On Xu Tang’s side, the first person to clearly take a side was He Xin.
【I believe in Xu Tang. 1. I believe in Xu Tang’s professional quality and character. 2. Xu Tang has no conflict of interest or benefit relationship with Yu Lun. He joined this program entirely because of Shen Jiajia’s invitation, so whether Yu Lun wins or loses has nothing to do with him. 3. From the arrangement, it can be heard that Xu Tang indeed put in effort; it is clear he was thinking about Yu Lun. It was Yu Lun himself who did not cherish it. Now that he has been eliminated, he starts finding all kinds of excuses to shift blame. 4. Let me say something offensive: among all the mentors, Xu Tang’s status is indeed the highest. But this does not mean the program team will listen to his manipulation. In terms of status and experience, all the mentors present are Xu Tang’s seniors and have more authority than him. There is no reason everyone would listen to Xu Tang’s opinion. So Yu Lun being eliminated is because of poor performance, not any other reason. 5. The program is a live broadcast. It is impossible for black-box manipulation to appear in such a short time due to one person’s preference and still not be noticed by the live audience, so the black-box claim does not hold. That is all. Actually everyone knows in their hearts that Yu Lun is blaming others for his own failure, which is really ugly.】
He Xin and Xu Tang were friends; this was known by their fans.
The relationship between the two fan groups was also good, they had never fought each other, and were always united against outsiders.
Originally, Xin fans were still observing, only watching Tang fans fighting Yu fans. Now that their idol had spoken—and what he said was indeed reasonable—a portion of Xin fans also joined the battle, and began to organize and collectively attack Yu fans.
He Xin looked at this development and felt very satisfied. He threw his phone aside and went to wash up.
He had gone to bed early yesterday—well, to be honest, he had rolled into bed early with Yue Yan.
So he only saw the news after waking up today. He even watched yesterday’s official cut; the more he watched, the more he felt Yu Lun was an idiot plus a villain. If he didn’t criticize him, it would be disrespecting himself, so he posted a long Weibo post. He absolutely believed in Xu Tang, and also felt Yu Lun’s elimination was natural, so he did not leave him any face at all. Since Yu Lun wanted to court death, he could only send him on his way—true, good, and beautiful described him perfectly!
Yue Yan looked at him proudly walking naked to wash up and smiled while leaning against the bed, not saying anything. Anyway, even if the sky fell, he would hold it up for He Xin; as long as He Xin was happy, that was enough.
Because of Xin fans joining in, Xu Tang’s side clearly gained stronger fighting power. However, Yu fans had water armies, so for a time they still held the upper hand.
And now the online fight had shifted from whether Xu Tang secretly manipulated Yu Lun to Xu Tang and He Xin fans teaming up to attack a newcomer and not giving the newcomer any way out.
Yu fans also brought up the matter of Xu Tang’s phone call with Zong Xuan on site, saying it was disgusting, and they did not know who he was trying to show off his fake affectionate display to.
Kang Duo looked at the arguments all morning and felt a headache. Sometimes facing this kind of online fighting, she truly felt powerless. Many passersby were just following along and scolding without understanding the situation, simply venting their emotions. After a few finger taps, they vented and then forgot about it, continuing their bright and beautiful melancholy little happiness.
Looking at the time, Kang Duo called Wen Hui. He Xin had already spoken; Zong Xuan had not said a single word. That did not seem good.
Wen Hui naturally knew why Kang Duo was calling, but she really did not want to repeat Zong Xuan’s idiotic words. She could already imagine Kang Duo’s expression of looking at a fool after she finished speaking…
“Oh, Zong Xuan said he wants Xu Tang to contact him. He wants to talk to Xu Tang alone,” Wen Hui said.
Kang Duo raised an eyebrow. “Sister Hui, what does Movie Emperor Zong mean by this?” Xu Tang had not gone home during this period. She did not know whether Zong Xuan had looked for Xu Tang, but she always felt that Zong Xuan’s meaning was not simple.
“How would I know? I told him to post on Weibo, and he said to let Xu Tang come find him to talk,” Wen Hui felt exhausted. She only wanted to be a proper manager, not help Zong Xuan satisfy those bad tastes!
Kang Duo felt that Wen Hui probably could not decide this matter. “Alright. I’ll tell Xu Tang later.”
“Okay.” Wen Hui also sighed in relief. “Also persuade Xu Tang and tell him not to be at odds with Zong Xuan anymore. At times like this, it’s better to be united against outsiders.”
After that dinner together, Wen Hui had already sensed something was wrong. She also asked Zong Xuan, and Zong Xuan said it was just a small disagreement, nothing serious. But in these two visits to Zong Xuan’s place, she had not seen Xu Tang, so she increasingly felt things were not as simple as she thought. But since Zong Xuan would not say, she also had no way. She could not understand—things had clearly been fine before, even if it was an arranged marriage, the relationship had always been stable. How did it suddenly turn like this?
“Alright, I understand,” Kang Duo replied. She agreed, but she would not persuade him. She disliked Xu Tang’s foolish married state, though she did not approve of it; she also felt sorry for him, so she would not help Zong Xuan. If they could divorce, that would be best.
After seeing He Xin’s support, Xu Tang sent him a WeChat message to thank him.
He Xin quickly replied, telling him not to be polite, and to go out for a meal after things calmed down.
Just after finishing with He Xin, Kang Duo’s call came in. She relayed Zong Xuan’s meaning to Xu Tang.
“So that’s how it is…” In fact, he had not intended to ask Zong Xuan for anything. He also did not want to exchange conditions for Zong Xuan’s help in this matter. “Then forget it, we’ll handle it ourselves.”
“Mm, that’s also what I think. But if Zong Xuan keeps not speaking, it might make fans overthink,” Kang Duo said her concern.
“That can’t be helped, let’s leave it for now,” soldier comes to block, water comes to cover.
“Mm, don’t overthink it either, just prepare well for the fan meeting.” This was Xu Tang’s most important work right now.
“Don’t worry.” No matter what, he would not delay work. He was also glad that he had his current achievements, otherwise he would not be this relaxed.
Setting aside the water army’s strength, Yu fans were clearly not a match for Tang fans plus Xin fans. Some people began to break emotionally, feeling that if they could not beat Tang fans, they could scold the program team instead, since the program team and Xu Tang were colluding and eliminated Yu Lun. So an organized “boycott Tianlai Zhi Wang” event began.
At first there were only a hundred or so people, not much of a movement. But someone promoted it in Yu Lun’s fan group, and true fans immediately responded. More and more people joined, and by the time the program team noticed, the topic had already rushed into the top 50 of the trending list.
Now the program team also panicked, feeling like they had lifted a stone only to drop it on their own foot. But the entire team was preparing for the final competition and did not have much energy to deal with this. And if they handled it poorly and affected ratings, who would take responsibility? They had already offended Xu Tang; if they offended others again, would it be worth it?
Zong Xuan waited at home for the entire day, but did not receive a call from Xu Tang.
He finally understood—Xu Tang, though soft-looking, was not someone who easily compromised; he also had his own pride.
Zong Xuan extinguished his cigarette and laughed softly, opening his computer—looks like waiting for Xu Tang to come ask him for help was impossible, but we’ll see in the future; one day, he would strip that little thing’s stubborn pride toward him clean.
So in the evening, Zong Xuan’s Weibo updated—
He reposted the official Weibo clip of “Tianlai Zhi Wang” featuring Yu Lun’s performance—
【I have heard this song in so many versions, this is the worst one. Luckily it wasn’t Xu Tang who taught it, otherwise I would have to talk with Xu Tang.】
Because Zong Xuan had not spoken before, his fans also stayed silent. In their hearts, following their idol’s guidance was their direction. Even if Xu Tang was their idol’s wife, they still cared more about Zong Xuan’s stance.
Now that Zong Xuan had spoken, they could finally enter the field, and they rushed into Yu Lun’s Weibo and joined the battle.
Movie Emperor Zong’s fans had combat power that was not for show; even if Xu Tang and He Xin’s fans combined, they were less than half their strength.
Yu Lun’s side also realized something was wrong and immediately started hiring water armies to shift topics and act pitiful, saying this was the rules of the entertainment industry, that Yu Lun was only telling the truth, and because he touched multiple interests, he was attacked collectively.
Zong Xuan did not hold back either, directly reposting the posts of those leading the trend—
【If Yu Lun had not fabricated things and targeted Xu Tang, would I be wasting time here? If you want to enter this circle, learn how to be a human first.】
“Support Xu Tang! Truly, everyone just wants to bite our Movie Emperor’s wife!”
“Release the dogs! Bite the shameless ones!”
“Seriously, before even entering the circle and already scheming, might as well get out early; the entertainment circle would be cleaner.”
“Hehe, am I the only one who thinks Movie Emperor Zong helping Xu Tang is super cute?”
“Same cute!”
……
Zong Xuan saw that Yu Lun himself still did not speak, and sneered slightly. He stood up and wanted to go get a glass of water.
When he reached the door, he turned back to the room, grabbed his phone, and went downstairs.
He took a cup of warm water and sat on the sofa in the living room, sending Xu Tang a WeChat message—
Zong Xuan: No response?
After a moment, Xu Tang replied: I saw it, thank you.
Zong Xuan: Just that?
Xu Tang: What do you want?
Zong Xuan: You owe me once. I’ll think of how you repay it later. Cannot refuse.
Xu Tang: If you agree to divorce, I can owe you twice.
Zong Xuan: Haha, little thing, if it’s twice you probably won’t be able to repay it in this lifetime. I’m not greedy, no divorce, just once.
Xu Tang: …
Zong Xuan smiled, finished the rest of the water in one breath, leaned back casually on the sofa, and for some reason, his eyes carried a hint of desire.
Xu Tang looked at his phone. This seemed to be the first time he had chatted so much with Zong Xuan on WeChat. His mood, which had originally been somewhat depressed, did not become more depressed because Zong Xuan refused divorce; instead, it became somewhat lighter because of Zong Xuan’s stance.
He had not expected Zong Xuan to speak for him; he thought at most it would be an official repost. He did not expect Zong Xuan to directly step in. But he was thinking that this was because he had not asked Zong Xuan; if he had asked, what would Zong Xuan have posted?
He could not guess, but still felt satisfied. At least Zong Xuan had not ignored him, and that was good enough.