Chapter 180: Cheng Chen's Counterattack

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The news that Cheng Chen had gone to Gang Sheng to promote "Kung Fu" was keenly picked up by media and fans on both sides of the strait.

After all, this was his first public appearance since the "assault incident."

On the day of the promotion, many media outlets were waiting below the stage; after the event, a swarm of reporters surrounded Cheng Chen and asked:

"What is your take on the assault incident? Are you simply ignoring the other party's threats?"

The Gang Sheng media really were sharp-tongued.

Cheng Chen thought to himself.

But with a smile still on his face, he said:

"Today is the promotion for 'Kung Fu.' I won't be answering questions about my private affairs for now. Please ask about 'Kung Fu' instead. Thank you."

"You dared to come to Gang Sheng, so you must have something to rely on. Do you think Xing Ye will come to your aid? Is that how it is?"

Those reporters clearly had no intention of letting Cheng Chen off the hook, still pestering him with questions nonstop.

Cheng Chen glanced at Zhou Xingchi, whose expression remained stern, and said with a smile:

"The film industry isn't about fighting and killing, nor is it about having someone to rely on or coming to your rescue. Even though I play a gang leader."

"But please rest assured, I am a law-abiding good citizen."

"Are you saying this to send a signal and declare war on Zhang Weijian?"

It seemed these media had no intention of letting Cheng Chen off the hook; no matter what he said, they always steered the topic back to that incident.

Compared to the domestic media's restraint, the Gang Sheng media seemed rather relentless and shamelessly persistent.

A sticky plaster!

Cheng Chen's face darkened, and just as he was about to say something, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.

He turned his head and met Zhou Xingchi's calm gaze. Zhou Xingchi gave him a slight nod, signaling him not to speak.

He himself stepped in front of Cheng Chen, looked at the reporter who had asked the question, and said:

"If you have any questions, you can ask me. Today is the promotion for 'Kung Fu,' and I don't want anyone to ruin it. Give me face, OK?"

Zhou Xingchi's status in Gang Sheng over the years was still very high, especially after he replaced Hong Jinbao during the filming of "Kung Fu."

Going head-to-head with Hong Jinbao and holding his own only further demonstrated his strength.

Especially with New Hui Film Company backing him, his box-office draw and star-making power were evident.

Offend Zhou Xingchi, and in Gang Sheng you'd probably never work in this industry again.

"Understood, Xing Ye."

The reporter said, nodding and bowing obsequiously.

After this little episode, the rest of the interview went much more smoothly.

No one brought up that matter again, and everyone's attitude toward Cheng Chen eased considerably.

On the second day after the interview ended, the major Gang Sheng media outlets published plenty of press releases about "Kung Fu."

But among them, the reports about Cheng Chen were clearly more numerous.

"At the 'Kung Fu' promotion, Cheng Chen dodged questions about the assault incident."

"Does he have the capital to act so arrogant? Xing Ye clearly has a very favorable impression of this mainland lad."

"With Zhou Xingchi's favor, can one walk sideways in the Gang Sheng entertainment circle? Apparently so!"

……

Judging from the press releases these media outlets put out, Gang Sheng residents' attitudes toward what happened at the "Kung Fu" promotion were ambiguous.

But the wording in some media outlets' press releases was impossible not to mull over.

Of course, these were only the bigger media outlets, which, out of deference to Zhou Xingchi's status in Gang Sheng, didn't dare be too blunt.

But on some tabloid outlets, there was no such restraint—far more direct!

"The little something between the mainland pretty boy and Xing Ye."

"Middle-aged and still single Xing Ye suspected of coming out; Xing Ye shields his lover on the day of the 'Kung Fu' promotion."

"No wonder the mainland lad acts so fearless in Gang Sheng—he's got an old flame 'behind' him!"

Gang Sheng media have always been known for their "venomous tongues," especially these obscure tabloids.

Each press release they put out was simply laughably absurd.

Headlines like the later "International Zhang possessed by the God of Literature," "Le Ji'er the bomb-disposal expert," and "A Dick shows off her microwave" have already been dug up by countless enthusiastic netizens to worship.

Seeing all these dazzling pieces of gossip, the melon-eating masses certainly had a good laugh.

But Cheng Chen, as one of the parties involved, couldn't laugh no matter what.

After all, having the media fabricate and spread rumors about both his work and his life was really hard to take, especially since most of the reports were so cutting.

In fact, the controversy over Gang Sheng media having no bottom line had already been around for a long time.

But one had to admit, they truly had pushed the spirit of entertainment to the extreme.

So, even though Gang Sheng media often launched "shamelessly" personal attacks, countless netizens were still happy to buy in.

This incident was no different. When these press releases were flying everywhere, Cheng Chen was quite depressed.

Zhou Xingchi said with a chuckle:

"Don't take it too much to heart. Anyone who develops their career in the Gang Sheng entertainment circle will always be smeared by these people."

Watching Cheng Chen constantly scrolling through various online news reports and browsing forums reading those vicious comments, Zhou Xingchi offered some words of advice.

Cheng Chen said with a bitter smile:

"I understand, but these people…"

Cheng Chen didn't finish his sentence, but his hands kept moving, still browsing the comments on the forum.

Just as he was about to close the forum, he suddenly saw an account named "A Dick" had updated a post.

A Dick: "Glass of Emotion"...

Cheng Chen stared at the computer screen in disbelief and asked:

"Zhou, Zhou Director, do you know A Dick?"

Zhou Xingchi looked puzzled and said:

"A Dick... isn't that Zhang Weijian's alias? Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?"

"Take a look at this."

Zhou Xingchi walked over. Cheng Chen pointed at the screen; as he refreshed the page, he checked A Dick's account again.

The newly posted blog post vanished instantly.

"Deleted?"

Cheng Chen frowned, muttering to himself.

"What did he post?"

Zhou Xingchi asked curiously.

"Glass of Emotion."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xingchi froze for a moment, then his expression turned grave.

"I understand."

Zhou Xingchi narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly.

Glass, a slang term for BL, generally refers to gay men.

This term has been a synonym for gay men in Tai Sheng society since the 1970s and 1980s.

The fragility and transparency of glass metaphorically reflect how the media constantly peeks at the fragile social identity of gay men.

It also implies the need for dim nightfall as camouflage, due to certain physical and visual descriptions associated with glass.

The term carries strong discriminatory connotations and is rarely used in today's society.

As for the song "Glass of Emotion," it is a love song released by Brother Zhang Guorong.

Using glass to express fragile love...

A Dick is Zhang Weijian's alias—a fact widely known in Gang Sheng.

On that day, not only Cheng Chen saw the post, but many media outlets and fans saw it too.

Originally a baseless rumor, the entire incident instantly changed after being endorsed and approved by "certain people."

Previously, major media outlets had hesitantly and cautiously reported on Cheng Chen and Zhou Xingchi's affair.

Now that it had been "confirmed"—in other words, a target had been identified—the media immediately went wild publishing every detail about the two.

Of course, before publishing each article, these outlets slyly pinned screenshots of A Dick's post at the top of their reports.

Meaning: This has nothing to do with me—I'm merely following Zhang Weijian's logic.

Isn't that legal?

Although Zhang Weijian's side deleted the blog post immediately,

media outlets with sharp news instincts had already taken screenshots the moment they saw it.

As the incident grew larger, A Dick—i. e., Zhang Weijian—was forced to issue a statement, roughly stating:

The post "Glass of Emotion" on A Dick's account had no other meaning; it was merely a simple tribute to Brother Zhang Guorong.

Moreover, it was not operated by Zhang Weijian himself, but by an intern assistant who made a mistake; the intern has since been fired.

He also apologized to Cheng Chen and Zhou Xingchi for the trouble caused, and so on...

This is a classic "Temporary Worker" scapegoat maneuver.

Having seen too many such tricks, Cheng Chen was no longer surprised.

Even though he thought this way, Cheng Chen had no intention of letting him off...

At that moment, Cheng Chen suddenly received a call from Li Zhenyu at the Huaxia Blog headquarters in Jingcheng.

"General Cheng, the Huaxia Weibo website has been fully built and is ready to go live anytime."

"So fast?"

Cheng Chen was slightly surprised.

"Ever since you first proposed the concept of Weibo, we've already been planning and building this product.

Based on your vision, all project personnel have been recruited, Boss. Huaxia Blog's scale is no longer small.

With Huaxia Blog as the framework and foundation, creating Huaxia Weibo is incredibly simple.

We originally planned to launch it within a month as a surprise for you, but it was delayed by nearly three months."

Li Zhenyu spoke words of apology, but his tone brimmed with pride.

"Good job, General Li. You've done well. I'll treat your team to extra chicken legs."

Cheng Chen's previously gloomy mood instantly lifted.

"No need for chicken legs, General Cheng. How's your situation over there?"

"Fine, don't worry. By the way, how's the mobile app development coming along?"

Cheng Chen asked.

"The mobile app side is also complete and ready to launch simultaneously. This development was split into two teams.

Especially the mobile team—we invited three tech giants who contributed greatly to the rapid completion."

Li Zhenyu said with a smile.

"Impressive. You've worked hard. When I return to Beijing, I'll reward you properly. Set the launch time for exactly midnight tonight—the servers are all up to you. Don't let me down again with another crash!"

Cheng Chen said seriously.

"Don't worry, after the impact from General Manager Cheng's fans, we now have a mature plan in place to deal with these sudden situations."

Li Zhenyu assured.

"Good!"

……

A full day had passed since A Dick's post, and the media were in an uproar.

But on Cheng Chen's side there wasn't a peep, which made many people eager for his response.

Anyone could see this was aimed at Cheng Chen, and the current public opinion was extremely unfavorable to him.

As for Zhou Xingchi, his status was high, so when the media opened fire they only mentioned him symbolically, without devoting too much ink.

Even so, Zhou Xingchi still used New Hui Film Company's account to warn those troublemaking media outlets and Zhang Weijian.

But Zhang Weijian's side kept up the same sanctimonious talk—seemingly defending himself, but in reality pushing all the blame onto Cheng Chen.

Shortly after New Hui Film Company's warning was issued, some of Zhang Weijian's close friends in the Gang Sheng circle began to stand up for him.

"Why make things hard for one of our own over a mainlander? Xing Ye is a magnanimous man, and A Jian didn't do it on purpose."

"It was the staff's mistake, not A Jian's fault. Xing Ye doesn't need to be like this."

"This mainlander is really a troublemaker. I suggest the mainlander leave Gang Sheng!"

A huge wave of Zhang Weijian's industry friends began to stand up for him, and the media, which had just calmed down a bit, immediately boiled over again.

Good lord, this is a constellation of stars waging war on Cheng Chen!

Cheng Chen was being completely passive and taking the abuse, especially from these artists standing up for Zhang Weijian.

Their fans hurled even more unspeakable insults at Cheng Chen.

Cheng Chen also had fans in Gang Sheng, but against these people's fans they were no match at all.

At least in numbers they couldn't compare……

In the early hours of the morning, China Weibo and Mobile Weibo went online at the same time.

Cheng Chen updated a post on his Huaxia Blog:

"I've edited out the whole story of this incident. If you don't have a computer nearby, you can also view it on your phone."

Below the post were two links—one for PC, one for mobile.

A note here: before smartphones became widespread, feature phones could access the internet through websites.

Feature phones with 2G mobile data could open certain websites through mobile web pages to read news and view pictures.

If needed, users could also download required software through Java.

Similar to Mobile QQ 2004, Mobile Weibo, and the like—users could go online, log in to the software, and use it.

Although the functions weren't rich, the main business could all be completed.

Also, Nokia's Symbian System had already debuted. As the old big brother of mobile phones, the Symbian System had received a great deal of追捧 the moment it came out.

Only when phones had an operating system could they truly be counted among smartphones……

Cheng Chen's ordeal in Gang Sheng had infuriated his fans back home, who flooded the internet posting furious tirades against Zhang Weijian.

At the same time, they had also been keeping close tabs on Cheng Chen's latest developments.

In the early hours of the morning, when Cheng Chen's blog was updated, it drew countless viewers.

When people clicked into that PC link, they were immediately stunned.

A clean interface, abundant and convenient function keys, and features like some kind of trending search list.

When they clicked into the link, they saw the four big characters "China Weibo."

At the same time, what greeted their eyes was a long passage of text edited by Cheng Chen, accompanied by pictures and video.

The neat, tidy layout instantly inspired goodwill in the viewer.

"China Weibo? What's the relationship with Huaxia Blog?"

"This China Weibo is fun. The interface looks way better than Huaxia Blog's."

"Hey, what do these 'like' and 'follow' things mean?"

"Guys, please stay on topic, will you? We're here to cheer for the boss—what are you doing!"

"What the person above said is right—we're here to support the boss. Don't go off topic!"

……