It’s not entirely unreasonable for Feng Qi to be overly sensitive. When he first debuted, he was quite fortunate, signing with a top-tier entertainment agency, which gave him access to abundant resources. As his work gained recognition from the audience, his fame grew, attracting more and more attention from various figures in the entertainment industry. Every time he attended events, he would be targeted by male celebrities looking to share the spotlight, and female stars would intentionally stage photos with him, creating fake scandals. It seemed like anyone associated with his name could make headlines in the entertainment world.
The main issue was that, in those early days, Feng Qi was young and arrogant, believing that he didn’t need to acknowledge anything he hadn’t done himself. During interviews, he often ignored reporters, which only fueled the frenzy among those stars trying to capitalize on his popularity. Later, young people in the entertainment industry flocked to him, and Feng Qi suffered losses in various ways due to this. Consequently, whenever he encountered someone trying to get close to him, he couldn’t help but feel irritated and suspicious, and sometimes it even led to a sense of annoyance.
Someone like Zhou Zongyu, who was just engaging in casual conversation, wasn’t a big deal. However, when Chu Ruochun inexplicably pushed him, if Feng Qi’s temper had been a bit worse, he might have asked the director to replace Chu Ruochun on the spot. But for now, he was holding back his anger.
Chu Ruochun glanced at his shoes and said, “I’m sorry, everything okay?”
Feng Qi gritted his teeth, maintaining his gentlemanly demeanor, “It’s fine, just be more careful next time.”
Chu Ruochun reminded him, “Feng ge, let’s move on quickly. This area is under construction, and there might be falling objects.”
In his heart, Feng Qi let out a quiet hum. Who knows what’s going on in his mind.
During lunchtime, Feng Qi had been hungry all morning, and his stomach was captivated by the delicious food. Given that this grand meal was earned by Chu Ruochun, he decided not to argue for the time being.
In the afternoon, the game segment continued, still related to business. The program team tallied the earnings of each store from the morning and sent the results to each guest’s phone.
In pursuit of the first-place reward, all the guests worked hard to continue making money. The program also introduced money-making games, some involving physical activities and others testing intelligence. Zhou Zongyu was in charge of the physical games, while Feng Qi handled the intellectual challenges. Chu Ruochun didn’t participate, causing his presence to diminish even further.
The recording of the program continued until the final segment before allowing the guests to leave. Finally, Chu Ruochun could take a break.
Chu Ruochun changed out of his costume backstage and returned it to the wardrobe department. He Jun was still inside removing his headgear, so Chu Ruochun waited for him by a small flowerbed. He sent He Jun his location information to ensure he could find him later.
He stood in the flowerbed, admiring the roses within it, when a stress relief toy ball rolled to his feet, accompanied by approaching footsteps.
“Sorry, I let it slip.” Jiang Zirong, now in casual clothing, ran over, carrying her long skirt.
“No problem.” Chu Ruochun bent down to pick up the stress relief toy ball and handed it to her.
“Thank you, little brother,” Jiang Zirong said as she took the ball, and her fingertips brushed against Chu Ruochun’s. At that moment, Chu Ruochun’s fingertips paused, and she misinterpreted it, thinking she had successfully captured the heart of another little brother. She felt a bit proud of herself, even though Chu Ruochun had beaten her in mental arithmetic today. However, he had lost when it came to his appearance.
Chu Ruochun withdrew his hand, and the feeling he had at that moment was like touching something as cold as a corpse.
He shattered Jiang Zirong’s fantasy, “Did you borrow something important from someone?”
Jiang Zirong’s smile froze for a moment, “What are you talking about?”
At that moment, Jiang Zirong’s assistant called out to her from the corridor, “Miss Jiang, we should go. If we wait any longer, we might miss the high-speed train.”
Jiang Zirong glanced at Chu Ruochun once more, not wanting to engage with him any further.
As Jiang Zirong turned away, Chu Ruochun said, “Miss Jiang, you are already bearing the consequences of borrowing something from someone.”
Jiang Zirong turned back, clearly displeased, “Nonsense!”
Chu Ruochun remained unruffled, “If you need help, you can come to me.”
Jiang Zirong’s steps were somewhat unsteady, but she quickly regained her composure and left with her assistant.
This scene was observed by Feng Qí. He had chatted with the director for a bit, delaying his departure, and when he turned the corner, he saw Chu Ruochun entangled with Jiang Zirong.
This guy truly had a dubious character.
After Jiang Zirong left, Chu Ruochun waited for He Jun, and the two of them left the rustic building.
Feng Qi no longer focused his gaze on Chu Ruochun and went straight back to his car to remove his makeup.
His manager, Gao Xuesheng, asked him, “How was your experience on the variety show today?”
After holding it in all day, Feng Qi finally had the opportunity to speak his mind, “I was in the same group with a guy named Chu Ruochun, and he pushed me twice today.”
Gao Xuesheng asked his assistant, “Yang Xin, you’ve been with your big brother Feng all the time. Did you see anyone push him? Why didn’t you mention this to the director?”
Yang Xin was a woman in her thirties, and she replied, “I didn’t see anything.”
Feng Qi said, “It might have been because we were in the construction area at the time, and everyone was busy looking at the ground, so they didn’t notice me.”
Gao Xuesheng chuckled, “It’s your natural charm that attracts everyone. I thought you were used to it by now.”
Feng Qi reclined his chair, preparing to take a nap, “Who would be happy to be bumped into every day?”
Gao Xuesheng didn’t pursue the topic further, knowing that Feng Qi had been taken advantage of in the past because of such incidents.
Yang Xin stopped him, “Wait a moment, Big Brother Feng, your safety button fell into the car this morning. Fortunately, I found it. If it were someone else, they might have taken it.” She handed him the safety button and a broken dark green braided cord.
Feng Qi took them and casually stuffed them into his pocket, “Thanks. Maybe the cord had worn out.”
㇐
There are new developments in the “Jiang Qiao Mysterious Death Case” at the Baihua Sub-bureau Criminal Investigation Team!
Xiao Zhou and Xiao Li spent an entire night searching for Jiang Qiao’s online traces.
Compared to his harmless appearance, this young man in his early twenties had a dark side that could only be described as filthy.
During his junior high and high school years, Jiang Qiao was active on a secret forum, where he interacted with like-minded individuals who shared his disturbing interests. They would post what they considered “interesting” photos and videos on this forum, often with explicit and voyeuristic content. Some members uploaded upskirt photos of unsuspecting girls, while others shared videos of non-consensual acts. There were even some explicit videos!
It was utterly devoid of humanity!
Xiao Li was on the verge of vomiting when he saw these photos and videos, and his anger was reaching its limits. He said, “Xiao Zhou, we must uncover the person behind this website!”
Xiao Zhou clenched his fist as he scrolled through the content, “Of course, but we can’t alert them just yet. Let’s contact Captain Zhang first. We need to find not only the creator of this website but also the individuals responsible for uploading these photos and videos!”
Having slept for less than five hours, Zhang Dongliang was rudely awakened by the call from the two young investigators.
They had discovered that Jiang Qiao had uploaded numerous explicit videos on this website, some involving willing participants and others who were clearly not. The victims in these videos appeared to be around the same age.
Captain Zhang, who couldn’t sleep, immediately deployed his team to start the investigation. Some were tasked with looking into the website, while others continued to investigate Jiang Qiao’s case, with a particular focus on the girls in those videos and their families.
They all had a gut feeling that Jiang Qiao’s death might be linked to these videos. Their first step was to investigate Jiang Qiao’s connections with these girls, eliminating them one by one to get closer to the truth.
From the videos, they compiled a list of twenty-one girls. Some could be identified through facial recognition in the police department’s database, leaving only three unidentified individuals.
These twenty-one girls came from different high schools.
Captain Zhang Dongliang held the names of the three unidentified girls in his hand and said to Xiao Li, “You and I will be responsible for investigating these girls.”
“Okay, Captain,” Xiao Li, who hadn’t slept all night, replied with determination, fueled by anger.
㇐
After the recording of the variety show “Nothing is Impossible,” Fang Ming arranged for He Jun to participate in a dance-related talent show. Their paths diverged entirely. As for Chu Ruochun, he continued to stay in the company dormitory, reading books and surfing the internet.
Fang Ming was quite satisfied with his performance in his first variety show appearance. He didn’t schedule any other work for the time being but decided to see if there were any suitable variety show opportunities to increase his exposure.
The airing of “Nothing is Impossible” was scheduled for next week, and Fang Ming advised Chu Ruochun to engage more with his fans on Weibo. After the show airs, there should be a surge in his fan base.
After Jiang Qiao’s incident, Chu Ruochun’s fight had also been cleared up, although it was respectful to the deceased. Some self-media outlets still dug up some information to generate buzz.
According to a trainee from Qingju, Chu Ruochun had been bullied by Jiang Qiao for a whole year, and even the 991 trainees could confirm this.
People tend to sympathize with the underdog, and Chu Ruochun gained a wave of sympathetic fans because of this.
As someone from the 2G era1I think it refers to the era when mobile is first introduced. Although web browsing is introduced, it is basic and slow compared to today’s. Please correct me if I’m wrong., Chu Ruochun had no idea how to interact with fans online.
Fang Ming sent him the Weibo account and password. Chu Ruochun noticed that the posts before his rebirth were all promotional videos for 991 or retweets related to the program. There was nothing else.
He still hadn’t figured out how to use Weibo properly, so interacting with fans was a bit of a struggle.
Fang Ming sent a voice call through WeChat, “Xiao Chu, just share some daily life updates and interact with your fans.”
Chu Ruochun asked, “Can I post anything?”
Fang Ming replied, “Anything is fine.”
Chu Ruochun pondered for a moment, carefully choosing his words, and then posted a very brief Weibo update:
[Spent two hours meditating today.]
— What’s going on?
— Meditation? Are you planning to become a monk?
— Kid, don’t do anything reckless! Whatever happens, we love you!
— Hahaha, everyone else has the image of being a studious top student, a fan favorite, a cat or dog lover, serious, or a simpleton. But you’re different!
— This is hilarious! Why don’t you just go to a monastery and become a monk?
— Kid, are you trying to cultivate yourself?
After completing his task, Chu Ruochun set his phone aside, drank some water, and returned. Then, his phone rang.
It was his biological uncle from his original body.
He answered the call, and his uncle didn’t bother with pleasantries: “Ruochun, come back quickly. Your younger brother, sigh!”
In the background of the phone call, a child was crying loudly.
“What happened to my brother?” The original owner’s parents passed away in an accident, leaving only the original owner and his younger brother. At that time, he was still half a year away from adulthood, so his uncle became the guardian of both of them.
The original owner’s uncle said, “Your brother fought with Zhan Zhan again, and this time he even got a head injury. Please come back and take him away! Our family really can’t keep him any longer!”
“Alright, I’ll come back.” It just so happened that he didn’t have work that day, so he could go see the original owner’s younger brother.
After hanging up the phone, he explained the situation to Fang Ming and bought a high-speed train ticket for the same day to set off.
As soon as Chu Ruochun boarded the high-speed train and found his seat, he saw two familiar faces sitting next to him.
Xiao Li, who was about to take a nap, rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he saw Chu Ruochun. He nudged Zhang Dongliang and said, “Chu Ruochun?”
Chu Ruochun placed his bag in the overhead compartment, nodded, and greeted them, “Hello, what a coincidence.”
Zhang Dongliang looked up at Chu Ruochun and said, “Indeed, quite a coincidence.”
Chu Ruochun smiled knowingly; he understood the purpose of their trip. “If you ever need help during your work, feel free to contact me,” he offered.
Zhang Dongliang responded, “Professional matters should be handled by professionals.”
Chu Ruochun nodded in agreement, saying, “You’re absolutely right.”
However, Xiao Li was a bit curious and decided not to sleep anymore. He leaned over to Chu Ruochun across Zhang Dongliang and said, “I haven’t thanked you for providing us with inspiration.”
Chu Ruochun replied, “It was no trouble at all.”
Xiao Li insisted, “No, you really helped us a lot.”
Zhang Dongliang cleared his throat loudly and said, “Are you going to sleep or not? Too much talking.”
Xiao Li patted his mouth, realizing that Zhang Dongliang was concerned about revealing details of their case. He immediately fell silent.
Fortunately, Chu Ruochun didn’t inquire about the progress of their case, and during the two-hour train ride, the three of them hardly spoke. They all arrived at the same destination.
The local police station had sent a car to pick up the two of them, while Chu Ruochun was still waiting for a taxi on the side.
The three of them went their separate ways.
Half an hour later, they all got off at the same residential complex.
Chu Ruochun nodded at them and then entered the residential complex.
Xiao Li turned to Zhang Dongliang and asked, “Captain Zhang, can I ask Chu Ruochun for his WeChat?”
Zhang Dongliang rolled his eyes at him and said, “You have one minute.”
Xiao Li successfully got Chu Ruochun’s WeChat, and Chu Ruochun disappeared into the residential complex.
When Xiao Li returned, Zhang Dongliang asked him, “Don’t you find Chu Ruochun more suspicious now?”
Xiao Li, who probably hadn’t been sleeping well these past few days, didn’t catch on, “What’s suspicious?”
Zhang Dongliang scoffed, “We’re looking for Zhuang Yanyan, and she lives in this complex too.”
Xiao Li exclaimed, “No way! Maybe it’s just a coincidence?”
Zhang Dongliang sneered, “I don’t believe in that many coincidences in the world. If he didn’t know beforehand, how could he have reminded us to check Jiang Qiao’s past records? Go find out which unit he’s heading to.”
Xiao Li scratched his head, “Captain Zhang, I just added him on WeChat. Let me ask him.”
Zhang Dongliang warned, “Don’t tip him off; he’s a suspect now.”
Xiao Li had no choice but to put away his phone and go after Chu Ruochun.
