Chapter 16 Genius Cannonfodder’s Counterattack Record (16)
After hearing the whole story, Yang Baihua’s head was about to explode, “Yang Xiaoyan, are you insane?”
Yang Xiaoyan stuttered amidst sobs, “Ge, I’m really scared. Yundu contacted me, and from what I heard, they intend to hold me accountable…… If the situation really gets bigger, how am I going to tell my parents? What am I supposed to do?”
Listening to her made Yang Baihua’s head hurt, “……Calm down a little, don’t cry. What did they say to you?”
Yang Xiaoyan tearfully recounted all the details she could remember as truthfully as possible to Yang Baihua.
The att.i.tude of the Yundu employees was very cold. They repeatedly asked her if she sold the same song to two different companies, and after she confirmed three times that she hadn’t, the caller asked her not to leave the city for the time being.
Yang Baihua, “……”
He felt like there was something not quite right about the situation.
Yang Xiaoyan sobbed, “Ge, please help me, help me. Go find Xiao Cheng-ge, and make him say something on my behalf. I didn’t steal it on purpose, it’s just that I really liked it…… As long as he doesn’t pursue the matter, and as long as he comes out and says it’s his song and saves me, then I’ll be let off……”
The expression on Yang Baihua’s face was ugly, “You stole his song and now you want me to talk to him on your behalf?”
Yang Xiaoyan’s tone suddenly turned sharp, “Ge, if you don’t talk to Xiao Cheng-ge for me, I’ll tell Second Uncle and the others!”
“……What are you going to tell them?!”
Yang Xiaoyan’s voice was absolute, and even her grasp on her phone became forceful, “If something happens to me, my dad will definitely ask me for specific details about what happened. When that happens, I can only tell him the truth that you and Xiao Cheng-ge……”
Yang Baihua’s ears buzzed. His entire body shook with rage, “Yang Xiaoyan!”
Yang Xiaoyan’s voice turned soft. She said pitifully, “Ge, don’t you care about me the most? So help me this once, alright?”
After ending the call, Yang Baihua only felt more distraught. (lit. heart distracted, thoughts in turmoil) The strings of code before him turned into a group of buzzing flies and mosquitoes. After struggling his way through a morning of work and clocking out, he left the office, heading straight to the Cheng family business’ office building.
But he needed to take a private elevator up to Cheng Jian’s office.
The receptionist at the front desk asked politely, “Sir, do you have an appointment?”
Yang Baihua gritted his teeth. Just as he was planning on finding a restaurant to eat at as he waited, he suddenly spotted a delicate and pretty youth wearing a grey down jacket and carrying a lunchbox enter through the revolving door.
At home, when he saw Yang Baihua’s regret level reach 15, Chi Xiaochi told to 061, “Watch the GPS on Yang Baihua’s car.”
The moment it moved, Chi Xiaochi immediately took a taxi over from his home to the Cheng corporate offices.
“We do need to see each other,” Chi Xiaochi said, “Anyways, Cheng Yuan’s car has been left with Yang Baihua for quite a while already. It’s about time I got it back.”
The youth had been well taken care of at home, and since he didn’t have to buy groceries every day to cook, his skin had become a lot fairer and rosier. The high quality, ash grey coat gave him a slightly more exclusive, abstinent air.
Upon seeing Yang Baihua, Cheng Yuan stopped and stared blankly for a second, giving Yang Baihua free rein to act out his “a glance lasts an eternity“.
After regaining his composure, he pretended not to know Yang Baihua, handing over the Cheng Jian’s lunchbox to the receptionist at the front desk before turning and heading out.
Yang Baihua picked up his pace as he followed him out, catching up to Cheng Yuan, “Xiao Cheng!”
Cheng Yuan obediently stood still and pointed at a Hong Kong style restaurant, “Let’s go over there to talk. It’ll keep my brother from spotting us.”
Cheng Yuan and Yang Baihua were ushered in and seated. Cheng Yuan flipped through the menu and ordered some dishes.
Reunited with his lover, Yang Baihua’s eyes were filled with smiles.However, in his heart, he knew what he was here to do, so it was hard to avoid feeling guilty.
Chi Xiaochi watched as the regret level rose. In the blink of an eye, it had already broken through the twenties, but the look on his face didn’t change.
This time, he was expecting his regret level to reach 40 percent. At the moment, it had only just reached the halfway point.
As they waited for the dishes to arrive, Yang Baihua reached out a hand and took Chi Xiaochi’s hand in his own, “Xiao Cheng, I’ve missed you.
Chi Xiaochi trembled, truly wanting to vomit.
Meanwhile, in Yang Baihua’s eyes, Cheng Yuan’s eyes were filled with tears, truly making his heart hurt for him.
Thankfully, Yang Baihua cared about his image, so after just limply grasping onto his hand for a moment, he loosened his grip, taking a quick look around to confirm that no one had seen their intimate actions just now, before relaxing his expression slightly, asking, “You…… How have you been lately?”
Cheng Yuan lowered his head, fiddling with the cutlery, “I’ve been good.”
“I watched your livestream.”
“You did?” Cheng Yuan’s voice brightened a little, and his eyes flashed with concealed surprise. But shortly after, he remembered something and lowered his head as he spoke, “The moment I got home, my phone was taken away by my brother.”
Yang Baihua said in a tender voice, “I know. Your older brother is too controlling.”
Cheng Yuan raised his head, “Don’t talk about my brother like that.”
Yang Baihua smiled, “Okay, okay, I won’t talk about him. Let’s talk about us.”
Cheng Yuan, “What…… about us?”
When confused, Cheng Yuan looked very soft and meek. His eyes misted over with a transparent film of tears, making Yang Baihua think of the puppy he raised when he was a child.
The appetisers arrived, followed by a big plate of stewed yellow croaker, chicken wings stuffed with minced shrimp, and stir-fried Chinese broccoli.
Yang Baihua and Cheng Yuan ate facing each other. Neither of them brought up the incident that had happened a few days ago. Yang Baihua talked about some interesting things that had happened at work, to which Cheng Yuan responded by laughing a few times.
But in the end, Yang Baihua didn’t forget about his reason for coming.
As dessert was served, Yang Baihua said, “Have you heard about the Tang Huan issue yet?”
Cheng Yuan was silent. He used a fork to pick up a piece of the steaming hot soft toast and dipped it into the vanilla ice cream, “……En.”
As he replied, Chi Xiaochi paid special attention to his phone.
12:20.
After talking with him, Su Xiulun had asked for his Weibo pa.s.sword, planning on using the PR department’s resources to help him send out a clarifying Weibo post.
About 40 minutes ago, a few minutes before Cheng Yuan met up with Yang Baihua, the Weibo post had already been sent out.
But since meeting up with him, Yang Baihua hadn’t taken a look at his phone, so he probably still thought that Yang Xiaoyan had copied Cheng Yuan’s original songs.
When Yang Baihua started telling him the entire story about how it started and what had happened, Chi Xiaochi confirmed that it was indeed so.
After telling him everything, Yang Baihua wanted to grasp Cheng Yuan’s hands again. “Xiao Cheng, help me, and help Xiaoyan, okay? When Xiaoyan came to the city to study, my parents entrusted me with her care, so if anything happens to Xiaoyan, I won’t be able to explain myself to my parents.”
Cheng Yuan hid both his hands under the table, “……But no matter how you say it, those are my songs……”
Yang Baihua said, “Haven’t you only sung them in your livestream?”
Cheng Yuan said, “I’ve already signed with Xingyun……”
Yang Baihua’s eyebrows furrowed, “Why haven’t you told me this before? When did this happen?”
Cheng Yuan lowered his head, not answering.
Yang Baihua then asked, “Have they been released publicly?”
Cheng Yuan was shaken. He looked up at him incredulously.
Yang Baihua thought Cheng Yuan hadn’t heard him clearly and repeated his question, “Have they been released publicly?”
“And what if they haven’t?” Cheng Yuan clenched his teeth, “What are you planning on having me do?”
Yang Baihua’s voice was warm as he persuaded, “Xiao Cheng, don’t misunderstand, I’m looking for a solution.”
Cheng Yuan, “What solution?”
Yang Baihua, “Xiaoyan’s affair needs to be solved. She’s still a child.”
Chi Xiaochi spoke to 061, “Aww, how sad for her.”
061 felt helpless, “……” He couldn’t hear even a single trace of sincerity in his tone.
After ending his conversation with 061, Chi Xiaochi wiped Cheng Yuan’s expressions off his face and stopped his small movements. He leaned back against the back of the sofa chair and nodded coldly, “Yes, a child at nineteen and a half, already at the age where she can be executed for murder.”
Hearing his unconcerned tone, Yang Baihua was utterly powerless, “Xiao Cheng, don’t throw a tantrum.”
“Tantrum?” Chi Xiaochi raised an eyebrow, “I’m really busy, I don’t have the time to play this ‘lovers’ game with you.”
“Xiao Cheng!”
“Calling me for something?”
“You……” Yang Baihua let out a long breath, forcing himself to calm down, “Xiao Cheng, we’re both adults. When dealing with matters, we need to know to differentiate major and minor matters. As long as you can relent and admit that you sold the songs to Yundu……”
Chi Xiaochi was shocked. He had to move back slightly further in order to be able to accommodate that face that was as big as a basin within his field of view.
He asked a very constructive question. “Why?”
Yang Baihua said, “Xiaoyan is still young. She can’t bear such serious blame……”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Very good. I signed a contract with Xingyun, so how much do you intend to pay me for the liquidated damages and the loss of my reputation?”
“Xiao Cheng!”
“You’re not planning on paying anything, is it? The penalty for breach of contract is on me, and the person losing their reputation is me. Yang Baihua, why should I help you explain?”
The restaurant was rather quiet, so the sound of their argument attracted quite a few side-eyes from the other customers. Yang Baihua’s face turned red in embarra.s.sment, “Xiao Cheng! I know the two of us had an argument before, but now’s not the time for you to be so childish……”
Chi Xiaochi sneered, “Why don’t you go and become sworn brothers with yourself? Who the f.u.c.k do you think you are?”
Yang Baihua couldn’t hold back any longer, “Cheng Yuan, we’re in public.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “You’ve already been so openly shameless, I didn’t think you’d be scared of some publicity.”
061 was dumbstruck.
Wait a minute, this script didn’t seem quite right.
He thought the script would go like this: Cheng Yuan would act pitiful, arousing Yang Baihua’s sympathy, which would in turn increase his regret level.
……But wasn’t this clearly just him shedding all pretenses of cordiality and brutally ripping into him?
What made him even more surprised was that, as Yang Baihua’s goodwill towards Cheng Yuan dropped like a rock, his regret levels weren’t falling, but rather rising!
The look on Yang Baihua’s face was incredibly ugly, “Xiao Cheng, don’t be so hostile. Your family circ.u.mstances are far better than Xiaoyan’s……”
Chi Xiaochi performed a reading comprehension exercise, “So what you’re saying is, my family is rich, so I deserve to be plagiarised, huh.”
“You……”
“Whether or not my family is rich isn’t up to me. You should go look for my brother.”
Yang Baihua’s voice was trembling, “Cheng Yuan, you’re truly cold-hearted. You were the one who wanted to break up. If you want to take revenge on me, why do you have to ruin my younger cousin’s future?”
“Was I the one who told her to steal?” Chi Xiaochi’s voice rose sharply, “Was I the one holding down your cousin’s hand, forcing her to steal?”
Before, the exchange between the two of them could still be considered quiet. This move of Chi Xiaochi’s allowed him to gain the initiative by striking first, letting all the people around them get an idea about what was going on.
Upon realising how much attention they’d attracted, Yang Baihua immediately became a little frantic, “You……”
Chi Xiaochi got up, placing his two hands on the table to support himself. He furiously closed in on Yang Baihua, his lips trembling, tears forming in his eyes, “She should figure out whom, exactly, she’s stolen from; and you, Yang Baihua, you should figure out that you’re a stupid f.u.c.k.”
Done talking, he picked up the little trash bin on the table, and directly dumped it over Yang Baihua’s head.
The remaining fish soup, chicken bones, and fish bones poured down Yang Baihua’s face. Chi Xiaochi s.n.a.t.c.hed the car keys from his right hand and made his way out.
Yang Baihua struggled to chase after him, trying to grab hold of Chi Xiaochi, but was stopped by a waiter, “Sir, please pay the bill.”
Yang Baihua was as if he’d snapped awake from a dream. When he looked back and saw the surrounding people’s curious and contemptuous gazes, he felt his face heat up. The food waste pouring down his face p.r.i.c.ked at his face, feeling extremely painful. He cut a sorry figure as he dug out his wallet and hurriedly paid the bill.
By the time he chased after him out of the restaurant, Cheng Yuan and the car were already nowhere to be seen.
He was absolutely infuriated. He kicked a tree beside the road, then held his head in his hands as he paced back and forth. He pulled out his phone, wanting to call Cheng Yuan, but saw that on his homepage was a Weibo post that had been sent out by Cheng Yuan 50 minutes ago.
He’d marked Cheng Yuan’s Weibo as of special interest since a long time ago, so Yang Baihua was notified of every action he made.
……50 minutes ago? Wasn’t that about when they’d just b.u.mped into each other?
As if demons and G.o.ds were at work, Yang Baihua opened up the Weibo post.
The first time he read it, he couldn’t understand what he read. The second time around he did, and also understood what Cheng Yuan meant by his last words before he left.
……Those actually weren’t Cheng Yuan’s songs, but rather someone else’s songs that had been released three years ago.
He had only adapted them at home and sent the adapted version over to him, which ended up being stolen by Xiaoyan after a series of misunderstandings.
But why didn’t he explain?
Yang Baihua recalled the entire progress of their conversation, only to realise he had just been talking to himself the whole time.
Cheng Yuan’s outburst and becoming acerbic, had only happened after he repeatedly asked him to take the fall in place of Xiaoyan.
Yang Baihua held his head in his hands, a pained expression on his face amidst the strong smell of fish soup.
As Chi Xiaochi drove straight home, he gave his thoughts on the experience, “Beating someone up and running is truly exhilarating.”
061 announced, with no lack of surprise, “The regret level has reached 45 now.”
Chi Xiaochi shifted gears, (literally) “I know.”
061 then checked the comments on his Weibo again, “You have more than three thousand comments on Weibo.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “If by 6pm tonight, it hasn’t gone past ten thousand, I’ll take on your surname.”
Even though he still had countless questions running through his mind, 061 was amused, “What surname? Is it 0 or 6?”
Chi Xiaochi laughed along with him.
After joking around, 061 began to a.n.a.lyse the current situation, “You’ve already extricated yourself from the situation now. For Tang Huan, if she admits that she bought the songs, the final conclusion will be that it was Yang Xiaoyan who plagiarised. Even though Tang Huan won’t be seen as someone ‘bestowed with the gift of music’ anymore, she’ll at least be considered half a victim.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “If she doesn’t admit whose name should actually be in the composer’s column, the victim will do it for her.”
“Will Yundu definitely pursue the charges against Xiaoyan? After all, it’s just a scandal, and if Yundu chooses to suppress the news……”
“Suppress? Not pursue charges?” Chi Xiaochi laughed, “This isn’t just your average scandal. If a singer plagiarises, once confirmed, it’ll be a stain that stays with them for life. They can only pursue the blame game with greater fanfare. As soon as today, or maybe tomorrow, Yang Xiaoyan will be receiving a court summons. Even if Yang Baihua tries to beg me again, he’s not in the position to make demands.”
In this moment, 061 confirmed that Chi Xiaochi really was giving up on taking the emotions route with Yang Baihua.
He asked, “Aren’t you scared that after you fall out with him, it’ll cause the task to fail?”
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Am I failing right now?”
061, “……You’re taking a risk?”
Chi Xiaochi, “I’m experimenting.”
“Experimenting with what?”
Chi Xiaochi stopped the car at the red light and smiled slightly, “You have to admit, making people recognise that they’re in the wrong and wholeheartedly regret their actions isn’t an easy task.”
061 nodded.
Before, he hadn’t had a single host who was able to fill up the regret level without paying with their lives.
Chi Xiaochi said, “In that case, it’s much easier just making him regret ever meeting me.”
The author has something to say:
Xiaochi has a special way of looking at regret level w