Chapter 369

Toronto.

7:13 AM, November 15, 2010.

Fan Fan Fan Binbing had fallen asleep.

Having not received a definitive answer, she was clearly unwilling to give up.

However, everyone who has given birth knows that even a smooth natural delivery consumes a huge amount of a person's energy.

Especially since Fan Fan Fan Binbing was also under intense emotional fluctuation and had a good, thorough cry.

Chen Nuo just went in circles with his words, and the woman couldn't withstand the surging sleepiness, unwillingly falling asleep—or rather, passing out.

Even at this moment, her hand was still clutching Chen Nuo's sleeve.

Yes,

Even though Fan Fan Fan Binbing, this charming beauty who, under the glow of maternal radiance, lost none of her beauty but instead appeared even more mature and alluring, had cried like a tear-stained mess in front of him,

He understood all of her thoughts.

However, Chen Nuo still did not agree.

It was the same old saying: he was not an ordinary man, nor was he an ordinary person; whether he was even human at all was a question mark.

There were countless women who had cried their hearts out in front of him; the number was so high he couldn't even count them.

Hadn't he also understood their feelings of wanting to be with him just as well in the past?

But how is a "scumbag" forged?

It is precisely forged by the tears of countless women.

Perhaps in previous breakups, guilt might have restrained him, making him give a little money as a breakup fee.

Yet now, thinking of the little thing from just a moment ago, his heart was about to melt.

His heart was truly as hard as iron; he would kill gods if they stood in his way, and kill Buddhas if they stood in his way.

Even if it got out and people like Lin Lin Meiru called him unfaithful or a man who breaks his word, he would only treat it like a breeze brushing his face.

As for Fan Fan Fan Binbing's previous demands,

There was at least one point he absolutely could not agree to, with no room for negotiation.

That was, he could not tolerate her raising the child alone and letting the child think she had no father.

Fan Fan Fan Binbing was asleep, and Chen Nuo sat by the bedside for a while.

He hadn't closed his eyes all night and was also exhausted, so he unknowingly slumped by the bed and fell asleep too.

But he hadn't slept long before someone touched him.

Waking up, he saw Fan Fan Fan Binbing was still fast asleep, and Lin Lin Meiru was standing beside him, pointing outside.

Chen Nuo looked back and saw Qi Yuntian beckoning to him.

Walking out the door, he saw that besides Qi Yuntian, there was an unfamiliar middle-aged white woman.

"Hello, Chen. I'm Alison Graham, very happy to meet you."

The woman was not particularly good-looking; when she smiled, her nasolabial folds were a bit heavy, and there was a gap between her front teeth. However, her entire demeanor was very kind and approachable, much like a neighborly older sister, making one feel a sense of closeness at first glance.

Chen Nuo shook hands with her in a daze, said a simple "hello," and then looked at Qi Yuntian with confusion.

Qi Yuntian introduced, "Alison is a public relations expert. She has currently joined our crisis PR team as a special consultant."

What the hell, what do you mean by crisis PR? I only dozed off for a little while, did Toronto turn into Raccoon City?

Chen Nuo was filled with questions.

Seeing his confusion, Alison Graham said, "Chen, we will explain what happened on the way. Right now, we need to hurry and leave."

"Go where?"

"Fan and your child will be transferred to James's country villa. A medical team will stay by their side at all times to ensure the safety of both mother and daughter."

"And you, you should go attend Mr. James's short film screening and promotion."

Afterwards,

At 10:00 AM Toronto time on November 15, 2010, which was 11:00 PM Beijing time on November 15,

Qi Yuntian told Chen Nuo in the car about an incident that occurred at 7:00 PM on the 14th in Toronto, which was 8:00 AM on the 15th Beijing time.

As he listened, Chen Nuo remembered that at that time, Qi Yuntian had indeed come over with his phone and told him that the Chinese-Canadian paparazzi named Jeffrey had claimed to have something in his hands and wanted to talk to them.

At the time, he had no interest in dealing with it and simply told Qi Yuntian to handle it.

"It's my fault. Originally, I just wanted to stall for a bit, but I didn't expect the other party to be so..."

"Dumb."

Alison took over from Qi Yuntian.

Qi Yuntian nodded at her.

Clearly, the woman understood the cause and effect very well and immediately said, "I don't think Qi's approach was problematic. Paparazzi extortion is something almost every celebrity encounters. This is not rare. Qi's approach was very normal. Stall, assess the severity of the situation, and then negotiate. Mature paparazzi will also understand this, give a little time, and prepare to negotiate terms in the next round."

"The problem this time isn't with Qi; the problem is that the other party was truly too stupid to blow things up this big. Of course, I feel they probably didn't expect it to cause such a huge reaction in China."

Hearing this, Chen Nuo finally woke up a bit from his drowsiness and couldn't help but ask, "So, what did they do?"

It was probably about two years ago, at the end of 2008, when Weibo didn't exist yet.

At that time, *Douluo Dalu* had just started being written, *Stellar Transformations* had just finished, *Jipin Jia Ding* didn't have that many fanfics yet, and *Joy of Life* was just a serialized novel.

People at that time had the patience to watch movies at 1x speed in internet cafes.

At that time, Tianya was the hottest forum on the entire internet. Many people also loved to ask some strange questions on it.

For example, seeing Fan Fan Fan Binbing win the Best Actress award at the Golden Horse Awards and embrace Chen Nuo in tears of excitement,

Someone had a sudden whim and asked this question:

"If Fan Fan Fan Binbing and Chen Nuo were together, the child they had would definitely be very good-looking, right?"

This question, which appeared in the "Gossip Gossip Jianghu" section, didn't cause any waves at the time.

"Haha, I can only say four words: a monster is born."

"The man is stunningly beautiful, the woman is enchanting. The other way around works too."

"Some say that very good-looking parents often have offspring who inherit their flaws. I think that makes sense. But I stared at photos of Chen Nuo and Fan Fan Fan Binbing for a long time and couldn't find any flaws."

"The Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy would go crazy. If I were the principal of the Beijing Film Academy, I'd recruit them as soon as they turned one."

"I imagined my dad was Chen Nuo and my mom was Fan Fan Fan Binbing. I'd be aesthetically fatigued from a young age; how would I find a partner in the future?"

After a dozen or so joking replies, this post was buried among the other posts.

The last reply among them was: "I really want to see what that child looks like, but unfortunately, I can only dream."

Later, this deeply buried post was suddenly dug up by someone after 4:00 PM on November 15, 2010, and pinned to the first page.

"Brother, are you still alive? Your dream is about to come true."

And this time, after this comment, the post didn't sink; people replying to the comment were like crucian carp crossing a river.

"Die, black-hearted hater, you believe this? You idiot."

"No wonder Fan Fan Fan Binbing hasn't been seen for so long; it turns out she went to have a baby, hahahaha."

"To the person above, a brain is a good thing, it's a pity you don't have one."

"Why Tianya declined is because there are too many idiots like this spreading rumors."

"The 'Nuo Rice' (Chen Nuo fans) are starting to whitewash again."

"Who's whitewashing? Even if Fan Fan Fan Binbing really went to have a baby, what does that have to do with those two photos? I find it strange."

In less than half a day, this post, which originally had no one paying attention to it, had over thirty pages of replies.

Actually, an hour ago, that is, after 3:00 PM, NetEase Entertainment had launched a poll regarding this suddenly erupting hot news.

Because they were one of the main domestic portal websites, they didn't dare to be too blatant without real evidence, and they didn't mention Chen Nuo, but instead pointed the finger at the other protagonist in the rumors—

"Do you think the rumors about Fan Fan Fan Binbing are true?"

"A. True, but the child isn't Chen Nuo's. B. True, it is Chen Nuo's. C. Purely a rumor."

In half a day, a total of 138,121 people chose A, 151,012 people chose B, and 281,921 people chose C.

In other words, half the people believed Fan Fan Fan Binbing was indeed pregnant.

Among them, a quarter believed it had to do with Chen Nuo.

A full 600,000+ people participated in the poll, and the number of participants in this post, at a time when Weibo was rising, could be called a small miracle. The swarming traffic caused the NetEase Entertainment webpage to crash for half an hour.

All of this stemmed from two revelations on Twitter.

Around 9:00 PM North American time on November 14, 2010 (9:00 AM Beijing time on the 15th), a Canadian gossip account called "tsl" posted a photo and added a sentence.

In the photo was a luxury mansion shaded by green trees, with a few people standing at the entrance, one of whom was pixelated.

The tweet read: "A super hot star is currently visiting his soon-to-be-born child. #GuessWhoHeIs#"

At first, no one paid attention to this tweet. Because this Canadian gossip account often posted some absurd rumors.

For example, absurd gossip about Hollywood stars like Justin Bieber having an affair with P. Diddy, Kevin Spacey being gay and sexually harassing people, Angelina Jolie likely having an affair with Chen Nuo, and Morgan Freeman being with his granddaughter—none of which were very reliable.

Although there was a photo this time, the key person's face was covered by a mosaic, and only the side profiles of two Asian men next to them could be seen.

No time, no place, no story, nothing at all.

Naturally, few people retweeted it.

Perhaps seeing that the heat wasn't enough, ten minutes later, the blogger posted another photo with the same background. The processing method remained the same, the mosaic was still there, but because the angle had changed, it revealed most of the face of a handsome Asian man.

The new tweet read: "I can tell you, his woman's surname is Fan. That's all I can say for now. #GuessWhoHeIs#"

There were still no waves on Twitter.

That Asian man whose face was revealed was too unfamiliar, and what was "Fan"? A password? A code? Or a rare surname? No one knew.

Until a Chinese international student in the US scrolled to this tweet and forwarded it to the international student circle, saying: "Does this man look like Qi Yuntian, Chen Nuo's manager? Is the pixelated one Chen Nuo? But what does this 'Fan' mean?"

Someone underneath replied: "Fan Fan Fan Binbing."

Another Canadian international student commented: "Yes, it's Fan Fan Fan Binbing, this place looks a lot like the Bridle Path in Toronto."

These two sentences were like lighting a fuse.

Fan Fan Fan Binbing's hotel business in Toronto was no longer a secret in the international student circle.

In this way, everything matched up.

Word spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, and this piece of news could be said to have spread back to China at the speed of light.

It immediately caused an uproar on Weibo. You have to know, Chen Nuo won the Hundred Flowers Award and then ran to Hollywood to force Summit Entertainment to sign a treaty under the city walls; this matter was not only considered a legend in Hollywood, but the same was true in China.

As a result, Chen Nuo's reputation was truly quite good, making the haters gnash their teeth in hatred but feel helpless.

As a result, in this situation, such a gossip news story that seemed absurd yet vaguely reasonable came from across the ocean. Suddenly, countless haters and various media outlets that happened to be bored and could only report on the Asian Games received a "New Year's gift" ahead of time.

Chen Nuo, plus Fan Fan Fan Binbing, who had never lacked controversy since her debut.

Pregnant? Giving birth!

What kind of concept is this? What kind of concept is this!

It was only slightly inferior to the incident of Chen Laoshi taking photos back in the day.

And this inferiority was definitely not because little Chen Laoshi wasn't as handsome as big Chen Laoshi, nor because Fan Fan Fan Binbing wasn't as beautiful as Zhang Bo or Zhong Qingtong; it was purely because there were too few pictures, making those "ly" (lecherous) people who didn't care about entertainment news and only cared about whether there were any revealing shots lose interest.

In this situation, countless bored passersby began to eat melons, and some rumors, whether true or false, began to spread.

Some said they had encountered Fan Fan Fan Binbing with a big belly on the streets of Toronto, that Chen Nuo had actually secretly gone to Canada many times and had been seen drinking coffee with the two of them together, and others said that Fan had actually already given birth and their baby was super cute, and so on and so forth.

Although this was 2010 and the number of netizens wasn't too exaggerated, not reaching the point of nationwide live streaming later on, the burning gossip hearts of two hundred million netizens were definitely not something that could be blocked by human power.

The "Nuo Rice" trying hard to defend their idol, plus the internet water army of the Huanxin Company, combined, couldn't suppress this wave of melon-eating and drama-watching.

At this time, Hu Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of *Global Times* who had recently registered an account on Sina Weibo, couldn't sit still either. After 7:00 PM on the 15th Beijing time, he posted a long, rambling article on Sina Weibo.

"Regarding this storm about Chen Nuo, let Old Hu say a fair word.

Although this revelation from the foreign internet is truly too absurd and the credibility is truly not high. However, many of the things netizens have said that make one think and feel terrified, Old Hu also feels have a certain logic.

This time, the photo was posted on Twitter by a foreigner, and at the same time, the news about Chen Nuo and Fan Fan Fan Binbing was also said by the person who posted the photo.

The photo itself is actually very ordinary and common.

To say that one can see from the photo that this matter has a relationship with Fan Fan Fan Binbing, or has a relationship with some child, in all fairness, that is simply nonsense.

But why would the person who posted this mention Fan Fan Fan Binbing? Old Hu, like many netizens, also feels confused here.

As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. Just as some netizens have said, if that paparazzi who broke the news wanted to create some sensational scandal and use a female star to attract eyeballs, there are many female stars in Europe and America, so what does it have to do with Fan Fan Fan Binbing?

Like everyone else, it is precisely this point that makes Old Hu half-believe and half-doubt this news.

Of course, Old Hu has always had great confidence in the professional ethics and personal private morality of Chen Nuo, this excellent young actor, and believes he would not do such a shocking thing.

However, after all, he is a young person. If he really made some mistake, Old Hu feels that as long as he takes the initiative to admit his mistake, everyone might as well give him a chance to turn over a new leaf.

In short, this matter is now spreading like wildfire, and the impact on Chen Nuo's image is quite large. Old Hu is also here, looking forward to him giving everyone an explanation. Before that, Old Hu hopes everyone will stay calm and not spread rumors."

Once this post was published, Hu Hu Xijin's account immediately gained tens of thousands of likes, and the replies underneath broke the thousands mark in a short time. The number of fans increased by tens of thousands at once, which could be called flourishing.

"Look forward to your mother, you, as a dignified national cadre, are taking the lead in spreading rumors, right."

"Hu Hu Xijin finally stopped pretending and revealed his true face as a hater. I guess he's hated Brother Nuo for stealing his limelight for a long time."

"It's possible Fan Fan Fan Binbing is having a baby, but to say it's Chen Nuo's is too ridiculous. I remember them dating was gossip from a long time ago."

"Hahahaha, the fans are anxious. There's no smoke without fire. You say there isn't, so there isn't? You scum who cheats while having a girlfriend, really disgusting."

"Fake is fake. You can't say that because you think it's very fake, it looks like it's true instead. This is called sophistry, Editor-in-Chief Hu. You shouldn't not understand this if you studied Chinese."

"You have to respond to this kind of extremely boring fake news? Do you think Chen Nuo is you? Doing nothing all day but rolling your face on the keyboard at home?"

"Sina Weibo is really too lively, haha, bring a small stool to eat melons on the front line."

Yes, just as Chen Nuo was pacing back and forth in the luxury mansion in Toronto, anxiously waiting for movement from the delivery room,

Domestically, from 1:00 PM until the child was born, three or four of the top ten trending searches on Sina Weibo were news related to him.

Even though Sina's internal employees tried their best to suppress the heat for him, their shareholder, they ultimately didn't let any of them reach the top.

But they couldn't withstand the fact that there were too many people discussing it; paper ultimately couldn't cover fire.

This fire on the internet was burning more and more vigorously, and finally, it burned into reality.

"... On this point, I believe in Chen Nuo. Those things on the internet are all hearsay."

Zheng Zheng Zhongjian held the phone and said with a serious expression, "Having studied at the Beijing Film Academy for four years, the character of this child, from me to the teachers and professors of various majors, we have all seen it in our eyes. Respecting teachers and the Dao, and the same goes for relationships between men and women; he walks straight and sits upright. I believe in him 100%."

From the other end of the receiver came Kang Kang Jianmin's slightly troubled voice, "Zheng Zhongjian, of course I know what you're saying. When I was communicating with little Chen that day, I was also present the whole time, and naturally, I believe in him. However, in our association, there are indeed some opposing voices, which makes me feel hesitant. As a literary and artistic organization under the leadership of the organization, we must indeed cherish our feathers in this regard and cannot let some rumors damage the overall image of our association. My meaning is, Old Zheng, can you verify it with him?"

"Old Kang, you are confused! How can I verify it? If I say this, isn't it obvious that I don't trust him? In such matters, as leading cadres, we must have our own stance and cannot follow the crowd. I boldly guess that these internal opposing voices should be the people from Zhang Guoli's side, right? Has Zhang Zhang Guoli said anything to you himself?"

"Well, he made a call at noon, and we did chat about it casually, but before figuring out the truth of the matter, I didn't agree with his point of view."

"You absolutely must not agree! I know Zhang Guoli; he's good at everything, but he's too narrow-minded. Zhang Mo and Chen Nuo had some friction because of filming, which was originally a matter between children, but what did he do? What happened at the Hundred Flowers Awards? Old Kang, you were at the scene, you know better than me. Can you listen to his words? I even suspect that this rumor has become so big, whether he has been fueling the flames behind the scenes."

"Cough, cough, cough, Zheng Zhongjian, you've gone a bit too far with these words; it's not conducive to unity."

"Okay, then I'll just say my view. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. At such a time, it is the time to express our sincerity. It is the time to reflect the warmth and care of our organization. I personally feel that not only can we not question or doubt the other party, but we must take the initiative to mobilize, communicate with comrades in the propaganda department, and see if we can kill this evil wind blowing in from the outside and seal off rumors in this regard. If it's inconvenient for you, Old Kang, I can come forward myself."

After hanging up the phone, Zheng Zheng Zhongjian sat in the principal's chair and took a slow sip from his teacup.

Li Lao's illness had recently become more and more serious, and he was fundamentally unable to manage affairs. Many matters of the association had fallen onto the shoulders of this Kang Kang Jianmin, who held the deputy position and served as the office director.

And he considered himself to understand this Kang Kang Jianmin; his strength was strong execution ability and he had many ideas. His weakness was that he was soft-hearted and didn't have much of his own opinion—in other words, he was relatively "glutinous." If he were a second-in-command, this wouldn't be a problem, or even an advantage, but if he were to be in charge alone, this would be a big problem.

On this matter, Zheng Zheng Zhongjian, this deputy chairman who held a title but didn't manage affairs, had no way to make decisions for Kang Kang Jianmin at all.

But judging from the conversation before hanging up the phone just now, he really felt that Old Kang was soft-hearted at this juncture and was afraid he would be bewitched by villains and make the wrong decision.

He pondered for a moment and picked up his phone again.

As a result, the receiver transmitted, "Sorry, the number you dialed is powered off."

Alright, Zheng Zheng Zhongjian could only helplessly put down the phone.

He called, actually, not for Chen Nuo, but for the Film Association.

As the principal of the Beijing Film Academy, it could be said that he had watched Chen Nuo grow to where he was today all the way.

He knew his student very well; he was good at everything, just a bit petty.

The current matter looked like it was making a huge noise and the storm was not small, but in his view, without a shred of real evidence, it was fundamentally a harmless rumor.

It came with the wind and would go with the wind.

In this situation, if Old Kang made a mistake and offended people, hurting their hearts, it would be difficult to sit down and chat calmly again later.

So he thought about making a call to ease things up in advance.

As a result, he didn't expect...

Thinking about it, Zheng Zheng Zhongjian couldn't help but shake his head; he had done his best. Old Kang, oh Old Kang, let's see how you step down then.

However, would real evidence come out?

Hmm, it wouldn't.

According to his understanding, Chen Nuo, this child, was still meticulous in his work.

It was very similar to the style of Principal Zheng himself. Such a small matter as an illegitimate child could not possibly be known by outsiders.

Time returned to the present moment.

Alison Graham said, "... The current situation is like this. As far as I know, indeed, the spread in China is very wide. Although it hasn't spread to the US and Canada yet, that's because of the time difference; many people are still sleeping."

"But I believe that soon, paparazzi will come knocking. So, we must first transfer the child and Ms. Fan to a safe place."

"Chen, you need to appear at the film festival now. Not only did James Pritzker do us a huge favor by lending us his villa, but this is also the legitimate reason for your appearance in Toronto."

"You are here precisely at the invitation of Ellen Page to attend this event."

"As for why you appeared in front of that house?"

"Very simple."

"Because the owner of that house is about to sell it, and you, as a young billionaire, hit it off with Mr. James Pritzker and have a very good impression of Toronto, so you are currently considering purchasing this house."

"In the interview after the event, when facing reporters, you just need to say that."

"I've already arranged it; someone will ask you."

"Based on this news, we will arrange rumors about your preparation to immigrate and ensure it spreads back to China. When Chinese netizens wake up tomorrow morning, this will be a big gift package for them."

Chen Nuo was stunned, his eardrums pricked by a word, and he said, "Immigrate? Me?"

"Yes, you, you are preparing to immigrate. This is our Plan A. Once this topic covers up the previous news in China, you can come out and clarify it."

"If the spread of your immigration isn't enough and doesn't reach expectations..."

"Then, we will launch Plan B, saying your huge Hollywood contract is being targeted by the IRS for suspected tax evasion, and you may face astronomical fines or even jail time."

"If Plan B still doesn't work, we have Plan C."

"We can fabricate a story that you intervened in the recent sensational divorce storm between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. As for the reason, of course, it's your special relationship with Angelina that made Mr. Pitt insanely jealous."

"Anyway, no matter what, right now, all the excitement in your country is actually, in the final analysis, currently relying on a story fabricated from these two photos. Since that's the case, we can completely fabricate a hundred more stories."

"When a hundred and one stories are circulating on the internet at the same time, I believe no one can tell which is true and which is false, right?"

After listening, Chen Nuo looked at Qi Yuntian; he really wanted to know now: where did they find this woman?

But Alison hadn't finished speaking. She put away her smile and continued, "However, all of this has a premise—the person who broke the news doesn't break any further news."

"In this regard, I have two more suggestions."

"First, trade with them to completely suppress this storm. I believe in this situation, they won't want to create side issues either. For us, this is the most effortless method."

"But this has a premise: they must be trustworthy. And judging whether they are credible depends on whether the things in their hands are important and whether they are worth extorting repeatedly."

"Otherwise, I suggest we adopt the second method."

"Chen, this depends on your judgment. Do you feel that the things they secretly photographed..."

She paused and looked at him: "Do you think the photos in their hands are enough to threaten the future peaceful life of Ms. Fan and the child? If you think so, then we have to change our approach."

"What approach?"

"The Democratic Party's approach." Alison Graham, who had served as the chief PR for Oprah's team and had also managed George W. Bush's 2004 campaign, said with a smile: "Chen, as far as I know, the Pritzker family is very good at this."

"Which aspect?"

"Making people shut up. Or rather, making people disappear."

PS:

7,386 characters.

1,000 monthly ticket bonus update!

I've been typing all along and just saw the comments from the previous chapter.

I'm being scolded to pieces here.

(End of chapter)