Chapter 19: Hot Search

The atmosphere in the studio plummeted to freezing point.

Zhu Huai couldn’t help but grumble inwardly. No wonder this show could never get popular—the director was obsessed with stirring up drama and completely blind to the mood of the room.

One sentence had offended a whole swath of people, throwing the show’s momentum straight into the trash.

Brilliant.

The rest of the live broadcast was awkward and silent. Even the scheduled mini-games were played half-heartedly. At the end, the production team had the guests offer one blessing each for the upcoming Hero Cup.

After the live broadcast limped to a close, Meng Xingyu stormed out of the broadcasting studio with a face like thunder.

Zhu Huai walked out of the production building. The three miserable brothers exchanged contact information, then He Chen and Jin Yuxian rushed off to their next commitments.

The weather hadn’t warmed yet, and the forecast said temperatures would drop for another two days. Zhu Huai tucked his hands into his pockets and looked out at the traffic in the distance.

Little Nan hadn’t brought the car around yet, so Zhu Huai waited by the main entrance.

Meng Xingyu came out of the building followed by his agent, three assistants, and a makeup artist—a whole procession in tow. His expression was much better than it had been during the broadcast.

But the moment he saw the person standing at the entrance, his face darkened again. He walked right up to Zhu Huai and stopped.

“Quite something, aren’t you?”

His view suddenly blocked, Zhu Huai looked at Meng Xingyu’s hostile expression. He didn’t argue, only said flatly, “If you’re talking about my skills, then thank you for the compliment.”

“Heh.” Meng Xingyu laughed coldly. “You’re not really trying to fight for this endorsement, are you?”

Zhu Huai countered, “Is that not allowed?”

Meng Xingyu’s expression was complicated. “Zhu Huai, we don’t interfere with each other. Why bother?”

Zhu Huai understood what he meant.

Their relationship was indeed a little strange. His stepfather was Meng Xingyu’s adoptive father. The elders may have had their unhappiness, but the two of them had tacitly buried the matter and gone their separate ways.

But now they had a conflict of interest, and that gave Meng Xingyu plenty to think about.

Meng Xingyu dismissed the staff around him. When only the two of them remained, he sneered, “It’s not because I didn’t attend Qi Baojia’s birthday banquet, is it? You’re getting back at me? Zhu Huai, you honestly think you’re capable of that?”

Zhu Huai gave a barely perceptible sigh. “You’re overthinking it. Even if it weren’t me for this endorsement, it would be someone else. I’m not targeting anyone.”

Meng Xingyu’s expression made it clear he didn’t believe a word.

Zhu Huai didn’t bother to explain further. Some people only believed what they wanted to believe; saying more was useless.

Not far away, headlights swung over. Zhu Huai squinted to make out the license plate and said quietly, “I’m leaving.”

As the two brushed past each other, a voice hissed viciously in his ear: “We’ll see.”

Once in the car, shielded from the cold outside, Zhu Huai’s body warmed a bit.

Little Nan turned to look at him, scanning his entire body with eyes like headlights.

Zhu Huai felt as though he were naked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bro, you’re on the hot search again.”

Zhu Huai wasn’t surprised to hear it. From the moment that troublemaking director of 《Indoor Games》 had dragged him into the water, he’d known this wasn’t over.

Little Nan said with admiration, “Other people have to pay to get on. You’ve gotten on free so many times—it’s like a yearly hot-search subscription.”

Tugging out his phone, he asked, “What are they saying about me this time?”

Little Nan started the car and drove smoothly onto the road, unable to bear it. “Read it yourself.”

Zhu Huai logged onto Weibo and saw a bright red tag on the hot search.

#ZhuHuaiFightingForMengXingyuEndorsement# [Hot]

The netizens were incredibly fast—the live broadcast had barely ended, and someone had already clipped the conflicts from the stream.

[Zhu Huai: “I’m currently preparing for an endorsement. I hope I can land it.”

Wang Lian: “Xingyu, do you plan to renew your contract with 《Sword Shadow Mobile》?”

Meng Xingyu: “Of course I hope to continue as the spokesperson—I genuinely love playing the game.”

Bai Xiaoyun: “Is Zhu Huai trying to fight for the 《Sword Shadow Mobile》 endorsement?”

Zhu Huai: “If I get the chance.”]

He didn’t even need to open the comments to know what they said—cursing him out, and defending Meng Xingyu.

Zhu Huai had to admit, his understanding of netizens was right on the mark.

[Feel so bad for my Yu. Hardworking and earnest, yet schemed against by a petty man.]

[I’m done. Can’t Zhu Huai go one day without mooching off someone?]

[Zhu Huai, get out of the entertainment industry!]

[Despicable Zhu certainly lives up to his name. Truly an eye-opener [/smile]]

[I’d only ever heard his name before, but now I’ve seen the man. Pest Zhu’s reputation is well earned—he ruins one person after another.]

[Xingyu was so hardworking and responsible during his endorsement—he was even streaming to promote the game recently. Why is a hardworking person treated like this?]

[@Sword Shadow Martial World Mobile, does the official account have a complaint with this spokesperson? Xingyu may be bad at the game, but as a spokesperson he’s qualified enough!]

[Zhu Huai for spokesperson? Hilarious. Does he even qualify?]

Seeing all those familiar words, Zhu Huai’s eyes were as calm as still water.

It wasn’t as if he’d never been ridiculed by the entire internet before. People still cursed at him every day. There was nothing worth caring about.

He scrolled through the tag—it was mostly marketing accounts taking the chance to stir the waters and fish for traffic, their phrasing and sentence structures identical, carrying obvious signs of coordinated manipulation.

Zhu Huai kept scrolling until he spotted a post that was different.

“Did You Get Your Orange Weapon Today?”:

[Meng Xingyu, a qualified spokesperson? LMAO. That only fools fans and casuals. Three hundred days as spokesperson—couldn’t count his game livestreams on one hand, did he? As far as I know, the contract had a clause saying he must livestream our game at least ten times, right? Do they really think nobody in our game keeps count? Back on Server 1, he rode a few big shots’ coattails to a high tier rank. Besides Shu Sect, can he even play any other character? Oh—sorry. He can’t even be said to properly play Shu Sect. He plays Ghost Gate, a role that just needs you to mash 12345, worse than He Chen slamming his face on his keyboard. Fans, go ask your idol: how many characters does our game have? How many mental skills? Which sects are they in? His contract’s about to expire, so he scrambles to do a livestream to prove how much he “loves” the game, and even drags innocent players under the bus—Bai Xiaomeng on Server 6 was forced to switch servers and change her name by his rabid fans, and Li River hasn’t been online since, has he? I’m begging Meng Xingyu and his fans: please, leave our humble little game alone!]

Attached to the post was a video—unexpectedly, a highlight reel of Zhu Huai’s plays from the live broadcast. Whom the post supported went without saying.

This was a 《Sword Shadow Mobile》 blogger with 400,000 followers, extremely influential and vocal among mobile gamers. He had torn into Meng Xingyu without mercy—sharply and incisively.

Compared to the video included in the post, it was practically slapping the faces of everyone who said Zhu Huai was no good.

[After watching the second match video, I think Zhu Huai endorsing this game? Acceptable.]

[As someone who watched the entire livestream, I think Zhu Huai’s actually a pretty nice guy—he took great care of He Chen and Jin Yuxian the whole time. He’s not anywhere near as bad as you people say.]

[Three-year PC player, completely neutral on fan circles. I think game endorsements should go to people who understand the game. On that point, Zhu Huai is far more qualified than Meng Xingyu.]

[I’m also neutral.] [You’re a goddamn escort to the Yellow Springs, that’s what!]

Over the question of who was more fit to be the spokesperson, Meng Xingyu’s fans, mobile gamers, and newly converted Zhu Huai fans fought a bloody turf war. Occasionally, Chen Fans and Consort Xians even waded in to stand with Zhu Huai. The Meng fans couldn’t gain the upper hand, and the comment sections dissolved into a free-for-all.

Reading this, Zhu Huai finally understood why Meng Xingyu had deliberately transferred from Server 1 to Server 6 and why he had invited Bai Xiaomeng and Li River to team up so publicly in front of the players.

At the same time, he noticed another issue—Li River hadn’t been online in a long time.

Zhu Huai frowned. He’d meant to exit Weibo and check Server 6, but his finger slipped and tapped into some marketing account’s page. Seeing the post right below the hot-search entry, his thoughts were quickly swept away.

@Weekly New Entertainment V:

#JiangSheliWrapsFilming# After half a year of filming, Jiang Sheli has finally wrapped up 《The Disloyal Minister》 today! What kind of brilliant performance will the Movie Emperor be bringing us this time? Here are six wrap-up photos. Are you looking forward to this drama?

Zhu Huai’s heart skipped a beat.

Jiang Sheli had wrapped?

He was only finding out now!!

Zhu Huai carefully saved the wrap-up photos to his phone, then opened his WeChat chat with Jiang Sheli.

—

Jiang Sheli didn’t particularly enjoy attending banquets of various names and purposes, but he still had to show face for the investors and the director.

When his phone buzzed, he’d just had a few drinks and was sitting off to the side listening to them talk. Everyone knew his temperament, so no one dared press him to drink.

Jiang Sheli picked up his phone.

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [Bro, you wrapped today?]

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [Sorry, I had no idea. Where are you now?]

Jiang Sheli raised an eyebrow.

JSL: [What’s up? Little Friend checking up on me?]

The Little Friend clutching his phone felt his face go red.

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [I didn’t even know you’d wrapped—I only found out from Weibo. I nearly had a heart attack. You didn’t even tell me.]

The words were plain and square, yet they carried a hint of a small grievance that wasn’t real anger.

Jiang Sheli suddenly remembered a sticker pack he’d seen recently.

JSL: [Need my fans to send you something?]

Zhu Huai jolted in the car.

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [Bro, you watched the livestream???]

JSL: [No. A sticker.]

Zhu Huai couldn’t say whether he was relieved or disappointed.

On one hand, he was glad Jiang Sheli hadn’t seen those chaotic, toxic bullet comments. On the other, he regretted that his sharp plays hadn’t been witnessed.

He didn’t have many strengths, but being good at games counted as one.

Zhu Huai knew the internet was full of dirt about him, so he desperately wanted to show Jiang Sheli the few good qualities he had.

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [What a pity. You missed the dashing sight of me carrying the whole game.]

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [Where are you headed next? Back to City A?]

JSL: [Heading to City C tomorrow for an event. I’ll be there a few days.]

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [Alright, we’ll talk when you’re back. I still haven’t given you your wrap-up gift.]

JSL: [What gift?]

It Is Zhu Not Pig: [You’ll know when the time comes. It’s a surprise.]

The corner of Jiang Sheli’s mouth curved up.

An investor beside him teased, “Fallen in love?”

Jiang Sheli put out his phone, sat up straight, and smiled. “No. Just chatting with a little friend.”

The investor was inwardly surprised. Jiang Sheli was a cold man and rarely chatted with anyone—this was the first time the investor had seen him volunteer an explanation.

The investor chuckled. “Your friend is my friend. If you ever need anything, just come to me.”

Jiang Sheli raised his glass, not refusing, his smile polite and proper. “Then thank you in advance, President Wang.”

—

After finishing his chat with Jiang Sheli, Zhu Huai slowly let out a breath.

He’d only just finished the rough draft of the fan art he was drawing for Jiang Sheli. Three days—if he pushed, he could still make it.

Zhu Huai urged Little Nan. “Hurry home.”

Little Nan jumped. “What, what? Is there paparazzi?”

Zhu Huai couldn’t be bothered to explain. “Yeah, yeah—not just paparazzi, but sasaeng fans and scammers too. If we don’t get back soon, I’m doomed, alright?”