The Jinlan Film Festival’s awards ceremony had just ended yesterday, and discussions about the winners were still trending online. Yu Shiqing won both Best Supporting Actor and Best Leading Actor. The two films he starred in, Doomsday Rescue and Fog, were also the biggest winners of the event. Without a doubt, Yu Shiqing had become the center of attention and the hottest topic among netizens.
Among the discussions, one topic always came up how Yu Shiqing had been mistreated during his four years under Huaze. Fans who cared often explained the situation to others online. Why Yu Shiqing had signed with Huaze, and what really happened during those four years, had always been a mystery that people wanted to solve.
Just then, a video of Du Han was leaked.
“Tricked Yu Shiqing into signing,” “How they handled Yu Shiqing four years ago,” “Huaze made sure no one even dared cast Yu Shiqing in stage plays” Du Han said all of this casually, like it was nothing. But listening to him was shocking.
Even a single thing he mentioned was enough for people to understand how terrible Yu Shiqing’s situation had been, and how cruel and vicious Huaze was.
If Ren Bai hadn’t shown payment records before; if what was leaked was only audio, not video; if it wasn’t Du Han himself speaking if any of these were different, people might not have believed it so easily. But Du Han’s evidence was too solid, and it caught everyone off guard.
As the situation spiraled out of control, Huaze’s PR team gave up. They let the online storm grow worse and worse.
Soon, netizens listed all of Huaze’s completed and in-progress projects and started a boycott. At the top of the list was Dawn, currently showing in theaters.
In contrast, Fog, which had been stabilizing at the box office, suddenly shot up again breaking the record for highest single-day box office, and it kept going.
But that afternoon, the Fog crew’s group chat, usually full of messages, went unusually silent. Even Shi Zhefing, who always shared good news, didn’t appear once.
Everyone knew why the film was doing so well.
The related topics were trending. Netizens were analyzing the details from Du Han’s video to uncover what had really happened.
In fact, the truth was very clear. Just looking at the films Yu Shiqing shot while under Huaze and how he was pushed into charity theater performances was enough to show how terribly he had been suppressed.
People weren’t just angry. Everyone who had worked with Yu Shiqing had mixed emotions right now.
Not long after, Yu Shiqing’s phone rang.
It was Shi Zhefing.
After the call connected, there was a long silence before Shi’s voice came through:
“If you ever need help, I’ll do what I can.”
Yu Shiqing smiled. “Thank you, Director Shi.”
Shi Zhefing listened carefully and realized Yu Shiqing didn’t sound down or depressed. He didn’t bring it up again, chatted a bit, and then hung up.
Right after that, another call came in. Ren Bai waited for him to finish, then casually switched his phone to airplane mode.
“Today is your birthday. Take some peace and quiet for yourself.”
Otherwise, with everyone calling to comfort him, it could go on forever.
Besides, today was supposed to be a day of double celebration. Ren Bai didn’t want those repetitive conversations to ruin it.
“Let’s look at something happier.” Ren Bai took Yu Shiqing’s phone and handed him his own screen. “Look at this.”
Before Yu Shiqing could turn his head, Ren Bai explained, “Official media accounts are paying attention to this.”
That was good news because when Qi Taihua was blacklisted, official outlets had called him out as a “disgraced celebrity,” which led to a series of consequences.
Now, the situation was still developing, but it had already attracted official attention. A very good sign.
Netizens were hopeful too. Under related posts, many were leaving comments:
“Please thoroughly investigate how Huaze forced Yu Shiqing to sign! His talent is obvious to everyone, but he was silenced for four years capital must not stand above the law!”
“Can this video be used to arrest Du Han? He admitted he was the one who tricked Yu Shiqing! Don’t let him off easily!”
Yu Shiqing didn’t say anything as Ren Bai scrolled through the comments.
Jiang Yu was beside him, holding his hand tightly in the silence. Yu Shiqing felt his grip and gently tightened his own fingers in return. After that, he said softly, “I’m fine.”
He just hadn’t expected the truth to come out so soon especially in this way.
Ren Bai was about to respond when he looked up and saw Yu Shiqing staring at Jiang Yu.
Obviously, that sentence wasn’t meant for him.
Ren Bai pretended he hadn’t heard and said instead, “Good thing Dawn just released and barely made any money. Now Huaze’s investment is wasted. I don’t ask for much I’ll be happy if Huaze goes bankrupt.”
Yu Shiqing replied, “It’s not impossible.”
Ren Bai paused. “Huaze could actually go bankrupt?”
He was just giving them his usual daily curse he hadn’t thought deeply about it.
“Yeah,” Yu Shiqing said. “Dawn was Huaze’s last chance.”
“But they missed it?” Ren Bai’s eyes lit up. “You’re right! That TV series with Qi Taihua got banned and cost Huaze heavily. Now Dawn can’t even earn back its marketing budget. Of course, they’ll suffer huge losses!”
He got more and more excited. “Yes, yes! No wonder I saw news earlier that Liu Mingguang was taken to the hospital. He must’ve realized it too!”
He had unconsciously still thought of Huaze as strong but now, they couldn’t survive another failure. Bankruptcy might even be the easy way out. The bigger problem was all the debt they now carried.
“And those guys like Du Han,” Ren Bai grinned, “Didn’t he care most about his future and reputation? He’d do anything to make a good film. Well, now it’s all gone. No more stress. He can spend every day with Qi Taihua.”
He laughed so loudly that Lin Shuang came out of the kitchen.
“Xiao Bai, what are you laughing about?”
Ren Bai coughed to quiet himself. “Nothing, just that the people who tried to hurt Yu Shiqing are finally getting what they deserve.”
Lin Shuang didn’t fully get it, but since it was good for Yu Shiqing, she didn’t ask more. “Then keep chatting. I’ll go finish cooking.”
She went back into the kitchen. Ren Bai watched her go, then sat back down on the couch and picked up his phone again.
Yu Shiqing could stay calm while this long-overdue justice played out but Ren Bai couldn’t. Seeing Du Han and Huaze’s top leaders suffer the consequences of their cruelty was incredibly satisfying.
He looked at the angry comments online and smiled to himself, letting out little “hehehe” laughs, trying not to disturb Lin Shuang.
By late afternoon, Du Han finally posted something.
Ren Bai read it out loud immediately to Yu Shiqing:
“It’s his statement. Very formal. Very shameless. Basically, says it was all a misunderstanding. He was drunk and misspoke—oh, and here’s the part where he mentions you. He says it was because he admires your acting too much, and he was upset about not winning an award, so someone led him to say those things. He apologizes to you and the netizens. Then a whole bunch of other nonsense. It’s well-written though, probably hired someone to write it.”
He tried to check the comments to see how badly people were roasting him but saw that Du Han had turned off comments.
“Guilty conscience,” Ren Bai scoffed. “No sincerity at all.”
Just then Lin Shuang called from the kitchen, “Wash up, dinner time!”
“Dinner!” Ren Bai jumped up, washed his hands, and went to the table.
Yu Shiqing was just about to follow when Jiang Yu suddenly tugged his hand, making him turn around.
Jiang Yu said, “Don’t eat too much.”
Yu Shiqing laughed. “Got something planned?”
Jiang Yu: “…”
He looked into Yu Shiqing’s smiling eyes and said with a straight face, “Yes.”
