That evening, Xiao Yi browsed through Tianya with a sense of trepidation, and there were posts about how Lu Zhou rose to fame. Shockingly, some claimed that he had been taken advantage of by a producer... Xiao Yi felt like he had entered Sparta.

Though rumors of the casting couch were commonplace, Xiao Yi knew that whether it was a singer or an actor, they might face such situations. Male stars had their fair share of encounters. However, regardless of what was said outside, when it came to his idols - including top-tier figures like Li Changzheng and Lu Zhou - Xiao Yi automatically filtered out such thoughts. He imagined Lu Zhou as an untainted white lotus, as if this matter had never happened. Regarding Li Changzheng's situation though, Xiao Yi had heard about it before. Although rationally Xiao Yi understood that such matters should not be asked about or taken seriously, past events should stay in the past. However, emotionally, he couldn't accept it. He repeatedly trembled as he thought about closing the post but couldn't resist looking at it again.

Oh God! Xiao Yi's heart went through intense struggles, tears streaming down his face as he looked up to the sky. How could this happen? My idol has actually been with someone...

Almost all the brainless fans had identical reactions. Quickly, it spread on Weibo with a link to the post, accompanied by various dramatic comments, such as rumors heard from secret sources. Since Lu Zhou was unable to perform after being...

Xiao Yi: "..."

Wait a minute. Xiao Yi suddenly remembered the two derogatory terms Zhang Xinran used to scold Lu Zhou. He began to imagine how a person could be both unable to perform and quick to climax. After a series of self-rebuttals, assumptions, deductions, and judgments, Xiao Yi consoled himself, telling himself that everything was fake. Lu Zhou could not be unable to perform and quick to climax at the same time.

Based on this, Xiao Yi concluded that Zhang Xinran was lying about Lu Zhou's inability to perform, and by extension, other things Zhang Xinran said were also lies. Therefore, Lu Zhou must not have been involved with any producers.

" Director Du," Xiao Yi said, "about this post... I think we should get it deleted."

Xiao Yi showed it to Du Mei, hoping for an ally, but Du Mei just glanced at it and said, "Boring people. Don't pay attention to them."

"Not delete it?" Xiao Yi insisted.

"Deleting it would just confirm it, wouldn't it?" Du Mei said while checking her WeChat. "Lu Zhou doesn't care about this nonsense. You don't need to worry for him."

"Oh." Xiao Yi responded.

A revelation dawned upon Xiao Yi: Exactly! Lu Zhou is indifferent to all this, so he's not distressed, and undoubtedly, he hasn't engaged in any behind-the-scenes dealings with the producer.

Lu Zhou was called over by a phone call from Du Mei. Xiao Yi continued to browse the internet, hoping to find out what was being said. However, in these few minutes of browsing, he suddenly felt relieved.

Under that post, there was another expose by someone who seemed to know inside information. This person pointed out that Lu Zhou's first movie after his debut was produced by a person whose initials were replaced by their name’s first letter in pinyin. This producer was infamous in the industry for playing with straight guys. Though not as petite and adorable as a certain director turned writer, the producer was notorious for making others take the passive role. Most of the people he had been with could testify to this.

Lu Zhou's first movie was the work of this producer,’Turning Head Arrow’. Upon careful consideration, it had been quite a few years since then, with several years of inactivity in between. Lu Zhou only started gaining recognition after signing with Du Mei.

Why did he need recognition? Xiao Yi thought. Lu Zhou had the talent himself. But looking at your objective way of speaking, I won't argue with you about this... Xiao Yi pondered for a moment and suddenly had a rough guess.

Could it be that Lu Zhou, due to some reason, had a shadow hanging over him because he had to be with that producer occasionally? That would explain everything.

"Hey," Lu Zhou said.

Xiao Yi immediately sat up.

Lu Zhou: "Why haven't you returned to the room?"

Lu Zhou still didn't know what Xiao Yi was thinking. He looked at him strangely, and Du Mei said, "I asked him to come over. Take a look, the press release and your statement are both out."

Du Mei handed over the press release. Lu Zhou had reviewed it, ready to release it the next day. The internet was already buzzing with discussions, and the popularity of the Lu-Zhang relationship had not yet subsided. After Du Mei finished revising the press release, she went to the publicity department and added, "Lu Zhou, remember to post a long Weibo statement tomorrow morning."

The long Weibo was already written. Xiao Yi glanced at it. It contained Lu Zhou's confession and the emotional journey with Zhang Xinran over the years. Though not as melodramatic as "Ten years between you and me, profound love and endless longing, though it saddens me I’m willing to let you spread your wings and fly high," it was still quite tearful.

Lu Zhou's confession played the emotional card, expressing his journey from a naive newcomer to the entertainment industry to the present. He emphasized the fortunate companionship and help he received from Zhang Xinran, leading him to this point in his career. Now, due to fate, even if he wanted to hold Zhang Xinran's hand and enter the marriage hall, they couldn't because of their incompatible personalities. Thus, they had to let go, wishing happiness for each other. Their breakup had nothing to do with anyone else, and there was absolutely no infidelity during filming. Time would prove everything.

Seeing Lu Zhou reminisce about the early days of his career with Zhang Xinran, Xiao Yi couldn't help feeling a bit bitter.

"Don't make that expression, okay?" Lu Zhou's mouth twitched. "Even I'm getting goosebumps."

Xiao Yi said, "Is it really like this?"

Lu Zhou said, "Most of it is made up. Is your writing good? If it is, make some changes."

Xiao Yi's writing was just average. After making a few adjustments to make the wording more sincere, he showed it to Lu Zhou. After reading it, Lu Zhou said, "It's fine like this."

From Du Mei, Xiao Yi learned that this kind of publicity was actually beneficial for both parties. Without movies or TV shows airing, stars needed to maintain exposure and topic relevance. Stirring up positive or negative news was the way to go. Dating rumors were undoubtedly the method with the least risk and most pleasing to fans. Although people said Lu Zhou was trying to hitch a ride, it was unfair to him. After all, it was a win-win situation.

"It's our little Zhou Zhou being impressive," Du Mei sneered. "Hmm, post the Weibo."

The next morning, Xiao Yi used Lu Zhou's Weibo account to post the breakup statement.

Throughout the day of action scenes on Friday, Xiao Yi was busy on set, wondering how things were on the internet. It must be very sensational.

However, the entire morning was extremely busy. As the day approached the end of shooting, the director started pushing for progress frantically. Amidst the chaos, he managed to squeeze in time to scold people over the phone. After finishing several challenging scenes in the afternoon, Lu Zhou started wire stunts in front of the green screen for later post-production.

"Good!" the action director said. "Again, next one!"

Xiao Yi finally had a moment to pull out his phone, trembling as he opened Lu Zhou's Weibo. The notification popped up—over 254,000 retweets and more than 98,000 comments. Xiao Yi almost fainted.

As soon as Lu Zhou made the statement, he instantly regained at least 60% of his favourable sentiment. Of course, most fans belonged to the blindly adoring category—whatever the idol liked was good, and the idol was the best. As long as Lu Zhou gave an explanation, whether his love interest was Zhang Xinran, Ning Yaqing, Zhao Benshan (NT: Chinese actor), Xiao Shenyang (NT: Chinese actor), or a husky, the fans didn't care.

But fans of Zhang Xinran and bystanders, those whom Lu Zhou's fans had criticized before, wouldn't let him off easily. Various parties began to seize the opportunity, leading to a chaotic situation.

Xiao Yi wondered if Zhang Xinran had hired internet trolls. Did Du Mei's trolls join the fray? Were the fans on both sides actually just each other's backup forces, and there weren't many genuine fans involved? Xiao Yi initially thought it was manageable, but as he scrolled through the posts, even the Iron Horse Glacier crew was dragged into it. Ning Yaqing was portrayed in a very unfavourable light. The more Xiao Yi read, the angrier he became, feeling like attacking Lu Zhou was akin to attacking himself.

Xiao Yi truly wanted to roar to the heavens, "Do you know how hard our idol works?!" Work! Attack! His final straw was when he couldn't take it anymore, and he completely ignored Lu Zhou, who was suspended from wires, and changed his identity to start cursing at antifans.

Although Xiao Yi was aggressive and determined, he only had those three moves. Over and over again, he used "How can you say that?" "Shut up!" "What do you know?"—attacks with a limited degree of impact. He regretted never engaging in online disputes and lacking the ability to create alternative accounts. He envied those who could transform into the leaders of a hundred billion, with a single tree and a pear blossom, master of the schizophrenic cult, hoping they could eliminate all opposition.

Xiao Yi wished he could transform into the Thousand-Armed Guanyin (NT: Mahāyāna bodhisattva), cutting through the myriad of alternate accounts, slicing and dicing until he felt dizzy. Sighing, he signalled to the coordinator to check Tianya.

"Did you go on Tianya?" the coordinator asked.

"I'm checking it now," Xiao Yi gestured for her not to get too excited, although he was already excited.

The coordinator said, "Look at this post."

Xiao Yi glanced at the link the coordinator sent him on WeChat and was nearly scared out of his wits.

The title was: The truth exposed —Lu Zhou's History of Cheating.

The main post was 350 characters long, which he didn't care about. He scrolled down, and one of the revelations was as follows:

[My friend's cousin worked as an assistant for Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou's disgusting behaviour was well-known, and he treated everyone like trash. Often, in front of company staff, he would mistreat his assistant, verbally abusing and physically assaulting them. The assistant was pitiful, enduring constant punches and kicks.]

No way! Xiao Yi wondered who leaked this information! He never told anyone about it! Your Majesty, this is truly a bolt from the blue. Where did my red thread of fate go? Quickly bring it to me, or I won't live anymore...

Xiao Yi gathered himself and said, "I, I, I... I signed a confidentiality agreement and never mentioned anything like this to anyone. No, Zhou-ge has never hit me or scolded me! This is entirely baseless! It's pure fabrication! What should we do?"

"Do you want to call Director Du and explain?" the coordinator suggested.

Gratefully nodding, Xiao Yi quickly dialled Du Mei's number.

After listening on the other end, Du Mei said, "I read the post. I know you didn't leak it, and I know the only opposing party personnel around you working as Lu Zhou's assistant is Qi Zhuan. They must have hired someone to pretend to be your friend and make up stories. This kind of counterintelligence is what we play when we're left with nothing else. Don't worry."

Thank goodness, Xiao Yi sighed in relief. Du Mei added, "Here's the plan. You create a public account and also post something, using counterintelligence. Say you heard from a friend: (emphasis) Qi Zhuan got drunk one day, didn't keep his mouth shut, and spilled the gossip about Zhang Xinran at the dinner table. Mimic his tone, go ahead, the organization is counting on you. Make up any gossip, just attack as you see fit."

Xiao Yi: "..."

Xiao Yi thought, damn it, you guys are ruthless.

"Hey!" Lu Zhou roared in the distance, "What are you doing?"

Xiao Yi immediately snapped out of it, gave an "ah" sound, and Du Mei said, "Are you dealing with Lu Zhou's matters? No need to post anything. The water army will arrive around four."

Xiao Yi quickly agreed and hung up the phone. He hurriedly ran over, and Lu Zhou was taken down from the wire. Xiao Yi held him to help him stand, as Lu Zhou had been hanging for almost half an hour. Xiao Yi quickly called an assistant to give him a massage, while he massaged Lu Zhou's thighs and ankles.

The entire crew watched, and the post on Tianya, "Expose a Gossip: Talk about what you know about Zhang Xinran and Lu Zhou," instantly reached dozens of pages of replies. Xiao Yi clicked into it, and the discussion inside was intense. Some accused Lu Zhou of being a scumbag, some criticized Zhang Xinran, some lamented their exhaustion, some brought their own idols to join the discussion, some slandered, some defended tenaciously, some were bystanders, and some took advantage of the situation to criticize the currently airing melodramatic TV series.

"Grandma’s!" the coordinator rolled up her sleeves and said, "Our show is being attacked even lying down! Sisters! Get to work!"

The project manager reminded, "Here, I have stored public accounts. Don't use fixed accounts. I'll send the account names and passwords we used before to the group."

Xiao Yi: "..."

Almost all idle personnel in the entire crew were participating, and Lu Zhou took a short break, unaware of anything. He didn't ask and went back to filming.

With the male lead hanging in the air above, a group of people below united to help him fend off attacks.

Xiao Yi approached to take a look, seeing the script supervisor vigilantly observing all directions and typing rapidly on her phone. Ning Yaqing had also been targeted, sitting aside with a black face, tapping on her phone.

Clearly enraged, Ning Yaqing threw her phone aside and said, "Sometimes, I really want to investigate them and hire someone to take care of all these haters."

Xiao Yi was startled, thinking, "Female knight, are you planning a massacre or a power outage? If hiring someone for real, given the current situation, you'd probably be the first to be targeted by Lu Zhou's unknowing fans contributing funds for the hit..."

While Lu Zhou was moving around in front of the green screen, contorting his body into various strange and humorous poses as requested by the martial arts director, Xiao Yi dared not openly engage in the online dispute and sneakily checked his phone.

"Sister An..." Xiao Yi said, "Are you still fighting?"

"No problem," the coordinator reassured, "Just having some fun. Later, Director Du will personally lead her team into battle. Oh well, Tianya is not the main battlefield anyway. The major media and entertainment forums, pop-up ads, and viral links are more widespread. This is just a minor battle."

Xiao Yi: "..."

Everyone wore a gloating expression, and the coordinator resumed chatting on WeChat, saying, "Yeah, this time she's unlucky on her own. Running into Du Mei, she won't be lucky.."

Xiao Yi's mind was spinning. It seemed that Zhang Xinran had offended quite a few people. Both Li Ye and the coordinator seemed to dislike her.

"...Why bother." The voice on WeChat was a gentle and soft-spoken man who continued, "Zhang Xinran, really, who in the industry doesn't know about her chaotic personal life? That's enough. Using a dog as a human shield, what does that amount to? Our Mao Mao..."

"Mao Mao is Mo Mo's dog," the coordinator explained to Xiao Yi, "It was bitten by Zhang Xinran's Chihuahua."

Xiao Yi nodded with lingering fear.

"Yeah." The coordinator continued speaking on WeChat, "Ah, the water is too deep, the water is too deep."

Xiao Yi was beside her, and since the coordinator didn't complain much, she closed WeChat and continued browsing the forum.

Around four o'clock, Du Mei's hired water army finally came and counterattacked insanely.

The opening title was: "Let's talk about Zhang Xinran's godfathers and the small dog that bullies others."

The next post was: "Literary Men and Beautiful Women, come and see the windflower, snow  and moon (NT:  romantic) roles Lu Zhou has played."

By five o'clock, the recommended hot posts on Tianya changed to:

"End of Lu-Zhang Love, Feng-Zhi, Peng-Fei, let's talk about those film and television lovers who left us with beautiful memories. Who will take over the next stage of amicable breakup? Who is the pick-up man?"

The public opinion on the front page was brought back, and the posts about Lu Zhou were almost all his handsome photos.

 

Translator : DarNan