Su Qiao was frozen in place, staring blankly at the silver cold keypad downstairs. His shocked eyes held an expression that was either humiliated or lost.
He couldn’t stop replaying those words in his head: “Don’t know him, hang up!”
The voice was the same as when he had called Pei Yan using Cheng Yu’s phone that day.
It was Pei Yan.
After not seeing each other for over seven years, the youth who used to always look at him with infatuated eyes was now coldly saying to him: I don’t know you.
Impossible.
Pei Yan must not have heard the words “Su Qiao” clearly. That must be it! As long as Pei Yan could see him, he would surely remember their past feelings and start liking him again.
Su Qiao’s eyes suddenly lit up as he steadfastly looked up at the towering floors of the building. At night, many of the windows on the higher floors were lit, making it impossible to discern which apartment belonged to Pei Yan. But Su Qiao’s pride and restraint prevented him from ringing the doorbell again, though he didn’t directly leave either.
His phone in his pocket rang. It was a call from Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu lazily said in an amused tone: “Hello, Su Qiao. Have you gotten to Pei Yan’s place yet? If you’re there, let him take the call. Let him thank me for saving his little lover.”
Originally it was nothing, but as soon as Cheng Yu said this, Su Qiao instantly felt like he had been slapped in the face, his cheeks burning hot.
He said angrily: “You said that when he heard it was me coming to find him, he would eagerly open the door right away. But what happened? He said he doesn’t know me and didn’t even open the door.”
“Pei Yan actually didn’t open the door for you?” Cheng Yu laughed and deliberately raised his voice: “This guy couldn’t have really forgotten you right?”
Su Qiao was even more infuriated: “Didn’t you just see Qi Feng? Does he really look like me in person?”
Cheng Yu leisurely replied: “I saw him, you two look very similar. So similar that it reminds me of our high school days. However…your temperaments are completely different.”
Of course, how could a second-rate minor celebrity have his aura and depth as an internationally renowned designer?
Su Qiao sneered coldly: “As expected, he is just a substitute.”
Cheng Yu: “But after not seeing someone for seven or eight years, it’s normal for impressions to fade. As long as you meet Pei Yan again, I believe he’ll definitely remember you.”
“I’m currently in charge of advertising and promotions for Donghai Investment, and the spokesperson’s outfits are provided by our side. So Master Designer Su, could I ask you to design some clothes for our spokesperson, Qi Feng?”
Su Qiao felt insulted, “Why should I design endorsement outfits for him? Does he deserve it?!”
Cheng Yu slowly replied: “In the meantime, I’ll have to ask Master Designer Su to attend a few meetings at Donghai Investment to discuss and decide on the endorsement outfit designs. Pei Yan will also be participating.”
This way, he could see Pei Yan again in a formal setting.
Su Qiao paused for two seconds before reluctantly saying: “…Fine, I got it.”
—-
Pei Yan’s Apartment
After Pei Yan had Fang Cheng turn off the door camera monitoring, he anxiously glanced toward the bedroom where Qi Feng was showering.
He scolded Fang Cheng: “Why did you randomly pick up the call?”
Fang Cheng: ??? “Wasn’t it you who told me to get it?”
When the doorbell had rung earlier, Pei Yan had clearly shouted for him: “Go get it.”
“I…” Pei Yan glared at Fang Cheng, who was holding the milk prepared for Qi Feng, and impatiently said: “Don’t randomly pick up calls anymore! If there’s nothing to do, go wait in the guest room and stop getting in the way here.”
…Fang Cheng silently swallowed this grievance.
Pei Yan hadn’t even looked at what the man appearing on the monitor screen looked like. He had only reacted instinctively with alarm upon hearing the name “Su Qiao”.
His subconscious was afraid Qi Feng would hear this name. Not for anything else, just afraid it would stir up unnecessary trouble and make Qi Feng misunderstand and get angry at him.
If that happened, he would have to coax Qi Feng again. Each time he coaxed Qi Feng, he actually felt a sense of crisis over what if he couldn’t coax him well enough.
He also didn’t know why. Clearly, it was just a kid he was supporting, yet Qi Feng’s presence in his heart was growing stronger and stronger.
As for Su Qiao…he had almost forgotten who Su Qiao was. The few times Song Zhe had mentioned him, he hadn’t cared. It wasn’t until Su Qiao himself called him that he remembered things from high school.
Before high school, he had never had any thoughts about things like “liking” someone or being in a relationship.
But the first time he saw Su Qiao’s face at school, he suddenly realized – he liked men.
He couldn’t help but constantly want to look at Su Qiao. His memories also seemed to contain another man, the corner of his lips marked with a tiny mole like a speck of sand that agitated his heart into disarray.
It made him unable to resist the urge to get closer, to take a better look.
Over time, people assumed that he “liked” Su Qiao. Only he himself didn’t know if that feeling was “liking”, but he clearly understood that he liked men.
After coming out to his father about his sexual orientation, that steel-straight Pei Junhai had beaten him violently, cutting off all his connections to the outside world and forcibly transferring him to another school. That was the fiercest fight he had ever had with his father.
At the time, he thought his father was angry because he liked men. But thinking back now, his father seemed to have mistakenly assumed he liked Su Qiao and forcibly severed any connection between them. When he had never had anything at all with Su Qiao!!!
Song Zhe suddenly called him, yelling over the phone: “Pei-ge, have you heard? Su Qiao is back!!” His loud voice made Pei Yan’s hand shake, and the milk in his cup nearly spilled out.
Damn you all… Pei Yan looked toward the bedroom door again and lowered his voice in warning: “Him coming back has nothing to do with me. Mention that name less in front of me in the future!”
Song Zhe: ??? “It’s Su Qiao, your secret crush in high school. You even stubbornly confronted Uncle Pei because of him. Our whole school knew about your bravery back then.”
????
The whole school knew? Just who was gossiping nonsense and framing him behind his back?!
Pei Yan gritted his teeth, but didn’t dare raise his voice too much: “When did I ever say I liked him with my own mouth? Can you please stop shouting that name?!”
Song Zhe: ???
Song Zhe was stunned for a good while before opening his mouth in shock: “No way, ge, you, you didn’t like Su Qiao?? Have you forgotten you even bent for him back then?”
“I was originally like this, it had nothing to do with him. Don’t mention him again in the fu…” Pei Yan felt guilty and lowered his voice in warning: “…Don’t ever bring up this name in front of Qi Feng again!”
What was even more infuriating was that he didn’t even know why he was so afraid of Qi Feng finding out.
“Ge!” Song Zhe cried out in astonishment: “Could it be you’ve already started liking Qi Feng? You really like him??”
Pei Yan suddenly calmed down. “I guess so.”
At first, when Qi Feng had come looking for him, he had accepted their relationship based on providing support. But now, he wanted to continue their relationship for a long time. He couldn’t leave Qi Feng, he couldn’t leave him on any level.
“Damn! You two really managed to fuck your way into love huh. But…” Song Zhe’s tone became serious: “Recently when I was investigating Ning Yufei for you, I saw a lot of Qi Feng’s old variety show appearances and pictorials. The more I look, the more I feel this kid is amazing.”
“His reputation was bad recently because he was framed by Ning Yufei who debuted with him. Now with your backing, this kid’s career can rise very quickly in the future.”
“Oh right, I also investigated Qi Feng’s family. His parents were both university professors, he is from a scholarly family. If they hadn’t passed away early, leaving this kid with no family to rely on, his status wouldn’t be much different from Su Qiao’s. He’s a perfect match for you. It just depends on Uncle Pei’s opinion…”
“Stop talking about him.”
As soon as Pei Yan heard Su Qiao’s name, he would instinctively glance toward the bedroom. He lowered his voice and asked: “Ning Yufei’s matter has to be dealt with tonight.”
Song Zhe giggled and said: “Got it! There will be a big melon to eat tonight!”
—
After Qi Feng signed on as a spokesperson for Donghai Investment, both Yifan Entertainment and Donghai Investment’s advertising department sent out notices at the same time.
Coupled with Yifan’s marketing push, the hashtag #QiFeng, DonghaiInvestmentSpokesperson# quickly made it onto the hot search trends.
In just a moment, the comment section under the hot search exploded into a storm.
There were simply too many netizens used to badmouthing Qi Feng.
【Why is Qi Feng on the hot search again? He’s been appearing too frequently lately, how annoying!】
【Paid marketing right, who doesn’t know how to do that? Looks like he really wants to take the black-red route!】
【Donghai Investment, sisters! The endorsement fee is 10 million a year! What level is Qi Feng at to deserve such a high endorsement?】
【So mad, a pillow flower vase with such bad character shouldn’t he be blacklisted? 】
【How could Donghai Investment look for a pillow flower vase, does he have some kind of background?!】
【Really so disappointed, the entertainment industry is just too dark. Our Yufei gege is so outstanding though.】
…..
Of course, there were also fans supporting him:
【A huge company like Donghai Investment must be very strict in choosing spokespeople. Being picked means Qi Feng is qualified. Go for it Qi Feng Cake1Qi Feng sounds like chiffon!】
【Still calling him a pillow flower? Have you guys seen Qi Feng play the guzheng? Seen the attitude he shows when livestreaming food? How does he not deserve it?】
【Flower pillow, sweet cake. Don’t mind those black fans. Let’s fill the comments to piss them off!】
【Brainless black fans, deliberately blind】
….
However fiercely the loyal fans retaliated, the black fans struck back even more viciously.
When Qi Feng came out from showering, the comment section was already a bloody battlefield. Regular fans who saw it were shocked speechless.
Even the previous hot searches for things like #QiFengSnatchingNingYufei’sLimelight#, #QiFeng’sExpressionlessFace#, #QiFengFakingFallsOnShows#, and other past attempts at smearing Qi Feng were all brought up again.
It was very clearly the work of water armies2The “water army” refers to paid commenters weaponized by the entertainment industry to manufacture trends and control public opinion about celebrities.. As for who had mobilized them, Pei Yan’s side knew full well.
Seeing those deliberately abusive comments toward Qi Feng made Pei Yan so angry his hair was practically standing on end. He wished he could reach through the internet and tear those people to shreds.
Fang Cheng was even more afraid it would affect Qi Feng’s mood and didn’t let him see Weibo on his phone.
Qi Feng himself didn’t care. Wearing loose, soft robes and nestled on the spacious, comfortable sofa, he flipped through Donghai Investment’s various publicity magazines.
Tiny droplets of water clung to his slightly damp hair, dripping onto his forehead and moist, tender cheeks. His entire being seemed enveloped in a warm mist, sweetly alluring.
Pei Yan went over and couldn’t resist leaning in close to sniff the boy’s scent. “In less than half an hour, I’ll make Ning Yufei lose everything and have him kneeling in front of you tomorrow apologizing.”
“No rush, let them make trouble a while longer. A more spectacular reversal will come either way, so why not make it even grander.”
Qi Feng’s voice was light and cool, like a refreshing mountain stream flowing over rocks, clean and crisp.
The longer the raging rapids were trapped at the cliffside, the more magnificent the resulting waterfall would be when it came crashing down.
Public opinion was the same way.
Pei Yan was slightly startled, gazing at the boy with even more amazed color in his eyes. He knew Qi Feng was very smart with a personality not to be trifled with. Even without him, this kid had more than enough ability to deal with Ning Yufei himself.
He suddenly wasn’t angry anymore and said with a cold laugh: “Want me to add more fuel to the fire?”
Qi Feng flipped another page in the magazine. “Do as you please.”
Cool and indifferent, prideful yet adorable, like a cat with its tail curled up.
Pei Yan couldn’t help but lean over to steal a kiss. The boy’s lips were soft and warm, faintly exuding a sweet scent.
He wanted to kiss him even more deeply, but upon seeing Qi Feng’s indifferent side glance, he swiftly changed to an appeasing peck on the little mole under the boy’s lips before quickly straightening back up.
—
Ning Yufei kept watching the comments, his stubborn, frenzied eyes fixed unwaveringly on them. When he saw people defending Qi Feng clearly more than the previous times, he spent a large sum again to hire an even bigger water army to insult Qi Feng.
It was very effective. In an instant, the abusive comments toward Qi Feng poured in like a flood, instantly drowning out the comments speaking up for Qi Feng.
Qi Feng’s thousands of online fans, no matter how much they wanted to defend him, couldn’t match the attacks of the millions-strong water army.
Ning Yufei’s eyes were filled with madness: “Donghai Investment, let me show you what kind of artist you signed. I’ll make you regret signing Qi Feng.”
He relished those sentences of abuse toward Qi Feng one by one.
He suddenly remembered when they had just debuted, Qi Feng’s popularity was higher than his own. In every vote, the number of votes for Qi Feng exceeded his.
Qi Feng was always first, while he was the eternal second. Compared to Qi Feng, he always fell just short.
So every time after shows they did together ended, the fans who lined up for Qi Feng’s autograph, and the advertisers who flocked to Qi Feng, all shoved him aside one by one.
He could only watch from the corner, green with envy yet only able to hypocritically say: “Xiao Feng, you’re really amazing. I wish I had your popularity one day, I really admire you.”
Luckily Qi Feng was a simple idiot who was completely unguarded against him.
He had even told him: “We’re friends, we’ll get popular together. In the future, if there are opportunities to go abroad, I’ll bring you along.”
So one time, when an advertiser wanted Qi Feng to film a short video to insert into their show, Qi Feng had pulled him over to say to the person in charge: “Can I do it together with my friend?”
That was Qi Feng trying to help him, it was also charity and humiliation to him.
So that time, he had seized the opportunity.
The day before the shoot, he had secretly slipped a small dose of sleeping pills into Qi Feng’s drink.
The next day, Qi Feng had indeed overslept and was late, missing the advertising shoot time.
He had stood in the center spot, monopolizing all the shots for that ad by himself.
Once something was done once, doing it again became easy and natural. Through that one meticulously planned scheme, he had finally pulled Qi Feng down bit by bit, trampling him under his own feet.
‘It’s what you get for trusting me. The entertainment world was one of kill or be killed. If you want to blame someone, just blame yourself for being naive and kind.’
Ning Yufei looked at those abusive comments toward Qi Feng, his cold smiling eyes like a venomous snake.
In the evening golden traffic peak time, the clicks on the hot search were several times higher than usual. Ning Yufei was too busy and elated watching them to pay attention to anything else.
Suddenly, among all the abusive comments, he saw a few that stood out:
【Why are these people still attacking our little cake? It must be Ning Yufei’s water army right?】
【Looks like every time Qi Feng gets attacked, it’s Ning Yufei sending his water army. Too frightening.】
【That recording really scared me. I never imagined Ning Yufei was this kind of person.】
【Can’t judge a book by its cover. Ning Yufei is too disgusting! I won’t be able to sleep tonight I’m so disgusted.】
【F*ck, I even helped him insult Qi Feng before. Now I just want to strangle this vicious person to death.】
【Ah, hugs for little Qi Feng cake. It’s too heartbreaking to be backstabbed by a friend like this.】
【Hugs for flower pillow.】
…..What happened?! What was going on!! Why were people scolding him?
Ning Yufei was stunned for a second as a terrifying thought gradually occurred to him. He was so frightened he tumbled out of his chair with a heavy thud.
No, impossible. Qi Feng wouldn’t know, no one would know what he had done.
Ning Yufei didn’t even feel the pain as he rolled over to grab his phone that had fallen on the ground and quickly opened it again. He had been browsing Qi Feng’s hot search just now, yet hadn’t expected the most “explosive” item on the hot search now was: #NingYufei, Recording#
Ning Yufei’s eyes abruptly widened in shock. Hands trembling, he opened the hot search.
Below the search term was a line of text:
—-Suspected recording of Ning Yufei plotting to drug Qi Feng, frame him on shows, use water armies, etc.
Once again, Ning Yufei’s phone fell to the hard redwood floor with a ‘thud’, making a loud, harsh sound in the quiet room.
When his trembling hands had let the phone slip, it had opened the audio file below. His own voice played from the phone:
“Pour this coffee onto Qi Feng’s hand later…”
“Not enough, find me a few more water army studios and pay them double to push Qi Feng onto the hot search to scold him…”
“Donghai Investment’s spokesperson? Heh, get me more of that drug again. I didn’t succeed with Li Junzhuo last time, I’ll definitely ruin Qi Feng this time…”
How was this possible, it was all his voice, all things he had said. Who had recorded this to frame him?!
Ning Yufei let out a shriek of terror as if hearing a ghost. He crawled over to grab his phone and immediately turned it off, then smashed it violently away.
He was good at guiding public opinion and loved internet traffic. But now, for the first time he realized – public opinion was so frightening. Like an invisible, dull blade, slicing away at his skin and flesh.
His heartbeat stopped and his breathing grew difficult. His mind went blank for a time, losing the ability to think.
Am I having a nightmare? This can’t be real? How could it get exposed? Who exposed it? Who framed him?
Ning Yufei’s entire body was drenched in cold sweat, his thoughts in turmoil.
When he realized the hot search from before was real, the recording was being listened to by tens of millions of people, he let out a shriek and grabbed his phone again, fingers shaking as he chaotically dialed: “Zhang Peng, Zhang Peng! Was it you!? You dare betray me!!”
After calling Zhang Peng’s number several times, he discovered:
Zhang Peng had blocked him.
It was over. Ning Yufei stared blankly at his phone screen, his mind filled with only two words.
…..Zhang Peng had defected to Qi Feng, selling him out. So Qi Feng had long known about the things he had done and was just waiting for the right moment to expose him.
Tonight was a perfect opportunity. What was even more frightening was that he had created this opportunity himself.
Pei Yan wouldn’t let him off, nor would Qi Feng, Yifan Entertainment, or his millions of fans… This was more terrifying than death to him.
His phone suddenly rang, like a death bell. Ning Yufei’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Seeing it was a call from Tang Jun, he grabbed it like a life preserver and accepted the call. Voice shaking, he pleaded: “Mr. Tang, Mr. Tang, please, save me, save me…”
His voice sounded almost like crying as he begged, utterly wretched.
Tang Jun’s voice shook with anger: “Ning Yufei, those words in the recording were said by you yourself right? I knew you had poor character, but never imagined you were so vicious.”
“You did things so ruthlessly yet still want people to save you? You, you f*cker…I was blind to have signed someone like you back then!”
Ning Yufei’s heart turned to ice, but he knew Tang Jun had the power to salvage this situation. He kept begging: “Mr. Tang, I won’t do this anymore, please give me another chance. Please take down the hot search, I’ll work for you my whole life…”
“Take down the hot search?” Tang Jun sneered coldly: “Even if I put up the entirety of Yifan Entertainment, we can’t match Donghai Investment’s capital. To avoid offending Donghai’s capital, the company is already thinking about how to deal with you. You’re implicated in using drugs. If Qi Feng goes to the police, get ready to eat prison food.”
Donghai Investment. So it turned out Pei Yan was helping Qi Feng. No wonder the reversal was so thorough.
Ning Yufei suddenly understood. His whole body started shaking.
Tang Jun continued: “When I signed you guys, I warned that the path was yours to choose. No matter what path you picked, you had to be prepared to walk it through.”
“Since you chose this path, who can you ask now to pull you back to the right way? Ning Yufei, you have to remedy it yourself. Think carefully about who you should plead to.”
After saying that, Tang Jun hung up.
Plead to Qi Feng. That was Tang Jun’s hint to him. He didn’t need hints to know he had to plead to Qi Feng.
But would Qi Feng forgive him?
Ning Yufei collapsed on the ground, not daring to pick up his phone for a long time.
—
Cheng Yu’s Home
Cheng Yu sat on the sofa in the living room, his hand still wrapped in thick gauze bandages. Those were from the scalding burn when he had blocked the coffee for Qi Feng.
It was also the first step in gaining the boy’s trust.
He smiled as he listened to Ning Yufei’s recording, saying: “Su Qiao, see? When an emperor is angered over his beauty, Pei Yan can do this much for the one he likes. Tsk tsk, being doted on so much, that kid must be so happy. What a pity…”
He looked at Su Qiao, his deep eyes meaningful: “But the one being doted on isn’t you.”
Su Qiao’s expression was very ugly as he stood at the window gazing out into the night. He laughed coldly: “Cheng Yu, are you doing this on purpose? Deliberately provoking me into going to find Pei Yan? You should know, I don’t really like Pei Yan.”
Cheng Yu retorted, poking holes in Su Qiao’s pretended aloofness: “You don’t like him yet you ran to ring the person’s doorbell downstairs?”
Su Qiao’s face reddened. He turned back angrily: “Cheng Yu, what exactly is your aim? Don’t think I can’t see through you. All these years, you keep bringing up Pei Yan to me. Isn’t it because you don’t want me to forget him?”
“My aim?” Cheng Yu looked at him and asked back: “To look after my good brother’s future little wife?”
Su Qiao’s face grew even redder. “You–!”
Cheng Yu just laughed again: “I just didn’t expect that back then, Pei Yan could go tell Uncle Pei that he liked men for your sake. How could he have forgotten you now? And treat this person called Qi Feng so well? Tell me, should I find someone else to look after instead?”
“So you blocked the coffee and scalded yourself for him? Just to look after the one my brother likes?”
Disdain and mockery showed on Su Qiao’s elegant features: “I haven’t forgotten who deliberately spread the rumor back then that Pei Yan liked me, making it wildly known throughout the school. And deliberately let it reach Pei Junhai’s ears, so he would cut off all contact between Pei Yan and me and send him abroad.”
“So what? Since you know this, why didn’t you reject me coming close?”
Cheng Yu didn’t care at all. He smiled lightly and asked: “After so many years, have you ever wondered why I don’t like you?”
“Do I want you to like me? I wouldn’t look at you either!” Su Qiao sneered contemptuously: “You only got close to me back then to steal your brother’s crush right? What, are you trying to steal that substitute from Pei Yan now too?”
Substitute? Knock-off?
Cheng Yu smiled, his eyes darkened with icy coldness: Who was the substitute was still uncertain.
Qi Feng. That refined young master who could sit on a splendid stage and play the guzheng, he was the most beautiful dream he had looked up to and pursued.
He had searched for so many years and finally found the original.
—
Qi Feng was still sitting on the sofa looking through Donghai Investment’s publicity magazine. He received a message, from an unfamiliar number.
【I’m Cheng Yu. I just saw your hot search, are you okay?】
Cheng Yu – the man who had blocked a cup of hot coffee for him, and also his fan.
Author's Notes:
Cheng Yu has past life memories and is also the person guiding Yan-ge to remember his past life.I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you want to show your support, you can buy me a coffee. It would make my day! For every five coffees I get, I will release a bonus chapter.
