Half an hour ago.

The top floor of Star City Film and Television Media.

Outside the entire floor-to-ceiling window is the night scene of the capital, which is still brightly lit even after midnight. The street lights on the overpass in the distance are connected in a line, and the flashing traffic converges into a galaxy of light and shadow.

Song Yecheng stood in front of the window with his hands in his pockets, and his deep-cut eyebrows and eyes were vaguely reflected on the glass.

After landing at sea, he and Douzi went straight to the airport and took the nearest flight back to the capital. After landing, their agent sent a car to pick them up and brought them to the company without stopping. It was only at this time that they stopped to catch their breath.

Legally, this company belongs to the group owned by Song Yecheng's father, Song Sheng, but in reality, it has been personally controlled by Song Yecheng since its establishment, so for him, this is both a company and his base camp.

At this moment, he was not the only one in his exclusive top floor lounge—

At the two ends of the sofa not far behind him, his agent Liang Heming and assistant Douzi were each in charge of a laptop computer, each doing their own job.

"Why are you hugging her? Huh? Why are you hugging her for no reason?!"

Liang Heming was typing away on the keyboard, arranging instructions for various departments to continue their public relations work, while at the same time he was staring at the candid photos of the chapters that were going viral on the Internet on the screen, feeling extremely anxious.

Liang Heming has been in the industry for more than ten years and has already secured his position as the top agent by virtue of his long-accumulated resources and connections as well as his decisive and efficient approach.

There was no command-and-obedience relationship between him and Song Yecheng, as there is between most agents and artists. Their collaboration, which hit it off immediately, was seen in the industry as a real combination of strengths and mutual achievement. In addition, with Song Yecheng's background, few people dared to use him as a target to stir up trouble in recent years. Liang Heming almost never had to worry about dealing with his scandals and negative news.

However, what he never expected was that Song Yecheng, this ancestor, was someone who would make a big splash if he didn't make a sound. He had been walking steadily for so many years, but suddenly he was exposed and caused such a huge storm.

The other protagonist who was secretly photographed this time is Tang Yao, an actress who has just emerged in the past two years. Her appearance and acting skills are impeccable, but due to lack of resources, she has been struggling in the supporting role position for several years. It was not until last year that she finally got the first female lead in her acting career and starred in the movie "Heaven Will Snow" with Song Yecheng.

This was also her only intersection with Song Yecheng.

It stands to reason that during the entire process of filming a movie, right up to its promotion and release, it is common practice to use the method of bundling CPs to create topics and hype up the film. What's more, being able to hype up the film together with the big Buddha Song Yecheng is something that many young actors dream of.

But Liang Heming clearly remembers that when the film team wanted them to cooperate in hyping up the scandal, it was Tang Yao herself who took the initiative to refuse to be tied in - she said apologetically that she did not want to rely on hype to attract attention, but only wanted to gain recognition through her strength and acting skills.

These words may seem a bit naive and immature, but it has to be said that they also show a rare calm mentality in the circle.

Because of this, Liang Heming had been impressed by this girl for quite some time, and even Song Yecheng expressed his admiration and encouragement for her without reservation.

However, no one expected that not long after the film was completed, the scandal came out of the blue in such an explosive way, and even a public relations veteran like Liang Heming was caught off guard.

Of course he knew that Song Yecheng couldn't really have anything to do with Tang Yao, but in the leaked candid photos, Song Yecheng's intimate posture with his arm around her shoulders was truly unbelievable.

"Hello!"

Seeing that Song Yecheng didn't respond for a long time, Liang Heming was furious: "I'm asking you a question, ancestor! What were you observing that night? Was there Halley's Comet in the sky?!"

Douzi shrank his neck when he yelled at him, and hurriedly stood up to pour him a glass of water and handed it to him: "Brother Ming, Brother Ming, calm down, calm down."

Song Yecheng turned his head in front of the French window, as if he had just come back to his senses from a trance: "What?"

"I'm asking you why you hugged her!" Liang Heming took a sip from his water cup, wiped his mouth, and said, "Also, why did you two meet?"

"Oh, I talked to her about something."

Song Yecheng responded nonchalantly, and walked towards the sofa while saying: "No, she twisted her ankle and I helped her up."

Liang Heming was so shocked by this melodramatic plot that his mouth twitched, but after zooming in on the picture and taking a closer look, he indeed found that the posture was more like supporting from behind than hugging, but it seemed a bit ambiguous because of the angle.

But this explanation is simply unable to silence the public's gossip, because the time and place alone are enough to make people imagine endlessly.

"Why do we have to talk about this so late at night? And why do we have to choose a place like Nanhu? Are you worried that the paparazzi won't be able to take good pictures?"

Liang Heming simply couldn't imagine how Song Yecheng, a hardcore player who had been in the circle for more than ten years, could be so unguarded. He also couldn't imagine why he had to meet Tang Yao in the middle of the night at Nanhu Park, a recognized dating spot.

Before Song Yecheng could answer, the clarification statement prepared by the public relations department was sent over. Liang Heming read it word by word, revised a few sentences, and turned the screen to Song Yecheng: "Forget it, take a look at this first. If there is no problem, we will send it directly."

Song Yecheng glanced through it hastily and said indifferently: "Okay, you decide. You can refer to the movie more later. Don't you want to hype it up anyway?"

Liang Heming was stunned for a moment, then immediately thought this was ridiculous. "How can this be the same?! The movie hype was a well-prepared battle, with press releases and online trolls ready to go at any moment! What the hell is this? This is a fucking impromptu uprising! They even have to make up a battle plan on the fly!"

"Tsk, don't be so modest."

Song Yecheng leaned back on the sofa, raised his chin mischievously and said, "Whether you make it up now or not, it's a piece of cake for you, Brother Ming. Believe in yourself, you can do it, Brother Ming."

Seeing him still act so nonchalant, as if nothing had happened to him, Liang Heming was practically laughing. "No, I'm really impressed. Do you have any idea how much of an impact this kind of thing has on the fan community? Can you at least show a bit of urgency as someone involved? Can you at least politely show that you care?"

Song Yecheng seemed to find it quite funny. He touched his nose, stood up, propped his elbows on his knees, and stretched out a finger. He said, "First of all, I'm an actor, not a traffic star. I don't need to rely on popularity to grab resources. Don't say it's just a rumor. Even if the relationship is really exposed, it's not a disaster."

Liang Heming thought to himself that your traffic was obviously higher than the other person's real traffic, but he didn't argue with them. Instead, he asked, "Who's second?"

"Secondly," Song Yecheng raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "I'm almost 30, and I don't have any plans to remain chaste for the sake of my career and live a lonely life. I'm going to have a relationship sooner or later, and I can't hide it. It will have to be made public sooner or later. If you really want to stop following me just because I'm in a relationship, then it doesn't matter whether you stop following me sooner or later. It's not a bad thing to take advantage of the scandal to get some desensitization treatment."

"Tsk, what a character." Liang Heming sneered in anger and amusement, but he also admitted that there was some truth in what he said.

Song Yecheng's family background determines that he does not need to pursue "maximum benefits" in everything. Putting these aside, his appearance, acting skills, achievements and reputation alone have already destined him to have no shortage of resources in the next few years or even decades - as long as he does not commit principled mistakes such as drug abuse, prostitution, domestic violence, and infidelity.

As an agent, it is Liang Heming's professional inertia to avoid all unfavorable factors that may have a negative impact on the artists, but he actually knows very well that Song Yecheng knows the rules of the circle as well as he does, and he is also quite opinionated about his career planning. Although his actions are sometimes a little unexpected, it is precisely this style of doing things that makes him have a unique personal charm.

Liang Heming glanced at him sideways, and said half helplessly and half teasingly, "Is there a third one?"

"third--"

Song Yecheng looked at him steadily: "Did you forget that this book is still on the trending search?"

After being reminded by him, Liang Heming suddenly remembered that there was such a thing as "divine prophecy". He immediately turned his attention back to the computer with a "tsk" sound and followed the latest developments. He felt that tonight was really a double whammy, which was extremely annoying.

At the same time, Douzi next to him hurriedly raised his hand and reported, "Brother Cheng, Brother Cheng, I've screened the list you asked me to check before, and there are no duplicates among the staff members who participated in those activities."

Song Yecheng nodded.

As soon as he got off the plane, he asked Douzi to contact the persons in charge of several events mentioned in the online article and asked them for the list of staff who participated in the events at that time, to see if there were any overlaps.

But he didn't actually hold out much hope. After all, most of those activities were public in nature, and some staff were even hired temporarily. Not everyone who appeared on the scene would be on the list.

"Well," Douzi suddenly spoke again, licking his lips nervously, "Actually... there are some repetitions."

"Hmm?" Song Yecheng raised his eyebrows and looked at him. Liang Heming next to him also turned his head to look over curiously.

Douzi looked worried and hesitated, "If I must say... there is one."

When Song Yecheng saw his expression, he immediately reacted: "You, right?"

Douzi nodded slowly with a serious expression on his face, and Liang Heming immediately rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Come on," Song Yecheng sneered, "If you could know the film festival award results before me, then you wouldn't have to call me Brother Cheng anymore. I'd have to call you Brother Dou."

Douzi nodded repeatedly as if he had been saved, "That's right, I'm not that capable!"

Song Yecheng didn't dwell on this point anymore. He took out his phone and continued to ask, "What did Yundian say?"

Douzi said hurriedly, "Oh, I called them too. The book's release date is indeed correct, and there's no sign of modification to the content. There's no contract or fee, and the author hasn't left any real-name information. The IP address is on record, but they can't mention it over the phone. It could easily give them a handle. If we want to get it, we'll probably have to go through the proper procedures. Or... should we try private channels?"

Song Yecheng glanced at him. The so-called "private channel" was naturally an unconventional means that was not obvious. He did have this means, but he just didn't want to use it at the moment.

Compared to knowing the other party's identity or even address, Song Yecheng wants to know more about the way and purpose of the other party's "prediction". These two points cannot be seen from the IP alone. If the other party does not want to disclose it, it is meaningless even if you go to their door. Maybe they will become more resistant because your methods are too tough.

As Song Yecheng was thinking, he clicked on the hot search and scrolled down. Suddenly, he saw a Weibo post calling on @810 to come out and explain. He clicked on it according to the nickname and couldn't help but exclaimed "Oh!" in his heart.

Is this really the author’s Weibo?

After hesitating for a moment, he decisively clicked on the other party's private message and sent a message:

【Hey buddy, can we meet? 】

He sent it, but he didn't expect a reply. After sending it, he glanced at the time on the screen and found that it was past midnight. He looked up and asked, "Are you two sleepy?"

Liang Heming looked at him expressionlessly and thought to himself, even if I'm sleepy, what can I do if I go to sleep now?

Douzi shook his head energetically: "Not sleepy, not sleepy. Brother Cheng, are you hungry? How about I order some takeout? Brother Ming, do you want to eat?"

Song Yecheng was about to say no when he heard Liang Heming's stomach growl in agreement. He immediately changed his tone and said with a smile, "Order—order your brother Ming a bitter melon and radish combo meal to reduce internal heat. This will prevent him from losing control of his primordial power and scolding us again."

"Get lost," Liang Heming rolled his eyes and turned to order, "Order me a lobster risotto and an iced Americano. I don't think I'll be able to sleep the rest of the night, so just stay up."

"Okay!" Douzi agreed readily, ordered the food with great skill, and looked at Song Yecheng and said, "Brother Cheng, how about you?"

Just as Song Yecheng was about to answer, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a message flashing in the dialog box on his phone screen that he had not closed just now, and he quickly looked down.

The next second, he stood up suddenly, holding the phone——

"No more eating, Douzi. Come on, come with me."