Press Conference 1

With just a simple sentence, Nanqi immediately pulled the IV from the back of her hand and rushed out with Cindy. Nanyue sat frozen in place, watching the two disappearing figures. She didn't chase after them; she knew it was too late to stop them or hide it anymore.

On the way, Cindy told Nanqi about Song Zhao's current situation and everything that had happened in the past few days.

The day Song Zhao carried her to the hospital, a video of it was posted online. After two days of uproar, Canxing Entertainment seized the opportunity to announce the termination of its contract with Song Zhao.

The incident happened suddenly, and Cindy and Song Zhao had not yet assembled a mature public relations team, so they could only rely on the two of them to discuss it.

These past few days, Cindy has been trying to recruit public relations managers from large companies while also communicating with Song Zhao by phone to find a solution. Her only reliable confidant is Xiao Hou.

In fact, she and Song Zhao finalized the contents of their statement on the third day after the incident. To the public, they would only say that Nan Qi was Song Zhao's longtime friend and classmate, and that Nan Qi suddenly felt unwell during a gathering, which is why Song Zhao rushed her to the hospital.

As for the scenes in the video where Song Zhao broke down several times, it was because a group of sasaeng fans deliberately blocked her way, delaying her time to rescue the person. The statement not only strongly condemned the actions of the sasaeng fans, but also specifically thanked the taxi driver who helped her at the time.

As soon as the statement was released, Song Zhao's fans immediately rallied, and a wave of support swept across the internet, with public opinion seemingly poised to shift in a favorable direction.

But just then, someone suddenly dug up Song Zhao's past, revealing with great seriousness that she had a crush on a female teacher in high school, causing the teacher so much harassment that she eventually resigned. Seeing that the harassment was ineffective, Song Zhao transferred schools.

Public opinion suddenly reversed again, and the company's phones were ringing off the hook with calls from all the major media outlets. But they had no time to deal with that; their biggest concern was for the producers and directors who had originally expressed interest in collaborating with them.

Everything was agreed upon; once Song Zhao terminated his contract this month, a new one would be signed. But then this whole mess happened, and Cindy had no choice but to bite the bullet and call everyone to explain, promising that she would definitely turn public opinion around within three days. If she couldn't do that, they could always find someone else.

The controversy isn't over yet. Last night, photos of Song Zhao and Nan Qi holding hands late at night surfaced, with the accompanying text claiming that insiders revealed the two were classmates in their senior year of high school and had a very bad relationship. It is alleged that Nan Qi was sexually harassed by Song Siwei.

In the comments section, some people speculated that Nanqi was drugged by Song Siwei that day, and the drug was too strong, which caused the accident and she had to be sent to the hospital.

Some people said they smelled alcohol on them that day, and only Song Siwei was sober. They suspected that Song Siwei deliberately got them drunk to do something indecent, and that she might have been taking them to a hotel that day.

In an instant, Song Zhao was met with a barrage of insults. Regardless of whether they were logical or not, people followed suit, and there were also a series of exaggerated and speculative interpretations.

Issuing a statement alone is clearly no longer effective, so Cindy arranged a press conference this afternoon to allow Song Zhao to clarify the rumors all at once.

But this persuasiveness was far from enough, so Cindy approached Nanqi and asked her to attend the press conference to testify for Song Zhao.

Nanqi stared at her phone screen at the video of Song Zhao carrying her struggling through the crowd, her eyes welling up with tears. In the video, the people surrounding her were aggressive, ignoring Song Zhao's shouts. She felt as if she had stepped into Song Zhao's body and experienced his anger, pain, helplessness, and despair.

She scrolled through the comments section, and the baseless insults and slander instantly assaulted her vision. Her fingers hovered over the screen, trembling slightly, a surge of resentment choking her, making her feel suffocated. She wanted nothing more than to rush into the screen and shout at them, demanding to know why they had the right to hurt her lover like this!

Cindy immediately snatched the phone, worried that something might happen to her health, and gently patted her back, "Nanqi, calm down. We need to deal with this negative publicity first. Leave the rest to me, and I'll make them pay!"

Nanqi was so angry that her eyes turned red and the veins on her temples bulged. She was panting heavily and could not calm down for a long time.

Cindy gripped her shoulders tightly, emphasizing each word, "Nanqi, Song Zhao is still waiting for you. Only you can help her! You must calm down!"

Nanqi tried to calm herself down, took a few deep breaths, but the raging fire in her chest burned even more fiercely.

"I'll explain everything clearly, don't worry." Nanqi forced herself to suppress her anger. She knew she had to sort out her thoughts first in order to help Song Zhao get through this.

"How does she plan to explain those news reports?" Nanqi asked.

Nanqi knew that given Song Zhao's personality, he definitely wanted to face it alone and hadn't included her.

Cindy sighed deeply and said, "Xiaowei said that she did have a crush on that high school teacher, but she never did anything inappropriate. It was because her account was hacked and those old posts were dug up by someone with ulterior motives and spread around the school that the matter became known to everyone."

"That's why she couldn't stay there anymore, and she transferred schools after finishing her second year of high school. As for the female teacher resigning, that's completely untrue. Xiao Wei even had a chat with her before leaving school. The teacher always treated her as her proudest student, so she paid extra attention to her. In the end, it was just a teacher's slight favoritism towards a good student."

“She didn’t dare tell you about this past because she was afraid you’d overthink it. But I think she’s overthinking it. You’re not the kind of person who dwells on these things, and besides, it’s not a big deal.” Cindy looked up at Nanqi, her tone somewhat comforting.

She continued, "Xiaowei will explain to the reporters the truth about her crush and the hacked account, and clarify the harassment and slander against the female teacher. I also contacted that female teacher, hoping to ask her to say a few words for Xiaowei, but she is already married and said she was unwilling to get involved in these matters. She also said that after so many years, she couldn't remember many details."

Cindy rubbed her throbbing temples helplessly and scoffed, "Hmph, how ridiculous."

Nanqi looked at her, her voice devoid of emotion: "What does she plan to say about me and her?"

"She will explain the cause of your illness clearly, and also explain that you had a good relationship in school and have always been good friends."

Cindy noticed the confusion in Nanqi's eyes and explained, "She did this to avoid dragging you into this. She doesn't want you to face reporters following you, stalkers from your fans, and the world's gossip in your future. If the reporters have any other evidence to prove your relationship, she will only say that she pursued you, and you never accepted."

“I’ve analyzed it with her. Rumors are impossible to stop, and those reporters’ sharp tongues can turn white into black.” Cindy sighed. “I advised her to just go public with your relationship. Anyway, she’s never promoted a romantic relationship in all these years. If you put your relationship on the table, you can create a devoted image and maybe even gain some fans. But as you can guess, she refused without even thinking about it. She doesn’t agree to anything involving you.”

Nanqi listened attentively to her, then calmly replied, "I know what to do."

Cindy fixed Nanqi's hair and makeup in the car, and handed her a mask and a baseball cap, telling her that she didn't need to show her face when attending the press conference.

Nanqi declined Cindy's offer, saying, "There's no need for that."

At the press conference, Song Zhao wore a white and black velvet dress that accentuated her tall and elegant figure. The flowing lines of the skirt were both sleek and sophisticated. Her long, black hair was neatly styled in a high bun, and her face was flawless, without a single stray hair.

Her face showed little expression, yet her aura was so overwhelming that no one dared to utter a sound. This aura had nothing to do with a serious expression; it was all hidden in her domineering eyes, as if she controlled the entire atmosphere.

Nanqi walked backstage at the press conference and saw Song Zhao, whom she had never seen before. When Song Zhao spoke, her voice was steady and powerful, and every word carried an offensive force, like a sharp arrow shot out by her, piercing through the slander and defamation one by one.

When a reporter asked her if she had a special relationship with Nanqi, she paused awkwardly for a moment, then smiled calmly and said, "We are good friends."

"What kind of good friend is she? Does she know about your past with the female teacher? If she knew who was in your contacts, do you think she would still be your friend?"

Faced with such a sharp and jarring question, Song Zhao remained calm and composed. "This has nothing to do with you. Our friendship started in our senior year of high school, and we've kept in touch all these years. We have a very good relationship."

"Please give a direct answer! Does she really know anything about your past? What kind of 'feelings' are you referring to?"