Caught in Affairs with Superstar-Chapter 118: The Beginning of the Scandal

If you pay a little more attention to the entertainment industry, you will actually discover an undeniable reality.

Beautiful female celebrities always garner more attention and heat than their handsome male counterparts, but the expectations placed on them are often higher than on male celebrities.

This can’t simply be summarized as gender discrimination; rather, it has become a social norm over the years, gradually forming an atmosphere that is both modern yet implicitly contains certain regressive thoughts.

Women can be sexy, charming, flirtatious, attractive to all, but they must be clean. "She has slept with many" is a common accusation, a remark you might hear in your own circles. Is there evidence? Not necessarily. Is it true? No one knows. But such rumors spread, and then the colored glasses are put on. You see her working overtime until late at night, you say, "That’s hard." You see her achieve outstanding results, you say, "That’s amazing." You see her get promoted and get a raise, you click your tongue.

In such an environment, not everyone turns a blind eye; they often choose to ignore it simply because it seems intractable.

Zhou Yun was angry because a girl accused a director and then, with a vague comment such as "he always lures unknown female artists to sleep with him by promising longer screen time," the whole thing blew up, casting aspersions on every female artist.

Shouldn’t you have evidence before making such statements?

Where’s the evidence?

There is no evidence. I didn’t say you definitely slept with him, just that there’s a possibility. It wasn’t me who said it, go find the person who did. And why are you getting so agitated? Others aren’t as agitated as you.

Zhou Yun browsed the internet, whether it was Weibo, Zhihu, Douban, or other social platforms, they were all discussing this matter.

Because of this, all sorts of strange creatures appeared and stayed up late to draft articles. They did a big roundup of every female celebrity that had come into contact with Zhao Qin.

How lively.

Her frequency of appearance was the highest, and her name often appeared in titles. As the hottest female artist of the moment, she captured the clicks of netizens.

A sleepless night.

And early the next morning, there was work to do.

Backstage, during makeup, Zhou Yun could feel the occasional strange look from the staff.

Their looks conveyed a meaning that was clear without words.

There were several artists attending the event, but she was the hottest one right now.

As arranged by the organizers, she would appear in the last segment. Zhou Yun guessed that in the current situation, she could easily receive disapproval, so she didn’t go out early and waited until the staff came to remind her before following them out.

Stepping onto the stage, indeed, there was a murmur from below, quickly covered by a burst of cheers.

Probably plants arranged by the organizers.

Zhou Yun also felt sorry that the original intention was to use her to promote a new product, but now, the controversy surrounding her had stolen everyone’s attention.

Zhou Yun had to adjust herself and buried all her emotions deep inside, maintaining a bright smile on stage, cooperating with the host to promote the new product.

After getting off the stage, she sat in the chair prepared for her by the organizers.

As soon as she sat down, she heard a low, sarcastic voice: "She even has the nerve to show up, if it were me, I would be too ashamed to leave my house."

Zhou Yun looked towards the direction of the voice but couldn’t identify who had spoken.

Someone noticed her gaze, turned their head to look over, locked eyes with her, and smiled amiably.

Zhou Yun returned the smile.

But her heart felt a prick, causing her discomfort.

Zhou Yun originally thought that the matter would gradually fade away. How could a scandal without any factual evidence continue to gain traction?

But she underestimated the power of rumors.

The rumors about Zhou Yun sleeping with Zhao Qin for resources grew more fierce.

Zhou Lan came to Zhou Yun’s apartment in a rush, with a serious expression, saying, "Several parties are out of the scene; they are all instigating behind the scenes, wanting to use this storm to bring you down."

During this period, Zhou Yun was too popular, arousing envy. It was natural that many female artists harbored jealousy and wanted to take the opportunity to knock her down.

But for Zhou Yun, this was a major crisis.

Amidst the instigation by those with ulterior motives, the rumors swept across the internet with such momentum that they almost nailed Zhou Yun directly onto a pillar of shame.

Zhou Yun asked, "What about the company’s PR?"

"They’re trying to pull it off the hot search, but there are quite a few people involved, and the company can’t hold them off," Zhou Lan said. "I contacted some familiar self-media, and they all told me that someone has offered them a lot of money."

"Who?"

"Of course, they wouldn’t tell me, but this thing is getting bigger and bigger, and we haven’t responded at all. The PR department said that tonight they would issue a statement in the name of the company to deny the rumor."

"It should have been responded to a long time ago," Zhou Yun said.

Zhou Lan: "The focus wasn’t just on you before; if we had responded then, it would have drawn all the attention to you. Now it’s different."

Zhou Lan’s explanation made sense.

Zhou Yun asked, "After the statement, what do we do? Can a statement stop the online discourse?"

Zhou Lan said, "To put it bluntly, we are being implicated. To prove we haven’t done anything is difficult. In this situation, we either need to break a bigger story to shift everyone’s attention away from this one, or we have to come up with concrete proof to shut up those who are slandering us."

"What’s the real deal with Zhao Qin?"

"In fact, that girl’s exposé had already been rumored within the industry," Zhou Lan sighed. "Zhao Qin, holding the trump card show ’Geology Talk’ for years, has indeed slept with quite a few female artists, but truth be told, everyone thought these were consensual encounters, not realizing Zhao Qin was actually coercing them."

"That’s disgusting, such a person," Zhou Yun said.

Zhou Lan continued, "And remember the last time they were supposed to record ’Geology Talk’, and Zhao Qin suddenly went to the hospital? I saw a revelation online, not sure if it’s true or not, but apparently, the reason Zhao Qin abruptly went to the hospital, causing the show’s production to be postponed, was because he tried to force himself on someone and ended up getting hit on the head, bleeding profusely."

Zhou Yun’s eyes widened in shock.

"Is it true?"

"I don’t know if it’s true or not; it’s just something that exploded online."

At that moment, Zhou Yun’s phone rang.

Song Chi called.

At the same time, Zhou Lan’s phone also rang, unknown who it was from.

The two looked at each other and smiled helplessly, each answering their calls.

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