These few photos, along with that suggestive caption, had an overwhelming "official announcement" vibe.
Yu Duo didn’t know who Xia Xiwei was. After a quick search on Baidu, she hurriedly opened Weibo and found Xia Xiwei’s account.
However, the Weibo post had already been deleted, as if it had been accidentally posted and then quickly retracted. Many celebrities have had similar "operations," so it’s not that surprising.
But the internet has a memory, so before long, Yu Duo found corresponding traces in Xia Xiwei’s latest "activity."
Primarily from the massive amount of fan comments–
"???"
"Getting up this early, I must be up too early... Xia Xiwei is mine, she’s mine!"
"Oh no, my beloved little Xia is no longer pure, I can’t imagine how happy this Zhou Wang must be..."
"A substantial bounty for all the information on that man, I’m going to go and take him down!"
"Is this even necessary, don’t you know Wuyou Media’s Zhou Wang?"
"Ah, so this ’Mr. Zhou’ is an internet celebrity?"
"Nope, he’s capital, a shareholder of Wuyou Media, supposedly a billionaire!"
"Well, no wonder, a wealthy man and a beautiful woman, the standard entertainment industry combo..."
"Girls, someone actually dares to compete with us for little Xia... Huh, this guy is quite handsome though. Let me first go solo into enemy territory to scout out the situation, if I don’t come back, don’t wait for me."
In a plethora of comments, "Zhou Wang" was a name that kept popping up.
Yu Duo glanced at the trending topics, "Xia Xiwei Officially Announces," "Original Text from Xia Xiwei’s Weibo," "Wuyou Media’s Zhou Wang," "Chutianyao Season Two," and other keywords had rapidly surged into the top hundred trending topics on Weibo.
Yu Duo then realized that this celebrity named "Xia Xiwei" probably had quite a high popularity in the entertainment industry.
How could Zhou Wang do this? It’s not enough that he stirred up trouble with Sister Tongtong, now he’s messing around in the entertainment industry... How can he justify this to Sister Ranran!
"Cheating player, cheater... I’ll sit on you and crush you, crush you!"
Yu Duo picked up a pillow from the little bed, imagining it was Zhou Wang, and began venting her anger furiously.
Thud thud!
At that moment, the bedroom door was knocked on, and Yu Duo’s mom pushed open the door.
At the first sound from outside the door, Yu Duo quickly lay back down on the bed, pretending to be asleep.
"Duoduo, are you still sleeping?"
Yu Mom came in. Seeing no response from Yu Duo, she sighed, "Stop pretending to sleep. Mom knows you’re awake. Come and do the shopping with me, just to unwind a bit. Since we came to Magic City, you haven’t really gone out much. How can you stay cooped up at home all day?"
While talking, Yu Mom walked to the window and pulled back some of the curtains to let in the last rays of the setting sun from outside.
Yu Duo just kept her head down, silent.
Yu Mom went to the bed and picked up the pillow from the floor, patting it while advising, "In the end, this place is rented, so you need to be careful not to damage anything in the house, or it might upset the landlord..."
After speaking, seeing that Yu Duo still wasn’t talking, Yu Mom sighed again and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Not until her mom’s footsteps faded away did Yu Duo suddenly sit up from the bed, her little face full of confusion, her lips trembling again.
Yes, what did anything about Zhou Wang have to do with her now?
She... didn’t even have a home.
Yu Duo tossed her phone aside and turned to hug her knees, trying hard not to think about all those chaotic things.
While Yu Duo stared out at the sunset from the window, she didn’t notice that with the temporary lag in the network signal, the Weibo screen refreshed automatically.
The next second, the entire Weibo trending list just abruptly... vanished.
...
"Pfft... cough cough cough!"
In Beidou, at Quanjude Wangfujing main branch, at a table by the street on the second floor, Zhou Wang was sipping on "braised duck tongue and perch egg soup" when he nearly choked upon hearing Lin Ran’s report over the phone.
He picked up a napkin, wiped his mouth, and confirmed in bewilderment, "You’re saying the Weibo trending list is gone?"
"Yeah, just a minute ago, Weibo’s official account released an emergency announcement, saying due to server maintenance reasons, the Weibo list will temporarily stop updating and will return to normal in a day."
Lin Ran’s tone carried a hint of peculiarity.
This was quite the coincidence. As soon as the rumor between Mr. Zhou and Xia Xiwei spread, the Weibo trending list just suddenly disappeared.
Of course, Lin Ran didn’t think there was any connection between the two; she just felt it was a pity. Although Zhou Wang’s attitude towards the matter was unclear, the popularity of Xia Xiwei was enough to earn him a lot of attention.
Zhou Wang’s Weibo account didn’t even need much managing; he had already gained tens of thousands of followers without lifting a finger. This chain reaction could even spill over to Douyin. With a bit of fermentation, it might turn out better than Zhou Wang shooting a blockbuster video himself...
"Okay, I got it. Seems like I don’t have to respond specifically either, saves me some trouble."
Zhou Wang thought this was a good thing. Although he didn’t care, nothing inappropriate was going on between him and Xia Xiwei, so there was no need to let others misunderstand.
He didn’t know if Xia Xiwei had a momentary lapse of judgment, and why she would suddenly post such a status.
Ending the call with Lin Ran, Zhou Wang looked up. Across from him, Ding Yi was still patiently wrapping roast duck in pancakes. Noticing Zhou Wang’s gaze, she smiled and looked over, "Did something happen? You look quite surprised."
"It’s settled, just a little commotion..."
Zhou Wang didn’t explain, after all, he hadn’t mentioned this to Ding Yi before, and since it was over, there was no need to bring it up again.
Ding Yi didn’t press further. She simply smiled and handed the wrapped roast duck to Zhou Wang, "Here, try it, the first bite is the most important, eat it slowly!"
"Alright, thank you!"
Zhou Wang took the roast duck, took a bite, and then gave Ding Yi a thumbs up, "The roast duck is average, but the way you wrapped it is delicious."
Ding Yi just gave a cheeky "hehe" smile, her expression quite smug, as if saying "of course."
While Zhou Wang was focused on tackling the roast duck, Ding Yi’s phone suddenly beeped. She picked it up, and unsurprisingly, it was a timely WeChat message–
Sister Xixi: "Ding Yi, what’s the point of this...?!"