Chapter 41 – Attack and Counter-attack

These photos were posted the same time, around midday, on online forums.

At this time Bai Lang was at Qiu XIaoHai’s kindergarten attending a sports carnival. Qiu Qian had left for V country the day before due to the business venture. Before he left he had assigned many of his people to Bai Lang’s side, including even Lin GongCheng. He had also sent people to watch the people that needed to be watched. Only this way was Bai Lang able to push him out of the country. Bai Lang had taken a day off to go to the sports carnival with the identity of a parent.

The people at the school no longer felt surprised. They were already used to the Qiu XiaoHai and Bai Lang team. Qiu XiaoHai’s class teacher as well as the nanny all had Bai Lang’s phone number. {T/N: Although it’s not specifically stated I think can assume by this time QQ has found another nanny for QXH, because after all BL and him both busy and Hong Hong/Xiao Li also have other responsibilities. But nanny doesn’t live with them, probably just responsible for picking him up and taking care of him until BL or QQ get home.}

If Qiu XiaoHai got a fever or fell over in school and they couldn’t find Qiu Qian, they would automatically switch to calling Bai Lang. Even if Bai Lang didn’t pick up he would definitely return the call not long after. His gentle and warm voice had already changed the class teacher as well as the nanny from small fans into loyal major fans.

Qiu XiaoHai performed very well at the sports carnival. In these few months he had been nurtured by Bai Lang until he was very healthy. He got first place in the 100m race for the kindergarten class. The second place also smashed the glasses of the people who were watching {T/N: surprised them}, it was the beautiful and academic looking Rong Zan. Bai Lang was holding a small water bottle and waiting at the finish line. He was almost bowled over by the overly excited Qiu XiaoHai who jumped on him. The sunlight, green plains and large and beautiful smiles really killed off a lot of people’s mobile phone’s storage space.

Thus when Bai Lang held the trophy-winning and sleeping Qiu XiaoHai back home, he didn’t know that right now on the internet things things had already became a chaotic mess.

***

The people that threw the hugest fuss were Su Quan’s fans who had already been holding themselves back for too long.

The sudden termination of Su Quan’s contract by Total Entertainment had initially made the fans jump out straight away to point to accusatory finger at Total Entertainment and their lack of explanation. But ever since the words “different pathways” had been released and Su Quan also didn’t come out to protest against it, they had gradually quietened back  down again.

After all this reason was vague but pointed to the fact that there was some greater play behind the scenes. Although Total Entertainment’s methods were rough however if it meant that their male god Su could find a better place and a more appropriate company, then so what if he was fired from a small organisation like Total Entertainment?

But what was this!! Turned out things were like this!? When Su Quan’s fans saw the posts they became incensed.

Actually when the two series of photos were posted there wasn’t much text accompanying it. The fans actually quietly observed for a little while and there were even some people who asked what the point of it was. After all in order to judge and delve deeper into the meaning behind these photos, that meant they would have to first admit that their male god was gay.

The photos taken of Su Quan and Qiu Qian were mostly taken at private clubs and the like, some of them were blurry or shaky. It was clearly taken by fans on the down low. However the photos of Bai Lang were different. They were taken from official news outlets. The headline that accompanied it was: “The Truth That I Know”. It looked as though it was something that someone on the inside posted after really not being able to tolerate it any longer, and finally came out to find justice for Su Quan.

One series of photos was taken sneakily and the other was public. By coincidence, the day after Su Quan’s contract was terminated, Qiu Qian had appeared at the opening ceremony of Chaos Street for Bai Lang. After brewing for a while, it was unknown which post first wrote the words “Bai Lang you slut”, but its effect was immediately igniting a tidal wave of fire and opinions.

At this time, Su Quan’s fans were also shocked when they realized what was happening.

A few of them expressed regret, but a large proportion of face-con female fans said who cares if our Su Quan is gay? He is so beautiful that even other men cannot resist him, so it’s only logical and we completely respect it! The situation is definitely that this person Qiu Qian, who had a bad reputation, used tactics and methods to get close to the male god, and caused the previously inexperienced with relationships and busy focusing on work male god to fall into his trap!!

Anyway, gay or not gay is one matter, but a homewrecker definitely cannot be borne!

Most of the female fans grasped this important point. After easily letting go of Su Quan, they pushed all their fire and attacks towards Bai Lang and Qiu Qian these pair of male-male dogs. So when Fang Hua called Bai Lang to let him know about what happened and Bai Lang went on the discussion board, there were already pages and pages dedicated to swearing at him, the discussion was very red-hot.

“We’ve already blocked a few of the IDs,” Fang Hua said on the phone, “However Ah Cheng said that the opponent seems to be professional and keeps changing their location. They need a few days to catch them. Before then we need to come up with some kind of explanation.”

{T/N: So among SQ’s “fans” there’s definitely a few that aren’t real and have been paid to ignite the fire/push the discussion/opinion in a certain way. That’s who Ah Cheng is chasing, not the actual fans lol. Otherwise as you can probably tell the material isn’t that incendiary on its own. After that the “truth” will take on a life of its own and people will just jump on the boat and make it bigger and bigger, which is what is happening here.}

“Has Su Quan made any response?” Bai Lang moved his mouse. His expression as he looked through the material was quite calm.

Fang Hua sighed. Previously because of Lin GongCheng, she can be considered familiar with Su Quan. However right now…

“He doesn’t need to make any response. All he needs to is keep hiding. If he pretends to be sick the effect is even better. Even if he doesn’t admit anything, the fan’s saliva alone is enough to drown us.”

“That’s true.” Bai Lang couldn’t help but admit Su Quan’s method this time was very effective and intelligent.

Without a company to back him up and if Hong Yu was taken out of the equation, it was very difficult for Su Quan to fight against Qiu Qian. Even if he emptied his wallet to take revenge, probably the effect with be next to nothing. However by spreading this kind of rumor of a “homewrecker” through the female fans, he didn’t need to use much effort and the effect would be widespread.

For example if in the future Total Entertainment’s intention was to suppress Su Quan, just like how they had changed his role in Chaos Street to another person using money, Su Quan could use these rumors to paint himself in the position of a victim. So although he would suffer some damage to his pride and reputation, he wouldn’t lose everything. After a period of wind and rain, Su Quan still had the chance to get back what he had lost.

As for his reputation, Su Quan right now was seen as a victim. This would be the best time to come out of the closet resulting in the least amount of repercussions as the fans right now were sympathetic to the him that was in a weak place. As for the next company that Su Quan found, they could even pick up the reputation of a “savior” for free. Even if Hong Yu didn’t help him, Su Quan’s career wouldn’t suffer too much damage.

However actually Bai Lang only thought about work related matters. Su Quan’s thoughts were actually far broader.

Right now all of the people’s anger was focused on Bai Lang. According to Fang Hua, Bai Lang definitely had to release some kind of statement from his side.

There were only two choices. Admit it or deny it.

If Bai Lang and Qiu Qian’s relationship was confirmed in this manner, then Bai Lang would have some ground to comment on Qiu Qian and Su Quan’s relationship and be able to express that he wasn’t the mistress. However since the relationship didn’t even exist {T/N: Between SQ and QQ}, it was hard to produce any so-called ‘evidence’. The ending result might be that Bai Lang still had to carry this title of “homewrecker” and at the same time come out of the closet. This would have huge repercussions on his reputation.

And if Bai Lang publicly denied it, then Su Quan also wasn’t scared. Because that meant that in the future Bai Lang and Qiu Qian would have to always tip-toe around and hide their relationship. If he chose this method then Bai Lang would also be unable to comment on whether or not Qiu Qian and Su Quan had ever “broken up” and in the future he would always have to carry the suspicion of having “stolen someone else’s boyfriend” and be pointed at by others.

This way, although he wouldn’t be able to hurt Bai Lang’s life in any way, Su Quan was still quite pleased at being able to force Bai Lang into a corner of “not being able to see the light”. And then if they hid the relationship for a while but finally couldn’t stand it any longer and ended up admitting to it, then wouldn’t they also be seen to be admitting to this homewrecker matter? Otherwise why did they hide it the first place?

So in terms of losses versus gains, Su Quan was able to accept making a small sacrifice in order to obtain larger rewards.

Anyway since Hong Yu and Qiu Qian had come to an “agreement”, then that meant that Hong Yu would still stand by his side and help him clean up the mess afterwards. If he lost the choice of Qiu Qian, then to Su Quan any other patron was the same. And if he had to continue being with Hong Yu, then at least when it came to “that matter” the frequency was reduced and easier to tolerate than before. {T/N: Uh, since HY probably has lost some of his sexual function. I’m not sure if author was being too vague or if you guys got that already haha…}

Returning to Bai Lang’s phone call with Fang Hua.

“Right now we’ve already released the first wave response, which is to state that in the photos with Su Quan and Qiu Qian there’s nothing happening, and so to use it to say that they had a relationship is too illogical.” Fang Hua reported. “Of course figuring out whether or not the photos are real, what time they were taken and the purpose of them is the next step. We are also need to prepare a more detailed explanation as to why Total Entertainment terminated Su Quan’s contract. That won’t be hard. Previously when Su Quan accepted a job, he would often change his mind and it was always smoothed over by the company. If we expose it now, we can totally say we didn’t want to say it before to preserve his reputation, but had no choice now. Isn’t it just splashing dirty water on people? If he can do it, we can too!” By this time Fang Hua was also very unhappy.

Bai Lang smiled. “I’ve troubled Sister Fang. I’m sorry to always have so many incidents.”

“It’s natural when someone gets famous, no problem. You also don’t need to think too much. If you need to eat you should eat and if you need to sleep you should sleep. Your body is the most important.” Fang Hua comforted him and then directly said, “However in terms of Chaos Street, Ah Cheng will send more people there. They definitely won’t be able to get to you. However I’m afraid that what some people want right now is to see us hiding. So you and Qiu Qian still need to come up with some kind of statement in the end. Either you have to admit it or deny it.”

Bai Lang had some idea in his heart but after all he couldn’t make the decision on his own. “I’ll ask first.”

Perhaps these words made Fang Hua misunderstand something. She added, “In my opinion, it’s better to admit it.”

Bai Lang couldn’t help smiling. “Is this you standing on my side?”

“Stupid. I’m just trying to give you a hint for the correct answer. If you answer wrong, then the person who has to suffer is me.” Fang Hua thought about Qiu Qian then said, “What about your family? Do you need to notify them first? Forget about Bai Li but what about your parents…?”

Fang Hua as talking when his phone began to ring again. The only person who had the authority to interrupt someone else’s phone call was Qiu Qian. Thus Fang Hua just said to take care of himself and directly hung up the phone.

“Hello?” Bai Lang had only swiped the answer button when he heard Qiu Qian yell loudly.

“Tomorrow you speak straight into the camera, and say when the hell did my man become your man?!”

Bai Lang blinked. He didn’t need to ask Qiu Qian’s opinion anymore and instead had to spend a long time pacifying the angry to death Qiu Qian who was overseas.

***

12 hours after the photos were posted, it was midnight.

The number of posts relating to this issue was now well over 10,000. The location, timing, angle and truth behind the photographs was currently being discussed over and over again. As time went on, the reasoning and conjectures became more varied. Those that suspected Bai Lang were present, but more and more people were also beginning to suspect Su Quan and everybody was waiting to see if there would be an explanation come tomorrow.

At this time, Bai Lang’s fans finally began their counter-attack.

The first post posted a single photograph, it was taken from behind of Bai Lang holding a small boy’s hand.

“Just who the hell is the mistress!? How come we’ve never seen Su Quan before!?”

When Bai Lang saw this he got a fright and immediately made a phone call to tell Hong Hong to release the things he had just sent over right away.

That night, another bomb appeared on the unpeaceful discussion board.

The new post’s heading said, “The other side that you haven’t seen”.

In the post were three photographs. Each was of Su Quan and a different man, drinking together.