Lin Can stammered, “What?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Yuan’s phone rang. Without even glancing at it, Qi Yuan hit the speakerphone button.

A capable and steady male voice came through the speaker.

“President Qi, Ran Yang has come looking for you several times, asking when you will give a nod. If you don’t let the PR department respond soon, the situation is going to escalate.”

Qi Yuan decisively hung up the call and then turned his gaze to Lin Can, who had suddenly tensed up. “When do you think I should give in?”

Meeting those confident eyes, Lin Can finally realized what was happening.

Qi Yuan was using Ran Yang to threaten him.

But what good was that? He and Ran Yang were already divorced, and she had cut off all contact with him, clearly not wanting anything to do with him or needing his help.

Did Qi Yuan really think he still had feelings for Ran Yang and couldn’t bear to see her in trouble? What a joke!

Neither he nor the original owner had any feelings for Ran Yang at all!

He just had a bit more conscience than the original owner, which was why he thought about giving some aftercare!

“Ring ring ring…”

Lin Can’s own phone rang.

As soon as he answered, a voice on the other end shouted, “Lin Can, are you going to keep being a turtle?!”

“Because of you, Ran Yang is being criticized by fans! The company has already suspended all his work! You were so happy to suck his blood before, and now that he’s in trouble, you just stand by and do nothing?!”

Lin Can was stunned for a while before realizing that the person on the other end was the protagonist gong he really didn’t want to meet, Song Xiao.

In the original story, Song Xiao had developed feelings for Ran Yang back in college, but before he could pursue those feelings, the original owner had jumped in first, leaving him to just be friends with Ran Yang.

He had wanted to give up, but after accidentally discovering the original owner’s scummy nature, he stayed by Ran Yang’s side as a protector to prevent his beloved from getting hurt.

Now that Ran Yang was in trouble, it was only natural for him to be restless, but unfortunately, the company wouldn’t let him step forward; otherwise, he would have already stood up to defend Ran Yang.

Lin Can was at a loss for words, only able to wait for him to finish before explaining, “I can’t get in touch with Ran Yang; he has me blocked…”

Song Xiao sneered on the other end, “What a lame excuse! Didn’t you collect a lot of paparazzi contacts to threaten Ran Yang before? How come you can’t handle this little thing now?”

Lin Can sighed, “I do have the contacts, but this kind of thing has to go through Ran Yang’s consent…”

“Stop pretending to be nice!” Song Xiao didn’t want to hear his excuses.

“Just help when I ask! If you don’t step up this time, I have plenty of ways to make you step up later! I’ll warn you in advance, I’m not like Ran Yang, who is such a nice guy. If I want you dead, you won’t have a second chance to live!”

After delivering his ultimatum, Song Xiao hung up the phone.

Thinking about the original owner’s fate, Lin Can couldn’t help but shiver.

Qi Yuan found it amusing as he watched Lin Can fumble to put his phone back in his pocket. He slowly walked up to him, “So bold, that must be that kid from the Song family, right?”

“I remember he had a good relationship with your ex-husband. Are you being cornered?”

What cornering? He was the one doing the cornering!

Lin Can felt exhausted.

Qi Yuan raised his eyes, looking at the clear and handsome face that had captivated him multiple times, his tone coaxing.

“As long as you’re willing to be with me, I can not only help Ran Yang out of trouble but also make that kid from the Song family too scared to come looking for you.”

“…” Lin Can’s throat moved slightly, which in Qi Yuan’s eyes was a restrained and subtle kind of sexy, making him unable to resist reaching out to touch.

Lin Can, who was ticklish, dodged away, his voice a bit hoarse, “You mean being with you, does that mean I have to be with you for life?”

“Don’t want to?” Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow.

Lin Can fell silent, clearly unwilling.

Qi Yuan didn’t push it, chuckling softly, “Well, if you’re not willing, I’m not too keen on it either. How about this: in six months, when that time is up, you can go wherever you want.”

Exchanging six months for a non-be ending sounded pretty good.

“Make a decision quickly,” Qi Yuan urged, clearly seeing his wavering, “I’m not a patient person.”

Lin Can bit his lip, looking at the man in front of him who radiated danger, “I don’t want money, but you have to respect my wishes during these six months.”

“You’re the first person to dare to make demands of me.”

“After all, it’s the 21st century; I don’t want to be too humble.”

Qi Yuan was amused by Lin Can’s earnestness, “Alright, since you put it that way.”

With his goal achieved, his mood improved significantly, and he even lowered himself to ask Lin Can for his opinion.

“How do you want me to help Lin Can? Should I directly remove the trending topic, or find a scapegoat?”

“Neither,” Lin Can shook his head, “I want to explain myself.”

*

On the day the trending topic “Ran Yang Gets Married” exploded at noon, the trending topic “Ran Yang’s Ex-Husband” suddenly dropped onto Weibo, nearly crashing the server.

A user with the nickname LC posted a video without showing his face, claiming to be Ran Yang’s ex-husband, explaining that their marriage was a conspiracy from the start.

Ran Yang was tricked into thinking he had done something to him while drunk, and out of a sense of responsibility, he had to propose marriage.

Although they lived in the same house after marriage, Ran Yang rarely came home, and they were more like strangers, having never engaged in any substantial marital activities.

As soon as the news broke, all the onlookers flocked in.

At first, everyone was questioning, unsure if this user who had only posted once was just trying to grab attention.

But with the retweet from Ran Yang’s studio, everyone finally erupted.

Wow, the other party has arrived!

And he took all the blame on himself!

“How much did Ran Yang pay him?”

That was everyone’s question.

“I didn’t get paid, he even blocked me; I couldn’t get in touch with him.”

LC replied seriously, even sending a screenshot of being blocked.

“What the heck, the sister turned into an ex-husband! When did they divorce?”

LC: “Just a few days ago.”

“Wow… the timing is a bit too coincidental; I have to conspiracy-theorize a bit.”

LC: “The marriage news was maliciously leaked. We decided to divorce because we knew it would be exposed.”

As soon as Lin Can said this, everyone was buzzing again.

This was getting more and more interesting!

“???”

“Ex-husband, please elaborate; we’re not short on a few bucks for internet fees.”

“What else is there to elaborate on? Ran Yang only has a few rivals; just use the process of elimination to figure out who it is, either someone whose name starts with N or B.”

“Ran Yang’s fans can’t walk independently without Nie Wei? They have to drag him into everything.”

“Exactly, it’s not like Nie Wei was the one who married him under the guise of a fan.”

Seeing that fans were about to start arguing over other topics, Lin Can hurriedly replied.

LC: “Who it is doesn’t matter; the problem lies with me. I couldn’t resist the temptation of money and gave the wedding photos to someone else. I know what I did was wrong, so I returned the money to that person.”

LC: “From start to finish, it was my fault; Ran Yang was dragged down by me. If you want to blame someone, blame me.”

Now, not only the onlookers but even the fans who had unfollowed Ran Yang recently fell silent.

Even if what he said was true, it was just too abnormal for someone to suddenly stand up and apologize!

Before everyone could think this was Ran Yang’s way of clearing his name, another gossip blogger with millions of followers suddenly leaked dozens of pages of chat records.

The chat records not only revealed the backstory and certain details of how the ex-husband and his friends had set up Ran Yang but also confirmed that the ex-husband had indeed been in contact with Ran Yang’s rivals, and the wedding photos were a weapon they intended to use against Ran Yang.

Combined with the date on Ran Yang’s marriage certificate, the fact that this ex-husband who sincerely apologized on Weibo was a scumbag was completely confirmed.

And Ran Yang became a pitiful child who was deceived into marriage and money.

Until the ex-husband admitted it himself, he had no idea he was innocent.

Upon learning the truth, Ran Yang’s eyes turned red in an instant, and before the camera could capture him again, he lowered his head.

The camera angle couldn’t capture his face, but it recorded his suppressed, painful sobs, making everyone clearly feel his grievance and injustice.

Once the video was released, it quickly garnered sympathy from fans and onlookers.

What wrong had Ran Yang done?!

He was set up by someone, married out of a sense of responsibility, and provided living expenses, yet to be worthy of his fans, he kept himself pure and rarely went home, living like strangers with his spouse.

From start to finish, Ran Yang had done nothing wrong!

He had even been prepared to sacrifice his entire marriage!

The one at fault was this ex-husband who had been sucking Ran Yang dry!

And that rival who had paid for the wedding photos!

In an instant, all the fans and onlookers who had insulted Ran Yang began to apologize, and Ran Yang’s fan count soared to new heights after a brief dip.

Meanwhile, Lin Can, the scumbag ex-husband, received hundreds of thousands of curses.

“I thought you were an honest person! Turns out you’re a scumbag!”

“Can Ran Yang call the police? Isn’t this fraud?!”

“Exactly, he was with Ran Yang just for money! If he really wants to sue, it might actually work!”

“I work at a top 5 law firm in the country; if Ran Yang needs legal assistance, I’m more than happy to help!”

“Scumbag! You made our Ran Ran suffer! I hope you get hit by a car when you go out!”

“Let’s dox him; I want to send this scumbag some local specialties!”

Lin Can didn’t care about the curses and insults; as long as Ran Yang got through this tough time safely, he felt he had repaid the debts the original owner owed.

From now on, he and Ran Yang would be completely unrelated strangers.

“Feeling relieved?” Qi Yuan thought he was happy for Ran Yang and asked, sounding quite displeased.

Lin Can sincerely thanked him, “Thank you.”

If it weren’t for Qi Yuan’s intervention, things wouldn’t have been resolved so easily.

Qi Yuan scoffed lightly, “Don’t say those fake pleasantries. Just make sure you understand, from today on, you’re mine.”

Lin Can’s face stiffened for a moment.

“Having second thoughts?” Qi Yuan shot him a sideways glance.

“No,” Lin Can quickly denied, “I just haven’t adjusted yet…”

“Ha,” Qi Yuan chuckled lightly, “You’re acting all innocent now, but you’re clearly a scumbag.”

Lin Can turned his head away, not wanting to talk.

“Alright, I won’t tease you anymore.”

Qi Yuan stood up from the sofa, “Go to the hotel and pack your things; you need to be at my beck and call for the next six months.”

Lin Can blinked uncomfortably but ultimately didn’t say no.

Qi Yuan was pleased with his understanding and walked out of the office.

Wang Qian was leaning against the wall, waiting for them to come out.

As soon as Qi Yuan saw him, he remembered something, “Where’s that guy A Hai from your store?”

“Here, here.”

Wang Qian jogged off to call him.

A Hai was pulled in front of Qi Yuan before he could even ask what was going on. Before he could be surprised that his boss knew Qi Yuan, he saw the imposing man in front of him slowly walk over with his hands in his pockets.

The look in his eyes carried a warning that felt almost tangible.

“Who gave you the guts to make things difficult for my people?”