CH 63.2

This chapter is extra long, I hope you like it~

At noon, Weibo was still buzzing about Jian Zhi and Shen Xingsui.

The main reason was that Jian Zhi’s fans were not forgiving, they ran to Shen Xingsui’s account to pick a fight, and even pointed fingers at Shen Xingsui’s fans.

At noon, Shen Xingsui updated his blog post, released the old version of the score, and also included the music he played. This score was composed by him many years ago, but it was similar enough to Jian Zhi’s song. Alongside all of that, Shen Xingsui also wrote down his explanation.

As soon as the Weibo post was published, it immediately became viral.

Wang Meican’s PR team was the first one to take control of the public opinion. The water army accounts posted:

[Ah, now that I see this, I can really see the full version of the chorus!]

[Eh, this is just so-so.]

[Don’t you think the accusation against Shen Xingsui feels strange? If he really wants to plagiarize, why does he choose a famous song from a famous celebrity? It’s far too easy to be found out, you know.]

[Upstairs, I agree! If it was me who did that, I’d definitely choose an unknown small composer or something. Pretty sure it’s safer too! Not that I’ll do something like that, okay!]

With this public opinion guidance, the public was beginning to be swayed. There’s also a couple netizens who knew a thing or two about music, and they did fond something noteworthy:

[Suisui’s songs really have his own habits.]

[Yes, I don’t really know about the details. But the feeling is just similar, y’know?]

[Hahaha, I think because the song always ends with an E minor chord! Probably because he’s still a new composer.]

[I listened to Jian Zhi’s song again, and lo and behold, I do find that the chord progression from  the chorus to the second verse to be ill-matched. I was wondering at the beginning why a mature singer like Jian Zhi would make such a mistake. It turned out that he stole his younger brother’s work, and just stitched it together.]

A lot of people who were mocking Shen Xingsui began to change their tune. With new evidence in sight, their attitude became more critical.

But of course, this wouldn’t deter Jian Zhi’s fans. Some even started to sneer at this evidence.

[This is what you call strong evidence?]

[I just took a random score from Baidu, and I said it was my own. Easy-peasy!]

[Is this leech still hellbent on stealing our gege’s fame?]

But what was different from before is that the neutral netizens didn’t support Jian Zhi much.

While everyone was discussing, someone discovered that Anran actually posted on Weibo. He posted a group photo on Weibo. It was at night, with Jian Zhi behind him. The singer was bowing his head on the desk despite it being very late into the night. Holding the guitar and writing songs, there were many rejected music scores scattered about.

Anran attached the text: [Erge has been working hard.]

This Weibo was a secret counterattack against Shen Xingsui, and it also showed Jian Zhi’s attitude to the public. If the implication was made explicit, it probably said, “Jian Zhi is working very hard composing music. Look and see how many rejected versions are on the floor! It’s not easy, you know. Praise him!”

Of course, this garnered positive attention from Jian Zhi’s and Anran’s fans.

[Zhi-ge has been working hard, trust his actions and words, please.]

[Ranran really has a good relationship with his brother.]

[Very unlike Shen Xingsui, the plastic1fake brother, who is still trying to leech fame like a blood-sucking parasite.]

[The Jian family raised him, and he returned that kindness with this accusation? Just destroy this white-eyed wolf’s career already!]

Netizens were caught by Anran’s rhythm, and began to stand in their side again.

It was already late at night, but Weibo was quite lively. When this Weibo of Anran was making noise, everyone was surprised that Shen Xingchen also posted a Weibo ten minutes later. It was quite a dramatic turn of events.

Shen Xingchen posted a picture, which was a picture of him in the gym. In the picture, he was running on a treadmill, clearly panting. The caption on the picture is: [I have been working hard.]

Netizens clicked on the post, and the top comment of the post was Shen Xingchen’s reply on his own post: [SIKE! I’m lying to you, in fact, I only ran for two minutes, hahahahaha!]

This… was his usual Husky2a slang for loud and stupid, yet endearing people. Bonus points if they’re dramatic as hell. Like a husky. style.

Clearly, this post was a jab at Anran’s post. His ironic ability has reached the MAX, and he was directly making a fool of Anran’s post.

‘What? You say Jian Zhi is working hard by just a staged picture? Look, I can stage something so easily too~ But well, I’m not going to directly say this is a response to your post.’

Netizens were eating melon seeds happily:

[Hahaha, sure enough, the young master really knows how to make a post.]

[Young Master Shen has mastered the way of the entertainment circle.]

[God I love him.]

[Young Master Shen is strong enough to protect his younger brother, while Jian Zhi has to rely on his younger brother to protect him.]

[The debut of these boys are a blessing. I’m being entertained every day because of the drama.]

Shen Xingsui himself finally returned home. He directly went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, so he didn’t know the current turn of events in Weibo. For now, there were three related hot searches hanging up on Weibo:

#ShenXingsui’sResponse#

#Anran-gegeIsVeryUseful#

#ShenXingchenIsWorkingHard#

After seeing that Weibo post, Shen Xingsui really couldn’t laugh or cry. He didn’t expect Shen Xingchen to join in now because he was away on a job and wasn’t home. So, he could only call his brother. But, when the call connected, Shen Xingchen could only say a couple of sentences before hanging up, “Now now, I’m busy. I’m currently fighting for my life in a 1v20 with my trumpet. Tsk tsk tsk, these anti-fans of yours are quite vicious, yeesh! I refused to go down in a loss, so I’ll talk to you later, when I triumph over these worm-for-brains. See ya!”

Shen Xingsui: “…”

He was a bit miffed, but he had to admit that Shen Xingchen was hilarious.

Not long after, Shen Xingchen took time out of his busy schedule to reply to him:  [By the way, you remember to listen to all of Jian Zhi’s songs to see if he stole another one of your compositions. Make sure to watch Anran too, that Jian family is a bunch of shitheads! You’d better go and have a look, okay?]

Shen Xingsui responded obediently.

But he didn’t think about doubting Anran in the past. After all, he was the protagonist… would he do that kind of thing?

Shen Xingsui always knew that he was a cannon fodder, he didn’t dare to compete with Anran. But now he was a little uncertain after hearing Shen Xingchen’s words, so he searched Anran’s works and found that he didn’t release many songs. He listened to a couple of them, and he was relieved that none of them was stolen from his creation.

After that, he started to listen to Jian Zhi’s song, and flipped through Jian Zhi’s Weibo along the way.

They were filled with pretentious photos and captions. He felt so bored reading all of them.

Just when Shen Xingsui was about to exit the app, something caught Shen Xingsui’s eyes. It was a wooden carving in the shape of Jian Zhi. It was placed on Jianzhi’s table. The carving might not be the best, but it looked like it was made with a lot of effort.

Jian Zhi took a photo and captioned it: [My didi gave me a birthday present, I am very happy!]

And he mentioned Anran.

Anran replied with a happy emoticon: [As long as my brother likes it, no matter how hard it is, it’s worth it!]

Shen Xingsui looked at the wooden carving in the photo, and his heart slowed down a few times. Not for others, but because of this carving. It took him half a year to finish this small wooden carving! At that time, it was only half-finished. He always wanted to please his brothers and father, so he wanted to do something to win back their hearts. Unfortunately, before the wooden carving was finished, the Jian family had already decided to get Anran back.

Later, he threw the semi-finished product in the box in his room, and he didn’t take it away either.

Why…

How did it appear here?

And why was Anran the hard-working person? That wooden carving was obviously made by him who worked hard to learn the technique. Did he even know how many times his fingers were cut during the process?

“…”

Just as Shen Xingsui was brewing in his anger, his phone rang.

He picked it up, and Wang Meican immediately talked before he could, “Suisui, you really hit your luck this time, guess who contacted me just now?”

Shen Xingsui didn’t have any idea. “Who?”

Wang Meican smiled from ear to ear, “It’s Zhang Jiang, that very famous music producer and director! Do you still remember, the song that your Teacher Fu won at the Golden Melody Award two years ago was produced by Zhang Jiang. He contacted me today, saying that he was very interested in you after hearing your a song you composed. He just has a project in his hand, and wants to cooperate with you. Basically, he asked about your schedule.”

Zhang Jiang?

Of course he knew! This producer was the music supervisor appointed by Teacher Fu!

Shen Xingsui stuttered, “Re-Really? Is it really Mr. Zhang Jiang? Could it be a mistake? Why did he ask for a collaboration with me?”

“No mistake, he really asked for you,” Wang Meican smiled, then continued, “You go to Hengtong Building tomorrow and bring your work with you. This opportunity is rare. How many people in this circle are desperate to cooperate with Zhang Jiang? You must seize this opportunity!”

Shen Xingsui knew this. He immediately agree, “I know Wang-jie!”

The appearance of this good luck also interrupted Shen Xingsui’s anger towards Anran. After answering the phone, he went to the music room to sort out all his music scores, including “Of Great Rivers”, the score he originally composed for “Mountains and Rivers”.

He was too excited that he basically prepared everything now, including his clothes. Thankfully, he could sleep peacefully.

The next day, he went to the Hengtong Building bright and early. Unfortunately, he was told that director Zhang Jiang was only free in the afternoon, so he came too early.

Shen Xingsui said to the receptionist, “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll just wait here.”

The receptionist smiled and said, “It’s fine if you go back, just come over in the afternoon. Director Zhang Jiang is busy, so there’s still a chance he might not have time for a meeting this afternoon.”

Shen Xingsui shook his head holding his music score and musical instrument, “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll just wait.”

Seeing that Shen Xingsui couldn’t be budged, the receptionist asked a staff member to lead him to a quiet corridor and brought him a glass of water.

Shen Xingsui was sitting in the corridor, but after a while he heard footsteps coming from the other side of the corridor.

“Suisui?” Anran’s voice sounded, and he was still following his manager. Seeing Shen Xingsui, he smiled and said, “It’s a surprise to meet you here.”

Shen Xingsui raised his head and frowned when he saw him. He didn’t answer Anran.

But Anran still continued, “I’m here to work, and I received an invitation to arrange the music for ‘Mountains and Rivers’.”

“Ah, I’m sorry!” Anran seemed to ‘finally’ remembered. But his eyes clearly showed that this was not a coincidence, “I forgot that you were kicked out of this project. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I wanted to catch up with you. Why don’t you come to you after I finish this meeting?”

“…”

Shen Xingsui was not as angry as he expected.

On the contrary, Shen Xingsui smiled, which was completely different from his usual smile. It was cold and full of irony, “Anran, you don’t have to be sorry for me. In fact, I actually want to meet you. It’s very fortunate that we met today.”

Anran didn’t expect this answer.

Inexplicably, he had an ominous premonition.

“As to why I was kicked out from this project… I think you are clear about it. Of course, since I have nothing to do with “Mountains and Rivers” now, so you can forget about it.” Shen Xingsui stood up. He was obviously the same height as Anran, but he felt looming above Anran. Somehow, Shen Xingsui could exert such a dangerous pressure, suffocating him. “However, I really didn’t expect that you like to pick up other people’s things so much.” Anran frowned, he didn’t like the implication, “What do you mean? “

Shen Xingsui pursed his lips into a mirthless smile, “You don’t know what I mean? Well, well, then how did that wood carving become yours?”

Anran’s face turned pale instantly.

That wood carving was made before participating in the survival show. At that time, Anran especially wanted to please the members of the Jian family. He found something that was handmade by Shen Xingsui, and it was clearly full of sincerity. So, he took it directly, and finished the carving by watching a tutorial to polish it. At that time, he didn’t take Shen Xingsui seriously at all, and he wasn’t afraid of being exposed.

First of all, at that time, the Jian family hated Shen Xingsui very much. Even if Shen Xingsui came back and made a noise, no one would believe him.

Secondly, Shen Xingsui did not enter the entertainment industry in his previous life. Anran thought that they wouldn’t meet again so long he followed his previous life’s footsteps. He was confident that Shen Xingsui had no chance to find fault with him.

Thirdly, Shen Xingsui died early at that time, so of course he was not afraid of any troubles in the future.

Now…

Something that he forgot was brought up again. Looking at the imposing Shen Xingsui in front of him, Anran’s little pride just now turned into bubbles in an instant. He was even a little scared in his heart, “What, what wood carving?”

“Do you still want to play pretend?” Shen Xingsui raised his face and leaned closer, “Although I have lost my original music score of that song for several years, that wood carving was just made this year. Back then, I took a lot of photos of the process. All of the evidence is in my phone. Do you want me to show you all of them?”

Anran’s eyes widened, his heart sank to the bottom.

His agent at the back said curiously, “Ranran, what’s going on?”

Now that Anran had lost his arrogance, he turned around to see his agent, and quickly said, “I’m sorry, jie, I can’t go for now because of some emergency. You say hello in my stead to the production team. I’ll come back later!”

The Agent: “You…”

Anran seemed afraid of being heard by his agent, and pulled Shen Xingsui to the lounge outside to run away.

Shen Xingsui was dragged to the lounge by him, and frowned, “What on earth do you want?”

“Suisui…” Anran was completely cowardly this time. “Can you let me go? I-I was wrong, I was blinded at that time. I really don’t want to steal your things, really, I know I’m wrong, don’t… Anyway, you don’t like the Jian family anymore, and you don’t care what Jian Zhi thinks of you, yeah? Just help me this time. Don’t tell them, okay? Please?”

Shen Xingsui looked at Anran who was begging him with panic in his eyes.

He felt amused.

It’s really funny how things turned out.

In the past, he also cried and begged Anran to let him go, not to let him leave the Jian family’s house, to let Anran forgive him, and not to “misunderstood” him so much. But Anran never gave him the slightest way out.

“Jian Anran.” Shen Xingsui’s heart was surprisingly calm at the moment. “I am indeed not from Jian’s family now, and I don’t care what they think anymore.”

Anran nodded frantically, with some hope in his heart .

Shen Xingsui’s next sentence seemed to throw him into hell in an instant, “But I have one condition, I can let go of the wood carving… In return, you must take me back to Jian family house. I want to take back everything I have in my previous room. Everything.”

Anran was taken aback.

Shen Xingsui stood in front of him, looking at him directly, “Why, can’t you do it?”

Anran hesitated, “But, Erge locked your room a while ago, and no one else is allowed to enter.”

“I believe you can do it,” Shen Xingsui smiled. He had never been so happy that Anran was the protagonist. Nothing could stand in his way, right? “There is nothing that can trouble you, is there?”

Anran was still hesitating.

Finally, Shen Xingsui issued an ultimatum, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to. Anyway, Jian Zhi still wants to meet me to talk about that song scandal. Why don’t I tell him about the wooden carving? I just don’t know what he will do to you when he knows that his good little brother stole someone’s semi-finished product as his birthday gift. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled about knowing the truth.”

These words were too extreme, and directly shattered the hesitation in Anran’s heart!

Anran’s eyes flickered slightly, and he finally gritted out, “Then, can you promise me that after you take the things, don’t tell other people that I brought you in. Just say that you broke into the room and took them away. If you agree, I will think about it. I, I even will find a way to get the key to the room and turn off the monitoring. But for the rest, I can’t help you in any way.”

Shen Xingsui smiled sweetly.

Ah, being a vicious villain had its positive sides, too.

He just wanted to laugh. Of course Anran knew what he was going back to find, and he also knew what consequences would happen to Jian Zhi once he got back those scores and things.

But why should he care about them? If they suffered because of this, he’ll just giggle and laugh about it.

On the contrary, Anran planned quite a detailed ‘excursion’. “Give me two days, and I will call you. At that time, my father and elder brothers are going on a business trip, and there is no one at home.”

The ironic smile in Shen Xingsui’s eyes deepened, and he reached out to Anran for the first time in forever, “Let’s have a pleasant cooperation.”

The author has something to say:

If Jian Zhi knows about this Anran: You really are filial.

1fake2a slang for loud and stupid, yet endearing people. Bonus points if they’re dramatic as hell. Like a husky.