Chapter 70: Transmigrated as a Stingy Phoenix Man (70)
Cen Yu hadn’t expected Yu Xinyu to achieve fame so quickly, wrapping up his late-game plotlines from the original novel ahead of time.
Biting his toothbrush, he scrolled through the news for a bit. He noticed that although Yu Xinyu hadn’t revealed who his lover was, everyone was burning with curiosity about the partner of this young, handsome genius painter.
Some net-citizens had even dug up Yu Xinyu’s true background—
He was none other than the second young master of the Yu family.
His elder brother, Yu Jinheng, was a frequent face on television and financial magazines, and just so happened to be participating in a variety show right now.
“…” The moment Cen Yu saw people recommending the variety show in the comments, he silently returned to the bathroom and spat out the toothpaste foam.
“I’ve noticed that it seems the plot won’t stray off course after all,” Cen Yu suddenly said to the fat cat after rinsing his mouth.
The fat cat didn’t understand what he was driving at, only delightedly noting that the narrative progress bar had surged once again. It seemed that before long, Cen Yu would be able to fake his death and move on to the next world.
The fat cat meowed happily for a moment before looking up at Cen Yu. [What do you mean, Host?]
“Nothing much.”
Cen Yu gave the fat cat a gentle stroke. “A little kitten doesn’t need to worry about these things.”
Although Yu Xinyu had concealed his lover’s identity, his elder brother Yu Jinheng had already joined the variety show. Plus, if Cen Yu remembered correctly, hadn’t Yu Xinyu made an appearance on camera back then?
He had even exchanged a few words with Sang Qianshan.
Sure enough, beneath the comment mentioning Yu Jinheng, someone quickly posted a reply—
[Wait? Isn’t this Cen Yu’s roommate? [Screenshot]]
Although Yu Xinyu hadn’t styled his hair or dressed up specially in the screenshot, that face was far too unforgettable. One look was all it took for people to recognize him as the young painter currently making waves everywhere.
[He has a boyfriend and he’s still living with another guy? (funny) (clown)]
[…Guys, I have a bold theory…]
[Does anyone still remember that rumor drop? The one claiming CY has a boyfriend…]
[Could it be?! (gasp)]
Cen Yu scoffed softly. Leaning one hand against the sink, he watched the comments refresh continuously on his phone.
The general public was always most obsessed with gossip, especially scandal surrounding high-society golden boys—to say nothing of the fact that it dragged in a variety show that had hit the trending searches recently, packed with clickbait topics like “brother-in-law” and “secret romance.”
Before long, people began analyzing the previous livestream footage frame by frame.
Countless marketing accounts had recorded screen captures online, including the scene where Cen Yu opened the door and Yu Xinyu walked out of the room. One line in particular was dissected repeatedly—
“We’ve lived together ever since college.”
Furthermore, when Cen Yu met Yu Jinheng at the airport, Yu Jinheng had also brought up “Little Yu.”
However, because there were no subtitles at the time, no one knew who he was referring to. Looking at it now, he was obviously talking about his own younger brother, Yu Xinyu!
Who else would ask his elder brother to look after his roommate? Cen Yu was clearly Yu Xinyu’s secret lover.
Connecting the dots like this aligned perfectly with the anonymous leak in the online forum earlier: Cen Yu had a boyfriend back when he was in school, and the boyfriend’s family was filthy rich—and weren’t the Yu family as rich as it gets?
The two had indeed known each other since college and still lived together to this day.
The melon-eating crowd instantly felt they had uncovered the ultimate truth. Then, some hater accounts took advantage of the chaos to drive a negative narrative against Sang Qianshan—
[Then what’s the deal with Sang Qianshan? Is he a homewrecker?! Didn’t he know Cen Yu has a boyfriend?]
[Homewrecker my ass! Haters, take a lap. From start to finish, Sang Qianshan said Cen Yu is his good friend. Do you understand what ‘good friend’ means?!]
[LOL, if you ask me, this Cen Yu guy just wants to break into the entertainment industry, which is why he dragged Sang Qianshan into queuing up CP moments with him. Is there anyone left who doesn’t know Sang Qianshan is the straightest man in the universe?]
Cen Yu’s fingers tapped idly against the mirror in front of him. The man reflected in the glass still wore an utterly cold, sleepy expression.
It suddenly struck him that perhaps Yu Xinyu had intended to appear on camera from the very beginning.
He had even spoken those words in front of the lens on purpose—of course, you couldn’t say he had done anything wrong, because from start to finish, those were all Cen Yu’s own demands.
Demanding that the two of them keep their relationship private, demanding that Yu Xinyu hide the fact that they were dating, demanding that Yu Xinyu tell the outside world they were just roommates.
Had Yu Xinyu violated any of that?
On the contrary, Yu Xinyu had followed it to the letter.
In front of the camera, he stated they were roommates who had known each other since college.
Facing reporters’ questions about whether he had a lover, he hadn’t lied about having one. But because the interview took place abroad, the language used naturally exposed the fact that his lover was male. He also respected Cen Yu’s wishes by concealing his partner’s identity, simply explaining that his lover preferred a secret relationship.
He had executed it flawlessly, granting almost every single demand Cen Yu had made. Yet he couldn’t stop people’s curiosity, nor could he stop their sharp eyes from picking up on the breadcrumbs—he hadn’t said a word directly, yet he had set everything in motion.
By now, the consensus online was largely convinced that Cen Yu was Yu Xinyu’s secret lover.
Once that impression was solidified, public sentiment turned distinctly sour.
After all, Cen Yu had so adamantly denied Yu Xinyu, claiming they were just roommates, while in the eyes of the public, he was riding Sang Qianshan’s coattails to farm clout.
Although Cen Yu had never intended to farm clout, it didn’t matter. Having attention was an inherent crime—if you didn’t want clout, why did you sign up for a variety show in the first place?
Cen Yu scrolled through for a bit and sure enough, saw plenty of people already cursing him beneath marketing accounts. They claimed they didn’t want to see a two-faced snake like him on screen, declaring that if Cen Yu appeared in the next episode of the show, they would boycott it entirely.
“…Host.” Naturally, the fat cat had noticed those comments online as well.
Just as it was trying to figure out how to comfort its host, it saw Cen Yu pull out the alt account that had almost gotten banned earlier.
He began posting in the forum thread once again—
[You guys can’t take this already? Cen Yu is way worse than you think!]
[How do you think he managed to snag a rich, fair, and sweet beauty like Yu Xinyu? It’s all because he knows how to manipulate and PUA people! It’s a shame Yu Xinyu is such a hopeless simp who can’t see the truth.]
[Whatever, you guys wouldn’t believe me anyway. Going anonymous.]
With that, he immediately deleted the account.
“There. Let’s fan these flames a little hotter.”
Something suddenly occurred to Cen Yu, and he carefully pondered the original novel’s storyline.
Since the pure, innocent, starry-eyed rich beauty from the original text had turned into such a scheming, carnivorous flower, modifying the details of his execution slightly shouldn’t be a big deal, right?
After all, looking solely at external information, Yu Xinyu was still the perfect victim.
And as the scumbag whose job was to fulfill the plot, Cen Yu only needed to achieve three outcomes—
1. Yu Xinyu leaves him.
2. He gets blasted online and becomes a universal target.
3. He snaps under the pressure and jumps off a building.
Then his mission would be considered complete, wouldn’t it?! After all, in the original novel, Yu Xinyu’s romantic developments with the other love interests only truly began after Cen Yu jumped off the building anyway.
Not to mention that the original book never even picked a definitive main love interest by the end.
Thinking up to this point, another idea suddenly sparked in Cen Yu’s mind—
“System, can you transfer all the security camera footage recorded at home to my phone?”
