Chapter 24.1
Xiang Qingwei spoke with Vivian for about half an hour, then called Xiao Dong and Xiao Mei, who were taking an afternoon nap, to assign them work.
Both Xiao Dong and Xiao Mei's faces paled when they saw the screenshots being shared in the fan group.
"Sorry, Weiwei."
They had both been in Ling Jiayi's fan group to monitor fan activity, but last night, they had fallen asleep early and hadn't checked their Weibo accounts today until now. Neither expected something like this to happen. The screenshots had already spread like wildfire by the time the public relations department discovered the situation, leaving them very little room to maneuver.
Xiang Qingwei didn't scold them; there was no point in assigning blame at this time.
Xiang Qingwei instructed Xiao Dong to contact Vivian and log in to his personal account.
Xiao Dong's personal account was specifically used to monitor public opinion, following many influential fans of Ling Jiayi, as well as a variety of marketing accounts big and small. While the screenshots had not yet made it onto the trending searches, the incident had already spread through all the entertainment-related gossip accounts, causing a stir among the fans.
Most of the popular fan accounts were still standing by Ling Jiayi, urging her fans to remain calm, but many of those same fans were also flooding the comment sections of various accounts spreading the news.
A small portion of fans expressed disappointment in Ling Jiayi's attitude, while others took the opportunity to hurl insults at her.
Some people even suspected that the confession in the fan group was made under coercion.
As Xiang Qingwei scrolled, he began seeing some accounts spreading rumors that Ling Jiayi was dating his manager, with pictures taken at the Panda Base earlier this afternoon as "evidence."
At that moment, Xiang Qingwei sincerely thanked Zhan Lun. Thankfully, Zhan Lun had been present, or else, considering what Ling Jiayi had confessed last night, no explanation would have cleared his name.
These accounts were purely data-driven, but others were paid by competitors.
Of course, Xiang Qingwei also had his own paid accounts, all extolling Ling Jiayi's virtues and loyalty.
The only thing that gave Xiang Qingwei a sigh of relief was that the comments from real passersby leaned toward Ling Jiayi. After all, the incident at the airport was fresh in everyone's minds.
Anyone with common sense would think that insulting someone directly was over the line. While it was one thing to curse and slander someone on the internet, it was another to do it in real life. So naturally, sympathy fell on the side of the victim, the manager being insulted, Xiang Qingwei himself.
After all, internet trolls like him were universally reviled.
Half an hour later.
The topic #Ling Jiayi's manager# shot up the search rankings, followed closely by #Ling Jiayi roasts her fans#.
The latter was, by all accounts, not friendly to the celebrity.
At the same time, Fu Yanbai was attending a dinner event in D City.
Upon receiving the phone call, Secretary Wen logged onto Weibo to confirm the situation. Only after tracing the entire incident did he return to the private booth and walk toward Fu Yanbai, bending down to report.
"Mr. Fu, Xiao Xiang has made it onto the hot search..."
Secretary Wen succinctly reported the situation and waited for Fu Yanbai's instructions.
"What happened, Mr. Fu?" Someone at the dinner event noticed their direction, smiling.
Fu Yanbai responded with a smile, unfazed. "Work-related matters." Then he turned to Secretary Wen. "Take Xiao Xiang off the hot search."
Secretary Wen said quietly, "Xiao Xiang seems to have her plans."
Fu Yanbai frowned, but his concern lay elsewhere. "What's going on between her and Ling Jiayi?"
"It's probably a misunderstanding," Secretary Wen said.
Fu Yanbai glanced at him.
Probably?
"Mr. Fu! Hey! Mr. Fu, we rarely get to see each other like this, don't worry about work! Come, cheers!" A popular director across from him raised a cup in greeting.
Fu Yanbai smiled, raised his cup in response, and drained the contents.
The topic shot up the search rankings, and soon, a new revelation surfaced. This new piece of information was from an anonymous friend of Ling Jiayi, who exposed some unknown details about Ling Jiayi's family situation and why he defended Xiang Qingwei so fiercely.
The friend also refuted the rumors of a romantic relationship between the two, calling it baseless gossip.
It turned out that Ling Jiayi's parents divorced when he was little, and each had since remarried, leaving him to care for himself most of the time. After signing with Xiang Qingwei, she took good care of him and treated him well.
When he was hospitalized last year for food poisoning, Xiang Qingwei stayed by his bedside the whole night. Ling Jiayi later said that Xiang Qingwei felt like family, like his sister.
Xiang Qingwei was seven years older than Ling Jiayi, and the maximum age difference Ling Jiayi could accept in an unrequited love between older and younger siblings was three years. Besides, her type wasn't his usual preference.
To Ling Jiayi, Xiang Qingwei was not just his manager but also his family. At the airport, he witnessed his fans insulting Xiang Qingwei, and he believed that Xiang Qingwei had suffered because of this incident, which was why he felt compelled to speak up in the fan group chat.
This new scoop quickly overtook the previous rumor about the two being romantically involved, becoming the hottest topic online.
Ling Jiayi's fans immediately sent Xiao Dong private messages to confirm the news.
Although most fans hated Xiang Qingwei, they liked Xiao Dong, Ling Jiayi's assistant. Xiao Dong had a gentle personality and was friendly to the fans. Every time they went to visit Ling Jiayi on set, he would voluntarily take their photos to Ling Jiayi for autographs, or bring them letters and gifts, so Ling Jiayi's fans were very fond of Xiao Dong.
Xiao Dong had long been prepared for this and, after confirming the authenticity of the leaked information, also cleared up the rumor about Ling Jiayi and Xiang Qingwei being in a romantic relationship.
"I think you all have Weiwei mistaken. Weiwei truly cares for Jiayi; those variety shows are ones that Jiayi refused to participate in because he wants to focus on acting and become a good actor, not host variety shows.
The companies offering those shows actually gave us very lucrative deals, but Jiayi refused them, which upset his company. All of this pressure was handled by Weiwei."
"Jiayi also loves this drama very much, and he has refused many activities just to focus on this role. Last time, he even refused to take medication when he was running a fever out of fear it would affect his performance; Weiwei was the one who rushed over to make sure he took the medicine and asked for leave on his behalf so he could rest.
The production team for this drama is fantastic; both the director and the actors are amazing. You may not believe me now, but just wait until the show comes out—I promise you won't be disappointed.
"Most young celebrities wouldn't be able to do as they please like Jiayi does, such as refusing to appear on variety shows or limit the number of commercial events they attend. This is all thanks to Weiwei's efforts, as she fights for him and shoulders all the pressure from the company.
Weiwei truly treats Jiayi well, almost like a younger brother, and Jiayi also sees Weiwei as an older sister.
Today, Weiwei had originally intended for me to go to the panda base with Xiao Mei, but I wasn't feeling too well, so Xiao Mei ended up accompanying me to the hospital instead. I was also at the airport yesterday, and what happened was honestly outrageous."
"I'm saying these things privately to all of you, so please don't spread them. I hope you can understand and empathize with Jiayi's feelings, and that you'll continue to support and anticipate his work."
This superfan was a rational one, and she hadn't made any public statements about the incident. She simply posted a Weibo saying she would wait for a response.
Now, she had received her response, and simplified Xiao Dong's message before sending it to the group chat of Ling Jiayi's super fans.
"Actually, I think Xiang Qingwei has really been protecting Jiayi," a fan named Maomao said. "Take Xiao Dong's words as an example: which young celebrity hasn't gone on a mad spree of variety shows and commercial activities after gaining popularity?
No one knows how long their fame will last, so naturally everyone grabs the opportunity to earn as much as they can. Even while filming a drama, most celebrities still make time every few days to attend events for money.
Look at Jiayi, he's been in the drama production for over a month now and only made one appearance outside of it. I think he genuinely wants to be an actor rather than a celebrity."
Ziran: "After declining so many Variety Show and commercial offers, why did he accept this script? Around the same time, Ren Ziqian had already begun working with well-known directors and popular actors, but Jiayi is still stuck with third-rate celebrities, and even the director is someone who previously only shot web series. Don't you think it's a bit embarrassing?"
Pangda: "I think it's hard to say anything without the drama being released first. Director Gou's web series also had a good reputation, and even though the female lead wasn't a famous celebrity, she was a talented actor.
Wasn't Jiayi's debut drama also not well-received? It ended up being a huge success anyway, right? Honestly, I'm convinced of Xiang Qingwei's ability to pick scripts. Tao Yuner's drama was specially tailored for her by Xiang Qingwei, and it also became quite popular."
Jiawo: "Also, Xiang Qingwei doesn't just accept any endorsements for Jiayi; all the sponsors fit his image. Even though Jiayi's exposure rate is a bit lower, he has the best reputation among the masses.
Honestly, I don't want Jiayi to do any reality shows either (laughs through tears). His personality is naturally aloof, so he doesn't have that much presence on screen; doing reality shows would only invite ridicule, and he himself isn't fond of them."
"All right, if that's what you all think, I'll leave the chat," Ziran said.
A system notification quickly followed, informing everyone that Ziran had left the chat.
"... Why did Ziran leave?" Kitty asked.
Pangda and Jiwuo remained silent.
Mrs. Xiaoming, too, was speechless.
Soon after, the fans who'd reached a consensus with Ling Jiayi began to comfort him en masse.
At the same time, the fans who were made aware for the first time that Ling Jiayi came from a divorced family, and that his parents each had their own families, began to feel sorry for him.
The focus of the internet's attention shifted from Ling Jiayi and Xiang Qingwei's incident to Ling Jiayi's family situation.
Ling Jiayi had never mentioned his family situation before, and in all interviews, Xiang Qingwei had preemptively filtered out any questions regarding his parents or family background, so it had remained a mystery—until now.
Vivian, exhausted from the day's frantic efforts, finally let out a sigh of relief as she saw the discussions on Weibo begin to sway in the direction she and her team had hoped for.
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The entire book has been translated, with a total of 414K words and more than 1,200 pages.
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