Assistant

[Well-known gaming streamer rejected at interview, reveals the inside story through tears... Who exactly is this "well-known streamer"?? old man squinting at phone on subway.jpg]

[The title made it sound pretty sad, but then I saw it was that worm. Might as well give him a couple of kicks on my way past.]

[Can you dial back the hate? Hope people kick you too if you ever get treated unfairly like this.]

[Didn't he bring all that hate on himself? How long has it been since he spread those rumors? Now he's bringing up "two hundred thousand followers" again. The guy earned his contract, and you're throwing shade at him like this?]

[Earned it how? Qinggang's better than him in both skill and looks, isn't he? He's got two or three times the followers, too. Who'd believe there weren't strings pulled?]

[Isn't this Mr. 0-5? We're back to talking about his skills now? Anyway, I don't believe a word out of this guy's mouth.]

[He's never even shown his face, and you're putting him down to prop up your fave again. With a face like your fave's, even a horror meme would need to censor it, okay?]

[Did he name your fave? He's just talking about what happened to him, and someone's fans are already getting defensive.]

[Wait, since when did that fake-voice freak have so many fans? Paid commenters, right? He knows perfectly well how he got that contract.]

[I don't like Qinggang either, but this really was too much. His eyes were red from crying. It didn't look fake.]

[I heard the other guy's also hyping up how some rich backer comes into his stream every day to gift Battleships. Milking it for all the attention he can get. Unbelievable.]

[Hahaha, gifting two Battleships makes you a rich backer now? Are they that desperate for money?]

[I'm not a fan of either. Waiting to see what happens next.]

[I thought he was pretty decent at first. Didn't expect him to be such a faker. Qinggang says some gross stuff, but at least he's genuine.]

[...]

With the previous incident as a warning, the spectators weren't quite so one-sided this time. But since Qinggang rarely cried on stream, this display had even moved some people who hadn't thought particularly well of him.

Yu Nian saw that insults had started appearing in his private messages again, mostly accusing him of pulling strings and saying people with connections deserved a horrible death.

Yu Nian was baffled.

He searched a few relevant terms and found the clip from Qinggang's livestream.

After watching it, Yu Nian rolled his eyes and felt a headache coming on.

Qinggang hadn't named anyone, but his words were clearly leading people in a particular direction. Besides, he and Yu Nian had only recently had a falling-out, so almost everyone in the comments was talking about him.

His moderators sent private messages to comfort him, while some of his less certain fans wanted him to respond quickly.

Yu Nian wasn't surprised by that. Many fans only saw streamers through a screen and knew nothing about what they were like in real life. It was normal for them to lack a sense of security and trust.

Besides, there were people whose favorite streamers had been exposed after years of support. Yu Nian didn't think it was a bad thing that these fans didn't trust him completely.

At least they were still willing to give him a chance to explain, rather than condemning him after hearing only one side.

Yu Nian saw that his longtime fan Qiūqiūyú had also messaged him.

Qiūqiūyú: Nian, sweetie, I've always believed in you. You're definitely not like he said, right?

Yu Nian felt helpless.

Rice Cake: This is a little complicated, but please trust me, okay!

Qiūqiūyú: Mhm! We've already calmed everyone down in the fan group, but this is blowing up more than last time. You should clear things up as soon as you can.

Rice Cake: Thanks for all your hard work.

Sea Star had originally wanted to keep the matter quiet, and Yu Nian hadn't asked about it again. He hadn't expected Qinggang to be so relentless. The man really would throw any kind of mud at him.

Qinggang had struck just the right balance of speaking and holding back in that clip, and had even praised the platform along the way. Naturally, the platform couldn't find any fault with him, nor was there any need for it to get involved over such a minor matter.

But public opinion would interpret it as him not daring to speak plainly for some reason. The more he praised the platform, the more everyone would think he was being sarcastic. The more wronged Qinggang seemed, the more people would rush to defend him.

The platform would face some public pressure, but Yu Nian would undoubtedly bear the brunt of it.

And more often than not, platforms stayed above the fray, rarely intervening. They might even be delighted by it.

Controversy brought traffic. As hordes of people paid attention to the platform and harassed Yu Nian online, the platform could rake in another wave of views.

If things gradually died down, the platform would get away unscathed. Only if the negative impact on it became too great would it come forward to offer a few words of clarification.

He could already imagine what his stream would look like that night.

Yu Nian wasn't going to sit back and wait. Whether it worked or not, he had to give it a try.

He told Little Huang about it on WeChat and was just about to ask whether he could use this to request some surveillance footage from the company as evidence against the smear campaign.

Then Little Huang quickly replied: [File], [File], [Video]...

Yu Nian: ? That was way too fast.

Little Huang: It's not that I'm fast. The higher-ups are pushing hard.

Little Huang: popcorn/popcorn/

Yu Nian: What do you mean?

Little Huang: When I went to the office today, I heard President Ding on the phone with someone. It sounded like they were talking about you.

Yu Nian: President Ding's following this too?

Little Huang: No idea whether he's following it, but I know someone wants him to.

Little Huang: From how he addressed the person, I think it was President Qin from Azure. Of course, he's one of our shareholders now too.

Little Huang told him that he'd heard President Ding say to President Qin on the phone, "Don't worry. I'll have someone put a package together right away and get someone to draft the statement. We definitely won't let him be falsely accused."

Whatever the person on the other end said next surprised President Ding. "You mean we shouldn't step in yet? Oh, right. You've really thought this through..."

Little Huang: Anyway, after that, he told us to hurry up and collect evidence in your favor, then send one copy to President Qin and another to you.

Little Huang: President Ding said you can contact me directly if you need anything else.

Little Huang: Seriously, I'm really curious now. Are you related to President Qin or something?

Yu Nian fell silent for a moment as he read those lines from Little Huang.

In the few days since he'd cut off contact with Qin Yuheng, he had thought of him occasionally. Still, he'd felt that this was enough. Any further contact would be bad for both of them.

He'd thought Qin Yuheng would be disgusted by his sudden change in attitude, and might already have distanced himself emotionally.

He hadn't expected him to still help when he ran into trouble.

And if it weren't for Little Huang, he might never have known any of this.

He understood Qin Yuheng's intention: if he could clear things up from his own perspective, he should do it himself.

If the platform stepped in officially the moment trouble started, it might be the quickest way to counter the smear campaign, but it would inevitably make his relationship with the platform seem suspicious. On another level, it would only reinforce the idea that he'd benefited from connections, and even make people wonder whether he controlled the platform too. That would undermine its authority and make its statements less credible.

Yu Nian looked carefully through some of the materials. He definitely couldn't use all of them. Not only would that make things look muddled, but some were firsthand records ordinary people couldn't get their hands on. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to post those either...

Just as he was considering how to use this evidence, a little red dot appeared under his contacts.

Yu Nian tapped it. To his surprise, the name on the request was Assistant Yin.

The first thing Assistant Yin said after adding him was: Hello, Mr. Yu. President Qin was worried you'd have too much to handle on your own, so he asked me to be your assistant. Please come to me with anything you need or any questions you have.

Yu Nian: "..."

I'd never repay it. I'd never repay everything I owed President Qin.