The gossip influencer posted the content of this private message, along with a statement of his righteous refusal to cooperate. Immediately, netizens caught the scent of drama and swarmed over.
[Is Contestant No. 43 shameless? Don't you need at least some basis in fact before lying to create a persona?]
[The blogger is so bold. The industry needs more principled gossip influencers like you.]
[What's Contestant No. 43's name? She didn't get a name tag, and the post-production didn't add subtitles for her. We still don't know her name. What's the show playing at?]
[Girls in their early twenties these days are so brazen they can directly impersonate a tech project lead. Impressive, impressive!]
...
The comments were almost unanimously critical. Someone, it seemed, had bought a trending spot. By evening, this Weibo post was firmly entrenched at the top of the hot search list. It not only caused the influencer's follower count to skyrocket but also brought a significant surge of traffic and attention to "Knowledge Q&A."
Contestant No. 43 was dragged into the spotlight once again. Some netizens even compiled a list of celebrity persona collapses over the years, crowning No. 43 as "the fastest persona collapse in entertainment history."
"You can start the experimental testing for this group. Report to me for anything you need." Ye Qiusuo, completely unaware of the online storm, finished checking her students' work in the lab and corrected a few issues before speaking.
"Professor, isn't starting now a bit too soon?" Lin Lu felt somewhat dazed.
In their STEM field, launching a project required substantial funding, usually applied for from the university or secured through collaboration with external companies. Budgets were always tight, with every penny needing to be spent wisely.
Was their advisor really just letting them start like this?
"Do you need a few more days off?" Ye Qiusuo looked at her student's face with surprise, not detecting any particular signs of exhaustion. He had been enrolled for less than two months, and the course load wasn't heavy. Was he already feeling overwhelmed?
Lin Lu was taken aback and quickly shook his head. "No need for a break. I can start today."
"It's already late today. Head back now and start tomorrow." Ye Qiusuo glanced out the window; it was completely dark. It was time for students to finish up and return to their dorms.
In a daze, Lin Lu followed his professor out of the lab before they parted ways. Halfway back to his dorm, he suddenly let out an excited whoop and quickly contacted the other two members of his group to announce they could start the project!
...
The second episode aired as scheduled on Saturday night. While some viewers tuned in for Wan Yurou and Xia Zhoubing, even more were there to watch the spectacle surrounding Contestant No. 43. They wanted to see what other outrageous moves the contestant who impersonated the project lead of Tianqiu Tech would pull this time.
However, after watching the second episode, they didn't witness any outrageous moves. Instead, everyone remembered the name 'Ye Qiusuo' crystal clear.
Out of fifty questions, Ye Qiusuo didn't get a single one wrong from start to finish. She even corrected mistakes made by other guests and pointed out errors in the host's provided explanations.
[Holy crap, she's like a walking encyclopedia! That's terrifying!]
[I'm starting to believe she might actually be the Tianqiu Tech project lead. After all, geniuses do exist.]
[What genius looks that good? This is probably just the show's script. Ye Qiusuo must be someone the show is trying to promote. It's all staged.]
[To the comment above, look up the 'Mother of Wi-Fi.' Attractive, talented, and young women do exist. I think Ye Qiusuo is telling the truth.]
After the second episode ended, some people switched sides and began to believe Ye Qiusuo hadn't lied, given the formidable knowledge she displayed on the show.
Of course, a large majority still didn't believe it. They specifically searched for the name 'Ye Qiusuo' on Huajing University's official website and found no professor by that name. There was only a female professor named 'Ye Qiusu.' The photo on the official website showed a young-looking woman, but her appearance was completely different from Ye Qiusuo's. Moreover, calculating her age, she would be forty this year.
Soon, #YeQiusuo quickly climbed the hot search rankings. Viewers who had watched the show focused their attention entirely on Contestant No. 43, eagerly discussing her true identity. Wan Yurou, in contrast, received little discussion.
"Have you memorized the answers for the next episode? Don't mix up the explanation content again." Wan Yurou's manager reminded her.
The manager had gone to great lengths to obtain this question bank, only for a civilian contestant to steal the spotlight in the second episode.
Wan Yurou's expression was unpleasant. She held a stack of stapled A4 papers. "Sister Mo, some of the explanations for the questions here aren't accurate."
To solidify her persona for this show, she had spent a huge amount of time memorizing these answers and explanations. But in the last episode, Ye Qiusuo had even managed to find errors in the explanations.
The manager sighed. "I'll find someone to review these question explanations for you and try to correct any potential mistakes."
The question bank and answers had been sent over together from the other side. The staff preparing the explanations had simply copied them from Baidu Baike, but anyone can edit that encyclopedia, so it's not entirely accurate.
"By the way, I've cleared all your appointments for next Thursday," the manager remembered. "I've booked a meeting for you with the real Professor Ye from Huajing University. She'll take you to visit Tianqiu Tech. Remember to take a photo together."
Wan Yurou was startled. The real Professor Ye? That Ye Qiusu?
"That Ye Qiusuo is probably backed by some small company, but they did a more thorough job than us."
"Sister Mo, you mean... she's still an impostor?" Wan Yurou, sitting on the stage that day and seeing Ye Qiusuo's calm explanations, had almost believed she was the real deal in that moment.
The manager snorted coldly. "Since we could get the question bank, it's not impossible for others to get it too. And I got word that the show's director contacted Huajing University and found there's only one Professor Ye, named Ye Qiusu. I checked; she happens to have a project collaboration with Tianqiu Tech. This Ye Qiusuo might even have a fake name."
Wan Yurou's heart instantly felt much lighter. That day, she had actually thought Ye Qiusuo was a real professor in charge of Tianqiu Tech's medical watch project.
...
Ye Qiusuo was completely unaware of these undercurrents. She was too busy; she didn't even have time to check the hot searches.
"Xiao Ye, have you taken your photo yet?" The dean came to her office specifically to find Ye Qiusuo.
Ye Qiusuo was holding a stack of documents. She had mild nearsightedness and wore glasses when she needed to spend long hours reading materials. She slowly pushed her silver-rimmed glasses up and finally remembered. "I forgot."
The dean shook his head. "I figured you'd forget, you're so busy. I came today specifically to remind you. Take the photo when you have time in the next few days. The university needs to update the official website information uniformly."
As the youngest professor in the school, and arguably the entire university, the dean was very invested in getting Ye Qiusuo's information uploaded to the official website. The website information was always lagging; faculty and staff profiles were updated once a year, and Ye Qiusuo's information from her hiring this year hadn't been entered yet.
"Understood. I'll get the photo taken today."
"Alright. Remember, it needs to be a blue background." The dean finished speaking and shook his head again before leaving.
After the dean left, Ye Qiusuo spent the entire afternoon in her office reviewing documents. Only then did she go to a photo studio off-campus to take her picture. After receiving the digital copy of the photo, she immediately sent it to the dean's email.
Then she left the photo studio, got in her car, and headed home, encountering traffic on the way.
While waiting for the traffic to clear, Ye Qiusuo inadvertently turned her head and glanced at the LED advertising screen on the building next to her: a young man dressed in white stood barefoot on the beach, with an endless expanse of blue sea behind him. His black, tousled hair was slightly messy from the sea breeze. His originally somewhat sharp brows and eyes were softened by the smile at the corner of his lips. His pitch-black eyes seemed to be sprinkled with shattered light, and the lazy seaside sunlight bathed his entire figure, making him extraordinarily handsome.
However, what caught Ye Qiusuo's attention wasn't the young man's looks, but the name displayed at the end of the LED screen—Xie Xi.
Doing a quick mental calculation, she realized he should be about to get slammed by netizens soon.
It was rare for Professor Ye's mind to be occupied with irrelevant people and matters. She then remembered that today was the broadcast date for the second episode of the show she had recorded. She wondered how it would differ from the original novel.
Ye Qiusuo picked up her phone and tapped into the trending searches. She didn't see Wan Yurou's name, but instead found her own name prominently featured at the top.
"..."
Professor Ye frowned and clicked in to take a look, discovering they were still debating whether she was the project lead or not.
After reading just a few comments, the road ahead cleared. She put her phone away, not giving the matter much thought.
Since it wasn't connected to the female lead, Ye Qiusuo didn't care what the netizens said. The project itself was under confidentiality, so there was no need to explain the lead investigator issue, lest it invite more trouble.
Sunday night still required recording the show. As soon as Ye Qiusuo entered the building, she saw her friend waiting for her.
"What's wrong?"
"The day before yesterday, our program director called me over and asked about you," her friend explained helplessly. "The director asked about your background. I inquired around; he even specifically checked if there was any possibility the question bank had been leaked."
It had indeed been leaked.
Professor Ye lowered her gaze to the floor, thinking, just not by her.
"I explained to him that you hadn't seen the questions." Her friend knew Ye Qiusuo studied at Huajing University but wasn't aware of other details. Still, she assured the director that Ye Qiusuo wasn't lying and couldn't be someone packaged by another company, because she was the one who had pulled Ye Qiusuo in as a last-minute replacement.
"Do I still need to participate in the show?" Ye Qiusuo asked.
Her friend was taken aback, then quickly nodded: "Yes, yes. After I explained, the director didn't have much else to say."
Ye Qiusuo smoothly finished recording the third episode. Unlike the other civilian guests who stayed behind to chat, she walked straight into the elevator to head back.
Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a hand suddenly reached in to stop them. The doors reopened, and a man walked in.
Ye Qiusuo was originally standing in the very center of the elevator and got a clear view of the person who entered.
His deliberately styled black, tousled hair fell across his forehead. His somewhat sharp brows and eyes carried a hint of impatience, and his face was so strikingly handsome it could blind someone.
More importantly, he looked exactly like the man Ye Qiusuo had seen on the roadside building's LED advertising screen the night before.
Therefore, Professor Ye spoke up: "Xie Xi."
Xie Xi had walked out halfway through recording the show after realizing the program team was manipulating his choices. It was obvious some contestants had connections. He simply dropped everything and left, even leaving his assistant and life manager behind.
So, upon entering the elevator and hearing someone call his name, his first reaction was to turn his head and ask impatiently, "What is it?"
After confirming it was Xie Xi, Professor Ye said calmly, "Your lipstick is smudged."
Xie Xi: "..."
The camera consumes makeup, so both men and women need to wear it on screen. The makeup artist had indeed applied a layer of lip color on him today.
The big star Xie Xi tilted his head and stared expressionlessly at his reflection in the elevator mirror. Sure enough, there was a red smudge at the corner of his mouth, probably from drinking water before he left.
He raised his hand and forcefully wiped away the stain. Before his hand even lowered, the elevator suddenly jolted and stopped moving.
The emergency light in the elevator came on immediately.
Ye Qiusuo slowly looked up at the surveillance camera inside the elevator. It was at this moment that the fact this world was a novel truly felt real.
The novel had mentioned in passing that today, the power at Gaoxing TV Station would be cut by a dismissed employee, and the backup generator would also be damaged, leading to a blackout lasting three hours. During this time, the female lead and Xia Zhoubing were together, sitting in the stairwell chatting by flashlight—an incident that served as a prelude to Xia Zhoubing developing feelings for the female lead.
Almost simultaneously with the blackout, Xie Xi's life manager called to ask where he was.
"I'm in the elevator," Xie Xi said nonchalantly, thinking he'd be out soon.
"Wait inside for a bit. I'm already finding someone to help," the life manager said, surrounded by noisy chatter. Xie Xi could barely make out what she was saying.
"Hmm." Xie Xi hung up and then leaned against the elevator to play a game on his phone, acting as if the other person didn't exist.
Ye Qiusuo's presence in the elevator was indeed low-key. She stood quietly in one corner, diagonally opposite Xie Xi—the farthest distance possible.
Half an hour later, the last bar of battery on Xie Xi's phone drained, and it shut down automatically.
Impatiently, he put his phone in his pocket, pressed the emergency call button inside the elevator—no one answered—and the life manager who said she was on her way still hadn't arrived.
Finally, Xie Xi leaned against one side of the elevator and closed his eyes to rest. His schedule had been packed, and he hadn't had a proper sleep for a whole week.
An hour later, the emergency light in the elevator flickered a few times before plunging the interior into complete darkness.
Noticing this, Xie Xi opened his eyes. He instinctively wanted to call his assistant and life manager, only to remember his phone was dead.
He hadn't thought much of it initially, but the person diagonally opposite hadn't moved at all since the beginning. Even when the emergency light went out, she neither moved nor took out her phone to turn on the flashlight.
"Hey, are you okay?" Xie Xi hesitated for a moment before asking.
He'd heard some people had claustrophobia; maybe this person did too.
Hearing no response, Xie Xi asked again. The corner remained silent.
Xie Xi: "..."
Finally, relying on his memory of the elevator layout, he groped his way over in the dark, extended a slender finger, and slowly poked the person in the corner.
Professor Ye had been thinking about her project funding and hadn't noticed the emergency light going out. What brought her back to the present was someone poking her arm.
"What is it?" Ye Qiusuo took out her phone and turned on the flashlight. The beam inadvertently shone directly on his face.
Xie Xi stepped back, raising a hand to shield his eyes, and muttered something under his breath that Ye Qiusuo didn't catch. She pointed the flashlight towards the ceiling of the elevator, illuminating the space considerably.
Another half hour or so passed. Xie Xi had changed his standing position several times and finally couldn't help but ask the person in the corner who was quietly holding the flashlight, unnervingly still: "Can I borrow your phone to make a call?"
Ye Qiusuo handed her phone over.
Xie Xi took it and immediately saw her phone screen—even the wallpaper was the default one. This person must be utterly boring.
When he went to dial, he realized he didn't remember his assistant's or life manager's phone numbers. He could only hand the phone back to Ye Qiusuo.
"Are you a staff member here?" The impatience that had been lingering on Xie Xi's face finally subsided. He leaned against the elevator and asked the person in the corner.
"No."
"Are you here to record the show then?" Xie Xi recalled that this person had looked rather attractive when he first stepped into the elevator.
Ye Qiusuo didn't speak. She was calculating a set of data in her mind; she didn't want to waste these three hours.
"Just debuted? I haven't seen you in the industry before." Normally, Xie Xi wasn't this talkative, let alone with a stranger. It was just that this person seemed too frightened, standing there without uttering a word.
Today, his sympathy was overflowing a little more than usual.
Although Ye Qiusuo had only just begun supervising graduate students, she had taught undergraduate classes during her PhD. So, when disturbed, Professor Ye instinctively said sternly, "Xie Xi, be quiet."
