Wu Lele hid outside the door, peering through the crack to see the slight upward curve of Pei Yanqiu’s lips.
Especially the almost overflowing tenderness in his eyes—it made her so jealous that her nails nearly dug into her flesh.
Damn you, Pei Yanqiu!
I cried my eyes out over you, and your fans are out there fighting tooth and nail, crying their hearts out for you.
And you? You don’t even care that your team has been taken over!
The moment you got off stream, you couldn’t wait to flirt with that bitch Shen Xingyao!
Wu Lele’s mind twisted instantly, and a malicious thought surged to the surface.
She pulled out her phone, aimed the camera through the crack in the door, and quickly snapped a photo.
In the picture, Pei Yanqiu was holding his phone for a video call, his profile lines perfect, a gentle smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Ten minutes later.
In Pei Yanqiu’s Weibo super-topic, a newly registered anonymous account posted a photo without warning, accompanied by highly inflammatory text:
[You’re all out here feeling sorry for him, thinking he lost his team and his hard work, but he’s having a great time in the break room! Looks like Daybreak isn’t that important to him—right after getting off stream, he’s busy sweet-talking his girlfriend on video, smiling so wide his mouth’s practically reaching the back of his head! Wake up, you brainless fans! Your idol doesn’t care about you at all—he only cares about his gold-digging girlfriend!]
This photo was like a drop of cold water falling into a pot of boiling oil.
The fans, already emotionally shattered over Pei Yanqiu losing control of Daybreak and desperately looking for an outlet, were stunned.
Seeing this side-profile photo with its fatal smile and the malicious caption, the fans’ emotions were instantly ignited!
The Weibo super-topic was now a chaotic mess, like a pot of boiling congee overflowing uncontrollably.
But for Wang Qiang and the others, this was nothing short of a godsend.
They had been getting torn to shreds, and the newly appointed PR manager was practically pulling his hair out.
Then, as soon as this sneak photo surfaced, the firepower instantly shifted.
“Quick, quick! Steer the narrative toward the relationship!” the PR manager slapped his thigh, eyes gleaming. “Buy a few marketing accounts, and throw some fuel on the trending topics—push #Pei Yanqiu Girlfriend# to the top!”
“Now those brainless fans have an outlet—we can firmly control Daybreak!”
Who was the genius who took this photo?
They practically saved their lives!
The club’s higher-ups tacitly went into hiding, and no one bothered to inform Pei Yanqiu.
In their eyes, the team was just a money-making tool. Whether Pei Yanqiu was in control or someone else was, as long as their profits weren’t affected, it didn’t matter.
Meanwhile, Pei Yanqiu, having anticipated a major uproar tonight, had muted his phone and tossed it aside after his call with Shen Xingyao, not even going online—all to avoid affecting his mindset.
He had no idea that a storm of fans turning against him was brewing fiercely.
.
Late at night, all was quiet.
Shen Xingyao had already wrapped herself tightly in her blanket, ready to meet the Sandman.
After all, she had to catch a flight tomorrow and needed her beauty sleep.
But fate had other plans.
The couple next door had started their nightly, unwavering harmonious exercise again.
The creaking of the old bedboards was like a surround sound system right by her bed, giving her a fully immersive 3D experience.
“What a sin, not even a day’s rest…” Shen Xingyao irritably turned over, pressing the pillow against her ears.
With that kind of energy, what couldn’t they succeed at?
Why are they always thinking about doing it?
When Pei Yanqiu was here, the two of them could at least joke around a bit or chat about something else to distract themselves.
Now, lying here alone listening to this commotion, Shen Xingyao felt nothing but restlessness, unable to calm down at all.
Unable to sleep, she simply grabbed her phone to surf the web.
As soon as she opened it, her phone nearly froze from the flood of unread messages.
Clicking through, she found it was the Dawn Team super topic she had just followed.
Just moments ago, it was filled with digital sweethearts calling him “hubby” and “kisses,” but now the tone had shifted dramatically, with screens full of exclamation marks and heartbroken emojis.
【Selling out the team is one thing, but he’s actually smiling? He doesn’t care about our feelings at all!】
【Unfollowed! My sincerity was wasted on a dog! He’s throwing away his career for some gold-digger!】
【And here I was fighting for him tonight, while he was happily dating in the break room!】
…
“What’s going on? They’re not even upset about the team being gone, but they’re unfollowing and turning on him?” Shen Xingyao frowned.
Scrolling up through the chat history, she finally found the source of all this—the secretly taken photo.
In the photo, although only a small, blurry outline of her was visible on the screen, Pei Yanqiu’s gentle smile was captured clearly.
Paired with that highly inflammatory caption, it was a devastating blow to fans already on the verge of collapse.
They never intended to interfere with their idol’s love life, but at a time like this, and in such a manner?
Where does that leave Daybreak and the feelings of their fans?
Is someone like this really worth their support and dedication?
Shen Xingyao immediately switched to Weibo.
Good grief—#Pei Yanqiu Girlfriend# had already skyrocketed into the top five trending searches, complete with a red “explosive” tag.
Checking the Dawn Team’s official Weibo account, it was all peaceful and quiet, as if nothing had happened.
Even worse, many anti-fans were already celebrating in the comments, gleefully declaring that Shuoyue, who had been on top for so long, had finally fallen from grace.
Some even suggested he shouldn’t even keep his team leader position and should just pack up and leave!
The genuine fans were heartbroken, mourning and lamenting.
The anti-fans were practically having a field day, openly mocking and bullying the true supporters…
“This level of hype is even higher than when top celebrities announce their relationships. If they didn’t buy bots, I’ll write my surname Shen backward!” Shen Xingyao angrily sat up in bed. “This new troublemaker is really good at shifting the blame!”
If left unchecked, this would fester for days, and Pei Yanqiu’s reputation would undoubtedly hit rock bottom.
The original novel mentioned that Pei Yanqiu faced a major crisis around this time, which left him severely weakened—this must be it!
“No, I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Shen Xingyao was wide awake now.
As a newcomer with little influence, trying to steer the conversation in the super topic would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Her first thought was Sister Wang.
But she immediately shook her head. Sister Wang was a top-tier agent at Glory—if she could spare half a day in a month to deal with a slacker like her, it was already a testament to her professionalism.
Bothering her in the middle of the night over some esports drama would likely just annoy her.
As a second choice, Shen Xingyao dialed the number of Sister Wang’s assistant—Xiao Yu.