Page 20

But just then, the blogger People Can't Live Without Conscience released another batch of evidence.

—They were screenshots of Mu Xiaoying's chat with her best friend.

[People Can't Live Without Conscience: Take a look. What the hell are you all feeling sorry for?]

The netizens clicked in to see—

[Affectionate Momo: Xu seems to have been shelved. Wasn't he already picked as the male lead for a drama? Now the male lead has been changed to someone else. Did Starlight make a move? This won't affect you, will it?]

[Mu: Boss Gao really is targeting him now. After all, because of him, his little brother got sent in. I'm fine for the time being. The only thing exposed about Gao Chi right now is drug use. Boss Gao probably doesn't want anything else coming out, so it shouldn't affect me.]

[Affectionate Momo: Haha, that sounds a little heartless. Didn't he save you?]

[Mu: I already thanked him. After his career took a hit, he came to me and begged me for help, asking me to explain things for him online.]

[Affectionate Momo: And did you agree?]

[Mu: No. Why would I? I just acted pitiful and told him that no girl would want others to know she'd gone through something like that. I begged him, and he softened up and stopped pressuring me. Besides, if I'd known there'd be drug use at that party, I wouldn't have wanted to go either.]

[Affectionate Momo: You originally wanted to hook up with Gao Chi, but who knew he played so wild in private? Once you get mixed up in that, you can't shake it off. Luckily, you ran out while no one was paying attention and got Xu Yuqing to save you.]

[Mu: Yeah. Luckily, he was a decent person. Otherwise, I would've been screwed.]

[Affectionate Momo: So you dismissed him with one thank-you?]

[Mu: What else was I supposed to do? I did want to give him some money, but he wouldn't take it. He even thought I was some poor little thing and told me to take good care of myself.]

[Affectionate Momo: Haha, you're not some poor little thing. You're a man-eating black widow.]

[Mu: Luckily, I wasn't in the photos taken back then. He was really unlucky, though. When he begged me for help, his eyes were red. Hehe, a grown man practically crying made me want to laugh. Anyway, it wasn't my career that got affected. Who told him to save me?]

There were more chat records afterward. Mu Xiaoying said Boss Gao had approached her, offering her money and resources on the condition that she never mention this matter again, much less say a single word online in Xu Yuqing's defense. Otherwise, Xu Yuqing's fate would become hers.

For the sake of her future and resources, Mu Xiaoying agreed.

As for conscience and Xu Yuqing's future, Mu Xiaoying chose to turn a blind eye.

Chapter 18

The moment those chat records came out, the internet instantly exploded.

Mu Xiaoying's fans rushed in at once to refute the rumors, saying the chat records were all photoshopped, so fake they couldn't possibly be any faker, with not the slightest bit of credibility. How could a few lines of conversation count as evidence?

[Chat records can count as evidence? What a joke.]

[This should be enough to get someone sentenced, right? Framing someone and damaging Sister Ying's reputation. @Mu Xiaoying, we support you suing him.]

[I don't believe these chat records! Sister isn't that kind of person!]

The fans were filled with righteous indignation and charged into battle for Mu Xiaoying. In no time at all, they had nearly cursed the blogger People Can't Live Without Conscience into oblivion, and the comment section was on the verge of being completely overrun by attacks.

Then the blogger People Can't Live Without Conscience posted another Weibo—

[Those claiming they're photoshopped, feel free to take these chat screenshots and inspect them. If even one spot, one single word has been edited, then I'm a bastard. These screenshots were secretly sold off long ago by Mu Xiaoying's so-called best friend. Don't worry about how I got them. They are one hundred percent authentic. Face reality. Your precious sister's character is just this vile and despicable. She has absolutely no gratitude or appreciation for the person who saved her.]

Never mind Mu Xiaoying's fake sisterhood with that best friend for now. The screenshots really had been sold. The buyer had originally intended to keep them for the time being, planning to later blackmail Mu Xiaoying for another sum or sell them to someone else at a higher price.

If Cai Jinbai hadn't intervened, signed Xu Yuqing, cleared his name, and restored the truth of what happened, Mu Xiaoying really would have bought those chat screenshots back at a high price.

Of course, the fake best friends also fell out completely and never spoke to each other again.

But although she spent a fortune, Mu Xiaoying's career crisis was resolved, and she ultimately suffered no impact at all. Unlike now, when her detestable face had been exposed and her character dissected for all to see, her acting career could now be seen reaching its end at a glance.

Mu Xiaoying's fans were still making their last stand.

[I don't believe it. I just don't!]

[Sister, we only believe you! Just say the word, and we'll do anything for you!]

[Sister Ying, these chat records definitely aren't real, right?]

They still couldn't control the comments or report them for deletion.

In fact, once the chat screenshots came out, the buzz exploded even further, reaching unprecedented heights. They seized the trending searches as topic after topic continuously refreshed. Major media outlets and gossip accounts reposted them, and the entire internet was discussing it. The comments unfavorable to Mu Xiaoying simply couldn't be deleted at all.

Mu Xiaoying's side immediately felt their scalps go numb, their vision darkening again and again as though the sky were about to collapse.

How could she have time to hold her best friend accountable or curse her out now? Sweat was beading on her forehead as she let out the same cry as Liang Yi.

"Control the comments, now! Delete those comments! Delete them all! Report that heartless blogger too! Hurry!"

The staff member couldn't help grumbling inwardly: That blogger is called People Can't Live Without Conscience. I think they have plenty of conscience. You're the one without any.

But he would never say that out loud. He still had to make a living. Sigh, the humble working man.

"Sister Mu, we've reported everything already, but none of it was accepted. It's completely useless, and the comments can't be deleted either."

"Impossible! How could they not be deleted?!" Mu Xiaoying refused to believe it. She even snatched the phone over to try it herself, only to discover that nothing really could be deleted.

The trending topic was still glaringly displayed on Weibo's homepage, and the discussion kept climbing in a straight line. With a casual scroll, the topic was everywhere online. It wasn't just media outlets and gossip accounts posting about it—even small short-video bloggers were condemning her and Liang Yi. The news had spread everywhere.

In an instant, Mu Xiaoying's face turned pale. Her expression shifted constantly, and her hands trembled. Finally, unable to bear the comments the netizens had left, she let out a shrill scream and hurled her phone away. With a crack, it shattered.

Mu Xiaoying panted, her heart filled with terror and unease. It was over. It was all over...

[Wow, I've really learned something today. So this is what they mean by a woman's heart being the most poisonous. From now on, whenever there's an ungrateful character in a drama, you should play her. You'd nail it, and your acting would be incredible.]

[These chat screenshots make me want to curse someone out—namely you, Mu Xiaoying. How can someone be this utterly devoid of conscience!]

[Ugh, I feel like throwing up. I'm disgusted that I ever sincerely liked you.]

[What kind of thing are you?]

[So you voluntarily attended the gathering Gao Chi held back then. Then, after finding out it wasn't the simple party you imagined, you looked for a chance to escape. If it had been, would you have sold yourself? The reason you're still at Star Universe Entertainment... I thought you couldn't leave or were being forced to stay. Looking at it now, I was too naive. You and Starlight really are a perfect match. You'll sell anything for resources.]

[How did I ever become a fan of someone like you? You're even worse than Liang Yi.]

[Stop playing dead and leave the industry. From now on, I won't watch any drama you're in!]

[The face you showed in those chat screenshots is truly disgusting and hateful. Hehe? Hehe your ass. Xu Yuqing is so pitiful. He never should have saved you. I feel so bad for him.]

[And you said you had your reasons. What reasons could you possibly have? Busy pretending to be pitiful? I didn't care much about Xu Yuqing before, but looking at this, he's the real poor little thing. Softhearted and naive, he met a man-eating black widow like you in the entertainment industry. He saved you, and you didn't feel even a shred of gratitude. Yet Xu Yuqing's career stalled for three years because of it. You have to understand, he was a hugely popular leading man back then!]

[Our Little Xu got sold out and still helped count the money for them. How can he be so silly, pitiful, and adorable?]

[I've decided to become a fan of Xu Yuqing.]

[Me too, me too! Xu Yuqing is such a good person!]

The netizens went from condemning Mu Xiaoying and Liang Yi to fiercely feeling sorry for Xu Yuqing.

He had been shelved for three years without revealing anything about Mu Xiaoying, which showed that he kept his promises and had a kind heart.

Some netizens went to look through Xu Yuqing's previous Weibo posts and the clarification messages he had made after the incident. They left comments one after another, saying that now the truth had come to light, his path to stardom would surely be smooth and open from now on, because good people would be rewarded.

While Mu Xiaoying and Liang Yi continued losing fans, Xu Yuqing's Weibo followers surged in a straight line, nearly surpassing even his follower count from when he had been at his most popular. This incident had proven Xu Yuqing's character, and there was absolutely no problem with becoming his fan.

Meanwhile, because Liang Yi's and Mu Xiaoying's fans were still making a fuss, with a small portion refusing to listen or believe and insisting on covering their eyes and ears to stand by their idol brother and sister, some netizens who loved stirring up trouble immediately showed off their skills and began digging into the pair's past.

The more they dug, the more they found. With this investigation, the two were sent straight back to the number one trending spot.

One revelation was that Liang Yi had privately contacted fans. Not only had he accepted expensive gifts from them, he had also dated one and spent the night with her afterward. Wasn't that sleeping with a fan? His character really was rotten to the core.

The other was that after Xu Yuqing got implicated in the incident and was being vilified across the internet, isolated and helpless, Mu Xiaoying, the so-called victim, had been traveling out of town. Netizens dug up photos of her happily smiling at the time, and the dates matched perfectly. The evidence was irrefutable.

Clearly, she hadn't been frightened at all. Nor had she been trembling with fear of Gao Chi's retaliation and unable to sleep all night as she claimed in her previous Weibo post. So your fear meant going on vacation, wearing exquisite makeup, with your grin practically stretching to your ears?