5.13

Later that day, behind a small gambling den in the middle of the city, two muscular men forced a small figure out of the entrance, shoving him into a filthy alleyway.

The Peng Muzhi who had once been described by fashion magazines as "the most elegant CEO" crashed into a pile of trash, his formerly well-maintained face and wrinkled suit became covered in dregs. Without even brushing himself off, however, the man leapt up and tried to wrestle his way back in, demanding, "You can't do this to me, I'm a VIP. Get the owner over here!"

The security guards exchanged sardonic glances, then impassively shut the door in his face. Through the thin wood panel, one of them nonchalantly responded, "The boss says that he'll welcome you back whenever you repay everything you played on credit. Consider yourself lucky he's letting you go so easily." In fact, under normal circumstances, the boss would have ordered them to squeeze the money out of the mark using any means necessary. The sole reason that he hadn't this time around was that he was simply too embarrassed to publicize that he'd been uninformed enough to allow this locally notorious pauper in.

At the words, Peng Muzhi staggered backwards, collapsing against the jumble of waste. He didn't have any funds to pay with, so where could he go now? This house had been the last place he could still play in, because all of the bigger, established casinos had long blacklisted him.

Surrounded by the back street's disgusting stench, the bedraggled man desperately wracked his brains for a way to earn money in a flash, but nothing occurred to him except finding a lower-level joint which hadn't realized his methods yet. Unfortunately, while he had recently had to resort to these seedier halls, as an elite, he was clueless about the vulgar side of the city. He'd only discovered his current dives through relying on the advice of a fellow gambler he'd met by chance a while ago.

Thus, hoping that his acquaintance would have some more suggestions, he picked up his cheap mobile. Surprisingly, however, there was a notification pending on the burner phone he'd gotten to prevent anyone he'd known from bothering him, it was a text from an unidentified number. Peng Muzhi impatiently scanned the message, intending to ignore it, but in the next second, he incredulously gaped at the screen.

Although he'd heard in passing that Guo Ziyue had been ruined thoroughly by his sex scandals, he'd quit paying attention to his so-called boyfriend from the instant he'd learned about the slag's affairs. The anger from recalling the betrayal made Peng Muzhi crush his phone absentmindedly, until the edges digging painfully into his palms reminded him of the offer on his hands. Steadying his quickened breaths, he clicked to play the attached video.

Apparently, some mysterious person wanted him to use his status as Fanxing Entertainment Group's CEO to clean up Guo Ziyue's reputation and, for this purpose, he was willing to give Peng Muzhi a million dollars. The task, moreover, was overwhelmingly simple, because the recording he'd been sent showed that Guo Ziyue had been coerced into having relations with innumerable partners. In the clip, an actor from the star's college could be seen whispering in his ear, the fuzzy audio included threatening instructions to seduce various people.

Peng Muzhi's emotions as he observed the interaction were complex; he somewhat sympathized with the Guo Ziyue who had been forced, yet he couldn't tolerate that he'd ever had such a dirty boyfriend. In addition, he wasn't fully convinced that Guo Ziyue hadn't taken pleasure in his flings, whether or not he'd initiated them of his own volition.

Despite his unsettled personal feelings, the CEO was positive about this deal, there was no reason not to agree. Not only would he earn enough to clear part of his debt, but also, perhaps he could salvage his job by rescuing the company's talent. Therefore, he rushed to agree, merely stipulating that half the amount be paid upfront.

The moment his bank informed him that his account had received a fresh deposit, Peng Muzhi didn't delay, he promptly approached the media for a press conference and instructed Guo Ziyue to appear at the stated venue. Aware that he'd lost too much influence to expect the absolute obedience from Fanxing's employees that he'd enjoyed before, he included a short explanation, along with the video he had been provided. Also, since the person who'd commissioned this assignment hadn't supplied any specific cues, such as what Xiang Kai had held as ransom or why he'd particularly insisted on seeing Guo Ziyue sleep with strangers, Peng Muzhi devised a narrative himself then directed the actor to memorize it.

Having just been turned away from yet another audition, the protagonist dubiously read Peng Muzhi's message, scoffing at how out of date the CEO was. What media announcement, what press release? Didn't the idiot know that Xiang Kai, the person he was scheming to pin the blame on, had hooked Sun Ri as his co-star in some movie? Everyone tacitly understood that the king couldn't be offended, no reporter would lead the way to publish anything that might hinder his projects.

Nevertheless, Guo Ziyue trusted that he himself would be safe from Sun Ri's anger because the king, nominally at least, was still his guardian, so he simply spelled out the situation to the CEO then enticed a popular blogger into streaming his personal broadcast, claiming that he would draw viewers out of hatred if nothing else. As for the fact that he knew the video had been faked and that Xiang Kai's image would be destroyed after this, he didn't care, Xiang Kai owed him this much for what he'd done to him in his last life. Besides, he had to hurry up and recover his prestige for his faithful fan. Imagining how happy 'Longing_for_the_Moon' would be at his darling's advancement, Guo Ziyue eagerly prepared himself.

Thus, a post soon appeared which attracted a great deal of attention. The rising star who'd become infamous for his promiscuity was finally exposing the real cause behind his behavior!

According to his statement, he was a gay man who'd been hiding his sexual orientation, until his college senior, who was currently a newbie actor named Xiang Kai, had discovered his secret then blackmailed him with it, pressuring him to record himself having sex with all sorts of people. While he couldn't fathom his motives, Guo Ziyue speculated that Senior Xiang was probably a pervert who relished watching these kinds of films. Towards the end, he cried, he hadn't intended to disclose such a shameful history, but he had no other choice, he would have been completely finished if he hadn't worked up the courage to confess.

Although the public initially hadn't been inclined to believe such an outlandish excuse, during his broadcast, Guo Ziyue had presented evidence of Xiang Kai threatening him in broad daylight. Furthermore, the existence of the previously released sex tapes supported his version of events—no celebrity with a brain would record such activities unless there were particular factors at work.

The onlookers who had been convinced by these factors blasted Xiang Kai for being an abominable criminal, whereas the protagonist was whitewashed with pity so that even the conservative population didn't mention his homosexuality. With its irresistible combination of obscenity, illegality, and stardom, this incident shot to the top of major forums despite the relatively minor players involved.

Noticing how much interest this story was generating, mainstream news channels also started to pick it up. While the media executives did worry that doing so might antagonize the king, they judged that Sun Ri wouldn't attack them to defend an acting partner who'd been thoroughly disgraced already and, in any case, this issue was growing too prominent, they couldn't afford to miss covering it without appearing overly biased.

In this way, the rumors spread rapidly.

The day that Guo Ziyue's tale was told, Chen Yu was on set for his movie, smoothly acting as usual. Due to the staff whispering to each other about this development, however, the atmosphere became so strained that Director Tantai had to call for a break to figure out what was wrong. While the crew didn't dare to attack Chen Yu directly in front of Sun Ri, who obviously doted on him, everyone avoided the degenerate and shot him scornful glares, they couldn't stand having to breathe the same air as him.

Sun Ri had also been puzzled by the workers' odd attitudes, but as soon as he returned to his dressing room, he was swiftly apprised of the situation by his manager. He paced furiously, damn Guo Ziyue, damn that blogger, damn the media, he'd eliminate every single one of them. Once he finished commanding that all of Sun Jia's power be mobilized in order to remove any of the derogatory pieces on Xiang Kai, the man strode into the room next door, only to find his doll bent over with his hands covering his face.

While his heart sank at this indication of how much Guo Ziyue could affect Kai's emotions, Sun Ri suppressed his madness for now and lifted the boy onto his lap, soothingly stroking his hair. After he managed to stop gritting his teeth, he pressed his doll's face against his neck and assured, "Kai, don't worry, I'll solve this right away."

Chen Yu had been briefly startled out of his amusement by his lover's sudden appearance, but these words reminded him of the video he'd just watched so that he shook with laughter again. Although he hadn't expected the protagonist and Peng Muzhi to create a remarkable cover story, what they'd produced was too fantastic, he'd actually never played a voyeur before. Glancing at the bona fide peeping tom in front of him, he ducked his head to hide his grin then refused, "No, leave it alone."

Sun Ri's expression turned ugly once he grasped the boy's intention. His doll wanted to help Guo Ziyue even at the expense of being made a scapegoat, did he worship him that much? Unable to restrain his frustration, he tightened his hold on the fragile neck and asked in a dangerously quiet voice, "Why, to protect your idol?"

How could Chen Yu miss his lover's jealousy? He rolled his eyes, it seemed this room needed better ventilation ah, the smell of vinegar was too strong. A beat later, he sighed, well, he had some time to kill, might as well enjoy a round or two.