He must be very happy right? Song Juyao sat in the car that Jiang Baiqi had given her, looking at the headquarters building of Fanxing Group receding in the rearview mirror, with the signal receiving terminal on the top flashing lights, blinking on and off.
Although she didn't know, Wen Zhulian would surely reveal a lot of information about her and Jiang Baiqi. He should be happy.
As long as he's happy.
Evans sat on the sofa with a stern face, while Zhou Ye who had been beaten by him cowered aside eating ice cream. Hearing sounds from outside, Evans immediately got up to open the door.
He saw Song Juyao getting out of the car with Fanxing Group's logo.
Looking at the sweet look in Song Juyao's eyes, filled with rare lively energy, he knew that she must have seen Jiang Baiqi.
With a belly full of prepared words, just as he was about to speak, he heard Song Juyao say: "Brother, I've decided to get married next month."
"What?"
"Next month, I'm marrying Ah Qi."
The world darkened, the sun and moon collapsed together.
Evans clutched his chest, as if he was about to faint. In order to find someone to share in his misery, he immediately called the other family members.
That night, a magnitude 10 earthquake occurred in Song Juyao's home.
…...
The earthquake on the Internet continued without stopping.
Because the screen recording needed to be edited and released by Fanxing Group, Wen Zhulian had an emotional breakdown again. Wen Guohua insisted on taking her home. Li Xin told him about Wen Zhulian leaving him, but amidst Wen Zhulian's tearful defenses, Wen Guohua was unwilling to believe it. Therefore, Wen Zhulian briefly found a shelter to seek refuge from the storm.
But that didn't make things any better. Wen Zhulian wanted Wen Guohua's help, but the matter had become too big, the Wen family simply couldn't help. Just the money spent on suppressing hot searches and deleting comments could bankrupt the Wen family. In fact, the Wen family company's stock had already sharply plummeted because of Wen Zhulian, and the crisis had long been looming.
The Wen family was too busy to help themselves, Wen Zhulian could only call her talent agency, only to be cursed out by her boss who used to fawn over her. "Public relations? Can't you see these public relations are useless? Do you want to kill us, kill all the artists in the company? Do you believe if I say one word for you, all the artists will be blacklisted by netizens?! You called just in time, what exactly is going on with the plagiarism?"
Upon hearing the word "plagiarism", Wen Zhulian felt her ears sting and she struggled desperately, "Plagiarism? Which eye of yours saw me plagiarize? Can you find the so-called original singer and audio? If you can't, how can you prove that I plagiarized?"
"Don't you know what you said to Wei Yan?"
"Can't I be possessed by a fucking ghost?!" Wen Zhulian broke down.
"Heh, I actually believe you, after all your image change is too drastic, it really seems like a different person. Let me put it this way, whether you plagiarized or not no longer matters, the key is your image has completely collapsed. Someone as heartless and ruthless as you who can abandon your own parents without any remorse, who still wants to use you? Don't you know how bad the music market is now? Without endorsements, relying solely on singing, and with this kind of reputation, how many people will still buy your records? Do you really think having talent allows you to do whatever you want?" Her boss's tone was awful. He was a rather filial man, so he found Wen Zhulian's behavior extremely disgusting.
"Come to the company tomorrow. Brands that had you as their spokesperson are all seeking compensation from you."
"On what grounds?!"
"On what grounds? You caused all this mess, implicating their brands, impacting their reputation and image. If they don't seek compensation from you, who will they seek it from?"
Wen Zhulian hung up the phone in anger and hatred. Those who used to fawn and grovel in front of her were now... She felt a suffocation in her chest. The social media app on her phone showed a large number of private messages and mentions in the upper right corner, which exceeded several million. She could imagine what kind of comments those were, she didn't dare look at them.
But not looking didn't mean she could pretend to not know anything.
Her former friends sent her messages, sending screenshots of various online insults directed at her, followed by a sarcastic "How are you doing?" from some.
Upon seeing them, Wen Zhulian trembled with anger. After all, many of these people relied on her help and her fame to rise up. Before going on Survivor Island Paradise, when Song Juyao's brother was still Evans, these people self-righteously helped her scold Song Juyao.
Wen Zhulian couldn't hold back and cursed at these people, but even after venting, she didn't feel much better.
What to do? What to do? Will suicide help? Death here should logically mean exiting the virtual world, but she didn't dare try. The program team told her not to act rashly, and she really didn't dare randomly commit suicide. She thought of the temporary NPCs trapped in the first episode, and thought what if she committed suicide but didn't exit the virtual world, and just died like that instead?
Her phone chat app rang again. She glanced at it and saw that another friend had sent her screenshots, this time of a blog post written by one of the people she had cursed at. They had actually posted screenshots of their chat, cutting off their own provocative questions and were pretending to be disappointed...
They were all just riding on her popularity, feeding off her like vampires.
Hot blood rushed to her head.
Bastards, they're all bastards! Ahhhhhhh!!!
Wen Zhulian had a mental breakdown, squatting on the ground she was screaming while pulling her own hair.
【So useless】
【Serves her right, you reap what you sow. I really don't get it, Wen Zhulian is so heartless, she's been in the virtual world for 18 years, does she not have any feelings for her family?】
【How can the Wen family compare to her exposure? Also I can see she was unwilling to leave the virtual world, wanting to continue being a genius girl. Now she's stuck in here unable to get out, it's all karma.】
【I don't get why you guys are happy, don't you feel duped? Paradise Survivor Island turned out to be fake, we were genuinely emotional while watching it, and now we all look like fools.】
【Trash program team, failing so hard, what king of program team is it, if you don't know how to film then replace people!】
Wen Guohua heard Wen Zhulian's screams and hurried upstairs.
"Zhuzhu?"
Wen Zhulian clung to him like a lifeline again: "Dad, you have to believe me, it's not like that. I didn't... I didn't... Help me..."
Wen Guohua's heart shattered seeing her cry. Without witnessing it firsthand, he couldn't believe the absurd things people were saying online. It was simply preposterous. Could he have raised such a daughter?
"There there, don't cry, dad believes in you."
"Dad, it's Song Juyao, it must be her, she made me end up like this. She and Jiang Baiqi wuwuwu Jiang Baiqi must be the boss of Fanxing Group, Survivor Island Paradise must have been his doing, they framed me wuwuwu..."
This episode had similarities to the previous one, only now did Wen Zhulian realize - it was Jiang Baiqi again. Fanxing Group must be Jiang Baiqi's, and they had fallen into this scheming couple's trap from the start.
Wen Guohua believed her words, because he checked and found the Fanxing Group's boss was indeed Jiang Baiqi. Asking around, he even heard rumors that Song Juyao and Jiang Baiqi might get married next month!
Getting married next month? If they didn't know each other beforehand, could they marry so quickly?
Did Song Juyao already know that Survivor Island Paradise was fake? Could she have even intentionally designed those plotlines to frame Wen Zhulian?
As he thought this, he wanted to call Song Juyao. When Li Xin heard, she angrily snatched his phone away.
"Wait until you've seen the video before saying anything!"
"Don't you know what kind of daughter we raised her to be?" Wen Guohua couldn't understand Li Xin. How could she be so adamant to just give up? What about the 18 years of relationship?
"Heh, see for yourself, I'm too lazy to tell you. But if you dare call Juyao and say stupid things, you can get the hell out with her!" Li Xin said angrily.
"I think you're the one who's gone crazy!"
Wen Guohua still didn't believe it.
……
Fanxing Group edited the livestream recordings into 10 episode videos and uploaded it to their video app. Many who didn't watch the livestream rushed in to catch up on the story, while those who had watched it came to relive the experience. Not even an hour after the first episode was released, the view count broke a billion views.
Wen Zhulian's ugly appearance was once again on display, being scrutinized by onlookers.
Li Xin immediately called Wen Yingting and Wen Guohua over to watch. Finally the time had come, she wanted to see if Wen Guohua could still smile after watching it!
Seeing her look so eager to slap him in the face, Wen Guohua was already in a bad mood: "Let's see what could make you become so heartless!"
"Please watch."
Wen Guohua was determined to pretend to be unaffected no matter what, he would not give Li Xin the satisfaction of laughing at him.
Upstairs, Wen Zhulian started shouting at the production team again, violently tugging at her wristband, anxious and terrified. Wen Yingting and Wen Guohua were about to see her true self, would they kick her out? How many paparazzi were staking out outside, how could she dare leave?
"Program team...program team...let me out quick! Let me out!"
The production team remained unresponsive.
【Now you know to be scared?】
【Wasn't she enjoying herself earlier? You gotta own up to your actions!】
Downstairs, as Wen Guohua watched, his expression gradually stiffened, becoming uglier and uglier. Finally when he saw Wen Zhulian secretly abandon him to escape, even telling Wen Yingting how innocent and wronged she was, he could no longer maintain composure.
Wen Yingting's expression also turned extremely ugly. So she really had abandoned more than just him! Just what kind of conscienceless fake creature was this? It was so creepy, and she was still living upstairs, in the room next to his! Knowing her true colors, how could he possibly sleep? He even feared that she would come out of her room in the middle of the night to harm someone!
Thinking about how the company's stock had plummeted in the past few days because of Wen Zhulian, and how they had to be cautious of being hounded and questioned by the paparazzi about whether they had helped Wen Zhulian plagiarize, they were overwhelmed with stress dealing with it all.
Wen Yingting's anger suddenly surged, he immediately stood up, quickly rushing upstairs. Throwing open Wen Zhulian's room, he dragged her off the bed, "Get the hell out of here!"
"No! Don't kick me out, brother!" Wen Zhulian let out shrill cries. She didn't dare go outside, the outside world was too terrifying, she couldn't face it at all.
"Shut up! I don't have a monster like you for a sister, my sister is called Song Juyao, not you!" Wen Yingting's veins bulged on his forehead. Thinking about how Li Xin had risked everything to save her inside, only for Wen Zhulian to turn and flee, and remembering how they had treated Song Juyao because of this conscienceless fake person, he could hardly stand it, filled with regret and rage.
"Mom! Dad! Don't kick me out, I was wrong, I was wrong….!" Wen Zhulian hugged the corner of the bed as she cried out, tearing her heart out.
But her strength was no match for Wen Yingting's, and she was soon dragged downstairs.
Li Xin turned her face away, not looking at her while Wen Guohua's face was filled with heartache.
Wen Zhulian was thrown out of the house. She didn't dare cry out or scream, afraid of attracting attention. She waited a few hours, but Wen family didn't soften and come out to take her away. She could only swallow her resentment and get up to leave.
It was already late at night, and she was walking furtively, afraid of encountering paparazzi.
Suddenly, a car approached and stopped beside her. The window rolled down, revealing an unfamiliar, chiseled face.
Wen Zhulian became wary. "You..."