Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

The back door of the studio leads to a long, narrow, and dimly lit passageway.

Two of the lights here are broken, and the remaining one is still buzzing and flickering.

Xu Qing pushed open the heavy fire door, the hinges turning with a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

A gust of cold wind slipped in through the crack in the door.

In late autumn, the evening breeze in Linhai City is damp, seeping straight into your bones.

Xu Qing shrank his neck.

He was still wearing that cheap gray hoodie he'd bought for a few dozen yuan; it was very thin.

The sweat that had been scalded by the stage lights was now chilled to the bone by the cold wind, clinging to my back.

He pulled the guitar case closer to his chest.

The violin case was also old, with badly worn edges, but the clasp was polished to a shine.

Xu Qing just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

Even if that so-called home is just a rented room of less than 20 square meters.

But he had only just stepped out the door.

"Snap!"

A burst of white light exploded in the darkness, followed by a second, and a third.

Countless flashes of light illuminated the dark back alley as if it were daytime.

Xu Qing subconsciously squinted and raised her hand to shield her eyes.

Before he could even adjust to the sudden burst of bright light...

A cacophony of voices erupted from the crowd.

"They're out!"

"That liar has come out!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"Surround him!"

The once empty back alley was suddenly flooded with hundreds of people.

They don't seem like fans.

They had no light sticks, no flowers, and no support banners.

They were holding cell phones, selfie sticks, and even half-finished water bottles.

At the front of the crowd was a man wearing a floral shirt and sporting a greasy, center-parted hairstyle.

He held up an extended selfie stick, his phone screen almost touching Xu Qing's nose.

This person is called "King of Exposing Skins," a big V on Weibo who makes easy money by digging up dirt on internet celebrities and creating conflict.

Tonight, he smelled blood.

"Family members! Did you see that?!"

The skin-peeling king roared at the phone camera, spittle flying everywhere.

"This is the deeply affectionate and talented man who moved you all!"

"This is the poor kid who cried his eyes out over a forty-five-yuan scarf!"

Xu Qing stopped in her tracks.

He looked at the group of people in front of him, who were all indignant, with a somewhat confused expression.

These people looked angry, but he didn't know them.

"Get out of the way."

Xu Qing's voice was very soft; he was too tired to speak.

"Move aside?"

Peeling King laughed exaggeratedly twice and pointed the camera at Xu Qing's face.

"Listen to this, everyone! Still acting all high and mighty at a time like this!"

"Xu Qing, you can't leave."

"You're not leaving here until you've explained yourself clearly!"

As the skin-peeling king incited the crowd, they began to riot.

"Yes! Give us an explanation!"

"Give us our money back! Pay back the tears you tricked us into crying!"

"hypocrite!"

"Nausea!"

A chorus of insults rose and fell.

Xu Qing frowned; he didn't understand.

He didn't receive a single penny from these people, so why should he return the money?

And can tears ever be repaid?

Several security guards were originally standing at the entrance, dozing off.

Seeing this scene, he was so frightened that his hat tilted to one side.

"What are you doing! What are you all doing!"

The security captain waved a rubber roller, trying to rush over to maintain order.

But there were too many people.

The angry haters were like a flood that had burst its banks, instantly breaching those two pitiful warning lines.

The security captain was pushed and stumbled, almost falling into the trash can.

"Don't push! We'll call the police if you keep pushing!"

No one paid any attention to the security guard's shouts.

Everyone just wanted to get as close as possible to that "liar".

It seems that as long as you curse him or kick him, you can prove that you are on the moral high ground.

Xu Qing was forced back onto the steps.

Behind him was the iron gate, but he couldn't get in; the gate was one-way, and it would lock as soon as he came out.

"Xu Qing!"

Skinning King, emboldened by his superior numbers, became increasingly audacious.

He stood directly below the steps in front of Xu Qing, head held high, his face filled with righteous indignation.

"Don't play dumb!"

"There was a rumor online that you're the famous online novelist 'Qingyu,' is that true?"

Xu Qing looked at him without saying anything.

The skin-peeling king thought he was guilty, so he became even more emboldened and pulled a crumpled A4 sheet of paper out of his pocket.

That was the "evidence" he had just printed out.

"Not going to say anything, huh? I'll speak for you!"

Peeling King cleared his throat and read aloud to the more than one million online viewers in the live stream.

"Qingyu, a famous online novelist."

"His representative work, 'Zhu Xian,' has garnered over 10 billion views across the internet."

"Electronic subscription revenue alone is conservatively estimated to be over fifty million!"

"And then there are copyright adaptation fees, audiobooks, comics..."

Skinner Wang paused, then held up a finger and waved it in front of Xu Qing.

"This kid's net worth is at least over a hundred million!"

"Whoosh—"

The scene was in an uproar. Although there had been rumors online, the impact was still huge when these numbers were read out in person.

"One hundred million!"

"I couldn't earn this much money in several lifetimes!"

"If he's so rich, why does he wear cheap clothes on TV?"

"You still say you can't afford medicine? You still say you don't have money to treat your girlfriend's illness?"

"Damn it, they're making a fool of us!"

The crowd's emotions were completely ignited. If Xu Qing were just an ordinary talent show contestant, people would at most hurl a few insults.

But he touched a nerve that resonates most with the public: resentment towards the rich.

Especially the behavior of pretending to be poor and pitiful to gain sympathy when one is clearly rolling in money is utterly heinous.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Xu."

The skin-peeling king flung the A4 paper around with a loud clatter.

"If your girlfriend is really sick, will you be unable to afford treatment?"

"That guitar of yours is worth 1.8 million; that's enough for an average person to spend a lifetime in the ICU!"

Do you think we poor people are easy to fool?

"Do you think you can just make up a tragic story and rake in our traffic?"

The live stream chat was flooded with comments.

[Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!]

This is the true face of capitalists!

[Ban him! Get him out of the entertainment industry!]

[I just cried a whole pack of tissues, turns out it was all an act!]

Xu Qing's gaze fell on the A4 paper. The numbers on it were glaring, but he felt nothing.

money?

What's the use of money?

Can money buy back time?

Can money make that person stand in front of him again?

If he could, he would throw all his money into the fire.

"That was money I earned before."

Xu Qing finally spoke.

His voice was hoarse but calm.

"They were all donated later."

"Did you donate?"

The skin-peeling king seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Listen to this, everyone! He said he donated!"

"One hundred million! You just donate it like that?"

"Where's the invoice? Where's the certificate?"

"You're all talk and no action, who would believe you?"

The people around them also joined in the commotion.

"fraud!"

"Keep making it up!"

"If you donate 100 million, I'll eat shit on live stream!"

The crowd began to push and shove.

Taking advantage of the chaos, someone reached out and tried to grab Xu Qing's clothes.

Some people even reached out to grab the violin case from his arms.

"Let me see what this 1.8 million guitar looks like!"

A dirty hand grabbed the handle of the violin case.

Xu Qing's expression changed instantly.

His eyes, which had been like a stagnant pool just moments before, suddenly flashed with a ferocious, beast-like light.

"Let go."

Only two words.

But the chill made the person who reached out shiver.

Xu Qing suddenly turned to the side, using his back to block the crowd.

He curled up completely.

He held the violin case tightly with both hands.

He held the black box between his chest and knees.

That's an absolute defensive stance.

It's like a mother animal protecting her cubs.

"Don't touch it."

Xu Qing lowered his head, his voice squeezed out through clenched teeth.

You can insult me.

"Don't touch it."

That was a gift from the little fish.

That was something the little fish earned by sacrificing its dignity.

That was the only thing he had left in this world.

"Oh ho? Pretty arrogant, huh?"

The "Peeling King" never misses a good show.

"Look everyone! He's panicking!"

"He's heartbroken about that guitar worth 1.8 million!"

"In his eyes, this guitar is more precious than any of us in the audience!"

Just then.

Someone on the outskirts of the crowd shouted something.

"Smash this liar to death!"

A half-full mineral water bottle flew over.

It drew a parabola in the air.

"Bang!"

The bottle slammed heavily onto Xu Qing's shoulder.

The lid wasn't tightened properly.

Cold water was splashed out.

His gray hoodie was instantly soaked through.

Water flowed down his hair.

It flowed down my neck.

Tears streamed down my face.

It looks like he's crying.

But he didn't cry.

Xu Qing didn't even wipe it.

He simply hugged the violin case in his arms even tighter.

He breathed a sigh of relief only after confirming that the blow hadn't hit the violin case.

"Is there anything else?"

Xu Qing raised her head.

Water droplets clung to his eyelashes.

He looked at the skin-peeling king, and at the people holding up their phones.

His eyes were eerily calm.

There was no anger.

There was no grievance.

There was only a deep, bone-chilling weariness.

"If you haven't smashed enough, keep going."

"If you've smashed enough, can you let me leave?"

"I'm sleepy."

The entire room fell silent for a second.

This reaction is highly unusual.

A normal person would have collapsed long ago if surrounded and attacked by so many people and splashed with water.

They might angrily retort, or they might weep and beg for forgiveness.

But he didn't.

He just stood there, like a stone.

A stone that feels no pain and has no feelings.

Peeling King was stunned for a moment.

He felt like he had punched a piece of cotton.

This feeling of powerlessness infuriated him.

"Keep pretending! Keep pretending!"

"Let's see how long you can keep up this act!"

"Family members, send me gifts! Send me a rocket and I'll curse him out!"

In the distance, a black van disappeared into the shadows of the trees.