The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: The Collapse of the Hypocritical Facade

In reality, Li Jianwei’s intuition told her that Zhou Zhao’s target wasn’t just her, but more likely the young miss.

The reason was simple: if Zhou Zhao wanted to create a fan-ship with her, he could simply rehash old gossip. But if he wanted to do the same with the young miss, he would have to create new opportunities. Otherwise, a simple search would dig up his past scandals, which wouldn’t do him any good.

However, Li Jianwei didn’t share this small suspicion with Shu Heng. It was better to let her maintain a pure dislike for Zhou Zhao rather than adding to her worries. Li Jianwei had to admit that she felt a thrill of secret joy when she found out the young miss was jealous.

…

After their short vacation, Li Jianwei returned to filming but kept a closer eye on Zhou Zhao.

Li Jianwei hadn’t warned the young miss to be wary of Zhou Zhao trying to get close to her, so she took matters into her own hands to cut off any possibility of him getting involved with the young miss.

Towards the end of filming, Sister Lu called with news about Zhou Zhao.

“I have a young artist I’m managing on the set. I asked her to keep an eye on Zhou Zhao, and she told me that not long after he joined the crew, he started showing favoritism towards the female lead. At first, it seemed like an experienced senior guiding a junior, but it’s slowly been changing.”

Sister Lu continued, “The female lead isn’t sure if Zhou Zhao is just deeply in character or intentionally showing interest. Initially, she was a bit distracted during filming.”

“So Zhou Zhao is trying to mess with a young girl?” Li Jianwei got straight to the point. “What’s the female lead’s attitude? Does she admire Zhou Zhao?”

“I can’t say for sure yet, but if you want to do something, this is a good opportunity,” Sister Lu hinted.

“Hmm?” Li Jianwei raised an eyebrow, not immediately understanding what Sister Lu meant.

“The artist I manage is the female third lead in the show. She looks up to you and wants to learn from you,” Sister Lu clarified a bit, still using subtle language. “She’s on good terms with the female lead. It won’t be a problem for her to talk the girl out of it. If she puts in some effort, she might even give the girl the courage to stand up for herself and vent her anger properly.”

“If it gets big, the male lead might be replaced,” Li Jianwei reminded her. “Not to mention all the initial filming being wasted, it’s also a hassle to find a new male lead.”

Li Jianwei wasn’t being soft-hearted about ruining a show. She just wanted to confirm that the female lead was completely in the dark, lest she end up with a new enemy after all her hard work.

From Sister Lu’s answer, it seemed the female lead wasn’t completely clueless, and her agency seemed to know that Li Jianwei and Zhou Zhao didn’t get along well. They seemed to be intentionally going with the flow. This was normal; Zhou Zhao had gained a lot of resources with his “good guy” persona, and if he were to fall, those who had been suppressed would have a chance to rise.

In that case, her plan should proceed smoothly.

…

Shu Heng’s workload was much lighter than Li Jianwei’s. While Li Jianwei was on set, Shu Heng only appeared on a few variety shows before she started meticulously studying Director Zhang’s script, determined to win the Best Supporting Actress award with her role as the female third lead.

After finishing her script study for the day, Shu Heng played with Panda and little Wealth for a while, filming their feeding time to share with her girlfriend.

When she saw that Teacher Li was busy and couldn’t reply right away, Shu Heng skillfully logged into her private account to browse news related to her girlfriend.

Here were the beautiful photos of her girlfriend that a fan posted. She liked and commented with a bunch of praise.

Wait, it’s a fan who ships her and Teacher Li! I’ll reward them! Like, comment, and send a heart!

Huh? What’s with this sudden trending topic? What just popped up?

[OMG, Zhou Zhao is really this kind of person. He’s so disgusting. Doesn’t he know he’s 37? And he’s saying such cheesy things! “You’re the only one who understands me.” What a load of crap!]

[Hard to say. Is this the shy, introverted big boy we thought he was? He looks like a gentleman and an honest person, but he’s a playboy behind the scenes. Celebrities’ personas are all fake, after all.]

[This is slander! Zhou Zhao’s agent said this is a baseless rumor. Be careful, you’ll get a lawyer’s letter if you keep spreading false information!]

[A lawyer’s letter? A useless piece of paper without a seal. I’m not afraid of it. I’m going to say that Zhou Zhao is trash, what are you going to do about it? Do you have the guts to come find me through the internet? Nyah nyah!]

[Don’t think I can’t do it! Watch your back when you leave your house!]

[Then I’ll report you for invading my privacy! You’re making malicious threats!]

Seeing the comments, Shu Heng immediately sat up straight and began to dig deeper.

The incident started with a person claiming to be an insider from a certain film crew, who complained that there was a big-name male artist on set whose real personality was very different from his public persona. Curious netizens started asking questions, and the insider revealed more information.

At first, the incident didn’t make a big splash. After all, many shows were currently filming, and the insider didn’t name names. There were over a dozen artists who fit the description.

The change came when the person shared a video yesterday. The video seemed to be about the bento boxes the crew got for lunch, but it accidentally captured a blurry back view and a conversation. Netizens’ eyes were sharp. In no time, they had analyzed the video frame by frame and figured out that the person the insider was complaining about was Zhou Zhao.

Soon after, the female lead’s private social media account was also exposed. When netizens discovered that their posts validated each other’s claims, a full-blown storm erupted.

Zhou Zhao, who had a shy and introverted gentleman persona, was caught harassing and deceiving a newcomer from a position of power, using resources as bait to have a murky relationship with her. The newcomer hadn’t even graduated from college, while Zhou Zhao was 37. This was a classic case of an older, experienced man using his age to manipulate a newcomer. This was what netizens couldn’t stand the most!

The more Shu Heng read, the more infuriated she became. When the related trending topic started to fall, she immediately called her agent, ready to spend money to put it back on top.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sister Qin’s tone was very subtle.

“Yes! I want everyone to know Zhou Zhao’s true colors!” Shu Heng answered with righteous indignation.

Only then could she completely prevent Teacher Li from being associated with Zhou Zhao, leaving only Teacher Li’s and her own fan-ship!

“Fine, but it’s going to cost at least three million yuan,” Sister Qin said. “And I have to tell you, the entertainment industry is more lenient towards male artists than female artists. If Zhou Zhao apologizes sincerely and uses resources to silence the other party, that three million might be wasted.”

“Whatever resources Zhou Zhao uses to silence her, I can use to make her speak up!” Shu Heng wasn’t one to give up. “Am I not even better than Zhou Zhao?”

“I’ll keep an eye on it for you, but I think the chances of the other party staying silent are pretty low,” Sister Qin said without elaborating. She just agreed to spend the money to bring the topic back to the top.

Sister Qin knew about Shu Heng’s background and her relatively naive personality compared to others in the industry, so she didn’t tell her that there might be an orchestrator behind the scenes trying to take down Zhou Zhao for good. Sister Qin had her suspicions, but without concrete evidence, she wouldn’t share her thoughts with anyone.

…

While netizens could eat their dinner and surf the web to get the latest gossip, Zhou Zhao, the subject of the gossip, was so angry he couldn’t eat a single bite.

“Why is the trending topic not going down? Are you all useless? I’ve already spent five or six million!” Zhou Zhao roared. “Have the lawyer’s letters been sent? Tell those marketing accounts to shut up.”

The agent didn’t have time to deal with the frantic Zhou Zhao. He was typing furiously, contacting his team to try and find the so-called insider and solve the problem at its root.

“Zhou Zhao, I think you should invite Ms. Shen to talk. If she’s willing to forgive you, then all of this can be defined as rumors,” the agent said, finding a moment to speak. “The company is willing to give her the female lead role in an A-grade production. As long as she cooperates, she can sign the contract immediately.”

Zhou Zhao was furious. The failed brainwashing attempt on the female lead made him feel humiliated, so he subconsciously didn’t want to bow to her.

“What’s her status and what’s mine? She doesn’t have the guts to say anything on her official account. Just say that private account belongs to someone else,” Zhou Zhao said. “Or get someone from the company to claim it. As a newcomer, she doesn’t have the guts to go against me.”

The agent’s hands paused on the keyboard. He really wondered if Zhou Zhao had lost his mind. Couldn’t Zhou Zhao see that this was all too much of a coincidence? Did he really think that becoming a viral gossip topic was just an accident?

Offering resources to silence the female lead was meant to make her abandon her cooperation with the mastermind and switch to their side!

“If you don’t want to go, I’ll go talk to her in a bit. Remember not to respond to anything during this time. No matter which friend asks, you must stick to your story: you didn’t know anything, the video was a composite, and your relationship with Ms. Shen is just a normal one between a senior and a junior.”

The agent gave a final warning, then grabbed his phone and rushed out. God knew how distraught he was when he heard his artist’s scandal. He thought it was the worst news he could get all day. It wasn’t until he landed and saw Zhou Zhao’s face that he realized his hardships were just beginning.

This was a dirty job, and the money was so hard to earn. Did he really have to do it?

The agent was very professional, and his approach was sound. He gave a cold shoulder to the netizens and didn’t respond, only sending lawyer’s letters. Internally, he brought resources and humbly asked for cooperation, apologizing on behalf of his artist.

Unfortunately, the professional agent ran into a difficult artist. Zhou Zhao couldn’t stand the humiliation. When many friends asked him about the situation both directly and indirectly, he used his official account to blurt out a thoughtless statement.

[Zhou Zhao: Please stop spreading rumors. My ideal type is a mature woman who can stand shoulder to shoulder with me.]

The agent, who had been working hard for two hours and whose throat was practically smoking, nearly fainted when he saw this post. This was truly a difficult job, and the money was so hard to earn!

As soon as Zhou Zhao’s post went up, the trending topic that had fallen three spots immediately shot back up. Hundreds of new comments appeared every second.

[What does Zhou Zhao mean by that? Does he think Ms. Shen is unworthy? Bah! He’s the unworthy one. What’s this old man barking about? Look at his saggy belly he can’t even hide!]

[OMG, why is he stepping on Ms. Shen to make a statement? What did she ever do to you?]

[I believe Zhou Zhao. He’s not that kind of person. He only cares about his fans. He would never have a murky relationship with that person.]

[Exactly. If Zhou Zhao is a problem, I’ll delete my account and run! I’ll put my 500 followers on the line!]

The comments from real fans and fake fans were noticeable even amidst the massive influx of comments. Both were sharp in their own ways, and they all seemed to favor Zhou Zhao. Only the agent, who wished he had four hands, saw the catch: It was great that the fans so firmly believed in Zhou Zhao, but once Zhou Zhao was confirmed to be guilty, these fans would be just as disappointed. If die-hard fans turned into haters, their destructive power would be a hundred times more potent than regular haters.

…

“Jianwei, everything’s going well on my end. My person has already talked to her. She’ll make a public statement after the public opinion has fermented for a while,” Sister Lu’s voice was filled with excitement.

“Good, thank you for your hard work, Sister Lu,” Li Jianwei was also happy, but she hid her excitement and spoke calmly. “If you can’t find a new male lead right away, Sister Lu, you can also have your person come to my set for a few days to guest star and learn.”

Sister Lu: “Sure, I’ll discuss it with her later. She’s been wanting to learn from you for a long time.”

“Oh, right, remember to tell her that I have a girlfriend now,” Li Jianwei added. She was a person in a relationship, and she had to be careful when guiding a junior.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already hinted at it. She truly admires you,” Sister Lu replied, and she couldn’t help but recall her artist’s bold statements from the past. Things like putting her career before her love life, and how she would prioritize her career and not let a relationship get in the way.

If those same words were spoken now, could Li Jianwei say them with the same confidence?

Thinking this, Sister Lu couldn’t help but ask, leaving Li Jianwei on the other end of the phone in a tactical silence.

Was her career more important, or was the young miss more important? Li Jianwei couldn’t honestly say that her career was more important than the young miss anymore.

“Perhaps, they are equally important,” Li Jianwei said. She hadn’t let the young miss get in the way of her work, so in her mind, they were equally important.

Sister Lu didn’t comment. She just took it as her artist wanting to change her career path, becoming more selective about her scripts and resources, and leaving more private time for herself.

…

After the public outcry fermented for ten hours, the female lead’s statement came as expected under a trending topic that had over 100 million views. Unlike Zhou Zhao, who only posted a single sentence, the female lead came with a link to a cloud drive containing the evidence she had collected over the past few weeks.

The female lead didn’t comment on Zhou Zhao’s post, but instead handed the judgment to the netizens, letting them see for themselves if Zhou Zhao was harassing her.

Videos, audio recordings, and screenshots of their chats—any one of these would have been enough to nail Zhou Zhao to the pillar of shame, let alone all of them released at once.

Zhou Zhao’s fan count dropped by tens of thousands every second. In a few minutes, he lost millions of active fans. Not only that, but the fans who turned into haters couldn’t stand it and started revealing more. Some who were completely broken even shared screenshots of their chat logs with the agent, exposing all of Zhou Zhao’s scandals.

These included, but were not limited to, a DUI incident, being a diva at a brand event, changing scripts because of his status, and intentionally making things difficult for female guests on a variety show to show off his superiority.

The amount of gossip was staggering, so much so that Shu Heng and Hua Ke stayed up all night to read it all. The only difference was that while Shu Heng could only hold her cat and eat the gossip, Hua Ke could lean on her girlfriend and eat the gossip together, and even help her organize the data.

“I knew Zhou Zhao would get into an accident sooner or later. With his style, he could only maintain his persona until he was 37 because of how lenient the entertainment industry is towards male artists,” Hua Ke sighed.

“I remember you mentioned once that this Zhou Zhao guy also hit on you?” Professor Liu Zhen suddenly asked.

“Oh, you remember that? That must have been five or six years ago, right?” Hua Ke recalled. “I had just won Best Supporting Actress, and I was getting a lot of attention. I thought I could make a breakthrough.”

“You were upset for several days because of him. He’s a person who makes you unhappy,” Professor Liu Zhen said seriously. Her mind wasn’t only filled with data and research, but also with every little detail about her loved one.

“But not anymore. He’s a person I can relax and gossip about. Seeing him get what he deserves makes me happy for several days,” Hua Ke said with a smile, and she couldn’t help but give her lover a kiss.

Liu Zhen calmly accepted it, and then continued to organize the data. Today’s work was for today. After she had finished processing all the data, it would be their beautiful night together.

…

After 48 hours of no reversal in the public opinion, the crew was the first to announce that they were temporarily suspending filming and terminating their contract with Zhou Zhao. Soon after, brands that had collaborations with Zhou Zhao also announced that they were terminating their contracts and demanding compensation for breach of contract. During the effective period of his endorsement contract, Zhou Zhao, as the brand ambassador, had to avoid bringing negative publicity to the brand, or he would have to compensate them for the corresponding losses.

However, one beverage brand didn’t make a statement. Instead, they re-released a promotional video with a high-definition close-up of Zhou Zhao’s face. This gave his desperate fans a place to show their support. They started buying the brand’s drinks on various e-commerce platforms to show their support for their idol.

But anyone with a brain could see that the beverage company was just being bold and wanted to make one last profit. Once Zhou Zhao was completely out of the picture, they would probably turn on him and become the final nail in his coffin.

Li Jianwei was happy to see this. The worse the outcome for Zhou Zhao, who dared to have his eyes on the young miss, the better. If the real scandals that were dug up weren’t enough to end Zhou Zhao’s career, Li Jianwei wouldn’t have minded adding a little something extra to make the scandals even more explosive.

After fulfilling her agreement to guide the promising young artist Sister Lu recommended for half a month, Li Jianwei successfully wrapped up filming and left the set the very next day.

No words were needed. When dry wood met a raging fire, it was naturally an incredibly passionate and long-lasting encounter. The news about Zhou Zhao had already been shared with Li Jianwei while Shu Heng was reading the gossip, so they didn’t bring up the annoying person again during their intimate time together.

“Teacher Li, should we make our relationship public after we turn 30?” Shu Heng asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

“It’s not that certain,” Li Jianwei’s voice was a little shaky.

Honestly, Li Jianwei hadn’t expected the young miss to be able to wait for half a year to make their relationship public. The initial “only after 30” plan was meant to dissuade the young miss, but it later became a chance for Li Jianwei to back out. However, now it seemed that neither Li Jianwei nor Shu Heng had any intention of ending their relationship.

“Teacher Li, when can we go public? Our fan-ship community is about to reach one million followers!” Shu Heng wasn’t sleepy anymore. She was so energized that she felt like she could have a few more intimate exchanges.

“What do you think?” Li Jianwei tossed the question back to Shu Heng.

Shu Heng thought hard, then said with great anticipation, “How about we go public on our one-year anniversary?”

“November 21st?” Li Jianwei blurted out.

A bright smile bloomed on Shu Heng’s face. “Yes, let’s set it for November 21st!”

“Okay. So, how do you want to announce it?” Li Jianwei’s expression softened. She rubbed her nose against the young miss’s collarbone, filling her senses with her scent.

“Let’s post on Weibo together at 13:14 (1:14 p.m.), and we’ll take a photo together!” Shu Heng planned excitedly. “I’ve already picked out the rings. We’ll hold hands and take a picture, showing just our hands!”

“Wait, when did you pick out the rings?” Li Jianwei immediately caught the key point.

“That’s not important. As long as Teacher Li knows I’m prepared, that’s enough,” Shu Heng chuckled, not telling her the truth. It wasn’t because she was shy; Shu Heng just wanted Li Jianwei to put more thought into her, and to make her look forward to seeing the rings.

Li Jianwei wasn’t going to fuss over her girlfriend’s little trick. Instead, she was thinking to herself if she should take her girlfriend home to meet her parents during the national holiday.

Before Li Jianwei could ask the question, Shu Heng brought up meeting her parents first the next day.

“Since our relationship can be made public, I’m planning to tell my mom tomorrow. Since we don’t have any work planned, why don’t you come home with me, Teacher Li?” Shu Heng’s eyes were wide. To increase her chances of success, Shu Heng held Panda in her arms, letting two pairs of cat eyes look at Li Jianwei.

Li Jianwei instinctively frowned, not even noticing little Wealth jumping out of her arms. “So soon? Will your aunt mind you being with me?”

“I don’t think so. Although my mom cut off my allowance when I first joined the industry, she came around a month later,” Shu Heng said, stroking Panda’s head, thinking seriously. “I’ve mentioned the fan-ship to my mom, and she didn’t seem to have any special reaction. And my mom is pretty open-minded. A lot of her business partners are also with people of the same gender.”

Li Jianwei had her reservations. From her limited memories, she knew that Shu Heng’s mom was a very strong-willed person. She would allow her daughter to be in a free relationship, but once it came to marriage, she wouldn’t just agree so easily. In her memory, Zhou Zhao had to use some tricks, which led to the young miss having his child, to get a legitimate name.

Don’t mention that unlucky person! How can I even compare myself to him? I’m a million times better than him!

Maybe Shu Heng’s mom would see her potential at a glance and gladly agree to her and the young miss being together!