Deng Anya used to be the top actress from Huanyu Media, but in recent years, Lu Zixi has skyrocketed in popularity by starring in several popular dramas adapted from online novels under the guidance of Zan Song. Her career path and popularity grew rapidly, making her one of the nationâs favorite actresses in no time at all.
Deng Anya has been in the entertainment industry far longer than Lu Zixi and had always been the companyâs cash cow. She must have been offended when the company started to favor Lu Zixi over her, even if they still put on a facade of sisterly affection.
Most of the people in the company are opportunists, and many have been secretly kowtowing to Lu Zixi in private hoping for some benefits.
However, they didnât expected Lu Zixi to face a scandal these few days which rocked her career. As a result, these fickle people are already starting to sway towards the other side.
And yet, Xie Ding well understands that trends in public opinion are merely transient.
In this industry, nothing can be certain until the very end.
Take a top national male star from a few years ago who had an extramarital affair scandal. He was once boycotted by the entire internet, and now he is still gaining endorsements and making a fortune.
With strong backing, what hurdle couldnât be overcome?
Perhaps a mysterious tycoon might even show up to give Lu Zixi a boostâ¦
Sure enough, after Ye Ojtian finished his meeting and checked his phone, the video news about Su Wanwan and Lu Zixi had been deleted.
There were no traces of it left on any forums.
Even the posts by netizens sharing the link were quickly deleted within seconds, saying that the addressed link was invalid.
Immediately afterward, all the news about Lu Zixi was swiftly deleted akin to lightning striking before one could cover their ears, and all relevant posts from marketing blogs were also quickly erased.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
When some people tried to comment on Lu Zixiâs Weibo, their accounts were immediately flagged as abnormal and were logged out. When they tried to log back in, their accounts had been blocked, with the reason stated as:
âDue to comments that violate national laws and regulations, your account has been temporarily suspended.â
Xie Ding palpitated his heart.
He knew it, things werenât as simple as they seemed on the surface.
Soon after, something even more unexpected happened.
[Are Deng Anya and Elder Gu about to tie the knot?]
[Elder Gu and Deng Anya spotted spending the night at a seven-star hotel!]
[Elder Guâs relationship revealed! His companion is none other than the top actress of his empire, Deng Anya!]
[Deng Anya has been resting from work lately⦠to prepare for her wedding into a rich family!]
Explosive gossip headlines like these easily drowned out all the previous news about Lu Zixiâs scandal.
Deng Anya has always been the top actress of Huanyu Media and a top-tier national actress. Even though her popularity has been overshadowed by Lu Zixi in the past two years, her deeply rooted fan base still exists. Moreover, her popularity increased significantly this time with the involvement of Elder Gu.
Who is Elder Gu?
In Nancheng, besides the âFour Aristocratic Families,â there exists a legendary alliance of the ten richest families.
With the Huo Family taking the lead, the other families, namely the Chu Family, Mo Family, Lu Family, Ming Family, Nangong Family, Bo Family⦠etc., each dominate different industries.
Among them, the Gu Family controls the entire entertainment empire.
The current family head of the Gu Family, Gu Huaiâan, is a gentle and refined man. Being the seventh son born during his fatherâs old age, he is respectfully referred to as âSeventh Masterâ by the younger generation, and humorously as âElder Guâ by outsiders, despite only being 28 years old.
He is the youngest and the most legendary figure of the Gu Family, and also the most handsome and prestigious diamond-grade bachelor in the entire entertainment industry.
There have been several rumors about Gu Huaiâan in the past, but every time they were quickly denied and the posts deleted.
After all, anyone who walks near a river will inevitably get their shoes wet, right?
But this time, his scandal with Deng Anya keeps escalating. Numerous big V bloggers and marketing blogs are stirring public opinion, gossip forums are crammed with discussions, and even Weibo was once paralyzed.
The gossip surpassed even the previous news about Chu Xiuhuang spending a fortune to buy out the entire jewelry exhibition area.
Even Gu Huaiâan himself posted a vague Weibo post.
Elder Gu: [Itâs time to see some things more clearly.]
Netizens began to comment one after another:
[Does seeing clearly mean admitting Deng Anya is your one true love?]
[Tears of joy for Seventh Master finally finding his one true love! ]
[Wish you happiness always! ]
[We hope our YaYa is well taken care of- ]
[A match made in heaven! ]
Huo Yuan Group, CEOâs office.
Gu Huaiâan, reading comments on his Weibo, his handsome face twitched slightly.
Finally, he threw his phone away, lifted his gaze towards the man sitting behind his desk, gnashing his teeth word by word, âWhat I posted on Weibo was about you, dammit!â
Huo Jingshen sat there elegantly, with a half-smoked cigarette between his long fingers.
Upon hearing this, he only smiled faintly and asked, âWasnât the news about Lu Zixi leaked by Deng Anya?â
Gu Huaiâan scoffed, âIâve always managed to stay out of the artistsâ internal competition.â
Running an entertainment company, he refrains from meddling into the dirty fights among the artists. Their survival depends on their own abilities.
Who makes money, he supports, as simple as that. He is not so low as to lose his composure over some scandal concerning a minor artist.
But nowâ¦
This old fox has actually asked him, the boss, to clean up Lu Zixiâs mess and also hype up the scandal with Deng Anya, all to avoid implicating his own wife.
After all, everyone knows in the media circle, the best way to cover up a piece of news is to release another explosive news in its place.
âSo youâre getting Lu Zixi out of her scandal, boosting Deng Anqiâs popularity, and all it costs you is a bit of face. As a boss, making two of your female artists coexist peacefully is indeed killing two birds with one stone- both will help you make money.â
Each sentence from Huo Jingshen made Gu Huaiâanâs handsome face twitch. He felt as if he had developed Parkinsonâs disease, constantly trembling.
In the end, Huo Jingshen summarised, âAlso, your sister-in-law already taught you a solution.â
He even took out his phone and said generously, âTo thank you for your help this time, Iâll add you to the group.â
âWhat group?â Gu Huaiâan became alert instantly. What was this old fox up to now?
After a minute, in the WJY WeChat group showed,[Huo Jingshen invited Gu Huaiâan to join the group chat]
Nangong Ci: [Holy, Elder Gu, how come youâre in here?]
Ming Jing: [Is Seventh Master going to do some âfun stuffâ as well?]
Lu Chenyu: [?]
Nangong Ci: [Just hearing that a newcomer has arrived, the fourth brotherâs cunning eyes are instantly beaming with excitement! ]
Lu Chenyu: [Roll.]
Nangong Ci: [Hahahaha.]
Gu Huaiâan: [â¦]
Dammit, what the hell is this messy group chat?
Aside from the married man Huo Jingshen and the half-paralyzed Chu Xiuhuang, theyâre all single dogs that no one wants!
He, Gu Huaiâan, must not sink to their level!
He clenched his fist!
**
Lu Zixi did not understand how things could suddenly turn out this way.
All the criticism and slander against her on the forum and Weibo had disappeared, and all of the peopleâs attention was focused on the scandal involving Deng Anya and her old aunt. When she looked at her own Weibo, all the water armyâs slanders were gone as well.
It was as if everything had never happened.
At two oâclock in the afternoon, Gu Huaiâan returned to the company and immediately summoned her to the CEOâs office.
**
Meanwhile, at Nancheng University.
Su Wanwan and Mo Weiyi arrived at the reading room.
As soon as they walked in, they found that almost all the seats were taken, and there were no two that were adjacent to each other.
Just as Su Wanwan was about to suggest finding another place, Mo Weiyi pulled her along, saying, âFollow me.â
So she followed her into the room, and finally stood before Ling Zhizhou.
âJunior sister, thereâs a seat here.â Ling Zhizhou pointed to the empty seat next to him, then pointed to the table next door, âThereâs another one over there.â
Su Wanwan naturally headed to the table next door, âThen, Iâll sit over there.â
Mo Weiyi naturally sat next to Ling Zhizhou.
Since this wasnât the first time, Su Wanwan was already used to this junior school brother always saving seats for Mo Weiyi while she, as the third wheel, hung out on the sidelines.
She got out her textbook and embarked on her revision unswervingly until her phone suddenly lighted up.
It was a WeChat message from Zhao Qianqian.
[Wanwan, that Lu Zixi who came to our school at noon, sheâs suddenly live streaming on Weibo, hurry up and see!]
Because of the sudden appearance of reporters and given Lu Zixiâs sensitive situation at the time, it swept the school forums and became a hot topic, with students also posting and forwarding the video. Zhao Qianqian was even worried that Lu Zixi would cause trouble for Su Wanwan, so she let her know as soon as she saw the live stream.
Su Wanwan opened Weibo and clicked directly into Lu Zixiâs live stream.
In the picture, Lu Zixi was facing the camera without makeup, her face pale, her eyes red and swollen, and her whole person looked haggard and dim.
She said, âI entered the entertainment industry at the age of eleven just to help my father pay off his debts. My mom passed away early. My dadâs health wasnât good, and he was tricked into gambling and owed several million in high- interest loans. Later, he asked me to be a surrogate mother for someone else, saying that we can pay off all the gambling debts at once. I knew surrogacy is illegal in our country, and Iâve always been afraid to mention it. Iâm afraid that you guys will know that Iâve given birth, Iâm afraid that youâll think Iâm a tainted woman, and Iâm afraid to face that ignominious pastâ¦â
Lu Zixi started to cry.
The barrage of her fans was also flooding the screen.
[So, she had to help her family pay off their debt, Zixi is really pitiful! ]
[I knew Zixi must have had a hard time! ]
[To err is human, the key is to realize and correct the mistakes, and you didnât intentionally want to deceive usâ¦]
[Admitting this kind of thing really requires a lot of courage!]
âAfter giving birth to my child, I thought I could help my dad pay off all his debts, but the employer suddenly moved overseas. My dad couldnât get the money, so he asked me to abandon the child, but I felt that it was a living life!â Lu Zixi cried and said, âI couldnât bear it, so I sent my child to an orphanage. Every month, I would send money to the orphanage for them to take care of him. I thought when I was capable enough, I would bring my child back. However, I did not expect that the orphanage suddenly caught fire and my childâ¦my child was burned aliveâ¦â
Lu Zixi wept uncontrollably, with big tears rolling down her cheeks, while the comments and messages on the screen were also instantly filled with heartfelt feelings.
[So tragic!]
[Iâm crying, what about you guys?]
[Zixi, stay strong!]
[Zixi, itâs not your fault that the child is gone! ]
[I will support Zixi for ten thousand years!]
Having finally revealed the whole truth, Lu Zixi stood up and bowed repeatedly to the camera.
As she bowed, tears streamed down her face, and she was visibly overwhelmed with emotion.
Su Wanwan glanced at the live viewership, which was close to thirty million.
The comments on the screen were coming in fast and furious.
The reason why the public was so outraged was that her fans felt they had been deceived.
Now that she had come forward to reveal the truth and willingly admitted her mistakes, with such sincere attitude and a tragic storyâ¦
The majority of her fans were of the same age. Given the stark contrast in their life experiences, compassion took over, and they naturally felt pity for her.
In the end, all the comments were encouraging her to stand up and move on.
Su Wanwan let out a long sigh.
If only she had done this earlier, right?
Everyoneâs past has genuinely existed; it is impossible to cover up. Instead of living in constant fear, itâs better to face it with total honesty
Start afresh with righteousness.
Because everyone has the right to repent and start anew.
Su Wanwan exited Weibo, thinking that the matter should end there and it should not have much to do with her.
However, she did not expect to receive a sudden WeChat message from Huo Jingshen in the evening, [Baby, come to the door.]
[What for?]
[Taking you out to dinner, also to meet a friend.]
[Male or female?]Su Wanwan immediately asked.
Huo Jingshen sent a built-in WeChat smiley emoticon, [Neither male nor female.]
Su Wanwan: â ⦠â
Su Wanwan changed into a set of clothes before going on the date.
Because she has not forgotten that every time she sees Huo Jingshenâs friends, sheâll get teased with lines like âold bull eating young grassâ or âgood biteââ¦