Chapter 685 - 347: What’s Wrong With These People? They Still Won’t Believe It
"Everyone knows the reason. A director has already leaked that for a Hanfu made from the same material, Second-Life Star sells one for 3,000 yuan, but the film and TV industry’s costuming departments charge 30,000. And their designs aren’t even as nice as Second-Life Star’s."
"A tenfold price difference is definitely a red flag. Just like some people have exposed, could there be an issue with embezzlement? After all, the budget for a historical drama is massive, and costuming is a huge part of it."
"I remember one TV series claimed to have spent over a hundred million on costuming. That one actress who got blacklisted wore a single outfit that supposedly cost 5 million. Just think about that massive price difference. The real cost might be 10 million, but they quote it as 100 million. It’s not hard to figure out what’s going on."
"If those people had just ignored it, this whole thing could have been dismissed as a groundless rumor. But now they’re in such a rush to smear Chen Jincheng, which changes everything. It proves they have a guilty conscience."
"If I’m guessing correctly, now that these articles smearing Chen Jincheng are popping up online, the next step will be for designers and staff from the film and TV costuming departments to come out and condemn him, right?"
Zhou Huapeng’s heart lurched when he saw the video’s content. When he saw it had a surprisingly high number of views—hundreds of thousands of likes—his expression changed instantly. "Who the hell is this person? It already has hundreds of thousands of likes! Contact him, tell him to delete the video! Pay him!"
The PR manager’s expression soured as he heard this, and he shook his head. "President Zhou, that’s just one of them. There are other videos with even more likes. We’ve found hundreds of accounts posting this video alone. On top of that, it’s already on the Tiao Yin trending list. It won’t be long before other platforms start reposting the news."
As he spoke, he immediately pulled up video after video to show Zhou Huapeng.
The more Zhou Huapeng watched, the more hideous his expression became. "Who the hell is doing this to us?"
"It must be Chen Jincheng," the PR manager quickly explained. "The accounts posting these videos are all filled with content about him and Second-Life Star’s artists. But these accounts are incredibly aggressive—even more effective than a hired water army."
"Damn it, is Chen Jincheng trying to destroy us?" Something occurred to Zhou Huapeng, and he immediately ordered his assistant, "Quick, notify those designers and staff from the costuming department! Tell them to halt the plan. If we have them make a move now, wouldn’t that just be proving the rumors right? It’s like serving ourselves up on a platter!"
The assistant pulled out his phone, but a moment later, he looked up with a pained expression. "President Zhou, it’s too late. They’re already condemning Chen Jincheng. The problem is, several of them have gone viral, but the comments on the videos are a disaster."
As he spoke, he quickly held out his phone to show him a video.
Zhou Huapeng glanced at the account and recognized it as a video posted by Zhou Yi, a master of costume design. The title directly targeted Chen Jincheng: *Chen Jincheng Knows Nothing About Hanfu Costume Design. He’s Just Pulling This Stunt to Seize a Piece of the Film and TV Costuming Industry. His Intentions Are Malicious.*
This was exactly what he had ordered them to do. But when he saw the comments, his expression turned utterly grim.
"Haha, their next move was already called out, and they still walked right into it."
"You can’t hide it anymore. Why are you still putting on an act?"
"Haha, that video exposing the whole scheme was brilliant. It predicted exactly what these people from the film and TV costuming departments would do."
"It seems the online exposé was true. No wonder so many people suddenly started smearing Chen Jincheng. I recommend the authorities launch a formal investigation."
𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"Haha, video saved. I second the call for a formal investigation."
"Also saved the video. Waiting for the results."
"@Chen Jincheng, come take a look at this!"
"@Chen Jincheng, Jincheng, come look at the clowns."
"..."
Zhou Huapeng’s face went pale as he read the comments. The calls for a formal investigation, the tags for Chen Jincheng—every single one was a thorn in his side.
He knew that if this situation continued, it would become far more than just a simple nuisance. His eyes nearly bloodshot, he said, "This won’t do. We have to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."
The assistant hardly dared to speak above a whisper. "President Zhou, with the way things are now, the only way to cover this up is to create a bigger news story to divert everyone’s attention and reduce the focus on this. We also need to hope Chen Jincheng doesn’t pull another stunt and push this topic’s popularity even higher. Doesn’t he still have an unreleased video?"
Zhou Huapeng thought for a moment before saying, "A big news story is easy. Didn’t we acquire some dirt before? Isn’t Li Xiaolu getting hot and heavy with that rapper? And then there’s Wu Xiu Bo’s affair. We paid good money to collect the evidence for both. Release it all at once."
"Once those two bombshells drop, they’ll definitely overshadow this story. I refuse to believe Chen Jincheng’s video can compete with two explosive scandals like those."