It all started with a single photo of Jiang Liyue at the airport, shared in his fan group. Initially, it only caused a small stir among his girlfriend fans.
Then, a local fan site manager discovered that his flight was delayed and rushed to the airport. What she saw left her utterly speechless.
Her comments in the fan group were screenshotted and shared:
Ming Yue in My Heart: OMG! Brother is so handsome! *Sighs*
– Wait, sisters, it seems like brother isn’t alone. Let me get closer to see what’s going on!
– ? What am I seeing?
– Brother is serving a guy…
– Pouring tea and water?
– I’m not making this up. Let me take a video to prove it!
In the video, a young man is lazily sprawled in a massage chair, holding a phone with a serious expression. Another man with a great physique, wearing a baseball cap and a black mask, has his hair peeking out from under the cap, giving off a rebellious vibe, like a nobleman traveling incognito.
Jiang Liyue’s fans have the uncanny ability to recognize their idol from even the blurriest of photos. There was no doubt that the nobleman in the video was their brother.
What shocked them was seeing their brother doing something completely contrary to his status.
In the video, Jiang Liyue is seen bringing a white drink from a self-service station and leaning towards the man in the chair, saying something.
The man in the chair, with no disguise, frowns as if too busy to be distracted, quickly saying something to Jiang Liyue. The lip-reading experts among the fans quickly deciphered: “I won’t drink it now, just leave it there.”
Then, Jiang Liyue put down the cup and took out a small fan from his crossbody bag, blowing it towards the man.
The final straw for the fans was how the man enjoyed it so openly.
Jiang Liyue, a rising star who recently won the Film Emperor title, was at the peak of his popularity. As the saying goes, “the taller the tree, the more wind it catches.” His rivals quickly bought a lot of bots to ruin his public image as soon as the black hot search appeared.
Hot search tag: #JiangLiyueGoingUnder#
“Going under” is a term used in fan circles.
In recent years, adaptations of danmei (BL) novels into dramas have been a huge hit, with each one becoming a sensation upon release. The two male leads often become top stars of the year, receiving endless business invitations and almost reaching the top tier of popularity.
To cater to the booming market of danmei adaptations, many such dramas were quickly registered and filmed, with various good-looking small-time celebrities rushing to seize the opportunity and reap the benefits.
Stars openly chased fame and fortune, with even some film actors joining in to get a piece of the danmei drama pie.
This behavior of eagerly filming danmei dramas was dubbed “going under” by netizens.
After all, danmei is a major trend, a vast red ocean.
– Get lost, wheat bran!
– Just waiting for him to go under, and sure enough, it’s ugly.
– Looks like JLY is cold and indifferent on the surface, but in reality, it’s just that the money wasn’t enough.
– Just by looking at his face, you can tell he’s no good.
– XS, disgusting, who is that prince sitting there?
Initially, random passersby who clicked in out of curiosity didn’t know the context. After watching the video, they were brainwashed into thinking Jiang Liyue was selling himself, and the lazy, arrogant person sitting there was some investor daddy or a second-generation with resources.
Rumors spread that this was all to prepare Jiang Liyue for going under, with whispers of him joining a large-scale TV series about socialist brotherhood.
– So JLY is going through the back door too, disappointed in the entertainment industry.
– Such a shame for such a pretty face.
– Emmm, to be fair, the investor is surprisingly young and quite handsome. Daddy, look at me!
– Is this how traffic stars are behaving now?
– I have something to say, but I’m not sure if I should. I heard Jiang recently got a new assistant. Could this be the new assistant?
– Huh? Is that what an assistant does?
– In their position, doing their job!
*
Zhou Xiaoan was scrolling through Weibo while taking a paid bathroom break when her eyes widened, and her fingers flew across the screen. Nothing seemed more important than Jiang Liyue’s black hot search.
Zhou Xiaoan immediately switched between countless small accounts to fight back against the black comments and report those toxic players.
Zhou Xiaoan: Yu! Get on the hot search, brother is being slandered!
Liu Ningyu: Got it!
Since their brief encounter at the café, Zhou Xiaoan’s proudest achievement was turning the never-star-chasing Liu Ningyu into a die-hard Jiang Liyue fan. Who would have thought that the elegant and gentle Ningyu in real life would be unbeatable in the anti-black fight?
Zhou Xiaoan: Wuwuwu, brother is so pitiful. I had a feeling the assistant would cause trouble…
Liu Ningyu, who had just joined the fan club, hadn’t fully caught up on Jiang Liyue’s information.
Liu Ningyu: What do you mean? Was the little brother we saw last time really a prince?
Zhou Xiaoan: I don’t know about the prince part, but our brother is super homophobic. So, all the assistants introduced to him were girls, but many sasaengs got involved…
Liu Ningyu: ! There’s such a thing!
Zhou Xiaoan: I heard the last assistant tried to use tricks to stay in the same hotel room as brother and got kicked out after trying to force a kiss!
Liu Ningyu: I’m going to have a brain hemorrhage! Stop talking!
Zhou Xiaoan: Our priority now is to clean up the plaza! Those water army black fans have no conscience!
As insiders in the entertainment industry, both of them had many followers on their alternate accounts and were in many fan groups.
Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the big fans quickly posted, calling on the fan group to clean up the plaza. Now wasn’t the time for arguments; they had to save brother’s public image first.
The big fans were always in contact with the company’s publicity team and reached Jiang Yun as soon as the issue arose.
Jiang Yun gritted her teeth after hanging up the phone and quickly used the official account to clarify the situation.
The Weibo statement clarified that the man appearing with Jiang Liyue at the airport was his new assistant, Xiao Zhao. Since Xiao Zhao hadn’t completed the onboarding process, there was no public announcement. Xiao Zhao and Jiang Liyue were old acquaintances, so their relationship was naturally close. They hoped netizens wouldn’t make baseless accusations.
It took three hours for the situation to gradually calm down.
Jiang Liyue’s phone went crazy as soon as he turned it on after getting off the plane.
25 missed calls from his dear manager.
Just as Jiang Liyue was about to put down his phone, it started buzzing again.
Zhao Chenxing, sitting next to Jiang Liyue, could hear Jiang Yun’s angry shout filled with resentment.
Jiang Yun: “President Jiang! Please cover up a bit, will you!”
Jiang Liyue lowered the volume on his phone while helping Zhao Chenxing with the luggage.
Zhao Chenxing only heard Jiang Liyue casually respond with a throaty “Hmm?”
Jiang Yun: “President! Look at Weibo, see how badly you’re being slandered.”
“And! Don’t post on Weibo, wait for the PR department to do it! If you post, the company will really have a mess on its hands! Remember that!”
Jiang Yun briefly explained the situation and left a final word before hanging up.
Jiang Yun rubbed her temples, placing her phone on the glass conference table with a crisp sound, startling the PR team into silence.
For a moment, the team members were as quiet as chickens, not daring to be the first to speak up and face the wrath.
Jiang Yun had to break the silence herself.
“Manager Li, please arrange the promotional draft for Jiang Liyue’s Weibo account.”
“And the business and advertising departments, check if this black hot search has any impact on Jiang Liyue.”
“Legal department, it seems like a rival is involved. Look into the source of the water army and catch a few to set an example. After all, your salaries aren’t for nothing, right?”
While each department was handling Jiang Yun’s tasks, the meeting room door was suddenly pushed open.
A girl holding a tablet spoke urgently, “Sister Jiang, something’s wrong! Jiang Liyue posted on Weibo!”
[Jiang Liyue: Official announcement! Brother, please take care of me in the future~]
The accompanying picture was a side profile of Zhao Chenxing at the airport, with the young man frowning, his naturally brown hair gently brushing against his high nose bridge, the top light casting a perfect jawline.
The microscope girls even noticed that in such a short time, the photo had been color-corrected and filtered.
Jiang Liyue’s Weibo had no personal content except for promotional posts, and fans thought the account was managed by a team.
Unexpectedly, the first personal original post wasn’t about himself but about his assistant.
The wording made people ponder.
– U1S1, the wording looks familiar.
– Some entertainment couple’s official announcement used this wording too.
– The official account is so cheeky, haha, calling him brother!
– Open your mind! Maybe our brother posted it! I’m shipping it!
– How could our brother call someone else brother? It’s definitely breaking character, team, come out and work!
At this moment, Zhao Chenxing, the subject of discussion, was looking at Weibo, completely unaware that this scene had become someone’s blatant official announcement picture.
Zhao Chenxing looked up from his phone, meeting Jiang Liyue’s bright, dark eyes.
He had always known Jiang Liyue was beautiful, stunningly so.
Zhao Chenxing’s thoughts were disrupted, and the teasing words he had prepared were forgotten, leaving only eyes like vast stars.
The two seemed frozen in time. With both of them being exceptionally handsome, they gradually attracted the attention of bored onlookers.
The surrounding noise quickly faded in Jiang Liyue’s ears, leaving only the deafening sound of his heartbeat. He cursed inwardly, his Adam’s apple moving slightly, his hand gripping the luggage handle slightly sweaty.
Zhao Chenxing snapped out of his memories, quickly pulling the dazed Jiang Liyue out of the airport. Once in the nanny car, Zhao Chenxing finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked Jiang Liyue in the back seat, “Jiang Liyue, your fans have so many names for you.”
“Hmm?” Jiang Liyue snapped out of his daze, responding thoughtfully.
“Like those, Jiang President, brother, and such.”
When Jiang Liyue heard the term “brother,” he slowed his breathing, pretending not to hear clearly, and replied, “What name?”
“Brother.”
Jiang Liyue had always been the little brother following behind Zhao Chenxing, softly calling the big boy in front of him “brother.” This was the first time he heard “brother” from his brother’s mouth.
After a while, Zhao Chenxing finally heard Jiang Liyue’s slightly hoarse voice.
“To them, I can give them a sense of security, so they call me brother.”
The deep voice echoed in the enclosed car, making the driver blush.
The driver didn’t understand why this sentence, which had no color, made his mouth dry. He glanced at the young man sitting in the back seat with his head slightly lowered.
His face was hidden by the brim of his baseball cap, but just by looking at his physique, you could tell he wasn’t bad-looking. He was temporarily sent by the company to pick them up, and in the entertainment industry, without a good appearance, how could you easily reap the benefits?
Just when the driver thought a couple was about to appear in his car, the reply from the passenger seat gave him a sudden brake.
“Why look for you if they don’t feel safe? They should find the police.” Zhao Chenxing’s eyes were wide, his mind blank, his emotional intelligence low.
“Speaking of which, they all call the police uncle, not police brother. Does that mean uncle gives a higher sense of security?”
“Jiang Liyue! If you want to show your protective instincts next time, have your fans call you uncle! So much security, hahaha!” Zhao Chenxing couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of the young, handsome, popular star being called “uncle” by fans.
Jiang Liyue: …
Brother, as long as you’re happy.