Ignoring the two’s resentful faces, Gu Xingyi sat down on the sofa with Xiao Nainai in his arms.

Tao Lele huffed angrily and rushed over to Xia Xiyao, clinging to her arm and shaking it furiously, clearly saying, Do something about your man—he’s bullying people!

Chen Feng was also full of frustration. He had barely gotten to hold the little one after arriving, hadn’t even warmed up yet, when Tao Lele swooped in to fight him for her. And now Gu Xingyi had jumped in too!

“Lao Gu~ you called me over just to piss me off, didn’t you~~”

Chen Feng stretched out the last syllable dramatically.

But Gu Xingyi didn’t continue with the banter. Instead, he waved his hand.

“I called you over to talk about something.”

Seeing Gu Xingyi shift into a serious tone, everyone also stopped fooling around and focused.

“Fengzi, I’m thinking of starting an entertainment company. Hmm… let’s call it Xingyao Entertainment. If you’re free lately, help me look around for a suitable place. We don’t need anything too big to start, since we’re still short on staff.”

The others lit up at his words, especially Yun-jie and Tao Lele. When they heard that Gu Xingyi was planning to start an entertainment company, excitement surged in their hearts.

This was going to be their own company! No more living under someone else’s rules.

It all sounded like a far-fetched dream—but hearing it from Gu Xingyi somehow made it feel believable.

Chen Feng wasn’t too surprised. He had already heard about Xia Xiyao being blacklisted before coming over.

Now that Gu Xingyi wanted to set up a company, it made perfect sense. His perspective was different from Yun-jie and Tao Lele’s, so this kind of thing didn’t shock him.

He just thought for a moment before his eyes lit up, and he quickly stepped forward with a bright smile on his face.

“Lao Gu~ the office building where our company is now—there’s a whole floor that’s about to be leased, and no one’s taken it yet! I think it’s perfect! We could even move both companies into the same place. Xingyao Animation can be the subsidiary of Xingyao Entertainment. Everything under one roof, super convenient!”

The multi-story commercial building in the center of Jiangcheng?

That was actually a great spot—and very convenient too. As a starting location for the company, it worked well. Later, if business boomed, they could always relocate to somewhere even better.

“Then Fengzi, can you go negotiate for us? If everything goes well, we’ll go over and sign the contract in a week.”

Gu Xingyi made the decision quickly after just a bit of thought.

“Why a week later?”
Chen Feng asked, puzzled. If the signing got delayed that long, he’d need to find a way to stall the rental process.

Gu Xingyi was a little speechless. Why else? He didn’t have the money yet!

Plus, some things still hadn’t happened—they needed a bit more time. Now just wasn’t the right moment.

“Because I need to let the bullets fly for a while first!”

Gu Xingyi smiled as he looked at their confused faces and finally answered.

...

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, September was already coming to an end. It had been a week since Xia Xiyao returned to Jiangcheng.

Meanwhile, the countless fans online who were eagerly waiting for Xia Xiyao’s new album began to notice something strange.

At some point, all updates about Xia Xiyao had suddenly vanished!

Just—vanished! And no one knew why!

Of course, what they didn’t know was that the smaller and mid-sized entertainment companies, after observing Gu Xingyi for a few days and seeing that he didn’t take any public actions, finally began to move.

After all, they were facing one of the industry’s three major giants—no single person could realistically stand up against such powerful capital.

Once the companies relaxed, they started making moves again—and so the current silence on the internet began to take shape.

The media stopped releasing any topics related to Xia Xiyao. Celebrities and influencers, no longer overshadowed by Xia Xiyao, started jumping into action again. Even related marketing accounts gradually ceased publishing anything about her.

All of this was orchestrated by capital. Even the popularity of netizens' posts was controlled by these powers.

It seemed as though time had been paused. Everything related to Xia Xiyao abruptly froze a week ago.

Slowly realizing something was off, netizens began gathering under Xia Xiyao's Weibo and Gu Xingyi's Douyin, discussing the situation.

Especially when they saw the chaotic dance of devils on the latest trending searches, their longing for Xia Xiyao and Gu Xingyi grew stronger. Many users started directly asking them about what was happening under their Weibo and Douyin accounts.

The latest Weibo post from Xia Xiyao was still the one announcing her new album release on October 1st. By now, this post had amassed over ten million comments and over a hundred million views.

“Are you there? Still alive?”

“What’s going on? Why the sudden silence? Come out and say something!”

“This hurts! I want to cry! Another day with no updates!”

“Brothers! Help me boost my post! Damn it, so many likes and reposts, but still not trending?”

“Yeah! Something definitely feels wrong!”

“It’s not just a feeling! This is definitely wrong—it reminds me of a certain celebrity’s case from before!”

“The comment above, do you mean the one who got banned? It can't be, right?”

As time passed, the netizens grew increasingly uneasy, especially after discovering that the label on Xia Xiyao’s Weibo profile, previously indicating her affiliation with Yinhai Entertainment, had disappeared!

Was Xia Xiyao banned? Or had she retired again?

For a moment, anxiety filled every netizen’s heart. They had just heard a few good songs; now they were being asked to go back and listen to trash—how could they accept that?

"You've spoiled our ears! Now you're just going silent?"

The emotions among netizens shifted rapidly from initial confusion to probing curiosity and finally to outright anger. At this point, besides Xia Xiyao's Weibo and Gu Xingyi’s Douyin, even Yinhai Entertainment’s official account was being bombarded.

Furious netizens were running around like headless flies, feeling extremely aggrieved! They hadn’t even heard the album yet, and the person disappeared first?

At this moment, in the Tianmei Entertainment building, Liu Gao's secretary wiped away her sweat nervously while reporting the issue. She hadn't anticipated such an intense reaction from netizens regarding Xia Xiyao's disappearance.

“Chairman, are you sure we don’t need to intervene? The public sentiment online is intense, making things difficult for our subsidiaries as well!”

Since the incident originated from Tianmei Entertainment, everyone would naturally point fingers at them!

Liu Gao’s expression remained indifferent as he waved his hand dismissively.

“No need to worry. They're just a mob. They'll scatter naturally after making noise. Everyone still has lives to live; no one's foolish enough to cling to this issue.”

As soon as Liu Gao finished speaking, the office door burst open suddenly.

The visitor was the head of operations, sweating profusely. Without waiting for Liu Gao to scold him, he spoke first.

“Ch...Chairman, Gu... Gu Xingyi! He just posted on Weibo!”

Liu Gao frowned deeper, clearly annoyed.

“So what if he posted on Weibo? Why all the fuss? Just keep suppressing the popularity of his post!”

“But... but no one dares suppress it!”

The operations chief’s voice trembled, almost breaking into tears.

“He...he posted a song! It’s called something like 《Counterattack》! No... that’s not even the biggest problem!”

“The most critical point is... Huayang reposted and liked it!”