She Said: A Passionate Kiss [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 25

Qiang Huai finally relaxed. “How’s the media situation?”

“At this rate,” Qin-jie said after checking the time, “it’s very likely someone paid to push this onto the trending list.” From the time the event ended until now, it had only been the length of a single meal—who would believe it wasn’t premeditated?

“Get the trending topic taken down first. Use the topic of Zheng Yu winning the award to bury it,” Qiang Huai said, lying on her bed and raising her hand to examine the lines on her palm.

Using Zheng Yu’s award as a distraction wouldn’t hurt her—in fact, it might even give her some publicity. They’d see what other tricks would follow.

“Got it. I’ll reach out to Zheng Yu’s company and see what their stance is,” Qin-jie said before hanging up. She planned to have Zheng Yu’s company release a statement clarifying that Zheng Yu was not an artist under Huaisheng Group.

Meanwhile, Gu Pingwan had started checking entertainment news more often than before. She clicked into Qiang Huai’s trending topic—it was currently ranked sixth.

Upon seeing the pictures the media had posted, her brows furrowed. These so-called “news” articles had completely abandoned journalism’s core principles: truth, timeliness, and relevance. It was all just fabricated nonsense.

The photos clearly showed Qiang Huai kindly helping a drunk junior back to the hotel—how had it been twisted into something like this?

She didn’t really understand all the scheming in the entertainment industry, but thinking back, the way that actress had collapsed onto Qiang Huai seemed a bit deliberate. Was it intentional hype?

Just then, Qiang Huai sent a message.

“Wanwan, I can’t go see the flag-raising with you tomorrow.”

Gu Pingwan opened the message. With this situation unfolding, Qiang Huai would likely need to return to the company to handle it.

“Okay. Let’s plan it again another time.”

Since that was the case, Gu Pingwan decided she’d go back to the research institute tomorrow to work overtime.

After sending the message, Qiang Huai felt deeply disappointed. They’d been about to have such a nice date, and now it was all ruined.

Online, netizens were surprised to discover that the person allegedly involved in the scandal with Qiang Huai had actually just won a newcomer award.

Netizen 1: “Qiang Huai really goes both ways.”

Netizen 2: “Wasn’t it rumored before that Qiang Huai was a lesbian? Haha, this basically confirms it.”

Netizen 3: “That person next to her looks really familiar. I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere.”

Soon, someone dug up a photo of Qiang Huai and another person eating street skewers outside Jincheng High School. When compared to today’s photos—it turned out to be the same person!

Bystander 1: “OMG, I went to the same high school as Qiang Huai. That girl’s our school’s academic genius. She got into Tsinghua.”

Bystander 2: “That really is the same person. Don’t tell me she’s a newly signed artist?”

Reply to Bystander 1: “Mic to you—please explain in detail.”

Bystander 1 replied: “Rumor has it Qiang Huai and this girl had a falling out in high school. They were childhood friends, but the genius looked down on Qiang Huai for her poor grades, so they didn’t stay close. Something like that.”

Fan: “Don’t spread lies. Qiang Huai was top scorer in both arts and academics in her entrance exam. Attached is her score sheet.” [Image]

There were all kinds of wild comments. Qiang Huai, browsing Weibo on her alt account, liked one post:

“‘BREAKING: Massive gossip—academic genius seen entering hotel with Qiang Huai once confessed to her back in high school!’”

She hadn’t expected the gossip about her and Gu Pingwan from high school to unexpectedly shift public attention away from the scandal about “unspoken rules.”

Still uneasy, Qiang Huai told Sister Qin to have all photos of Gu Pingwan removed from every possible platform, afraid it would impact her job.

Sister Qin reached out to Zheng Yu’s company. At first, they were willing to cooperate. But when they saw the buzz wasn’t dying down, they started thinking of riding the wave for exposure.

Qiang Huai took a screenshot of the recent Weibo posts about her and Gu Pingwan and sent it to her.

“Chief Engineer Gu, look at this. The stuff they’re making up is insane.”