TRMP Chapter 84

Chapter 82

Early in the morning, Ocean Media was bustling with activity.

The public relations department had made preparations in advance, piecing together the evidence. The company had also specifically contacted several marketing teams willing to take on the job, all waiting for the clarification announcement to be released at noon for an absolute counterattack.

Jiang Yifeng woke up to a call from Luo Qi. His phone had been on all the time, and Guan Yiqiang had gone to the company early, sitting across from Luo Qi, monitoring the situation together.

Time ticked by, second by second.

A trace of unease stirred in Jiang Yifeng’s heart, yet he couldn’t pinpoint its source.

“The online trolls have already started creating momentum. The press releases are all timed to go out at 12:00. They’ll definitely slap them in the face.”

A senior executive smiled and reassured Jiang Yifeng, but from his tightly furrowed brow, it was clear that the executive’s mood wasn’t calm either.

Jiang Yifeng nodded and smiled, but the feeling of unease in his heart grew terrifying. His fingers rubbed against his knuckles, and he suddenly asked, “Is the release time of the press releases confidential?”

“It’s definitely confidential to the outside world.”

“I mean internally.”

“To prepare the press releases, it’s impossible to keep it confidential internally.”

Jiang Yifeng’s face changed.

“Can we release it earlier? There’s only half an hour left…”

But before Jiang Yifeng could finish speaking, he saw a new notification pop up on his phone.

Jiang Yifeng’s face turned pale.

[New information continues to emerge in the Jiang Yifeng fraud case. He allegedly launched a fundraising campaign under the guise of his father’s illness, and the whereabouts of the donations are a mystery.]

A marketing account, having seemingly just obtained this information capable of hammering Jiang Yifeng to death, released it unhurriedly, timing it perfectly with the decline in public interest, instantly pushing the public’s emotions to another climax.

The person hiding behind the scenes was doing it deliberately.

Jiang Yifeng lowered his eyes and chuckled softly.

“What’s going on with them?” The senior executive had clearly seen the latest news as well. He didn’t wait until 12:00, but instead immediately had the company release the clarification materials.

Jiang Yifeng lowered his eyes and clicked on the press release to view the details.

The exposé included a screenshot of a news article from back then – “Teenager Takes Time Off School to Care for Seriously Ill Father, Filial Piety Touches the Heavens.”

The news story told of a teenager named Jiang Yifeng, who, upon discovering that his father was seriously ill, took time off school to care for him, running around at his bedside and taking on the responsibilities of the family. His filial piety moved the doctors and nurses at the hospital, and after he had used up the family’s savings, the hospital and school even organized a fundraising campaign for him, but his father’s condition worsened and he needed new surgery fees.

Jiang Yifeng remembered this news story.

He received encouragement from many people, and everyone was touched by his dedication to caring for his father, praising him for his excellent character and academics, and donating a lot of money to him.

That was the first time Jiang Yifeng had been put on the internet.

The praise spread from online to offline, and the donations poured in like snowflakes.

Jiang Yifeng’s appearance also garnered a small amount of praise. They praised Jiang Yifeng for being good-looking, excellent, and having good grades, simply the perfect five-good youth of the new century.

All sorts of beautiful words were heaped upon him.

And he was blinded by the praise of the crowd.

However, as he flipped further, the news was already from several months later.

After the initial news lost its heat, reporters stopped following up. Jiang Yifeng’s story went unreported for several months, and its reappearance was accompanied by fraud rumors.

The surgery failed, the remaining money was missing, and Jiang’s relatives were suspected of living extravagantly.

The reporter shared screenshots of Jiang Kailu’s (River Open Road) social media posts, and questioned the whereabouts of the donations, and the comment section was filled with overwhelming abuse.

“Scammer,” “fraud,” were already the simplest accusatory words.

Each screenshot that followed made Jiang Yifeng’s fingertips tremble.

Perhaps that heaven-moving teenager promotion from a few months ago had set a precedent, and the abuse that followed lasted a very long time.

Jiang Yifeng had never lied to Luo Qi.

The abuse and curses in the entertainment industry were truly just small-scale skirmishes. Even tens of thousands of online trolls and ten thousand people with malice towards you couldn’t compare to the cursing of hundreds of thousands of living people.

The thinking of online trolls is fixed. Whatever press releases you give them, hundreds of small accounts will charge forward according to the same template, with pitifully few variations.

Only by truly witnessing the cursing in an explosive social event can you know what is terrifying.

People’s thinking is endless.

So their ways of cursing people are the same.

Jiang Yifeng’s fingers trembled.

And when he clicked on the comments section, sure enough, after people outside the fan circles poured into the flame war, the tone became even dirtier.

Every curse and malicious statement made it hard for Jiang Yifeng to breathe.

His gaze slid from the top of the comments to the very bottom.

It wasn’t that there were no fans of Jiang Yifeng helping to speak up, but the few who dared to speak were being besieged.

Jiang Yifeng heard the senior executive on the other side roaring and complaining, “The clarification has already been released, why isn’t it working?”

“Hasn’t he already paid back the money?”

But Jiang Yifeng knew that it really wouldn’t work.

He opened the latest comments, Jiang Yifeng could almost foresee why the other party would rush to release the exposé first.

“It’s so easy for celebrities to make money. Isn’t he frantically participating in variety shows recently just to rake in the cash? Rake in more money, pay back the money, and then the previous fraud doesn’t count for anything.”

“Making millions a day, and then when something happens, they pay back the money, and it’s like nothing happened. Have you no shame?”

“He doesn’t even want his own dad anymore, what does he need shame for? How can shame compare to the fragrance of raking in money? I just don’t know how many more people have to die before he can spend this cursed money.”

The direction of the discussion in the comments section was within Jiang Yifeng’s expectations.

His status as a celebrity made it destined that he would make money more easily than ordinary people – and the public immediately concluded that Jiang Yifeng was only paying back the money in order to make more money, but paying back the money didn’t negate his fraudulent behavior. On the contrary, the act of paying back the money was to clear his name.

It was also a fact that Jiang Yifeng had been frantically participating in variety shows recently. There were plenty of envious people in the entertainment industry, and as soon as Jiang Yifeng revealed a bit of a flaw, flies immediately swarmed around him.

Similar remarks immediately became rampant.

“Participating in variety shows to rake in money, a money-grubbing whore.”

“Only paying back the money in order to rake in money.”

“Now that they see the public opinion is out of control, they’re paying back the money. Absolutely a person of bad character.”

If they were to guide public opinion now by saying that he had already paid back the money, it would become a social case of capital silencing a celebrity.

Ocean Media worked hard for an entire afternoon, but not only did it not salvage Jiang Yifeng’s reputation, it got worse and worse.

His paying back the money only confirmed that he was guilty.

And the other party, perhaps realizing the next direction of the rebuttal, released an interview in the afternoon.

Jiang Kailu (River Open Road), who had finished his administrative detention, looked somewhat tired, and said helplessly to the camera, “How much money was left back then… I don’t know, maybe there was some. I ran around with that kid, but now, hey, he’s become a celebrity, and he hasn’t been home for many years.”

Jiang Kailu (River Open Road), as the person who accompanied Jiang Yifeng to the news back then, everyone knew that he put down his work to accompany Jiang Yifeng in caring for Jiang’s father. The uncle and nephew caring for their younger brother together made the news even more touching.

But now Jiang Kailu (River Open Road) stood up to accuse Jiang Yifeng, completely tearing off another layer of Jiang Yifeng’s “filial piety.”

– And completely pushed the blame for greed onto Jiang Yifeng.

“Filial piety? How can a filial son not go home once he becomes a celebrity?”

“I wonder if Jiang Yifeng’s fans’ faces hurt, they’re still saying he’s just busy taking care of… his uncle has already spoken.”

“I suspect that the money wasn’t used for his father’s treatment at all, it was all embezzled by Jiang Yifeng. If this kind of cold-blooded animal doesn’t leave the entertainment industry, it’s your and my fault.”

“Jiang Yifeng, get out of the entertainment industry -”

“The fault of the father is the child’s failure to teach. I wish you would die as early as your father!”

“Why doesn’t he inherit his father’s cancer?”

“Maybe it’s because he’s not filial, so he didn’t inherit it.”

“A blessing in disguise, becoming an orphan.”

The office gradually quieted down.

Ocean Media didn’t publish anything more, and in the Ocean Media building, the discussions had continued for an entire afternoon.

But the people discussing didn’t find Jiang Yifeng to ask anything more.

Jiang Yifeng lowered his eyes and calmly flipped through those comments.

Until late at night, the senior executive pushed open the door, with a tired expression and a fake smile on his face.

Jiang Yifeng stood up, he looked quietly at the senior executive in front of him, and the senior executive calmly told Jiang Yifeng the results of the discussion: “You go home and rest for a few days first… put your work aside for now.”

“The company has decided to give up, right?” Jiang Yifeng looked at the senior executive: “But I still have all the receipts for paying back the money, I…”

“Jiang Yifeng, the receipts for paying back the money don’t prove anything, understand? In the eyes of netizens, you’re just paying back the money in order to rake in money in the entertainment industry. We’re a step late. Netizens have already decided that all our actions are for whitewashing, then we can’t do anything.”

“But I was already paying back the money before I signed a contract with the company.” At that time, his rent was 1500 a month, he couldn’t stand the hard work when he first started working, and his total salary was only 5000 yuan, and he still had to save money to start paying back the money.

But it was useless.

“Netizens won’t look at it, and besides, who knows if the receipts we show are real or fake? The people who donated the money don’t come forward to prove it themselves. As long as that group bites down and says your receipts are fake, is it useful?” The senior executive shook his head: “What’s more, someone is manipulating public opinion behind the scenes… they just don’t want you to have a good life, you can’t fight them.”

The internet is too big, the truth is unclear.

Especially when netizens have already determined that everything Jiang Yifeng has done is to whitewash the fraud, everything he says will be questioned.

If there are really donors who release screenshots of Jiang Yifeng paying back the money at this time…

Jiang Yifeng thought about that scene, but he also knew what the ending would be.

Netizens would say that he took money to help a criminal celebrity whitewash his name, and that he would die a terrible death for betraying his conscience.

Others are releasing evidence step by step, step by step attracting people’s attention, step by step destroying Jiang Yifeng’s credibility.

He didn’t know who was controlling it behind the scenes, one person or a group of people, it didn’t matter much.

Jiang Yifeng took a taxi home.

He was very grateful that he had experienced the same thing a few years ago, and at that time he had no influence.

– Otherwise, he might have been stimulated by endless grievances and the fear of being abandoned to smash and make trouble, or even like Chen Ruiyang (Chen Ruiyang), do something irrational, until everything was pushed to an even more irreversible abyss.

Jiang Yifeng sorted out all the evidence, the payment slips from back then were all clipped into the notebook, he neatly stacked them, knelt on the carpet, leaned on the edge of the bed, and wrote on the payment slips word by word.

And today’s wonderful public opinion development stimulated the nerves of netizens.

Many people ran to Ocean Media to scold Ocean Media for helping the evildoers and protecting their colleagues. Some went to the comments section of the small celebrities who had conflicts with Jiang Yifeng to apologize. Some went to his endorsements to clamor for boycotts, and some even tagged various accounts to request a thorough investigation of Jiang Yifeng’s fraudulent behavior, to bring the criminal celebrities in the entertainment industry to justice.

This was a network-wide carnival.

Various big accounts came down to tell stories, some analyzed how dark Jiang Yifeng’s heart was, some said that his only perfect face was made up, some said they learned from friends that Jiang Yifeng played big names, and some said that the brands he had worked with knew how ruthless he was in making money.

There were also legal influencers analyzing whether Jiang Yifeng’s fraudulent behavior could be judged if investigated, and how many years he should be sentenced, and the fans at the bottom also joined in the fun, saying that moral corruption should be sentenced to death, applicable to illegal fundraising, etc.

And late at night, the brands that had been cursed tens of thousands of times seemed to be unable to withstand the pressure.

The first to appear was a small variety show, claiming that it would cut out all of Jiang Yifeng’s scenes. Secondly, a small brand came forward to boycott bad artists and terminated its contract with Jiang Yifeng.

When someone took the first step, more and more brands subsequently said that they had learned about the situation and decided to terminate their contracts.

Several TV dramas that Jiang Yifeng participated in were also besieged, but because Jiang Yifeng was not the main actor, they were maintained by the fans of the celebrities, and were not greatly affected.

Only the martial arts drama that Jiang Yifeng was rumored to be the lead actor in was singled out for abuse, saying that it needed to give the audience an explanation.

Netizens became more and more excited.

Simple termination of the contract couldn’t satisfy everyone’s needs.

What everyone wanted to see was that the bad guys could get the punishment they deserved, such as he should pay millions of dollars in liquidated damages for terminating the contract.

“Let him spit out the money he earned!”

“Since he wants to make money in the entertainment industry, he has to be punished so that he can’t earn a penny.”

“Check his taxes, pay liquidated damages, and see what other ways there are to deal with him.”

Under the increasingly high cries, someone finally posted that they seemed to have received a takeout from Jiang Yifeng before.

“I remember the last time Yang Yan (Yang Yan) had a falling out with the company, Ocean Media said that internal employees were not allowed to engage in any form of part-time work outside the company, and all income would be fully represented by Ocean Media… otherwise it would violate the contract.”

“Isn’t working part-time as a delivery driver also a part-time job? The company definitely can’t allow celebrities to do this kind of thing, it’s too demeaning.”

“Fake, how can celebrities run errands?”

“If it’s real or fake, let Ocean Media check it out, and if it’s true, shouldn’t they hurry up and reap a wave?”

“Ocean Media, your inferior celebrity Jiang Yifeng is working part-time as a delivery driver, come out and collect liquidated damages!”

“With this wave, Jiang Yifeng will definitely not be able to come out as a celebrity again. Ocean Media, are you really not planning to come forward to collect a wave of liquidated damages and make a final sum?”

Jiang Yifeng saw those comments in the comments section shouting for Ocean Media to come forward to collect the liquidated damages, and his face instantly turned pale.

– He knew Ocean Media’s rules. He didn’t hide the fact that he was working part-time from Luo Qi, so Luo Qi knew that he wanted to pay back the money and wanted to live, but Ocean Media, as a company, didn’t care how celebrities lived when they had no work at all.

As long as Jiang Yifeng did it, it was a breach of contract.

And after he lost his value, what the company had to do was judge whether squeezing out the last bit of profit was in the company’s interest.

– When Yang Yan (Yang Yan) had an accident, the company, in order to maintain the image that “the company is the victim,” did not demand liquidated damages, but simply snowed Yang Yan (Yang Yan) in.

– And demanding Jiang Yifeng’s liquidated damages met the expectations of netizens and was in the company’s interest, the company would definitely not be soft-hearted.

Jiang Yifeng’s eyes trembled.

He pressed his forehead against his phone, and when the phone vibrated, he saw the message.

Ocean Media posted a new blog post.

[It has now been verified that our company’s artist Jiang Yifeng engaged in part-time work during the contract period. The company will terminate the contract with him and demand liquidated damages in accordance with the contract breach requirements.]

The cheers in the comments section were particularly loud and dazzling.

Jiang Yifeng’s thumb pressed against the screen.

He found that when too many things happened, people’s brains seemed to be blank.

Clean, nothing left, only daze in the brain.

His hands were shaking, he wanted to reply, but he couldn’t.

Jiang Yifeng thought he was crying, he touched his face, but found that there were no tears at all.

One by one the terminations jumped out, one by one the accusations came forward.

Jiang Yifeng’s palms were shaking, he stayed up all night without sleeping, just quietly waiting for the last one.

Everyone was saying that he participated in variety shows to rake in money, but the variety show fees were split 80-20 with the company, the company accounting for 80%, while he ran around in various places non-stop, without sleeping for days and nights.

He didn’t have so many expenses, he wore the pure cotton brandless T-shirt he bought for 30 yuan to the variety show, and the company or Xie Jingshen (Thank you depth of field) were helping him prepare his food and drink.

And why did he unconditionally accept the garbage variety shows arranged by the company?

It was because he wanted to play the male lead in a drama, he needed to free up time after July, he wanted to film a martial arts drama with an uncertain future, a niche subject, and a moderate salary.

Jiang Yifeng’s phone rang.

He answered the phone and heard the cautious voice on the other side: “Teacher Jiang, I’m sorry, we may really not be able to give you the role… Let’s talk about the role later.”

“I can explain the news on the internet.” Jiang Yifeng found that his voice was hoarse, and the words he said were abnormally difficult to hear.

All his calmness had turned into grievance at this time, but the person on the other side was not the one who was willing to listen to his grievances.

The other party just apologized and said, “No need to explain, I get along with you, and I don’t believe you are that kind of person either.”

The other party paused, and then added: “Now it’s not a question of whether we believe it or not, now it’s a question of whether netizens believe it or not… I’m sorry, we will find a new lead actor, let’s terminate the cooperation.”