Chinese Entertainment: Top-Tier Boyfriends of Young Actresses

The afternoon after the scandal broke, Su Yu's studio issued a strongly worded official statement on its official Weibo account.

This statement was drafted by Huo Xiaolan and her public relations and legal teams after working through the night.

The statement begins by clearly stating its position: "Recently, a large number of malicious rumors and defamatory information targeting our artist, Mr. Su Yu, have appeared on online platforms. The frequency of their release, the similarity of their content, and the comprehensiveness of their angles clearly indicate that this is an organized and premeditated act of cyberbullying. Our company has collected and preserved evidence of all infringing content and will pursue the legal responsibility of the relevant parties in accordance with the law."

Next, the statement addressed each of the most widely circulated rumors in the past few days.

In response to accusations of "faking his academic excellence," the statement directly posted Su Yu's complete transcript for four years at Sichuan University, showing all his major and general course grades at a glance, with an overall GPA of over 3.5 and no failed courses.

The statement also added: "Mr. Su Yu has never referred to himself as a 'top student' in any setting. The so-called 'top student persona' is purely an interpretation by outsiders. But if 'real grades' also count as a persona, then this transcript is the best response."

In response to the "plastic surgery" rumors, the statement released photos comparing Su Yu at different ages from junior high school, high school to university, showing that his facial features remained consistent.

In response to the accusation of "faking the image of a student from a poor family," the statement included a photocopy of a family situation certificate issued by a village committee in Su Yu's village. The certificate clearly stated that Su Yu's parents were farmers and that his family members included his parents and a younger sister.

In response to the rumor that "the ex-girlfriend has proven that the boyfriend is a scumbag," the statement directly pointed out that the so-called "chat screenshots" were forged, and attached the notary office's certificate number after comparing the original page screenshots with the forged chat records.

In response to the rumors and accusations of "changing girlfriends in multiple dramas" and "being a couple on set," the studio directly released the original images of all the so-called "solid evidence" photos that were cited.

Immediately after the statement was released, people closely associated with Su Yu, such as Tian Xiwei, Wang Churan, and Zhou Ye, forwarded it immediately.

People like Zhang Ruoyun, who have a good relationship with Su Yu, also expressed their support immediately, forwarding the post and adding the caption: "I can vouch for my brother's character. I haven't seen any of the things you're smearing."

Liu Haoran, Wang Ziwei, and Huang Xiaoming, Zhou Dongyu, Zhang Liang, Jin Mengjia, and others from the show "Chinese Restaurant" also forwarded Su Yu's studio's statement refuting the rumors.

Shortly after the statement was released, the Weibo post went directly to the top of the Weibo trending list without any need to buy trending searches.

Fans were overjoyed to see the studio's tough stance.

The top comments section was instantly flooded with messages.

"Aren't you ashamed of spreading rumors now? The transcript is right in your faces, and you still dare to accuse it of being fake? You even dare to slander someone who scored 623 on the college entrance exam? Do you think your idol could even get into university?"

"Su Su is really pitiful. With fame comes trouble. She knows in her heart whose path she has blocked."

"This studio is awesome! I love it!"

"Protect the best Su Yu in the world!!!"

But this was only the first step. Immediately afterwards, the studio released the police report receipt and the lawsuit receipt.

Regarding certain marketing accounts that directly name Su Yu and constitute obvious defamation, the studio's legal counsel has reported the case to the public security authorities and posted a police report receipt stamped with the police station's seal.

In response to marketing accounts that, while not directly naming names, have made insinuations and spread rumors, the studio has issued a lawyer's letter, ending with a clear statement: "Please delete all infringing content and publish an apology on the original platform within three working days of receiving this letter. Failure to comply within the stipulated time will result in the client initiating legal proceedings."

These high-resolution scans of several lawyer's letters bearing red seals and police station report receipts were uploaded to the studio's Weibo account, with the red seals clearly legible.

The comments section is buzzing again!

"The lawyer's letter has been sent! Get ready to receive the summons, you trolls! None of you will escape!"

"I just want to ask, those people who were previously using the 'house collapse' hashtag, aren't they ashamed now?"

"We've released all the evidence the haters wanted. What else do they have to say? Come out and show yourselves!"

"Protect the best Su Yu in the world! Those who spread rumors are despicable!"

"Support SuSu in defending her rights! The internet is not above the law; spreading rumors must have consequences!"

Seeing that Su Yu's side was serious, many marketing accounts deleted their Weibo accounts and ran away overnight.

According to incomplete statistics from fans, at least 26 accounts that were clearly involved in this smear campaign quietly deleted their content or deleted their accounts within 24 hours of the lawyer's letter being sent.

But in the evening, the scene that truly reversed this public opinion battle occurred.

A self-proclaimed "industry insider who couldn't stand it anymore" suddenly published a long article, which detailed evidence of cooperation between Li Xifeng Studio, Yang Yang's agency (Yuekai Film and Television), and several artist management teams and online marketing companies, using a timeline, screenshots of transfer records, screenshots of WeChat work group chats, screenshots of order quotes from marketing accounts, and a large amount of internal materials.

The long article also included a screenshot of a conversation from a WeChat work group.

The conversation revealed that the group members confirmed the target was a "top influencer with the surname S". When discussing the release schedule of the article, someone suggested, "Don't directly mention the full name, just use 'S Mou'". Subsequently, various marketing accounts received the materials in batches and pushed them out.

In the chat log, a member of what appears to be Li Yifeng's studio said, "His fans attacked us too much before, we have to fight back this time, and it would be best to crush SY in one fell swoop." This sentence was highlighted in red.

Some commenters recognized that these materials closely matched some of the accounts involved in the celebrity "water army ranking" exposed by AiMan Data in March 2017, further increasing their credibility.

The leaked materials show that Li Yifeng's team was the first to take action.

They hired an external online marketing company to place orders. The types of articles covered included comparisons of plastic surgery, fabrication of a "top student" persona, and chat logs with ex-girlfriends. The orders were placed within 48 hours after Su Yu topped the trending searches. The order notes even included "the intensity can be increased" and "it can be made into a fan-driven exposé that spreads naturally."

Yang Yang's team, or more precisely, Yang Yang's agent Jia Shikai, decided to join the "team" after seeing Li Yifeng's side take action.

The exposed WeChat chat screenshots show that Jia Shikai sent a message in a marketing group: "That guy with the surname S is getting too much attention lately, let's join in, even if we can't kill him, let's disgust him."

Subsequently, through the marketing account matrix that Yuekai Films has long cooperated with, he added more smear articles related to plastic surgery comparisons, plagiarism accusations, and scandals.

The number of these smear articles even exceeded the total number from Li Yifeng's side. After all, Jia Shikai has been maintaining hundreds of marketing accounts for many years. The cost of publishing articles is low and the speed of dissemination is fast. Once he decides to follow the trend, the number of articles he releases is more dense than anyone else's.

The lengthy article clearly outlines the relationship between the two parties: Li Yifeng was the one who made the first move; Jia Shikai followed up after seeing others make their move, and then others joined in.

These people were initially unaware of each other's identities, but their goals were surprisingly aligned: to suppress Su Yu, this suddenly emerging newcomer.

The article concludes with a list of marketing accounts and screenshots of online troll orders, with each transaction clearly marked.

This immediately caused an uproar among Su Yu's fans.

"Hehehe, no wonder Li Yifeng's fans are jumping the highest, it turns out they have a sugar daddy throwing money at them behind the scenes."

"Li Yifeng's fans, come out and kneel down to apologize! You hired online trolls to smear your rivals, just how popular are you afraid Su Yu will become?"

"Jia Shikai, you troublemaker! Yang Yang will be dragged down by you sooner or later! You have hundreds of marketing accounts working for you, all you do is smear other artists. Are you an artist manager or the head of an online troll army?"

"I used to think Yang Yang was pretty handsome, but now...haha. With a manager like this, I'm totally turning against him, you're welcome."

"Did anyone notice the note 'Intensity can be increased'? They really want to torture Su Su to death!"

"Sigh, capitalism!"

As the situation reversed, many fans went directly to the rival fan page to begin settling scores.

Although they can't beat top stars like Lu Han for now, the Little Raindrops are more than capable of dealing with Li Yifeng and Yang Yang, whose momentum has been slightly weaker recently.

In the eyes of fans, Su Yu is a "beautiful, strong, and tragic" character who is besieged by capital. He is good-looking, talented, and educated, but he is hated by the whole internet because he is too outstanding and blocks other people's path.

This narrative instantly boosted the loyalty of longtime fans and drew in many people who were initially just casual observers.

Unwittingly, this incident completed a very thorough campaign to solidify the fanbase.

Su Yu's public image instantly reversed, and after this incident, his fan base gained a significant boost.

"It was indeed this group that did it. It started with Li Yifeng's side, but the smear articles they published didn't really make a splash. The number of articles they hired from the online troll companies was average, and the discussion on Weibo wasn't high. The fan anti-smear team had almost suppressed those posts."

Huo Xiaolan looked very unhappy, probably because she was really disgusted by Jia Shikai, that troublemaker.

"As soon as Jia Shikai, that troublemaker, got involved, the situation escalated instantly. After these smear articles were released, he stirred up the entire internet, and other companies followed suit."

"In other words, Li Yifeng started the fire, while Jia Shikai added fuel to the fire," Su Yu summarized, leaning back on the sofa.

"Yes, this person is really disgusting."

Judging from Huo Xiaolan's expression, he seemed to have great disdain for this person.

Jia Shikai is most skilled at "using black marketing and taking the black-and-red route". He once publicly said that "friends are for selling". No one in the industry is willing to be close to him.

"Also," Huo Xiaolan pulled out another document, "the drama's crew did indeed buy some negative articles, but thankfully, the number is small. They probably didn't dare to ruin the male lead's reputation since the drama is still airing. In the end, they only hurt themselves."

Su Yu leaned back on the sofa without saying a word.

He felt a bit upset. He really didn't expect Dai Lu to betray him. They were just talking about investing in each other, but then she turned around and stabbed him in the back.

Seeing that Su Yu was in a bad mood, Huo Xiaolan softened her tone: "That's how it is in this industry. There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests."

"Whoever gets in your way today, someone will try to bring you down tomorrow."

"We've been kind of fair to each other with the drama crew. We haven't made it public that they bought smear articles. We can still work together in the future, but we need to be mindful of the consequences and think things through before making any decisions."