Chapter 236
The moment Xie Mi finished speaking, Xiao Jingxi’s expression slightly shifted.
Yet he maintained his composure. “Of course. All my interactions with Shuangrong were meant to support the TV series’ success. Everything we did was normal.”
“Alright.”
Xie Mi smiled even more brightly and took out her phone again. “Then let’s take a look back at the trending topics during the height of the Xiao-Rong CP craze.”
She opened the CP’s fan page and began scrolling through old posts; past trending topics appeared one by one.
“#Xiao Jingxi and Xu Shuangrong late-night rendezvous by the river
#Xiao Jingxi travels 3,000 km to celebrate Xu Shuangrong’s birthday
#Xu Shuangrong visits Xiao Jingxi on set, they hug for three minutes
#Xiao Jingxi gives Xu Shuangrong a ring…”
With each headline, Xiao Jingxi’s face darkened.
This felt less like a debate and more like a public review of embarrassing history.
Qiu Chengye, who had just had his mouth covered by Xiao Jingxi, watched with glee.
Sure enough, it’s easy to mock when the knife isn’t pointed at you.
“There are plenty more of these trending topics; I won’t read them all. Interested viewers can search for them—very entertaining.”
Xie Mi scrolled to another page, still smiling. “Next, let’s see what fans were saying at the time.”
“Movie Emperor Xiao and Shuangrong are together. Why keep denying it? Is it so hard to admit others’ happiness?”
“If they’re not really together, I’d drop dead on the spot! If they are, would you bet your life?!”
“Who’s this idiot girl? Stay away from Movie Emperor Xiao! Don’t you know he’s married? Creepy to just throw yourself at a man!”
“Really sick of people getting close to Xiao Jingxi and Shuangrong. Anyone without boundaries—poke them all!”
“Everyone, spotted a delusional girl! She set her phone screen as a photo with Xiao Jingxi. Must be trying to ride the hype. Let’s protect Shuangrong and stop her!”
The comments went on endlessly, some indecent.
The atmosphere in the room had frozen; only Xie Mi was smiling. Everyone else looked grave.
The staff held their breath; even the competition’s directors paused their pens.
Lai Bingxuan stared in disbelief at Xie Mi; Liu Woxing lowered her gaze, clenching her fists.
Shen Moqing idly spun a pen, his expression cool, eyes on Xiao Jingxi equally calm.
Xiao Jingxi’s jaw was tightly clenched, sweat appearing faintly on his forehead.
“This was the scene during the peak of the Xiao-Rong CP. Of course, extreme fan comments don’t prove much—every group has extremists.”
Xie Mi smiled, turning off her phone, and looked at Xiao Jingxi. “But without the main actors’ deliberate guidance—or their inaction—things wouldn’t have gotten this extreme, would they?”
Xiao Jingxi frowned. “We were busy with our schedules, didn’t pay much attention to online comments. Those were mostly driven by marketing accounts. As friends, Shuangrong and I met for walks, celebrated her birthday, visited sets… all normal behavior.”
“Giving a ring to a friend of the opposite sex is normal?” Xie Mi raised an eyebrow, enlarging a photo. “And a diamond ring?”
“No…”
Xu Shuangrong’s eyes were slightly red. “I saw a ring I liked but didn’t want to buy it. Jingxi saw my post and bought it to surprise me.”
“Wow~ such a nice friendship, ordinary friends~”
Xu Shuangrong’s eyes reddened further.
Xiao Jingxi shifted uncomfortably. “Aren’t we talking about whether dating shows need CP-hyping? Isn’t this off-topic?”
“The focus now is whether your CP-hyping deceives the audience. You say no, and I’m just challenging that point. What’s wrong with that?”
Xie Mi blinked and continued, “Since you insist your actions with Xu Shuangrong were just friendship, yet refuse to acknowledge guiding CP fans, and claim being too busy to notice online chatter…”
“…but the moment the Xiao-Rong CP is threatened, you immediately clarify.”
“For example, when my phone screen was exposed as a photo with you, you were one of the first to say: not familiar, photo was edited.”
“So suddenly you were very aware of online comments?”
Xiao Jingxi pressed his lips, signaling Xie Mi to stop, but she persisted.
“I was told by the staff,” he said reluctantly.
“So your staff constantly monitored online comments?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t they notice the extreme CP fans’ behavior? Were they selectively ignoring it?”
“….”
Xie Mi pressed relentlessly. “You ignore attacks from extreme CP fans on innocent artists, yet once your own interests are threatened, you immediately clarify. Isn’t that double standards?”
Xiao Jingxi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I think we should return to the main topic.”
“Are you afraid to answer because you’re guilty?”
“We’ve gone off-topic. The debate is—”
“Does this question scare you so much? What are you afraid of?”
“Xie Mi! Enough! We’re recording—”
“Xiao Jingxi, are you really going to chicken out?”
“….”
The tension was suffocating; even viewers dared not breathe.
[Thinking carefully, it’s terrifying. I knew Xiao-Rong fans were crazy, but never imagined this.]
[All the material made them look like a real couple. Even I, who never ship CPs, thought they were a pair. Now I see—it’s no coincidence.]
[Exactly! Their CP-hyping back then was far beyond normal promotion!]
