Chapter 49

Interfering in someone else’s relationship is a matter of character.

Because there had been so many misunderstandings about Su Xingyao before, and everyone knew that the negative rumors were mainly due to the lack of public relations and actions from the star’s management team, his fans naturally wouldn’t mindlessly believe the baseless gossip about him being a third party.

But not believing it wasn’t enough. People in the fan circle know that once rumors are spread, if they’re not debunked, they will become harder and harder to refute over time.

As they watched the fans of JiangChu eagerly spreading all kinds of brainwashing content, Su Xingyao’s fans didn’t engage much with the other side. Instead, they went straight to digging up old stories involving the three of them.

The fans didn’t look into it at first, but once they started digging, they actually found something.

Hua Jingyi was one of the two girls who had taken a photo with Su Xingyao at the airport last time.

At the time, she was just a casual fan, but after that, she became a die-hard supporter of Su Xingyao.

When she learned about the outrageous behavior of the former management company, she and the other fans had cleared out his trending topics and fan page.

However, due to the contract termination, Su Xingyao had not been able to contact any staff members from his old team.

As a result, Su Xingyao hadn’t logged into his Weibo account again, and there was no official fan club to help clarify the rumors.

This time, when Su Xingyao was smeared, his ^[1]“grassroots fan” refers to a fan who supports someone or something from the bottom up, typically without official backing or organization. Grassroots activities like spreading awareness, … Continue readinggrassroots fan support groups stepped up.

Hua Jingyi and the other girl from the photo were part of one such support group.

Before this, Su Xingyao had kept a very low profile, participating in simple activities, and never causing any conflicts. His fans were just as laid-back, enjoying the content and happily supporting him.

But now, with the other program team using him for hype, and with JiangChu’s fans actively attacking him, as fans, they couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

The two of them stayed up all night, joining forces with other fan groups’ leaders in a chat group.

They worked together, dividing the tasks clearly, and started compiling evidence from past videos, interviews, Weibo interactions, and other sources. By morning, they had created a long post to debunk the rumors.

Hua Jingyi was the one who posted it, and she pinned it to the top of the trending topics page.

They knew that nowadays, netizens have very little patience, so the debunking post was concise and to the point.

There were almost no unnecessary words, just solid, convincing videos and screenshots.

Once the clarification post was released, netizens clicked on it and read through it carefully.

They discovered that over the years of working with Jiang Xunche, apart from the promotional events for the drama where they mentioned their roles, Su Xingyao had zero interaction with him. He hadn’t even followed Jiang Xunche on Weibo.

The only time he publicly mentioned Jiang Xunche was when CP fans brought it up to him.

He gently told everyone that after finishing filming, he and Jiang Xunche had never had any private contact, including not adding each other on WeChat or exchanging phone numbers. He asked fans to focus on their work, not on personal gossip.

Su Xingyao had been very distant with Jiang Xunche the entire time, showing no signs of any ambiguous behavior.

On the other hand, Jiang Xunche, the one supposedly “pursuing” Su Xingyao, had been the one who showed persistent attention toward him.

In Su Xingyao’s past Weibo posts, Jiang Xunche had commented many times, asking how he was doing in a very affectionate and ambiguous manner.

But Su Xingyao had never replied to him, completely ignoring him, while responding to the other people from the drama’s team.

After Jiang Xunche and Chu Zian publicly tore Su Xingyao apart, Jiang Xunche would show off his relationship while occasionally taking subtle jabs at Su Xingyao.

The Weibo post was very organized, with various screenshots clearly displayed.

Once the evidence was laid out, even the most blind person could see who had been the one chasing after whom.

【The whole time, it was Jiang Xunche who kept pursuing Su Xingyao like a peacock opening its tail.】

【And in the end, Su Xingyao is the one getting blamed? This is ridiculous.】

【Jiang Xunche’s fans are redefining what it means to be clingy.】

【What? You’re talking about not replying to Weibo, not responding to comments, and zero interaction after the drama aired? That’s your definition of clinginess?】

【Oh my god, Su Xingyao never mentioned you for years, but your brother kept bringing him up. Who’s actually clinging to whom?】

【This is hilarious. How can they still blame Su Xingyao? Were the people who insulted him back then blind?】

After the long Weibo post clarifying everything, fans quickly reposted and helped Su Xingyao clear his name.

In the process of clarification, some observant fans made an unexpected connection.

【I remember someone once leaked that Su Xingyao’s agent gave him a good role when he debuted, but he got criticized for it? After that, his agent and the others in the company didn’t dare manage him anymore. Could this have been the drama they were talking about?】

Once this speculation was made, fans started checking the timeline.

They found that the story the leaker mentioned indeed matched up with the drama and events.

What’s more, they noticed that since this incident, Su Xingyao had been receiving criticism and had been forced to shoulder various unfounded accusations.

The pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit together, and while fans worked hard to clear Su Xingyao’s name, they didn’t forget to call out Yingxing Entertainment for mishandling things.

【@YingxingEntertainment, you can’t even clear up such absurd rumors?】

【@YingxingEntertainment, look at the mess you’ve made!】

【@YingxingEntertainment, you’re a bunch of useless idiots. Come out and take the blame!】

【No wonder Su Xingyao terminated his contract. He probably didn’t want to sign with a shady company like you guys again.】

After Yingxing Entertainment was once again scolded by everyone, fans started to think about how unfairly Su Xingyao had been treated over the years. They really felt he was wronged.

However, while Su Xingyao’s fans were busy defending him, Jiang Xunche and Chu Zian’s fans were not having it.

Seeing that the clarification post had already broken 10,000 shares in a short period of time, and the evidence revealed that Jiang Xunche’s side had actively hyped the CP all along, the fans who had been brainwashed for years weren’t ready to accept it.

Soon, the heads of the two CP fan clubs jumped out to “debunk” the rumors.

【Don’t think you can just use some screenshots to clear this up. If Su Xingyao was really a third party, there would be solid evidence. Do you think we’re fools? So many people have worked with Jiang Xunche, but why is it only Su Xingyao being blamed? Acting all high and mighty in front of the camera, but secretly flirting behind the scenes, calling someone ‘darling’ when they already have a boyfriend — what does that mean? We didn’t want to expose anything, but since the third party’s fans keep pretending to be saints, don’t blame me for exposing this.】

After scolding, the CP fan head posted a video.

The video was short, only a few seconds long.

In the dim, hazy light of a lavish party, Su Xingyao, dressed in a well-fitted black suit, stepped into the frame.

The interplay of light and shadow passed through his messy bangs, casting across his pale neck and sharp chin.

The shot was clearly taken accidentally, with the quality not being very high, which made Su Xingyao appear in a dreamy, beautiful, and coldly distant way.

The next second, the camera shifted.

The cold, beautiful figure seemed to have noticed something, turning around and giving a smile.

He gently raised his slim, long hand and waved it forward, saying three words.

At that moment, the light fully hit his face. The once distant beauty now had arched brows and bright eyes, looking both stunning and gentle.

At the same time, Jiang Xunche, standing across from him, also raised his head and looked toward him through the crowd.

His gaze was full of affection, as if a single glance could last forever.

Since Su Xingyao’s voice was not captured in the shot, Jiang Xunche’s fans, worried that others might not notice, added a line of text in blood-red, marking Su Xingyao’s lips during the scene where he spoke.

— This can be read through lip movements. Su Xingyao is calling out “darling” to Jiang Xunche.

For years, this moment where Su Xingyao called Jiang Xunche “darling” made Jiang Xunche’s fans firmly believe that Su Xingyao had been intentionally flirting with him.

After the CP fans released this “^[2]“smoking gun” refers to clear, undeniable evidence that proves a person’s involvement in something, especially in a crime or wrongdoing. It originates from the idea of finding a gun … Continue readingsmoking gun,” their arrogance grew, and they led a group of fans directly to Su Xingyao’s super topic and the clarification post to question his fans.

【Aren’t you so good at clarifying, huh? What about this ‘darling’? No explanation?】

【Acting all high and mighty in front of the camera, but behind it, revealing your true self, flirting with someone else’s boyfriend and calling him ‘darling’, huh?】

【Knowing he has a boyfriend and still doing this… is Su Xingyao really innocent?】

After leaving these comments, the fans started spamming memes.

They took a screenshot from the video of Su Xingyao’s smile and edited it, adding a malicious line next to it:

【White Lotus Su, who are you calling ‘darling’?】

CP fans are known for being unreasonable, and to protect their ‘true couple’s’ sweet love, they flooded everywhere with this meme.

This matter had garnered significant attention because many marketing accounts had previously gotten involved to hype the “Emperor-Dragon” CP, so a lot of people were silently following it.

Earlier, when Su Xingyao’s fans cleared things up, they believed he was innocent.

But now, after seeing the video released by Jiang Xunche’s CP fans, they quickly began to turn against him.

【Oh… so this is how Su Xingyao really is behind the scenes…】

【Emmmmm, this ‘darling’ is really hard to judge. I feel like I’ve been deceived.】

【Su Xingyao calling Jiang Xunche ‘darling’ behind the scenes, this isn’t good.】

【I recently started to like Su Xingyao because he had a comeback, but I didn’t expect him to fall like this so quickly…】

【I really felt sorry for him being criticized before, but now… there’s a reason why he was criticized so harshly.】

【Sorry for misunderstanding Chu Zian and Jiang Xunche before.】

Seeing so many bystanders change sides, the Jiang Xunche-Chu Zian CP fans grew more arrogant.

They directly @-ed Su Xingyao’s fan club on Weibo, demanding that they kneel and apologize to their “true couple” and fans.

Seeing that the situation was going in their favor and the public opinion was slowly shifting back into their control, they began popping champagne and celebrating their “successful takedown of the third party” with reposts and giveaways.

However, just as the champagne was halfway opened, unexpectedly, Su Xingyao’s fan club directly @-ed them.

Susu’s Little Tail: @JiangChuWorld’sSweetest

Oh, really?

Since when did edited videos become solid proof?

Hua Jingyi immediately released two videos.

The first video was titled “Hong Kong Style Love Story — The Heir’s Marriage.”

This video was the full version of the short clip Jiang Chu’s CP fans had previously posted. It was three minutes long, an edited CP video made by “Emperor-Dragon” CP fans back in the day.

However, the video they posted had been trimmed at the beginning and the end.

The second video she released was much simpler.

It didn’t have any flashy effects, just a hidden camera shot of about twenty seconds.

The content was also quite plain: it was the normal footage of Su Xingyao attending the banquet.

Curious onlookers quickly clicked on the video, and they found that the footage at the beginning actually wasn’t much different from the one JiangChu’s CP fans had posted earlier.

Just as everyone was puzzled, they suddenly noticed something different.

Because, to their surprise, they saw that the person Su Xingyao smiled at, waved to, and gently called “darling” wasn’t Jiang Xunche…

It was a dog!

A cute little dog, wearing a bowtie, a real, genuine poodle!

In the full version of the banquet video, Jiang Xunche never appeared at all.

The one Su Xingyao turned to look at was always the dog, just a few meters away.

After smiling at the dog and greeting it, he even squatted down to lovingly adjust the slightly askew bowtie.

The entire scene was warm and adorable.

After posting the video on the fan club account, Hua Jingyi also carefully shared the images that her sisters had spent all night gathering.

They were screenshots from the Weibo account of the producer of the TV series Su Xingyao had starred in.

Two years ago, the producer had posted pictures of two dogs on their social media.

One was named “Darling” and the other “Princess.”

And one of these dogs, tagged as 【name: Darling】, was the same poodle that Su Xingyao had interacted with at the banquet!

At this point, the onlookers felt like they had dropped their melons in shock.

It turned out that after all the drama created by Jiang Chu’s fans, the truth was this absurd and ridiculous.

【Wait, before you spread rumors and try to frame Su Xingyao, didn’t you check the source of the video?】

【You’re using an edited CP video to accuse him of being the ‘third party’? Can it get any more ridiculous?】

【‘Of course there’s solid proof’ ‘Otherwise, do you think we’re stupid?’ ‘Who is he calling darling?‘】

【Hahaha, who is he calling darling? Of course, it’s to the dog!】

【Side note, Su Xingyao must really love dogs. When I see my dog, I make the same expression, sobs (ps: but of course, I don’t look as good as Su Xingyao when I smile).】

【I’m dying, family! Su Xingyao was clearly playing with a dog, but some fans are imagining things and projecting themselves onto it.】

【So in the fans’ eyes, your brother is a dog?】

This whole thing has been full of twists and turns, but incredibly amusing.

Many netizens who were watching the whole situation unfold couldn’t stop laughing after seeing what Jiang Xunche’s fans had done.

After all, this is the first time in Chinese entertainment where fans have claimed their idol is a dog.

Naturally, such a funny incident had people eagerly promoting it.

So curious netizens rushed over to JiangChu’s fans to ask if they had any more fun brainwashing packages to release, and to just let everything out at once so everyone could have a good laugh.

The head of the CP fan group, when asked, went silent and pretended to be offline, unable to respond.

After this “dog operation” was revealed, Jiang Xunche and Chu Zian were pulled into the center of the topic.

Netizens who didn’t want to miss any gossip also joined in the investigation.

Soon after, someone dug up some fan-recorded footage that had been cut out by the production team two years ago.

The videos were filmed by Jiang Xunche’s fans, and there were several clips in total.

At the time, the fan was completely obsessed with their idol, but looking at the footage now, it was clear that Jiang Xunche’s behavior came off as rather creepy.

In the show, he intentionally said many ambiguous things to Su Xingyao.

When Su Xingyao ignored him, he took advantage of a balloon-popping game to run over to Su Xingyao and, without consent, tried to hug him to play.

Su Xingyao cleverly defused all his little moves and kept a distance from him the rest of the time.

However, after netizens watched these videos, many felt uncomfortable.

【Damn, why did I think this CP was sweet before?! This guy is so creepy!】

【The look Jiang Xunche gave when he wanted to play the balloon game with Su Xingyao was so disgusting. Isn’t that sexual harassment? He even tried to hold his hand!】

【I feel bad for Su Xingyao. What did this beautiful person do wrong? Getting harassed by a creepy guy and then being maliciously edited and criticized.】

【Even Dou E (a famous tragic character) would say, ‘I’m ashamed of myself.‘】

【What has Su Xingyao gone through? Why is he always being slandered by anyone and everyone?】

【Damn, at least the clarification has come out.】

【But the past harm is real.】

【Aren’t you going to apologize to Su Xingyao? Spreading rumors is illegal! You’ve slandered him for two whole years!】

【Su Xingyao is just too kind. He should’ve sued all you trash for defamation a long time ago.】

【Chu Zian, what reason do you have to go crazy at Su Xingyao? It’s your boyfriend who’s been sexually harassing Su Xingyao!】

After discovering this truth, everyone naturally couldn’t forget how Chu Zian had once led the online narrative against Su Xingyao.

As people rushed to scold him, they discovered that not only had he once implied that Su Xingyao was meddling in their relationship, but he had also subtly torn apart several artists who had worked with his boyfriend.

Whenever anyone collaborated with his boyfriend, he would go on a rant and post long messages online, showing his complete “love brain” tendencies.

After seeing this, netizens were left speechless.

【Wow, no wonder he suddenly started dissing Su Xingyao so much, this “love brain” is next-level.】

【Stop overhyping it, Su Xingyao is trying to avoid trouble, do you really think anyone would even look at your creepy boyfriend?】

【Are all the men in the world gone? You’re treating this guy like a treasure.】

【Creepy guy x love-struck brain, you two really are a perfect match.】

【Respect and blessings, lock in one-child policy and 108 treasures.】

The show “Leisure Weekend” bought a batch of press releases to boost its ratings, but unexpectedly, it caused the show’s flying guest and her boyfriend to both have scandals.

In the first episode’s airing window, the guests’ dark history was exposed, causing the public’s perception of the show to drop drastically.

The audience who had been recommended the show by marketing accounts immediately lost interest in the program.

When Jiang Xunche’s team found out, they were furious and began fighting with the production team, working hard to manage the public relations and retract the press release.

However, before the press release was fully retracted, the latest episode of “We’re Going Traveling” was released.

At the same time, “Leisure Weekend”‘s earlier attempt to gain attention by stepping on others now backfired, and the program’s previously earned popularity and goodwill also began to fall apart.