Xiao Can was stunned on the spot.
“Someone tracked and photographed him, then saw you staying at the same hotel, going out for supper together in the early hours of the morning,” Tan Zhen said, “there are both videos and photos, very clear, your faces are clearly visible.”
Xiao Can hurriedly explained, “It’s a misunderstanding! We’re not what you think!”
“Really?” Tan Zhen asked.
“Really,” Xiao Can was anxious and aggrieved, stammering for a moment, “I, we just coincidentally, and then we were hungry… I didn’t know where he was staying, just saw his Weibo…”
“You don’t need to rush to explain to me,” Tan Zhen said, “they’ve already posted the photos and everything, you should go confirm it.”
A chill ran down Xiao Can’s spine, spreading to his limbs and bones.
He was stiff for a while before finally regaining his composure, gathering the courage to open Weibo.
The information Tan Zhen mentioned was easy to find, right in the trending section, with a “breaking news” tag floating beside it.
After clicking on it, there were indeed photos and videos from that night with He Xingzhou.
The photographer was far away from them, and the camera had some unnatural shaking, but the faces of the two were clearly visible.
In the footage, they walked out of the hotel side by side on the sidewalk.
During this process, he deliberately leaned towards He Xingzhou, trying to stick close to him. Judging from their body language alone, it looked like he was acting coquettishly.
Neither the video nor the photos captured any more intimate scenes.
But an Alpha and an Omega going in and out of a hotel together late at night was enough to suggest something to others.
Seeing Xiao Can’s pale face staring at his phone without saying a word, Cai Yawen beside him tentatively asked, “Are you okay?”
Xiao Can opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.
At the same time, he received a message from Mu Nianwen.
“Is what’s trending true? Huh? Huh??? You and He Xingzhou????”
Before he could reply, a new message came in from a college classmate who he didn’t usually contact frequently.
“I saw you trending again!”
Xiao Can had just exited the conversation when his phone rang again, this time it was Fei Zi calling.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then ended the call and quickly replied with a message.
“It’s a misunderstanding, I’ll explain later.”
After sending it, Tan Zhen’s message came in.
“Have you seen it?”
Xiao Can quickly called him back.
After connecting, Tan Zhen’s tone sounded relatively calm, “It’s getting quite big.”
“The thing is,” Xiao Can had roughly organized his thoughts for the explanation, “I was there for work that day, and the hotel was arranged by the other party. When I was starving to death at night, I happened to see He Xingzhou’s Weibo check-in, felt sorry for causing him harm before, so I wanted to invite him for supper. We went our separate ways after eating.”
Now that he thought about it, if he could see He Xingzhou’s location, others could too. It was really foolish to go out so openly.
“I see,” Tan Zhen said.
His tone didn’t fluctuate much, and Xiao Can couldn’t see his expression. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if the other party was being sarcastic or not.
“You can ask He Xingzhou!” Xiao Can said, “It’s such a short time, I didn’t have time to coordinate my story with him!”
Tan Zhen sighed, “I can’t reach him.”
“How come?”
“He’s not replying to messages, and nobody’s picking up the phone,” Tan Zhen said, “I don’t know what he’s busy with.”
At this point, Cai Yawen, who had been quiet for a long time, spoke softly, “He’s often like this.”
“I didn’t doubt your intention,” Tan Zhen continued, “but… the situation is quite awkward now, not just for you two, but for me as well.”
“…”
Tan Zhen sighed again, “We need to contact him first, then sort things out and think about how to handle it.”
“Do you really believe me and aren’t angry?” Xiao Can asked.
Tan Zhen remained silent for a moment before saying, “I don’t know what to say… the urgent matter now is to contact him first.”
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Can tried calling He Xingzhou, but there was no answer.
“You should try sending him a message,” Cai Yawen suggested, “There must be many people calling him now. If his phone runs out of battery from all the calls, it will be even harder to reach him.”
She seemed to have experience in this matter, so Xiao Can took her advice and drafted a message for He Xingzhou to contact him as soon as he saw it.
Cai Yawen had also seen the trending news and tentatively asked, “About you and He Xingzhou…”
“It’s really a misunderstanding!” Xiao Can felt helpless, “Did you hear what I said to Tan Zhen just now? It’s all true!”
“I think so too,” Cai Yawen said, “He’s quite quirky, not the type to cheat.”
Xiao Can forced a smile.
Those who had interacted with He Xingzhou trusted his character and knew he was a bit stubborn and wouldn’t behave recklessly. But the general public didn’t hold much goodwill toward him.
He Xingzhou’s reputation wasn’t good to begin with, and faced with the “ironclad evidence” in the video, public opinion was overwhelmingly against him.
Summoning up his courage, Xiao Can scrolled through the comments, but most of them were unoriginal.
Some said, “I never thought he was that kind of person,” while others expressed, “I could tell he was that kind of person from the beginning.”
Some lamented that Tan Zhen had encountered misfortune in relationships, while others marveled at Xiao Can’s complexity.
The comment section of Xiao Can’s own social media accounts had been completely overwhelmed.
His latest Weibo post happened to be thanking Tan Zhen for the Cluck Egg he gave, which now seemed particularly ironic and despicable, and the comments were beyond repulsive.
It had been several days since he last saw He Xingzhou, and Xiao Can’s body was already feeling unwell. At this moment, he was almost suffocating under the restlessness.
Just as he was about to retreat to avoid seeing more, he suddenly saw something absurd.
Someone posted the black post Xiao Can had made under a pseudonym before, saying: “So someone had already said that He Xingzhou was unclean in this regard, and it turned out to be true!”
Xiao Can wanted to delete the post but was afraid it would seem like he was trying to cover up, so he hesitated.
At that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated, and He Xingzhou’s name appeared on the screen.
Xiao Can quickly answered and almost cried out when he spoke, “You finally showed up!”
He Xingzhou was also excited, “How did you know Charlie learned to put coins in?!”
There was silence in the air for three seconds.
Xiao Can made a puzzled sound, “Huh?”
“I finally figured out what the problem was,” He Xingzhou excitedly told him, “It’s the coin, it can’t pick up regular coins. I replaced it with a hollow custom iron ring, and he immediately learned to put coins in!”
Xiao Can opened his mouth, his head buzzing, unable to speak.
“Oh, I forgot to take a video. I’ll do it later…” He Xingzhou suddenly said, then muttered, “Why are so many people looking for me…”
So, this person had been out of contact because he was completely focused on teaching the parrot to play the claw machine?!
Xiao Can took a deep breath and said sternly, “Forget about the claw machine, something big has happened! We were photographed when we went out to eat that day!”
“Huh?” He Xingzhou was still oblivious, “What’s there to photograph about eating? Who doesn’t eat?”
“But we stayed at the same hotel!” Xiao Can reminded him.
“I don’t even know your room number,” He Xingzhou grumbled.
Xiao Can rubbed his forehead, “The focus now is that others have misunderstood our relationship.”
“It’s their problem, what does it have to do with me,” He Xingzhou said.
It was so hard to communicate with him, Xiao Can felt powerless for a moment.
“Have you contacted Tan Zhen?” he asked.
“No, I was eager to call you,” He Xingzhou said, “Why, did he misunderstand too?”
“I explained the situation to him, and he said he believes us,” Xiao Can said, “But… you should still explain it to him.”
“You explained it, isn’t that enough,” He Xingzhou said, “I don’t want to talk to him about this.”
“You…”
“Do you want to see Charlie put coins in?” He Xingzhou asked.
Even if he loved Charlie, Xiao Can couldn’t spare the leisure to deal with this at the moment.
“Can you prioritize?” Xiao Can was angry, “Is it time to talk about the parrot now?”
He spoke sternly, but He Xingzhou was silent for a few seconds, then said quietly, “So what should we do? Even if we explain, they won’t listen.”
“So, we need to think about how to respond now,” Xiao Can yelled at him, “Put down your coins!”
He Xingzhou’s voice was small, “How did you know I was holding them.”
“You need to contact Tan Zhen right away!” Xiao Can ordered him.
He Xingzhou sighed helplessly, “You’re really hyperthyroid.”
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Can took a few deep breaths and found Cai Yawen looking at him with a surprised expression.
The two stared at each other silently for a few seconds, and Cai Yawen praised, “You did what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Throughout the night, Xiao Can’s phone kept ringing.
Baitao also contacted him, expressing strong concern.
Originally, their promotional song was scheduled to be officially released next week, but with the current public opinion, this song would undoubtedly add fuel to the fire and attract strong negative reviews.
Baitao had to postpone the plan indefinitely and push back the release date of the song.
If they couldn’t resolve this properly, the hard-worked song might never see the light of day.
Not only that, but it was clearly stated in the agreement with Baitao that if negative reviews were caused by personal reasons during the cooperation promotion period, compensation would be required for the losses.
If a lawsuit really started, Xiao Can had no chance of winning, and he might go bankrupt.
How could they make the public believe that their relationship was completely innocent?
The only thing Xiao Can could think of was to present evidence proving that he indeed had work on that day and to emphasize that they didn’t stay in the same room.
But none of these were conclusive evidence, and they didn’t have a decisive effect.
It was easy to prove that you did something, but it was really difficult to prove the opposite.
Late at night, Tan Zhen contacted him again.
“Ah, couldn’t you just order delivery in the middle of the night?” he sighed on the phone, “You had to go out to eat.”
“I’m sorry,” Xiao Can felt extremely guilty, “He Xingzhou suggested it at the time, but I felt it wasn’t appropriate for me, an Omega, to be alone with him in the room…”
“Are you afraid of him?” Tan Zhen asked.
“Not really,” Xiao Can felt embarrassed, “It’s just, uh…”
“You really have no thoughts about him?” Tan Zhen suddenly asked.
Xiao Can was startled, “Really! Absolutely not!”
“Hmm…” Tan Zhen gently clicked his tongue, “But I feel like he seems to like you.”
