Chapter 409 – The Aloof Male God’s Exclusive CP – What Does It Matter? (16)
Lin Zigao and Ye Yinghuo were different from their fans. They themselves were public figures, and whatever actions they took would be eagerly imitated by the many fans who admired them.
When Qi Yuanxu presented the evidence to the public, everyone was shocked. The two had relied on playing along with each other, using incomplete screenshots to force Pinecone out of the group. They also used ambiguous remarks to incite their fans to “take revenge” on their behalf. What clever tactics—truly clever tactics.
Netizens mocked the two men’s fans en masse: Look, this is the idol you admire. You were used without even realizing it. All for that ridiculous jealousy—Pinecone did nothing, yet you managed to cyberbully him to this extent. If someone truly had a conflict with those two, would they not even deserve to live in this world anymore?!
The Ye Yinghuo and Gaoliang fans who still retained their conscience and sense of morality lowered their heads in shame and went to Pinecone’s Weibo to leave apology messages.
The public is clear-eyed; when the evidence is conclusive, there is no need for further explanation.
This time, it was Lin Zigao and Ye Yinghuo who panicked. To minimize their losses, their only option was to seek an out-of-court settlement.
If possible, they did not want to end up as defendants under any circumstances. After weighing their options, both Lin Zigao and Ye Yinghuo tried to obtain Bai Tang’s forgiveness so that he would withdraw the lawsuit.
However, they were not familiar with Bai Tang and had no contact information for him. After much difficulty, they finally obtained his contact details, but no matter what they did, they could not add him as a friend.
Bai Tang did not have the habit of adding strangers. Without any relationship or collaboration, what was the point of adding someone? Posting updates would feel like being monitored by others, something Bai Tang greatly disliked. Like a little squirrel by nature, he loved freedom and hated being judged or criticized by people he did not know.
Both Lin Zigao and Ye Yinghuo were extremely self-serving. They knew someone had to take the blame for this incident. Former friends, each fearing the other would shift the blame onto them first, secretly went to seek Bai Tang on their own. When they failed to find him, they turned to the people around him.
Lin Zigao approached the president of Ling Tian Voice Acting Studio, while Ye Yinghuo used his connections to contact Coffee Without Sugar.
The result was obvious—both sides were rebuffed. Neither managed to reach the person they wanted to contact. Worse still, after discovering that the other had secretly tried to negotiate a settlement with Bai Tang without informing them, they felt deceived and got into a physical fight. A detective hired by Qi Yuanxu to monitor them recorded the fight and posted the video online, turning them into a laughingstock among netizens.
Not only did Lin Zigao and Ye Yinghuo fail to drag Bai Tang down with them, their actions instead made more people like Bai Tang. He neither fought nor argued, and his personality was genuinely kind. If they had not gone too far, Bai Tang likely would never have taken things to this extent—everything that happened was of their own making.
Thanks to the lawsuit, the popularity of Return to You rose to an even higher level. Fans waited every day for updates, and Coffee Without Sugar’s Weibo was flooded with activity.
“It’s not that I don’t want to produce the follow-up quickly, but even the landlord has no surplus grain~” Coffee Without Sugar came out to play the victim, letting everyone know she was truly powerless.
As a result, the fans shifted their target. Yin Yue’s and “PineconeIsTheBest” Weibo accounts received 99+ private messages every day. Bai Tang logged in only rarely, but even then, after tapping through messages until his hands felt sore, he had not even finished reading half of them.
“Tang Tang, stop looking. Using your phone for too long is bad for your eyes.” Qi Yuanxu snatched Bai Tang’s phone away. Tang Tang had been staring at his phone for five hours straight without stopping.
“I’m almost done reading them. A-Xu, give me back my phone~” The little squirrel acted spoiled; he truly found the fans adorable. Reading their private messages put him in an especially good mood, and once he started, he couldn’t stop.
“No. It’s time to get up and go for a walk outside.” Qi Yuanxu pulled Bai Tang out for a stroll.
Although Bai Tang was unwilling, he obediently got up. However, his eyes repeatedly glanced toward the phone Qi Yuanxu had put in the drawer. He decided that tonight, after A-Xu fell asleep, he would secretly read the messages again—hehe.
Amid the fans’ constant anticipation, the continuation of Return to You was finally released. Three episodes were dropped at once, including the completed ending.
Even though they had read the original novel and knew the finale was a happy one, when Xing Ze got married, the fans were still heartbroken.
“Waaah, Prince Liang An is too tragic! Xing Ze, you jerk!”
“I can’t bear to watch this. You ignore such a wonderful young prince and marry another woman instead—if Xing Ze doesn’t love him, I will. An An, come into big sister’s arms.”
“An An must never forgive him. No explanation means tacit admission. There’s nothing to forgive about a scumbag.”
…
The comment section was filled with people sympathizing with Liang An and scolding Xing Ze, leaving the production team dumbfounded. Even the fact that Xing Ze was voiced by their beloved Yin Yue did not spare him.
“Good thing it’s voiced by Yin Yue—otherwise, a scumbag like Xing Ze wouldn’t just be getting verbal criticism from us.”
The fans’ remarks made Bai Tang break out in a cold sweat; verbal attacks were already quite serious.
To prevent another incident like the Lin Zigao affair, Bai Tang posted on Weibo, publicly praising Qi Yuanxu’s voice-acting skills.
“Yin Yue is an extremely talented voice actor. It’s a great honor for me to be able to work with such an amazing CV in my first drama. The fact that everyone likes it and can immerse themselves in the story is also an affirmation of me. Thank you all for your love. The characters in the drama are just characters—please don’t project them onto the real people. Sending love to Yin Yue / heart.”
As soon as Bai Tang posted, fans rushed over upon hearing the news. After reading the content, they almost burst out laughing.
Pinecone was simply too adorable. The fans were not irrational—they just felt indignant on Liang An’s behalf in the drama. Yin Yue was a voice actor they genuinely liked, and the fact that he could stir such strong emotions in everyone only proved his ability. Moreover, Pinecone had even posted on Weibo to speak up for Yin Yue—he was probably worried that the incident that had happened to him might repeat itself. His personality was so kind, and he was just too cute.
Those who liked Bai Tang grew even more fond of him, and even casual viewers developed a better impression of him.
Not long after Bai Tang posted on Weibo, Qi Yuanxu also made a post: [Pinecone is amazing. Keep it up, keep it up!]
Yin Yue’s Weibo posts had always been for promoting new dramas. Apart from a post a year ago announcing his temporary withdrawal from the voice-acting industry, he had never publicly praised another voice actor. Yet since returning, he had already posted twice mentioning “PineconeIsTheBest,” showing just how much he truly appreciated Pinecone.
The CP (couple-pairing) fans caught the scent of possible romance and began stirring things up in the comments.
[Could it be that Yin Yue has something going on with Pinecone?]
[Exactly—protecting his ‘little wife’ like this? /snicker]
[Raising the flag for my CP…]
Originally, everyone was just joking, since the two were indeed a CP in the drama. However, Bai Tang wanted to see how netizens were evaluating his own partner, so he logged in to secretly browse.
With so many people saying it, Bai Tang couldn’t help but wonder when he and A-Xu had accidentally leaked something.
Thinking this, Bai Tang replied under a popular comment:
“How did you know?”
Because he had been lurking online so much recently, Bai Tang forgot to switch to his alternate account. The reply he posted from his main account immediately caught the fans’ attention.
[Wow, the person involved replied! Could there really be something going on? We caught Pinecone—quick, tell us! What exactly is your relationship with Yin Yue?!]
[Pinecone and Yin Yue must be very close—probably more than just friends, right?]
Among the fans, some egged things on, while others were dissatisfied.
[Although the CP is fun, it should stay within the radio drama. Why did Pinecone reply with his main account? Is he trying to ride on the hype?]
It was not uncommon for newcomers to use popular figures to gain attention. Since Bai Tang was a new voice actor who had only just worked on his first drama, and he had mistakenly posted a reply suggesting an ambiguous relationship with Yin Yue from his main account, it indeed made him look suspicious of trying to capitalize on the publicity.
The more he said, the more mistakes he might make. There were too many comments tagging Bai Tang for him to read them all, and he also vaguely felt that he had caused trouble for Qi Yuanxu. Afraid to look further, he hurriedly logged off.
Unable to get an answer on Weibo, eager fans went to the drama’s comment section instead. Their questions about the relationship between Yin Yue and Pinecone soon pushed down the earlier comments sympathizing with Liang An and calling Xing Ze a scumbag.
After seeing it, a team member calmly replied, “Oh—they’ve gone public.”
Fans who didn’t believe Yin Yue and Pinecone were actually involved were stunned. What was going on? Were they really together?
For a time, the solo fans who couldn’t accept that their idol was no longer “their husband” threw tantrums in the comment section of Return to You. They refused to believe it—this wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real.
Yin Yue had an enormous fanbase. Whether solo fans or CP fans, they all flooded in at once, causing the app used for listening to radio dramas to freeze and crash. The official technical team worked hard to repair it, and just when the software had barely returned to normal for less than three minutes after waves of fans logged in again, it crashed once more.
Seeing the flood of comments—half crying and wailing, half demanding confirmation—Coffee Without Sugar closed her computer with a headache.
She sent Bai Tang a message: [The production team has exploded.]
Through Xiao A’s projection, Bai Tang saw the grand spectacle online. Feeling that he had caused trouble, he apologized in the group chat: [Sorry, I’ve caused everyone inconvenience.]
Everyone in the group was one of their own, and most already knew that Yin Yue and Pinecone were together in real life, so they all replied that it was fine.
[Lan Family]: Why hasn’t Yin Yue come out yet? Most of the people going crazy are his fans. He should at least say something.
[Ming Jing]: Is he even a man? If he still doesn’t show up, I’ll look down on him.
Unless the person involved was merely toying with Bai Tang, the fact that the other main party had remained silent for most of the day meant that all the rumors were directed at Bai Tang, which was clearly unfair.
[Pinecone]: Don’t misunderstand. Something came up at Yin Yue’s company, and he hasn’t returned yet.
Bai Tang quickly spoke up to explain on Qi Yuanxu’s behalf. Just after he finished typing, the lock on the living room door turned—the other main party had returned.
Subconsciously, Bai Tang hid his phone behind his back. But how could such a small action escape Qi Yuanxu’s sharp eyes, especially when he always paid attention to Bai Tang the moment he came home?
“Tang Tang, what’s wrong? Are you hiding something from me?” Qi Yuanxu walked over and stood in front of Bai Tang, who was sitting on the sofa, leaning in close. The soft back cushion sank into a small dent.
“Ah—no, nothing…” Bai Tang’s eyes darted around, clearly lying.
“Really nothing?” Qi Yuanxu leaned closer, his warm breath brushing against the young man’s face, causing a faint blush to spread across his cheeks.
“All right. If Tang Tang says there’s nothing, then there’s nothing. I haven’t seen you all day—I missed you so much.” Qi Yuanxu took the initiative to change the subject and gently kissed Bai Tang on the lips.
“Mmm~ I missed you too, A-Xu…”
Qi Yuanxu tenderly cupped the back of Bai Tang’s head, deepening the kiss of longing.
Bai Tang became immersed in it. The hand he had hidden behind his back was suddenly covered by Qi Yuanxu’s hand. Then, all at once, his hand felt empty—his phone had been taken away.
Author’s Note:
Netizens have given him a huge boost! The male lead can’t wait to prove to the world that Tang Tang is his.