After Cannon Fodder A Accidentally Marked the Cold Film Queen - Chapter 60

After this period of information gathering, Zhu Songning had a rough understanding of the rules governing the main system’s operation.

The main system controlled the operation of all small worlds and maintained the stability of these worlds by having “hosts” complete “plot nodes,” thereby gaining energy.

Once the plot was destroyed, the system’s control over that world would be weakened.

Zhu Songning needed to cooperate with Shen Qingyu in a joint operation.

As the active executor of the mission, she needed to break a crucial plot node by snatching the center position (C-spot) from Xu Zhe, thereby weakening the main system’s power. Shen Qingyu, as a former system binder, possessed the world’s wealth, status, and fame, which were equivalent to the world’s energy strength, commonly known as ‘Qiyun’ (luck/fate).

Coupled with the help of 001, an internal system bug, the steps were interconnected, with each one being vital and indispensable.

And the next thing she had to do was the fuse for all subsequent events, igniting everything that followed.

With such preparations, the final episode of Youth Trainee 2 arrived.

Since the exposure of Zhu Songning’s negative rumors, neither she nor the official production team had offered any positive response.

And that trending topic actually stayed on Weibo’s hot search list for a whole week, with the informant continuously adding more fuel to the fire.

On the evening before the final episode began, to prevent all trainees from communicating with the outside world and to stop them from finding out their votes or communicating with their agencies, all their mobile devices had to be handed over.

Zhu Songning said to the person on the other end of the phone, “Then I’ll leave it to you, Sister Qingmu.”

Although Shen Qingmu did not hold internal power within the Shen family, she helped manage several departments related to public opinion, which were usually used to control the Shen Group’s external public image.

Shen Qingmu sat at the head of the conference room, her black suit and trousers making her look exceptionally formal. She tapped her fingers on the table, and her assistant received the signal, passing the documents one by one to the relevant personnel seated on both sides of the room.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely take care of things on my end.”

On Zhu Songning’s side, the staff collecting phones started hurrying her.

She quickly said goodbye, intending to hang up the phone, but Shen Qingmu hesitated on the other end.

“Wait…”

Zhu Songning paused, “What is it?”

“Help me tell Luo Chuanhe, good luck.”

Shen Qingmu’s voice on the other end was lowered, and Zhu Songning almost didn’t catch what she was saying.

“Why don’t you tell her yourself?”

Zhu Songning looked not far away at Luo Chuanhe, who was persistently pressing a phone that showed “calling.”

She walked over, took Luo Chuanhe’s phone, tossed it to the staff member, and then handed over her own.

Luo Chuanhe took it, bewildered, and obediently held it to her ear.

The person on the other end was likely working; all she could hear were the sounds of turning pages and keyboard clicks.

“Hello—”

—”Good luck.”

“What I mean is, perform well, I’ll be watching.”

“Watch you debut.”

The dim light in Luo Chuanhe’s eyes suddenly became dazzling.

“Okay! It’s a deal!”

Luo Chuanhe excitedly yelled and cheered, wanting to say more, but the person on the opposite end had already hung up.

Only the sound of ‘beep, beep, beep’ remained.

The staff member smoothly collected the phone.

“If you need to call family, you can do it after the show.”

Hearing the staff member’s word “family,” Luo Chuanhe smiled so widely she couldn’t close her mouth.

Zhu Songning glanced at her from the side, “Spineless.”

“And you have backbone?” Luo Chuanhe didn’t hold back, but she was genuinely concerned, “You have so many negative rumors online, hanging for a whole week, and I haven’t seen you bravely fight back.”

“Can’t you just say you’re worried about me?”

Zhu Songning patted her shoulder and walked with her toward the makeup room.

“Don’t worry, your good sister will help me solve it.”

Just as all the trainees and mentors, including Xu Zhe and Lu Conghuan, handed over their phones, a flood of new rumors instantly surged online.

All of them were about Zhu Songning.

But they weren’t clarifications; they were more true and false rumors.

#ZhuSongningCapital #ZhuSongningXuGroup #ZhuSongningFangGroup #ZhuSongningSevenNationMix #ZhuSongningShenQingyu

@EntertainmentGossip: Our paparazzi caught Zhu Songning frequently visiting the Suzhou branch of the Xu Group in Northern City and having a close relationship with a director within the group.

@EntertainmentOnline: According to relevant sources, Zhu Songning is actually the illegitimate daughter of the Fang Group, who was only recently acknowledged.

@MelonQueenEatingMelonsSexily: Wait, you guys don’t know that Zhu Songning is a seven-nation mix? Her mother is a Russian royal princess, her father is a noble from the Han Kingdom, her grandmother even has a noble title in Northern Europe, and she has six older sisters lining up to dote on her. This background (thumbs up, thumbs up)

@TalkTalkTalkTiredOfTalkingInTheCircle: My partner’s mom works at the Civil Affairs Bureau, and I bet that Shen Qingyu’s marriage partner is Zhu Songning, which is why she can be so rampant in the entertainment industry!

…

Similar posts were emerging endlessly, quickly dominating half of the trending topics.

Everyone clicked into them in confusion, then clicked out in shock.

Seriously, which one of us is the idiot, me or the trending topics?

【Wait? Isn’t Zhu Songning the one being targeted by capital? These rumors are ridiculously far-fetched.】

【What ‘long-lost illegitimate daughter of a wealthy family’ and ‘world-class favored darling’? Am I on Weibo or Jinjiang [a Chinese web novel site]??】

【Seeing everyone going crazy, I chuckled with relief at my overtime work desk.】

The effect this time was undoubtedly stormy, but as the rumors increasingly steered toward absurd directions, many people began to believe that all the negative reports about Zhu Songning were false.

【At least, I’ve never seen someone with real backing have negative hot searches hang for a whole week.**】

【Wait, did you all forget that Zhu Songning is actually an independent trainee without an agency? Before joining the show, she was a complete amateur, while the other contestant, X, was on variety shows and buying promotions before debut, acting like a guaranteed center spot. Could it be that Zhu Songning really touched someone’s cake?**】

【Sister Tired, crazy talk like Shen Qingyu and Zhu Songning getting married is out there? May your entire family be blessed [a common Chinese sarcastic retort].】

Shen Qingmu hadn’t expected Zhu Songning’s tactic of “muddying the waters” to be so effective. It immediately suppressed the previous, “ordinary” negative rumors by comparison, and when people subjectively decided these new ones were false, they would also believe the previous ones were equally false.

She instructed her subordinates to guide the public opinion toward the narrative that Zhu Songning was the one being set up by capital and to continuously mention the existence of Xu Zhe and the Xu family.

This strategy was her own idea, called “Shifting the Blame”!

Although Zhu Songning hadn’t asked her to do this, every wrong has a source, and she was simply fighting back with an equivalent blow.

She secretly praised herself happily in her heart, not forgetting to remind the staff in the conference room to remember to vote for contestant number 3, Luo Chuanhe.

After Zhu Songning handed over her phone, she was completely cut off from the outside world, so she didn’t know the exact situation online.

The thing she had to do now was to perform her duties to the best of her ability.

Such as the upcoming stage performance.

She felt her solo performance was relatively successful; after all, the applause after her performance was louder than that of the other contestants.

However, after her solo performance, Shen Qingyu disappeared. She wasn’t seen in the mentor seats, and the director said Film Empress Shen felt unwell and went to rest, which made Zhu Songning a bit concerned.

001 was silent for a moment before telling her: [Don’t worry, she’s fine.]

001 and Shen Qingyu had a unique connection. With electronic devices confiscated, Zhu Songning couldn’t contact her, so she could only trust 001’s words.

[She’s just been working non-stop recently and is a bit worn out. Don’t worry.]

[Focus on preparing for the upcoming collaboration stage.]

The final episode had limited airtime, so Zhu Songning needed to seize every moment she appeared in front of the camera, not wasting a second.

One more effective shot could mean hundreds or thousands more passersby might cast their votes for her.

She couldn’t relax for a moment.

“Hurry up, everyone is waiting for you.”

Zhu Songning’s solo was the last one, followed immediately by the group performance, so her costume change time was the shortest.

Luo Chuanhe pushed her into the dressing room. Zhu Songning hugged her clothes, took a deep breath, and leaned against the door.

Behind her was the hard, cold door panel; in front of her was a huge dressing mirror.

As Zhu Songning leaned against the door, what she was thinking about was the sight of Shen Qingyu pinned against the door when she kissed her that day.

Her long hair was tangled together because of the tight embrace, a mixture of black and white, and her eyes were bewildered from the kiss.

Her eyes were like a pool into which a small stone had been thrown, with ripples spreading in circles.

It was definitely a lie to say she didn’t feel any pressure. When any matter involved not just yourself but also those you cared about and those who cared about you, it ceased to be a matter solely concerning you.

However, this time, Zhu Songning was not fighting alone.

Outside the door were her teammates, her fans.

And Shen Qingyu.

Her stomach ached from the excessive nervousness. She put on her performance costume and tried to calm herself down, but still didn’t feel any relief from the pain. In fact, the pain seemed to be spreading, making every bone and joint feel like it was creaking.

This wasn’t right.

She had only felt this kind of pain once before.

When her mission completion was running into trouble.

“001.”

Zhu Songning bent down and squatted, supporting herself with her hands on her knees, seeing her pale face in the mirror.

[Host… Host, I’m trying my best to resist, but the main system is judging that you are forcibly changing a key plot node and is currently correcting it…]

Online, the public opinion about Zhu Songning was being reversed. The heavier the system’s punishment warning on Zhu Songning, the higher the probability of her success.

This level of pain was still within her tolerance. Zhu Songning took a few big breaths and slowly straightened up.

After taking one last look at herself in the mirror, she found a spare lip gloss from her bag and applied some lipstick and blush.

Her current pale complexion was somewhat similar to Shen Qingyu’s so-called “naturally cold white skin.”

Thinking of this, the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. She pushed open the door and stepped out.

“You finally came out, why were you so slow…”

Luo Chuanhe leaned against the door, reaching out to pull her away.

When Luo Chuanhe touched her still-throbbing arm, Zhu Songning instantly frowned and let out a soft “hiss.”

Luo Chuanhe was startled by her reaction and quickly released her hand: “Are you okay? Did I grab you too hard just now?”

“It’s not your fault,” Zhu Songning shook her head, “You just startled me.”

“You reacted that strongly just from being startled?”

Luo Chuanhe looked at her suspiciously, but the staff was urging them to go to the waiting area. She didn’t have time to think further, but instinctively shielded Zhu Songning, preventing the passing staff members from touching her in the slightest.

Zhu Songning smiled at her protective, almost mother-hen-like gesture: “I’m not a piece of porcelain…”

“Too bad your words aren’t convincing.” Luo Chuanhe glanced at her. “Before today, I promised my idol that I would protect and take good care of you.”

Idol?

Zhu Songning’s nerves were almost entirely preoccupied with the pain, making her thoughts extremely slow. It took her a while to realize that the idol she spoke of was Shen Qingyu.

Peeking from backstage, she finally saw Shen Qingyu’s figure, sitting back in the center of the mentor seats.

However, she did indeed look unwell. Even on camera, she wore a mask, revealing only her attractive eyes.

Seeing her, Zhu Songning suddenly felt a wave of reassurance.

Lu Conghuan sat beside her, looking at Zhu Songning with a hint of pity.

The night before the competition, Zhu Songning had received a text message from her.

“I warned you, nothing good will come of going against the Xu Group and Yuanhe Entertainment.”

And now, Lu Conghuan and Xu Zhe looked entirely like victors, looking down on her from a superior position.

Victors always have a surplus of sympathy, pouring it out everywhere.

After the host finished the announcement, the lights in the venue completely dimmed.

With every step Zhu Songning took toward the stage, she felt a little more pain on her body, her steps incredibly heavy.

But even more quickly than the pain, a sense of exhilaration formed in her mind, a feeling she hadn’t even consciously realized.

It was like the moment before every successful magic trick.

The more pronounced the pain on her body, the more the probability of her successful impact on this critical plot point was increasing and accumulating.

[I can only help you hold out for 2 minutes.]

Earlier, 001 wanted to help her resist for a while, but Zhu Songning asked it to accumulate energy first and use it all during the stage performance.

The entire song was three minutes long. 001 could weaken the pain that the main system was forcing upon Zhu Songning’s body for the first two minutes.

“That’s enough.”

Zhu Songning adjusted her costume.

“Thank you. When it’s over, I’ll download a new novel for you to read.”

The blue light on her in-ear monitor flickered, then quickly stabilized the current.

[Okay.]

The stage lights lit up again.

Blinding white lights shone from below and behind them. Zhu Songning stood in the center of the group and resolutely walked out, following the music.

This was her battlefield.

She would return victorious, under Shen Qingyu’s gaze.

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