Of course, there are also some people who, after seeing the recent trending topics about Lin Leyao's scandals, have raised their own questions—are you all convinced that Lin Leyao likes girls? Why are all her rumored boyfriends women?
When faced with these netizens' doubts, some people began to subtly remind them.
"Don't you think Lin Leyao's attitude towards girls and boys is different after all these years in the industry?"
"Don't you feel that Lin Leyao's interactions with women are a bit strange?"
"Perhaps, there is something in this world called Jida?"
The entertainment industry, which has been quite calm lately, has been attracting attention entirely thanks to various news stories about Lin Leyao. The media, which had been idle for a long time, were all swarming around Lin Leyao's related matters all day long, like mosquitoes that had just tasted blood.
Jiao Yinxiang's identity had barely been revealed when media outlets, eager to gain an advantage, contacted Huanling Group.
The imagined obstacles did not materialize, and Jiao Yinxiang quickly agreed to be interviewed by reporters.
Jiao Yinxiang responded to reporters rationally: "Ms. Lin and I do know each other, but we are not in a romantic relationship as reported online. I don't know why such rumors have spread."
The reporter was very proactive in telling Jiao Yinxiang everything that was happening on the internet that day.
After listening to the reporter's detailed description, Jiao Yinxiang's expression changed slightly: "I think many people misunderstand the acting profession. Although they are public figures, this is an unavoidable attribute of the profession. People certainly have the freedom to discuss them, but this freedom is not without limits. Freedom without legal and moral frameworks is crazy and dangerous. The online discussions about Ms. Lin have now exceeded the appropriate boundaries and have caused her harm. I think this harm should stop here."
Regarding the rumors circulating online about Ms. Lin and me, I know I'm not qualified to comment, but I still want to speak up for Ms. Lin. Your opinion that she's dating a wealthy man is a sign of disrespect. Not only me, but even those two other female CEOs—if Ms. Lin hadn't been willing to befriend them, I believe she wouldn't have cared at all even if they had approached her. Ms. Lin is wealthy herself; why would she need to rely on a lowly accountant like me? Those online comments about her dating a wealthy man seem rather ridiculous to me.”
The reporter was stunned for a moment after hearing Jiao Yinxiang's words. Having already answered, Jiao Yinxiang did not want to argue with the reporter any further. She said, "I have recorded the entire interview, and I hope that when you publish the news, you will not arbitrarily edit and splice my answers. Thank you."
Jiao Yinxiang immediately reported the matter to Ji Hongchen after the interview.
Since Ji Hongchen fell seriously ill, he has been working from home. He goes to the company once a month for a routine meeting, and the rest of the time, the heads of various departments in the company go to Ji’s residence to report on matters.
After hearing Jiao Yinxiang's phone call, Ji Hongchen was so angry that his temples throbbed. He never expected to be bullied right at his doorstep.
He has now learned to use the internet on his own. He quickly took out his phone, logged onto Weibo, and searched for Lin Leyao's name. Soon, various news articles about Lin Leyao appeared.
After seeing Xin Ying's Weibo post, Ji Hongchen's tense expression relaxed considerably. However, upon seeing Liu Fang's reply, he snorted angrily. Jiao Yinxiang's interview had now been released, and Ji Hongchen listened to it and nodded silently.
Ji Hongchen read through all the comments from netizens and laughed in anger when he saw the comments that Lin Leyao was a gold digger.
These people are very prejudiced against female celebrities in the entertainment industry, and they always say that they want to marry into wealthy families by marrying rich second-generation men.
Does his granddaughter need to marry a rich man?! She is rich herself! She is a wealthy woman herself!
Ji Hongchen angrily dialed a number: "Get ready for me..."
After hanging up the phone, Ji Hongchen called Lin Leyao.
Ji Hongchen's voice suddenly softened: "Nannan, are you still at the company?"
"Grandpa, I'll be back in a bit. Is there something you need?"
"I want to eat sesame oil chicken from Nancheng. Can you buy me some when you go home?"
Lin Leyao smiled and said, "Okay, the water chestnut cake from the shop next door is also delicious, I'll buy some too."
Ji Hongchen laughed and said, "Okay, I love eating this!"
After hanging up the phone, Ji Hongchen felt much better seeing that his granddaughter's mood was not affected.
He sat silently in the study, waiting for the things he had arranged to be ready.
Lin Leyao hung up the phone. She was still in the company's meeting room. Xiao Yan saw another negative trending topic about her and finally couldn't help but go out to let the staff deal with it.
With only a month left in their collaboration, it's admirable that Xiao Yan is still busy helping him deal with all sorts of messy things during this final period.
Every film and television company has its own marketing accounts. With such a large-scale marketing campaign today, it's easy to find out who's behind it if you put your mind to it.
Xiao Yan now wants to contact those marketing accounts to find out who is behind this large-scale smear campaign on trending topics.
Even though Lin Leyao already knew that Xie Kai's mother was behind it all, she didn't stop Xiao Yan from doing things for her.
Now only Lin Leyao was left in the meeting room. The large and spacious meeting room was very quiet, and a grandfather clock in the corner was ticking away.
The crisp ticking of the second hand was like rhythmic drumbeats striking Lin Leyao's head, questioning her thoughts at that moment.
After pondering for a long time, Lin Leyao finally made a decision.
On Weibo, Jiao Yinxiang's short phone interview was released in its entirety, and everyone's attention was focused on her last sentence.
Just as everyone was wondering, Lin Leyao posted a Weibo post.
"I originally wanted to achieve my dreams through my own hard work, but reality is full of obstacles that don't allow me to do so. Since everyone seems so eager to discuss me, I'll tell you everything!"
Judging from the caption alone, everyone thought Lin Leyao was going to go public with her relationship, but everyone was stunned when they saw the photos she posted.
The photo shows Lin Leyao with an elderly man.
Lin Leyao introduced them one by one in the comments:
"The old man to my left in the photo is named Ji Hongchen, and he is my maternal grandfather."
"The background of our photos is the old-style luxury villa area in S City that you are discussing today. My home is located here."
"Sister Yinxiang is the Finance Director of Huanling Group, and the Chairman of Huanling Group is my maternal grandfather, which means that Huanling Group is my family's business."
"Some people are spreading rumors that I'm dating multiple women at the same time, and some are spreading rumors that I'm dating a rich guy. Let me tell you, I'm rich and I don't care about these things!"
Shortly after Lin Leyao posted the message, the official Weibo account of Huanling Group reposted it, as if they were standing up for their young lady.
Many netizens raised questions in the comments section of the group's Weibo post.
"This is the company's account. Have you considered the impact of using the official account to support Lin Leyao for your own selfish reasons?"
The account owner, fearless, replied directly: "Ms. Lin Leyao is the sole heir to our group's chairman. She will be our group's chairman in the future, and it is our responsibility to protect her interests and rights! Our legal department has collected evidence of all the rumors and malicious attacks against Ms. Lin on the Internet and will formally file a lawsuit at a later date. Please stay tuned!"
Afterwards, all subsidiaries of Huanling Group also reposted this Weibo post, and Lin Leyao's Weibo repost section was filled with blue V marks, making her look particularly imposing.
The trending topic #LinLeyao, heir to Huanling Group# marked the end of all the negative trending topics about Lin Leyao during this period, and also brought all the events of this period together to their climax.
No one would have guessed that the real identity of a female celebrity in the entertainment industry was actually the heir to a leading domestic enterprise.
This identity astonished everyone.
After Lin Leyao posted that Weibo post, her phone kept ringing and she kept receiving messages.
Most of the messages were greetings and exclamations from people in the entertainment industry who had added each other on WeChat but hadn't really chatted. Everyone was shocked and asked, "Le Yao, are you really the heir to the Huanling Group?"
Lin Leyao did not reply and turned off her phone.
At the Ji residence, Ji Hongchen already knew what Xie Kai's mother had done. He never expected that the daughter-in-law of a friend with whom he had a close relationship would harm his granddaughter in this way without his knowledge.
With a cold expression, Ji Hongchen dialed a number: "Brother Xie, I'm treating everyone to dinner tomorrow. Are you free to come?"
"It's nothing, I just have something I'd like to ask your second daughter-in-law for advice on."
"Yes, that's my little granddaughter. You even held her when she first came home! She's not coming tomorrow, so it'll just be the two of us old brothers having dinner together! Okay, see you there!"
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Author's Note:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 19:20:20 on May 14, 2022 and 16:43:56 on May 15, 2022!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: 55157345 and CM靇1;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 105
Soon, Xiao Yan ran back to the conference room, looking at Lin Leyao, who was sitting leisurely on the sofa, with a shocked expression.
She had been Lin Leyao's agent for five years, handling and arranging all of Lin Leyao's work and life matters, big and small. In all these years, she had never realized that Lin Leyao was the little princess of the Ji family and had such a wealthy maternal grandfather!
No wonder that when she first became Lin Leyao's manager, as a newcomer, she was able to make requests for a lot of private time and hoped that her private life would not be disturbed.
Every time Lin Leyao returned to S City after work, she never rode in the nanny van with them. Instead, a special car would come to pick her up. She thought it was Lin Leyao's family coming to pick her up, but she didn't expect that it was actually the car arranged by Grandpa Ji!
No wonder Lin Leyao remained calm when others bullied her and spread so many rumors a few years ago; it turns out she had connections and resources and was not afraid of them at all.
She never expected that she would only find out about all this when Lin Leyao's contract with the company was about to end.
Xiao Yan stared intently at Lin Leyao, who sat quietly on the sofa. She had a premonition that Lin Leyao's peak was about to arrive, and her most brilliant period in the entertainment industry was about to begin. Whether this opportunity arose from the recent series of negative trending topics targeting her, or from her public announcement of her identity as the sole heir of the Huanling Group, whatever the reason, Xiao Yan could feel that Lin Leyao's era was about to begin.
Although she is already married, she is not even 26 years old this year, which is the most beautiful, rational, emotionally intelligent and experienced period for a female entertainer.
Lin Leyao noticed that Xiao Yan had been staring at her blankly since she came in. She looked at Xiao Yan for a while and then apologized, "I'm sorry, Sister Yan, I've been keeping this from you all this time."
Xiao Yan's thoughts were instantly pulled back to reality by Lin Leyao's voice. She immediately waved her hand and said, "It's okay, I don't mind. I was originally in a hurry to deal with these negative trending topics, but now it seems that I don't need to. You've almost finished dealing with the contract matters. How about we go out for dinner tonight?"
Lin Leyao smiled and replied, "Sister Yan, I'm going home to have dinner with my grandfather tonight. How about tomorrow? I'll treat you tomorrow; I'll send you the location later!"
Xiao Yan nodded and said, "Okay, since you want to go home, go now. There's nothing going on at the company right now."
Lin Leyao nodded, got up, and left the conference room.
Opposite the conference room was an open-plan office area. Through the transparent glass wall, everyone could immediately see Lin Leyao coming out of the conference room.
The staff who had been secretly observing the conference room door quickly looked away and hurriedly pretended to handle their work.
Lin Leyao glanced at it and then looked away. Just as she reached the elevator, someone walked up beside her.
"I never imagined you were a rich girl!"
Lin Leyao turned her head and saw Mao Xinxin, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.
After a long time, Mao Xinxin changed her hairstyle, from her previous big wavy curls to long, straight black hair with a princess cut, and wore a black modified short cheongsam.
Lin Leyao noticed that she had recently had plastic surgery again. Her face had changed a lot compared to before, but there was no puffiness on her face, and she looked much better than before.
After looking away, Lin Leyao replied casually, "Long time no see."
Seemingly surprised that Lin Leyao greeted her first, Mao Xinxin's face showed a moment of astonishment. She quickly composed herself, coughed to clear her throat, and said, "I heard that your contract with the company expired and you're not renewing it?"
Lin Leyao gave a faint "hmm".
Mao Xinxin continued, "I used to dislike you because you always had this aloof look on your face, looking down on everyone, as if you were a lotus flower in the mud and we were the mud, you so pure and we so dirty. You don't know, it wasn't just me who disliked you for not agreeing to things or giving people face; many people in the industry looked down on you and didn't like you. I originally thought you would completely fall from grace this time, but I didn't expect you to have such a powerful background. Now you're even more successful. Aren't many people who used to give you the cold shoulder now frantically messaging you to try and build connections? You're so lucky!"
Mao Xinxin laughed heartily: "It seems I'm unlikely to see the opportunity to expose your aloofness, but I'm quite happy about it. Now that you're leaving the company, many of its resources will fall into my hands, and I won't have to worry about not having good resources. Thinking about it, I should apologize to you here. I was wrong to call you a hypocrite before; you certainly have the right to be aloof! We won't be working in the same company anymore, and I guess we'll rarely have the chance to meet again. Let's go our separate ways and never see each other again!"
After listening to Mao Xinxin's long speech, Lin Leyao remained silent for a while. For the first time, she patiently spoke to Mao Xinxin: "You or all of you think I'm aloof and don't give you face because I don't want to attend your gatherings, because I don't want to say flattering things when I'm with you. You think that not being like you makes me aloof? Have you ever considered that I don't like attending gatherings because I can't drink, and I can't stay in noisy places for long? You like attending those parties so much, is it really because you like them? My unwillingness to say flattering things doesn't mean I'm unwilling to give face. Face is something you earn yourself. If someone doesn't respect me, I don't need to give them face either. Saying you won't drink but still urging others to drink, acting crazy at the table and making others drink with you, as if you've never seen a woman before, your eyes glued to your chest the moment you see her—do you think this kind of person deserves respect, deserves my face?"
"There are many more such things, you know them even if I don't go into details. In a circle, being different from most people, not following the crowd, not doing the same things as you, makes you what you call aloof? Mao Xinxin, you've learned to read people's expressions at the dinner table, and to call on friends at parties. Is this your original personality? Do you like it this way?"
After hearing this, Mao Xinxin silently took out a cigarette from her bag, took a deep drag, and gradually calmed down.
She chuckled and said, "If only I had a rich grandfather, I would have the means to be myself. Whether you choose to stay true to yourself or I choose to go with the flow, the goal is the same: to make ourselves more comfortable... Okay, that's enough for now. I won't see you downstairs."