FLME Ch26: Justice and peace

After cooking him dinner, Xie Heyu had to rush back to school for an impromptu meeting. Gathering his things to leave, he didn’t forget to instruct: “…Go to bed and sleep.”

Yu Wen snapped a reverse salute at him, “Yes, sir! Teacher Xie!”

Seeing Xie Heyu out, he finally remembered his long-neglected phone. Unlocking it, he nearly jumped in fright—over thirty missed calls.

And more than twenty WeChat voice call requests.

He didn’t know when he had set it to silent last night, and being sick today, he hadn’t thought about messing around on his phone, completely forgetting about it.

The voice call requests were from Xi Su. Seeing this teacher’s name made Yu Wen want to sigh; it meant there were fresh problems urgently awaiting answers.

The missed calls were from an unknown number. Yu Wen copied it into WeChat to search, and up popped a blue-haired profile—fine, all of them were Xi Su.

Resigned to his fate, he opened the chat box, swiped to the very top, and began reading.

Xi Su: [Holy crap Yu Wen, if I leave the entertainment circle, are we still friends?]

Xi Su: [Don’t know which dumbass copied the files off my laptop, and what’s infuriating is I can’t find the originals anymore.]

Xi Su: [Holy shit Feng Chengzhou brought the hammer down, this fucking wasn’t me!]

Xi Su: [I haven’t even gotten mad yet! Who the hell shook out my family’s dirty laundry!]

Xi Su: [Psycho… Feng Chengzhou seems to genuinely think I did it.]

Xi Su: [Fine, I played myself.]

The last two messages were sent at 6:00 PM.

Xi Su: [Feng Chengzhou pressured my company to terminate my contract. Brother, see you around the jianghu.]

Xi Su: [If you see me selling street barbecue by the curb, remember to patronize my stall. I’ll give you a twenty percent discount.]

Reading through it all, Yu Wen had only one thought: “…”

Blue Hair had always favored this topsy-turvy style of narration. Yu Wen scrutinized it for ages without catching the main point, only gathering that he had somehow crossed Feng Chengzhou and was currently under a soft ban.

Yu Wen: Excuse me?

Didn’t you say you could tell the difference between one full meal and being fed for life? Didn’t you say it wouldn’t get to the point of quitting the industry?

This guy’s mental fortitude was actually pretty solid; he had even mapped out a future of selling roadside barbecue.

Muttering inwardly, Yu Wen sent him a message:

[Fill it out according to this format:

Cause:

Process:

Development:

Outcome:

Question you want to consult on:]

The moment it went through, his phone buzzed. Xi Su replied.

Xi Su: [What does this mean? Testing me?]

Yu Wen: [I don’t know what you’re trying to say. Clarify it following this format.]

Xi Su: [Just go eat melon on Weibo! Someone on Weibo sorted out the timeline, way more detailed than my verbal explanation.]

Yu Wen: […It even made the trending list?]

Xi Su: [What else did you think?]

He had assumed it was merely a personal grudge between Xi Su and Feng Chengzhou, but once it hit the trending searches, things were no longer simple. Yu Wen hurriedly went online to check.

Spending half an hour, Yu Wen pieced together the complete timeline.

At 12:00 PM, the whistleblower who posted the teaser last night used marketing accounts to drop Part 1—several group photos of Xi Su’s mother with Feng Mingjie, along with handwritten letters.

Around 2:00 PM, seeing no movement from Huiteng Group, the leaker dropped another melon—a censored paternity test.

At 4:00 PM, the leaker explicitly named Xi Su, releasing a candid café photo showing Xi Su examining that very paternity test. Zooming in, one could clearly make out Feng Mingjie and Xi Su’s names in the analytical explanation, formally confirming his identity as the Feng family’s illegitimate child.

At 6:00 PM, an audio recording leaked, dragging Chu Han and Gao Kaiyu into this tangled mess.

That audio recording was precisely the one Yu Wen had caught Xi Su editing in the restroom at Mount Luming.

Yu Wen: …

Sometimes, he really wanted to call the police.

He just knew there was no juicy gossip in this world that didn’t somehow involve him.

The subtle time lag between the leaks, combined with the fact that Chu Han—who shared deep ties with Huiteng’s crown prince—was immediately attacked once Xi Su’s identity was exposed, made it almost impossible not to direct suspicion toward this pushed-forward “illegitimate child.”

Thinking conspiratorially, the whole thing even looked like a play directed by Xi Su to corner Huiteng Group through public opinion, forcing the Feng family to acknowledge his status.

Many media outlets were fanning the flames exactly like this. Huiteng Group hadn’t made any moves previously, but once Chu Han was dragged into the fray, Feng Chengzhou could finally sit still no longer, stepping in to target Xi Su.

Having basically untangled the chain of events, Yu Wen messaged Xi Su: [What a thrilling story with twists and turns! But why are you coming to me for something like this?]

Xi Su: [? Aren’t we friends?]

…For the ten-thousandth time, Yu Wen regretted spouting utter nonsense in the past.

Xi Su: [Though I thought about it, this matter is so huge you probably can’t help anyway. I mainly wanted to vent to you. That recording really did come from my laptop; I have no idea which bastard touched my computer.]

The man labeled “deeply calculating” by marketing accounts was currently fantasizing earnestly about his barbecue-vending future: [I plan to go back to City Z and open a barbecue joint. City Z barbecue has been wildly popular lately, and I actually have some culinary chops in that department. When the time comes, I’ll do a bit of marketing and turn it straight into an influencer hotspot…]

Yu Wen: [That’s enough. Let’s worry about future things in the future.]

Yu Wen: […No wonder Feng Chengzhou thinks you’re the mastermind.]

Was looking up an IP address any trouble at all for Huiteng’s crown prince?

Xi Su: [What?]

Yu Wen: [Nothing. Who knows about your family affairs? Given your personality, you probably rarely open your heart to people. Make a list, and we’ll eliminate them one by one to lock onto the suspect.]

Things were a chaotic mess. While it technically had nothing to do with him, since Xi Su had come asking, helping screen candidates was merely a matter of moving his mouth.

Besides, this matter even implicated Gao Kaiyu, and Director Gao was the backbone of their Starlight Media! Simply audacious!

Bullying Xi Su was fine, but bullying his company was not.

Xi Su: [Oh, you.]

Yu Wen: […No one else?]

Xi Su: [Yeah, you had already found out back then, so I just told you straight.]

…How had that been finding out? He had overheard it on the spot.

Xi Su: [My private investigator knows too.]

Yu Wen caught the scent of the culprit.

Yu Wen: [How much does he know? Does he have hard evidence? Is he on your side, or is there a possibility he sold you out?]

Xi Su: [He knows everything. When I was investigating Huiteng Group’s private affairs, other PIs refused to take the job. Only he dared to take it, and his fees were dirt cheap. He’s actually quite a righteous person.]

Xi Su: [So I told him everything.]

…“He’s actually quite a righteous person.”

Yu Wen squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

Having Xi Su as a friend in this lifetime was enough to wipe out all the sins of his next two lifetimes.

Yu Wen: [Does he know about Chu Han’s recording?]

Xi Su: [Yeah, the ten-thousand-yuan buyout was bought through him, friend price, eighty percent off.]

Yu Wen: [He couldn’t have touched your computer too, could he?]

Xi Su: […He did. Holy shit, now that you ask…]

Yu Wen: [You finally realized?]

Xi Su: [He wouldn’t have stolen intel from my computer, right!]

Yu Wen: […]

Yu Wen: [Teacher Xi, your brain truly possesses immense research value.]

Xi Su: [Don’t praise me right now, I’m not in the mood. He definitely stole my recording, maybe he accidentally leaked it, that idiot!]

Yu Wen: [Why couldn’t it be that he deliberately approached you, extracted Huiteng Group’s wealthy family secrets from you, snatched Chu Han’s recording while deleting the original, and planned to turn around to extort Huiteng, only for Huiteng to remain unfazed, so in a fit of rage he dumped all the melons and pinned the blame straight onto you!]

A full ten minutes later.

Xi Su sent a two-second voice note. It was brief, yet the modulated cadence laid bare his sheer shock.

“Holy shit!”

While the outside world was thrown into turmoil, Director Gao was still filming in a remote corner devoid of cell reception.

His boss, who usually hollered in the group chat over the tiniest trivialities, was uncharacteristically silent today. When Yu Wen called to test the waters, nobody answered.

—This was abnormal. In the past, his boss had been a walking phone spirit who never took more than three seconds to answer a call.

After three seconds of profound contemplation, Yu Wen figured his boss had most likely hopped on a flight to track down Director Gao and was currently mid-air.

Reasonable.

Now that Starlight Media had only himself left to shoulder the burden, Yu Wen thought gravely: The company’s innocence rests entirely on my shoulders.

Pondering for a moment, he pulled Xi Su and Chu Han into a group chat, intending to deliberate an anti-black PR master plan together.

In the span of a trip to the bathroom, the Xi-Han CP that tens of thousands of netizens were obsessively shipping was already brawling in the group:

Xi Su: [I said it wasn’t me, it was my PI! He stole the recording I edited, sent it out from my laptop, and even wiped the original.]

Chu Han: [So you really did edit the recording?]

Xi Su: […I apologize to you for that.]

Chu Han: [Heh.]

Xi Su: [Chu Han ge, whenever you come to my barbecue stall in the future, I’ll give you a discount. Permanent twenty percent off, how about it?]

Chu Han: [Your family runs a barbecue joint?]

Xi Su: [Not yet, but haven’t I been banned by the crown prince? I found a new job: selling street barbecue.]

Chu Han: [Feng Chengzhou? Why is he targeting you?]

Xi Su: [It’s complicated, I can’t explain it clearly. Let’s wait for Yu Wen to get back from the toilet and tell you. I really have to thank him, my good buddy, analyzing it for me all evening, and now helping clear up the misunderstanding with you…]

Chu Han: [You’re overthinking it. He’s doing it for me. He’s probably worried this matter will hurt my future; he has always cared about me.]

Xi Su: [?? He cares about me too, alright? He only made the group chat after talking with me.]

Chu Han: [How long have he and I been friends? Many of his private thoughts are shared only with me.]

Xi Su: [Private thoughts? Like having superpowers?]

Chu Han: [First, he just likes cracking jokes sometimes; second, I didn’t believe him at all; third… I curse your barbecue stall to go bankrupt.]

Xi Su: [Damn! That’s way too vicious! We’re friends after all, that’s my future livelihood we’re talking about. Even if Yu Wen fooled you, you can’t vent your anger on me.]

Chu Han: [I wasn’t fooled! Why are you talking nonsense! Why didn’t I realize you were this annoying before!]

Xi Su: [Holy crap, no, you—]

Chu Han: [Are you swearing?]

Xi Su had his ears yanked by his manager with strict warnings never to curse in front of the camera. This was the first time Chu Han had heard him swear; unable to fathom that someone used profanities as verbal tics, he simply assumed he was being insulted.

Thus, when Yu Wen popped back in and sent his very first message, Chu Han couldn’t wait to lodge a complaint: [Yu Wen, he’s using foul language to curse at me.]

Yu Wen: […]

Xi Su: [Bro, I’m more wronged than Dou E!]

Chu Han: [Don’t tell me you believe him? I was really insulted!]

Yu Wen had no time for nonsense with these two. Crisis PR demanded rapid reaction speeds; once an impression solidified in netizens’ minds, scrubbing it clean later would be a nightmare.

Hence, he only skimmed the endless sea of chat logs.

Yu Wen: [Stop fighting. If you want to fight, take it to the dance studio.]

The group fell dead silent for an instant, then grew even rowdier.

Chu Han: [I thought you were a fair and just person, but to think you would also ignore the injustice suffered by others. You have disappointed me too much.]

Yu Wen was utterly bewildered: [Did I make a mistake? I remember creating a group chat, not an online courtroom.]

Xi Su: [Teacher Chu, don’t take it so seriously…]

Chu Han bristled instantly: [Drop the hypocritical act! This is between me and Yu Wen! We don’t need a third party!]

Xi Su: [Me?!]

Yu Wen: [A third party…]

Xi Su: [Props.]

Yu Wen took a beat, only to see Chu Han declare self-righteously in the chat: [This is a very serious matter.]

Yu Wen: [Does the United Nations know about such a serious matter?]

Chu Han: [If necessary, I can file a report.]

Yu Wen: […]

Xi Su: […]

In front of the screen, Yu Wen pinched his eyes shut, wondering whether there were any mature, steady humans left in this world.

The answer was yes.

He caught sight of his own mature, steady reflection in the black screen.

An outstanding, steady adult, Yu Wen offered a faint smile, tapped into the group chat, and fired off a voice note with lightning speed: “Teacher Chu, what you need to do right now isn’t squabble, but immediately go sign with an agency. The agency will issue a lawyer’s letter on your behalf and send the rumormongers straight to jail. Furthermore, we need to reach Director Gao and the Fenghua crew as soon as possible to track down crew members from that time or footage matching the recording. Xi Su, your problem isn’t hard to resolve; being an illegitimate child isn’t a moral failing. As long as you can reconcile with Feng Chengzhou, you can keep hustling in the entertainment circle.

“Attention, this is not a drill! Attention! This is not a drill! Go go go!”

Dropping his speech, he immediately flung his phone away, terrified of getting dragged back onto the battlefield and forced to play judge for these two again.

Half an hour later.

Yu Wen opened his front door and fell into deep contemplation as he looked at Chu Han and Xi Su, who had arrived almost simultaneously.

“May I ask what your objective is in paying a midnight visit to my home? Who instructed you?”

On the sofa, Yu Wen poured each of the uninvited guests a glass of water. Folding his arms before the coffee table, he looked down on them imperiously.

“Let Us hear what manner of grievance simply had to be discussed face-to-face.”

Half an hour ago, after sending that voice note, Yu Wen had contacted Xie Heyu to ask if the company had an emergency contingency plan for the current crisis. Teacher Xie’s answer had been ‘no,’ to which Yu Wen responded, ‘fine.’

So he had returned to the group chat, intending to pool the collective wisdom of the masses, only to see Xi Su ask:

[Where are you?]

Yu Wen had answered without thinking: [At home.]

Xi Su: [Where’s your home?]

Yu Wen provided a rough location.

Xi Su: [Reconciling with Feng Chengzhou sounds easy when you say it, but I don’t know how. I’m coming to find you right now; coach me in person.]

Seeing this, Chu Han refused to be outdone: [I’m coming too!]

Before Yu Wen could even process it, these two city-dwelling friends had sped over to his neighborhood like bolts of lightning, leaving him no choice but to provide his unit number.

…How fast were they? During that half-hour, Yu Wen hadn’t even been able to get a hold of them.

Xi Su sat cross-legged on the sofa, his mop of blue hair tangled like weeds, his face bearing the exhaustion of rushing over.

“I said so in the group. I can’t wrap my head around it, so coach me face-to-face.”

Yu Wen: “…Teacher Xi, could you at least use an ounce of your intellect? Before selling barbecue, how about developing your brain first?”

At this rate, I’m worried you’ll be swindled.

Xi Su: “Are you telling me to go study? Roadside barbecue requires a degree now?”

Yu Wen pondered; studying was fine too, knowledge changed destiny.

He hinted cryptically, “Studying more has its perks. I hope you can navigate this world a little more like a fish in water.”

Xi Su thought about it; studying it was then. When the time came, he’d be City Z’s top handsome, highly educated influencer barbecue boss. The title sounded badass just hearing it: “Deal.”

Yu Wen nodded with satisfaction, then turned his gaze toward Chu Han.

Chu Han gave a reserved nod. “We have an agriculture-aid livestream in a few days. The featured produce is watermelon…”

“Then we should be meeting a few mornings from now, not having you break into my house in the middle of the night.”

Chu Han’s face flashed with indignation, keeping his lips pursed in silence for a long time.

“I plan to sign with your Starlight Media.”

Yu Wen: “Are you insane?!”

Chu Han repeated, “Not a ragtag troupe, but your Starlight Media.”

Yu Wen: “Our Starlight Media is a ragtag troupe.”

Chu Han: “…”

Realizing his “affection” for the company was a bit too blunt, Yu Wen reined it in. “Uh, actually, our Starlight Media is a company with great prospects and a bright future. The atmosphere is relaxed, the workload is light, and it grants artists maximum freedom. Uh, to me it’s a beautiful utopia, but it might not suit your temperament…”

“Relaxed atmosphere? Freedom?” Xi Su chimed in from the side, looking quite yearning. “Holy shit, I love that! Does your company need more people? What do you think of me?”

Yu Wen: “You’ve gone mad too!”

He swore he deeply loved this company, but in an entertainment industry driven by connections, Starlight Media’s foundation was more fragile than sand—it would scatter after two steps without even needing a breeze. It suited a salted fish like him, but definitely wasn’t suited for Chu Han, who held a burning desire for acting, or Xi Su, who harbored a fierce craving for money.

Two pairs of wide eyes stared at him in confusion.

Unable to explain it clearly, Yu Wen said gloomily, “Just wait a bit. Once another company pillar arrives, I’ll tell you why.”

Xi Su asked who he was waiting for. Yu Wen answered solemnly: “The technician.”

Although the company lacked an emergency contingency plan, judging by what Xie Heyu had implied, he seemed capable of conducting a professional audio forensic analysis on that recording.

A second before Xie Heyu walked through the door, Yu Wen managed to reach Xie Jiamao via video call. The boss asked why there were so many people at his house, and Yu Wen spread his arms wide, declaring with grand theatricality:

“Today we gather here to fight back against rumors and reclaim justice and peace—”

“President Xie.” Chu Han poked his head out from under Yu Wen’s arm, locking eyes with Xie Jiamao. “I want to sign with your company.”

Yu Wen: “…”

Xi Su poked his head out from the other side, “Boss, I want to sign too.”

On the other end of the line, Xie Jiamao fell silent for a split second, then let out a piercing shriek of unrestrained joy: “Great, great, great! Sign them all! Sign them all!”

Holding the spare key Yu Wen had given him, Xie Heyu entered the apartment. Having only left a few hours ago, being summoned right back left a faint trace of weariness between his brows. Stepping inside just in time to hear this exchange, that hint of fatigue vanished, replaced by vivid bewilderment.

He asked, “Are you guys not happy in the entertainment circle?”

Xie Jiamao opened his mouth to bark a reprimand, but Yu Wen quickly hung up the video call. Clasping his tablet, he said helplessly, “See? Even our company pillar says so! It’s not that we don’t welcome you, it’s just that our company’s scale… isn’t suitable for ambitious people.”

In Yu Wen’s eyes, Starlight Media’s unprofessional setup would cause massive trouble for an artist’s future development.

Naturally, he didn’t care. As long as a company brought joy, that was enough.

Carrying his laptop bag while changing shoes at the entryway, Xie Heyu showed a thoughtful expression upon hearing this.

“That’s not it,” he stated. “It’s not that the company’s scale isn’t suitable for ambitious people, but rather, our company could dissolve at any moment.”

Hearing this bolt from the blue, Yu Wen whipped his head around, utterly appalled. “What?! Our company is going under?!”

Xie Heyu tilted his head slightly toward him. “Don’t worry, even if it dissolves, it won’t drag you down.”

Yu Wen: “That’s not the point! I really love our company, it can’t go under!”

Xie Heyu lowered his eyes and pondered. “It won’t go under for now. Our boss hasn’t shown signs of running out of passion yet.”

Yu Wen’s mind worked quickly, instantly recalling Xie Jiamao’s habit of working in fits and starts. Relieved, he sighed, “Oh, so that’s where the unstable factor lies.”

That was simple: just shower him with more rainbow farts. According to his observations, the boss ate up positive reinforcement completely and often got fired up on account of sweet flattery.

Pulling up a chair to sit down, Xie Heyu brought up the business at hand: “The forensic audio analysis is underway, but it still needs a little time.”

Technical restoration of an audio file was extraordinarily difficult and time-consuming. In truth, the most effective method right now was rooting out the mastermind behind the scenes and having the victim’s agency file a lawsuit. As long as the case was won, the rumors would collapse on their own. Even without immediate results, taking such a stance would halt a portion of the slander.

Unfortunately, Xi Su was genuinely missing a few screws.

Right up until Yu Wen pointed it out, he hadn’t suspected his private investigator in the slightest, let alone gathered evidence. He had even let the guy touch his laptop; counting on him to leave any breadcrumbs behind was hopeless.

Without evidence, even filing a lawsuit was tricky.

“It’s fine,” Xie Heyu said nonchalantly. “Xie Jiamao is looking for him.”

Yu Wen was surprised he would bring up the boss at a time like this. “…Oh, alright. But the boss isn’t a detective, it’ll be tough to find him, right?”

Xie Heyu raised an eyebrow. “Has Xie Jiamao never told you about our company’s background?”

While Xie Jiamao was unreliable…

He had several reliable elder brothers and sisters.

A look of bewilderment crossed Yu Wen’s face.

Xie Heyu deliberated before starting, “My second aunt…”

“We can talk about your second aunt later.” Yu Wen took his hand, assuming an urge to open up had suddenly struck him. Right now was hardly an ideal time for heart-to-heart chats.

Blinking his large, sincere eyes, Yu Wen said, “Let’s handle what’s in front of us first; their matter is more pressing.”

Xie Heyu: “…”

He had wanted to say that his second aunt ran a law firm and possessed connections in this field; she could track the person down within three days.

On the other side, Yu Wen and Xi Su, two complete laymen, began researching technical audio restoration.

After chatting for a bit, Xi Su suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

“Don’t you have a recording of me editing the audio back then?”

Yu Wen froze for a moment.

“Oh, right.”