CH 19

Big V Entertainment had received an explosive report, and the person that made it claimed to be a member of Lady Zhao‘s group who had seen the mysterious person among the cast and crew. They said that soon after, Lin Qinglu had even sat in a luxury car and swaggered off, not returning for the whole night.

Then, the mysterious person had appeared at the scene of HY’s event and apparently that was when this group member realized that it was a business transaction.

At practically the same time the allegation was made, a few well-known entertainment accounts posted about it, and the sheer amount of reposts swallowed up everything in its path with a fierce momentum.

“Lin Qinglu isn’t clean either? tsk tsk tsk”

“Don’t believe rumors, don’t spread rumors. Wait for the official statement”

“Ye Zixuan is still young. Can’t beat the other at playing around, huh”

“Simply because the victim isn’t clean, the wrongdoer isn’t wrong anymore? Ye Zixuan succeeded in whitewashing it?”

Lin Qinglu, who had just been covered in a golden splendor, was splashed with sewage in the turn of an eye.

The endorsement incident continued to escalate, and it was a feast for the melon-eating onlookers. In an instant, Ye Zixuan’s scandal was forgotten to the back of everyone’s mind. They closely followed everything regarding the issue of Lin Qinglu’s moral character.

“They employed such beautiful gimmicks, huh.” Luo Chun urgently returned to the hotel room and started a video conference, contacting Brilliant Moon’s Public Relations Department. She sneered, “They were really shameless enough to be able to come up with this kind of trick.”

“It’s definitely by Ye Zixuan, who had nowhere left to run.”

“Ms. Lin, this mysterious person…who are they?” The person in the video call said very cautiously, “Once they expose the other’s identity, we’ll certainly be the ones on the receiving end.”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

A faint voice came through. At first glance, the person from the Public Relations Department could tell it wasn’t Luo Chun, and it definitely wasn’t Lin Qinglu, whose speech was always succinct.

It’s an unfamiliar woman.

“This lady is?”

Lin Qinglu had long since stopped looking at the hell that had broken loose on Weibo and switched to flipping through a magazine.

Her finger-joints were slender and beautiful as they twisted the bottom corner of the page. She raised her eyes and looked at Jian Yixin, who had spoken, and said, “A friend.”

“Ohh, wouldn’t dare to expose it? Then, this mysterious person—” has a big background?

“No need to concern yourself. They wouldn’t dare implicate them.” Lin Qingxuan shut the magazine and raised her lips, but there was no smile in her eyes.

“Big Sister Luo, contact HY’s side. They need to personally come forward on this matter.”

Before Luo Chun could speak, the Public Relations Department said, “HY won’t care about this kind of thing, right? Why don’t we just have the company come forward on this matter and make a statement?”

Lin Qinglu stood up. Her legs were slender and perfectly straight. She glimpsed at the webcam with narrowed eyes, the sunlight’s reflection rippling on the surface, and snorted:

“Are you overestimating HY? Or…are you underestimating me?”

When she retracted her gaze, her line of sight glided across Jian Yixin’s face and then quickly shifted away.

“I’ll go talk with them.”

The person from the Public Relations Department was silent.

“That’s it, wait for news from us.” Luo Chun shut off the video call without hesitation and chased after Lin Qinglu.

In the room where only two people were left, Liu Lele’s face creased: “Will this matter be difficult to deal with?”

“It won’t.” Jian Yixin closed the chat log with Li Fei, her tone certain.

“Well, hopefully. it really is neverending— Hey, didn’t you say it would be really easy to deal with? Pianxian, why are you frowning?”

Precisely because it’s too easy to deal with.

Jian Yixin could easily grasp the opponent’s way of thinking.

Whether it was Ye Zixuan or Shen Yu, both have seen Song Zhe during the team’s and HY’s activities. Yesterday, news of “Starlight’s president personally visits Ye Zixuan” flew about for the whole day. The three of them gathered, knowing full well that with the Song family’s assets in the background, they couldn’t afford to provoke Song Zhe.

From the beginning to the end of this matter, there was no way the word “Song” would appear.

On the crew’s side, Song Zhe didn’t speak with Lin Qinglu more than was necessary and instead relied on Yu Bo’s and Lin Qinglu’s personal friendship, certain that he would speak up for her.

The spokesperson and the brand were bound together, so HY would not remain indifferent. No matter how proud the brand, they would at least clarify this kind of matter in a concise way since it was related to HY’s own image.

They can’t find who the mysterious person is, and there are also other parties helping to whitewash it. How come there’s only a wave of insignificant rumors?

Is it a way to divert attention and protect Ye Zixuan?

“09, do a quick check of Ji Jing’s movements these past two days.” Jian Yixin thought for a moment: “Shen Yu, too.”

“Sure, Host.”

As a level-one system, 09 had no way of foreseeing this ahead of time nor was she able to constantly monitor them. She only possessed the query function.

This required some time, so Jian Yixin had no other choice but to wait.

Lin Qinglu’s trip this time was unexpectedly smooth.

In the meeting room, Li Fei, director of HY’s Asia-Pacific Region, declared earnestly, “You are our newly elected spokesperson. Their doubts about shady dealings is an insult to you and the brand.”

“We will definitely properly clarify the situation.” Li Fei took a glance at his watch. “Two hours at the latest, we will release a statement on the official website as well as every platform’s official account.”

“This matter is due to HY’s negligence. In order to express our apology, for the follow-up collaborations, HY intends to add two commercials for spring and autumn and sincerely invites you to participate in the filming.”

Not only did they agree in such a refreshing way, they also proposed compensation! Luo Chun felt extremely satisfied and was about to exchange a few pleasantries in response.

“Just clarifying is enough. As for collaborating on commercials and the like, I think it’s more because of my true abilities and not your apology.” Lin Qinglu’s voice was low and unhurried, but her words made it clear that she was, nevertheless, a movie queen whose arrogance stemmed from her confidence.

Seeing this type of spokesperson, Li Fei was, on the contrary, even more pleased.

Now this is the temperament suitable for HY!

What’s more, if she didn’t succeed in giving out the compensation, then how else would she be able to cleverly get what she wanted in Miss’s presence? This was a win-win.

In the middle of Ye Zixuan’s room, together with Ji Jing and Shen Yu, the band of people were closely following the course of events.

Before HY’s statement, the official accounts of Lady Zhao‘s cast and crew members made their own posts:

@Yu Bo: Even those among the cast and crew haven’t said a word. Stop foolishly blabbering. Oh, and stop asking who the person is. They’re just a close friend from a personal friendship and won’t bother with you guys. //@Lady Zhao’s Cast and Crew: The team hereby declares that this so-called “mysterious person” is @Yu Bo’s close friend who was invited to the location of the team’s film set and has had no such contact with @Lin Qinglu. We sincerely ask that everyone not to spread more rumors.

The cast and crew members spoke plainly that this kind of person did appear before and did not cover it up whatsoever. However, when interrogated about who the mysterious person was, no reply was received.

Normally, the versatile netizens should have dug up the person’s identity by now, but they were quiet this time. The marketing accounts that usually had a sensitive sense of smell were currently dead silent.

No one dared to bring up the mysterious person’s identity. Still, the more the masses were repressed, the more they wanted to know. They stirred up a huge fuss, and even though Brilliant Moon and Lin Qinglu’s office also issued statements, passersby still pursued and asked nonstop.

Ji Jing, looking at the news, raised his lips: “This move is quite good.”

“It’s also thanks to Shen Yu for noticing Song Zhe.” Ye Zixuan faced Shen Yu as she revealed a sweet smile: “I didn’t notice the fishy things going on behind-the-scenes at all.”

She sounded dejected, as if she were blaming herself for being too pure.

Ji Jing said mildly, “Just a bit longer, and then we can proceed with the next move.”

“What move exactly? Is it something you two discussed without me?”

“HY released it!” Gao Min yelled in a high-pitched voice. Nevertheless, her complexion was very poor. “How come it’s not a simple statement. This…”

Ye Zixuan’s heart grew uneasy, and she immediately turned on her phone.

@HY: HY never makes fun of its spokespeople, let alone the Asia-Pacific Region’s first global ambassador. HY’s review of each spokesperson’s qualifications were all done through a ballot by the higher-ups. In order to refute the rumors, the results of the meeting will be made public for the first time ever. Please take a look at the specific ballot numbers yourself. We believe that @Lin Qinglu is the most suitable for communicating HY’s spirit. [attached image]

Within the image were the two beginning and ending parts of the meeting’s results. Among the female stars, one could plainly see that Lin Qinglu was leading by a wide margin from start to finish. The others’ votes added altogether just barely made up half of hers, and they could have, at most, been considered to be accompanying Lin Qinglu.

Additionally, the date on the first part of the meeting’s results was more than a month before the appearance of the mysterious person.

“It’s full of information. Reasonable and substantial”

“This wave’s momentum has become great”

“My Lu is still as peerless as before!!!”

“Have you guys not noticed that the first list of names doesn’t have Ye Zixuan at all? But in the second one, she’s…second place??? How did she surpass this many top-of-the-line goddesses??”

“For that you’ll have to ask about what happened in between #dogeface”

#HY Strongly Spoke Up for Lin Qinglu# and #Ye Zixuan Wasn’t on the List of Names# rose up the hot search hand in hand.

In a short span of two days, Ye Zixuan happily received her fourth trending item. The heat turned and twisted and returned to her again. Each item had been more unbearable than the last.

The melon-eating onlookers of the Internet Age very easily shifted their attention. They made use of this characteristic and saved Ye Zixuan once. However, they were also harmed because of this characteristic as everyone forgot about Lin Qinglu’s side, and the attention was successfully redirected on Ye Zixuan.

Whose thigh exactly did Ye Zixuan hug in order to worm her way into the list of names?

Everyone discussed it enthusiastically with varying opinions: a financial backer, a godfather… Such opinions emerged one after the other.

“……”

Xiaozhou put away his phone. Confronted with a familiar outcome, he said as he trembled with fear, “…Pres-President, the hot search has been fixed and can’t be changed…”

His tone were as if his President had died.

The atmosphere stagnated for a long time until Ye Zixuan’s weeping resounded throughout the room.

“This is merely temporary,” Shen Yu comforted her softly.

Ji Jing’s complexion was ashen, and he spoke after taking in a deep breath: 

“Don’t you have to leave for the airport?”

“…Mhm.”

“Then go. Later, I guarantee that you will receive a satisfying outcome.”

“Will I really…”

In the middle of Ye Zixuan’s questioning, the two men mutually exchanged a glance.

Ye Zixuan’s eyes flashed, but she pretended not to notice.

On the road to the airport, the lamplights outside the window were like threads as they drifted to and fro, while Jian Yixin had obtained 09’s response.

09’s speaking speed was very quick, telling the results of the synthesized information for Jian Yixin to hear:

“The information was provided by Shen Yu. At the time, he had, from the hands of Lin Qinglu’s previous assistant—Jiang Meng—bought Lin Qinglu’s private information. This time, with the cooperation of Ji Jing, they utilized Jiang Meng in order to strike and defeat Lin Qinglu.”

“Strike and defeat?” Jian Yixin repeated those three words.

Her gaze was light like a feather as it fell on the person to her side, Lin Qinglu.

From the beginning up until now, Lin Qinglu had been looking out the window. The side of her face was embraced by a hazy halo, and the lights seemed to melt into waves as they poured into her pupils.

Although it was dim in the car, she was still as dazzling as before due to her exceptional beauty.

This kind of beauty should not have to be harmed the slightest bit just because of some evil spirits in the world.

“What will they have Jiang Meng do?”

The author wants to say something:

You guys, guess if this car’s window has a reflection or not.