Chapter 343: Internet Violence

Fang Zhou was jolted awake the next day by Li Siming’s relentless calls.

The incessant ringing made it impossible to continue sleeping. With half-opened eyes, Fang Zhou fumbled for his phone and answered it.

“Hello? What’s up?”

His voice was hoarse from post-drunken slumber, sounding like a rusty saw cutting through damp wood. Li Siming, on the other end, winced at the sound.

“You’re still not awake!”

Thinking about what he had seen online, Li Siming couldn’t hold back his urge to shout.

“Damn! The house is on fire, and you’re still sleeping?!”

Fang Zhou was confused. He knew Li Siming often overreacted, so he didn’t take him seriously.

“Come on, even if the house were burning, I’d still sleep.”

Li Siming, feeling like he was more worried than the person involved, sighed in exasperation.

“Alright, just wait for netizens to tear you apart then, since you’re so relaxed.”

Hearing the sarcasm, Fang Zhou realized something serious might be up. He immediately asked, “What do you mean? Why would they tear me apart?”

Li Siming scoffed and got straight to the point.

“Your past relationships with those ex-girlfriends have been exposed. It blew up last night and topped the trending charts.”

“A lot of netizens are cursing at you. I suggest you quickly disable private messaging on your streaming platform, or they’ll bombard you and curse your whole family.”

Fang Zhou’s mind slowly cleared as Li Siming’s words sank in. He sat up abruptly, exclaiming in disbelief.

“No way! How could they have found out?!”

“Damn it, who even has privacy anymore? Netizens dig up information like they’re having a meal!”

Li Siming sighed. It wasn’t just Fang Zhou’s personal info that had been dug up; all their information was exposed. Fortunately, everyone else had relatively clean records.

However, the exposure of Fang Zhou’s past relationships with the female guests from the variety show became a major scandal, making them the focus of netizen outrage.

Such gossip always attracted attention, and with the right push, it became impossible to ignore.

“Damn! Don’t these people have anything better to do than dig up my past?!”

Fang Zhou hadn’t anticipated things would escalate to this point. His relationships had become public knowledge, and every action was scrutinized.

“Sigh, bro, this is karma. If I’d known, maybe you shouldn’t have had so many exes.”

Li Siming couldn’t help but sigh. He had read the scathing comments from netizens the night before, which were downright nasty.

His own private messages were filled with insults like, “To be friends with such a guy, you must be a womanizer too! Hope you never find a girlfriend!”

Or, “Control your buddy. All he does is think with his lower half, changing girlfriends like clothes. No sincerity at all. Poor Sisi only ever dated him! Ugh!”

And, “Men who don’t respect themselves are like rotten cabbages! Just because he’s handsome doesn’t mean he can change girlfriends freely. Tell Fang Zhou that loyalty and deep affection are the best traits a man can have!”

Li Siming deleted these messages and turned off private messaging, thinking it would save them some trouble.

Given the private messages he received, it was clear Fang Zhou would be facing worse. These trolls probably thought of the vilest things to say and still felt unsatisfied.

Fang Zhou got out of bed, rubbing his temples as he tried to calm himself.

“I guess we were too high-profile these days and drew some petty people’s attention. Otherwise, why would this come out now?”

After analyzing the situation, Fang Zhou felt surprisingly clear-headed.

“Yeah, you’re right! Damn, who did this? So malicious, trying to make our lives miserable!”

Li Siming felt like they had found the thread in a tangled mess, believing they could uncover the root of the problem.

Fang Zhou narrowed his eyes, considering a possibility.

“Hmm, probably someone from the streaming community.”

When he was the top streamer, similar things had happened. Back then, they hadn’t dug too deep, only hinting he had a girlfriend, costing him many female fans. But he had managed to stabilize the situation.

Now, seeing his resurgence, they tried the same tactics to drag him back down.

Fang Zhou chuckled, finding the situation ironic.

“What’s so funny?”

Li Siming, confused by Fang Zhou’s laughter, worried he was losing it.

“I’m laughing at their stupidity.”

“It’s just a few past relationships. Do they think they can shame me forever?”

“I never cheated, two-timed, or deceived anyone. I did nothing wrong.”

As Fang Zhou spoke, Li Siming’s mind cleared as well.

“Right! They’re just exes, not concurrent girlfriends. Nothing to fear!”

“And the variety show was for the show’s sake, making money! Nothing shameful about that!”

Fang Zhou nodded firmly, “Exactly!”

“We’ve already secured the prize money and gained tens of thousands of fans. With real money in our hands, why fear rumors?”

Once his streaming business was on track and the money rolled in, who would care about his past relationships?

People would only envy his wealth and luck.

“Right, so should we ignore it?”

“No, we need to address it. I’ll put out a statement to guide the discussion.”

Fang Zhou couldn’t let the situation escalate unchecked. He needed to steer public opinion to avoid being trampled.

“Oh, and one more thing. Someone has already suppressed those trending terms. Not sure who did it.”

Li Siming shared everything he knew. His girlfriend had noticed the top three trending topics disappearing overnight. Now, only searching for Fang Zhou’s name brought up the related topics, clearly indicating someone had intervened.

Fang Zhou acknowledged this with a nod.

“Someone’s helping us.”

“Who?”

Li Siming was puzzled. Who was their benefactor?

Fang Zhou thought for a moment and then softly said, “Probably Han Xi.”

Only she had the decisiveness and resources to resolve this issue.

tln : nice to see calm fang zhou.