It was announced neither early nor late, but at this very moment... Why are these official accounts trying to stir things up right now...
The management team at the TV station could not sit still.
"Are we still going to sue?" Someone asked.
"Sue my a**! You want to go against the authorities?" Someone refuted.
"But she breached her contract! I'm confident our legal team can win as long as we rigorously adhere to the contract terms!" Someone else pointed out.
"Even if we win, what’s the point? Do you think those brands and official accounts making posts and taking sides are stupid?"
...
This meeting was held with exceptional difficulty.
The director was also struggling with indecision:
"Why don’t we try to resolve this privately if possible, each side taking a step back to avoid too ugly of a scene since we are in the same industry."
Director's inner voice: "How to resolve this amicably... Can it get any uglier..."
The director's assistant bowed her head looking at her phone keeping up with developments. At the moment, passersby and fans were mostly taking Qin Wei's side, while the diligent water army, having taken money, was still enthusiastically battling the various factions.
"Another artist has announced withdrawal from the competition..."
The assistant said softly.
The faces of those at the meeting became even more unsightly.
[An Xing UU: Due to work arrangements, I am withdrawing from the recording of "Unfurl the Sails Against the Wind" Sister Program starting today. Thanks for the encounter.]
Yet another unilateral withdrawal announcement.
Followed quickly by reposts of the two previous posts made by the official accounts, with an additional line:
[An Xing UU: Senior sister is the best! Senior sister has great prospects!]
...
This matter had become quite a hot topic online. Since there were no new developments, artists from other agencies participating in the show adopted a wait-and-see attitude. The program team specifically went to An Xing Entertainment's office, hoping to resolve this privately.
"Let's treat this as a misunderstanding!"
The director said while taking out his laptop, pulling up the proposal they had meticulously prepared:
"For subsequent performances, we have adopted Teacher Qin's suggestion of real name voting, with a limit of 5 votes per person which cannot be exceeded. One vote is really nothing. We don’t make any money off five votes and still have to give the artists a share... We sincerely invite Teacher Qin to return and continue the competition. As a gesture of goodwill, we can guarantee her an debuted artist spot right now."
The director looked at Xu Mingchuan pleadingly.
They did not actually meet Qin Wei today. The one receiving them was An Xing's President Xu alone.
Xu Mingchuan did not bother to continue looking at the proposal they had written up, simply saying:
"The withdrawal was a collective decision by the company and artist which will be quite difficult to change... Furthermore, our artist hopes the program team can refund the voting payments to their fans."
"The total amount is nearing eight figures. We can't throw up something we've already swallowed."
"That would be a bit difficult. Then refunding our artist's votes is fine. I have no control over the rest."
The director fell silent.
After a long period of silence he finally said:
"Since your company's attitude is so firm, we are in no place to coerce you. Out of understanding for your emotions, we have already made our best effort to retain you. Reasonably speaking, it was your company's artist who violated the contract. It is regrettable and our TV station may have to handle this fairly."
Xu Mingchuan pointed to the exit and said very calmly:
"As you wish."
The director exited in a huff.
Xu Mingchuan dialed his assistant Qian Lang's number:
"We tried persuading them but they would not listen. Just do what needs to be done."
...
The intern clicked open the hot search rankings. Ranking #1 was——
#"Unfurl the Sails Against the Wind" data questionable#
The intern had an ominous feeling about this and clicked in. Sure enough, it was as he had imagined.
"Director, more bad stuff happened."
...
Over twenty-four hours, the entire program team contacted various public relations firms to suppress the hot search topic in order to guide public opinion. Given they had invested heavily, the negative #1 ranking news was quickly removed.
As it turned out, money really is almighty. Not only was the hot search swiftly removed thanks to timely action coupled with public opinion guidance, netizens went on to eat up other gossipy news on the hot search rankings.
At this point, the director heaved a sigh of relief.
Having been in the media industry for so many years, he still had the capability to handle such emergency situations. Otherwise how would he have obtained a firm foothold in such a competitive TV station?
But the intern still felt uneasy, and couldn't help softly reminding the director:
"But... the data manipulation is real... What if it cannot be kept under wraps..."
"We'll make our utmost effort to keep it under wraps even if unsuccessful. After all, this was approved by the TV station's leadership. They are even more anxious about this than you."
The director was no longer too worried at this point. As long as there was sufficient funding, public opinion could be suppressed. Capital had the power to shut people up.
The intern silently reopened his phone, then sighed:
"Director, we made it back to #1..."
The director froze for a bit, not believing what the intern said. He hurriedly grabbed the phone. The #1 hot search topic had changed back to——
#"Unfurl the Sails Against the Wind" data questionable#
He refreshed it ten times but the hot search remained unchanged.
It was not a network latency issue...
The director clicked in. The Weibo posts were the same few that had been previously restricted. But one of them had over ten thousand reposts, likes, and comments each.
And those numbers were still growing.
Upon investigation, the reason turned out to be Shen Kai had liked and reposted it.
"Actor Shen? How did he get involved in this too!?"
The director seemed unable to accept Shen Kai doing such a thing. After all, he had always maintained good cooperative relations with the TV station. Not only that, when they sincerely and earnestly invited him to the first performance, he had readily agreed!
The director's hands started trembling.
Shen Kai's influence was not insignificant...
The intern had already started planning his resignation. But still felt the director was quite pitiful. Although his mind and vision were full of nothing but traffic and money, he also worked tirelessly without rest. It was just...
*Sigh*... He was too inexperienced himself and did not know where the problem lay...
Seeing the director's brain frozen in shock, the intern still could not help reminding him:
"Director, did you forget...
When the program team invited Actor Shen, it was not only because you valued his personal traffic, but also wanted to leverage the gossip about him and Teacher Qin to stir up hype for the TV station..."
The director slapped himself on the forehead. He really was muddleheaded. Shen Kai was so difficult to invite before no matter how they begged. Yet the moment Qin Wei appeared, he readily agreed. Doesn't that speak for itself?
The brat still had feelings for Qin Wei and was now speaking up for her. It was the archetypal white knight saving the damsel in distress.
He had genuinely forgotten about this trifle and furthermore never imagined Shen Kai would do such a thing...
Calls from the TV station's leadership flooded in nonstop. Another meeting was being called.
...
["Unfurl the Sails Against the Wind" Program Team: The misunderstanding has been resolved. It was due to incorrect information relayed by the TV station's intern which led to misunderstandings between both sides. After communication, we fully understand and respect the three teachers' withdrawal from the competition! The program will grow together with the artists. We look forward to even better future collaborations!]
Comments——
[What a dog program with falsified data! Refund our money!]
[The money I saved bit by bit, refund it quickly!]
[Shameless jerks! Does the program team want to stop pretending to be human? Keep buying hot searches to smear my sister? Unfortunately defamation can only be sued by the individual. Otherwise I'll be suing till you cry and beg for daddy!]
[An Xing Entertainment: Due to malicious posting of defamatory remarks causing negative impact to our artist Qin Wei, we have authorized XX Law Firm to file a lawsuit. Let this serve as a warning that the Internet is not beyond the law. Please take responsibility for your own words and actions.]
[This should have been done long ago!]
[Support safeguarding rights!]
[Crying, Lu E said for everyone to quiet down and she will handle this herself, believe she is right. The child has finally grown up...]
[The trash program wants to fleece the flock. Sister Qin is enduring all this just for our sake, though some still don't get it *sigh*...]
[Those of us who understand is enough]
[Even this passerby supports little Qin's approach]
