Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.\n
Everyoneâs attention was on Zhang Lingyi.\n
Zhang Lingyi appeared relaxed, and strolled up leisurely. He had a smile on his face, looking all suave. But the truth was that he was in turmoil. Good thing Laozi dressed up today â Iâm looking so handsome, Shoushou shouldnât lose any face.\n
Reaching Wang Guangning, he was calm and composed before everyone as he grasped Wang Guangningâs hand. It was then that he realized Wang Guangningâs palm was sopping with sweat.\n
He gently squeezed Wang Guangningâs hand, signalling him not to be nervous.\n
Wang Guangning felt the warmth of Zhang Lingyiâs hand, and relaxed gradually. He looked at the audience with a natural expression, and spoke unhurriedly: âAs everyone can see, Iâm a man, and Lingyi is also a man. But love does not sexually discriminate. I love him. Whether heâs a man or a woman is not whatâs important to me.â\n
The audience looked at one another, and fell silent.\n
Xu Guohui still had the microphone. Hearing this, he smiled: âLove in these times is so great. Not only is there no sexual discrimination, thereâs no âracialâ discrimination either. Wonder if Manager Wang will fall in love with a dog or a cat next time.â\n
Wang Guangning gave him a freezing glance. He had natural presence â with this one glance, Xu Guohui felt under heavy pressure. Wang Guangning smiled: âI donât have wide-ranging tastes like Mr. Xu. Would Mr. Xu be interested in sharing with everyone his research in this area?â\n
Xu Guohui was instantly infuriated: âWang Guangning, youâre just a dmned homo â what do you have to be proud about?â\n
Wang Guangning couldnât be bothered with him. He turned to the audience: âIâm a homosexual, this is true. And itâs because the person I love most in this world is a man. No one has made it so that love can only happen between a man and a woman. When Iâm with him, Iâm very happy, very content, and this is enough for me âŚâŚâ\n
Wang Guangning had wanted to continue, but stopped abruptly.\n
All of a sudden, he realized â love was, after all, just between two people, and no one elseâs business. There was no need for him to explain himself in front of all these people.\n
As he fell silent, Zhang Lingyi suddenly took over his microphone. He cleared his throat, and said: âSo what if Iâm dating Wang Guangning? Weâre happy on our own and not getting in anyoneâs way. Everyone can still live their own way, work their own way. No need to use this to trouble us or trouble yourselves. So I only have one thing to say â everyone just needs to wish us well! Thatâs it. You may now clap.â\n
The audience was stunned. Then, a few young ladies started applauding wildly. These were friends of Fumaokaisiâs admin girl (remember her? â the Amaterasu goddess who still owed everyone 10,000 words of hentai), dragged down to the exhibition by her to help with odd jobs and enliven the atmosphere. They were the bedrock of the fujoshi army, and before Wang Guangning came out of the closet, theyâd already been moe-ed to death. Now that they got to witness Zhang Lingyi and Wang Guangning, these two hotties, giving a grand display of their love, how could they keep their cool? They were all red with excitement and hollering on the inside â how daring! One look and you know heâs the gong â good on you, Manager Zhang!\n
Zhang Lingyi and Wang Guangning had outstanding looks. Though they were both men, they brought out the best in each other as they stood side by side. They were a perfect match â if a woman were to stand next to either of them, the glow would diminish. Moreover, they looked so natural and at ease, neither trying to hide nor giving the impression they were doing something shameful. They simply stood onstage, holding hands. That poise â it was as though they were born to be together.\n
Actually, the audience members had been in the business world for a long time. Theyâd seen all kinds of things while entertaining clients and authorities, including the ugliest side of them. Even if they disdained what they saw, they were skilful in keeping a straight face.\n
It was the way of their world â as long as there was money to be made, even if it was with a dog, someone would be willing to cooperate. Who would care whether you liked men or women?\n
So, though everyone had been shocked at first and gorged on the gossip â deep down, what did this have to do with them?\n
Sexual orientation wasnât an integrity issue. Like Zhang Lingyi said, the two of them being lovey-dovey behind closed doors didnât get in the way of anyone else. Everyone could still live their own way and work their own way.\n
No one would be dumb enough to not work with Wang Guangning just because he was dating a man â the point was that theyâd actually get to work with Fumaokaisi!\n
And truth be told, Zhang Lingyi and Wang Guangning really looked too good together. There wasnât a hint of repulsiveness. Everyone soon lost the mood of laughing at their expense.\n
They were all business partners, and those two were truly in love â why not be generous and wish them well?\n
And so, the scattered clapping grew louder, and swelled into resounding applause that filled the venue.\n
And it was prolonged applause.\n
Xu Guohui hadnât expected such a turnaround. Or rather, he hadnât expected Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi to come out of the closet so boldly and openly, and that everyone accepted it so easily. Young man, times have changed. Kennedy Xu and Chen Kun are openly flirting [the novelist and actor were jokingly flirting on Weibo, which pleased many a fujoshi], and you still want to use this sort of thing to knock down Wang Guangning? Too silly, too naĂŻve!\n
Xu Guohui was glum indeed.\n
Zhang Lingyi turned to Xu Guohui: âMr. Xu, based on the number of photos and their angle, they must have been secretly taken by a private investigator. No matter how you obtained the photos, I hope youâll watch out and not do this again.\n
Xu Guohui paled, but stubbornly resisted: âDonât try to slander me. This kind of dirty relationship, who knows who took the photos âŚâŚâ\n
Zhang Lingyi went cold, and glared at Xu Guohui till every hair on his back stood on end: âXu Guohui. Listen carefully. Liking men is not dirty. And so what if you like women? Do you think that makes you more noble than me?â\n
Xu Guohui had already been thoroughly cowed by Zhang Lingyiâs glare. Now that he was called out by Zhang Lingyi like this, he couldnât say a word in retort, and could only draw a blank.\n
Rather, it was the audienceâs wheels that started turning.\n
When Xu Guohui had first let the cat out of the bag, everyoneâs attention had been on Zhang Lingyi and Wang Guangningâs sexual orientation, and they paid Xu Guohui no mind. Now with Zhang Lingyiâs words, they noticed some problems. Why did Xu Guohui have these photos? Why did he choose to do this in front of everyone?\n
Setting aside the question of the photosâ origins for now, though everyone had been excited by the release of such explosive news, they didnât agree with Xu Guohuiâs way of doing things. A person who didnât respect other peopleâs privacy and even exposed them in public like this â to be involved with such a person, even to cooperate with them, was something that ought to be considered very carefully indeed.\n
And so, the whispers shifted from the topic of Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyiâs scandal to Xu Guohuiâs character.\n
As Xu Guohui felt the gazes surrounding him turn to suspicion and disdain, he felt a chill coming over him. Finally, he couldnât take it anymore and fled.\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator">\nWhen the product exhibition drew to a close, Old Zhou and Wang Guangning checked the inventory, and found that the number of orders exceeded their expectations by 20 percent.\n
It turned out that Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi coming out of the closet not only did no damage to Fumaokaisiâs image, but everyone ended up thinking that Wang Guangning was bold and responsible, as well as honest and practical. More than ever before, they felt reassured to work with him.\n
Seeing that the crisis had taken a favourable turn, Old Zhou was naturally all smiles. Right there, with much aplomb, he promised a raise for Wang Guangning.\n
Wang Guangning was relieved that the exhibition hadnât taken a hit because of him. Truth be told, when he stood onstage, heâd been prepared to lose everything.\n
Thankfully, so very thankfully âŚâŚ\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator">\nThat night, Old Zhou treated all the staff to a meal. He slapped Wang Guangning on the shoulder and asked him to bring along Zhang Lingyi.\n
Wang Guangning wanted to politely decline at first. On the one hand, he just wanted to conduct a quiet romance with Zhang Lingyi, rather than be so high profile about it. Moreover, Zhang Lingyi was a member of Huidi International after all.\n
On the other hand, Old Zhou felt their relationship had unwittingly helped fuel a lot of interest at their exhibition, and so he insisted on Zhang Lingyiâs presence. It would have been ungracious to turn down such a sincere invitation, so Wang Guangning ended up bringing along Zhang Lingyi.\n
Fortunately, Zhang Lingyi wasnât into acting coy, so he didnât refuse.\n
Dinner was held at a reasonably priced eatery that did local cuisine well. Fumaokaisiâs staff and some ad hoc workers totalled more than twenty, and sat at two tables.\n
Old Zhou, Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi naturally sat at the same table. Old Zhou was in a good mood and ordered plenty of dishes. There were even duplicates of the spicy salted prawns and oyster-sauce crabs.\n
Having been busy the whole day, everyone was famished and wolfing down the food. They were abuzz with happiness.\n
Of course, in the midst of eating, it was also important to peep at Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi now and then.\n
Though Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi had come out of the closet so openly, they werenât acting lovey-dovey. In fact, they were just focusing on their own food, rather than putting on a show of feeding each other â much to everyoneâs disappointment!\n
Since Old Zhou had the discretion to order so many plates of prawns and crabs, shouldnât a good gong peel and feed them to the shou? (Old Zhou: Iâm an innocent bystander, OK?)\n
The admin girl and her friends were chewing crabs while casting aspersions. = =\n
âGuangning~â Old Zhou gulped down some beer, and slapped Wang Guangning on the shoulder: âYou sure have hidden depths! No wonder you didnât like any of the girls I introduced to you. I thought you were setting your sights too high â turns out you already had someone, hahaha âŚâŚâ\n
Turning to Zhang Lingyi, he cheekily laughed: âXiao Zhang is not bad, quite compatible with Guangning!â\n
Zhang Lingyi smiled: âThank you for the compliment. Actually, youâre not wrong to say that Guangning sets his sights quite high â so donât introduce any more girls to him!â\n
Hearing this, Old Zhou was taken aback â then laughed out loud: âCertainly, certainly. I wouldnât dare to anyway â it would be tough to find someone was outstanding as you!â\n
Wei Yiwen, who was silently looking on, murmured: âNo wonder, no wonder~â\n
No wonder Zhang Lingyi had helped Wang Guangning by recommending staff.\n
But just as he said that, Yu Jing stuffed a crab leg in his mouth: âThis piece is fleshy. Eat more. Talk less.â\n
Wei Yiwenâs lip was cut by the shell on the crab leg. He frowned and slapped away Yu Jingâs hand, but didnât say anything else and focused on chewing the crab leg.\n
Old Zhou had a good sense of humour, and the Fumaokaisi staff were all quite young. Everyone got along really well, and the meal was happy and harmonious.\n
It was only that, right to the end, the admin girl and her friends didnât get to see Zhang Lingyi feed Wang Guangning, which was a matter of great regret.