Chapter 33: Orange bao is a lucky cat

Xie Xiaobao was so reluctant to leave the arcade that He Yu nearly accompanied him through every game there.  

Although He Yu didn’t play much, he quickly mastered the skills.  

By the time they finished, Xie Xiaobao was clutching a large handful of game tickets.  

He went to the cashier to exchange the remaining game tokens, and with the tickets they won, they redeemed a half-man-high Cat Plush.  

Xie Xiaobao felt a bit embarrassed holding such a huge plush cat, but he was also happy—it was their hard-earned prize!  

He Yu walked beside him as they headed out.  

Seeing Xie Xiaobao glance back at the arcade with lingering reluctance, He Yu asked him to stand at the entrance holding the Cat Plush, and took a photo of him.  

Xie Xiaobao hugged the Cat Plush in front of him and leaned in to look at the photo.  

He Yu glanced at it before putting the phone away.  

“I’ll take one for you, too.”  

Xie Xiaobao held his arm without moving.  

He Yu’s mouth twitched, and he said, “Just take it yourself.”  

Xie Xiaobao wasn’t satisfied.

After a moment’s thought, he ran over and asked a passerby to help take a photo, then pulled He Yu to stand beside him for a shot together.  

After the photo, Xie Xiaobao was finally content and walked back with He Yu.  

He Yu first saw him off at his residential complex.  

After watching him go upstairs, he started the car and left.  

***

Humming some random tune, Xie Xiaobao carried the Cat Plush inside.  

Passing by Xie Yan’s study, he peeked in to greet him.  

You could say he was in an exceptionally good mood.  

He collapsed onto the bed with the Cat Plush, rolling around twice.  

Then he transformed back into his Cat form, burrowing under the plush cat’s soft belly, purring himself to sleep.  

After all, playing for so long was exhausting.  

He slept until dinnertime.  

When he woke, Xie Xiaobao stared blankly for a while, belly up, then flipped over, grabbed his phone, and browsed through his photo album.  

The first images were the photos of him and He Yu together.  

The girl who helped take the photos was quite skilled; both of them looked very photogenic.  

The tall one looked down with a gentle expression at the shorter one, who was holding the yellow Cat Plush.  

Xie Xiaobao flipped through the photos repeatedly.  

He was so happy that he went ahead and posted them on Weibo.  

[Today went to the arcade to play. Had a great time.]  

The post featured their photo together.  

As soon as it went up, the comments exploded with fans reacting in disbelief.  

Just half an hour earlier, an Entertainment Account had posted a series of censored photos.  

The caption read, “An Internet Celebrity clings to a Gold Sponsor and rises overnight. Is this a moral decline or a fall from humanity?”  

There were three photos in total, each taken from strange angles.  

From the pictures alone, it looked like the “Internet Celebrity” was trying to please the “Gold Sponsor.”  

The Gold Sponsor’s face was heavily censored, making their identity unrecognizable.  

But fans recognized the unnamed “Internet Celebrity” immediately.  

It was Xie Xiaobao.  

Thanks to Old Wang’s efforts, Xie Xiaobao’s Weibo followers had surpassed ten million.  

He also ranked near the top on live streaming platforms.  

In many people’s eyes, Xie Xiaobao had already “made it.”  

With fame comes trouble.  

The faster he rose, the more grudges he attracted.  

This time, going out with He Yu gave those lurking in the shadows the perfect opportunity to strike.  

The Entertainment Account’s ambiguous post sparked rampant speculation among netizens.  

But before the Weibo Superstar’s exposé could fully develop, Xie Xiaobao accidentally “exposed” himself.  

Fans were shocked but soon breathed a sigh of relief and lined up in the comments to praise Xie Xiaobao.  

[Our baby just delivered the perfect comeback. Can those nasty marketing accounts finally shut up? They’re just good friends, openly so.]  

[Did I see that right? The person next to Bao is He Yu, CEO of He’s Entertainment???]  

[Replying upstairs: Yes! Can someone tell that entertainment “righteous warrior” to delete their post? Or else they might get blocked by President DaDa.]  

[Such a glorious slap in the face! Call our baby! So many haters during the long absence—pfft!]  

Honestly, Xie Xiaobao was just too happy and couldn’t help sharing the moment on Weibo.  

After posting, he only then realized how sensitive his and He Yu’s identities were.  

He hesitated about deleting the post, but the flood of comments completely stunned him.  

***

Xie Xiaobao stared at the comments, utterly confused.  

‘What on earth had happened?’

While he was still bewildered, Old Wang called him.  

Before Xie Xiaobao could say a word, Old Wang launched into a rapid-fire string of praise.  

“Your reaction this time was quick and perfect. I’ll handle that Weibo post and the whistleblower, no worries. He Yu will also repost your Weibo soon, so just cooperate…”  

Old Wang rattled off a list before hanging up, clearly busy managing the aftermath.  

Xie Xiaobao was stunned but later opened He Yu’s Weibo.  

A minute ago, He Yu had reposted his post with the comment, “Let’s hang out again next time.”  

Remembering Old Wang’s words about cooperation, Xie Xiaobao liked the post and replied, “Sounds good.”  

His comment immediately shot up to hot topics.  

Fans joked below, begging them to stop showing off and give single dogs some hope.  

Seeing his like, He Yu called him right away.  

His voice was low and magnetic over the phone, causing Xie Xiaobao to scratch his ear and hold the phone a bit farther away.  

“You did very well this time.”  

He Yu praised him.  

Xie Xiaobao scratched his face, finally understanding that he’d accidentally cleared up the rumor.  

But it really wasn’t intentional, so he explained honestly, “I was just too happy, so I posted the Weibo.”  

He sheepishly added, “After posting, I realized it might cause trouble and wanted to delete it.”  

He Yu was slightly surprised but then chuckled softly.  

‘That made sense—Xie Xiaobao was never one to scheme.  He was more “blessed fool” than mastermind.  ‘

He Yu thought this, but he didn’t hold back on the praise, “That was also your luck. If you had waited a bit longer, let that marketing account plan their post, and let the rumors spread, it would have been much harder for us to clear things up with this effect.”  

The company’s Public Relations Team always needed time to react.  

This time, Xie Xiaobao’s accidental timing shattered the rumors instantly.  

This kind of reversal had a stronger public appeal than a simple clarification.  

After Xie Xiaobao’s post went live, the original Entertainment Account’s Weibo was reposted tens of thousands of times—but all the comments were filled with laughing emojis and questions asking if their face hurt from being slapped.  

The rumors didn’t do much damage, but the entertainment value was excellent.  

Xie Xiaobao laughed sheepishly, realizing this whole ordeal started because he was too carefree.  

Feeling a bit guilty, he said to He Yu, “I’ll be more careful in the future.”  

He was now a public figure of sorts.  

Before, he had vague ideas about himself, thinking he wasn’t a star, so no one paid attention to him.  

But in reality, everything he did was under the public eye.  

“That’s not your fault,” He Yu comforted him.  

“You just went out for a normal meal with a friend, but someone deliberately wanted to smear you.”  

“If you’re upright and honest, there’s no need to feel guilty or be shackled by these rumors.”  

Xie Xiaobao thought about it and agreed.  

He had only become a streamer out of temporary interest.  

But if streaming affected his real life, it wouldn’t be worth it.  

With this realization, he felt relieved.  

Old Wang would handle the rest, so he stopped worrying.  

Instead of wasting time on this, he planned to focus on his next livestream.  

Having stayed at He Yu’s place for nearly ten days, he hadn’t streamed in a long time, and his Weibo fans were all clamoring for it.  

Xie Xiaobao lay back down, hugging the Cat Plush and kissed it gently.  

He pushed all distractions aside and started brainstorming ideas for his next stream.  

Meanwhile, the online uproar didn’t die down just because he stopped paying attention.  

After the Entertainment Account was publicly debunked, netizens had fun turning the scandal into memes.  

Others began searching for “sugar” moments in the photos of the two.  

That day, the arcade had a fair number of people.  

It wasn’t like no one recognized them.  

After the Entertainment Account was slapped down, several passersby seized the moment to post more photos of He Yu and Xie Xiaobao at the arcade.  

The lighting was dim, but the two seemed to glow in every shot.  

Attractive people always become the center of attention.  

These photos were far more explosive than the “leaked” ones from the Entertainment Account.  

There were even pictures of He Yu patiently teaching Xie Xiaobao how to shoot hoops.  

Their open and affectionate demeanor made it impossible to criticize them.  

Many who reposted and commented simply said, “I’ll just quietly enjoy their PDA.”