Chapter 299: The Greatest Punishment Is Indifference
Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia
Those gay bars were nothing. In China, they would not just pull guests inside, but this was Sinjuku.
Sister Xue was a feisty lady, so people liked her at such bars, and Qin Guan was a handsome guy.
Lesbians dressed decently, but gay men were a different story. In Qin Guan’s opinion, Japanese gay men stood out among gay men all over the world. They wore pink feather coats, mohawk hairstyles and strange earrings. They looked like they were celebrating Halloween.
Qin Guan and Sister Xue ran back to their hotel as fast as they could. They laughed loudly in the hotel hallway. They were happy again after that depressing meeting. There were countless magical stories to tell in that country.
At the capital airport, Cong Nianwei was waiting silently in the arrival hall.
Qin Guan was wearing a large coat and he had covered his face with a cap, a mask and sunglasses. The news of the Asian Fashion Man Competition had spread all over the country. The Chinese audience was interested in news from Tokyo. Compared to the affairs of stars, which seemed distant from their lives, they were more interested in news when they had participated in that particular event.
Although only a few domestic media had followed them abroad, they all took delight in talking about it. Qin Guan felt as if he was confronting a formidable enemy.
Cong Nianwei spotted her boyfriend right away. Although he was dressed modestly, he still stood out among the crowd. Turning around the corridor, Qin Guan saw her and smiled. A day away from her seemed like months.
He spread his arms with a splendid smile, which made Cong Nianwei burst into laughter. She fell into his embrace.
Qin Guan hugged her, resting his jaw on her shoulder happily. She smelled good.
"I missed you."
"Me too."
Before they parted, Sister Xue saw that they’d attracted a lot of attention. Although the airport was a place filled with parting and reuniting scenes, many passers-by cast glances at them because of their outstanding looks.
"Hey, go home first. You are a celebrity, you have to watch your image."
Hugging each other, they both smiled at Sister Xue. "Okay."
She was right to be concerned. Domestic media had already released photos of Qin Guan from the show, and the reporters had gotten the video of the award ceremony. Different people had different opinions about the event.
The audience ratings of the two TV series on local TV stations were rising, which made the producers return from the dead. The two shows had been a big professional failure for them. On the other side, "Romance Across Time" was getting much more popular by taking advantage of the situation.
Anxious people, who had failed to restore their place in media, were also taking advantage of the award ceremony.
There was not a single report on Shao Xiaobing. All the media were singing Qin Guan’s praises.
Shao hadn't stayed long after the ceremony. He had left that same night, heading back to China instead of going to his apartment in Singapore.
Without the right person with him, that deserted apartment in that strange land had lost its meaning.
While Qin Guan and Cong Nianwei were sitting at the back of a taxi, holding hands and appreciating the scenery, Shao’s agent was carrying a thick pile of newspapers and magazines.
Shao buried himself into their pages. His laptop was also on.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing..."
Suddenly, he threw the papers into the air and pushed the pile of magazines down to the floor.
"Impossible!" It would make sense for the media to report his mistakes on the show, but why was there no gossip about the banquet?
Shao clicked around crazily, opening and closing webpages.
Nothing. There was nothing about him.
His mistakes on the stage had been oppressed by the organizing committee. It was not something worth the media’s attention, especially when the model was in danger of offending the sponsors. Photos of Shao were circulating among the media and the attendants though, as the advertising companies, branding businesses and designers were able to get first-hand material.
The designer whose work had been destroyed by Shao had tried his best to warn his peers to beware of that model. Fang Meiya had contacted the organizer and asked them to keep the photos of the banquet a secret. The guys who had taken the pictures had been kindly warned by the security staff as they’d left the dining room.
As media professionals, they knew the advantages and disadvantages of disobeying.
After all, they had the breaking news of the Asian Fashion Man Competition. Why would they cause trouble to themselves?
As a result, Shao had been totally ignored, which was much more terrible than suffering through a scandal.