Chapter 107: The Scam Ring

"Old Xu, when you collaborate with Liu Tianxian in the future, don't you dare forget your brother. I've been a die-hard fan of Liu Tianxian for twenty years; I just want an autographed photo." Sheng Bo said with a lewd grin while digging at his crotch.

"Miss Liu is only twenty years old this year; you were a fan of hers back when she was still a sperm, weren't you?"

Xu Heng said speechlessly, "Besides, what she posted is just polite talk. If she really wanted to collaborate with you, she would have called you directly by now. Would she really need to waste words with you online?"

"That's true."

Sheng Bo nodded, agreeing with Xu Heng's assessment.

What kind of status does Miss Liu have? Would she even look twice at a newcomer in the entertainment industry like Xu Heng, who has only written two songs?

Even taking a step back, even if she did fancy Xu Heng's creative ability, her mother, whose eyes are higher than the sky, certainly wouldn't.

So, this forwarded comment was most likely posted by Miss Liu's operations team on her behalf, and it has nothing to do with her personally.

After browsing through some online comments about himself and some news related to him, Xu Heng closed his computer with little interest.

The things those celebrities post are all flattery, usually in a fixed format.

The older generation of singers from the last century say things like, "The songs written by young people are excellent, it really touched this old senior," or "With young people like you in the Chinese music scene, we can rest easy."

Then there is another group, the emerging singers of the 21st century like Zhou Dong and his peers; their tone is softer, asking if there's a chance to request a song from Xu Heng in the future, saying they admire Xu Heng's talent, blah blah blah.

Aside from these big-name celebrities, there are the gossiping netizens; most are praising Xu Heng's new songs for being good, while a small minority are peddling conspiracy theories that Xu Heng is a product packaged by an entertainment company.

The hot news topics manufactured previously were nothing more than packaging tactics by an entertainment company, just like Dao Lang back in the day; Xu Heng is just the new generation of "original singer" pushed to the forefront.

Perhaps his songs weren't written by him at all, but bought for him by the entertainment company behind the scenes, all to build his persona.

To this, Xu Heng could only smile and offer no opinion.

His songs were indeed not written by him, but in 2007, who would know?

And the various speculative opinions from gossiping netizens in the entertainment industry are a normal phenomenon; this exists in every era, it's just more obvious in the 2007 era where the internet is not yet well-developed.

Even the magician Liu Qian, who once won the highest international honors, wasn't he later maliciously slandered by fabricated public opinion all over the internet?

Time will eventually prove everything; as long as Xu Heng continues to write high-quality songs, these opinions will collapse on their own.

After closing the computer, Xu Heng looked toward Cheng Huaiyu and asked, "Cheng Ge, who are you chatting with so happily?"

Sheng Bo shook his head: "Don't know, he's been typing at the computer ever since he got back. Probably his ex-girlfriend."

In just a few short days, Dan Yuyue had already gone from girlfriend to ex-girlfriend. Xu Heng couldn't help but click his tongue after hearing this, thinking that Dan Yuyue was quite decisive—when she said break up, she really broke up.

"Cheng Ge, want a Coke? I'm going next door, I'll bring you one." Sheng Bo said toward Cheng Huaiyu.

Their neighbors in Room 523 had opened a small shop since their freshman year, and even close to midnight, one could buy snacks, instant noodles, drinks, and other things, facilitating the nightlife of the dorms in their building.

"Bring me one." Cheng Huaiyu picked up two coins from the table and tossed them to him, saying without looking back.

"Let me see which little sister has our Cheng Ge so deeply infatuated." Sheng Bo chuckled and leaned over, only to see that the name on the chat box was not Dan Yuyue, but someone noted as 'Senior xxx from University of Science and Technology'. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who is this?"

"Wingman."

"?"

Cheng Huaiyu explained: "It's a group that specializes in creating opportunities to help you pursue girls. They have an entire club, with both men and women, providing various package services, such as playing the villain so you can play the hero saving the beauty, or helping to track the target to scout their daily schedule and hobbies, creating chances for you to have 'accidental' encounters, and so on."

"Do they charge money?" Sheng Bo asked.

"Of course they charge money, they aren't running a charity," Cheng Huaiyu said as a matter of course, then added, "But they told me that if I don't succeed, they'll give a full refund."

"How come it feels a bit like a scam ring."

"Impossible, I've seen this senior's student ID; he is indeed a fourth-year student at the University of Science and Technology."

"You can just take a photo of a student ID, it's easy to fake, how can you take that seriously!" Sheng Bo said.

Reminded by him, Cheng Huaiyu hesitated for a few short seconds, but soon shook his head and insisted: "They even have a club location, right inside the University of Science and Technology, it shouldn't be fake. If nothing else, I'll go take a look tomorrow, won't I know then?"

"Cheng Ge, I still think it's not right..."

"I have my own judgment, I'm not an idiot!" Cheng Huaiyu said with slight dissatisfaction, "Go buy the water, don't worry about me."

Hearing this, Sheng Bo could only sigh and leave, asking no more.

However, their conversation caught Xu Heng's attention. He moved his chair to Cheng Huaiyu's side and looked at the chat history between him and that fourth-year senior.

"You even sent Dan Yuyue's photo over?" Xu Heng frowned and said.

Half a leg was exposed at the top of the chat box, long and fair. The sender was Cheng Huaiyu; there was no need to guess, it was a daily photo of Dan Yuyue.

Cheng Huaiyu nodded: "They said they need a photo of the other person to provide better service, otherwise it would be easy to make mistakes if they don't even know who the target is."

"How much money do they want?"

"Three thousand."

Hearing this sensitive number, Xu Heng's brow furrowed even deeper.

Perhaps Cheng Huaiyu didn't know what three thousand meant, but he knew clearly that in his past life, the work he did most in publicity was anti-scam awareness.

Legally, only amounts over three thousand yuan constitute criminal liability, the kind that can be filed as a case.

If it's under three thousand yuan, it can also be filed, but whether the police will help you investigate is another matter. Basically, they won't help you get it back. In this situation, you can only blame your own stupidity for not seeing through the scammer's methods sooner.

In 2007, scam methods were still relatively low-level and could be distinguished at a glance.

Seeing this, Xu Heng was already certain that the other party was a scam ring. However, Cheng Huaiyu's straightforward mind certainly wouldn't believe it, so he didn't stop Cheng Huaiyu from sending the money. After all, a loss is a lesson; suffering a big loss once to help him gain some wisdom was a good thing.

But the fact that the other party was also asking Cheng Huaiyu for photos, ID numbers, and such meant there were some malicious intentions.

Xu Heng wanted him to be more cautious, so he patted his shoulder and said: "Cheng Ge, don't leak too much personal information. If they ask for ID numbers or student ID numbers, absolutely do not give them. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Yet Cheng Huaiyu couldn't even take in these harsh words, questioning: "Can anything happen just by giving them a few photos and an ID number? I don't believe it."