Chapter 60: Deep inside enemy territory, Yao decides to launch a preemptive strike. ...

Switching to a different approach for in-depth investigation proved effective. After investigating all night, Shi Yao was able to confirm several things:

First, Zhou Qixue has had girlfriends both during and now while filming, but it is currently unknown whether these two are the same person.

Secondly, some of Zhou Qixue's fans knew about the fact that his sister-in-law was hidden on set while he was filming, but they chose not to expose it.

Third, Zhou Qixue's fans have photos of this actress from the film crew, but they don't plan to release them.

Fourth, these fans are currently unaware that Zhou Qixue is still dating; judging from his profile, they generally assume he has broken up and is single again.

Shi Yao's most pressing need right now is to get concrete photos from Zhou Qixue's fans. It's not difficult to confirm the identity of Zhou Qixue's current girlfriend, and Shi Yao has many ways to get Zhou Qixue's specific schedule. What's difficult is getting old photos.

She couldn't travel through time to take photos, so she could only hope that someone had taken them before.

The good news is that someone actually took photos. The bad news is that those people are Zhou Qixue's fans. Although they know about the relationship, they haven't stopped being fans and don't seem to have any intention of doing so. They treat Zhou Qixue's relationship as a shared secret with him because they think they've gained his favor. Unless something unexpected happens, they definitely won't go public with it.

Unable to find a starting point for the time being, Shi Yao had a bit of a headache. In order to confirm whether these fans knew that Zhou Qixue was still in a relationship, she carefully went through the fan group's homepage again and finally found that they really didn't know.

Perhaps because he had been photographed before, Zhou Qixue became more cautious after leaving the film crew. His team had done an excellent job of keeping things confidential, and he probably wouldn't have been discovered if it weren't for the fact that there were many people and eyes on the set.

After leaving the set, he learned from his previous experience of being photographed with a woman and reduced his staff again. He traveled everywhere in a motorhome, and his wife was very well-behaved and never showed her face. That's how he cleared himself of any suspicion of a romantic relationship.

If it weren't for receiving confirmation from the system that Zhou Qixue was in a relationship and would officially announce his marriage in a few years, even Shi Yao wouldn't have been able to easily determine whether he actually had a girlfriend.

Based on the style of the fan group that Shi Yao just observed, if they find out that Zhou Qixue is still in a relationship, they will most likely go crazy, and might even post old photos as solid evidence.

The problem is that we can't get the photo anytime soon, and even if we do, we'll have to figure out how to convince the fans that it's Zhou Qixue's girlfriend, and not just someone we found somewhere.

Shi Yao asked the system about the difficulty of taking photos. The system said that it was not difficult to take a photo of Zhou Qixue and his girlfriend, but it was difficult to take a photo of the two of them together. Even with props, timing was still important.

The safest approach right now is for Shi Yao to first find a way to take a picture of Zhou Qixue and his girlfriend together, and then subtly let his fangirl group see it, causing them to lose their temper and go crazy. Then she can try to get them to post the picture themselves. Once she has the picture, she can easily compare whether the two girlfriends are the same person, and finally start to formulate a strategy to expose Zhou Qixue.

However, this method takes too long and cannot be completed in a short time. Ye Jingyu's most pressing issue right now is time. Zhou Qixue's studio is already guiding the blame-shifting and purifying process. Ye Jingyu has made another mistake in her haste by choosing to participate in the talent show, handing Zhou Qixue's studio a weapon. The production process of the talent show is very fast, and the mentor collaboration stage that was just recorded will be broadcast in the next episode if nothing unexpected happens.

In other words, Shi Yao has to make Zhou Qixue crash and burn before the next episode airs.

Otherwise, once the show airs, Zhou Qixue's side will definitely start the purification battle, and the scene will be extremely chaotic. Even if Shi Yao finds out that Zhou Qixue has a sister-in-law, the effect of releasing the information will be greatly reduced. If Zhou Qixue's studio has a strong brainwashing ability, this information may even be misleading people into believing that Ye Jingyu deliberately threw mud at Dumei to win the purification battle.

Based on Shi Yao's assessment of Zhou Qixue's studio, she felt that if she released more information after the new episode aired, Zhou Qixue's studio would almost certainly do so.

We can't let our trump card go to waste like this, but if we can't play it now, we have to wait until the purification controversy has passed before we do, and only when the public's attention to purification has decreased, in order to avoid being deliberately misled into being smeared.

But by then, Ye Jingyu's career was over. Even if Zhou Qixue was exposed and his reputation collapsed and fans left, it couldn't undo the damage to Ye Jingyu, nor could it win back the fans she had lost.

Once the purification battle is over, it's over. If you miss that opportunity, no amount of fighting afterward will help.

Even if fans who have been successfully "purified" by Zhou Qixue know that the person they like is a scoundrel, they will at most unfollow him out of sadness and disappointment and completely leave the circle, rather than becoming fans of another victim.

Time was running out, but there weren't many cards left to play. Shi Yao pondered for a while and finally decided to take an unconventional approach.

The safest approach isn't her style; she's never been the type to only play it safe.

Since we don't have many cards left, we should try to create new ones.

What's the fastest way to break the stalemate and breach the enemy's strong defenses? The answer is to penetrate deep into enemy territory and disrupt their formation.

Shi Yao decided to take the initiative.

She opened her notes app, wrote a copy in about ten minutes, then organized some useful phrases, asked Ye Jingyu for some pictures from the film crew period, and finally opened the anonymous forum to register a new account and start writing a new post.

...

Xiaohe is a long-time fan of Zhou Qixue, and her fandom age is almost the same as Zhou Qixue's debut age. Given her long fandom age, as long as she knows how to create some interesting content, she can basically become a big fan.

But she didn't.

It's not because she's too boring or too solitary; she usually produces a lot of creative content and is very witty, but she's just a bit too witty, so funny that it makes people wonder if she's really just a comedian. That's why she hasn't become a big fan with a lot of influence.

Xiaohe had no regrets about this. She didn't have any intention of becoming a big fan. She only followed celebrities because she liked them. Compared to the right to speak in the fan circle, she wanted the right to speak freely. She didn't want to lose the opportunity to speak freely just because she had more and more followers. So she kept making surprising remarks from time to time, hoping to drive away those who were not used to her style.

Actually, her style wasn't particularly outlandish; she just didn't follow the mainstream. Zhou Qixue, a young actor with connections and resources in the industry, mostly attracts female fans. He himself is indeed quite good, with a tall stature, long legs, and a rugged appearance, so he does attract mostly female fans.

She was a fan of clay sculptures and, amidst the calls of "brother" and "husband," insisted on calling Zhou Qixue "sister" and even "mom," only to be blocked by the majority of the group.

,

Being blocked is nothing to her; she doesn't care. In fact, she sometimes finds it quite amusing when she discovers she's been blocked, as it means the other person has actually seen her posts and was offended by what she said.

For Xiaohe, being able to confirm that her work is being seen is a very happy thing, regardless of whether the other person likes it or finds it disgusting.

In Zhou Qixue's fan circle, where female fans are overwhelmingly dominant, Xiao He has always insisted on being herself and feels very happy. She likes to create GIFs, and you can't really tell from the pictures that she is a clay sculpture fan. She just makes the colors more vibrant and the filters more transparent. When she posts pictures, she often doesn't add much caption, so there are always new fans who are tricked into following her, only to be blocked by her fan content.

Over time, she became a well-known figure in the super topic, and many fans posted malicious posts, putting Xiaohe's homepage at the top and saying that "one fan is worth ten haters".

But Xiaohe didn't care. As long as she liked it, that was all that mattered. She was already a fan of celebrities, so why should she care about other people's opinions? Besides, she didn't come away empty-handed. In her persistent self-expression, she successfully found like-minded friends and some fellow enthusiasts who shared her passion for clay sculpting.

She and her like-minded friends also created a private group chat. She is more active in the group chat than in the dormitory group chat. She doesn't have to worry about what others think when talking to her friends. Everyone has similar tastes, so it's very comfortable to communicate with them.

Xiao He isn't called Xiao He in the fan circle; her followers prefer to call her Xiao Qi. This name comes from her Weibo ID, "Xiao Qi loves to learn," which she chose in honor of Zhou Qixue. Judging from the keywords in her ID, almost everyone knows she's a fan of Zhou Qixue.

When she first created her account, she didn't know she would become a fan of clay sculpture. Otherwise, she would have given herself a cooler ID instead of this one that fellow fans often mocked as making her look like a newbie just entering the fandom.

Xiaohe had seriously considered changing her ID, but she had used this ID for a long time and was very attached to it. Moreover, everyone got to know each other and started to get together with her ID, so in the end she didn't change it and got used to the nickname "Xiao Qi".

At first, the small group mostly chatted about daily life, occasionally shared their own creations, or criticized rivals, or talked about certain fans or fan clubs. Everyone had the same hobbies and preferences, and the people they disliked were also similar. It was very fun to talk badly about each other.

But I don't know when it started, the main content of the group chat became discussing Zhou Qixue's daily schedule.

Perhaps because there was a new fan in the group who followed her offline, Xiaohe and the other people in the group called her "senior sister". Her Weibo ID is "kissingsenior sister". Of course, the "senior sister" in her ID actually refers to Zhou Qixue, a clever combination of homophones and words with different meanings.

People who meet online are used to calling each other by their online IDs, so even though they knew it was a homophone joke, everyone still started calling this fan who was following her offline as "senior sister".

"Senior Sister" is a seasoned fan with extensive offline experience in following celebrities, and she's also passionate about clay sculpting. Because she's active and loves creating content, she quickly became familiar with Xiaohe and the others. She's already quite wealthy in real life, and following celebrities is just a pastime for her. She goes offline to support each celebrity she follows, and the cost of following celebrities is nothing to her.

Under the guidance of the "senior sister," everyone in the small group began to pay attention to Zhou Qixue's offline schedule. The senior sister had been following offline events for many years and had many connections. She could easily get the schedules and even his temporary address.

At first, someone in the group mentioned whether this counted as pursuing private matters, but the "senior" retorted with "That's how it is offline, and those fan site admins do the same." And indeed, everyone got a lot of previously unseen, unpublished photos and some behind-the-scenes secrets that ordinary fans wouldn't know through the senior.

In this sense of superiority where only her own small circle knows and ordinary fans have no way of knowing, no one cares whether what the senior did constitutes pursuing someone privately.

After Zhou Qixue joined the new crew, his senior sister began to stay near the film set. The film studio itself had many fan club members, so her actions were not strange.

She even gave herself a new account, pretending to be a normal fan site admin, and infiltrated the offline fan site admin group for Zhou Qixue's drama crew, then tipped off the fans in the mud sculpture fan group every day.

Xiaohe knew immediately what Zhou Qixue was doing on set every day in the small group. The senior sister opened the fan site account just to cover her tracks and make it easier for her to take pictures. Every time she posted pictures on the fan site account, she was very perfunctory. She would just randomly select a few pictures, do some simple editing, and then post them. The rest were all shared with the sisters in the small group, or rather, shared with the group if they were more in line with their aesthetic.

After spending more than a month happily with the film crew, one day my senior suddenly didn't go online for an entire day. She didn't update her Weibo account on either side, and she didn't reply to WeChat messages. Everyone in the group was very worried. Xiaohe was close to my senior and made several voice calls to her, but to no avail.

Just as they were getting anxious and were about to contact other offline fan site admins to ask about the senior's information, the senior finally came online, sent a farewell message in the group, said that she would no longer follow the fan site, and then left the group.

The group was completely confused, but fortunately the senior only left the group and did not delete her as a friend. Xiaohe rushed over to chat with her privately and asked her what had happened.

The two were basically the best of friends in the fan circle. Xiao He was the first person the senior followed after she joined the circle. After Xiao He asked her repeatedly, the senior finally spoke up and said that she had seen Zhou Qixue's girlfriend. She hadn't been online for a day to check if Xiao He had made a mistake. But after following her all day, Xiao He not only didn't make a mistake, but also took more concrete photos as evidence.

The senior student was devastated. As a fan of Zhou Qixue, what she couldn't accept the most was that the idol was dating. Not only was Zhou Qixue dating, but he also showed off his affection in front of her. She felt like she had been hit hard. Her last act of mercy was to temporarily not release the photos, but she couldn't bring herself to continue following the story.

Xiaohe was also stunned when she heard the news. She never expected that the reason her senior was leaving the industry was this. She thought that something had happened to her senior's family and was very worried.

The good news is that the senior student has nothing at home, but the bad news is that her idol is in trouble, and it's the kind of trouble she can't accept.

Xiaohe initially liked Zhou Qixue not because she thought he was a good person, nor simply because he had connections and a bright future, but because she felt that Zhou Qixue was very ambitious and had good professional skills, which satisfied her mentality of investing in stocks.

Zhou Qixue is a professionally trained actor with a very solid foundation. Among his peers, his acting skills are among the best, at least he won't be the subject of any unflattering GIFs or ridicule. He also signed with a major company and is a key newcomer they are grooming. He has countless opportunities in the pipeline, so even fans of his career don't need to worry about him.

So Xiaohe decided to invest and become a long-time fan, but was later driven out of the mainstream fan circle due to differences in aesthetics, but she still likes it.

Anyway, as long as Zhou Qixue develops well, doesn't date, and doesn't deliberately play very masculine roles, she won't be ruined.

Having liked Zhou Qixue for so long, Xiaohe has always thought that Zhou Qixue is a very introverted person. He rarely participates in variety shows and almost never follows his colleagues on social media. Although there are many love scenes in the drama, there is no interaction between them outside of the drama. Xiaohe trusts him very much.

But little did she know that this moment of relief would lead to a huge disaster. She thought that Zhou Qi's aversion to socializing and interacting with colleagues (especially female colleagues) was because he was chaste, but little did she know that his chastity was for his girlfriend.

When the senior student saw that Xiaohe was shocked and couldn't believe it, she even video-called her to show her the photos on her camera. She didn't send the photos directly because she was afraid they would be saved. Although the two were close, she still didn't dare to gamble on the possibility.

Xiaohe was only able to truly confirm the matter after seeing the photos; Zhou Qixue was indeed in a relationship. In an instant, the faith she held dear collapsed, and she was even more devastated than the senior who witnessed it all.

So the number of people leaving the group increased from one to two. When the people in the smaller group saw Xiaohe trying to persuade her senior to return, she ended up persuading herself to leave as well, which made everyone even more anxious.

The senior student initially wanted to keep the secret, but the small group was usually very lively and everyone got along well. If she didn't explain it clearly, it would be hard for them not to think of all sorts of strange things. So, with no other choice, the senior student went back to the group and told everyone about Zhou Qi's relationship, explaining that she had witnessed it herself and even took pictures.

So the whole group went crazy. Dating was the thing they couldn't accept the most. So even though the senior tried to hide it, the people in the small group still went on Weibo and started to go crazy.

Fortunately, they don't have a good reputation in the fandom because of their clay sculptures, so not many people pay attention to them. Since everyone is just sharing their fan opinions, these posts haven't spread too far.

The small group originally planned to go crazy on Weibo for a few days, then collectively quit the fandom and never log in again. Their usual comments were already shocking enough to ordinary fans, so even when they went crazy, everyone thought they were just speaking normally. Only by completely quitting the fandom could the rest of the community realize the seriousness of the situation.

Actually, announcing the relationship directly would have been more effective, but no one in the group could bear to do it, so everyone just chose to go crazy on their homepage instead.

But to everyone's surprise, their madness was not taken seriously by other normal fans, but was seen by Zhou Qixue himself.

On the third day after the collective outburst, everyone in the small group discovered that they had all been blocked by Zhou Qixue's personal account, Zhou Qixue's studio account, and Zhou Qixue's fan club account. Their super topic was also blocked, and they couldn't post anything.

Everyone knows that Zhou Qixue's fan club is managed by people from Zhou Qixue's studio, and everyone also knows that Zhou Qixue himself has a lot of say in the studio. So this means that they have all been blacklisted by Zhou Qixue himself.

The other party even got so angry that they blocked all their accounts and made the supertopic also block their child's account, making it impossible for them to speak out.

This incident did not anger them; instead, it strangely appeased them.

The biggest goal of the people in the small group has always been to have their account content seen by Zhou Qixue himself. His reaction after seeing it is not important, as long as he can see it.

Therefore, they have always been unabashed in using very explicit language to forward Zhou Qixue and his studio's Weibo posts.

But it wasn't until this moment, when they discovered that all of Zhou Qixue's accounts had blocked their accounts, that they could confirm that Zhou Qixue himself had actually seen their posts.

In an instant, all the resentment from being betrayed vanished. The people in the small group had an eerie tacit understanding. They all felt that this was a secret shared by Zhou Qixue and them. It was so rare for the person in question to see it. They were instantly revitalized and had no intention of quitting the group.

The person who initiated all of this, the senior student herself, was in a great mood, so she posted that cryptic Weibo post, which was then forwarded by the girls in the small group. Other ordinary fans didn't understand what they were saying, and nobody cared.

Only they themselves knew that this was a secret they had learned from Zhou Qi.

Dating isn't a big deal. Maybe they just started dating temporarily because the crew was bored. It's hard to say whether they'll continue. Besides, Zhou Qixue knows they've found out about this. If he doesn't want to die too soon, he'll definitely stop in time.

So the group resumed their usual routine of following her schedule. The senior continued to stake out the location every day. Since Zhou Qixue was photographed by her before, he had become more careful on set. The senior didn't see any trace of her sister-in-law again. She truthfully reported this to the sisters in the group, and everyone felt relieved, thinking that they had probably broken up.

After leaving the film crew, Zhou Qixue's surroundings became even cleaner; apart from a few familiar staff members, he couldn't see anyone else.

People in the small group confirmed once again that Zhou Qixue had definitely broken up with his girlfriend.

So this previously witnessed, undeniable secret of their relationship was kept to themselves. In their eyes, it was a symbol of Zhou Qi's affection for them, a secret unique to them, and they would keep it a secret.

Xiaohe was the same. After that incident, her account was blocked by the super topic, and she couldn't post the GIFs she made at all. So she simply posted on her homepage. Then she registered a Green Petal account and joined a special group, naming herself "Tang and Song Dynasty Writers". Very few people played in the special group. She and her sisters in the small group almost dominated it. This was their happy hometown.

In addition, they also like to go to an anonymous forum called "koko", where fans of all kinds of celebrities are there, and there are all kinds of true and false gossip every day. Since it's anonymous, no one knows who they are, so they can communicate with peace of mind. Occasionally, they will modify the information about Zhou Qixue's love life and post it anonymously, but without Zhou Qixue's name.

After a day of classes, Xiaohe returned to her dormitory and skillfully read through all the group's Weibo posts and group messages before opening Koko.

This is a daily routine she completes to make sure she hasn't missed any new gossip. Zhou Qixue's drama is currently airing, and the CP (couple pairing) hype is going strong. If she hadn't known that Zhou Qixue had a girlfriend at the time, she probably would have been annoyed too.

But after learning that Zhou Qixue had a girlfriend at the time, she no longer felt anything about the CP (couple) promotions; they were all fake anyway.

Xiaohe opened Koko and scrolled down skillfully, suddenly seeing an unusual but very familiar title.

[#99061: My idol has been in a stable relationship with a non-celebrity girlfriend since filming last year, and they're still together now. Their relationship is incredibly stable, and I'm really devastated. I want to break up with him, but I can't bear to. Are there any sisters who can give me a wake-up call? (My idol is very good at hiding his girlfriend; basically no one knows he's been in this relationship. I only found out by chance when I saw him in person.)]

All accounts on this forum are anonymous, and the ID codes change with each post, making it virtually impossible to trace the identity of the user. This is why Xiaohe and her friends in the group have always felt safe surfing here.

But the keywords in today's post seemed very familiar to her; she had even posted similar ones before, trying to whet people's appetites with a juicy tidbit, though there were subtle differences compared to this one.

Her heart skipped a beat. She clicked on the post and started reading the replies. As expected, the first few replies were all cursing the poster, asking her what she was waiting for if she hadn't run away. Some even said she had solid evidence, so she should just give them and stop making a scene. The poster replied after more than ten replies, and the content of her reply made her pupils shrink.

[67L: I'm not lying, and I wasn't acting. If I had a mental illness outbreak, why wouldn't I go on a real-name platform and go crazy? Saying it here won't let anyone know who my favorite is. But I'm probably not the only one who knows about my favorite. I'll say a few key pieces of information, and those who know will understand: period drama, summer, RV, and couple.]

[68L: But I doubt I'll get any fans here. Oh well, I'm just venting. I'll be back in the mountains soon.]

Xiaohe lost all interest in reading the replies after that. She sat blankly in front of the computer for a full two minutes before she came to her senses and forwarded the post link to the group with mixed feelings.

Author's Note: "Guan Zhong" refers to a person who is overly dramatic and enjoys attracting attention. For example, they might pretend to be someone's sister-in-law, or act as if they know something secret, putting on airs and making everyone fawn over them and bombard them with questions, but they never reveal the truth.

"Deep Mountain" means "to request deletion" or "to apply for the deletion of a post."