CEO's Sweetheart is a Super Idol-Chapter 141 - 138 Unbearable

Two days later

Wu Group

"Mr. Wu, someone has reported Director ’Xiao Liu.’"

Upon hearing the secretary’s report, Wu Jingxiang frowned as he signed documents: "What does that have to do with us?"

"Mr. Wu, the film we just released was directed by ’Xiao Liu.’ If the accusations are verified, the movie will have to be pulled from theaters."

"What is he accused of? Is there any concrete evidence?"

Wu Jingxiang didn’t seem too worried. Director Xiao Liu had been in the industry for years and wasn’t just idly surviving.

"The plagiarism claims about him copying a writer’s work have resurfaced. Back then, he was ordered to apologize to the writer, but he refused. Now some figures in the literary world have dredged up the old issue, demanding that he apologize."

"Figures in the literary world?" Wu Jingxiang put down his pen, his expression growing serious.

These people might not seem famous, but they actually wield considerable influence. Their greatest skill was feigning moral superiority, achieving little but causing plenty of trouble.

"Has he identified who’s targeting him?"

"No, but he’s planning to hold his ground and refuses to apologize. His fans have even started attacking the writer online."

"That idiot. Go tell him that if the movie gets pulled because of his nonsense, he’ll have to compensate for the losses." Wu Jingxiang couldn’t understand Xiao Liu’s actions.

Wasn’t this going against money? That was an investment of several billion!

The real reason Xiao Liu refused to apologize was:

If he admitted fault, his fans would desert him, and investors wouldn’t hire a "thief" to direct films anymore.

He’d be relegated to behind-the-scenes work in the industry, which was unbearable for someone like him who craved the spotlight.

Hence his refusal to admit error. But Wu Jingxiang didn’t care about any of that. After this film was released, he could hire someone else to direct the next one.

Whether Director Xiao Liu could survive or not had nothing to do with him.

At this point, Wu Jingxiang hadn’t considered other possibilities; he assumed it was just Xiao Liu’s rivals causing trouble.

Ring! Ring!

"Hello? Wu Hao, did you uncover anything I asked you to investigate?"

"I found out. It’s not some marketing scheme—it’s just a fat chick."

"A fat chick?"

Wu Jingxiang furrowed his brows, waiting for his cousin to explain.

After a long day, Li Ke continued working late at the company. He ate the cafeteria food he’d grabbed earlier while opening the "Sky Idol" website.

"What the hell, the village flower is ranked fourth?" Seeing the results shocked Li Ke.

He immediately joined a Penguin chat group, where the conversation had already reached several hundred messages.

"Is my flower really that strong? Ranked directly at fourth."

"I see many trainees in here come with built-in fanbases, so how is my flower still fourth?"

"Could it be that those with pre-existing fanbases are fake? Their popularity must be low."

"Those people must be manipulating the data. I swear, my flower’s ranking is absolutely legit."

"Oh, the first public performance is coming up. I’ve got tickets, DM me if you’re interested."

Li Ke read through the posts, feeling increasingly obsessed.

"Tickets!"

His curiosity piqued; he added the seller’s Penguin account. "Bro, your tickets?"

"If you want it, I’ll give you a discounted price—1,000 yuan."

"Man, that’s way too steep. With 1,000 yuan, I could just vote for my flower instead."

"Buddy, watching in the live atmosphere is totally different! Plus, do you think I didn’t spend money and effort to get these tickets?"

Li Ke thought about it and felt the guy did make a fair point.

"Can you make it cheaper?"

"Buddy, you’re the first one to add me, so I’ll give you priority pricing. Look, now tons of people want tickets."

The guy sent over a screenshot, and Li Ke could see many people indeed trying to buy tickets.

"Are these tickets legit?"

"Tickets are verified on-site—payment and handoff in person."

"Alright, tell me a place; I’ll come pick them up."

To Li Ke, spending 1,000 yuan wasn’t much. As a tech enthusiast, this amount was something he could afford.

Base

Just two days away from the performance.

Lin Jiayi was feeling extremely frustrated.

Zhu Riri was sitting there sobbing about her misfortunes: "My dancing skills are terrible; I really can’t learn. If the choreography gets harder, I definitely won’t make it."

She kept crying and glancing up at Lin Jiayi between sobs.

"I was only suggesting making the lead dancer’s moves harder while keeping everything else as planned," Lin Jiayi said, swallowing her disgust.

"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"

"I really can’t do it; I really can’t do it." Zhu Riri’s crying became even more tragic.

Unable to hold back, Fan Lei spoke up: "Riri, Jiayi is just suggesting increasing the difficulty for the lead dancer. This has nothing to do with your singing or dancing, so why are you crying so relentlessly?"

"I know, I’m just not capable. How about letting Jiayi be the C then?" Zhu Riri wailed even louder but refused to address why she was against raising the difficulty for the lead dancer.

At this point, everyone realized Zhu Riri didn’t want anyone in the group to outperform her.

Over the past few days, everyone was exhausted. Zhu Riri had taken nearly all the lines during the part assignments, essentially trying to use everyone else as backup dancers and singers.

Even an actual girl group’s C-position wouldn’t have such privileges.

For companies prioritizing the C-position, that person typically gets about a third of the share.

But Zhu Riri wanted over two-thirds of the performance.

Lin Jiayi never expected her roommate to be so selfish, and what disgusted her most was that Zhu Riri was absolutely incapable of handling the main C-position’s responsibilities.

At just 18 years old, Lin Jiayi’s fiery youth made her argue back.

Others couldn’t help but criticize Zhu Riri as well, leading her to throw a tantrum, cry, and report to the show’s producers.

Eventually, mentors Hu Binbin and Tian Jiaxuan arrived to have her perform the part she wanted.

Unsurprisingly, her performance was utterly disastrous, even pushing the normally kind-hearted mentor Tian Jiaxuan to lose her temper: "In a group, it’s fair to give the C-position a bit more, but the C-position also has to carry the weight. The producers expect every member to respect the C-position, but also to ensure the stage looks better overall."

In this situation, she had no choice but to reassign portions of the performance to others.

After four days of practice, everyone else could go through the choreography smoothly, while Zhu Riri still couldn’t get it right.

Once more, she started crying and complaining endlessly, earning herself the nickname "Mrs. Zhu Lin" behind her back.

Left with no options, the choreographer had to lower the difficulty again and again, until the routine became a mess—but she still made mistakes.

Naturally, other members began resisting her antics, while she started putting in the bare minimum effort.

Lin Jiayi, Fan Lei, and the others were stressed and infuriated.

They truly wanted to form a girl group—a girl group was their life goal.

They discussed with Gao Yingxi increasing the choreography’s difficulty, without changing the original vocals, to improve the overall stage appearance.

They assumed Zhu Riri would agree, since the changes wouldn’t affect her performance and would make the stage more impressive. They never anticipated her behavior.

If not for the cameras and the hope of making the main performance, several of them would have walked away.

At this point, Lin Jiayi and the other three members were so furious they lost the will to argue.

Among the remaining Bala Girl Group members, Liu Niyi had already resigned to the idea she wouldn’t debut, choosing to keep quiet.

Another member, Liu Ruixi, who graduated from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, was Zhu Riri’s former teammate and felt she couldn’t speak out either. She hadn’t expected Zhu Riri to turn into someone like this.

Ren Zhen, an honest person, also disliked Zhu Riri but refrained from saying anything harsh.

In the end, everyone was left to practice amidst this oppressive atmosphere and dissatisfaction, while Zhu Riri continued to slack off and even demanded that the kind-hearted Gao Yingxi teach her to dance.

Even Gao Yingxi eventually reached her limit, completing her designated practice hours and leaving.

"Riri, let’s practice again tonight! I’ll wait for you here." Lin Jiayi, prioritizing the bigger picture, offered an olive branch.

Zhu Riri glanced at her, a flash of venomous intent flickering in those surgically altered eyes. She smiled and said, "Alright, I’ll go wash up first and be back shortly."

Fan Lei watched as Lin Jiayi humbled herself this way and felt nothing but pity for her.

With Lin Jiayi’s singing and dancing skills, she would be entrusted with important roles in any other group.

But because she was Zhu Riri’s roommate and had initially received kindness from Zhu Riri, she rushed to help her friend, only to end up in this sorry situation. fгeewebnovёl.com

Turns out all of Zhu Riri’s kindness before was just a front to manipulate her.

"Jiayi, let’s practice together first!"

"Alright, as long as we work hard, we’ll make it!"

Lin Jiayi and Fan Lei exchanged high-fives to motivate each other.

As Zhu Riri walked out of the practice room, her head hung low, fists clenched tightly. Her surgically distorted face was filled with venom.

"You all bully me. You all look down on me. You all want to steal what’s mine. The C-position is mine, it’s mine. You’re only fit to be my foot-washing maids."

She muttered these words under her breath as she briskly passed Lv Fangxin and others, ignoring their greetings.

"What’s wrong with Zhu Riri?" Lv Fangxin asked in confusion.

"Her? Probably just tired," Jiang Xijie replied with a sneer.

"She said she had a medical condition when she first arrived and needed daily hospital visits. Maybe her old illness is acting up again. But she’s the C-position now—rigged with focus, the pressure must be immense," Pan Junya added with equal disdain.

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦