Pretending Not to Love You [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Xiao Baijun’s “attack” on Zuo Qiu for being naive regarding this matter was completely intentional, as Zuo Qiu was unaware of the internal details.

Yesterday, Xiao Baijun had discussed with Xiao Bailin his desire to become popular quickly, and Xiao Bailin had given him advice: hype. The voices appearing online today were clearly someone intentionally setting the narrative. Xiao Baijun could roughly guess the trajectory of the situation: first, stir up the topic, drag him through the mud, draw more attention to Z.X, and then have some informed people come out to explain, pull him out of the mud, and perhaps even elevate him to a higher status.

Given how quickly this matter escalated, the production team must have contributed significantly, so the guests vouching for him later should mainly be members of the production team.

The development of the situation was exactly as Xiao Baijun had expected. An hour later, “Z.X Rude” ranked third on the trending topics. Xiao Baijun frowned and called Xiao Bailin.

“You said you’d only drag me through the mud?” What was with the group name on the trending search? Wouldn’t that bring Zuo Qiu into the insults as well?

Xiao Bailin mocked him over the phone: “If we don’t drag him down now, how can we praise him later? You need to suppress before you raise. Do you know what that means?”

Xiao Baijun naturally understood the principle, but the psychology of netizens was unpredictable. After all, once news about a celebrity, regardless of its truth, emerges, it always plants a seed of doubt in the minds of netizens.

Xiao Bailin noticed his brother was silent, estimating he was still dissatisfied, so he added: “Don’t worry, your Zuo Qiu will definitely be fine in the end. If there’s any mud to sling, we will guide public opinion to throw it at you.”

“Mmm.”

Xiao Bailin didn’t know whether it was the phrase “your Zuo Qiu” that pleased Xiao Baijun, or if he truly agreed with Xiao Bailin’s explanation, but from that simple “Mmm,” Xiao Bailin heard a hint of… excitement?

With Xiao Bailin’s guarantee, Xiao Baijun tossed his phone aside, leaned against the headboard, and began to imagine the beautiful future he and “his Zuo Qiu” would share.

Zuo Qiu, who had been following the online developments, naturally noticed that both of them were trending. Since Xiao Baijun refused to tell him the reason, Zuo Qiu had no choice but to call Zhao Zhixian.

“Brother Zhao, about us trending… is there anything I need to do?”

Zhao Zhixian had been warned by Xiao Baijun and didn’t dare to say anything casually to Zuo Qiu. Since the Second Young Master hadn’t told him the full story, there must have been a reason, so he simply told Zuo Qiu not to worry and just focus on keeping a low profile.

Zuo Qiu guessed the matter wasn’t serious from Zhao Zhixian’s tone, so he didn’t dwell on it and went to bed without worry.

When Zuo Qiu woke up the next morning, he made breakfast, and while scrolling through Weibo, he found that “Z.X Rude” had climbed to the top of the trending topics. Furthermore, “Z.X is being attacked” and “Z.X Fan Support Group” also appeared in the top ten keywords. Clearly, the situation had shifted and was no longer as one-sided as the day before.

Zuo Qiu was stunned. He thought the heat would slowly die down overnight, but the reality was that it was intensifying. Anxious, he no longer worried about the rudeness of entering someone’s room without knocking and went straight into Xiao Baijun’s room.

“Xiao Er, Xiao Er, wake up quickly.”

Xiao Baijun was sound asleep, face down on the bed, when he was suddenly shaken awake. He was a bit grumpy from being woken up. He frowned and asked, “What is it?”

Zuo Qiu took out his phone, pointed the Weibo page on the screen toward Xiao Baijun, and said: “Look, after one night, we are still on the hot search list. Why is the situation getting more complicated?”

Xiao Baijun squinted at Zuo Qiu’s phone screen. “This is a good thing. Don’t worry about it.”

He then turned his head, wanting to go back to sleep.

Zuo Qiu didn’t understand how this could be a good thing. He pulled Xiao Baijun’s blanket and pushed him. “Stop being mysterious, tell me quickly.”

Unable to sleep in, Xiao Baijun simply flipped over, resting his head on one hand, looking at Zuo Qiu, and revealed the truth: “This is my brother and them doing this. The purpose is to boost our popularity.”

With that explanation, Zuo Qiu understood: let them take the blame first, and when the time was right, stage a reversal.

“Understand?”

Zuo Qiu nodded.

“Can I go back to sleep now?”

Zuo Qiu looked at the blanket still clutched in his hand and then realized that, without the blanket’s cover, Xiao Baijun’s muscular body was exposed, wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. He immediately dropped the blanket in embarrassment. “You sleep. I’m leaving.”

“Just leaving like that?” Xiao Baijun said, looking at Zuo Qiu’s back.

Zuo Qiu turned back in confusion, “Huh?”

“Shouldn’t you put the blanket back the way it was?”

Zuo Qiu couldn’t object. He also couldn’t very well remind Xiao Baijun that pulling the blanket up himself was a simple gesture, as he was the one who had indeed pulled it off. So, he had to walk back, pulled the blanket open, and covered Xiao Baijun up to his neck. Midway, his eyes briefly scanned the bulge in the white underwear, and he uncomfortably averted his gaze.

Xiao Baijun found his reaction amusing. He looked up to meet Zuo Qiu’s eyes, raised an eyebrow, and asked him: “You interrupted my wet dream. What are you going to do about it?”

Zuo Qiu’s face flushed. Was it really okay to talk about a wet dream so openly?

“I just dreamt I was kissing someone. Why don’t you kiss me so I can continue the dream?”