Chapter 50: The Law Can’t Kill You, But I Can
“Crazy, crazy… he’s crazy… he’s risking his life!”
“So his contract was like this… it’s indeed outrageous.”
“No, this isn’t the time to talk about that, what to do, what to do?!”
Shen Qing Yu was also seeing Chi Ye’s contract for the first time. Honestly, he was a bit dumbfounded now too.
——This wasn’t a contract at all; it was practically like the treatment of black slaves before the American War of Independence!
He had known before that Chi Ye had it rough and that there was something fishy with the contract, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
Of course, he was shocked, but right now he felt more disbelief and terror.
Disbelief at Chi Ye’s “suicidal” move, and even more terror at the situation he would face once this contract was exposed!
“What to do… now even a fool can see he never bullied me. This… can this essay be deleted?”
“Delete what? The popularity is so high; if you don’t delete it, fans and some bystanders will still speak up for you. If you delete it, won’t that be like indirectly admitting you lied?”
The agent was also feeling a bit dizzy-headed at the moment, but basic rationality was still there.
Can’t delete it, absolutely can’t delete it.
If they deleted it now, Shen Qing Yu’s star journey would be completely over!
“Then… then what to do?”
Shen Qing Yu was completely panicked and couldn’t handle this kind of emergency at all.
“I’ll ask my uncle… headquarters should react soon and have new moves… don’t panic for now…”
While they were talking, a team member monitoring public opinion popularity in real time suddenly shouted: “Chicken Feet Zhang and Fake Wine Jiang are both live broadcasting!”
Shen Qing Yu: “……”
“What are those two trying to do?! Causing more trouble?! Do they really think we can’t touch them just because they’re out of the industry?”
“Hmm… feels like those two are just purely riding on popularity. They didn’t mention your topic in the live broadcast room.”
The staff was watching the two’s live broadcast room movements.
At this moment, Ji Zhua Zhang and Jia Jiu Jiang were indeed live broadcasting, but they didn’t express any views on this incident. They just stayed silent, playing Rise’s former “group song” on single loop!
And this action was far more effective than them saying anything.
Listening to the loving lyrics in the “group song,” many Rise group fans were filled with righteous indignation, frantically showering the two brothers with reward carnivals!
Jiang Mou, seeing this, even squeezed out tears and covered his face crying.
Still not speaking!
Purely enjoying the traffic.
Chicken Feet Zhang saw Senior Lao’s acting skills were so good that in a panic, he used all his strength like he was constipated trying to poop, but his acting still fell short and he just couldn’t cry.
“……Fuck, these two idiots, eating my blood steamed bun, huh?!”
Shen Qing Yu glanced over and cursed through gritted teeth.
“The company issued a statement too!”
At that moment, someone else shouted excitedly: “They sent Chi Ye an irregular contract notice, and… Chi Ye’s contract Weibo post can’t be viewed anymore!”
“Huh?!”
Everyone perked up and crowded over.
……
Ten o’clock in the morning.
After the procedure started, Yue Na side issued a “refute rumors statement” regarding artist Chi Ye’s “private leak of contract” behavior under the company.
The statement claimed that the contracts Chi Ye leaked were all contents he had personally edited and adjusted, not the real contracts, and that this behavior had violated the contract between Yue Na and him, so they would sue him.
At the same time.
Chi Ye’s Weibo post with the contract that had exploded Weibo looked normal on the surface, but when clicked, the system prompted that the content display was abnormal and couldn’t be viewed.
Weibo’s response was that the server had an issue and they were fixing it as fast as possible.
But that only fooled people outside the industry. Everyone inside knew that so-called crashes were almost half due to the investors behind pushing hard.
Chi Ye wasn’t really surprised by this and wasn’t anxious at all.
Because the necessary popularity had already shot to the skies, and Yue Na and Weibo didn’t dare make the hot search terms disappear directly.
With the popularity there, that was enough.
He glanced at his Weibo account and saw no issue prompts, then dropped the second hammer of the day——a 7-minute audio clip sorted and prepared with Keke’s help.
Caption: 【The law can’t save me either, but it can kill me】
Countless gossipers saw this title and inexplicably got goosebumps for some reason.
Clicking to play, black screen, but clearly Chi Ye’s voice and some woman’s voice could be heard.
If they were Rise group fans or familiar with Yue Na, they could recognize this voice as Chi Ye and Rise’s former agent——Ge Shuang.
The video thoughtfully marked the time: 《How to evaluate XXX》 Recorded three days after recording ended, due to contract communication failure again.
“Those announcements really can’t be done; many are uncertified products, scams.”
“Chi Ye, my patience with you is limited. You better know who you’re talking to!”
“Chi Ye, I don’t know what madness you’re on now, but if you want to die, pay back the money first before dying!”
“That money isn’t what I owe.”
“Not what you owe? You signed the contract, so you have to own it. Who forced you to sign it back then?”
“You tricked me into signing those, and the so-called standards and compensation don’t exist at all; they’re just Yue Na’s own business, without legal effect.”
“Law? Let me tell you, the law can’t save you either, but it can kill you!”
“You better obediently keep doing announcements, or if you can’t pay back all that money, don’t blame me for sending you to prison!!”
“……”
The recording continued playing, and by the fourth minute, the two’s emotions flared up again.
“What exactly do you want?”
“I want to breach the contract.”
“Impossible!”
“Chi Ye, ask yourself, have I not treated you well these years?”
“When they were bullying you in the group, who helped you sort it out? Without me, you would’ve been bullied to death. The one million you were scammed out of by Shen Qing Yu, who paid it back for you?”
“That was me and the company paying it back for you!”
“Go back and do your announcements properly. Sis promises you, I’ll help get you some good resources later. Didn’t we agree last time? In two more years, when the time comes, the company will let you go, and by then you’ll definitely be even more popular… this is the best choice for you.”
The female voice in the recording was like a raging fickle beast one moment, then turning into a coaxing devil the next, constantly brainwashing “Chi Ye” and threatening him with “life.”
Near the end of the recording, the subtitles had changed to 《Jian Ni》 recording, eve of Screaming Night.
The furious voice rang out: “What do you mean letting the program team record your home?! Don’t you know this place can’t be seen by others?”
“You think just because you’re live broadcasting now, I can’t do anything to you?!”
“Chi Ye, you’re dead meat!”
Chi Ye, you’re dead meat.
This sentence became the recording’s closing line. The screen paused, and the system prompted whether to replay.
A certain Chi Ye die-hard fan listened to the recording and their eyes turned red!
Then, they went crazy!
「Ge Shuang, WCNM! Fucking thing you raised! You even deserve to be called human?!」
「I long knew Ye Zi was always bullied in the group, but I didn’t expect it to be this severe.」
「I can’t hold it anymore, Yue Na Ge Shuang, see you in court!」
「Anyone know Ge Shuang’s home address? I’ll go perish together with her!」
「Sisters, calm down, not worth it. Ye Zi doesn’t need us doing that.」
Besides Chi Ye’s fans, more onlooker bystanders and gossipers, including Rise’s former group fans—those who had cursed Chi Ye the harshest—were all dumbfounded.
「This recording… is it real?」
「Chilling, what’s this company waiting for to collapse?!」
「Pure passerby, halfway through the recording I was utterly despairing. Putting myself in Chi Ye’s shoes, if it were me, I might’ve already thought of suicide.」
「Outrageous!」
「Oh my god, so Teacher Chi was threatened by phone even while doing Jian Ni!」
「Chi Pan Xia Yu CP fans are crying to death. Xia Xia wouldn’t bear to treat Teacher Chi like this. Yue Na, fuck your horse!」
「No wonder Teacher Chi has so few things at home… I used to think it was just his personality.」
「Who gets it? I just watched the Jian Ni live yesterday, and when Teacher Chi smiled taking money, I even sent bullet comments cursing him… I deserve to die!」
Surging tides, overwhelming.
When the contract came out, everyone was still in dumbfounded state, caught off guard by Chi Ye’s “bomb”-like tactic.
But when this recording was revealed, the whole net had just passed the “dumbfounded” phase, and popularity was high, so Chi Ye deliberately timed it.
And this timing naturally had remarkable effects.
Countless gossipers and bystanders, even Rise group fans, flooded under Yue Na… and Shen Qing Yu’s Weibo. Chi Ye’s fans were outputting like crazy.
「Shen Qing Yu? Who’s bullying who?」
「Fuck your horse Shen Qing Yu, I finished the recording, you guys really aren’t good people!」
「Exactly who in Rise bullied Ye Zi?」
「@Peng Chen@Shen Qing Yu@Zhang Xianming『I’m Chicken Feet God of War myself』@Jiang Yi『Follow for 12 o’clock New Year’s Eve, Douyin live broadcast room giving away Maotai』@Lin Ze Yu『Rise two-year anniversary happy』@Su Ran『Rise trendy store opening』」
「All come out!」
「Stealing Chi Ye’s stuff, owing Chi Ye money and not paying back, how can there be such scum in this world?」
「Bystander, watching, Shen Qing Yu is a beast!」
「Now I get what Chi Ye meant in his short video by “everything he said were my words.”」
「This essay perfectly fits on Chi Ye, twisting right and wrong, faking illness to play victim. Shen Qing Yu not collapsing would be against heaven’s justice!」
The vast, sky-high traffic finally favored Qing Bao once, but if possible, Shen Qing Yu never wanted this kind of traffic in his life.
He seemed… done for?
“Don’t panic, the recording can also be spun as AI. Why are you panicking!”
The agent next to him also had a pale face.
This recording… this recording… is Ge Shuang an idiot?!
This Chi Ye is also a madman!
Doesn’t this guy care about the future at all?
He’s out of the industry, but isn’t he afraid of Yue Na retaliating privately?!
“……Get the paid commenters in, tell the big fans at a few fan sites that the recording might not be real. Absolutely, absolutely cannot accept this as fact. We must counterattack, or else we’re really done.”
At this “life or death” moment, Shen Qing Yu’s mind finally cleared a bit, and he hurriedly told the PR team.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
The agent comforted him: “Haven’t you noticed? Chi Ye’s real target this time isn’t us… the company is who he wants to take down…”
“……Can he take it down?”
The agent shook his head: “How could he.”
Yeah, how could he.
After Chi Ye’s recording incident was exposed, the popularity and development of the event rapidly fermented, gradually becoming known throughout the net and inside and outside the industry.
Some gossiped secretly in internal groups, some were shocked speechless.
Even more so those who had contact with Chi Ye before were dumbfounded.
But no one dared say much.
This had to do with the “Yue Na Group”‘s structure.
Yue Na Group actually should be split into Yue Na and Group parts.
“Yue Na”‘s predecessor was an artist management company established by a certain movie emperor from the 80s, only emerging in the industry around 2015.
But its subsequent development was very rapid.
No one knew how that movie emperor boss used his connections to hook up with two juggernaut-level capital groups, thus forming the so-called “Yue Na Group.”
Its backing capital strength was formidable, and it owned the most important online platform publicity and distribution channels in the current industry——Penguin Video.
So, for other issues it was fine, but for this “blood feud”-level contract incident, most in the industry didn’t dare get involved——many weren’t afraid of Yue Na, but feared offending the capital behind Yue Na.
Of course, there was one most important reason——Chi Ye had terrible relationships, hardly any friends. Who would speak up for him?
……
Jian Ni production team, inside the villagers’ potato greenhouse.
The live broadcast hadn’t paused, but Teacher Lu, Teacher Huang, Yang Zi and others had already learned of this industry-shaking “big event” through their respective connections channels.
“You all heard, right?”
Teacher Lu looked at everyone during the break.
Everyone’s faces varied: surprised, gloating, but all were shocked by it.
No one could imagine that the “chatterbox” who usually joked around with them was secretly carrying a contract akin to black slave treatment.
Couldn’t tell at all!
His mental resilience was way too strong?!
“What do you all say?” Yang Zi looked at the overwhelming popularity online, a bit eager to try.
Of course, he wouldn’t admit deep down that he wanted to feed Chi Ye peanuts!
The others didn’t speak.
Strictly speaking, Yang Zi wasn’t a traditional entertainment industry artist.
But they were different.
Teacher Huang subtly shook his head at Teacher Lu.
He knew Teacher Lu’s personality and what he wanted to say.
Teacher Lu: “……”
Weighing pros and cons, he sighed and said nothing.
Lin Jingyi shook her head in evaluation: “He might not exist in the future, so no need to… care about him so much.”
Everyone fell silent.
Yang Zi, seeing this, was also intimidated by the atmosphere and dropped his inner thoughts.
He took out his mobile phone to have his assistant keep monitoring online matters.
But after habitually clicking into the hot search list, he suddenly froze: “Huh!”
Everyone was startled and turned to look at him.
New gossip?!
“No, not…” Yang Zi was shocked yet relieved: “That… Jin Xia posted on Weibo.”
——Empress Dowager posted on Weibo!
Less than half an hour after the incident, Jin Xia’s previously silent Weibo suddenly posted a status with just one sentence.
【@Sina Weibo, is your house opened for @Yue Na Group?】
This was a questioning aimed at the Weibo bug where Chi Ye’s contract couldn’t be viewed.
Then the second sentence.
【I want to see the contract @Sina Weibo, is your server that garbage?】
Followed by the third sentence.
【@Chi Ye, support rights protection, support fighting to the end.】
