【Back then, I simply regretted that Si Han had taken the wrong path. But thinking about it now, perhaps what happened that year…】
Director Lu paused, then suddenly asked in return, 【Are you suggesting that Su Qing might have had a hand in what happened to Si Han back then?】
Lin Yi neither confirmed nor denied it.
Director Lu sent another message:
【I understand. I still have Si Han’s contact information from when I added him on the production set back then. If you need it, shall I give you his contact?】
That day, Si Han’s long-dormant private account suddenly received a new friend request.
After he had withdrawn from the industry, the artists who had once worked with him had all distanced themselves. He couldn’t imagine who would be sending him a friend request now.
Could it be some crazed anti-fan? Si Han hesitated for a long time, then finally, with nothing left to lose, accepted the friend request.
After all, his situation couldn’t possibly get any worse than it already was.
The account applying to add him as a friend was very mysterious. Its profile picture was a plain, understated white, and its ID was simply the single character “Lin.”
The moment he approved the request, the other side sent him a message:
【Hello, let me introduce myself first. I am Lin Yi. You can search online for what’s been happening to me recently. I believe it won’t take much effort.】
Lin Yi? Si Han frowned. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember who it was.
In the three years since he had withdrawn from the industry, he had almost never mustered the courage to go online, so he wasn’t aware of the recent events on the Star Network.
But since the other party had said so, he did as suggested.
As promised, it didn’t take much effort. He simply typed in the name “Lin Yi,” and a deluge of information from the Star Network came flooding at him.
He was shocked as he digested all of it. Then the other side sent another message.
【As you can see, I’ve recently run into some conflict with Su Qing, and I’m being attacked by his fans.】
Si Han stared at the chat window for a long time. Although the other party hadn’t said it outright, he could guess. It was just another unlucky soul, like himself, who had been used by Su Qing as a stepping stone.
But… why come to him? Si Han replied warily, 【What do you want?】
【Sorry if this is presumptuous, but I want to know the truth about what happened to you. Was it really as the public opinion said…】
The other party didn’t finish the sentence, but Si Han understood exactly which incident he was referring to. Even though the question was tactfully phrased, in that instant, he was thrown back into the situation from three years ago, the feeling of being questioned and isolated, with no one to turn to.
A familiar suffocation rose in his chest. Si Han, rarely losing his composure, excitedly retorted:
【I did not! The one who really had ties with the investors wasn’t me at all, it was him.】
After sending the message, he felt ridiculous. In the eyes of others, this matter was already set in stone. Why would anyone believe him just because of his words?
Then he received this reply:
【I believe you. Because I am also a victim of Su Qing’s. But regarding this matter, do you have any substantive evidence?】
【Yes.】
Si Han didn’t know if it was appropriate to tell all this to a stranger, but he answered truthfully:
【Back then, during the dispute between Su Qing and me over the role, I sensed something was wrong and secretly recorded a conversation between Su Qing and an investor. That recording is enough to serve as evidence.】
【But my agency at the time pressured me using the unfair contract I had signed with them. If I exposed the truth, not only would I be completely blacklisted in the industry, but I would also face a huge penalty for breaching the contract.】
【I never expected Su Qing to strike first and twist the story around, forcing me directly out of the industry. By the time I wanted to reveal the evidence I had, it seemed like no one was willing to believe me anymore.】
【Then do you still want to prove your innocence now?】
【I promise you, I will do my utmost to restore the truth of what happened back then. Not just for you, but for myself as well. Are you willing to stand with me?】
Si Han’s finger paused over the chat box.
Across the street, the green light came on. The flow of people on Capital Star streamed past him. Out of habit, he pulled down the brim of his cap, ensuring half of his face was completely hidden in shadow. By the faint glow of the streetlight, he continued to reply:
【It’s too late. Who would even care about any of this now?】
He was now a forgotten, has-been celebrity, erased from everyone’s memory. Even if the injustice from back then were cleared, how many people would still pay attention? What meaning would it have for him?
And besides, releasing the evidence would mean confronting Su Qing and his rabid fans head-on.
He admitted it, he was afraid. For three years, he hadn’t dared to open his own account, terrified of seeing the flood of slander.
Even now, no matter the occasion, he habitually wore a baseball cap, afraid of being recognized in real life by some extreme hater who had once vilified him.
He had never been a brave person.
After sending those two messages of refusal, he waited anxiously for the reply. He braced himself for disappointment, accusations, or even outright verbal abuse from the other side.
But moments later, his wrist terminal lit up again, and this was the reply he received:
【I respect your choice. But as for your saying that no one cares about this anymore… I think you should take a look at this first.】
【If you change your mind, you can come find me anytime.】
Lin Yi’s final message contained no words.
Just a link, quietly resting in the message box.
With a sense of confusion, Si Han clicked on the link…
Lin Yi had hit a wall with Si Han, but he wasn’t particularly disappointed.
He had reached out to this person with nothing more than a tentative attitude. Now that he knew the truth of what had happened back then, tracing leads along this line of thinking wouldn’t be too difficult.
On another note, just as he exited the chat with Si Han, he saw that the fan named Mu Qiuqiu had sent him another private message in his Star Network account’s backend:
【I don’t think Su Qing went to any training at all these past few months! He’s probably been staying on Capital Star the whole time!】
Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. He already knew from Director Lu that the auditions for Jungle Assault had ended, so he could naturally guess that Su Qing’s so-called training was likely just for show to fool his fans.
But Mu Qiuqiu, how did she know?
Lin Yi asked his question and quickly received a reply from Mu Qiuqiu.
It turned out that Mu Qiuqiu had been surfing the net as usual that day. Given recent events, she had been paying extra attention to Su Qing’s fans.
Thus, she didn’t miss a post from one of Su Qing’s fans:
【Girls, a friend of mine told me she ran into Brother Su Qing on Capital Star half a month ago and even secretly took a photo. Wasn’t he supposed to be training at that time?】
The comments below were filled with outrage:
“Get out of here, get out! No way. Don’t just see someone who looks like him on the street and assume it’s Brother Su Qing, okay?”
“LOL. And she calls herself a fan? She’s just handing ammunition to the haters.”
“Move along, move along. These days, anyone dares to come out and ride on his coattails.”
After being scolded, that fan refused to back down and posted the secretly taken photo in the comments.
But soon, the post was deleted due to reports, and the photo didn’t cause any stir.
Fortunately, Mu Qiuqiu had saved the photo the moment she saw it. Now, she sent both the photo and the compiled information to Lin Yi’s backend as a private message.
After sending it, she didn’t forget to remind him not to post it publicly. The photo had been deleted by Su Qing’s rabid fans within minutes of being posted, and the account that had shared it was also reported and banned.
Lin Yi replied to Mu Qiuqiu’s private message and saved the photo.
It seemed that Su Qing’s act of pretending to train and get injured had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, leaving behind quite a few loopholes and vulnerabilities.
Perhaps he was used to pulling these dirty tricks, thinking that with such petty tactics he could run roughshod over the Star Network.
But this time, his days of controlling the narrative were likely over.
By now, four or five days had passed since Su Qing had posted that ambiguous message. Yet, thanks to the formidable fighting power of Su Qing’s fans, the situation had not died down, instead, it had grown increasingly intense, to the point where almost the entire Star Network knew about it.
But this wasn’t enough. Before launching a counterattack, Lin Yi didn’t mind adding fuel to the fire.
Early the next morning, the haters and Su Qing’s fans who had been monitoring Lin Yi’s account all erupted in excitement.
Because they noticed that Lin Yi’s Star Network account had actually liked that disparaging comparison video.
The like record hung conspicuously at the very bottom of his account, like some kind of silent mockery.
The haters who had been reveling in the comments section exploded instantly—
【Damn, how could he even dare to like that?!】
【Haha, maybe he admits he’s not as good.】
【Even at a time like this, he’s still trying to ride on our Su Qing’s coattails. How shameless.】
After Lin Yi liked the video, people assumed he would respond quickly. But to their great disappointment, Lin Yi’s account remained as silent as death, letting the video’s popularity climb higher and higher amidst the revelry and speculation of the haters.
Not only was Lin Yi’s account silent, but anyone paying close attention would also notice that Director Lu, who usually did and said whatever he wanted, had maintained an identical silence throughout this entire affair.
But this silence didn’t seem like cowardice or retreat. It felt more like the calm before a storm, as if they were both waiting in unison for the final moment to arrive.
Meanwhile, after that accidental like, Lin Yi leisurely logged out of his account and left all the online noise behind him. It was still early morning, there was a whole day ahead for the heat to climb to a level even Su Qing himself couldn’t control.
These past few days, he had been so busy dealing with online matters that he had to leave many real-world tasks to Lu Jinghan, and even Ah Yun.
And now, it was time to step away from this public opinion storm and focus on other things:
The vegetables in the fields had just been harvested, and the climate was just right for planting a second crop. The weather was hot, and every field around needed to be irrigated by hand…
It was the busy farming season. Although he had temporarily set aside the Star Network matters, Lin Yi was far from idle.
Of course, no matter how busy he was, he still made time to prepare a hearty lunch, comforting both his own stomach and Ah Yun’s.
Ah Yun had been tortured by Lu Jinghan’s bland cooking over the past few days and had been eagerly anticipating Lin Yi’s return to the kitchen.
Amidst these busy yet mundane chores, the daytime quietly passed.
That evening, at the agreed-upon time with Director Lu, Lin Yi logged into his account.
He was now completely unfazed by the trolls in the comments. He smoothly navigated to the disparaging comparison video. Its popularity had multiplied several times over, and it was now conspicuously hanging at the bottom of the trending list.
Clearly, after Lin Yi’s like, the provoked haters and Su Qing’s fans had been going crazy in the comments, single-handedly driving the video’s popularity up.
Perfect. Just what he wanted. After all, the higher the popularity, the more bystanders paid attention, and the harder the haters would ultimately fall. Wasn’t that right?
At exactly 9:00 PM.
Director Lu’s account, which had remained silent throughout, finally posted its first blog in four days:
【Recently, quite a few netizens have questioned the fairness of the casting process for Jungle Assault.】
【Therefore, I hereby make this solemn statement: The role selection for Jungle Assault took place a month and a half ago. Most of the cast has already been confirmed. Only the much-disputed second male lead, since none of the actors who auditioned passed the selection, had to be postponed, and we decided to invite an amateur to take on the role.】
【To prevent further doubts about the fairness of the selection, we will release the full audition footage and timestamps for every actor, including Su Qing, who auditioned for the second male lead but regrettably did not pass.】
【Please judge for yourselves which performance was better.】
A single stone stirred a thousand waves.