The photo of Tang Yan exiting the police car was everywhere on Weibo and it attracted competing reports with multiple news outlets hopping on the story and through repeated dissemination, the truth was continuously distorted. At this time, Zhuang Jiajie was like an ant in a hot pot. When he saw the report, he immediately tried to call Tang Yan, but he was continuously sent through to voicemail and it was impossible for him to contact the swimming team so late into the night. So guarding his phone he could only wait for Tang Yan"s reply.
Wild rumors about why Tang Yan was at the police station and what could have happened began to spread and with Tang Yan and Zhuang Jiajie"s silence, a s.h.i.+ft in public opinion began to occur as people began taking the news stories and the rumors as reality.
Many of Tang Yan"s fans even raised doubts on Weibo.
However, Tang Yan was truly tired. It had been a jam packed day and he was more mentally drained than anything, he fell asleep as soon as his head touched his pillow.
He was only awoken by his alarm clock.
Turning off the alarm clock, he rubbed his eyes, got up and showered, put on his clothes, stretched then reached for his phone. He was about to head to the swimming center.
Today was the first day of the champions.h.i.+p. He would be partic.i.p.ating in two races, the 100-meter b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke and the 200-meter b.u.t.terfly stroke respectively, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
The race in the morning was at 10 o"clock, which meant he had slightly less than two hours, just about enough time.
He took up his phone and prepared to head out, only to realize his phone was actually dead when he tapped the screen.
He must have forgotten to put his phone on charge last night after arriving back from the police station. But it was fine. He grabbed a power bank along with a charging cable and headed out to grab a taxi.
When he arrived at the swimming center, he quickly found Shen Qing. The latter was leading training for the others in one of the training halls. When he saw Tang Yan his expression went strange, he said a few words to the a.s.sistant coach beside him and walked over at a brisk pace.
"Why didn"t you answer the phone?" Shen Qing asked urgently as soon as he reached Tang Yan.
"My phone died, I forgot to charge it last night. I texted you yesterday that I would be slightly late." Tang Yan explained.
"I saw your message, but how did the reporters find out? Your visit to the police station is all over Weibo and they"re spinning it!" Shen Qing said looking worried.
"Weibo? Reporters? What are you on about?" Tang Yan asked, confused.
"Did you fall asleep after texting me yesterday?" Shen Qing asked, thinking of something.
Tang Yan nodded.
"You...come with me." Shen Qing said and led Tang Yan to an office next door.
This was an office for the organizing committee, but Shen Qing had his ways. The people inside seemed to know him and after an exchange, everyone left the office, leaving just him and Tang Yan.
"Come here." Shen Qing sat by the computer and typed something, beckoning to Tang Yan.
Tang Yan walked over and found that the content on the screen was all news reports about him entering the police station yesterday.
"Reporters." Tang Yan said bitterly.
The media"s ability to catch the wind and capture shadows was exactly the same as in his previous life, there was no change at all.
Reading over this, he thought of Zhuang Jiajie, he couldn"t imagine how anxious he must be.
"Coach, can I borrow your phone." Tang Yan asked. "I need to call my agent."
Shen Qing, hearing that he was calling his agent, took out his phone from his pocket without saying anything and handed it over.
Tang Yan dialed Zhuang Jiajie"s number and walked out of the office.
"h.e.l.lo..."
"It"s Tang Yan"
"Tang Yan, why is the number....in fact it doesn"t matter, have you seen the news! Where are you?" Zhuang Jiajie"s rapid reply came over the phone.
"I"m at the swimming center, I"ve seen the news." Tang Yan replied
"I"ve prepared an apology statement, if we....."
"Hahaha there"s nothing to apologize for it"s a bunch of fake news" Tang Yan interrupted.
He ran through what had happened last night and caught up Zhuang Jiajie
"Wow...that"s....okay. I"ll prepare a clarification statement and send it over to you later." Zhuang Jiajie replied afterwards preparing to get to work.
"No! No need. Clarification from our side will only make things more complicated and it won"t resolve the matter completely. Call the Yuecheng District Public Security Bureau and ask them to give clarification."
"Arrrgh good thinking! Okay. You concentrate on the game, I"ll handle it." Zhuang Jiajie urged.
"Don"t worry I"m fine, talk to you later." Tang Yan replied with a slight laugh and hung up.
Hanging up the phone, Tang Yan saw Shen Qing come out of the office and he handed the phone back.
"Handled?" Shen Qing asked.
Tang Yan nodded and replied, "I"m going to warm up."
Shen Qing nodded. There was little more than half an hour left before the race. Even if it wasn"t handled properly, it could only wait till after the race.
When he arrived at the training hall, Tang Yan found that the atmosphere wasn"t right. Apart from Sun Yang, Ye s.h.i.+wen and Fu Yuanhui, who came to greet him. Everyone else seemed to avoid him, whether intentional or unintentional he didn"t know.
But the atmosphere was all wrong.
However he didn"t have the luxury to care, he had to warm up.
After twenty minutes, Shen Qing came back into the training hall.
The 100-meter b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke was going to begin soon.
Tang Yan and Li Xiang went ash.o.r.e to prepare.
"Don"t feel pressured." Shen Qing came over and said to the two of them, but from his gaze it was clear he was speaking mainly to Tang Yan.
Tang Yan and Li Xiang both nodded and walked out together.
The two pa.s.sed through the corridors and headed towards the compet.i.tion venue.
Arriving at the player tunnel, they got in line to be announced.