Chapter 99 Could it be that all these years, Fang Xin...

The most talked-about topic in the entertainment industry recently has been the controversy surrounding the authenticity of the songwriters for "Please Listen to His Defendant".

The matter reached a fever pitch after Tan Zhi released an apology video and admitted that he was not the original author, with discussions about the matter appearing almost everywhere.

Although Fang Xingu "kept his promise" and did not continue to denounce Tan Zhi on this issue online, nor did he have his staff stir up trouble online, the matter had already blown up. Even if Fang Xingu stopped responding, the online buzz remained high.

There are so many points that netizens can discuss about this matter.

What exactly does Tan Zhi mean by "misuse"? What was the real reason Fang Xin Gu didn't stand up and criticize Tan Zhi back then? Which of Tan Zhi's songs were ghostwritten? What role did Jing Yi Tong play in all of this? What should be done about the awards Tan Zhi won for "Please Listen to His Defendant"?

Many people also took advantage of the situation to create accounts and reveal various "insider information" that may be true or false. Some even claimed to be victims of Tan Zhi's plagiarism of their lyrics and music, and that they had to take this opportunity to demand an explanation from Tan Zhi. In short, Tan Zhi's reputation had plummeted to rock bottom, and no one was willing to trust him anymore. After all, it is very difficult to regain a person's credibility once it has been overdrawn.

The internet was abuzz with gossip, with netizens constantly on the front lines of the drama. Every time they opened their phones, there was a new juicy story to enjoy, and the entire internet was buzzing with excitement.

Logically speaking, even if entertainment news like this generates a lot of discussion at the moment, people's attention will shift after two or three days, and it's impossible to keep focusing on this one thing.

But the victim in this case, Fang Xin, is not some unknown celebrity. He is an undisputed top star. Who would have thought that this current top star had such a frustrating experience before his debut?

In an instant, countless netizens imagined a scene where the five-year period had come to an end and the Dragon King was welcomed back to the throne. They even attributed Fang Xin's past criticisms of his "smear campaign" to his past forbearance and compromise.

That's nothing compared to his stern face and arrogance. He's just waiting for the day when he'll unleash his full potential!

Many people have even used this as a model for their own creations, commenting that Fang Xingu's life trajectory is simply a slap in the face to wish-fulfillment stories coming to life.

It's not just netizens who are paying attention to this matter; even industry insiders are inquiring about various information.

So every day when Fang Xingu opened his phone, he would see countless friends from both inside and outside the circle forwarding a bunch of netizens' creations to him. Fang Xingu was so embarrassed that he dared not face reality. He even reduced his frequency of going online and playing on his phone, and quit the internet to seek peace and quiet.

It wasn't until a few days later, after Xu Subo's wedding was over and August had passed, that the matter gradually subsided.

But just when everyone thought the matter was over, someone revealed a shocking piece of news: Tan Zhi was reportedly arrested and detained on suspicion of [illegal activities].

When this news first came out, many people were skeptical because there had been so much news about Tan Zhi recently that people accepted it all without having time to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Now, seeing this explosive news, many people suspect that this might be a way for Tan Zhi to clear his name.

A popular public relations tactic these days is to deliberately release fake negative information about an artist after they've been attacked with negative rumors, then vaguely clarify the false parts to confuse the public and make them believe that the real rumors are also fake, thus gaining sympathy by playing the victim.

After all, Tan Zhi's previous actions of hiring gunmen could still be controlled within the scope of civil liability as long as Fang Xin Gu did not investigate them too deeply. But if it were a criminal case, it would rise to the level of criminal liability... But who would bring up such a thing to spread rumors?

Just as everyone was confused, the authorities actually released a blue-and-white announcement stating that artist Tan was suspected of sexual assault and molestation of women and had been criminally detained.

This news caused a huge uproar. The gunman incident was still fresh in everyone's minds, and with Tan Zhi's detention, the name "Tan Zhi" suddenly became famous throughout the country. Everyone was lamenting how a once-renowned singer had fallen so low.

A few days later, rumors circulated that Tan Zhi had assaulted more than one woman, and that it was only after Xu Xingye and others were arrested that those women dared to come forward and identify Tan Zhi's crimes.

As soon as this news broke, the names Xu Xingye and Jiang Zhou were dug up again and subjected to public ridicule. People then discovered that these two scumbags not only organized pimping but also participated in it personally, even doing the same things as Tan Zhi.

Following the clues from the report, the group discovered that Jiang Zhou had been having affairs and sleeping with other women during his marriage with Shen Shiyun. This led to Shen Shiyun, who later discovered the truth, suffering from depression and committing suicide.

One after another, these events were exposed, which was a challenge to everyone's ability to process information. No one could have predicted that things would turn out this way. How did a dispute between two singers on a music variety show develop into one of them being arrested and imprisoned, and then an old case from many years ago was dug up?

Everything was so coincidental that it makes one wonder if someone was behind the scenes manipulating the events.

Of course, Liang Jiyan, the person who exposed all of this behind the scenes, did not reveal herself. However, after the truth about Shen Shiyun's suicide came to light, she naturally washed away the infamy she had carried for many years, allowing all the victims to stand in the sunlight and letting those heinous criminals get the punishment they deserved.

But netizens ultimately couldn't find out the story behind it; they just discussed it with sighs over tea and wondered if there would be any follow-up.

There were follow-ups, of course, but the first to react was the production team of "Us Without Tomorrow".

That day, Jing Yitong and Fang Xin were walking their dog in the yard when they suddenly received a call from Hua Danhong, the producer of the TV series "Us Without Tomorrow".

Jing Yitong saw the caller ID, threw the frisbee in his hand, and Quan Quan chased after it with its hooves. Jing Yitong then answered the phone: "President Hua, it's been a long time."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with him, Hua Danhong got straight to the point: "Yitong, I won't beat around the bush with you. I've seen the news about 'Please Listen to His Defendant' online recently, and I know that Tan Zhi stole Teacher Fang's lyrics and music back then. But the soundtrack we're using in our movie is still Tan Zhi's version, so I'd like to ask Teacher Fang if he'd be interested in recording a new version? We happen to have plans to re-release our movie, and we'll replace Teacher Fang's version with the soundtrack for the re-release."

Jing Yitong looked at Fang Xingu, who was playing frisbee with Quan Quan. Although he thought it was a good thing, it was Fang Xingu's job after all, and he wouldn't interfere directly: "President Hua, shouldn't you contact their studio about this?"

Hua Danhong spoke frankly: "Haha, isn't this just asking you to play the emotional card with Teacher Fang, to get double insurance? I believe you also hope that when the movie is re-released, the background music accompanying Qin Zhe will be sung by Teacher Fang himself, right?"

Her words really hit the nail on the head. Jing Yitong chuckled and said, "Okay, I'll ask around for you."

Hua Danhong said "okay" and was about to hang up when she heard Jing Yitong shout from the other end of the line, "Xin Gu!"

Then Fang Xingu's voice came from a distance: "What's wrong?"

"The person who just called was..."

Jing Yitong was only halfway through his sentence when Hua Danhong's call was cut off. She stared blankly at her phone before realizing that the two of them had been together just moments before.

On the other end of the phone, after Jing Yitong relayed Hua Danhong's request to Fang Xingu, Fang Xingu readily agreed: "Sure."

Jing Yitong hugged Fang Xingu and rubbed his head vigorously: "That's great, Qin Zhe can officially meet Teacher Fang now."

Fang Xingu rested his head on Jing Yitong's shoulder: "I'm also looking forward to it... Should I tell the studio too?"

"good."

As the two were talking, Jing Quan Quan ran back with the frisbee in its mouth. However, the two were so engrossed in hugging that they didn't pay any attention to the dog at their feet. Jing Quan Quan nudged the two with its head for a long time without getting any response, which made it whimper in frustration.

Annoyed to no end, Jing Yitong finally let go of Fang Xingu, bent down and picked up Jing Quanquan: "Aren't you annoying, little fatty? You're disturbing my and your brother's time alone... I'm done playing, let's go home for dinner!"

Jing Quan Quan wouldn't stop moving in Jing Yitong's arms. Its thick legs kept struggling and its body twisted. It was clearly a fluffy fat dog, but it was as slippery as an eel. Jing Yitong couldn't control it and could only let it get off the ground and run around on its own.

Jing Quan Quan seemed to have suffered some great injustice. As soon as she landed, she ran to Fang Xingu's side, tilted her head up and looked at him pitifully, whimpering and following his legs as if seeking comfort from him.

Fang Xingu stared at it for three seconds, then couldn't resist the temptation. He squatted down and started rubbing the dog's head hard, even kissing Jing Quanquan's big head a few times: "Our Quanquan is so cute."

Jing Yitong squatted down next to Fang Xingu and poked his shoulder: "Give me a kiss too."

Fang Xingu chuckled and turned his head, grabbed his shoulder, and planted a loud kiss on his cheek, saying, "Satisfied now?"

Jing Yitong's face immediately lit up with a bright smile, but then Fang Xingu let out a "ouch" and reached out to wipe the spot where he had just kissed her.

Jing Yitong touched his face and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Fang Xin Gu: "...I'll kiss your face full of dog hair."

Jing Yitong: ...

Jing Yitong reached out and flicked Jing Quanquan's forehead: "You molting bad dog."

Jing Quan Quan was inexplicably flicked on the forehead and began wailing and accusing Jing Yi Tong.

The two men and the dog returned to the Fang family home and had dinner with Wang Jinxu. Wang Jinxu's health has been good recently. Although she still needs to go to the hospital for chemotherapy every now and then, she is indeed much more energetic and even has a bigger appetite. She looks much more robust than when she was first discharged from the hospital.

On the contrary, Fang Xingu had little appetite due to the recent hot weather. He quickly ate a couple of bites of rice and was full. He then started to coordinate with Qi Qiu's team to re-record "Please Listen to His Explanation".

Just after the recording plan was finalized, Qi Qiu asked Fang Xingu for the arrangement materials. Fang Xingu didn't have them on his phone, so he had to go back to his room to find them on his computer. Wang Jinxu saw that he was busy too, so she waved him away.

Only Wang Jinxu and Jing Yitong remained at the table. Jing Yitong had grown up under Wang Jinxu's watchful eye since childhood, and he didn't act like an outsider in front of her, eating, drinking, and chatting with her.

Wang Jinxu glanced at Jing Yitong a few times, hesitated for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Xiaotong, how have things been lately? You haven't been affected by those things online, have you?"

Jing Yitong thought to himself that the grandfather and grandson were really interesting. They were both too awkward to take the initiative to care about each other, and he had to be in the middle to act as a messenger.

Jing Yitong thought to herself, but still answered truthfully, "Grandma, don't worry, Xin Gu is fine, I'll stay with him."

Wang Jinxu breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. I feel relieved to have you here."

Jing Yitong did not deny it.

After finishing the meal, Wang Jinxu didn't keep Jing Yitong any longer, telling him to go visit Fang Xingu whenever he had time. Jing Yitong smiled and said goodbye to her, then took Jing Quanquan and headed towards Fang Xingu's small building.

He had barely stepped out the door when his nanny, Aunt Wei, chased after him: "Xiao Tong, wait a minute! A few months ago, we received a package at home. It was thin and looked like a document. I think the sender was Xin Gu, but the recipient's name was Jing Quan. Is this a package from Xin Gu?"

"Hmm? Let me see."

Jing Yitong glanced at it and found the package somewhat familiar. He then looked at the details on the waybill and realized that it was a letter they had sent from Penguin Post when they were filming "The World Is So Big" in Antarctica.

Jing Yitong found it strange. They didn't often return to Jiangcheng, so why was Fang Xingu's mailing address in Jiangcheng? Jing Yitong had written his Beijing address, so he had received the mail several months ago, unlike Fang Xingu, who only received the letter he sent after returning to Jiangcheng more than half a year later.

Jing Yitong accepted the package: "It should be. I'll take it to Xin Gu."

"Okay, thank you for your help, Xiao Tong."

Jing Yitong took the letter and walked towards Fang Xingu's small building. He held Jing Quanquan's hand with one hand and casually glanced at the letter. He noticed that the "23" in the address was written unnaturally. It seemed as if a stroke had been deliberately added to "22" to make it 23.

He then realized something was strange. Moreover, Fang Xingu never used the name "Jing Quan Quan" when sending or receiving packages. In addition, the delivery address seemed to have been deliberately changed from "22" to "23". Jing Yitong had a sudden guess in his mind - could Fang Xingu have originally intended to send this letter to him?

So the house number was originally "22", which is why the recipient was "Jing Moumou". However, at the last minute, Fang Xin changed his mind and changed the house number of the Jing family from "22" to the Fang family's "23", and changed the unfinished "Jing Yitong" to "Jing Quanquan".

Although it was just a guess, Jing Yitong kept thinking about what Fang Xingu would write to him if he really did write a letter from Antarctica.

However, Jing Yitong restrained himself from peeking at the contents of the letter. When he arrived at the small building, he pretended to know nothing and called out as usual, "Xin Gu, there's a package for you!"

"Oh, here it comes."

Fang Xingu ran over in his slippers, took the package from Jing Yitong's hand, and after opening it, he was stunned for a while before he realized what was happening when he saw the familiar handwriting and contents of the letter.

This was actually the letter I had sent back from Antarctica.

Fang Xingu had completely forgotten about it. Although only half a year had passed, too many changes had happened to him in those months, so much so that when he picked up the letter again and read its contents, he felt a sense of the passage of time.

Fang Xingu wrote this letter amidst the swirling snow in Antarctica, with the thought of a complete break with Jing Yitong in mind. However, after returning from Antarctica, he not only did not break up with Jing Yitong, but the two actually lived together and fell in love.

Fang Xingu was filled with emotion. He subconsciously looked down at Jing Yitong, who was carefully wiping Quan Quan's black feet. A smile appeared on Fang Xingu's lips. Now, when his fingers brushed the letter paper again, he no longer felt the biting cold wind of Antarctica, but the scorching summer sun of Jiangcheng.

He slowly put the letter away. Jing Yitong heard Fang Xingu put the letter away, his ears twitched, he let go of Jing Quanquan's paws and let the dog run to its doghouse to sleep, while his eyes followed Fang Xingu, only to see that Fang Xingu had already stuffed the letter back into the envelope.

Why didn't Fang Xin show him the letter?

Jing Yitong casually inquired, "What kind of delivery is it? It's so thin."

Fang Xingu thought for a moment. So much time had passed, and his feelings had long since changed. So there was no need to show this letter to Jing Yitong anymore.

So he lied and said, "It's nothing."

Jing Yitong: ...Is this how you're going to brush me off?!

Jing Yitong was furious, but he had pretended to be nonchalant just now, so he couldn't press the matter further. He could only follow Fang Xingu resentfully, sticking close to him step by step.

Jing Yitong is usually very clingy, and Fang Xingu didn't notice anything wrong with his clingy behavior today. He just sat on the sofa and started coordinating work with Qi Qiu, while Jing Yitong angrily leaned against him and played on his phone.

Perhaps it was because Jing Yitong had been frequently following Fang Xingu's affairs on social media accounts recently that the big data system often recommended trending information about Fang Xingu to him. As a result, the first piece of information he saw when he went online was about Fang Xingu.

"@Humanity is inherently gossipy: Is there really no one who wants to investigate Fang Xingu's alternate account? It seems so interesting!"

There are already over 10,000 replies below:

"Who on earth invented this adorable character, Fang Xingu? His alternate account is full of his daily ramblings. Gu'er is so cute!"

"How shocking! I always thought Fang Xin was a cool guy, I never thought he'd be associated with the word 'cute'..."

"It's more like an unpublished personal account than a secondary account, since I've been using it for almost ten years, longer than my main account [laughing emoji]"

"The content is so little. He only posted a little over 600 Weibo posts in ten years, while I posted over 40,000 in the same period."

"No, I'd like to ask, who cooked that table of food that fxg posted on his alternate account last winter solstice... I don't think the 'World Is So Big' program team organized a winter solstice dinner back then [smile]"

"@Jing Yitong, just tell the truth, is it you or not?"

"Without a doubt, Jing Yitong is gradually becoming a stay-at-home dad, posting his 'Feeding Diary of Fang Xin' on Weibo every now and then... ah, no, I mean, 'Chef Jing's Making Diary' [black face]"

"Has no one noticed? Fang Xingu's little homepage shows a total of 627 Weibo posts, but I counted and I can only see 406. More than 200 posts are hidden."

Jing Yitong was taken aback when he saw the comment. He hadn't actually checked the two numbers before and hadn't noticed that Fang Xingu had hidden part of his Weibo. Now, after netizens pointed it out, he went back to Fang Xingu's Weibo and realized that what the netizens said was true. He had overlooked this detail before.

So what exactly is Fang Xin Gu hiding?

Jing Yitong curiously switched back to the previous Weibo post, wanting to see if these netizens, who were practically microscopes, could discover anything.

"Perhaps there's some content involving privacy? Setting sharing limits is normal, isn't it?"

"In this all-powerful internet, is there really no one who can dig up Fang Xin's two hundred hidden Weibo posts? [tears]"

"@Jing Yitong's sister-in-law, please help us find out some information! [Hands clasped together]"

Jing Yitong, who was tagged, fell silent after seeing this comment: Why are you guys begging me for help? I'm counting on you guys!

Jing Yitong scrolled down the comments section again, but didn't see anything constructive. He clicked his tongue, thinking to himself that netizens these days weren't trying hard enough, and then turned his attention to watching a movie out of boredom, waiting for Fang Xingu to finish his work.

After taking a shower that evening, Jing Yitong openly stayed overnight at Fang Xingu's small building. He lay comfortably on Fang Xingu's bed and habitually checked his phone before going to sleep. Only then did he realize that netizens had actually dug up some clues.

"Holy crap, holy crap, I have a screenshot of a Weibo post from seven years ago in my phone's photo album. Upon closer inspection, it looks like it was taken from Fang Xin's alternate account [shocked]. There are even two hidden posts in it!"

Jing Yitong's eyelids twitched, and he subconsciously glanced at Fang Xingu, who was drying his hair by the bed. Feeling guilty, he adjusted the angle of his phone before opening the netizen's Weibo.

This netizen was once a student at Shanghai University A and was an alumnus of Fang Xin. According to her, seven years ago, she was preparing to collect some campus photos online in order to write an article for the school's official WeChat account.

At the time, Fang Xingu's alternate account happened to take a picture of autumn leaves on campus. Although the caption was complaining about how far the school dormitory was from the teaching building, the photo was quite good. So this netizen saved the photo and also took a screenshot of Fang Xingu's Weibo interface, thinking that if he really needed to use the photo in the end, he could ask this unknown alumnus for authorization.

Unexpectedly, this screenshot, which was not used seven years ago, came in handy seven years later.

The screenshot also included two Weibo posts from Fang Xingu's alternate account, both of which have since been hidden by Fang Xingu.

Before Jing Yitong clicked on the screenshot, his heart inexplicably raced. He was a little nervous, wondering what he would find in Fang Xingu's hidden blog post.

He knew he shouldn't be so curious about Fang Xingu's past that she didn't want to talk about, but in reality, it's hard for people to control such desires. He wanted to understand Fang Xingu's past, to know everything about her, and also to know what kind of person Fang Xingu used to like.

After much hesitation, Jing Yitong finally clicked on the screenshot.

Actually, those were two very short blog posts. The earlier one was published seven years ago on July 15th—"I didn't even have time to say anything before the person just disappeared..."

Then came the photo of fallen leaves on campus that Fang Xingu posted in autumn, followed by a Weibo post on January 31 of the following year: "It's been a full two hundred days since we last met, enough to count twenty times on your fingers. The leaves of the plane trees on the street have turned from green to yellow and fallen all over the ground. It's so rare that it snowed in Shanghai this year, but it's a pity you can't see it."

The content of these two Weibo posts is very simple, but the emotions they convey are immediately clear.

"What's going on? I can sense a strong undercurrent of unrequited love [peeking]"

"Fang Xingu, you're having a crush on someone with that face???"

"Not only did he have a crush, but it seems he also failed in his crush [laughing emoji]. Oh well, let's give the kid some face. He's only a freshman in college. Who hasn't had a few crushes when they were young?"

"So this is the origin of the saying, 'I count the days on my fingers, and witness the falling leaves recording the passing years'? [tears]"

"@Jing Yitong, please don't look! @Jing Yitong, this seems to be a record of Gu Gu's early crush on someone [fingers emoji]"

"@Jing Yitong There are bad people among the crowd, don't look! [tears]"

While netizens were still making jokes, Jing Yitong froze on the spot after seeing the content and posting time of the two blog posts.

Anyone could see that Fang Xingu was secretly in love with the person he hadn't explicitly mentioned in his writing, and Jing Yitong naturally noticed it too.

The difference is that netizens don't know who Fang Xin Gu secretly loves, but as Jing Yi Tong listens to the violent pounding of his heart, an answer is gradually taking shape in his mind.

Jing Yitong clearly remembers that July 15th was the day he was devastated after mistakenly believing that Fang Xin had feelings for Xu Subo, and that's when he fled Shanghai in a panic.

So, when Fang Xin Gu said in his Weibo post, "How did the person just run away?" he was actually referring to him.

...So what did Fang Xingu originally want to say to him that day?

Since he left, Fang Xin had spent two hundred lonely days and nights counting the days until it snowed in Shen City, which was a rare occurrence, and he began to feel regret.

Is it regretting that I didn't get to see that snow?

Jing Yitong felt his mind go blank, a dizzying sensation washing over him from the depths of his soul. He took a deep breath, trembling, and a conjecture that both surprised and terrified him surfaced in his mind—

Could it be that all these years, Fang Xin's love interest has always been me?

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Author's note: I'll try my best to finish the last chapter tomorrow [crying emoji]