OSTF - 24

Chi Suisui logged into Weibo with a strong sense of curiosity.

The top two trending topics were all related to Lin Jingmu. After all, he had previously gone viral and was now filming an ancient costume idol drama, so his popularity was more than enough.

In short, Lin Jingmu’s girlfriend had been photographed.

“Does he really have a girlfriend?” Su Mian asked from across the room: “Boss Chi, did you notice if he looked like he was in a relationship when you interviewed him?”

It was hard to tell if he was in a relationship, but he certainly seemed serious about causing trouble.

Chi Suisui inwardly grumbled and clicked on the first trending topic, “Lin Jingmu’s Girlfriend,” to read the popular Weibo post.

Some paparazzi had captured photos of Lin Jingmu having dinner with a woman. Due to the angle, only Lin Jingmu’s face was clearly visible. He had just sat down and taken off his hat, getting snapped right at that moment. He was also seen chatting and laughing with the woman opposite him.

“The post says it was last night.”

“All the comments are guessing who she is. The girlfriend fans are going crazy. His fans are very emotionally invested.”

Chi Suisui looked up, “When you mentioned it earlier, I thought you meant me.”

Su Mian shook her head, then nodded: “It’s mainly because the GIF of them entering the restaurant together shows a figure that looks a lot like you.”

But upon closer inspection, no one could match Boss Chi’s figure.

Hearing this, Chi Suisui also opened the first GIF and took a look.

It showed Lin Jingmu and the woman getting out of the car and entering the restaurant. It was too dark to see their clothes clearly, but their silhouettes were distinguishable.

Chi Suisui narrowed her eyes: “I find it familiar.”

But she couldn’t recall who it reminded her of for the moment.

There were already tens of thousands of comments, mostly negative. She skimmed through some reasonable ones: “I don’t believe it! Mu Mu said he wouldn’t date anyone right now!” “Whoever is trying to ride on our Jing Mu’s fame, do they have no shame?” “If I knew who it was, I’d report it every day.”

“Do they know that our Mu Mu is at the peak of his career? If he dates, I’m unfollowing him. Even if he doesn’t date, he needs to explain it clearly @Lin Jingmu.” “Mu Mu was filming on set all day yesterday; where did this woman come from?” “Is it a cast dinner?”

“Can a cast dinner go unannounced on Weibo? And why hasn’t there been any clarification yet?” “This woman’s figure clearly doesn’t match any of the actresses in the production. How dare she eat with him but not admit it?” “What kind of brain circuits do Lin Jingmu’s fans have?”

Su Mian continued reading the news and seriously asked: “Dating is between two people. Why does it become solely the woman’s issue?”

Chi Suisui remained noncommittal.

As the two were talking, an intern overheard and joined the conversation: “I know why. It’s because Lin Jingmu used to be an idol.”

In the eyes of fans, idols selling dreams dating is considered a betrayal.

It was also because Lin Jingmu’s foundation wasn’t stable. Thinking he had truly become an actor after one hit drama, his fans hadn’t even had time to shift their identities.

“Who is the woman he’s dating?”

“She looks pretty tall.”

“Wasn’t Sister Yueran interviewing Lin Jingmu last night? Did she see this woman?” the intern suddenly remembered.

Zhang Yueran was just returning with water when she was questioned: “I don’t know. I didn’t see her. Why are you playing with your phone during work hours?”

She vented her anger, and the interns quickly ran off.

Zhang Yueran’s gaze fell on the低头的 Chi Suisui, recalling their earlier discussion about the trending topic. Her heart skipped a beat.

She turned and walked to her seat.

Chi Suisui looked up and caught a glimpse of her retreating figure out of the corner of her eye.

Because they needed to go out for interviews these past few days, they were all dressed in professional attire, which didn’t differ much overall.

Outsiders might not recognize them, but reporters could easily tell.

This was also one reason why Su Mian mistakenly thought it was her.

Moreover, Su Mian had casually asked if it was her or Zhang Yueran. Zhang Yueran had gone to the set yesterday evening…

Chi Suisui thoughtfully understood something.

Until Zhang Yueran sat down and met her gaze, her initially calm heartbeat paused again.

In the afternoon, Lin Jingmu’s company issued a clarification statement.

The statement simply stated that Lin Jingmu had recently been interviewed by a TV station and treated the reporter to a meal after the interview.

It fit his persona perfectly.

Once the statement was released, fans immediately expressed understanding and quickly commented under the marketing accounts: “Our brother has always been nice to people. Treating reporters to meals is normal. Brother is so warm-hearted!”

As for who the reporter was, they no longer cared.

It seemed like the matter ended here.

As Chi Suisui had guessed, it was probably Zhang Yueran who went to eat with Lin Jingmu after the interview.

Chi Suisui finished writing her weekly summary in the afternoon. When Su Mian called her back to Weibo, the online sentiment had suddenly shifted again—

Someone, apparently a passerby, posted a ten-second video. It showed Lin Jingmu and the reporter chatting and laughing while eating, even serving each other dishes.

And there were only the two of them at the table.

This immediately caused an uproar among fans.

Only two people eating? Treating a reporter to a meal requires serving dishes?

Where was the assistant?

Where was the photographer?

“They’re starting to investigate which reporter it is…” Su Mian read out the comments: “Why didn’t the clarification statement mention the reporter’s name or the TV station’s name?”

Chi Suisui raised an eyebrow: “There might actually be something being concealed.”

Su Mian said: “Isn’t this diverting attention?”

In fact, Lin Jingmu and Zhang Yueran eating together was a private matter.

Their department at Nancheng TV Station had strict regulations regarding this. Moreover, the photographer wasn’t present—only the reporter herself was.

News travels fast in the office.

Within minutes, everyone knew, and curious glances filled with schadenfreude were directed at Zhang Yueran.

“Yueran, is that you on the trending list?”

“I think your figure matches the one in the video.”

“Weren’t you interviewing Lin Jingmu last night?”

Zhang Yueran didn’t answer any questions. Instead, as more questions came, she lost her temper: “I don’t know. Stop asking me. Can’t you check it yourselves?”

“...”

No one knew why she appeared somewhat guilty.

If this matter was clarified, it wouldn’t be a big deal. If she and Lin Jingmu had mutual feelings, it wouldn’t matter either—it wasn’t their business.

The fans’ hearts, which had just been reassured, were once again stirred.

Near the end of the workday, Su Mian, ever the gossip lover, scrolled through the comments and suddenly saw a comment that had garnered many replies—

“Did you hear that? Turn the video volume up to max. Lin Jingmu said a name, sounding like ‘chisuisui,’ though I’m not sure how to spell it.” Su Mian didn’t understand at first, but upon reading the pinyin,

She was stunned, swallowed, and looked up: “Boss Chi, something seems to have happened. This comment says the video contains Lin Jingmu saying your name.”

“…?”

Chi Suisui frowned. Could this really be related to her?

She clicked on the link Su Mian sent and indeed saw the comment. The sub-comments had already reached nearly 200 replies.

“Really? Chi Suisui?”

“Isn’t she the reporter who interviewed He Xingwang recently?” “Damn, I knew she was trouble!”

“She previously created a poor persona and even held a cash lottery, clearly aiming to get famous. Is she trying to debut directly this time?” “A few days ago, someone visited the set and saw Chi Suisui interviewing.” “Didn’t she go more than once?”

“She went yesterday morning too!”

“Oh my god, as a fan, I’m furious! Right under our noses!” Weibo and forums linked up quickly, providing Lin Jingmu’s schedule.

Combined with the assistant’s previous hints about reporters visiting these two days, everything matched.

Chi Suisui was directly pushed onto the trending list.

It was just the time when people were getting off work and school, so the number of idle netizens was huge, quickly pushing her to the top of the trending list.

At the Shooting Sports Center.

Li Huaiming suddenly remembered upon seeing the trending topic: “Isn’t this Reporter Chi, the one who interviewed Lord He last time?”

“Yes, it’s her.”

“Is she really dating Lin Jingmu?”

“Who’s Lin Jingmu?” Su Zhi, who hadn’t had time to catch up on the news, asked: “What does him dating have to do with us?”

“Don’t know, some male star.”

They spent their days at the Shooting Sports Center, usually training, rarely paying attention to the entertainment industry, at most watching the latest news at night.

As Li Huaiming was looking, he noticed a shadow above his head.

He turned his head to see He Xingwang standing behind him, staring intently at the trending interface on his phone—

“Dating?”

Li Huaiming let out a sound, feeling like he heard a cold laugh.

But perhaps it was just an illusion.

When Zhang Yueran saw the trending topic, she almost jumped—how could this happen? She felt like she had narrowly escaped death.

She didn’t want to be cursed to death by Lin Jingmu’s millions of girlfriend fans.

During their chat last night, Zhang Yueran sensed that Lin Jingmu seemed to be on bad terms with Chi Suisui. So when Lin Jingmu asked, she subtly hinted.

With trembling hands, Zhang Yueran entered Chi Suisui’s Weibo.

The girlfriend fans of Lin Jingmu who saw the trending topic had already arrived here and started cursing in the comments under her latest post.

The more Zhang Yueran read, the more frightened she became.

The trending topic was bustling.

Chi Suisui and Su Mian were sitting in a restaurant not far from the TV station, having dinner and also saw what was happening on Weibo.

Today had been quite eventful.

“What’s going on? They’re falsely accusing you.” Su Mian slammed the table in anger: “Their company’s statement was so vague. Were they waiting for this to happen?”

“They might have actually done something.”

“Boss Chi, you need to clarify!” Su Mian was already arguing with those people on her Weibo, typing furiously.

When Chi Suisui opened her Weibo, the comments and private messages exploded.

A large number of Lin Jingmu’s fans had posted, some sending ghost images, others posting various obscene insults. It was a mess.

Chi Suisui directly turned off her private messages.

“It makes me so angry! They actually say Boss Chi isn’t good-looking. They must be blind. Their idol is ugly, and they’re ugly too—a bunch of ugly people warming each other!”

Su Mian got angrier the more she read on her phone.

“Only they like Lin Jingmu. We’ve all interviewed Lord He. Would we look twice at a double-sided tape? Isn’t our Lord He fragrant enough?”

Chi Suisui was amused by the term “double-sided tape.”

In fact, the trending topic was removed within ten minutes, thanks to Qi Corporation backing it.

However, this removal made netizens even more convinced of the authenticity of the gossip.

Chi Suisui drafted a Weibo post. One minute later, the new post was sent directly.

[Chi Suisui: It has nothing to do with me. You’ve got the wrong person. Fans with specific questions should consult @Lin Jingmu #picture] All the gossip-loving netizens saw Chi Suisui’s latest Weibo post.

Their eyes nearly popped out.

This was the first time someone directly @’d a celebrity.

Not only that, Chi Suisui also posted a bunch of comments, directly telling people to ask Lin Jingmu, appearing extremely brazen.

Being so bold, it clearly wasn’t her.

Following the lead, the gossip-loving netizens went to Lin Jingmu’s Weibo and found that he had posted a selfie half an hour ago.

This directly caused an explosion.

Others were being cursed because of him, and he was still posting selfies.

Although the fans were angry, they weren’t stupid enough to reach this point and began questioning Lin Jingmu about the situation, demanding a clear clarification statement.

The carefully maintained persona collapsed halfway.

In his own apartment, Lin Jingmu’s agent called to scold him: “You’ve gotten arrogant after becoming famous, haven’t you? Do you still know your persona?”

“I didn’t do anything with that reporter!”

“Sitting alone together is the problem! When the company asked you this afternoon, you said it was treating the reporter to a meal? Without a video, I was kept in the dark?! Lin Jingmu, you’re quite capable. Why don’t you just ascend to heaven?”

“…”

Not long after, someone dug up Zhang Yueran’s name.

Zhang Yueran also had a Weibo account, but hadn’t been exposed yet. When they found the restaurant, they saw Chi Suisui sitting aside.

She felt a bit dazed.

This restaurant was quite ordinary, one might even call it a hole-in-the-wall. Yet Chi Suisui sitting there gave off an effortlessly elegant vibe, as if she were at a fashion show.

Zhang Yueran had always known she was beautiful; the interns often discussed it.

She was prettier than some of the female celebrities they had interviewed before, exuding a unique independence, towering above the rest, and possessing an innate elegance.

And her abilities surpassed hers in every aspect.

“Suisui.”

Zhang Yueran forced a smile and sat on an empty chair opposite.

Chi Suisui’s lips curled slightly: “Why are you calling me? Want me to leave you a spot in my Weibo post?”

“…”

Zhang Yueran was only three centimeters shorter than Chi Suisui, and the video showed her wearing professional attire. The only way for her to escape unscathed was through her.

Zhang Yueran asked: “Don’t you want to know what Lin Jingmu said about you?”

“Not interested.”

“…”

Chi Suisui’s eyeliner today accentuated her elongated eye corners, giving her an aggressive aura: “Say one more word, and I won’t mind sending you to the trending list right now.”

Upon hearing those words, Zhang Yueran’s mind buzzed.

In the moment she was distracted, Su Mian had already widened her eyes and handed over her phone, excitedly saying: “Boss Chi, look!”

It was Su Mian’s only specially followed account.

—He Xingwang.

He had just liked a Weibo post: [Seriously, go check out Chi Suisui’s cello performance on S University’s official website. Only someone with glaucoma or cataracts would mistake her for Chi Suisui??] Netizens reasonably suspected that He Xingwang accidentally liked the post.

Refreshing his homepage revealed he had promptly reposted a new one.

[He Xingwang: .//@LemonCandyThreeSugarsSweet: I just want to say, Chi Suisui has already interviewed Lord He. Isn’t eating with Lord He fragrant enough?] Now it was confirmed.

Su Mian was ecstatic, completely ignoring Zhang Yueran: “Boss Chi! Lord He publicly implied hahaha! You were only interviewed once, and the male god already remembers you.”

Chi Suisui didn’t know whether to tell her the truth for a moment.

After He Xingwang’s Weibo post,

Within three minutes, the trending topic exploded.