From unemployment in crosstalk to top star in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 45 Black and Red Are Still Red

Yu Liang slapped his phone in front of Li Lei.

"See for yourself."

The screen displayed the video, showing security personnel pulling him along, excitedly thanking "Foot Massage is Also a Way." The video had already surpassed a million views, with a dense barrage of comments, all uniformly praising things like "Scumbag Quotes," "Learned Something," and "Followed."

Li Lei glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, then immediately looked away.

"Well... I just casually chatted with them for a bit..."

"A sentence or two?" Yu Liang pointed at the screen. "I just counted, seven sentences in total, and a few of them were mine!"

Li Lei hurriedly explained, "I didn't tell them that much. I think someone must have maliciously edited it for the sake of traffic."

Yu Liangqi kicked him in the shin.

Li Lei jumped up, clutching his leg. "Brother, brother, let's talk this out! How about this, I'll treat you to a foot massage tonight! Consider it an apology!"

"You dare mention foot baths to me? When have you ever seen me get a foot bath?!"

"I told you already, I was just gathering material! Gathering material!"

Yu Liang pointed to the cordon and said, "Go over there right now and see if you can find out which people posted it."

"Yes!" Li Lei exclaimed in sudden realization.

"If I find them, I'll make sure they suffer!" Li Lei spat.

He then waved his hand, signaling several stuntmen to run towards the security personnel.

"Can we find them?" Wang Churan asked.

"They probably ran away a long time ago. Even if Li Lei goes, it's a wasted trip. Even if he finds them, it won't be of much use, since public opinion has already been stirred up."

"Then what should we do?" Wang Churan frowned slightly.

"What else can we do?" Yu Liang sighed, turned on his phone's camera, and said, "Prove it wrong."

---

Half an hour later, a clarification video was posted on Yu Liang's Douyin account.

In the video, he is sitting on a folding chair in the rest area, and his tone is more serious than usual.

"I've said that pursuing a girl requires persistence, perseverance, and unwavering determination, but it doesn't mean the same thing you're saying. Please distinguish between the two."

"I love you the most before I check out—this really isn't me saying it."

"I never said that if a single person hesitates when you confess your feelings, it means they've rejected you; but if a married person hesitates when you confess your feelings, it means there's a chance—who made that up knows perfectly well."

"As for the rest, like 'cherish good women, don't waste bad women'..."

He sighed. "That's not what I said either."

After recording, Yu Liang checked it over.

After confirming that there were no problems,

He clicked "post".

Will it work?

"I don't know." Yu Liang took the shirt and put it on. "But it's better than not saying anything."

An hour later, he came across a fan-created video.

All the explanations were cut out.

All that's left in the video are his words: "Cherish good women, don't waste bad women"...

And a sigh, "This really is what I said."

The background music was a catchy, addictive tune, the subtitles were bold and highlighted in yellow, and the title read—

[Yu Liang: I admit I'm a scumbag, do whatever you want.]

The comments section was filled with phrases like "The building collapsed! The building collapsed!", "Ruins are complete waste!", and "The more you try to explain, the worse it gets."

Yu Liang stared at the screen for a long time.

Then he slammed his phone down on the table.

"Alright. No more explanations."

"Anyway, you won't believe me no matter how I explain it now."

---

The next day, the online buzz didn't subside; in fact, it intensified.

Someone dug up his early remarks—"The highest etiquette for meeting your boyfriend is of course underwear" and "What you're washing isn't your feet, but the mud you're walking through in the world"—screenshots of which were made into a nine-grid image and went viral on Weibo, Tieba, and Douyin.

Two opinions have emerged online.

Some people use the memes, find them funny, and think they're "down-to-earth."

Some criticized Yu Liang for disrespecting traditional culture, disrespecting women, whitewashing gray consumption, and promoting vulgar values.

Some people even compiled his "remarks" into a collection called "Cool Words," which was uploaded to Bilibili in various bizarre and absurd ways, and the number of views reached 500,000 overnight.

In Yu Liang's Douyin comment section,

A netizen named "Doing one good deed a day accumulates great virtue, doing two good deeds a day accumulates even greater virtue" posted a long comment:

"You'd say you meet a girl who doesn't want your car, your house, your bag, or for you to treat her to meals or movies. She just wants to chat with you when you're quiet. Would you think a girl like that is expensive at a bathhouse for 200 yuan?"

There are over 3,000 comments and over 50,000 likes.

Yu Liang was holed up in the RV, scrolling through these.

He suddenly stood up, his expression becoming increasingly subtle.

Then Yu Liang's phone vibrated; it was a private message from Douyin.

A netizen named "I was elbowed repeatedly by my boyfriend while picking at a gay man's hemorrhoids in the men's restroom" sent me a private message asking, "...How can I avoid getting ripped off at a foot massage parlor...?"

Yu Liang stared at the message and remained silent for three seconds.

"It's very simple—"

He typed a line, thought about it, and then deleted it. He typed again, and deleted again.

He wanted to say, "When you get there, don't treat her like a human being, and don't treat yourself like a human being either."

But now that he's a public figure, he can't reply.

So he switched to his alternate account.

After thinking about it

Forget it.

In this situation, being exposed regardless of which account you use will result in self-destruction.

---

That evening, in the conference room of Xinli Media.

On the projection screen was a public opinion analysis chart marked with red, green and yellow – red for insults, green for memes, and yellow for "Who is this person and why did they suddenly become popular?"

Sitting at the table were Director Zhao Mingyuan and seven or eight members of the public relations team.

Zhao Mingyuan picked up his teacup and took a sip, his expression revealing neither joy nor anger.

Zhou Jiajia pointed at the projection screen with a laser pointer, her tone indifferent.

"In the past day and a half, Yu Liang's total online discussion volume exceeded 70 million, of which negative information accounted for 30%, neutral memes accounted for 60%, and positive whitewashing accounted for only 10%."

She looked up at Zhao Mingyuan.

"The good news is that most of the negative comments are focused on the labels of 'vulgar' and 'disrespectful to women,' and there's no concrete evidence. The bad news is that these labels are very sticky and won't be shaken off anytime soon."

Zhao Mingyuan put down his teacup.

"Have you contacted Yu Liang yet? What did he say?"

Zhou Jiajia said, "I finished understanding the situation with Yu Liang on the day it happened. Most of what he said was not his own; it was just someone maliciously making fun of him."

Zhao Mingyuan nodded. "What else did he say?"

Zhou Jiajia paused for a moment, then said, "He asked the organization to trust him, saying he is an outstanding Young Pioneer and a sunny, cheerful young man."

Zhao Mingyuan and his PR team fell silent.

Then, someone who appeared to be the head of the public relations team said:

"Judging from the current situation, public opinion is not pointing to any substantive violations. Yu Liang did not have an affair, did not break the law, and did not violate public order and good morals. All the controversy is focused on the level of 'talking nonsense'."

Zhao Mingyuan nodded. Because Yu Liang was a crosstalk performer, and crosstalk itself has a tradition of using vulgar jokes and crude humor, the public is more tolerant of Yu Liang than ordinary artists.

"The online sentiment is subtly shifting. People are still criticizing Yu Liang, but more and more people are making memes about him. Making memes means downplaying the issue, and downplaying it means that in the public's perception, this matter is no longer a 'matter of principle,' but rather an 'entertainment topic.'"

"This is a positive sign, and it's also the result of our guidance," the public relations manager continued.

"So our team's opinion is—not to suppress the hype for now, but to let things develop a bit more."

"Guide public opinion from 'whether Yu Liang's remarks were inappropriate' to 'whether these words were funny or not,' and wait until the hype dies down."

"Send another lawyer's letter to clarify the false statements, and pursue legal action against the relevant marketing accounts that maliciously hyped and smeared us. We will also demand that they issue a public apology across all platforms. This will bring back the popularity that has been circulating in lower-tier cities and maximize the effect."

Zhao Mingyuan nodded.

This is the current logic of traffic-driven public relations in entertainment companies. Sometimes, being infamous is still fame, let alone being infamous to the extent that Yu Liang is not even a substantial moral stain.

Unlike the Gao Yunxiang cheating scandal that happened recently, or the Ji Linchen scandal that happened last week.

Unlike the Ji Linchen incident, Yu Liang's case involved Ji Linchen and Kan Qingzi, who had been in a relationship for many years without getting married, and he was exposed for cheating.

"You like the sea, I loved you" has become the most talked-about quote from a scumbag boyfriend during a breakup.

Zhao Mingyuan investigated and found that Yu Liang's incident was purely a case of malicious editing by some marketing accounts.

"It's better to guide public opinion than to suppress it."

Zhao Mingyuan concluded.

"However, there's something you need to tell Liang—"

He looked at Zhou Jiajia, his tone becoming serious.

"Tell him that from now on, every word he says in public could be filmed or recorded. Including what I'm saying right now."

"What he has to do is to behave in accordance with the growth path set for him by the company."

Zhou Jiajia nodded.

Suddenly remembering something, Zhao Mingyuan asked, "By the way, what kind of persona is the company currently creating for him?"

Zhou Jiajia said calmly, "A charming rogue."

"Originally, we wanted to give him a 'celibate' persona to keep him in check, but considering that this persona could collapse at any time, we changed it to a 'playboy' persona."

Zhou Jiajia added, "He added the term 'bad boy handsome' himself."

Zhao Mingyuan took off his glasses, feeling utterly exhausted. He had long known that Yu Liang was no pushover.

The PR team members chuckled to themselves. If all the company's artists were as easy to manage as Yu Liang, then their PR team wouldn't have much to do.

Of course, it may also make public relations more difficult.

Zhao Mingyuan rubbed his eyes. "Well, this persona suits his real image after all. It might not work on someone else."

Zhao Mingyuan put his glasses back on and said to the public relations team, "Don't be too happy yet. Tomorrow, try to control the direction of public opinion. Let it be negative or positive, but try to portray Yu Liang as a more positive person."

The PR team members nodded.

---

As Zhou Jiajia emerged from the conference room, her high heels clicking on the marble floor at a leisurely pace.

She immediately stopped, picked up her phone, and dialed Yu Liang's number.

She decided to teach this troublesome guy a lesson.

"Once this wave of hype dies down, you'll be a celebrity who's 'controversial but without solid evidence.' CCTV won't invite you, and mainstream projects won't consider you. You'll get a lot of variety show invitations and endorsements, but they'll all be for fast-moving consumer goods and low-end brands. Your commercial fees will go up, but the brand image will go down."

"Are you saying I'll be locked into the 'black-and-red' label?"

Before Zhou Jiajia could answer, Yu Liang spoke up again: "Stop messing around, sis. If I can't even handle this little bit of negative public opinion, then what's the point of me signing Xinli?"

Yu Liang clearly realized that Zhou Jiajia wanted to use this opportunity to give him a warning.

"Sis, why do you think I created this 'bad boy/cool guy' persona?"

Yu Liang asked, then muttered to himself, "Isn't it just that they're afraid the house will collapse one day?"

"Just like Wong Chung-Che, the 'King of Playboys' in Hong Kong's entertainment circle, the more scandals he has, the more stable his image becomes. For me, the persona of a crosstalk comedian and a charmingly roguish playboy is a double protection..."

"Hey? Hey? Sister Jiajia?"

"Zhou Jiajia!"

Before Liang could finish speaking, a beeping sound came from the other end.

The next day,

The public opinion surrounding the Yu Liang incident has begun to subtly shift.

There has been a lot of discussion on Zhihu about the "Yu Liang incident":

[1. How should we evaluate the recent controversy surrounding celebrity Yu Liang's comments about foot massage parlors? Is he really as reprehensible as the rumors suggest?]

[2. What are your thoughts on Yu Liang being maliciously edited and used to create memes that went viral, leading to him being labeled as vulgar and disrespectful to women?]

[3. Which celebrities in the entertainment industry have had their reputations ruined by misinterpretations from the public and deliberate manipulation by marketing accounts? Take Yu Liang as an example.]

[4. Most of Yu Liang's "cold remarks" were not actually made by him. Why do netizens only use them as memes and refuse to read the clarification?]

……

Yu Liang opened Zhihu, and the most upvoted answer was:

Thanks for the invitation. I'm currently in Beijing and just got off the plane.

Those working in the industry should remain anonymous.

Let's discuss Yu Liang's recent public opinion storm objectively, without bias or bias.

To sum it up: this wasn't a celebrity's mishap at all; it was purely a case of a passerby taking candid photos, maliciously editing them, and then having them re-processed and manipulated by marketing accounts, creating a fabricated buzz and a negative publicity stunt.

First, let's clarify the facts.

The so-called "scumbag quotes" video from the scene was originally just casual banter and jokes. It was just everyday chatter, and many of the words were not actually spoken by Yu Liang himself. They were added and fabricated by onlookers. During the editing, the beginning and end were cut off, leaving only the most controversial and easily manipulated parts.

Yu Liang himself also released a clarification video as soon as possible. He frankly admitted to the jokes that he should admit to, and refuted the false statements that he did not make one by one. His attitude was sincere, without evasion or pretense to sell a persona.

But the reality is: rumors and edits are flying everywhere, and nobody wants to read the clarifications.

……

Finally, to be fair:

When judging an artist, don't be swayed by edited clips and bandwagon opinions.

Let's look at the complete facts first, then discuss right and wrong values. In Yu Liang's case, the fault doesn't lie with me for speaking recklessly, but with those who maliciously edited the footage and those who stood on their moral high ground…

After reading it, Yu Liang promptly gave it a thumbs up.

And then shared and forwarded the content to Wang Churan.

Wang Churan replied to him very quickly.

"Hehe, stop reading, I had my agent write this."

"What?" Yu Liang was surprised, but also felt a warmth in her heart.

Meanwhile, the production teams of "Joy of Life" and "Reunion: The Sound of the Providence," both invested by Xinli Media, took advantage of Yu Liang's popularity to conduct a wave of online promotion.

What Yu Liang didn't expect was that the video of Wang Churan mending his clothes that day was also posted online.