TL: Hua
When the man’s voice rang out, everyone’s attention shifted to him.
No one had noticed Gu Siye’s arrival. He was standing behind Lin Yanran, his hands gracefully unfastening the necklace for him.
He was patient and gentle.
Gu Siye’s warm fingertips unintentionally brushed against Lin Yanran’s neck, leaving a faint warmth on his fair, smooth skin. Lin Yanran, who was a little ticklish, leaned his head to the side and slightly recoiled.
Gu Siye’s appearance caught everyone off guard. Out of the more than 100 people present, no one understood why he would involve himself in this mess.
Xuan Yihan, who had been so sure of himself, instantly felt a wave of panic, and his heart started pounding when he realized it was Gu Siye who spoke.
Especially that “Is that so?” which carried a clear sense of mockery and warning. It gave him a bad feeling, as if things were about to spiral out of control.
Feeling inexplicably flustered, Xuan Yihan parted his lips and whimpered, “Teacher Gu…”
But Gu Siye acted as if he hadn’t heard him, completely ignoring him.
He continued to gently remove the necklace for Lin Yanran, then held it in his hand, lightly rubbing it.
After a moment, Gu Siye spoke. “This necklace is indeed a custom piece from the brand.”
He then smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“However, the marking on it has nothing to do with you.”
Gu Siye’s voice was calm, as if he were just stating a simple fact.
But when everyone heard this, their eyes widened in shock.
It has nothing to do with Xuan Yihan??
Then why did he just…
Before they could think further, they saw Gu Siye slowly walk up to Xuan Yihan and turn the necklace over.
The letters “SY” were clearly engraved on the back in a beautiful, cursive script. The design was sophisticated, clearly custom-made by the brand for the necklace’s owner.
“H-how is that possible…”
He stared at the “SY” on the necklace in disbelief, feeling as though he had just been slapped hard in front of everyone. His face burned.
Xuan Yihan’s mouth fell open, trying to say something, but it was as if his throat was clogged. He couldn’t utter a word.
He had thought victory was within his grasp and that he could easily get rid of the annoying Xuan Yanran and have him kicked off the show.
After all, he had been secretly watching Xuan Yanran for years and knew that without his wealthy parents, this down-and-out loser could never afford such a valuable necklace.
So, even though he had no real proof that Xuan Yanran had stolen his necklace, he dared to be so certain and so brazen as to confront him in front of everyone and all the cameras because Xuan Yanran’s poverty was his leverage.
But he had never expected such a twist.
This necklace, which looked identical to his, really wasn’t his!
The trainees standing farther away couldn’t see what was engraved on the necklace, but from Gu Siye’s words and Xuan Yihan’s expression, they could already figure out the truth.
This necklace wasn’t the one Xuan Yihan lost after all!
It was a complete coincidence!
“I thought this necklace would match Teacher Yanran’s styling today, so I asked him to try it on for me. I personally handed it to him. If you still don’t believe it, I can call the brand right now.”
Gu Siye’s explanation made the origin of Lin Yanran’s necklace perfectly clear.
He narrowed his eyes and looked down at Xuan Yihan, asking, “Do you need me to?”
Do you need me to?
Every word from Gu Siye felt like a stab at Xuan Yihan’s heart.
Xuan Yihan suddenly went limp like a puppet with its strings cut. His whole demeanor crumbled.
He shook his head and took several steps back, forced to admit quietly in front of everyone, “N-no… This necklace… it’s not mine…”
But Gu Siye didn’t care what he said. He was ready to settle the score. “You were so certain before. Did you personally see Yanran take your necklace?”
Xuan Yihan was shocked by the question and looked up.
But when his eyes met Gu Siye’s sharp, knife-like gaze, he quickly looked down again in fear.
He knew that if he lied now, Gu Siye would surely produce more evidence to make a fool of him. So, he reluctantly shook his head.
“No… I just…”
Xuan Yihan tried to justify his baseless accusation.
But Xia Xingxing, who had been boiling with anger, cut him off.
“So you didn’t have a single piece of evidence, and you just slandered him? Spreading rumors with just your mouth?”
To protect his idol’s reputation, Xia Xingxing was determined to make everything clear. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you that you need evidence and to be careful before you say things that question someone’s character?” He pointed at the dozens of cameras that were recording every trainee. “And you did it in front of all these cameras. Did you want to get haters to attack my… to attack Teacher Yanran when this airs?”
Xia Xingxing’s words became more and more cutting, exposing all of Xuan Yihan’s ulterior motives.
The trainees who had been stunned by the dramatic twists and turns finally came to their senses.
Wow, so Xuan Yihan just tried to frame someone without any proof?
In most of the trainees’ minds, Xuan Yihan was a decent young master from a wealthy family.
And Yanran was a penniless mentor with a bad reputation.
But because of their preconceived notions, they had almost believed the words of Xuan Yihan and his roommates, nearly becoming pawns in their plan to frame Yanran.
If I had said something just now… and it aired, I would have gotten attacked, too, wouldn’t I?
Dozens of trainees in the crowd began to whisper.
They were all condemning Xuan Yihan for his irresponsible slander.
Seeing Xuan Yihan admit that he had no evidence and had simply spread a baseless rumor, even Fang Su—who had been so confident, certain that Hanhan was too kind and innocent to ever lie, and eager to defend his sweetheart—now realized the seriousness of the situation.
He turned to Xuan Yihan, his eyes questioning what was going on.
Xuan Yihan’s gaze darted away. He couldn’t look him in the eye.
He felt countless eyes on him, as if everyone was laughing at his failure.
“Aren’t you going to apologize?”
It was Gu Siye who spoke. He frowned as he looked at Xuan Yihan, who was still cowering in the corner, his eyes filled with impatience and disdain.
With the scene he’d created, Xuan Yihan knew he had no way to defend himself. He reluctantly walked up to Lin Yanran. In front of all the trainees and cameras, he bowed his proud back and made a deep bow to Lin Yanran.
“Teacher Yanran, I’m sorry. I misunderstood you. I sincerely apologize and hope you can forgive me.”
When he apologized, Xuan Yihan kept his head low, hoping the cameras wouldn’t capture his miserable state.
Lin Yanran glanced at Xuan Yihan, understanding that the apology was born of necessity, not sincerity.
If Lin Yanran hadn’t had evidence, this person would have completely slandered him, getting him kicked off the show.
He remembered that in the original novel, this was exactly the type of thing Xuan Yihan and his group used to get the original owner off the show.
He felt disgusted by the thought of forgiving someone like him so easily.
However, with his identity as a mentor and so many cameras filming, if the footage were to be exposed and he refused to forgive someone who had already apologized, he would look petty. He would be giving the haters ammunition to attack him, and he would lose his moral high ground.
So, he didn’t immediately accept the apology. After a moment of eye contact with Gu Siye, he slowly spoke.
“It’s alright. Just be sure to take good care of your valuables from now on.”
He wanted to say, “Don’t lose something and then go around biting people like a dog.”
Lin Yanran smiled faintly. If there weren’t so many cameras, his words would have been much more sarcastic.
Seeing that Lin Yanran had relented, Xuan Yihan, who just wanted the ground to swallow him whole, tried to leave.
But fate had other plans. At that moment, the head director arrived, belatedly.
“A cleaning lady just found a necklace in the restroom just now. See if it’s yours.”
He then handed the necklace to Xuan Yihan in front of everyone.
The director’s words were another slap in the face to the already mortified Xuan Yihan.
Everyone could clearly see that the necklace the director gave to Xuan Yihan was identical to the one Lin Yanran had worn.
This was definitive proof that Xuan Yihan had carelessly dropped his necklace in the restroom. The cleaning lady had even virtuously returned the seven-figure necklace. No one in the entire production crew was as corrupt as he had imagined.
Xuan Yihan couldn’t pretend to be blind. He had no choice but to nod.
The director had been called by the camera operators to resolve the issue. Now that the misunderstanding was cleared, he didn’t want to create any more trouble. He just told Xuan Yihan, “Be more careful next time.”
Xuan Yihan nodded and tried to leave with the necklace.
But then, Gu Siye spoke up again. “On the first day the trainees moved into the dorms, didn’t the production team say to hand over phones and valuables?”
When the director heard Gu Siye’s question, he quickly nodded.
The trainees around them also agreed.
“They did say that…”
“That’s right, they confiscated two of my phones.”
“They even took my game console…”
At first, the trainees didn’t understand what Gu Siye was getting at, but as they talked about the things they’d handed over, a sudden realization dawned on them.
Wait a minute, if they confiscated even game consoles, how did Xuan Yihan’s seven-figure necklace still get in?
With the necklace in mind, many people immediately recalled the bracelets, rings, and earrings he usually wore.
They had vaguely heard those items of his were expensive but hadn’t thought much about it before.
But now it was different!
While every trainee wore jewelry, no one wore a million-dollar necklace to a show!
How sharp were fans’ eyes these days? If a trainee changed into luxury items every other day, people would find out the brand and style.
Isn’t this just a disguised way of showing off wealth to gain attention?
Everyone here was competing for a debut spot, yet Xuan Yihan was playing tricks on them just to get more attention…
The trainees who had come to their senses now looked at Xuan Yihan with accusatory eyes. Some of the braver ones directly asked him, “Your necklace is so expensive. Why didn’t you hand it over during the room check?”
Xuan Yihan didn’t dare to speak now.
Fang Su also sensed the trainees’ hostility toward Xuan Yihan and quickly tried to explain for him. “Maybe he wasn’t clear about it at the time.”
Some of the trainees couldn’t help but laugh at Fang Su’s words.
Was he an idiot? How could an adult not tell if something was valuable or not?
“You should probably hand over these valuables to the production team.”
“Yeah, what if you accidentally lose it again?”
Every single one of their comments sounded like a mockery to Xuan Yihan.
He understood that his carefully cultivated relationships had just been ruined by this incident.
“I’m so sorry; I was careless.” Xuan Yihan apologized to everyone again. “I’ll hand all these accessories over to the production team right now. Please don’t worry; I’ll be extra careful from now on.”
He had come to lecture Lin Yanran, but he had ended up becoming the clown and the target.
Feeling that he couldn’t stay any longer, Xuan Yihan left immediately after apologizing.
Fang Su and his roommates also felt too embarrassed to remain. After apologizing to Lin Yanran, they quickly left as well.
After the crowd dispersed, Gu Siye and Lin Yanran walked downstairs together.
Once they were sure there were no cameras following them, Lin Yanran spoke. “Thank you for getting me out of that mess just now.”
At the same time, Gu Siye also spoke. “My apologies. I didn’t expect to cause such a huge misunderstanding for you.”
Their words came out almost simultaneously.
One expressing gratitude, the other an apology.
They were in perfect sync.
In the end, neither of them said much more. They simply smiled at each other, not dwelling on the unpleasantness of the incident.
“It’s a bit late. Let me drive you back. I have my car tonight.” Gu Siye offered to give Lin Yanran a ride.
Lin Yanran was surprised and curious. He was about to politely decline when the other man spoke again.
“You have to give me a chance to apologize.”
Lin Yanran didn’t hesitate. He simply followed him to the underground parking lot.
The face slapping is so fragrance ≖‿≖
