YMBLTY

Chapter 31: Go Eat Up Your Fiancé

What was he asking about Jiang Xun's needs for? Gu Wei decided, on the spot, that the pervert had lost all his rights to choose his own birthday present.

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: Just pretend I never asked.

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: Farewell.

Gu Wei tapped open Jiang Xun's WeChat profile and made sure to change Jiang Xun's nickname to something that would remind him to be cautious in the future.

[Filthy Adult]: Little Gu, why are you asking me about this anyway?

[Filthy Adult]: Hello? Where'd you go?

Gu Wei grinned at the very satisfying and very fitting new nickname he'd chosen for Jiang Xun. Then he switched over to a shopping app on his phone and started to look for a birthday present for Jiang Xun in earnest.

Jiang Xun set down his phone and closed all the files on his computer. He had skimmed through most of the material that Jiang Ying left him, and he now more or less understood why those anti-fans kept attacking Gu Wei online.

Most of the 'incidents' were obviously orchestrated by tabloids in the industry, but there were a few genuine incidents in there that Jiang Xun felt somewhat concerned about. And, for most of Gu Wei's anti-fans, it seemed those were the issues that they harped on the most.

Gu Wei had once done an interview in which he was asked what animal he disliked. He'd hesitated for a moment before answering that he didn't care for dogs. His anti-fans had promptly dug through his past work and found highlights from a music video he had shot, during which he had seemed pretty content sitting by a bridge and petting someone's dog.

Many of his antis claimed that the music video proved Gu Wei gave such a sad and miserable answer just to gain pity. They were convinced that Gu Wei was always lying to maintain a certain persona.

But those attacks on Gu Wei's character were made for the sole purpose of dragging him down. Jiang Xun could tell that moment of hesitation while Gu Wei thought about the question had been genuine, and he suspected there was another reason for the answer Gu Wei gave during that interview.

The second biggest 'issue' that his anti-fans liked to bring up often was something that Jiang Xun had seen trending just a little while ago. While recording a segment of a variety show, Gu Wei had bailed on an elderly villager who assigned them the task of learning how to embroider. Gu Wei had slammed the embroidery hoop down on the table and stormed out of the room.

His anti-fans had clipped that part of the show and flamed Gu Wei for it for several days and nights without rest.

But the thing Jiang Xun was most concerned about was a topic that had been trending on Weibo over a year ago.

#GuWeiChoreographyPlagiarism

The other celebrity involved in the scandal seemed to be named Jiang Enyuan. He was two years older than Gu Wei, but they had debuted at around the same time. Their careers had followed rather different trajectories, though. Jiang Enyuan had already left the group he debuted with, and he had since moved to a different agency to continue growing his career.

That trending tag had been set off by a post containing a clip of Gu Wei dancing in one of T.ATW's new music videos. The dance choreography was extremely similar to a part of a dance Jiang Enyuan had performed months ago, but by that time Jiang Enyuan had already switched agencies.

Jiang Enyuan didn't make a statement about the issue, but he did like a post from a tabloid that posed the question of whether or not Gu Wei's choreography was plagiarised.

Their fans instantly went to war with each other, and Gu Wei was dissed for a whole week by hordes of Jiang Enyuan's fans as well as random spectators who weren't avid fans of either of them but had simply come to join in on the commotion.

Just as the chaos was starting to die down, Jiang Enyuan finally made a post, @T.ATW-GuWei, saying they should put everything in the past.

But Gu Wei didn't write anything in response.

After that, Jiang Enyuan had extended an olive branch to Gu Wei several times, treating him kindly whenever they appeared together in public. But Gu Wei never so much as looked his way again.

Anyone with a keen eye and sharp mind could tell that this was the incident that had branded Gu Wei as a controversial star. Among Jiang Ying's files, there had been a backstage photo of Gu Wei and Jiang Enyuan. In the photo, Jiang Enyuan was clearly trying to talk to Gu Wei, while Gu Wei looked wooden and almost lifeless.

There was simply no light in his eyes.

Gu Wei was such a sweet kid, and yet there were times when he could be this stubborn?

Jiang Xun thought about that matter for a long while before deciding to ask Jiang Ying about it.

[100K Volts]: That rumored choreography plagiarism thing with your rival. What do you know about it?

[Big-Clawed Crab]: Oh, that? I remember. But don't go down that path, it's no good. Have a listen to some more of his awful singing. That'll wake you up for sure.

Jiang Xun frowned.

[100K Volts]: Why is this path no good?

[Big-Clawed Crab]: I don't think that issue was as simple as people online made it out to be. Jiang Enyuan is super problematic. He's twisted, and he's done a lot of twisted stuff.

[100K Volts]: ……

[100K Volts]: Tell me the details.

Since Jiang Xun had asked for details, Jiang Xing simply sent him a long, rambling audio message—

[Big-Clawed Crab]: He and Gu Wei were both rookies with Xueqing Entertainment at first, but then Jiang Enyuan switched agencies for some reason. He got all buddy-buddy with the head of Douya Media after that, and it was right around that time that my rival got caught up in that dance plagiarism stuff.

I'll be totally real with you, okay? Gu Wei and I are rivals, but I'm not a bad person, and if he's good enough to be my rival, then he isn't a bad person either. This plagiarism thing really just isn't as simple as the internet makes it out to be. The fans can't tell, but we know the truth is more complicated.

I've heard that my rival's dance skill comes from the fact that he's been training since he was a kid, but Jiang Enyuan? That uggo moves like a rotting corpse, so it's really hard to say who copied who here. We can only say that dance was performed in public by Jiang Enyuan first.

[100K Volts]: How do you know so much about this?

[Big-Clawed Grab]: Oh, that's 'cause I have 20 gigs of dirt on Jiang Enyuan. Lots of it is totally exclusive. You want me to send it to you?

[100K Volts]: …...why didn't you become a paparazzo?

Jiang Xun sighed. Jiang Zheng may have been a legendary actor, but it seemed he had raised two utterly unreliable sons.

[100K Volts]: Then, how did this all play out in the end?

[Big-Clawed Crab]: That was about the same time I made those twenty alt accounts because that woman was trying to pull me into some love scandal with her. People were dumping on me all day, every day. The stuff about me got way hotter and pushed Gu Wei's scandal off the trending list.

[Big-Clawed Crab]: Gu Wei's a good rival. We've fought over jobs and fans before, but I didn't think we would fight over the status of being 'controversial'.

[Big-Clawed Crab]: Now, stop eating up this old news about my rival. Go eat up your fiancé instead, hehe.

[Big-Clawed Crab]: You'd better bring your partner over soon, so your little brother can judge if your match is hot or not.

[100K Volts]: ……

[100K Volts]: Go back to work.