Delete those files, right now! Immediately!

It all started with a small media company among the paparazzi staking out the banquet hall the night before.

Without much backing, they never got a chance to publish promotional pieces for major stars. Each time, they could only follow the crowd and ride the buzz, earning a measly pittance.

As it happened, the company's owner was a woman. After receiving the photos from the photographer yesterday, she spotted Yan Ningke at a glance.

After combing through all kinds of material, she finally found him in a low-budget web drama. Following the cast credits at the end, she found Yan Ningke's Weibo account.

The remarkable thing was that, when she compared the photos, she found an enormous difference between the old Yan Ningke and the current one.

In the photo in his last Weibo post, he had slightly long hair, a vacant gaze fixed on the camera, and slightly hunched shoulders. The overall impression was very uncomfortable.

In the photos the photographer brought back, the distance made his expression hard to see, but his overall presence stood in stark contrast to how he had been before.

The young woman sat at her computer all night, agonizing for so long that she chewed through two fingernails.

Finally, at four in the morning, she made her decision!

Professional matters had to be left to the professionals.

Their company account barely made a ripple on Weibo, but it had a foothold on a certain video app, with several hundred thousand followers.

They cut a segment from the longer video, added a filter, and paired it with some particularly catchy background music.

And with that, art was complete.

At seven in the morning, they posted it right on time!

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour.

It had been a long time since Qiao Xi, the owner, had experienced such an anxious wait.

She did not know whether her decision would prove a mistake, but she still wanted to go all in for once.

With the sun high overhead, she collapsed onto her bed after staying up all night and closed her eyes, still clutching her phone.

Ring, ring-

A piercing sound rang out.

"Aaaah, boss! It's blowing up! It's blowing up!"

"The view count has reached three million, with nearly five hundred thousand likes, and it's still climbing!"

"Boss! We're going to be famous!"

Qiao Xi was groggy. As she closed her eyes, only one thought remained in her mind.

She had won her gamble!

It was not just them who had blown up. Yan Ningke had too!

New comments kept appearing online, and the buzz shot up.

At noon, it actually made the trending chart.

Even if it was only at the bottom.

But they believed this video was poised to take off!

Qiao Xi had slept for only an hour before an employee called and woke her.

She did not dare go back to sleep either. At lightning speed, she had the publicity department edit a nine-photo grid of Yan Ningke and post it on Weibo.

They also tagged the company's video account.

During that time, she tried to contact Yan Ningke on Weibo, but every message disappeared without a trace.

At one in the afternoon, as a comment gained traction, a strange phrase appeared on the trending searches.

"Whoever you like must be very lucky"

Yan Ningke had spent quite a while moping at home before remembering that he had yet to return yesterday's brooch. Only when he picked up his phone did he realize it had powered off.

He plugged in the charger, turned it on, and unlocked it.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding...

Yan Ningke: "..."

Seriously? Had it broken just because he hadn't charged it for one night?

He took a closer look. No, that was not it!

Notifications for tags, likes, and comments were popping up frantically across the screen.

He froze for a moment.

He tapped one at random and entered Weibo.

Five minutes later, after piecing together scattered bits of information, Yan Ningke seemed to understand.

He had gone viral?

Still bewildered, he received another private message and tapped it open.

[Green Tangerine Entertainment: Teacher Yan, are you still asleep!!!?]

Judging by the punctuation, the other party's urgency had reached its peak.

Yan Ningke typed: [Huh?]

[Green Tangerine Entertainment: Thank goodness! You've finally appeared! If you stayed away any longer, the sky was about to fall!]

Yan Ningke was just about to reply to her when another message arrived.

[Teacher Yan, would you be willing to give me your contact details? I'd like to discuss what's happening online with you! Thank you on bended knee!]

Yan Ningke: "..."

After reading through what had happened online, he also understood that this media account had posted videos and photos of him, sparking heated discussion.

Only then did he realize that what he had thought were colored lights last night had actually been camera flashes.

Another day of feeling embarrassed for himself.

Yan Ningke sent over his phone number, and less than a minute later, she called.

"Teacher Yan?"

"Yes."

Qiao Xi's eyes brimmed with grateful tears. "Hello, Teacher Yan. I'm with Green Tangerine Entertainment. I'm very sorry that we photographed you secretly without your permission. Please accept my sincerest apology!"

Public media accounts had the right to photograph others in public places. Yan Ningke had been outside the banquet hall yesterday, which was not a private setting.

So secretly photographing him was merely unethical, not illegal.

Yan Ningke expressed his understanding. The woman was very anxious. "Teacher Yan, here's the situation. Views on the video and Weibo post are still increasing. On your end..."

After a whole stream of chatter, Yan Ningke understood.

Because the original owner's earlier photos were unflattering and looked different from how he did now, doubts had already emerged online.

Green Tangerine Entertainment hoped he could take something on the spot to prove their innocence.

That would be good for everyone.

Yan Ningke agreed.

His actual job was being an entertainer. With ready-made traffic available now, he would be a fool not to seize it.

After hanging up, he found an outfit and changed into it. Makeup was out of the question; he did not have any of that stuff anyway.

He tousled his hair in front of the mirror. Mm, presentable enough.

Then came a new problem. How was he supposed to shoot this?

After thinking it over, he took his phone into the yard.

Qiao Xi kept refreshing the page over and over. One young woman in the publicity department had already been reduced to tears by the snide remarks.

People said their company was trying to compare West Lake to the beauty Xizi, and wondered what Yan Ningke had given them to make them pretend to be blind with their eyes wide open.

The young woman was so angry that she typed through her tears: [You're blind! Your whole family is blind! What we shot was the real deal! Yan Ningke really is that handsome!]

A commenter sneered: [Guys, I'm parking myself right here. If Yan Ningke really looks like this, I'll delete all twenty-four gigs of study material on my hard drive! Let this be my pledge!]

A sea of "666" followed below.

The young woman: "Waaah!!!"

"Stop! Hold those tears back!"

Beaming, Qiao Xi opened the photo on her phone and held it toward her. "Make him delete those files! Right now! Immediately!"

In the photo, the young man held a Show-Grade Husky in his arms, smiling brightly at the camera, his eyes shimmering like autumn waters in the sunlight.

The caption read: Remember to stay safe when you're out and about!

[Wait! How can you switch faces too? Yesterday you were wickedly seductive, and today you're all sunny and handsome!?]

[Date me. Whenever we fight, I'll be the one to apologize and coax you!]

[Tell my folks I like him!]

[A bright, cheerful boy and a husky! Help, does anyone get it!?]

[Sorry, I've seen him in person, and I'm late to the party.]

As Yan Ningke became active, that earlier phrase rocketed into the top ten trending searches.