Chapter 90
Seeing Qin Fei walk in, Lin Ting unconsciously stood up. It seemed that facing Qin Fei always made Lin Ting feel a lot of pressure, like a huge rock pressing on her heart, heavy and making it hard to breathe.
Qin Fei noticed the change in Lin Ting's expression and saw wariness in her eyes. She snorted inwardly, unable to understand why Chen Zhiyi would be so infatuated with a girl who couldn't help her at all and had caused her so much trouble.
"Don't worry, I'm here to resolve this." Qin Fei took a stack of documents out of her bag and placed them on the coffee table. "I've contacted the person who leaked the information, and we've reached an agreement. He will delete that photo."
Chen Zhiyi asked in disbelief, "Sister Fei, how did you get in touch with her?"
“I have a lot of connections, finding someone isn’t difficult.” After saying that, Qin Fei glanced at Lin Ting out of the corner of her eye. Lin Ting clearly felt the contempt in that gaze, and his heart sank even further, his eyes filled with desolation.
Qin Fei: "I have already asked the public relations department to write a clarification statement, and I have also contacted the public relations department of M Group. They will only admit that you have a cooperative relationship and no other relationship. If you continue to spread rumors, we will sue and send a lawyer's letter."
In Chen Zhiyi's eyes, these were all routine procedures, useful but with minimal effect, ultimately relying on time to fade the hype. But would this actually reduce the buzz? "Wouldn't it backfire?"
Qin Fei: "Then let's shift the focus."
Lin didn't understand, and asked weakly, "What does that mean?"
Qin Fei: "After we release our public relations statement, Weibo will remove the topics and trending searches related to you, and at the same time, put the news of Sun Ziyan and Xia Minghan's relationship on the trending searches."
"Are they willing?" Chen Zhiyi didn't understand. There were rumors in the industry, but they hadn't been confirmed. After all, to outsiders, it seemed like a one-night stand, a casual relationship. How could the heir of a conglomerate fall in love with a singing and dancing idol?
After all, there's only one Chen Zhiyi.
Qin Fei: "Sun Ziyan is pregnant. Do you think she would be unwilling? Or is she eager to go public and marry into a wealthy family to achieve upward social mobility?"
Sun Ziyan, a female idol who emerged from a girl group talent show two years ago, is beautiful and has a sweet voice. She has always been the most popular member of the team. Xia Minghan, the second young master of the Ocean Warehousing and Logistics Group, is also the manager of the ME e-sports team. The two started a secret relationship after a brief encounter at the LPL finals last year. They have been photographed on dates and being affectionate on multiple occasions, but Xia Minghan has never made the relationship public due to his family's influence.
After all, such wealthy families would look down on Sun Ziyan. This kind of idol from a girl group is good for nothing except being pretty.
Chen Zhiyi: "So you found Sun Ziyan and asked her to come forward and announce her relationship. But have you thought about what kind of storm she will face? Can she withstand the power of Xia Minghan's family? And the pressure of public opinion on her? A current girl group idol being exposed for being pregnant out of wedlock is enough to ruin her life."
Qin Fei retorted, "The one responsible for ruining her life isn't us, but Xia Minghan hiding behind the scenes. And Sun Ziyan knew that there was a huge gap between her and Xia Minghan in every aspect, so why did she still get involved? Wasn't it because she overestimated herself and let her desires corrupt her mind? If she had been a little more clear-headed and had any self-awareness, she wouldn't have ended up like this. So don't be unaware of your own class and status, thinking that you can rise to the top through a little romance. In the end, it's all just a pipe dream, and you've ruined yourself."
Lin could tell that she was being indirectly insulted, implying that she might become the next Sun Ziyan. She clenched her fists.
Chen Zhiyi couldn't bear it; he didn't want to solve his predicament at the expense of others' suffering. "I always felt that dragging Sun Ziyan out as a scapegoat would harm her."
Qin Fei patted his shoulder, "Maybe this can help her? We have to force Xia Minghan to come out and give her a proper status, and give the child in her belly a home. If Sun Ziyan had any other way, I don't think she would agree to do this. Now that things have come to this, maybe she will get the result she wants, and it will also resolve your crisis."
Chen Zhiyi stopped arguing and tacitly accepted the solution. He hoped that God would be on their side this time, allowing for a mutually agreeable outcome.
Starting in the early hours of the morning, Weibo began removing the trending topics. It wasn't removed all at once; the topics remained on the trending list, just ranked lower. Removing them immediately would have been too obvious, essentially telling netizens that Chen Zhiyi had paid to remove the trending topics, showing his guilty conscience.
Then the online trolls joined in, digging up various behind-the-scenes photos from the film set and photos taken by obsessive fans, proving that Chen Zhiyi was either filming on set or on his way to filming, working all day long with absolutely no time for personal entertainment. His fans are very familiar with his RV and Porsche, even remembering the license plate numbers, so they could recognize him even in photos where only the car was visible. Seeing this, everyone sighed at how bland and pitiful his life seemed. Aside from Zhang Ke and the occasionally seen Qin Fei, he indeed had no other women around him. It turns out that the life of a movie star is just a kind of spiritual practice in the entertainment industry, with absolutely no joy in life.
Some female fans even felt sorry for him, suggesting that he should start dating, saying that his life was too boring and they were afraid he would become depressed.
Yeah, it's making me depressed too. They're so rich and still work so hard. No wonder I'm just a salted fish who can't turn my life around.
Public opinion has begun to reverse.
The rumors continued until 9 a.m., when Chen Zhiyi issued a statement claiming that everything was fabricated, that Mr. Chen Zhiyi was still single and focused on his work, and that he would share any romantic relationships with his fans if he did so. He asked everyone not to believe or spread rumors, and that the person who started the rumors had deleted the post and apologized.
Indeed, the blogger has deleted the photos and written a handwritten apology letter, stating that it was a shady operation to gain followers and traffic, that the photos were photoshopped, and that they were blurred because there were no actual photos. The blogger apologized to Chen Zhiyi and netizens, and that he had turned himself in to the police and was willing to accept any punishment. He also attached a copy of the police's penalty notice, which stated that he was detained for fifteen days.
Not long after, M Group will issue a statement clarifying that Mr. Chen Zhiyi and our employee Lin Ting have only a working relationship, and all their interactions and events are work-related and unrelated. If anyone spreads rumors, we will take legal action to protect our employee's reputation.
After a round of public relations efforts, public opinion completely reversed, with netizens widely reposting the studio's statement, emphasizing not spreading or believing rumors, and relying on official information.
Chen Zhiyi's fans immediately stood up for themselves, praising the studio for finally showing some respect. They called it a perfect public relations effort, with solid evidence and the official PR document completely shattering the rumors and leaving no room for doubt.
At noon, the hashtag "Sun Ziyan is pregnant out of wedlock" topped the trending search list, and soon other related hashtags such as "the child's father is suspected to be Xia Minghan" and "Sun Ziyan and Xia Minghan's relationship has been officially exposed" swept across the entire trending search list.
This is truly a sensational scandal: a second-generation rich kid has a secret affair with a popular female celebrity, who is pregnant out of wedlock and uses the child to climb the social ladder in order to marry into the wealthy family. This is straight out of a rich family novel. Instantly, all the attention turned to them, and all kinds of media platforms were filled with headlines about them. The hype continued unabated, and even made it onto foreign websites.
The result was obvious. Everyone felt sorry for Sun Ziyan, especially the group's fans. The worst thing for a rising group is when one of its members goes astray and becomes a rotten apple. Right now, Sun Ziyan is that rotten apple. Her career is over, and whether the group can continue is also unknown.
Therefore, being love-struck is a bad thing. If this exposure can get Xia Minghan to give her a formal title, it will be a success. But if Xia Minghan continues to remain silent, she will have lost both her career and reputation.
The only positive effect of this unexpected "storm" was that it caused the stock of Ocean Shipping Group, which had been sluggish for some time, to rise sharply due to the scandal involving the heir, hitting the daily limit.
Perhaps because of the rising stock price, or perhaps because of the high level of attention, at 5 PM, Xia Minghan registered a personal Weibo account, acknowledging his relationship with Sun Ziyan and stating that he would take responsibility for Ziyan and the child in her womb, and would give them a complete family.
Not long after, the official Weibo account of Sino-Ocean Group reposted Xia Minghan's post, and the two words "blessing" indicated that the wealthy family had approved of the matter and acknowledged the existence of Sun Ziyan and the child.
Later, Xia Minghan was photographed accompanying Sun Ziyan to a prenatal checkup and buying maternity and baby products, which calmed the storm down. Unfortunately, the group issued a statement saying that Sun Ziyan was leaving the group for personal reasons, while the others continued to exist as a group.
Whether this gamble was right or wrong for Sun Ziyan remains to be seen.
Lin Ting felt deeply guilty about this. She felt like a bloodless killer, pushing a pregnant woman in need of protection into the eye of the storm just to ensure her own safety. The inner remorse caused her to be distracted and make mistakes at work for several days in a row, and she suffered from insomnia at night. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Sun Ziyan surrounded by the media, her cheeks wet with tears even though she was wearing sunglasses, and she could only shake her head in response to the reporters' questions.
When she was tossing and turning in bed again, unable to sleep, Chen Zhiyi held her hand in bed.
Lin Ting turned to face him, "Am I bothering you?"
"No."
Lin Ting sighed, "I'm sorry, I..."
Chen Zhiyi stroked her temple, "No need to apologize. I know how upset and guilty you feel, and so do I. In the end, the ending is good, isn't it? Although it was indeed uncontrollable at the beginning, and Sun Ziyan suffered a lot of cyberbullying, the ending is what we wanted, and it's what she wanted too. I think she is happy. There are gains and losses, that's life."
Will she regret it?
"Probably not. Like Sister Fei said, if she were going to regret it, she would have rejected Xia Minghan's advances in the first place. She knows how much of Xia Minghan's love for her is lust, how much is desire, and how much is true love. She also knows whether she loves class and wealth more or Xia Minghan more. In any case, she has already taken a step toward the class she wants to climb. Whether she can take another step is up to her."
"Qin Fei's statement, 'So don't be unaware of your own class and status, thinking that you can rise to the top through a little romance, only to end up with a pipe dream and ruin yourself,' always felt like she was subtly mocking me?"
“Nonsense. Don’t try to apply every situation to us. The biggest difference between us and them is that I don’t need you to enter my world. I yearn for your world more. I’m the one who has always followed in your footsteps.”
"Come closer." Lin Ting rested her head on his arm, burying her head in his chest. Chen Zhiyi gently patted her back and coaxed her softly, "Anyway, it's all in the past, so don't think about it anymore. Get some sleep. There's a new round of competition recording coming up soon. How can you win without good energy? People are selfish, God will understand, okay?"
"good."
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