Chapter 50

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Chapter 50: Title

Trending topic?

Song Yutian said, "I don’t know. I went to bed early last night, and as soon as I got up, you called me over."

The producer looked at Song Yutian thoughtfully, unsure if he believed her.

However, the producer did not press further and said to the associate director, "Xiao Zhang, now that Song Yutian is here, why don’t you explain the timeline you just sorted out?"

The associate director, upon being addressed, immediately replied respectfully, "Okay."

"Here’s what happened," the associate director said while pointing to the laptop screen. "Around ten o’clock last night, the trending topic #Song Yutian Being Held Back by Teammates appeared in fifteenth place, then quickly rose in rank, reaching the number one spot by eleven thirty."

At this point, the associate director glanced at Song Yutian and continued, "The popular video on this topic is a recording clip from yesterday’s live stream viewed from Song Yutian and Qin Yuanzhuo’s perspective, mainly focusing on the kindergarten segment and the Q&A section."

Song Yutian frowned. Just hearing this description, most people’s first reaction would indeed be that her team bought the trending topic, because this tag only mentioned her name, and the content seemed to favor her.

The associate director continued, "Currently, that trending topic has dropped out of the top ten, but along with that, four negative terms related to the show have appeared in the top ten trending topics. They are: #Qin Yuanzhuo Edited Maliciously, #Qin Yuanzhuo Blocked by the Program Group, #Song Yutian Stepping on Qin Yuanzhuo to Rise, and #Hidden Rules in Competitive Live Shows."

"These trending topics question the fairness of the show, suggesting that the program group leaked questions in advance and, while editing the recap video, intentionally favored Song Yutian, showing only her highlights while ignoring Qin Yuanzhuo."

The associate director looked at the producer, "This is the timeline up to now."

After the associate director spoke, the only man Song Yutian did not know said, "Song Yutian, do you mean the original trending topic was not created by you?"

The producer beside him said, "Yutian, this is Director Li from Shanzhu TV."

Even the director was involved in this.

Song Yutian said, "I can assure you that I just found out about this matter."

The director looked deeply at Song Yutian and asked, "Does your guarantee represent just yourself, or your entire team?"

"I…" Song Yutian hesitated for a moment.

Instinct told Song Yutian that her company could never be involved in this matter.

The old "Song Yutian" hadn’t received any scripts or shows for a whole year, and her agent had clearly said that if she couldn’t prove her worth on this show, the company wouldn’t provide any resources in the future.

How could a performer who was almost given up on suddenly have the company buy trending topics for her just a few days into the show, while hiding it from her?

But in the end, she was just a performer and truly couldn’t guarantee anything for the company.

"How about this," Song Yutian said after thinking for a moment, "I’ll call my agent right now to confirm."

The producer nodded and said, "Go ahead, make your call."

Song Yutian dialed her agent’s number, "Hello, Sister Chen."

A woman’s voice came from the other side, "Why did it take you so long to call me back? Don’t you know something has happened?"

Song Yutian took a deep breath and said, "I only found out about this recently, and I am currently discussing solutions with the program group."

…

After a few minutes of conversation, Song Yutian and the agent reached an agreement.

The agent explained that she had other important matters to handle, so Song Yutian would first talk with the program group on her own and then share the results with her.

Song Yutian hung up the phone and said to those present, "That’s the situation; the company is also unclear about this matter, and it’s not our fault."

The director asked, "Didn’t you contact your agent before coming?"

His words seemed to imply suspicion, as if Song Yutian had secretly conspired with her agent to create this situation.

Song Yutian frowned slightly. The director clearly did not trust her, and in this situation, no matter how much she explained, it would be pointless.

Just as Song Yutian hesitated over how to respond, the producer suddenly said, "Director, I believe that Song Yutian truly does not know about this matter."

The director looked up at the producer and said, "Yuwei, please explain in detail."

The producer said, "From both the current results and the feedback from the first trending search, it is clear that this topic is more harmful than helpful for Song Yutian. Compared to Qin Yuanzhuo, Song Yutian has an average reputation and lower popularity. Trying to bring down Qin Yuanzhuo to quickly gain attention is definitely an unwise choice."

The woman’s words seemed harshly critical of Song Yutian, but they did help clear Song Yutian’s name.

The director thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let’s stop here. The current focus is not on who did this, but on how to solve the problem. Yuwei, please tell her about the plan we discussed earlier."

The woman nodded and said to Song Yutian, "Yutian, first there’s news we need to inform you of. Qin Yuanzhuo’s team contacted us early this morning and said he will no longer participate in today’s or future program recordings. They’ve already issued a withdrawal announcement. The current public opinion situation has reached its worst point for both the program group and yourself."

"Considering the circumstances and your teammate’s withdrawal, the program group’s decision is that you should temporarily suspend today’s recording. Otherwise, public sentiment will only continue to deteriorate."

"The program group will promptly clarify false claims regarding production manipulation, leaked questions, and malicious editing. However, we have no standing to address rumors about your team disparaging Qin Yuanzhuo. We hope you understand this position."

Song Yutian understood that while harsh, this represented the program group’s maximum possible effort given their standpoint.

She then asked, "How will my appearance fees be calculated during this suspension period?"

Everyone present froze.

On social platforms:

Qin Yuanzhuo’s fanbase dominated trending topics related to the show. Under the "Malicious Editing of Qin Yuanzhuo" hashtag, all comment sections overflowed with fan protests:

[This is blatant! A 1-minute answer recap with only 10 seconds of Qin Yuanzhuo’s solo footage?]

[Program group: Did Qin fail every question? Why only show Song answering?]

[The favoritism stinks! You’re insulting viewers’ intelligence!]

The program group’s latest promotional Weibo became inundated with coordinated fan comments:

[No to rigged shows! We demand fairness!]

[Apologize and restore Qin Yuanzhuo’s justice!]

Even critical comments from neutral observers vanished instantly amid the flood. Real-time searches for "Song Yutian" yielded exclusively Qin’s fan content:

[Die already, shameless Granny Song! You should feel honored working with Qin!]

[Why is there no withdrawal statement from Song? Is the program group waiting to revive their pet after this blows over?]

Vile insults proliferated. As a rising male star from the past year, Qin commanded formidable fan power compared to Song Yutian’s nascent, despairing fanbase. Though growing rapidly, her supporters remained vastly outnumbered, especially by dedicated followers.

To most spectators, Song Yutian appeared doomed—punishment for challenging a top male idol.

10:00 AM:

The "Unexpected Challenges" livestream attracted five times Saturday’s viewership despite being a weekday. When viewers noticed Song Yutian’s absence:

[Did Song withdraw too?]

[Guilty conscience keeping her hidden?]

Audience numbers plummeted 10 minutes later after confirming her non-appearance.

11:00 AM:

Public sentiment increasingly turned against both the program group and Song Yutian. Qin’s fans demanded accountability across platforms, accusing producers of using Qin as a stepping stone for Song.

Celebratory comments flooded Qin’s fan groups:

[Rejoice! The hag can’t even fight back!]

[This is what happens to anyone bullying our brother!]

[Just imagining her misery makes me ecstatic!]

Their bloodthirsty revelry resembled vultures swarming a carrion.

12:00 PM:

Netizens’ voyeuristic fervor persisted. Beyond Qin Studio’s withdrawal notice, neither party had responded publicly. However…

@UnexpectedChallenges posted 1 minute ago:

Regarding the many false statements that have appeared recently, the program group has made the following statement:

First, as the country’s first live competitive celebrity reality show, every segment of "Unexpected Challenges" guarantees complete fairness and justice, and there will never be any predetermined rankings.

Second, in response to netizens questioning the program group about leaked questions, we have attached chat records of the program group contacting the school for question preparation, as well as records of the exam paper packaging and notarization.

Third, all staff members have received professional training and will not show favoritism towards any contestant, nor will there be so-called "malicious editing." Regarding the rumors circulating online about deliberately cutting highlights of a male contestant to highlight a female contestant, we have attached an unedited multi-camera video of the answering session, which can be viewed by clicking the link.

After the program group’s statement was released, Qin Yuanzhuo’s fans quickly swarmed in once again.

Just one minute after the statement was published, the comment section was already filled with "Reject the unfairness" and "Give Qin Yuanzhuo justice."

Clearly, those commenting did not even look at the program group’s response, including the images as proof, let alone the forty-minute unedited video.

What Qin Yuanzhuo’s fans wanted was not the so-called truth and clarification.

But the program team’s surrender.

Three o’clock in the afternoon.

During the highly controversial quiz segment, Qin Yuanzhuo and Song Yutian were each filmed by a dedicated camera.

The clarification video released by the program team showed both perspectives completely.

However, the video was too long, and most netizens did not have the patience to watch all of it.

Nevertheless, three hours after the program team’s video was published, a blogger posted a related explanatory analysis video.

This video was only four minutes long but analyzed the program team’s clarification video in detail, with a fast pace and easy-to-understand language.

The blogger compared the questions, the correct answers, and the answers written by the participants in detail in the video.

The conclusion was that all the answers written by Qin Yuanzhuo were wrong without exception. All the correct answers came from Song Yutian and another middle school classmate.

The blogger’s commentary was very humorous, including a line where a fan asked why their brother was not shown on camera, wondering if he didn’t answer any questions correctly. The answer was that they were right; their brother didn’t get any questions right.

The video not only analyzed how many questions Qin Yuanzhuo and Song Yutian got right but also highlighted what they wrote on their scratch paper through close-up shots.

The content Qin Yuanzhuo wrote on the scratch paper was almost all unrelated calculations. In contrast, everything Song Yutian wrote on the blank paper was the correct solution process.

The blogger concluded with a summary: The accusation that they only showcased Song Yutian’s highlights was completely unreasonable because Qin Yuanzhuo had no highlights at all.

Initially, the clarification from the program group quickly reached the third spot on the trending topics, and this video appeared as the top trending item related to the clarification, even surpassing the original clarification post by the program group, which was viewed and liked by many netizens.

Compared to the fans of Qin Yuanzhuo repeatedly asking for fairness and an apology, this real analysis was clearly more powerful.

Moreover, the program group also released photographic evidence that proved the question-setting process had been secret and that the questions had always been sealed, making the theory of leaked questions completely invalid.

The balance gradually tilted, and more and more netizens started to lean towards Song Yutian.

But at the same time, a few accounts in Qin Yuanzhuo’s fan group began to call for more effort.

[This is the first tough battle for Brother Zhuo after he became famous; everyone, stay focused and don’t relax!]

[Everyone, keep working hard to control the comments! We must not let bystanders change the mood!]

[If the program group doesn’t apologize to Brother Zhuo, we won’t stop!]

[If you love Brother Zhuo, don’t let him suffer any unfairness! Otherwise, how can you call yourself a fan?]