Goddamn, what "honey trap"? How could Sister Deng possibly set him up?
It was a waste of breath talking to him. He was a complete mess himself; consulting him was a mistake.
At this moment, Wang Zhi sent a WeChat message.
"Brother Fei, are you coming back to sleep tonight?"
Lin Chudong felt a sense of relief. This kid was quite reliable, knowing to ask.
Lin Chudong: Not coming back, I have some things to handle here.
Wang Zhi: Are you with Sister Deng?
Lin Chudong: Hmm, Sister Deng seems to have drunk too many drinks… She won't let me leave.
Wang Zhi: Fei-ge, let me break it down for you. I suspect Sister Deng might be a fan who's liked you for years. Now she's gone from being a fan to secretly being in love with you, but she's too embarrassed to say it, so she's always looking for an excuse to get close to you.
Lin Chudong: That's ridiculous, stop analyzing and go to sleep.
Wang Zhi: Damn, you don't believe me…
Lin Chudong simply stopped caring. Sister Deng was hugging him anyway, so he pretended not to know.
That night, the two of them slept in each other's arms.
The next morning, Lin Chudong woke up and there was no one beside him again. The smell of cooking wafted in from outside.
Lin Chudong walked out of the room, and there was already a table full of delicious breakfast.
"Sister Deng, I'm troubling you again."
Sister Deng smiled. "It's no trouble. You worked hard yesterday. My tolerance is terrible, I drank a bit much. Did I do anything embarrassing?"
Lin Chudong's expression was strange. "No, you just went to sleep when you got back."
He didn't know about her tolerance, but what she drank yesterday definitely wasn't alcohol.
Sitting at the dining table, the two of them ate a breakfast with six dishes.
"I brought you a jar of pickled vegetables. Take it when you leave. My mom made it herself, the kind you liked last time."
"Thank you, Sister Deng."
Sister Deng was really thoughtful. He'd mentioned it casually last time, and she actually prepared some for him.
Sister Deng said, "Don't be so polite with me. Treat this place like your own home from now on."
"Okay, sure."
"Are you confident about recording the show today?"
Lin Chudong smiled. "I don't need to be confident. I'm a judge, and you're a contestant. You're the one who needs to be confident."
"Of course, I'm confident. After all, you wrote this song for me. I saw you arguing with Wang Xi online. Will it be awkward when we record the show later?"
Lin Chudong said calmly, "I didn't argue with him. He's not worthy. As long as I'm not embarrassed, he's the one who will be."
Sister Deng couldn't help but laugh. "That's a very interesting way of putting it. Are we recording two episodes today? And they'll be broadcasted the day after tomorrow?"
"It seems so. Two episodes back-to-back."
...
At nine in the evening, Lin Chudong got off the plane and returned to the company.
Liang Yin hadn't left yet. "Da Fei, how did the recording go?"
"Pretty good."
Liang Yin said, "That's it? Just a 'pretty good' to brush me off?"
Lin Chudong smiled wryly, "It's not my competition. I just went to be a judge. You'll know in a couple of days when you watch the show."
"Alright, prerecording is annoying. You have to wait after it's done."
"Tell me about it. I prefer live broadcasts too."
Liang Yin thought for a moment: "Forget it, prerecording is better. You always stir up trouble during live broadcasts."
Lin Chudong: …
The next morning, Lin Chudong was still asleep when Liang Yin flipped his covers.
"Big Fei, wake up quickly!"
Lin Chudong opened his eyes and saw the landlady, speechless.
"Landlady, you flipped my covers, aren't you afraid I'm sleeping naked!"
Liang Yin said, "Oh, there's no time to joke around. Something happened. Li Zhilin said we're confirmed to be plagiarizing."
Lin Chudong frowned, "How could this be possible?"
He took a look at Liang Yin's phone. It turned out that the overseas version of this webnovel author's novel was translated and was exactly the same as their Beginning, with a very similar plot.
As soon as this evidence was released, it immediately caused a huge uproar.
Lin Chudong frowned again, "This is impossible. I've read this author's work, and it's just so-so. Besides, how could the overseas version be so different from the one he wrote himself?"
"The overseas translation also doesn't have an accurate name. This looks like a fabrication."
"The editor of the overseas translation adapted the plot himself? Isn't this absurd?"
Lin Chudong immediately called Professor Zhang.
Zhang Wei perked up when he heard about this matter.
"So, it looks like the drama's going to be pulled?"
Lin Chudong said, "Probably. Let's see how long Director Huang can hold out. Professor Zhang, can we find out the release date codes for the books published overseas?"
Zhang Wei said, "We can, the court definitely can. But there's no time. Back and forth communication will take about ten days. We can check the time he sold the overseas copyright. Domestic novel websites wouldn't dare to fake it."
Lin Chudong's eyes lit up. "Right, Professor Zhang, you hit the nail on the head. If we find out the other party's lawyer is faking, he's in deep trouble."
Zhang Wei laughed, "Teacher Dafei, you're the expert in this area."
"Then get to work. Officially sue Li Zhilin."
Lin Chudong hung up the phone, a sneer on his face.
You dare to fight with me, Zhang San, the Outlaw? You haven't seen a lawsuit where the opposing lawyer gets sent to jail, have you?
"This time, I'll let you see!"
Tianxun Video.
Huang Wei stood in front of a middle-aged man, her brows furrowed.
"President Mei, Beginning is our best-performing drama this year, a blockbuster SSS-level hit. We'll lose a lot if we take it down!"
Mei Xinghe, Vice President of Tianxun Video.
"Huang Wei, I know it's a huge hit, but the online evidence is out now. If you don't take it down, can you handle the public opinion? Just Li Zhilin's fans alone can curse us to death."
Huang Wei said, "We need to wait for the court's verdict to determine if it's true. What if the other party's evidence is forged? The novel's main text has nothing to do with Beginning, and the overseas translation is highly similar to Beginning. Do you think this is real?"
Mei Xinghe said earnestly, "Whether it's true or not, we have to avoid the spotlight. Some money can be earned, and some cannot. Are you going to take responsibility if something goes wrong?"
Huang Wei slammed her hand on the table and said,
"President Mei! I'm putting it on the line here. If something goes wrong with Beginning, I, Huang Wei, am responsible. I want to keep this show on for another week. Can you agree or not? If not, we'll go to the headquarters and find the big boss!"
Mei Xinghe was a vice president, which meant he outranked her.
However, Huang Wei wasn't someone to be trifled with. Her next step would put her on the same level as Mei Xinghe.
After waiting for so long and finally bringing out a blockbuster, how could she just give up?
Furthermore, with Lin Chudong's identity as the King of Songs, would he really need to resort to such a low-level form of plagiarism?
Mei Xinghe glared at her, "You... you're crazy! Go report to the big boss yourself!"
Mei Xinghe slammed the door and left.
The colleagues didn't dare to make a sound as they watched the two leaders quarreling.
Without a word, Huang Wei directly gave the order.
"Update the last two episodes of Beginning, go straight to the ending, and re-recommend it on the homepage."
"Yes, Director Huang!"
Lin Chudong also communicated with Huang Wei after seeing the update.
The current background data was still good. If it were taken down now, Lin Chudong's share would be about thirty million.
This was far less than the expected 100 million, a considerable loss.
But Huang Wei withstood the pressure from her superiors and directly finished the series, releasing it for another week. The results for this week would definitely be much better than before.
Because many people were specifically waiting for the series to finish before watching, not wanting to follow the episodes, the views and membership subscriptions would increase a lot this week.
The estimated share could reach at least fifty million.
Lin Chudong was already very satisfied with this number. His drama could have earned money steadily.
However, with Li Zhilin barging in like this, it would be a bit difficult to get all the share.
Getting fifty million, Lin Chudong was also satisfied. The series would be taken down, and then re-released after a while. Although it would have a big impact on the views, those fans who hadn't finished watching would still wait.
In other words, after the storm passed, he could still make a small profit.
And now, the money he lost would be dug out of Li Zhilin. Do you really think you're Pizza Hut? Zhang San, the Outlaw, it's time to teach you a lesson.
On Weibo.
Liang Music Team's official account released an announcement.
"Due to the recent plagiarism incident, which has caused heated discussions and brought negative impacts and significant economic losses to our company, our company has decided to sue Li Zhilin and the web novel writer Cookhouse Beauty. The lawyer's letter is as follows."
"We will announce the results as soon as possible."
Immediately, Liang Music Team once again surged to the top of the trending searches.
The previous online arguments were one thing, but this time it had escalated to a lawsuit. This was quite the spectacle.
"Liang Music Team has some guts, daring to sue Li Zhilin? Aren't they afraid of retaliation later?"
"Revenge? Does he even have a chance for revenge? Da Fei has studied Zhang San, the Outlaw, inside and out. He won't let it go until Li Zhilin's in jail, will he?"
"Seriously? I've seen Da Fei's lecture videos; they're pretty funny. Does he really have what it takes?"
"Take out the 'ma' from your question, upstairs. Don't you see where Da Fei gives his lectures? It's the law department classroom at the University of Politics and Law, filling in for Professor Zhang. Is he just an average person?"
"This time it's really lively, I'm waiting to see who wins in the end!"
"'Capture the Ringleader First'"
"'Beginning' is finished, damn!"
"…"
The lawyer's letter went viral, which also brought a wave of popularity to 'Beginning', and the views directly broke the ten billion mark.
It had only been online for less than a month, and it had already surpassed a billion views across the entire network. This number was simply terrifying.
Li Zhilin stared at his phone, his brow furrowed.
"Jumping clowns, daring to sue me? They're asking for it."
"Tell that novelist not to worry. I'll pay for everything if something happens."
"It's just a matter of paying some money. What can they do? Think they can compare to my legal department? Poor bastards."
"Da Fei, can we win the lawsuit?"
"We'll definitely win. Li Zhilin knows we'll win too, but he's still trying to get us taken down so his show's traffic can increase."
"Aren't we at a loss then?"
"Not necessarily. Director Huang estimated we could get fifty million, while we projected revenue of one hundred million. Li Zhilin's spreading of rumors caused us huge losses, at least twenty million a week. If we sue and it takes a month, asking him to compensate us one hundred million wouldn't be excessive, right?"
Liang Yin was dumbfounded, "That's not excessive, but can he really pay?"
Lin Chudong smiled, "Pretty much. You think Li Zhilin would rather spend three years in jail to avoid paying a hundred million?"
"Of course not."
"Then let's just wait and count the money. We've left this matter to Professor Zhang. Let's focus on our own things. The Crossover Singer airs the day after tomorrow. Don't forget to promote it on the official Weibo account."
"Okay!"
These past few days, although there were no programs, everyone was still busy.
Lin Chudong kept an eye on the entertainment industry's trends and found that Wu Bo had been quite popular lately.
"Has anyone watched Wu Bo's dating show?"
Qian Duoduo walked out of the finance office, "I have, Fei-ge."
"Is Wu Bo popular?"
"Very popular. He has a straight-man persona, and the show's effects are great. It looks hilarious, but he doesn't know it."
Lin Chudong nodded and watched a few of Wu Bo's highlight reels. "This guy might not be acting; he does seem a bit of a straight-man."
"Fei-ge, why don't you go on a dating show?"
"Me? I'd be worse than Wu Bo if I went up there, forget it."
Besides the news about Wu Bo getting popular on the dating show, the second season of The Voice was about to start.
Mentor Zhang Yiran was strongly joining, replacing Shen Jianbin.
Previously, Shen Jianbin could be a mentor because Da Fei was famous. Originally, they invited Da Fei, but, since he didn't go, Shen Jianbin went.
Secondly, before the first season of The Voice aired, no one expected it to be so popular. He was lucky.
In fact, it was precisely because of The Voice that Shen Jianbin felt Da Fei was useless, which led to the current Liang Music Team.
In the evening, Lin Qiqi sent a WeChat message.
"Da Fei, I'm back in Modu, come pick me up."
"Okay."
Half an hour later, Lin Chudong, with Lin Qiqi in tow, stood beside a lighthouse on the beach.
He remembered it was quite hot the first time he came here, but now the sea breeze was already biting.
Lin Qiqi held Lin Chudong's hand, walking a few rounds on the raised part of the road, her smile like a flower.
"When will Dafei shoot the second film?"
"After the New Year."
"Can you let me play the female lead?"
"Well, it's not certain. What if the drama I want to film isn't suitable for you, then I won't take you along."
"Alright then, I can take on other dramas."
"Yeah, you go ahead and take them. I won't bring you along for now."
"Why?"
"Because I want to act with you."
Lin Qiqi's eyes widened, "You're going to be the male lead? Are we going to play lovers?"
Lin Chudong smiled, "Yes."
"When?"
"When my acting skills are up to par."
Lin Qiqi said, "Acting is easy. Act one out now, act out a scene where you confess to me."
Lin Chudong coughed twice. "Are you giving me pointers, Lin the Actress?"
"Yes, to see how dumb you are."
"Alright."
Lin Chudong cleared his throat and stood in front of Lin Qiqi, pursing his lips.
"I… I like you."
Lin Qiqi crossed her arms. "No! There's no emotion at all. Call my name."
"Qiqi, I like you."
"No, no, be a little gentler."
"Qiqi, I like you."
"Ugh, your voice is too soft, the sound of the waves is drowning you out."
"Qiqi, I like you!"
"Dafei, are you trying to deafen me!"
"..."
After a long while.
"You're so dumb, watch me do it."
Lin Qiqi stood in front of him, her eyes blinking, and said softly.
"Da Fei, I like you too."
Lin Chudong stared at her eyes, the starry sky reflected in her eyes, so beautiful.
After a few seconds of silence.
Lin Qiqi said, "Da Fei, I'm cold."
Lin Chudong quickly held her hands.
"I'm cold too."
Lin Chudong took a deep breath, then suddenly opened his arms and embraced her.
Lin Qiqi's hands tightly hugged his waist, and her little head, peeking out from his shoulder, was grinning foolishly.
Lin Chudong never thought in his life that he could hold the starry sky in his arms.
-----------------------
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