Chapter 97 Fang Xin Gu: Sorry, this song...
"Brother Jing, Tan Zhi has started contacting online marketing companies. I've already taken care of everything on my end."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Jing Yitong turned off his phone, moved to Fang Xingu who was reading a book on the other side of the sofa, snatched the book from his hand, and pounced on Fang Xingu, taking the book's place: "Tan Zhi really did contact online trolls. Luckily, I had already taken care of them in advance, so I guarantee he won't be able to make a fuss."
Fang Xingu felt a bit heavy being pressed down on him. He tried to push him away a couple of times but couldn't. He could only obediently pat Jing Yitong's head and say, "Okay, thanks to you, brother. Thank you."
Jing Yitong sniffed his neck and shoulder: "Don't just say thank you verbally, show some real gratitude."
Fang Xin Gu: ?
"You really have no manners. When did you become so shameless?" Fang Xingu tugged at Jing Yitong's cheek and said with a laugh, "I've already repaid you with my body and given you my body. What more do you want?"
“That’s true,” Jing Yitong hugged him and chuckled for a while before getting down to business. “Tan Zhi is being heavily criticized online right now. He definitely won’t let this go and will definitely hire online trolls to salvage his reputation. Since he can’t get in touch with any big online troll companies right now, he’ll probably find some small studios to manipulate public opinion, as a last resort.”
Fang Xingu was very confident: "This is the 'way out' we deliberately left for him, to give him some hope first. But these small studios may not be able to keep up. Over-marketing might backfire and make netizens even more disgusted."
Jing Yitong nodded: "Very likely. Anyway, I've made arrangements on my side. Someone is monitoring public opinion in real time. When Tan Zhi sees that he can't control the online trend, he will definitely have to step in himself. That's when you'll need to step in."
Fang Xingu got excited at the thought of what he would be doing. He sat up from the sofa and said, "My studio has prepared all the evidence. We're just waiting for the fish to take the bait."
Jing Yitong said with relief, "Luckily you still kept the evidence, otherwise you wouldn't know where to complain if you suffered a loss."
“Of course I kept it,” Fang Xingu recalled the events of that year. “Those of us in this line of work have to be a little vigilant. Actually, I had already planned out the arrangement, and I was thinking that if I was selected, I would ask them if they needed my arrangement. Who knew that something like this would happen later?”
Jing Yitong couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He sat down next to Fang Xingu and said, "It's a good thing I didn't give it to him too, otherwise he would have really gotten a great deal."
Fang Xingu felt completely at ease and nuzzled him, saying, "Looking back now, at least the outcome was good."
The knot that had once been in Fang Xingu's heart was gradually smoothed out through his daily interactions with Jing Yitong, allowing him to finally find peace with himself, muster the courage to reveal the truth of the past to Jing Yitong, and resolve to deal with this long-standing issue.
"Trust me, things will turn out even better later," Jing Yitong said, pulling the person into his arms. "By the way, could you send me a copy of the evidence you've prepared? I'd like to see what else I need to prepare."
Upon hearing this, Fang Xin realized that all the relevant evidence was on his alternate account. At that time, he had made some of the daily content on his alternate account visible only to himself, and then directly forwarded the Weibo account and related Weibo content to his studio, which then prepared the evidence chain.
After the studio finished processing the case, he only confirmed that the chain of evidence was correct, and did not keep a copy for himself.
But it wasn't a big deal, so Fang Xingu simply said, "They're all saved on my alternate Weibo account. I'll just send you the account details."
Jing Yitong's eyes lit up: "Finally, you're willing to tell me your alternate account?"
Fang Xingu chuckled silently, not revealing that he had already hidden all content related to him on his account. He simply took Jing Yitong's phone, searched for his own account on Weibo, opened it, and then handed it back to Jing Yitong.
He patted Jing Yitong on the shoulder, implying something: "Go play by yourself, I'm going to take a shower."
"Go ahead, go ahead."
Jing Yitong, unusually, didn't bother Fang Xingu. Instead, he happily held his phone and started browsing Fang Xingu's alternate account.
When Jing Yitong was recording "The World Is So Big", he knew that Fang Xingu had a side account. On the winter solstice, Fang Xingu even posted a picture of a table of dishes that he made on his side account. There must be a lot of Fang Xingu's daily life on it.
Unfortunately, Fang Xingu was very protective of his Weibo side account and had no intention of telling him, and Jing Yitong always respected his privacy, so he did not deliberately search for information about Fang Xingu's side account.
But today, Fang Xingu took the initiative to reveal this, and Jing Yitong naturally gained the right to legally browse Fang Xingu's account. He excitedly scrolled to the bottom of Fang Xingu's alternate account, ready to slowly read from his first Weibo post onwards.
Fang Xin Gu used this alternate account for a long time. The first Weibo post was almost ten years ago. It was a photo of a high school student walking home from school in the sunset. It looked very ordinary. Most of the subsequent posts were also everyday photos. They looked very simple and were mostly photos that recorded life. Among them, photos of Jing Quan Quan made up the majority.
After Fang Xin went to university, his Weibo account gradually began to contain records of making music. Sometimes he would share the inspiration for a piece of music, and sometimes he would post videos of himself humming his own music, which was very vivid and interesting.
As Jing Yitong flipped through the pages, he also came across Fang Xingu's ramblings when he wrote "Please Listen to His Defendant," with the timeline dating back to the night he took Fang Xingu to visit the film set.
Jing Yitong felt a surge of tenderness in his heart. It turned out that Fang Xingu hadn't been lying to him that day many years ago. He had really planned to write a song for him that very night and had already presented him with such an amazing gift. It was just that he had missed it for so many years.
Jing Yitong spent almost the entire night on Fang Xingu's Weibo side account. He felt that through the content on Weibo, he was gradually making up for the years that he and Fang Xingu had missed, allowing him to participate in Fang Xingu's life during those years in another way.
But Jing Yitong looked at this alternate account over and over again, and in the end, a strange feeling gradually arose in his heart—why was there no content related to himself in Fang Xingu's alternate Weibo account?
Take Jing Yitong for example. His private account contains a lot of content related to Fang Xingu. Sometimes it's about gifts from Fang Xingu, and sometimes it's about movies they watched together.
Even though they couldn't casually mention each other's names or post each other's photos due to their identities, Jing Yitong believed that as long as Fang Xingu visited his alternate account, he would immediately recognize that these photos were related to him.
However, there was no such content on Fang Xin's Weibo. Jing Yitong searched through it again and again and found only the meal the two of them had on the winter solstice.
Jing Yitong felt a pang of jealousy. What? Was he really that unimportant to Fang Xingu in the past? Was he just a dispensable existence, even less important than Jing Quanquan?
Jing Yitong grew angrier the more he thought about it, so when he went to sleep that night, he didn't hold Fang Xingu in his arms, leaving Fang Xingu with only an injured back view, and sulked alone.
Fang Xingu looked at Jing Yitong, who was huddled on the edge of the bed, and asked inexplicably, "What are you doing?"
Jing Yitong knew that her anger was unreasonable, so she gave a weak hum and turned over to hug Fang Xingu: "Could you post more content about me on your Weibo side account in the future?"
Fang Xingu chuckled: "This alternate account of mine will definitely be made public eventually. You want to make it public right away?"
Jing Yitong's voice was muffled, as if he hadn't recovered yet: "I'm ready anytime, it just depends on when you're willing to give me a formal title."
Speaking of this, Fang Xingu remembered something else: "Wait a minute, you still haven't given me a 'status'. Didn't you want to solve your family's problems through a marriage alliance? Why haven't you asked me to register our marriage yet?"
Jing Yitong: ...
While it's true that the family company is facing some problems, the idea that a marriage alliance is needed to resolve them is a complete lie fabricated by Jing Yitong and his parents.
He cleared his throat and replied in a serious tone, "Isn't that because either you or I were very busy recently? There wasn't a suitable time."
Fang Xin asked suspiciously, "You're not so busy that you don't even have a few hours to register, are you?"
Jing Yitong remained silent for a moment, but then thought that it would be good to get married to Fang Xingu as soon as possible, so why not take this opportunity to settle down?
He said, "How about September? Or October when it's cooler? Any later won't work, you'll have to start your tour."
Fang Xingu: "I'm fine with anything."
When this topic came up, Jing Yitong felt a little guilty, afraid that Fang Xingu would think he was using moral blackmail to scheme against him after he found out the truth, which would offend him. So he didn't dare to continue the conversation.
He hugged Fang Xingu and patted his back: "Alright, it's getting late, let's go to sleep."
"Um."
The two, each with their own worries, drifted off to sleep together.
That night, Tan Zhi couldn't sit still and hired some low-level online trolls to try to turn the tide of the battle. However, the intentions of these low-level trolls were too obvious. Not only did they fail to help Tan Zhi win the battle, but they also backfired and attracted more ridicule.
Tan Zhi could no longer tolerate it. Just as Fang Xingu and Jing Yitong had predicted, he took matters into his own hands and posted on Weibo to guide public opinion, attempting to incite netizens to cyberbully Fang Xingu.
"@Tan Zhi: I personally believe that song adaptations should be made while respecting the original song... I just hope that this online farce targeting me can end as soon as possible."
His words, at first glance, did seem to express his forbearance and helplessness, which evoked sympathy and indeed caused many uninformed netizens to side with him and even begin to criticize Fang Xingu.
As Jing Yitong looked at these comments, his face grew increasingly dark. When Fang Xingu belatedly picked up his phone to check, he immediately pressed Fang Xingu's hand down: "Don't go online. There are some comments online that support Tan Zhi and are very unfriendly to you."
Fang Xingu didn't care. He debuted through a talent show and had experienced all sorts of nasty online arguments, so he was already indifferent: "It's okay. Didn't we expect a backlash from public opinion? I was prepared."
As he spoke, he broke free from Jing Yitong's grasp, picked up his phone, and glanced at the online comments:
"I admit that Fang Xingu's version is indeed not bad, but Tan Zhi's version is also very good, otherwise it wouldn't have been popular for so many years. This mess is simply an undeserved disaster for Tan Zhi [crying emoji]"
"My God, Tan Zhike is both the original singer and the original author. Without him, there would be no song 'Please Listen to His Explanation,' and now you're actually trying to put him down..."
"Please, Fang Xin, respect the original work and the original singer, okay?"
"Please be aware that Fang Xin was able to revise this song so well because Tan Zhi originally wrote it very well [splitting emoji]"
"Fang Xin Gu and Gu Si are shameless enough to be the number one person to belittle original works [laughing and crying emoji]"
"Fang Xingu is truly a cancer in the industry [eye roll]"
These trash words had virtually no impact on the other party's new and old relationships. He casually glanced at them, and not a single word left a trace on his mind. While calculating the time and checking the details with the studio, he muttered, "It's been more than half a night and a day. Tan Zhi must have had enough fun by now. It's my turn to retaliate."
Jing Yitong put his hand on his shoulder: "Go ahead, I'll help you out."
Everything was ready except for the east wind, so Fang Xin picked up his phone, ready to personally blow that east wind.
He directly retweeted Tan Zhi's Weibo post: "@Fang Xin Gu: Are you sure you are the lyricist and composer of 'Please Listen to His Defendant'? @Tan Zhi."
The moment Tan Zhi saw this repost, his heart stopped beating, and even his pupils constricted sharply—what did it mean? Fang Xingu knew the truth?
How could that be!
He later asked the outsourcing company at the time, and they clearly stated that the gunman had gone abroad and could not be contacted at all. How did Fang Xin find out about this?
Tan Zhi's mind raced, and he quickly recalled the several scandalous news stories that had suddenly surfaced about him a few days ago. At the time, those news reports only mentioned that he frequently changed female companions and often brought different women home. However, since he was not married, netizens could only criticize him at most, and it did not have any substantial impact on him. Therefore, Tan Zhi did not pay much attention to it at the time.
But now that I think about it, how did it happen to be exposed at this crucial moment?
Someone must have investigated his life story. Could that person be Fang Xin Gu, which is why he not only knew about his romantic affairs but also found out that he had hired ghostwriters to write songs?
Tan Zhi felt extremely guilty and paced anxiously back and forth in the room, repeatedly wondering who had leaked the news to Fang Xin Gu.
Is it an outsourcing company? Or the person who actually did the hiring?
Tan Zhi was already sweating profusely. He subconsciously dialed the number of his agent, whom he had just hung up on, again. This time, it took a long time for the other end to answer.
Tan Zhi immediately flew into a rage: "Where the hell have you been? What kind of outsourcing company did you find for me back then! How did Fang Xingu know that I wasn't the lyricist and composer? Did that outsourcing company leak that information?!"
The agent cursed, "Damn it, you only know to come to me now? Where were you before?! Let me tell you, I'm not going to get involved in your affairs anymore!"
Tan Zhi roared at the top of his lungs, "You have to do it whether you want to or not. You were involved in this back then. Do you think you can escape this mess if it really comes to light?"
A barrage of curses came from the other end of the phone. After a while, the agent's tired and hoarse voice came through the receiver: "I just contacted the outsourcing company. They are absolutely certain that they haven't leaked any information, and no one has asked them about those old stories recently."
"Are you out of your mind? You still believe what they say! If it wasn't them, who else could have leaked it? It couldn't have been that hired gun who went abroad and then disappeared without a trace!"
The agent fell silent again, then sighed deeply and said earnestly, "Old Tan, if you ask me, just admit it and stop making a fuss. You can't turn black into white. At worst, you can start over and change your ways. All these years I've regretted that I encouraged you to hire a ghostwriter, which is why you've gotten yourself deeper and deeper into this quagmire."
"Too late! It's too late now!" Tan Zhi's voice trembled, and his eyes were bloodshot. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted frantically, "You've ruined me, there's no turning back now, I can't lose everything I have now!"
The agent tried to persuade him again, but Tan Zhi was too lazy to argue with him anymore. In a fit of anger, he hung up the phone and blacklisted the agent's number.
The agent made several unsuccessful phone calls and realized that he had been blocked. He felt helpless and regretful, blaming himself for being blinded by greed and letting Tan Zhi go down the wrong path.
But having known Tan Zhi for decades, he couldn't bear it and was afraid something might happen to her, so he quickly drove to Tan Zhi's residence.
At this point, the online public opinion had already become strange because of Fang Xingu's words:
"What do you mean? Isn't Tan Zhi the lyricist and composer of this song?"
"My gut feeling tells me there's some big news!"
"Fang Xingu, don't treat us like outsiders! Speak out if you have any inside information!"
"Hilarious! Is Fang Xingu trying to muddy the waters because he can't control public opinion?"
"Do you think Fang Xingu is a fool, or are netizens fools? Who would dare to make such a claim without any evidence?"
"That's right. Fang Xingu dared to speak out directly on Weibo. Even if Tan Zhi isn't 100% guilty, he's at least 90% guilty."
“I felt something was wrong a long time ago. Didn’t you guys notice that ‘Please Listen to His Defendant’ is different from Tan Zhi’s previous creative style?”
Tan Zhi looked at these netizens who were like weather vanes, some of whom had even voiced their support for him on his Weibo yesterday, but now they were acting like troublemakers, questioning everything he did.
Tan Zhi was so angry that he trembled all over. He angrily raised his phone and threw it on the ground. He then began to scream and smash things around the house in a fit of madness. In just a few minutes, the house was a complete mess.
A moment later, he stood on the shattered mess, panting heavily... No, that's not right!
He suddenly realized that even if Fang Xingu really knew the truth, it wouldn't matter, because Fang Xingu had no evidence to prove that he didn't write the song "Please Listen to His Defendant".
Normally, such creative evidence would be in the hands of the lyricist and composer themselves, but Tan Zhi believed that Fang Xin had not contacted the ghostwriter who had already gone abroad, but obtained the information from the outsourcing studio. What valuable evidence could the outsourcing studio have?
Tan Zhi sneered, thinking he had found a logical flaw in Fang Xingu's logic. He hurriedly picked up his phone, whose screen was now shattered into a spiderweb pattern, and immediately opened Weibo, replying to Fang Xingu with trembling hands: "What a joke, if I'm not the lyricist and composer, then who is?"
But after sending those words, Tan Zhi did not feel relieved. Instead, he felt a chill down his spine, as if something terrifying was about to happen.
And clearly, Tan Zhi's premonition was correct this time, because Fang Xingu's reply came shortly after he posted that comment—
@Fang Xin Gu: Sorry, I really am the lyricist and composer of "Please Listen to His Explanation" :)
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Author's Note: Sorry, my darlings, the updates have been a bit unstable lately. I always get stuck in the final stages. There should be three more chapters left to finish the main story. I'll try to update daily until the end [please] (I haven't achieved any of the goals I set for this story yet, but I'll still keep setting them).
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