Volume One, Chapter 53: War of Words

On the film set.

Jiang Yu watched Su Muyu act with great interest; he had to admit, Su Muyu looked absolutely stunning in ancient costume.

"Director Liu, something’s wrong!"

Just then, a staff member rushed over, interrupting Liu Wenwei’s work.

"What’s the matter? Why such a fuss?" Liu Wenwei looked at the staff member, visibly displeased.

The staff member handed over his phone.

Liu Wenwei took the phone, glanced at the screen, and immediately began to fume, his face turning red. "Absurd! What is Sun Tao trying to do? This is ridiculous!"

Su Muyu frowned. "Director Liu, what happened?"

Jiang Yu sensed something was off and moved to stand beside Su Muyu.

"This Sun Tao is truly despicable!" Liu Wenwei grumbled angrily, and explained the situation to the two.

Su Muyu frowned again. The terms Sun Tao posted on social media put the production team first, but the implication was subtle—while Jiang Yu was being roasted over the fire. It was both open and covert, suggesting Jiang Yu had leveraged connections.

Malicious intent.

"Jiang Yu, I…" Su Muyu began, wanting to offer to clarify things for Jiang Yu.

But Jiang Yu was amused. "Oh? He’s saying you pulled strings for me? Are we really that close?"

Su Muyu was speechless. At a time like this, Jiang Yu was still joking.

Seeing Su Muyu’s serious expression, Jiang Yu smiled. "Alright, you don’t need to get involved. This is my own matter, I’ll handle it myself. I can’t always rely on you to protect me."

"But…"

"No buts. I’ll go first. If it doesn’t work out, you can step in for me, how about that?"

Hearing Jiang Yu’s earnest words, Su Muyu smiled and nodded. "Alright."

Jiang Yu laughed, pulled out his phone, and watched his own social media feed—his fans were flooding him with messages.

"Yu-ge, what’s going on? You need to clear things up!"

"Exactly, you finally got famous, you can’t let this happen!"

"Yu-ge, no matter what, we still believe in you. We’ve all seen your songwriting talent."

"What songwriting talent? Look at the style—does it really match him? Bunch of brainless fans, definitely written by the company for him!"

...

Seeing the angry and anxious comments from fans urging him to clarify, Jiang Yu shook his head.

He immediately posted a message online:

"Someone, stop beating around the bush. If you’ve got guts, call names. Jiang Yu was born a weed; I’m not afraid to fight, the more I fight, the stronger I get!"

The fans who had been watching Jiang Yu’s feed closely erupted in laughter as soon as they saw his update.

"Hahaha, I’m dying, this is priceless!"

"Damn, so bold! He’s really tough!"

"The familiar vibe—Yu-ge isn’t even afraid of Star Entertainment, why would he be scared of someone like you?"

"Well said, born a weed, not afraid to fight, the more you fight, the stronger!"

"So tough—I like it!"

Su Muyu saw Jiang Yu’s post, her beautiful eyes giving him a sharp look. In the entertainment industry, if something happened, most would play dead, let it cool off, and move on after a few days. But Jiang Yu was different; when others provoked him, he’d dare to confront them head-on!

Seeing Su Muyu’s gaze, Jiang Yu grinned sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Sun Tao was keeping a close eye on Jiang Yu’s feed, ready to fire back as soon as he replied.

The truth was, he was jealous—jealous of Jiang Yu, who had achieved fame at such a young age.

He’d dabbled in scripts, theme songs, everything, but this young man had reached a level in a short time that Sun Tao hadn’t attained in over thirty years.

Sun Tao posted another message:

"Youthful arrogance. As a senior, I must remind you: talent without virtue leads to a bleak future!"

Jiang Yu fired right back.

"If a young person isn’t energetic, are they still young?"

"Always calling yourself a senior—when a thug grows old, he’s just an old thug, not a senior."

"In this world, there’s always a group of 'old' people, peddling their social experience everywhere, treating others’ dreams as fantasies, others’ passion as foolishness, others’ perseverance as rebelliousness. They’re constantly lecturing juniors to find their own sense of superiority and existence."

Fans read the first lines and burst out laughing.

"Old thug—is this how cultured people insult others? I’m dying!"

"This is spicy—I like it!"

"I learned something new today!"

But when they read the last line, they all felt a deep resonance.

Indeed, society had such self-appointed mentors, and most young people had suffered at their hands.

"Exactly, that’s it—I hate it!"

"So annoying, I’ve met such old people too, it’s unbearable!"

"Right, the young didn’t provoke you, yet you talk nonsense!"

Sun Tao, reading these words, was livid.

Old people? Who’s old? And old thug? Who are you insulting?

He had intended to stand on the moral high ground and criticize Jiang Yu, but Jiang Yu’s words had blocked all his arguments.

Yet, to speak so eloquently—the young man’s talent was undeniable.

But it only made Sun Tao more bitter. Why should Jiang Yu achieve fame so young?

Why should he so easily obtain what Sun Tao had struggled for half his life to reach?

Why?

He absolutely couldn’t let Jiang Yu off easily.

Sun Tao posted again.

"Jiang Yu, I was about to sign a contract, but you seized my resources by relying on Su Muyu as the lead actress. With character like that, what does talent matter? I know you have capital backing, a powerful family—people like me can’t compete with you, but you can’t silence me!"

Damn.

The argument had escalated, and Sun Tao had named names.

More importantly, Sun Tao had cast himself as the bullied underdog, echoing Jiang Yu’s earlier claim of not being afraid to fight, and even painted Jiang Yu as someone backed by capital, bullying his seniors at will.

Everyone knew how netizens detested capital.

Now, with this narrative, the internet exploded.

"Huayue Entertainment, come out! As a domestic entertainment giant, you allow a newcomer to bully his seniors?"

"Jiang Yu is morally bankrupt, out of the entertainment industry!"

"Su Muyu, who would have thought you were like this? You may be the nation’s goddess, but bullying a senior is unacceptable!"

Keyboard warriors following the drama became excited, their DNA activated.

Some troublemakers even started fanning the flames.

No matter how much anyone tried to intervene, it was no use.

For a moment,

#SunTaoOppressedByCapital# shot to the top of the trending searches.

Public opinion online began to shift overwhelmingly to one side.

"What an old thug!" Su Ling cursed outright. "Not only is his songwriting garbage, but he dares say such things!"

But before she finished,

Sun Tao posted his next update.

Now, he aimed to claim the moral high ground and professionally crush Jiang Yu entirely.