He Didn't Deserve This

"Are you really going to make things this wild? I'm worried the livestream will get shut down."

Before the viewers in the livestream could even react, Director Ji spoke first.

Director Ji had absolutely no intention of stopping Ye Yizhou. His concern was something else entirely.

There was far, far more anticipation than worry in Director Ji's voice.

After all, people were remarkably unanimous when it came to their appetite for gossip.

"Who would dare shut down my livestream?" That casual remark from Ye Yizhou said it all.

[Do you know all the gossip?]

[Is all your gossip guaranteed to be true?]

Excited as the livestream viewers were, they still had standards for the quality of their gossip.

"I'm showing my face openly on a livestream and naming names as I spill the gossip. Do you think what I say is less credible than those paparazzi gossip accounts that hide behind masks, won't show their faces, and make vague insinuations?"

They only had to compare for themselves.

Revealing gossip under one's real name carried considerable weight.

"Of course, I don't know every piece of gossip. After all, I've had actual business to attend to during my two years in the industry."

Ye Yizhou gave everyone a heads-up in advance.

[You've had actual business to attend to?]

[May I ask what your main achievements in the entertainment industry have been these past two years?]

[Don't you feel the slightest bit guilty saying that?]

"How have I not been attending to my actual business? I came into the entertainment industry with just one real objective, and the results have been delightful. What do I have to feel guilty about?"

Ye Yizhou lifted his chin, looking a little haughty, his voice full of pride. "I was focused entirely on my actual business, so I didn't bother with anything else."

"Things are different now. My business is finished, so now I can settle some scores properly."

A smile curved Ye Yizhou's lips, and a sly gleam flashed in his eyes. "But we'll only talk about people I know. No indiscriminate attacks!"

[How are we supposed to know who you know?!]

[Then what's the scope of the gossip we can ask for?]

"Hmm..."

Ye Yizhou considered it for a moment, then chuckled. "Look at who's trended alongside me, and you'll know who I know. That should narrow it down pretty precisely!"

Neither Ye Yizhou nor his agency had ever paid for any trending topics involving him.

That meant almost everyone who had dragged Ye Yizhou into a trending topic over the past two years had done so to put him down while promoting themselves.

After all, having spent the money and smeared Ye Yizhou, they naturally had to squeeze another round of traffic out of him.

Apparently, that was how they got more than their money's worth.

[Then tell us about Zhou Niansheng.]

[Yes, yes! I opened Weibo and immediately saw Zhou Niansheng trending with you.]

[Who's Zhou Niansheng?!]

[A newcomer Entertainment Emperor Entertainment just signed. They only officially announced him yesterday, and today he's already tying himself to Ye Yizhou to get trending. Isn't the clout-leeching a little too obvious?!]

[We only get one shot at gossip, and you're just giving it to some nobody?]

"Zhou Niansheng?"

Seeing that name in the comments, Ye Yizhou raised an eyebrow slightly. "What's he trending with me for?"

Rather than wait for the comments to explain the situation in detail, Ye Yizhou logged into Weibo and checked the trending topics himself.

Number one trending topic: #AirheadedBeautyZhouNiansheng LittleYeYizhou#

"This tofu's gone black, and it stinks, too. You can't eat it anymore. Hurry and throw it away." Stinky tofu -1

"These noodles stink, too. Has the weather gotten that hot? Everything's spoiled and gone sour and smelly." River snail rice noodles -1

"Are conditions here that bad? Why does everyone have to eat food that's already gone bad?"

"That's so sad!"

"I'll buy you clean food. Don't eat this stuff anymore."

Over the brief three-minute clip, Zhou Niansheng's brow was practically knotted into pieces, his expression torn and worried.

"Hahahahaha, he's so cute!"

Watching the short video at the top of the trending topic, Ye Yizhou burst out laughing.

[He's so blatantly riding your airheaded beauty hype, and you can still laugh? And call him cute?]

[Your agency never came out to clear things up when you had all those negative trending topics, but now a newcomer arrives and immediately gets paired with you on the trending list, and you can still laugh?]

[Is he the crown prince of your agency or something? He's leeching off you this badly, and you don't even dare say anything?]

Most of the livestream viewers couldn't understand it.

"Ahem."

Ye Yizhou cleared his throat, reined in his smile, and said solemnly, "First of all, I didn't invent the airheaded beauty persona. I'm not the origin of all things. I learned from other people's experience, too. Since it wasn't mine to begin with, there's no question of someone else copying me."

"Second, this trending topic was admittedly a little hasty. I don't care if they drag me into a trending topic, as long as they're not putting me down to promote someone else."

Ye Yizhou didn't mind these things. Spreading his hands, he said with a smile, "Besides, using me to boost a newcomer at my own agency keeps the benefits in-house. Do we really need to fuss over that among our own people?"

Ye Yizhou paused, thought for a moment, then said with a serious expression:

"If other people want to ride my popularity, though, I'll have to give some consideration to whether I should charge a naming rights fee."

"Finally, he's only eighteen. Don't be so harsh with your words. And he really is very cute. You don't understand."

Seeing some of the extreme remarks in the comments, Ye Yizhou frowned and gave them a warning.

[From that tone, it sounds like they're pretty close.]

[Are you really not boosting the agency's crown prince?]

[You never backed down when all those haters were attacking you before. Now you're scared? You don't dare spill anything about him?]

"You only get one chance. Are you sure you want gossip about Zhou Niansheng?"

Unaffected by the comments' attempts to provoke him, Ye Yizhou calmly asked them to confirm instead.

Originally, many people hadn't wanted gossip about Zhou Niansheng. After all, what dirt could there be on a newcomer?

But Ye Yizhou's attitude toward Zhou Niansheng was so nice that it seemed deeply suspicious, and they couldn't help wondering whether there was some major gossip behind it.

"All right, then let's talk about Zhou Niansheng."

A meaningful smile tugged at Ye Yizhou's lips.

"Zhou Niansheng, eighteen years old. He grew up abroad and only recently returned to the country, so there are certain gaps in his cultural knowledge. Some of the 'stupid' remarks in the trending video weren't an act. He really had never seen those things before."

"Now put yourself in his shoes. You see a lot of people eating something unidentifiable that's gone black and stinks. Your first reaction would be surprise, disgust, or bewilderment. Those are all natural human reactions."

"But Zhou Niansheng worries about them. He feels sorry for them and feels bad that they can only eat this spoiled food, and he's willing to help them, too. Isn't that cute?"

Zhou Niansheng had been well protected since childhood. He was innocent, fanciful, and very kind.

"Don't casually use the superiority you feel from knowing more to judge someone from on high."

Ye Yizhou scrolled through the viciously abusive comments under the trending topic, suppressing his anger as his voice involuntarily grew colder:

"It's not that they don't understand. They just haven't seen it before. You have nothing to feel smug about. The world is so big that you're bound to encounter things you don't recognize. You might even embarrass yourselves because you don't recognize them. When you mock other people, have you ever considered that you could find yourselves in that same awkward position?"

"Thousands, tens of thousands of abusive comments just because he doesn't recognize foods like stinky tofu and river snail rice noodles."

Watching the comments pop up one after another under the trending topic, Ye Yizhou gave a cold laugh and said each word distinctly, his voice laced with anger, "He didn't deserve this."