The Vicious Female Supporting Character Goes Viral After Her Masks Drop During the Talent Show - Chapter 44

Zhong Yan was now a household name, and the scandal fermented rapidly. Less than an hour after the first marketing account leaked the news, social media platforms were in an absolute frenzy.

“Dating is a death sentence for idols, but this sister is getting married before she even debuts?! Heh, I guess when you’re a rich heiress, your ‘house collapse’ is just built different.”

“Wait, a single photo and two sentences are enough to prove it? If I dress up and take a photo in a hotel, am I a socialite marrying a CEO too?”

“Is she just ‘dressed up’? That outfit is custom haute couture; the whole look costs at least a million. Can you afford that? If you can, I’ll call you ‘Young Mistress’ too.”

“Even if she is a rich heiress, that doesn’t prove she’s getting married. You can’t even see the man’s face, and they’re just talking. No intimacy.”

“You guys are so naive. Dingming and Wensheng are massive conglomerates. Which marketing account would dare slander them? For this to leak and hit the Hot Search, it had to be authorized by the big shots themselves.”

“If it’s true, why join a survival show? If she wanted to be a star, she could just tell her husband. As the future lady of Dingming, what resources couldn’t she get?”

“The young mistress just wanted to play! She gets to enjoy the stage and gather a bunch of fans to worship her. What a comfortable life!”

“Fans are skipping meals to buy milk for votes, while the idol is living it up as a billionaire’s wife. Is she worthy of her fans? I suggest she stop torturing us and just go home to get married.”

“Don’t speak for all fans! I don’t feel she owes us anything. Whether as the author Zhong Yan or the idol on stage, she speaks through her work. She gives us great content, we enjoy it, and we support her. It’s an equal relationship.”

“Speak through work? Ha. Now that I think about it, with Wensheng in publishing and Dingming in entertainment, her fame was obviously pushed by capital from the start.”

“It’s so unfair. Ordinary girls work themselves to death for a dream they might never reach, while this heiress plays around and takes the Center spot just because of her background… Go home and be a housewife. Stop stealing opportunities from common people!”

“Exactly! I’m a passerby, but I think a common girl like Xia Meng, who relies on her own hard work to rise, is the real positive role model!”

“Upstairs, are you a ‘passerby from the underworld’? Hide your bias better! Everyone has ears; we heard Xia Meng’s voice crack. You can’t wash away the fact that she’s dead weight just by attacking others!”

Inside the dormitory, An Tao handed the phone back to Jin Li, unable to read any further. The news had spread among the trainees like wildfire the moment they returned from the studio.

Because the leak was so shocking, girls were huddled in groups of three or five, whispering over their phones. They were stunned when she was revealed as the author Zhong Yan, but who knew she had so many “vests” (secret identities) layered one over another? A socialite? A CEO’s wife? It was like reading a web novel.

Zhong Yan hadn’t returned to the dorm yet. Rumor had it she was in an emergency meeting with PD Zhang Jing. The fact that the PD called an emergency meeting only convinced the girls that the leak wasn’t entirely fake.

An Tao was worried. She had borrowed Jin Li’s phone to check the public opinion, but it only made her feel worse.

“Why the long face?” Jin Li said with certainty. “Don’t you trust Teacher Zhong? I don’t know if she’s some heiress, but marriage? Impossible! She has more ambition than any of us. Why would she run off to get married right before debuting? It’s ridiculously fake!”

“I know, I trust her,” An Tao pouted, her voice filled with indignation. “I’m just angry. Why do those people say those things? Everyone has seen her hard work on every stage, yet now, because of a random rumor, all her effort and excellence are being erased.”

“Which idiot said that?” Jin Li’s eyes widened as she swiped her phone open. “Where are they? I haven’t roasted anyone in a while; it’s time to stretch my muscles!”

An Tao nervously grabbed her hand. “Is that okay? Will the program allow us to post things privately?”

“Alt accounts! We use alts and don’t reveal our identities. How would they know? It’s fine!”

An Tao thought about it. The company usually forbade them from posting on social media, but defending Teacher Zhong’s reputation wasn’t just “posting”—it was speaking the truth. “Okay! I’ll do it with you!”

“Hehe, that’s the spirit! Trolling idiots isn’t a bad deed; it’s promoting justice! What’s there to fear?”

Recording Studio Dressing Room.

Zhong Yan sat in the center of a long sofa. Zhang Jing, Xu You, and Yan Shi were all present. Li Xing was on speakerphone, reporting on the PR crisis and discussing counter-strategies.

Xu You was pacing the room frantically. “Sister, don’t scare me. What do you mean by ‘it’s not exactly fake’?”

Zhong Yan didn’t explain to Xu You. She turned to Zhang Jing. “PD Zhang, I truly apologize. For certain reasons, I did conceal some things when the competition began.”

Every eye in the room fixed on her.

“I am indeed the daughter of the Zhong family of Wensheng Group,” Zhong Yan confessed calmly. “And Wensheng and Dingming did indeed set an engagement many years ago.”

Zhang Jing’s mind raced. Wensheng Group was a financial titan, just like Dingming—true “Big Capital.” He considered himself a figure in the industry, but before real giants, he was nothing. No wonder he had to act like a subservient grandson in front of Lu Tingshen. He looked at Zhong Yan, realizing she was even more formidable than he had imagined. She was a major connection he needed to nurture.

“Sister… is this one of those ‘arranged marriages’?” Xu You asked, his face falling like a disappointed puppy. He didn’t care about her being an heiress, but he cared very much about the “engagement.” Arranged marriage was a feudal relic he thought only existed in dramas.

“Yes, that’s what it is,” Zhong Yan nodded. “But there is no affection between Lu Tingshen and me. Before I joined the show, we reached an agreement to cancel it. For some reason, Lu Tingshen went back on his word, leading to today’s situation.”

Yan Shi, sitting on a single sofa nearby, finally understood what those two arguments he had witnessed were about. Hearing there was no affection between them made him breathe a sigh of relief. But hearing the man had reneged on his word and remembering his behavior the night of the second performance made Yan Shi’s eyes turn cold.

“Did he leak the news to force your hand?” Yan Shi asked.

Li Xing’s voice came through the phone. “We are still investigating the source of the rumors. So far, we haven’t found a direct link to Dingming.”

“Stop investigating. It wasn’t Dingming,” Zhong Yan said.

“How can we stop?” Xu You snapped. “Who else but that guy Lu would use such disgusting power moves to force someone into submission?”

Zhong Yan motioned for them to be quiet. “I know who is behind this.”

“Who?” they asked in unison.

“My parents.”

Zhong Yan recognized the photo in the post. it was taken at a gala celebrating Lu Tingshen’s appointment as CEO. Galas for the elite weren’t like celebrity parties; security was ironclad, and paparazzi were non-existent. The only people who could take photos were the guests. The photo was taken while she was discussing the breakup with Lu Tingshen. Aside from her mother, Shi Qian, she couldn’t think of anyone else who would be so focused on her conversation that they’d snap a picture.

She guessed that after the rainy night of the second show, Lu Tingshen must have told the Zhong family something in his anger. Desperate to finalize the marriage, the Zhongs had resorted to these underhanded tactics to force her to quit the show and come home to marry.

The room went silent. Zhang Jing and Xu You were stunned. For parents to leak a story that could destroy their daughter’s career at its peak… did they not care for her life at all?

Yan Shi’s expression was different. Beyond surprise, his lowered eyelids hid a deep, profound sadness.

“Everyone, don’t be so shocked,” Zhong Yan explained simply. “Arranged marriages in wealthy families aren’t about emotion; they’re about interest. My parents have always viewed me as a bargaining chip. Wensheng’s development has been sluggish lately, so they are even more eager to sell their daughter for prosperity. The sooner I marry into the Lu family, the sooner Wensheng gets Dingming’s support.”

She turned to Zhang Jing with an apologetic look. “It’s precisely because of my parents that I hid my background. They don’t support me doing anything other than the marriage. To prevent them from finding out and interfering with the show, I had to keep it secret.”

Looking around, she saw everyone looked miserable. Even Li Xing was silent on the phone.

“Come on, everyone, stop looking so grim.” Zhong Yan clapped her hands, her voice ringing with unconcealed delight. “My parents leaking this news is actually a good thing.”

She even let out a soft laugh.

“A good thing?” Zhang Jing asked, bewildered. How could parents sabotaging their child be good? As outsiders, it pained them to hear it. He thought she was just putting on a brave face to comfort them.

But looking closer, she was genuinely smiling.

“Yes,” Zhong Yan said. “By doing this, they’ve saved me a lot of trouble.”

Since the night of the second performance, she had been considering that since she couldn’t talk sense into Lu Tingshen, she would have to resolve the marriage through other means. Before she could even make a move, the Zhong family had delivered themselves to her door. It saved her the effort of setting a trap.

Zhang Jing was still confused, but Zhong Yan didn’t explain further. She looked him in the eye. “PD Zhang, do you trust me? If you do, let me handle this entire matter. I guarantee it won’t have a negative impact on the show. In fact, it will bring a wave of positive hype before the finale.”

Zhang Jing had never been stared at by eyes so full of power. It made him feel like he must trust her. “I trust you, Teacher Zhong. I just want to know how you plan to handle it.”

Li Xing asked from the phone, “Do you have a PR strategy in mind?”

“My strategy,” Zhong Yan said, “is to do nothing.”

“Do nothing?”

“Correct. For now, we do nothing. Let the rumors ferment. The more people who know, the better.”

The three men exchanged looks, then turned back to her. Zhong Yan leaned back into the sofa, her legs crossed, looking perfectly composed and relaxed.

“I remember next week, the top 9 trainees have a special reward livestream, right?”

“Yes,” Zhang Jing nodded. “Yours is scheduled for Thursday night.”

Zhang Jing realized her plan. “You want to do something during the livestream?”

Zhong Yan didn’t answer directly. She simply looked up and gave a faint, enchanting smile. “PD, you’re a veteran of the industry. You should know best that public opinion is the greatest weapon.”

“It can save someone… or it can kill them.”

Her dark Gothic dress made her skin look exceptionally pale, and her berry-red lipstick made her smile look dangerously alluring. In her captivating eyes, there was a flash of something ruthless—the mockery of a predator playing with its prey.

At that moment, an untimely yet thrilling word flashed through Xu You’s mind:

Devil.