Chapter 327: Chapter 327: 219: Ji Chen's Complete Confirmation, At the Eye of the Storm, Lin Chuan's New Song "Big Fish" Goes Live

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Xu Qingyan saw Ji Chen’s statement when he was about to leave work, and he couldn’t help but chuckle as he glanced at his phone.

“What’s so funny?”

Pei Muchan had just finished closing the second-floor windows and, seeing him laugh so happily, she couldn’t help but walk over to take a look. When she discovered it was news about Ji Chen, her interest waned immediately.

“Why are you looking at such unfulfilling stuff?”

“It’s nothing, just stumbled upon it,” Xu Qingyan found that she usually had a dominant aura about her, but sometimes her words could be quite sharp, which actually made her seem a bit cute.

“People like Ji Chen who do too much wrong will eventually bring about their own downfall. We just need to avoid getting involved with him,” Pei Muchan naturally used “we” in her statement.

“Got it, Boss Pei.”

“Tsk, don’t be so flippant here,” Pei Muchan pushed him slightly. Ever since that misinterpreted dinner gathering a few days ago, some things couldn’t be hidden any longer.

He had managed to bury his feelings deep down before, but after Huang Kefan bluntly broke the ice in person, now there was only a thin layer of window paper left.

No one was willing to pierce through it; they managed through the window paper, which felt rather natural.

Pei Muchan herself didn’t know what to do, unable to make sense of her own feelings towards him. On the other hand, there was someone else she was not quite ready to face—Lin Wanzhou.

So she was being extremely careful, acting as if she knew nothing. Waiting for the day he would take the initiative, or perhaps she was also waiting for the day she would figure things out herself.

But aside from romantic involvement, her career was actually getting smoother day by day.

The viral success of Xu Qingyan’s song drove its sales; the second wave of popularity from the “Qing Tian” video also boosted the song’s sales to a certain extent.

Plus, the “Riding a White Horse” MV went viral twice in one month, bringing huge profits to the studio.

Even though there were conflicts with the “I Am the Music King” show crew before, and later with the crew of “Blooming Journey,” this exposure also fed back into the song’s success to some extent.

Overall, the studio’s success had not been an overnight sensation but rather a steady and progressive rise, visibly improving.

This was actually the most ideal situation—as it was a more sustainable approach than instant fame.

“Shall we go eat?” asked Pei Muchan.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

At the studio, life for Pei and Xu was tranquil, but the entertainment industry was experiencing a major shake-up!

Top-tier celebrities manipulating their fans for favours wasn’t anything new. Anyone who had chased celebrities and was willing to spend money to get into the managing levels might have the chance to meet their idols, especially if they were attractive.

Ji Chen’s public image wasn’t that of a good boy to begin with, and the whistleblower’s evidence was initially unclear. Many people didn’t take it seriously at first, seeing it as just another scandal targeting a top-tier celebrity.

But as more evidence surfaced, people started to become alert.

Underage. Deception.

Words like these caused a stir on social media three times in one night, but the next day Ji Chen responded to the claims. He confidently stated that if the evidence was solid, he would voluntarily go to jail.

Instantly, this pulled public opinion back in his favor; netizens began to doubt as nearly no celebrity would joke about going to jail.

Xinghai University.

Behind the library building, on the shady long stone bench.

Zhou Lili was engrossed in her phone, eating melons eagerly, while Shen Jinyue was beside her, opening her mouth wide and taking a big bite out of the ice-cold watermelon.

The summer breeze blew, releasing the heat from every pore.

“Lili, stop playing with your phone,” Shen Jinyue broke a half of the watermelon and handed it cheerfully to Zhou Lili, “Eat the melon; this one is really sweet.”

“Alright, the cyber melon on my phone is pretty sweet too,” Zhou Lili didn’t so much as glance at the watermelon she took and bit into it, with the red juice flowing down from the corner of her mouth.

One week ago, under Xu Qingyan’s matchmaking, the two girls met face to face.

Having heard about Shen Jinyue’s circumstances and spending some time together, they found they got along quite well. It didn’t take long for Zhou Lili to cheerfully persuade Shen Jinyue to return to school.@@novelbin@@

After coming back to school, Shen Jinyue paid a little money to switch to a double room. She didn’t continue to entangle with the girls from her class but moved in with Zhou Lili instead.

Apart from classes, she would always seek out Zhou Lili. Eventually, she spent less time with her classmates, which inadvertently improved those relationships.

Some relationships are just like that—distance creates enchantment.

How deep can the grudges between university students be? After all, Shen Jinyue was too well protected by her family and tended to be quite blunt. She wasn’t exactly a princess, but she occasionally offended people.

Additionally, with the girls in her class liking to form small cliques, how could Shen Jinyue, with her simple mind, ever understand the complicated relationships between roommates ABC?

Being together all the time, it would be strange if there weren’t any conflicts.

Once she changed dorms, there was a distance created. With less contact, naturally, there were fewer conflicts.

With Zhou Lili teaching her all sorts of societal norms and giving her advice on how to handle situations—essentially letting her copy her homework—Shen Jinyue, though slow, wasn’t stupid. In a week’s time, she managed to mend the strained relationships with her classmates.

With a mentor by her side and the benefit of “distance makes the heart grow fonder,” it was hard for Shen Jinyue not to enjoy university life. As she learned and adapted to life, she and Zhou Lili grew increasingly close.

“What melon?” Shen Jinyue leaned over to have a look.

“Have you heard of the Xiliang band? Their lead singer, Ji Chen, slept with an underage fan,” Zhou Lili said with excitement, holding the watermelon in one hand and her phone in the other.

“No, I’ve never heard of them. A band?” Shen Jinyue stuck out her tongue, “I don’t listen to band music much—I’ve been listening to Sister Pei and Sister Zhou Zhou’s songs lately.”

“I wish they would cover each other’s songs, it’s kinda annoying to only have one version to listen to.”

“A cover might be difficult, considering their relationship…” Zhou Lili hesitated for a moment, recalling Xu Qingyan before deciding to withhold her opinion, “Anyway, chances are slim, Jinyue, don’t get your hopes up.”

“Why not?” Shen Jinyue was a bit defiant.

“Don’t you know? Sister Pei and Sister Zhou Zhou used to be rivals competing on the music charts,” Zhou Lili explained, “Back then, during the album competition, the clash was intense.”

“I know that,” Shen Jinyue’s mood suddenly sank.

“`

“`

“Forget about that and come take a look at this juicy gossip, I’m dying of laughter.” Zhou Lili dragged Shen Jinyue over, spilling the beans about Ji Chen’s drama.

“The funny thing is, Ji Chen denied the rumors half an hour ago, but now fans have hammered him with more evidence. More than one female fan has come forward with additional proof.”

“Why is he like this?” Shen Jinyue’s eyes widened, feeling deeply shocked.

“That’s just how the entertainment industry is, no surprise there.” Zhou Lili waved her hand dismissively, uttering several jaw-dropping, racy remarks that left Shen Jinyue dumbfounded.

“Lili, I find you so contradictory.”

“How am I contradictory?” Zhou Lili raised her eyebrows, asking proudly.

Shen Jinyue furrowed her brows in deep thought for quite a while as if she was about to break her head from thinking so hard, “Look at you, talking dirty all the time, but emotionally you’re like a bland soup.”

Zhou Lili: “…..Jinyue, there’s a reason you don’t have friends.”

“Whatever! Don’t I still have you?” Shen Jinyue grabbed her hand, unleashing her coquettish charm, a skill Zhou Lili had taught her, “And Sister Pei, Sister Zhou Zhou.”

Zhou Lili was dizzy from being shaken but also noticed a certain omission.

“What about Brother Xu?”

“He’s too mean, always picking on me!” As soon as Shen Jinyue mentioned Xu Qingyan, she got fired up and ranted non-stop, eventually concluding.

“Xu Qingyan is not a good person, crossed off the list!”

….

“Brother Chuan, are we really going to release a new song at this time?” The young assistant looked puzzled, turning to Lin Chuan, “With Ji Chen’s scandal collapsing, it’s going to be hard to hit the top of the trending list, right?”

“Whether we top the trending list or not doesn’t matter. What if someone else’s scandal breaks out in a few days? Are we going to delay again?” Lin Chuan said indifferently, not concerned about these matters.

“We might have to appear on a show in a few days, and I want to sing the new song ‘The Big Fish’ on the program. If we don’t release it today, it will complicate things later on.”

“I got it, Brother Chuan.” The assistant nodded in understanding.

Just then, Lin Chuan’s agent returned. He was aware that Lin Chuan planned to release the new song ‘The Big Fish’ online today. Seeing the assistant’s worried face, he asked.

“Oh, I know, just do as Brother Chuan says.” After saying this, the agent asked another question.

“How many of the current top ten trending topics are taken up by Ji Chen?”

The assistant looked up, smiling bitterly.

“Ji Chen has almost been definitively exposed, occupying four spots on the trending list. With us releasing the new song teaser now, we can at best hold onto one spot on the trending list.”

“Even if we mobilize the fans to protect a trending spot, I’m not sure we can break into the top five.”

“Is the competition this fierce?” The agent was slightly surprised, pondering for a moment before saying, “Stick to the original plan. Securing one spot is good enough; you’ll be busy today.”

“Alright.” The assistant nodded, indicating he understood that “busy” meant calling on fans for extra work in the evening.

The specific method wasn’t complicated, he had done it several times before. He would create a separate group chat with some managers and influential fans, then delegate the tasks.

Lin Chuan’s fanbase consisted mostly of active, high-quality, and loyal “live” fans. Although they paled in number compared to top-tier celebrities, when fully mobilized, holding onto a trending spot was not a challenge.

The agent returned to his office and leaned back in his chair to browse the trending topics on his phone for a while.

Two of the top five items were related to Ji Chen, things like #DefinitiveProofJiChenSleptWithFans# and #AskForEvidenceAndYouShallReceiveJiChenManipulatesFans#, almost all featuring lengthy posts.

To date, the Xiliang Band has held concerts in twenty cities.

The person making the revelations claimed to be eighteen and met Ji Chen offline a year ago in city xx. She accused him of sweet-talking and swearing oaths in a hotel, coercing her into a relationship.

Not only did she provide detailed chat history with all sorts of pet names and explicit language, she even posted bed photos, numerous voice messages, and transaction records.

What infuriated her was discovering just a few days ago that she wasn’t the only “baby” Ji Chen had. In each of the twenty cities, Ji Chen had one or two “darlings.”

Moreover, Ji Chen would leave in the middle of the night on the pretext of work, only to meet up with another girl. From hotel to hotel, he went, from early night to the wee hours.

The woman exclaimed angrily, “If he were a gallant superman, unsatisfied with me, I could forgive him. But with just a few centimeters and two minutes, how dare he cheat on me?”

“A few centimeters,” “two minutes,” these bold and vivid terms exploded online, instantly sparking heated debate among netizens.

Unlike usual celebrity scandals, this online storm seemed unusually swift. Comments from netizens were more vehement, and their critiques even more scathing.

“So true, so true! Every day they buy marketing accounts to tout their little server stories, have they no shame!”

“Celebrities love to hype things up. Just half a month ago, they were praised like saints. Damn shameless, do they deserve to be enshrined in the Temple of Worthies? Now with prison in the picture, are you enjoying it?”

“It’s probably a sign of an impending disaster, the greater the lack, the louder the boast. I’ve seen it too, those possessed Xiliang fans are relentless.”

“Having relations with a minor is a jail-worthy offense, what did Ji Chen say? If he engaged in such behavior, he would voluntarily go to prison, well, now it’s time for him to actually go.”

Lin Chuan’s agent sat back and watched videos for a while. Even used to dramatic scenes, he couldn’t help but gasp at the swift progression of events.

“This scandal unraveled too fast, something’s not normal.”

However, as he searched through various marketing posts related to Ji Chen, he suddenly realized the bigger picture. Perhaps it was his company’s own marketing materials for Ji Chen that were now backfiring.

As the fire roars and flowers are brightened, those unworthy of their position are propped up only to fall harder.

Half an hour later, Lin Chuan’s studio posted a message on Weibo about the new song ‘The Big Fish,’ which would be officially released at six o’clock that afternoon.

With tasks arranged by the young assistant now being distributed, Lin Chuan’s fans worked together to start making data go viral, and #LinChuanNewSong quickly climbed the trending list.

Easily climbing from the top fifty to the top ten, the hashtag settled at the sixth spot on the trending list a few hours later.

The item right before it was Ji Chen’s scandal, resulting in quite an explosive effect for the program.

Lin Chuan sent a message to Xu Qingyan, “Brother Xu, ‘The Big Fish’ is ready to be released this afternoon at six. Do you want to listen to the final product first?”

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