After the security guard dragged Cheng Ran away, Ye Zhou returned home, quickly took a shower, and changed his clothes.
As he was drying his hair, Ye Zhou was still thinking about the few interactions he had with the protagonist gong and shou since he arrived in this world. After confirming that there were no grudges or entanglements between them, Ye Zhou racked his brain but couldn’t figure out why Cheng Ran would have a reason to seek him out.
And that name Cheng Ran mentioned on the phone earlier, Yu Qiuze.
The name sounded vaguely familiar, and Ye Zhou felt like he should know who it was, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t recall.
After failing to remember a few times, Ye Zhou simply pushed all these messy thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on studying Ren Zi’an’s script.
Anyway, no matter what happened, as long as it was related to the protagonist couple, it was bound to be nothing good.
Again, if possible, he really didn’t want to have any entanglement with them.
Wishful thinking as it was, reality proved otherwise. While Ye Zhou didn’t want to see the protagonist shou, that didn’t mean he easily gave up. As the fated child of this world, Ye Zhou basically ran into the protagonist shou wherever he went over the next two days.
It was like a game of hide-and-seek, with Cheng Ran chasing after Ye Zhou. They evaded each other for two days. Cheng Ran’s stamina clearly improved.
At first, he could barely run a few steps before panting heavily, looking like he was about to cough up his lungs. But now, although his face was still deathly pale, he could at least chase Ye Zhou for a kilometer or two.
Ye Zhou was really annoyed by the persistence, so he directly called the bodyguards to toss him out. This worked at first, but after being thrown out twice, Ye Zhou was surprised to find that Cheng Ran had his own bodyguards following him.
Ye Zhou: …
Alright, you’re impressive!
That day, after a fierce clash between the bodyguards, the victorious Ye Zhou was just about to leave when he heard the protagonist shou call out in a tearful voice, “Can’t you at least let me finish what I have to say?”
Ye Zhou, who had been slowly walking away, paused in his steps.
Just as Cheng Ran thought Ye Zhou might finally turn around and have a proper conversation with him, he was taken by surprise. Ye Zhou quickened his pace and ran off like his soles were greased with oil! Damn it, he was running again!
Cheng Ran felt a mouthful of old blood lodged in his throat, his frail body swaying unsteadily, and if the bodyguard beside him hadn’t supported him in time, he might have collapsed from the sheer frustration.
Although he didn’t know why Jiang Tingyuan’s lover disliked him so much, Cheng Ran had become painfully aware of one thing over the past few days – he would never be able to have a calm and rational conversation with this man.
Realizing this, Cheng Ran finally gave up, giving up on playing any more hide-and-seek games with Ye Zhou.
He started sending Ye Zhou text messages, emails, and even private messages on Weibo, using every possible means of contact he could think of, determined not to be deterred until he reached Ye Zhou.
But Cheng Ran was still too naive, naive enough to think that Ye Zhou wouldn’t be prepared for this.
When Ye Zhou filmed a terrible movie in his previous life, he was heavily criticized by anti-fans and experienced harassment across various social media platforms. He had long since honed a unique set of techniques to deal with this, and now they came in handy for handling Cheng Ran.
Block, mute, hide – Ye Zhou utilized every method he could think of to make Cheng Ran disappear.
Cheng Ran was so angry that he coughed up blood, while Ye Zhou, who blocked him, had been living a rather comfortable life lately.
The Zhaixing Live platform officially launched on the evening of the 9th. At the same time, the Zhaixing Dream Nurturing Program was also initiated. All contracted anchors were waiting in front of their computers, ready to go live as soon as the servers opened.
The users, whose appetites had already been whetted, rushed into the live broadcast rooms impatiently. If they hadn’t prepared in advance, the Zhaixing server might have even been overwhelmed.
Gu Xixi looked at the clock in the bottom right corner of her computer screen. When the time turned to exactly 12 o’clock, after double-checking that the food and equipment in front of her were ready, she took a deep breath and turned on the camera, beginning her first live broadcast on Zhaixing in years.
Several other major anchors, including Qi Si and Wei Chao, made the same move.
Years ago, they had all been forced to give up their thriving careers due to various rumors and scandals. They thought they would never have the chance to return to this industry, but here they were, mustering the courage to stand back in the public eye, in front of the netizens.
This time, they wouldn’t hide from their past. Instead, they would forge ahead and see what the future held.
As Ye Zhou had anticipated, on the opening night of the Zhaixing Live, several former major anchors were immediately pushed to the top of the hot search list, with Qi Si, the entertainment anchor with the greatest influence, ranking the highest.
Some netizens directly mocked Zhaixing Live as a “waste recycling station,” saying that the platform could not afford to recruit top anchors with bright futures, so they had to resort to gathering these tainted anchors to boost their platform. As the saying goes, “Though the platform is small, it is full of all kinds of vices.”
That night, Ye Zhou did not go home, but stayed at the Zhaixing building, working overtime with the other staff.
“Mr. Ye, Qi Si’s hot search is about to hit the top, just one spot away from the front page. Look…” The head of Zhaixing Entertainment looked at Ye Zhou, who remained calm, and nervously suggested, “Her popularity is rising. Maybe we should have her stop her stream first, and then let them continue after we clarify things tomorrow?”
From the very beginning, he had not agreed with putting all these tainted anchors on at once. Although their contract prices were unbelievably low, according to the manager’s plan, they were supposed to bring them out one by one, whitewashing them one by one, which would be much gentler than the current approach. But he simply couldn’t overrule Ye Zhou.
Seeing the increasing negative comments online, the manager was genuinely anxious. Although Zhaixing had not been established for long, everyone had been watching it grow from nothing and get on the right track little by little, and it was all their hard work.
In stark contrast to his anxiety, Ye Zhou remained calm and composed. He glanced at the manager and said in a mild tone, “It’s fine, continue.”
Although he was the head of Zhaixing, Ye Zhou was the platform’s owner. Now that the boss had spoken, the manager, despite his inner turmoil, didn’t dare to openly go against Ye Zhou.
The manager discreetly signaled to a few confidants, indicating that they should go prepare. As soon as he succeeded in persuading Ye Zhou, they would immediately suspend the live broadcasts of those anchors.
However, just as the manager was about to try persuading again, a scream suddenly came from the office.
“Q-Qi Si, she’s clarifying that incident from years ago!” One of the staff responsible for Qi Si’s live broadcast room couldn’t hold back the exclamation.
Even at the time when she was most heavily slandered, Qi Si had never uttered a word to explain that incident. She had quietly pushed it aside, and no one had expected that she would publicly respond to and clarify this matter today.
This seemed to be just the beginning. Before the manager could react, one cry of surprise after another rang out in the office.
“Gu Xixi has also started clarifying!”
“Wei Chao too!”
…
That night was spent in confrontation and clarification. On the first day of the official launch of Zhaixing live broadcast, the platform’s active user number kept soaring, reaching nearly 80 million in just the first hour.
All the accusations and scandals were explained that night, with the anchors providing and presenting relevant evidence. They faced the haters straightforwardly, without any panic or deception.
Confronted with the years-long suspicion of fake eating, Gu Xixi finally cleared her name after showing the monitoring footage from that year and calmly finishing an entire 1.5-meter-long seafood platter in a live broadcast.
Although there were still some die-hard black fans stubbornly insisting, “I won’t listen, I won’t listen, I only believe what I want to believe,” they were only a small minority. The majority of the audience was willing to withhold judgment and see how Gu Xixi would perform going forward.
After all, with Gu Xixi having signed a contract with Zhaixing, it’s not like she would only broadcast once. Whether it was true or false, the audience would be able to see for themselves.
As for the accusation of Wei Chao using cheats, he was even more direct. He didn’t waste any words but directly divided the screen into four parts – the first part was the camera focused on his hands, the second part played the video of the operations he was once mocked for being able to do only through cheating, the third part was a video of the recent “Devour Cup” awards ceremony where the champion played against a lucky viewer, and the fourth part was his own game desktop.
In front of millions of viewers, Wei Chao repeatedly reproduced the operations that had once been mocked as only possible through cheating. Although there were still some die-hard naysayers, many enthusiastic viewers soon recognized the third part video as the “Devour Cup” lucky viewer playing against the champion team.
Everything can be faked, but the authoritative “Devour Cup” competition on-site equipment could not be forged. Although the lucky viewer team ultimately lost the match, the brilliant performance of the character Wei Chao controlled could not be faked.
Qi Si openly faced the so-called “third party involvement in a celebrity’s marriage” scandal from back then. The rumors and slanders crumbled one by one as she presented irrefutable evidence, unable to stand on their own anymore.
…
This night was destined to be a sleepless one. As more and more users flooded in, by the early hours of the morning, the anchors had gradually signed off, but the number of active users was still maintained at around 90 million.
As the night owls logged off, the newly awakened users came to replenish the numbers, preventing the user activity from sharply polarizing as expected after the initial broadcast, and instead keeping it relatively stable.
Ye Zhou rubbed his slightly reddened eyes, brushed off the crumpled suit he had been sitting in all night, and, with two dark circles under his eyes, said to the manager, “Alright, everyone has worked hard. We’re pretty much done here.”
He then turned to the manager again, “There’s nothing else, I’m leaving first. Contact me if there’s anything.”
Although he had pulled an all-nighter and was a bit tired, the manager still mustered his energy, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at Ye Zhou like a juicy piece of meat, his tone barely concealing his excitement, “Okay, Mr. Ye, please come by again when you have the time!”
Ye Zhou couldn’t help but shudder at the manager’s gaze, as if remembering something. “I may be quite busy in the next period, you can handle the rest. The thorny problems have mostly been resolved. Regarding this support plan, I have only one requirement.”
“Please go ahead,” the manager responded reverently.
“Fairness and integrity. I hope that every anchor who comes to Zhaixing can pursue their dreams on an absolutely fair and clean platform.”
“If we can’t achieve that…”
Ye Zhou left the rest unsaid, but the manager understood perfectly. Without any hesitation, he thumped his chest and guaranteed, “You can rest assured, as long as those words of yours stay here, Zhaixing’s support plan will ensure absolute integrity and fairness. If I can’t do it, you don’t even need to say anything, I’ll pack up and get out myself!”
His words were firm and unwavering. Ye Zhou patted his shoulder approvingly and tossed out a sweet treat, “Keep it up. If this support plan at Zhaixing can be successfully completed, your salary will be directly increased by 30% starting from the day it concludes, and all employees will receive double the monthly bonus.”
Hearing this, the manager practically wanted to rip out his own heart and give it to Ye Zhou, his gaze towards him growing even more ardent.
There’s no denying it – the power of money can be so tremendous at times!
After dealing with the Zhaixing matters, Ye Zhou spent two days resting at home when he suddenly received a call from a screenwriter he had worked with before, asking if he had time to have a meal together, saying he had a new script he wanted to show him.
With the Zhaixing affair coming to a close and the new film not yet decided, Ye Zhou was truly free. Thinking it over, since he had nothing else to do, he might as well go take a look.
As soon as he pushed open the door to the private room at the appointed restaurant and saw the smiling face of the person inside, Ye Zhou almost couldn’t resist the urge to kick him.
This persistent person! Just to find him, this protagonist shou really resorted to insane and extreme measures!
As soon as Ye Zhou arrived, the screenwriter who invited him, under a subtle signal from Cheng Ran, apologetically smiled at Ye Zhou and said, “I’m sorry,” before quickly leaving the room.
The spacious room was left with only Ye Zhou and Cheng Ran.
The two made eye contact for a few seconds, but before Cheng Ran could say anything, Ye Zhou turned and headed for the door, pressing the doorknob a few times without success. It wasn’t hard to understand what was going on.
This shameless bastard, well, he might as well just leave. And on his way out, he even locked the door – what the hell was wrong with him?
Cheng Ran chuckled lightly, speaking in a soft tone, “I don’t know why you have such animosity towards me, but I really didn’t mean any harm by seeking you out.”
Ye Zhou didn’t bother responding to him, continuing his struggle with the locked door.
Seeing him so uncooperative, Cheng Ran didn’t force the issue. He picked up the cup on the table and took a sip of tea before slowly saying, “Do you know Yu Qiuze?”
Ye Zhou couldn’t be bothered to reply, focusing on the door.
Seeing his indifference, Cheng Ran’s expression darkened slightly, but his voice became even more soothing, “Yu Qiuze is…”
“Ask, ask, ask. You can’t even articulate a coherent sentence, and yet you have the audacity to come here and question me.”
“Do you really not know who Yu Qiuze is? Yu Qiuze is your sponsor’s white moonlight, isn’t he?”
Ye Zhou turned around and looked at Cheng Ran, his face expressionless. “Are you planning to tell me next that Yu Qiuze is not only your financial sponsor’s white moonlight, but also Jiang Tingyuan’s white moonlight?”
“Little brother, it’s 9202 now, can you at least upgrade your ability to stir up discord a little? With that outdated brain of yours, who gave you the courage to keep jumping around in front of me?”
“Aren’t you a pain in the ass!”
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