Chapter 54: Top Trending Part 2

【Little Fish Little Fish: If I recall correctly, this scene is Ge Wei and Franlang leading the army to invade Cloud Palace at night, while Devin goes to the Golden Pool to find Celine, and the two of them share a spring night.】

【Little Fish Little Fish: Why is it so stiff? They’re like complete strangers. To be honest, it does look like Jiang Nian is somewhat resistant toward Lin Qinghe. Maybe he knows privately that Lin Qinghe has a bad character?】

【Jiang Xi Forever: What kind of cult CP is Qingqian Liunian? Do you see Jiang Nian giving Lin Qinghe a good face? How can you ship it? It’s crystal clear Jiang Nian doesn’t like Lin Qinghe, maybe even dislikes him. Hehe.】

【Lin Qinghe Public Joke: Break it up, everyone. I knew it. Jiang Nian wouldn’t pay attention to him. Turns out he’s just putting on a one-man show.】

【Heartbroken: How much for a post? Marketing accounts, dare you release the full video? Lin Qinghe and Best Actor Jiang Nian are simply junior and senior martial brothers. Their interactions are very appropriate and distant.】

【A Melon-Eating Badger replying to Heartbroken: The paid posters are here. How much for a comment? I’ll double it.】

【Unceasing: Everyone kicks a man when he’s down. So terrifying. Every time there’s a new face, the mass smearing begins.】

【ccccc: Lin Qinghe buys a CP hot search but is still so cold toward his CP counterpart. He looks down on Jiang Nian but uses him as a stepping stone. Too hilarious.】

【Birds of a Feather: Jiang Nian is so unlucky to have a colleague like this.】

【Nine Coffins: I guarantee Jiang Nian is absolutely not close with Lin Qinghe in private. You all might not know what Jiang Nian was like when filming with Xi Yan. He’s simply not that close to this colleague.】

【Conductor: Just the thought of Jiang Nian having intimate scenes with this disgusting person makes me sick. I can’t accept it at all.】

If it were just the CP incident, the firestorm wouldn’t have reached its zenith. The terrifying part was that misfortunes never come alone.

Lin Qinghe’s path to fame had been too smooth. Though the casting for Dream of the Blue Moon Night had caused him to stumble, the internet had no memory.

With the airing of Twelve Miles of Snowy Capital and the buffer of promotional materials, he had gained minor fame in a short time. Most netizens wouldn’t be overly harsh—after all, it wasn’t a substantial scandal.

But competitors in the entertainment circle saw things differently. The cake was only so big, the profit only so much. If you took a slice, there was none left for them. They wouldn’t let go of any chance to trip Lin Qinghe.

So, after the first trending topic was taken down, a new tag surged onto Weibo: #Shock, Lin Qinghe Rumored to Be Kept by a Tycoon#.

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: The blogger is about to break this down. First, the blogger figured out Lin Qinghe’s background, which is the premise for all subsequent speculation. Everyone can raise questions, but please engage politely. No insults.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: Lin Qinghe, 23 years old. Attended an ordinary university. Not professionally trained. Humble family background. An orphan who once lived in a welfare institute. First gained fame from a video playing the pipa, titled “A Youth in White Like Snow.”】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: Then he started a Weibo and livestreamed on Seven Notes, almost once a week. The turning point was when the Dream of the Blue Moon Night production released their makeup stills. That means he had already signed with Starlight Entertainment before that point.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: Okay. Now let’s go back to the initial timeline. His first livestream. Everyone, look at the first screenshot below.】

【I asked everyone I know who studies pipa. This pipa is incredibly expensive, starting at over a million. So here’s the question: Lin Qinghe is just an ordinary person. Even a wealthy family would not necessarily spend so much on a pipa, unless for collection.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: The blogger exhausted all means to find an answer. Please look at the second screenshot. During his second livestream, Lin Qinghe admitted this was a gift from a friend. To have a friend who can give such an expensive gift, the family’s assets must be measured in the hundreds of millions or tens of millions. How did he cross social classes to make such an elite friend?】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: And every time he livestreamed, the background was quite refined. You could tell the living environment was nice. Back then, he hadn’t started acting. Where did the money come from? Okay, let’s put that aside for now.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: Next, the most highlight-worthy clip. According to Lin Qinghe’s fans’ records, on the day of his second livestream, he ran into trouble. A rich young master threw two million down to make him play a bawdy tune.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: It’s quite a power fantasy, I’ll admit. Because not long after, a tycoon came and threw ten million to tell that rich young master to get lost, and even used verbal threats. On a side note, the tycoon lives in Western Capital. See screenshots three through four for details.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: Ten million, thrown down just like that. Do you grasp the concept??? It’s impossible for someone who isn’t a die-hard fan. And you also need the baseline condition of massive family wealth. Since when is a die-hard fan this easy to find? I’d like to find one too. Don’t forget, Lin Qinghe had only livestreamed twice.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: The last time, it was very obvious. Screenshot five. The top donor used money to fire back at haters and chatted with Lin Qinghe. Lin Qinghe called the top donor his benefactor. The tone of the two suggests they know each other. Here, the blogger speculates: is it possible the top donor is that so-called friend?】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: There’s also a point everyone has forgotten. Lin Qinghe’s pipa and guzheng skills were praised even by my friend. Ten years of study is the baseline. So how did he pay for the tuition? If he had real money, he wouldn’t have attended a very ordinary university.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: The last screenshot is from a grapevine source. Judge its accuracy yourselves. But one of the individuals involved is very rich and connected to the Western Capital aristocratic circle. I won’t say exactly what happened. She heard it from her dad. The gist is that Lin Qinghe has a Sugar Daddy behind him, and the Sugar Daddy’s background is so powerful one wouldn’t even dare mention it.】

【I Pick Up Money on the Roadside: And his development in the entertainment circle has been very smooth. He headlined as the male lead in Dream of the Blue Moon Night right after appearing. Conclusion: either Lin Qinghe found a backer, or he has a cheat system.】

【Forced to Liangshan: A very thorough analysis. From the very start, I felt someone must be pushing him. What the blogger said practically confirms it. Think about the caliber of teachers in Dream of the Blue Moon Night. It’s too unreasonable for a newcomer.】

【Fairy Aura He He: If my Crane really had a Sugar Daddy, why would he need to buy this trending topic? Don’t be so ridiculous.】

【Link City: Director Li Ran said in an interview that he chose Crane after seeing his livestream.】

【Go An Yu’s Husband!: I thought it was common knowledge that Lin Qinghe rolls around in some tycoon’s bed to get ahead. Guess Teacher Lin is very good at pretending to be lofty.】

【Little Cute Wine: It’s rumored the tycoon is an old, perverted man. Fans propping up such a person must be fuming. Hahahaha.】

【Puffing Machine: The blogger is so rational. If anyone insults the blogger, I’ll fight back on their behalf. Crane fans, get lost. Stop throwing tantrums here.】

【Drinking Alone and Drunk: I was there for every livestream. Everything the blogger said is completely true.】

【Great Dao: I can also confirm that it is indeed true.】

【Sister Guoguo: Terrifying when you think about it. So isn’t that just being exploited for an unspoken rule to get ahead?】

【ccccc: Right, just shameless. He doesn’t care anyway.】

【Toot Toot: How disgusting. He’s so good at pretending. I really thought he was pure and noble. But it turns out it’s just a persona he built.】

【Cui Juan: Portrays a refined, cultured image on the surface. Who knows how wild he plays behind the scenes. Hahahaha.】

【Little Pig Little Pig: Unstanning. Image shattered.】

【Bland Taste: I’m unstanning too. So speechless.】

【WorkThreeHoursADay: Seeing the title, I thought someone had taken photos of Lin Qinghe with a tycoon.】

【WorkThreeHoursADay: You’ve spent millions on paid posters to smear Lin Qinghe, haven’t you? Enjoy this dirty money. Mind you don’t live to spend it.】

【After Dusk: The fans are triggered, triggered, hahahaha.】

【An Yu Baby: Laughing behind my hand. I won’t say who’s getting defensive.】

【Bearing: Fans, stop whitewashing. Maybe you should worry if your brother’s Infe endorsement can still be saved. Because the general audience goodwill has already collapsed.】

……

This incident was too malicious. Money makes the devil turn the millstone. Within half an hour, many platforms were jumping on the bandwagon to chase the traffic.

Some fans turned into casual onlookers, unfollowing Lin Qinghe. Others even turned into outright antis, taking a skeptical stance on his character.

Lin Qinghe’s Weibo and Seven Notes accounts were flooded with hate comments. Even more extreme, some people sent him private messages full of curses, as filthy as they could get.

Xi Nian, with a heavy expression, warned him to stay off the internet, fearing it would affect his mindset for filming. Compared to the previous wave of netizens rejecting his casting as Celine, this was a heavyweight crash.

Lin Qinghe had actually read the analysis by the blogger “I Pick Up Money on the Roadside.” If it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t even with Cen Han, he almost would have believed he really had used unspoken rules to rise.

Thinking of it that way, there was a bittersweet humor to it. He and Cen Han were practically committing crimes against the wind.

Just as he logged off Weibo, he received a call from Infe’s founder, Zhang Yayu.

“Qinghe, good morning.”

Lin Qinghe replied politely, “Good morning, Sister Yu.”

Why call at this hour? The endorsement deal had long been settled, and the shooting schedule was arranged. Xi Nian was a bit nervous, afraid the other side would back out.

“I saw the trending topics on Weibo. Are you doing okay?”

Lin Qinghe smiled slightly.

“Thanks for your concern. I’m adjusting my mood.”

Zhang Yayu’s pace was unhurried. “Every successful story includes storms and mudslides. This is what you’re going through right now.”

Lin Qinghe felt comforted by this lady.

“Thank you. Is there something you need from me?”

“I want to talk to you about the mudslide. Last night there was a torrential downpour. The mountain road to the shooting location is blocked. The shoot is postponed. We’ll reschedule after clearing the roadblocks. You won’t back out, right?”

A helpless laugh escaped Lin Qinghe.

“Of course not. Like you said, this is just what I have to experience on the way.”