In Lin Yuanyang’s astonishment, Ji Ning had already walked into the living room and followed the stairs upstairs.
Lin Yuanyang quickly followed and accompanied Ji Ning directly to a room on the second floor.
Raised his foot directly.
Rudely kicked the door open.
"Bang——"
"Who?"
The man sitting on the bed using a computer was so scared that his glasses fell onto the bed, and he almost jumped off the bed.
"You... you are..."
Before he finished speaking, the laptop in his arms was snatched by Ji Ning.
"Hey, my computer."
Ji Ning casually handed the computer to Lin Yuanyang behind her, pulled a chair beside the bed and sat down.
The man had met Ji Ning before, and there was a guilty conscience in his eyes: "You... what do you want to do? You’re trespassing... I... I’ll sue you..."
Ji Ning leaned back on the chair, her hands clasped on her legs, looking into his eyes.
"You’re the one who leaked negative news about Ye Tong’s crew, aren’t you?"
The man didn’t want to admit it, but Lin Yuanyang’s next words made him break out in a cold sweat.
"Sister Ning, he is the one behind [On-site Gossiper’s First Line]; the article smearing Sister Xiaotong as talentless, a vase, with a B5 grade physique was written by him."
"You... you invaded my privacy! I’ll sue you!"
The man shouted in panic, pointing at Ji Ning and Lin Yuanyang.
But then Lin Yuanyang tapped the keyboard a few times, and a recording played from the computer.
"I have gossip, guaranteed ripe and sweet, price 300,000..."
The man’s face went pale like paper, and he quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Lin Yuanyang looked at the information on the computer, pushed his glasses up, "Sister Ning, he secretly took a lot of money from the paparazzi, enough for the stars to sue him into bankruptcy. We can send the evidence to those stars now."
"Don’t, don’t... Let’s discuss this..." The man showed a submissive smile, kneeling on the bed pleading with Ji Ning and Lin Yuanyang.
"Then tell me, who instructed you to leak negative news about Ye Tong and the crew?" Ji Ning remained in her sitting position, lightly tapping her thumb against her hand with an enchanting face that carried a faint smile, looking harmless.
The man wiped the sweat from his forehead anxiously and pointed out a name: "It was Lin Wei. Her assistant contacted me before, saying they would pay me to secretly take some of Ye Tong’s negative content and send it to them. I thought Ye Tong was a newcomer without a background, so I took some photos for her. Later, Lin Wei’s assistant asked me to leak the photos online and offered another payment, so I did..."
"Newcomer, no background? Hmm?"
Ji Ning’s sudden voice made the man’s body tremble.
He didn’t know why, but this young woman in front of him, even just sitting there doing nothing, made him feel scared, as if his body was instinctively alert.
"No... no, heroine... big boss, I was blinded by greed, I shouldn’t have done this, please show mercy, spare me this time. I can delete the post, apologize, identify Lin Wei, I’ll do anything you ask, just don’t expose me, okay? I still want to continue in this circle..."
Ji Ning chuckled lightly, easing some of the tension, and asked flatly: "How do you prove Lin Wei instructed you?"
The man hurriedly pulled out his phone, his hands trembling as he tapped at the screen: "I have phone recordings and transaction screenshots. I recorded during the call with Lin Wei’s assistant."
Ji Ning raised her eyebrows, and the man quickly explained: "I... I once tried to snap photos of Lin Wei, accidentally got caught by her..."
Ji Ning understood, glanced at Lin Yuanyang, who immediately returned the man’s computer, seemingly thoughtful, "I’ve implanted a virus in your computer; if I discover you speak out about this matter, all those transaction records will automatically be sent to every victim’s phone."
"No... no... definitely won’t." The man was so scared he nearly swore an oath.
Under Lin Yuanyang’s supervision, he deleted his post which had climbed to number two on trending topics.
He then posted an apology statement and @Gone with the Wind official crew.
"What’s Miss Ye’s Star Entertainment account?" The man asked tremblingly.
"No. Record a video apology instead."
"Ah... Can I apologize privately? I still want to stay in this circle..."
But Ji Ning’s unchanged expression made his scalp tingle, so he hurriedly pulled out his phone aimed at himself, kneeling on the bed recording an apology video.
The man was somewhat overweight, had naturally curly hair, small eyes, wearing black-framed glasses.
Such a person, generally unnoticeable in a crowd, surprisingly had 2 million followers at Star Entertainment.
His anonymous live streams had tens of thousands of viewers.
"Hello everyone, I am [On-site Gossiper’s First Line]; previously, the negative news content about the Gone with the Wind crew was false; I was instructed by Lin Wei, a former actor of the crew, to take some of Ye Tong’s negative material. However, Ye Tong’s acting is on point, she works hard, and her skills are outstanding; there’s really no negative material, so I just snapped some photos, purposefully fabricated some negative stories, and released them. I was wrong..."
After recording the video, the man reluctantly handed over his phone, his eyes tightly fixed on his phone, face full of despair, somewhat reckless, "After posting this video, I’m basically out of the circle, but you’ve also simultaneously offended Tiansheng Entertainment and the Xingyu Group behind them. In the future, Ye Tong won’t be able to survive in this circle."
Ji Ning raised an eyebrow, Lin Yuanyang adjusted the glasses on his nose, "You needn’t worry about that."
"First release his apology recording." Ji Ning suddenly said.
The man’s dim eyes suddenly brightened, looking at Ji Ning in astonishment, with a sigh of relief in his heart.
"Lin Yuanyang, process his voice before releasing it."
Upon hearing this, the man was so excited he nearly knelt before Ji Ning, hands clasped before his eyes, eyes red, "Thank you, big boss... big boss, I know I was wrong, I will not slander Ye Tong again in the future..."
Ji Ning scrutinized the man for a while, finally changing her posture, her elbows on the chair’s armrest, fingers lightly supporting her head, asking: "If you can suppress Ye Tong’s negative news, I will delete the video and give you a sum of money."
"Okay, I’ll try." The man eagerly nodded in agreement, wiping the sweat and tears off his face, hugging the computer and began typing.
After a few minutes, the man raised his head to look at Lin Yuanyang, cautiously extending his hand to ask: "I... can I make a few phone calls?"
Ji Ning slightly nodded, then Lin Yuanyang returned his phone.
The man hastily made a round of calls to the paparazzi he knew, discussing revealing Lin Wei’s dirt while facing the two.
After hanging up, Ji Ning asked: "Didn’t she catch you before?"
"Actually, some negative news can be produced in minutes, and Lin Wei herself has plenty of issues. She has an aunt named Lin Qing, who has visited her multiple times before; every time she came, she would make Lin Wei bully a minor actor in the show. Ye Tong has been bullied by Lin Wei before, hasn’t she? And I’ve heard Lin Qing seems to have some mental issues now..."
The man pointed at head, pursed his lips.
"What issues?"
"She keeps saying she encountered ghosts. It’s making people at the film base uneasy, lots of minor actors are scared to film night scenes."
"When did this happen?"
The man paused his actions, slightly raised his head recalling, "Seems... over half a month ago? Yes, I think it was around the time Lin Wei’s role got replaced."