The original singer had already come out to speak, and there was also evidence placed right there. This time, Yu Lun’s fans truly had nothing left to argue.
After Yu Lun’s fans disappeared into silence, the fighting spirit of the Tang fans still hadn’t dissipated. No one knew who brought the topic toward the production team, claiming that the production team should have had this evidence from the very beginning, after all, each promotional clip of every episode clearly showed there were behind-the-scenes filming materials. And after Xu Tang was falsely accused by Yu Lun, the production team should have immediately stepped out to clarify. Yet in reality, the production team had been pretending to be dead the entire time.
This only proved one thing: the program never valued Xu Tang. For the sake of ratings, they wanted to cleanly distance themselves and act like an innocent white lotus. And Shen Jiajia as well—being a fellow mentor, she knew the truth better than anyone, yet she also didn’t step out to say even a single word for Xu Tang. Truly hypocritical. When they invited Xu Tang, they only spoke nicely, but once something happened, they immediately shrank back into their shells like turtles.
These words were not without reason; it was just that at the beginning everyone was busy tearing into Yu Lun and had no energy to care about these things.
Thus, the production team and Shen Jiajia became the next targets. While Tang fans were attacking both sides, they also began launching a boycott of the program.
To reduce the impact, the production team issued a statement overnight, and attached edited behind-the-scenes clips. It looked like they were helping Xu Tang confirm that everything Kang Duo had posted was real, pushing all the blame onto Yu Lun. However, trying to shift with the wind at this point was clearly too late. Tang fans didn’t buy it at all, and Yu Lun’s fans were also unhappy—some diehards even felt the production team was kicking someone when they were down. Now speaking up was just trying to push Yu Lun into the mud. If they had released the statement earlier, things might not have escalated to this point, and they wouldn’t have ended up in such a huge conflict with Tang fans.
With the addition of He Xin fans and Zong Xuan fans, the boycott’s influence became quite significant.
The result was that the final episode of “Tianlai Zhi Wang” still only achieved the same ratings as the semi-finals.
This dissatisfaction wasn’t only from investors and the production team, but also from the contestants who had entered the finals. Today should have been their best chance to become famous, but instead, because ratings dropped, their exposure shrank, their popularity was affected, and this would also impact their future development.
But no matter what, “Tianlai Zhi Wang” still came to an end. As for whether there would be a next season, no one even cared anymore.
Xu Tang lay on the sofa scrolling through Weibo. In truth, he wasn’t scrolling his own news, but instead looking at Zong Xuan’s updates.
After Zong Xuan’s photos from attending his fan meeting were exposed, the “sweet life” of the two of them was also imagined by both fandoms into over a thousand different versions. Fanfiction, comics, and illustrations all emerged, and for a moment Xu Tang even had the illusion that “their life was really this happy.”
Some of Xu Tang thought it was quite nice, and he quietly saved a few of them. After they divorced, these things would no longer exist—he would keep a few as memories.
Online, there were also people asking for clearer footage of that day. Because the fan-recorded videos had decent audio, but the visuals were too blurry.
A fan meeting was not like a concert; it wouldn’t be officially released, so there were very few camera setups, just for commemoration. The company did in fact have clear footage, but it hadn’t been released. If it were released now, it could be seen as satisfying fans, but it might also be interpreted as premeditated planning. Even fan-uploaded videos could be twisted into being an official alternate account or bot behavior.
The company and Kang Duo both had experience with this kind of thing, so they could only endure it for now, and wait until a concert in the future to do it again and release it then, which would be more natural.
The phone rang. It was a message from Shen Jiajia, saying she had been busy helping Hao Xin with arranging compositions and practice lately and hadn’t paid much attention to outside matters. She was very sorry for letting him endure so much criticism.
Xu Tang replied politely, saying it was fine and that it had all passed.
This kind of fake politeness was something anyone could do, and Xu Tang understood it. Shen Jiajia was his senior; regardless of their relative strength, she had the pride of a senior and cared about her reputation and popularity. Choosing to avoid the storm to protect herself was something many people would do.
However, Xu Tang felt Shen Jiajia wasn’t very smart. After all, she was still in Huayan, and Huayan was his Xu family’s industry. Even if he and his brother wouldn’t abuse power for personal revenge, what about the other artists? Whether out of consideration for themselves or for his brother, they probably wouldn’t want to get too close to Shen Jiajia.
In contrast, He Xin would definitely gain favor from many company seniors this time. Being righteous and loyal was a very important character trait in the industry.
Once the matter was clarified, the storm passed, and the heat would fade in a single night. This was the speed of entertainment news—one could say it was extremely merciless.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for Zong Xuan’s mother Jiang Jie’s birthday banquet.
In the evening, Zong Xuan drove to pick up Xu Tang. Both of them wore suits—identical dark gray colors. There was no arrangement; it was just a coincidence that they matched.
Zong Xuan looked him over and asked, “When did you order this suit?”
“This season. Why?” Xu Tang asked. As celebrities, they had to keep up with fashion trends; outdated clothes were usually not worn. They had many clothes, but each piece was worn very few times. Private clothes were slightly better, while some brand-sponsored items were worn once and then left to gather dust.
“You haven’t been eating? You’ve gotten so thin that the clothes don’t even fit right anymore,” he said. He hadn’t paid much attention to Xu Tang’s weight before, and didn’t even know how much he weighed, but seeing the ill-fitting clothes made him realize Xu Tang had lost a lot of weight.
“I’ve been eating. Maybe it was already a bit big when it was delivered,” Xu Tang made an excuse.
“Who are you trying to fool?” Zong Xuan grabbed his wrist and measured it directly, frowning. “Are you planning to compete with female celebrities on weight now?”
“No, I’ve always been like this.”
“If you keep losing weight like this, people are going to think I’m abusing you in marriage.” Being a bit thinner was fine on camera, but not to the point of looking gaunt.
Xu Tang felt he was exaggerating a little. “That won’t happen.”
Zong Xuan didn’t start the car. He just looked at Xu Tang quietly for a while. “Are you not eating because you want a divorce from me?”
Xu Tang didn’t know how to respond and could only remain silent. He wasn’t not eating because he wanted a divorce, but because he missed Zong Xuan. At first it had been fine, but later on he didn’t know why, he just missed him terribly—so much it made him tired and bitter.
He had finally gotten the person he wanted, but in the end he let go himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t love anymore, but that he didn’t know what to do anymore. He wanted to stand his ground, so he chose to leave, only to realize that not loving was harder than loving.
He feared Zong Xuan treating him badly, but even more he feared Zong Xuan treating him well. Sometimes he even hated how useless he was—once love was given, it could not be taken back. It made him want to cry and feel exhausted.
At times he thought that maybe once he was completely worn out, he would stop loving.
But when would he ever be worn out?
Zong Xuan sighed helplessly and reached out to ruffle his hair. “It’s fine if you’re throwing a tantrum at me. It’s fine if you don’t appreciate it. But you need to take good care of yourself. Don’t make people worry.”
“Got it…” Xu Tang’s eyes stung a little, and he quickly lowered his head, not wanting to lose composure in front of Zong Xuan.
At the underground parking lot of the hotel, Zong Xuan parked the car. Xu Tang unbuckled his seatbelt and hesitated for a long time before saying, “Um… today, can you take care of me a little more?”
“What’s wrong?” Zong Xuan asked, thinking he was unwell.
“My family is also coming today. If we seem too distant, I’m afraid they’ll worry,” Xu Tang said softly.
Zong Xuan looked at him for a few seconds, then chuckled. “How are you so naive? Feels like you’d get easily tricked.” After saying that, he got out of the car first, then walked around to Xu Tang’s side to open the door for him.
After Xu Tang got out, Zong Xuan locked the car and held his hand, walking together toward the elevator. Xu Tang’s hand was warm, slender, with distinct joints; Zong Xuan found it comfortable to hold.
The banquet was held in the hotel ballroom. To ensure privacy, the Zong family had booked the entire floor.
As soon as they exited the elevator, they saw Zong Xuan’s elder brother Zong Huang standing at the entrance of the banquet hall, greeting guests.
Xu Tang always felt his own older brother was already stern, but compared to Zong Huang, who seemed almost devoid of expression, it was still nothing.
Seeing them, Zong Huang nodded. “You’re here?”
“Brother,” both of them obediently greeted him.
Zong Huang looked satisfied. “Go in. Mom and Dad are inside. Xu Tang, you look thinner—come home when you’re free, let the family cook for you and nourish you.”
The Zong family had always been good to Xu Tang. Even this unsmiling older brother cared about him.
“Brother, I’ll take care of him,” Zong Xuan smiled.
Zong Huang glanced at him. “You? Forget it.”
Zong Xuan felt like he might have been picked up from the trash heap—Xu Tang was the real son.
Zong Huang patted Xu Tang’s shoulder and said, “There’s a chef hired today. Eat whatever you want. Don’t be shy.”
“Okay,” Xu Tang nodded.
In events like birthday banquets, very few people were actually there for the food; most were there to drink, chat, and build connections.
“The we’ll go in first,” Zong Xuan said.
Zong Huang nodded.
Zong Xuan then held Xu Tang’s hand and entered the banquet hall.
Many guests had already arrived, chatting and drinking, the hall lively and bustling.
The Xu family had not arrived yet, so Xu Tang relaxed slightly. Their appearance also drew quite a bit of attention, after all, both of them were top-tier celebrities in the entertainment industry, and many elders here were fans of their work.
Zong Shi and Jiang Jie noticed them and, after saying a few words to the guests they were entertaining, walked over.
“Mom, happy birthday,” Zong Xuan said with a smile. The gift he prepared had already been sent directly to the house a couple of days ago.
“Thank you,” Jiang Jie touched his face. All three of her sons were outstanding, but the most handsome was still Zong Xuan.
“Mom, happy birthday,” Xu Tang said, taking out his gift.
“Thank you,” Jiang Jie stepped forward and hugged him. “Your gift is always exactly to my taste.”
This brand was her favorite, without exception. As someone always at the forefront of fashion, just by looking at the box shape and the small year marking on it, she could roughly guess what was inside.
Zong Xuan looked at the box and was somewhat surprised. He knew his mother liked this brand, but precisely because of that, he didn’t buy it. Because she bought every new season herself—giving it again would likely be a duplicate.
Jiang Jie smiled. “Come on, help me put it on. I’ve been wanting this for a long time.” She opened the box, and indeed it was the necklace she had resisted buying.
Jiang Jie was delighted, and Xu Tang naturally was too, so he personally helped her put on the necklace.
Jiang Jie happily linked her arm with Xu Tang’s. “Let’s go, darling. Mom will introduce you to a few people.”
Watching his mother take Xu Tang away, Zong Xuan quietly asked his father, “Does Mom already have that necklace?”
Zong Shi, though smiling, had a tone of mild disdain. “You really should put more effort into Xu Tang. Don’t just focus on work or talk nonsense all day. Do you even know what to cherish? Your mother and I can’t help you forever.”
After saying that, Zong Shi went off to greet others as well.
Zong Xuan stood there blankly. Why did it feel like the moment Xu Tang arrived, he became the one who was adopted…
Fine. He wouldn’t go bother his parents anymore—he’d go get food for that little guy first and feed him properly!