He first called Ni Lejia's manager. "Suspend all of Ni Lejia's activities and notify him that his contract is being terminated."
Chang Yu found disgraced celebrities like this utterly disgusting. Worse still, he was an artist signed to his father's company, practically sullying its reputation.
So the first thing he arranged was the contract termination. Once Ni Lejia had no connection to the company, he would expose his scandals.
When Ni Lejia received his manager's call, he kept feeling that Chang Yu had found something out. Why else would they terminate his contract?
But syphilis had an incubation period of around two weeks. He should not have noticed so quickly.
He could not worry about all that. He only had a few days left to live anyway, and he did not want to keep living.
There was still one thing he wanted to do, and he would leave after he finished it.
With no time to look for Chang Yu, Ni Lejia could only denounce Chang Yu online over the contract termination. Some fans were bound to stand up for him and keep Chang Yu occupied.
Chang Yu had originally guessed that Ni Lejia would come make trouble in person. He had not expected a group of die-hard fans to show up downstairs at his company instead.
The company's security guards refused to let them in, and the fans began making a scene at the entrance.
More and more people looked over. Neither the spectators nor those demanding justice would leave, and a crowd quickly built up outside the Evergreen Company.
Chang Yu stood on the second floor, watching calmly as he called his assistant. "Find out where Ni Lejia is right now."
Yan Junye could not sleep with all the noise.
He stood beside Chang Yu and looked downstairs. The commotion was so impressive that anyone who did not know better might have thought their company was holding a major performance.
Is Chang Yu suspecting that Ni Lejia deliberately blew this up and sent these people to hold him here?
His tail swished. He wondered which unlucky soul would become Ni Lejia's final victim.
The assistant soon replied, "Mr. Chang, Ni Lejia is currently at the hotel where the people who secretly recorded that video are staying."
The assistant unwittingly began speaking faster. "Ni Lejia probably went to persuade them to delete the video."
As for how he would persuade them, he would very likely use his looks to seduce them.
Meanwhile, Ni Lejia took off his baseball jacket, revealing easily torn lace underneath.
"Releasing the video won't benefit either side. My reputation will be ruined, but you'll also be arrested for violating someone else's privacy."
He took out the money he had scraped together. "Can I use myself to make up for the remaining million? That would be better for everyone."
Men rarely turned down someone who offered himself up. After all, they had nothing to lose.
Chang Yu felt that even if he announced right now that Ni Lejia had contracted syphilis, the men in that hotel room probably would not have time to look.
The information implicated far too many people, so Chang Yu did not publish it himself. He asked the public relations department at Chang Liao's company to handle the announcement.
Everyone in the public relations department was dumbfounded when they heard.
Not daring to take it lightly, they immediately held a meeting to discuss it.
Before they reached a conclusion, Ni Lejia posted an update himself, admitting that he had contracted the disease without saying how he had caught it.
He also attached an image containing a list of names and asked with concern: [Are you all doing okay now?]
The previously placid internet instantly exploded at the bomb Ni Lejia had dropped.
[What does this image of names mean? Did all these people have intimate contact with Ni Lejia and catch syphilis too?]
[I have to say, Ni Lejia really is a model worker in the entertainment industry. He's been with so many people.]
[Am I the only one who noticed Chang Yu and Ke Yichun on the list, the two from that gossip a while back? Those two really get wild.]
The people who had secretly filmed the video got out of bed, still laughing and mocking Ni Lejia for offering himself up.
After Ni Lejia left the room on shaky legs, they lit cigarettes, then took out their phones. The instant they saw the trending topics on Weibo, they froze.
No one spoke. Silent, ghostlike terror coiled tightly around them, making their hair stand on end.
Only after a long while did someone ask in a trembling voice, "What does Ni Lejia mean by this?"
It was clearly all Chinese, and they knew every character, but put together, the words made no sense to them.
No one answered the question, but they all sprang out of bed and rushed straight to the hospital.
A large crowd had gathered in the hospital's dermatology and venereology department. Normally, there should not have been so many people.
A sense of foreboding swept through them.
Then they took another look at the man ahead of them. They had seen him before.
He was one of the men who had sex with Ni Lejia in the secretly recorded video.
Those who had still been clinging to hope fainted on the spot.
They did not even dare imagine how they would live from now on.
Not long after the Weibo post went up, piercing shrieks erupted from the crowd gathered outside the Evergreen Company, and then they left the entrance.
Chang Yu opened the image Ni Lejia had posted. He could imagine just how devastating its impact would be.
Most of them were people who had slept with Ni Lejia. There was nothing to pity.
If they dared to play, they had to dare to face the consequences.
To clear his name, Chang Yu also needed to go to the hospital for a test.
Syphilis test kits were available online and at pharmacies, but they only served as screening tools and were less convincing than a doctor's test results.
He did not intend to take Xiaotu with him.
The hospital was crowded, with too many prying eyes and germs, so he left Xiaotu in his assistant's care.
A mask, gloves, glasses-Chang Yu wished he could cover every bit of exposed skin.
There were more people at the hospital than he had imagined. The gathering was practically as large as the celebration banquet Xi Wu had held yesterday, and the people there were all from the business world.
It was as though the banquet at the mountain estate had been moved to the hospital.
Only everyone at the hospital looked grim. Despite the crowd, it was exceptionally quiet. Anyone who did not know better might have thought they had arrived at a memorial service.
Chang Yu also spotted Ke Yichun.
Ke Yichun approached him, looking as though he wanted to say something but hesitated.
In the end, he could not hold back and asked, "Were you with him?"
There was no need to think about who "him" referred to. It was Ni Lejia.
Chang Yu put some distance between himself and Ke Yichun, radiating disgust. "What does that have to do with you?"
"We're facing the same fate now. What right do you have to look down on me?" Ever since his scandal had been exposed, Ke Yichun had grown accustomed to such contemptuous looks.
"If it weren't for you, how would I have ended up like a rat everyone wants to beat?" Even now, he did not know how Chang Yu had discovered his secret.
"You're certainly good at shifting the blame." Unfortunately, what Ke Yichun had done did not warrant criminal liability. Otherwise, Chang Yu would never have let him appear before him again.
The crowd showed no signs of thinning. Instead, more and more people were arriving.
Chang Yu wanted to leave, but the atmosphere, quiet just a moment ago, suddenly became noisy.
Ni Lejia had been dragged to the hospital and was then forced in front of a doctor to be examined.
Everyone was still clinging to hope, thinking the test strip results might not be accurate.
Then everyone began quietly waiting for Ni Lejia's results, not even in the mood to beat him up.
If Ni Lejia's diagnosis was confirmed, most likely none of them would escape.
The crowd outside the examination room finally dispersed. Chang Yu stepped toward the room, and Ni Lejia sneered behind him. "You don't think you can escape, do you?"
"When you were rolling around in bed with me, the virus had already passed to you."
Everyone's previously vacant gaze turned toward Chang Yu.