Li Ke took the bus ho.
After turning on his computer, he habitually searched for topics related to today’s show.
Sothing unexpected happened.
"Lv Fangxin’s god-tier disaster on stage, tragic singing aid to grab attention."
"The village flower crashes again, bold claims of not disappointing fans beco a joke."
"Lv Fangxin’s pig-like off-key singing—who did it insult? Her fans, her sisters."
Below these sensational headlines were videos.
Li Ke, filled with doubt, clicked on them. Shockingly, it showed today’s disaster from Lv Fangxin’s performance.
"These damned trolls."
Li Ke was so furious he nearly smashed his computer.
It was clearly an illicit recording, and it was taken out of context.
However, the comnts below the video were filled with people criticizing Lv Fangxin. It was evident soone had already paid for trending searches to blow this up online.
Moreover, from the entire performance, only Lv Fangxin’s controversial clip had been released.
In his anger, Li Ke was about to upload his own secretly recorded video to clear the na of the "village flower."
But when he was about to hit upload, his heated mind cald down slightly.
"Wait, if I do this, won’t I create even more trouble for myself and the village flower?"
"This kind of secret recording is illegal. If the show finds out, I’ll get sued."
"Plus, the haters will definitely use this as an excuse to attack the village flower even more."
Thinking of this, Li Ke deleted the video from his computer.
He opened the fan support group, which was in complete chaos. Many were deeply disappointed with Lv Fangxin’s performance. Fans who hadn’t been at the event were trying to defend her but ended up being targeted with massive online attacks.
"Can we not push her to debut? Is debuting really worth it? Getting cursed at every day."
"After all, this is a girl group! Even if we make her debut, can she really handle it?"
"I’m so tired! Getting cursed at every day. I want to defend the village flower, but I have nothing to say."
"I say don’t let the village flower debut anymore. We’ve already contributed over ten million; let’s just pool funds to support her independently. We can enjoy her ourselves."
Depressing comnts like these were everywhere in the support group.
The online backlash spread at a rapid pace, dominating every platform.
Production team
Yang Xiaoyue and Sun Miao looked at the news online, their faces darkened.
They had already reported the matter to the relevant authorities.
But the response they got was that the video had been uploaded from an overseas site.
The authorities could only limit its spread to a certain extent but couldn’t completely block it.
"Damn it, what’s wrong with those companies? Are they crazy?"
Yang Xiaoyue was trembling with anger. The production team had already been warned by higher-ups.
"Xiaoyue, I don’t think it was those companies. Such extensive backlash that could lead to program restructuring or even cancellation would also negatively affect their contestants."
"Xiao Miao, you’re saying it’s the rival company of Penguin?"
"Yes. This kind of coordinated, widespread backlash must have been planned in advance. Only a major company could organize and execute it so quickly."
Sun Miao’s words made Yang Xiaoyue calm down slightly.
"Xiaoyue, this problem is beyond what we can handle. We must report it to upper managent."
"It’s the only way. We can’t let them continue to sar Lv Fangxin."
While the two were discussing, the comrcial van was already ferrying the six exhausted center-position contestants to the airport.
They were heading to Suzhou and Hangzhou to attend a promotional event for a brand sponsor.
The group was completely worn out, and Lv Fangxin, in particular, seed utterly defeated.
Once again, Chen Yinghan was absent from this trip.
"Yuwei, sit here."
"Thanks, Sister Yezi."
The others noticed Ye Yuwei actively inviting her over and instinctively pricked up their ears.
"Take a rest. In another three hours, we’ll have another performance."
"Excuse , flight attendant, could you bring a blanket?"
...
"Fangxin, don’t think about anything. It’s all in the past."
"You have to trust your fans and your company. They’ll help you sort this out."
Ye Yuwei gently laid the blanket over her.
Lv Fangxin, her eyes bloodshot, almost broke into tears. There was so much she wanted to say to Ye Yuwei, but she knew this wasn’t the right place.
"Zijing, don’t you want a blanket?" ng ixuan suddenly smiled at the person next to her.
"No need. I just want to be left alone," Zhang Zijing replied coldly.
On the other side, Lai Ruoxuan glanced in their direction before closing her eyes to rest.
ng ixuan flinched under the look, realizing she had let her emotions show.
Openly provoking Zhang Zijing and Ye Yuwei’s relationship like that made her seem petty.
What she didn’t notice was that Zhang Zijing’s hands were trembling slightly.
Her frost-like face appeared even colder.
Wu Zixuan drank her coffee, determined not to sleep.
She knew that if she fell asleep, her face might swell by the ti she woke up. Even using ice packs wouldn’t fully alleviate it, and it’d still show.
For an external event like this, which might only happen once or twice, she needed to tough it out and present her best self to the audience.
When she overheard ng ixuan, her lips curled into a faint sneer.
She knew that ng ixuan was troubled. Despite being heavily supported by the production team, her skills couldn’t asure up to Ye Yuwei’s.
The production team had tried to reduce Ye Yuwei’s screen ti as much as possible, but to keep the show’s buzz alive, they couldn’t edit her out entirely.
This led many fans to question ng ixuan’s "unstoppable powerhouse" persona.
As these doubts grew, ng ixuan, who aspired to debut as the center position, naturally felt the pressure.
Ye Yuwei reclined silently in her seat.
Right now, the debut lineup was becoming clearer. She needed to prepare to secure resources for herself after the group’s formation.
She and Lv Fangxin were both very popular. Partnering together would be the best strategy.
As for Zhang Zijing, she believed the latter would understand her intentions.
Less than an hour later, the plane landed smoothly.
They had to take a car to the designated performance venue.
Shenghai
Li Ke’s heart was in turmoil. If the "village flower" really wasn’t trying hard, that would be one thing. But the truth was, she did try—yet she was still targeted by trolls.
Several tis, he wanted to release the video in his hand, but he restrained himself.
Stay calm, stay calm.
Li Ke kept reminding himself. He wanted to vindicate the village flower, but he worried others wouldn’t believe him.
Earlier, so prominent fans who had attended the event argued on her behalf in the group, but many didn’t believe them. They thought those fans were just desperate to push her into debuting.
Of course, a small fraction did believe, but they were too few in number.
The deeper Li Ke got into being a fan, the more clearly he understood the stakes of debuting or not.
If the village flower didn’t debut, she’d remain in her current group, which, without support from a major company, would likely fade into obscurity soon.
The best outco for Lv Fangxin might be marrying a wealthy man.
Deep down, Li Ke couldn’t accept this possibility. Even though he told himself that the village flower had the freedom to date, and it was only natural for her to find a partner soday...
These were just pretty words. What he truly wanted was an eternal, unsullied, unchanging goddess.
Besides, he had already spent nearly 700,000 yuan on behalf of Lv Fangxin. How could he be content seeing his money wasted just like that?
There was also the hatred in his heart—a deep, seething hatred. He was certain it was those companies competing for her spot. They just wanted to push the village flower out.
Why should they take the position that rightfully belonged to the village flower? The resources from a big company after debuting—how were they worthy?
Just as Li Ke was about to impulsively release the video—damn the consequences—
Suddenly, soone posted a bunch of links in the group.
"Here’s the truth about Lv Fangxin’s so-called disaster. Videos from that night posted by fans on-site."
Li Ke was stunned: "Could soone else have also recorded it?"
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