she or Xu Wenjie could receive fair legal punishment instead of private punishment..."

  Jiang Chuan revealed a dissatisfied expression: "Are you reading political books? Or the moral behavior norms for primary and secondary school students?"

  He looked embarrassed: "What the hell, I really thought so - I've been wanting to solve this matter for a long time, but I couldn't find a suitable way..."

  "Finally, such a 'method' appeared, although it's not as perfect as you imagined, but in the end, a successful solution was still found." Jiang Chuan finished speaking on behalf of Jian Ran, he stood up and opened the curtains. At this time, outside, the sky was faintly bright, and the eastern horizon was vaguely visible with a fish belly white, the morning light was weak... The man slightly narrowed his eyes, half of his face bathed in that weak light, only then did he continue, "Everyone has different ways of handling things. For you, it may be unreasonable, but for some other people, this might just be one of their favorite methods..."

  Sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs crossed, looking up at the man's back with a puzzled expression, the young woman with black hair asked: "What do you mean?"

  Jiang Chuan didn't answer him, but instead asked: "How are you feeling now?"

  "...If Xu Qianqian can keep her mouth shut, then I have to say, it's pretty good."

  "That's it."

  “……”

  "Don't cry for no reason, it's worthless to cry too much."

  "Huh?!"

  "Save your tears for those who are actually worth crying over."

  "Who?"

  "Good morning."

  “……”

  The room fell into a brief silence, and he expressed that he couldn't take the abrupt conversation style of Chinese level 8. He let out a long sigh and relaxed himself, leaning back on Jiang Chuan's bed... The sound of a lighter being lit echoed in his ear, and the young man with black hair moved slightly, lowering his eyes. He could see the tall figure of the man leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, his face sideways, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, the white smoke swirling around him. Over his shoulder, he could see a streak of dawn slowly rising...

  Clearly heard his own heart beating strongly in the chest cavity.

  He hopes Fang Yu's guess is correct.

  He hopes everything will get better from today on.

  The black-haired young man lying on the bed slightly arched his body, hugged Jiang Chuan's quilt, thought for a moment and suddenly muttered: "One day I will proudly walk out of that closet in front of everyone."

  “……”

  Jiang Chuan's smoking motion paused, he turned his head around and looked at him without any emotion - as expected, not long after, he saw that shrimp-like guy hugging the quilt on his bed tightly, lowering his voice even more to say: "But it's not now, I hope that if that day really comes, it won't be me facing this alone."

  "What?"

  "For example, at that time, I had a wife who could make me so infatuated."

  At this time, there should be a magnificent and sentimental background music sound.

  Thinking quietly and solemnly.

  Three seconds later——

  "You're such a coward, you even need someone to accompany you when coming out of the closet."

  “……”

  The young black-haired man on the bed curled up his mouth, also admiring Jiang Chuan's ability to ruin the atmosphere. He didn't bother to talk anymore and took out his phone to continue scrolling through Weibo, preparing to see if any newspaper would release a statement about Xu Wenjie's situation. As a result, he suddenly lost his voice while scrolling halfway, and his fingers also froze in place. Jiang Chuan heard him stop talking and curiously turned around, only to find the young black-haired man staring blankly at his phone screen with a bewildered expression.

  A look as if he had seen a ghost.

  Jiang Chuan furrowed his brow and leaned in, following the young man with black hair's gaze to his phone, where he saw a Weibo post that read:

  Li Gou Hai: 【In today's society where Xu Wenjie is being persecuted, I refuse to remain silent and will take the lead: I sincerely suggest that police comrades go dig up the backyard of Xu Qianqian's house, who knows what surprises they might find.】

  Weibo posted 20 seconds ago.

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Jian Ran furrowed his brow: "Xu Qianqian's burying of that component, you've told others about it?"

  Jiang Chuan glanced at him: "No."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  The young man with black hair and the man stared at each other for a while, and after a moment, they both saw hesitation in each other's eyes. The two were speechless, facing each other. At this time, Mr. Agent hummed a wake-up song, shouting "Jiang Chuan get up and start work" as he walked in from outside with a regular pace, his phone still making "ding ding ding" sounds as he brushed Weibo. As soon as he stepped into the room, he saw the two people sitting on the sofa simultaneously turning their heads to stare at him with piercing eyes.

  Fang Yu's happy expression suddenly froze, and she put away her phone with a blank face: "……What's the matter?"

  "Is Dog Grandfather auspicious?"

  "Big mouthed dog."