When Jiang Yu’s studio couldn’t get the trending topic removed, her fans jumped in and started defending in the comments:
“Qi Taihua basically lives on idol drama sets. His fans have no right to say others act in bad films.”
“Yu Shiqing has five best actor awards. Why would he lower himself to hype with your nobody actor? If anyone, he’d pick Du Han!”
“Some fans are really shameless. Talking about jail time? The facts aren’t even clear. What if the police arrest your ‘brother’ instead?”
“Not picking sides, waiting for the truth.”
“Not picking sides, waiting for the truth.”
“……”
When they couldn’t win against Jiang Yu’s fans in that battleground, Qi Taihua’s fans went to other topics to rant, creating more trending tags:
#Yu Shiqing apologize to Qi Taihua#
#Yu Shiqing get out of showbiz#
#Not picking sides, waiting for truth#
Ren Bai couldn’t watch anymore. He turned off his phone and said to Yu Shiqing,
“This has blown up too much. Huaze definitely won’t reveal the real reason now. Qi Taihua is finished.”
Seeing Yu Shiqing wasn’t surprised at all, Ren Bai knew he had already expected this. He added,
“But this isn’t a good solution either!”
These fake trending topics would definitely damage Yu Shiqing’s reputation.
Yu Shiqing had already taken out his phone and called someone when Ren Bai was reading the trending post. Now he made another call. This time, it was quickly disconnected.
Ren Bai asked,
“Who did you call?”
Yu Shiqing replied,
“Wang Ling.”
Ren Bai sat up straight.
“Did he answer?”
“The first time, no one picked up.” Yu Shiqing smiled, as if he had expected this. “Now his phone’s turned off.”
“What?!” Ren Bai exploded with anger.
“You shouldn’t have helped someone like him in the first place!”
Yu Shiqing said,
“Huaze’s people should be there by now.”
Ren Bai paused.
Only then did he realize — in a crisis like this, as the one involved, Wang Ling’s freedom was probably already under Huaze’s control. Not only that, they would want to get his statement early for PR reasons.
The more he thought about it, the more worried Ren Bai became.
“Then why haven’t they contacted us yet…”
Yu Shiqing said,
“Can’t you see? They’re going to sacrifice the pawn to protect the king.”
Ren Bai’s heart went cold. He was about to say more when they heard a knock at the door.
Only one person knew which room they were in.
Ren Bai quickly went to open it. As expected, Jiang Yu was standing at the door.
“Where’s Yu Shiqing?” she asked.
“In there!” Ren Bai stepped aside.
Jiang Yu quickly walked over to Yu Shiqing.
“I saw the trending topic. Are you okay?”
Yu Shiqing said,
“I’m fine.”
Seeing him again after being apart for a short while, Jiang Yu was briefly distracted by his lips as he spoke.
She couldn’t help but think about the filming that afternoon.
A small jujube had bounced between them. They were too close. Even though Yu Shiqing turned his face as quickly as he could, it still didn’t change what happened.
She could still remember that moment of weightlessness, how Yu Shiqing gripped her arm tightly… and the soft, cool feeling of his lips—
“You’re fine, but I’m not!”
Ren Bai’s voice broke Jiang Yu’s train of thought. He pressed his thin lips together and looked away, avoiding eye contact with Yu Shiqing.
Yu Shiqing also turned around and said to him, “Sit down first.”
Jiang Yu replied, “Okay.”
Ren Bai was still expressing his anger. “To protect Qi Taihua, Huaze is going to throw all the blame on you. How can you say you’re fine?”
Right now, netizens were still saying they wouldn’t pick sides. But if Huaze stepped in to defend Qi Taihua, then no matter what Yu Shiqing said, it would be impossible to clear his name.
Yu Shiqing actually didn’t want Jiang Yu to get involved any further. He didn’t want him caught up in the mess, so he simply asked, “Why are you here?”
Jiang Yu answered, “I’m here for this matter.”
He had just heard what Ren Bai said but didn’t get angry. Instead, he smiled and asked, “Yu Shiqing, do you want to terminate your contract?”
“Terminate the contract?” Yu Shiqing looked at him deeply. “Do you think Huaze would agree to terminate my contract at a time like this?”
Jiang Yu’s smile widened slightly. “Of course Huaze wouldn’t agree willingly. But with this, even if they don’t want to agree, they’ll have no choice.”
Ren Bai was already extremely curious and quickly asked, “What is it? What is it?”
Jiang Yu had already unlocked his phone and opened a video file he had received not long ago.
Although this video also had no sound, when placed alongside the current surveillance video trending online, it clearly showed the cause and effect of the whole incident.
The video began with Qi Taihua deliberately taking Wang Ling to a blind spot with no surveillance. Then he grabbed Wang Ling’s hand, rubbed it ambiguously, said something with a smile, and forced the frightened Wang Ling into a corner.
Wang Ling’s face was full of panic. He struggled several times but couldn’t break free.
Not long after, Yu Shiqing appeared on camera.
Later, due to a change in angle, Qi Taihua dragged Wang Ling a few steps to the side, and the three of them moved out of the camera’s view. Then the video ended — perfectly connecting with the clip already online.
After watching the full version, anyone with eyes could tell that Yu Shiqing hadn’t attacked Qi Taihua, but had stepped in to help.
“Where did you get this video from? With this, we have nothing to be afraid of!” Ren Bai was overjoyed. He watched it once, then played it again, asking questions while watching.
Yu Shiqing also looked at Jiang Yu.
“I told you, I can help you,” Jiang Yu said, raising an eyebrow with a confident glint in his sharp eyes, his tone as domineering as ever.
Yu Shiqing was moved. He looked at Jiang Yu for a moment before quietly saying, “Thank you.”
Something subtle stirred deep in his heart — like a heavy chain covered in ice had silently cracked, just slightly, but clearly.
When their eyes met, Jiang Yu seemed to think of something. The smile on his face faded a little, and he looked away. “No need to thank me. Just consider this my payment for the acting lessons you gave me.”
Yu Shiqing kept looking at him and softly said, “Then this is a very generous payment.”
Jiang Yu looked back at him. “As long as you’re satisfied.”
He had asked a detective agency to investigate Huaze’s senior staff, Du Han, and Qi Taihua. He hadn’t expected to get results this quickly.
At first, this video alone wouldn’t have meant much. Even if it was released online, Huaze could suppress the heat. Wang Ling could just come out and say it was a misunderstanding between colleagues, and it wouldn’t cause much of a stir.
It wouldn’t harm Qi Taihua much — let alone Huaze.
But now that the earlier video had already gone viral, and Huaze had chosen to ignore it because it had no sound, the situation had changed. It stirred up the anger of Qi Taihua’s fans and drew in curious bystanders. One trending topic after another appeared, and they were still holding the top spots.
With things heating up like this, if this earlier part of the video was released, the hashtag would flip from
#Yu Shiqing beating Qi Taihua in a parking lot#
to
#Qi Taihua failed to harass and got beaten instead#.
If the video didn’t get released naturally, Jiang Yu planned to have his studio buy a trending spot for it.
“Of course this is good! It’s great!” Ren Bai had just finished watching it again and suddenly jumped in, interrupting their conversation. “But with just this video, will Huaze really agree to terminate the contract with Yu Shiqing?”
Yu Shiqing looked back at the phone screen and said, “As long as Qi Taihua is still the lead in Huaze’s new drama, they’ll agree.”
Ren Bai suddenly remembered — Huaze’s new drama was about to air. If something went wrong with their lead actor, it could affect sales. If they couldn’t recoup their investment, it would be a disaster.
And even if Huaze still refused, then they could just upload the video online. At the very least, it would clear Yu Shiqing’s name, expose Qi Taihua’s true colors, and bring Huaze down a notch. That would still be a win.
Thinking of this, Ren Bai punched the air. “They really deserve this for making a guy like him their star!”
Then he looked at Jiang Yu and carefully asked, “Can I get a copy of this video?”
Yu Shiqing added, “If you paid for it, I’ll cover the cost.”
Jiang Yu sent the video to Ren Bai. Then he looked at Yu Shiqing and asked, “You really don’t want to owe me anything?”
Yu Shiqing said, “You’ve helped me so much. I don’t think I can repay the favor with just money.”
Jiang Yu’s eyes shifted slightly. “Then how do you plan to repay me?”
Yu Shiqing asked, “How do you want me to repay you?”
While the two of them were talking, Ren Bai had already forwarded the video to Huaze’s contact group.
