World Hopping: Avenge Our Love
Translator: translationraven
First Published on Chaleuria
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Luo Tong saw the change online and let out a breath of relief. He didn’t care about the identity of the scapegoat. What he needed to do was to pay the paparazzi more than that celebrity in question. If he did that, he would be completely removed from this when the truth was revealed and the internet went into upheaval again.
Luo Tong was satisfied with his circumstances, but the celebrity being used as a scapegoat was livid. It was Xu Ziheng.
It was a catastrophe. Xu Ziheng had kept his marriage and family secret to protect his loved ones. As for his female fans, he did have a lot of them, but he had never declared that he would stay single for his fans — it was a widespread falsehood.
He was over 30 years old now too, so it was almost the perfect time for him to make an announcement to reveal the truth about his family. He’d already planned for it and was looking for a good opportunity to do so. He’d never imagined that the paparazzi would expose him before he was ready.
More importantly, his daughter’s face had been revealed. He’d tried his best to keep her out of the limelight for so long. Xu Ziheng was hopping mad.
It was true that for some celebrities, having a child made them more popular with their fans. Xu Ziheng couldn’t guarantee that his own child would be able to escape the public eye forever. Now, however, his precious daughter was only three, at an age when she was still naive and enjoying her childhood. How was it ever a good thing for a child to bear such scrutiny at this age?
Based on the comments coming in from the netizens, everything had really been exposed. He was afraid that his daughter would be made to bear more insults. This was something that he, as a father, didn’t want to see.
But what could he do?
He listened to the busy tone over the line, and he felt the weight of despair on his shoulders. This was his goodness-knows-how-many time trying to get in contact with the paparazzi, and he was met with non-committal answers every time.
So what was he to do now? Xu Ziheng felt the despair weigh heavier. At that moment, however, a good friend of his contacted him.
“Ziheng, if there really is no other way, there is one solution.”
“What solution?” Xu Ziheng saw a ray of hope.
“Go to Xie Qianchen.”
“Xie Qianchen?” Xu Ziheng was dumbstruck. Was his friend pulling his leg?
Who didn’t know what sort of person Xie Qianchen was in this industry? He had good connections in the industry, but that didn’t erase the fact that he had been pimping his talents out. After the incident involving Lu Wenyuan and Han Feiran was exposed, almost everyone who had followed Xie Qianchen around abandoned him. Xie Qianchen would have been thrown in prison if it hadn’t been for the behind-the-scenes bigwigs issuing a gag order of Han Feiran’s suicide, due to the public attention it got.
But his friend was now telling him to go to Xie Qianchen to settle this? Was he actually taking the opportunity to sell him off?
Besides, Xie Qianchen had been as good as dead the past two years. How could a manager who hadn’t taken on a talent in two years be able to pick up where he’d left off immediately, like nothing had happened? He had been an excellent manager in the past, but this was impossible.
His friend, however, laughed all of a sudden. “Don’t regret it if you don’t go to him. I’ll tell you one thing. He has just one talent under his care now, called Shen Yi, and he didn’t even spend a cent to send that kid up into the trending terms list — at Luo Tong’s expense too. There’s also his free short film promotion for Picture Domain which went viral and brought the internet a lot of fun. You might think that it’s nonsense, but think about it for a moment. Can anyone else do this? Xie Qianchen’s coming out into the world again and the way he’s operating is even more difficult to figure out than before. See your situation right now? If there’s anyone in the entertainment circles who’s going to be able to turn this around without you losing your popularity, it’s Xie Qianchen!”
“I see.” Xu Ziheng had no other place to go either. He finally agreed with his friend, hung up, and went looking for Xie Qianchen.
“Brother Xie, Zhou advised me to come to you.” Xu Ziheng had thought long and hard about how to address him. Xie Qianchen had debuted earlier than he did, and was considered a sort of old-timer in the entertainment circles. Calling him ‘Brother’ reflected the respect he had for him.
Song Yucheng knew why he had contacted him as soon as he received the call. Before Xu Ziheng could speak, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll settle this for you. Keep your precious daughter away from the public eye after this and you’ll be fine.”
“Huh? Oh! Thank you. Thank you so much.” Xu Ziheng was stunned by Song Yucheng’s quick reply. He only fully realised what had happened after a long while had passed. He felt like he was in a dream, all the way till Song Yucheng bid him goodbye over the line.
Song Yucheng spoke of this problem of his which had made him feel such crushing despair like it was a simple matter of eating and drinking. Song Yucheng’s extraordinary frankness about it was what made him relax; it eased his anxiety.
Death awaited him on all sides, so why not wait and see if a miracle would happen?
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Xu Ziheng had put his last hopes on Song Yucheng. As to that, Song Yucheng was not anxious about it at all.
He had actually predicted that Luo Tong would do this, and he had a counter-plan ready. What he had not predicted, however, was how low Luo Tong would sink. How could he drag an innocent three-year-old out for public dissection like this? That paparazzi was not a good man either.
Yuan Yue was a paparazzi too, but he wrote true exposés about the entertainment industry, like double-sided contracts, tax evasion, embezzlement, and malicious competition between celebrities. He didn’t go in great detail in his exposé writing, but the articles drew attention to the issues, and he spread the news in established channels like a proper journalist.
The paparazzi Luo Tong had gone to was different. That man was paparazzi too, but he was a stain on the name of paparazzi.
If he wasn’t listening in on people, or speculating about what others did, he was looking for excuses to reveal the face of celebrities’ children. He spread this gossip today to generate buzz, and he was going to make the big reveal tomorrow. The content he produced overall was difficult to sum up in a few words.
Unfortunately, content like this was what many netizens considered interesting gossip. This was why this person had quite a reputation as a paparazzi, and was on par with Yuan Yue in some aspects.
Song Yucheng recalled Xie Qianchen’s memories, where this man had fanned the flames after Han Feiran’s matter had been exposed. He was not going to let him off. More importantly, he was just a paparazzi reporter whose livelihood depended on digging out news. This man wouldn’t be able to leave the internet, or his computer. This was great for Song Yucheng, who was bonded with the System. He had 10,00 ways to crush this guy.
With that thought in mind, Song Yucheng spoke to the System in his head. “Are you ready?”
“I gotta be! Everything’s ready to go. Rest assured, Milord! I always deliver the best~” The System’s chirpy voice rang in Song Yucheng’s head. It also threw in a meme of a figure standing tall and proud with hands on hips.
Song Yucheng sent the deplorable paparazzi a message right after he received confirmation from the System.
Xie Qianchen: I’m going to count down to one. You’re going to be the author of your own misfortune if you don’t stop your unscrupulous acts right now.
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