The female assistant shrank back in fear of Bitong, then cautiously said: "Miss Bitong, the new... news is written like this."

"Give it to me!" Bitong angrily shouted in a low voice, snatched the phone, and when she saw the news, her face became as gloomy as water, with rage ready to erupt from her eyes at any moment.

"What is the PR department doing, letting negative news about me get out!" Bitong said furiously, then dialed a number directly. As soon as it connected, she shouted: "Is your PR department useless? Such obvious negative news, did no one see it? Hurry and contact the media, find a way to get them to take it down!"

"Miss Bitong, calm down. We have already seen the news and contacted the media company that published the article, but they are unwilling to retract it, saying it’s a fact-based article." The voice on the other end explained patiently.

"What fact-based article!" Bitong was furious at having her sore spot poked at: "You could issue a lawyer’s letter and warn them!"

"We have hinted at that, but they insist what they’re publishing is the truth and are not afraid of a lawsuit," the other side continued to explain.

"Then spend money to settle it. Haven’t we done that before? Do I really need to teach you?" Bitong said sternly, anger rising again.

"The other party does not care for our money," the PR department responded.

Bitong frowned and said, "If ten grand won’t do it, fifty grand will. If the trend of negative news isn’t curbed, it will snowball. As a PR person, you should know this better than anyone."

This time, there was silence from the other side, and after a few seconds they replied, "Miss Bitong, they said even five million wouldn’t work. Their writing is only used to expose ugly truths, independent of monetary influence. We even mentioned Brother Liu, but the other party remains steadfast. If I may be frank, Miss Bitong, did you offend someone?"

Offend someone? Bitong was stunned, and the arrogant smile of Lin Tian appeared in her mind. She suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation; this time, she might have kicked the iron plate.

After hanging up the phone, she was still confused about why Lin Tian was standing up for Tian Xiaotian like this.

Lin Tian wasn’t doing it for any reason; he was simply acting on his own temperament, doing whatever he felt like, straightforwardly. Standing on the third floor of the auditorium, he also saw Bitong by the stage, witnessing her irritability, Lin Tian only sneered.

"Ring... ring..."

The phone rang, Lin Tian answered, and a woman’s anxious voice immediately followed: "Brother Lin, how did I perform?"

It was Tian Xiaotian’s call; the young girl’s tone was like a child waiting for an adult’s feedback.

Lin Tian genuinely smiled, happily saying: "One word, excellent."

"Lin... Brother Lin, that’s three words," Tian Xiaotian shyly corrected.

"You’re right, it’s these three words. Tonight’s performance, you fully deserve it, believe in yourself, okay?" Lin Tian replied with a smile.

"Thank you, Brother Lin Tian, I will continue to work hard," Tian Xiaotian said very earnestly.

After finishing the call with Tian Xiaotian, Mr. Qi’s call came in immediately, his voice very excited: "Brother Tian, things are looking great, Tian Xiaotian topped the headlines, first on trending topics, the click count has already exceeded 150 million, and that’s not including international traffic. Many fans are urging Xiao Tian to create a Weibo account." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Oh, she doesn’t have a Weibo yet? Then quickly tell her to set one up, interacting with fans is a must, but make sure to follow the principle of truth, don’t create fake stuff." Although Lin Tian guessed the outcome would be good, he didn’t expect it to be this good.

The speed of the internet spread is too fast; it can instantly be transmitted to every corner of the world with a network, and it forms a snowball effect, the more popular something is, the more people come to see it.

After ending Mr. Qi’s call, several more calls came through consecutively, from Zhou Botong, Ou Mengmeng, Xiao Manxuan, and Yun Xiaotian, all urgently reporting good news.

Lin Tian suddenly realized he already had so many friends, facing difficulties together, sharing joys together. This is the real life, unlike Xu Feibai, living in another world.

After finishing all the calls, several programs already passed below, and the host announced: "Next, we invite Miss Bitong on stage to perform a song and dance number..."

Bitong came out from the side of the stage, she didn’t have Tian Xiaotian’s reception. The face of the popular star forced out a smile, clearly, when recalling her appearance compared to Tian Xiaotian’s, she couldn’t be happy.

Suddenly, she stepped on her gown and her body lurched forward, nearly falling. Although she managed to steady herself, the embarrassing entrance scene was faithfully recorded by the cameras.

Looking at the surrounding cameras and the overwhelming audience below, it was a live broadcast, with many social elites present below. At this moment, Bitong just wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

The music started, and the dancers also began moving, but Bitong was half a beat slow, and then made several continuous mistakes. By the end of the performance, she seemed to have lost her soul, retreating in disgrace.

Just off stage, she ran into Liu Xiong, the entertainment industry boss. His face was expressionless, but his eyes burned with fire.

Recalling the performance just now, Bitong’s heart thumped, but before she could speak, Liu Xiong already shouted in uncontrolled rage: "Bitong, what are you doing messing around? At such an event, to make mistakes, you’ve lost face for me. From today on, you need to rest for a while; all performances and advertisements are paused."

"Paused?" Bitong’s heart tightened. Is this a sign of being shelved?

"If not paused, what do you want? Those social elites don’t have time to care about your mistakes, but people with intentions will spread it online, stirring turmoil in the city. At such times, if you don’t avoid it and deal with it coldly, do you still want to come out and stir up more trouble?" Liu Xiong said coldly.

"When can I return to work?" Bitong cautiously asked.

"We’ll talk about returning to work later, whether you can weather this crisis depends on your luck. This time you handled the matter with your little assistant very poorly; I’m very disappointed." Liu Xiong said coldly, very dissatisfied.

Bitong’s face looked ugly, but she quickly squeezed out a smile, approached, and hugged Liu Xiong’s hand, deliberately rubbing her chest against his arm, sweetly: "Brother Liu, I know I was wrong, please help me."

In the past, just by flirting like this, Liu Xiong would help her settle anything. Had it not been for a relationship with Liu Xiong, she wouldn’t have managed to become the company’s top star.

But Liu Xiong mercilessly pushed her away, still cold: "Wait a bit, this needs to be handled coldly." He finished and left without looking back.

Left alone, Bitong stood there, her expression shifting.

"Liu Xiong, you’re all about taking action when you sleep with me, but when it matters you want to abandon me. If you are heartless, don’t blame me for being unjust!" Bitong’s face twisted, her eyes dark and frightening.