Chapter 41: Trending Twice

Surrounded by the crowd, Yu Xiaozhe had no other thoughts at this moment. He suddenly understood the thrill Ruan Xingwen felt when he kicked Producer Zhang away, no wonder Xingxing wanted to give Producer Zhang another kick. While distracted, he also responded to the concern around him, "I’m fine, thank you." Li Mu quickly stepped forward, scanning Yu Xiaozhe up and down with his eyes, and confirmed that he was indeed not injured, which finally eased his mind. Yu Xiaozhe gestured for people to clear a path, walked towards Zeng Xu, squatted beside him, "I felt something was off with your mental state earlier, so I had someone look into it. Guess what I found?" His tone was calm, but the implication made Zeng Xu, who was unable to get up from the ground, turn a shade paler. Zeng Xu whimpered, but the kick from Yu Xiaozhe had been forceful, making him feel as if his internal organs were displaced, leaving him unable to form complete sentences. He could only manage a breathy plea, "I... I’m sorry, please... forgive me..." Yu Xiaozhe ignored him and instead stood up, walking straight to Director Wang Zicheng. "Director Wang, don’t rush to terminate his contract. I’ve uncovered some things about Zeng Xu. Let me handle this matter." Wang Zicheng understood his implication; it seemed Zeng Xu had some leverage that had fallen into Yu Xiaozhe’s hands. Also, Yu Xiaozhe had mentioned earlier that he would take over this crew once Mingsheng withdrew their funding. Wang Zicheng had confidence in Yu Xiaozhe’s character. Wang Zicheng shook his head and sighed, "Alas, I’m getting old and don’t have the energy to meddle in all these messy affairs. I’ll leave it to you. Everyone take a day off today, and we’ll continue filming tomorrow." After saying this, he left the shooting site with the support of the assistant director. Those perceptive enough in the venue recognized Wang Zicheng’s departure meant the drama was over and knew they weren’t able to solve some of the upcoming issues. They bid Yu Xiaozhe farewell and left, including Zhang Yue, who left with the assistance of a man beside her. Soon, the scene was left with only four people. Yu Xiaozhe and Li Mu stood beside Zeng Xu, who was still unable to get up, while in the distance, Zeng Xu’s assistant stood helplessly, not daring to approach. Li Mu walked over, "Call Zeng Xu’s agent and have them come here." Just as he was about to leave, he remembered something and turned back to continue, "By the way, have that so-called President Zhang come over too; our boss wants to ask him something." The assistant, hands trembling, dialed the agent’s number and hadn’t even managed to speak before hearing the impatient voice of the agent, "I told you not to call me unless it’s necessary, didn’t I? What has Zeng Xu done again? What trouble did he cause?" "Brother Wang, could you come to the crew? We can’t handle things here ourselves." The assistant’s voice was trembling, clearly showing the fear ingrained in his bones towards Zeng Xu and his agent. Li Mu raised his chin at him, signaling not to forget the other person. "Also, could you ask President Zhang to come over? Mr. Yu wants to discuss something with him." Upon hearing the assistant say Yu Xiaozhe wanted to see President Zhang, Zeng Xu’s agent was momentarily stunned. Suddenly, it dawned on him that Zeng Xu must have done something in the crew to anger Yu Xiaozhe, and the matter wasn’t minor. The agent inwardly blamed and rebuked Zeng Xu but verbally agreed repeatedly, afraid of incurring Yu Xiaozhe’s wrath. "Could you help him up? Do we need to call an ambulance?" The assistant glanced at Zeng Xu on the ground and, for once, made a decision on his own, "No, I’ll take him to the hospital myself." Yu Xiaozhe and Li Mu watched as he helped Zeng Xu up, slowly heading out of the film base without offering assistance, merely looking on blandly as they departed and then turning back to the lounge. Meanwhile, sitting in the taxi, Zeng Xu was still scheming revenge against Yu Xiaozhe. Ignoring the curious glances of the taxi driver, he took out his phone, snapped a photo of himself, and posted it on Weibo with a text. Soon, it surged to the hot search. Ruan Xingwen, having eaten and drank his fill, was lying on his bed, munching on the last carrot while scrolling through Weibo. As the interface refreshed, he saw the hot search. [Yu Xiaozhe Crew Assault] What the heck? Yu Xiaozhe? Crew? Assault? He recognized these words individually, but combined, they baffled him. Clicking into the hot search, he found the source was a Weibo post by someone named Zeng Xu. [Zeng Xu Warm Sunshine: Never thought Mr. Yu was this kind of person. I can’t bear for you all to be deceived by him any longer! /Picture] The picture showed an obviously bruised abdomen. At this time, the hot search comment section was lively, with fans and haters of Yu Xiaozhe and Zeng Xu flooding in: [Bypasser 1: Hehe, knew ages ago that so-called Yu Xiaozhe wasn’t a good person, always grimacing like everyone owes him money!] [Bypasser 2: The above is definitely a Yu Xiaozhe hater, drawing conclusions based on one photo is a bit rash, isn’t it?] [Bypasser 3: A dog-eat-dog situation, neither side are good people!] [God Ze’s Little Wife: Who is this guy? Trying to gain fame by making up stories?] [God Ze’s Little Follower: Exactly! He just posts a photo and starts playing the victim, if he has the guts, he should explain the whole situation clearly!] The follower’s comment quickly accumulated thousands of likes. Though neither Little Wife nor Little Follower knew the whole story, they believed their idol wouldn’t just hit someone for no reason! Further comments showed Zeng Xu and Yu Xiaozhe’s fans arguing, though Yu Xiaozhe had nearly eighty million followers, most were career fans. Zeng Xu’s fans had been cultivated since his talent show debut, thriving together in rankings and data manipulation with formidable fighting capabilities. For a moment, Yu Xiaozhe’s fans were at a disadvantage, but soon, through mutual notification, a large number of Yu Xiaozhe’s fans logged onto Weibo, swarming the comment section to engage Zeng Xu’s fans in an online battle. Ruan Xingwen watched the comment section descend into chaos, somewhat worried about what had happened to Yu Xiaozhe in the crew. Pulling up Yu Xiaozhe’s WeChat, he dialed a video call to him for the first time. Upon answering, Yu Xiaozhe was visibly stunned, clearly not expecting a video call from Ruan Xingwen, "What’s up, Xingxing? Anything wrong?" It seemed Brother Ze wasn’t aware of the Weibo hot search incident yet. "Brother Ze, check out Weibo, you’re trending!" Hearing this, Yu Xiaozhe looked at Li Mu on the sofa on the other side of the lounge. Li Mu understood and handed his phone over after opening Weibo. After a brief look, he handed the phone back to Li Mu, "Dial Zhang He and tell her..." ——Riiiiing——Riiiiing——Riiiiing—— Before Yu Xiaozhe could finish, the phone rang. Looking at the screen, it was Zhang He. "Boss Yu, impressive! I just left this morning and by afternoon, you hit the hot search. What, worried our studio staff don’t have enough work so you arranged for some extra shifts?"