CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43: ANOTHER SCANDAL FOR THE TOP STAR

When the call came in, Mu Qiu was reading the article "Digging into the Princess of the Runway, Lin**," which revealed that Lin Banyan, who had mysteriously disappeared for years, was back to compete with Shi Yuhuai and other female models for inheritance rights.

The story was so captivating she didn’t want to miss a single word.

So when Chen Song explained the situation to her again, Mu Qiu was momentarily dumbfounded and uttered a confused "huh."

"I have rumors with Brother Cheng?"

What kind of genius was behind that PR account to come up with such a cool story in such a short time?

Chen Song’s tone on the other end was a bit resigned, "Yes, but it won’t spread. He asked me to let you know that you don’t need to worry, without any heat, this kind of news will naturally die down."

Mu Qiu felt that having her agent say that always seemed like a warning not to embellish the story.

She said, "Okay."

Rumors in the entertainment circle change from morning to night, with plenty of subjects to go around, so there’s no need to pay attention. Soon enough, it’ll be someone else’s turn.

However, as a newly minted fan of Cheng Zhirang’s looks, hearing rumors about her and him, even if they were clearly false to anyone with a brain, left her feeling... elated and secretly thrilled.

After zoning out for a while, imagining scenarios, Mu Qiu’s attention finally returned to the scandalous article she was just reading, finding the spot she had left off.

"Jiali’s precious daughter returns. Can her biological son’s inheritance rights still be preserved? Did Lin Banyan abandon the runway for love? Is her comeback due to a broken heart? Will the princess’s return to Jiali be accompanied by the same treatment as before? This editor doesn’t think so. After all, since her departure, models like Qu Huan have already benefited from the tilted resources and won’t give them up easily..."

Using questions to grab netizens’ attention, creating curiosity with battles for power, and highlighting the identity of the second female lead—these PR accounts mix seven parts fiction with three parts reality, making it all too easy to believe.

This is the art of storytelling.

Mu Qiu seriously analyzed it and wrote her insights on a sticky note.

[The female lead retires for love, but ultimately finds that love isn’t as expected. Out of desperation, she makes a comeback, and the male lead finally realizes his mistakes and turns around to win her back.]

It’s a story of a broken mirror mended, worthy of a book.

After doing all this, it was already close to nine. She came out from the corner, put her laptop on the carpet, pulled a nightgown out of the closet, and went into the bathroom.

Not eating after nine and going to bed early is her latest rule to prevent any scenario where the show’s plot, involving a male guest lifting a female guest during a hot dance, is used from her book.

If she’s too heavy, the male guest won’t be able to lift her, which would be really embarrassing.

Elsewhere.

Nine in the evening is the best time for some people to sleep and dream, while for others, it’s when the neurons start to get excited and wild.

Ms. Zhao Yu had been photoshopping for two hours straight, her eyes glued to the computer screen, controlling the mouse with her fingers, occasionally letting out a shrill scream.

"So handsome, just too handsome!"

"My god, does this even need editing? The raw photos are already sniping at my heart!"

"I can’t take it, those indifferent eyes! I’m done for!"

"Those long legs! That wet hair!"

After a frenzy of outputting until her mouth was dry and her eyes were sore, she finally packaged all the retouched photos and sent them to the other sisters in her fan group.

She then carefully chose a photo of Su Yan, chin up, looking down at the camera, as her phone wallpaper.

"Change one every twelve hours, it should last a week," she thought, and next week there would be different images.

After setting up the wallpaper, she switched to the fan group chat, satisfiedly watching rows of messages saying "Ahhhh, amazing!" "I love Yuyu!" "These pics are incredible! Yan Shen is so handsome!" She modestly responded, "Just look at the pics, my Su Yan is awesome."

In fact, she also retouched several photos of Mu Qiu, and of course, Cheng Zhirang and Li Yang, Shi Yuhuai as well. When the good looks are top-notch, even if you’re not a fan, it’s hard to resist taking screenshots. But as for Mu Qiu, that was purely out of deep sisterly affection. Finding the right moments in the show, she finally managed to capture two or three decent pictures and retouched them a bit.

Zhao Yu thought, these three pictures could serve as her chat background with Mu Qiu, rotating for three years.

Her fingers instinctively scrolled down, and amid the rapidly sliding dialogue windows, suddenly two lines of long text appeared.

Zhao Yu’s finger paused and backtracked a bit.

[Su Yan’s Little Wife: Holy shit! Brother is caught up in rumors again!]

[Su Yan’s Girlfriend Outside the Circle: Can’t we get something new? Every time Brother shows up on a show, rumors start. It’s because of these people that Brother doesn’t even want to go on shows anymore.]

[Su Yan’s Little Baby: Who is it this time? Let me see what the deal is.]

[Su Yan’s Little Wife: Wow, it seems he was actually photographed this time! It’s kind of legit!]

[Su Yan’s Little Baby: ??? What’s going on?]

Zhao Yu frowned, quickly recalling the female guests from the show.

Could it be......

Mu Qiu?!

After reading the exposed Weibo, she patted her chest, relieved it wasn’t.

Zhao Yu hurried into the group chat to say, [Don’t panic, let’s check it out first, most of it is fake.]

[I Love Su Yan: Yeah, yeah, most of it is fake.]

[Su Yan on My Bed: Don’t panic, does anyone here have connections? We can ask someone on the show’s team, let’s find out first.]

[Su Yan’s Girlfriend Outside the Circle: Someone, anyone, quickly go ask around.]

Someone with connections?

Zhao Yu’s eyes lit up and quickly switched the chat window.

[Dad, I lovingly edited a few pictures for you. Are you satisfied?]

Normally at this time, Mu Qiu would be asleep and unreachable.

But lying in bed, every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was an image of a handsome man stepping out of the bath, with a wet white shirt, gentle red lips, and limpid eyes... too out of bounds.

So, on her third check of the time on her phone, she received the "retouched pictures" from Zhao Yu.

A photo of her grinning while accepting an armband from a staff member, looking like an old lady receiving a "King of Sweet Potatoes" plaque for growing it from the leader.

A photo of her sitting by the pool sipping drinks and eating fruit, eyes glowing at the sight of a handsome man nearby, like a lecherous old man at the beach.

Except for the slightly polished facial features, there was no sign of where else it was edited.

Mu Qiu: "......." It’s infuriating, and the bath scene in her mind was now gone.

[I should never have given birth to such an unfilial grandchild.]

[Zhao Yu: It’s okay, I don’t mind too much. This is just a foreword for attracting better things.]

[Zhao Yu: I just want to ask a question now.]

——————————

Production Team: Some authors shouldn’t overthink; we won’t use any plots involving male and female guests dancing to fulfill your Mary Sue fantasies.

Mu Qiu: Just in case, sincerity is key, a blind cat may occasionally catch a dead mouse.

Production Team: It’s just not possible.

Production Team: Unless......