Chapter 85: Darkness
“Just venting.”
Lin Seran was a bit impatient. “How long would I have to wait for you to act? What big deal could there be?”
The manager took a deep breath, trying his best to suppress his rage. “Then what do you want now?”
Lin Seran finally perked up. “Brother, what I’m thinking is, you should contact those PR firms and fan the flames a bit.”
His somewhat doll-like features made him look pure and naive. Seeing the manager hesitate, Lin Seran became unhappy. He pouted. “What I said wasn’t a lie. I’m not telling you to spread rumors.”
“What do you mean?” The manager’s expression was strange.
Lin Seran looked at him. “Exactly what I said. Wen Yan really did follow Gu Yulan—two million yuan worth. And later, he was fickle. I’ve seen him around many people.”
His words were half-true and half-false.
If Wen Yan didn’t have a permanent person by his side, then their actions wouldn’t face retaliation. Furthermore, they were backed by Pei Zhouye, and the PR firms were top-tier; public opinion had always been strongly in their favor.
The manager thought for a moment, then looked up to see that Lin Seran’s eyes didn’t look like they were lying.
“Fine.”
The moment the manager agreed, the air in the lounge seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
The impatience on Lin Seran’s face vanished instantly, and a childish smile curled his lips, like a kid who had just gotten candy. Yet, deep in his eyes, there was a hidden flicker of a hard-to-detect gloom.
“I knew Brother loved me the most.”
The manager didn’t respond, simply pulling out his phone to contact a familiar PR team. As his fingers tapped on the screen, his hand trembled slightly.
Having been in this industry for over a decade, he knew all too well how much turmoil lay behind the phrase “fan the flames.” Those seemingly unintentional leaks and ambiguous leads were enough to drag a person from the clouds into the mire—not to mention that Wen Yan was already standing at the center of a storm.
But Lin Seran’s intent was Pei Zhouye’s intent. Pei Zhouye had always been indulgent. In the few years since Lin Seran entered the entertainment industry, he had done plenty of unscrupulous things, and Pei Zhouye’s side had never questioned them.
The final message sent was concise to the point of coldness: [ No need for solid proof. Just make sure there’s discussion. ]
Less than five minutes after the message was sent, the other party replied with a [ Received ].
The manager put down his phone and looked at Lin Seran. The young man was adjusting his collar in the mirror, his delicate features looking exceptionally innocent in the soft light. Who would have thought the owner of this face had just nonchalantly orchestrated a storm of public opinion?
“That’s enough,” the manager’s voice was a bit hoarse. “Don’t let things get out of hand.”
Lin Seran glanced at him and said with a smile, “I know. I won’t talk nonsense in front of the camera again.”
Every team Pei Zhouye found was exceptionally talented. In the entertainment industry, leaking a few shadows and then driving public opinion was a very common occurrence.
At 3:00 PM, Wen Yan woke up from his afternoon nap. He realized his phone had been on silent for who knows how long. When he turned it on, there were countless missed calls. Just from his father and mother alone, there were six.
Driven by instinct, Wen Yan didn’t call them back immediately. Instead, he clicked on his messages.
Countless foul insults filled his inbox. He didn’t know who had leaked his phone number, but the messages from strangers were more malicious with every scroll.
[ Go die ] [ Disgusting ]
These were among the milder comments. The phone was even lagging due to the massive volume of incoming data.
Wen Yan’s stomach suddenly cramped, a surge of acid hitting his throat. He covered his mouth, forcibly suppressing the nausea, but his fingers were shaking uncontrollably, making it nearly impossible to hold the phone.
His name was plastered all over the hot searches.
#Wen Yan Kept Man #A Da Student Messy Private Life
— “According to an insider, Wen Yan once had a relationship with the son of a certain group, who spent nearly two million yuan on him.” — “The insider added: Later, Wen Yan allegedly ‘cheated.’ The wealthy heir is very famous in their circles…”
A string of posts followed, accompanied by photos of Wen Yan getting in and out of luxury cars. The comment section had already exploded.
“Holy crap! Is this real? I was wondering why a commoner suddenly blew up. Turns out there’s a story behind it.” “Two million… That’s definitely being a kept man, right?” “Don’t talk nonsense above. What if it was just a normal relationship?” “A normal relationship costs two million? And didn’t they say he cheated and had abnormal relationships?”
With his phone flooded by calls and messages, Wen Yan looked at the missed calls from his parents, and a chill ran through his entire body. He wasn’t even fully awake yet, but it felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.
These half-true, half-false matters were things he couldn’t refute at all. The two million was real, and the “keeping” was real. Even if he refuted it now, it wouldn’t stand up to deep scrutiny.
After thinking calmly for a moment, Wen Yan received two messages.
[ Daoyuan: Wen Yan, the school is notifying you not to come for the time being. It’s not that the school doesn’t believe you, but you’re currently in the middle of a storm. We need to handle the PR. If you encounter radical people at school, we can’t guarantee your personal safety. ]
[ Shen Yao: Wen Yan, where are you? ]
Someone online had dug up the list of candidates for this year’s postgraduate recommendation at A Da, and they were already gossiping. They called it capital-driven insider trading, claiming there was cheating and proxy testing. Even his past competition entries and projects were being brought out for judgment.
Wen Yan replied to both messages. He hesitated for a long while before finally calling his parents back. His phone kept receiving calls from unknown numbers, and it took a while before the call actually went through.
They picked up almost instantly.
His mother’s voice was urgent: “Yanyan, what’s going on? So many people contacted your father and me today, saying all sorts of messy things.”
Hearing his mother’s voice made Wen Yan’s nose sting.
When his father didn’t get a reply, his voice turned firm: “Wen Yan, those slanders and rumors online—we can sue them! We must use legal means to protect ourselves. We’ll hire a great lawyer. Don’t be afraid. Your mother and I both believe in you.”
“Dad, Mom.” Wen Yan spoke very slowly. “I’m sorry.”
The urgent voices on the other end suddenly stopped. Their breathing became so weak it was almost inaudible.
After a long time, his mother asked, “Yanyan, is what they’re saying online true? Weren’t you and Yulan in a relationship?”
Wen Yan didn’t answer.
Mother: “Is there some hidden reason?”
Father: “The family held you back, didn’t we?”
All three of them were nearly suffocating from the choking emotion. The truth was hidden under a thin veil. His father’s heart ached as he muttered to himself, “If I had known it would be like this, I should have…”
He was full of regret—regret that he hadn’t just ended things after falling ill. What a good child Wen Yan was. Obedient, sensible, with good grades—he was good at everything. He wasn’t someone who coveted vanity at all. If it was for money, it would only have been for his hospital bills.
His father panted heavily. “Yanyan, Dad will explain everything to everyone online. We’re clean. We signed a promissory note back then, and it’s still on my desk…”
“Dad,” Wen Yan interrupted him. “A lot of what they’re saying is false.”
“I’ll work hard to solve it.”
“It was my own choice.”
It was he himself who had chosen to walk into the abyss, step by step.
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