Blacklisted on the entire internet

The ICU's visiting window was covered in a thin layer of mist. Yu Xiao wiped it repeatedly with his fingertips until he could clearly see Yun Heng's face. Her eyelashes were very long, casting a faint shadow under her eyes. Her lips were still pale, and only the regular "inhale-exhale" of the ventilator proved that she was still alive.

The hallway smelled of disinfectant, mixed with the lingering seawater odor from his body, creating a disturbing odor. His phone vibrated in his lab coat pocket. It was a message from his assistant. The 99+ unread notifications crawled over him like a dense swarm of ants, making him feel distracted.

The first one he clicked on was a screenshot of a trending search. The entry #YunhengGetOutOfTheEntertainmentCircle# was followed by a bright red "hot" character, and the square below had become a garbage dump for obscenities. Someone had dug up an aerial photo of Yunheng's hometown, circled the muddy path at the entrance to the village on rainy days, and captioned it, "From the impoverished mountain valleys emerge not golden phoenixes, but toads aspiring to higher branches." Someone also dug up his junior high school graduation photo, showing the boy in a washed-out school uniform, standing in the corner, mocked, "You're so unfashionable, and you still want to break into the entertainment industry? You're just dreaming."

Even more vicious was a comment pushed to the front, with a glaring red heart—it belonged to the vice president of the Yu Xiao fan club: "To put it bluntly, if it weren't for Master Yu, he'd still be planting rice in the fields right now? He got the advantage and still acts like a spoiled brat. Who's he jumping into the sea to show off to?"

Yu Xiao's fingertips tightened suddenly, the edge of the phone case rubbing against his palm. He had the PR team start removing trending searches at 3 a.m., mobilized every media outlet he could, and even had the legal department draft fifty lawyers' letters. But the negative information was like endless weeds; after deleting one, ten new ones immediately appeared.

"Mr. Yu, the platform said... they can't hold it back any longer." The assistant's voice trembled on the line. "The whole internet is cursing at them now, and Yu's stock has even dropped three points..."

"If you can't suppress it, just throw money at them." Yu Xiao's voice was as cold as ice. "Spend money until they are willing to delete it."

"But the chairman..."

"Get him out of here." Yu Xiao hung up the phone immediately, his finger sliding across the screen. Every comment felt like a needle, pricking his eyes. He saw someone dig up the hospital where Yun Heng's grandmother was hospitalized. Although they didn't specify the ward, some people were clamoring to "organize a group to ask the old lady how she taught her grandson to scam people." He also saw someone screenshot a photo of Yun Heng avoiding him at the celebration banquet, and spread rumors that "she played hard to get and jumped into the sea in anger."

These people have no idea how stubborn Yun Heng was when he said with red eyes in the wheat field, "I just want to grow wheat"; they don't know how he deleted and revised his long article about withdrawing from the competition until the early morning, and finally left only the four words "see you later"; they don't know how he endured it without uttering a single curse word while being surrounded by reporters in the hospital corridor.

They are only willing to believe what they want to believe - a young man from the countryside must be trying to curry favor with the powerful; a person who is "favored" by the prince must be trying to curry favor with the powerful; a person who jumps into the sea must be trying to gain sympathy.

"Fuck." Yu Xiao cursed softly, the anger in his chest seemed to be about to explode.

For some unknown reason, he clicked on the registration page. He typed in a random string of gibberish characters: "fghjkl789" for his nickname, used the default gray avatar, and didn't even fill out a bio. This small account, without even a V-sign, was like an invisibility cloak, temporarily shedding his identity as "Prince of the Yu Family" and transforming him into an ordinary person who just wanted to protect something.

He clicked on the Weibo post by the vice president of the fan club, his fingers rapidly tapping on the screen: "You know shit."

The moment the message was sent successfully, there was an immediate response in the comment section.

"Hey, here comes Yunheng's licker?"

"Isn't the guy above paid for it? Is this kind of person worth washing?"

"Social media in poor villages are cheap, only 50 cents each?"

Yu Xiao's fingers tapped faster and faster on the screen, his knuckles turning white from the force. "He didn't climb any high branches. I forced him to debut. He didn't want to stay in the entertainment industry. I threatened him with his grandmother's wheat field. Everything is my fault. Don't involve him."

"Laughing, who are you? Master Yu himself?"

"Even if it was Young Master Yu who forced him to do it, he didn't agree himself? Flies don't bite seamless eggs!"

"People who come from the countryside are so scheming. They know how to catch big fish, but now they jump into the sea without achieving their goal. It's really disgusting."

"Fuck you!"

He practically yelled the words, his fingertips slamming heavily on the screen, making a "dong" sound. By the time he realized what was happening, the reply with the curse word had been liked dozens of times.

"Wait! This tone...why does it sound so familiar?"

"Fuck! 'Bullshit!' Isn't that Master Yu's catchphrase?!"

"He used the same words when he was livestreaming his comments on his fans before! Exactly the same words!"

"Ahhh it's true! I took a screenshot! This is definitely Master Yu himself!"

"The prince actually used his trumpet to fight against the black gang? Has he gone crazy for Yun Heng?!"

The comment section exploded instantly. The comments originally cursing Yun Heng were drowned out by screams of "That's Master Yu," "Crazy, crazy," and "He's hit!" Within ten minutes, the hashtag #太子爷被云恒发疯# shot up like a rocket, shooting straight to the top of the trending searches, followed by a blinding "explosion."

Clicking on it, you'll find screenshots from his secondary account, captioned with messages like "The most dramatic drama of the year," "Forced love shines into reality," and "Is this true love?!" Some CP fans edited the video overnight, mixing clips of him threatening Yun Heng with the current blackmailing screenshots, and paired it with Jay Chou's "What Kind of Man"—the video instantly garnered over a million views.

Yu Xiao felt suffocated when he saw those distorted interpretations.

That wasn't what he wanted. Not the "crazy" label, the online fervor, or the so-called "couple feeling." He simply wanted to keep the dirty water away from Yun Heng, even if it was just a little bit. But the more he tried to plug it, the bigger the breach grew, until he himself became a laughingstock.

His phone rang again. It was his father's number. Yu Xiao flicked it off, tossing it on the bench. The screen remained on the trending search page. Following the hashtag #太子爷被云昅发疯#, new topics like "Yu's stock price plummets" and "太子的大资负冻的" had begun to appear.

He walked to the door of the ICU and looked at the person lying quietly inside, and suddenly felt extremely powerless.

He had always believed himself to be in control. He could carve a path to stardom with capital, coerce others with threats, and resolve any problem with his resources. But in the end, he couldn't even protect a single person. His money, his power, his so-called "ability," in the face of true malice, was as fragile as a piece of paper.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered into the glass, his voice even softer than when he was at the beach, with sobs that he didn't even notice, "I seem to have messed up again."

At that moment, the head nurse came over, holding a medication list. "Family member, please sign this. The patient's temperature just rose to 38.5 degrees Celsius. We've added some antipyretics. Don't worry too much."

Yu Xiao took the pen, his trembling fingertips causing the tip to leave crooked marks on the paper. He looked at the words "Family Signature" and suddenly asked, "Will he... hear the noise outside? I mean... can he hear me in this state?"

The head nurse was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "It's hard to say medically, but we generally recommend talking to the patient more often. Subconscious sound stimulation is good for nerve recovery. You can tell him more about your past, the happy kind."

Things in the past... the happy kind...

Yu Xiao looked at Yun Heng in the glass, and suddenly many images flashed through his mind. Not the confrontation in the wheat field, not the quarrel at the celebration banquet, not the drunken loss of control, but some more fragmented moments -

After the third public performance, Yun Heng hid in the fire escape to eat bread. When he saw her, her cheeks were puffed up like a hamster.

During the recording of the variety show, Yun Heng was afraid of insects and hid behind him, her fingertips grasping the corner of his clothes with very light force;

The first time he went back to his hometown, Yunheng squatted on the edge of the field and taught him to recognize wheat. The sun fell on the top of his head, and his eyelashes were stained with golden light...

It turns out that those moments when he was overwhelmed by capital, quarrels, and hurt had always been hidden deep in his heart, but he had never taken a good look at them.

Yu Xiao moved a stool and sat down, cleared his hoarse throat, and began to speak.

"Do you remember backstage at the third public performance? You were hiding in the fire escape to eat bread. I asked you why you didn't eat in the lounge, and you said you were afraid of being caught by the cameras. Actually, I thought you were much cuter eating bread than when you were singing on stage."

His voice was soft, with a hint of awkward tenderness, as if he was afraid of disturbing the sleeping person.

"During the recording of the variety show 'Field Adventure,' you were afraid of bugs and hid behind me. I was actually having a hard time holding back my laughter, but I was also kind of... kind of happy. You don't know how fast my heart was beating when you grabbed the corner of my clothes."

The sound of instruments in the corridor was still playing, and the "beeping" rhythm seemed to be accompanying him.

"The first time I visited your hometown, you taught me to recognize wheat, saying, 'This is winter wheat, that is spring wheat.' But I didn't even remember. I was too busy looking at you. The sunlight shining on your hair made it sparkle golden, more beautiful than the spotlight on the stage."

He paused, his fingertips gently touching the glass, as if trying to penetrate this cold barrier and touch the other person's cheek.

"I played the song 'Wheat Field' you sang many times on repeat. I used to dislike folk songs, thinking they were too earthy, but you sang it differently. Especially that line 'The wind lingers on the wheat tips, like grandma's hand.' Every time I hear it, I feel... tender inside."

"I had someone film the wheat your grandma planted, and I film it every day. Now the newly planted wheat seedlings are already sprouting green, tender and fresh, just like you when you first debuted in a white shirt. When you wake up, we can go back and see it together, okay?"

"I used to think roses were pretty, with their thorns, and quite special. Now I realize that wheat swaying in the wind is a thousand times prettier than roses. It's down-to-earth, clean, and just like you."

"You said you wanted to grow wheat. I... I can learn. How to plow the land, how to sow seeds, how to water, how to harvest. Can you teach me? I'm a quick learner, really."

His voice gradually lowered, with cautious tentativeness, like a child afraid of being rejected.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a small spot of light on the back of Yunheng's hand. Yu Xiao looked at the spot and suddenly felt that perhaps there was no need to rush.

The storm outside is still blowing, the clamor on the hot searches is still going on, my father's anger, the company's crisis, and the ridicule of netizens all seem to have become less important.

He just needs to stay here.

When Yunheng wakes up, when he is willing to open his eyes, when he is willing to listen, he will slowly tell him these words, word by word.

As for forgiveness... maybe he won't get it in this lifetime. But it doesn't matter, he still has time and can repay it bit by bit.

Just like planting wheat, sow the seeds, water them enough, and wait patiently, there will always be a harvest.

Yu Xiao raised his hand to wipe his face. When he felt the moisture at the corner of his eyes, he was stunned for a moment, then smiled self-deprecatingly.

It turns out that no matter how tough a person is, there will be times when he or she cries.

He sat up straight again, looked at the person in the glass, and continued to talk in a low voice. He talked about the wheat in his hometown, his grandmother's locust flower cakes, and those moments that belonged to them but he had overlooked.

The corridor was very quiet, with only his voice echoing softly, intertwined with the "beeping" sound of the instruments, like a long song waiting for dawn.

On the other side of the glass, Yun Heng's fingers moved ever so slightly. This time, the waveform on the monitor clearly jumped.