Chapter 26: A Massive Scandal in the Entertainment Industry

Deng You had not had a good night at all.

The sudden thunderstorm had caught him completely off guard.

Unlike Lu Cheng, he didn’t have a small house built with Qiao Yitong’s help, and there was nowhere nearby to take shelter from the rain.

Like most of the others, he was entirely exposed to the elements.

But there was one key difference between him and the rest: from the moment he left the team to seek out Qiao Yitong, Shisan’s group had officially kicked him out and struck his name from their ranks.

Consequently, he couldn’t enter their circle. He was all alone in the storm, huddled in a corner, enduring the lashing rain for the entire night.

In those hours, he felt a level of fear and loneliness he had never experienced before.

He even felt that he might actually die in this place tonight.

When faced with the thought of death, a human’s first instinct is fear.

Deng You was no exception.

But a moment later, he felt a sense of resignation. He was too tired. If he really died here and met his parents in the afterlife, he could at least tell them that he had tried his best to live.

His parents would forgive him.

Surely they would.

Deng You eventually spread his arms and legs, lying flat on the beach. He let the torrential rain beat against his face, a tragic, twisted smile appearing on his lips.

After enduring the night-long storm, Deng You dragged his aching limbs and sat up as dawn broke the next day.

He wasn’t dead.

While feeling the relief of a survivor, his lips curled slightly, as if he were actually a bit disappointed.

Since he wasn’t dead, he had to seriously consider how he was going to survive from here on out.

Deng You’s gaze fell upon Qiao Yitong’s house. If he stayed here, Qiao Yitong was his only hope for survival.

Yesterday, while Qiao Yitong was building the house, he had stepped forward to try and talk to her.

But the answer he received was that she didn’t like being disturbed when she was busy. So he had endured it. He had been waiting.

Now, the time had finally come.

Early in the morning, he arrived at Qiao Yitong’s door to negotiate.

Qiao Yitong stood before the Bamboo House, her eyes indifferent.

After nearly ten days on the Deserted Island, while everyone else was filthy and disheveled, she remained clean and tidy.

She was completely out of place among the others.

She knew why Deng You had come to find her, and she didn’t reject him outright.

In the environment she had lived in previously, interactions between people were essentially an exchange of interests.

Deng You had come to negotiate. If the price he offered and the benefits he provided were truly useful to her, she didn’t mind entering into a partnership with him.

It all depended on what he could offer.

Facing Qiao Yitong, Deng You saw a girl who was clearly just a beautiful woman – the kind people called a “vase¹” actress.

Yet, only when facing her in person could one feel the invisible layer of coldness and pressure radiating from her.

Deng You barely managed to withstand the pressure as he looked at Qiao Yitong and said, “Sister Tong, my actual profession is in computers.”

Qiao Yitong remained expressionless.

From the original host’s memories, she had a rough understanding of what a computer was, but she didn’t yet see how such a thing could be useful to her.

Deng You took a deep breath, his eyes burning with intensity. “I know you probably think this skill is useless right now, Sister Tong, but it will be useful once we leave the island.”

“You work in the entertainment industry. The waters there are very murky, as we both know. You’re just one person, and you don’t have the means to protect yourself.”

“For example, six months ago, at that event you attended, someone tampered with your clothes backstage. You called the police, and they investigated the scene. They eventually tried to check the venue’s surveillance to identify the suspect, but the footage from that day had been corrupted. In the end, the matter was dropped, and you were even branded with the reputation of staging it yourself for publicity.”

As Deng You spoke, he watched Qiao Yitong’s expression.

This was the deal he had come up with – his strongest weapon, and the only chip he had to gain Qiao Yitong’s acceptance and be of use to her.

Qiao Yitong’s eyes narrowed slightly. Following Deng You’s words, the memory of that event from six months ago indeed surfaced in her mind.

At the time, the original host had prepared well, only to discover that her gown had been tampered with while she was changing backstage.

If she didn’t go on stage, it would be a breach of contract, requiring her to pay a massive penalty.

If she did go on, she had no other clothes to change into.

She had done her best to fix the gown and went on stage, but as expected, she ended up humiliating herself.

Recalling that moment of helplessness and breakdown, Qiao Yitong felt a pang of sour pain and grievance rising from her heart.

That event had been a massive blow to the original host.

What was even more devastating was that when she chose to call the police afterward to find out who had done it, it felt as if everything was against her.

Her manager told her not to make a scene.

The police arrived only to find the surveillance data corrupted and difficult to recover. Combined with the chaotic nature of the crowd at the scene, the matter was eventually dropped.

Everyone told her not to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Netizens were also cursing her, saying she had staged the whole thing herself. She was the one who had been wronged, yet she became the target of public scorn.

Lu Cheng had originally seen Deng You approaching and had chased after him aggressively.

Hearing this, he stopped in his tracks.

Lu Cheng frowned slightly; he remembered this incident as well.

He could even recall how Qiao Yitong had been pointed at and condemned by everyone at the time.

Why was Deng You bringing this up? Didn’t he know how much this had hurt Sister Tong?

This guy definitely wasn’t stupid. Was he bringing it up now because there was a twist?

Among the audience, many people had followed the drama back then.

• No way, why bring that up all of a sudden? That case was settled long ago. Her management company even came out later to apologize and admit it was a publicity stunt. –

• Can we just not mention that? Even though I really like what Qiao Yitong is doing now, I really thought she acted stupidly back then. –

• Wait, I feel like Deng You is implying there’s a plot twist. –

There was indeed a twist.

Deng You looked into Qiao Yitong’s eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then dropped a bombshell: “Back when that happened, I was bored, so I followed the drama too.”

“The surveillance footage was damaged at just the right time, which I thought was suspicious. Plus, I was really bored back then, so I hacked into their system and restored the video from that day.”

Lu Cheng: !!!

Qiao Yitong looked up, her eyes showing a hint of surprise.

“Continue,” she said.

“I saw the person who tampered with it. That person was your manager, Fu Chao,” Deng You said, emphasizing every word.

[?!!!]

[That’s got to be fake!]

[Mom, I think I just stumbled upon some massive tea!]

[Why does this feel so surreal? I’m just watching a Deserted Island Survival Variety Show, but it feels like I’m watching a mystery thriller.]

[This leak is way too fake. It’s obvious Deng You is just saying what Qiao Yitong wants to hear so he can get on her good side.]

[Exactly. Fu Chao treats Qiao Yitong so well. He even puts up with her temper and has fought to get her so many resources. Even if someone really did mess with her dress back then, there’s no way it was Fu Chao!]

[Right? What a joke. Hacking into a network to restore video? If you really had that kind of talent, would you be in the state you’re in now? Playing games all day until you can’t even afford food, forced to join a life-risking variety show like this to gamble for money?]

[I don’t know much about these people. Who exactly is this Deng You?]

[Who else could he be? Just a piece of trash shut-in. He spends every day at home playing games and wasting his life. He’s an uneducated loafer who only realized he was broke when he couldn’t pay his electricity bill. He didn’t even look for a job, just signed up for this show.]

[And the guy is extremely selfish. As soon as he arrived, he stole someone else’s canned food without even asking.]

The sudden revelation caused the bullet chat to explode.

No one believed that a guy who appeared on TV as mere fodder could have such great ability. Or rather, people were more willing to believe that this was a lie he made up on the spot to cling to Qiao Yitong’s coattails while on the island.

Regardless, there was nothing on the island now. Even if they wanted to verify it, they would have to wait until they left.

By then, he would have already received his money. Whether it was true or not didn’t seem to matter much.

Lu Cheng, however, turned serious. He asked in a low voice, “Is everything you said true? Are you sure you have the ability to hack into an internal system?”

Being questioned in his area of expertise brought out the innate pride buried in Deng You’s bones. “Believe it or not. Anyway, as long as you can get me off this island safely, I can send you the video once we’re back. I saved a copy at the time.”

[!!!]

[Don’t tell me it’s real. If it is, that means… I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.]

[Me too. It feels a bit terrifying.]

Qiao Yitong remained silent, not answering immediately.

Thinking his bargaining chip wasn’t enough, Deng You continued, “My computer skills can be applied to many things. Sister Tong, aren’t there always a lot of people insulting you? If someone starts a smear campaign, I can follow the network cables² to find their real IP addresses and identities. Give me an anonymous email, and I can find out exactly who’s behind it.”

Qiao Yitong’s eyelid flickered.

She didn’t quite understand the rules of this world yet.

But what Deng You was describing seemed like it could be useful for what she needed to do here.

Deng You pressed on, “Of course, I can also write a program specifically for you. Don’t you often have a lot of paid trolls attacking you? I can just create a program that will flood any platform with nothing but positive reviews.”

Seeing Deng You’s claims get more and more outrageous, Lu Cheng hurried to stop him.

“Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean ‘write a program for positive reviews’? Does Sister Tong even need that?” Lu Cheng was a content creator himself, so he understood online public opinion quite well.

He was terrified that this statement would be used as dirt against Qiao Yitong in the future, twisted and used as evidence to suppress her.

Deng You, however, looked dismissive. “Why are you acting so sensitive? This kind of thing isn’t exactly news in that circle. What’s there to be embarrassed about or hide? That guy named Jing who came with us—his company hired me to write a program for them once.”

[!!! Holy crap, another massive bombshell!]

[So you’re saying some of Jing Xueqin’s positive reviews were faked?]

[I knew the comment sections for Jing Xueqin were suspiciously controlled. No matter how obscure the corner of the internet, if a single bad word was posted—even using nicknames that are hard to search for—his fans would sniff it out immediately. So it wasn’t real people, it was code?]

[Can the person above stop throwing mud at Jing Xueqin? Everything Jing Bao has is earned through his own hard work. There’s no such thing as faking reviews, okay?]

[Give me a break. Even the officials flagged his data as suspicious during a vote once. You’re telling me he doesn’t fake reviews? Hilarious.]

The viewers had originally just been there for the entertainment, watching the livestream to pass the time.

Who would have thought that in such a short span of time, so many shocking secrets would be revealed?

The fans were losing their minds.

The onlookers were thrilled.

A war between fans and haters was on the verge of erupting.

Deng You had no idea what the bullet chat looked like right now. Even if he did, he wouldn’t care.

Ever since that incident six years ago, he had become numb to the world.

Let them do what they want.

Even if the entire entertainment industry turned upside down, what did it have to do with him?

He only needed to look out for his own interests and find a way to protect himself at all costs. That was enough.

Qiao Yitong fell into a pensive silence.

Standing beside her, Lu Cheng felt a deep sense of crisis.

He felt as though his importance to Qiao Yitong was being challenged, his position subtly wavering.

Emotionally, he desperately wanted to kick this guy named Deng You as far away as possible. But rationally, he knew that if the man was telling the truth, the evidence he held would be incredibly useful to Qiao Yitong.

The choice ultimately rested with Sister Tong.

After a moment of reflection, Qiao Yitong asked, “You said you can restore videos. Can you restore things from many years ago?”

This was the fastest way to catch the culprit from back then.

If there was surveillance, she would know who her enemy was.

Deng You went silent for a moment before saying, “I can’t give you a guarantee on that. If a video was intentionally destroyed, or if the hard drive used for storage was physically destroyed, then no one can help you. And even if it wasn’t destroyed, it’s very difficult to restore something after so many years of new data overwriting it.”

Qiao Yitong nodded slowly.

“And the anonymous email? Can you find the person behind it?” she asked.

“I’m ninety percent sure I can,” Deng You answered decisively, his tone brimming with confidence in his own abilities.

Sensing that things were heading in the right direction, he struck while the iron was hot. “I’ll do my best to help with everything Sister Tong mentioned. And I really don’t ask for much. When you guys eat, just give me a portion. I have no requirements for food as long as I don’t starve to death.”

“Also, if we encounter severe weather like last night, I hope Sister Tong can give me a hand.”

“And I definitely won’t be a free-loader if I follow Sister Tong. I can gather firewood and do manual labor. Like I said, I can do anything Lu Cheng can do.”

He kept professing his loyalty.

Listening to this, Lu Cheng wanted to curse again and again.

This guy really treated him like an imaginary rival, didn’t he?

Every sentence mentioned him. Was he trying to squeeze him away from Sister Tong’s side?

Lu Cheng waited anxiously for Qiao Yitong to speak.

Qiao Yitong pondered for a moment. “Fine.”

The matter was settled.

Deng You’s eyes lit up instantly, while Lu Cheng’s expression crumbled slightly.

“Don’t worry, Sister Tong. My value will definitely make sure you don’t regret this.”

“Oh. Go gather firewood first,” Qiao Yitong said, turning to enter the house. She took the Horned Bamboo she had moved inside to avoid the rain and hung it back outside to dry.

Once finished, she saw Lu Cheng standing outside, looking at her pitifully.

“Something wrong?” Qiao Yitong asked.

“Sister Tong, are you really going to take him in?” Lu Cheng asked.

“I can’t?” Qiao Yitong arched an eyebrow.

“It’s not that you can’t, it’s just…” Lu Cheng showed a conflicted expression and asked, “Then what about me?”

“You…” Qiao Yitong frowned slightly.

She tried very hard to process the logic behind Lu Cheng’s question. “Do you have a grudge against him? Is it a ‘him or me’ situation?”

This single sentence almost made Lu Cheng jump.

“No, no, no, that’s not what I mean. I don’t have a problem with it, I’m just worried…” Lu Cheng said, putting on that pitiful look again. “Will Sister Tong stop wanting me because someone else is helping now?”

Qiao Yitong: …

There were so many resources on the island, and it wasn’t like only one person could survive. Why did she have to choose?

“Can’t I have both?” Qiao Yitong simply asked.

Lu Cheng: “…No problem.”

Qiao Yitong nodded. Since the answer was affirmative, she didn’t need to consider a “one or the other” dilemma.

“If you’re free, go look for firewood too. It just rained, so there won’t be much usable wood,” Qiao Yitong said.

“Mm, okay.” Lu Cheng nodded quickly.

With both of them gone, Qiao Yitong’s side returned to silence.

While the bullet comments were still arguing fiercely over the massive gossip just revealed, Qiao Yitong resumed her pastoral life.

She had already prepared the natural plants she’d gathered over the past two days that could be turned into seasonings. Now that the sun had risen and the balance of sunlight and moisture was just right, she brought the items out, intending to proceed to the next stage: grinding.

Qiao Yitong went back into the room and, like a magician, brought out a stone mortar. She tossed several dried plants into it and began to grind.

The moment the stone mortar appeared, the audience, who had been arguing incessantly about Deng You’s revelations, suddenly fell silent for a long time.

• Wait, I’m a bit dazed. Where did she get such a professional tool? –

• I’m stunned too. You’re not going to tell me there’s a natural stone mortar for grinding medicine just sitting on a Deserted Island, are you? –

• This thing looks very professional. You can clearly see the marks of manual carving and processing. How could it be natural? –

• I’m starting to have doubts. Is there a secret passage under Qiao Yitong’s Bamboo House to the outside world, and the Director Group has been delivering things to her? Otherwise, where did this come from? Don’t tell me Qiao Yitong made it herself. Even if she has the skill, she needs tools. –

• …I’ll tell you something scary. This thing might actually have been carved by Qiao Yitong herself. Click on my profile; I just posted a live stream screenshot. Yesterday afternoon when Lu Cheng was picking up stones, there were two stones that weren’t used. Sister Tong took them into the house when she left, and then this morning, she brought out this mortar. –

• Holy crap! I saw it, it’s true. And I compared them; the patterns on the two stones are identical. So Qiao Yitong really made it herself last night? –

• Help, she doesn’t have any tools! How did she do it? –

• Ahhh! Sister Tong did all this inside the house, so there’s no video of it. I’m so curious! What on earth did Sister Tong use to carve it? –

• We viewers know exactly what tools they have. Qiao Yitong really has nothing. So what did she use? It’s not like she carved stone with her bare hands. –

This joking comment actually hit upon the truth.

When Qiao Yitong carried the two stones back into the room last night, she had intended to make a mortar to grind and mix these plants into seasonings.

But she had no tools.

She could only endure the heartache and set aside half a drop of Spiritual Power, attaching it to her hand.

Then, her hand became like a sharp axe, and she finished the stone mortar in no time.

With this mortar, she could make many kinds of seasonings and recreate various delicacies on this isolated island. Thinking of it this way, wasting that half-drop of Spiritual Power was worth it.

With those thoughts, Qiao Yitong focused all her attention on the mortar and the plants within.

She ground her homemade seasonings with focus and patience.

Meanwhile, under the control of the Director Group, the Main Live Stream switched to camera 0731.

It pulled back into a medium-long shot.

In this scene, the azure sky and the sea merged at the horizon. In the corner of the frame stood Qiao Yitong’s emerald-green Bamboo House. In front of the house, Qiao Yitong sat quietly, grinding her ingredients.

The live stream image unexpectedly presented a divine composition.

“Ahhh! The Director Group is so good at this! This scene is gorgeous, I’m practically licking my screen³!”

“I love this leisurely lifestyle vibe. It feels so relaxing and free.”

“Seeing this scenery makes me so jealous. Living there must be amazing.”

Many viewers had multiple streams open at once, sometimes even watching every available channel.

Occasionally, when sending a comment, they would accidentally post in the wrong place.

Some of these comments ended up in the live stream room where Shisan and the others were.

While fans of Shisan and Jing Xueqin were still drowning in sympathy for their idols’ miserable and pathetic state, they suddenly saw these comments drifting across their screens.

Leisurely lifestyle vibe?

Relaxing?

Free?

Do you even hear yourselves? Even if you’re trying to be sarcastic, don’t be so blatant and passive-aggressive, okay?

Immediately, a group of fans lost their tempers and began tagging the previous commenters, sparking a heated online feud.

The person who had been tagged only realized they had posted in the wrong live stream room after being attacked.

They took a look at the stream where they had accidentally posted.

Well…

Last night’s rainstorm had truly wrecked this group.

Their clothes were still soaking wet and clinging to their bodies. Looking at their faces, their eyes were vacant, and their entire demeanor was one of half-dead exhaustion.

Compared to Sister Tong’s side, it was like they were in two different worlds.

Tsk tsk, how pathetic.

But they deserved it!

What they didn’t know was that while they were enjoying the drama in the live stream rooms, domestic public platforms like Weibo⁴ had already exploded.

#Qiao Yitong’s Manager#

#Qiao Yitong Framed#

#Jing Xueqin Vote Rigging#

#Shocking Entertainment Industry Scandal!#

One hashtag after another climbed the trending charts as past events were unearthed once again.

If the allegations surrounding Qiao Yitong were true, the conspiracy behind them was chilling to contemplate.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on the matter, and various details were being dug up bit by bit.

Fu Chao and Juntian Entertainment were suddenly thrust into the center of public scrutiny.

Gossip-hungry netizens were obsessed with uncovering every trace of evidence.

Under this intense public gaze, another coffee cup met an honorable end on the desk of Wen Bojun, the second young master of Juntian Entertainment.

Smash!

Wen Bojun hurled the coffee cup onto the floor and roared at the man before him, “When I told you to handle things back then, what the hell did you people actually do? You couldn’t even handle one Qiao Yitong, and now you’ve caused such a massive mess?”

The visitor didn’t dare utter a single word.

Wen Bojun stepped forward and poked the man hard in the forehead. “You were the one who suggested putting Qiao Yitong on this show, saying it would solve the problem once and for all. Well, she’s on the show now. Is the problem solved?”

“You’ve made the problem even bigger!” Wen Bojun spread his arms, his limbs shaking with rage.

He slammed his hand onto the desk, but then something seemed to occur to him. He turned to look at the other man, his voice filled with suspicion. “You bastard… recommending Qiao Yitong for the island… you weren’t setting me up, were you?”

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Translator’s Notes

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1. vase: A common Chinese slang term (花瓶, huāpíng) used to describe an actor or actress who is physically attractive but perceived to have no talent or substance, serving only as ‘decoration’ for a production. ↩
2. follow the network cables: A common Chinese internet slang expression (shun zhe wang xian) used as a humorous or aggressive threat to find someone’s real-world location or identity based on their online activity. ↩
3. licking my screen: A common Chinese internet slang term (舔屏, tiǎn píng) used to express extreme attraction or admiration for a beautiful person or scene on a screen. It signifies that the visuals are so pleasing that the viewer wants to ‘lick’ the display. ↩
4. Weibo: A major Chinese microblogging platform, similar to X (formerly Twitter). It is the primary hub for trending topics, celebrity news, and public scandals in China. ↩