Face-Slapping

Xin Wan was one of Ying Huai's teammates at the Former Management Company. He had a casual, unrestrained temperament, and acted without the slightest scruple, having caused quite a few minor and major incidents at the Former Management Company.

—But he had always listened to Ying Huai the most.

After Ying Huai jumped to the Lu Family, Xin Wan had once gone to the gates of the Lu Family Group to try to block him, until one time he made Ying Huai so angry he nearly had an episode, only then did he finally quiet down a bit.

But from then on, he also hated Ying Huai to the bone.

Unlike Lu Jing, who deliberately avoided suspicion with Ying Huai, every time Xin Wan encountered Ying Huai, he always liked to mock him openly and covertly.

And in his past life, because of guilt, Ying Huai basically endured whatever he could.

Xin Wan also became increasingly brazen, as if constantly trying to 'attract' Ying Huai's attention.

But at this moment, Xin Wan couldn't smile at all.

He frowned at the trending searches on his phone, his expression gradually growing solemn.

Ying Huai beside him, on the other hand, still wore a smiling look.

'What's wrong, shixiong?' Ying Huai tilted his head, coughed lightly, and curved his eyes. 'Isn't this the big gift Lu Jing is sending me that shixiong just mentioned?'

Xin Wan's expression darkened.

The trending topic was indeed #Ying Huai Abandoned Teammates Jumped Ship to Lu Family#, with even an [Explosive] tag following it.

—But the content inside didn't match what Xin Wan remembered.

'This isn't right,' Xin Wan turned his head, gritted his teeth and curved his lips. 'Little shidi, you did this on purpose—'

Before he could finish, he suddenly heard an exclamation from behind: 'Shifu, look at the trending searches quickly!'

Everyone's eyes in the live stream room instantly gathered here, and Lu Jing also slowly stopped speaking at the same time.

Le Xi, however, as if the commotion wasn't big enough, stood up and walked directly to Ying Huai's side, speaking in a panicked manner.

'Shifu, is what the trending searches say true?'

Le Xi crouched in front of Ying Huai and spoke quietly: 'Shifu, maybe you should contact your manager quickly, see if we can take down the trending searches first...'

Before he could finish, he suddenly heard Ying Huai speak with great interest: 'So you know that what the trending searches say is true?'

Le Xi panicked for a moment.

He hurriedly shook his head: 'No, shifu, I was just worried about you.'

Seeing Ying Huai say nothing, he paused, then spoke quietly again: 'Mainly, the descriptions in here are too detailed, I'm afraid in case...'

Before Le Xi could finish, he suddenly saw Ying Huai casually reach out and directly take his phone.

Ying Huai casually flipped through the press release that the marketing account had posted.

It was an article titled 'A Detailed Exposé of the Unknown Filth Behind the Scenes of the Entertainment Industry.'

This marketing account was also very good at whetting appetites, posting the article in segments, written as if it were a story.

'This artist—let's temporarily call him Y. When he first entered the company, it was through unclear and shady connections. He betrayed his fellow disciples, climbed over them to attach himself to a big shot. And after attaching himself to the big shot, he was still not satisfied, wanting to continue climbing higher (proof coming in a bit).'

Ying Huai's expression was calm, but the Live Stream Chat had already rapidly begun discussing.

[This artist Y refers to Ying Huai, right? Ying-Y, what more evidence do you need? Isn't this practically naming him directly!]

[Right, and what it says matches up too. Abandoning teammates from the Former Management Company, taking the team's song to solo debut, and I heard Ying Huai also has some relationship with Lu's father.]

[But teammates aren't usually called fellow disciples, are they? Aren't fellow disciples classmates under the same shifu?]

[They took so many classes together before debuting, doesn't that count as fellow disciples? Anyway, it's definitely Ying Huai confirmed!]

Ying Huai was completely unaffected by the Live Stream Chat.

He read with great interest as if reading a story, while Le Xi beside him was already getting impatient.

'Shifu, you should still contact your manager quickly, or take this live stream opportunity to clarify things.' Le Xi spoke urgently.

—He was eager to see Ying Huai make a fool of himself in a rage during the live stream, only to be slapped in the face and confirmed by the evidence later.

But Ying Huai seemed to not care at all.

'You're right,' Ying Huai said lazily, returning the phone to Le Xi. 'We should have the manager prepare in advance.'

Le Xi was stunned. He thought Ying Huai was finally starting to worry, but the next second, Ying Huai pulled out his own phone again.

'This little story is written pretty well, you should read it too.'

All the dirt and evidence in the article were things he had gotten from Lu Jing, so Le Xi couldn't be bothered to read it.

'Then you read it first, shifu,' Le Xi said perfunctorily. 'I'll help you find Uncle Lu and think of a way.'

Ying Huai curved his lips and really continued reading seriously.

'Let me give a slightly more specific example of Y. There was a very popular music show at the time, and Y also participated. Originally, relying on the big shot, he had already advanced to the finals, but his abilities were really not up to par (I'm not trying to slander him, although he always appeared to be working hard on the show, it was all the big shot forcefully carrying him), basically no chance of winning the championship.'

'So this Y started to take some crooked paths. Before the finals, he deliberately schemed, not hesitating to use himself to frame his fellow disciples, causing the show to be forced off the air. The big shot and fellow disciples were both implicated, but in the end he came out clean himself and even won the championship in one go (evidence still coming later).'

Some viewers in the live stream room gradually realized something was off.

[Wait, is this talking about Ying Huai? Why doesn't it feel like him?]

[Although Ying Huai's character is really bad, his abilities... are indeed unquestionable.]

[His debut song directly swept all the major music charts, although it was stolen from the team's repertoire, but his later self-composed songs are really all very good.]

[Speaking of which, if he can compose his own songs, why would he still steal the team's for his Debut Track?]

[Do you really believe they're self-composed? Maybe they were stolen from someone else, like his apprentice or something.]

[Speaking of apprentices, doesn't anyone think this marketing account is talking more about Le Xi? Le as a surname also starts with Y.]

[?? Is the person above talking nonsense?]

[LMAO, our baby Le Xi has already cut ties with Ying Huai, don't try to associate everything with him, not happening.]

But some netizens had already quickly dug up the corresponding information.

[What this marketing account is talking about is that crossover singer show Le Xi was on. At the time, Le Xi's abilities weren't great, but because he was very well-behaved and hardworking, and because Ying Huai always took good care of his juniors back then, he took him into his own team.]

[What the person above said is right, after that the team was also divided into groups, and Le Xi kept clinging to Liang Shining and forced himself into the same group, carried his way into the finals by clinging to his thigh, and then before the finals didn't the incident of Le Xi being drugged and hospitalized happen?]

[So what this marketing account means is—Le Xi drugged himself to get hospitalized, then threw dirty water on Liang Shining? That's too terrifying.]

[Not just Liang Shining, remember that all the arrows pointed at Ying Huai later? Saying Ying Huai deliberately harmed Le Xi to let Liang Shining win the championship, this also matches what the marketing account said about 'not satisfied with attaching to the big shot, wanting to climb over the big shot to go higher.']

[Emmm, to be fair, even if Ying Huai really wanted to protect Liang Shining, he'd at least drug someone stronger, right? Harming Le Xi is basically a non-event (bsuhi).]

[Hell of a joke upstairs.]

[This makes me curious about another point—what exactly caused Liang Shining and Ying Huai to fall out back then? Could it also be related to Le Xi?]

Beside him, Le Xi also picked up on the strange expressions around him and realized something was wrong.

He pulled out his phone, scrolled through it quickly, and his face went white in an instant.

'No, that's not right, this isn't what I posted back then—'

Le Xi cut himself off mid-sentence, suddenly realizing something, and quickly changed tack: 'Shifu, this isn't true, don't believe a word that marketing account says.'

He rushed on: 'Back then the doctor diagnosed that I'd been drugged with a prescription medication, right? I don't have any corresponding medical records, so I couldn't have drugged myself!'

The moment his words fell, the marketing account suddenly threw out a photo and a video.

The photo was a prescription for a medication used to treat depression. The patient's name had been blurred out and couldn't be made out.

The video was surveillance footage, clearly recording Le Xi walking into a room and emerging with a small medicine box in his hand.

The name on the box matched the prescription exactly. Le Xi stared at the box for a few seconds, then quickly tipped out one pill and swallowed it.

The Live Stream Chat instantly exploded.

Le Xi's whole body began to tremble uncontrollably: 'No, it wasn't me, Shifu.'

'I didn't do this, Shifu, please believe me. That video must be doctored, I really didn't—'

'You shouldn't be explaining this to me—you should be explaining it to your manager.' Ying Huai's peach-blossom eyes curved slightly.

'Didn't I just tell you to contact your manager and prepare in advance?'

The color drained from Le Xi's face in an instant.

He suddenly turned to Lu Jing: 'Why are you trying to frame me, Uncle Lu?'

Lu Jing stood where he was, expression calm: 'I don't understand what you're talking about.'

Le Xi let out a cold laugh: 'You don't want me to expose the materials you sent me right now, do you? At worst we both go down together—'

He hadn't finished speaking when Lu Jing suddenly stepped forward and held his phone screen right in front of Le Xi's eyes.

'What I sent you was just itinerary materials from our team at the Former Management Company. The first half was a misprint—some marketing account hit pieces got mixed in by mistake.' Lu Jing spoke unhurriedly.

An expression of disbelief surfaced on Le Xi's face.

The materials Lu Jing had sent him had run to over fifty pages. Le Xi had thought victory was already in his grasp at the time, so he'd been too lazy to read through them one by one. He'd only glanced at the first few pages, confirmed they were dirt on Ying Huai, and forwarded the whole bundle to the marketing account without thinking.

—Of course the marketing account wouldn't publish anything so harmless.

Le Xi was on the verge of collapse. He stared blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly lunged at Ying Huai: 'It's you—you and Lu Jing teamed up to frame me—'

Ying Huai stepped back casually, watching security step forward to pin Le Xi down and quickly escort him out of the venue.

He exhaled silently, slowly loosening his grip on the recording pen he'd been clutching in his pocket.

He had recorded the conversation between Lu Jing and Le Xi at the Hospital when he overheard it.

He'd planned to use that recording as his main piece of evidence, but the day before the livestream began, he'd unexpectedly received an email.

—The email contained today's photo and video.

Ying Huai had no idea who had sent it, but in the end he'd chosen to trust it.

—But he'd also left himself a fallback.

Ying Huai swayed, only now feeling on the verge of collapse.

He closed his eyes briefly, listening to Le Xi's voice, full of hatred, drift in from outside the door: 'Ying Huai, you'll die a horrible death! Just you wait, I'll get my revenge—'

Ying Huai's hand at his side trembled slightly.

He instinctively touched the Hongyu Jewel at the ends of his hair. The next second, he suddenly felt a figure step in front of him.

Ying Huai froze for a moment, then looked up at Liang Shining in bafflement: 'What are you doing?'

Liang Shining said nothing.

His hand seemed to reach toward Ying Huai's ear, but in the end dropped back down.

He stared at Ying Huai and slowly said: 'Don't look. And don't listen.'

Ying Huai froze, then suddenly understood: 'Mr. Liang is worried I'll be upset?'

The smile at his lips unconsciously spread a little further: 'What would I have to be upset about? I couldn't be happier...'

'Not Le Xi,' Liang Shining said quietly. 'It's those words.'

The smile vanished from Ying Huai's lips.

The four words Le Xi had just spat—'die a horrible death'—kept circling in his mind. Ying Huai closed his eyes briefly, his face involuntarily paling a few shades more.

He really was on the verge of breaking, but he didn't want Liang Shining to notice anything amiss, so he suddenly stood up and started to walk outside.

But the moment he rose, Ying Huai's vision suddenly went black.

His eyes widened slightly, his fingers grasped weakly at empty air, but his body still went limp and collapsed.

The next moment, someone suddenly caught Ying Huai and pulled him into their arms.

'Congratulations to little shidi on finally clearing one piece of dirt.' Xin Wan, half-supporting the person in his arms by the waist, spoke unhurriedly.

'But little shidi still has so many unknown matters—wonder if we could get some answers today?'

'For instance, why did you abandon your teammates back then?'

Ying Huai caught his breath, turned his head and coughed lightly: 'Let go of me first.'

He frowned and tried to push Xin Wan away, but heard Xin Wan let out a cold laugh: 'I knew it. After all these years, little shidi still won't talk.'

'Then how about little shidi answers a different question first.'

Ying Huai listened as Xin Wan spoke coldly: 'Where did the depression medication Le Xi stole come from?'

Ying Huai's expression froze for a moment.

His peach-blossom eyes flickered, and he suddenly smiled first: 'What is it?'

'Shixiong wouldn't think Le Xi stole it from me, would he?'

The words on the tip of Xin Wan's tongue suddenly stalled.