Perfect Divorce [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 11

It was unclear whether Wen Ting had failed to convey Ye Huai’s message, or if Li Yu simply didn’t want to adopt that person’s suggestion. Regardless, by early the next morning, the “leaked” photos of Yuan Xingzhou and Huo Yangqing had already spread across the internet.

At four in the morning, those who went to bed early had not yet risen, and those who stayed up late had already fallen asleep; it was that moment when all was silent.

In the dressing room, Yuan Xingzhou stared at the leaked photos, his eyebrows knitted in distress.

“Teacher Yuan.” A young woman entered carrying a makeup kit to greet him; she appeared to be today’s makeup artist.

Yuan Xingzhou hurriedly stood up. “Thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s no trouble.” The girl smiled. “It’s a bit early; you can sleep for a while if you’d like.”

The crew had a limited number of makeup artists and assistants, so everyone worked in batches. The earliest shift started at 4:00 AM and finished by 5:00 AM. The lead actors generally didn’t wake up until after 6:00 AM, as long as it didn’t delay the start of filming.

Yuan Xingzhou had always been in the earliest batch. After all, when scheduling these things, coordinators looked at both the level of stardom and the temperament of the artists and their management teams. Yuan Xingzhou had a good personality and his manager didn’t interfere, so if he encountered a kind coordinator, his days were comfortable; if he met one who was lazy or unkind, life became difficult.

The makeup team sometimes “judged a book by its cover” too. Yesterday’s male makeup artist, who was responsible for several supporting roles, was constantly giving Yuan Xingzhou the cold shoulder.

“I’m not sleepy for now, thank you,” Yuan Xingzhou said to the girl with a kind smile, feeling a bit surprised. “Is there a staff change today?”

“I applied for this,” the girl said, skipping inside happily. “Yesterday I heard that Great God Ye came to visit the set. So I hurried to apply with the boss. Today I’m looking after you and Sister Han. That way, if Great God Ye comes to find you, I’ll get to see him in person!”

Yuan Xingzhou hadn’t expected that just after meeting a live fan himself yesterday, one of Ye Huai’s fans would come knocking today.

“He might not come over today,” Yuan Xingzhou laughed. “But if he does, I’ll have someone call for you.”

The girl froze, overjoyed. “Really?”

Yuan Xingzhou nodded, but remembering Ye Huai’s many quirks, he added a reminder, “But a photo isn’t guaranteed, nor is an autograph. I’ll have to ask for his opinion first.”

“Okay, okay!” The girl nodded repeatedly, her face flushing red. “Great God Ye is so aloof; even a glance from a distance is fine! Waaaah, Teacher Yuan, you are too kind.”

The girl said emotionally, “I used to be a solo fan of Ye Huai, but from now on, I’m going to be a CP fan of you two!”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

“That… isn’t really necessary.” Yuan Xingzhou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thought to himself: Please don’t switch; if you switch, I’ll have harmed another person.

He wondered what time Ye Huai would wake up.

Yuan Xingzhou thought secretly: Will that guy check the trending searches? He hoped Ye Huai would sleep longer; if he blew a fuse, Yuan Xingzhou wasn’t sure he could soothe him.

Tense and apprehensive, Yuan Xingzhou tried to catch some sleep after his makeup was finished.

Rarely, Huo Yangqing arrived early today as well. Just after 6:00 AM, Yuan Xingzhou crossed paths with this former fan.

“You left right after filming yesterday,” Huo Yangqing said with a sunny smile, flashing his big white teeth. “Why’d you run so fast? I wanted to take you out for hot pot.”

“Hot pot?” Yuan Xingzhou asked curiously. “Is there hot pot around here?”

“Hahaha, you didn’t know! A local mutton restaurant right in the village. Authentic Inner Mongolian sliced mutton, copper charcoal pot—it’s excellent,” Huo Yangqing said. “Yesterday I finally contributed my on-screen first kiss, so I was treating everyone to a celebration. I looked everywhere and you were the only one missing. What were you busy with?”

Hearing him mention an “on-screen first kiss,” Yuan Xingzhou paused, then smiled. “I went back to the hotel with Ye Huai; he was in a hurry to wash up.”

Huo Yangqing blanked for a moment, then looked over suspiciously.

Yuan Xingzhou: “What is it?”

“Don’t think I don’t know!” Huo Yangqing glanced at the makeup artist and said mysteriously, “I found out everything yesterday. My manager told me.”

Yuan Xingzhou was stunned, feeling a bit awkward at the thought that Huo Yangqing was the first outsider to know about his fake CP.

“Oh, we’re on the same side, what’s there to hide?” Seeing his discomfort, Huo Yangqing spoke bluntly. “Strictly speaking, I’m closer to you. I’m the one who carried the big banners and led the ‘leg-hair’ fans to the front lines for you! What can’t you tell me?”

“It’s nothing.” Infected by the other’s “chunibyo” energy, Yuan Xingzhou’s awkwardness vanished, replaced by a mix of being touched and amused. “The fog was too heavy last night and he had just gotten back. I thought it was unsafe to travel the night roads, so I let him make do here for the night.”

“You’re just too kind-hearted,” Huo Yangqing critiqued.

However, Yuan Xingzhou remembered a suspicious point and asked, “I wanted to ask you—how did Ye Huai know you were an anti-fan?”

Huo Yangqing: “Huh??”

He was dazed, clearly surprised by this. “He said that? How did he know?”

“I was going to ask you,” Yuan Xingzhou said. “What did you say yesterday?”

“I just gave a standard greeting.” Huo Yangqing was confused, trying hard to recall. “I told him, ‘It’s so great to be able to act with Xingzhou… Zhouzhou is my idol, the most fragrant thornless rose in my heart. Just thinking about our kiss scene later makes my heart skip a beat.'”

Huo Yangqing continued, “And then… then he didn’t say anything, and you came over…”

Yuan Xingzhou thought about it, immediately extracted a keyword, and pulled out his phone to search online.

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

Sure enough, there was only one blogger with the ID Zephirine Rose who had posted a Weibo saying “Xingzhou… the most fragrant thornless rose.”

This blogger’s daily posts consisted of 60% “rainbow farts” (extravagant praise) for Yuan Xingzhou, 30% cold mockery of the other teammates, and 10% flaunting wealth. Although the face wasn’t shown, looking at that heavy “rich second-generation” style, it was undoubtedly Huo Yangqing.

Yuan Xingzhou silently opened the homepage and turned the phone around to show Huo Yangqing.

“Holy shit!” Huo Yangqing sat bolt upright, startling the makeup artist.

Yuan Xingzhou covered his face helplessly.

“Yuan Xingzhou, can you please not stand here?” the makeup artist suddenly snapped, dissatisfied. “Look at how you scared Yangqing. I almost messed up his eyeliner.”

Yuan Xingzhou froze and was about to apologize immediately.

“If it’s messed up, redraw it. I’m the one who jumped; what does it have to do with him?” Huo Yangqing looked up, his expression sour as he spoke to the makeup artist. “Can you do the job or not? If you can, do it; if not, get replaced. Stop nagging in front of me.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

The dressing room fell silent instantly. Yuan Xingzhou felt humiliated by the comment directed at him, but he didn’t want Huo Yangqing to offend people on his behalf.

Ever since learning the guy used to be his fan, he had automatically filtered out all of Huo Yangqing’s gossip and added a “level-ten cutie” filter to him.

“I happen to have some questions for the director.” Yuan Xingzhou smiled and said to Huo Yangqing, “You go ahead, let’s chat later.”

After saying that, he hurried out with his phone to find a quiet place to keep reading.

Little Huo’s account had a massive following; his posts easily reached tens of thousands of reposts and likes. Yuan Xingzhou was both happy and conflicted as he solemnly scrolled down to the parts concerning Ye Huai.

Sure enough, Huo Yangqing had cursed Ye Huai plenty. He cursed Yuan Cheng the most, calling him a “plastic surgery failure who changed careers to show off but was rejected by adult films.”

Yuan Xingzhou was shocked. He had been cursed horribly by others and always thought his own fans were the gentle type; he hadn’t expected such a poisonous tongue among them.

Actually, it was mostly Ye Huai who got cursed.

Ye Huai’s nickname was much more direct:

“The Arrogant Prick.”

When Ye Huai “slacked off” while dancing at a concert, Little Huo posted: “The bloated worm-girl in the middle is acting coquettish, while the King of Pricks in the back looks suicidal. Oh God, why have you harmed my eyes?”

When Ye Huai participated in a TV show and clashed with a notoriously difficult host, Little Huo posted: “Today, two great arrogant pricks officially meet to decide the King of BI… (Pricks) of our time.”

When Ye Huai appeared on the cover of a fashion magazine and fashion bloggers reposted it with praise, Little Huo posted again: “The fashion world seems to particularly love this ‘I am the best in the world’ face? I admit his face is good—in the whole group, only he and Zhouzhou haven’t grown up ugly—but I absolutely refuse to let you ship them as a CP. After all, a person who has concentrated all brain and cerebellar functions into his facial features really doesn’t deserve our mentally sound little cutie.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

Yuan Xingzhou felt a mouthful of old blood clog his throat, nearly spitting it out for three thousand meters…

It was over. With just these few posts, how could Ye Huai not hold a grudge!

This feud was definitely set in stone.

Yuan Xingzhou truly hadn’t expected that in the eyes of a small group of fans represented by Little Huo, the ST group was a perverted group where a bunch of “foot-washers” (lower-tier members) collectively kneeled to an arrogant prick while marginalizing the truly talented singer, Yuan Xingzhou.

And Ye Huai wasn’t liked by everyone after all…

But on second thought, perhaps it was precisely because so few people disliked Ye Huai that Huo Yangqing stood out so much, leading Ye Huai to peg him as the leader of the anti-fans.

In a few hours, the CP of himself and the “anti-fan leader” was about to rise, and the Huai-Zhou CP was heading toward a “Bad Ending.”

Yuan Xingzhou had given up struggling; he only hoped that when Ye Huai woke up and saw it, he wouldn’t blow up the hotel.

In the morning, Yuan Xingzhou had two consecutive scenes. It wasn’t until 10:30 AM that he finally got a break and had the chance to check his phone.

As expected, it was already getting lively online.

Photos of his and Huo Yangqing’s kiss were spreading everywhere. Someone was leaking information—half-true and half-false—saying that Huo Yangqing was originally unwell and had asked for leave yesterday, but to accommodate Yuan Xingzhou’s schedule, he had pushed through his illness and even comforted Yuan Xingzhou not to feel pressured.

This was clearly the style of Huo Yangqing’s team.

Others were saying that compared to Ye Huai, it felt like Huo Yangqing was a better fit for Yuan Xingzhou. Huo Yangqing was passionate while Yuan Xingzhou was reserved; the two were complementary.

Yuan Xingzhou: “…” This kind of subtle fanning of the flames to break up the real CP was clearly Li Yu’s doing, quietly laying the groundwork.

The rest was the coordinated promotion and “claiming” by the two fan bases, along with a small group of confused fans cursing each other. Yuan Xingzhou watched with trepidation until, while scrolling, the topic was suddenly flooded with screen-filling posts.

The main force of the Huai-Zhou fans had arrived!

The Huai-Zhou fans had changed to a unified profile picture and were spamming the feed, demanding that the production crew’s hype not affect real people. As the saying goes, “Better to tear down a temple than destroy a marriage.” If the crew dared to entertain thoughts of breaking the real CP, the Huai-Zhou fans would absolutely “tear them a new one.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

The major fan leaders of the Huo and Yuan families knew to some extent that this was team-sanctioned hype, so they were confident and kept the direction of the wind precise, with smaller fans following suit. The Huai-Zhou fans, however, were a purely grassroots organization driven solely by passion and love, snipingly attacking from all sides with indiscriminate fire.

Various factions made their appearance, with constant friction between them.

By noon, Yuan Xingzhou’s anti-fans and fans of his former teammates joined the fray, starting to dig up “black material” on Yuan Xingzhou and listing his “shady operations” while in the group.

A viral post soon appeared on the forums: “The So-called ‘Few Things About Ye Huai Pampering His Husband,’ Someone Needs to Tell You the Truth (Part 2).”

Yuan Xingzhou found the name familiar. After hesitating, he clicked in again.

“Hello everyone, I am the original poster who previously exposed ‘A Few Things About Ye Huai Pampering His Husband.’

Originally, I had analyzed everything clearly last time, and I believe any sisters with a brain would know the truth. Unfortunately, Yuan Xingzhou’s house has too many shady operations, water armies are rampant, and their ability to lead the narrative is top-tier; simple (brainless) people are easily led astray. I’ve decided to go all the way and lead everyone in continuing to expose the ‘few things’ about this fake CP.

First, a character introduction: Yuan Xingzhou—the dropout, the ‘village bitch,’ a top-tier persona-crafter, and the number one ‘simp’ (lickspittle) of the entertainment industry throughout all history.

This post, combined with the previous exposure, clearly analyzed the falsehoods of the Huai-Zhou CP. Some points did have a grain of truth, but most were filled with malice toward Yuan Xingzhou.

The poster used a derogatory nickname for Yuan Xingzhou while questioning the doubters:

—Why go and pester Huo Yangqing again? He’s a simp; with a great opportunity in front of him, can he resist “licking” (fawning) just once?

—Hype? Don’t make me laugh. Huo Yangqing is the eldest young master of the Huo family; the young models he’s played with could form a soccer team. Hype with him? For what? For his good whitening injections? For his comfortable flattery? The latter is possible; after all, for Young Master Huo, it’s about the same as feeding a stray dog on a whim.

—With that IQ, you can say goodbye to the internet. I just want to ask you, did Huo Yangqing acknowledge him? Did he repost?

—Huai-Zhou fans, stop jumping around; these two aren’t truly married at all! We don’t know what disgusting methods Yuan Xingzhou used back then, but I’ll leave you with one sentence: If Ye Huai posts a Weibo within 24 hours, I will livestream myself eating shit. Who dares to take the bet?

Yuan Xingzhou’s heart stifled. He thought: Please let there be no foolish child who falls for this provocation.

As soon as he refreshed the page, he saw someone had replied.

[Huai-Zhou Fans Are Your Daddy]: How do you want to eat it?

Anxious, Yuan Xingzhou quickly logged into his “sockpuppet” (alternate) account.

[Peace]: Upstairs, don’t fall for it! Ye Huai doesn’t usually post on Weibo.

[Fake CP Exposé]: If you don’t dare to take the bet, just say so. Don’t talk crap about whether he usually posts!

[Fake CP Exposé]: Whoever loses livestreams. I have two threads with over a thousand floors; many people are watching. Just don’t you go running away.

[Peace]: Everyone, please be civil. If this continues, I will report and request to delete the post.

Once someone accepted the challenge, the thread went into total chaos, with countless people squeezing in to join the excitement.

Yuan Xingzhou waited a while. Seeing that [Huai-Zhou Fans Are Your Daddy] hadn’t reappeared, he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Just as he was about to log out, he saw someone flooding the comments with exclamation marks.

[I’m Just Passing By]: !!!!!!!! YE! HUAI! Ye Huai posted on Weibo!!!!

Yuan Xingzhou: “????”