Xu Qingzhu is not in the entertainment industry, so she doesn't have to endure these things. She wants to protect her family.
So Liang Shi didn't do what Gu Yixue did; he only bought two cakes when he got home that evening.
I sat on the sofa with Xu Qingzhu and watched a variety show.
The variety show that happens to be is "Let's Go, Now".
Xu Qingzhu also recognized Bai Yu and shared with Liang Shi the embarrassing incident that happened to Bai Yu on Lin Luoxi's wedding day.
He said he was so sad because his older sister, whom he grew up with, was getting married that he drank three bottles of wine while crying. Then he stood on the wedding stage and did a striptease. Luckily, he had a good figure. But Lin Luoxi slapped him on the back of the head that day.
Liang Shi laughed heartily after hearing this, and said that this was something Bai Yu was capable of doing.
As the variety show was coming to an end, Liang Shi suddenly received a call from his agent.
Xu Qingzhu paused the TV and glanced at Liang Shi.
Liang Shi subconsciously squeezed her fingers, and Xu Qingzhu leaned on her shoulder.
After answering the call, the agent asked urgently, "How many identities do you have?"
Liang Shi was taken aback: "Huh? What's wrong?"
"Take a look at the trending topics," Chang Hui said. "I'll check who released this information. These recent reports are getting increasingly outrageous."
Liang Shi hung up the phone in a daze, then clicked on the trending topics in a daze. The top trending topic was #LiangShiLiangXinranTheRealAndFakeHeiressesRevealedInReality#.
Liang Shi: ...
What the hell is this fake heiress?
The second entry is: #Did Liang Shi steal Liang Xinran's life?#
Liang Shi: ...
The third entry is #HeartacheForLiangXinran#
Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu exchanged a glance, and Liang Shi, unusually, swore: "Damn it, are you crazy?"
Chapter 173
Liang Shi never expected to trend on social media at this critical juncture.
Let's continue with the topic of #Real or Fake Heiress#.
This is not good for Liang Xinran.
After "Let's Go Now" aired, she received a good reputation. As long as she maintains her current popularity and reputation, she will definitely receive offers after the variety show filming ends. Moreover, her agency contract is with the media company that Liang Xinzhou acquired.
Liang Xinzhou also reassured Liang Shi that he would keep an eye on Liang Xinran.
If Liang Xinran bought this trending topic just to ruin her newly regained reputation, that would be incredibly foolish.
This is practically killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own.
Liang Shi first glanced at the square under the entry.
It's obvious that there are still people stirring up trouble. Several marketing accounts have compiled Liang Xinran's previous Weibo posts and pictures to compare Liang Shi's and Liang Xinran's living conditions.
This really stirred up a lot of hatred for Liang Shi.
[No wonder we couldn't find out anything about this woman's background; she's a fake heiress.]
[Tsk tsk, how can she steal someone else's life and still be so self-righteous? She's utterly shameless!]
[If I were her, I'd quit the entertainment industry immediately, okay? How could she have the nerve to compete with a real heiress for family and resources?]
[I truly pity Liang Xinran, my silly beauty, sob sob.]
[...]
In the story imagined by netizens, Liang Shi is a pampered heiress who gets whatever she wants. For many years, she has been idle and uneducated in a wealthy family, yet she still enjoys the care of her parents and brothers. Meanwhile, Liang Xinran suffers mistreatment in a remote and desolate place. Her parents died early, and she lives with her seriously ill grandmother. She didn't even go to university because of lack of money.
The contrast is too stark.
Netizens condemned Liang Shi, and even rejected her acting skills.
This also triggered a wave of ticket refunds for "Heart's Journey".
Even the person in charge of "Yu Guang" called to subtly ask Chang Hui whether the matter was true.
Chang Hui could only give a vague answer.
Chang Hui has been in this industry for many years and has some connections, but after asking many journalist friends, no one knows where this news came from or who bought the trending topic.
The only thing that can be found is that the person behind the initial marketing account was a hater of Zhao Ying.
If the news was exposed because Liang Shi and Zhao Ying were close, how did she know about Liang Shi and Liang Xinran's affair?
And they even had the audacity to expose it, which immediately went viral on social media within an hour.
This is definitely on a large scale.
The reason given for bringing Liang Shi into this mess in retaliation against Zhao Ying is valid, but the logic is flawed.
While Liang Shi was still searching for the reason, Xu Qingzhu had already made progress and finally locked onto the target—Sun Chengcheng.
Liang Shi: "..."
Lu Jiayi told Xu Qingzhu about this, and Lu Jiayi was able to find out because her fiancé, Fu You, was a top student who graduated with a degree in information technology. She directly hacked the Weibo account that broke the news and, without any morals, broke into the other party's computer to get the chat history, and then identified the person by searching the account.
Of course, Lu Jiayi didn't say that to Xu Qingzhu.
Lu Jiayi only told Xu Qingzhu the news. When Xu Qingzhu asked her how she knew, she hesitated for two seconds before saying, "Fu You had someone investigate."
"Thanks." Xu Qingzhu didn't bother to ask any more questions. "I'll have Liang Shi treat you to dinner another day."
Lu Jiayi chuckled: "It's nothing."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Liang Xinran had just finished recording a new episode of "Let's Go Now".
She had been on the seaboat for less than an hour, and had been busy from morning till night without even having a hot meal.
Having finally returned to Haizhou, she went straight to a hotel owned by Dong Heng.
As soon as the meal was served, before she could even pick up her chopsticks and take a bite, she heard a sharp shout: "Liang Xinran!"
Liang Xinran's hand trembled, and the dishes fell onto the table. She looked up at the doorway.
Liang Xinhe walked towards her angrily, slammed one hand on the table, and said coldly, "I really underestimated you."
Liang Xinran frowned slightly, her eyes filled with fear, and she pursed her lips gently, "Second Brother... what are you saying?"
"Still pretending?" Liang Xinhe sneered. "Ashi has already left the Liang family and is no longer using the Liang family's resources, nor is she threatening your status as the third young lady of the Liang family. Why are you so determined to kill her?"
Liang Xinran: "?"
"I don't understand." Liang Xinran asked in confusion, "Second brother, what do you mean?"
Snap—
Liang Xinhe slammed his hand on the table again, making the bowls and plates rattle and make a sound.
The private room was utterly silent. Liang Xinran's breath caught in her throat. She looked up at Liang Xinhe, and after a moment, she finally stammered, "I...I..."
"What do you mean, 'you'?" Liang Xinhe sneered. "I really thought you were saying you wanted to enter the entertainment industry to find something you like. I've done everything I could to help you. Even though your older brother wouldn't let you do it, I protected you. I treated you like a little sister. And what about you?"
Liang Xinran was stunned, and tears streamed down her face.
Liang Xinhe glanced at her sideways: "Big brother is right, you came back just to fight for it."
"What's there to fight for?" Liang Xinran said aggrievedly. "What can I fight for by entering the entertainment industry? The family business belongs to you and my older brother. I've never even dreamed of it. I know Mom and Dad feel guilty towards me, so they want to make it up to me, but I don't want to see you unhappy because of me. I've moved out, and I can support myself. I already had a management contract. I'm just continuing my old life. What did I do wrong?"
After Liang Xinran finished speaking with tears streaming down her face, she raised her hand to wipe away her tears, turned around and pretended to be strong, but her shoulders were shaking, and she looked like she was crying.
Liang Xinhe's heart softened at her words, and for a moment she didn't know what to do.
Liang Xinran sniffed. "I know I'm not good enough for the Liang family. The education you received from childhood is different from mine. My family is poor, and I can only rely on myself. I never thought about doing anything for the Liang family, but all I wanted all these years was my parents. What did I do wrong? I finally managed to give my previously ruined life a little bit of luster, and I finally don't have to suffer from hunger anymore. I can finally leave that small village and come to the big city. This is the path I was fighting for with all my might. How come it's now that I'm the one fighting for it?"
Liang Xinran smiled bitterly: "Does it mean I have to leave Haizhou and go back to my previous bleak life? I don't understand."
Liang Xinhe was speechless for a moment.
Liang Xinran sighed softly: "I wish you were just ordinary office workers. All I want is a home, but things aren't simple right now, and I feel like there's nothing I can do. If you think it won't end until I go back to where I used to be, then I'll go back."
Liang Xinran sat down again, turned around, picked up her spoon to eat, and lowered her eyes.
Although her voice was choked with emotion, she tried to appear strong: "I will explain to my parents and I won't involve you. As for the entertainment industry, I will no longer work there, and I will delete my Weibo account. From now on... I will go home and farm."
Liang Xinhe panicked immediately: "That's not what I meant."
"I know everything." Liang Xinran swallowed her food but choked, looking miserable and pitiful. She said, "I really, really will never appear in front of you again, or even in Haizhou City. My life will probably end in that small village. This is my fate, and I accept it."
Liang Xinhe was at a loss for words.
Originally, they came to question Liang Xinran, but she lost her temper after hearing her words and couldn't say anything.
After a long pause, Liang Xinhe finally asked, "You really didn't do it?"
"I have no idea what happened." Liang Xinran wiped away her tears. "You can say it's me if you want, but even if I say it's not, you won't believe me."
Liang Xinhe: "..."
Liang Xinhe frowned, then answered a phone call. After hanging up, he said awkwardly, "Then you eat first, I'll go investigate."
After Liang Xinhe left, Liang Xinran spat the food she was chewing into the trash can, picked up her phone to check the trending topics, frowned when she saw the first few entries, and immediately changed her number to call Zhang Yangning.
The call was answered quickly, but the other end was noisy.
Liang Xinran angrily retorted, "What are you doing? Who told you to leak this information to the media? Didn't I tell you to wait until I said I would leak it?"
Zhang Yangning's voice was languid, sounding like he'd had too much to drink, "Baby, what's there to be angry about? It wasn't me who caused it."
Liang Xinran: "You might as well drink yourself to death."
Liang Xinran lit a cigarette, and the bluish-gray smoke dissipated in front of her eyes.
"How could I die?" Zhang Yangning chuckled. "You've all seen today's trending topics, right? I didn't do it."
"How could this suddenly come to light? I've already told you, Liang Xinzhou is keeping a close eye on me. He almost got caught red-handed about what happened before. I can't let him find out about my relationship with you, or we're both finished." Liang Xinran was furious: "Have you forgotten how you lost your job?"
"Damn it." Zhang Yangning gritted his teeth in anger just thinking about it, and scoffed, "How long are you going to be afraid of them?"
"I don't know," Liang Xinran said. "Liang Xinzhou is very wary right now. I entered the entertainment industry to lower his guard. By the way, you said you didn't do what happened today, so who did it?"