Chapter 68: Gurgling

“—#XuLingjiaSaysRolesCanBeSwappedAtWill# Who gets it? From October 8th until now, I’ve devoted all my free time to the melon patch! This gossip-monger loves eating melons, and this gossip-monger is tired, but this huge scandal keeps twisting and turning, and it’s just so delicious!”

“—When Shen Xici passed five trials and slew six generals, finally getting selected from tens of thousands of people in the audition, Xu Lingjia’s godmother, with a single word and without lifting a finger, just handed an important role directly to Xu Lingjia. Fine, you were born noble, you have good fortune, a strong backer, but what right do you have to snatch Shen Xici’s role? And to be so high and mighty, so matter-of-fact about it, without a shred of guilt!”

“—He’s the precious only child coddled by a King and Queen of pop music and a high-level executive at Jiarui. Of course he can snatch whatever he wants [smile]. What right do us common folk have to bark before Young Master Xu?”

“—I’d love to interview the fans who kept saying ‘Jiajia was bullied,’ ‘Jiajia’s role was stolen,’ and went to spam social media, curse the endorsements, and bash the production team. Have you ever seen a clown at the circus?”

“—Back when everyone was cursing Shen Xici for stealing the role, I found it so strange. Shen Xici isn’t some producer’s son, so how did he manage to snatch Xu Lingjia’s role? Turns out it was all twisting black and white, the thief crying ‘thief,’ treating everyone like fools to be used as weapons!”

“—@XuLingjiaFans, please be advised, the ‘Mute Boy’ became a hit because Shen Xici acted well. If your Young Master Xu had played it, how would he have acted? By staring wide-eyed and smiling foolishly? If Shen Xici had played the undercover agent A’Zheng, then the undercover agent A’Zheng would be the one who’s a hit now!”

For the past two days, Xu Lingjia’s fans had been making a huge fuss, constantly clamoring things like, “Our Jiajia is so pitiful. If we don’t protect Jiajia, who will?”

Once the recording came out, they all went silent. The official Weibo account of the movie “Floating Life” reposting it was an even more blatant slap in the face. All the other fanbases were watching the joke unfold. After all, the evidence this time was too solid; Xu Lingjia had admitted it with his own mouth. His fans couldn’t deny it even if they wanted to.

However, the onlookers didn’t expect that not only did no fans come out to apologize, but one of the major fan accounts even spoke up: “So what if Jiajia snatched his role? It’s his good fortune that his role was noticed by Jiajia!”

Shen Xici’s fans and the onlookers all exploded.

“—’Like idol, like fan’ is really true! I even suspect you’re Xu Lingjia himself. I’m definitely going to curse out Xu Lingjia!”

“—He really did a good job snatching it. If Xu Lingjia hadn’t snatched the undercover role, we wouldn’t have such a classic screen image as the Mute Boy! Friends! Let us be grateful to Xu Lingjia! Otherwise, the Mute Boy role, just like the undercover role, would have been ruined by Xu Lingjia.”

“—Huh? I’m applying for annual leave from my company right now. I’ll be living online for the next two days. If I don’t flame you guys until you cry, I’ll voluntarily work overtime for a week!”

Xu Lingjia got out of the nanny van, walked through the small garden, and as he pushed open the villa door, he quickly adjusted the expression on his face. He didn’t expect to be met with Ye Mei’s gaze the moment he stepped into the living room.

The smile he had just forced onto his face stiffened. Xu Lingjia instantly understood. It wasn’t that his dad had returned to the country and missed him after a long time, wanting him to come back for a meal. It was all a lie to trick him! They were actually waiting for him here.

Ye Mei was wearing a light apricot suit. She placed the coffee cup in her hand back on the round table, and without any nonsense, asked very directly, “Who was that person who called you?”

Xu Lingjia was relieved that Cui Yunwei’s voice in the recording had been altered. “A friend.”

Ye Mei asked, “A friend? Which friend of yours?”

Xu Lingjia resorted to his usual coquettish tone, “Godmom, I’m all grown up. Why do I still have to report to the family about the friends I make? It’s really just a friend. I was careless and fell for his trick. I’ll definitely be more careful in the future!”

He had been picked up from the set by the driver at the last minute. Grabbing the strap of his backpack, he said, turning to leave, “I filmed a night scene last night and stayed up all night. I’m going upstairs to get some sleep. When it’s time for dinner—”

“You went to see Cui Yunwei, didn’t you?”

Xu Lingjia was frozen in place.

Quickly, he put on a surprised expression. “Godmom, how could you think that? How could I possibly go looking for that Cui guy? He’s been fighting with you for so many years. Godmom’s enemy is my enemy!”

Ye Mei just stared at him, not speaking.

Xu Lingjia felt a little uncertain. The moment he heard the first sentence of that recording, he knew he had been tricked by that Cui guy. The other party had obviously asked that question deliberately, just to make him admit that he was the one who snatched Shen Xici’s role.

He nervously pinched the palm of his hand. His godmother was clearly suspicious of him. He knew very well that no matter what, he absolutely could not admit to having any contact with Cui Yunwei!

“You know he’s your godmother’s enemy, so how could he genuinely help you?” Cheng Ningyu said, seeing the tense atmosphere. “Jiajia, you’re young and naive, you think too simply. Did that Cui guy say something that you just believed? Tell your godmother quickly, and apologize properly to her.”

Xu Lingjia held firm. “Mom, why are you saying this too? I really didn’t ask that Cui guy for help, I—”

“Are you still trying to lie to me, Xu Lingjia?” Ye Mei’s tone was calm and restrained. She opened her phone. “Cui Yunwei sent me all of your chat logs. Do you dare say again that you didn’t go to him?”

Cursing Cui Yunwei internally for being so ruthless, Xu Lingjia met the gazes of his parents, who were signaling him to apologize quickly. Seeing Ye Mei’s expression of betrayal and heartbreak, anger began to bubble up from the bottom of his heart.

He was the one with several negative trending topics right now. He was the one being cursed by the entire internet. His future was the one being affected. Why were Cheng Ningyu, Xu Yuanjin, and Ye Mei not comforting him, not helping him deal with it, but instead interrogating him like a criminal, as if he had done something unforgivable?

He had just asked Cui Yunwei for a little help.

The expression on his face turned colder inch by inch. Xu Lingjia spoke with a voice full of mockery, “Yes, I went to him. But didn’t I ask you guys first? I did. Did you help me? No!”

Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin exchanged a look. They actually had no evidence. It was just that Ye Mei thought the person’s tone in the recording sounded very much like Cui Yunwei, so she had deliberately bluffed Xu Lingjia.

Who knew that Xu Lingjia would actually admit it, and that he had been the one to proactively seek out Cui Yunwei!

She knew this was bad. Sure enough, Ye Mei frowned, her voice filled with anger. “Is it that we wouldn’t help you? I told you, and your mom told you, the more heat this matter gets, the more likely someone will find a handle to set a fire, the more likely it will explode!”

Xu Lingjia’s chest heaved, his voice growing louder. “Explode? The only thing that exploded was that recording! If you had been willing to help me, that recording would never have existed! None of this would have happened!”

His voice echoed in the living room. Ye Mei looked at the person in front of her and felt a sense of unfamiliarity. She said in a daze, “Is that what you think?”

Xu Lingjia sneered, “What else? Am I supposed to be grateful to you for standing by and doing nothing, and even freezing my card at a critical moment?”

Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin had long been has-beens in the industry, barely maintaining their presence by occasionally participating in a variety show or two. The reason Xu Lingjia could get such good resources and have such high exposure, apart from the small boost of being a second-generation star, was all thanks to Ye Mei’s dedicated efforts. This was also why she rarely managed Xu Lingjia, leaving everything, big and small, to Ye Mei, in order to tie Xu Lingjia and Ye Mei more tightly together.

Cheng Ningyu knew better than anyone that this big tree, Ye Mei, could not fall. Once it fell, not only would Xu Lingjia’s career be over, but it would also affect her and Xu Yuanjin.

Seeing Xu Lingjia’s words getting more and more infuriating, Cheng Ningyu quickly tried to stop him. “Jiajia, what are you saying? Everything your godmother does is for your own good! You don’t know, because of your issue, the company held an emergency meeting, and your godmother was targeted from beginning to end. Her situation is very bad.” She gave him a look. “Quick, apologize to your godmother!”

But Xu Lingjia didn’t listen to her, sneering, “Everything is for my own good? Then why did you let the production team cut my scenes? Why didn’t you help me crush Shen Xici? Why did you secretly say behind my back that my acting is not as good as Shen Xici’s, and even say you wished Shen Xici were your son!”

Seeing the three of them remain silent, he was convinced that they were feeling guilty. Xu Lingjia sneered and strode out the door.

The living room fell silent. Ye Mei leaned back on the sofa and rubbed her temples.

Cheng Ningyu poured her a cup of tea. “I don’t know what’s gotten into Jiajia. He used to be so well-behaved and worry-free. Did someone say something to him when we weren’t aware, misled him, and corrupted him? And, what’s this about us belittling him behind his back, and saying we wished Shen Xici were our son? You’ve planned so carefully for him, and he doesn’t see any of it!”

Ye Mei didn’t reply.

Just then, her phone rang. She stood up and walked into the garden.

On the phone, her assistant asked, “Ms. Ye, someone is deliberately steering this matter towards a conflict between the privileged class and ordinary people, touching on the level of social fairness. It’s completely broken out of the entertainment circle now. Jiajia is being used as a typical example and has already incurred public outrage.”

Ye Mei calmly asked, “What else?”

“There are also articles saying, of all the artists at Jiarui, who hasn’t had a role snatched by Xu Lingjia, or been bundled with him in variety shows and endorsements? The fans of the mentioned artists are already cursing on the company’s official Weibo, and the private messages have exploded.”

Hearing this, Ye Mei already understood. Cui Yunwei had seized a solid piece of leverage this time and would not let go easily.

The assistant asked cautiously, “Ms. Ye, Jiajia’s situation is getting a little hard to suppress. What do we do now? Should we increase the PR efforts?”

Looking at the fountain in the small garden, an image of a young Xu Lingjia after school, holding a handmade bouquet of flowers and running towards her with his little backpack, laughing and shouting, “Happy birthday, Godmom! Godmom must be happy, Jiajia likes Godmom the most!” flashed through Ye Mei’s mind.

Then she remembered just now, when Xu Lingjia looked at her, his eyes were filled with sharp sarcasm and malice.

She thought in a daze, where did her Jiajia go?

Her eyes stung. Ye Mei took a deep breath. “No need to suppress it anymore. Just give it the cold treatment.”

The assistant was surprised. She knew how much Ye Mei cared about Xu Lingjia. She cautiously asked again, “Maybe there’s still a chance for a turnaround? Ms. Ye, are you sure you don’t want to suppress it a little more?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to suppress it, it’s that he can’t be saved,” Ye Mei’s tone grew colder. She forced back the tears in her eyes. “I have to be responsible for the entire company. It’s time to cut our losses.”

As soon as the public relations efforts were scaled back, the artists at Jiarui Media sensed the change in the wind. They contacted each other secretly, and more and more truths were revealed.

A major fan of an artist wrote a long post, mentioning how their idol was forced to have Xu Lingjia appear in their commercial when they were negotiating an endorsement with a brand a few years ago. Another major gossip account with a huge following revealed that a brand Xu Lingjia was endorsing had initially approached another artist from Jiarui Media. But Xu Lingjia thought the brand was good and the contract was lucrative, so he barged into the contract-signing office and snatched the endorsement for himself.

The artists within Jiarui had long been resentful, but with the company executives suppressing them and the contracts in place, they could only be angry but not speak out. There were also pragmatic artists, like Li Yunzhou, the one who first slapped the “set bully” label on Shen Xici. He was a lackey of Ye Mei and Xu Lingjia, and had picked up a lot of benefits following Xu Lingjia, mockingly called the “leftover specialist” by onlookers.

And so, more and more dirt was dug up, including a popular variety show Xu Lingjia had been on, which he only got onto by being bundled with another artist who had actual works to their name.

Amidst the various rumors, some people suspected that these were all just grapevine news and not credible. When the public opinion reached its peak, a quasi-first-tier female artist who had already terminated her contract with Jiarui directly posted on Weibo:

“@FengShu: Ah, so everyone didn’t know? Half of Jiarui’s artists are Xu Lingjia’s blood bags. If it were anyone else, they would have been propped up years ago. Ms. Ye probably didn’t expect Xu Lingjia to be so rotten, right? He’s indeed a rare kind of rotten.”

Someone commented below, “Doesn’t this count as the Adou of the entertainment circle? He can’t be propped up.” Onlookers all agreed, “No way, that’s an insult to Adou.” Soon, “entertainment circle’s rotten mud” became Xu Lingjia’s nickname.

“It seems Ye Mei isn’t completely clueless. She knows when to cut her losses. Unfortunately for her, when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push. Those few people who initially sided with her and called you a set bully have all come out to say they didn’t know the truth and that Ye Mei forced them to do it. Wu Cisheng also released chat records, saying he was coerced by Ye Mei and Cheng Ningyu, that he has no grudge against you and no reason to harm you.”

Ge Lanjing was very gratified. “But this generation of netizens has a clear mind and doesn’t fall for their tricks at all. Those few who sided with them and cursed you have already lost two endorsements that were almost finalized. Zhou Ranyi’s reputation and image have plummeted. His plan to get into Jiarui is ruined, and other major companies probably won’t want him either.”

From the release of the recording on the evening of the thirteenth until now, in just two days, Shen Xici knew the whole process was far from as easy as it seemed on the surface. “If it weren’t for Sister Lanjing, it wouldn’t have been so smooth this time.”

Ge Lanjing didn’t take the credit. “I didn’t do much. The opponent was too arrogant, thinking that as long as they controlled public opinion, they were invincible. But public opinion has always been a double-edged sword. Xu Lingjia overestimated himself.”

“How could you say you didn’t do much? I know that when Feng Shu was just starting out, Sister Lanjing mentored her. If it weren’t for Sister Lanjing, Feng Shu definitely wouldn’t have stood up and posted that on Weibo.”

In his past life, after Shen Xici started working with Ge Lanjing, he was taken to have a meal with Feng Shu. Feng Shu had mentioned during their chat that when she was just starting out, she was young and naive, and didn’t know what to do when she was taken advantage of at a dinner party. Sister Lanjing, like a valiant eagle, had spread her wings and protected her, getting into a bottle-smashing fight with the person in the private room. She would remember that scene for a lifetime.

Ge Lanjing was genuinely surprised. “You even know this?” She admitted, “When Ye Mei and her group were throwing dirt on you, and their fans were cursing fiercely, our script was the ‘return for revenge’ one. Of course, we had to give them a taste of their own medicine and let them know what it feels like to incur public outrage.”

This time, Ge Lanjing had indeed put in a great deal of effort. Even before sleeping, she would close her eyes and count the connections she had accumulated at Jiarui Media, pondering who to contact and what to say to subtly make them realize that now was a good time to go and expose Xu Lingjia’s past deeds. She also had to hold meetings to repeatedly study how to maximize the heat after mobilizing her connections, to let more people know the truth and clear Shen Xici’s name.

She had always remembered the moment she walked out of that office building, feeling disheartened about her career, her future, and even the world. She remembered Yan Chao’s words, “You’re a woman, what kind of job can you find? You might as well go home and take care of children!”

And she remembered even more clearly Shen Xici calling out to her, asking her if she wanted to become the top agent, the one who sets the rules.

She wanted to, of course she wanted to, but she couldn’t find that path.

After starting to work with Shen Xici, she felt that, vaguely, she could see that path leading ever upwards. Her efforts now had a direction.

This was the first public opinion crisis she had handled since partnering with Shen Xici. She wanted to do it well, to tell Shen Xici, “You are striving forward, and so am I. We are working hard together.”

But there was no need to say these thoughts out loud. Shen Xici would naturally see what she did. And as long as the result was good, it meant all her efforts were not in vain.

“There are even Sherlock Holmeses among the onlookers, saying that the incident where you knocked on Wen Yage’s door on the set of ‘Mountain Range Line’ was also filmed during Cheng Ningyu’s live stream. Many onlookers speculate that that family was already targeting you back then, deliberately trying to ruin your reputation. I just added a little fuel to the fire.”

Shen Xici remembered his past life. Every time Xu Lingjia and Cheng Ningyu’s side caused some trouble, Ge Lanjing would be very angry, saying why would there be such biological parents, so biased. Then she would find ways to help him fight back.

So, he had always felt very lucky.

Listening to Ge Lanjing’s slightly proud tone on the phone, Shen Xici couldn’t help but smile, and said to both the current and past-life Ge Lanjing, “Yes, thank you, Sister Lanjing, for helping me get my revenge.”

“You can’t just thank me. If it weren’t for the Shenghe Group’s public relations department, I couldn’t have achieved this much. They grasped the point of conflict between the privileged class and ordinary people from the incident of Xu Lingjia snatching your role, and directly framed the topic as a matter of social fairness. No wonder they say top-tier capital doesn’t support idlers. The level of their PR department crushes all other PR teams and companies in the circle!”