After the secret marriage to my top star partner

Chapter 47

Editor: Princess

A sudden confession left both of them unprepared, so after they had both calmed down, they were extremely awkward.

“Should I go first?” Mu Nan opened the door. Outside, Ai Jia was craning his neck to peek inside, puzzled about why they had finished so quickly.

“Is someone picking you up?” Cheng Han asked.

Mu Nan nodded without speaking.

On the way back to the hotel, Mu Nan kept repeating every sentence Cheng Han had said. He said he liked him. Of this, Mu Nan didn’t doubt. But he said he would pursue him, and that he could do anything. This part he was skeptical about.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Cheng Han; he didn’t trust himself.

—He was afraid he would waver too quickly.

It seemed that suddenly, the mortal enemy relationship they had maintained for over ten years had collapsed, and another relationship urgently needed to fill the void. Mu Nan had adapted well to Cheng Han infiltrating his life. In a very short time, he had gotten used to the two of them living under the same roof, used to eating with another person, watching TV together, even chatting while watching.

Such changes made Mu Nan feel afraid. He feared he would gradually be cooked like a frog in slowly boiling water.

• The next morning, Mu Nan flew back from Hong Kong. This time Cheng Han still had some wrap-up work and didn’t return with him.

But as soon as he got off the plane, Wilder’s phone suddenly received over a dozen missed calls, all from team members. Clearly something had happened.

“What’s wrong?” Mu Nan noticed Wilder’s grave expression and asked, “Something happened?”

Wilder’s first reaction was to check the trending searches, then saw the topic hanging high above: “Mu Nan and Cheng Han Private Chat Audio Exposed.”

“Private chat? And someone recorded it?” Mu Nan’s first reaction was disbelief. Previously, he and Cheng Han had been mutual enemies, so it was impossible for them to chat privately. Now that they were living together, their private conversations were all at home, where recording would be impossible.

“Probably edited. Click in and listen.” Mu Nan remained calm.

Wilder clicked on one to listen. The background sound was very clean, as if in a quiet space.

Then Cheng Han spoke first: “Are you avoiding me?”

Mu Nan responded: “I… I’m not.”

Then came his voice again: “Why are you touching me?”

As the recording continued playing, Mu Nan suddenly remembered.

“I know where this was recorded!”

Mu Nan waved his arms, “It’s from filming the second episode, the one with the butcher and human chase game.” But he was puzzled: “We were hiding in the cabinet then. As soon as we got in, we turned off our microphones. There shouldn’t have been any sound recorded.”

“Are you sure you turned off your microphone?” Wilder also found it strange.

Mu Nan recalled: “I’m sure, because Cheng Han turned mine off for me.”

“Ah! I remember now.” Mu Nan jumped up, “It was the GoPro! I brought the GoPro in with me, but forgot to take it when we came out. Someone else must have picked it up.”

Wilder was speechless. If this was true, he was speechless both at Mu Nan’s carelessness and at how even a dropped GoPro could be exploited by someone with ulterior motives. Their scheming was no ordinary level.

Using this conversation recording, marketing accounts spun countless stories.

Some said Cheng Han was rejected after confessing, some said the two had a one-night stand then refused to acknowledge each other, others said Mu Nan had been kept by Cheng Han long-term, and some even claimed Mu Nan was Cheng Han’s forbidden love.

Looking at these well-founded little stories, Mu Nan felt like he almost believed them himself.

They were just so vivid and detailed, with clear beginnings and endings that it was as if Mu Nan’s bedsheets had become sentient and witnessed their every encounter.

Soon, after making several phone calls, Wilder returned.

“They reviewed the show footage. Ai Qian Qian entered after you. She must have taken the card from the GoPro and leaked it.”

Mu Nan had vaguely suspected it might be her, but hadn’t expected it really was.

“What do we do now?” Mu Nan asked.

Wilder took a deep breath. This really wasn’t easy to handle.

This crisis was clearly different from all previous ones. Before, when Xi Qing had slandered him about having a financial backer, he could strike back satisfyingly because what they said was false.

But now, the actual audio was right there. Against those bloggers spreading the video, Mu Nan couldn’t even send cease-and-desist letters.

And what could he explain? That it wasn’t what they thought, that they weren’t together, just that he felt Brother Cheng Han liked him so he was avoiding him?

Mu Nan genuinely made a sound of disgust.

That lotus-like tone made him feel sick just thinking about it.

What was most frightening wasn’t using fabricated lies to slander you, but laying the facts bare, adding guidance to lead public opinion in a direction that deviated from the truth. That was truly malicious.

Sure enough, public opinion was already being led astray.

[Damn, no wonder Mu Nan followed along to ring the bell. So this is a sugar daddy and canary script.]

[That explains it then. The mortal enemies act was just a cover. When it comes to important moments, you still can’t do without him.]

[No? Take off your CP-tinted glasses. Do you really think this kind of relationship is worth shipping? I don’t find it sweet at all, just disgusting.]

[Exactly. This is completely an unequal relationship. One’s scum, one’s cheap. You can still praise them as quality idols with a clear conscience?]

“What the hell is all this!” Mu Nan was about to lose it. It was clearly just a few lines of conversation, yet it had already been exaggerated to this extent.

While Mu Nan was complaining, Wilder was taking swift action, forcefully breaking through the seemingly unsolvable situation.

He quickly arranged everything. Since the cause of this incident was factual, they could only suppress it and use other matters to divert attention, hoping netizens would lose interest soon.

However, after Wilder sent Mu Nan home, he found the effect wasn’t ideal.

After consulting with several artist teams they had connections with, all artists had been keeping extremely low profiles recently. Even if someone wanted to step up, they didn’t have any substantial material.

“What couldn’t you two talk about? Even if you were badmouthing other artists behind their backs, there might be people supporting you saying you were right to criticize them. But you had to go and talk about romance there.”

Mu Nan felt wronged. He was dying of injustice.

“I didn’t! I really didn’t! Where do I have any romance to talk about? You’re giving me too much credit.”

Wilder: …

“Is that the point?!”

No one spoke for the rest of the journey. When Mu Nan got out of the car, Wilder said, “Alright, don’t worry about it for now. I’ll think of something.”

“Oh.” Mu Nan pouted. He trusted Wilder. If Wilder said there was a solution, there definitely was.

After showering, Mu Nan lay in bed. He usually fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but this time he had insomnia.

It seemed that whenever matters involving Cheng Han arose, his insomnia frequency became excessive.

He wondered if Cheng Han knew about this. Ai Qian Qian had chosen to release this right when Cheng Han’s company had just gone public. This was clearly premeditated.

Having negative news break on the first day after going public could easily cause Chang Nian Media’s stock to break its issue price directly.

When a new stock broke its issue price on the first trading day, it meant the stock price fell directly below the issue price, meaning pre-IPO investors would also lose money. Though the first trading day had passed, if the stock price plummeted in the coming days, Cheng Han would inevitably be mocked.

See, he was praised to the skies by fans, but still couldn’t handle the capital markets.

So Cheng Han should be more anxious than him.

Mu Nan was just thinking about asking Cheng Han when he discovered Cheng Han had already responded, directly on Weibo.

[Cheng Han: Chased him until he got desperate and hid from me. Learning from experience, will try not to repeat this mistake next time.]

Oh, he responded.

Wait!

Mu Nan sat up with a start, rubbed his eyes, and read those two lines from beginning to end again.

Looking up at the username and profile picture again—it was definitely Cheng Han.

So Cheng Han had completely let himself go?

Mu Nan was so scared he threw his phone aside. This phone spread stupidity, couldn’t touch it. Anyone who touched it would die.

The fans were even more confused than Mu Nan:

[Bro, if you got hacked just say so. This is pretty scary.]

[Cheng Han? Are you really Cheng Han? Did Mu Nan steal your phone? Come out and clarify!]

[I can’t live anymore! What do you mean by ‘chased’? Explain clearly or I really won’t survive!]

[AHHHHH I can’t live either! The CP I ship is real! Let’s all die together!]

For a moment, everyone had vastly different interpretations of the word “chase.” Some firmly believed it meant romantic pursuit, while others said it was just a joking expression.

Seeing fans dying left and right, Cheng Han finally unhurriedly steered things back on track.

[Cheng Han: Our previous conflicts were due to some misunderstandings. I just wanted to chase after him to explain things clearly.]

Damn! You’re really something! When Mu Nan saw the new Weibo post, he felt completely unwell.

He suspected he had done too many bad things in his previous life, and heaven had sent Cheng Han to punish him in this one.

[Scared me to death! I thought he was really coming out. But it’s good that they cleared up their conflicts. Fans won’t have to fight whenever they meet.]

[Wuwuwu I don’t believe it! This is just a cover-up. The top-tier CP is real!]

[Fine, I’m tired of watching these two camps fight all these years. Good that it’s finally over.]

Mu Nan reluctantly reposted his Weibo: [All cleared up now, paws up!] He even gritted his teeth while adding a cute emoji.

So “the pinker the avatar, the harsher the cursing” made sense. The more ferocious his expression, the better he sold his cuteness.

Mu Nan snorted twice and threw his phone aside.

He hadn’t expected Cheng Han to solve this matter by taking an alternative approach, mastering the principle that channeling is better than blocking.

You’re curious? Then I’ll lay it all out for you to see.

You want news? Then I’ll give you news.

Alright, Mu Nan quietly admitted defeat in his heart. Consider yourself a master psychologist.