Chapter 109: What Could There Be to Lose?

By the next day, the dirt dug up on Su Chen had fermented for a full twenty-four hours, and almost everyone who spent time on the microblogging site knew about it.

In an instant, that place, often mockingly called a women’s restroom, was thrown into a whirlwind by Su Chen.

A crowd of self-righteous little fairies, waving the banner of cleansing the entertainment world of tainted celebrities, launched a frenzied hunt through the current crop of popular male stars.

The moment any flaw turned up, however small, it was magnified beyond all reason, and then their microblog accounts were blasted to pieces by the little fairies.

Not only Su Chen. More and more male celebrities’ scandals were being dragged into the light, serving the gossip-hungry masses a veritable feast.

Of course, Su Chen paid none of this any mind.

After all, he was no masochist. Knowing full well that the internet was full of filth and abuse aimed at him, he naturally had no intention of reading it.

Su Chen intended to settle accounts with Xu Fangyuan after tonight’s show.

As long as the report proved true and she was found guilty of spreading rumors and slandering Su Chen, Starry Entertainment would not escape official scrutiny.

As an entertainment company with its own paparazzi and hired trolls, how could it possibly withstand a thorough investigation?

Best case, it would be shut down for ten or half a month. Worst case, it would be ordered to undergo six months of restructuring.

And that was only the secondary issue. The main point was that its public image would collapse, including the image of every artist under the company.

In truth, with the evidence Su Chen already held, it would be enough to make both Starry Entertainment and Xu Fangyuan swallow a bitter loss.

But tonight was the round of sixteen match in Star of Tomorrow, as well as the four-on-four showdown between Yan Mi’s team and Zheng Huayu’s team, and Su Chen did not have the time to deal with this matter.

Besides, Su Chen also needed a stage on which to prove his innocence. Tonight was the best choice.

So everything had to wait until after tonight.

At the same time, in a suite at an upscale hotel, Zheng Huayu lay on the bed scrolling through his phone. Watching the insults piled against Su Chen on the microblogging site, he laughed so hard he nearly rolled over.

“Hahaha, Su Chen, you idiot. I was still wondering how to strike at you, and you handed me such a huge opening yourself!”

Ever since that broadcast accident on the show, Zheng Huayu had lost nearly half his fans, and he had not even dared to look at the rumors online.

But after Su Chen’s scandal broke last night, Zheng Huayu’s own program incident was pushed into the background by Su Chen’s dirt.

No one was discussing Zheng Huayu anymore. On the contrary, some of Zheng Huayu’s brainless fans had even begun to defend him, and surprisingly, the effect was not bad at all.

Even the half of his microblog followers he had lost had surged back, and riding this wave of heat, his follower count had even surpassed its previous peak, reaching a new summit.

They said Zheng Huayu targeted Su Chen because he had seen through him, because beneath that skin Su Chen was nothing but a piece of filth, a devil wearing human flesh. So Zheng Huayu had no choice but to stand against the world and descend into the mortal realm to slay evil and uphold justice.

A claim this outrageous had actually been accepted by the public. Those who had once stood beside Su Chen and cursed Zheng Huayu were now flocking to apologize to Zheng Huayu instead.

“So Huayu was really this upright and principled. I was blinded by that scum Su Chen. I came specially to apologize to Brother Huayu, and I hope Huayu can forgive me!”

“Huayu is so considerate and gentle. Unlike someone as two-faced as Su Chen, he will definitely forgive you!”

“Brother Huayu, I’m sorry. We misunderstood you!”

“Brother Huayu, can I come back and be your fan again? Please give me a chance to redeem myself!”

...

Reading those apology comments on his microblog, Zheng Huayu felt a surge of pure delight.

Even he himself had forgotten why he had gone after Su Chen in the first place. All he could think was that what he was doing was right, that he was eradicating this kind of scum on behalf of the public!

Perhaps this was the highest realm of self-deception.

Just as Zheng Huayu was scrolling through the comments one by one, his phone suddenly rang with a call from Xu Fangyuan.

He raised a brow and answered. “Hello, Sister Yuan. What is it?”

“Huayu, you’ve seen what’s happening online, haven’t you?” Xu Fangyuan’s voice came through the line, bright and brisk.

“Hahaha, you mean Su Chen? Of course I saw it. It’s truly gratifying!”

Zheng Huayu was smiling with unrestrained satisfaction when Xu Fangyuan continued.

“I just got word that the production team over there took enormous pressure and still didn’t force Su Chen out of the competition.”

Zheng Huayu’s brow furrowed.

“They still didn’t kick Su Chen out? What is Wu Tong thinking? Does he no longer want this show to continue?”

Xu Fangyuan said, “According to a friend of mine who works near Wu Tong, Su Chen seems to have gotten in touch with someone high up at Fashion Media. That person may be trying to protect him at all costs.”

“Heh. But if they still insist on protecting him under these circumstances, I can only say that so-called big shot is not exactly a smart man.”

Xu Fangyuan let out a cold laugh, her words sharp as blades.

“So, I may need your help to pour a little more fuel on this fire.”

“Of course. Don’t worry, the terms I promised you on my end, I’ll definitely...”

Before Xu Fangyuan could finish, Zheng Huayu cut her off. “Sister Yuan, you don’t need to say anything. I’m going to finish Su Chen off either way.”

“For someone like him to keep stirring around in the entertainment industry is the greatest provocation to me!”

Xu Fangyuan’s face flickered with surprise.

She had not expected Zheng Huayu to go after Su Chen without even needing any exchange of benefits.

Could this man be an idiot?

Still, Xu Fangyuan, true to her principle of saving wherever possible, was more than happy to see this outcome.

“In that case, Su Chen is our shared enemy!”

“I need you, Huayu, to help me make sure he fails to advance in this competition. That should be very simple. After all, with Su Chen’s reputation as it stands, there is no way the audience will give him any points!”

“As long as Su Chen fails to advance here, the people at Fashion Media backing him probably won’t keep fighting for that rotten stock. They’ll definitely choose to abandon him!”

“By then, Su Chen will have no chance left to enter the entertainment industry, and all our goals will be achieved!”

Listening to Xu Fangyuan over the phone, a vicious smile also crossed Zheng Huayu’s face.

“Relax, Sister Yuan! With Su Chen in his current state, making him fail to advance is as easy as eating and drinking!”

“Wait for my good news! During tonight’s live broadcast, I’m going to make Su Chen completely disgraced and ruined!”

With that, after a brief exchange, the two hung up.

Zheng Huayu sat up from the bed.

He was going to put on the most beautiful makeup, wear his favorite clothes, and watch the most desperate look in Su Chen’s eyes.

Tonight would be Zheng Huayu’s night of revenge.

On the other side, Meng Xiaotian had also ridden a wave of popularity thanks to Su Chen’s scandal, and it seemed that everyone who had previously targeted Su Chen was now winning public favor.

Meng Xiaotian had also received the message Zheng Huayu sent him about tonight’s competition.

He dismissed it without concern.

In a situation where Su Chen was certain to die, cheating in advance would be an insult to himself.

How was Su Chen supposed to lose?