Dr. Li’s self-exposure was just the first step in the Gu family’s counterattack, with a more intense retaliation following closely behind. So far, all developments have been within their plan. They pretended to be innocent bystanders and intentionally leaked a set of photos showing Yu Li’s manager having dinner with Dr. Li. Since each photo was taken at a different restaurant, it showed that the two had met privately more than once, which again proved Dr. Li’s claims. On the other hand, to restore the hospital’s reputation, the hospital where Dr. Li works announced that they would investigate the matter. Less than two hours after this announcement, the hospital took disciplinary action against Dr. Li. This evidence and the unfolding developments made Yu Li’s fans’ arguments increasingly untenable. Coupled with the efforts of the Gu family’s PR team, the narrative of “Yu Li’s fake suicide” gradually dominated the mainstream public opinion, and the onlookers started to believe this fact.

Let’s rewind a bit and see what Yu Li did after leaving the press conference.

Yu Li learned from spies planted within the Gu family about the plan to ruin him, especially after he had been insulted during his confrontation with Gu Xuanze at the opening ceremony. He couldn’t swallow this humiliation. He cleverly manipulated the marketing accounts listed as part of Gu’s plan to create a public opinion offensive, planning to stage another “suicide.” These marketing accounts did not disappoint him, and the public opinion was entirely on his side, with people sympathizing with him and condemning Lu Youze. His devoted image remained intact, and Lu Youze’s image as a scumbag was solidified.

By this point, Gu Xuanze’s “cleansing” plan had failed completely. Yu Li lay in a high-end VIP bed at the hospital, looking at the one-sided public opinion online, gleefully thinking: “Lu Youze, you think you’ve found a backer? Don’t dream! As long as I, Yu Li, exist, you’ll never have a chance to turn things around.”

Everything was going according to his plan, but who would have thought that Dr. Li would suddenly betray him, and the situation flipped dramatically.

Yu Li coldly watched as the online public opinion flipped faster than turning a page, wondering how many of these so-called onlookers were paid by Gu Xuanze. He knew he couldn’t appear in public and had to play dead, but his PR team wouldn’t just sit idly by.

The fake suicide was already exposed, and no matter how powerful his team was, they couldn’t turn the tables now. Besides, the other side definitely had more evidence, or they wouldn’t be so “arrogant.” If they continued to “cleanse” themselves on this matter, they would only be slapped in the face more. So, they decided to guide fans from another angle, using his devoted image to justify his fake suicide. With the help of YXH and major fans, his supporters went wild, listing a series of “devoted” acts that Yu Li had done for Lu Youze, claiming that he did it all to gain Lu Youze’s attention… These fans, with YXH’s support, exaggerated Yu Li’s devoted image to gain sympathy from the public, then listed a hundred of Lu Youze’s scumbag behaviors. The Weibo post detailing “100 behaviors of Lu Youze as a scumbag” went viral in an instant and hit the trending list.

Lu Youze was now thoroughly defeated, and whenever Yu Li needed something, all he had to do was drag Lu Youze out and hit him while he was down.

Since Yu Li’s devoted image remained intact and Lu Youze’s scumbag image was deeply ingrained, public opinion swiftly reversed. From initially doubting Yu Li’s character, it now turned into widespread sympathy for him.

Gu Xuanze, always monitoring the “war,” found it amusing that people were now saying “poor Yu Li” and claiming that Lu Youze didn’t deserve Yu Li’s sacrifices. He wished Yu Li would stop thinking about Lu Youze, but it didn’t matter—he would get everything back for Lu Youze.

Gu Xuanze held onto plenty of evidence and materials, along with a series of counterattack plans, but this time, they weren’t in a rush to retaliate. Their goal for the day was simply to expose Yu Li’s fake suicide. Afterward, they would let “How bad is Lu Youze really?” and “Yu Li, how hard is it to love the wrong person?” top the trending searches on Weibo… By the end of the day, it seemed like Yu Li’s side had won.

But the real action was yet to come, as Gu Xuanze planned to strike the fatal blow when the other side let their guard down, thinking they had won.

Gu Xuanze’s counterattack began early the next morning, with the first shot fired by none other than Lu Youze, the man at the center of the storm.

Although he had been playing dead for the past few days, the topic of how much of a scumbag Lu Youze was had been dominating the Weibo trending list since the day before. Even many people who were just bystanders to the drama had started to angrily curse after reading the brainwashing material organized by Yu Li’s fans.

Lu Youze’s counterattack came as explosive news to many. In fact, since he fainted backstage during the last event until the filming of The Days We Walk Together in the Jianghu began, Lu Youze had not made any public statements in any social setting.

His last Weibo post was from Qixi, where he interacted with Yu Li.

Now, Lu Youze posted a long Weibo in the early morning, his first public response since the scandal broke out.

The main idea of the post was that he was the real victim, and this whole situation was a conspiracy by Yu Li. Yu Li had manipulated his emotions, and even his “cheating” was planned in advance by Yu Li.

Lu Youze’s post was full of genuine emotion. Even when mentioning Yu Li’s betrayal and manipulation, there was no trace of hatred—only endless love and pain, with his words conveying deep affection for Yu Li.

He also wrote about his pain and struggle after learning the truth, explaining that what hurt him wasn’t his ruined reputation but the fact that Yu Li didn’t love him. During this time, he had considered suicide multiple times due to the pain, eventually starting to take antidepressants. Of course, the post also touched on his relationship with Gu Xuanze.

After spending so much time talking about how much he loved Yu Li, now he was with Gu Xuanze. Isn’t this contradictory? Isn’t it a perfect reason to explain everything as amnesia? Losing his memory explained everything, and during the time he was struggling with his emotions, it was Gu Xuanze who stayed by his side, helping him through the darkest and loneliest times.

He didn’t deliberately try to create the image of a good man for Gu Xuanze, but his words subtly conveyed Gu Xuanze’s kindness and deep feelings.

As for why he suddenly remembered all of this, Lu Youze explained that the doctors said it was due to the huge shock he experienced at the opening ceremony, which triggered his memory recovery.

Having been in the entertainment industry for so many years, Lu Youze, who had worked his way up from a minor role to become the youngest Best Actor, understood the concept of “moderation.” Sometimes, too much or too little of something can backfire. In his long post, he didn’t use strong language to insinuate anything, simply telling the story from his perspective.

Despite the length of his post, the onlookers read every word, and many had to admit that Lu Youze’s writing was quite good.

In fact, Lu Youze was very pleased with his post.

Using Yu Li’s favorite method to crush him was incredibly satisfying.

Hmph! Did he really think that pretending to be affectionate and pitiful was Yu Li’s exclusive tactic?

Of course, words alone are not enough.

Without solid evidence, Yu Li’s fans would immediately accuse him of fabricating everything and shifting the blame.

Lu Youze attached relevant evidence to every point in his post, including a series of diaries Yu Li had written after discovering his betrayal, medical records and prescriptions from his depression treatment, hospital diagnoses after several suicide attempts, phone records of Yu Li inviting him to the bar on the day of the cheating scandal, and photos showing the tipster’s contact with Yu Li…

All this evidence was found in a rundown box in the apartment where Yu Li and Lu Youze had lived together. Lu Youze’s hunch had been correct. He knew he would find useful evidence here. With such hard evidence, he didn’t believe Yu Li’s team would be able to twist the story again.

All of this evidence was hidden in an old box, carelessly placed in a corner of the study. Yu Li might have been too confident in his plan, thinking that Lu Youze couldn’t figure it out, or maybe he had simply played the devoted lover role so long that after their falling out, he never came back to the apartment. Or perhaps it was because the box was so old and had been placed casually aside that Yu Li didn’t think there was anything important inside.

He probably never imagined that such an ordinary box contained crucial evidence that could destroy him.

Besides the evidence related to Lu Youze, there were many other pieces of evidence showing how Yu Li had staged the cheating incident.

This box of evidence also helped Lu Youze unravel a mystery he had been pondering since arriving here.

Why was it that even Gu Xuanze could see through Yu Li’s “love” as an act, but Lu Youze, a master of acting, couldn’t?

It turns out, from the diaries, that Yu Li—who had repeatedly used “focusing on my career” as an excuse to avoid tagging Lu Youze—never really loved him.

He just loved too desperately, unwilling to wake up from the lie.