Late at night, all relevant staff members were called online for this one matter, including the other four people and their staff.
In the hallway, the manager tilted his head and muttered, "You're with him every day, haven't you noticed anything?"
The assistant was speechless for a moment, "He's with me every day, where would he find time to date?"
After entering his senior year, Gao Xiayu's schedule became even busier, to the point where he rarely went to school, only attending for weekly and monthly exams. The rest of the time was spent either running schedules or taking online classes. When there were no activities, he basically never left his dormitory.
So for the assistant, the idea of Gao Xiayu dating was absolutely nonsense; he believed someone was spreading rumors.
At the same time, the staff members who were called online began to dig deep into the cause and process of this incident.
Random Entertainment had added many new departments after this year's restructuring, including one specifically for monitoring online public opinion.
When this incident occurred, the first to be questioned was the online public opinion group. Group A was specifically responsible for Timetrain-related matters, and they were urgently called online.
The computer cameras were on, showing the faces of some staff members, while others only had voice channels open.
Jiang Juyou asked Group A leader Zhao Li, "I received a message today saying Gao Xiayu is dating, haven't you heard anything on your end?"
As she spoke, she glanced at Gao Xiayu, whose face showed complete innocence.
Regarding celebrity rumors, the public opinion group could detect many incidents in a single day, ninety-nine percent of which were fabrications, and the remaining one percent were exaggerated events.
Rumors about the five of them dating would appear every few days, mostly from fans fantasizing or fan circles fighting and making up stories.
When the boss suddenly asked about it, they had to think carefully about which rumored incident it might be.
"...The most recent incident we monitored was related to a mobile game, where someone used Gao Xiayu's WeChat avatar to create fake rumors through photo editing. Later we found out the source was just an elementary school student, so we withdrew the lawsuit and only required a written apology."
While Zhao Li was speaking, other members of Group A were frantically searching Gao Xiayu's name on their phones, from his super fan Weibo to forum groups, finding no signs of any dating exposure.
Sitting there, Jiang Juyou looked down at the message from her sister, who said Gao Xiayu's dating partner was a school classmate.
Jiang Juyou looked up at Gao Xiayu again and asked, "Do you have any close female friends?"
"No," Gao Xiayu shook his head. His close friends were all male, and he really couldn't think of any close female friends.
"Not even at school?"
"At school..." Gao Xiayu paused.
It wasn't that he thought of someone, but rather that there were many of his fans at school, and his relationships with female classmates all seemed about the same, never reaching the point of sharing everything.
"Do you?" Jiang Juyou asked again seeing his pause.
Gao Xiayu shook his head again, "No."
His candid demeanor reassured Jiang Juyou once more. She turned to the computer and told the staff, "Search for any discussions about Gao Xiayu and female schoolmates."
Just as Jiang Juyou finished speaking, a staff member unmuted and said, "If it's about a female schoolmate, there was an incident before."
"Around August or September, we found posts on the forum, and the next morning we confirmed with Gao Xiayu. He told us he wasn't dating anyone, so the incident was concluded as a rumor."
Jiang Juyou looked at Gao Xiayu, who appeared confused, "Nobody asked me." He was honest and added, "But I really wasn't dating anyone, not then either. I've never dated anyone."
The staff member added, "We asked your assistant at the time, and he responded that you weren't dating anyone."
Gao Xiayu's current assistant wasn't the same person as before. When AIcho and the other three returned to the country, Gao Xiayu's previous assistant was transferred, and the current one was new, only having been with him for three or four months.
Jiang Juyou turned to the assistant and said, "Send a message to call them."
It was just a rumor, not enough to make Jiang Juyou worry, but since the matter came to her attention, she had to see it through to the end.
This rumor was different. If it were truly false, it would be like before – fans would label it as "fake" even before the public opinion group could monitor it.
The fact that it caught Jiang Liuxing's attention and made some fans believe it meant there must be solid evidence, but the crucial point was that this evidence hadn't been revealed – they couldn't see it, so naturally, they didn't know where it originated.
Jiang Juyou released her crossed arms and looked at Gao Xiayu, asking, "Can I see your phone?"
"Sure," Gao Xiayu handed over his phone.
"You look through it yourself, check the female classmates you've added, from elementary school through high school, especially those you chat with frequently."
While Gao Xiayu was looking, other members and staff arrived, filling the small suite with people.
Jiang Juyou had been running around all day, and her expression showed signs of fatigue. She pressed her brow, then looked at Gao Xiayu's previous assistant and asked, "Did Group A previously confirm Gao Xiayu's relationship status with you?"
Being all new, everyone wore puzzled expressions, and the members sitting with Gao Xiayu couldn't help but look at him when they heard this.
While explaining earlier, Gao Xiayu was quietly telling them, "I didn't."
"Yes, we did confirm, around the end of August. That period was really busy. Gao Xiayu barely had any interaction with outsiders, let alone dating. He always had his phone and iPad with him, but that was for memorizing vocabulary and doing practice problems, so I was confident he wasn't dating anyone and replied directly to Group A."
Not knowing the background, being asked about Gao Xiayu's relationship status right away, the young assistant could only sense trouble, wondering if his previous assumption had caused problems.
As he spoke, he also recalled in his mind, and after remembering, he confirmed again that Gao Xiayu showed no signs of dating at that time.
The room fell silent again, and the sudden atmosphere made the other four somewhat uneasy. They knew nothing and were suddenly called over, only to hear this news.
Jiang Juyou closed her eyes in silence, while everyone watched her expression to guide their actions.
Tired from a day's work, Jiang Juyou didn't want to be involved in this matter anymore. Since it was confirmed that Gao Xiayu wasn't dating, the following matters would be easier to handle – if it was exposed, they would clarify; if not, they would leave it alone.
Just as she was about to let the public opinion group continue monitoring online trends and let others go rest, a voice came from the computer—
"Found a post on the forum, just posted."
Subsequently, everyone's phones in the room rang, as the staff member created a group and shared the link in the company group chat.
Gao Xiayu clicked it first, and just the title made him frown.
"Title: Breaking News/Gao Xiayu: 9 Months Since Debut, 19 Months of Dating [With Evidence]"
"Another case of a girlfriend who couldn't resist showing off, please look."
The main post was full of images, and the content made Gao Xiayu pause.
Before even reading the content, he recognized the person just from the avatar.
It was Chen Ya.
The screenshots were posted from Chen Ya's perspective, with his messages on the other side, though the avatar was cropped out.
"Gao Xiayu: Is auntie okay?"
"Chen Ya: She's fine, just some scratches."
"Gao Xiayu: If anything happens, let us know, my mom is worried too."
"Gao Xiayu: Are you still at the hospital?"
"Gao Xiayu: [Transfer 10000 yuan]"
He had heard from his mother that Chen Ya's mother had been in a car accident. At that time, his mother couldn't contact her best friend and was anxious, so Gao Xiayu asked Chen Ya about it.
The caption for this Moments post was: "[crying] Your comfort made me break down."
Gao Xiayu tilted his head; he actually hadn't seen this Moments post, and didn't see it when scrolling through just now.
After this conversation, there were a few more exchanges.
"Gao Xiayu: My mom asked me to pass this along. Please accept it and buy some health supplements for auntie. My mom says she's feeling anxious and can't make it to the hospital, so she asks for auntie's understanding."
He didn't understand how this was considered solid evidence.
There were more screenshots after that.
"Chen Ya: Are you coming to school tomorrow?"
"Gao Xiayu: Yes."
"Chen Ya: Have you finished the test papers?"
"Gao Xiayu: ..."
The social media post caption read: "[pig emoji] What would you do without my reminder?"
Gao Xiayu: "..."
"Chen Ya: If you're coming late, could you buy me two bean buns at the entrance? I don't want to go down."
"Gao Xiayu: OK."
"Chen Ya: Make sure they're sugar-free!"
"Gao Xiayu: Got it."
"Gao Xiayu: Just two bean buns? No soy milk?"
"Chen Ya: Well then, add a cup of red date soy milk."
"Gao Xiayu: OK."
The social media post caption read: "Not bad, today he actually cared whether I might choke to death."
Gao Xiayu always arrived at school after morning reading was over. Because he came late, everyone liked to ask him to help bring breakfast, so they wouldn't have to go downstairs themselves, which would be quite troublesome otherwise.
This was completely normal. Gao Xiayu would always come upstairs with his hands full of food. Previously, there were even rumors that his classmates were bullying him by making him run errands, which Gao Xiayu had to clarify on Galaxy.
But he never expected this situation to develop in this way.
Further down, the screenshot wasn't properly cropped and showed a bit of Gao Xiayu's profile picture. The comparison photos that followed confirmed Gao Xiayu's identity.
Many curious onlookers shared Gao Xiayu's confusion, not understanding how this counted as evidence, as it seemed like just everyday conversation.
Until a group photo appeared.
It was posted on Gao Xiayu's birthday, with the caption "Happy birthday, my childhood friend [heart][heart]"
In the photo, they were sitting at their classroom desks. Gao Xiayu was leaning against the desk behind him, arms crossed, with a slight smile on his face. Chen Ya was tilting her head beside him, making a peace sign, her face radiating happiness.
In their school uniforms, they looked just like the main characters from a young adult novel, the photo emanating pure happiness.
This photo was what really upset the fans and changed the perspective of curious onlookers.
"Well... maybe we should blur out the face of the non-celebrity..."
"Aww, young love!"
"What? Nineteen months!?"
"Looking at the earlier stuff, I thought it was nothing special, just normal conversation, but seeing that photo - I have to say, they really match!"
The sudden rumors left Gao Xiayu's fans in panic, unsure how to clear things up.
The mockery and schadenfreude from outsiders were the last straw. What should have been a night of anticipating the music festival became a sleepless night of trembling hands.
Chen Ya was equally anxious. She didn't even finish reading the post before rushing to clear her social media timeline.
Meanwhile, she was receiving numerous messages asking if she was really dating Gao Xiayu.
The social media posts she had made out of vanity and possessiveness were now coming back to haunt her.
Chen Ya: [kneeling emoji]...
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