Chapter 141

  Later that day, Artista Records issued a statement.

  The statement said that the company had discovered Xiao Su's misconduct and issued a warning, but she did not repent and instead became more severe. Faced with the current situation, the company feels extremely regretful and heartbroken. In the future, the company will take Xiao Su as an example to better restrain its artists. At the same time, the company will cooperate with the police investigation to the greatest extent and hopes that Xiao Su can reform herself and actively quit drugs.

  The statement was formal and cautious in wording, and due to good public relations, all major media outlets reprinted it as a heavyweight news story. However, similar statements have always been loud thunder but little rain, and did not stir up much waves in the hearts of the public. Therefore, neither Li Jin nor Lu Xiao Yun expected this statement to change anything.

  The key is in the later move.

  The next afternoon, a well-known website's entertainment section broke the news that the real estate heir's drug use with women was not his first time, and such revelry among wealthy men and their mistresses had long been common in their circle. The report revealed that there were top-level "poisonous" people in the circle who not only took drugs themselves but also often gathered a group of friends to get high together. To make the revelation more convincing, the website released a photo silhouette of the person, who stood with his chest out, looking arrogant.

  The public's enthusiasm has long been ignited, and this explosive news has pushed the public's gossip soul to its extreme. Netizens have joined forces, using Google, Baidu, and 360 searches together, exerting all their efforts to investigate who the protagonist in the photo is. On the other hand, the media has also revved up its engines, since someone has pointed out the direction for everyone to move forward, how can they not dig up even more explosive news?

  Then, just one day later, the news of third-rate female star Xiao Susu was withdrawn from the headlines and relegated to a corner of the newspaper, becoming a forgotten gossip.

  As a former broker, Li Jin was very emotional and righteous. Xiao Susu had always been eager to get red, now that she finally did, how could it just end like this? He found someone to call Little Pu and said: "Arrange something, send some things over to Xiao Susu in the afternoon. By the way, inform those few media outlets that helped last time, send them a news piece."

  Xiao Pu responded with a "yes" and quickly ran off to take care of it. After a while, he called back.

  "Brother Li, Hongfei said he wants to send something to Xiao Susu himself."

  Li Jing was about to take Qi Yichen and the newcomer to participate in the activity, upon hearing this, he hooked his lips, thought for a moment, and smiled: "Okay, let him go."

  "Hanging up the phone, Qi Yichen asked: 'You really let him go?'"

  "It doesn't matter, anyway..." Li Jin shrugged and put his phone in his pocket. "In the beginning, he loved Xiao Su so much that he was willing to die for her, and even broke off with me because of it. If he can suddenly drop everything like this now, I'd rather suspect that he's born without emotions or conscience."

  "Love? Him and Xiao Susu?" Qi Yichen sneered, "You really believe that."

  Li Jin smiled and didn't answer anymore.

  Luo Fei went to deliver something in the afternoon and chatted with Xiao Susu for a while through the glass window, but no one knows what they were talking about. When he walked out of the detention center, he was photographed by the media. His eyes were red and swollen, it's unknown whether it was due to the cold wind or if he had just cried. The entertainment news microphone was handed over to him, asking for his thoughts at this moment, and he habitually pursed his lips. Those dry, cracked lips stood out against his not-so-good complexion, and the whole person looked haggard.

  "Susu is a good girl, from the day we met until now, she has given me a lot of help." Luo Fei's voice was hoarse and rough, like it had been ground by sandpaper, with a painful graininess to it. "Today's matter... I believe she just strayed off the right path, and I hope everyone can give her a chance to reform. I believe Susu will definitely learn from this lesson and won't make similar mistakes again."

  After finishing speaking, Luo Fei took two steps back and bowed deeply to everyone in front of the camera.

  All the media present were stunned for three seconds by his sudden move.

  Three seconds later, Luo Fei suddenly stood up and got into the car under the protection of his assistant bodyguard.

  "It should be about right." He leaned back in his chair, staring blankly out the window, muttering to himself.

  Under the sunlight at noon, his profile was still handsome and intimidating, but the pale skin had an unhealthy waxen yellow color, with a kind of decaying aura that seemed to be on the verge of rotting.

  Xiao Pu held up the black notebook, after a while, he barely audible sighed and said: "Very good."

  That night's entertainment news reported the incident, and Luo Fei killed his way back to the top of the entertainment headlines. His haggardness and heartache in front of the camera, as well as the deep bow that was full of love and tolerance, deeply moved the public who were originally waiting to see him make a fool of himself. Even so, under the promotion of some kind-hearted people, this image of being wronged but silently enduring, even helping his girlfriend cover up her mistakes without complaint, gradually deepened, successfully making a large number of female fans overflow with maternal love and spontaneously join his fan club as die-hard supporters.

  On the evening of the day when fans launched the "Help Ruo Fei to break up with Xiao Su" activity, Lu Xiayun called Li Jin: "Can that news be released now?"

  Li Zheng was on his way to meet Tim, the traffic outside the car window was surging, stuck in a mess. He put the phone on speaker mode and casually threw it aside, sniffing the exhaust fumes unique to the elevated highway while saying nonchalantly: "Alright, by the way, pick a suitable day and release that news too."

  When the news of Lu Fei and Xiao Su's breakup came out, no one was surprised. After all, his girlfriend had been caught by the police at a drug party, which is a great shame for any man. Moreover, fans have been calling for their breakup recently, with related topics occupying the top spot on Weibo's trending list multiple times. Upon learning of the breakup, many people genuinely felt happy for Lu Fei, and some fans even organized activities on WeChat, Weibo, and other interactive platforms to help him get over his heartbreak.

  After this battle, Luo Fei's popularity, which had been low for a long time, suddenly exploded again. His schedule was fully booked with commercial performances and his worth skyrocketed to near that of top veteran artists. For a very long period after that, he firmly held the throne as the number one artist in the music industry, suppressing all newcomers.

  But that's another story.

  What knocked off the top spot was another explosive piece of news. The news started with a picture posted by a netizen on their Weibo account. The picture was split into two halves, with the left side showing a photo of Shu Mu and real estate heir meeting at an event two years ago, and the right side showing the silhouette of a man hugging his chest. The netizen said that after seeing the silhouette, he had been searching for a male star in the industry who matched the conditions, but no matter how hard he looked, it was like looking for flowers in the fog. By chance, he came across a photo of Shu Mu and the real estate heir together, and after comparing the silhouettes, he found that if you removed the real estate heir from the photo, Shu Mu's pose was identical to the person in the silhouette.

  "What talent, real talent!" Bei Fuming sat in the office, one hand holding the mouse and the other patting his thigh with joy, "I was planning to release this material to the media later, but now it's good that he guessed it ahead of time. He spent several days investigating just a broken photo? Really... There is no one more boring than him in the entire universe!"

  Thanks to this boring person, his Weibo was forwarded 50,000 times in two hours and became the headline of major media outlets the next day. In the eyes of the public, there are a few high-voltage lines that public figures cannot touch, and drugs are one of them. Moreover, if the evidence is solid, it's already against the law.

  With Shu Mu's current status, it has been a long time since anyone dared to challenge his authority. Therefore, after the incident occurred, Shu Mu's team did not react in a timely manner, which also caused him to miss the best opportunity to counterattack. The situation gradually began to lose control, and one media outlet rushed to report the news, with other media outlets swarming in, regardless of whether it was true or false, as long as they added the words "suspected" in front, they could boldly publish it. In this situation, Shu Mu's former agent met with Xiao Su Su late at night, and their photos were published in the newspaper as evidence, confirming netizens' speculation.

  Shu Mu has fallen deeply into the quagmire.