Chapter Fifty

  A war within the entertainment industry had thus begun without warning.

  Recently, due to various coincidences, Jiang Chuan Yi, who was about to rise to fame, inadvertently became the "cannon fodder emperor" of IM company's camp. In a short period of time, his photos and information appeared on all major media platforms, including online news portals, newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations. Everywhere, heated discussions were sparked with him as the focal point, with some supporting him and others criticizing him. Behind these different discussion voices, of course, stood different forces.

  The company even mobilized its top PR team, not just to protect Jiang Chuan, who they thought had the potential to become the next "Yuan Jingyan", but also to protect Yuan Jingyan himself. For them, artists are the lifeline of the company, the cash cow. They can't afford to lose money - after Yuan Jingyan went to the hospital, the company was at a loss for a suitable candidate to create the next superstar, and then Jiang Chuan appeared, passing both appearance and acting tests, and IM Company finally saw hope, so they wouldn't give up on him easily.

  Every day, everywhere is a battlefield where IM water army and local water army trample each other, wherever they go, the dead are scattered all over the field.

  Gong Jiang stood right in the center of this battlefield.

  Under such pressure, the filming of "Republic of China Strange Record" is still ongoing, and Jiang Chuan has managed to keep the filming work going smoothly according to plan - at least as far as he can do it. Jiang Luocheng is very satisfied with this, and the producer has also privately found Jiang Chuan to encourage him and remind him to be careful with his words and deeds during this period.

  "Will they still pounce on me and bite?"

  "You think it won't happen?"

  "What kind of person would be so bored?"

  "Think you're one of those crazy fans who are obsessed with their idols," Fang Yu said expressionlessly, "A calm fan."

  Jiang Chuan fell silent, and the hamster perched on his shoulder let out a deep sigh like an old man.

  As for the crew, Jiang Chuan is usually quiet and doesn't talk much, but because he has no airs about him and his acting skills are good, it's easier to work with him, so the crew members all like him - the entire crew in H City Film and Television City surrounds Jiang Chuan, unknowingly creating a relatively comfortable environment for him.

  Jiang Chuan, who was relatively dull in this regard, didn't have much of a reaction, but Fang Yu secretly let out a sigh of relief, as if he was afraid that Jiang Chuan would be knocked down by rumors at any moment. Jiang Chuan himself appeared to be quite calm and collected, from start to finish, he didn't say much about these things, only occasionally asking what people outside were saying now, even when receiving bad news, he would remain silent for a moment before responding with an "oh" and turning his head to talk about something else, leaving Fang Yu alone on the spot, startled by Jiang Chuan's brief silence.

  ……

  On this day, halfway through the shoot, the man took a towel handed over by his assistant and wiped away his sweat. He sat down next to his agent, and the hamster that was originally squatting on the agent's lap jumped onto his leg. Jiang Chuan lowered his head, stretched out his fingers to tease the hamster for a while, making "squeaky" sounds with his mouth to tease the hamster.

  Hamsters are naturally very shameless, rubbing against their owners' hands and shaking their buttocks, with the small tail hidden in their fur almost falling off.

  Fang Yu turned his head to look at the man beside him, who was lowering his head and concentrating on teasing a hamster. His eyes had some red bloodshot, probably because of the recent rush of performances and the long-term wear of black contact lenses. Fang Yu called out to his life assistant Xiao Ge to bring over eye drops, and the latter handed them over with both hands. Fang Yu forcibly pressed Jiang Chuan onto the chair despite his objections and gave him eye drops.

  "A little less, huh, it's so cool, did you give me a discount?"

  "Cut the crap, eyes open don't squeeze—"

  Fang Yu busily helped Jiang Chuan apply eye drops, only to be ruthlessly pushed away by the latter, who coldly watched as the handsome man in Taoist costume stumbled around with his eyes closed, desperately searching for tissues. The agent couldn't help but mock: "You're acting like applying eye drops is going to kill you... Agent Brother is doing this for your own good, you don't know that, do you? Those wolves in sheep's clothing lurking in the shadows can't wait for your beautiful eyes to go blind..."

  At this time, Jiang Chuan finally took over the tissue from a makeup artist who couldn't bear to look at him and wiped his eyes while turning his head. He scanned Fang Yu with those rabbit-like bright red eyes: "So there must be someone behind the scenes pushing for this matter?"

  "Of course, everything has a cause, and the starting point of this matter is the online platform - do you know what its biggest feature is? That's its concealment. You don't know me, I don't know you, we can talk freely without any scruples, like a wallflower that won't be criticized by anyone - so if it weren't for someone organizing them, all those netizens would just be a bunch of loose sand, and they wouldn't stand firmly against IM company either."

  The broker nudged Jiang Chuan's sturdy arm, "Look at those people who are tirelessly blackening you, reporting on time every day like punching the clock. Do you think it's like going to work? - But let's get back to the point, if they weren't paid by their master, wouldn't they have gotten bored after a few days and given up? Who would persist in chasing and biting you?"

  Jiang Chuan was silent for a moment, then picked up the tissue and casually looked at the comments on Fang Yu's phone that were scolding him - having been scolded for so many days, he had almost gotten used to it, and the entanglement at the beginning had also decreased a lot. Putting down the phone, he thought for a moment before calmly asking: "Why me?"

  "Because you're about to become popular, but haven't yet," Fang Yu said. "Once you do, you won't be so easily knocked down. You'll have a loyal fan base that will believe in you and spontaneously find evidence to clear your name and fight back for you. But now, you don't have that. You're still at the small internet celebrity stage. Some people are fans of yours, but they might not yet be willing to go through thick and thin for you."

  Jiang Chuan: “...Well said.”

  "I told you being an internet celebrity is tough, didn't I?" Fang Yu smiled wryly and patted Jiang Chuan's shoulder. "Just grit your teeth and get through it..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a shrill cry of "Jiang Chuan" suddenly came from behind him.

  Fang Yu: "......"

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  For this kind of hysterical scream that only fans would make, Jiang Chuan, who had been tempered through a thousand hardships, gradually became more familiar with it. He exchanged a glance with Fang Yu and saw the manager squeeze out the words "Give me a smile" from the corner of his mouth. Jiang Chuan's expressionless face twitched slightly before he forced a warm smile onto his face, then silently let out a sigh. Only then did he turn around to smile at the fans standing outside the set, who were holding up a banner that read "Jiang Chuan, jiayou!" and waving enthusiastically. The fans' excited screams came one after another, causing Jiang Luocheng, who was crouched behind the monitor watching the previously filmed scenes, to shake his head repeatedly and mutter under his breath: "This group of lunatics."

  At this time, Jin Yan was squatting on Jiang Chuan's shoulder, and as the saying goes, "the higher you stand, the farther you see". So he saw at a glance the people who came to the scene today to watch - the person holding the banner was actually a familiar face... Hmm, it was that matcha chocolate cookie. Don't think that stars have so many fans that they can't remember specific ones among them. In fact, if it's not Alzheimer's disease, some fans who often show up will still be remembered, such as fans who often attend meetings and suddenly don't appear one day, the star himself might even mutter "where did that person go".

  Most of those who came this time were originally fans of Jianran, which seems to prove that there are still many Jianran fans who are willing to believe in him.

  And there are also several new faces among them.

  I don't know what Jiang Chuan is thinking right now, but anyway, I'm actually quite happy... As for what I'm happy about... Is it that my fan IQ is relatively high on average? Hmm, indeed, what kind of idol has what kind of fans - after all, Yuan Jinyan is so smart. Cough, the hamster snapped back to reality and realized this isn't the time to talk about this. Speaking of which, since finding out about Jiang Chuan's actions in Jinyan's hospital room a few months ago, this "Matcha Chocolate Curl" girl has become a die-hard fan of both Jinyan and Jiang Chuan, busily posting resources about Jinyan and photos of Jiang Chuan on Weibo every day. And because of the rumors that Jiang Chuan was using Jinyan for publicity, as a relatively well-known fan leader, her Weibo comments are often attacked by passersby.

  However, this girl has a good mental quality and never goes to reason with those people. She just continues to post her usual resources or Jiang Chuan's photos and promotional videos - until one night, she finally posted a long Weibo, saying a lot of words.

  I think being a fan of a celebrity is just liking their work and enjoying the positive energy they bring through their attitude towards their job... If one day you feel 'oh, being a fan of this celebrity can't make me happy anymore', then it's fine to quietly stop being a fan. What's the point of jumping up and down? After all, I once truly liked them with all my heart, but at a critical moment, I couldn't stand by their side and trust them. Just this one thing is already very regrettable for me as a former fan... Although I also like to read gossip online, there are some things that I won't easily believe in. Even pigs know that getting to know someone you're not familiar with through other people's mouths and labeling them as 'that kind of terrible person' is completely exposing your own low IQ... Just listening to some unknown people's slander and questioning the person you liked, this kind of person shouldn't be criticizing the term "fan".

  This isn't about exposing some celebrity's scandal or a Weibo post with a handsome photo of some celebrity being forwarded over 10,000 times.

  There is a lot of unspoken emotion in it.

  Of course, there were also some people who forwarded sarcastic comments like "brain-dead fan declaration", but they were soon overwhelmed by the applause for this remark.

  At that time, I secretly made up my mind that if one day I woke up, I would personally make a box of matcha chocolate cookies for this girl as an apology for not eating the gift box at the beginning... By the way, I will also give her the "Golden Floss" gold medal or banner.

  At this time.

  "Hey, isn't that the Matcha Chocolate Girl?" Fang Yu stretched his neck and said from behind Jiang Chuan, "Look, although there are many terrible people online, there aren't a lack of positive energies like this either - I'm saying, Jiang Chuan, she's been attacked by passersby quite a few times recently, personally I think you should..."

  "Got it."

  Before Fang Yu could finish speaking, Jiang Chuan had already retracted that fake smile and slightly revealed a serious expression. Then he took strides with his long legs towards the direction of the fans standing outside the scene - this was something he had never done before. For a moment, the entire crew, which was in the midst of preparation work, couldn't help but pause and turn their heads to look at Jiang Chuan. The director's assistant girl widened her eyes and muttered, "Is this guy crazy?" She turned her head to look at Jiang Luo Cheng, seemingly hoping that he could speak out to stop him - but unexpectedly, Jiang Luo Cheng was also looking at Jiang Chuan with a gaze as if watching a madman. After a pause, he didn't shout out loud, but instead suddenly sneered and rubbed his face in distress, sighing: "Let him be."

  At this time, Jiang Chuan had already arrived in front of those fans.

  It was obvious that these people didn't think that Jiang Chuan, who usually doesn't respond to fans, would actually show up in front of them. At close range, the man in front of them was more handsome and taller than they had imagined. Everyone was stunned on the spot, but it was the matcha chocolate girl who reacted first. She quickly handed over the food box in her hand to Jiang Chuan and stuttered: "Ch-Chuan Ge, your eyes are so red... haven't been resting well lately, right? You should rest more and not tire yourself out. Don't listen to or look at those annoying things outside, we won't believe them anyway..."

  In the end, she couldn't say anything more and her eyes turned red.

  The hamster squatting on Jiang Chuan's shoulder raised its paws to cover its eyes - and just as it covered its eyes, it suddenly felt that something was not quite right. This was almost in an instant, and just as the hamster heard Jiang Chuan's voice nearby, calmly explaining that he had just been forced to have eye drops, Jian Ran suddenly heard a scream coming from behind the crowd!

  Time was running out, and Jian Ran almost reacted by instinct - the hamster opened its arms and jumped up from Jiang Chuan's shoulder to an impossible height for a hamster. As it blocked Jiang Chuan's face, it saw a huge shadow flying towards its face from afar.

  Then all that could be heard was a loud "slap", and intense pain exploded across the hamster's delicate face.

  Deep in his heart, he let out a mournful cry, as if doing a free fall, he felt the thick, wet and icy sensation pouring down from head to toe.

  Then it landed with a "slap" in the palm of Jiang Chuan's outstretched hand.

  Jian Ran: "............"

  What happened?

  Hamster looks bewildered.

  Sitting in the palm of the master's hand, the hamster stretched out its paws and silently opened the eggshell covering its eyes, shaking off the sticky egg liquid on its paws. When it finally managed to clear the hair stuck to its eyes and looked around, it found that everything around had already become a mess - the security guards and most of the fans rushed forward in the midst of the chocolate matcha girl's angry screams, pinning down a strange man who was originally hiding behind the crowd of fans. The man yelled wildly like a madman, scolding Jiang Chuan for being shameless and trying to take advantage of Yuan Jinran's hype to get ahead.

  He cursed and swore, with a stream of filthy language, until he was finally kicked in the face by a high-heeled chocolate green tea sister who had been quietly standing there, unnoticed by the security guards. He let out a loud "ah" as blood gushed from his nose, and only then did he completely calm down.

  At the same time, Fang Yu, Wang Mo and Ronnie as the first team, the crew members who were shocked also quickly reacted and rushed towards Jiang Chuan. Fang Yu grabbed Jiang Chuan who was stunned on the spot and pulled him back: "Jiang Chuan, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Did he touch you? Damn it, these despicable people actually threw eggs, what if there's sulfuric acid inside?! Ahhhhhh——"

  This is so urgent that it directly ignores the scientific basis of "how to put sulfuric acid into eggshells", and Mr. Agent, who teaches junior high school chemistry, is a toilet master.

  "What! Sulfur? Jiang Chuan, go wash your face quickly!"

  This is Mr. Wang Mo, a representative figure of lowering the overall cultural level of the entertainment circle.

  Behind him was Loni, crying uncontrollably and looking utterly terrified.

  There were also the pale-faced director and producer, Jiang Luocheng waved his hand to signal that he was fed up and called it a day. Fang Yu took Jiang Chuan back to rest - upon hearing this, Jiang Chuan, who had been standing there in a daze for a while, finally came to and rubbed his face, muttering "ordinary person" "didn't react" and such, then turned around and said to Jiang Luocheng: "Director, I still haven't..."

  "Get back and rest!"

  Jiang Luocheng raised his voice, and then turned around with a dark face, shouting loudly for the director's assistant to call the police. As Fang Yu pulled away a helpless Jiang Chuan, he turned back to see Jiang Luocheng pointing at the man lying on the ground with blood streaming from his nose, being surrounded and shouted at.

  "Old man, I'm not filming today, no matter how much the cost is, I want you to compensate me for every penny! Wait for a lawsuit, you damn it!!!"

  Then nothing else was seen of Jiang Chuan as Fang Yu firmly dragged him back into the room.

  The two were silent all along the way.

  "See you on tomorrow's headlines."

  Fang Yu: "………You still have the mood to joke around."

  Jiang Chuan: "......"

  Back in the room, Jiang Chuan directly turned around and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Fang Yu saw him and first looked him up and down before asking: "Taking a bath?"

  Then he shook his head, and it was only then that Fang Yu saw him reach into his pocket - immediately afterwards, he pulled out a completely drenched, hair all over the place, looking extremely pitiful unknown creature.

  "What's this thing?"

  Jiang Chuan put the thing in his hand down by the bathtub, stretched out his hand to poke it - and under Fang Yu's gaze, that thing climbed up, lifted its paws from its own ears and pulled off a piece of eggshell, which it then crushed with a "ba-chi" sound.

  Fang Yu: "......"

  Jiang Chuan: "A Fei, does it hurt?"

  Jǐn rán:“…………”

  becomes:

  Quietly: “…………”

  Nonsense, of course it hurts! To you guys, it's just an egg, but to me, it's a bomb as big as I am - let alone, just let anyone hit you on the head with a watermelon as big as your brain and then come back and answer whether it hurts or not!!!!!!!!!!

  Son of a bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  The hamster rotated its paws and crushed the already powdered eggshell into a powder.

  "Jī dàn ā féi gěi wǒ dǎng zhe le, wǒ zì jǐ méi shì." Jiāng chuān tóu yě bù tái de shuō zhe, yī biān shēn shǒu qù shì zhè huì er jiào jiào xù shuǐ, yǐ jīng xù mǎn bàn gè yù guāng de shuǐ de shuǐ wēn.

  Fang Yu let out a "hmm" and first gave the hamster, which was covered in egg liquid, a shocked gaze. Then he turned his head to look at Jiang Chuan, who had a serious expression while testing the water temperature. After pausing for a moment, Fang Yu said: "You want to give the hamster a bath, right? ...This guy's heroic act of taking a bullet for its owner is moving, and it's only natural that the owner wants to personally take care of it and give it a bath——I understand the reasoning, but this is a hamster, why are you putting so much water in there? Are you planning on letting it swim around in circles?"

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Jiang Chuan silently reached out to turn off the water, then pulled out the plug that was blocking the bathtub. Fang Yu couldn't bear it anymore: "Just use a washbasin."

  Jiang Chuan thought for a moment and also, picked up the hamster squatting by the bathtub and came to the washbasin, gave it some bath gel, and then carefully washed it inside and out with gentle force - all along, he had been using bath powder for dry washing, today's state was obviously not solvable with bath powder, the hamster was rubbed back and forth and felt that this morning's breakfast was almost rubbed out, finally lying on Jiang Chuan's palm gasping for breath, only then did it finally wait for the step of rinsing.

  Fang Yu had been watching from the side all along, silently. Until Jiang Chuan finished bathing the hamster and was using a hair dryer to blow its fur while it was wrapped in a towel, Fang Yu stared at the hamster whose fur and ears were blown back like a hedgehog, emitting the scent of bath products everywhere. He wiped his face: "I need to report this to the company, this is no longer just a matter of verbal abuse... Tomorrow when the media reports it, I'm worried someone will be inspired by this incident, next time if it's not eggs but something else, that would be troublesome..."

  Jiang Chuan remained bent down, diligently blowing his hair until Fang Yu wondered if he had even heard him speak. Only then did the man raise his head and respond with a faint "uh-huh".

  He sighed and wanted to say something comforting but didn't know how, so he just muttered "take good rest" and turned around to leave.

  After Fang Yu left, Jiang Chuan took a bath himself. After walking out of the bathroom, the man lit a cigarette and leaned against the headboard to make a phone call - he said a lot in the phone call, but his tone was calm. After hanging up the phone, he slept soundly on one pillow again - from start to finish, he seemed particularly calm, as if he didn't have the usual star's frightened expression after being attacked. Jing Ran studied him carefully and didn't think he was pretending, so she slightly put her mind at ease.

  Although tomorrow's major media will definitely explode because of this.

  But in Jian Ran's heart, this matter should be considered as just so.

  Unexpectedly, this matter still has a sequel - and the subsequent development is also extremely surprising.

  ……

  The next day, just as the news of "Gang Cheon being attacked" was published on the front page of all major newspapers, another message came from IM Company, saying that the person who attacked Gang Cheon had committed suicide in his cell yesterday - leaving behind a note on the police's statement file, stating that he couldn't bear the consequences of being reported by Jiang Luo Cheng and couldn't afford to pay for the damages. He only wanted to vent his anger for his idol, but didn't expect such consequences. He looked down on this world that can't uphold justice, so he took his own life.

  Putting aside this letter filled with a tone of teenage angst, the person just suddenly died in the police station without any warning, and the police officers were all shocked.

  During this time, he only contacted the defense lawyer assigned to him by the court - after that lawyer left, he wrote a will and then cut his own artery with a pen. When police saw him rushing in through closed-circuit television trying to stop him, it was too late, and he died on the way to the hospital.

  The police tried to find the lawyer assigned by the court, but when they contacted the court, they were inexplicably told that no case had been filed and the defendant had not applied for a free lawyer. How could they possibly arrange someone immediately? The police thought about it and realized that the person had even seriously presented his lawyer's certificate for registration yesterday. They anxiously went to retrieve the surveillance footage, but found that the man had walked with his back to the camera throughout, as if he knew where it was placed. And when he entered through the only main entrance where the surveillance camera couldn't be avoided, he lowered his head, seemingly adjusting his clothes.

  The registered information is also fake. Yesterday, I could still query the information, but today when I logged in to check again, it became "no such person".

  If this is not the most bizarre, then the most bizarre thing is that after the man who attacked Jiang Chuan committed suicide, almost at the same time, the Weibo account "Entertainment Circle Exploration" which had been enthusiastically insulting Jiang Chuan and IM company deleted all its previous posts, changed its name to a string of garbled characters, and the entire account seems to be in a state of being cancelled.

  Two things combined, the netizens of gossip are crazy.

  Some people guess that the IM company was enraged; some people guess that the two things have nothing to do with each other, and it's possible that the entertainment circle detective was just checked for water meter delivery; of course, there are also people who say that this is purely because they saw the previous person die and now think of their own entertainment circle detective being afraid, so they deleted their account.

  For a time, there were many different opinions.

  But no one can jump out and give everyone a reasonable explanation.

  There are annoying things every day, stars being blackened, scolded, and even attacked in public. Such things are almost nothing unusual in the entertainment circle, but the ending that was made a fuss about is unprecedented.

  When Fang Yu was enthusiastically telling Jiang Chuan about these things, the man was sitting on the windowsill of his hotel room, propping up his chin and staring out the window in a daze.

  When Fang Yu finished speaking, he raised his head to find Jiang Chuan's face completely spaced out, obviously distracted. He immediately felt very dissatisfied and pushed Jiang Chuan, asking him if he had been listening.

  Jiang Chuan suddenly came back to his senses, turned his head and glanced at Fang Yu, then smiled and picked up the hamster that was squatting on his leg, gnawing on cherries with its face and paws covered in red juice, saying "I'm listening."

  "That person's suicidal tendencies are quite strange, I just casually mentioned something and he already wants to kill himself. The mental quality of today's otaku is also very poor, they can't even handle a little criticism and then come out to attack others, it's really strange. And that entertainment industry insider who has been dominating Weibo with his hundreds of millions of fans for years, how many celebrities has he smeared without ever showing any fear? But this time..."

  He didn't even take a breath as he went on and on.

  Jiang Chuan: "A Fei, are you going to make up for yesterday's loss today?"

  Suddenly, Fang Yu's face lit up with a look of realization and he slapped his hand: "Could it be our company's public relations?"

  Jiang Chuan opened the melon seed shell and stuffed the melon seeds into the hamster's mouth, which was shaking its buttocks with its paws raised. Upon hearing this, Fang Yu raised an eyebrow and glanced at him: "Is IM company so ruthless that it directly kills those who attack their artists?"

  Fang Yu: "Is this also a roar?"

  "Never mind, this has nothing to do with IM company."

  Fang Yu: "...... What does that have to do with anything? Don't tell me he really killed himself because his heart was too weak."

  "Hmm," Jiang Chuan lowered his eyes, curled up the corners of his lips to reveal a harmless smile, "Who knows."