Chapter 255 – Report to the CEO: Madam Has Run Away Again – Losing Control (19)
The reporter bribed by the Liu Group was surnamed Li. Unlike Siyuan, who had been coerced into cooperation, Reporter Li took the initiative. Relying on the reputation of the well-known newspaper he worked for, he approached the Liu Group himself to seek personal benefits.
At that moment, Reporter Li was still basking in the satisfaction of his “success” as he watched Bai Tang being pulled into Gu Yan’s comforting embrace.
He had managed to render Bai Tang speechless with his questioning. With so many media outlets present, tomorrow’s headlines were bound to be explosive.
But bullying Bai Tang was equivalent to offending both Gu Yan and Xiao A.
Xiao A felt that simply slapping a misfortune charm on this Reporter Li was far too lenient.
He knew Reporter Li had come prepared. Waiting just outside were Bai Tang’s uncle and aunt—people Reporter Li had deliberately brought along. If it had been the original host in this situation, he might have completely broken down. Fortunately, it was the current host instead, who felt no fear toward these Bai family relatives whom he had never met before.
Unobtrusively, Xiao A guided Gu Yan’s men to the room next door, where the Bai family couple was hiding. He even thoughtfully handed them a “gift“—a rudeness charm.
As the name suggests, those afflicted by this charm would act inappropriately in public, and the more people watched, the more outrageous their behavior would become.
Even Assistant Jin’s subordinates weren’t entirely clean—some of them had been bribed by the Liu Group. Originally, Assistant Jin had intended for someone to escort the Bai couple away, but it turned out the person he sent had already been bought off.
Instead of removing them, they brought the Bai couple directly into the venue.
Gu Yan frowned, clearly disapproving, and shot a sharp look at Assistant Jin.
Cold sweat ran down Assistant Jin’s back. What was going on? Hadn’t he ordered them to take the couple away?
The Bai couple had accepted a sum of money and had been promised even more if they revealed the “truth.”
The money Gu Yan had given them three years ago had long since been squandered by this family of degenerate gamblers. They had been worrying about how to survive the days ahead—so when opportunity came knocking, it was as if someone handed them a pillow just as they were dozing off.
They exchanged a glance with Reporter Li, then began to speak according to the script they had rehearsed.
“Bai Tang, you don’t even greet your uncle and aunt? What a poor upbringing,” his aunt struck first.
Seeing Bai Tang’s face go pale at the sight of them, she felt a surge of satisfaction.
This little brat hadn’t changed at all—still scared of them, scared to death. And now they were about to get paid again.
“Exactly! What, you think you’ve grown wings just because you’ve latched onto Gu Yan? We raised you with our blood, sweat, and tears, and this is how you repay us? You’re an ungrateful wretch! You never come home to visit us. Your cousin treated you so well when you were kids—always shared his food and clothes with you. And now? Just look at him, you’ve starved him half to death!”
The uncle and aunt dragged their son out from the crowd—a young man who looked disheveled, overweight, with a dull face.
The cousin kept nodding eagerly. “Yeah, I treated you so well, and you don’t even remember the kindness our family showed you. You ate our food, lived in our home, and now that you’re successful, you just cut ties and pretend you don’t know us. How could you be so heartless…”
Gu Yan narrowed his eyes, concealing the dangerous glint within them.
He gently patted Bai Tang on the back. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Before anyone could react, Gu Yan suddenly threw a punch, knocking the bloated cousin to the ground. Then, he grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the table and shoved it into his mouth.
“With a mouth that foul, you could use a good rinse. No need to thank me.”
The crowd gasped in shock at the sudden outburst. No one had expected the usually refined and composed Gu Yan to snap like this.
The uncle and aunt were stunned for a second before coming to their senses. They screamed and rushed to pull Gu Yan away.
“You heartless monster! Let go of my son!”
The cousin’s face turned red from the pressure. His flabby body was no match for Gu Yan’s strength—he could only take the beating passively, completely powerless to fight back.
As the aunt and others tried to rush in to save him, Assistant Jin quickly stepped in to block them. “Security! We’ve got troublemakers. Get them out of here!”
Flashes from cameras went off wildly. The Gu Group’s CEO publicly beating someone—tomorrow’s headlines had just written themselves.
The scene was chaotic, and Reporter Li seized the opportunity to fire off a series of pointed questions.
Before he could even speak, his pen and notebook suddenly dropped to the floor. His body, like a puppet on strings, stiffly moved to the front of the crowd and began undressing. Right in front of the media and reporters, he put on a painfully awkward striptease performance.
Then Bai Tang’s uncle joined in. While dancing, he even kept throwing flirtatious winks at the audience.
A pair of greasy, middle-aged men putting on a strip show—there was nothing more eye-searing than this. The room erupted with laughter. Camera flashes lit up the chaos as reporters gleefully captured the spectacle—any extra gossip for their magazines, newspapers, and social media posts was a win.
Xiao A was still relatively kind. Out of respect for the fact that Bai Tang’s aunt was a woman, he didn’t make her join in the dancing with her husband and Reporter Li. But that didn’t mean she got off scot-free—she received a different form of punishment.
Gu Yan, too, didn’t want things to go too far—someone might actually get hurt. And this chaotic scene was probably already terrifying enough for Bai Tang.
He casually tossed the half-conscious cousin onto Bai Tang’s aunt, then turned and pulled out a tissue, gracefully wiping his fingers clean.
“Ah Yan, do you think they’ll twist the story?” Bai Tang asked worriedly. Gu Yan’s reputation wasn’t great to begin with—if he hit someone now, wouldn’t that just make things worse?
“It’s fine. Don’t worry,” Gu Yan smiled at Bai Tang. “I hit them, so what? Worst case, I’ll just live off you from now on.”
Bai Tang: ???
Xiao A: “While the host was asleep, the male lead transferred several of his properties and a large sum of cash under the host’s name. The host is now officially a millionaire.”
Bai Tang pressed his lips together. Gu Yan had truly thought of everything for him.
“Ah Yan…”
The young man was moved to tears.
Thinking about Bai Tang’s condition, Gu Yan said, “Let’s go home first. Assistant Jin can handle things here.”
Bai Tang nodded and took Gu Yan’s hand. As they walked past his cousin, he even stepped on him.
Bai Tang’s aunt was holding onto her son, calling out to him in distress, but her hands were busy slapping him repeatedly. The scene was nothing short of ridiculous.
All of this was thanks to Xiao A. If you bullied his host, then you could forget about having a good time.
The Bai couple had always been shameless—Xiao A simply helped them become famous. After today’s spectacle, everyone would remember them.
Back at the press conference, the reporters later wrote up their stories with dramatic embellishments. Of course, even a dying camel is still bigger than a horse—Assistant Jin had already let slip that Gu Group had identified the mole and would soon clean out the leeches.
Rather than offend a corporate giant that clearly wasn’t going down, the smart move was to stay on good terms.
The next day, both business newspapers and online outlets reported on the chaos at Gu Group’s press conference. The biggest headline: Reporter Li personally admitted to accepting money from the Liu Group to deliberately cause trouble for Gu Yan and Bai Tang.
As for Gu Yan punching someone? That moment—defending his partner with decisive force—won public approval and praise.
A few antis tried to stir up hate in the comments, only to be mocked and shut down by others: “If someone insulted your partner, you’d just stand there and do nothing?”
Because of this incident, Bai Tang’s background was fully revealed online—nothing was left out or sugarcoated.
Netizens who had seen the press conference couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the beautiful young man. Despite speaking softly and tearfully, Bai Tang had stood his ground against that shameless couple, defending both himself and Gu Yan with quiet strength. It was hard not to admire him.
With relatives like that, it was a miracle Bai Tang had grown up safely. He finally found himself a fiancé, only to be thrown out of the house—how was it that they never ran into such a gorgeous young man on the street? If they had, they’d have taken him home on the spot.
Xiao A stared wide-eyed at the sudden rise of an online fanbase calling themselves Tang-fans.
“No wonder Qiu’er said the host is a group favorite…” Xiao A murmured in awe, watching the fan count explode.
“What are you mumbling about, Xiao A?” Bai Tang heard him muttering and asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing.” Xiao A quickly shut off the virtual system screen in front of him. Better not let the host know about all this yet. Let him rest for now.
Xiao A looked at the bruises scattered across Bai Tang’s exposed skin.
Yes, yes… rest well… he really needs to rest…
Ever since the press conference, Gu Yan had brought Bai Tang back to the villa and hadn’t left since. Even company affairs were handled remotely from the study.
The male lead of this world was clearly uneasy about leaving his beloved alone—as if the moment he turned his back, Bai Tang would disappear again.
Maybe it was because Bai Tang had run away twice before that Gu Yan was left with a deep psychological shadow. He simply couldn’t bear the thought of losing Bai Tang again. If he did… he would go mad—utterly mad.
To keep Bai Tang from falling back into painful memories, Gu Yan made sure to spend time with him whenever he wasn’t working.
Sometimes they cooked together, experimenting with new dishes. Sometimes they read side by side, tended flowers in the garden, or watched TV with Grandpa Gu.
And even when he was working, Gu Yan would bring Bai Tang into the study with him, letting him curl up on the small couch to watch nature documentaries or snack on treats. In short—Bai Tang was never allowed out of his sight.
A few days into this routine, Bai Tang finally saw through Gu Yan’s intentions.
He didn’t like seeing Gu Yan so anxious and overly cautious. His Gu Yan had always been bold and confident—never like this.
“Ah Yan~”
Gu Yan was typing away at the desk when he heard his beloved call out softly. He immediately stopped what he was doing.
“What is it?” he asked, walking over to Bai Tang and casually touching the glass of milk on the side table.
“It’s cold. I’ll ask the butler to bring you a fresh one.” Gu Yan picked up the glass and turned to leave.
But as he turned, a hand gently tugged at him.
The young man’s eyes shimmered. “Ah Yan… you don’t have to do all this.”
Gu Yan’s brows creased with concern. “Did I do something wrong?”
Tang Tang… please don’t leave me…
Bai Tang placed his hand over Gu Yan’s. “Ah Yan, you’ve been so good to me. But I don’t want you to treat me like I’ll break at any moment. I’m not going to run away. Please… trust me, okay?”
“I like you, Ah Yan~”
Gu Yan felt his heart warm. “Tang Tang, I’ll never let you go.”
So please… don’t leave me.
“I won’t either. As long as you don’t fall for someone else, I’ll always stay by your side.”
After this honest conversation, both of them felt a little closer to each other.
Gu Yan also began trying to let go—to allow Bai Tang the freedom to do the things he enjoyed, rather than keeping him cooped up in the study all day.
Bai Tang understood: meals are eaten one bite at a time, and roads are walked step by step. So he didn’t leave the villa or make any big changes. He just went about his days as usual—doing what needed to be done. And from time to time, he would bring snacks or tea to Gu Yan in the study, using quiet actions to prove his sincerity.
Author’s Note:
Bai Tang: Can I not go to work?
Gu Yan: If I don’t work, I won’t be able to support my Tang Tang.
Bai Tang: If you go bankrupt, I’ll take care of you instead.