It was a painful loss, but every little bit helps.
Su Yuhan first had Sister Zhi add her to the group chat. Then she found a nearby internet cafe and, mourning the loss of fifty yuan, booked a computer for four full hours.
By then, the client's instructions had already been posted in the group chat.
From this, Su Yuhan learned the whole story. To put it simply, a top-tier celebrity had recently been hit with rumors that he'd had plastic surgery. Soon after, so-called "industry insiders," old friends, family, and former classmates came out of the woodwork to accuse him of being a diva, bullying his peers, and sleeping around.
Anyway, the scandal was a can of worms, with new dirt coming out one after another.
The online rubberneckers were having a field day, but the celebrity and his agency were in deep trouble.
Seeing that if public opinion continued down this path, their cash cow was about to get the full career-ending package—a complete image collapse followed by a forced retirement, wiping him off the map entirely. That's why they finally shelled out a fortune to hire a massive water army to try and turn the tide.
The task for Su Yuhan and the others today was to focus on the "sleeping around" accusation and sling mud at the women who had come forward, accusing the celebrity of two-timing, using them and then tossing them aside, and even forcing them to have abortions.
This was a classic whitewashing tactic for a water army. If the "victim" could be made to look imperfect, the ensuing debate between both sides could win the perpetrator public sympathy and forgiveness.
Su Yuhan saw right through their cheap tricks. She curled her lip in disdain.
'What century is this? Still playing that childish, black-and-white game. I can't tell if the online gawkers are that naive, or if the corporations are.'
Oh, right. The top-tier celebrity's name was Qi Lianxiu.
'Qi Lianxiu?'
'Wait. Qi Lianxiu!'
Su Yuhan's eyes widened, and she sat bolt upright.
Wasn't he one of the five male leads from the book? The most loyal simp and backup boyfriend for the female lead, and one of the Sugar Daddies who had sent the original "Su Yuhan" a contract to be a stand-in.
'What a coincidence! Who would've thought I'd run into one of my Sugar Daddies while working a temp job?'
While all five male leads in the original novel were hopelessly devoted to the heroine, this Qidangliu was in a league of his own.
The Qi Family, like the Xia family, was one of the four most powerful families at the apex of A City society.
The Qi Family had been in the entertainment industry since Qi Lianxiu's great-grandfather's generation. After accumulating enough wealth, they successfully transitioned from being workers to becoming the ones pulling the strings.
After several more generations of hard work, they expanded to their current size, becoming one of the undisputed titans of the industry.
Qi Lianxiu was the youngest child of his generation, with an older brother and sister. He grew up with no pressure to inherit the family business and was basically the archetypal rich, pampered idiot son who was left to his own devices.
At eighteen, Qi Lianxiu accidentally stumbled into a talent show produced by his family's company. His stunning looks, which were on a completely different level from the other contestants, made him an internet sensation with just a few seconds of screen time.
Seeing the unexpectedly explosive results, Qi Lianxiu's older brother decided to roll with it, having his younger brother stay in the competition to generate buzz for the show.
The results were predictable. Backed by his handsome face and his powerful brother, Qi Lianxiu became the show's "chosen one," debuting in the center position. In just three short years, he had climbed to the very top of the entertainment industry.
The book hadn't mentioned this current scandal, so Su Yuhan didn't know much about it.
But she did know that a year from now, when the heroine returned to the country after finishing her studies, Qi Lianxiu's fame would be even greater than it was today.
And yet this brilliant, shining superstar, just to win a place in the heroine's heart, would choose to announce their relationship at the absolute peak of his career, effectively torpedoing his own future.
Later, to better care for the heroine, he would ignore his fans' pleas and forcefully retire from the industry, becoming her exclusive house-husband and spending his days cooking for her.
"..."
Su Yuhan was once again rendered speechless by the sheer ridiculousness of it all. 'It's the classic tale of a simp who simps his way to... well, not exactly nothing.'
'Ahem, not exactly nothing. He did at least land the title of "one-fifth of a partner."'
'Seriously, she just didn't get it!'
'A rich young master from a powerful family, with tens of millions of fans and a nine-figure income, desperately paying his way into a relationship just to *share* a lover with four other men. What for?'
'For one-fifth of the space in the heroine's bed? Or for the privilege of having a meal with her while being subjected to the snide remarks of the other male leads?'
No wonder other idols' fans crowdfunded private jets and private islands for them, while Qi Lianxiu's fans specifically chose his birthday to crowdfund the purchase of a mountain for him.
They probably saw right through his love-addled brain and knew that all the bitter herbs on a whole mountain wouldn't be enough for him to dig.
Speaking of fans, Su Yuhan glanced at the program she was running. It showed a constantly updating feed of comments from Qi Lianxiu's die-hard fans, all desperately trying to defend their idol's reputation.
She thought about how, a year from now, when Qi Lianxiu announced his relationship with Jiang Yuxi, his true fans and career-focused fans would be devastated. Meanwhile, the comment sections would be full of fake fans jumping up and down, yelling, "I ship it! I ship it! This is so sweet!"
'Ship what? The fact that their precious idol was taking the money they scrimped and saved to give him and using it to spoil another woman? Weren't they afraid they'd ship it so hard they coughed up blood?'
'This world really is just one big amateur-hour circus,' she thought.
Su Yuhan multitasked, working on her assignment while enjoying the drama. After taking a moment to genuinely pity Qi Lianxiu's fans for their poor judgment, she returned her focus to the initial rumors about him sleeping around. Suddenly, her fingers froze over the keyboard.
'This book is a "harem-in-reverse" story masquerading as a "doted-on heroine" plot. I'm not sure if the female lead is "pure," but all five male leads definitely have to be, or they would've been disqualified from the running long ago.'
'Therefore, these so-called "sleeping around" accusations must be fake.'
'Looking back at how the whole scandal unfolded, this clearly wasn't just about Qi Lianxiu himself. It was most likely a targeted attack—or perhaps a probing strike—by a rival corporation against the Qi Family's agency.'
At this thought, an idea flashed in Su Yuhan's mind, and she let out a mischievous snicker.
'Either way, the wool comes from the sheep's back. It doesn't matter whose wool I fleece. No matter what, I should seize this chance to make a quick buck.'
And so, ten minutes later, the screen of Qi Lianxiu's personal computer suddenly went black. A fluorescent green, snake-like icon appeared, along with a playful question.
[You guys want the evidence, or not?]
Ten minutes after that, the head of the PR department rushed in after hearing the news.
"Are you telling me a hacker contacted you and asked for one hundred thousand yuan to buy the evidence on the people behind this smear campaign against Young Master Qi?"
"Yes, exactly! Take a look at this evidence. Is it usable?"
"Usable? Of course it's usable! This is incredibly useful! For us right now, this is a godsend, an absolute masterstroke. It's just... this hacker clearly doesn't know the market. To ask for only a hundred thousand for such crucial evidence? That's basically charity."
Qi Lianxiu and his manager: "..."
Completely oblivious to being labeled an "amateur" who was "doing charity," Su Yuhan was busy settling her invoice with the water army's coordinator.
"So, you're saying you used how many accounts in total, and posted how many original comments?"
"One thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven accounts. Fifty thousand and seventy-three original comments, each over ten words long. Since this is our first time working together, let's call it a friendly gesture. I'll round it down for you and just count it as an even fifty thousand."
The water army coordinator: ??!