Chapter 42

Chapter 42

As soon as Ning Yichu said this, Fang Shanyou's expression faltered for a moment.

But he immediately continued with a smile, "What are you implying, Teacher Ning? I was just offering some words of comfort. If they sounded unpleasant, then I won't say any more. My apologies if I offended you. By the way, my teammates haven't introduced themselves yet..."

"You think you can offend someone and just act like it never happened? Who told you I have such a good temper?" Ning Yichu interrupted. "Ning Anxia?"

"Huh?! Ning Anxia?!"

"That's the boss of Xiazhi Entertainment, Ning Zeshu's fifth aunt, right?"

"Why mention her all of a sudden?"

"Why is it related to the Ning family again... they're like a haunting. If I were Ning Yichu, I'd lose my mind."

"But if it's related to the Ning family, then it explains why Fang Shanyou suddenly pulled this stunt."

【So mean, Fang Shanyou. 'Comforting' a bullying victim by saying their abuser 'trained their resilience'... I couldn't even come up with such a line if I tried to pick a fight on purpose.】

"Uh... I've seen some of Fang Shanyou's dramas before. I always thought he was the sunny, sensible 'big boy' type..."

"Every time I see adult male celebrities being called 'big boys,' I feel so speechless I want to laugh."

"Ning Yichu mentioned Ning Anxia, meaning Ning Anxia arranged for him to do this, right?"

"Was Fang Shanyou threatened?"

"But he seems quite in his element, letting his true colors show. Even if he was threatened to pick on Ning Yichu, it doesn't stop him from releasing his true nature. Otherwise, as said before, even if you tried to pick a fight on purpose, you couldn't come up with such a disgusting, mean-spirited line as Fang Shanyou's."

"Does Fang Shanyou know Ning Anxia? Is their boy band under Xiazhi Entertainment?"

"No, Tomato has nothing to do with Xiazhi Entertainment."

"Save me! My friend stans Alien, I stan Tomato. On the first day, she instantly un-stanned and was so upset she stopped watching the show. I was trying to get her to watch Tomato's appearance..."

"To be honest, I want to muzzle Fang Shanyou right now, begging him to stop talking. Tomato is disbanding in less than half a month, go out on a good note, please!"

"Muzzling Fang Shanyou would require time travel back to a minute ago. It's useless now. Clearly, Ning Yichu isn't that easy to bully, and it sounds like Ning Yichu really knows Fang Shanyou's dirty secrets."

"Hehehe, this gossip-loving passerby is getting excited again."

"Fans of other Tomato members, don't be afraid, maybe only Fang Shanyou's house will collapse..."

Hearing Ning Yichu directly name Ning Anxia, Fang Shanyou's smile disappeared for several seconds. When he forced it back, the strained smile was especially obvious: "Teacher Ning, why suddenly mention someone else..."

"To be honest, I am in the entertainment industry, and I watched the first day's live stream of this show. So if I said I had no idea who this 'Ning Anxia' you're referring to is, that would be insulting everyone's intelligence. But I really am not familiar with this boss of Xiazhi Entertainment..."

Ning Yichu blinked: "Not being familiar is normal. That part might not be a lie."

Fang Shanyou was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Ning Yichu continue: "Just like me. Although I also know your dirty secrets, we're not familiar either."

Fang Shanyou was speechless: "You..."

Ning Yichu looked towards the nearby cameras: "The audience must be quite curious. Why is Fang Shanyou acting unhinged, publicly picking a fight with me?"

Not only was the audience curious, but the other guests present were also quite puzzled.

Among Fang Shanyou's four teammates, someone whispered at this moment: "Shanyou, what are you doing..."

Fang Shanyou gritted his teeth, still trying to salvage the situation as he said to Ning Yichu: "Teacher Ning, I apologize for what I just said to you. I admit I did it on purpose, but there's no other hidden reason. It's purely my personal selfishness. You're getting a lot of attention now, and I wanted to stir up topics to ride on your popularity. I'm sorry."

Ning Yichu smiled slightly: "Such a heroic self-sacrifice. I bet the audience is even more curious now."

"Yes, yes, yes (nodding like a chick pecking at rice)."

"Wow, to make Fang Shanyou choose such a self-incriminating explanation, just to cover up the hidden reason..."

"He doesn't want Ning Anxia to be dragged into this, right? Seems like he's quite protective of her (Although this is just speculation for now, judging from Ning Yichu and Fang Shanyou's attitudes, it's basically certain Ning Anxia instigated it, right?)."

"I don't think it's to protect Ning Anxia. If Ning Yichu continues talking, even if he doesn't expose Fang Shanyou's dirty secrets, Ning Anxia would expose them because he messed up the task and dragged her into it."

【I think so too. When Ning Yichu said he knew Fang Shanyou's dirty secrets, he used the word 'also.' Connecting it, it should mean Ning Anxia also knows Fang Shanyou's dirty secrets and used that to pressure him into doing this. Fang Shanyou is afraid his dirty secrets will be exposed, so he'd rather admit he wanted to take a shady path for attention. At most, that would just damage his image a bit.】

【Unfortunately, Fang Shanyou still underestimated Ning Yichu. Ning Yichu won't stop 'hunting him down' just because he folded immediately, haha.】

"Now I'm even more curious about Fang Shanyou's dirty secrets."

"By the way, how could Ning Yichu immediately confirm this was related to Ning Anxia?"

"These Tomato members were originally the second-phase guest stars. I guess, like with the Alien members' dirty secrets before, Ning Yichu did some advance research just in case."

"Poor A Ning. Just recovered from illness, still wearing a mask to avoid relapse, and now has to deal with this messy business again."

Fang Shanyou still wanted to stop him, but Ning Yichu was tired of circling around and directly helped him come clean: "I guess the sharp audience has already guessed. It was the boss of Xiazhi Entertainment, also my nominal fifth aunt, who instructed Teacher Fang to come and get under my skin."

This incident actually happened in the previous life during the show as well. However, in the previous life, Fang Shanyou wasn't this impatient and obvious. He was more measured, occasionally annoying Ning Yichu in ambiguous ways.

Even though the goal was to make Ning Yichu look bad, Fang Shanyou used methods that seemed friendly at first glance, a bit weird upon closer inspection, but if you scrutinized them, you could be accused of being too sensitive or thinking too ill of people.

Plus, in the previous life, Ning Yichu hadn't won over the audience like he has now. So, in the previous life, Fang Shanyou completed Ning Anxia's task perfectly, with the audience having no suspicions.

But in this life, the audience likes Ning Yichu's straightforward, gossip-loving style and sympathizes with his past experiences, making them naturally rally behind him. Ning Yichu also doesn't tolerate any discomfort. So, for Fang Shanyou to complete Ning Anxia's task now, the starting difficulty was already much higher.

Logically, Fang Shanyou should have been even more careful than in the previous life. But he came out swinging right from the start, as if afraid the show would start late...

Ning Yichu guessed that the Ning family, enraged by yesterday's public opinion backlash, wanted to vent. Ning Anxia, eager to see Ning Yichu uncomfortable, gave much stronger orders than in the previous life. Last time, she just casually mentioned it, not taking it too seriously.

In this life, under strong pressure, Fang Shanyou didn't have time to act slowly like before—first being friendly, then suddenly digging pits for Ning Yichu. That "long game" approach also couldn't satisfy the Ning family's current emotions.

He had to show Ning Anxia the desired scene from the beginning, which meant his public image would inevitably suffer. But he had to do it because "when faced with two evils, choose the lesser one."

Memories from the previous life flashed through Ning Yichu's mind as he leisurely satisfied the gossip-loving crowd's curiosity: "And why was Teacher Fang willing to damage his own reputation to agree to this? Why did he rather admit to having bad intentions just now to keep Ning Anxia out of it... Of course, it's because Ning Anxia has dirt on him. If those dirty secrets were exposed, it wouldn't be just a bit of reputation damage, right, Teacher Fang?"

Fang Shanyou gritted his teeth: "Teacher Ning, I really know I was wrong. Can't you cut me some slack?"

"Wow, pleading in public. Seems the shady secret is really big."

"Alright then, this fan is packing up, ready for the idol's fall from grace. Luckily, I haven't been a fan for long, easier to mend a broken heart..."

"Teacher Fang, you're not going to say Ning Anxia forced you, and you actually didn't want to target me, are you?" Ning Yichu looked at Fang Shanyou with composure.

Fang Shanyou, still hoping to sweep the matter under the rug, nodded without thinking: "I have no grudge against you, Teacher Ning. After learning about your past, I sympathize with you. If not forced, why would I target you? It's bad for my reputation too. I'm really sorry, Teacher Ning. I really, really know I was wrong..."

"You know you were wrong because you didn't expect that I also know your dirty secrets and that picking on me would backfire, not because you genuinely think it was wrong to do." Ning Yichu curled his lip slightly.

"You were threatened by Ning Anxia because you indeed have things that can't see the light. Don't act all pitiful. Moreover, although you were unhappy about Ning Anxia threatening you, you were quite enthusiastic when carrying it out. It didn't look forced at all. In fact, you were quite happy to have a chance to let your true self out, right?"

Fang Shanyou gritted his teeth: "...Do you have to be so confrontational?"

Ning Yichu couldn't hold back a chuckle. "If Teacher Fang had known earlier that being pushy isn't endearing, and hadn't come to me with those 'comforting' words in the first place, I probably wouldn't have bothered talking to you for a good while. But you insisted on picking a fight with me right from the start. See? Now you're just making more work for the production team again."

As he spoke, Ning Yichu glanced at the other four members of Tomato. "But since there are five of you here, having one leave early shouldn't make much of a difference, right?"

Hearing this, the production team—who were torn between wanting the drama and fearing another guest being taken down completely—breathed a sigh of relief. Fang Shanyou's four teammates and their solo fans also breathed a sigh of relief.

Fang Shanyou, however, realized that Ning Yichu truly wasn't going to let him off the hook. If his skeletons in the closet were exposed, he would end up like the members of Alien—infamous and disgraced. This show might very well be his last public appearance.

But Ning Yichu was clearly someone who couldn't be swayed by either soft or hard tactics. Just look at what happened with the three from Alien: Ji Tianfeng and Zheng Gu were so "unyielding," and Shen Zhou remained silent without refuting anything, yet none of that stopped Ning Yichu from airing all their dirty laundry.

Fang Shanyou felt utterly hopeless.

"Let's take things one at a time... Mr. Fang, do your fans know that back when you were an idol and claiming to be single, you were already dating a female fan? And does your girlfriend know that you were already married before your debut and are planning for a third child?" Ning Yichu began his exposé unhurriedly.

Fang Shanyou's face went completely blank.

His teammates, realizing they weren't involved, relaxed and now joined the spectators in shock. "Really? Shanyou?"

"Holy crap, dating, marriage, and three kids..."

"Marriage itself—if it's a proper relationship leading to marriage, the general public wouldn't care. If fans turned against him just for that, people might even think the fans were overreacting. Most fans would probably find a silver lining, like praising their idol for being mature and responsible."

"But he got married before his debut! And during his idol days, he was leading fans on while promising to be single, and even dated a fan..."

"Deceiving fans and cheating on his wife by sleeping with a fan..."

"Three kids, my god. I just looked it up—this Fang Shanyou is only twenty-six, and he's already planning for a third child?"

"And he debuted as a member of Tomato three years ago. Including his time on the survival show, it's been less than four years total. That means he got married as soon as he reached the legal age. If the first two were born within the marriage, that means he barely let his wife recover before having another..."

"If the first two weren't born within the marriage, that's even more shocking. What kind of backward thinking is that? Early marriage and childbirth aren't supposed to be like this—it's way too feudal."

"Hmm, I'm guessing the first two might have been daughters, so he's trying for a third to get a son."

"Wow, starting off with something this intense? And Ning Yichu said he's taking things one at a time—there's more to come!"

"Fang Shanyou looks like he's given up struggling..."

"Oh no, he looks like he's about to say something."

"Let's hear how he tries to weasel out of this."

Fang Shanyou was indeed in despair. Learning from Alien's lesson, he didn't want to deny it like a clown, blatantly lying through his teeth. After all, if Ning Yichu brought it up, he must have a way to prove it. Denying it would be useless and only deepen the negative impression among the spectators.

But he still didn't want to give up just yet. He tried to fish for sympathy: "I admit it. I got married a long time ago, and my wife is now pregnant with our third child. I also cheated on her and dated a fan..."

"Whoa, I thought he was going to deny it, but he just admitted it, plain and simple!"

"I get it now. The next act must be 'I have my reasons, I'm pitiful, I'm in pain...'"

As if echoing the barrage of comments, Fang Shanyou continued, "But I have my reasons!"

"My original name was Fang Shanyou, with the 'you' meaning 'friend.' I changed it to the 'you' meaning 'swim' to sound less rustic after my debut... I come from a very remote mountain village where the entire community holds extremely conservative views. I'm the only male heir in my generation. I knew I had to study to make something of myself, but my family believed carrying on the family line was enough. They said studying was too hard, and they pitied me, so I didn't even get to go to college..."

As he spoke, Fang Shanyou wiped his eyes. "Mr. Ning, you also had your college aspirations thwarted. You should understand my pain and regret the most."

Ning Yichu raised an eyebrow. "There are no tears. What are you wiping? Too theatrical."

Fang Shanyou's arm stiffened, unsure whether to lower it or keep it there.

Ning Yichu asked with interest, "How about asking Award-Winning Actor He, as a senior, to give you a demonstration of crying on cue?"

He Shixia smiled helplessly.

Fang Shanyou lowered his hand, revealing anger. "I originally thought that at least when it comes to being held back by family, at least when it comes to college, you could empathize with me, Mr. Ning. But it seems I was overthinking! Others are still defending you, saying the Ning family doesn't treat children from welfare institutions as their own. But look at you—you've long since fully assimilated into the Ning family, looking down on people like me from small mountain villages just the same!"

Ning Yichu tilted his head. "Why should I empathize with a liar who's all about glorifying the family line?"

Fang Shanyou glared at him. "I really am from a poor background, I..."

"I didn't say you lied about your household registration," Ning Yichu interrupted. "You said your family held you back, that they thought carrying on the family line was enough, and used pity as an excuse to keep you from studying? But from what I know, your family desperately wanted you to succeed and bring honor to the family. They begged you to study hard."

Fang Shanyou didn't expect him to know even this and lost his confidence. "I..."

Ning Yichu: "Your family was poor. When you were about to start school, your parents 'married off' your eldest sister to a middle-aged man who could afford a hefty bride price but had beaten one wife to death and driven another to suicide. You used your eldest sister's bride price to buy new school bags and clothes."

"Later, when your eldest sister couldn't bear the torment and ran away, that middle-aged man spread rumors that she had run off with another man and demanded your family return the bride price. Your parents didn't dare confront him, but they had little money left, so they exchanged your newly adult second sister for another bride price."

"After giving the bride price from your second sister to that middle-aged man, there wasn't much left. Your parents simply gave your youngest sister to a family looking for a child bride, claiming she'd have a better life elsewhere. That brought in more money to support your schooling."

"You grew up sucking the blood of your sisters. Your parents spoiled you rotten. Even when you spent money like water at school to show off, they found ways to satisfy you. Their only demand was that you do your homework and eventually get into college to bring honor to the family. But from a young age, you found studying too hard and put your greatest effort into skipping class."

Ning Yichu looked coldly at Fang Shanyou, whose face was now pale and flushed. "You didn't go to college not because your family held you back, but because your middle school exam scores weren't even enough for a regular high school. You could only go to a vocational school, which meant you couldn't take the regular college entrance exam. You didn't even prepare for the vocational education college entrance exam. What 'going to college' are you talking about?"

"Your agent helped cover up your educational background when you debuted, and you really thought it was seamless, even using it to fish for sympathy?"

"My god, the more they dig, the more there is..."

"So just don't make excuses. If you're already in the wrong, trying to weasel out only reminds Ning Yichu of other scandals to bring up."

"When I first heard Fang Shanyou say that, my brain short-circuited and I actually felt sorry for him. After all, not being able to study in a backward mountain village is really tragic. But it turns out that's not the case at all... speechless. Fang Shanyou's intention was to trick viewers like me who don't know the details."

"He wanted sympathy, thinking even if Ning Yichu knew about his education, he wouldn't know the story behind it. Even if his poor education was exposed, he could still blame his family for holding him back."

"Wait, weren't we talking about him cheating and sleeping with a fan? How did we get here?"

"It started because Fang Shanyou tried to use his background and schooling to make himself seem pitiful..."

"Ugh, his sisters are the ones who really suffered. I wonder how they're doing now."

"And yet Fang Shanyou still got to debut as a celebrity..."

Ning Yichu had been sick all day yesterday. Now, after talking more, his emotions fluctuated, and he couldn't help but cough after finishing his sentence, his voice growing slightly hoarse.

He Shixia quickly handed him water and stood beside him, gently patting his back.

After Ning Yichu drank some water and felt a bit better, He Shixia said softly, "I roughly know about these things too. Let me continue for you. If I miss anything, you can add it later, okay? Take a rest."

Ning Yichu gave him a lazy glance.

Of course He Shixia would know.

In the original novel's plot, these details about Fang Shanyou were mentioned precisely because, after Ning Yichu's death in his previous life, He Shixia wanted to retaliate against those who had bullied him. Amidst targeting the Ning and He families, he suddenly remembered Fang Shanyou's behavior during the show and belatedly realized something was off, so he investigated. Later, he exposed a bunch of things about Fang Shanyou and forced him out of the industry.

He Shixia had memories of doing this in his previous life, and as the one who carried it out, he knew just as many details as Ning Yichu did from the original novel's plot.

Ning Yichu's throat was indeed a bit uncomfortable, so he simply nodded. "Alright, you can be my mouthpiece."

He Shixia smiled. "It's my honor."

Fang Shanyou couldn't hold back any longer, fuming, "I should be honored you two are so obsessed with me! Ning Anxia did this on purpose, didn't she? You two planned this together to gang up on me!"

"Hahahaha, getting ganged up on by the happy couple *is* an honor. Just take it!"

"He Shixia said to let Ning Yichu add more, which further proves Ning Yichu's source of information isn't him. I'm really curious how Ning Yichu has such good intel."

"Fang Shanyou still has the nerve to act up like this."

"Keep going, keep going."

He Shixia looked at Fang Shanyou, his tone calm and unruffled, "Do you have any more sob stories? Spit them all out now and save us the time."

Fang Shanyou: "..."

Though his face was burning, Fang Shanyou swallowed hard and chose to continue playing the victim card, "No matter what, I really am from a poor family. You have to admit I wasn't lying about that, right!"

He Shixia corrected him, "You were born poor, but you lived better than kids from ordinary well-off families by selling out your sisters and cashing in on your parents' favoritism. These seem like conflicting conditions, but they are facts. If you keep playing the 'poor me' card, it just makes you look worse."

Fang Shanyou: "...But other well-off families wouldn't force their son to marry as soon as he came of age! After finishing technical school, I wanted to go to the big city to make something of myself. I figured I was quite handsome, like the celebrities on TV, so I wanted to give it a try. But my parents wouldn't allow it—they insisted I stay in the village and give them a grandson..."

"I admit, I really wasn't diligent in my studies. I stopped after technical school, but that doesn't mean I lacked ambition! Otherwise, I couldn't have successfully debuted and done fairly well! I just never bought into the idea that book smarts were the only way up, so yeah, I slacked off back then."

Fang Shanyou knew He Shixia wouldn't speak in his favor. Hearing the last part, he felt a strange sense of relief, then grew indignant again, "What gives you the right to write me off! I have aspirations!"

He Shixia shook his head, "Giving up on education doesn't automatically make you someone with aspirations."

"In fact, the proportion of people who genuinely enjoy school probably isn't that high. Most people clearly understand it's a path that benefits them, so even if they complain about the exhaustion or joke about the school exploding, they aren't actually willing to quit. But you truly were. You played the big shot and cut class to game, yet now you're waving the banner of 'not conforming to societal expectations'—that's just too shameless."

He Shixia continued unhurriedly, "Going to school doesn't automatically make you successful or a better person. But for the vast majority of people who have to rely on themselves with no family backing, even though degrees are devalued nowadays, they still offer far more opportunities than having no qualifications at all. And even those with family support often want to gild themselves with a high degree."

"Fang Shanyou's words are too glib and deceptive. In reality, if his parents had truly doted on him to the point of indulging his refusal to study, then growing into an ignorant illiterate, he might never have dared to leave the village. And if he did, he'd find he couldn't even read the words on a map."

Fang Shanyou gnashed his teeth, "You're exposing my privacy and still preaching these high-sounding lessons at me! If you love being a teacher so much, Film Emperor He, why don't you leave the industry and go into education!"

Just as He Shixia was about to retort, Ning Yichu spoke first, "Then you can sue He Shixia for violating your privacy. Don't come after me; I don't like the hassle, and I might end up violating even more of your privacy. Also, don't suggest he go ruin the education industry. In the entertainment circle, plenty of people already call him 'teacher' anyway—that's enough."

"Besides, Teacher He," Ning Yichu looked at He Shixia, saying with disinterest, "You don't need to lecture these grand principles. Anyone can spout a whole basketful of them. Everyone wants to watch the drama and see the bad guy get taken down. Your long-winded speeches are annoying and kill the mood. When you're clapping back, can you get straight to the point?"

He Shixia humbly accepted the criticism, "Sorry, I'll work on that. Fang Shanyou, you may continue."

Fang Shanyou was furious, "What do you mean! What kind of attitude is this! Am I some kind of test subject! Are you even sharing tips now!"