Chapter 26 Recording Conflict: "You fucking dare touch her?"
In the last two days, the guests, accompanied by their student partners, began to experience Hungary's culture, customs, and tourist attractions in depth.
At the renowned Széchenyi Thermal Baths, everyone is ready to experience the local hot springs.
Zhu Qingting changed into a conservative navy blue one-piece swimsuit and wrapped a large, warm bath towel tightly around her body.
"Wow! Zhu Zhu, your figure is amazing!" Zhao Lin exclaimed. "If you have time, could you teach me a few simple dance moves? I'd like to have your figure too."
"Okay, Sister Linlin, how about we do basic training together tomorrow morning, you get up early?"
Dan Zhiyi exaggeratedly circled around Zhu Qingting, his tone full of envy, "Those curves, if I were a man, my eyes would pop out!"
Zhu Qingting was amused by her lewd expression, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Yiyi, stop fooling around!"
Upon arriving at the outdoor bathing area, the production team announced via loudspeaker that they would be playing several water games, and the guests and foreign students immediately began a fierce competition.
While everyone's attention was focused on Chen Yifei and Shan Zhiyi, who were having a great time, an accident occurred.
With a "bang," Chai Yundu punched Liszt in the face.
Liszt was punched off his chair and fell to the ground, blood gushing from his nose. He covered his nose and cursed in Hungarian.
"You fucking dare touch her?" Chai Yundu's voice was as cold as ice, and the anger in his eyes made the surrounding temperature drop several degrees.
The production crew immediately reacted, and the PD and cameramen rushed forward to break up the fight.
But Chai Yundu's anger was far from over. Thinking of the scene after the performance the night before last, when Liszt kissed Zhu Qingting under the guise of etiquette, both old and new grudges surged into his heart.
Before anyone could react, he broke free of the PD's grasp and kicked Liszt in the stomach again. The kick was perfectly controlled, and Liszt curled up on the ground in pain.
"Yun Du! Calm down!" Ding Yi, usually calm and collected, quickly tried to dissuade him.
Chaos erupted on set. The other three female guests and Chen Yifei stood aside in a panic, the foreign students looked at each other in bewilderment, the production crew members were busy trying to break up the fight, but the cameraman professionally continued filming.
When the situation was finally brought under control, Chai Yundu, panting heavily, immediately turned to Zhu Qingting and asked, "Are you alright?"
Zhu Qingting shook her head, wrapped the bath towel tighter, and her face turned a little pale.
Liu Xin noticed that the focus was on Zhu Qingting, so she asked with concern, "Zhu Zhu, what happened?"
All eyes turned back to them.
Zhu Qingting didn't want everyone to misunderstand or distort Chai Yundu's actions, so she took a deep breath and tried to explain calmly, "Liszt touched me underwater during the game just now. Once or twice might be unintentional, but just now we were sitting there peacefully, and he directly... touched my waist."
As soon as she finished speaking, the scene erupted in an uproar.
Liszt, still lying on the ground, was still trying to justify himself, "I just bumped into you by accident! Is this how you Chinese treat foreign friends? Bullying the weak with numbers!"
His classmates immediately became agitated, arguing loudly in Hungarian, and some even took out their phones to call the police.
"Wait a minute!" Zhu Qingting's cameraman raised his hand. "Everything that just happened has been recorded. We can watch the playback!"
The director immediately made a decision: "Bring the monitor over!"
The playback clearly shows:
In the pool, Liszt first pretended to casually approach Zhu Qingting, then deliberately glanced at her to make sure she wasn't paying attention before reaching out and touching her thigh. When Zhu Qingting stepped back, he not only didn't stop, but instead went further and touched her again. The high-definition camera even captured the lewd expression on his face.
The guests and students who weren't playing the game sat in two rows, one in front of the other, and didn't need to touch each other at all. However, Liszt glanced down at Zhu Qingting, who was focused on watching the game, and then raised his hand to put it on her lower back.
After watching the replay, Liszt's face turned deathly pale. His classmates fell silent, and one of the girls said to him in Hungarian, "Liszt, you've disappointed me so much!"
The director said to Liszt with a serious expression, "Your behavior constitutes harassment, and we reserve the right to hold you accountable! You must apologize for your despicable behavior just now! At the same time, out of humanitarian considerations, we will send someone to accompany you to the hospital for a check-up, and we will cover all medical expenses."
Under countless scornful and angry gazes, Liszt lowered his head, said "I'm sorry" in broken Chinese, and then stumbled away accompanied by staff.
The storm had temporarily subsided, and the director looked at Zhu Qingting and Chai Yundu, "I'm very sorry that this happened. It was our inadequate screening of personnel in the early stages that caused Ms. Zhu to suffer. I wonder if you can still continue filming as scheduled?"
Zhu Qingting looked at Chai Yundu reassuringly, then said, "I can continue. We can't let one person's behavior affect the whole program."
Chai Yundu could only express his willingness to continue filming. The director said emotionally, "Thank you all for your understanding. Let's take a half-hour break and adjust our state."
In the lounge, the older sisters, Sister Xin and Sister Linlin, comforted Zhu Qingting, while the infatuated Shan Zhiyi excitedly exclaimed, "Zhu Zhu! Chai Yundu is so handsome! I always thought martial arts was just for show, but I never expected him to be so fierce in real combat! And his line when he defended you, 'You fucking dare to touch her,' really swooned me! What a hero saving a damsel in distress!"
Zhu Qingting felt her ears burning slightly at what she said. She stood up and said softly, "I'll go thank him."
Zhu Qingting led Chai Yundu to an empty room. Chai Yundu pulled her into his arms, his voice full of apology, "I'm sorry, I was too impulsive just now. If I had handled it calmly and hadn't hit him in public, you wouldn't have had to say something so embarrassing about being groped by him."
Zhu Qingting gently shook her head in his arms, raised her hand and patted his back soothingly, as if comforting a husky that was angry for her sake.
“No, I should be the one thanking you.” Her voice was soft yet clear. “Thank you, Chai Yundu, thank you for protecting me without hesitation.”
"From now on, I will always protect you," he whispered in her ear.
Zhu Qingting leaned against him, feeling his strong heartbeat, closed her eyes, and softly replied, "I know."
The two continued to embrace tightly; at that moment, all words seemed superfluous.
Liszt, accompanied by staff, walked out of the bathhouse and was spotted by sharp-eyed Chinese fans waiting outside.
When fans saw his bruised and swollen face, they anxiously surrounded him, asking in Chinese, "What happened? Was the game dangerous? How did you get hurt like this? Is our idol alright?"
Liszt deliberately distorted the facts, saying with a mix of grievance and anger, "You Chinese are all barbarians? That guy who knows Chinese kung fu beat me up for no reason!" He pointed to his bruised cheek, "This is where he hit me!"
These distorted and fabricated statements were simultaneously relayed back to China by fans watching the live stream. Soon after, someone edited together a recording of the live stream and posted it on Weibo with the caption: "Conflict breaks out on the set of 'Passing on Skills Across the Land'! Chai Yundu abuses his power and assaults a foreign friend without provocation!"
This Weibo post was quickly seized upon by rival fans to stir up trouble, propelling it to the top of the trending topics list, with uninformed netizens commenting in droves:
"Chai Yundu has disgraced China internationally! He's really tarnished the reputation of the Chinese people!"
"You learn martial arts to fight people? How shameful!"
"We strongly demand that Chai Yundu withdraw from the program! Get out of the entertainment industry."
"As expected, warriors are brainless, impulsive, and easily angered!"
An anonymous user claiming to be a classmate of Chai Yundu from martial arts school even revealed, "I can testify that he used to be a bully at the martial arts school, taking advantage of his kung fu skills to bully his classmates!"
Public opinion turned extremely unfavorable towards Chai Yundu. However, Chai Yundu and the others who continued recording were completely unaware of this.
After the hot spring recording ended, Chai Yundu got his phone and saw countless missed calls from his agent, Deng Jie. He called back and succinctly explained what had happened.
Deng Jie on the other end of the phone was extremely anxious. "My God! The internet is in an uproar! We have to clarify this immediately! Or should we release the real reason and the statement about protecting Professor Zhu?"
“No.” Chai Yundu refused without hesitation, his tone resolute. “Brother Deng, we can’t release it. She’s already embarrassed enough by saying it on set. We absolutely can’t push her into the eye of the storm of online public opinion and have her pointed at and gossiped about. I’ll talk to the production team later and ask them not to release any related footage.”
"So how do we respond? We're getting a barrage of criticism right now!"
With a calm expression, Chai Yundu uttered four words: "The innocent will remain innocent."
That night, in her shared dorm room, Shan Zhiyi sat cross-legged on her bed, furiously scrolling through her phone. "I'm so angry! Do these netizens even have brains? They're just attacking Brother Du without even knowing the facts! It's been half a day already, why hasn't Brother Du's team issued a statement to clarify?! I'm so anxious!"
Zhu Qingting opened Weibo and looked at the chaotic arguments trending on the hot search list. Under Chai Yundu's official account, there were only four simple words: "The innocent will clear themselves."
She understood immediately. He was doing this to protect her. He was willing to bear all the misunderstandings and insults himself, carefully protecting her reputation behind him.
But how could she just stand by and watch him bear all of this for her sake? She wanted to protect him too!
She called her producer, "Sister Jing, I wonder if I can ask the director for the footage of Lizst harassing me, and release it on Weibo ahead of time? I want to clear Teacher Chai's name."
PD Jingjie was obviously aware of the online controversy and replied, "Zhuzhu, wait a moment, I'll ask the director right away."
A few minutes later, Jingjie sent several video files to her WeChat with the text: "Zhuzhu, the director agreed and supports you. The video is here, please handle it as you see fit."
Zhu Qingting used software to piece these clips together, including not only the entire process of the hot spring conflict, but also the scene of Liszt forcibly kissing Zhu Qingting after the performance the night before, as well as clips of him accidentally touching Zhu Qingting multiple times during rehearsals.
Zhu Qingting posted on her Weibo account, which doesn't have many followers: "Thank you for standing up for me when I needed protection. Sometimes, a fist isn't violence, but protection!"
She attached the edited video and clicked send.
“Yiyi,” she said, looking at Shan Zhiyi who was still indignant, “I posted on Weibo, could you help me retweet it? I have too few followers.”
"No problem! Leave it to me!" Shan Zhiyi's eyes lit up the moment she saw the message. "I'll forward it to our group chat of seven people and have everyone share it! We must get justice for Brother Du!"
So everyone forwarded and showed their support.
Shan Zhiyi: "I was there. Brother Du only acted to protect Zhu Zhu."
Chen Yifei: "Any man would do the same."
Ding Yi: "Protecting women is a basic quality of a gentleman."
Liu Xin: "Zhu Zhu has been wronged."
Zhao Lin: "Shouldn't harassers be beaten? They weren't beaten enough!"
The video and the collective statements from the guests instantly reversed public opinion! Netizens were utterly enraged after watching the video:
"This kind of harasser deserves to be beaten!"
"Good job, Brother Du! Protecting women is our duty!"
"The goddess must have been very scared at the time. I feel sorry for her."
"Liszt is the one who has brought shame upon the country!"
"I also want to be protected by my brother. His fighting style is so cool!"
Touched by Zhu Qingting's post, Chai Yundu sent a message, "Baby, you didn't have to do that..."
Zhu Qingting replied, "I don't want you to be misunderstood either. I want to eat snail rice noodles [feeling wronged] [rolling around] [crying]"
Looking at these adorable emojis, Chai Yundu couldn't help but smile.
“I’ll cook it for you!” he replied quickly.
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