Chapter 71 Conflict

Chapter 71 Conflict

"Isn't... Shao Yao, isn't that a bit too blunt?"

"There were rumors before that Shao Yao has a temper like a dog. Maybe dogs sympathize with each other, and after collaborating once on 'Voices of the Dead,' they formed a comradely bond?"

"I’m dying laughing, really disrespecting Meng Qin, but I want to say, when Ling Ge Entertainment tries to smear Lu Xu, maybe use some common sense. Has Lu Xu ever given anyone else the cold shoulder besides your guys?"

"They never self-reflect, always pointing fingers."

"Probably because Ling Ge Entertainment has too many dodgy tactics, now whenever the other members of Verse trend on social media, I feel the fault must lie with Ling Ge Entertainment."

"+1 +1 +1."

Whether it was the PR of Feiyang Performing Arts that worked, or Ling Ge Entertainment had truly angered the heavens to a certain extent, as Lu Xu continued to scroll through the hashtag #Meng Qin Receives Cold Shoulder from Lu Xu#, the vast majority of comments were actually "So what? You wanna fight?" "Otherwise, should he give you a smile? You’re really full of it."

There were also a bunch of comments that were random exclamations like "aww," "ah," "ying," "handsome," without much meaning.

Of course, there were also some comments from detail-obsessed techies.

As is well known, the fashion circle is best at sucking up to the powerful and stepping on the weak. The seating arrangement at the G brand banquet is bound to be very particular. Once there is a slip-up, the sharp and sarcastic mouths of the trendy people present will make the brand question their existence, and competing brands will inevitably secretly mock.

For example, at a certain year's big show, five celebrities gatecrashed two front-row seats, and the brand became the laughing stock of the entire fashion circle.

Since someone has already revealed that Meng Qin was gatecrashing the G brand event, what kind of invitation he carried and who the guests present with him were, the marketers naturally uncovered every detail.

"Gatecrashing isn’t a one-time thing. Through my thorough analysis, at the X brand P country big show in February this year, Meng Qin's fans claimed he was invited by the brand to watch the show in the front row, but from the feedback of the show, he wasn’t in the front row; he was likely in the media section."

"At the Paris Film Festival held in I country last year, Meng Qin attended the short film screening segment, posed and kissed overseas celebrities, coincidentally, there was also a trending hashtag #Meng Qin Discriminated by Guy#. I wonder if everyone still remembers?"

"It started back in the Verse days. Members of Verse other than Lu Xu attended the P country fashion week and got invites from three top brands to attend the show. At that time an industry insider pointed out that the treatment of Verse and the other big names invited was not the same standard, but no one believed it, and that big name was scolded by excited fans until they deleted their account."

"..."

"..."

In years of gossip-chasing, netizens have long mastered rich experience—melons, they only get more the more you dig.

Meng Qin’s fantasy of everyone blaming Lu Xu for him didn’t come true. On the contrary, the fact that he gatecrashed shows and used overseas celebrities to elevate his status was dug up quite a bit—because there are too many examples, no need to dig deep.

"Is his mind stuck in the millennium? Trying to pass yourself off as a superstar in this info-heavy age doesn’t fly anymore, got it?"

"Just admit the gap between you and Lu Xu, the seating at the G brand has already explained everything."

"If I were Lu Xu, I could really kick him in the head, Lu Xiao Gou is just too polite."

"After all, he is a member of Verse, how did he fall so far?"

Meng Qin was completely exposed, and the other members of Verse were also not spared.

During the period when Verse was active as a group, the members were indeed one hotter than the other, even in the early days of disbandment, fans knew that Xie Qingyang and others were "wronged." With Lu Xu as the target, the fans' support for them even surpassed that during the active period.

However, Verse’s biggest strength was its group dynamic—the individual abilities are not perfect, the group can make up for each other's shortcomings.

If active as individuals, either take the singer route or the actor route, the domestic variety show development mechanism is not mature enough, the lifespan of variety shows is usually short, it is difficult to maintain until the end of an artist's career, unless he reaches the pinnacle of the industry.

Xie Qingyang mainly takes the variety show route, now he is a host, unfortunately, his hosting ability is just average, not enough to control the whole scene.

In the current variety show industry, the more popular ones are the funny comedians. Xie Qingyang's position in Verse is the leader, in the group he is the mature and steady older brother taking care of the younger brothers, to ask him to lower his face to be the straight man, Xie Qingyang simply can't do it.

Plus, he’s not exactly a prodigy.

Gu Sinian? 'Watchmen' and 'Rising Sun' say it all.

The small pie? Doesn’t matter—if you take the big pie, you better handle it.

As for Meng Qin... fashion is like a ship without a rudder, and without works to back it up, this path cannot last long.

Did Xie Qingyang and the others ever think they’d end up like this when they pushed Lu Xu out of the group?

Fans adore idols because they’re always dazzling on stage, but from the other members of Verse, I only see a desire for quick success, not the effort to be down-to-earth.

Marketers dug into Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin’s post-Verse careers in 'The Development History of Verse,' concluding that even two years after Verse disbanded, they’re still coasting on its legacy.

Lu Xu’s the only one who’s truly moved on from Verse.

Quit dragging Lu Xu into everything—it just makes you look worse.

Lu Xu’s fans aren’t shedding any tears over Meng Qin’s public roasting—what Meng Qin is experiencing now, Lu Xu has endured hundreds of times before.

Meng Qin’s just getting what he deserves, but Lu Xu’s pain was actively inflicted by them.

Gu Sinian and Xie Qingyang, caught in Meng Qin’s mess: '...'

They blamed Meng Qin for crashing the G brand event: "Couldn’t you crash something else?"

Meng Qin was also unapologetic: "You’ve crashed events before—marketers love digging that up."

They’re not as big as they used to be, and their marketing budgets are tighter. With marketers now targeting them, Gu Sinian and Xie Qingyang had to pay up for PR.

If Lu Xu were still in Verse, they’d just pin it on him—netizens wouldn’t look too hard, and a few fake photos would do the trick.

Meng Qin dragged Xie Qingyang and Gu Sinian into it, but they got off easy—Meng Qin didn’t.

After this, the G brand reportedly tightened up their guest list.

An insider said the G brand blacklisted Meng Qin at an internal meeting—he’s done with their events.

The G brand’s move makes sense.

As the G brand’s spokesperson, Lu Xu’s job is to boost their rep and sales.

The G brand set the stage for Lu Xu, but #Meng Qin Snubbed by Lu Xu# stole the show.

If Lu Xu’s rep takes a hit, the G brand loses too.

Does the G brand want their spokesperson trashed by some event-crasher’s fans?

Meng Qin thought he took Lu Xu down, but he just embarrassed the G brand.

The G brand might not be as big as other luxury names, but it still has clout.

If the G brand blacklists you, other brands won’t touch you—it’d make them look bad.

Although Meng Qin has been frequenting fashion shows for years, in the eyes of the brands, he is not an indispensable celebrity, and not collaborating with him would not have a significant impact on the brand itself.

Moreover, backstabbing is a major taboo in collaborations, and no brand would choose such a partner.

Trends in the fashion world often ripple out into other business sectors. By the time Ling Ge Entertainment caught on, Meng Qin had already lost a good chunk of his deals.

The luxury watch and jewelry brands he'd been eyeing? They slammed the door in his face. Plenty of those same brands were lining up to work with Lu Xu instead.

Compared to Meng Qin, Lu Xu was just a better bang for their buck.

Of course, Meng Qin was fuming, but that's showbiz for you. Now the tables had turned, and he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

Meng Qin used to rag on Lu Xu for being too sensitive and cracking under pressure. But when the heat came down on him from both fans and business partners, he realized he might not have been as tough as Lu Xu after all.

Nobody was happier about Meng Qin's downfall than Gu Sinian. Back when Gu Sinian was struggling, Meng Qin had been quick to rub it in. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, Gu Sinian wasn't about to play nice.

He kept it off Weibo, but couldn't resist a little jab in his private circle: "Some people just can't stop mooching."

Meng Qin showed up at Gu Sinian's place and they got into it.

Their friendship had pretty much gone down the drain when Verse broke up. If they'd stayed on top, maybe they could've been the bigger men, but as it was, they were both sliding into has-been territory.

Falling off the radar can make you nuts - bitter, irrational, and careless about who's watching when you lose it.

When Xu Wen forwarded the private post and fight video, Lu Xu just blinked. "Where'd you get this?"

"Got it from a buddy in the biz," Xu Wen said. "Cool if we spin this for some PR?"

"Be my guest," Lu Xu said, watching the video. "Looks like they nearly threw down."

"Guess they're showing their true colors," Xu Wen said with a shrug. "Since Ling Ge's been giving you grief, I figured I'd give them a taste of their own medicine."

Xu Wen was surprised Ling Ge was still trying to milk every little thing from Lu Xu, acting like he was still some nobody they could push around.

Fei Yang Entertainment clearly knew how to play the game.

Next thing you know, the gossip blogs were running with "Ex-Boy Band Star Goes Rogue: Rapper and Boxer Skills on Full Display," spilling the tea on the Gu Sinian-Meng Qin beef.

A-lister Shao Yao was quick to hit like.

Lu Xu: "...Dude, stop trying so hard. You're way out of your depth."

Although Shao Yao has the physique of someone who could box. Keep this up and he'll be the next Liu Chunfeng.

Author's Note:

Boxing, boxer. Update~ There are still some minor issues and typos in Chapter 70, but the Jinjiang backend is so laggy that fixing it makes me want to pull my hair out. Yesterday, it took a Herculean effort to get the update out. I usually fix things before posting, but yesterday... I just didn't have the energy.

I apologize for the poor reading experience!

And I can't see many of the comments!

But I'm touched that so many readers are still following the story.

I'll arrange a giveaway in a few days. Since you can only do one per month, it's not time yet. Mwah~