Chapter 66#

“Devoted” Movie Emperor (20)#

The trending topic about him was tied together with Kong Si.

He Xiao’s first reaction upon seeing the trending topic was that his own work team had bought it. Otherwise, who would be so kind as to send him to the trending list?

As he clicked on the topic, he dialed his agent’s number. The moment the call connected, he launched into a furious tirade: “What are you guys doing? Didn’t I say before not to ride on this popularity? Are you trying to make me crash and burn even faster?”

Zhao Qian, having been scolded like this, felt quite aggrieved: “You said not to ride this wave. Do you think I’d actually do that? It’s not like we’re desperate for one or two trending topics. Wait a moment, I’ll go ask the team.”

He wasn’t a rookie agent; he had a clear sense of what to do and what not to do. As for this trending topic, technically they could have tied it to their artist, but doing so would be like pouring black paint all over themselves.

He wasn’t stupid, nor would he act on his own to that extent.

While waiting, He Xiao continued browsing the topic related to him. Earlier, when he had refreshed the trending list, this topic wasn’t even on it. But now it had entered the top ten and was climbing rapidly. Apart from the natural growth from idle people clicking on the title out of curiosity, the topic’s heat was also being pushed by a behind-the-scenes team, accelerating constantly.

Just as he had expected. He had previously hyped up his connection with Yu Si, and now he was doing a joint marketing stunt again.

Now, when people searched for him on Weibo, they were greeted with derogatory terms like “scammer.” Meanwhile, Yu Si, thanks to the brainwashing from the recent trend of “self-attacking and self-defending” and CEO novels, had become the true love of that guy Lu Yi, leaving He Xiao as the malicious supporting male lead in a drama.

Ever since he became famous, He Xiao had faced plenty of criticism. He knew that a celebrity couldn’t please everyone—just like money. But back then, he had a large fanbase with strong combat power. If someone attacked him, his fanatical fan would chase them down and curse them out for ten blocks.

Scrolling through any Weibo post, you’d find endless defenses of him. But now, not only keyboard warriors and Kong Si’s fans were attacking him, but even some of his original fans had converted into Kong Si’s fans, the more they looked at him, the angrier they got.

These fans of Yu Si had such ugly faces—truly, like master, like fan. The more He Xiao thought about it, the more he felt he had been blind back then. That beautiful young man from years ago was a thing of the past. He shouldn’t have shown any mercy to that person over some inexplicable feelings, allowing him to climb over his head and act arrogantly.

Just as he was fuming, itching to create a burner account and battle these people for three hundred rounds, his agent called: “As for the trending topic, it wasn’t them.”

Since it wasn’t his own teammates messing up, it had to be a rival who hated him. And on this kind of topic, the narrative was always aimed at making him look shameless and malicious. Even if it wasn’t directly Kong Si’s doing, Kong Si was definitely involved.

He Xiao said to Zhao Qian: “Find a way to suppress my trending topic, and use the opportunity to spread black material and rumors about Kong Si.”

But Zhao Qian, unlike before when he would follow He Xiao’s orders, hesitated: “Is that really a good idea? I think Starlight Media has quite a lot of power.”

After confirming, Zhao Qian had reached the same conclusion as He Xiao: the people they had most antagonized were Yu Si and his backing, Starlight Media.

Originally, the company had supported He Xiao in going head-to-head with them. This wasn’t just due to personal grudges between the artists; a major reason was that both companies were giants with significant strength. However, recently, several big-budget productions invested in by their company had flopped, while the rival company seemed to be rising like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

This sudden rise of Starlight Media had broken the previously stable market structure, forcing a reshuffle and compelling the market to accept and affirm Starlight Media’s existence.

Market resources were limited. Although new companies brought fresh traffic, overall they were still carving up and competing for the market share that older companies had held.

With the companies at war, He Xiao, as a small fry, had benefited because of his conflict with their top star. The company had begun to rely on him.

But with this news today, they had to reassess Kong Si’s position.

Undoubtedly, actor Yu Si was Starlight Media’s current top star. Initially, they had even considered using extremely generous terms to poach him.

But now, it seemed no entertainment company, no matter how favorable the conditions, could rival a company founded by someone’s boyfriend.

Zhao Qian hesitated for a long while before saying: “The company just called me. The gist is that from now on, we won’t touch Kong Si’s mess.”

Hearing this, He Xiao, already agitated, became even more restless. If the company had agreed, he might have slowly figured something out on his own.

But now, being forcibly told to stop investigating made He Xiao feel resentful.

He said to Zhao Qian: “I’ll give you money. Find a way to take him down.”

Zhao Qian remained silent. His attitude already signaled a refusal to do such a thing.

The higher-ups had said not to waste too much time on pointless matters.

His identity was not just He Xiao’s agent; he was also a good employee of the entertainment company. He didn’t want to get caught up in a feud between his artist and their enemy for no reason.

He Xiao wanted to say more, but Zhao Qian hung up on him, leaving him so furious that he threw his phone onto the ground.

The fragile Apple phone, after being tossed carelessly, had its screen shattered.

It was already bad enough, and now his device was broken. Although most of it was his own doing, He Xiao was unwilling to admit it or face reality.

Too bad he didn’t want to; someone would force him to.

As he expected, this trending topic about He Xiao and Yu Si was orchestrated by Kong Si.

Originally, Lu Yi had handed He Xiao over to him, saying he had full authority to handle it. He had been using a cold approach—letting the enemy move while he remained still. But then He Xiao had to go and pull that stunt of producing toxic content and stepping on others to market himself, which almost disgusted him to death.

Afterward, he continued investigating He Xiao, spending a lot of money to dig up many of his past black materials.

His first reaction upon getting that data was to dump everything out, catching He Xiao off guard and sending him straight to the bottom.

But on second thought, he felt that would be too merciful for He Xiao. This time, with him and Lu Yi trending naturally from massive traffic, he “kindly” gave He Xiao a boost.

Every time He Xiao’s team lowered his own heat by one rank, he would release a bit of He Xiao’s black material, pushing the heat back up.

Anyway, he had plenty of money now. Such heat meant nothing to him. He was willing to spend time and effort on He Xiao mainly to show He Xiao’s fans—those blind girls—what kind of person they were following.

That was why when He Xiao looked at comments, he saw several fans he recognized from his own fandom turning into trolls defending Kong Si.

By the time He Xiao shifted his focus away from the trending topic, he realized something terrifying: on various forums, people were starting to release his black materials. All kinds, and they were being unveiled gradually. The method was very mature and sophisticated, clearly the work of an industry insider who knew the psychology of gossip-loving netizens.

Which celebrity doesn’t have some dirt on them? Things like plastic surgery, lip-syncing, etc.

Some were real, while others were just rumors fabricated by haters for the sake of slander. After all, in their circle, finding the origin of rumors was extremely difficult.

Moreover, in most people’s eyes, public figures like celebrities forfeit their right to privacy.

He Xiao wasn’t a person who feared rumors much, but when he realized that those black materials weren’t fabricated—that ten out of ten were true—he began to feel afraid.