Ji Xinghuo didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
When he had first returned from the Star Realm, he didn’t know Zhao Manying, and he truly felt ashamed of the content, wishing he could delete it.
As his fame grew, the content became more widely known.
Just like that comment said: a clown!
But now, Zhao Manying was his girlfriend, and Ji Xinghuo’s mindset was completely different, instead he felt like one of the spectators eating melons.
These joy-seekers were now venomously sarcastic, making fun of him and calling him a clown. When the truth came out, every single one of their mocking posts would boomerang back onto their own faces.
The corners of Ji Xinghuo’s mouth rose unconsciously.
Of course, not everyone was mocking him one-sidedly, some also speculated: "Could Sword Immortal’s boyfriend be you?"
"Maybe he is that shrinking man."
"Yeah, yeah, the timing seems to match up..."
However, those who held such speculations were in the minority. No sooner were such comments made than they were drowned out by countless mocking comments, attracting little attention.
Ji Xinghuo didn’t look further and shut down his social media account.
Only then did he open his family chat to find that Liangqiu Feiyan had sent dozens of messages, continuously apologizing to him.
"Third brother, it’s all my fault."
"I didn’t mean to do it; if I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have livestreamed and your identity wouldn’t have been exposed."
"Sigh, I won’t livestream anymore, I don’t have much of a future in it anyway."
The family members in the chat were comforting Liangqiu Feiyan, but she was still very guilty and was now at her second brother, Zhong Ming’s house.
Ji Xinghuo shook his head and sent a message: "It’s okay."
His phone immediately rang.
After connecting, Liangqiu Feiyan appeared on the screen, surrounded by her siblings, crying uncontrollably, "Third brother, are you okay now?"
"It’s all okay now." Ji Xinghuo smiled, "Why are you crying like that? It’s a small matter. I don’t mind it, and neither should you."
"But you used to say you didn’t want people to know your identity..." Liangqiu Feiyan was still feeling very guilty.
"People’s thoughts always change, and I don’t control these things." Ji Xinghuo looked very relaxed, "Talent is like being pregnant, it can’t be hidden and will be noticed eventually. I just wanted to be famous a bit later, now that I’m exposed, it doesn’t really affect me."
Liangqiu Feiyan immediately burst into laughter.
The other siblings laughed too, Ye Dongyun jokingly said: "Xinghuo, what kind of comparison is that, can that be the same as being pregnant?"
Zhong Ming leaned in and said: "Xinghuo, about you and Zhao Manying..."
"That probably won’t be kept secret for much longer." Ji Xinghuo shook his head.
The siblings exchanged glances, and Zhong Ming sighed, "If your relationship gets exposed, you will have to face tremendous public pressure. I thought it could be hidden for a few months or even a year or two, but it’s frustrating that it has to come out so soon..."
Ji Xinghuo shrugged, "It doesn’t matter; they don’t know what I look like, they can’t harass me in real life."
He looked at the screen, "Rather it’s you guys who might be dragged down."
Since the journalists and paparazzi couldn’t find him and had no channel to interview him, they would turn to his family and friends. Most of them had set up online privacy just like him, but there were a few who were public, and they were bound to be harassed next.
"We’ll keep a low profile and won’t accept any interviews." Ye Dongyun immediately said.
Wang Zizhen didn’t have these worries; he was always immersed in the virtual world—as long as he didn’t go out, nobody could find him.
Zhong Ming and Liangqiu Feiyan, being public figures, found it hard to avoid.
"Third brother, I’ll stop broadcasting for a while and move to a new place to live. It’s a good opportunity to focus on training and aim to become a Mutant," Liangqiu Feiyan had already thought it through.
Ji Xinghuo nodded, "Wait to resume broadcasting after the heat has died down."
Zhong Ming also said, "The new season of the Class B league has started; I can’t refuse the club’s interviews. If they ask about you, I’ll just say no comment."
"Second brother, you handle it yourself. If it gets too annoying by questions, it’s okay to let some details slip. If this could increase your exposure and make the club pay more attention to you, that’s a benefit too." Ji Xinghuo laughed.
"Hehe, then I’ll just ride on your coattails."
Although that’s what Zhong Ming said, he internally decided to keep tight-lipped.
Ji Xinghuo hung up the call.
Zhao Manying’s matter at the club hadn’t ended yet, he continued to wait while scrolling through his phone.
A moment later, the article exposing his own identity had already surpassed one hundred million views, and the number of followers on his social media account had increased by over twenty million. At the same time, more and more people were sharing the content, and the comments had already exceeded five million.
In an instant, this content became almost universally known. Screenshots and memes were everywhere, and countless people were reveling online.
Ji Xinghuo gained another nickname: Clown!
He remained calm and composed, as if he were just an onlooker munching on melon seeds.
Scrolling through the news on his phone, he watched some experts analyze his battle videos, occasionally replying to some private messages from classmates and friends. As for the countless people demanding a response underneath his social media account, Ji Xinghuo ignored them all.
Suddenly, a brand-new trending keyword swiftly rose: "Ji Xinghuo is Zhao Manying’s boyfriend!"
Ji Xinghuo’s gaze sharpened.
It seemed it couldn’t be concealed after all. He clicked into the topic and found it was filled with rumors.
The sources of these rumors were gossip media and super league bloggers, along with several veteran entertainment reporters—professional paparazzi.
Although there was no solid evidence, all speaking in guesses, hearsay, and rumors, these people described the details vividly, unanimously mentioning one thing—Zhao Manying had just admitted to the club’s management and her teammates about her relationship with Ji Xinghuo.
Most of these news sharers were influential bloggers with followers in the tens of millions, even authoritative media with a hundred million followers, their past reports always accurate.
Their posts were published within one or two minutes of each other.
Ji Xinghuo snorted once.
If he was not mistaken, someone had deliberately leaked this to the media, and it was someone from the box at that time.
Yu Meiling was the most likely suspect, followed by Shi Renzhong.
Of course, he couldn’t rule out the others present.
The news spread fast.
More and more people saw the trending search, all in disbelief.
The more the message spread, the truer it seemed, and the club hadn’t come out to deny it, those who had just mocked Ji Xinghuo as a clown suddenly started to panic.
Then, a content posted by "Martial King" Shi Renzhong nearly confirmed it to be true, as he tagged Zhao Manying and Ji Xinghuo on his social media account.
Although he didn’t say anything, it seemed like he had said everything.
The comments below erupted into chaos.
Before people could react, a few minutes later, a post on a social platform set the entire internet aflame; the poster was Zhao Manying herself.
She directly reposted that content: "If Zhao Manying asks me to be her boyfriend, though I am not fond of women, given her beauty and strength, I might consider it.
Then she wrote: "Request accepted."
And attached a photo of the two from the evening they first met at the revolving restaurant.
Although the photo showed two figures leaning on each other, and the colorful night view of Chang’an from the window obscured their faces, everyone could recognize that the woman resting her head on the shoulder next to her was Zhao Manying herself.
Her hand clasped tightly with the man’s, reminded people of the day she announced her relationship, the photo released in the same setting.
In an instant, the entire network exploded because of Zhao Manying!
Countless people were dumbstruck.
The events of tonight were too fantastical, full of twists and turns, like an epic annual drama. It started with a battle of life and death on the opening night, the match was interrupted and rescheduled, then the identity of a prodigy was revealed.
Next, people thought this genius was also a clown, mocking him to their heart’s content.
Then a complete reversal happened, catching everyone off-guard.
Those who had just reveled in mockery, from all around the world, and Zhao Manying’s many male fans were almost broken.
"I don’t believe it!"
"Sword Immortal, you must be joking, right? How can number one on the ladder be in a relationship with the last on the ladder, it’s absurd!"
"How is this possible? I can’t accept it! Am I the real clown?"
"So it was you, you rascal!"
"Wife-stealer, we are irreconcilable!"
Ji Xinghuo laughed out loud in the parking lot, feeling like it was the first sip of ice-cold cola during the height of summer, thoroughly refreshing and exhilarating.
He opened his own social media account, searched around online for a while, and after six years, he posted new content again.
No text, just a large image of a clown.