HTI: Chapter 9

After sending away Wu Shui with his things, Xie Yang took a taxi to the nearest electrical appliance area to buy some needed equipment. He also filled his stomach on the way and then hurried back to the dormitory to take out his newly purchased laptop and arrange the songs written in his last life.

At 11 in the evening, he turned off his computer on time. He went to bed after washing and lay down. It was one night without dreams and Xie Yang continued to arrange the songs the next day.

At noon, Hu Biao called him and talked eloquently. He apologized, reassured him, cheered him on and told him to practice new songs, promising to bring him out.

Xie Yang had left the phone on the table in hands-free mode and gave perfunctory responses from time to time while his fingers flicked quickly on the keyboard. After more than 10 minutes, Hu Biao hung up. Xie Yang stopped the hand that was tapping on the keyboard, picked up the phone and opened Weibo, tapping into the IUD topic.

Hu Biao wouldn’t call for no reason so something must’ve happened. Sure enough, the rhythm under Mo Bin’s Weibo last night had already blown up.

The Master of Pen and Sword posted a few photos of Xie Yang leaving S City ‘s TV building with Ah Wen in the IUD topic and sneered: Look at his lively appearance. A sudden emergency? What a big joke. He just sucks! He is dragging his brothers behind! My friend said that the Hello Holiday team has a lot of opinions on IUD and feels that IUD doesn’t respect the program at all. They won’t invite IUD in the future!

Afterwards, Master of Pen and Sword also analyzed the photos of the illness certificates that Hu Biao previously sent. They said that Xie Yang in the photo only did a few ordinary checks and didn’t even hang an IV. He wasn’t sick at all!

Fans already had a lot of opinions on Xie Yang. Now they learned that Xie Yang had actually pretended to be sick and discredited IUD.

Xie Yang speculated that if Hu Biao hadn’t planned to wait until IUD’s fifth anniversary to open a Weibo for him, these fans would’ve scolded him onto the hot search. Still, it was estimated that the hot search wasn’t far away. The moment these two Weibo posts came out, the fans’ previous restrained resistance against him would become a crazy development. Then the internal contradictions of IUD would come out sooner or later.

The phone rang suddenly and a new text message was received.

Tong Jian: When will we meet?

Then there was another one.

Ke Lan: Do you really have a way to disband IUD in a successful and beautiful manner?

The mice had entered the cage.

Xie Yang smiled and called Wu Shui, asking him to find a place in B city that was more intimate and suitable for conversation. It was best if paparazzi couldn’t get in and take sneak shots.

Wu Shui didn’t even think about it before replying, “Century.”

“Where is that?”

“It is a high-end club brand under Rongding. B City has three of them and there is a membership system. The membership verification is strict and there is an anti-videotaping system. Paparazzi definitely can’t get in, let alone take sneak snots.

“Do you think I have a membership?”

Wu Shui was very straightforward. “You don’t need a membership. You just need to ask—”

Xie Yang interrupted him. “Exchange places. Find one that doesn’t need a membership.”

Wu Shui choked up and replied in a dry voice, “However, I only know this place. I can’t guarantee the security of other places.”

“……” Xie Yang decided to accommodate the new assistant in charge of finding a house. He hung up and sent a text message to Qiu Xing: Borrow a Century membership.

Qiu Xing directly called him and asked, “Are you begging me for something?”

Xie Yang knew it. He didn’t even blink as he replied, “Yes please.”

There was an exaggerated laugh and the phone was suddenly hung up. Five minutes later, He Jun sent a box number of the Century Club and said it was Qiu Xing’s reserved box. Xie Yang could use Qiu Xing’s black card and use it as he wanted.

The satisfied Xie Yang forwarded the address to Tong Jian and Ke Lan, asking them to have lunch at the club tomorrow. Then he put down his phone and continued to organize the music.

That evening, the Hello Holiday program officials released a teaser video of the next episode. The general sleepwalking performance of Xie Yang made the IUD fans violent again. It also disappointed passersby who were attracted by the gimmick of the new IUD’s first appearance.

The matter of Xie Yang pretending to be sick while taking advantage of IUD successfully became hot. There were endless remarks resisting and questioning Xie Yang. It was unknown when but the topic #IUD Self-destructing# appeared on the hot search.

Hu Biao was so angry that he called Mo Bin. The two of them talked for 10 minutes before finally breaking up.

The next morning when Xie Yang went out, he actually encountered paparazzi. He was surrounded by several reporters the moment he left the gate and microphones and recording devices almost poked him in the face.

“Xie Yang, I heard that you pretended to be sick to escape the program recording. Is this true?”

“Xie Yang, there are rumours that you entered IUD through the back door. What do you think about this rumour?”

“Xie Yang, everyone is curious about how you signed with IUD without any trainee experience. Do you have anything to say about this?”

“I heard that you don’t get along with the members of IUD. Is this true?”

Xie Yang flexibly moved sideways to drill out of a gap between two reporters. He raised his hand to tidy up his hat and retreated backwards while looking at the reporter who asked the last question. He replied, “It’s false. I’m going to eat with my seniors now.” Then he turned and took a few steps to Wu Shui’s car, opening the door to go in.

Wu Shui immediately started the car and left the reporters behind.

Xie Yang took off his backpack and hat. “It is really easy to have an assistant.” Then he patted the car seat under him and asked, “Where did this come from?”

“President Qiu let you borrow it. His garage is full and he needs to make room, so he let me drive this for you. He also said… this is the worst car in the garage and is the most suitable for you.”

Xie Yang glanced at Wu Shui with a smile. “You call him President Qiu Xing?”

Wu Shui replied solemnly, “In the future, my boss is only you.”

“Then who pays your salary?”

“…President Qiu.”

Xie Yang smiled silently and took out his phone to send a text message to Qiu Xing: Thank you.

Qiu Xing quickly replied: Double the car rental fee.

Xie Yang asked: Is there WeChat?”

It was silent for some time before a QR code image was sent over. Xie Yang scanned the WeChat code and an account with the name ‘Qiu Xing’ appeared. Xie Yang chose to add it as a friend and the other side quickly accepted. Xie Yang immediately sent one yuan with the note: car rental fee.

Qiu Xing was angry and pulled Xie Yang into the blacklist. Xie Yang added him again. This time, Qiu Xing didn’t accept.

Xie Yang put down his phone and told Wu Shui, “Your boss is so cute.”

Wu Shui was scared.

Xie Yang raised his eyebrows. “Your boss is now me. I’m praising myself for being cute. Why are you scared like this? Or do you have an opinion on my compliment?”

“No no no, I have no opinion.” Wu Shui gripped the steering wheel and suddenly understood why Zhou Miao started drinking self-cultivation tea recently. He wanted to have a cup of that tea right now.

Half an hour later, the car arrived at the Century Club. Xie Yang took the special driveway into the club’s parking lot, got on the special elevator to the top floor of the club and was finally led to a box by a dedicated waiter.

Tong Jian and Ke Lan had already arrived and the two of them sat silently on the sofa, showing strange expressions once Xie Yang came in.

Xie Yang understood after one second and explained, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a rich and powerful second generation person. I found someone to borrow this place since it is more convenient for us to talk.”

Tong Jian had a loose tongue and he retorted, “Cheating ghost. How can this place be easy to borrow—”

Ke Lan hurriedly pulled Tong Jian and motioned for him to shut up. Then Ke Lan glanced at Xie Yang and stated, “Xie Yang, I’m sorry about the misunderstanding over your resource. Tong Tong and I—”

“Don’t mention the resource misunderstanding. I asked you to come out this time to discuss cooperation.” Xie Yang indicated in the direction of the restaurant. “Shall we eat while talking?”

Ke Lan and Tong Jian exchanged looks and nodded.

The box was very large, with a total of five rooms and three corridors. The three people left the meeting room and went to the dining room. The waiter brought the hot pot ordered by Xie Yang in advance and then left, closing the door gently behind him.

Tong Jian and Ke Lan obviously had no appetite. Xie Yang placed the food in the pot and got to the point. “There is no doubt. I am 100% certain that IUD can be disbanded in a beautiful way with none of you carrying the blame. Of course, this doesn’t include Mo Bin. He wanted to pit me and it doesn’t make sense for me to help him.”

Tong Jian and Ke Lan’s expressions changed and Ke Lan clenched his fists. “So you… know about all that?”

“The rhythm on Weibo is so obvious that it is hard not to know.” Xie Yang picked up a cooked piece of meat and rolled it gently in the dipping sauce. “I’m not afraid of Mo Bin’s small movements. In fact, if Tong Jian hadn’t sent me a message to cooperate then IUD would’ve already been mocked all over the Internet. You just have to be clear about one thing. This cooperation is me throwing a lifeline to you and you don’t have much capital to talk about conditions. Add the text messages that Tong Jian previously sent me and there is no other path to go.”

Tong Jian hit the table with regret. Ke Lan was much calmer than Tong Jian. From the moment he decided to go against Mo Bin, he was ready to break the ship. Now that Xie Yang blocked his back road of retreat, he was more determined.

“Let’s talk about cooperation.”

Xie Yang emphasized, “If you really want to cooperate, my price won’t be low.”

Tong Jian was a step ahead of Ke Lan. “If you can really make IUD split up in a beautiful manner, I am willing to give you all my assets… let me kneel to apologize to you and call you Brother!”

“I don’t want a brainless little brother like you.” Xie Yang spoke while watching Ke Lan.

Ke Lan was silent for two seconds before replying, “I am the same as Tong Tong.” Then he added, “This is on the premise that you can really do what you say. The beautiful scenery that Tong Tong and I demand is the real scenery. Do you understand?”

“As beautiful as when IUD was born? Is that enough?’

Ke Lan stopped breathing and Tong Jian sat upright. Then the two of them looked down in a dejected manner and Ke Lan shook his head. “No, don’t do that. It is too hard. Although you seem to be rich and have a background, there are some things money can’t buy. After Chenhao left, Mo Bin became the only one in the group who could compose music. The five year anniversary performance is soon but Mo Bin threatened—”

Xie Yang took out some sheet music from his backpack and handed it to the two men. “Take a look.”