Intimate photos
The morning sun shone through the gaps in the curtains onto the floor, a glaring scar. Yunheng sat on the edge of the bed, the sting of glass still lingering on her fingertips—the cuts she'd received during the struggle last night. Her phone screen was lit, lingering on the page where he'd posted the long contract termination letter in the wee hours of the morning. It had already been shared over a million times, and the comments section was half full of support, half filled with mockery, waiting to see the joke.
He stood up and wanted to wash his face. As he walked to the mirror, his phone vibrated like crazy. The entertainment push title that popped up on the screen was like a poisoned needle:
#Yunheng is being kept by a man# (explosive)
#YunhengGetOutOfTheEntertainmentCircle# (hot)
#The Prince's Late-Night Secret Meeting with His Male Lover# (New)
Yun Heng's fingertips tightened suddenly, nearly dropping his phone. Trembling, he clicked on the trending search results. The top post was a blurry photo—the background was his dorm bed, showing the two of them entangled in a tangled pose. Yu Xiao was pressed against him, the outline of his face vaguely visible in the dim light. His shirt collar was open, revealing the red mark on his collarbone that glared like blood.
The photo was clearly taken secretly through a crack in a door or window, with a tricky angle that captured the most ambiguous moment, but the struggle and resistance on the two people's faces could not be seen clearly. The accompanying text was even more unbearable: "A top trainee is actually the prince's canary. She was photographed having a secret meeting in the dormitory late at night. She previously withdrew from the competition because she failed to win the favor..."
The comment section has exploded, with obscenities pouring in like a tide:
[I was wondering why he suddenly became so popular! Turns out he's being kept by someone!]
[Get out of the entertainment industry! This kind of filth doesn't deserve to be on the stage!]
[I feel sorry for Master Yu. His vision is really too poor, isn't it?]
[Even boys aren't spared? How disgusting!]
[I've even found the address of Grandma's hospital ward. People like this should be made to feel the effects of cyberbullying!]
That last comment was like a knife, stabbing Yun Heng's heart. He practically stumbled over to his phone, frantically searching for the source of the comment, his fingertips shaking so much he couldn't even press the screen.
At this moment, the phone suddenly rang, and the caller ID showed "Grandma's ward nurse." Yunheng's heart suddenly stopped beating, and she almost didn't dare to pick up the phone.
"Mr. Yun, please come over soon!" The nurse's voice was filled with tears. "A lot of reporters came this morning, and someone even made harassing phone calls, saying they wanted to 'chat' with your grandmother. The old lady was so scared that her blood pressure rose..."
"I'll be right there!" Yun Heng hung up, grabbed his coat, and rushed out. In the elevator, he looked at himself in the mirror—his eye sockets were sunken, his lips were chapped, and the red marks on his collarbone hadn't faded. He looked like a prisoner abandoned by the world.
He didn't understand why, even though he had already decided to let go, he was still being humiliated like this? Why didn't those people even let his grandmother go?
The hospital corridor was packed with reporters. When they saw Yun Heng appear, they immediately surrounded him like sharks smelling blood, and the microphones almost poked him in the face.
"Mr. Yunheng, is that you in the photo?"
"Are you really being kept by Yu Xiao?"
"Don't you feel ashamed of selling your body for resources?"
Yun Heng clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms, unaware of the blood oozing out. He wanted to scream, to argue, to slam the microphones to the ground, but his throat felt blocked, and only gasps came out.
"Make way! Make way!" The nurse pushed through the crowd and pulled him into the ward. "The old lady just fell asleep, please stop making noise!"
The curtains were drawn in the ward, dimly lit. Grandma lay in bed, her face pale, an IV needle stuck in the back of her hand. The telephone receiver on the bedside table sat tilted to one side, the screen lit, displaying a dozen missed calls, all from unfamiliar numbers.
"Ah Heng..." Grandma slowly opened her eyes, her voice as weak as a candle in the wind, "Those phone calls... said you..."
"Don't listen to them!" Yun Heng rushed over and held Grandma's hand, her fingertips cold. "It's all fake! Someone is deliberately trying to hurt me!"
"I know..." The old man patted the back of his hand, tears welling up in his cloudy eyes. "My Ah Heng is not that kind of child... But Ah Heng, let's not hang out in that circle anymore, okay? Let's go home and grow wheat, and live a peaceful and stable life..."
Yunheng couldn't hold back her tears and they fell on the back of her grandmother's hand, burning like fire. "Okay... Grandma, let's go home, right now..."
He was about to pack up and take his grandmother out of the hospital when his phone rang again. It was a text message from an unfamiliar number. There was only a screenshot of his hometown address, followed by a threat: "If you don't quit the entertainment industry, I'll go 'stroll' around your wheat field."
The sender was anonymous, but Yun Heng knew who it was. Besides Yu Xiao, who else could find his weak spot so accurately?
He rushed out of the ward, found a quiet stairwell at the end of the corridor, and dialed the number he knew by heart but had long since blocked. The phone rang for a long time before it was picked up. Yu Xiao's voice was hoarse from waking up, and there was a hint of subtle panic: "Yun Heng?"
"You did it, didn't you?" Yun Heng's voice trembled with desperate anger. "Those photos, those harassing phone calls, that threatening text message...it was all you who did it!"
"It's not me!" Yu Xiao's voice suddenly rose. "The photos were taken by the paparazzi last night. I've asked them to delete them! And those harassing phone calls..."
"Deleted?" Yun Heng laughed, tears streaming down her face. "Now the whole world knows I'm your kept male lover! My grandmother was harassed in the hospital ward, and her hometown address was even found out! Yu Xiao, is this what you call 'protection'? Is this what you call 'wanting my best'?"
He yelled the last sentence into the phone, his voice so hoarse it seemed to be breaking: "Are you going to force me to death before you are satisfied?"
There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time, so long that Yun Heng thought the signal was cut off. Just as he was about to hang up, Yu Xiao's voice came over, low and sighing, with a kind of broken powerlessness: "I'm sorry... Yun Heng, I'm sorry..."
"What's the use of saying sorry?" Yun Heng hung up the phone and slammed it against the wall. The phone screen cracked, resembling a weeping face.
He slid down to the floor, leaning against the cold wall. The voice-activated lights in the stairwell went out, plunging him into darkness. In the darkness, he could clearly hear his own heartbeat, so heavy it seemed to be stopping.
It turns out that living is so tiring.
I am so tired that even breathing hurts, so tired that I feel disgusted when looking at myself in the mirror, so tired that I want to just disappear into the darkness and never have to face all the filth and calculations again.
After an unknown amount of time, the stairwell door was pushed open, and a beam of light shone in. A caregiver ran in with a cell phone in hand, his face pale. "Mr. Yun, look... Yu Group has issued a statement!"
Yun Heng raised her bloodshot eyes and took the phone. A statement was pinned to the top of Yu Group's official Weibo account, with strong wording:
"Recent online rumors about Yun Heng being kept are completely malicious. The relevant photos were maliciously edited to smear the artist's image. Our company has filed a lawsuit against the rumormongers and will pursue criminal charges. Furthermore, the Yu Group and Mr. Yun Heng have a normal cooperative relationship, and the online rumors of 'keeping someone' are pure nonsense."
A screenshot of the lawyer's letter was attached below the statement. The list of defendants included not only the marketing account that posted the photos, but also several netizens who dug out the address of the grandmother's ward.
Soon after, Yu Xiao also updated his personal Weibo account with a single sentence: "My fault has nothing to do with him. I will bear all the consequences alone."
The tone of the comments section began to subtly change. Some people questioned the authenticity of the photos, and some dug up the past negative information of the person who took the photos. Yu's public relations team was cleaning up the negative comments like crazy.
But when Yunheng looked at the statement, she didn't feel relieved at all, only numb and desolate.
What's the point? The wound has been made, the scar has been left, the shock to his grandmother, the humiliation he endured, can a simple "it's my fault" erase it?
He returned the phone to the nurse, stood up, and walked out of the stairwell step by step. The sunlight outside the window was bright, but it could not illuminate the abyss in his eyes.
He walked to the door of the ward, but did not go in. He just said through the door: "Grandma, I will take you home after I finish my business."
Then he turned and walked towards the hospital gate. Reporters were still waiting outside, and the flash lights were like countless eyes, staring at him.
Yun Heng straightened his back and walked forward, facing those gazes. He didn't know where he was going, nor did he know how to deal with this mess. But he knew he couldn't fall down.
For grandma, for the wheat field, and to not lose to those who want to drag him into hell.
But the moment he got into the taxi, he looked at the street scenes passing by outside the window and suddenly felt extremely tired. Perhaps, he should never have stepped onto that stage in the first place, should never have met Yu Xiao, should never have expected to bloom a pure flower in the mire of capital.
The phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a new text message from an unfamiliar number: "I know who took the photo, and I know how to help you. The price is that you have to leave Yu Xiao completely."
Yunheng looked at the text message, his fingertips hovering on the screen for a long time.
This farce seemed far from over, and he was almost unable to hold on any longer.
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