Chapter 9: Trending Topic Storm

At this time, Fu Jinglan was in his office waiting for various departments to give him their monthly reports. Seeing the incoming call from Sheng Yuheng, he frowned in confusion.

His intuition told him that picking up the phone right now would surely lead to nothing good.

Sure enough, once the call connected, the man's slightly cool voice came through the receiver.

"Pull up the full video of Bai Yunjia being beaten a week ago and post it on Weibo."

Fu Jinglan: "???"

Then, with a delayed realization, he thought back to the scene he had encountered after walking into the company through the main entrance on a whim a week ago.

"Don't tell me the person fighting in the lobby that day was Su Xingmian, your primary person of interest."

Recalling this incident, the first thing that came to Fu Jinglan's mind was Su Xingmian's clear, lively eyes that shone like stars.

Sheng Yuheng's silence was a tacit admission, giving Fu Jinglan a headache.

"Releasing the video makes the company's stance explicit. Doing this is equivalent to kicking Bai Yunjia out of the company."

"An outdated actress with no hope of a comeback versus a potential star with my backing—which one would you choose?" Sheng Yuheng countered confidently.

In the entertainment industry, Sheng Yuheng's name was a guarantee of viewership and traffic. With him backing someone up, as long as they weren't complete trash, they wouldn't be beyond help.

Fu Jinglan was eventually persuaded: "Fine! I'll have the PR department handle it right now."

"Go yourself!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, there was another burst of familiar busy tones. Furious, Fu Jinglan grit his teeth: "Sheng Yuheng, I really owe you!"

He threw a few punches at the air, then straightened his hair which hadn't even gone out of place, smoothed his wrinkle-free suit, and strode toward the PR department with long steps.

Seeing him approach, Bai Xuan greeted him: "President Fu, Zhou Chi asked me to explain on behalf of Teacher Sheng. He just finished filming a late-night scene and has been working non-stop for a day and a night, which is why he hasn't had the chance to catch up with you properly."

"It's not like I'm actually angry with him," Fu Jinglan muttered under his breath.

To personally arrange such a thing despite such a tight schedule, it was evident just how much weight this Su Xingmian held in A-heng's heart.

"Is the data analysis chart out yet?"

"It's out. It's certain there's a promoter behind this. Neither Bai Yunjia nor Little Su has this much traffic; it's impossible for them to appear on the trending searches instantly."

Bai Xuan handed over the analysis chart prepared by the PR department.

One had to know that even a few days ago, the trending topic regarding Bai Yunjia changing her age had only sat at the tail end of the hot searches. Su Xingmian's current level of fame and traffic was essentially zero; there was no way she could contribute to a high-ranking trending topic.

Furthermore, this trending topic was clearly intended to ruin Su Xingmian's public reputation. Although it rapidly increased her name recognition, if it wasn't handled well and she was labeled as "infamous" (black-red), even if she became famous through her works later, it would remain a stain used by others to attack her. Every move she made would be scrutinized by the public under a microscope.

"First, use the evidence to post a clarification. Once we catch the mastermind behind this, we'll settle the score with them," Fu Jinglan said in a cold tone, tapping his fingers on the desk.

If they dared to touch his money tree, they had to be prepared to pay the price.

"President Fu, Sister Xuan, the surveillance footage from that period has been manually deleted."

Several staff members in the PR department were scrolling through the surveillance, but while there was footage from before the incident, there was also footage from after. The video of the incident itself left no trace.

"What's the fastest time to restore the surveillance footage?"

"A conservative estimate would be three hours."

"Issue a statement first to stabilize the netizens. Once the surveillance is restored, release it immediately," Fu Jinglan said heavily.

Soon, the PR department released the freshly minted public relations copy via Xingsheng Entertainment's official Weibo account.

【Xingsheng Entertainment V: Early this morning, the reports regarding our artists Su Xingmian and Bai Yunjia are false. The surveillance footage has been manually deleted and is currently being urgently restored. We ask netizens to consume gossip rationally and beware of being brainwashed by marketing accounts.】

Since things had escalated to this point, they would not perform any editing once the surveillance footage was repaired.

As for whether Bai Yunjia's true character had been exposed, that was no longer within their scope of consideration. After all, everyone could see that Bai Yunjia was being abandoned by the company.

After this Weibo post went out, Sheng Yuheng's repost followed immediately.

【Sheng Yuheng V: Just finished collaborating with my junior colleague from the same company. She has a great personality, is humble and polite. Waiting for the subsequent surveillance footage.】

He even attached a group photo from the film set.

This was a photo taken on the day Su Xingmian wrapped filming, along with the actors she had worked with.

Subsequently, the actors she had collaborated with at the time, including Director Liu, all reposted it.

Setting aside the others for a moment, Sheng Yuheng standing up to speak had a much greater influence than Xingsheng's official statement.

He was famous in the entertainment industry for being a "clear stream," never meddling in others' business. Combined with previous similar incidents, if he went out of his way to support someone, there was a guarantee of a reversal.

Thus, aside from Bai Yunjia's fans who were still attacking Su Xingmian, most gossip-watchers decided to maintain a neutral stance for the time being, waiting for the official explanation.

Consequently, by the time Su Xingmian landed and arrived in Su City, the online vitriol against her had dissipated considerably.

It was her first time flying, and she was extremely excited. Even though she had woken up early in the morning, it didn't affect her vigorous energy at all. Holding her phone in airplane mode, she took non-stop photos out the window, even asking Xu Yihan to take a photo of her with the blue sky and white clouds.

This person, who was as lively as a rabbit, became a different person after getting off the plane.

Once she had collected her luggage, met with the crew members picking her up, and boarded the car, Su Xingmian's small head began to nod off bit by bit.

"Mianmian, don't sleep yet, repost the Weibo."

Su Xingmian: "????"

Upon seeing the content, her sleepy, dazed eyes instantly cleared. Su Xingmian looked at Liang Yin in disbelief and pointed at herself.

"Was I... that arrogant back then?"

Liang Yin, Xu Han: "..."

"Isn't your focus in the wrong place?!"

Liang Yin's eyes curved into crescents from laughing, but Su Xingmian could see a flicker of fire in her gaze.

"But... the company clarified it, didn't they?" She gave a dry laugh and quickly tapped repost.

"Teacher Sheng even stuck his nose in? Is it not chaotic enough for you?"

Liang Yin slapped her thigh, then turned to see a glaringly obvious friend request on Su Xingmian's phone.

"Add him! He's a senior, you can't not add him! But you must be smart. If there is even a hint of ambiguity, you must decisively refuse and strike back hard. Do not become cannon fodder, understood?!"

Su Xingmian's small hands tapped so quickly that she didn't quite hear what Liang Yin said afterward; she just nodded.

On one side, Liang Yin monitored the comment section and checked the progress with Bai Xuan at any time; on the other side, after passing the friend verification, Su Xingmian waited with full anticipation for Sheng Yuheng's first WeChat message.

But after waiting for a long time, nothing came.

Feeling a bit disappointed, Su Xingmian sent a thank-you WeChat message, then gripped her phone and fell asleep leaning on Xu Han's shoulder.

(End of Chapter)