Chapter 259 Clash
That evening, South Korean broadcaster KBS1 issued an emergency report stating that a fire had broken out at an unfinished building in Nowon-gu, resulting in an estimated two deaths and no injuries. The fire has been extinguished, the cause of the fire is under investigation, and the identities of the deceased are not yet confirmed.
Meanwhile, a well-known South Korean entertainment media outlet published an article stating that the deceased was a famous Chinese actor and his non-celebrity boyfriend. The article implied that the actor was married and that the tragedy was either a crime of passion or a suicide pact.
Because it involved Chinese citizens, the news quickly spread back to China, and netizens swiftly dug up recent flight information to compare the actor's identity.
After comparing the clues, all the leads pointed to Xia Mian.
Online records only show Xia Mian's departure from the country, which occurred half a month ago; there is no entry information. The "married" status also matches.
The cotton plants couldn't sit still any longer.
Because of the two-week closed training period, Xia Mian's official fan club organized airport pick-up and drop-off to maintain his exposure. Two weeks ago, they personally escorted Xia Mian to the security checkpoint and took thousands of cool photos of him.
However, during the day, they received a notification that the airport pickup was canceled. The fan club cited a change in Xia Mian's schedule as the reason.
The son is on the rise and very popular, so it's normal for him to take on work and change his schedule at the last minute. The fans didn't ask any more questions.
When they saw this message, they belatedly panicked.
Could it really be cotton?
Mianmian is so young, it's impossible!
In an instant, Oriental Entertainment's email inbox was flooded with inquiries, the official Weibo account's message board was inaccessible, and Zhao Wei's personal email was also compromised. Fans strongly demanded that the company step in to deny the rumors and release Xia Mian's latest schedule.
Strangely, Oriental Entertainment, which always cherishes its reputation, turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it!
It's too late now, the fans comforted themselves: the person in charge of Oriental Entertainment is probably resting at this hour, let's wait a little longer, the person in charge will definitely reply when they see it tomorrow.
To everyone's surprise, even after staring intently until work hours began, Oriental Entertainment remained completely silent!
Summer Sleep's fans are numerous, including mom fans, older sister fans, and career fans. These older sisters and brothers are all of exceptionally high quality. Our adorable idol is facing a life-threatening situation, so who can stand it? They searched for the company's phone number from various external data sources and launched a barrage of phone calls.
At first, someone answered the phone. When Cotton Gate asked if the report was true and if Xia Mian was safe, the person who answered said politely, "I'm sorry, ma'am, this is the internal affairs department. We don't know the situation of the artists. You can leave a message on the official Weibo account."
When I called again, no one answered.
Those who dared to ask even went to the Kepler Group, whose response was always the same: it was a private matter for the boss, they didn't know, didn't know, and were unsure; please wait for official news.
Zhou Pingchuan's newly registered Weibo account has not been logged in since.
The unanimous silence seemed to tacitly agree to something.
The cotton plants were devastated.
Their cotton candy might really... be in trouble.
Soon after, a wave of prayers for blessings swept across the internet.
As the saying goes, death absolves all debts. This time, no haters were seen in the topic of Xia Mian, and few people mentioned the sex scandals that were attached to the exposé.
Death is the most somber topic. Respect for the dead is paramount. Compared to finding amusement in celebrities, the loss of a young life is far more heartbreaking and regrettable.
One hater even commented: "Actually, Xia Mian is quite good. I always criticize him because he's handsome, has a good marriage, and has many admirers—it's just jealousy. If Xia Mian could come back, I would delete all my posts and quietly become a casual fan."
Me too. I live in darkness, so I hate his dazzling light, forgetting that his light once illuminated me as well. If Xia Mian could come back, I would switch from hating to loving him.
[I'm a fan now, Xia Mian, you have to come back!]
Before the screen were devout faces. Regardless of age or gender, whether they knew Xia Mian or not, they were all praying to heaven for Xia Mian's safety.
Only one person.
He sat in front of the island platform, looking at the constantly refreshing updates on his phone, a look of confusion and bewilderment in his eyes.
His plan succeeded. Xia Mian died as he wished. From then on, the Xia family was his, Zhou Ting was his, and Zhou Pingchuan was his. He finally got everything he wanted.
But why... am I unhappy?
Was it because Zhou Ting resolutely chose to die with Xia Mian? Or was it because those three idiots had all disappeared and weren't answering his calls?
It's probably the latter.
Xia Mingzhao closed Weibo, opened a virtual IP software, and dialed Zhu Ziqi's number for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
As before, no one answered.
"Young Master Mingzhao, someone is looking for you." At this moment, the old butler said in a trembling voice.
Because of financial difficulties, the Zhou family was unwilling to provide assistance. This old housekeeper was specially sent from the Xia family by Tang Wenhua, who was worried that his son would be left unattended. He is usually quite efficient in his speech and actions; I don't know what's wrong with him today.
Annoyed, Xia Mingzhao asked without turning her head, "Who?"
The old butler opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he was suddenly pulled aside.
Xia Mingzhao turned around impatiently.
Upon seeing who it was, he was stunned for a long time before finally managing to utter a single sentence: "...Xia Mian? How is it you? You...!"
At that moment, Xia Mian was sitting leisurely on the sofa not far away, playing with the crystal glass on the coffee table: "Didn't I die? Is that what you wanted to say? Sorry, I didn't die, thank you for your trouble."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. Why should I bother? What does it have to do with me?" Xia Mingzhao pretended to be stupid. "When I was browsing Weibo this morning, I saw the news that you might have been in trouble. It took me a long time to recover. I didn't dare to tell my parents because I was afraid they couldn't handle it. Fortunately, you're okay. It seems that the person mentioned on Weibo is someone else."
He was very good at pretending; he had a pure and innocent appearance and was a natural-born liar.
Xia Mian smiled and said, "Mingzhao, do you think I would come looking for you if I didn't have evidence?"
Xia Mingzhao looked at him, at this person who was completely different from before, and a sense of inexplicable hatred spread through her.
He barely suppressed the urge to strangle her: "Mianmian, I really don't understand. If you have something to say, please say it directly. If not, I need to go out for a while, so I'll have to excuse myself."
After speaking, he put on his coat and walked outside. A minute later, he returned angrily.
"Xia Mian, what do you mean?"
His house and yard have been completely sealed off by bodyguards, so he can't get out at all!
"Don't rush, sit down first, let's listen to a recording together."
As she spoke, Xia Mian opened her voice memo, and a female voice spoke first: "I have never met him, I only know that he hates Xia Mian. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that is why I decided to form an alliance with him."
Then another female voice said, "We've never met; we communicated entirely over the phone. He said he wants Zhou Pingchuan. Does he even deserve him? Zhou Pingchuan can only be mine!"
Finally, a male voice said, "I... I've never met him either, but I know who he is. For cooperation, we need to show sincerity. I asked him to remove the voice changer when we spoke. Actually, he still used a voice changer, but it was closer to his original voice, making it easier to process. I had a friend do a reconstruction of that audio clip, and it turned out to be Xia Mingzhao's voice. And he said Zhou Ting wanted a divorce. On the way here with Zhou Ting, I asked him, and he said he hadn't told anyone, not even his own father, only the two Xia brothers. So who else could it be besides Xia Mingzhao? Mianmian, I made a mistake in a moment of confusion, please don't blame me, okay?"
The more Xia Mingzhao listened, the colder her expression became.
Upon hearing the end, he knew he couldn't keep up the act any longer, so he simply dropped the pretense: "Tell me, what do you want to do? Sue me? Ruin my reputation? This little bit of evidence isn't enough."
He had made thorough preparations beforehand and had a sufficient alibi.
“I don’t want to sue you, nor do I intend to tell anyone. I came to you only to ask you one question,” Xia Mian paused, “Mingzhao, do you think you are still yourself now?”
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