After scolding himself in frustration, Li Quyin gritted his teeth and decided to go after Miao Mingyi.
"How's the investigation going? Have you found out who did it?" Li Quyin sent a message to ask.
As soon as the news broke, Li Quyin immediately had Miao Mingyi look into it.
This matter wasn’t over.
If he found out who was behind it, they were going to pay!
"We're still investigating, but we haven't found anything yet. The information was leaked on Weibo and an anonymous forum. Even if we track the IP address, it won’t be useful," Miao Mingyi quickly replied.
"Hurry up."
"Got it."
After finishing his conversation with Miao Mingyi, Li Quyin switched to check the online reactions.
The news had instantly attracted a lot of attention and was continuing to spread. An hour ago, it had even shot to the top of the trending searches.
Many fans refused to believe it. Their idol didn’t even have a girlfriend—there was no way he would do something like this!
Plenty of people thought it must be a misunderstanding. The blurry photo didn't clearly show the location, and at most, it only proved that Shen Bailou was walking past the entrance of a love hotel.
But of course, some haters took the chance to stir things up, yelling about how their so-called "male god" had been exposed, or digging up old scandals and false rumors.
Because of this, the topic remained red-hot and didn’t seem like it would die down anytime soon.
Li Quyin rubbed his temples. Meanwhile, Xia Xixi had already complained several times about Shen Bailou’s situation.
"That’s just the kind of person he is. It was only a matter of time before he got exposed. Though I have to admit, I’m impressed—he hid it so well that it only came out now," Xia Xixi commented.
"Don’t you go learning from him."
Li Quyin wanted to cry but had no tears. "Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m not like him."
"That’s good." Xia Xixi happily rolled around on the sofa, feeling a little sleepy.
"I’m getting tired. I’m going to sleep now—you should rest early too." Xia Xixi yawned.
"Alright, goodnight," Li Quyin replied.
Xia Xixi glanced at the time and suddenly found it was already past 2 AM. He found it odd—why was Li Quyin still awake?
"Why are you still up this late?" Xia Xixi asked.
"Something happened," Li Quyin said, feeling like he had swallowed bitter medicine.
"Is it serious?"
Li Quyin stared at his phone for a long moment, unsure how to explain.
Getting mistaken by his own boyfriend for checking into a hotel with someone else, then getting cursed out for it—did that count as serious?
"Yeah, super serious!" Li Quyin forced a smile. It was so serious he wanted to cry but had nowhere to do it.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Xia Xixi asked with concern.
He turned over and sprawled on the sofa, playfully kicking his feet in the air.
"I can handle it. You should get some sleep."
"Alright then. Goodnight."
Since Li Quyin wasn’t willing to say more, Xia Xixi, though still a little worried, didn’t press further. He trusted that Li Quyin would take care of it.
After coaxing Xia Xixi to bed, Li Quyin skimmed through the latest online discussions before finally going to sleep.
Having been in the industry for years, he had the psychological endurance to handle situations like this. It wasn’t enough to keep him awake at night.
The next morning, during a short break from his show, he opened Weibo again and found that the trending topic was still pinned to the top.
After a whole night of speculation, things had only gotten more complicated.
By late morning, someone even claimed to know the identity of the female celebrity who had checked into the hotel with Shen Bailou.
With a few obvious hints from the netizen, the sharp-eyed online detectives quickly dug up the name.
It turned out to be Yi Gupan, the second female lead from a movie she had previously worked on with Shen Bailou.
Yi Gupan hadn’t been in the industry for long, but thanks to her strong connections, she often brought her own investment into productions, allowing her to participate in many big-budget films.
However, her acting skills were mediocre, so she had yet to achieve real fame. The only thing that made her stand out was her mature and sultry fashion style.
Li Quyin remembered Yi Gupan because she had once tried to flirt with him during a past collaboration.
But Li Quyin had always disliked people like her, so he never gave her a pleasant expression.
The only reason she left a deep impression on him was her shameless persistence—no matter how coldly he treated her, she could immediately put on a playful smile and approach him again.
As soon as the rumors surfaced, people started asking Yi Gupan on Weibo whether it was true.
Yet, instead of giving a clear denial, she responded with vague, ambiguous words—saying a lot, but never outright refuting the claim.
Her attitude only fueled more speculation, making people even more convinced that she was the woman in question.
Watching this unfold, Li Quyin couldn’t help but sneer coldly.
Yi Gupan was clever.
The leaked photo of him and Xia Xixi—there was an 80–90% chance that she was the one who spread it.
She must have seen Xia Xixi in the picture, which was why she deliberately chose a blurry photo—one that obscured Xia Xixi’s gender, giving herself the chance to take his place in the narrative.
And as the person involved, even if he knew the truth, he had to consider the consequences of denying it—what if Yi Gupan retaliated by exposing that the person with him at the hotel was actually a man?
That was exactly what she was banking on. She was confident he wouldn’t openly refute the claim, so she was shamelessly riding the wave of attention.
This was blackmail.
Li Quyin’s gaze turned icy. Yi Gupan was bold and intelligent, but she had miscalculated one thing—he would never allow anyone to use Xia Xixi as leverage against him.
More precisely, he would never let anyone drag Xia Xixi into this mess.
Absolutely not.
Li Quyin’s fingers glided across his phone screen, quickly typing out a long Weibo post.
[Yes, I did pass by that hotel at that time, but I never entered it with anyone. This can be verified through the hotel’s surveillance footage.
As for those deliberately spreading false rumors, I suggest you provide solid evidence.]
[If your so-called ‘evidence’ is just that one blurry photo, isn’t that a bit too much of a joke?
Since you were already taking photos as proof, I don’t believe you only managed to capture one unclear image. The fact that it’s so blurry is suspicious in itself, isn’t it?]
Li Quyin had indeed gone to that hotel, but he had entered alone and left alone. The so-called claim that he "took someone in with him" was completely baseless.
Even if the hotel surveillance footage were checked, at most, it would show him going in and coming out alone.
As for the other person in the photo…
Yi Gupan’s goal was to ride the wave of popularity. If she now admitted that the person in the photo wasn’t her, it would be a direct slap to her own face—one hard enough to leave a mark.
Li Quyin was certain Yi Gupan wouldn’t be that foolish.
After posting on Weibo, Li Quyin ignored the matter and continued with his show.
By the time Xia Xixi saw the long Weibo post, it was already the afternoon when he stepped out of the police bureau.
After last night’s incident, he had spent the entire day investigating the vase case.
After getting some sleep, his mind was much clearer. He requested to take another look at the vase, and the bureau agreed, so he and Old Liao went back to check.
The item was indeed a fake. The craftsmanship was poor—so bad it wasn’t even as good as a street stall product.
But this wasn’t the same vase he had seen earlier.
If the one he had initially examined was this obviously fake, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed.
This led Xia Xixi to conclude that someone must have swapped the vase sometime between his initial appraisal and when the authentication document was issued.
As they walked out of the police station, Old Liao frowned deeply after hearing Xia Xixi’s analysis.
During that time, Xia Xixi had been busy, so after confirming the vase’s details, he handed it over to Old Liao to process the authentication certificate.
Certification wasn’t as simple as writing a few words—it had to go through official procedures and get stamped, which wasn’t a quick task. Having someone else run the errands was common practice when things got hectic.
Xia Xixi had asked Old Liao for help, but Old Liao had also been occupied, so he called another senior member from the association who was available to handle it.
Once the authentication certificate was ready, the vase was returned to Xia Xixi, who then handed it back to the collector.
“I’ll investigate this as soon as I get back and find out exactly who handled it,” Old Liao said grimly. His face looked even worse than when they first entered the police station—he hadn’t expected this mess to involve him too.
If this accusation stuck, there would be no way to clear his name. Decades of hard work would be ruined.
“I believe you, and I know it wasn’t you,” Xia Xixi said firmly.
Old Liao let out a long breath, the tension in his body slowly easing.
Xia Xixi had entrusted the vase to him without hesitation—that alone was proof of his trust.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this…” Old Liao left those words behind before hailing a taxi and leaving.
Watching him go, Xia Xixi took out his phone to contact Li Quyin—only to immediately see the latest news about Shen Bailou.
Already in a bad mood, seeing this only made his anger flare up further.
Recalling what Li Quyin had said the night before, Xia Xixi’s frustration boiled over.
He opened his rarely used Weibo, thought for a moment, then posted:
[Some people are truly beasts in human skin. Even when they’re already in a relationship, they still go around flirting with others. And when they get caught, they try to lie their way out of it. What an eye-opener.]
As soon as Xia Xixi thought about the person dating Shen Bailou, he couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
Seriously, never go looking for a boyfriend in a trash heap—no matter how carefully you pick, you’ll still end up with garbage.
After Li Quyin posted his long Weibo statement, many people quickly voiced their agreement. The doubts he raised were valid, so netizens began demanding clearer photos from the person who leaked the news.
Just as the situation was starting to turn in his favor, a sudden post on Weibo threw everything into chaos again.
Someone claimed that Li Quyin had a girlfriend but was still fooling around with others.
Although the person didn’t explicitly name him, anyone with eyes could tell who they were referring to.
With that, things instantly took a turn for the worse—no, even worse than before.
Checking into a hotel with someone while single was one thing. But doing it while in a relationship and cheating? That was a completely different level of scandal—one that doubled the severity of the situation.
Li Quyin stared at the post and was so furious he actually laughed.
He clicked into the user’s profile and found that the person was a verified big V account.
This person usually only posted about antiques and history—very niche content—but they had a massive following, with millions of fans.
Li Quyin scrolled through their past posts. The comments were full of history buffs speaking in elegant, old-fashioned phrasing, and the poster themselves had the same style, making it feel like stepping back in time.
Li Quyin sneered. What an act.
But because of this, he immediately guessed who the person was.
Besides that lunatic "expert," he couldn’t think of anyone else.
Since things had already come to this…
He accepted the challenge.
The battle was officially on!