Wu Jiangyuan, your time is coming

Night fell.

Wu Jiangyuan had just finished showering when He Qu bombarded him with calls.

He picked up his phone and saw ten missed calls from while he had been in the shower.

The moment Wu Jiangyuan answered, He Qu's urgent voice came through.

"Holy shit, Wu Jiangyuan, have you checked Weibo?"

Wu Jiangyuan dried his hair as he walked over to the sofa and sat down, replying unhurriedly, "Not yet."

He Qu said, "Hurry up and check Weibo. That thing from your livestream today has taken one hell of a turn."

Wu Jiangyuan had more or less guessed already. He lazily crossed his legs. "Is it about Tassilo?"

"Yeah!" He Qu suddenly faltered. "Huh? How did you know? Didn't you say you hadn't checked Weibo?"

Wu Jiangyuan didn't answer right away. He was debating whether to tell He Qu about Pei Jinghe.

When he stayed silent, He Qu started chattering away. "Listen, Tassilo's official account suddenly posted an announcement an hour ago, claiming that Shining Star Candy account."

"They specifically clarified that those ten million in lavish gifts were actually gifts they sent for their own watch. Well, damn, that completely turned public opinion around."

"Now everyone knows you, Wu Jiangyuan, were just a smokescreen. Do you have any fucking idea how many people are leaving snide comments right now?"

Wu Jiangyuan remained utterly unruffled. "Weren't you the one who approached them asking to work together?"

"Wasn't I doing it for your own good?" He Qu sounded a little aggrieved. "You said you wanted to clean up your image. You know how influential Tassilo is. Landing an endorsement with them would really help get your positive image out there."

"I was really just testing the waters back then. I didn't expect them to agree to lend it so readily once they heard I was your manager."

"Who knew I'd end up helping them count the money they made from selling us out?"

He now regretted it. Deeply regretted it.

Not only had they failed to finish filming the show, but they had also been sold out. They had truly lost on both fronts.

Wu Jiangyuan had been prepared for this for a while and took it far better than He Qu. "Enough. Wailing about it won't help now. It's already happened."

He Qu said, "There's something else."

Wu Jiangyuan said, "Save the bad news for tomorrow. Let me get a good night's sleep."

"No," He Qu said. "It's about that Tassilo watch we borrowed. We'd already returned it, but they sent it back."

"They said it was compensation to make us feel better. I specifically looked up the price. That limited edition hasn't officially gone on sale yet, and even the preorder price starts at a million."

"Are you going to accept it?"

Wu Jiangyuan recalled Pei Jinghe suddenly asking him today whether he still had that watch. So that was what he had been planning.

Compensation?

Wu Jiangyuan sneered. Did he look like someone who needed a watch? Were they fobbing off a beggar?

"No. Trying to get us to endorse them for free again?"

He Qu coughed a few times and advised, "Honestly, Wu Jiangyuan, I think you should take it. Otherwise, we really will have gotten absolutely nothing out of this."

His words reminded Wu Jiangyuan that, as things stood, he really had ended up helping Pei Jinghe count his money for free. He wouldn't have thought much of it with anyone else, but this was Pei Jinghe.

He insisted on settling even the cost of a meal down to the last cent with that guy. How could he put up with something like this?

Speaking of the meal, Pei Jinghe had never accepted the money for that day's meal. Whether he hadn't seen it or was pretending not to, the money had eventually been returned automatically.

"Sure." Wu Jiangyuan scoffed. "Since they're willing to give it to us, let's take it."

"We can sell it another day and give the company employees a raise. Wouldn't that be nice?"

He Qu chuckled. "You care more about the employees than I do, and I'm the boss. You should take my job."

"No way," Wu Jiangyuan said. "I don't want anyone but you as my boss."

He Qu let out a long, mournful sigh. "What kind of boss gets bullied by his own artist every day?"

"I'm done bantering with you. The company still has to clean up this mess for you. I'm hanging up."

After ending the call, Wu Jiangyuan thought for a while, then sent Pei Jinghe a message.

3Q: [Don't think giving me some lousy watch can make up for the damage to my fragile little heart. (disdain.JPG)]

Pei Jinghe didn't reply after he sent it.

Wu Jiangyuan didn't mind. Before bed, he opened Weibo to browse and glanced through the snide comments.

[Is Crow Bro Wu okay? I'm dying. He thought a massive windfall had landed in his lap, but it turned out he was just flattering himself.]

[I was wondering what fan would send Wu Jiangyuan ten million in lavish gifts. Turns out they were sending them for their own brand.]

[Just saying, Tassilo has way more prestige than Wu Jiangyuan.]

[Is Wu Jiangyuan hiding under the covers crying right now?]

[If there's another twist to this, I'll eat...]

Wu Jiangyuan gave a cold chuckle and promptly switched to his alternate account-[You can only look up to me].

His alt left scorched earth wherever it went. Every hater familiar with that ID knew this person was not to be messed with.

Because he could trade insults with you endlessly without repeating a single line, and every word hit where it hurt.

Wu the worthless: [Wu Jiangyuan is the scum of society. Why hasn't a celebrity with so much dirt on him been blacklisted yet? Has the entertainment industry run out of people?]

You can only look up to me: [Better dirt on me than a cheating partner on you. Be good and go sit at the dogs' table.]

Wu the worthless: [Where did this guard dog come from? Did I hit your precious idol where it hurts and set you off?]

You can only look up to me: [Before you call someone a dog, check who started barking first.]

Wu the worthless: [Ooh, you're mad, you're mad~]

You can only look up to me: [Well, I was bitten by a dog as a kid, so seeing one tends to set me off.]

Wu the worthless: [I ** your * (beep-three choice curses)]

Take him away. Next.

Really hate idiots: [I just love trashing Wu Jiangyuan. So what?]

You can only look up to me: [Shit standing up, lying down, or squatting. Shit however you want. Nobody cares, okay?]

Really hate idiots: [?]

Useless. Next.

Getting rich by imperial decree: [What decent person would like Wu Jiangyuan?]

You can only look up to me: [What are you using to judge me? That dog mouth of yours?]

Getting rich by imperial decree: [See? Such nasty language. The fans really do take after their idol.]

You can only look up to me: [I do say nasty things, but you're hardly something that deserves nice words.]

The haters: ...That fucking mouth was practically coated in poison.

Wu Jiangyuan was still scrolling through the comments well past midnight. He just loved how these haters couldn't stand him yet couldn't do anything about him.

He had thought he could sleep until he woke naturally the next day, only to be woken early in the morning by a call from He Qu.

Wu Jiangyuan answered, seething with resentment. "You'd better have good news."

"My dear young master~" He Qu sounded thrilled. "This is absolutely, unprecedentedly good news."

"Tassilo approached us this morning to discuss an endorsement deal. Wu Jiangyuan, your time is coming!"

At those words, Wu Jiangyuan's bleary eyes snapped open.

"What did you say?"