Chapter 75 Trending Topics: Early Marriage, Another Scheme
When Song Ying and Qin Shu came out of the elevator, everyone else was already in place.
"Miss Song, you've got quite the airs, making the entire production crew wait for you. What, you've gotten a little attention and you're already getting cocky?"
Xu Lanyan spoke in a joking tone, but what she said was anything but a joke.
"7:59, Miss Xu."
Qin Shu stretched out his arm, glanced at his watch, and held it up to Xu Lanyan. "I suggest you find a more reliable timekeeping device, or perhaps check your eyes."
Xu Lanyan dared to speak her mind to Song Ying, but she still had some reservations about Qin Shu.
Holding his breath, he could only let out a cold snort and turn away.
Song Ying glanced at her but ignored her.
After a long talk with Jin Yifan, director Zhuo Rui now looked at Qin Shu with a bit of guilt.
"Well, we'll officially start filming at 8:00 AM, and from now on it will be from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. We won't be doing any more surprise attacks early in the morning... Thank you all for your cooperation these past two days. Now, let's talk about today's mission."
"Wait, director!"
Zhao Qingluo raised her hand, "Didn't you say that you would announce yesterday's voting results before the broadcast today?"
"Oh right, I almost forgot!" Director Zhuo slapped his forehead and opened Weibo. "Yesterday's voting results, Song... wait?!"
"What's wrong?"
Zhao Qingluo was waiting for the result, but the director suddenly fell silent.
Zhao Qingluo was puzzled, so she directly opened her phone.
His eyes lit up.
"Hey, our group got the most votes!"
However, she soon realized that something was wrong.
"Wait a minute, the rate at which these votes are increasing is so strange—someone is rigging our votes!"
Viewers who were watching the live stream quickly rushed to the official Weibo voting link after hearing about the vote-rigging.
As expected, the number of votes for "Qing Jun Yi Shi" increased at an extremely strange speed. Clicking in and out, the number increased by 10,000 to 20,000 in an instant.
And it's still skyrocketing.
"What exactly is going on?"
Zhao Qingluo was astonished. "This is not scientific!"
[Qinglu is such an honest child. Everyone else is hoping for a high number of votes, but when she found out, she actually shouted it out. It cracked me up.]
[Admitting to vote rigging, isn't this just dragging down our Best Actor Gu?]
[The person upstairs must be a hater of Actor Gu! Everyone in the industry knows that Actor Gu is unassuming, unambitious, and has had absolutely no scandals since his debut. Why would he need to falsify data in such a trivial game? Qingluo dared to say it, proving that she has a clear conscience!]
[+1 Gu Yingdi, a five-year die-hard fan, says he really likes Zhao Qingluo!]
Look at the comments section, it seems someone is stirring up trouble!
It wasn't just the comments section; the show's staff and guests also noticed.
The first to realize this was actually Zhuo Rui.
He had checked the voting results half an hour before Song Ying and the others came down, so he would have a general idea of what was going on.
Sometimes, curiosity has its advantages.
For example, back then, the votes for the winning/losing couple were more than 100,000 ahead of the Qingjun Yishi couple.
Therefore, Zhuo Rui assumed that Song Ying and Qin Shu were the winners of yesterday's vote, and he almost said it out loud just now.
Who knew that when we checked again now, the vote count had completely reversed.
Zhuo Rui was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
The reason is self-evident; it's clear from the comments section:
"Qin Shu is handsome and rich, no wonder he fell for Song Ying, a nobody. Turns out he's got it all in bed, tsk tsk tsk!"
"Some people are really good at pretending; they have two faces, one in front of others and one behind their backs. If it weren't for the video, who would have guessed that she was actually like this?"
"Excuse me, how much does this woman cost for a night?"
"If the sassy and provocative Song Ying wins, the Chinese entertainment industry is finished!"
Brothers and sisters with votes, quickly cast your ballots for "Love You Forever"!
"What idiots are these people talking about!"
Zhao Qinglu was absolutely furious.
Soon, she saw the trending video.
"Director, who released this video? Have you investigated? Didn't Brother Shu say at the end of the video that it shouldn't be released? How did it still get leaked?"
"Can't your production team do anything right? Videos taken outside of recording time should be considered the guests' privacy, right? Isn't this just deliberately making things difficult for them?"
Zhao Qinglu asked a series of questions, and the cameraman subconsciously looked at the director.
The director, on the other hand, felt uneasy.
He hadn't expected it to turn out this way.
It was originally just to gain some attention...
"Ahem, I'll definitely investigate this video thoroughly. Due to time constraints... how about we assign today's tasks first? At least we shouldn't delay filming!"
With a sneer, Song Ying stepped forward.
"Director Zhuo, do you think this news won't affect filming?"
"We're not affected at all. If you really want to talk about any impact... Miss Song, are you talking about yourself?" Xu Lanyan looked over with schadenfreude. "If you knew this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?"
Song Ying glanced at Xu Lanyan, and finally looked at Zhuo Rui.
"Does Director Zhuo think so too?"
How could Zhuo Rui dare to think that way?
If we really look at what happened today, he has to bear the main responsibility...
Before, he wouldn't have taken it seriously, but after talking to the sharp-tongued lawyer Jin Yifan, he doesn't dare to act recklessly at all now.
Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Zhuo Rui sighed and stepped forward with a stiff upper lip.
"Ms. Song, Mr. Qin, our production team was at fault today. We apologize for the trouble we have caused you."
As he spoke, Director Zhuo bowed in front of the camera, “Ms. Zhao is right. This video is indeed a private video taken during private time. It was inappropriate for us to release it without the consent of the parties involved. We are deeply sorry for the trouble this has caused Ms. Song and Mr. Qin! On behalf of the program team, I apologize to Ms. Song and Mr. Qin. We are sorry!”
Perhaps because he had experienced Jin Yifan's beating, Zhuo Rui's apology seemed quite sincere.
Song Ying glanced at him.
"Is Director Zhuo finished speaking?"
"It's...it's all over."
Zhuo Rui touched his nose guiltily.
"Now that Director Zhuo has finished speaking, let me speak next."
As she said this, Song Ying picked up her phone and waved it in front of the camera.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you all, but I haven't had a chance yet. Today, taking advantage of the live stream and some trending topics, I'll finally get around to talking about it."
Song Ying opened Weibo and posted the content that Sister Hong had edited.
Then she took Qin Shu's hand and waved it at the camera.
"Excuse me, let me reintroduce you all—this is my husband, Qin Shu, Mr. Qin."
"Due to company contract restrictions, we were unable to tell everyone that we were married and only said that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I am very sorry for this."
"However, now that some people don't approve of our good relationship, I'll risk breaching my contract to tell them—thank you for your concern, my marriage is stable, we're deeply in love, and inseparable. If you can't accept it..."
"Then please hold it in!"
As she said this, Song Ying's gaze swept over everyone, finally looking through the camera at everyone in front of the live stream, and even more so at Xu Lanyan on the other side of the camera, who was surprised that she dared to go public.
"I am willing to bear the consequences of my secret marriage alone."
"However, we will investigate thoroughly how this video was leaked, who took our photos without our consent, and who is stirring up trouble online. We will hold everyone accountable to the end."
Song Ying's words struck like a thunderbolt.
The live chat exploded instantly.
The trending topics exploded.
[Holy crap!! Married?! Not just boyfriend and girlfriend, but married?!]
[Song Ying is only 24 years old, and she's already married?! Is this what they call early marriage at a young age?!]
My wife belongs to someone else, I have no chance QAQ
[I've been single for 28 years and I'm so envious I could cry, but the couple I'm shipping is real, and it seems pretty good too.]
[Are you two being too conscientious? I don't even need to help you with the marriage registration.]
[Back when we were filming "Detective Love," I heard Brother Shu call Sister Ying "wife," and I always thought it was a term of endearment. I never imagined that his wife was his real wife, while my wife is the one in the wife cake _(:з」∠)_]
[You traitor Cao, I'll remember your grudge of stealing my wife!]
The online public opinion and bullet comments took an unexpected turn. Most of them did not mock, insult, or accuse Song Ying of deception.
The normal reaction would be shock, followed by blessings and envy.
Besides the haters who previously stirred up trouble and accused Song Ying of indecent behavior.
[So what if he's her husband? They flirt in public, not at home, it's an eyesore! Doesn't he have any sense of public decency?!]
[Pretending to be single when already married, deceiving the audience, and reaping the benefits while still having the nerve to admit it?]
[Anyway, Song Ying is definitely not a good person!]
But this time, normal netizens are very clear-headed.
The ones lacking public morality aren't the young couple, but rather certain people who secretly film and record others. Some people have truly mastered the victim-blaming narrative.
[I can't understand whose interests Song Ying has threatened. Is this some kind of 'exploitation' measure?]
[After looking around, all I see are comments criticizing Song Ying. I really don't understand why there's so much malice towards a girl. There are plenty of male celebrities who get hungovers, and plenty of female celebrities who have acted out when drunk. Why is it that everything Song Ying does is wrong?]
Song Ying's fan club also promptly released the latest data:
Since her comeback, Song Ying has only taken on two dramas, "Que Ge" and "Kuang Lan," both part of a lucrative contract with Shengshi Media. She has zero other acting offers, zero advertising deals, zero endorsements, and only has appeared on dating reality shows like "Detective Love" and "Princess's Romance." All of these dating reality shows seem designed to generate buzz by featuring winning or losing couples. What benefits has Song Ying gained from her secret marriage? If she really wanted to create hype, simply revealing her marriage would have been far more effective than revealing she had a boyfriend!
With all the data laid out clearly, everyone realized that Song Ying, who seemed to have been popular for a while, was actually doing so poorly.
She clearly has acting skills, good looks, talent, and a background that others can't match.
But looking at it this way, it's actually worse than some obscure, unknown celebrities; it's even fallen to the twentieth tier or lower.
Is Song Ying the most tragic female celebrity in the Chinese entertainment industry?
What should I do? I'm thinking of crowdfunding to buy advertising space for my daughter Yingbao. I can't let my child suffer, no matter how tough things get. QAQ
Seeing the comments online, Sister Hong, who had been somewhat worried, finally felt relieved.
Song Ying doesn't care what netizens say; to her, she's just doing what she thinks is right.
But the more frank and fearless she was, the more intense the fire of resentment burned in Xu Lanyan's heart.
His fists were clenched tightly at his sides.
Xu Lanyan stared intently at Song Ying.
She never expected that Song Ying would risk ruining her future by announcing that she was married.
What's even more surprising is that netizens these days are so accepting of the fact that their idols are married.
In Xu Lanyan's mind, since Song Ying did not receive help from the Qin family, her status as Qin Shu's wife was of no use to her.
Only by clinging tightly to the label of being unmarried can one gain more opportunities.
Therefore, when Xu Lanyan released the photo of the two entering a room together, she had already planned her subsequent scheme to smear Song Ying.
—Song Ying dared not reveal that she was married. So once everyone found out that Qin Shu was the Crown Prince Qin, her childhood sweetheart, and that Song Ying had interfered in her relationship with Qin Shu, she would be unable to clear her name no matter what.
But now, Song Ying has actually exposed herself.
If that's the case, then don't force her to take action...
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