Chǔ Róng closed his eyes for a long time before opening them and getting up. "Request sick leave from the HR department yourself." His voice was no longer as cold as before.
Jiang Mengran was overjoyed. She knew her act of self-harm had worked. She quickly said, "ARong, be careful on your way back."
Jiang Mengmei was leaning against the hospital room door, playing on her phone. Suddenly, the door opened, and a tall, slender figure walked out. He exuded a very pleasant, mature cologne, which stirred something in Jiang Mengmei, making her tense up.
She quickly pulled down the collar of her top and then called out in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Brother Chu, have you had lunch? I was worried about my sister and didn't even eat lunch. I'm so hungry now."
*Say you'll treat me to a meal,* Jiang Mengmei thought fervently.
However, Chǔ Róng didn't even look at her and walked straight past.
Jiang Mengmei was not deterred. She pulled her clothes down further, turning her top into an off-the-shoulder style, revealing glimpses of her chest. She then chased after him, blocking his path with feigned innocence.
"Oh my, Uncle Chu, why aren't you smiling? You used to smile so gently. Have you forgotten how to smile because you're getting old? Come, I'll teach you." As she spoke, she reached out, intending to touch the corner of Chǔ Róng's mouth.
Chǔ Róng's face darkened, his eyes filled with a strong warning. He stepped aside, his tone laced with threat and annoyance, "Your actions already constitute sexual harassment."
Jiang Mengmei's smile froze on her face, and she felt utterly humiliated. She awkwardly retracted her hand, stammering a shaky explanation, "I... I was just joking with you."
Chǔ Róng bypassed her and headed straight downstairs.
Jiang Mengmei felt utterly disgraced, especially being humiliated by a heartthrob like Chǔ Róng. She wished she could hit her head against a wall. Angrily, she returned to Jiang Mengran's hospital room, only to find Jiang Mengran standing at the door, her face ashen.
"Sister..."
"Slap..."
Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Mengmei's face was met with a solid slap. Shocked and furious, she immediately raised her hand to slap back.
The sisters quickly devolved into a brawl. Jiang Mengran was injured and couldn't fight back, but her words were venomous. "Shameless slut! You dare to seduce anyone's man. He's your future brother-in-law. If you dare to set your sights on him, don't blame me for turning my back on you."
"Hmph, anyway, Brother Chu is a wealthy bachelor. Everyone wants to marry him. Why can't I? It's not even decided who he'll choose. I'm much younger than you. You're already a faded woman still clinging to foolish fantasies. Pfft."
Nurses, alerted by the commotion, rushed over and managed to pull the two apart after much persuasion.
...
The Deng Jie incident, amplified by influential figures and Deng Jie's embellishments, successfully climbed into the top three trending searches. For a time, the entire internet was asking who "nine" was.
With a group of screenwriters and directors fanning the flames, the entire internet began to condemn, even though they had nothing to do with the matter.
Within the crew, assistant director Luo Cheng, seeing that the production was also trending, felt a sense of unease, fearing the situation would escalate beyond control.
"Nanchen, isn't it time to clarify things?"
Jiang Nanchen, however, was more concerned about everyone condemning Quan Jiu. He nodded in agreement with Luo Cheng, then turned to call a reporter he knew, explaining the situation and asking the reporter to help publish an article.
Soon after, Wei Tao, an entertainment gossip influencer and reporter, posted a message that spoke in defense of Quan Jiu and attacked Deng Jie's malicious deeds.
Although Wei Tao was an independent gossip reporter, he always managed to obtain various secret celebrity gossip and publish it immediately. Initially, people dismissed his reports as crazy talk, but the outcomes always proved him right.
As he was proven right repeatedly, netizens gradually began to trust Wei Tao without question. Thus, within minutes of Wei Tao's post, a portion of netizens shifted their allegiance.
For a time, heated arguments erupted online regarding whether "nine" was good or bad.
The person involved, Quan Jiu, however, was still sitting in front of her computer, scrutinizing the script.
Wang Feifei, seeing the escalating online discussions, had no choice but to interrupt Quan Jiu, showing her the phone. "Jiujiu, how exactly do you plan to 'repay' Deng Jie? That old woman has been arrogant for many days, and I can't stand it anymore."
Quan Jiu scrolled through her phone. Since Wang Feifei followed mostly people within the industry, she saw many criticisms from directors and screenwriters. Among them, screenwriters Deng Jie and Zhao Zhen, and director Yang Shuo were the most prominent.
Zhao Zhen posted: [Don't be fooled by the so-called famous foreign screenwriter. She only chooses novice directors who are not well-known, and who knows what kind of garbage they'll produce.] He directly tagged "nine" without any hesitation.
Yang Shuo also sarcastically remarked: [This industry isn't a place you can enter just by spending a few years abroad. If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job.]
Quan Jiu noted down their names. Then, she opened her phone book and dialed an international number. Soon, her standard foreign accent could be heard within the crew.
Wang Feifei listened intently for a moment, then excitedly jumped up and rushed to Jiang Nanchen. "Don't worry, Jiujiu has found a big shot to back her up."
...
Deng Jie failed to connect with Zhao Ziwen. Although dissatisfied, she managed to establish a connection with director Yang Shuo. They chatted for an entire evening, eventually confirming a collaboration.
The next morning, Deng Jie opened Weibo to check if she was still on the trending list, but she couldn't log in. Puzzled, she asked Yang Shuo, who also couldn't log in. This indicated that Weibo was down.
A Weibo outage usually meant a major event had captured the nation's attention. Deng Jie quickly checked other platforms. To her astonishment, she froze.
Across the internet, the hashtag #Nine Pride of China# was everywhere. Upon clicking, she found two long collages.
One collage featured unified posts from various famous international actors on social media: Congratulations to nine on their return to China. They were accompanied by a unified "nine" symbol, the same symbol Deng Jie had used to insinuate against "nine."
The other collage had a similar format, but the posts were made by renowned directors and screenwriters from abroad.
Each of the two collages had two hundred people, totaling four hundred. This encompassed all the well-known figures in the international film and television industry.
However, the most significant figure was the initiator of this event: the ninety-year-old David Attenborough, honored with the title of Father of World Cinema. This top-tier figure in the film industry referred to "nine" as his "beloved disciple."
David had only taken on three disciples in his lifetime, all of whom were now world-famous. But today, his fourth disciple had appeared, and that was "nine."
The entire nation went wild. Even though the vast majority of people had little understanding of the entertainment industry, seeing such unified blessings for one of their own from internationally renowned figures ignited a strong sense of pride.
The capabilities of the Chinese people being so uniformly recognized by foreigners elevated this beyond mere entertainment gossip. It had reached a new height, with even official public media reposting with the title #Our Strength#.
Deng Jie couldn't believe it. "Impossible! How could that little slut be so capable? What is she?" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Yang Shuo was also stunned and felt a pang of regret. He quickly deleted his posts slandering Quan Jiu, angrily exclaiming, "Are you out of your mind? How dare you provoke someone like this? You said she was incapable! Now the whole internet supports her. You're going to get me cursed to death by everyone!"
Deng Jie was going mad and was about to retort when her company called. Upon answering, she heard the cold voice of the HR department on the other end. "Deng Jie, due to the significant impact of your actions, the public opinion has now affected the company. The company held an emergency meeting and concluded that you will be terminated. Please return to the company immediately to complete the procedures."