Chapter 31: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (31)
Falsely accused! A massive, injustice-level false accusation!
Cen Yu swore he hadn’t the slightest intention of going on that reality show with Sang Qianshan. Besides, judging by how the plot was supposed to develop, even though Sang Qianshan was inviting him right now, it wouldn’t be long before he moved on to invite Yu Xinyu instead.
So he immediately offered up a dose of hypocritical loyalty to his boss—
“Not a chance in hell!”
He said to Lou Baichuan, “I guarantee I won’t set my work aside for something like this.”
After all, Cen Yu’s image at the company—at least on the surface—was pretty much that of a hustle-obsessed striver. Hearing this, Lou Baichuan merely stared at him for a good while, making it hard to tell whether he believed him or not.
In the end, he simply nodded. “Alright, I got it.”
“Go ahead and get back to work.”
With that, he returned his focus to his computer screen.
Seeing this, Cen Yu naturally took his leave from Lou Baichuan’s office. By now, official work hours had started, so even if the remaining colleagues were still making subtle, lingering glances in his direction, no one would actually come over to pry.
Beside him, Gao Lanyuan seemed to be pondering something.
“Brother Cen.” He swivelled his chair to face Cen Yu. “Did you ever get the photos printed from the shoot you did that day?”
He looked somewhat curious. “I kind of wanted to see the final shots. It felt like your photos that day came out looking super professional.”
Hearing this, Cen Yu frowned. “…Maybe?”
Honestly, he didn’t know either.
In the original novel, the studio owned by Cen Yu’s friend had never shown him the finished photos after the shoot! Afterward, to express his gratitude, his friend had even sent over a hefty red envelope.
After receiving the red envelope, Cen Yu had been a bit curious as to why his friend had suddenly become so generous.
His friend had then explained that after the photo set came out, someone had taken a shine to it and bought out all the rights on the spot, demanding they not be published publicly. Although it didn’t serve any promotional purpose for the studio, the buyer seemed to have plenty of connections, helping hook his friend’s studio up with several photography gigs in the fashion industry.
As the key contributor to this windfall, Cen Yu naturally deserved a fat red envelope.
In the original novel, seeing such a large red envelope, Cen Yu hadn’t cared much about who bought the photos anyway—after all, looking at the shots on his classmate’s monitor back then, he had thought they looked pretty decent, and besides, nothing inappropriate had been exposed, so it didn’t matter.
Who could have guessed that this set of photos—which by all rights had never been made public—would later become the final straw that broke Cen Yu’s back.
Faced with Gao Lanyuan’s question, Cen Yu pondered for a moment.
Either way, this was part of the plot that had to unfold, so whoever bought them was none of his business! So he merely gave a vague response, “They’re probably still editing them.” After all, his classmate hadn’t reached out to him yet.
Seeing this, Gao Lanyuan looked a bit disappointed. “Watching from the side back then, I thought that set turned out really well.”
He looked at Cen Yu. “Just looking at them makes you want to collect them.”
Naturally, Cen Yu’s friend hadn’t been able to afford renting a massive studio, so that area was just a single corner. Gao Lanyuan still remembered how nice the sunlight had been that day; he had walked over to watch for a bit, only to see Cen Yu lying there with tattoos across his waist and abdomen.
Lying on his side, the muscular lines of his waist and midsection appeared defined and sharp against the light.
Gao Lanyuan had stared at that spot for a long time, fixing his gaze on Cen Yu’s snake bone tattoo… He hadn’t expected that the seemingly handsome yet petty man sitting beside him could have a side like that.
Afterward, he had even gone to track down the name of Cen Yu’s friend’s photography studio.
He had originally intended to buy the photo set, only to discover someone else had already beaten him to the punch.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Cen Yu, who still had no idea what was going on, finding the guy’s obliviousness somewhat cute.
So he gave a light chuckle as well, speaking with an intentional subtext, “Brother Cen, it’s probably best to ask about it. Otherwise, what if you get sold out by someone without even knowing?”
Hearing this, a sudden suspicion flared in Cen Yu’s mind… Could Gao Lanyuan be the buyer of those photos?
Was it because the terrible things he did to Yu Xinyu later were exposed that Gao Lanyuan turned from a fan to a hater and leaked the photos directly?
However, after carefully observing Gao Lanyuan’s expression, he reconsidered and dismissed his own guess—Gao Lanyuan probably wasn’t the person who bought the photos, but he likely knew that someone had bought them.
That was why he was warning him.
Although he didn’t understand why the other person had bought the photos or why Gao Lanyuan was giving him a heads-up, Cen Yu still nodded—
“Thanks, bro.”
Qiang Yuanqing was currently holding a tablet reading over financial reports when he noticed a name on his phone’s incoming call display that would usually never appear there—
The instant he clearly read the caller tag, his scalp went numb. Hardening his heart, he answered the call anyway. “Brother Yu,” he greeted with a polite smile.
The caller was none other than Yu Xinyu’s elder brother—
Yu Jinheng.
“Is Little Yu heading to your hot spring estate this weekend?”
Yu Jinheng’s voice over the phone wasn’t icy cold; if anything, it sounded rather warm and gentle, yet it made Qiang Yuanqing’s scalp tingle even more.
He gave a few dry laughs. “Yeah, since it hasn’t officially opened yet, and Little Yu likes hot springs, doesn’t he? So I invited him to come over for a visit.”
Yu Jinheng let out a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
In the very next breath, however, his tone shifted dramatically. “Then how did I hear that wild dog will be going too?”
He’s here to demand an explanation, was the only thought running through Qiang Yuanqing’s mind.
He had always assumed Yu Xinyu’s elder brother held a hands-off attitude toward the whole affair, but looking at it now… he had probably known all along, yet held back from stepping in simply because the guy hadn’t done anything truly harmful to Yu Xinyu.
He was merely waiting for Yu Xinyu to get it out of his system.
Qiang Yuanqing felt an odd illusion—like a bro trying to cover for his buddy’s dating life, only to have the buddy’s guardian track him down and demand accountability.
Facing Yu Jinheng, perhaps because the childhood shadows ran too deep, he felt genuine dread.
Just as he was debating how to stall for time, he heard Yu Jinheng state directly over the phone—
“Set up a courtyard for me as well.”
He said.
“I might as well go see for myself…” A cold sneer echoed from the other side, “…just what kind of wild dog managed to entrance Little Yu to death.”
