Chapter 140: Hello everyone, I am the Su Chen you have all been cursing.

"What's the matter? Do you know something about me?"

She looked at Su Chen with a smile. Su Chen did not hide anything, simply nodding.

"I've heard many versions, but I don't know which one is true."

Xu Shuang raised an eyebrow. "Things on the internet—half true, half false. Sometimes even I can't tell them apart anymore."

Seeming unwilling to dwell on the topic, she changed the subject. "You are the first person to ever flip a table at the Golden Melody Awards. I admire you for that."

Su Chen shook his head. "If pursuing justice is considered brave, then I think that is the saddest thing of all."

Xu Shuang paused, then nodded in appreciation. "You truly are someone I admire."

Su Chen was quite surprised by this, but he didn't say much more.

"Were you at the venue earlier?" Xu Shuang asked, arching a brow.

"I sat for a while, but it was boring, so I snuck out."

Su Chen nodded.

"Let's add each other on WeChat," Xu Shuang said, taking out her phone.

Though he didn't quite understand her intentions, Su Chen took out his phone and scanned her code. The two didn't chat much further; when the elevator arrived, they each returned to their respective floors.

***

The Huaxia Golden Melody Awards are a major event in the music industry. Beyond the industry professionals, the fans of the various singers were constantly tracking the ceremony's developments. As soon as the Best Female Singer award was announced, it caused a massive stir online.

"Jiang Yan wins Best Female Singer at the Golden Melody Awards!"
"I knew it would be my Yan!"
"Brothers and sisters, it’s a celebration!"

Jiang Yan’s fans spread the news frantically. Similarly, once the Best Composer award was announced, Tang Guo became a hot topic of discussion. Star Orange Entertainment posted on Weibo immediately, tagging Tang Guo: "Congratulations to our teacher Tang Guo for winning the 33rd Huaxia Golden Melody Awards Best Composer @Tang Guo."

Attached to the post was a video clip of Qin Pei accepting the trophy on Tang Guo's behalf.

"Wow! I knew it would be Teacher Tang Guo this time."
"Obviously! In just half a year, she went from a regular composer to a gold-medal composer, and even received the 'Rookie King' title from the official Weibo account. Not everyone gets such an honor!"
"The Huaxia Golden Melody Awards are fair and just!"

Tang Guo’s follower count had surpassed 1.2 million, making her a minor celebrity on Weibo. As soon as the news broke, her fans were ecstatic.

Just as the fanbases of Jiang Yan and Tang Guo were busy celebrating, no one noticed that a video, seemingly recorded and edited on a mobile phone, began to circulate online and quickly dominated the Weibo trending list.

"Su Chen refuses to accept the Golden Melody Awards' Best Composer result and flips the table on the spot!"
"Su Chen: Tang Guo and I are both excellent composers!"
"Su Chen berates the host: 'You are being pretentious!'"
"Su Chen storms out in anger after failing to win Best Composer!"

In the video, Su Chen's participation in the awards ceremony was sliced into several clips and spliced together. The first shot showed Li Kang announcing Tang Guo as the winner, followed by Su Chen calling him pretentious. The second shot featured Yu Yixin comforting Su Chen, while Li Kang righteously implied that Su Chen shouldn't question the fairness of the awards. The third shot showed Su Chen storming out.

By stripping away the context, the edited video created a very specific narrative. Suddenly, the internet was in an uproar.

"Who is Su Chen?"
"Haha, he's that guy who had the scandal with Jiang Yan. After helping her write two songs, he clearly got too big for his boots."
"Talented people are always arrogant; it's normal for him not to accept the facts."
"Normal? Please. Tang Guo produced so many songs in half a year and she doesn't act like him."
"In my opinion, the less capable someone is, the more they like to cause this kind of trouble."
"Who does he think he is? Does the Best Composer award have to be given to him? He should look in a mirror and see if he's even worthy!"

Driven by the video's framing, fueled by internet trolls, compounded by the existing resentment Jiang Yan's fans held toward Su Chen, and joined by "bystanders" who didn't know the truth, it didn't take long for Su Chen to become the target of universal condemnation.

"I'm not taking sides, but this whole thing feels fishy. Here are a few questions I hope the trolls can explain."
"First, why wasn't this in the live broadcast or the official recording, but only surfaced this way? Who filmed it, and what is their motive?"
"Second, the whole video is spliced from clips. Why not release the full video?"
"Third, there are tons of newly registered accounts leading the comments under the video. Where are these people coming from?"

The few rational bystanders who tried to analyze the situation objectively were immediately drowned out by a flood of comments.

"Are you stupid or just pretending? How long would the full video be? Who has the time to watch that without it being edited?"
"This kind of clip is a broadcast accident, of course it wouldn't be aired. As for who filmed it, it must have been someone at the venue. It's a good thing they did, so we could see Su Chen's true face."
"This guy is a loser. My mom told me never to hang out with losers since I was a kid. Everyone, let's go!"

The public opinion eventually tilted entirely in one direction.

In a celebrity group chat:
[Luo Zhe: Holy crap, Su Chen, what did you do? The internet is blowing up, and everyone is out for your blood!]
[Jiang Jing: Go look for yourself, there's the original video. @Su Chen, what is going on? It doesn't look like your style in the video.]
[Ji Xiangyang: The video is clearly edited. Let's wait for Su Chen to show up and ask him. There must be more to the story.]

After the messages were sent, there was no response in the group. It wasn't until the evening that Jiang Yan finally replied.

[Jiang Yan: You don't need to watch that video. It was edited with malicious intent. The situation at the scene wasn't like that. I'm currently looking for evidence.]
[Jiang Jing: What happened exactly? Who is trying to sabotage Su Chen?]

After Jiang Jing asked, Jiang Yan didn't reply again, and the group went quiet once more.

The public outcry continued, and after about two days of fermenting, a Weibo account named "Su Chen" suddenly appeared, verified with a blue checkmark.

A new post appeared on the account: "Hello everyone, I am the Su Chen you have all been cursing."