Chapter 63
After hearing what Zhong Mengyuan said, Yin Mu could only hope for the best, hoping that this matter would not cause any big trouble. However, she did not expect that while she was awake, she would watch its popularity climb all the way to the end of the hot search list, and the comment section was full of different opinions and was extremely lively.
[Oh my god, is this really that exciting?]
Boys should also pay attention to safety when they are outside. (dog head)
"Ah, I think this is a serious matter. Isn't this a company artist being sexually harassed?"
[Yes, if it were a female celebrity, the trend would definitely be different.]
[Chen Qinglin is so miserable. He finally got the resources, but the result is like this.]
[Who on earth dug this up? Why would they dig it up if they have nothing better to do? It's not popular.]
[Isn't this just self-promotion? Being black and red is still red.]
…
As soon as he put forward his own hyped point of view, there were many more comments echoing it, which simply said that Chen Qinglin was so unscrupulous that he had resorted to any means necessary, and since watching dating variety shows was useless, he resorted to this self-defeating trick.
Yin Mu was a little angry when she saw Chen Qinglin being slandered. She believed that Chen Qinglin was not the kind of person with no bottom line as they said, but she had no way to convince everyone to believe it, and she didn't know what to do to help Chen Qinglin.
Chen Qinglin was in the next room, just separated by a wall. I didn't know if he was awake or not, and whether he had seen the secret he wanted to hide the most being revealed, and how he would feel about it.
Yin Mu didn't dare to message him directly to ask. He was just lost in thought when Zhong Mengyuan beside him suddenly spoke up: "Since the contract is being terminated, the company probably just wants to quickly cut ties and draw a clear line. They probably won't allocate resources to help him clean up this mess."
Yin Mu was stunned: "It seems so."
"Capitalism is ruthless." Zhong Mengyuan sighed softly, "I wish Chen Qinglin a smooth escape from this sea of suffering."
At around eight o'clock, Zhong Mengyuan forced Yin Mu to go out and have breakfast with him on the grounds that she couldn't sleep.
The two of them washed and changed their clothes. As soon as they opened the door, Chen Qinglin from next door also happened to open the door and come out. His face was pale. It seemed that he had been having a troubled life since early morning.
The six of them stared at each other for a long time before Chen Qinglin broke the awkwardness: "Shall we go have breakfast?"
Yin Mu curled his lips: "Well, together?"
Chen Qinglin nodded: "Okay."
During breakfast, the three of them, each preoccupied with their own thoughts, created a tense atmosphere. Yin Mu observed Chen Qinglin's reaction, certain that he was definitely not completely clueless. However, he had no way of asking, so he could only hold back his words and silently lower his head to drink his soy milk.
Zhong Mengyuan looked at Yin Mu several times, sighed silently, and took the initiative to ask Chen Qinglin directly: "Did you see it?"
Yin Mu was shocked. He never expected her to be so straightforward. He looked up at Chen Qinglin reflexively.
Chen Qinglin's hand, which was peeling the egg, froze for a moment, but he did not answer.
This was tantamount to tacit agreement, and Yin Mu and Zhong Mengyuan both understood it.
Yin Mu struggled to comfort Chen Qinglin: "Well... don't take it too seriously. Let them say whatever they want. Netizens have a short attention span and will soon forget about it."
Chen Qinglin lowered his eyelids: "Yeah, I know."
Yin Mu asked again: "Will this affect your termination of the contract?"
Chen Qinglin shook his head: "I don't know. I received a call from my agent. She said she would contact me again and asked me not to do anything for the time being."
He spoke calmly, without anger or resentment, as if it had nothing to do with him. Yin Mu thought with sympathy that perhaps he was just used to having bad luck.
Zhong Mengyuan couldn't help but say, "Chen Qinglin, things have come to this point, why don't you just tell us? Aren't you uncomfortable holding it in? Don't worry, we will keep our mouths shut and won't say a single word. You can trust us completely."
Chen Qinglin was silent for a long time. Just when Yin Mu thought he still wouldn't say anything, he smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "Actually, it's nothing special. It's not even considered big news in the entertainment park."
"So," Zhong Mengyuan propped up her chin, leaned forward, and lowered her voice, "Is the unspoken rule real?"
"……Um."
Zhong Mengyuan leaned back and looked sideways at Yin Mu, as if saying to her, "Look."
Yin Mu pursed his lips and was about to say something when Chen Qinglin's phone rang. He picked up the phone, took a look, and said, "I'll take a call."
Zhong Mengyuan made a "please go ahead" gesture and took a bite of the bun.
The person who called seemed to be Chen Qinglin's agent. He just called her "sister" and then kept silent. He could only hear the female voice on the other end talking in a very anxious tone, only leaving him room to respond from time to time.
Yin Mu couldn't hear what was being said on the other side, so he whispered to Zhong Mengyuan, "How do you think we should solve this problem? Is there anything we can do to help?"
Zhong Mengyuan swallowed the bun, took a sip of soy milk, and whispered, "We don't have that much power. Don't bother. I think it's more realistic to hope that the heat of this matter will quickly blow over. - Besides, in a place like the entertainment industry where profit is paramount, the company is being merciful by not sacrificing him."
Yin Mu felt heavy-hearted after hearing what she said: "Yeah."
Chen Qinglin ended the call without any noticeable change in his expression.
Yin Mu asked cautiously, "Is it your agent? How is it? What did she say?"
Chen Qinglin didn't hide anything anymore and told them the truth: "The company said they would try their best to remove the trending search and asked me not to rashly speak on Weibo to avoid causing any unnecessary trouble."
Yin Mu asked, "What about the termination of the contract?"
Chen Qinglin curled his lips slightly and said, "It seems that thanks to it, the termination of the contract will probably go more smoothly."
Zhong Mengyuan raised an eyebrow, intending to lighten the mood, and joked, "This is the legendary blessing in disguise."
Chen Qinglin also showed a faint smile on his face: "It won't be that pleasant."
Although things were not as bad as imagined, Yin Mu was still worried and asked Chen Qinglin: "Who posted this explosive article? Do you have any ideas?"
Chen Qinglin shook his head: "I don't know."
"Think carefully, is there someone who has a grudge against you, so he wants to take revenge on you?" Yin Mu said, "If you don't solve it completely, what if he has another trick up his sleeve? Wouldn't that be terrible?"
Zhong Mengyuan interjected: "He's going to retire anyway, so there's no point in using this kind of trick."
"It's hard to talk about personal grudges." Yin Mu looked at Chen Qinglin, "Is it that last time..."
She didn't mention Lin Fanlai by name, but Chen Qinglin understood and said, "No, he's not that kind of person, and he has no reason to do that."
"You believe him."
"After all, we are college classmates, so we still have some trust in each other." Chen Qinglin saw the worry in Yin Mu's eyes, and his heart warmed. He said softly, "Don't worry, it will be over soon."
There was a soothing tone in his words. Yin Mu pursed his lips and didn't know what to say.
After breakfast, Chen Qinglin went back to the B&B to pack his luggage, saying that he had to go back to deal with this matter first. Yin Mu no longer had the mood to travel, and discussed with Zhong Mengyuan whether he should go back with him.
Zhong Mengyuan also knew that she couldn't stay any longer, so she shrugged nonchalantly: "Okay, let's go back."
Chen Qinglin was a little surprised to learn that they also wanted to go back, but he didn't say much. After agreeing, the three of them checked out and set off on their journey home.
Zhong Mengyuan woke up too early and didn't get enough sleep. She was so sleepy that she yawned non-stop. Not long after getting in the car, she leaned back in the back seat and closed her eyes. Yin Mu was sitting in the passenger seat. When he turned his head to look at her, he saw that she had already fallen asleep against the car window.
Chen Qinglin asked softly: "Is she asleep?"
"Yeah." Yin Mu turned back and sighed softly, "It's my fault. I woke her up so early in the morning. She usually sleeps well."
"You're not even in the villa anymore, are you still suffering from insomnia?"
"Huh?" Yin Mu was stunned for a moment, then explained, "No, I just went to bed too early last night. If you sleep too much at night, you will wake up early in the morning."
“And then you saw the trending search?”
"Um."
Chen Qinglin nodded and suddenly asked, "You are worried about me."
Yin Mu evaded the issue by saying, "There were a few of us in that explosive article, but it seemed more like a cover-up for your affairs. This behavior is very strange, so I'm quite concerned."
Chen Qinglin didn't respond, stepped on the brakes, and stopped steadily in front of the red light at the intersection.
Yin Mu was a little nervous, not sure what Chen Qinglin was thinking at the moment, so he tentatively called out, "Chen Qinglin?"
I'm not angry, but there's no reason.
Chen Qinglin hummed a low "hmm" and gripped the steering wheel tightly, as if trying to control his emotions. He said, "Yin Mu, I really don't understand what you are thinking."
Yin Mu fiddled with the corner of his clothes with his fingers, pretending to be confused: "What do you mean?"
"You clearly care about me, but when I approach you, you act like you're keeping me at a distance, as if I've been being sentimental all along and you have no interest in me at all—" Chen Qinglin took a deep breath, turned around and asked, "Yin Mu, what am I in your eyes?"
Yin Mu was speechless after being asked, his eyes wandering: "I..."
The long red light finally turned green. Chen Qinglin didn't expect to get a clear answer immediately, so he didn't ask any more questions and drove in silence.
Yin Mu lowered his head and said nothing, biting his lower lip and pinching his fingertips with his nails. He suddenly felt an urge to tell Chen Qinglin everything truthfully. Perhaps this would not change anything, but knowing his own difficulties would at least make him feel better and prevent him from continuing to misunderstand him.
She was torn between inner conflict and was about to blurt out something when Chen Qinglin's phone vibrated, stopping her. However, Chen Qinglin only glanced at it before hanging up.
It was only a split second, but Yin Mu still saw Zhou Jingyu's name clearly. Perhaps she was calling to provide emotional value, she thought expressionlessly. Having a legitimate reason was always good.
The next second, Zhou Jingyu called again with perseverance. Yin Mu even heard a sense of self-righteousness from the buzzing sound, and felt inexplicably irritated.
"Take it. They mean well. Why are you being so heartless?"
Chen Qinglin looked at her in the rearview mirror, pursed his lips tightly, raised his hand to answer the call, and turned on the hands-free mode.
Zhou Jingyu's voice was slightly distorted by the current, but her concern was still evident. She said, "Qinglin, I saw the trending search on Weibo. Are you okay?"
"Well, fortunately, the agent has already contacted and resolved it." Chen Qinglin said calmly, "Thank you for your concern."
"Why are you so distant with me? I'm really worried about you. I'm afraid you'll be upset." Zhou Jingyu said with a hint of anger, but she also spoke up for Chen Qinglin with righteous indignation. "I don't know who posted this kind of thing. It's so boring."
What she said was actually quite sincere, but Yin Mu felt that it was very much a performance, as if she knew she should do it this way, so she did it that way, very... deliberate.
Yin Mu realized his thoughts and was shocked. He shook his head to get rid of them and secretly despised himself for being mean.
Zhou Jingyu's task was more difficult than mine, so I really shouldn't have made malicious assumptions about her.
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