Chapter 116: Live broadcast

Zou Bo's lawyer also became increasingly anxious as proof of Zou Bo's guilt started piling up. It wasn't like nothing had ever happened in the past, but the issue could always be settled. None of those celebrities dared to speak up either; what exactly occurred this time around?

"Because they offended Chu Qin," The station chief of Three Petals station walked past leisurely. The workers who were currently embroiled in a heated discussion suddenly quietened.

"Station chief, are you saying that this was engineered by Chu Qin?" Someone asked curiously.

The station chief smiled wordlessly and left with a shake of his head.

"That appears to be the case. Wasn't that s.e.x scandal of Chu Qin's revealed through Zou Bo's actions?"

"Zou Bo was also too impulsive. It's not good to offend anyone, yet he actually went and offended Chu Qin."

Everyone started to converse in a lively manner. The newbie at the station didn't know what was going on and asked, "Is Chu Qin capable of so much? Isn't he just a television host?"

Chen Jiming happened to pa.s.s by. Hearing the group's discussions, his steps slowed, and he listened carefully.

"You didn't know about this, right?" An older worker spoke arrogantly. "n.o.body can compare to the people Chu Qin has within the industry. The resources he possesses are more than enough for a large number of people to run over and cling to his thigh. Yet, he knows how to conduct himself. Now that Zou Bo has sunk to such a level and Chu Qin ordered everyone to take care of him, do you think people would choose to beat up the sunken dog or offend Chu Qin?"

In fact, prior to this incident, people's recognition of Chu Qin's strength was not this clear. The incident this time was a clear sign to everyone how high his position within the industry was, as well as how wide his connections were. This big shot that had harmed the entertainment industry for many years was now on the brink of falling completely from grace, losing his fortune, and landing in jail for a lifetime, simply because he had offended Chu Qin.

Thinking of this aspect, other than having a stronger sense of admiration for Chu Qin, the people in the industry also grew more fearful of him.

Chen Jiming's complexion turned deathly white after hearing these words. His father had also partic.i.p.ated in the matter this time and it was unknown if it would implicate them. Thinking to this point, Chen Jiming hurriedly went to Chen Feng's office.

The court hearing for Zou Bo's case was about to commence. In the detention center, Zou Bo was so anxious that he was almost a bundle of nerves, yet his lawyer had yet to arrive.

"The court session is about to start. I must see my lawyer, do you guys hear me?" Zou Bo shook the railings and shouted loudly. He hadn't seen his lawyer for quite a few days and internally, he was becoming more and more frightened. Those bad things he had done in the past played on repeat in his mind. After that, he couldn't help calculating how many years he would be sentenced to if those things were found out.

The previous night, he dreamt of a young man he had previously played with. The man's lower body was covered in blood, his body icy cold without the slightest bit of warmth. Then, the police rushed in and captured him, sentencing him to death. When the doctor administered the lethal injection, his limbs were tied to the bed, rendering him immobile. He looked on helplessly as the ice-cold injection was laid down by a mechanical arm. That terror had scared him awake.

"We're currently also trying to find your lawyer," The investigating police officer laughed coldly. "Your lawyer also partic.i.p.ated in all those things you did. As long as we find him, he will also be sued."

However, that lawyer had already taken all the money given to him by Zou Bo and escaped the country. Zou Bo fell apart on the spot the moment he heard this piece of news, bellowing that he wanted to engage another lawyer. Eventually, under his persistent requests, the authorities notified him that his wife had come to see him.

"Go and find me a group of lawyers. Any amount of money is fine, I want a gold-medal team of lawyers. They must guarantee that they can send me out," Zou Bo placed all his hopes on his wife. His wife was previously an actress. After following him, despite him liking men, she had never personally treated him unfairly. So, he thought that his wife would use all her means to rescue him.

The woman seated opposite him had wrinkles on her face, but it was not hard to tell that she was a beauty in her youth. With her head lowered, she waited for Zou Bo to finish his words before neurotically laughing coldly. "Zou Bo, for what reason should I rescue you?"

"What do you mean?" Zou Bo's eyes widened.

"You concealed your s.e.xual orientation and married me just so that I could give birth to a child. Whereas you engaged in s.e.xual pleasures outside and played around with men. I've long had enough of you," She looked at him icily, her eyes filled with the elation of having taken revenge. "Gold-medal team of lawyers, haha. Sure, you wait for it."

On the day of the court hearing, Zou Bo's wife did not invite any lawyers for him, so the prosecution appointed a lawyer for him. A court-appointed lawyer naturally wouldn't defend him with all their heart. At the same time, Zou Bo's wife indicated that she wanted a divorce.

Ultimately, on the grounds of concealing more than two kilograms of hard drugs, accommodating others in their consumption of drugs, extortion and blackmail, illegal detainment, and rape, the prosecution filed a lawsuit. The evidence for these charges were conclusive and thus, under the law of concurrent punishment for multiple crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The announcement that Zou Bo's wife was divorcing him was made concurrently. After Zou Bo's a.s.sets were used to compensate his victims, the rest would be given to his wife.

Within a short period of time, a big shot who had been entrenched in the entertainment industry for many years had his influence stripped from him and was placed behind bars. This caused people to sigh incessantly.

Many small celebrities who had been threatened by Zou Bo could finally live their lives in peace. On the other hand, those who didn't have much actual ability and relied on Zou Bo to increase their status very quickly became relics of the past.

In an instant, the entertainment industry went through a myriad of changes, just like a garish representation of the ecosystem - the death of a creature would enable some organisms to live a better life but would also cause the existence of some organisms to cease.

Since the matter surrounding Zou Bo had reached a conclusion, everyone's attention once again returned to Chu Qin.

Because there were now more photos of celebrities that they could do a comparison with, everyone believed that the ambiguous photos of Chu Qin with other people were posted by Zou Bo to blacken him. However, the picture of him with Zhong Yibin was too clear. It was somewhat illogical to use Zou Bo's blackening of him as a reason.

The 'Zhong Qin' fans who had regained their wits were abnormally excited, as they fervently expressed the beauty of such a thing if it were true.

[I think it's real. Look at Er Bing's hand, it's even touching Qin Qin's waist.]

[They're so absorbed in it, only people who are truly in love would be like that, right?]

[It's also possible that they're just messing around, right? Cries, I hope it's real!]

There had been an argument previously that the two were possibly in a real relations.h.i.+p, but at that time, the person had been mocked by the ma.s.ses. Now that this post was once again found, a close scrutiny of its contents revealed that it did indeed contain some logic.

The post listed a generous amount of evidence, right from the first time the audience of Confusion saw Zhong Yibin saw in the spectator stands. When Zhong Yibin went onto entertainment programs, he appeared to only show interest towards Chu Qin and when he was on

, he would go to Chu Qin's side to speak a few words every time he was free.

When comparing the two's dressing at several important occasions, one would realize in surprise that the two's suits were actually different in style, but with the same design concept. The only areas they differed in was the color and the details. When placed separately, one wouldn't have many thoughts about them but when placed together, one would realize the hidden mystery.

The more they looked, the more it seemed like this was indeed the case. After reading the post, everyone went in search of more evidence.

Upon a close inspection of the various video edits, they found that Zhong Yibin frequently stole glances at Chu Qin. In addition, when the two were on Ah Yue's entertainment program, the kiss and hug due to the program's low baseline didn't seem to be unnatural at all. Moreover, the two didn't exhibit any overtly intimate actions towards Mo Shaoyang.

[If this isn't considered love, I'll do a live broadcast of me eating p.o.o.p!]

[Even till now, Chu Qin still hasn't made things clear. Is he expressing his agreement implicitly?]

The fans were extremely curious and ran over to Chu Qin's Weibo one by one to plead for the truth. Yet, Chu Qin continued to remain calm. He made a post on Weibo stating that he would be partic.i.p.ating in a live-broadcasted interview that week.

This program was Shengs.h.i.+ TV's newly started program, with the host Ou Hao that they had poached taking on the role of host. Chu Qin's partic.i.p.ation was also to attract fans to the new program.

Ou Hao was originally a host for Three Petals Station. His reality show on Three Petals station had been very well received but due to the Chen father and son's arrival, he felt uncomfortable continuing on. Coincidentally, Chu Qin was poaching talents at that time and the conditions Shengs.h.i.+ offered were also superb, hence directly he ran over.

Usually, entertainment programs were recorded before broadcast. With editing available, celebrities felt that they could always re-film even if their performances were poor. However, this program was different. This program was broadcasted live, which was also to say that all spoken words could not be retracted. It was rather thrilling, and was also a test of the celebrity's ability to adapt on the spot.

Ou Hao also followed along to announce the program, tossing out an advance notice at the same time.

[I was shocked after seeing the script. Asking Director Chu this sort of question, would I be throwing away my rice bowl?] He raised the audience's curiosity to its peak.

On Friday night, the program started recording on time. The clock on the wall showed that the time at the venue was exact to the time in reality.

After a simple conventional greeting and starting of the program, the two started to chat.

"Are you nervous being on a live-broadcasted program?" Ou Hao, who was seated on a high-chair, asked the guest Chu Qin, who was seated on the sofa.

"It's all right, I can just treat it as a news conference," Chu Qin winked at the camera. "Anyway, I can say anything directly. For example, I can directly state my displeasure towards you without it being edited out. It's quite invigorating just thinking about it."

Ou Hao appeared rather frightened. "Then by all means, please have mercy towards me. I still want to save my reputation."

"That'll depend on your performance," Chu Qin raised a brow, full of aggressiveness.

The audience burst into laughter. This live-broadcasted program had spectators and even sold tickets. A recorded program like Confusion had a longer recording time and was thus harder on the spectators. A portion of tickets would often be given away. But this sort of live broadcast program was only as long as its broadcast and was roughly the same length of time as a movie. Thus, it wasn't tiring, and the tickets could be sold at a slightly higher price.

Ou Hao swallowed and glanced at his cue cards. "I think that after this program is filmed, I can pack up and go home."

The viewers in front of the television were extremely curious. This was the first showing of this program and n.o.body knew what would happen later on. Could it be that he would truly ask some brazen question?

"If you continue to waste time, you can pack up and go home three minutes later," Chu Qin glanced at the watch on his wrist, completely embodying the image of a leader.

The audience were again amused into laughter. The atmosphere also lightened.

"You've constantly been appearing on a variety of headlines this period of time. Regarding those few photos, could you tell us a bit about what happened?" Ou Hao smiled and touched on the topic. The first question was already extremely incisive.

The screen displayed the few photos that had previously been revealed. There was the photo of Chu Qin's suspected kiss with the previous deputy station chief during a meal, the ambiguous photo of him with Yao Yueshan, as well as the kiss with Zhong Yibin against a tree trunk along the street.

Chu Qin smiled. "Then I'll touch on them one by one."

Firstly, he zoomed in on that picture of him eating with the deputy station chief.

"The person in the picture is Shengs.h.i.+ TV's former deputy station chief. This picture was taken when everyone gathered for dinner once. At that time, it wasn't only the two of us. There were also many other people," Chu Qin spoke calmly. He stood up and pointed at a corner of the screen where half of someone's face had been captured. "This is Lin Xiaoxiao. There's also a blur black dot - that is Zhong Yibin."

After that, the screen displayed a group photo of the people who had been eating at that time in front of the table. This picture was shot by a professional photographer and was very clear. Chu Qin stood at the second row while Zhong Yibin and the deputy station chief stood in the middle. The various hosts – Lin Xiaoxiao, Qian Liang, and Zhu Chang, were also present. If Chu Qin wanted to climb up by using the deputy station chief, it was clearly against common sense to be kissing in this sort of setting.

"Oh—" The spectators off-stage let out a wave of sounds expressing sudden realization. As expected, gossip from paparazzi wasn't reliable.

"As for the one with Yao Yueshan, that is even less possible," Chu Qin shrugged. "Now, everyone knows that he is straight." The screen displayed Yao Yueshan's Weibo.

Regarding what had happened that year, it was not suitable for children to hear of it and thus could not be directly spoken of on the program. However, touching on it was still all right.

"That year, Yao Yueshan gave up being an artist just to avoid this. He ran off and opened a hotpot shop," Chu Qin smiled as he spoke. "For those who aren't aware of what happened, you can go online and search it up."

This topic wasn't very suitable for children, so it wasn't continued on the live-broadcast program, in order to avoid the program just started by Ou Hao being made to stop broadcasting.

"Hahahaha…" The audience erupted into laughter. This was clearly Ou Hao's program yet the one leading was Chu Qin. This reversal which resulted in the host being taken liberties with was rather interesting.

"Stopping the broadcast is also quite good. This program is truly too pressurizing!" Ou Hao pretended to wipe away his sweat. "On this program, anything can be asked, right?"

"Yup, didn't you properly study the aims of the program that was planned for you?" Chu Qin raised a brow.

"I studied, I studied!" Ou Hao hurriedly raised both hands. "Then I'll start asking."

On the screen, the several photos of Chu Qin and Zhong Yibin kissing were displayed together.

"This is a street in Taiwan, correct?" Even after inciting the audience's curiosity, Ou Hao didn't ask the crucial point, causing the spectators to let out shrieks of anxiety.

"En, it's a street beside the sea in the city where the Golden Jubilee Awards was held. The scenery there is pretty good," Chu Qin replied calmly.

"Was that tree a Plane tree?" Ou Hao continued to ask without purpose.

"Shh—" The spectators started to boo while the people in front of the television hated that they couldn't race in and strangle Ou Hao.

"Just look at the tree trunk and you'll know; does this need to be asked?" Chu Qin's lips curled.

"Then what exactly were you two doing?" Ou Hao asked unexpectedly. "Were you really kissing?"

The venue was quiet for a split second. Even the drop of a pin could be heard. Chu Qin smiled faintly. "That's right, we were kissing."

The author has something to say:

Small theater:

Er Bing: From now onwards, I am a biscuit that has come out of the closet

Qin Qin: What should you be called since you've come out of the closet?

Er Bing: A biscuit that's fresh out of the oven

Qin Qin: Then what should you be called if you haven't come out of the closet?

Er Bing: A vacuum packed biscuit

Qin Qin: What about preparing to get married?

Er Bing: Meat biscuit (⊙v⊙)

Qin Qin: ……

Translator's corner: I wish I could channel CQ's calmness every time I have to speak in front of a bunch of people