Chapter 21

After reading all this, netizens were undoubtedly even more enraged. A boycott of Liang Yi and Mu Xiaoying sprang up across the internet. Not only were the comments under their Weibo accounts flooded, but even the dramas they had starred in were maliciously rated low. People declared that they would never watch either of their shows again.

Actors with such flawed character should never appear on screen again. Their values were twisted, and they would mislead children and uninformed people.

Thus, many parents began reporting the two of them as well.

After all, children liked watching idol dramas nowadays too.

Star Universe Entertainment was playing dead now, as though it had completely abandoned the two of them. Or perhaps Star Universe Entertainment was too busy dealing with its own troubles, because the police had begun reinvestigating Gao Chi's case. Even Mu Xiaoying had been summoned for questioning, and some people had found the courage to report Gao Chi.

At this moment, Jinbai Entertainment's official Weibo account released a statement, adding fuel to the fire.

Little Jin had taken screenshots of every marketing account that had accepted money to smear Xu Yuqing and Chen Chengrong. Lawyer's letters were sent, and the company intended to sue them, resolutely defending the reputations of its actors.

Some marketing accounts did not take it seriously. They even mocked Jinbai Entertainment internally.

Lawyer's letters? Who were they trying to scare?

It was not as if they had never received them before. It was just a formality; they would never actually sue.

Weren't they perfectly fine now?

After all, lawsuits were troublesome, time-consuming, exhausting, and even more expensive. Was Jinbai Entertainment so bored that it would sue them? How could that be possible?

Some marketing accounts even made videos subtly mocking Jinbai Entertainment.

However, they truly never imagined that Jinbai Entertainment really was bored enough to have both the time and money.

More precisely, Cai Jinbai was so wealthy and well-connected that he was not afraid to sue those marketing accounts one by one.

So, when those marketing accounts actually received court summonses, lost their cases, and had to pay compensation, they regretted it far too late. They regretted offending Jinbai Entertainment.

Had they known Jinbai Entertainment would be so uncompromising, they would have held back. Some of the more serious offenders even had their accounts banned, but that was a later matter.

Now, Jinbai Entertainment's statement sent netizens' imaginations running wild.

[Hiss, thinking about it carefully, it seems Xu Yuqing was only able to turn things around after signing with Jinbai Entertainment. Could a tiny blogger really have gathered all the evidence that revealed the truth? Could Jinbai Entertainment be behind all this?]

[Are you overthinking it...? Would capital really be this considerate toward an actor?]

[The more I think about it, the more something feels off. From the beginning, when Jinbai Entertainment's two presidents occupied the trending searches, to this whole string of events afterward, they kept topping the charts. The topics never stopped, and the buzz kept growing bigger and bigger. Without that level of attention and discussion, even if the truth had been revealed, the outcome probably would not have reached this point. Besides, haven't you noticed? The videos and screenshots posted by Haha Blogger still haven't been reported and removed. What does that mean? It means someone is backing the blogger.]

[I agree. There aren't even fans controlling the comments under Liang Yi and Mu Xiaoying's Weibos.]

[But Jinbai Entertainment's two presidents being photographed was completely accidental and coincidental.]

[Tsk tsk, how naive. The photos may have been accidental, but making proper use of them and carrying out the subsequent series of moves definitely was not.]

[Just wait and see. Star Universe Entertainment, Liang Yi, and Mu Xiaoying will all pay for this. Even Gao Chi, who is already in prison, is in for it.]

Cai Jinbai looked at those comments, and the smile on his face deepened once more.

The buzz sparked by Cai Jinbai and Xuan Yu's video continued to ferment, with one topic after another still spreading.

Just as one netizen had said, Liang Yi and Mu Xiaoying would not get off lightly. Things had reached this point, and there was clearly no room left to turn back. Star Universe Entertainment had done nothing, and they finally stopped playing dead. Left with no choice, they issued public apology statements online and admitted their mistakes.

But netizens refused to accept it. Their Weibo comment sections were filled entirely with calls for a boycott, while messages of support from fans were few and far between. More than half their followers had already vanished. These were genuine active fans, and losing them all was undoubtedly a major blow to both of them.

But that was nothing. Next, their acting careers would continue to suffer severe blows. No one would hire them for dramas again. Their careers would stagnate, then decline steadily, until they disappeared completely from the entertainment industry and their names were never mentioned again.

As for Gao Chi, his sentence would become even harsher.

Under such public scrutiny, and with conclusive evidence in hand, Gao Su could no longer protect Gao Chi. Otherwise, Star Universe Entertainment's shares would fall even more severely, pushing the company into crisis.

So Gao Su ignored Mother Gao's pleas, washed his hands of the matter, and allowed the police to investigate.

In the end, Gao Chi received an additional charge in prison for drugging and raping an underage girl, making his sentence even heavier.

After learning the news, netizens all flocked to Star Universe Entertainment's official Weibo to curse them out. Although Gao Su had prepared for it, Starlight's stock still plummeted miserably. Even its newly aired dramas were affected, their ratings unbearably poor.

Mother Gao regretted it deeply. If she had known this would happen, she never should have bought online trolls or bribed marketing accounts to smear Xu Yuqing and Chen Chengrong.

But even without her involvement, this matter would have continued anyway.

Misfortunes never came alone. While Star Universe Entertainment was doing everything it could to suppress news of Gao Chi's additional charges, revelations surfaced that there were problems with Star Universe Entertainment's contracts.

It was said that when Xu Yuqing wanted to terminate his contract, it had clearly expired normally. Yet Starlight did not want to let him leave and exploited hidden loopholes in the contract to demand an enormous termination fee from Xu Yuqing.

Later, Jinbai Entertainment's president had hired Xiang Yizhou, a renowned top lawyer in the legal field, to negotiate with Starlight on Xu Yuqing's behalf. Only then had Star Universe Entertainment's president, Gao Su, been forced to grit his teeth and let him go.

The moment this news came out, netizens exploded again.

[Holy shit, the gossip lately is seriously endless. I was already stuffed from all the tea, and more tea is still coming. Star Universe Entertainment, you are a whole damn melon field. Hahaha, followed you. Looking forward to the next batch of tea.]

[There are really problems with Star Universe Entertainment's contracts? Oh my god, all you older brothers and sisters still signed with Starlight, hurry up and check your contracts. Don't end up unable to leave, and then have to pay a termination fee just to get out. I've seriously never heard of this before. Even a normal contract termination is not allowed? Tsk tsk.]

[Xu Yuqing is such a poor little thing. That topic was right—Xu Yuqing was truly wronged. He might be the most miserable actor in history, hahaha. Luckily, he already left that trash company, Star Universe Entertainment. Luckily, President Cai recognized talent. President Cai is so handsome!]

[I like President Cai so much. He is so good-looking and kind-hearted, but most importantly, he has money and connections, so he is not afraid of being bullied!]

[I'm going to stan President Cai, hahaha.]

[What about Vice President Xuan? Have you all forgotten him?]

[Hehe, Vice President Xuan belongs to President Cai. Stanning President Cai means stanning Vice President Xuan too.]

[What does that mean?]

[You're straight, aren't you?]

Some netizens went directly to Star Universe Entertainment's official Weibo to ask whether the contract issue was true.

Naturally, Star Universe Entertainment could not possibly answer. It turned a blind eye to the matter.

So netizens found Xiang Yizhou's Weibo and asked about it in his comment section.

Netizens only wanted to stir things up and had never expected to receive a reply.

Until one netizen asked: [Lawyer Xiang, what do you think of President Cai?]

Xiang Yizhou unexpectedly replied: [He is very good.]

Just three short words, yet they fully revealed Xiang Yizhou's attitude—he clearly admired Cai Jinbai greatly.

[Whoa, praising a man with "he is very good"? Tsk tsk, maybe I'm reading too much into it...]

[Those three words are perfectly normal. It seems President Cai really is a good person.]

[Why don't you first look up Lawyer Xiang's résumé? It blew my mind. He is a top-tier lawyer! No wonder Star Universe Entertainment let Xu Yuqing leave as soon as he stepped in. His background is no simple matter either.]

[I'm a Starlight employee. I can confirm that a lawyer really did go meet Boss Gao. After that, Xu Yuqing terminated his contract and left.]

[That's right. We were wondering how much Xu Yuqing would have to pay, but he left without paying anything. Someone obviously helped him.]

[President Cai really is Xu Yuqing's benefactor.]

Leaving aside the turmoil Star Universe Entertainment was going through internally—it would probably be severely overwhelmed for quite some time—some bored netizens began sorting through the entire chain of events behind this entertainment-industry-shaking incident and analyzing why the buzz had remained so high.

In the past, the heat surrounding major incidents could quickly be suppressed: trending searches removed, comments controlled, people silenced. Why had everything gone so smoothly this time?

After following the matter from beginning to end, netizens felt utterly satisfied, like eating chilled watermelon on a hot summer day to quench their thirst. It was both exhilarating and refreshing.

Then they came to a conclusion—the fundamental reason was that Jinbai Entertainment stood behind this incident!

[I refuse to believe Star Universe Entertainment has no money to remove trending searches, no ability to organize fans to control comments, and no way to delete that most important video. Haven't they done plenty of silencing before? With a series of moves, all the trending searches would disappear. But this time, tsk tsk, they ran into someone tougher, didn't they?]

[Jinbai Entertainment is seriously amazing for a newly established entertainment company! It dared to go head-to-head with an old entertainment-industry giant like Star Universe Entertainment—and it won.]

[Just look at who is standing behind Jinbai Entertainment and where its address is. Someone who can buy an entire office building in the center of the New Urban District cannot possibly have a simple background. The Gao Family probably cannot compare at all.]

[Not probably. They definitely can't compare.]

[Oh my god, Jinbai Entertainment's two presidents are both so handsome. It doesn't matter whether I stan actors or not—I want to be President Cai and President Xuan's fan!]

[Offering a fortune for President Cai to debut!]

[Too bad you aren't as rich as President Cai, hahaha.]

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