APCF – Chapter 34 Victory

This is a battle without smoke, and by the time dawn arrives, no clear winner has been decided.

At the center of this struggle, Qi Xingchen sits with his head down at one end of the sofa, facing the Qi family, who look like they’re holding a three-court trial. He feels incredibly guilty.

“Bang—”

Qi Jiaze throws his car keys forcefully onto the coffee table. “That filthy woman, I’m going to kill her right now!”

“Sit down!” Qi Yujie quickly grabs his shirt and pulls him back. “Don’t act impulsively. With the situation now, that woman must have hidden herself, and you won’t find her.”

“I don’t care, I’ll dig three feet into the ground to find her!” Qi Jiaze drove over in a hurry that morning, his hair messy, his “grandma gray” look in disarray, his face full of anger.

“Alright, Jiaze,” seeing that Qi Yujie couldn’t handle his cousin, Qi Yunxiao frowned and said, “Sit down and wait to see what Dad says.”

As the eldest brother, Qi Jiaze had no choice but to relent and coldly huff before sitting down.

Finally, the living room quieted. Dad Qi rubbed his temples, his index finger tapping on the armrest of the sofa, making two “du du” sounds, his face as dark as water.

“Xingchen, why didn’t you tell me about such a big thing?”

The Qi family always called him “Xingxing,” but now Dad Qi had called him “Xingchen,” probably because he was angry.

Qi Xingchen felt even more guilty, weakly calling out, “Dad…”

Dad Qi: “…”

“Alright, this matter is over,” Dad Qi said. “In the future, anything this big must be told to me—or your brother or sister. This will be the last time.”

Qi Xingchen weakly responded with an “Mm.”

At that moment, he felt his phone, which was pressed against his leg, vibrate. It was an unfamiliar number.

He hesitated whether to answer, because after he sent the recording last night, Du Lanxin went crazy calling him. It wasn’t until the fans managed to track down her phone number that she was bombarded with messages and calls, forcing her to turn off her phone.

Then, she switched to another number and continued calling him.

This number was most likely hers, but Qi Xingchen was ready to hang up.

Unfortunately, before he could do that, the person closest to him, Qi Yunxiao, noticed and immediately guessed his intentions. Without hesitation, he said, “Answer it. I’ll locate her through the communication company and listen to what she has to say.”

With no way out, Qi Xingchen had no choice but to answer, putting the phone on speaker and placing it back on the coffee table.

This time, it wasn’t Du Lanxin, but a man’s furious voice: “Qi Xingchen, do you not want to eat this meal anymore?!”

Qi Xingchen froze for a moment. Who is this?

“The contract clearly states that the artist’s behavior must be approved by the company. You’re in serious breach of contract. Tomorrow, I’ll submit materials to the court and sue you. Get ready for a lawyer’s letter!”

“Bang!” The call was abruptly cut off.

…Oh, Qi Xingchen realized. This must be a senior executive from Noah.

Before releasing the audio, he had already considered all possible consequences and had prepared an escape route for himself. Listening to the busy tone coming from the phone, he felt completely unperturbed.

He lifted his head and suddenly met a pair of cold eyes. His body stiffened.

“I’ve lived for twenty-eight years, and I’ve never heard anyone dare to speak to the Qi family like this,” Qi Yunxiao sneered, then called his assistant. “Help me draft an email and send it to Noah’s chairman.”

After the lawyer’s warning from Noah, the fans of Xingchen started to worry.

Disputes with management companies rarely end well for the star involved, unless it’s a matter of extreme necessity, where they have no choice but to tear everything apart.

A more sophisticated approach would be to first leak some true and false insider information through hired trolls. Then, the idol or those around them would subtly hint that they too were victims of this issue.

Next, the manager or the company would clarify, and after some back-and-forth, the idol would release the audio bombshell, striking at the manager.

The battle would end in victory, with the idol standing on the side of sympathy. The management company would dare not make a move, as any action would result in them being branded as villains.

This was the typical tactic to minimize damage. Once the idol chooses to tear apart the relationship with their manager, it’s like declaring war with the company.

But forcibly releasing the audio, as Qi Xingchen did, was akin to taking on the company head-to-head.

Is it really the best approach?

Fans worried while simultaneously taking action, keeping an eye on Noah and the idol’s next steps.

The whole day passed, and Noah took no action. It seemed they were in emergency discussions on how to handle the public relations crisis.

However, the fans’ guesses were wrong.

Noah did not engage in public relations, and even the chairman was not at the company.

According to his assistant, after seeing an email in the morning, the chairman’s face changed color—from blue to black, from black to green, and from green to… in short, his expression was full of vivid colors, as if it were a masterpiece of drama.

Then, the chairman left, forgetting to put on his coat.

At 2 PM, in a small hotel in the suburbs of H City.

Noah’s chairman, Chen Noah, looked at the old bedsheets and the greasy small table, feeling at a loss.

Du Lanxin, however, paid no attention to this, sitting cross-legged on the bed, crying and cursing: “Do you know how crazy his fans are?! They spray paint on my door, send razor blades via local delivery, even sent a cremation urn with my photo on it… It’s so bad, I can’t stay at home, nor in the city. I had no choice but to come to this damn place!”

“Alright, stop crying. Can crying solve anything?!” Chen Noah was extremely annoyed, crossing his arms and pacing around the room.

Du Lanxin cried even harder: “Mr. Chen, you must help me get back at him! You, you go send him a lawyer’s letter, put him on ice! Let him never get in front of the camera again! Buy trolls to slander him, and make sure no other company dares to hire him, even if he pays the breach of contract fee!!”

Chen Noah sneered, as if hearing a joke. He suddenly swung his hand and slapped the woman in front of him hard.

Du Lanxin was stunned, touching her swollen face, murmuring, “Mr. Chen, why did you hit me?”

“I hit you lightly!” Chen Noah pointed at her nose. “If it weren’t for you being my lover’s best friend, I’d have killed you by now!”

Du Lanxin was even more confused: “Why?”

“Do you know who you messed with? Forget it, you don’t need to know. Now, go on Weibo and apologize to Qi Xingchen.”

“Apologize to him? Why should I?”

“Slap—” Chen Noah slapped her across the face again. “Just because you did something wrong, just because you took an artist out for a secretive rendezvous, just because you’re greedy for a small artist’s annual appearance fee! Just because… just because…”

Chen Noah’s hands trembled in anger. “I don’t want to talk anymore. Tomorrow, I’ll sue you for negligence, for organizing prostitution, and for improper profit-making. Watch out for yourself!”

From issuing a lawyer’s letter to Qi Xingchen to receiving one herself, the contrast was too great. Du Lanxin couldn’t believe it. She covered her face, stunned, unable to say a word.

By the time she regained her composure, the cramped hotel room was left with only scattered footprints and lingering dust.

The second night was another sleepless one.

Compared to the tyrannical contract clauses from the management company, the manager’s manipulation of artists made the fans even more upset. Apart from the Star Lights fans, many other idol fans also empathized and reposted the news multiple times.

Most of these fans were from the guests of Let’s Budget Travel, and some even boldly supported it.

—Liu Ziyu: @Qi Xingchen, my little brother is suffering, I support you!

Star Lights: Wuwuwu, thank you, Sister Ziyu!

Passersby: Another little star trying to steal the spotlight, disgusting, get out of the entertainment industry!

Liu Ziyu: “….”

She was so wrongfully accused.

Qi Xingchen knew that picking sides at this point would be a stupid move—it was easy to offend people.

So, other guests from Let’s Budget Travel only comforted him a bit on WeChat, leaving their Weibo silent.

Not avoiding him was already enough, and Qi Xingchen was satisfied, thanking each of them.

When it came to Liu Ziyu, Qi Xingchen directly called: “Sister Ziyu, thank you, but you should delete your Weibo post now. You scared me!”

“I’m not scared, why should you be?” Liu Ziyu chuckled, “I’m used to being bashed, it’s nothing. I have a lot of die-hard fans, I’ll help you where I can, but don’t blame me if I can’t help in some areas, okay?”

“How could I blame you, you’ve done enough…”

“Hey, hey, hey, stop,” Liu Ziyu interrupted him, “Do you need a lawyer? I can introduce you to mine, and I’ll cover the fees.”

Qi Xingchen said no, his family had already arranged for one. Liu Ziyu responded, “If you need anything, just find me. I have to go to a dinner party now, talk to you later.”

After hanging up, Qi Xingchen couldn’t help but smile as he drifted off to sleep.

He slept soundly, but Du Lanxin did not. After the shock of the slap, she regained her calm and analyzed the feasibility of Chen Noah’s potential lawsuit against her.

First, negligence wouldn’t hold her criminally liable, there was no threat.

Second, there was no evidence for the charges of organizing prostitution, and neither the buyers nor the sellers would testify; if they did, their reputations would be ruined.

Third, she hadn’t gained any profit from Qi Xingchen. The payments for Let’s Budget Travel hadn’t been settled yet, and she hadn’t received any of it.

So, it seemed like a lot of noise with little substance. She just had to hold out and wait for the storm to pass.

Du Lanxin clutched her phone, closely monitoring the online updates.

After 24 hours, just past midnight, a girl posted a blurred video on a self-media platform, claiming to be an artist under Du Lanxin who had been forced to attend a dinner party and was willing to testify in court.

Within five minutes, another similar video was posted on the platform.

The third, the fourth… One by one, anonymous videos flooded in.

In the end, there were eight witnesses!

Du Lanxin completely fainted from shock.

Chen Noah wasn’t doing any better. The witnesses emerged just when they hadn’t been able to manage the public relations situation, causing public opinion to shift and seriously damaging the company’s image, which triggered a panic among the shareholders of Noah Entertainment.

By 9 AM, before trading started in the Shanghai market, Noah Entertainment’s stock hit the limit of the sell-off, with 350,000 sell orders locking it in place.

At 9:30 AM, when trading officially began, the stocks plummeted, triggering panic selling among investors and dealing another heavy blow to Noah Entertainment.

Meanwhile, a fund called “Xingchen Asset Management” began buying Noah shares in small quantities multiple times.

Chen Noah opened the Tianyancha platform and found that the fund was backed by the Qi Group. His face turned purple with anger, and he urgently instructed the PR department to draft a public apology letter.

By noon, a top-tier celebrity posted on Weibo:

—Bo Ye: @Qi Xingchen, keep going!

Before trading resumed at 1 PM, Noah Entertainment issued an apology letter.

The Star Lights fans, who had been worried for two days, breathed a sigh of relief: Oh no, my idol actually won in a direct confrontation. What a miracle.

If you ask how the Star Lights fans felt at this moment, the answer would be one word:

Refreshing!