Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Zhou Lili had initially planned on protecting Xu Qingyan, and so she spent some fifteen minutes reading each word from start to finish.

Even though she didn't believe in exposé posts, she was still shaken after reading it. She couldn't help but swallow nervously and think to herself, "Could this actually be true?"

No way, was Brother Qingyan really that outlandish in his youth?

After thinking it over, she forwarded the post to her cousin Zhou Mian and asked cautiously.

"Brother, have you seen that post?"

"Just looked at it, and there goes my good night's sleep," Zhou Mian sent a series of infuriated emojis, "I don't know which dumbass keeps stirring up trouble one after another!"

"What should we do now? Has Brother Xu responded?" Zhou Lili asked anxiously, scrolling through the post's comments.

"Can't get in touch with your Brother Xu; he never looks at this stuff, probably busy with something," replied Zhou Mian after a few minutes, "Paid to have the post taken down; you should get some sleep early too."

After glancing at the message, Zhou Lili refreshed the page in a hurry and indeed, the trending post had disappeared.

But searching by keywords, several smaller posts exploded onto the scene.

They were segment screenshots, essays with a mix of letters and characters—some clearly from burner accounts. There were also everyday folks stirred up and some minor bloggers sharing the news.

She glanced at them and shockingly spotted a familiar account among those sharing—it belonged to a big V with three million followers. They had shared a loose compilation of the original threads along with a few popcorn-munching emojis.

Just from one look, Zhou Lili felt a spine-chilling dread. What on earth was happening?

"Brother, someone else has shared it, removing the post is utterly useless, isn't it?"

Ding-dong!

"Exactly, someone's behind this, acting like they're sick," Zhou Mian replied swiftly, "No time to talk now, still haven't got my bonus, have to work overtime!"

"Hey, brother, do you have Brother Xu's contact information?" She sent several messages in a row.

Zhou Mian didn't reply, clearly caught up with work.

She wasn't naive about the steps for urgent public relations; having been in numerous fan clubs for years and witnessed countless celebrities and ordinary folks' scandals unravel, Zhou Lili knew that time was now most precious.

Even top stars could be smeared, let alone ordinary Joes. With many years of internet evolution, it's only been a recent push to implement real-name systems.

But as the saying goes, where there's a wall, there's a way to get over it. Professional cyber armies had much more sophisticated tactics at their disposal. Fortunately, some of these methods are now illegal following the legislation.

If it were the old days, the situation would have been more than just posting.

Now that all software accounts require real-name registration, it's not so easy for one person to possess hundreds of accounts for posting paid comments, and the era of one-dollar posts is largely over.

Getting hold of a hundred or so real accounts is no easy feat nowadays; they wouldn't withstand scrutiny. Finding elderly people in mountain areas isn't a cost-free task; even just registering and maintaining accounts costs money.

Small studios can't handle it, and large ones aren't interested. Continue your saga on empire

Though the days of a beckoned mass of burner accounts charging into the fray are almost gone, with the advent of the influencer era, everyone is a part of the cyber army.

People chase profit, and in the age of influencers, traffic is profit.

The line between an ordinary person and a hired thumb is but fifty cents, a dollar, or two. The only difference being that in the past, cash was needed for red envelopes, while now, self-media actively seeks traffic.

A user can post a video for some traffic, earning three, five bucks from the platform.

As long as the goal is achieved, the means used, and the truthfulness of the event… don't really matter. With people fanning the flames, that's how the wind starts blowing.

The posts multiplied, threatening to kindle a wildfire.

Many read a few posts and, before their brain could even start processing, were 'awakened.' Netizens put on their mourning hats, holding their 'coffin' cellphones, touched by their own sense of justice.

"Got it, guest of disrepute is panicking, desperately trying to suppress the trends, right?"

"So classic, just got nailed and the post is reported by the filial sons, it's such a powerful force. Guys, they're panicking; have we stepped on the capital's sore spot?"

"I can't even, I never watch love reality shows; have the show producers stooped so low? Daring to cast a criminal, you've made a joke out of it, such trash!"

"Absolutely floored, the just-posted thread was reported, they won at their own game! Not sleeping tonight, I'll fight capitalism to the end!"

As such posts grew more numerous, they indeed began trending towards a hot search.

Zhou Lili scrolled more frantically, feeling like an ant on a hot pan, wishing she could teleport in front of her cousin and ask what the hell was going on.

.....

After dropping off Pei Muchan at her home, Xu Qingyan went back to the studio alone and plunged into the recording room.

Knowing that Lin Wanzhou was going on "I Am the Singing King," he had thoughtfully selected a couple of songs early on and started transcribing them as scheduled. He managed to complete the task efficiently.

Who would have thought Pei Muchan would also join the show, and he was completely stumped.

How could one fight a competition without a song, similar to a soldier entering a battlefield without a gun? Better to be safe and prepare two songs—it's his fortune if the diva's career takes off.

Sure, gold does shine, but a mere rag can conceal it for a lifetime.

Bai Li was known in the market, Sun Shuao in the sea. Real talents might get buried, proving that talent and effort can be easily overshadowed.

Xu Qingyan was a very pragmatic person, with little room for fantasy. So after learning that Pei Muchan was going on the show, he silently went back to work overtime.

He didn't mention anything about writing songs for her since he didn't have a clear idea and might not finish in time. Better not to mention it at all; after all, there was still time, he might tackle it halfway through.