Caught in Affairs with Superstar-Chapter 280 - 242: Rise Phase: 78

Zhou Yun’s words left He Yong speechless and choking, unable to utter a single word.

Zhou Lan, holding back a laugh, smoothed things over, saying, "President He, Xiao Yun is also tired, I’ll take her back first."

He Yong wiped his sweat and said, "Okay."

After leaving, Zhou Lan said quietly, "You were a bit too harsh on him just now, there were so many people around."

Zhou Yun said, "There was no one around just now."

Zhou Lan asked, "What did Li Ci do just now that made you so angry?"

Zhou Yun recounted the incident to Zhou Lan.

"Do you think he has a problem with his brain?"

Zhou Lan looked extremely shocked, as if he found it somewhat unbelievable, and said, "Li Ci has never been so outrageous before, I’ve never heard of anything like this."

Zhou Yun curled his lip, his expression laced with a hint of mockery.

"Tonight, there are many people and chaos, the scene just now might be interpreted in other ways. I still need to work on a PR plan for you, just in case rumors about you and Li Ci spread, it would cause a big stir." Zhou Lan, anxious, said, "Ah, I only hope my worries are unnecessary. Li Ci’s fans are crazier than Song Chi’s fans; every female celebrity linked with rumors with Li Ci has been completely obliterated by his fans, Xu Siyao’s super-topic is still occupied by Li Ci’s fans, they curse at Xu Siyao every day there."

"Mad dogs."

"You need to be careful, these kinds of words absolutely must not be overheard by others," Zhou Lan reminded, sighing again with a frown, "Li Ci’s mouth is really foul, talking about real and fake couples. Now I’m even more afraid that someone will use his words to speculate that you and Song Chi are just a publicity stunt couple."

Zhou Yun: "Let them talk."

"It’s not okay, you should know that the rumors about you and Song Chi haven’t backfired on you mainly because both of you have a huge number of CP fans who believe there’s real spark between you two before they started liking you. If someone manipulates the narrative to say you two are just stirring up publicity, it could negatively impact both of your images. Such fans hate deception the most."

Zhou Lan’s worries were not unfounded. In fact, messages like that began to slowly spread online.

At first, these messages did not really stir up any waves, only spreading in various corners of the internet.

A few days passed, and the news slowly fermented, growing bigger like a rolling snowball, and more and more people started discussing it.

So goes the saying, "A repeated rumor becomes a reality."

When the momentum gathered to a certain point, it became an indisputable force.

"It must be fake!" Zhou Yun’s top hater spared no effort to fan the flames, "Think about it, how did Zhou Yun get famous at the beginning? A newcomer, never acted in any films, no representative works, no popularity at all, just because she stayed in the same hotel with Song Chi, suddenly rumors about her and Song Chi started, don’t you think that’s utterly bizarre? All self-directed traces!"

"How do you then explain several instances after that where Song Chi cooperated with Zhou Yun? I believe Zhou Yun is riding on the coattails of popularity, but to say Song Chi needed to hype their CP for fame, my brain would have to be smashed by a caveman to believe that. Does Song Chi need it? Are you kidding me?"

"It must be some agreement reached behind the scenes by their respective companies, and, though Song Chi is famous, he has many competitors too, how can you be sure he won’t hype a CP to maintain his popularity? Zhou Yun is such a good CP partner to hype up, no fame, a newcomer, completely a tool, and obedient too. Look how many times they’ve made it to the hot search in the past couple of years?"

"So you’re trashing Zhou Yun one moment and now praising her as a good handy tool, right? Heh."

"Loyal dogs protecting their master, don’t come here looking for abuse."

"Which dog can’t stop barking? Eating shit all day, brush your teeth."

...

The insults and counterattacks were increasingly filled with malice.

Things evolved in an unexpected direction.

The main focus online included two aspects: whether something really happened between Zhou Yun and Li Ci, and whether Zhou Yun and Song Chi were intentionally hyping things up.

The heated discussions completely dominated the entertainment sections these days, overshadowing other celebrities’ news.

One day, a netizen proposed a guess, somehow, it garnered a lot of support and endorsement.

The guess was that Zhou Yun and Song Chi had always been just a hyped CP relationship, they even signed an agreement, but then Zhou Yun and her company’s artist, Li Ci, fell for each other, so in order to be with Li Ci, Zhou Yun wanted to break the agreement with Song Chi.

...

"How is that possible, Xiao Yun and Li Ci are both artists under our company, if they really wanted to hype a CP, why didn’t the company just pair Xiao Yun with Li Ci directly instead of going out of their way to find Song Chi? How capable do you think our company is to secure Song Chi, letting him hype a CP with a completely unknown newcomer from our company? Do you think Song Chi is crazy or his agent or his agency?"

Zhou Lan helplessly called a journalist friend he was on good terms with, his lips nearly blistered from all the talking the past few days.

"Zhou Yun and Li Ci are even more impossible, they’ve just filmed a movie together, there’s absolutely no issue." Zhou Lan declared confidently, "I give you my word, if there’s anything between them, you don’t even need to be my friend."

Convinced by his words, his friend replied.

"Then where did all these messages come from? Making such a big deal out of it."

"It’s infuriating when you talk about it, it was just a private gathering, Li Ci made a few jokes with Zhou Yun, and some people present exaggerated things and spread some nasty words, they just love big dramas, you know it, some people just can’t keep their mouths shut."

Finally, by leveraging their influence, they managed to twist the public opinion. After hanging up the phone, Zhou Lan wearily put away his cellphone.

Turning around, he saw Zhou Yun sitting in the backseat, wearing headphones, and not knowing whether she heard the phone call he just made.

In any case, this situation should not have landed on them.

It was said that He Yong really called Li Ci to his office and berated him, though the rumors spread this way, the real situation was known only to the two involved. But Zhou Lan did not believe it; how could He Yong dare to berate Li Ci to such an extent, at most he might just complain gently, which is already not bad.

The company’s PR department was busy deleting negative comments online, controlling public opinion, but couldn’t stop the overwhelming flood of comments, just struggling to hold on.

Zhou Lan was very troubled inside, pondering over how to break this difficult situation.

His cellphone suddenly vibrated.

The producer of "Heart Inquiry" sent a message, confirming the time when Zhou Yun would come to do the dubbing.

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