As Ye Shiwen basked in her moment of triumph, a new blog post suddenly appeared under several trending hashtags on the hot search.

【Shocking! Popular Female Celebrity Seen in Private Late-Night Meeting with Wealthy Tycoon! Suspected of Transactional Relationship!】

The post came from a brand-new account named Lie Crusher.

The blurry figure in the blog post, labeled ‘popular female celebrity’, bore a striking resemblance to Xia Chengcheng from behind. Curious netizens who had just been bashing Xia Chengcheng eagerly clicked on the link.

Then, they saw a clearly captured face of Ji Jinghan.

Several photos were included of Ji Jinghan nestled in the greasy arms of a fat tycoon, Ji Jinghan kissing him intimately, and even shots of the tycoon getting handsy with her……

There was no need for an explanation. Their relationship was obvious.

【Isn’t Ji Jinghan supposed to be the campus goddess? How could she be involved with such a sleazy old man?】

【You’re so naive! The sugar daddy is confirmed!】

【Damn! I just said Xia Chengcheng might have a sugar daddy, but it turns out the one who does is Ji Jinghan!】

【Maybe it’s true love?】

【What kind of true love? Ji Jinghan said not long ago her ideal type was Movie King Xie Zhixing. How does this fat pig resemble Xie Zhixing in any way?!】

【Help! How could Ji Jinghan even bring herself to kiss someone like that?!】

【Do you guys think…… maybe Xia Chengcheng slapped Ji Jinghan because she knew about Ji Jinghan’s sugar daddy?】

The scandal involving Ji Jinghan’s secret rendezvous with her sponsor rapidly snowballed online, riding the wave of Xia Chengcheng’s negative press.

Netizens no longer cared about Xia Chengcheng. Sure, a rich and arrogant heiress slapping a popular starlet was dramatic, but given Xia Chengcheng’s reputation, it was nothing shocking.

But Ji Jinghan? She was one of the fastest-rising stars in the entertainment industry, with an excellent reputation.

Since her debut three years ago, Ji Jinghan has worked diligently and earned praise from everyone in the business. Whenever social issues arose, she was the first to speak up for the underprivileged.

Such a promising and upright actress was caught in a scandal like this?

Within ten minutes, the trending topics on Weibo shifted drastically. Several tags related to Ji Jinghan were now marked with a glaring red ‘Explosive’.

#PopularStarSecretlyMeetsSponsorLateAtNight

#JiJinghanSugarDaddyHongTao

#JiJinghanXiaHuaRealEstateHongTao

#JiJinghanLieCrusher

Ji Jinghan and her manager were already panicking.

After the casting results for 《Immortal Vows》 were released, they had intended to ride the momentum around Xia Chengcheng and win public sympathy. Even if she didn’t land the second female lead role in an S-tier film, they could still secure fan loyalty by playing the victim.

So they reached out to marketing accounts and posted several articles dragging Xia Chengcheng down.

But the sudden appearance of this article caught them completely off guard.

“Who the hell is this Lie Crusher?!” In the villa, Ji Jinghan was so furious she hurled her phone to the ground. “And you!” She snapped at her manager. “What are you standing there for?! Hurry up and contact Weibo to remove it from the trending list!”

“We can’t.”

The manager showed her the chat history with the Weibo team. “The post’s popularity is too high. Over a dozen tags are trending organically. Weibo can’t suppress them.”

“It’s just a post from a new account! How could it be unsuppressable?!” Ji Jinghan couldn’t believe it. She’d been exposed in the past, but whenever she reached out to media channels and paid up, the negative press was quickly deleted.

“This time is different.” The manager put away the phone and sighed. “This Lie Crusher knows marketing. The other party piggybacked on Xia Chengcheng’s trending scandal, so the topic took off instantly. And also……” The manager added, “Tonight, 《Immortal Vow》’s casting was announced. Ye Shiwen liked a post that supported you, and we bought multiple marketing posts bashing Xia Chengcheng and portraying you as the victim……”

It was a complete disaster.

What they had intended as ammunition against Xia Chengcheng had instead become the last straw that broke Ji Jinghan.

That’s the thing about news— if a bombshell exposé drops on its own, it might not gain traction right away. With no traffic, the article could be quietly deleted by contacting Weibo’s backend, as if it never existed.

But if it dropped right when netizens were actively gossiping, riding on a related topic…… the spike in views would cause the algorithm to explode the article’s visibility. It would then appear in more users’ feeds. Anyone interested in Xia Chengcheng’s scandal would inevitably see the one about Ji Jinghan.

The harsher the backlash against Xia Chengcheng, the more catastrophic Ji Jinghan’s downfall became.

“Ji Jinghan, this matter must be resolved tonight.”

The villa door opened and Hong Tao walked in. He wore a black suit, his face cold and grim.

Ji Jinghan had never seen Hong Tao this furious. Even when his wife had jumped to her death at a new development project, he had remained composed.

But now, his eyes could kill.

“The company’s board is already on my back.” Hong Tao said, stepping up to her, his voice frigid, “If this isn’t resolved tonight, it will impact Xiahua’s stock price tomorrow.”

Xiahua Real Estate was a publicly listed company. A dip in share prices could evaporate billions in market value.

Ji Jinghan’s throat tightened and her heart seized. “But CEO Hong…… they got clear photos of us. It’s hard to deny……”

“I don’t want excuses.” Hong Tao sat on the couch, not sparing her a glance. “I want a solution. I paid to keep you, not to end up with a scandal!”

Ji Jinghan froze. Her eyes turned red and her shoulders trembled.

In truth, she should’ve known. If Hong Tao could be so cold to his own wife, how much more to her? What was she to him?

To him, she was just a pretty toy. A toy that brought him pleasure, he liked. But if that toy caused his company billions in losses…… he wouldn’t hesitate to destroy it to end the mess.

“CEO Hong, actually…… there is one option.” The manager stepped forward. “The biggest issue is the accusation of transactional relationship. It’s taboo in every circle, but the definition of it is vague. What if we turned it into a love story instead?”

Both Ji Jinghan and Hong Tao paused.

The manager explained, “You’re an outsider to the industry, and you’re single. There’s nothing wrong with you dating. Hanhan is an actress, but dating isn’t a big deal. Sure, the public opinion will dip, but she won’t be canceled. If we frame it as a normal relationship, we can control the damage.”

To be more precise, if it was redefined as romance, Hong Tao wouldn’t be affected at all. He’d never disclosed his family status publicly, and now he was a widower. Ji Jinghan might get criticized for being a gold-digger, but compared to the current crisis, it would be nothing.

……

Half an hour later, Ji Jinghan went live from the villa with Hong Tao by her side.

“Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Actually, I’ve been wanting to share this with you all for a while, but I didn’t expect to be exposed by paparazzi first.” Ji Jinghan sat in front of the camera, tearful. As she spoke, she gently held Hong Tao’s hand.

“Brother Tao and I have been dating for a month now. He didn’t make our relationship public to protect my career. But now that our date has been smeared by gossip, I can’t stay silent. I have to clear things up!”

Hong Tao stroked her head gently, then turned to the camera with a stern expression. “Hanhan and I are in a genuine relationship. There’s no transactional relationship involved! I love her, and she loves me.

Lie Crusher’s blog post has seriously affected our lives. We will be pursuing legal action and will be sending a letter from our lawyers to seek compensation for defamation.

Lie Crusher, expect a court summons!”