Chapter 55

Chapter 55

"Dad, the Yu family is really pushing us around!"

After the Yu family left, Zhou Yueze complained with a dark expression on his face.

Zhou Furen sneered, "It's not just the Yu family. The Ye family pulling the strings from behind the scenes is the real culprit."

First, they kicked Zhou Heting and Zhou Yueze out of their chairman positions, and then incited the Yu family to come to our doorstep to call off the engagement. This was all part of a plan to bring down the Zhou family!

Thinking of this, Zhou Furen shot a resentful look at Zhou Yueze, "And you! Had to go after Ye Mingzhao for that nobody Chu Qingyi. If you hadn't been so reckless before, your father and I wouldn't have had to endure the Yu family's ridicule."

"Mom, what are you talking about? People outside don't know the truth and talk nonsense, but you know what really happened. How can you also talk nonsense like them?" Zhou Yueze argued back, "Do you think I wanted to pick a fight with Ye Mingzhao? It was obviously—"

"Enough," Zhou Heting interrupted coldly, his face dark with anger, "Are you two trying to pin this on me by dragging up old issues?"

Zhou Yueze and his mother felt a chill in their hearts. Zhou Yueze quickly said, "Of course not! I'm just angry that the Ye family is taking advantage of our situation and pressing us hard without any mercy."

Zhou Heting sneered, "Of course, they don't need to show us any mercy."

The Zhou family’s prized Zhou Corporation had already been taken over. What else was there to fear?

But a tiger in the open is still a tiger, and a phoenix that has lost its feathers still flies higher than a chicken. If the Ye family was going to be so aggressive, then he wouldn't hold back his counterattacks.

Zhou Heting's expression was cold and stern, his eyes like sharp swords as they fell on the TV screen playing *Prince of Beggars*.

Watching the scene where the second male lead pretended to be the male lead and successfully deceived the male lead's parents, Zhou Heting suddenly smiled, "Would the male lead really accept some impostor taking over his life and stealing everything from him?"

Zhou Yueze didn't react at first, looking confused, "Huh?"

Zhou Heting laughed angrily, "This is the first drama my beloved nephew has starred in. As his elder, of course, I have to help him promote it well."

*

Ever since it aired, *Prince of Beggars* has been racking up crazy ratings and quickly became the top-rated show in its time slot.

However, as the drama became a massive hit, a piece of gossip began to quietly spread online.

Gossip Alert: The current hit drama claims its male lead is playing himself in real life. Let's discuss—is the male lead truly the genuine one, or is it the villainous second male lead who has taken the place of the real male lead?

This gossip post was published just after 9 PM. In no time, the discussion skyrocketed, and it quickly built a ten-page discussion thread on a certain gossip group on Douban. At the same time, the hashtag #Ye Mingzhao Acting in His True Character# instantly topped the trending lists on various social media platforms.

At first, the *Prince of Beggars* production team thought the trending topic was bought by the TV station or the platform. The TV station and platform thought the same. But after monitoring it for a while, everyone realized something was wrong.

"A wealthy family's adopted son, who disowns his birth parents, is greedy and mercenary, and wants to usurp the identity of the real young master to take over all the family's resources—doesn't this setup sound familiar? I'm not talking about the currently airing drama, but the real-life story of a certain lead actor."

"No wonder he nails the role of the villain. He's basically playing himself!"

"So, the upright and kind male lead is just pretending, and the villain who usurped the position is the real character, right? Dog head.jpg"

"Are all the snarky comments on the trending topic from idiots? What era are we in, still attacking people personally like this? If an actor plays a villain well, does that mean they're inherently evil and acting in their true character? Then does an actor who plays a murderer need to kill someone to practice?"

"Exactly. Some of the comments on the trending topic are just baffling. In this day and age, anyone can go online!"

"Is someone trying to tank the show before it blows up?"

"That's bold. Who in the entertainment industry would dare to sabotage Ye Mingzhao? He's the genius behind the Ye family's acquisition of Zhou Corporation."

"So, is it a rival company that's behind this?"

"Such a niche term. Who are the Ye family's rivals?"

The employees of the publicity department of *Prince of Beggars* have been monitoring the hot searches in real-time, noticing both the online water army and marketing accounts attempting to tarnish Ye Mingzhao's image, as well as fans spontaneously coming to his defense.

For a moment, everyone was confused.

"Who exactly bought this hot search? Was it the platform or the TV station that initiated this kind of publicity stunt without communicating with us first? Are they risking everything just for the heat?"

Starjoy Media, which had signed Ye Mingzhao's acting contract, also noticed the online uproar and immediately contacted the production team, the platform, and the TV station. None of them admitted to buying the hot search.

"Then who bought the black hot search?" Yuan Jing, who was in charge of liaising with all parties, got goosebumps, and her first reaction was to immediately take it down.

But Ye Mingzhao stopped her.

"This hot search is clearly ill-intentioned, why not take it down?" Yu Mingze also couldn't understand Ye Mingzhao's thinking and urgently said, "Our production team doesn't need to sacrifice the actor's reputation for heat."

"But I want to know the purpose behind this hot search," Ye Mingzhao said calmly.

The status of being the adopted son of the Ye family meant that Ye Mingzhao wouldn't fear negative public opinion like an ordinary actor. Rather than fearing these insignificant accusations and abuse, Ye Mingzhao was more curious about who was behind it all and what they hoped to achieve with these negative comments.

Yuan Jing immediately said, "I've already sent people to gather evidence. Many of the accounts posting on the hot search are small accounts that haven't posted on Weibo for one or two years, and there are also some private accounts, all of which are typical water army. As for those marketing accounts, we've privately contacted their companies. The person who paid is very cautious, and we haven't found any solid evidence yet."

"Isn't it obvious!" Yu Mingze sneered, "At this critical moment, there are very few who dare to offend Mingzhao and the Ye family."

"It must be the Zhou family," Yu Mingze said confidently, "Their goal is obvious! They want to stir up trouble between you and Chu Hengyi!"

This was an open strategy; Zhou Heting was gambling on human nature!

Yuan Jing also felt that Yu Mingze's guess was probably accurate. She looked at Ye Mingzhao with some concern and asked, "Boss, should we strike back?"

Ye Mingzhao looked at the two indignant people and smiled slightly, "Of course, we should strike back."

Even if it meant showing weakness to gain sympathy, they couldn't just sit back and take it. Although Ye Mingzhao's improvement in acting might have been limited after starring in two dramas, his progress in establishing an idol persona was remarkable and had reached a high level of proficiency.

Thus, for the next period of time, marketing accounts familiar with the publicity department of *Prince of Beggars* and Starjoy Media began to chime in, speaking in the tone of onlookers and vaguely revealing gossip about why the Ye family business acquired the Zhou family business, as well as how Ye Mingzhao had been frequently trending on black hot searches, morally blackmailed by his biological mother, and scolded by the water army for being heartless and unfilial. All of this was revenge against Ye Mingzhao by some mastermind.

For a time, fans attracted by *Prince of Beggars* were deeply moved.

"Is this the true beauty, strength, and tragedy?"

"My brother is so excellent and amazing, yet he's had it so hard! Zhou Heting isn't human, the old man is bullying the young, it's no wonder the Zhou family business was acquired! Zhou Heting is bad! Zhaozhao is good!"

"Those idiotic water army marketing accounts keep saying it's a 'natural performance'! Can't they just admit that our Zhaozhao has high talent and great acting skills, and is a born method actor?"

"Wuwuwu! Although my brother is a wealthy adopted son who drives luxury cars and lives in a big villa, with a snap of his fingers, he can make things happen, saying the acquisition of a group happens instantly with 'the sky falling and the king crumbling'! But he only has me! Sisters, charge!"

As a pure newcomer who had never acted before, Ye Mingzhao, upon his debut, was able to play two roles in an urban idol drama filled with high-traffic celebrities and veteran actors. Not only was he not overshadowed by the experienced veterans and popular actors, but he also perfectly portrayed both the male lead and the male antagonist despite having an overwhelming amount of screen time. This led to the topic of 'natural performance' frequently trending on hot searches.

Regardless of the true purpose of the mastermind, these discussions truly reflected that Ye Mingzhao's performance was worthy of this big-budget idol drama. In just two weeks of airing, the viewership ratings of *Prince of Beggars* rose from 1.27% at the start to 1.98%, and it was about to break the 2% barrier. This objective fact also fully demonstrated that Ye Mingzhao's acting skills and appearance carried the entire drama.

For fans who naturally admire strength, this was like cats encountering catnip; they simply couldn't resist. However, since *Prince of Beggars* had only been airing for a short time, even the most fervent drama fans lacked the opportunity to transition from being drama fans to actor fans.

And at this critical moment, Zhou Heting happened to buy the #Ye Mingzhao natural performance black hot search. The drama fans, who had already been leaning towards supporting him, fell into the trap without hesitation, completing the entire process of "becoming a fan through pity, deeply sinking into fandom."

And the first thing these new fans did was to sharpen their knives towards the Zhou family—immediately digging up the dirt on Zhou Heting and Zhou Yueze father and son.

Although it was hard to catch this old fox Zhou Heting, Zhou Yueze was practically a person full of weak points.

Thanks to the collective effort of tens of thousands of people, the artist escort scandal under Zhou's film company, which had barely been suppressed, once again trended on hot searches.

At that very moment, Liu Rumei's personal studio also suddenly announced that Liu Rumei would formally sue shareholder Zhao Moufu of Zhou's film company.

The news sent shockwaves through the internet.

Originally, Liu Rumei's situation had already attracted a lot of discussion some time ago, but Zhao Chengfu had spent a large sum of money to pay trolls on various platforms to spread rumors that Liu Rumei was promiscuous and not serious, alleging that she traded sexual favors for career opportunities. It took a lot of effort to muddy the waters of public opinion.

Now that Liu Rumei had suddenly come forward to file a lawsuit, netizens who had been diligently digging up dirt on Zhou Yueze were inspired and immediately turned their attention to uncovering gossip about Zhao Chengfu, the shareholder of Zhou's Film Company, forcing artists to comply with his demands using his position. They also started digging into the scandals of other shareholders at Zhou's Film Company and the other directors who were ousted from the Zhou family board over this issue.

For a moment, all the shareholders and directors were thrown into a panic. They frantically called Zhou Heting and his son, demanding that he find a solution ASAP.

The incident had dragged on for too long, and they certainly didn't want to sink over something so minor.

The development left everyone stunned. Even the instigator, Zhou Heting, hadn't expected that by simply buying a black hot search to stir up tension between Ye Mingzhao and Chu Hengyi, he had inadvertently attracted so many free haters to the Zhou family.

"Is this what 'The Art of War' means by 'the challenge in warfare is to turn the indirect into the direct, and turn adversity into advantage'? By taking a roundabout path and luring the enemy with benefits, you can arrive last but reach your goal first?"

At the Ye family mansion,

Chu Hengyi, who had recently been reviewing "The Art of War," immediately chimed in with the answer. He looked smilingly at Ye Mingzhao, who was silently holding his phone, and asked curiously, "Playing the victim card with Zhou Heting is one of your go-to tactics. Turning disadvantages into advantages, using small incentives to provoke the enemy into action, and then turning their plans against them to gain the upper hand. But using the trending topic to rally fan support and then redirecting attention to Zhou's Film Company, exposing the shareholders' coercion of artists...?"

"Ye Mingzhao, you didn't go through all this just to clear Liu Rumei's name, did you?"