The news quickly attracted enormous attention.

Although the video was old, Lin Qingye hadn’t entered the entertainment industry at that time and wasn’t active in the public eye, so the discussions eventually died down. But now things were different.

Not only had Lin Qingye become famous and gained attention, but more importantly, he had entered the entertainment industry’s whirlwind, where complex interests were intertwined. Other companies would inevitably be watching closely, trying every method to suppress him and prevent him from becoming the next top star in the entertainment circle.

Since “I Came for Music” had begun broadcasting, Lin Qingye’s popularity far exceeded other celebrities, and his fans were excessively passionate, creating tense relationships with fans of other stars.

Various forces jumped in, pushing the topic to prominence while firmly attaching the label of school bullying to Lin Qingye.

*When this video came out before, his fans were still defending him. Now the victim has spoken up too. Does it hurt, Lin Qingye’s fans, to have your faces slapped?*

*Oh wow, why do recently popular celebrities always have their dark histories dug up?*

*Come on, those fans who were screaming for Lin Qingye to be fierce to you, take a look at how your brother beats people. NCF must be saying “brother hit me” now.*

*School violence, biss!!*

*@I Came for Music Official @I Came for Music Official, is the production team going to do anything about this? Can this kind of person continue to appear on screen? Is there no threshold anymore? Is making money too easy??*

*When the show first announced the participating contestants, someone already mentioned this video. Do you think the production team doesn’t know about his school bullying? A show that condones school violence should flop!!!*

…

The first half of the video showed Lin Qingye beating someone, while the second half was an interview with the victim. The evidence was conclusive, and even fans didn’t know how to explain it.

So the comments were dominated by condemnation and accusations.

The occasional young fans who unconditionally stood by Lin Qingye were labeled as brain-dead fans, while rational fans who suggested waiting for the truth were treated the same way.

Suddenly, Lin Qingye, who had just been elevated to the peak, was brought down overnight by a barrage of public opinion.

Xu Zhinan looked at those comments and gradually woke up.

She sat up in bed, and as she continued scrolling through the comments, they became even more unbearable.

Xu Zhinan frowned slightly and clicked into the video.

In the first minute, only Lin Qingye’s profile could be seen, but the face of the boy pinned down and beaten wasn’t visible. It wasn’t until the victim’s interview in the second half that his face could be seen.

Xu Zhinan’s gaze paused.

This boy looked somewhat familiar.

In the three-minute interview, the boy recounted his experience of being bullied:

Lin Qingye was from No.7 Middle School. In our area, No.7 wasn’t a good school. I attended No.1 High School, and sometimes we could see students from No.7 collecting protection money at our school gate. Most students at our school were well-behaved and disciplined, not daring to resist these people, so they usually just paid.”

“Later, there was one time when I didn’t have money with me and encountered people from No.7. I glanced at them and tried to take a detour. I wasn’t even an adult then and found people like them terrifying. But when he saw me trying to leave, without saying anything, he rushed up and hit me—it was Lin Qingye.”

“A few days ago, I happened to see a girl next to me on the subway watching that show. When I saw Lin Qingye in that moment, I broke out in a cold sweat, recalling those previous nightmares.”

“I was in the hospital for a long time back then. After recovering, I quickly left Yan City and transferred to another school. It took me two years to finally overcome the psychological trauma.”

He spoke as if he were truly immersed in the shadow of school violence.

An ordinary person watching would certainly sympathize with him—at that age, an excellent and diligent student from No.1 High School, whose youth was ruined by such a group of people.

But Xu Zhinan couldn’t.

She knew this so-called “victim” in the video.

He was indeed from No.1 High School and was her classmate in the same grade.

If she remembered correctly, this boy’s name was Su Zheng. Before transferring, his grades at No.1 were poor, at the bottom of the class. Xu Zhinan didn’t know much about him, but he often heard office teachers mention him, always looking troubled when they did. She heard from a friend at the time that he seemed to have been specially recruited to No.1 High School as a sports student.

“Ah Nan,” her mother knocked softly at the door and pushed it open. “Feeling better? Still have a fever?”

Xu Zhinan locked her phone screen: “I think it’s gone. My head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Seeing that she was awake, her mother walked over and placed the back of her hand on her forehead, sighing with relief: “You still need to go to the hospital later. Don’t wait until evening when the fever comes back. Don’t go to the shop today, just rest well at home.”

“Mm, I’ll go to the hospital first to check, but if I don’t have a fever, I still need to go to the shop. Business has been quite busy these days.”

“You need to take care of your health. No business is more important than your health.”

“I told you before, Mom, I joined a tattoo design competition, and now my voting rank is quite high. Many people have made appointments with me.”

Her mother’s expression brightened: “Are the results out?”

“Not yet, it’s still in the preliminary voting stage. I’m in second place now.”

The first place was still Lu Xihe, leading with an overwhelming advantage. Xu Zhinan estimated she couldn’t surpass him, but she was already very satisfied.

She paused, then suddenly asked: “Mom, do you remember Su Zheng?”

Her mother was taken aback: “Su Zheng?”

“Yes.”

She tried to recall, her brow still furrowed: “Your high school classmate? What about him? Did you run into him again? What did he say to you?”

It was rare for her mother to ask such an anxious series of questions.

“No, I just suddenly thought of this person.” Xu Zhinan threw off the blanket and got out of bed. “I’ll go straight to the hospital after washing up. Don’t worry, Mom.”

The uproar caused by Lin Qingye’s incident quickly reached Wang Qi as well.

Wang Qi was not only the producer of “I Came for Music” but also the head of Chuanqi Entertainment Company. Upon hearing the news, he drove directly to Lin Qingye’s apartment.

The doorbell rang.

Lin Qingye was bare-chested, with pants loosely hanging on his hips. He walked while fastening his belt, then opened the door: “Coming.”

“How can you be so calm!” Wang Qi pointed at him in exasperation.

Lin Qingye took a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and tossed them at his feet: “Come in.”

“…”

In similar situations before, it was usually the artists who were anxiously running around, while the rest of the team had to stay calm to deal with the aftermath and crisis public relations. With him, it was the opposite.

“Have you seen the video online?” Wang Qi asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you know that person?”

“I know him. I did beat him,” Lin Qingye said.

“…”

Wang Qi didn’t believe Su Zheng’s version at all. With Lin Qingye’s family background, he wouldn’t lack money, so how could he possibly engage in “collecting protection money” as that person claimed?

Wang Qi sighed, wearily saying: “Cooperate with me a little.”

Lin Qingye laughed and picked up a t-shirt from the sofa and put it on.

Only then did Wang Qi notice the tattoo on his back—Ah Nan, the name of his little girlfriend, as Zhou Ji had mentioned.

But it was gone in a flash as he quickly put on the shirt, covering the tattoo.

Now wasn’t the time to gossip about these things. Wang Qi asked again: “Have the media called you?”

“They have.” Somehow, they had gotten his phone number. Lin Qingye lit a cigarette. “I was woken up by that this morning. I just turned off my phone.”

“If you don’t come out to explain, they’ll keep bothering you. Have you thought about how to resolve this?”

Lin Qingye tapped his cigarette ash: “It’s a fact that I beat him.”

As long as this point couldn’t be overturned, whatever explanation he gave would be useless. Public opinion was like a storm, and now Lin Qingye was in a weak position. To reverse the situation, he would need evidence of sufficient strength.

A light claim that “I didn’t collect protection money” wouldn’t work and might even cause the opposite effect.

Wang Qi frowned: “Have you considered settling privately with Su Zheng? I’ve investigated in advance. He went to an ordinary third-tier college, and his family’s economic condition is also very average. Now that he’s graduating, he needs money for many things. Moreover, since he suddenly stepped forward, if it’s slander, his purpose wouldn’t just be to vent. The possibility of settling is very high.”

Lin Qingye snorted: “No settlement. He deserved that beating.”

“…” Wang Qi raised his eyebrows. “Lin Qingye! Now is not the time to follow your temperament!”

“First, tell me, why did you hit him?” Wang Qi softened his tone and asked. “Let me see if there are any other solutions.”

He held the cigarette in his mouth and didn’t speak for a while.

Then he smirked, looking roguish: “For a little girl.”

Xu Zhinan went to the hospital. Although she no longer felt unwell, her temperature still showed a low fever, so she was given another IV drip.

After her tattoo artwork’s position rose on the voting website, the exposure probably increased, and the subsequent growth was still good.

Xu Zhinan only took a glance before exiting and clicking back into the news about Lin Qingye. The comments below had become even more unbearable.

“Um—Xu Zhinan?” a voice sounded in front of her.

She looked up to see Ji Yan standing before her, holding a bag.

Xu Zhinan was surprised, not expecting her to take the initiative to greet her. She nodded slightly: “Yes, what a coincidence. Do you need something from me?”

Ji Yan went straight to the point: “Have you seen the captain’s news?”

“I have.”

Ji Yan looked around and sat down in the seat next to her: “Do you know the person in the video?”

Xu Zhinan paused, then said: “Yes.”

For some reason, a feeling she had never considered before suddenly arose in her heart. “Why do you ask?”

Ji Yan had never connected Su Zheng with Xu Zhinan before.

That day, they had been walking along nicely. Lin Qingye stood at the edge, while the other three linked arms, chatting and teasing. Although Lin Qingye didn’t join their trivial topics, the atmosphere was still harmonious.

But when Su Zheng suddenly appeared from around the corner, the atmosphere rapidly deteriorated.

Lin Qingye took off his backpack and threw it to Shi Si, rolled up his school uniform sleeves, and, without saying a word, walked straight toward Su Zheng.

The three of them didn’t react in time.

Truth be told, although Lin Qingye’s personality wasn’t great, he had never fought indiscriminately like this. More often, his personality was indifferent—indifferent to everything. It was hard to find anything he particularly cared about, casual to the extreme.

The scene happened too quickly for the three to stop it. They didn’t even see Su Zheng’s face clearly at the time and thought there must be some grudge, so they didn’t dare intervene rashly.

It wasn’t until Su Zheng began spitting blood under Lin Qingye’s fists that they suddenly awoke and pulled Lin Qingye away, fearing it would lead to a fatality.

At that time, they had already asked the few people filming with phones around to delete the photos and videos, but in the end, a video clip still got out.

To this day, they still don’t know why Lin Qingye was so angry and irrational that time.

But tonight, when Ji Yan was watching Su Zheng’s interview video and caught the information that his high school was No.1 High School, she suddenly linked it to Xu Zhinan, who was also from No.1.

Her intuition told her that perhaps this incident was also related to Xu Zhinan.

After all, things that were originally difficult to imagine happening with Lin Qingye had repeatedly been linked to Xu Zhinan.

Like the soft murmur of “Ah Nan” in his sleep.

Like last night when he asked them to vote for Xu Zhinan and even posted on his Moments.

Lin Qingye had always been handsome since childhood. Girls who liked him in No.7 Middle School were countless, and even more so in university, of all types. Yet he only formed a relationship with Xu Zhinan.

Previously, she thought it was just attraction to her looks, but now it seemed that wasn’t necessarily the case.

Ji Yan briefly told Xu Zhinan about the incident that evening.

“You think that Lin Qingye beating Su Zheng might be related to me?” Xu Zhinan asked.

Ji Yan had always heard her softly call him “Qingye Ge,” and now hearing this stiff full-name address made her want to laugh.

“I’m just asking,” Ji Yan said. “Did you know the captain before?”

“No.”

Ji Yan was stunned.

She added, “I only got to know him after starting university, but before that…”

Xu Zhinan frowned, finding it difficult to speak about. “That incident with Qin Tang, he might have seen me earlier. I’m not too clear.”

“Do you think it’s possible that Lin Qingye beat Su Zheng because of you?”

“Huh?”

Ji Yan felt that her role as someone who once secretly loved Lin Qingye was quite ridiculous now.

Fortunately, she had digested this secret love early on. Apart from feeling a little heartache, she could also feel some pleasure in exploring the gossip.

Ji Yan expressed her intuition: “He knew you earlier than you knew him. Maybe he was quite interested in you long ago, and then perhaps he saw Su Zheng liked you, so he beat him up?”

After saying it, Ji Yan also felt something was off, as if somewhere it didn’t make sense.

Xu Zhinan caught the loophole: “Qin Tang also pursued me before. Isn’t Lin Qingye on good terms with him?”

“Those two? Not good, just able to exchange a few words before,” Ji Yan shrugged. “And with his personality, he’s quite twisted. I’ve known him for so long, and I can hardly imagine him actively telling someone he likes them.”

“…”

Xu Zhinan didn’t dare to think about this possibility and changed the subject: “Su Zheng and I aren’t like what you think. He never liked me.”

“Hmm?” Ji Yan looked up. “So is your relationship good or bad?”

“Bad. I… dislike him,” Xu Zhinan said.

Ji Yan slapped the armrest: “Doesn’t that make even more sense! The captain might have been avenging you!”

“…”