Avenge Our Love
Translator: translationraven
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“Damn it, this week was sh*t!” Out of the prayer hall, Ding Mingcheng cursed right away. He grabbed his phone next and switched it on to get someone to investigate this fortune-teller Master.
He did not expect to be drowning in trouble before he could cause trouble for the fortune-teller Master.
Song Yucheng had had a landslide victory last week. He’d stood up for Tang Chi, and sued Leap Records while he was at it. The case was filed successfully.
There was still time before the formal hearing, but the news had leaked. Song Yucheng had also hammered his points home very solidly, leading public opinion in his favour and giving Leap Records no chance to take a breather.
This great push for justice for Tang Chi also gave others a good chance to speak out.
After Song Yucheng revealed the clause in the contract, other artistes who had been pressured by Leap Records in the past also spoke up. Most of them were anonymous, but laws had made it compulsory to have real names attached to aliases on the internet, and it was time for people to take responsibility for what they said behind the screen of anonymity.
All of these revelations were making the popcorn-eating crowd feel that things were getting real — very real.
Leap Records was in chaos. No one had been able to get in contact with Ding Mingcheng all week, and the public relations department was being run ragged.
“President Ding, you’re finally here! What do we do?” The vice president of Leap Records was almost in tears.
An entire week! He had only been able to get hold of the boss after an entire week! His phone was almost exploding with calls and messages.
Ding Mingcheng almost fainted from the shock.
He was angry at first, but calmed down after he thought more deeply about it. How had this thing blown up at such a coincidental time? He’d been shut away in the prayer hall by his grandmother, and his company had been hit hard during this time. Had the fortune-teller Master done this on purpose?
Was this person in cahoots with Xie Qianchen?
“Damn it, we probably got played by that bastard Xie Qianchen!” There was no evidence, but Ding Mingcheng was sure that this had something to do with him.
No matter how angry he got, though, he had to stay calm. He had to get out of this crisis before he could take any future action. His income would be gone if his company went under.
The best solution was to get Tang Chi to withdraw the lawsuit and apologise. Just like what he did with Han Feiran.
Ding Mingcheng abruptly recalled something he had forgotten. He got someone to go to his office to start up the computer and retrieve a hidden file from it. That person was also tasked with copying the four videos in the file, processing them, and uploading them to Picture Domain’s intranet.
The videos were, without doubt, of the day Tang Chi got in trouble.
This was Ding Mingcheng’s warning.
If Tang Chi did not withdraw his complaint, he would spread these videos all over the internet and ruin him completely.
Xie Qianchen wanted revenge on him, huh? Well, let’s see if these two can afford to lose some dignity. These sorts of shameful things were like “porn photos” and highly destructive to a celebrity’s career. If these videos were to be edited and released to the public, Tang Chi’s future would be well and truly over.
Han Feiran’s career had ended just like that two years ago. He could make the same thing happen to Tang Chi.
Picking a fight with him? How naive!
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Ding Mingcheng’s subordinate worked fast. A video suddenly popped up on Picture Domain’s intranet half an hour later.
“What is this?” A person opened it out of curiosity, and was shocked.
The star of the video was the legendary Tang Chi, known for his talent, clean image and self-respect. The thing was, Tang Chi didn’t look like he was clean or self-respecting in the video. He looked very lewd.
He was panting, hurting from barely holding back his desire. There were tears in his eyes, and every detail of him was temptation incarnate. He was even more seductive than the professional male lead actors in adult films.
“Holy sh*t, I can’t believe it. Is this the real Tang Chi?” Several Picture Domain employees let out cries of surprise after they watched the video.
The public relations department reacted immediately when they discovered the video, and a manager went to Song Yucheng after they’d handled it.
“It’s probably the work of Ding Mingcheng. He’s aiming to force us to withdraw the lawsuit. If we don’t, his next step is probably to target Tang Chi’s…”
“I know. You don’t want to worry about it.” Song Yucheng cut the manager off. His tone was as cold as ice, and the look in his eyes spelled danger. He got the video from the public relations department and left.
Song Yucheng went looking for Tang Chi. This matter had not blown up yet, but it was as bad as a nightmare for Tang Chi.
Xie Qianchen had not managed to help Han Fairan in the past, and he regretted it for life. Song Yucheng was determined to not let Tang Chi follow in Han Feiran’s footsteps.
Debts owed must be paid back!
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Song Yucheng finally found Tang Chi in the furthest corner of Picture Domain, in a run-down recording room. Beer and cigarettes had become his old buddies once again.
“What, you scared now?” Song Yucheng teased him with a smile. Tang Chi responded with the ugliest smile imaginable.
“For you. The public relations department handed this to me.” Song Yucheng handed the hard disk to Tang Chi.
“. . .”
Tang Chi tilted his head away, unwilling to look at it.
He knew what was on the hard disk Song Yucheng was holding out to him. It was the video from that day in Ding Mingcheng’s office.
It wasn’t just a nightmare, but humiliation too. It also represented the hate he had, deep in his bones. Sadly, he did not have the strength to fight back.
Tang Chi’s heart sank, bit by bit. He took a deep drag from his cigarette, and took the hard disk from Song Yucheng.
“Brother Xie, what would you do if it were you?” Tang Chi’s roiling emotions finally calmed a little after a long while. He tightened his grip on the hard disk, trembling all over. He looked up at Song Yucheng, and his face, which had regained a bit of colour recently, was back to a pallid grey.
Poor guy.
Song Yucheng’s heart went out to him, and he stretched out his arms to hold Tang Chi in a hug. A memory of Han Feiran surfaced, and played in his brain once more.
Han Feiran had been exactly like Tang Chi now when he was in trouble. Both of them were people with real talent, in their best years, and should have had a bright and long future ahead of them. They should have been stars on the stage, shining for all to see in their brilliance.
But all of that had been ruined by some second-generation heirs, all to satisfy their own disgusting desires.
“Shh. I’m here for you.” Song Yucheng patted Tang Chi’s back soothingly, and made his voice as gentle as he could.
This gentleness was, to Tang Chi, a saving balm on his soul. He was a young man, taller than Song Yucheng, but he was like a helpless child now. He wanted to curl himself up in Song Yucheng’s embrace in search of momentary warmth.
Tang Chi finally calmed down after goodness knows how long. He was much more at ease when he raised his head again. He took a few deep breaths, and asked the same question again.
“Brother Xie, what would you do if it were you?”
“I’d release the video to the public and make a police report.”
“What?” Tang Chi didn’t dare believe his ears. What Song Yucheng said next was even more unbelievable.
“The video that everyone in the industry saw ten years ago was not accidentally leaked by Cao Kun. I sent copies out, one by one.”
“Why?” Tang Chi did not understand.
“Because a weakness is only dangerous when known by a few, but no longer a weakness when known by all. Cao Kun wanted to use that recording as a threat against me, so I released it to the public before he did. All the old-timers in the industry knew what happened on that day. Cao Kun was only going to shoot himself in the foot if he used that recording to blackmail me.
“Plus, there’s too much between him and me. What was revealed was only one part of it.”
“Then… Then why aren’t you acting anymore? Is it because of that incident?”
“Yes and no.” Song Yucheng smiled like he was recalling something nostalgic. He gave his real answer to Tang Chi’s question.
That one word he uttered made Tang Chi feel like he’d been thrown into a tub of ice.
Song Yucheng said, “Dirty.”