UCS Chapter 74

As soon as comments about riding on popularity appeared, the direction of the comment section completely changed.

 

This was mainly because Xiao Yusheng’s fame was simply too great. Countless people wanted to ride on his popularity—never mind appearing on stage with Movie King Xiao, even if they participated in the same program with him and had zero interaction during the show, they’d still include Xiao Yusheng’s name in their promotions. If they happened to wear clothes from the same brand, even if the styles were completely incompatible, they’d find marketing accounts to hype it as couple outfits.

 

His fans had been traumatized by all those people trying to ride on his popularity.

 

Therefore, faced with Gao Gusheng’s frequent appearances, fans became alert.

 

“Don’t you think he’s appeared way too many times recently? And every time he appears, he seems to be the victim.”

 

“Yeah, and every time the perpetrator is someone we never would have expected before.”

 

“Actually, I think this whole thing is pretty magical. Qin Shi was the hottest trending star at the time, Li Mochen was the boss of Wanxing Entertainment, and now Movie King Xiao is involved. In a while, Movie King Xiao won’t kidnap him too, will he?”

 

“Ptui ptui ptui, person above, take that back.”

 

“Is he trying to use this opportunity to hype himself up and enter the entertainment industry? Look, he’s only posted this one Weibo and already has over a million followers.”

 

“Exactly, he’s just riding on popularity!”

 

“Taking advantage of our movie king’s good temper!”

 

“Although I’m quite attracted to his looks too, I still think riding on popularity isn’t good.”

 

“You guys are killing me with laughter. What kind of person is Movie King Xiao? If he really didn’t want people riding on his popularity, how could Gao Gusheng, a nobody, possibly succeed? Even if he did succeed, wouldn’t he be afraid of being blacklisted by Xiao Yusheng after entering the industry? Maybe they’ve been secretly dating all along, you just don’t know about it.”

 

“The person above makes sense, but I don’t think they’re necessarily dating. I think being kept is more likely. Wasn’t there talk before about a wealthy woman pursuing him? One’s an ordinary person, the other’s wealthy—anyone would know how to choose.”

 

“Right, men will just play around. If they really wanted to be together, they’d still look for women.”

 

…

 

Soon, the comment section had gone from suspecting riding on popularity to confirming it as fact, then began hurling abuse at this behavior. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into claims that Xiao Yusheng and Gao Gusheng had improper relations all along—Xiao Yusheng was a hypocrite, and Gao Gusheng was selling his body.

 

In the blink of an eye, the comment section became a complete mess.

 

In their small group, Yun Zhiyi angrily sent several table-flipping emojis in a row.

 

【(╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴ There must be paid trolls involved!】

 

Yun Zhiyi was right—in the current comment section, just the obvious paid trolls alone numbered three or four waves.

 

Xiao Yusheng’s reputation was indeed good, but his rise had blocked the path of many male celebrities, especially those who relied on their looks.

 

With Xiao Yusheng standing in front of them, those pretty-boy celebrities who originally could make money just by their faces now inevitably had to be compared with Xiao Yusheng, and each time the fans of those pretty boys were completely defeated.

 

After all, Xiao Yusheng had both looks and talent, plus he was hardworking and dedicated—worlds apart from those traffic stars who just recited “1-2-3” while acting.

 

Every time Xiao Yusheng filmed a good drama, a wave of traffic stars would get group-mocked.

 

Usually Xiao Yusheng was self-disciplined, rarely providing any dirt to dig up. This time it was rare to catch him in a compromising situation—wouldn’t they make good use of it?

 

As for that nobody, sure he was good-looking, but who cared?

 

After all, in the entertainment industry, capital was what mattered. As long as you had capital, even a pile of mud could be elevated to godhood.

 

In Gao Gusheng’s small group, everyone was indignant.

 

Yun Zhiyi was defiant, 【I’m getting my dad to arrange paid trolls too! Are these people blind? With little Sheng’s face, does he need to ride on anyone’s popularity? He IS the popularity!】

 

Zhou Jing sent a glasses-pushing emoji, 【I’m asking seniors from the computer science department to check these people’s IP addresses.】

 

Mo Hua didn’t say anything—he just took a photo. When Gao Gusheng opened it—whoa! Wasn’t this the entrance to the police station?

 

Mo Hua, 【Passed by an internet cafe when going out to buy equipment. A paid troll’s computer was facing the cafe entrance, and I happened to see him spreading rumors when I walked behind him.】

 

According to Mo Hua, that paid troll was logged into dozens of accounts passionately posting comments—who knows if he might switch to the wrong account.

 

Mo Hua simply grabbed the guy and sent him to the police station.

 

This matter involved too many people—even Sun Jun, who was busy flying around the world, showed up and posted a statement on Weibo defending Gao Gusheng.

 

Seeing his friends so anxious for him, Gao Gusheng was very moved and actually felt less angry.

 

At this moment, the sound of a door opening rang out, with a mechanical female voice announcing “Welcome home.” Gao Gusheng ran over barefoot on the thick carpet and saw Gao Shi and Ying Bujie walking in, followed by Butler Shen.

 

Butler Shen had graying hair, wore white gloves, and was dressed in a tailored butler’s uniform, his movements proper and elegant.

 

“Young Master, Little Young Master, Daoist Ying. The clothes have new arrivals—Madam asked me to deliver them.”

 

A mighty army of clothes was moved into the dressing room.

 

Gao Shi and Gao Gusheng’s expressions were identically pained.

 

This father-son pair had zero aesthetic sense when it came to clothes—as long as they were clean, neat, and appropriate, that was enough. But this weekend was Great-Grandfather Gao’s birthday, and he was turning exactly eighty this year. There would be a grand birthday banquet with many people from their circles invited. They couldn’t just wear casual clothes.

 

Gao Shi rubbed his temples with a headache, sighed, and reluctantly compromised under Butler Shen’s smiling gaze, “We understand. We’ll try them on.”

 

…

 

“Captain, why do you look so haggard? Are you worried about Lele’s situation?”

 

Zhuang Pixiu came over, looking with concern at the listless Gao Shi.

 

It was rare to see Gao Shi looking so dispirited.

 

Gao Shi pressed his temples and shook his head, “No, it’s not because of that.”

 

The dark circles under Gao Shi’s eyes were from being kept up last night by Cheng Zeqi helping him coordinate outfits.

 

Regarding Gao Gusheng’s situation, although Gao Shi was angry, this matter was actually very easy to resolve.

 

If the paid trolls had chosen to attack Gao Gusheng elsewhere, that would be one thing, but they specifically chose “riding on Xiao Yusheng’s popularity to enter the entertainment industry” and “willingly being kept to improve living conditions.”

 

Ridiculous—the Gao family’s only young master needed to ride on popularity and find a sugar daddy?

 

The day after tomorrow was Great-Grandfather’s birthday banquet, and Gao Gusheng had just turned eighteen. He might as well bring him to make an appearance in front of everyone.

 

The rumors would naturally collapse on their own.

 

The only concern was whether the rumors might change to Gao Gusheng being the one keeping Xiao Yusheng.

 

As Gao Shi was thinking this, he heard his phone ring. He pulled out his Nokia and saw it was a call from his son.

 

“Lele, what’s wrong?”

 

On the other end, Gao Gusheng’s voice sounded somewhat helpless, “Dad, I don’t know who leaked my personal information, but my phone number is about to be blown up with calls. So I’ve set it to only accept calls from my contact list.”

 

Gao Gusheng took a sip of his happy water, “Actually it’s fine—I don’t usually answer strange calls anyway. Just remember to use your own phone when you call me, Dad.”

 

Gao Gusheng spoke lightly, but the actual situation was much worse than he described.

 

Originally, after he was kidnapped by Li Mochen, the college learned about it and, while lamenting that their top student had such a troubled fate, gave him a week off to rest and recover properly.

 

Any normal person who had been kidnapped three times in one month, with each incident threatening their personal safety, would find it hard to bear.

 

The school was genuinely worried that while Gao Gusheng hadn’t been physically injured from the kidnapping, he might have psychological issues.

 

Moreover, Gao Gusheng was currently at the center of controversy.

 

There were many Xiao Yusheng fans at school. Although fans behaved more restrainedly and rationally on campus, with so many people, there would inevitably be one or two particularly irrational fans. The school considered both Gao Gusheng’s psychological state and personal safety, as well as maintaining campus order, and simply gave Gao Gusheng a short break.

 

It just so happened that this weekend was Great-Grandfather’s birthday party, perfect timing to attend using this break.

 

Gao Gusheng was happily relaxing at home, originally playing a newly released game and drinking his otaku happy water contentedly, when his phone suddenly rang.

 

When the first call came, his game was at a crucial moment.

 

Without looking at the number, he answered, and before he could even say hello, he was hit with a barrage of insults—extremely nasty ones that would be starred out completely if posted online.

 

Gao Gusheng was completely stunned by the scolding.

 

After listening for a while, he finally understood that this person was a fan of Xiao Yusheng.

 

How could Gao Gusheng be someone who could tolerate being wronged? He immediately gave this reckless male fan a thorough scolding.

 

After finishing the tirade, he hung up the phone feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

 

During their conversation, there were still continuous calls coming in, making his phone buzz incessantly.

 

Gao Gusheng realized his phone number had been exposed, so he didn’t answer the second call. He simply and decisively set his phone to only allow calls from his contact list.

 

Only then did the world become quiet.

 

When he logged onto Weibo to check, he discovered his phone number had already spread all over the internet.

 

The original post with his phone number had been deleted, but many people had taken screenshots and begun spreading it virally.

 

People already had great curiosity about him, so when his number was exposed to public view, it caused a massive wave of harassing cyberbullying.

 

Anyone being bombarded with phone calls would be in a bad mood, but this incident didn’t have a particularly big impact on Gao Gusheng—after all, he had scolded back and felt refreshed doing it. As for those other calls, since he’d set the restrictions and they couldn’t get through anyway, let them do whatever they wanted.

 

Gao Gusheng casually reported it to the cyber police, then called his dad to let him know he was safe.

 

Having been troubled by his special constitution since childhood, Gao Gusheng had a strong heart, but when Gao Shi learned about this as a father, he immediately exploded.

 

Suppressing his anger, he first called the Gao family’s publicity and technical departments, having them track down whoever was hiding behind Weibo to expose Gao Gusheng. He also had the Gao family’s legal department collect materials to prepare for a lawsuit, and reported it to the cyber police as well.

 

At this point, when Gao Shi went online to check, he discovered there were new developments—the conversation between his son and that male fan who had called to harass him had been posted online.

 

However, in the recording, the male fan had only asked one question about the relationship between Gao Gusheng and the movie king, yet suffered a full ten minutes of scolding and accusations from Gao Gusheng.

 

Gao Gusheng’s attitude was very fierce, making that male fan seem pitiful and innocent by contrast, while Gao Gusheng’s image became arrogant, domineering, and rude.

 

Under this post, people were speaking up for the male fan.

 

“Why is Gao Gusheng’s attitude so bad? The guy didn’t say anything wrong, just asked about his relationship with the movie king.”

 

“Exactly, I used to like him because I thought he was good-looking, but now I see you can’t judge people by appearance alone.”

 

Others were frantically posting question marks below.

 

“Wait, wasn’t it this male fan who started it? Wasn’t this male fan the one who called to harass him first? Who is this fan? What right does he have to call and harass people?”

 

“Don’t know who put Sheng bao’s phone number online. This male fan could be the who-knows-how-many-th person to call today. Sheng bao must be annoyed to death.”

 

Others questioned the authenticity of the recording.

 

“Am I the only one who thinks this recording might have been maliciously edited? Gao Gusheng has no reason to be this irritable, and that male fan’s attitude sounds fine in the recording too.”

 

“Also, it’s very suspicious that the male fan could produce a recording. Who records phone calls? Did he come prepared?”

 

The comment section became a complete mess.

 

At this time, on Gao Gusheng’s college forum, a high-rise thread had also been built.

 

The thread title was 【818 on GGS student from the Economics Department.】

 

【Everyone knows about him, right? The one who’s been making headlines recently.

 

This is his photo from before, this is his photo now.

 

The original poster slapped down two images.

 

Everyone can see the contrast between these two photos is huge—they barely look like the same person. Honestly, I think such a sudden drastic change must be problematic.

 

Either he got plastic surgery, or someone influenced him.

 

The key is that after he changed his external image, he started frequently making headlines.

 

Everyone knows the Economics Department is the most expensive department, with sky-high annual tuition fees. I heard GGS is from a single-parent family and his family’s circumstances are quite ordinary.】

 

1F: 【What are you implying? Are you saying Gao Gusheng changed his image to be kept by a rich woman? Gao Gusheng is the grade’s top student who gets full scholarships. The tuition is high, but if his family has financial difficulties, he can apply for aid from the college, right?】

 

Original poster: 【I never said that—you’re the one who said he’s being kept by a rich woman. Though whether it’s a rich woman is uncertain—could be a man too, haha.】

 

5F: 【Even if his tuition is covered, Economics Department students generally come from well-off families, and their daily expenses for food, clothing, and necessities are much higher than ordinary people’s. Among such a group of students, Gao Gusheng probably feels quite inferior.】

 

7F: 【True, a person’s image generally doesn’t change drastically. His image changed so dramatically—either someone skilled guided him, or he experienced something that suddenly gave him aesthetic sense.】

 

8F: 【Support the above. I think he definitely has issues. Honestly, these days people laugh at poverty but not prostitution. With that face, if he really wanted to find a sugar daddy, he could probably get tens of thousands a month.

 

Maybe his current clothes and image are all chosen by his sugar daddy, since his previous aesthetic was really terrible.】

 

This thread quickly grew tall, with some students defending Gao Gusheng while others frantically attacked back.

 

However, before long, this thread was locked by administrators.

 

But people had taken screenshots, and these screenshots spread wildly throughout the college. Soon, all of Jing University knew about Gao Gusheng.

 

Gao Gusheng, who had kept a low profile for so long, was now thoroughly famous.

 

Just then, a message from Xiao Yusheng popped up in Gao Gusheng’s private messages.

 

“Student Gao, I saw what happened online. Are you alright?”

 

“I’ve already issued a statement to restrain my fans. But there must be paid trolls pushing this behind the scenes.”

 

“Your previous idea of taking photos to dispel the rumors seems not quite mature yet. Should we meet and talk about it?”

 

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