My American magical life
Chapter 398 - 398 43 What is a top-tier celebrity_2

398: Chapter 43 What is a top-tier celebrity?_2 398: Chapter 43 What is a top-tier celebrity?_2 “But…”

“I’m off to the grindstone, I’ve got work to do!”

—————–

Cheng Daqi’s new video was a full three minutes long, and the editing quality was very high, the content was also quite interesting (compared to other hastily made videos), and it already had the potential to go viral.

The real highlight of this short video was that it was the first ‘personal struggle history display’ type of video on the Simplified Chinese internet, which, in the future, would set off a craze for similar content online.

A ‘personal struggle history display’ was like an edit of life, compressing the long history from difficult past to wonderful present into just a few minutes—doesn’t it sound a bit like a Mary Sue plot?

With rousing background music, top-notch current editing, a sharp contrast between past and present, the mismatched reality in foreign America, top-level beauties and hunks, the recent high internet buzz, the gimmick of being a multimillionaire—if Cheng Daqi’s video didn’t go viral, then the algorithm engineers at TikTok might as well pack their bags for Africa.

It took just two hours for CEO Cheng to once again climb to the top of the hot search lists on all major platforms on the Simplified Chinese internet.

Quora-like—”How do you view the conflict between Cheng Daqi and Ai Guobei?”

“Is the 15 million funding of Shanhaiguan Media real or fake?

It kind of seems like a pyramid scheme convention.”

“Is Cheng Daqi a citizen of Hua Country or America?”

“Who are Cheng Daqi’s investors?

I’ve never heard of OC perfume.”

Weibo-like—”Patriotic celebrity Ai Guobei deletes his Weibo overnight, have you guys helped CEO Cheng collect evidence?”

“I so want to ship it, CEO Cheng and his investors are both sweet and heartbreaking.”

“You can see CEO Cheng’s pecs when he’s wet, he’s definitely a dominant boss.”

“Shanhaiguan Media, established just a month ago in Xiang’an, valued at 50 million, the power of youth is the future of Xiang’an.”

TikTok-like—”Cheng Daqi.”

“Absurd times, he stands tall in the pouring chill.”

“Was Cheng Daqi really sick before?”

“There are so many influencers in Shanhaiguan.”

“Did Cheng Daqi climb up by clinging to women?”

“How much acting is there in Cheng Daqi’s scripts?”

“Cheng Daqi’s fan count surpasses two million.”

“Cheng Daqi’s clothes are Versace.”

“Can Cheng Daqi win the lawsuit against Ai Guobei?”

“Cheng Daqi begging in a video.”

“Cheng Daqi selling hooks in America.”

Even on forums, there were topics about CEO Cheng—”The new Sun Xiaochuan, is Cheng Daqi just a marketing clown?”

“This photo of Cheng Daqi on the yacht makes me rock hard, out of the eleven girls, which one would you pick?”

After more than a week of back-and-forth with Ai Guobei, the spectacle had exceeded everyone’s expectations; Cheng Daqi was now the center of internet traffic on the Simplified Chinese internet, and the traffic was massive!

The various platforms on the Simplified Chinese internet each had their own characteristics and differed in content.

The rankings on Quora-like listed questions, and some replies were more abstract than others, with many actually defending Ai Guobei—though their way of doing so involved attacking Cheng Daqi, trying to argue that Cheng Daqi wasn’t the perfect victim, thus attempting to exonerate Ai Guobei.

After reading them, CEO Cheng chuckled coldly and shook his head.

Quora-like was always like this, many answers seemed lofty at first glance, but a closer look revealed that the authors were jerks.

Weibo-like had a slightly higher female user base; this place was crucial for traffic celebrities, so the content in hot search terms seemed somewhat off.

However, as Ai Guobei’s stronghold, the third place on Weibo-like’s hot search was about preserving evidence for CEO Cheng, where the evidence collected was abundant—this could significantly reduce the difficulty for CEO Cheng in providing evidence against Ai Guobei.

Then there was TikTok-like, CEO Cheng’s home ground, where one-fifth of the top fifty trending topics were about Cheng Daqi.

What does it mean to be a top influencer?

It’s just that…

“Cheng Daqi selling hooks in America.”

Even the ever-unflappable CEO Cheng was outraged upon seeing this.

They were pushing it too damn far!

But he couldn’t afford to be concerned about this now, the more he made of it, the bigger it would become, and ignoring it was the best option.

—————–

Ai Guobei had not yet received a summons from the court, Cheng Daqi had already begun the litigation process, but there was a time lag between the court accepting the case and sending out the summons to the defendant.

Even without the summons, Ai Guobei knew he was in trouble.

The situation was actually quite simple, Accountant Jia had lied and led Ai Guobei into a trap, and Ai Guobei still had the recording of the call with Accountant Jia.

The statements in the recording differed from what Accountant Jia later told reporters, and Ai Guobei believed he had a chance of winning!

At the moment, he was in the office of an old friend who was a lawyer.

“Once you listen, you’ll understand, this is a real recording, not a fake one, it’s Cheng Daqi who’s the liar here, Accountant Jia is also a big liar, he’s set me up completely.”

As he spoke, Ai Guobei activated the recording app on his phone, and the sound of his conversation with Accountant Jia filled the room.

After a while, Ai Guobei’s lawyer friend spoke up.

“Old Ai, I’m afraid this won’t do, this recording of yours might not be admissible as valid evidence.”

In theory, Ai Guobei’s recording could prove that he was not slandering Cheng Daqi.

But…

law and common sense are not always the same, the law has strict requirements regarding recordings as evidence.

“Why?

I just have to be framed by these two liars?” Ai Guobei panicked.

These past few days, he had not been able to eat or sleep well; this was the third lawyer he had consulted, and the previous two didn’t want to help him, with a very simple reason for refusal—they weren’t willing to openly take advantage of him in Xiang’an, where the Wu Ming Law Firm had a frighteningly high victory rate and Ai Guobei was a public figure.

But today, for the first time, someone told Ai Guobei that his recording might not be admissible as evidence.

For Ai Guobei, who was already exhausted both mentally and physically, this was like a bolt from the blue—he had been struck numb by it lately.

“One reason is that Accountant Jia’s identity is not so clear, the way you contacted him wasn’t through a personal cell phone number, right?”

Ai Guobei answered weakly.

“No, I got in touch with him through social media.”

Seeing his judgment was correct, the lawyer inwardly sighed.

With Accountant Jia’s status, even if Ai Guobei had contacted him using a cell phone number, it was uncertain whether the communication number was registered in Accountant Jia’s name—it was impossible to verify.

“Old Ai, for you, the best course of action now is to apologize.

It’s all a misunderstanding, and once it’s cleared up, it’s okay.

Cheng Daqi is a businessman, he may just want you to bow your head a little.”

“Isn’t a call on social media admissible as evidence?”

“It’s not that, it’s that the content and contact records can’t confirm that the person you contacted is Accountant Jia.

If the identity is not clear, it cannot be used as evidence.”

Ai Guobei sat on the chair fuming silently.

In fact, he was someone who could bow down; in the past, his knees had been quite flexible—perhaps the ground was too warm.

But in recent times, his conflict with Cheng Daqi had escalated too much, he was trending on Weibo countless times, to an extent that Ai Guobei found terrifying.

He was not young anymore, and although he seemed to have a substantial number of followers, most of them were old netizens who had seen through him.

If he lost the lawsuit or yielded, those followers who still believed in him and were influenced by his deceit would leave him too.

Would he still have a chance to make a comeback in the future?

“Old Ai, Wu Ming Law Firm is Dongxin’s dedicated legal team, and Cheng Daqi’s choice to sue you in Xiang’an District makes it very difficult.

I’ll be frank with you, in the current situation, no one dares say they can win for you.

Anyone who dares to promise you a win is setting a trap for you, even in mediation, it depends on Cheng Daqi’s attitude.

You’re too passive right now.”

Ai Guobei remained silent, weighing his options.

“Will I be sentenced?”

“It’s possible, but there’s a chance for mediation.

This matter lies between civil and criminal law, it depends on whether Cheng Daqi is willing to cut you some slack.”

“He cut me some slack?

Impossible, he must hate me to death.”

“Old Ai, I still suggest you meet with Cheng Daqi face to face, have a talk, and seek forgiveness.

In ancient times, Goujian lay on sticks and tasted gall, and Han Xin endured the humiliation of crawling between someone’s legs, a little indignity is nothing in the grand scheme of things.”

Ai Guobei’s expression suddenly became strange.

“What do you think if I leave for America now and don’t respond to the summons, what would the consequences be?”