Chapter 4 - Genius Cannonfodders Counterattack Record (4)

translator: baumkuchen editor: serefina

The plagiarism incident was only the opening act of Cheng Yuans tragic fate.

After Yang Baihua returned home and finished listening to Cheng Yuans miserable sobs, he placed his hands on his shoulders, saying, Xiao Cheng, calm down.

Cheng Yuans eyes reddened. Old Yang, believe me, you have to believe me.

Yang Baihua said, Of course I believe you.

Cheng Yuan tugged at Yang Baihua, repeatedly trying to prove himself to him and asking for help, You saw me write those songs, right? I even let you listen to them, I even

Yang Baihua took his hand in his and pressed it to his chest, I know.

Cheng Yuan trembled as he leaned into that warm and solid chest, like a someone who had finally found a support in the constantly changing world.

As he listened to that ever-so-close heartbeat, his ears became hot and numb, and he felt as if this was his only safe harbour in the entire world.

Now with reassuring support, Cheng Yuans bloodshot eyes filled with fierce flames. He weakly gnashed his teeth, saying, I cant just let this go. I want to sue Tang Huan, I want

Yang Baihua stilled.

He stroked Cheng Yuans back. Xiao Cheng, youre being too impulsive. You shouldnt be making decisions right now.

But Cheng Yuan couldnt care less about that right now.

He was suffering from a severe migraine. Before Yang Baihua had come back hed taken two tablets, but they were slow to take effect. The headache and the anger combined tormented him to the point where his entire body was trembling and he was drenched in cold sweat. Why? Its my song, I cant just let her steal it and frame me for everything.

Yang Baihua furrowed his eyebrows and pushed him away, raising his voice slightly, Xiao Cheng, calm down and listen to me. You cant sue her.

Cheng Yuan wordlessly opened and closed his mouth. He stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

Yang Baihua sighed deeply, This matter is Xiaoyans wrong.

Yang Baihuas younger cousin Yang Xiaoyan had been entrusted to Yang Baihua by his third uncle when she had been admitted into an average

normal university

half a year ago.

She often came over to Yang Baihuas house for meals. She was the first one in the Yang family to find out her older cousins sexual orientation, and often used the excuse of keeping the secret to get Yang Baihua to treat her to several large meals.

All the members of the Yang family had good appearances. Yang Xiaoyan similarly couldnt be considered ugly with a white, neat, melon-shaped face. She liked music, and also liked to compose a few small tunes to publish on the internet since the lyrics she added could arouse the sympathy of beautiful and distressed young girls. Shed even accumulated almost ten thousand fans. This made her rather proud of herself, flaunting herself as a woman of talent.

But Cheng Yuan actually didnt really like her.

Every time she visited, shed stick to Cheng Yuan, asking him how much one of his songs could sell for and if he had any connections in the music business. Cheng Yuan didnt like hearing about such things and would just haphazardly wave it off every time. However, Yang Xiaoyan would never get the hint and would even act spoiled with Yang Baihua, complaining, Cousin, look, Xiao Cheng-ges family has connections but he wont even help me out a little. Im so helpless.

Xiaoyan lived in a four-person dorm and her three roommates were all from the city. She refused to lose to them, and would constantly splurge on high quality makeup and branded clothes.

Given these spending habits of hers, of course her money was never enough. She could only frequently search out Yang Baihua to borrow more, who really gave it every time she asked. He never refused, not even once. Because of this, there was once when he didnt even dare to order anything other than plain rice from the company canteen for an entire month.

Seeing this, Cheng Yuans heart had hurt beyond compare. It was at that time that hed started learning how to cook.

Cheng Yuan stared blankly at Yang Baihua. He asked, confused, What did you say?

Yang Baihua patiently explained, Just now, right after we hung up, Xiaoyan called. Do you remember? Last time when mom, dad and third sister came to visit, youd went elsewhere to stay. Her phone ran out of battery, so she borrowed my phone to look through Taobao. As she was flipping through the stores, she accidentally started playing the demo you wrote. She really liked what she heard and asked me if it was you who wrote it, praising you non-stop.

Cheng Yuans eyes widened slightly.

Yang Baihua summoned up his courage and continued, I didnt think too much of it at the time. I told her you wrote it, and that you liked to write some songs every once in a while. She just hummed in acknowledgement and went back to playing. I never thought that she would

Cheng Yuan understood. Not daring to believe his own words, he asked, She stole my songs and sold them? You just let her steal them?

Dont put it like that, Yang Baihua said helplessly, I didnt know, and Xiaoyan she just really likes your songs. She told me that she didnt have enough money and wanted to earn some herself. However, the songs she wrote werent being accepted by any record labels, so she just wanted to try mixing your songs with hers and sending them in as a test. She never thought that once she sent them in they would all be accepted and the six songs would be bought in an instant.Innermost Feelings and Autumn Thoughts were picked up by Tang Huan.

She just really likes my songs? Cheng Yuan flared up with rage. She asked me once what I planned on naming my songs. I told her Id thought up a name for one song in particular and itd be called Innermost Feelings.

He grabbed his phone, turned it on, and showed Yang Baihua the line from the cover of Tang Huans album. Old Yang, I ask you, what is this?! Did she even copy the name? This is what you call unintentional?

Youve written so many messy songs and never sent them out. She never thought it would end up like this. Yang Baihuas tone had become abnormally heavy. He reached out a hand and grabbed Cheng Yuans wrist, She never thought itd get so big. When she called me, she was really scared and even cried.

Cheng Yuan thought numbly, who cares that she cried.

Yang Baihua painstakingly persuaded, She already knows she was wrong. But shes still young, and you should forgive her. If you sue her and the situation gets even bigger, what will it be like for her at school? How would I explain this to my family?

Cheng Yuan felt as if he had been splashed with a bucketful of cold water. He grabbed Yang Baihua and whispered in pain, &#k2026;&#k2026;Then what about me? What do I do? How am I supposed to live after this?

Yang Baihua gently stroked Cheng Yuans face. It will be fine, I believe in you. Those people on the internet dont know the true story, and are just talking nonsense. As long as you ignore what they are saying online, they cant hurt you.

Cheng Yuans entire life had been smooth-sailing up to this point, and never faced any big crisis. This incident was like a sudden landslide. His mind had become completely muddled, and Yang Baihuas firm tone swayed him. Really?

Yes, Yang Baihua patiently guided him, Think about it, since she was young my parents have treated Xiaoyan like their own child. If our relationship is exposed to them because of Xiaoyans matter and Xiaoyans reputation is dragged through the mud, then as the main perpetrator, how are they going to accept you?

Cheng Yuan hugged his head, curling up into a ball.

Why? Cheng Yuan muttered, Why

His lifes desire, his dream of making music, was ruined.

Furthermore, his lover was firmly standing on the side of his family. If he didnt agree to take the responsibility for Xiaoyan, his and Yang Baihuas future together would be over.

His lover or his dream, which one was he supposed to choose?

Cheng Yuan had been very obedient since he was young, and other than music, he didnt have any hobbies. Yang Baihua was the very first person that Cheng Yuan had ever loved like this.

To love a person was to carefully place them within your heart, yet fear that your heart wouldnt be soft enough for them.

Yang Baihua was very good and gentle to him. He would coax him when his temper as an artist flared up, he was down-to-earth, diligent, and they were very compatible in bed.

Cheng Yuan couldnt bear to rip open his bloody chest right after experiencing a tempestuous storm that tore his tendons and broke his bones, and forcefully dig out this man who he had loved for three years.

He couldnt do it.

Cheng Yuan grabbed hold of Yang Baihuas shirt and tugged. He asked softly, With this kind of reputation, how will I write songs? Will there be anyone who still wants me?

Yang Baihua, hearing him give in, unconsciously breathed a big sigh of relief.

He pulled Cheng Yuan into his embrace. I want you.

This actually wasnt the answer Cheng Yuan had wanted.

But this was also the best, and only answer he could get at this stage.

Cheng Yuans company quickly issued a statement severely condemning such vile acts of plagiarism, and even firmly terminated Cheng Yuans contract while demanding compensation for this breach of contract.

At this critical moment, Cheng Yuans older brother Cheng Jian ran over in a rage, pointing at his younger brothers nose and scolding harshly, Cheng Yuan, can you endure this? Something this big happened but you still didnt contact your family? If you dont consider yourself a part of the Cheng family, you should say so earlier!

Cheng Yuan didnt respond.

His reputation had already rotted. Since hed already decided to cover up the truth, he had to hide everything from even his family.

After scolding him, his brother helped him pay the fine, then spent money to delete the posts online. Still frustrated, he even started to fight online personally with the people scolding him.

The netizens, noticing that their comments were being deleted, fought back even harder. The situation became more and more heated. Tang Huans company also hadnt given up on all this free publicity, and started to wantonly buy

internet water armies

and made marketing posts, boosting the flames from behind the scenes. Amongst them, a particular online singer with over half a million fans was the most fierce. He was a famous Tang Huan fan who sent six to seven Weibo posts a day chasing after Cheng Yuan to ridicule him.

A particular post said: The plagiarising dog probably should be hiding under his bedsheets and trembling in fear now [doge face][doge face][doge face]

Underneath was a mad carnival of Tang Huan fans, their comments full of obscenities horrendous enough to make people feel sick.

Cheng Yuan was really scared. He shut off his private messages, shut off his phone, and confined himself in his home. Yang Baihua was patient with him, but he had just started work and didnt have that much time to accompany him every day.

Cheng Yuan thought that after this was over everything would be okay. If he just stuck it out for now, he could still make a comeback.

But afterwards, Cheng Yuan found out he could no longer write songs or even touch the piano. The moment he pressed a key he would think of Innermost Feelings, the piano prelude he had so meticulously composed, and his heart would throb so fast his hands would shake with nausea. He couldnt even play a complete song.

After many, many attempts, he suddenly raised both fists and smashed them onto the piano.

The piano let out two groans, one high, one low.

Cheng Yuan, a genius who had, in college, single-handedly propped up an entire orchestra, couldnt even playOde to Joyanymore.

That day, he collapsed to the floor and cried for a very long time.

After Yang Baihua got back, he hugged him and comforted, If you cant write, its fine. Ill take care of you.

Yang Baihua remained as gentle as he always was, as if what Cheng Yuan was going through wasnt anything big and that he would stay with him and stick it out together with him.

But Cheng Yuan became more and more abnormal.

He would often spend entire days just sitting by the bed not knowing what to do; even a bit of sunshine would frighten him; he spent long periods of time refusing to eat and then overeating; he often forgot where he put his keys and wallet, and the notes on the table had been left without an update for a long time.

He knew he was sick, but when he told everything to Yang Baihua, the man just replied, Youre just in a bad mood, as long as you go out more often youll be fine.

After more than three months, the Cheng Jian whod had a big quarrel with his younger brother couldnt hold back any longer and sneakily ran over to visit him.

Seeing his younger brother whod thinned to the point of becoming almost unrecognisable, Cheng Jian had a shock and dragged him off to see a psychiatrist.

When Cheng Jian took Cheng Yuans diagnosis of moderate clinical depression to show to their parents, their mother burst into tears on the spot.

Their healthy son had become like this. Their father immediately made an attempt to contact Yang Baihuas parents, planning on asking what they thought.

It wasnt until they met with the shocked faces of Yang Baihuas parents did Cheng Yuans parents realize, from the beginning till now, Yang Baihua had never mentioned to his family about him being in a relationship with a man for the past three years.

Cheng Yuans parents attitude was very clear: The environment within the country wasnt good, so they wanted to send Xiao Yuan to a small, quiet town abroad, where there was a hospital that specialized in treating depression, to rest.

Given how sick Xiao Yuan had become, he couldnt leave Yang Baihua, so Yang Baihua was allowed to come along. His work visa or immigration papers would be handled by the Cheng family.

That small town was in Europe, where same-sex marriage had been legalised more than ten years ago.

From Cheng Yuans parents actions, it could be said that they made a great concession for their son.

Cheng Yuans parents originally thought that Yang Baihuas parents would oppose it and had already prepared a whole string of arguments to persuade them, but after going home to discuss it for a night, Yang Baihuas parents agreed the very next day.

Cheng Yuan and Yang Baihua immigrated over together.

In their second year overseas, Cheng Yuans illness took a turn for the better. He could play the piano again. When he sat down on the piano bench once more, his smile was just like that of a young child. Old Yang, what song do you want to listen to? Ill play it for you.

That year, they got their marriage certificate and had a simple wedding in a church.

In the third year, Yang Baihua made great progress with his career. He proposed immigrating his parents over. Cheng Yuan agreed.

In the fourth year, Yang Baihua became more and more busy. One day when he came home, Cheng Yuan found that his shirt wasnt the same one as the one he had worn when he had left yesterday.

Cheng Yuan started taking medicine again.

He didnt know how to ask Yang Baihua about it, and more importantly, he didnt want to know the answer. As for Yang Baihuas parents, they were always indifferent towards him. Their attitude towards him couldnt be considered bad, but it couldnt be considered good either. Even though they were all living under the same roof, they tended to not speak more than two sentences to each other every day.

Yang Baihua was too busy, so Cheng Yuan just spent his days at home with two elderly people he couldnt speak to. He was desperately lonely.

However, he didnt want to let his parents worry about him, so every time his parents called he would always force out his most brilliant smile and say to them, Im doing great, you dont need to worry.

Actually, he wasnt doing very well.

After he relapsed he kept wanting to die, but at the same time he didnt dare to die. He was scared of wronging his parents and hurting Yang Baihua, so for them, he tried his best to live and tried his best to stand up from the quagmire.

He wasnt afraid of being covered in muddy water himself. He only feared accidentally dirtying the people he cared about.

This lasted until one day, Yang Baihua took a day off work. Cheng Yuan had planned on taking the car to the supermarket two kilometers away to buy groceries, but returned because hed forgot his wallet, and inadvertently overheard the conversation between Yang Baihua and his mother at the kitchen door.

Yang Baihuas mother complained, You dont understand, Xiao Cheng is like

a gourd thats had its mouth sawed off

, its a miracle if he speaks more than five sentences in two days.

Even after so many years, Yang Baihuas tone was still just as gentle, Xiao Cheng doesnt like talking, mom, dont be angry at him.

Cheng Yuan lowered his head in embarrassment.

Actually, he used to love talking.

As he thought this, he tiptoed over to the table to get his wallet. Just as he turned around to leave, he heard Yang Baihuas mother say behind him, Weve all already gotten our immigration visas ready, when are you going to leave him?

Cheng Yuan:

His neck turned stiff. He lowered his head, blankly staring at the floor before his feet, waiting for Yang Baihuas answer.

Yang Baihua was silent.

Cheng Yuan felt his silence like a vice around his throat, choking him so hard he couldnt breathe.

Yang Baihuas mother continued, Being together with a man, and unable to have a child together isnt normal. Your father and I have had to lie to our relatives, saying youre working overseas, and everyones praising you for your prospects. Two days ago, your uncle called, asking your father to bring back some western tobacco and wine. He even asked after you, asking if you found a foreign wife and had a foreign kid. Tell me, how am I supposed to respond to that?!

Her words were like knives, stabbing themselves one by one into Cheng Yuans body. His entire body started trembling uncontrollably, and his stomach twisted with pain.

He bent over slightly, hugging his waist that had already slimmed to the length of a sheet of paper, pressing as hard as possible.

Youd be able to accept a foreign daughter-in-law? Half a moment later, Yang Baihuas warm voice resounded once more. Some time ago, a new woman entered our company, and shes Chinese. She and I get along really well.

In the midst of her satisfaction, Yang Baihuas mother thought of another problem. What are you going to say to Xiao Cheng?

This time, Yang Baihuas silence lasted even longer.

Cheng Yuan didnt wait to hear Yang Baihuas answer, but he also didnt let Yang Baihua be troubled for too long.

That night, in the piano room, he slit open his wrists with a utility knife.

So, in the beginning when Chi Xiaochi wanted to run Yang Baihua over with the car, he was being entirely sincere.

Yang Baihua liked Cheng Yuan, but in the end, it was only like.

His goodwill level of 72 points was only 13 points away from the passing mark of indifference. His like was ultimately only worth a card, and a firework.

Chi Xiaochi returned home with Yang Baihua.

The living room table was covered with newspapers. Occasionally, the sound of Yang Baihua on the phone drifted over from the other room.

Chi Xiaochi changed into casual clothes. He then went into the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and got started on the unwashed dishes that had been piling up for two days.

When he was relaxed, Chi Xiaochi usually had an absent-minded expression. He stood in front of the sink clogged with pieces of leftover vegetables, his eyes half-lidded. He let the water slide down his long, slender, white fingers, his posture languid and peaceful, exuding a noble air and perfectly complementing Young Master Chengs identity.

But his dishwashing technique was abnormally well-practiced, not at all like a person

whose ten fingers had never been stained by the sun or touched by spring water

.

The system asked him, You know how to wash dishes?

Chi Xiaochi replied, deadly earnest, I even know how to cook.

The system didnt believe him. After all, whenever Chi Xiaochi seemed serious, he usually wasnt.

Because in the next second he asked with that same earnest look on his face, Right, does the shop sell rat poison?

No, The system snapped.

He now harboured the suspicion that Chi Xiaochi was so enthusiastically doing housework just so he could scout the scene of his future crime.

Chi Xiaochi said, Theres something I want to ask.

The system was expressionless. Oh.

Chi Xiaochi suggested, Could you do an inventory check? Your customer requires it.

The system said, Cannot.

Chi Xiaochi said, Rat poison.

The system: Dare I ask if that rat just so happens to weigh one hundred and thirty

jin

, and also happens to be surnamed Yang?

The system wasnt able to bear it any longer: Mister Chi, dont you have any less violent solutions?

I do have one. Chi Xiaochi leisurely wiped off the clean dishes with a dry cleaning cloth and placed them back on the shelf. At last, he finally said something normal, Tomorrow, Im going to go visit Cheng Yuans older brother.

The author has something to say:

You see that person? Their mouth says they love me, but they still let me be so upset.

The Thirty-Five Years I Waited for You

This chapter made me so sad T_T

Ive cried every single time I read it (but this time I was crying for a different reason. orz)

On happier news, I got my first Ko-fi yesterday! Thank you, Somebody~~