Chapter 7: Exposure

Humans are fundamentally insecure creatures.

In times of turmoil, they yearn for stability; in times of stability, they worry about the future.

That night, Li Tingzhou rarely let himself completely unwind.

He left work early—a rare occurrence—and missed the coming storm at the Heartbreak Studio—

“So clear! How did they get this shot?”

Liu Lusi pointed furiously at a candid photo on her phone screen.

Although she had mentally prepared herself, when this bomb truly exploded in her hands, she couldn’t help but feel her anxiety spike. When Liu Lusi looked around the room, she discovered something even more infuriating:

Li Tingzhou had even left early today!

No wonder she felt something was missing from the studio.

Mao Maoyu didn’t even dare speak loudly: “He never hid it at all…”

Or rather, the current Li Tingzhou hadn’t yet fully developed the awareness that “I am already a public figure.”

After coming back, he went to work exactly as usual.

Walking on the street, not many people recognized Mengmeng. Going to the breakfast shop to buy breakfast, the boss charged him exactly what he charged everyone else, and didn’t throw in an extra bean paste bun.

Even if someone recognized him, so what?

They’d say, “Hello Mengmeng,” and Li Tingzhou would politely reply, “Hello,” and that was it. Ordinary passersby actually didn’t care that much about inner entertainment celebrities. Besides, Mengmeng wasn’t even a big star yet.

However, the online world and offline reality were two completely different temperatures, with a massive temperature difference!

Li Tingzhou knew the T City Music Festival had brought considerable traffic to the band, but he had seriously underestimated the public’s enthusiasm and the fans’ persistence. They didn’t just watch and forget; they truly held Mengmeng in their hearts.

Simultaneously, a certain green-colored, health-oriented website where music fans gathered once again reached peak traffic.

【When to Criminalize Lip-syncing and Fake Playing | Mengmeng, You Fool!】

————

Retweet @TopNotchLittleMelonJiang V: The moonlight is gentle, the crabapple blossoms haven’t slept. Was so lucky to capture the music circle’s new hotshot Mengmeng taking a stroll to admire flowers with his girlfriend, truly a beautiful couple (red heart emoji) [Video Link]

I’m done.

How could you do this, Mengmeng? My heart truly aches!

If you’re dating, just date, why couldn’t you do it secretly with your sister-in-law?

The crabapple blossoms on Xiangling Road bloom every year, what’s so special about them?

1L: Who said a double-hit streak is hard? Mengmeng achieved it in half a month.

4L: The first floor’s bro is too witty, I’m laughing so hard…

8L: So heartless, ‘a beautiful couple’—are they trying to anger people to death?

26L: First glance: today’s Mengmeng is so handsome it gave me a jolt. Second glance: sister-in-law? Goosebumps instantly broke out all over my body! Not a fan, but heartbroken. God, you’re so unfair, such a handsome man actually doesn’t belong to me (crying emoji)

29L: Setting everything aside, these few shots by Little Melon Jiang are all quite nicely taken.

32L: Little Melon Jiang is deliberately stabbing hearts, right? The version he posted on Douyin used Purple Jasmine as the BGM. Disgusting fans wasn’t enough, he had to disgust the current Sister-in-Law Meng too.

53L: Breaking news, Sister-in-Law Station also posted!

58L: This bitch is still so good at chasing clout.

89L: Our original poster seems to have died of sadness, whatever, I’ll copy it.

@SisHasSomeMoneyBot:

[Backstage Private Message Screenshots.JPG]9

Please, everyone, stop scolding the main poster for doing nothing. The main poster didn’t not receive submissions about Sister-in-Law Meng. But thinking your circle finally exploded a near-perfect hexagonal newcomer, can’t keep pulling the same old tricks, gotta give the newcomer a beginner’s protection period, so I held them back slightly (swear to heaven I had no selfish intent, otherwise my account gets banned).

Well, now it seems I was being completely sentimental (crying emoji)

He doesn’t care…

132L: Watching him build a tall building, watching him build another tall building.

152L: Have to say, out of so many candids, Mengmeng’s ugly-pic count is actually zero!

167L: The Sister-in-Law Station’s comment section is also a massive meltdown scene.

189L: That’s just how Sister-in-Law Station is, fiercely nitpicking with their mouths, while spoiling blindly in their hearts.

203L: So will Heartbreak release an official statement to clarify?

210L: Impossible. The thread next door has a sis with connections, saying Liu Lusi actually doesn’t really manage Mengmeng. Yes, he’s a lead singer who needs to appear on camera, but Mengmeng is also the producer! As an agent, her managing the musicians is perfectly logical, but what authority does she have to manage the producer? Besides, trying to restrict a god-tier talent like Mengmeng is impossible, unless everyone wants to see Heartbreak rapidly iterate to version 4.0 (don’t scold me).

229L: Mainly, Heartbreak has a general public fanbase and doesn’t really rely on fan economy that much.

235L: Then please start relying on it from now on, okay? Can he just… not date? Newly joined fan here, really heartbroken… During my outside-the-circle period, I heard someone else’s cover of Brittle Glass. Only after joining the circle did I know this song was Mengmeng’s first battle for the throne. Can’t control the past, but can’t he strictly observe male chastity from now on?

241L: He’s your husband, and you’re demanding he observe male chastity?

…

387L: How did the argument go on so many floors? The fold section is densely packed.

391L: Delulu dream girls battling heartless dead girls, folding like crazy.

410L: Honestly, although our group always builds tall buildings over this matter, as long as musicians and lead singers don’t cross red lines, everyone actually never used harsh words. Should treat Mengmeng with the same standard, don’t have such a strong sense of possessiveness…

429L: Easy to say, but seeing the flowers in Sister-in-Law Meng’s hand truly breaks my heart QAQ

~

At 12 AM, Li Tingzhou, who was playing the violin to empty his mind, was interrupted by a phone call.

“You’re still awake?”

Liu Lusi rarely sounded this passive-aggressive. It was clear she was very angry.

In that instant, Li Tingzhou realized something might have gone wrong, and effortlessly guessed what it was. He asked directly: “Was the relationship exposed? How do you plan to handle it?”

“Before, when Jiang Hu was around, I never had to worry about this kind of thing.”

“It was too careless of me.”

Words on the tip of her tongue, Liu Lusi still self-criticized first.

Honestly, she had very complicated feelings.

Before the overnight viral fame, she had thought about using Li Tingzhou’s relationship to create some topics. But those would have been harmless marketing points, not causing actual harm. Now, within just half a month, another “Explosive” trending topic appeared. Although both were “explosive,” the statistical gap couldn’t be ignored. Moreover, Liu Lusi found she couldn’t entirely control the situation; the restraint from her actions was limited.

The good news: the trending topic lacked sarcasm like “Who the hell is Mengmeng?”, “Can any random obscure C-lister trend ‘explosive’ now?”, “I’m here to surf the internet, not watch fireworks,” indicating Mengmeng’s general popularity had recently grown exponentially.

The bad news: inner entertainment netizens and music circle fans all felt extremely frustrated, as if iron couldn’t become steel.

Many people, while enjoying the spectacle, moonlighted as inner entertainment situation analysts: quite a few believed if Mengmeng could have hidden his relationship, he was certain to ride the wind this wave, his upper limit absolutely not just this! Pity his factory settings had a slight flaw…

Currently, “Brittle Glass” was genuinely popular, with covers spreading across every major social platform.

The blues spotlight close-up dominated Douyin and Little Red Book’s TOP 1 makeup imitation tag.

With these dual boosts, the heat converted to Heartbreak and Li Tingzhou himself was tangible.

Replace this condition into the actor circle: it equated to a no-name young male actor going viral with non-leading-role backlog, whose look and portrayal were impeccably flawless, whose voice, stage presence, physique, and acting were all top-tier, yet at the critical moment of expanding his fan circle, his relationship was exposed. One could imagine how many girlfriend-fans were forcefully blocked at the door.

Precisely because of this, everyone couldn’t understand why Li Tingzhou dated his girlfriend so openly and confidently. They hadn’t even thought of concealing it.

Accustomed to fan-circle thinking, inner entertainment netizens opened with: How dare he?

Making it seem like Mengmeng dating was some heinous, unforgivable crime.

Music fans also rarely shared a single brain cell tonight, all expressing difficulty accepting it.

Clearly, the music circle was full of people dating everywhere, men and women alike immersed in rivers of love. But tonight, everyone was set on targeting this Mengmeng, yep, fiercely whipping him, trying to teach the newcomer a little “lesson.”

Late into the night, the commotion wasn’t over.

The music circle’s famous Sister-in-Law Station, “Sis Has Some Money Bot,” posted 24 consecutive Heartbreak-related submissions, epitomizing the motto, “If we’re going crazy, let’s go all the way.”

Sis Has Some Money Bot:

【Heartbreak 121】

Previously booked a travel photoshoot to see J City’s crabapple blossoms, thought I could conveniently check in at the Heartbreak Studio too. That time was daytime, saw more clearly, ended up going to Pingchao for dinner with Sister-in-Law Meng.

Originally wanted a date-matching experience, result: that restaurant needed a reservation three days in advance.

Bonus: that same day, same road, also ran into Cui Lin filming promotional materials.

Just like that, I seamlessly brushed past two husbands…

【Heartbreak 122】

Please thick code (thanks emoji)

Ever since my friend and I started following Heartbreak, we’ve turned into detective wives.

After our careful analysis, LTZ’s last relationship was long-distance. During that time, his account IP jumped between J City and P City. Later, his emo-exclusive BGM “Purple Jasmine” appeared.

Before the new Sister-in-Law Meng, there was about a year’s gap.

Not trying to make excuses for him, but he’s always been a very emotionally abundant person.

Sis Has Some Money Bot:

[Cat Wiping Sweat.JPG]

Submissions paused, everyone. Content overlap too high. Unless it’s new gossip, the main poster won’t post more. You Heartbreakers really can hold it in! But what’s with some sisters? How are you catching him while simultaneously making excuses for the man?

-Emotionally abundant people can write both sweet songs and sour songs.

-I told you long ago, his romantic luck is very strong.

-Sensible people are already waiting for the breakup…

-Don’t spoil him like this! The Sister-in-Law Station cannot allow such words that split our resolve!

After watching all the commotion, Liu Lusi was silent for a very long time.

It was just like how she originally planned to wrap 50 dumplings to freeze for breakfast.

But the current situation was like: filling was chopped too much, so buy more dumpling wrappers; too many wrappers bought, so chop more filling. Repeating this cycle endlessly, ultimately forcefully producing an entire freezer full of dumplings. Based on her digestive capacity, this freezer full of dumplings was enough to instantly kill her appetite.

The taste of Mengmeng’s viral fame had already been sampled.

What followed was an endless stretch of anxiety and worry…