Chapter 24 1/2

In the end, Gu Zha canceled his plan to keep long hair.

Secretary Zhang thought that his persuasion had played a significant role. After all, they had been working together for some time, and although he didn’t understand why Mr. Gu had such a “rebellious” idea, as long as he brought up “long hair affecting work efficiency,” everything could be easily resolved.

Of course, he would never know that Gu Zha had abandoned the idea because the knockout rounds and finals of “Song of Your Life” had begun.

Jin Jiu changed his hairstyle.

When he told the makeup artist, “I want to cut my hair and change my hairstyle,” the artist immediately and decisively cut off his long hair.

She had found Jin Jiu’s long hair somewhat displeasing for a long time!

The makeup artist was quite professional. Snip, snip, a few cuts, and when Jin Jiu’s slightly delicate features were revealed, An Baixing beside him was stunned:

“Damn! Dude, you’re so good-looking?”

Jin Jiu did look very handsome. As a singer who didn’t rely on his looks, even though his complexion was still pale and his facial features were striking, it was to the point where people couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn!”

The most eye-catching were his eyes. Even now, they still seemed lifeless, but with his slightly raised nose, he looked like a recently born, damp little creature.

According to An Baixing’s evaluation, it was:

“Too good-looking! With your features, you’re more than qualified to be a vase beauty! My god, I’m friends with such a good-looking person; I’m so awesome!”

The makeup artist was also excited. After a quick look, she took out her tools and couldn’t wait to start.

“I knew it; your features are so outstanding. You were born for the stage. Wait, let me give you stage makeup. I guarantee you’ll be the most eye-catching on stage!”

Jin Jiu hadn’t looked at his own face properly in seven years.

He had been praised for being good-looking since childhood. At sixteen, he was not only recognized as the “Voice of an Angel,” but his appearance was also labeled as an angelic face.

But after those things happened, the compliments he received turned into disdain. He started to fear others seeing his face, worrying that showing this face would make others uncomfortable. The praise he received became something he was careful about.

The compliments from An Baixing and the makeup artist made him cautiously lift his eyes when he lowered his head. The person in the mirror looked somewhat unfamiliar, as if it didn’t quite match his memory.

In Jin Jiu’s eyes, he was not sunny or likable. He was pale and withered, and even when he tried hard to smile, it looked stiff.

Would she like him in this gloomy and unlikable state?

Jin Jiu lowered his head in disappointment. Before he could lower his head completely, the makeup artist lifted it up. Excitedly practicing smiling, Jin Jiu said, “…”

In this enclosed program production team, the chaos outside was in stark contrast.

In the week that followed, the truth about what happened seven years ago had been reversed multiple times.

As Sheng Quan said, the truth was there; it just depended on whether people were willing to dig it up.

It started with questioning, followed by searching. During the process, various “I heard” rumors flew around. Then, both sides, pro and con, rushed to provide evidence. Finally, after all the dust settled, the summary and review stage began.

The main reviewers were those who were victorious, or those who had only been onlookers without getting involved. They were mainly various big V accounts and video accounts on different platforms.

One of those who actively reviewed was someone riding a small donkey. Ever since the screenshot incident in the book fan group, his fans have skyrocketed. He had become a firm supporter of Sheng Quan, always rushing to the forefront whenever there was an event related to Sheng Quan.

He participated in the screenshot incident, listed evidence when the suspicion of Sheng Quan owning Huaxing Building arose, and even bought an account at a high price in the book fan group. He immediately praised her and quickly took screenshots when Sheng Quan appeared.

In summary, if there was an event, he would be at the forefront; if there wasn’t, he would find various ways to relate it to Sheng Quan.

The drama crew of “The Journey of Life,” the career development of Yan Hui, Starlight Entertainment’s recruitment of employees, someone being poached by Starlight from somewhere else—all these events were observed and linked to Sheng Quan by him.

The daily life of Starlight’s CEO, Gu Zha, was not spared either. He was thoroughly examined.

The large V (influencer) who is eager to join in the excitement, just like riding a small donkey, has many. In just over a month, Sheng Quan has gained the current popularity and number of fans, and these people have played a significant role in this.

Even for netizens who haven’t witnessed the previous big scenes, if they’ve seen many big Vs discussing Sheng Quan-related matters, even if they don’t know her, subconsciously they would have the impression that “this is a celebrity.”

Of course, in a mutually beneficial way, these accounts have also gained a large fan base interested in Sheng Quan. They generate heat around Sheng Quan, and her popularity, in turn, feeds back to them.

In this positive cycle, they automatically stand at the forefront of “protecting the spring.” After all, protecting Sheng Quan means protecting the traffic that sustains them.

Sheng Quan is well aware of this. For example, her main account seems extremely indifferent and ignored, but her secondary account consistently pays attention to the movements of this “Spring Protection Team.”

However, she’s been busy lately, and it’s been a day since she summarized riding a small donkey; she just stumbled upon it.

Summary of the Jinjiu Incident:

1. Seven years ago, Jinjiu was highly regarded as the “Newcomer King of Love Song.” The media at that time praised him as the voice of an angel. (I searched the entire internet and found a few audio clips with degraded sound quality in the first link below. Although the audio has changed hands several times and the quality has suffered, it can still be considered the voice of an angel.)

2. In May, just before the competition, Jinjiu suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared in mid-August, the “Concert to Make Money and Deceive Fans Incident” occurred (the first and second images are a collection of newspapers at that time). At this time, Jinjiu could no longer sing like an angel. According to media reports at that time, his voice was even hoarse and unpleasant, leading to a large number of fans turning from fans to anti-fans.

3. Note that the money from concert tickets did not go to Jinjiu. He had refused to go on stage but was forcibly pushed onto the stage. At that time, he was not yet sixteen, had just graduated from junior high school, and had been reported several times for severe overwork (the fourth image is a photo of Jinjiu at that time; although it’s blurry, you can see that he was almost as thin as a skeleton).

4. At the end of October, some media reported that Jinjiu, covered in blood, was taken to the hospital, suspected of suicide (scene photo in image 4). From the side profile, it can be seen that it is indeed Jinjiu. After analysis by some experts, it was deduced that he had used the slowest, most courageous, and most resilient method of cutting his wrists in warm bathwater (Eyewitness “Agua [nickname]” had worked at the hospital and personally saw Jinjiu being rushed for rescue).

5. In early November, Jinjiu and the unscrupulous company terminated their contract (after persistent efforts by numerous netizens, employees of the unscrupulous company at that time, “Life is Not Easy Xiaomeng Sighs [nickname]” and “Jasmine [nickname],” identified themselves and testified that after Jinjiu’s suicide was rescued, he entered the boss’s office with a knife and stabbed himself. The unscrupulous boss Rongchang was scared and terminated the contract on the spot).

6. After successfully terminating the contract, Jinjiu seemed to disappear completely from the public eye. However, according to the magnifying glass-like searches by various experts, Jinjiu’s trajectory over these seven years was as follows: he returned to high school but was expelled due to severe self-harm tendencies (up to now, two classmates in the same class and thirteen classmates from the same school have testified). After that, he began to work and seek medical treatment. Currently, there are testimonies from “Fried Chicken Shop Colleague,” “Express Station Colleague,” “Restaurant Waiter Colleague,” “Car Repair Shop Colleague,” “Takeout Delivery Guy Colleague,” and so on.

Their memories are quite consistent. Jinjiu is not talkative; he usually does things silently, always lowering his head to cover his face. Most colleagues working with him don’t know what he looks like, but they all say Jinjiu likes to sing, always sneaking in to sing quietly. Someone once jokingly asked him to sing for everyone, but he always said he couldn’t sing.