Chapter 49 I'd rather meet other male guests. ...

The romantic encounter program is being broadcast live, and the online public opinion is getting more and more heated. Chu Ruofu's private messages are flooded with netizens who are following the trend to criticize her.

Her various social media accounts were attacked. The world is full of malicious people in disguise who think they are on the moral high ground, as if they have a holy sword of punishment and will not be satisfied until they kill people.

Ignorant netizens, led by the nose by online trolls, launched an attack on Chu Ruofu across the entire internet.

Xue Fangfei used a cleanup tool to delete malicious comments, and had to close the comment section, disallowing anyone to leave messages.

Rumors are rampant online, and what's even more outrageous is that some marketing accounts have found composite images from who-knows-where and combined them with photos of Chu Ruofu, spreading rumors that Chu Ruofu worked as a hostess in a bar during her university years.

Marketing accounts used topics related to Chu Ruofu, which quickly spread across the entire internet.

The company sent someone to find Xue Fangfei and asked her to find a way to help Chu Ruofu with public relations. If her reputation is damaged and her commercial value is lost, the company will withdraw the script given to Chu Ruofu.

Having finally made it through the tough times, Xue Fangfei was determined not to let the company exploit Chu Ruofu. She could only tell headquarters that even negative publicity is still publicity, and she would clear Chu Ruofu's name as soon as possible.

Xue Fangfei quickly recorded videos and screenshots as evidence, and sent messages to these marketing agents who had been paid to do the work, urging them to delete the Weibo posts spreading rumors. She said that the rumors had seriously damaged Chu Ruofu's reputation, and if they were not deleted, she would report them to the police.

Some marketing accounts have already achieved their goal and deleted their Weibo posts, while a few have firmly stated that they will not delete them.

These marketing accounts are professional gossip accounts in the entertainment industry, spreading rumors. It is said online that Chu Ruofu was once a prostitute and that she was fickle in the dating show, showing her true colors as a scumbag.

Xue Fangfei was extremely busy. The marketing accounts spread rumors about Chu Ruofu's bad character based on just a few composite pictures, and the victims had to go to great lengths to find evidence to clarify the situation.

The matter escalated, and the production team was soon affected as well. Many die-hard fans of the show and netizens came to boycott Chu Ruofu, strongly demanding that the production team remove Chu Ruofu from the dating reality show.

Forced into a corner, the production team first disabled comments on their official account and pretended to be dead, refusing to respond.

Since the official Weibo account didn't respond, netizens flocked to the live stream to attack Chu Ruofu. Fortunately, she couldn't see the vulgar language in the live stream.

Before filming the dating reality show, the production team did not conduct an in-depth investigation into the backgrounds of the guests. The evidence presented in the marketing articles was conclusive, which led the production team to have doubts.

If Chu Ruofu did indeed work as a hostess in a bar, the production team must handle the matter promptly to control the risks and minimize the losses.

The investors put pressure on her, and the director and producer contacted Chu Ruofu to discuss the matter privately.

Xue Fangfei protected Chu Ruofu, unaware of the rumors circulating online. When the production team contacted her, she was completely bewildered, assuming that the fight between the two male guests had led to online attacks against her.

Only after the director told her about the negative trending topics online did she realize how serious the matter was.

"Is this image definitely a digitally manipulated image created by a marketing account?" the director repeatedly confirmed.

Chu Ruofu thought to herself, "She likes to stay at home every day, how could she possibly go to a bar?" and replied, "I have never been to a bar."

Seeing the determination in her eyes, the director said, "Alright, the production team believes you. Contact your agency and deal with the negative trending topics online as soon as possible."

"The show will air on the platform on Saturday, so you need to get this sorted out as soon as possible in the next couple of days," the director reminded him. "If it's not finished by then, the production team will have to temporarily cut out your scenes and reshoot the dates of the other female guests."

It's a harsh reality that once a guest on a dating reality show has a scandal, the production team has to find ways to have the behind-the-scenes editors blur out or simply cut out the guest's scenes and find someone to reshoot new episodes.

Chu Ruofu looked apologetic: "I'm sorry, director, it was my fault that the program was affected."

The director really liked this well-behaved and pretty girl. Having seen all sorts of underhanded tactics in the entertainment industry, he comforted her, saying, "Affecting the show is secondary. If you don't clean up the negative trending topics as soon as possible, they will follow you throughout your acting career and have a significant impact on your business."

"I understand, thank you, Director," Chu Ruofu said sincerely.

The director said, "It's getting late. We still have to record the sending of 'heart-fluttering' text messages tonight. You should go home now."

"Okay." Chu Ruofu said politely, "Goodbye, Director."

Back at the Heartbeat House, Chu Ruofu felt heavy-hearted. Even though Xue Fangfei had told her not to look at the trending topics, she couldn't resist taking out her phone and opening Weibo.

Her negative search ranking was number one, her Weibo account's comment section was flooded with netizens who followed suit and hurled insults, her topic square was swarmed, and her solo fans were heavily attacked. There was simply no way to reason with these cyberbullies.

Some fans of the couple did come out to defend her, telling netizens not to rush to criticize her and to believe that she was innocent.

Chu Ruofu's feelings were complicated and hard to describe. She sat in front of the dressing table, staring blankly at the text message on the table that made her heart flutter.

The door was suddenly opened, and Xia Yuqing entered the room. She saw Chu Ruofu sitting blankly on the dressing stool, and a look of pity flashed in her eyes.

She has experienced massive cyberbullying and knows how painful it is to be slandered and cursed. People with poor mental resilience can be driven to depression or even suicide by these people.

There was once an innocent girl who went to visit her sick grandfather after dyeing her hair pink. A man on the internet spread rumors about her and incited others to cyberbully her.

The girl eventually committed suicide, but the cyberbullies went unpunished.

She was cyberbullied by Qiao Yimo's fans a while ago and hid away and cried many times. If her agency hadn't told her not to look at the account and to take advantage of the traffic and popularity, she might have gotten sick long ago. That's why she hates Qiao Yimo.

Qiao Yimo appears gentle and kind on the surface, but is vicious in private. As a celebrity in the entertainment industry, it may be normal for her to lead her fans to fight for her, but this kind of cyberbullying is a disaster for ordinary people or actors with little fame.

Xia Yuqing suspected that the trending topics about Chu Ruofu online might be another of Qiao Yimo's tactics.

Qiao Yimo likes Li Yichen. Seeing Li Yichen and Chu Ruofu's relationship deepening and becoming sweet and romantic, she feels jealous and wants to suppress Chu Ruofu.

Xia Yuqing didn't dare to make a hasty judgment. She patted Chu Ruofu's shoulder and comforted her, "Chu Ruofu, don't think too much about it. There are too many people following the crowd online. They believe whatever the marketing accounts say. Don't pay attention to the rumors online."

Chu Ruofu looked up at her and forced a smile: "Thank you."

Xia Yuqing deliberately changed the subject, saying, "I never thought I'd send Gu Junsheng a date invitation. Do you think he might have some feelings for me?"

Chu Ruofu was taken aback upon hearing this, and said, "Perhaps..."

“He’s a man of few words and always keeps his distance from people.” Xia Yuqing rested her chin on the dressing table and pondered, “I don’t feel that he has any feelings for me.”

"I do have a slight liking for him. He's very polite and gentlemanly, and seems like a reliable mature man."

Xia Yuqing suddenly remembered the fight between the two male guests that afternoon and asked gossipily, "By the way, I heard that Li Yichen and Lu Xubai got into a fight over you. What happened?"

Chu Ruofu looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "I don't know either."

Xia Yuqing felt a pang of sadness when she thought about how Lu Xubai had suddenly attacked Li Yichen for Chu Ruofu's sake. She felt hopeless. As a lawyer, Lu Xubai had lost his temper and started a fight. It was obvious that he was deeply in love with Chu Ruofu.

"I've decided to send my love text to Gu Junsheng." Xia Yuqing didn't know who to choose, so she decided to send a love text to Gu Junsheng, whom she was going on a date with today. As she wrote it, she asked, "What about you? Who are you planning to send it to?"

Chu Ruofu hasn't decided yet. Currently, she has the same level of affection for Li Yichen and Lu Xubai. If she gives her her opinion to one of them, the other will definitely be extremely jealous.

Rumors are circulating online that she's a master of impartiality, which has disappointed the male guests who had feelings for her. She's now very confused and has no idea who to send her heart-fluttering text message to.

"Let me think about it some more."

Room 102, Unit 1.

Li Yichen, who was writing a text message expressing his feelings, received a call from his agent.

Xiao Sen's slightly heavy voice came out: "Brother Li, don't write the love message yet, I have something to tell you."

Li Yichen asked casually, "What's the rush?"

Xiao Sen spoke quickly: "Chu Ruofu has been exposed for her dirty secrets. Marketing accounts have dug up information that she used to work as a hostess in a bar. We don't know if it's true or not yet."

Li Yichen's expression changed instantly, turning grim. He said, "Send me the link to the trending topic."

Xiao Sen knew that Li Yichen was intolerant of any imperfections. When he learned that Qiao Yimo had deliberately used scheming to gain his sympathy, he immediately chose to distance himself from Qiao Yimo and cut ties with her.

If the rumors about Chu Ruofu working as a prostitute are true, Li Yichen will never have anything to do with her again. He hates people who mess around with relationships.

Xiao Sen said, "Brother Li, calm down. I'm still observing. Don't send her your heart-fluttering text message for now."

Li Yichen was completely unable to calm down and said, "I know what to do, I don't need you to remind me."

After hanging up the phone, Li Yichen opened Weibo's trending topics and saw negative trending topics related to Chu Ruofu. He gripped his phone tightly, his fox-like eyes turning cold.

He got up almost immediately, pushed open the door to another room, and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and in the large bedroom, only Xia Yuqing, who had opened the door, saw him and said, "Are you looking for Chu Ruofu?"

Li Yichen gave a faint "hmm" and asked, "Where did she go?"

Xia Yuqing said, "I don't know. She went out half an hour ago. I guess she wanted to be by herself for a while."

Li Yichen was extremely anxious and said, "Thank you, I'll go find her."

He turned and left.

Xia Yuqing watched his retreating figure, thinking to herself, "It's really strange that Li Yichen actually thanked me."

Li Yichen ran into Lu Xubai as he went downstairs. He and Lu Xubai disliked each other, but when he thought of the cyberbullying Chu Ruofu had suffered, he paused and said coldly, "You'd better go check the trending topics right now."

Lu Xubai frowned as he watched Li Yichen leave in a hurry. He picked up his phone and opened the trending topics. When he saw that everyone online was criticizing Chu Ruofu, his face instantly turned gloomy and ugly.

Even though the fight was clearly the male guest's fault, these netizens, as if blinded by greed, blamed everything on Chu Ruofu.

Lu Xubai immediately edited a message on his Weibo account and posted it. As soon as it was posted, fans and CP fans began to forward and comment on it. Because the Weibo post included Chu Ruofu's name, it was quickly liked and pushed to the top of the real-time rankings.

[Brother Lu, you're finally online! Come protect Sister Fu!]

[Just come out and apologize. It was clearly your male guests who started the fight, so why blame Fu Mei?]

[Attorney Lu, before you know what kind of person Chu Ruofu is, you'd better not stand up for her.]

[You male guests are practically glowing green with envy, yet you're still defending CRF. You're all so desperate!]

Upon seeing this comment, Lu Xubai, his brow furrowed with suppressed anger, replied directly: "Evidence has been collected, and a lawyer's letter will be sent to your residential address tomorrow."

The next second, the comment was deleted by the account owner. Lu Xubai was a lawyer, and anyone with a brain wouldn't dare to spread rumors in front of him.

Fans cheered for Lu Xubai, saying that this scoundrel hiding behind an alias had finally met his match.

Lu Xubai collected evidence from some of the Weibo accounts spreading rumors, frowned, and sent a message to Chu Ruofu to inquire about her situation, but she did not respond.

Li Yichen searched the entire villa—the living room, kitchen, dining room, reading room, and entertainment room—but couldn't find her.

He ran out of the Heartbeat Hut and searched the front and back yards, but couldn't find her. He became even more anxious, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. His heart felt like it was hanging on a mountain of knives, filled with torment and fear.

Back inside, he ran into Song Yi, who was working in the living room area. He asked, "Sister Song, have you seen Chu Ruofu?"

Song Yi looked up, thought for a moment, and said, "I think I saw her taking Mimi out. She must have gone to the lakeside park to walk the dog."

"Thank you!" Li Yichen hurriedly said thank you and ran towards the lakeside park.

Lakeside Park.

Chu Ruofu sat on a park bench, holding a Samoyed's leash. She had come out to relax and take a walk with her bored dog.

It seemed to sense her low mood. Contrary to its usual behavior, it didn't go to play with its friend's dog. Instead, like a guardian angel, it solemnly squatted beside her.

Chu Ruofu stroked the dog's head and stared blankly into the distance.

Then a clear and melodious voice rang in her ears: "Chu Ruofu!"

In her blurry vision, a tall, slender figure became clearer and clearer. Li Yichen rushed towards her, his breathing ragged as he reached her.

"Why did you run out alone? I've been looking for you for ages." Li Yichen sat down next to her, patted the dog's head, and said, "I'm exhausted."

He had been searching and running all the way here, and when he saw Chu Ruofu sitting in the chair, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When the Samoyed saw Li Yichen arrive, it nuzzled his leg with its head, as if it knew he was going to be alone with Chu Ruofu, and then ran excitedly to the square to play with the other dogs.

"Did you need something from me?" Chu Ruofu asked in a low voice.

Li Yichen suddenly grabbed her arm, pulled her into a hug, and rested his chin on her forehead: "I want to hug you."

Chu Ruofu was caught off guard and pulled into an embrace. She smelled a faint fragrance emanating from the man, a delicate and alluring floral scent. His body was hot, and his embrace was burning hot.

Chu Ruofu tried to get out of his arms, but the man held her tightly, his voice low and husky: "Don't move, let me hold you for a while, just a little while."

So Chu Ruofu stopped struggling and obediently stayed in his warm embrace, completely enveloped by his scent.

"I saw it trending online."

Chu Ruofu lowered her eyes slightly and pursed her lips.

Li Yichen said gently, "Don't worry, the trending topic will disappear soon. Just ignore those people who are making baseless accusations and insults against you."

Chu Ruofu was taken aback when she heard Li Yichen say something so rude.

“They don’t understand you.” Li Yichen kissed her soft hair and said, “You don’t need to care about other people’s malicious words towards you. They attack you because they are jealous of your excellence.”

As Chu Ruofu listened to his calm and comforting words, her depressed mood gradually improved.

Sometimes, when faced with insults from the outside world, you really need someone by your side to reassure you and tell you not to care.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

"Thank you." Chu Ruofu's eyes were slightly moist.

Li Yichen pinched her chin with his long fingers, lifted her face from his chest, and kissed the corner of her eye: "If you really want to thank me, look at me more."

Chu Ruofu's face flushed, her eyelashes trembled, and she reached out to push him away.

This time, Li Yichen released her, a faint smile in his fox-like eyes, and asked, "Would you like to stay outside a little longer, or come with me to take Mimi back to the Heartbeat House?"

Chu Ruofu composed herself and said, "Let's stay a little longer."

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Li Yichen picked up his phone, edited a Weibo post, and sent an apology message.

[@Li Yichen: To my fans and viewers of the dating show, I apologize for the impulsive and irrational thing I did during my date this afternoon, which led to a physical altercation with another male guest and gave everyone a bad impression.]

Please stop making malicious comments about @楚婼芙 and don't let innocent female guests be affected.

It's all my responsibility, and I sincerely apologize to everyone.

As soon as the Weibo post was published, he and Lu Xubai were both advised by their fans to stay away from Chu Ruofu. Because it triggered keywords related to Chu Ruofu, online trolls came to post negative comments.

Li Yichen's fans immediately noticed something amiss, taking screenshots and posting them on Weibo: "Everyone come and see, aren't these troll IDs familiar?"

The fans once fought three hundred rounds with the Qiao family army for Li Yichen, and they were already very familiar with some of the IDs. Those were the water army that Qiao Yimo used to control comments and massacre the square.

Qiao Yimo won the Best Actress award undeservedly because she had the backing of capital. The data for the dramas she broadcast was terrible, but she still had to hire online trolls to create the illusion that every drama she had was a hit. Capitalists had invested heavily in her years ago.

Qiao Yimo's commercial value has plummeted. In the past two years, she has been trying to market herself by claiming that she played some wildly popular roles. Only her longtime fans know how bad her acting skills are.

Chen Guang immediately notified Li Yichen's biggest fans, and soon presented the evidence to Li Yichen.

When Li Yichen saw the evidence compiled by Chen Guang, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. It was Qiao Yimo again. Last time, when she cyberbullied Xia Yuqing, he had his agent communicate with Xia Yuqing's company and didn't bother with it anymore.

This time, Qiao Yimo went even further, resorting to ruthless tactics to crush her rivals.

With a sullen face, Li Yichen sent a message to his agent, instructing him to take the collected evidence and have the public relations team buy trending topics to smear the smears back at him.

The agent hesitated. The online trolls were probably bought by Qiao Yimo, and the smear articles were probably bought by her too, but the rumors about Chu Ruofu had not yet been clarified as to whether they were true or false.

The person being attacked online is Chu Ruofu, not him. Spending money on PR and smearing Qiao Yimo is really unnecessary.

Li Yichen ordered his agent to do it immediately.

The agent had no choice but to agree.

As the night grew cooler, Chu Ruofu shivered and decided to go back to the Heartbeat Cottage to wash up and go to sleep. Perhaps when she woke up, everything would be better.

"Let's go back."

"Okay." Li Yichen's eyebrows relaxed, and he stood up and called the dog back.

Li Yichen held the rope, and the two of them, one tall and one short, looked very well-matched.

"Who did you send your heart-fluttering text message to?" he asked.

Chu Ruofu glanced at him and said, "The program's rules state that guests cannot announce it in advance."

“There are no cameras following us, so even if you told me, the production team wouldn’t know.” Li Yichen guessed, “If you’re not telling me, it’s not because you didn’t vote for me, is it?”

Upon hearing this, Chu Ruofu lowered her eyes and remained silent.

Li Yichen's eyes darkened slightly, a pang of bitterness welling up inside him: "You voted for Lu Xubai?"

Chu Ruofu shook her head. Lu Xubai was too domineering and possessive. Being with him would make her feel like she had no freedom.

Li Yichen helped her wash her hands. Lu Xubai would get jealous and impulsively fight. As an actress, she would have to film movies in the future, and he definitely wouldn't be able to accept that. After weighing the options, she decided not to choose Lu Xubai.

As for Li Yichen, she didn't choose him either. If she were to date Li Yichen, she would face enormous pressure. He has too many die-hard fans, and both dating and breaking up would cause her a lot of trouble.

That leaves only Gu Junsheng and Shen Wuyang.

Gu Junsheng fits her ideal boyfriend perfectly: mature, reliable, and reassuring, and able to tolerate her. Perhaps she only knows him superficially for now, and if she gets to know him better, she'll choose him if he's a good fit.

“No,” she said.

When Li Yichen heard that she hadn't voted for Lu Xubai, she was a little happy, but she quickly realized that not choosing either of them meant that she had sent her heart-fluttering text message to another male guest.

Gu Junsheng? Shen Wuyang?

Suppressing his jealousy, Li Yichen said, "Did our fight this afternoon make you lose favor with us?"

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have fought back. He would have simply let Lu Xubai beat him up, so he could have played the victim in front of her to his heart's content.

With the Heartbeat House right in front of her, Chu Ruofu said, "No, it's just that I'd rather get to know other male guests."

Li Yichen almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He gritted his teeth and cursed Lu Xubai in his heart. It was all that bastard's fault for ruining his image in Fumei's eyes.

The two returned to the Heartbeat House. Lu Xubai was sitting on the sofa in the living room. He felt uneasy seeing the two of them come back together.

The bruises on his body from Li Yichen's beating throbbed with pain, as if they were being roasted by a raging fire, the pain penetrating to the bone.

Lu Xubai stood up and walked up to Chu Ruofu, asking, "I'd like to talk to you, is that alright?"

Li Yichen looked wary: "Say whatever you want to talk about right here."

Lu Xubai glanced at him coldly and said, "It's not my private matter with her that you should listen to."

"What's inconvenient about it?" Li Yichen sneered. "As long as Sister Fu agrees, it's fine."

Chu Ruofu looked at Lu Xubai and said, "I'll go to the backyard with you."

Li Yichen's lips curled into a smile. He led the dog away, watching the two leave with a resentful look in his eyes.

The backyard was quiet and secluded. In the pavilion, Chu Ruofu sat on a stone bench, and Lu Xubai sat down opposite her.

Lu Xubai's expression darkened slightly as he said, "I acted impulsively this afternoon and caused you trouble. I'm very sorry."

Upon hearing his apology, Chu Ruofu whispered, "It's alright."

Lu Xubai: "I have already apologized to the audience on Weibo, collected evidence of the rumors spread by marketing accounts, and will file a lawsuit against them."

Chu Ruofu was stunned. She didn't expect him to do this. These negative trending topics had nothing to do with him.

"Thank you. My agent will handle the negative information online."

Lu Xubai clenched his fists with restraint and said in a deep voice, "Leave it to me. I will make those marketing accounts pay the price soon and warn those who slander you that if they spread rumors about you again, the consequences will be dire."

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Author's note: Red envelopes have been sent out, and there will be an extra chapter tonight.

[Owl emoji] President Gu is about to arrive on the battlefield~