On the other side, at the reality show venue.
The director's assistant was sitting in the corner, not daring to take his eyes off his phone for a second, for fear of missing any message.
Two minutes had passed since the invitation was sent, but there was still no reply. Not only was the assistant feeling impatient, but the director, who was discussing things with the deputy director, also kept casting glances at the assistant.
At this moment, the assistant's face changed slightly. He quickly left his seat and rushed up to the director.
"Director, there's a reply!"
Surprise flashed in the director's eyes. He pressed on, "How is it? Did she agree?"
The assistant shook his head. "She didn't agree. She flat - out refused, citing her retirement from the entertainment industry as the reason."
Perhaps the director's face had turned extremely grim, because by the end, the assistant's voice had dropped significantly.
"Why did she refuse? That's not right," even the deputy director found it strange. "Did you not invite her properly?"
Feeling wronged, the assistant simply handed his phone to the director.
"I invited her exactly as you instructed."
Hearing this, the director and the deputy director both leaned in and saw the conversation on the screen clearly.
It had to be said that Yuan Meng's rejection was straightforward and decisive, leaving them no room for any illusions.
However, the program group badly needed a big highlight. If they really couldn't invite Yuan Meng, the ratings of this show might...
The deputy director was at his wits' end and couldn't come up with a better solution for the moment. He could only look at the director tentatively.
"Director, maybe we should just give up?"
"Absolutely not!" the director replied without hesitation. "Yuan Meng has been the center of all the recent buzz, both good and bad. But that doesn't stop us from using her to promote our show."
The assistant was completely confused.
So, what on earth was the director's plan?
He was just a low - level worker, and given the sensitivity of this matter, he didn't dare to ask further.
"Then... how should we proceed?"
The director and the deputy director were good brothers. The deputy director directly asked the question that the assistant didn't dare to.
The director didn't answer immediately. After a moment of deep thought, his eyes became more and more determined.
"The Yuan family is not someone we can afford to offend, but that doesn't mean we're completely out of options."
"What do you mean?"
"Use the online discussions to force Yuan Meng to agree to participate in the show!"
As soon as the director finished speaking, the deputy director and the assistant fell silent.
Doing this might be a bit unethical, but the reputation of the program group had to be boosted. Otherwise, they would just be stuck in a rut forever...
The deputy director only remained silent and deep in thought for a minute. After that, he had made up his mind.
"Okay, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."
What the deputy director meant by "arrangements" was to directly hire a few marketing accounts. These accounts would start posting ambiguous messages one after another.
Although the content posted by the marketing accounts was different, the gist was the same.
They told the public that Yuan Meng had already agreed to the invitation to participate in the reality show!
Even though the reality show hadn't officially announced it, most netizens were already more than half - convinced.
Moreover, they started to spin stories based on this. They speculated that Yuan Meng might be trying to make a comeback in the entertainment industry or trying to squeeze out Bei Mo and regain her position as Mrs. Ling!
Almost as soon as these discussions started, Ling Qianchen, who was very concerned, immediately ordered people to suppress this matter.
However, after Yuan Meng's true identity and alter - ego were exposed, her popularity only increased. Every time he managed to suppress one piece of negative public opinion, a new one would quickly pop up.
This went on and on, without end.
The assistant who was handling the matter of suppressing the public opinion for Ling Qianchen was also sweating profusely.
If it were someone else's matter, he might not have felt so much pressure. But the person involved was the former Mrs. Ling...
Looking at his boss's increasingly gloomy and handsome face, the assistant silently continued to be a tool for suppressing public opinion.
In contrast to Ling Qianchen's anger and helplessness, Yuan Meng had slept in until she woke up naturally.
She had no idea about the online storm, and naturally, she didn't know how much effort Ling Qianchen had put into this matter.
However, even though she hadn't been paying attention to the Internet, she still found out about it, because the source of the news was Yan Ke'er, who was both annoyed and in a hurry.
Almost as soon as she entered the door, Yan Ke'er poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down. Only then did she feel like she was alive again.
"Phew, that feels good!"
Yuan Meng looked at Yan Ke'er with a smile and raised her eyebrows. "You're in such a hurry. If someone didn't know better, they'd think there was a flood or a wild beast chasing you."
"Mengmeng, things have already come to this point, and you still have the mood to joke around?"
Realizing that something was wrong, Yuan Meng gradually stopped smiling and put on a serious expression.
"What's going on?"
Seeing that she really had no idea, Yan Ke'er didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Her Mengmeng really seemed to be in the dark!
"Netizens are all speculating about when you'll participate in the reality show and when the reality show will announce the list of special guests."
"Reality show? The one about ex - lovers?"
Remembering that there was such a thing, an idea flashed through Yuan Meng's mind, and there was even a hint of mockery in her eyes.
"I've already refused."
As soon as she finished speaking, it was Yan Ke'er's turn to be shocked.
"You refused? Then why is the program group still posting these ambiguous messages... Wait, are they doing this on purpose!?"
Realizing that they might have been tricked and that they had even given the other side a boost in popularity, Yan Ke'er was so angry that she stamped her feet.
"How can they be so sneaky!"
Yuan Meng didn't say a word, but she could more or less understand the program group's "good intentions". After all, everyone knew the saying that if a person doesn't look out for themselves, heaven will strike them down. It's just that...
"What's the general sentiment online?"
Yan Ke'er wasn't completely out of her wits. When she heard this question, she replied crossly, "They're making up stories again. Mengmeng, if you really mind, you can ask your second brother for help?"
"No, there's no need."
This matter wasn't that difficult to handle, so there was no need to bother her second brother.
But -
After taking a quick look at the online comments, she found that many netizens were @ her, asking whether the news was true. Even though she hadn't responded officially, it didn't stop them from being determined to find out the truth!
Just as she was deep in thought, Yuan Xingcheng called.
As soon as the call connected, Yuan Xingcheng started bombarding her with questions.
"I heard you're going to participate in the reality show? How could you go without saying a word? And you didn't even take me with you?"
Yuan Xingcheng's "interrogation" really left Yuan Meng speechless.
"No."
"No? Then what about all those online rumors?"
Yuan Xingcheng believed that Yuan Meng wasn't lying, but the online rumors were so detailed that they were obviously unfavorable to Yuan Meng. If...
"Maybe you should take me with you. After all, I can be considered your ex, right?"
"You're no ex of mine," Yuan Meng said helplessly. "Yuan Xingcheng, I think you're asking for a spanking. How dare you take advantage of your little aunt?"
"Hey, I'm doing this for your own good. After all, no one knows our real relationship. And with the current public opinion online, which is unfavorable to you, I'm trying to help you, okay?"
"Well, thank you so much."
Yuan Meng didn't want to waste any more time on this topic, so she decided to drop it.
Realizing that she was trying to avoid the topic again, Yuan Xingcheng started to pile on the pressure and kept chattering away.
All he wanted was to prevent her from staying silent and letting the uninformed people say more and more outrageous things. The best way was for her to appear on the reality show and clear her name.
Yuan Meng originally didn't want to get involved in this mess, but Yuan Xingcheng was so persuasive that in order to shut him up, she had to nod and agree.
Anyway, a part of the project with the Ling Group had already been completed, so participating in the reality show wouldn't cause any conflicts.
Thinking this way, she directly logged onto the app and posted this message:
[May the reality show go smoothly.]
These six short words brought another wave of popularity. Netizens all turned into Sherlock Holmes, speculating about who her "ex" might be.