Leonardo scrolled down the page and saw all the Weibo posts with photos of Adams as well as Summer at the airport.
When the gossip about Adams cropped up earlier and got Summer involved, it was Leonardo who instructed his PR people to put an end to everything.
They had negotiated with the platform to prevent similar things from happening again. In exchange, they had to sign a long-term agreement with the platform for a great deal of money. However, after Tip Top Entertainment released a statement on its official account yesterday, the issue became a trending topic again. Obviously, it was a deliberate action.
Leonardo’s face grew sullen. He put down Summer’s mobile phone and got to his feet to call Carl.
Summer took her mobile and checked out Tip Top Entertainment’s official account. The Carl-Adams bromance topic had fallen off the tending chart. A fresh wave of comments had now surfaced to criticize Tip Top Entertainment.
“Adams has helped Tip Top earn a ton of money. Why are you treating him like that? He just wants to give the woman he loves a name.”
“Such a despicable company!”
“That woman is obviously Adams’s girlfriend. But you were afraid that he would lose his fan base if their affair was exposed. That’s why you made that statement.”
“Don’t you feel bad about it?”
“In support of Adams revealing his relationship with his girlfriend.”
Things were getting more and more ridiculous. How did these people know that Adams wanted to reveal his relationship? Not only that, but Summer could also see that the negative voices seemed to behave in a certain pattern; they were mostly cyber troopers. However, one thing she still had not figured out was why would the cyber troopers want to link her and Adams together.
Summer visited Adams’s Weibo account and found the same thing. It was flooded with comments supporting him to reveal his relationship. It was a colossal headache for Summer. A simple thing had become a hell of a mess.
Just then, Douglas called her on Wechat. She answered, and he asked, “Summer, I saw the photos of you and my elder brother on Weibo. What’s going on?”
He thought she was a perfect match for his elder brother, but Summer was married, so his elder brother would not stand a chance. Their appearance on the list of trending topics did not look very good and proper.
“Where is your brother now?” Summer asked.
“He’s out of town. For all I know he’s somewhere remote without a phone signal, supposedly doing some charity stuff.” As he finished, he sighed. “Isn’t it better for him to come forward to clear the air?”
“I’m going back to the office.” Leonardo came in and grabbed his jacket.
She quickly got up. “Please eat something before you go.”
With the photos of Summer and Adams appearing as a trending topic again, he was now a bear with a sore head. He did not have an appetite.
Seeing him turn and walk toward the door, Summer said, “Please eat something, then I’ll go with you.”
At last, he nodded.
…
After lunch, they went to Tip Top Entertainment.
After receiving a call from Leonardo, Carl had gone to the PR Department and put the squeeze on them to control the damage. When the photos of Adams and Summer popped up as the trending topic for the first time, Tip Top had acted swiftly to suppress it and made a statement. However, they could no longer do the same the second time. Sometimes, public opinion was so influential that the tail wagged the dog.
Tip Top Entertainment was the industry leader. It usually did not do anything by halves when it handled such issues. This was the first time they ever got stuck chasing their own tail. Hence, Carl and Leonardo had been taking turns to man the wheel; he had gotten a quick temper.
“Tell me why it’s happened again! You guys better think of a PR campaign that will work. Otherwise, everyone will have to stay back tonight!” Carl rubbed his hair back, letting out a long sigh as he collapsed in a chair.
Adams had a massive fan base, and there had been no prior gossip about him. The current rumors about him being brought up in the list of trending topics repeatedly was something unusual in the public’s eyes. It did not help that when petty things happened in the entertainment industry, they were usually magnified once exposed before the eyes of the public. If the situation was not handled properly, it could affect Tip Top negatively.
The secretary entered the room to inform Carl that the big boss had arrived. He dragged himself to his feet and went into Leonardo’s office. It was not Summer’s first time there, but she still found things novel.
“Damn it! I think this is a deliberate action. It won’t affect Adams, but someone is trying to attack Tip Top…”
Carl was foaming at the mouth the instant he walked in. The words were suddenly stuck in his throat when he saw Summer in the office as well. He then smiled like an idiot.
“Hi, hahaha, Summer’s here too.”
“I’m just tagging along since I’m free.” Summer smiled back at him before she continued to browse her magazine.
Summer had been asking questions about Carl for the past two days. When Leonardo thought of it, he found Summer’s smile a little too garish for his liking. So, he glared at Carl.
Besides not getting to act as Jessica’s manager, Carl had also been up to his neck in work recently. Now he had no idea why he was getting a hostile look from Leonardo.
“How is everything going?” Leonardo went down to business.
“The PR people are still working something out.” Carl plopped down on the sofa, looking like death warmed up. After a while, he bounced up all of a sudden. “Could your grandpa be doing this? He wants you to go back to Emerson Corporation so he’s using this trick as a warning?”
Summer peered over at him. Was Carl talking about Grandpa Emerson?
Leonardo snickered. “You really think the old man’s as retarded as you are?”
Carl choked, his face expressionless. “Believe it or not, I’ll jump down from here?”
Summer was stunned; Carl wanted to commit suicide? Leonardo held Summer and sat her down beside him.
“Don’t worry. He wouldn’t dare do that.”
Carl suddenly found himself between a rock and a hard place. To jump or not to jump? If he chose not to jump, he was going to lose face big time.
Leonardo was silent for a moment before he continued. “Grandpa just wants me to go back to Emerson Corporation. He won’t be so hasty to attack Tip Top Entertainment. Even if he wants to, it would be very direct and aggressive.”
“Then are you going back to Emerson Corporation?” Summer asked curiously.
Leonardo turned his head around, his lips curled up in a smile. “Of course, I will. Since Grandpa has asked you to persuade me, why not?”
“What do you mean?”
Carl explained lazily on Leonardo’s behalf, “That means Leonardo doesn’t listen to his grandpa, only you.”