Xie Yang woke up the next day and Qiu Xing was no longer in the room. There was a red envelope on the bedside table. The red envelope had the two characters ‘Xie Yang’ written on the front.

Xie Yang picked up the red envelope, touched the words on it and opened it. A card fell out. If he added this one, Qiu Xing had given him three cards. Wasn’t this too generous?

Xie Yang was amused as he got up and walked to his suitcase. He carefully put the red envelope in it and took out the gift that he had prepared from the bottom of a box. He got up and looked around the room before finally choosing to place the gift in the pocket of Qiu Xing’s coat.

At breakfast, Qiu Xing would glance at Xie Yang from time to time. It was as if he wanted to say something but was holding back. Xie Yang deliberately returned a doubtful gaze and Qiu Xing made an angry expression for the rest of breakfast.

After breakfast, Mother Qiu gave Qiu Xing and Xie Yang a red envelope. Qiu Xing deliberately held the red envelope and dangled it in front of Xie Yang. Xie Yang pretended not to know anything. He thanked Mother Qiu with a smile and placed the red envelope in his pocket.

“……”

Qiu Xing coughed hard.

Xie Yang was concerned. “Is your throat uncomfortable?”

Qiu Xing lifted the hand holding the red enveloped, touched his neck and shook his head. Then he stared straight at Xie Yang.

“Huh?”

Qiu Xing angrily headed upstairs.

A few minutes later, Qiu Xing came downstairs again. He was holding the jackets that he and Xie Yang were going to wear today. His eyebrows were raised high but his expression was strained, which made him look a bit fierce. He came up to Xie Yang and asked in a strange voice, “You…”

Xie Yang put on his coat and wondered, “What about me?”

Qiu Xing couldn’t help smiling slightly. He scoffed and raised a hand to press on Xie Yang’s head.

“I will let you go today.”

They got dressed and were careful to keep Mother Qiu warm. They pushed Mother Qiu in a wheelchair to the car and carefully settled her inside. It was New Year’s day and everyone was going to sweep the grave of Father Qiu.

On the way to the cemetery, Xie Yang took out his phone and turned it on. Once the signal was connected, many missed calls and unread messages flooded in. His mobile phone kept ringing and Mother Qiu and Qiu Xing glanced at Xie Yang.

“it is a small work thing.” Xie Yang explained. He muted his ringtone and first looked at the messages.

Most of them had been sent by Qin Cheng. Since last night, Qin Cheng had been reporting on the public opinion of Weibo until four in the morning. Xie Yang told Qin Cheng that he had been working hard. Then he exited WeChat and opened Weibo.

Due to Qin Cheng’s efforts all night, public opinion about Huangtian on Weibo successfully changed. Yesterday, the several hot searches about Mu Zhouyi completely misrepresented the rhythm. Now the netizens who listened to the recording were angry and disgusted. They cursed the He Rumin father and son before flooding Mu Zhouyi’s Weibo to tell her not to just secretly release the recording. They encouraged her to stand up and tell the truth. They told her not to be afraid of He Rumin’s suppression.

The water army mixed in the comments. They pretended to be fans and felt distressed for Mu Zhouyi. They took the opportunity to bring up Mu Zhouyi’s black materials some time ago, indicating that they were maliciously made by He Rumin in order to force Mu Zhouyi to submit.

Many netizens believed this. Topics about Mu Zhouyi being ‘poorly suppressed’, ‘the only female artist who dared to speak up’, ‘will never compromise and accept the unspoken rules even when suppressed’ and others gradually rose. Mu Zhouyi’s solo performance last night was also intercepted by a marketing account and posted on Weibo. It was very popular. Countless passersby who were sincere or who were influenced by the rhythm praised Mu Zhouyi and cheered for Mu Zhouyi, stating that Mu Zhouyi was very powerful and destined to succeed no matter where she went. There was no need for her to fear Huangtian.

At this point, public opinion had lifted Mu Zhouyi to a high place.

Now there were only three paths in front of Mu Zhouyi. She could follow the rhythm and tear up all pretenses with He Rumin, she could clarify the recording wasn’t made by her and be mocked by the netizens who had been supporting her or she could pretend to be dead and not appear.

No matter which one Mu Zhouyi chose, it would only be disgrace waiting for her.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. Ji Zehui was calling. Xie Yang plugged in his headphones and accepted the call.

“You finally turned on your phone!” Ji Zehui spoke excitedly, as fast as a machine gun. “Mu Zhouyi was so stupid that I was shocked! After He Rumin received the news that you asked me to pass on yesterday, he didn’t believe it at first. He truly thought it was the little star who tried to commit suicide making trouble. He was calling on all his connections to completely block the little star and suppress the matter about the hidden rules!

“As a result, last night’s recording and Mu Zhouyi’s several hot searches appeared. He Rumin went crazy. I really can’t figure out why Mu Zhouyi would want to ignite the fire while Huangtian was trying to suppress the hot searches. She shouldn’t have got mixed up with this. It was really stupid. Could she have found a new home to protect her so she doesn’t care?”

“She’s not stupid. I made her stupid.”

“……”

Ji Zehui’s tone suddenly became calm and cautious. “The chairman of Huangtian is still trying to protect the He Rumin father and son. However, there is a recording and the heat and pressure aren’t going away. He has to abandon them. He Rumin has no way to fight Huangtian’s decision so he is looking for Mu Zhouyi everywhere. I think they want a dogfight.”

He had wanted a dogfight.

Xie Yang was satisfied and praised the other person. “Well done. I will have the lawyer of Yang Xing contact you when Huangtian’s incident is over. If possible, I hope you can also take your agent Xiao Jin away with you.”

Ji Zehui answered easily. “No problem, no problem. Xiao Jin has a good relationship with me and will definitely go if I leave.”

“By the way, see if there are any talents in Huangtian worth digging. Contact them in advance and take away everything that can be taken.”

Ji Zehui choked. “You… you want to take advantage of the fire?”

“Why can’t I? Did you forget how Huangtian used to grab Yang Xing’s resources? This is just returning the favour.”

Yes yes, of course. Ji Zehui wittily replied and hung up the phone.

Xie Yang finished talking with Ji Zehui and sent a few messages to Liu Sha. He asked her to contact Ji Zehui in advance to dig resources from Huangtian.”

“What are you calculating now?”

Xie Yang’s senses returned and he glanced sideways at Qiu Xing. “It is the new year and I am going to fill up Yang Xing’s empty floors.”

Qiu Xing was silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “If a time comes when you have to sweep the grave…”

Xie Yang waited a long time but there were no other words. He asked, “What?”

Qiu Xing fell silent. He just reached across his mother and handled Xie Yang’s hand, kneading it as if thinking about something.

*** The car slowly stopped at the entrance of the cemetery. Xie Yang and Qiu Xing took Mother Qiu out of the car and settled her in the wheelchair. Then they pushed Mother Qiu toward the cemetery.

Father Qiu was buried in the middle of the cemetery next to other people from the Qiu family. By the time the trio arrived, there were already many relatives of the Qiu family gathered. Seeing Qiu Xing, several relatives stepped forward to say hello.

Qiu Xing’s reaction was indifferent. He simply responded to the greetings and then ignored them. He pushed his mother in front of his father’s grave. Mother Qiu had never looked at these people from beginning to end. She only stared straight at Father Qiu’s grave.

Many relatives of the Qiu family wisely left when they saw it. Only Qiu Jingbang stayed with his son. He shifted his gaze to Mother Qiu and said, “Ah Xing, you are usually my boss at the company and I can’t say anything. Now that we are standing in front of the Qiu family’s ancestors, Uncle cares about you a lot. You suddenly left to go abroad for so long. Are you… in bad health?”

Qiu Xing didn’t look at Qiu Jingbang as he replied, “The F branch is lacking a manager. Do you want to go?”

It was a blatant threat without caring about the other person at all. Qiu Jingbang’s expression sank. His gaze turned to Xie Yang and he wondered, “It is sweeping the graves of the Qiu family. Why is there an outsider?”

Xie Yang smiled.

Qiu Jingbang frowned. “What are you smiling about?”

“I’m smiling at some people who always expect others to die early but can’t tell that their own body is coming to an end.”

In the original novel, Qiu Jingbang also acted like this. However, it didn’t take long for him to enter the hospital due to a sudden brain hemorrhage. He died not long after, leaving a useless son in Rongding to bear the debts he left behind. In the end, the son couldn’t hold on and became a pawn bought by Feng Qinglin.

In Xie Yang’s eyes, Qiu Jingbang was the lowest level cannon fodder. Qiu Jingbang hadn’t expected a bought young man like Xie Yang would dare to curse him. He opened his mouth to angrily reprimand this person.

“Qingbang.” Mother Qiu slowly opened his mouth. “You are talking so much in front of your ancestors and your older brother. Aren’t you afraid they will come to have a chat with you at night?”

Qiu Jingbang’s face twitched but he didn’t dare to provoke Mother Qiu. He took his son away with a dark expression.

After sweeping the grave and returning to the car, Mother Qiu suddenly said, “Qiu Jingbang has a greedy heard. Today, Yang Yang has met your ancestors. You have to give Yang Yang an explanation quickly and don’t like he be wronged.”

Xie Yang heard the words and stared at Qiu Xing. Qiu Xing happened to be watching him. They looked at each other for a short time before Qiu Xing looked away first. “I know, Mom. Don’t worry about it.”

***

At around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the dogfighting show began.

Under the pressure of strong public opinion, Huangtian’s official Weibo issued an apology. In the announcement, Huangtian dumped all the blame for the unspoken rules on He Xun and He Rumin, stating that the company had no knowledge of their actions. They said that He Xun and He Rumin would be held accountable.

After that, it wasn’t long before He Rumin and He Xun came out to hold a press conference. At the meeting, He Rumin apologized for all the things that had been revealed in the past few days. He said he had let the company down, apologized to the little star and put all the faults on himself. He said he would assume the responsibility that he should bear and was very sincere.

Then after the press conference, He Rumin used a private account to expose his chats with a large number of female artists from the same company, including Mu Zhouyi.

In the records, Mu Zhouyi cordially called He Rumin ‘Brother Min’ and secretly sought He Rumin for resources while refusing to respond to He Rumin’s provocative remarks. This was completely inconsistent with the clean character that had been set up in yesterday’s hot search.

He Rumin posted the records and wrote: I am sorry to many people but those in the images below, you know what you are! In particular, Mu Zhouyi. I thought I was taking care of you yet you want to use me to run away from Huangtian? No chance!

The moment these chat records came out, Weibo was almost paralyzed again.

The melon eating netizens were stunned. Their high appreciation of Mu Zhouyi’s ‘clean flow’ previously was just how disgusted they were with her now. They flooded Mu Zhouyi’s Weibo and asked her to respond to these chat records.

***

Xie Yang closed Weibo, opened WeChat and clicked on Qin Cheng’s account.

Xie Yang: Delete the recording that first exposed it. My new song will be released at 8 p.m and it will be available for free on the entire Internet.

Mu Zhouyi had been overturned. It was time to cleanse the poison from the brains of those who had been bewitched by Mu Zhouyi’s voice.