SVWL Side Story Part 6

Since there’s no contract he signed, there’s nothing to terminate.

Lu Zheyu said, “Just ask the agency to issue a statement.”

Cheng Chen frowned as he looked at him.

Lu Zheyu lowered his gaze, pretending not to see Cheng Chen. “Generally, if you want to stop the media from publishing anymore news, you just need to ‘greet’ them. If your greeting doesn’t work, there must be someone powerful supporting them.”

He calmly analyzed it, while Cheng Chen snorted disdainfully, especially at the “someone powerful supporting them”.

Of course, he knew that this spreading rumor had someone who fanned the flames. But in the eyes of Cheng Chen, she was just a jumping clown.

“You don’t need to worry about her–”

“I need to,” Lu Zheyu looked up at Cheng Chen again, “School will start soon.”

“…”

“No one has disclosed my identity because you’re suppressing them. They didn’t dare to openly offend you. Also, it’s because they don’t have any evidence. The more you suppress the news, the more it proves that you actually have something to hide, and the more they will keep an eye on you…”

Before Lu Zheyu could finish his speech, he saw Cheng Chen suddenly laugh, stopping the teenager completely.

Cheng Chen: “So you know I have something to hide?”

Lu Zheyu: “…I’m not blind.”

He knew what Cheng Chen was thinking about him – he also knew that neither of them were completely innocent.

Cheng Chen’s lips curled up even more. He shrugged and said, “Alright, continue.”

“…”

Lu Zheyu breathed in before continuing, “Random speculation without evidence is just a flimsy rumor. In order to find evidence, they will keep an eye on me after school starts.”

The smile on Cheng Chen’s face collapsed.

Lu Zheyu expressionlessly stated, “I will not transfer schools, and my parents won’t allow me to do that anyway. I have a fixed place of activities and a fixed time to leave school. If those media people want to find me, they don’t even need to do anything special. As long as there’s contact between us, it will become evidence in their eyes.”

Cheng Chen took a sip of wine. “So?”

Lu Zheyu was silent for a moment before continuing, “Issue a termination statement.”

“…”

The best way to shut up the media and make the mastermind behind this rumor to stop, is simply to make them have no way to profit off this rumor in the first place.

On the surface, Cheng Chen has cut off his relationship with Lu Zheyu, so the “supporting a minor” angle couldn’t be used as an ammunition to attack Cheng Chen or his company.

Even if their relationship was above board without anything dirty, the difference between their status would invite countless dirty speculations by everyone. This wouldn’t have any good impact on Cheng Chen, Lu Zheyu, the company, or the school.

Cheng Chen pondered, then said, “The agency issued a termination statement. Do you know what this implies?”

Lu Zheyu: “I know.”

Companies cannot fire an employee without a reason. Since Lu Zheyu was “fired”, it implied that he had done something wrong. Although this meant that they could get rid of those bloodhounds called the media, in the eyes of others, Lu Zheyu was a discarded man, and inadvertently became the confirmation of some rumors. There might be people who laughed at him behind his back for failing to steal the chicken and losing the rice¹not only failed at doing something, but also lost something else on top of that. As in, you tried to steal a chicken by baiting them close with rice; but not only you failed at stealing them, you also lost the bait., being the abandoned one like worn-out shoes.

This meant Lu Zheyu would not be able to enter this circle in the future.

–But he doesn’t care.

Music is something he likes. He doesn’t need an audience to hear his music, though.

With his personality, if it weren’t for the money he could get, he wouldn’t have enter this circle in the first place. Even if he didn’t get this job, he could continue living well.

He made the decision decisively, and Cheng Chen also refused equally decisively. “There’s no need to do that. I won’t let them bother you.”

Lu Zheyu frowned. “How long do you plan to deal with them?”

Cheng Chen replied, “Until you can be honest with me.”

“…”

Lu Zheyu didn’t know how hard it is to control public opinion for a powerful person like Cheng Chen. But he knew it wasn’t that easy, especially to prevent those media people from finding him and his family, or to prevent news from being able to ferment wildly.

If his parents knew about this, how would his face-loving parents react?

He was exhausted from dealing with his parents’ unreasonable attitude, with their tendency of taking advantage of the situation. He also hated that his neighbors loved to twist the truth to suit their narration. So before he could get independent, he definitely didn’t want his parents to know about it.

But there’s no such thing as an impenetrable wall in the world. Even if one wanted to make it as impenetrable as possible, the amount of time and energy it took was massive.

The statement of termination was finally released.

Cheng Chen woke up from his drunken stupor and received a call from his assistant, informing him that the statement had been released. He loudly asked his assistant who told them to do that, and the assistant meekly said that it was Cheng Chen himself.

The assistant sent him a screenshot. It was of him “giving orders”. He then looked at his chat records, and found that such a thing didn’t exist on his phone.

Cheng Chen was so angry that he didn’t know what to say.

That underaged teen was so capable. He even used his newly-learned skill to turn things around!

This statement naturally caused a wave of heated discussions, but the negative public opinion was suppressed by Cheng Chen. By the time he finished dealing with the “mess” Lu Zheyu caused, high school had already started.

Cheng Chen’s “ruthlessness” excited the fleas jumping behind all of this mess. Someone secretly approached Lu Zheyu and said they would help him to get justice, as long as he stood up and admitted that he had an improper relationship with Cheng Chen. However, Lu Zheyu refused immediately and threatened to call the police on the grounds of harassment²clarification: while Zhuang Yuxin was the first one to start the rumor, the implication is that Cheng Chen’s rival companies fanned the flame further to gain extra benefits..

After those people followed them for a while, they finally gave up, unwilling and angry.

However, Cheng Chen didn’t let them go. Both the media and the mastermind who kept fanning the flame behind the scenes were also cleaned up, paying their corresponding price.

Without the “emotions” to restrain his hands and feet, Cheng Chen used his actions to give an actual example why the ancients told people to not poke a tiger’s behind.

After the dust settled, Cheng Chen saw Lu Zheyu again half a month later.

The older man blocked Lu Zheyu on his way back to school. The teenager’s previous concern was right – it’s too easy to block a high-schooler in school.

He didn’t ask why Lu Zheyu issued a termination statement using his name and phone. His only concern was: “Have your parents come to see you about this matter?”

Lu Zheyu replied, “No.”

After a momentary pause, he added, “Thank you.”

Cheng Chen smiled, but his tone wasn’t very friendly. “What are you thanking me for? For firing you and cutting off your way to continue to create music in this industry? For taking a heroic measure by using you as a shield to successfully prevent the possible adverse effects on my company?”

Lu Zheyu: “…”

He didn’t think he had done anything wrong. The media targeted him because he was a minor, because he was weak, and because he had a lot of rumors on him. Cheng Chen’s rivals targeted Lu Zheyu because he was special to Cheng Chen.

Cheng Chen replaced Zhuang Yuxin with another singer for him. He even directly snowed her in after she spread the initial rumors and slandered him, allowing others to see his value in Cheng Chen’s eyes. There were always people who overestimated their own abilities and attack, thinking they could defeat Cheng Chen as long as they produced evidence.

So the company issued a statement, making Lu Zheyu an abandoned piece, no longer valued by Cheng Chen.

No one followed him anymore, and he finally regained his peace. He was fired by the agency, representing Cheng Chen’s attitude. Those people with ulterior motives could stop thinking and stopped doing it once and for all.

Cheng Chen also knew that Lu Zheyu’s approach wasn’t wrong. But he’s still very angry.

Since Lu Zheyu dared to do that, it also meant that he doesn’t care if he’ll be drowned in criticism.

After this matter, Cheng Chen, at most, would be flamed for being cold-hearted and heartless. No one dared to publicize it without evidence. But Lu Zheyu had to face other’s slanderous statements, and endure those abuses by himself.

He wasn’t afraid of being talked about, so why did have to distance himself from Cheng Chen?

Cheng Chen tried to suppress his curiosity, but he asked in the end.

Lu Zheyu’s answer was: “Because of my parents.”

Cheng Chen then asked, “What’s wrong with your parents? Am I so shameful?”

“…”

Lu Zheyu looked at him as if he was something strange. He then continued to tell him about his family.

His parents aren’t well-educated, do not understand many things, refuse to do so, and are very face-conscious people.

Once, because he worked in a bar, his parents found him and made a big fuss. They cut off his living expenses, and clamored to break off relations with him.

From childhood to adulthood, whenever he was disobedient, his mother would always say: “Will you feel better if I die?”

Sometimes, she even said more than just that…

There was already a lot of baseless gossip in his hometown, saying that he earned his money from “unknown origin”. If his parents heard that he was being “kept” by someone rich, they would probably be so ashamed that they would hang themselves in front of him.

This was the family he tried so hard to escape from, but he couldn’t get rid of them now.

Cheng Chen fell into silence for quite a while. 

Then, he concluded, “So you don’t dare to take the risk. You are worried that the news can’t be concealed, and you’re afraid your parents will know… You don’t believe me?”

Lu Zheyu replied, “I believe you, but it’s not necessary.”

There’s no need to waste extra time and energy on such things.

Cheng Chen put his hand on the car’s steering wheel. “You haven’t thought about explaining to your parents, is it because you think such effort is unnecessary.”

Lu Zheyu made a noise of assent.

Even if he explained, it would be useless. His parents wouldn’t believe his explanation, making him unwilling to spend effort to do that.

He didn’t speak for a long time. Cheng Chen suddenly realized something and said, “The matter was resolved well.”

“…”

“Letting the company issue a termination statement and sever your ties with me. Although you’ll lose your job and be ridiculed, you neither plan to continue this job nor return to the agency. As long as they can’t find an opportunity to expand public opinion, as long the news never reaches your parents’ ears, you don’t care about them at all. The company will not be affected, and you’ll have your peace in school. You are very rational and decisive. Ordinary high school students can’t do this.”

While he stated them in a neutral tone, he still sounded as if there was a hidden implication behind his words.

Lu Zheyu turned his head to look at him.

Cheng Chen also turned his head, meeting the teenager’s gaze. “What about us, then?”

From the beginning, when the “unspoken rules” rumor spread, to when they were targeted by the media, and until the end, when the media set their sights on Lu Zheyu’s parents, the teenager’s solution was quick and effective. But, he always missed a point.

He never considered relying on others to solve the problems.

Cheng Chen continued, “Since I fired you from my company to avoid suspicion, is it inappropriate for me to meet you privately now?”

Lu Zheyu slowly clasped his hands.

Cheng Chen looked at him with calm eyes.

Since the teenager could make such a decisive decision, he must’ve thought about the issue of “their future”.

“Although I don’t mind meeting secretly, what about you?”

As he asked that, Cheng Chen inched closer and closer.

He suddenly realized something he had never thought about and didn’t want to admit.

Why did Lu Zheyu make the decision to “sever their relationship” so decisively?

—Maybe, the teen just didn’t like himself that much.

• 1
  not only failed at doing something, but also lost something else on top of that. As in, you tried to steal a chicken by baiting them close with rice; but not only you failed at stealing them, you also lost the bait.
• 2
  clarification: while Zhuang Yuxin was the first one to start the rumor, the implication is that Cheng Chen’s rival companies fanned the flame further to gain extra benefits.