Two months have passed, and aside from frequently trending on social media and becoming a popular idol, Lin Siyan hasn't made any progress on her mission. She's furious! She spent 50,000 points on the "Graceful Dance" skill to improve her dancing, and another 50,000 on the "Rap Expert" skill to solidify her all-around girl group persona. Now the company wants her to learn acting; is she going to spend another 50,000 on the "Masterful" skill???
She entered the entertainment industry to improve her life, but her main purpose was to appear in front of Xu Zifan, not to become a superstar! Her goal was to become the wife of the chairman of the Xu Group, not to strive for self-improvement. How did she end up going astray on this path?
Lin Siyan felt this wouldn't do. There wasn't much talk about her connection to the Xu family anymore; people seemed to have gradually accepted her self-reliant persona and viewed the Xu family as her benefactors. How could this be acceptable? She hesitated for a moment, then said, "System, release the video of me and Xu Zifan, implying he's my sugar daddy."
[System: Host, Xu Zifan has never had any scandals. Will anyone believe that?]
[Yes! Since I've had such a smooth run, I have a ton of haters. They're definitely more likely to believe I have powerful backers, and those backers are Xu Zifan. Don't worry, Xu Zifan is a big CEO; he won't care about this kind of gossip. Besides, I'm an artist under his management; he won't come out to clarify. If I say something ambiguous, the company will just turn a blind eye for the sake of publicity, since this kind of news doesn't really affect Xu Zifan.]
[System: Okay, host. This process requires 1000 points.]
Here you go.
[System: Points deducted, host, the video has been sent.]
Lin Siyan is a popular idol with a high level of attention. Her fans and haters are constantly battling it out, scrutinizing each other's every move. As soon as this video involving a romantic relationship surfaced, it was immediately and wildly shared by haters, who mocked Lin Siyan for shattering her innocent image and accusing her of being a kept woman. Lin Siyan's fans rushed to her defense, insisting that in the video, Lin Siyan protected the elderly woman and was beautiful inside and out.
Some people even dug up that the elderly lady was the same one Lin Siyan had previously donated to, praising Lin Siyan for her genuine kindness and embodying the virtues of respecting the elderly and caring for the young. It's also true that Xu Zifan gave Lin Siyan his suit jacket in the video, and given how handsome Xu Zifan is, a wave of fans quickly formed a CP (couple) fanbase, timidly commenting that it wouldn't be bad if there was something going on between them; can't they just be having a serious relationship?
Although Xu Zifan didn't speak to Lin Siyan or have any close contact with her in the video, he was incredibly charming, just like a domineering male lead in an idol drama. CP fans treated the video as the scene of the first meeting between the male and female leads in an idol drama.
Ji Yawen had just finished making dinner at home when she casually picked up her phone for a quick scroll through her phone. Suddenly, she saw the trending topic "Lin Siyan's sugar daddy Xu Zifan" and immediately frowned, quickly clicking to browse several Weibo posts and comments. She immediately called her public relations manager, "Hello? Manager Li, I'm sorry to bother you so late. The PR team might have to work overtime tonight. The chairman and a female celebrity are trending, and the chairman wants us to do everything we can to suppress the rumors and not get involved with this female celebrity. I hope we can do it quickly."
"Okay, Assistant Ji, I'll look into the situation right away and call my colleagues back to the company immediately."
"Thank you all for your hard work today. I'll bring you some late-night snacks later."
"Assistant Ji, you're too kind. I thank you on their behalf."
Ji Ya-wen lost her appetite after hanging up the phone. She quickly packed her things and left, ordering a large amount of food and drinks from a nice restaurant along the way, as well as a huge amount of snacks, which she then had delivered to Xu's headquarters. Afterwards, she contacted the legal department, requesting them to prepare a lawyer's letter condemning the rumor-mongers and holding them accountable. She also contacted the hotel to investigate the cause of the video leak. Next, she called President Wen, asking him to quickly compile a list of any recent high-profile but undiscovered incidents involving his artists.
Ji Yawen methodically arranged a series of tasks, personally went to the public relations department to thank her colleagues who were working overtime, and reassured them. Even if some people were a little unhappy about the sudden call-up, seeing that she had also come to work overtime and bought so much delicious food, their resentment vanished, and they happily started working.
This is the public relations department of the Xu Group headquarters, not the public relations department of Xu Entertainment; their execution is extraordinary. The trending topic had only been up for half an hour, not even making it into the top ten, when its ranking began to plummet until it disappeared from the top spot. All related videos online were deleted or became unplayable, and all related forum posts were completely wiped clean.
Ji Yawen breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the online updates. She went to the waiting room to call Xu Zifan and report the situation. "Chairman, the surveillance video of you giving Ms. Lin her coat outside the hotel that night has been leaked. The public relations department has already removed it from the trending topics and deleted more than 80% of the related content, so the impact is minimal. If we don't clarify, there will likely be some people who will continue to suspect your relationship with Ms. Lin. If we do clarify, some people might suspect that Ms. Lin is deliberately creating a scandal, which could slightly affect her reputation."
Xu Zifan said without hesitation: "The company officially clarified that she and I are strangers, complete acquaintances, and have no relationship whatsoever."
Ji Yawen raised an eyebrow, realizing that after constantly checking Lin Siyan's news, not understanding her boss's bizarre decisions would become another daily occurrence for her. She replied, "Okay, Chairman! I've already asked President Wen to find out about the big news involving the company's artists. Should we release another news story to overshadow this one?"
"Okay. Lin Siyan is not allowed to have any label related to me on her. You can handle the rest."
"Okay, Chairman." After hanging up the phone, Ji Yawen felt a bit of a headache. Were they going to escalate their bullying of Lin Siyan? Hmm, she hoped Lin Siyan would never become...
The proprietress, otherwise she definitely wouldn't have been able to look at this couple the same way. For a fleeting moment, she felt that the boss probably disliked Lin Siyan, but then she dismissed the thought. Is this how you hate someone?
With her boss's approval, Ji Yawen acted with complete freedom, immediately issuing a lawyer's letter and an official statement, completely disregarding any potential negative impact on Lin Siyan. The statement succinctly stated that Xu Zifan, chairman of the Xu Group, is currently single, has no romantic interest, and is not considering relationships at the moment. The video depicts the actions of a gentleman, with no other implications; please refrain from speculation and rumors, or legal action will be taken.
Netizens were already paying close attention to this matter and had noticed the video had been deleted. Upon seeing the statement, they were shocked, and even the CP (couple) fans shut their mouths and dared not fantasize after seeing the lawyer's letter. So this is the real domineering CEO; the domineering CEOs in idol dramas are all fake.
But that makes sense. He's a business tycoon, and he doesn't really have much to do with the entertainment industry. Even if he owns an entertainment company, he doesn't manage it personally. How could Lin Siyan, a nobody who hasn't even officially debuted, possibly be associated with such a powerful figure? A tycoon's marriage might be a business arrangement; what does that have to do with a nobody like her? Does she really think marrying into a wealthy family is so easy?
Lin Siyan's public image isn't as appealing as Xu Zifan's, so the tide turned, and many casual observers agreed with the anti-fans' criticism that Lin Siyan wasn't good enough for Xu Zifan. Furthermore, Lin Siyan had previously expressed admiration for the Xu family, even mentioning Mr. Xu's charitable foundation on a program. The anti-fans compiled screenshots of these comments as evidence that she admired Xu Zifan and wanted to curry favor with him. While not concrete proof, it does seem quite suspicious in the context of this incident.
Her fans anxiously shared Lin Siyan's hard work and kindness, saying things like "Take my Yan away, no fighting," and that this matter had nothing to do with Lin Siyan, and that it was all the fault of the person who leaked the information who had ill intentions.
Ji Yawen also had the company's technical department investigate the whistleblower's IP address, but the whistleblower used some method to hide it, and they couldn't find it. The whistleblower's real identity couldn't be found either, so the lawyer's letter issued was ineffective, and the matter of pursuing accountability had to be dropped. However, the company had made its stance clear, and no one else would bring up Xu Zifan's private life anymore; nobody wanted to be targeted by a powerful figure and receive a lawyer's letter.
Later that evening, Luo Ling, the top female star of Xu's Entertainment, announced her marriage without warning, causing Weibo to crash for ten minutes! All the topics were drawn to Luo Ling's marriage announcement, and no one paid attention to whether Lin Siyan was trying to curry favor with someone powerful. This was the worst possible outcome, because she couldn't clarify the situation, and if this matter was brought up again in the future, she would be labeled as someone who curried favor with someone powerful.
Lin Siyan stayed home, constantly monitoring online trends. She tried everything, from manipulating online opinion through the system to posting videos, spending a total of 5,000 points, all to no avail. The final result left her so angry she almost smashed her computer!
She angrily demanded, "What exactly happened? You deducted so many points from me and this is the result?"
[System: Sorry, host, the Xu family likely hired hackers to participate in this matter. While the system's computer skills are equivalent to hacking techniques, they only reach the level of a beginner hacker; they wouldn't be enough against advanced hackers.]
[Why? Isn't the system omnipotent? Aren't there even higher-scoring technologies?]
[System: Host, I lack the technical skills in this area. The system was created to conquer men and seize their fortune, and most of its skills are simply to beautify you. Everyone has their specialty; you can reach the pinnacle in beauty, singing, and dancing, but I am powerless in other areas.]
[Why didn't you say so earlier? If I had known you were this bad, would I have used this method? Now look what happened, I tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead. Xu Zifan does remember me now, but unfortunately, it's a negative impression!]
She had barely finished speaking when she heard, [Ding! The target Xu Zifan's favorability towards the host has decreased by 5! Current favorability is 0!]
Lin Siyan's eyes widened instantly. [0? 0% favorability?! I've been busy for over two months, and my favorability has decreased instead of increased?!]
This time, Lin Siyan really smashed the computer and everything else in the room that she could smash. She was really furious!
Xu Zifan, who had just controlled the decrease in favorability, wiggled his fingers, looked at the online developments with satisfaction, and decided to give his capable assistant Ji another bonus. As for the system's video, he had just confronted the system, fought it out online, and successfully defeated it. In the future, the strategist probably wouldn't use this method anymore; indeed, skills are most useful when you learn them yourself. He once again blocked one path for the strategist.