If Ye Qing was a famous celebrity, then never mind, it would be normal for a video of her to cause a huge sensation online. However, Ye Qing was only a third or fourth line actress. How could it be possible that so many people claiming to be her fans would pop up overnight?
The only thing that made Ye Zhen famous was her identity as Lu Beichuan’s wife. She wasn’t in the entertainment circle or well-known online, so how could a mere video cause a commotion amongst the netizens?
Before the video of Lu Beichuan playing the piano came out, there were countless netizens debating if the woman playing the piano was Ye Zhen or Ye Qing. However, after the video of Lu Beichuan came out, everyone thought it was Ye Zhen playing the piano in the video instead of Ye Qing. Under such circumstances, within one night, countless fans popped up to fight justice for Ye Qing, a small-time actress, and demanded the netizens that had mocked and ridiculed Ye Qing to apologize.
What was even more strange was that the netizens who had been called out to apologize to Ye Ye Qing actually commented under her Weibo account with apologies. Of course, there was also a crusade against Ye Zhen. The netizens were blatantly hostile towards her.
Many of Ye Zhen’s “classmates” and “friends” came out and talked about her online. They left nothing unturned over as they regaled the netizens with stories of Ye Zhen’s past. She had mediocre grades and mediocre ability. It was shocking that a woman who wasn’t outstanding and didn’t attract attention was able to move up by marrying into a prestigious family.
During this scrutiny, Ye Zhen’s academic records were posted online. An embarrassing video of her where she participated in long-distance running in a sports competition during high school was also revealed to the public.
Ye Zhen looked very awful in that video. In the video, Ye Zhen was soaked in sweat and standing on the athletic track. She was hunched over with her hands on her knees and panting for breath. The classmates that had also participated in the long-distance running had been supported by other people in walking away. Ye Zhen was the only one left standing there. She was looking around with strands of hair sticking to her forehead and cheeks. Her dry lips were chapped, and her complexion was very pale. She cut an extremely sorry looking figure.
She raised her head to look at the person recording the video. A hoarse sound came out from her throat, but the person, who was recording this video, had a loud voice that covered up Ye Zhen’s weak voice. Based on Ye Zhen’s mouth shapes, it was possible to tell that she was asking the person recording the video if they had any water.
The malicious laughter almost overflowed the screen. However, after this video was edited, the laughter was removed, and the background behind Ye Zhen was changed. It was replaced with a horror movie background. Ye Zhen’s face was also edited to look like a ghost.
This animation was widely circulated.
Many people saw this animation and left comments about being shocked. If they didn’t look carefully, they wouldn’t have known that this was Lu Beichuan’s wife.
“OMG, that’s Ye Zhen? Lu Beichuan’s wife? Her transformation from highschool to now is too big. I can’t tell at all that this is Ye Zhen. It looks like two different people…”
“I don’t know why there are so many surprised comments. Have you guys never seen people’s past being exposed? Ye Zhen had been like this from childhood to adulthood. She doesn’t have good grades or good ability. She doesn’t have any close friends.”
“How could a person like her still be able to marry Lu Beichuan? My god… Is Lu Beichuan blind?”
“This animation scared me. I thought Ye Qing was acting in a horror movie. As it turns out, it was Ye Zhen.”
“I came back after seeing the exposure. I just want to say one thing. Good luck is very important. If you have good luck, then even if you don’t know anything, you can marry into a prestigious family. If you have bad luck, then even if you're proficient in all the accomplishments of a well-educated person, you can only work hard trying to make a living in the entertainment circle. Ye Zhen and Ye Qing, these two sisters. Aren’t they a real life example of this?”
“It looks like Ye Qing is much more talented than Ye Zhen. How could Lu Beichuan be interested in Ye Zhen? It feels like there’s something tricky behind this!”
“I find it strange too. Could Lu Beichuan really like this type of Cinderella girl? He was childhood friends with Shen Weiyin. Shen Weiyin is so beautiful. I don't even know what to say about Lu Beichuan. His taste is oddly bland.”
“Never mind that Ye Zhen flew up socially by marrying into a prestigious family. I bet most people don’t know that she has no conscience. After marrying into a prestigious family, she doesn’t care if her maiden family is doing well or not. The Lu’s own such a big corporation. If she just casually said a few words, Ye Qing wouldn’t be suffering the way she is now. I also heard that the Ye Corporation is facing bankruptcy. Dad Ye looked for Ye Zhen to ask her to have Lu Beichuan save his company, but Ye Zhen was indifferent.”
“My god… How could Ye Zhen be so ungrateful?! Her parents raised her for over twenty years in vain!”
Many people thought Ye Zhen was a parvenu’s daughter that had no abilities. She was utterly lacking and had only married Lu Beichuan by luck. In contrast, Ye Qing had exceptional grades since childhood and was the daughter that all parents wanted. Due to the injustice of fate, she could only struggle to make a living in the entertainment circle, subject to ups and downs of fortune.
Of course, there were many netizens that thought spreading this animation of Ye Zhen was an infringement on her rights and an insult. They called for everyone to stop forwarding this animation and delete the existing posts. There were also people that expressed the opinion that Ye Zhen didn’t get married to Lu Beichuan just by luck. They urged the commenters that said fate was unfair to go see an eye doctor. Pinkeye/jealousy was contagious.
(T/N: Figurative meaning of pinkeye is jealousy in Chinese.)
However, those comments were quickly deleted, leaving only comments with nasty words directed at Ye Zhen. It was quite unsightly.
Lu Beichuan naturally knew about the information posted online. He had previously ordered Qin Zhiyin to alert him if there was any negative news about Ye Zhen online.
Seeing that one after another, videos of Ye Zhen were being dug out, Lu Beichuan had a malicious expression. He hadn’t expected that situation would develop to such a point.
“Has the PR Department taken action?”
Qin Zhiyin had a worried frown. “They have, but the driving force behind the scenes has obviously spent a huge amount of money. Although we’re doing our best to resolve the situation, the effect is minimal.”
“What about the lawyer letters?”
“The first thing I did was contact the Weibo user posting this information, but he’s secure in the knowledge that he has backing. He’s not worried at all about a lawyer letter.”
After Qin Zhiyin had sent over the lawyer letter, not only was the person spreading the videos and animation not scared, he even posted her threatening remarks online and mocked it. He made fun of Lu Corporation by saying that other than lawyer letters, they only had more lawyer letters.
This move reminded many netizens of the previous incident of Lu Corporation sending lawyer letters. Once there were too many lawyer letters, people wouldn’t take it seriously. The poster joked that Lu Corporation was a family company that specialized in lawyer letters.
“Excuse my frankness CEO Lu. Although it looks like there are a lot of people in the company’s PR Department, the staff’s previous professional work isn’t directed at the entertainment industry, so they don’t have much experience in that area. They’re not able to immediately respond and deal with this type of meticulously planned and prepared crisis.”
Lu Beichuan mulled over this issue. “Go all out in dealing with this matter. As for the staff in the PR Department, if you have any thoughts, you can issue feedback to them. In addition, there is something else I want to let you know in advance.”
“CEO Lu, please say.”
“A week ago, I convened a meeting with the Investing Department regarding acquisition of Chaoxun Entertainment. I carefully considered it. Since the company has already taken a step into investing in the entertainment industry, it’ll be better to dive into it. It won’t take too long to acquire Chaoxun Entertainment. Regarding the actors and actresses that signed with that company, please prepare a packet of information on them. In addition, after the acquisition is complete, I hope you can go over there and take the position of head of agents. In the meantime, seriously consider who you want to recommend as the successor of the PR Department.”
Qin Zhiyin was somewhat stunned. “Chaoxun Entertainment?”
Qin Zhiyin had been making a living in the entertainment industry for a while and had some knowledge of Chaoxun Entertainment. It had once been a big company, but it was on a downfall due to improper management as well as other entertainment companies poaching its popular stars. A few setbacks was enough to lead to its decline. It only had the contracts of a group of third to fourth line actors and actresses firmly in its grasp and didn’t have any popular stars left.
A weakened company without any background didn’t have any future prospects. For Lu Beichuan to become interested in this company and acquire it, it was simply manna from the heavens for Chaoxun Entertainment.
“But Chaoxun Entertainment…” Qin Zhiyin trailed off once she remembered that Ye Qing’s contact was with Chaoxun Entertainment. In addition, the recent exposures were definitely related to Ye Qing somehow.
With Ye Qing taking advantage that she shared the same face as Ye Zhen, as long as she stayed in the entertainment industry, Ye Zhen’s life couldn’t be peaceful. Moreover, once Ye Zhen’s movie was in theaters, Qin Zhiyin reckoned that there would be another internet storm.
“This matter has already been settled. I hope you can clean up Chaoxun Entertainment before the movie is released. You’ll have free reign in that company. That is to say, I hope to see a company that can handle a public relations crisis in the entertainment industry one year from now. Understand?”
This was a heavy task.
Qin Zhiyin was baffled. She was somewhat incredulous with Lu Beichuan’s faith in her. “Me? CEO Lu, why do you believe in me?”
Qin Zhiyin believed that she was replaceable. At most, she was someone that had worked hard in the entertainment circle and had a bit of knowledge about that industry. There were plenty of people with the same professional experience as her.
Of those people, she wasn’t the most dazzling one. As a newcomer in this company, where did she get the qualification to receive such heavy trust?
Lu Beichuan lightly looked at her. “My wife recommended you. She believes in you and trusts you. I’ve also seen your value. Since there’s trust, there’s no reason to hold back. I know you’re hesitating somewhat. Afterall, it’s not easy to clean up and bring back a company that’s on the verge of collapse. I can give you time to consider whether or not you want to accept this task. You can wait until you’ve carefully considered before giving me a definite answer.”
Qin Zhiyin: “... CEO Lu, you’re saying that the reason I was able to come to Lu Corporation was because Mrs. Lu recommended me?”
Lu Beichuan nodded.
It took a while for Qin Zhiyin to recover from her shock. She had known from the beginning that it wasn’t luck that led Lu Beichuan to value her. For a careful person like him, he wouldn’t carelessly hand the PR Department to someone he knew nothing about. However, she would have never thought it was Ye Zhen that recommended her! And she believed in her without any reservations!
This was a great shock to Qin Zhiyin. There was nothing that would make you feel more grateful than when someone pulled you out of a quagmire.
She had been under a mistaken impression. It was actually Ye Zhen that she owed a debt of gratitude to?
“Go back and carefully think about this. Give me an answer soon.”
Qin Zhiyin nodded and left Lu Beichuan’s office.
After Qin Zhiyin left, Lu Beichuan looked at those online comments. He was worried about Ye Zhen.
There was wave after wave of malicious comments online. Ye Zhen wasn’t someone in the entertainment industry. He was worried that this would be a psychological blow to Ye Zhen if things continued this way.
While Lu Beichuan was very worried about Ye Zhen, she was actually laughing from reading those online comments. She wasn’t some famous star and these people were actually spending so much effort to have such a big battle to discuss about her?
It was already like this now. After her movie was released, wouldn’t the popularity level of discussions about her be comparable to a big star like Shen Weiyin?
Ye Zhen casually looked over the comments and video. Although she didn’t have experience in the entertainment circle, she was sure that someone had bought a water army to deliberately damage her reputation. She called Qin Zhiyin to ask her if she had any news of this and if she knew who was the one secretly exacerbating the situation.
Qin Zhiyin gave Ye Zhen her professional analysis of the situation and said the poster had mentioned Ye Qing and Shen Weiyin as well as the names of several other stars that had wanted to work with Lu Corporation, but had been rejected. She told Ye Zhen to ignore the netizens and to not engage with them. It would be devaluing her status if she bickered with these netizens. The PR Department would clean up this issue.
Ye Zhen hadn’t even thought about coming forward. She was just angry that someone had posted a video of ‘Ye Zhen’ in high school and even more angry that someone had made an animation from that video. This type of behavior was vile.
“Don’t worry. I won’t take this matter to heart.” Ye Zhen clicked on the high school video of ‘Ye Zhen’. “But, I have to sue this person that would post and spread a video without getting consent!”
“CEO Lu has already assigned a lawyer to handle this matter. I’ll also do my best on the PR side. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Ye Zhen didn’t have the slightest of doubts about Qin Zhiyin’s ability. “Thank you then.”
Just as she was about to end the call, Qin Zhiyin called out to stop her, “Mrs. Lu, about…” There was a rarely heard hesitancy in her tone.
Puzzled, Ye Zhen said, “Ms. Qin, feel free to say what’s on your mind.”
Qin Zhiyin smiled. “I’ve been curious why CEO Lu would notice me and let me be Lu Corporation’s PR Director. I was in his office recently and he told me it was because you recommend me. Mrs. Lu, I appreciate your kindness in recognizing my value and giving me this job. Can you tell me why you recommended me?”
Ye Zhen was silent. She was very clear that for the plot to have diverged to this point, it meant that it had already broken away from the original story a long time ago.
There was no possibility that Ye Qing and Lin Zhan would get back together. Lin Zhan had gone from developing outside of Haibin to coming to Haibin to develop. The Lin Zhan in the novel hadn’t returned to the Lu’s, and he hadn’t gotten Old Master Lu’s acknowledgement either, but now, both of those things had happened.
The contrast between reality and the novel was so great that Ye Zhen was completely confident that the fate of her novel counterpart won’t happen to her.
And since reality won’t continue to follow the novel's trajectory, then a talented person like Qin Zhiyin naturally won’t be discovered. Although it was true that she had been harboring thoughts of striking gold by hiring Qin Zhiyin, she was also hoping that a talented person like Qin Zhiyin could reach her full potential instead of living a life of obscurity.
“Ms. Qin, you don’t need to find this matter strange, let alone treat me as a benefactor. Talented people can shine no matter where they go. I just didn’t want to see a capable person like you to be overlooked. We just have a simple employer and employee relationship. I put forth money and you put forth hard work in return for that money. That’s all.”
Ye Zhen’s calmness put Qin Zhiyin’s mind at rest.
Qin Zhiyin, who had experienced countless conspiracies and schemes in the entertainment industry, was always vigilant against others. There was no such thing as a free lunch. There was always a string attached to it. If she had been recommended because Mrs. Lu valued her ability, then she could completely accept it.
“Mrs. Lu, thank you.”
Ye Zhen raised her eyebrows. “You’re welcome.”
After ending the call, Ye Zhen smiled and picked Zhouzhou up from the ground. “Zhouzhou, let’s practise walking, okay?”
Ye Zhen supported Zhouzhou by placing her hands under his armpits. One moment the two little legs flopped down on the carpet. A while later, he bent his legs. A few moments later, he was kicking his feet. But, he refused to give walking a try. He even giggled and looked up to smile at Ye Zhen. As soon as she let go, he fell down and kept his firm hold on his milk bottle. Angered, Ye Zhen lightly smacked his bare butt twice.
“You only know how to eat. What will you do if you become a little fatty from overeating?!”
Zhouzhou bit his pacifier while giggling at Ye Zhen.
Mother Lu came downstairs. She was dressed neatly and with lots of accessories. She looked dressed up to go out, but strangely, her expression was very ugly.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
Ye Zhen rarely saw Mother Lu looking so angry.
Mother Lu deeply sighed. Her expression softened a bit. “It’s nothing. Stay at home to watch Zhouzhou. I have to go out.”
Although Ye Zhen was puzzled, she didn’t stop the anxious-looking Mother Lu as she impatiently walked out.
Ye Zhen asked the nanny to come over and asked, “What happened? Mom looks quite angry.”
Nanny Yue didn’t know what happened either and shook her head.
***
Half an hour later, Mother Lu arrived at a coffee shop and was led to a table where Father Ye and Mother Ye were sitting at by a waiter.
Father Ye and Mother Ye stood up when they saw Mother Lu.
“In-law, you’re here.”
Mother Lu didn’t have the slightest trace of a smile. She expressionlessly sat down across from them. “Sorry, I’m late.”
Father Ye looked embarrassed. He couldn’t resist awkwardly smiling and said, “It’s no problem. We just got here too. Um… What would you like to drink?”
He gestured for a waiter to come over.
Mother Lu raised her hand to stop him and coldly said, “No need. I only came here for one reason. I investigated your current financial situation. It's obvious you aren’t living well. You utterly lost ownership of your company. Life must be hard without any income, right? And that’s why you need your daughter to earn money in the entertainment industry?”
Father Ye and Mother Ye were embarrassed after Mother Lu exposed their current financial situation in front of them.
However, everything Mother Lu had said was the truth.
When Ye Zhen had been pregnant, Father Ye had tried to get Lu Beichuan to invest in a project, but Lu Beichuan had passed on it for being worthless investment. After Father Ye had invested in the project, Lu Beichuan’s prediction had been proven true. It was a worthless investment. Although someone else had also invested in the project, it only exacerbated the Ye’s ruin.
Back then, Father Ye was very confident that the project was the key to Ye Corporation making a comeback. Thus, he invested heavily in the project after getting financing. He had borrowed a lot of money from the bank in order to invest. In the end, not only had he lost the money he invested, he owed a debt that he wasn’t able to repay.
At the time, there were two options. If he declared bankruptcy, then the debt would no longer be a problem. But if he did that, then the Ye’s that had lost Ye Corporation to bankruptcy would be unable to recover from their hopeless situation.
The second method was to have someone acquire Ye Corporation. This way, Ye Corporation won’t go bankrupt and the debt won’t be an issue either. On the surface, Ye Corporation was still the Ye’s, but the person in charge of it had already been changed.
As for seeking out Ye Zhen and Lu Beichuan for help, Father Ye had enough self-awareness to know that it was impossible for Lu Beichuan to agree to help him out.
In order to salvage that last bit of reputation, he reluctantly chose the second option and sold Ye Corporation to an unknown person.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Father Ye cared a lot about how others viewed him. He had been doing a good job hiding this matter. Having the truth exposed like that, he lost what was left of his prestige.