The female student didn't know what was going on.
She had come to see her idol, the man she considered the only one who understood her in the world, only to find herself bound and tied to a chair!
"What's your name?" Ling Fenghan poured a glass of water and placed it on the table. Then, he pulled over a chair and sat directly opposite the student.
"Chen, Chen Qi," the student's voice trembled slightly.
"Chen Qi, I'll call you Qi Qi."
If this had happened before, if she hadn't been tied to a chair, hearing her favorite idol call her "Qi Qi" would have made her ecstatic, screaming and fainting.
But at this moment...
Although she still felt like she was going to faint, it wasn't from excitement. It was from fear.
"Ling, Ling Fenghan, what are you doing..." Chen Qi's voice trembled. "You, you're breaking the law..."
She had never encountered anything like this. She had always been the one to cause trouble for others, relying on her status as a minor. But she had never been the one to be troubled by others.
"Don't you want to understand me? Then, let's understand each other properly." Ling Fenghan had never felt such a strong urge to pour out his heart as he did now.
All the unwilling, the reluctance, the fear and disgust buried deep in his heart.
All the negative emotions suppressed beneath the mask of "idol" were now completely unleashed.
The walls and ramparts in his heart were finally breached by a mighty flood, surging and roaring.
Remarkably, Ling Fenghan felt incredibly rational, his mind clear and his speech coherent.
He began by recounting events from when he was five years old.
"That kindergarten was a private one. The music teacher was very beautiful, and I liked her a lot. She often praised me for my talent. I think... my later path into music should have something to do with this music teacher."
"Later, one day, she came to kindergarten with injuries. I was very worried about her. She just smiled and said she was fine, that it didn't hurt at all."
"During nap time, I couldn't sleep and snuck out. That's when I overheard her crying to the principal about domestic violence."
"I didn't understand what domestic violence meant, but I knew it was something that made my favorite teacher cry, and I didn't like that."
"I mustered up the courage to say I would protect her. She just patted my head and smiled at me. As she smiled, she started crying."
"Later, she died. The incident was even reported in our local news. I looked at her photo and heard people say she was beaten to death by her husband during a drunken domestic dispute."
"Just like that, a living person was gone."
"Some people said it was because she was beautiful, a music teacher at a prestigious kindergarten at such a young age, always interacting with wealthy parents, and her husband felt insecure and lost his job, which is why he beat her."
"Some said her husband discovered her affair, how he caught her in the act, and how he enraged and killed her."
"Others said she wasn't a good person to begin with, that a woman as beautiful as her, an art student, deserved to die."
"I didn't understand what they were saying. I only knew that the music teacher who played the piano so beautifully and was so gentle had died, and everyone was gossiping about it."
Picking up his cup and taking a sip, Ling Fenghan continued, "When I was eight, the elementary school choir was selecting a lead singer. The final decision was between me and the principal's son. On the last day of the selection, the teacher found me and asked me to withdraw from the competition."
"That child didn't sing as well as me and would forget the lyrics. I asked the teacher why."
"The teacher said it was because my voice was too unique, and I was younger, so I wasn't suitable for the lead singer role. She asked me to withdraw, saying it would be better for the choir."
"I didn't understand, but I agreed. Later, during the choir competition, he forgot his lyrics again. The teacher blamed me, saying that if I hadn't withdrawn, we wouldn't have lost."
"I couldn't comprehend it, but everyone in the choir thought the teacher was right, and that child also believed I had deliberately embarrassed him."
"It was as if I was the sole reason everyone lost the competition."
"After that... using today's terms, it would be called bullying... I quit the choir."
"At ten years old, I transferred schools. At the new school, everything seemed like a fresh start. I concealed the fact that I could sing."
"I thought if I did that, everything would be peaceful and smooth, until..."
Ling Fenghan calmly narrated everything he had experienced, occasionally taking a sip of water before continuing.
Chen Qi's expression shifted from initial fear to shock, and then to an unbearable despair.
She was still a child. Why was she being told all these cruel things!
Why did she have to know about all of this!
Time ticked by, and Ling Fenghan showed no signs of stopping.
"Let me go! I want to go home!" Chen Qi's face was pale. She couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to go home!
She didn't know how much time had passed. The sky outside was completely dark; it must have been late at night.
Her arms were numb, her fingertips were cold. She was hungry, tired, and scared. She also needed to go to the restroom...
"Don't worry, I'll let you leave tomorrow. I just haven't finished speaking yet." Ling Fenghan poured himself another glass of water before continuing, "Where was I? Right, I was talking about when I was sixteen..."
As Ling Fenghan was showing Chen Qi the darkness and despair he had experienced, Gu Corporation Entertainment and Wan Qing Entertainment were engaged in a public relations battle online.
On Wan Qing Entertainment's side, Wen Shengsheng's portrayal of being wronged yet stoically enduring, and her seemingly optimistic and strong demeanor, garnered a large following of netizens' sympathy.
Because it involved a virtual idol, a product of the ACG culture, there were instances of real-world disparagement. The conflict directly targeted the ACG community, causing the issue to quickly go viral.
Wan Qing Entertainment was also about to launch its own virtual idol and naturally did not want this matter to affect its current project. They remained silent for the time being. Seeing that the situation seemed to be escalating beyond their expectations, Wan Qing Entertainment began investing heavily in hiring paid commenters to spread favorable narratives, attempting to shift the blame onto Gu Corporation Entertainment and divert public attention and criticism away from the virtual idol.
At this point, Gu Corporation Entertainment also applied for an official account for Sui Sui, and left a comment online: "Dad, is it wrong for Sui Sui to be polite? @Gu Corporation Entertainment—Mr. Gu."
This comment immediately sparked a new shift in public discussion.
If Sui Sui called Mr. Gu "Dad," then calling Wen Shengsheng "Auntie" seemed perfectly fine.
"Gu Corporation Entertainment's move is brilliant! They're claiming a father figure on the spot. They realized they messed up and are trying to craft a persona, right?"
"The upstairs, don't be a blind hater. Go watch the video yourself. Sui Sui has always called Mr. Gu 'Dad' on the show!"
"Don't you find it disgusting? A virtual character calling someone 'Dad.' Who is the one calling him that? It's the voice actor behind it, isn't it? Does she not have a father to call 'Dad' here? Is she looking for a father figure? It's ridiculous that Mr. Gu would even bother with her! Attention seeker, I'm getting increasingly disgusted by these brainless elementary school fans of ACG!"
"The upstairs is the disgusting one! You're a troll from Wan Qing Entertainment, aren't you? Wan Qing Entertainment's unethical behavior isn't new. They keep trying to piggyback on others, it's so annoying!"
"Stop arguing! Gu Corporation Entertainment has released a video! New gossip!"
"Are they trying to prevent people from sleeping in the middle of the night? Help me up! I can still keep up with the gossip!"