GRMFBS CH148

As it happened, the Chongming Demon King had returned to Shennongjia in the last couple of days, so Xiang Liu scurried over to find him. His nine heads took turns speaking.

Head 1: “Chongming…”
Head 2: “…I’ve come to find you…”
Head 3: “…to switch shifts.”
Head 4: “Right now…”
Head 5: “…my partner is…”
Head 6: “…Da Wule.”
Head 7: “You two…”
Head 8: “…have no conflict.”
Head 9: “Switch with me.”

Zhan Yunkai: …
“Straighten out your heads before you speak!”

Xiang Liu got angry again. What wasn’t straight?! Wasn’t he speaking in order from head 1 to 9?! Chongming was just looking for trouble!

Xiang Liu’s nine heads circled the tree in agitation. The Xunmu Demon King tried to smooth things over. “Xiang Liu, why don’t you just use one head to finish what you’re saying?”

Head 1: “But then…”
Head 2: “…the other heads…”
Head 3: “…will be so bored.”

Zhan Yunkai couldn’t stand the nine-part stereo surround sound anymore. “Can’t you just use one head per day?”

Xiang Liu thought that wouldn’t work. Some days he didn’t encounter anything that required speaking, and it would be unfair to the head whose turn it was.

Finally, under the Xunmu Demon King’s mediation, Xiang Liu agreed to let one head finish a complete sentence before switching to the next.

Head 4: “I want to switch shifts.”
Zhan Yunkai: “Why?”
Head 5: “There’s something wrong with Da Wule.”
Head 6: “He said he can play the flute and asked if I can do snake charming.”
Zhan Yunkai: …? “You didn’t bite him, did you?”
Head 7: “No.”
Head 8: “He wears perfume.”
Head 9: “It’s a weird smell.”
Head 1: “Blegh.”

Zhan Yunkai wasn’t familiar with Da Wule and wasn’t keen on partnering with this apparently strange colleague from next door. “You could just ignore him.”

Head 2: “I won’t.”
Head 3: “If you don’t agree to switch shifts, I’ll come find you every day.”
Head 4: “Or I’ll go to Qixia Mountain.”
All nine of Xiang Liu’s heads were firm. “Switch shifts!”

Zhan Yunkai thought about it and decided to just let it go. If worst came to worst, he could just get into a fight with Da Wule. Beating up a colleague from the next department was better than beating up his own.

Having achieved his goal, Xiang Liu was so happy that all nine of his heads began to hum a song as they swayed, each head in a different key. Zhan Yunkai slowly spread his wings, leaned forward, and a sharp, cold light glinted on his beak. Xiang Liu stopped humming and dancing around, wisely making a quick escape. Hmph! No taste!

After seeing the gossip about the shift swap, Zhan Yan could finally relax. When he came to his senses, he found that his dad was trending on social media again. The trending topic was unique: Evening Glow Concert. Clicking on it, he found there was no shortage of busybodies.

Some had watched all of the community senior arts troupe’s practice videos and edited together all of Zhan Yunkai’s singing parts—this was the work of a truly dedicated busybody.

Some found clips from Zhan Yunkai’s past acting roles and edited them together with his god-tier singing videos for comparison—this was the work of a busybody who just wanted to watch the world burn.

Some edited Zhan Yunkai’s videos together with those of some young pop idols who both act and sing—this was the work of a busybody looking to stir up major trouble.

All sorts of professional and amateur music influencers analyzed Zhan Yunkai’s singing videos. There was praise and criticism, and for a time, it was utter chaos, with all kinds of memes flying around. Xia Yuexian did her best, but the public was having too much fun. The will of the people was not to be resisted.

The family group chat was lively. Zhan Yan, his brother, and his sister had no idea their dad could sing like that—in over a decade, not a single one of them had ever heard Zhan Yunkai sing!

Ji Yueming was very calm. “I knew. Your dad said singing is just a hobby, and he only sings for me.”

Zhan Yan felt stuffed by this public display of affection. It made sense, though. In the natural world, birds rely on singing and dancing to court a mate, right? It wasn’t strange that his dad had that instinct.

Zhan Yan: “Then Dad, why did you go sing in the senior choir?”
Zhan Yunkai asked gloomily, “What do you think?”

Oh… Zhan Yan remembered. His dad had been moved from the sketch comedy team. At the time, Zhan Yan had suggested it, Auntie Bai had raised her hand to switch, and neither of them had given his dad a chance to refuse.

Zhan Suiru: “Dad, do you want to switch careers and become a singer?” If her dad was willing, she could start planning how to help him transition. First, she could set him up with a professional recording studio…

Zhan Jinli was also thinking. He didn’t have much experience handling these entertainment industry matters, but fame brought trouble. If anyone tried to mess with his dad, he could arrange for some ghosts to knock on their door in the middle of the night.

Ji Yueming was also willing to be supportive. Although she really enjoyed being the only one he sang for, what if Lao Zhan had changed his mind? It would be great if he wanted to develop his talent.

Zhan Yan knew his dad would definitely not agree. Xia Yuexian was going crazy with work. The fans had noticed someone was suppressing the hype and were now frantically investigating who was trying to hold back their treasured uncle.

Zhan Yunkai: “Not interested. Singing is just a hobby.”

His Majesty the Demon King was extremely goal-oriented. What use did the skill of singing have besides making his wife happy? Absolutely none. Why should he perform for irrelevant humans? Zhan Yunkai stated that besides occasional acting, he didn’t want to participate in anything. He rejected all interviews, all variety shows, and all invitations.

After settling matters with the Wan Yao Alliance, His Majesty the Demon King ignored the online hype and went home to start cooking. He had left in too much of a hurry before and hadn’t prepared any food. His wife had only taken a few boxes of pickled vegetables on her business trip. Zhan Yunkai’s heart ached. He started making all sorts of braised dishes and cold snacks at home. Worried they might be too greasy, he also prepared a high-quality broth, so that Ji Yueming could just buy some fresh vegetables and blanch them in the broth for a delicious meal.

But this time, the hype didn’t die down so easily. Soon, someone dug up the fact that Mingtang Pictures was the one suppressing the news.

“No way? Isn’t that the company Zhan Yunkai is signed with? Why would Mingtang Pictures suppress their own actor?”

 “I knew it! It was the same before. Every time Lao Zhan got a little popular, it would quickly die down. Other companies would hype up the smallest thing. Lao Zhan always just mysteriously disappeared. I won’t believe it if no one was suppressing him!”

“Did Zhan Yunkai offend someone?”

 “But hasn’t he always been signed with Mingtang Pictures? His contract hasn’t ended after all these years. How many years did they sign for?”

 “@MingtangPictures Was it you who suppressed him and kept him from singing?”

 “@MingtangPictures Come out and explain!”

Xia Yuexian, crushed by this huge accusation, had to go to Zhan Yunkai. If they didn’t explain, the “suppression” topic would only become harder to cool down.

And so, Zhan Yunkai, who usually only posted about food, posted text on his Weibo for the first time. He cleared Mingtang Pictures’ name, stating that singing was just part of his personal life and he didn’t want to turn it into a career.

The comment section was intense:

“What do you mean singing is just your personal life? So acting is your true love?”

 “Bro, give it up. You’re really not good at acting. Singing is where your talent lies!”

 “Please switch careers, really, please switch.”

 “I don’t think acting is his true love either. Cooking is his true love.”

 “His whole explanation is just three sentences, but he attached nine pictures, all of delicious food!”

 “Lao Zhan, if you post your braised meat recipe, I’ll forgive you for not focusing on your proper career!”

 “I give up. The food blogger persona remains unshaken.”

 “What does he mean by ‘I don’t want too much attention’? Did he ask to have the hype suppressed himself?”

 “Even if he asked for it, it doesn’t make sense. Does the film company not want to make money? How could they listen to an actor and suppress this kind of positive publicity?”

 “That’s what I’m saying! Lao Zhan’s identity is definitely not simple. He’s just playing around in the entertainment industry!”

 “Just to fulfill a dream of being a pretty-boy actor?”

 “Zhan Yunkai, wake up! Please acknowledge your natural talents!”

The trending topic also attracted all sorts of troublemakers. The choir’s previous videos had leaked a lot of information, and some people wanted to use it to track down Zhan Yunkai’s home address.

Zhan Yan: Heh, go ahead and try. I lose if you find it! With the protection of the little information-security stars, even the information-gathering experts in the gossip groups couldn’t find his dad.

Just as Zhan Yan felt relieved, he received a new message from the square-dancing group chat. The uncles, aunts, grandmas, and grandpas had nothing to do besides exercising and gossiping. A few of them had some new intel:

“That guy in building 7, the one who always looks shifty, he’s been asking around about Xiao Zhan these past few days.”

“I just feel like he’s up to no good.”

 “You know what I heard today?”

 “He wants to sell information about Xiao Zhan!”

The group chat exploded.

“How shameless. I hope he stays poor forever.”

 “He wanted to sell other information too, but couldn’t find any. He can only sell the fact that he lives in our complex.”

 “The other party thought the information was too little and offered a low price, and he wasn’t happy about it.”

 “They started arguing on the phone, and I overheard them.”

 “@ZhanYan He also wanted to follow your dad, but he couldn’t keep track of him.”

 “Everyone be careful when you go out lately. These people are bad news.”

Zhan Yan faced a new problem. Information security could stop people who didn’t have information from finding it, but it couldn’t stop people who already knew it from leaking it. What should he do about this malicious person?

Zhan Yan first thanked the enthusiastic square-dancing troupe and then started using his gossip system to look up the person trying to sell information about his dad. He hoped to find some dirt on the man that would leave him too preoccupied to bother his dad.

As soon as he searched for the person, Zhan Yan watched as the gossip feed began to refresh constantly:

[Bing Jinhong left home to stake out and follow Zhan Yunkai, but accidentally slipped on a banana peel on the way, spraining his ankle.]

 [Bing Jinhong moved to a newly painted bench on the side of the road, intending to rest for a while before continuing to follow. Due to the pain in his ankle, he didn’t notice the “Wet Paint, Do Not Touch” sign next to the bench.]

 [Bing Jinhong called the person who wanted to buy the information to negotiate the price and discovered he was stuck to the bench by the paint. He started cursing while tearing at his clothes.]

[In the process of tearing his clothes, Bing Jinhong pulled over the bench, which landed on his arm. He decided he needed to sell more information about Zhan Yunkai to make up for his losses.]

 [As Bing Jinhong pushed the bench away and got up, he accidentally hit his head, and injured his chin when he fainted.]

 [A passerby discovered the unconscious Bing Jinhong and called the police in a panic.]

 [The hospital issued an injury report for Bing Jinhong. The police thought a malicious assault had occurred, but after checking the surveillance footage, they discovered Bing Jinhong had done it all to himself.]

 [Bing Jinhong was diagnosed with a mild concussion and needed to be hospitalized for three days.]

Zhan Yan was stunned by this chain of events. This guy is so unlucky. How did he even manage that? It seemed he no longer needed to figure out how to stop this person from selling his dad’s information.

Zhan Jinli: I curse everyone who tries to dig up dirt on my dad to have bad luck! So much bad luck they won’t have the energy to dig up anything.

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