A sudden crisis had appeared out of nowhere, and it ended in such a dramatic fashion.
Xie Xiaobao not only remained unaffected but actually took a step closer because of it.
Old Wang was still trying to extract information from that Entertainment Marketing Blogger who had leaked the news.
This entertainment account had risen to prominence over the past two years, gaining a large following through shameless candid photos and bold exposés.
Inside the circle, from top-tier stars like Best Actress and Best Actor awardees to unknown eighteen-line minor celebrities, anyone targeted by him had basically been exposed.
However, since he held blackmail material on numerous celebrities, even if some were unhappy, fearing mutual destruction, no one dared to strike hard.
Most chose to pay to avoid bigger disasters.
This Marketing Blogger had, therefore, carved out a path to wealth and fame.
Before each leak, he would post several provocative “foreplay” photos to build hype and also wait for the exposed parties to come to him with hush money.
This trick worked repeatedly on stars who were extremely conscious of their public image, but this time, when it came to Xie Xiaobao, he had genuinely hit a wall.
Old Wang was a smart man.
Having been in this circle for so long, he never pushed people to the brink.
No one knew how crazy a desperate small fry’s counterattack might be.
So at first, he adopted a polite but firm approach.
Yet, perhaps because of being fawned over for so long, the Marketing Blogger was extremely arrogant toward Old Wang’s proactive contact.
“Everyone in the circle knows Chen Gou’s rules: business is done with money. Manager Wang has been in the industry so many years; surely he knows this simple principle?”
Old Wang sat opposite him, his sharp eyes hidden behind his glasses as he said, “One must know contentment to last long.”
Chen Gou raised his teacup, took a sip, and chuckled, his plump cheeks shaking.
“I’m an ignorant man with short sight. If you want info, you have to play by my rules.”
“Since we can’t reach an agreement, I’ll take my leave,” Old Wang said, standing up and straightening his suit elegantly.
His cold gaze swept over Chen Gou.
“Hopefully next time, we still get to talk like this.”
With a slight nod, he walked out.
“What a pretentious asshole!”
Chen Gou slammed his teacup to the marble floor.
The ceramic shattered crisply, stabbing his heart in the same way and causing him to shiver, inexplicably nervous.
“He’s just a small-time Internet Celebrity, what kind of power does he have? If I want to expose him, I will. If he dares to play hardball, I’ll take him down with me.”
He paced the office with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself, unsure whether he was trying to calm himself or someone else.
After Old Wang left, he went straight to find He Yu and recounted the entire negotiation process in detail.
“He wasn’t very cooperative.”
Many of He’s Entertainment’s artists had been exposed by Chen Gou before, but in the entertainment circle, money usually settled these things.
So Old Wang initially took a polite but firm stance toward investigating the source of the leak this time as well.
He hadn’t expected Chen Gou to be so conceited, putting on airs.
He’s Entertainment was no pushover; it wouldn’t be easily manipulated.
Naturally, they had to shift to a more forceful approach.
“Let the Public Relations Department handle it.” He Yu wasn’t interested in Chen Gou personally; he only wanted to know who was lurking in the shadows scheming to defame Xie Xiaobao.
“Just say it’s on my orders, consider it purging the circle.”
“I understand.” Old Wang knew the capabilities of the Public Relations Department well.
In a company like He’s Entertainment, the PR team was usually divided into internal and external sections.
The external team handled crisis management and operations for their artists, while the internal team focused on smoothing over high-level relationships.
Entertainment companies had vast interests, each with their own connections and “backers,” which required regular maintenance.
That was why the internal PR department existed.
He Yu’s intention was to mobilize these connections to make Chen Gou disappear from the circle for good.
Taking covert action was never as straightforward as having the state apparatus deal with it officially.
Three days after Old Wang conveyed He Yu’s wishes to the head of PR, the Marketing Blogger Chen Gou was arrested by the police on charges of invading citizens’ privacy and extortion, with the amount involved being extraordinarily large.
To prevent any backlash, the police executed a surprise raid with no prior warning.
When Old Wang and the police arrived at Chen Gou’s studio, he was caught flirting with a mistress.
Only when handcuffed did Chen Gou come to his senses and curse Old Wang fiercely.
Old Wang didn’t waste words with him, looking at him like a filthy cockroach.
“I hope you still have this much energy later on.”
Chen Gou was stunned, suddenly recalling how Old Wang had said the same thing last time in a calm tone: “Hopefully next time, we still get to talk like this.”
Then, when they next met, he had become a criminal suspect.
His heart sank as he finally realized he had messed with the wrong person.
He forced a grim smile and tried to ingratiate himself.
“Brother Wang, I didn’t recognize a great man. Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you everything. We’re all just trying to make a living; no need to cause such a big fuss, right?”
Old Wang neither nodded nor shook his head.
“Who gave you the photos?”
Chen Gou’s eyes darted to the police officers holding him.
“You’d better think carefully. Once you’re inside, no one will listen to you anymore,” Old Wang said.
Chen Gou’s face darkened, the flesh on his cheek twitching.
“If I tell you, will you show mercy?”
Old Wang nodded.
Chen Gou’s tiny eyes narrowed into slits, glinting with a mercenary light.
“The leak came from a small account, but their cover was full of holes. I’ve handled a lot of info. Whether they were truly exposing or trying to use me to get blackened, I could tell right away.”
He smirked proudly, “So I specifically looked into this small account, and sure enough, I found something.”
“Speaking of which, Brother Wang, you know this person too. He’s from the same company as you. His name… Zong Wei. Yeah, that’s right, Zong Wei.” Chen Gou said confidently.
Old Wang frowned, “Zong Wei?”
Chen Gou nodded vigorously., “He was careless. That small account was registered with his phone number. I checked and found it right away.”
Old Wang mulled over the grudge between him and Zong Wei.
Although they both belonged to the Internet Arts Training Department, Old Wang only mentored Xie Xiaobao.
He rarely interacted with Zong Wei, and there was no resource competition between them.
Chen Gou had confessed everything.
Seeing Old Wang’s frown deepen, he grew anxious.
“Brother Wang, I’ve told you everything. What do you think…?”
Old Wang snapped back to attention and saw the pleading look in his eyes.
He smiled slightly and replied, “You’ll have to go with the police, then. The innocent have nothing to fear, and the officers won’t slander the good.”
“Thanks to the police for accompanying me this trip. I’ve asked all I needed to, so I won’t keep you,” Old Wang stepped aside, making way, clearly indicating he was washing his hands of the matter.
“You’re lying to me!” Chen Gou’s face flushed red, his eyes wide like copper coins, glaring fiercely at Old Wang.
If not for being restrained, he might have charged forward and torn Old Wang apart.
Old Wang brushed off imaginary dust from his suit and smiled calmly.
“I never promised you anything. Besides, I’m a law-abiding citizen. Naturally, I can’t interfere with the police.”
The police forced the struggling Chen Gou into the squad car.
This was a major case involving multiple counts of extortion through invasion of privacy, with huge sums involved.
The complainants even produced ledgers — both witness and physical evidence were solid.
Such a straightforward, high-profile case was a rare catch.
News that the entertainment circle’s malignant tumor had been thrown behind bars spread quickly.
Fans of the celebrities previously exposed cheered jubilantly, and searching Weibo turned up numerous reposts of the official police announcements and giveaways.
At the same time, many discussed how this cancerous figure had leaked so many big names without consequence until now, and how the arrest had come without any prior hint.
[Looks like he finally hit a wall.]
[He dared to fabricate stuff about the CEO of He’s Entertainment; if he doesn’t die, who will?]
[Just saying, am I the only one who thinks He Yu’s doing this out of rage for his dear friend? (Don’t wake me up!)]
[Seconded /doge]
Overall, netizens celebrated Chen Gou’s arrest with great joy, but among them were fans of He Yu and Xie Xiaobao who stood out with uniquely sharp commentary, sparking a wave of playful teasing online.
Not only were the previous pictures of the two at the arcade turned into countless memes and reaction images, but enthusiastic fans had even begun writing fanfiction.
Xie Xiaobao had originally planned to ignore the matter but still checked Weibo out of habit.
He thought the hype would have died down after several days and quietly logged back in to lurk.
To his surprise, the homepage was flooded with reposts of his jokes, even topping the trending list.
Curiously, he clicked in.
The original post had nine photos from the arcade, each captioned with text formatted like movie screenshots.
The deeper Xiaobao scrolled, the redder his face grew.
The last photo showed He Yu wrapping his arms around him from behind.
Their hands overlapped, holding a basketball, with the caption: “At this moment, being in your arms is the greatest victory.”
He felt both embarrassed and troubled.
Their purely upright friendship had been twisted into something else entirely.
He wondered anxiously if He Yu would be angry when he saw it and tugged at the ear of his stuffed cat toy.