TRYMBPIETM 58: Mirror, Night, Snow Peak (21)

If we talk about who was most affected by the recent the Little Golden Crows actions, it certainly wasn’t Chi Qingzhou.

Before they wrote the complaint letter to Zhuji, the company hadn’t planned to announce the endorsement so early.

Although Chairwoman Song gave Chi Qingzhou the endorsement out of gratitude,Pearl Watches, as a company, had to make a profit, so they had their plans.

In their original strategy, they intended to release the endorsement photos after the second episode of Scenery Along the Way, and the related advertisements would only be launched after Chi Qingzhou finished participating in the shows they invested in and organized.

However, with the Little Golden Crows’ actions, the chairwoman personally inquired about the matter, and Song Yuzhi this big young master, also called, showing support for Chi Qingzhou.

What could Pearl’s CEO do?

They could only hold an urgent meeting and notify everyone to announce the endorsement ahead of schedule.

Whether it was due to their own good impression of Chi Qingzhou or the chairwoman’s instructions, it was hard for Pearl’s CEO to blame Chi Qingzhou.

The dissatisfaction that came from disrupting the plans fell squarely on Xue Jinshi.

Xue Jinshi had appeared in Pearl’s headquarters before because of his collaboration with the company.

Once the CEO confirmed the online rumors and the Little Golden Crows’ involvement, he directly told the secretary who reported the situation that once Xue Jinshi’s contract expired, they wouldn’t renew it.

As for the previously planned collaboration for the Conceal Blade series, the search for an endorser was temporarily put on hold.

He had originally planned to use the Conceal Blade endorsement to help boost Chi Qingzhou’s popularity.

The president waved his hand and said, “Since Frost Blade has already been promoted, we can delay Conceal Blade. Let’s see.”

The secretary took out the memo to note the president’s instruction and asked, “What about the artists we were in contact with?”

The president replied, “Pause everything. Since Conceal Blade is on hold, there’s no rush for the endorser.”

The secretary took note and left.

The secretary was very tight-lipped, and would never reveal what shouldn’t be said.

However, whether it was because the office door was left ajar when they spoke, or some words were overheard by passing employees, within half an hour, the news had spread to various artists.

Several artists who had been in contact with Pearl, and were targeting the Conceal Blade endorsement, were furious but couldn’t vent their anger at Pearl’s president. Instead, they turned their hatred onto Xue Jinshi.

As the instigator, Chi Qingzhou wasn’t without people redirecting their anger onto him. However, the rumors took on a life of their own and spread in distorted versions to other artists—

The Little Golden Crows clearly just wanted to sabotage Chi Qingzhou’s endorsement, but now everyone believed Chi Qingzhou was just a decoy.

The Little Golden Crows had never even glanced at the Conceal Blade series, but now it was seen as proof that Xue Jinshi had his sights on the Conceal Blade series.

Xue Jinshi was about to have his contract terminated, but everyone insisted it was because of his earlier conflict with the makeup artist that angered Pearl Watches, and now he was trying to salvage the situation in a roundabout way.

As a result, fans of other artists, who once had a chance to get the Conceal Blade deal, were enraged and began a brutal attack on the Little Golden Crows, flooding topics, forums, and supertopics, engaging in a merciless “slaughter.”

Even though the Little Golden Crows were strong, they couldn’t fight against the united front of several fanbases.

Their attacks couldn’t hold up against the combined strength of the other fans. The Little Golden Crows were left stunned, only managing to hold their ground thanks to their extensive experience.

The female star who lost her guest spot to Xue Jinshi smiled faintly, hanging up the phone with Pearl Watches photographer.

Meanwhile, the manager still dealing with the aftermath of Xue Jinshi throwing the cosmetics received a call from his assistant. Upon checking the hot search and Xue Jinshi’s fan group, they almost fainted in anger.

Just yesterday evening, they were relieved that the Little Golden Crows had acted somewhat rationally. Now, they only wished they could slap their naive self from the previous night!

What rationality? What “not impulsively insulting others”? It was all lies!

These fans had clearly been planning their revenge all along, bypassing the company and taking matters into their own hands!

What was once a relatively calm situation for Xue Jinshi was now in ruins, all thanks to the “efforts” of the fans. The manager’s hard work from yesterday was all in vain. If it weren’t for his good upbringing, he might have already stormed into the variety show crew to bring down Xue Jinshi with them.

“Let’s see you try to control your fans for once, huh?”

“Let’s see you manipulate fans into attacking Chi Qingzhou!”

“Let’s see you work behind the company’s back again!”

Now look where we are.

The more you try not to offend someone, the worse your fans will make it!

The manager’s hands shook as he clutched his phone and tried calling the company’s public relations director, dialing the wrong number multiple times.

Finally, when he got through, the PR director’s reaction was swift.

“Nice, Little Xue’s fans are strong, they’ve got ideas,” he said cheerfully. “Even if it fails, it’s alright. Pearl’s contract with him is almost up, and the company has already arranged another endorsement with a different watch brand. Might as well prepare for that.”

He was the boss’s brother-in-law at Ding Sheng, and knew a lot of things that others didn’t.

Normally, he paid attention to the artists’ public images, but when it came to profit issues, he naturally sided with the boss.

He wasn’t concerned about the Little Golden Crows being insulted or Xue Jinshi gaining more enemies.

“Little Xue will be fine, his next album is about to be released, right? Don’t worry, I’ll have someone guide the fans’ emotions. If they feel guilty, they’ll buy more albums for Little Xue to boost sales.”

In short, it was just the same old tactic of manipulating fans.

Their brother is wronged, and the entire world is his enemy. It’s their fault for not protecting him.

The manager listened blankly to the PR director’s chatter, forcing out a bitter smile.

His hands stopped shaking, but his heart was filled with despair.

He should have known. Ding Sheng was just that kind of company.

No bottom line, no morals, not caring about the artists’ futures, only focused on money.

To them, all fans were just crops to be harvested, with value only when exploited.

“You’ll pay for this,” the manager whispered to himself.

Such a company, such a fan strategy, would eventually backfire.

“What?” The PR director didn’t hear him clearly and thought he was making a suggestion, so he asked.

The manager didn’t answer.

The PR director was about to ask again when a hand suddenly took his phone.

He looked up and quickly stood, calling out, “Brother-in-law!”

The boss of Ding Sheng nodded at him, holding the phone and asking the manager, “This situation with Little Xue isn’t all bad. You don’t need to worry too much. By the way, have you had any contact with that Chi Qingzhou? What do you think the chances are of bringing him to Ding Sheng?”

The manager almost choked on his breath: “…”

What are you talking about?!

You’ve offended him to the point of no return!

He rolled his eyes and replied, “Boss, you don’t need to think about that. Zhong Lingshu and Song Yuzhi had both tried before, and they failed.”

The Ding Sheng boss, full of confidence, said, “We’re not like those small studios. Ding Sheng can offer him the best resources and create the most suitable image for him.”

The manager scoffed, “Boss, his brother is at Yade. He probably won’t leave.”

The Ding Sheng boss laughed, “What a joke. The unloved biological son of a wealthy family and the favored adopted son—do you really think their brotherly bond is that good? It’s all just an act.”

The more the manager tried to persuade him, the more the Ding Sheng boss felt it was worth pursuing.

But he could tell the manager wasn’t happy with this, and grew increasingly impatient with this employee, who had always been reluctant to support his policies.

“Who doesn’t know how the sibling relationships in wealthy families work? From my perspective, the problem is that Chi Qingzhou’s situation isn’t difficult enough. Otherwise, he would have already torn the mask off.”

After a moment of thought, he instructed the PR director to keep an eye on Chi Qingzhou’s situation, saying that perhaps they would be able to smoothly exploit the situation.

The manager on the other end of the phone: “…”

This company is beyond saving.

The fans are beyond saving, the public relations team is beyond saving, and the boss is beyond saving.

Forget it, let it all crash and burn.

The manager coldly hung up the phone, looking at the assistant who was peeking around with a worried face. He sighed deeply.

Forget it, Xue Jinshi wasn’t a bad person after all. He had been working with Xue Jinshi for many years, and couldn’t bear to see him really go down like this.

This round, let Ding Sheng and the Little Golden Crows play out their own mess.

The manager stared at his phone for a moment, then dialed a number.

“Hello, Teacher Song, this is Xue Jinshi’s manager…”

…

With the manager stepping back, Ding Sheng’s PR team seized the opportunity and went on the offensive, trying to stir up guilt among the Little Golden Crows.

A person claiming to be part of Xue Jinshi’s team infiltrated several groups, and with the help of some professional fans, quickly amplified the atmosphere, reaching a boiling point.

The Little Golden Crows, upon hearing that Xue Jinshi’s collaboration with Pearl Watches might fall through, indeed felt guilty.

However, before Ding Sheng’s PR team could celebrate, the Little Golden Crows’ next move left them dumbfounded.

They began reporting upward.

[CQZ is the most ruthless person I’ve ever seen. At first, I just wanted him to lose the endorsement, but he insisted on digging his own grave.]

[Is this CQZ stupid? Does he really think that by having the host Qi Ming transferred, no one would notice Qi Ming’s disappearance?]

[What era is this? Even if you change jobs, a person’s trace in life can’t completely vanish.]

[I’ve heard that Little Chi is heartless and cruel. I’m really suspicious about Qi Ming’s disappearance.]

[Wasn’t the director unable to find Qi Ming for a long time? Could it be that he sensed his own position was unsafe and panicked? I remember he always softens when facing capital, but this time suddenly criticizing CQZ feels off.]

The Little Golden Crows listed dozens of reasons why Qi Ming’s disappearance might be related to Chi Qingzhou, while reporting to higher authorities and even calling the police.

The haters, who had been somewhat deflated after Pearl Watches announced the endorsement, immediately perked up upon hearing the Little Golden Crows’ claims.

Well, well, the host who had conflicts with Chi Qingzhou went missing?

This is big news!

Report it, it has to be reported!

We can’t let this kind of cancer continue to harm innocent people!

Ding Sheng’s PR team was stunned, trying to stop the situation, but they were swarmed by the haters who relentlessly cursed them, and eventually, they panicked.

No, why are they skipping all the formalities and just jumping straight to reporting?

Threatening someone’s safety, potentially endangering someone’s life, using violent actions to disrupt industry balance—can such words be casually thrown around?

The PR team, shocked and unable to think about how the fans had suddenly become uncontrollable, quickly reported the situation to the boss.

The boss of Ding Sheng was also somewhat taken aback. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he firmly instructed the PR department and the manager to control the situation.

The manager hadn’t expected the Little Golden Crows to bite back so quickly. He gave a perfunctory response and started thinking about how to distance himself and Xue Jinshi from the situation.

Meanwhile, the PR team was in despair.

If they were able to control the situation, would they need to report it?

Several PR staff members were anxiously thinking, but as bad luck would have it, before they could come up with a plan, the sweet little plums, who had been watching the situation unfold, was infuriated again.

This time, it was the Little Golden Crows who caused trouble, but ultimately, it didn’t matter.

Because the incident about Chi Qingzhou wearing a knockoff watch still, in one way or another, involved Chi Qingning.

After the endorsement announcement, Pearl’s staff, posing under a small account, started guiding public opinion, subtly suggesting that Chi Qingzhou’s wearing of that watch was understandable because it was a birthday gift.

Perhaps his behavior was inappropriate, but considering that it was a token of affection, everyone could understand.

Being sentimental and loyal is a traditional virtue in Dragon country (china), so one shouldn’t deny Chi Qingzhou’s character because of a small flaw.

The story about Chi Qingning giving the watch to Chi Qingzhou had been leaked within the industry some days ago. As soon as this explanation came out, it immediately received likes from many people.

Some even added some seemingly plausible gossip, claiming that Chi Qingning’s intention behind giving the gift was to trap Chi Qingzhou.

In their narrative, Chi Qingzhou became a naive, love-starved fool, while Chi Qingning was painted as a blooming black lotus.

When the little Sweet Plums saw this, they absolutely couldn’t stand for it.

They first dismissed the rumors as false, claiming they were fabricated, and warned those spreading them to expect a lawyer’s letter.

However, when someone uncovered a photo from when Chi Qingning drove a luxury car to send a gift to Chi Qingzhou at 19 years old, they quickly changed their tune, saying it was all a misunderstanding.

Their brother was surely just being deceived. He had only wanted to express his well wishes to his second brother, but was taken advantage of by malicious people.

Whether that malicious person even existed, they didn’t know.

But they knew exactly who had exposed the matter!

Seeing #ChiQingningBlackHeartLotus# trending, they were enraged and filled with hatred, immediately turned their attention to the Little Golden Crows.

They didn’t just curse the Little Golden Crows, but also dragged Xue Jinshi into it.

The Little Golden Crows were surrounded by several fan groups and nearly couldn’t handle it.

Seeing this, Ding Sheng’s PR team quickly urged them to calm down, but they were instead verbally attacked by the Little Golden Crows.

[Xue Jinshi is being bullied this badly, and you guys are telling us to do nothing? You must be undercover agents sent by the competition!]

[A bunch of trash, you can’t even handle things yourself, and you don’t want the fans to take action. Tch!]

[What’s wrong with you? We finally found a way to protect Xue Jinshi, and now you’re telling us to give up? You deserve to be scolded!]

[What a lousy company. You can’t even protect your own artist and still stop the fans from stepping up. You guys are pathetic!]

[This is the assistant Ding Sheng sent for Xue Jinshi? Seriously, what a joke.]

Several PR staff members were left speechless from the insults. When they realized they couldn’t stop the situation, they simply gave up.

They had confirmed with industry insiders that Qi Ming was genuinely missing. Whether it had anything to do with Chi Qingzhou was still unknown, but Putao TV had indeed destroyed the first and second batch of solo interview footage.

The reasonable doubts raised by the fans had nothing to do with Ding Sheng.

Even if Chi Qingzhou sued the fans for defamation, it wouldn’t have a significant impact on Ding Sheng.

Perhaps, in the end, Chi Qingzhou wouldn’t even be able to provide evidence, and would end up being blamed for Qi Ming’s disappearance. They could take advantage of this situation to carry out the boss’s orders and bring him over to Ding Sheng.

The manager was truly speechless. Even though Xue Jinshi was still live-streaming, he didn’t dare to wait any longer and immediately dialed the program team.

Xue Jinshi had just arrived at the tea plantation with the other guests. He was seriously listening to the guide from the tea plantation explaining how to pick tea when he was suddenly called aside by the program team, feeling a bit confused.

By the time he finished listening to the manager’s scolding, he felt completely unsettled.

His fans truly were his die-hard fans. When they dug a pit for him, they showed no mercy at all.

Here he was, trying to get closer to Chi Qingzhou, and his fans were making things worse with him.

Xue Jinshi couldn’t even imagine what would happen if the situation from the previous night repeated itself—would he still be able to get Chi Qingzhou’s help?

Other artists’ fans might just make them lose resources, face, and reputation, but his fans? They were trying to take his life!

Xue Jinshi took a deep breath and said with a hint of despair, “Is it too late for me to apologize to Chi Qingzhou?”

The manager replied bluntly, “It’s not about whether it’s too late, you have to do what’s necessary. Xue Jinshi, listen to me: You can’t let these fans spiral out of control. You can’t let this go on.”

If Xue Jinshi publicly apologized to Chi Qingzhou, those fans who had fought for him would definitely feel betrayed.

At that point, unfollowing would be the least of his worries. Many would probably turn against him and attack him.

But even so, Xue Jinshi still had to apologize.

Not just to save himself, but also to cleanse the poison, to prevent being dragged further into the mud by these fans.

Xue Jinshi opened his mouth, but after a long pause, he couldn’t say a word.

He wanted to tell the manager that his fans hadn’t been like this before, and that he had made a mistake, causing his fans to act this way.

He wanted to say that he shouldn’t have abandoned his fans and should have guided them to change together.

But in the end, he said nothing.

Because he understood that the situation had already gotten out of his control.

Xue Jinshi regretted it.

He knew he had made a mistake, but now it was too late.

All he could do was stop things from escalating further, wait for things to calm down a little, and then find a way to make up for his mistakes.

Xue Jinshi closed his eyes.

He spoke quietly, “Qian Ge, I’ll go apologize to Teacher Chi right away. I can’t stay at Ding Sheng anymore. Please help me figure out the best way to leave.”

The manager agreed.

Xue Jinshi paused for a moment and added, “Qian Ge, please help me come up with a plan. See how I can guide the fans so they don’t keep going down this path.”

The manager fell silent.

After half a minute, he asked, “Are you sure?”

Xue Jinshi replied, “I made a mistake. I want to change. I want to make it right.”

“I’ve told you a thousand times, only now do you understand,” the manager sighed. “Do you really want to change? Even if it means getting heavily criticized?”

Xue Jinshi, feeling ashamed, said, “Yes.”

The manager said, “Fine, I’ll make the plan for you. Just remember to apologize to Teacher Chi.”

Xue Jinshi agreed, hung up the phone, and turned to find Chi Qingzhou looking at him.

He felt a little embarrassed, forcing a smile.

Chi Qingzhou turned away, with a hint of regret and envy.

The medicine he had hoped for had slipped away again.

It would have been so much better if the malice in the live stream had been directed at him—it would have been so pure. But instead, it was all aimed at Xue Jinshi. He couldn’t help but envy that.

Xing Shuangzhan, hidden in Chi Qingzhou’s shadow, laughed softly.

“You can now go tell him you want the malice from his live stream,” Xing Shuangzhan said.

Chi Qingzhou tilted his head. “Hmm?”

Xing Shuangzhan continued, “He will be very scared. Pure fear is also a very useful emotion.”

Chi Qingzhou glanced at the hesitant Xue Jinshi, who was wondering whether to come over and apologize, and blinked.

“Su Ge, you’re so bad.”

Xing Shuangzhan didn’t answer.

He looked through the shadow of Chi Qingzhou, gazing at the distant Jingming Mountain. The peak was covered in pristine white snow, creating a sharp contrast with the lush greenery of the mountainside in early summer.

The tea garden was not far from the main peak of Jingming Mountain, but its location was unique.

As long as you stood in the tea garden, no matter the angle, you could clearly see the snow on the peak’s summit.

The ghostly aura leaking from the Grand Tomb enveloped every corner of the garden. The Miao girl responsible for teaching the guests how to pick tea had a playful smile, her silver ornaments jingling, and the silver chain on her wrist clearly carried the distinct style of the Puluo tribe.

Was this really an ordinary tea garden?

Or was it a place chosen by him and his little contractor together?

Xing Shuangzhan withdrew his gaze, scrutinizing the curse he had sealed away, and slowly raised the corners of his lips.