Qin Guan jumped up from his bed. He turned on his laptop and logged on to the Wangnan website.
The homepage was the same as it had been before. There were some links in the entertainment section.
The front-page headline was still "Army Flag Gate" [1]. There were also some reports about new films and TV shows, as well as the plans of some important directors.
Qin Guan clicked on the other pages, and his eyes opened wide. In one photo, he saw the Citizen building and the crowd around it. It was the scene from the day before.
The setting and the people were familiar, but the title was unexpected.
"Japanese Popular Idol Kyoko Fukada Came to Beijing to Cooperate with Qin Guan, the King of Advertisements."
It was a good photo, taken at accurate timing. Qin Guan was blocking Cong Nianwei from the camera and looking at Kyoko Fukada in alert.
The shooting position and the title made it seem like Kyoko Fukada was looking at Qin Guan shyly and Qin Guan was looking back
at her, tenderness and love shining through their eyes. Cong Nianwei and everyone else were out of the frame.
Qin Guan looked through and found another photo, in which he had been smiling at the reporter. Now it seemed like he was looking in the direction of Kyoko Fukada. Coincidently, she also looked like she was paying attention to him. She was looking back at him and smiling.
After reading through the article, Qin Guan felt relieved. There was no evidence, only far-fetched guesses.
When he reached the comment section below though, his smile faded. Wangnan always attracted a group of tiresome people thanks to its sharp reports and fabricated news.
The comments on the website were famous for their hostility. Under normal circumstances, Qin Guan liked to read them for amusement. Now that he was the subject though, it was rather strange.
"Who is Qin Guan? I don't know him!"
"You don't? He is a monkey stamp! He’s just looking for a chance to go to Japan and work in the service industry."
"Tell me more! I want
want to know!"
"He is the new favorite of an advertising company. He drinks Adidas body wash and eats Xianqu Biscuits and cold medicine!"
"Oh, that’s why his face seemed familiar. I wonder what a Japanese girl tastes like..."
"You are such a gentleman."
The readers were making fun of Qin Guan. Nobody asked anything about the report.
Qin Guan visited the pages of other mainstream websites. The reports were all the same, except for minor differences. They even used the same photo. That was so unprofessional!
Finally, he found the only honest report on the Soulang website. No tinkered photos, only several shots of Qin Guan’s smiling face.
Unfortunately, the report was sneered at by internet users.
"It must have been written by a green hand. Where is the romance? The insider trading? Ha ha! Their reporter must have been late to the scene. Just copy from the others, okay?"
Things were bad. Nobody believed the truth anymore.
Qin Guan called Sister Xue back. "What's Citizen’s opinion on the matter? Will the news influence my job in the future?"
Sister Xue
Sister Xue sighed. "The director of Citizen was glad. Your popularity has been promoted by the affair, which will benefit the sales volume. You don't need to worry about your TV shows either. A popular co-star always promotes audience ratings. The producers were glad to hear the news."
"My phone has been ringing all day. Don't worry, I’ll make you a big fortune!"
Qin Guan was speechless. "Hey! I’m not worried about my work, but about my life! What will my schoolmates think of me? And the masses who don’t know the truth? I have a girlfriend, you know!"
Sister Xue still sounded happy on the other end of the line. "You would have been really popular if you liked giving interviews. This is good publicity. And your girlfriend was just beside you at the time! She will not misunderstand. This makes the best of both sides!"
Before Qin Guan could say anything, Sister Xue’s other phone started ringing. "So much for that! You’re thinking too much. Good night!" she said and hung up happily.
Qin Guan scratched
happily.
Qin Guan scratched his messy hair and tried to comfort himself. Maybe it's not so serious. I’ll just take things as they come.
Things always exceeded his expectations though. In an era when the internet was gradually becoming popular, young people were the first internet target group.
Many students from Qin Guan's college read the news about their prince.
"Impossible! They’re lying! Senior Qin has a girlfriend!"
"Yes! Plus, beauties from our college should come first!"
"They are slandering our prince! We have to tell the truth for him!"
"That's right! No student from our university should be treated unjustly! Those liars!"
There was an old Chinese saying that things of a kind always came together and people of one mind always got together. Those excited fans gathered on the Haijiao Forum.
With the objective of revealing the truth to the public, they put into action the term "cyber manhunt".
Several posters were placed at the top of the gossip and comment sections by forum moderators. The internet fighters focused on the hottest topics of the day.