Chapter 8: The Fallen Child Star (8) Part 2

On the call, Lawyer Zhou announced, “Starting today, Mr. Xu’s contract with Xingyu Media is null and void. You’re no longer their artist, and Xingyu Media will also pay Mr. Xu 5 million yuan in compensation for emotional distress.”

Xu Weiheng stood frozen in place.

Simply terminating the contract smoothly was already beyond his expectations, let alone such a hefty compensation for emotional distress.

Lawyer Zhou explained, “You’re still a minor, yet Xingyu Media exploited you through the contract for two whole years. The judge took this into consideration when making the ruling.”

Xu Weiheng nodded in understanding, “So that’s how it is.”

Sitting beside him, Yao Rong caught the bewilderment in his voice and couldn’t help but smile. “In the future, when facing such situations, don’t just endure it. Be brave like you were on the plane, stand up for others and fight for yourself. If you had contacted a lawyer earlier, those people wouldn’t have dared to bully you so openly.”

Xu Weiheng pursed his lips.

That made sense.

After wrapping up his business, Lawyer Zhou spoke to Yao Rong privately about another matter: “The director of ‘Entertainment New World’ reached out to me, expressing keen interest in your contact information. He seemed quite enthusiastic. If you agree, I’ll pass along your number.”

Yao Rong’s eyes flashed.

By her calculations, the episode of ‘Entertainment New World’ featuring Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan should have aired by now.

Yao Rong agreed without hesitation, “Of course, no problem.”

The director was indeed very enthusiastic.

As soon as the call connected, it was “Miss Yao” this and “you” that.

He was also straightforward about the generous compensation.

All he needed from Yao Rong was to come forward as Xu Ji’s ex-wife and confirm the blood relationship between Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan.

The request was simple, and he was so enthusiastically on board. How could Yao Rong refuse the director’s request?

Cooperate? She would cooperate wholeheartedly!

She even earnestly advised the director on the best ways to promote this for maximum impact and profit.

The director seemed to have discovered a whole new world, humbly taking her advice over the phone, nodding repeatedly, almost calling her his “mentor.”

“Ms. Yao, please trust me, this will absolutely be a perfect win-win situation,” the director confidently assured before ending the call.

Yao Rong smiled and set down her phone.

Whether it was a win-win didn’t matter.

What mattered was that the world she envisioned—where only Xu Ji’s family would get hurt—was close to becoming a reality.

A day later, the official Weibo account of ‘Entertainment New World’ released a teaser clip.

In the preview, Director Chen from ‘2050 II’ only appeared for a few seconds. The rest of the footage focused entirely on showcasing the father-son relationship between Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan.

The production team was exceptionally cunning.

In their promotion, they emphasized themes like “stepfather and stepson getting along well,” “not blood-related father and son, but even better than blood-related,” and “there’s no such thing as love without reason in this world.”

This clever strategy caused the popularity of Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan as a father-son duo to skyrocket.

Some paparazzi specifically staked out to interview Xu Ji, asking why he, as Xu Weiheng’s biological father, didn’t help Xu Weiheng but instead revealed to the media that Xu Weiheng had assaulted Xu Yiyuan more than once.

Xu Ji responded righteously, “Since it’s a fact, there’s nothing wrong with saying it. Even if Xu Weiheng is my own son, if he made a mistake, he should be punished. If I can’t teach him well, then let public opinion educate him for me.”

The paparazzi was deeply moved, giving Xu Ji a firm thumbs up.

Truly, he thought Xu Ji spoke very well and acted very righteously.

—If he hadn’t once staked out at the bottom of Xu Weiheng’s apartment building and heard the truth directly from Yao Rong herself, he would have believed Xu Ji’s acting.

This acting skill surpassed countless actors in the entertainment circle.

The paparazzi uploaded this interview video online, further fueling the rising popularity.

The hottest domestic parent-child travel variety show immediately extended an invitation to Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan.

In his two years since debut, although Xu Yiyuan had accumulated considerable popularity, his resources in the entertainment circle had always been lukewarm. He’d never seen such an opportunity.

It wasn’t just Xu Yiyuan; even Xu Ji tasted the sweetness of success.

Just recording a two-hour program casually earned him more than his monthly salary.

At Xu Yiyuan’s mother’s suggestion, Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan began to flaunt their father-son affection on Weibo.

Text, photos, videos—they had it all.

In just two days, Xu Yiyuan’s Weibo followers surged by 4 million, while Xu Ji, who had just opened his account, already had 1 million followers.

Their rising popularity quickly fed back into the latest episode of ‘Entertainment New World.’

Countless netizens were eagerly awaiting the show’s broadcast.

The director of ‘Entertainment New World’ had been closely monitoring the situation’s development. Seeing that everything was unfolding exactly as Yao Rong had predicted, he was both excited and somewhat rueful.

To be honest, he and Yao Rong had only done two things: emphasize the father-son relationship and state the facts clearly.

The ones really pushing things behind the scenes, wanting everyone to focus on this matter, were Xu Ji’s family.

The more they did now, the hotter the situation became. The director couldn’t help but sigh…

As the accumulation of deceit grows, the backlash of public opinion will become increasingly severe when the truth is revealed.

All these bitter consequences are entirely of their own making.

At 8 PM Friday, all eyes were on “Entertainment New World” as the latest episode premiered on the video platform.

For the first hour and a half of the show, Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan dominated the spotlight.

Just as many viewers were about to exit the program, with only thirty seconds left on the progress bar—

The screen faded to black.

An audio recording began to play.

This brief recording contained only one sentence.

「I am Xu Ji’s ex-wife, Xu Weiheng’s biological mother. The biggest lie in this episode is the claim: ‘Not biological father and son, but closer than biological father and son.’」

As soon as the words ended, without giving the audience any time to process, the progress bar ran out.

…The episode concluded.