Now that Huaze and Qi Taihua were the ones being humiliated, it was their own fault.
Besides, Huaze only pushed the blame for colluding with Gao Fan onto Qi Taihua. But the blacklisting of Yu Shiqing? That couldn’t have been Qi Taihua’s doing.
Huaze realized this too. That’s why, after throwing Qi Taihua under the bus, they used their PR team to focus all criticism on Qi Taihua and Gao Fan, reducing attention on the blacklisting.
Their plan worked pretty well.
With the latest post, Qi Taihua became the public’s main target, receiving waves of online attacks.
Qi Taihua, who had been bombarded all morning, still hadn’t been informed.
After getting up, he tiptoed to wash up and went back to his room, afraid to wake Du Han and get yelled at again.
After being officially blacklisted, he had paid off various penalties and lost everything he had saved. Even his home was exposed by the media. He had no choice but to stay with Du Han.
Du Han had taken him in, but was always hot and cold. Qi Taihua didn’t dare complain and mostly stayed in his room.
Today was the same.
After returning to his room, he heard a message alert and picked up his phone.
“Taihua, what were you thinking? Why are you doing this at a time like this? Are you crazy?!”
Qi Taihua was confused and replied, “What are you talking about?”
The other person sent a screenshot. It was Huaze’s latest statement.
“Why did you mess with Yu Shiqing again? Are you asking for it?!”
Qi Taihua didn’t even look at the rest of the messages. He just stared at the image, breathing faster, and his hands started to tremble.
Last night before sleeping, he had been watching this unfold, hoping Huaze would come out strong and teach Yu Shiqing a lesson. But they hadn’t.
And because he’d been watching closely, he knew how angry netizens were and how intolerant they were about framing Yu Shiqing.
Huaze managed to escape, but what about him?
Qi Taihua couldn’t hold it in. He opened Weibo and tapped on the trending list.
“Qi Taihua is not even human. A disgusting harasser and wait, rapist?! Hope he dies soon!”
“So disgusting. Just seeing his name makes me want to puke. Poor Yu Shiqing, stuck with this pile of crap.”
After one glance, Qi Taihua felt a chill crawl up from his feet like a knife.
With shaking hands, he opened his contacts and called Du Han.
Du Han answered slowly and impatiently. “What is it?”
“Brother Du…” Qi Taihua asked with a trembling voice, “What’s going on with the trending list?”
Du Han said coldly, “You don’t need to worry. The company will handle it.”
Qi Taihua had no commercial value left. He was only kept in case he could be used. Like now.
“But—”
“What?” Du Han cut him off. “Qi Taihua, don’t forget, if I didn’t take you in, you’d have nowhere to live. Now the company’s in trouble and you want to just stand by?”
Qi Taihua’s eyes turned bloodshot.
Yes, Du Han had helped him. But that didn’t mean he was a tool to be used and thrown away.
With all this black PR, how could he have a future?
He didn’t want to live the rest of his life under someone’s roof, afraid to even breathe freely.
“Brother Du—”
Du Han interrupted again. “This is the company’s decision. It’s already been posted. You think we can take it back?”
Everyone at the company had worked hard to come up with this flawless plan, and it was working great. There was no way they’d change it.
Qi Taihua heard what that meant. He fell silent, full of resentment.
“That’s it.” Du Han didn’t want to waste more time. “We’ll talk later. I’m at the office.”
The call ended with a cold beep.
Qi Taihua clenched his teeth so hard he could hear them rattle.
He had no strength left. His phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a dull thud.
For some reason, Ren Bai’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
“You could’ve been a decent person, but you chose to be Huaze’s dog.”
“Let me remind you people like Liu Mingguang don’t see you as anything at all!”
Qi Taihua’s knees gave out and he collapsed to the floor, barely holding himself up.
Was this what he got for serving the company so loyally?
And Du Han if it weren’t for his support over the years, would Du Han have the status he has now?
Fine. If they treat him like a dog, then don’t blame the dog for biting back.
Qi Taihua looked at his own pathetic face in the dark phone screen. Hatred slowly filled his bloodshot eyes.
Du Han.
Huaze.
Over the next two days, under Huaze’s efforts to suppress it, the situation gradually calmed down.
But the company’s reputation was badly damaged. The stock price fluctuated, and though they weren’t completely ruined, they definitely suffered losses.
Ren Bai was in a great mood and full of energy. Lin Shuang couldn’t go out much, so he stayed busy taking care of everything, running around happily, only showing up at the apartment in the afternoons.
Only when Yu Shiqing was about to leave again to film A Journey on a Whim, did Ren Bai suddenly remember something.
“Oh right, haven’t seen Jiang Yu around these past two days?”
“He’s been busy with work,” Lin Shuang said. “Actually, he’s on the phone with Shiqing right now. He should be back soon.”
Ren Bai understood.
He glanced at the time and figured Lin Shuang was about to cook, so he stood up. “Then I won’t stay.”
“You’re not staying for dinner?” Lin Shuang asked.
“No need, Auntie,” Ren Bai said. “I’ll eat at home. Just let Yu Shiqing know I left.”
Since he insisted, Lin Shuang walked him to the door before going to the kitchen.
Halfway through cooking, she saw Yu Shiqing walk in and hesitated before asking, “By the way, Shiqing, are you leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great.” Lin Shuang smiled. “Then I won’t have to worry about you two for a few days.”
Just as she said that, her upper body swayed, and she reached out to steady herself on the counter.
Yu Shiqing quickly stepped forward and supported her with one hand. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, I just—” She opened her mouth. “Oh no, it’s my heat period.”
Yu Shiqing also smelled the sudden change in pheromones. But since he was immune to female pheromones, hers had no effect on him.
He calmly said, “It’s okay. Jiang Yu isn’t here. Take your suppressant first.”
“Oh, right!” Lin Shuang quickly pulled out the suppressant she had prepared and drank it.
“I’ll help you back to your room,” Yu Shiqing said.
“No, no. I can go myself. You should call Jiang Yu and ask where he is.”
Seeing she was okay, Yu Shiqing returned to the bedroom.
He dialed the number, put the phone on speaker, and walked toward the balcony to open the door for ventilation.
Even though Lin Shuang’s door was closed, suppressants took time to work. The pheromones in the room were growing stronger, and he couldn’t let them spread indoors.
Very soon, the call connected.
At the same time—
The doorbell rang at the entrance.
Yu Shiqing stopped in his tracks and suddenly turned with a frown.
