Honestly speaking, Jiang Nian quite liked this old man Yu Chenghui.
After all, the man was full of martial virtue and had real kung fu—they probably would have had common topics to talk about.
But the two of them shouldn’t have crossed paths.
Not just because Jiang Nian had too much going on in the first half of the year.
He had to deal with the college entrance exam, practice martial arts, and film dramas—each one demanded a huge amount of energy and time.
More importantly, this old man Yu Chenghui was no ordinary person.
He was the only Sword Saint of modern times!
So if Jiang Nian talked with him, the old man would easily see that there was something unusual about him.
Although Jiang Nian hadn’t really tried to hide it in his daily life.
But an ordinary person noticing he was extraordinary and a true expert noticing he was extraordinary were two completely different things.
As the saying goes:
If you don’t cultivate, you see me like a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky.
If you do cultivate, you see me like a mayfly looking up at the vast heavens!
Although Yu Chenghui hadn’t reached the threshold of a mayfly gazing at the heavens.
But as the strongest martial artist of the current era, the Sword Saint.
If he met Jiang Nian and found that he couldn’t see through him at all, he’d probably sense something was off.
Jiang Nian didn’t want things to escalate to that point just yet.
At least not right now.
“Alright, alright, Teacher Jiang, don’t keep frowning like that. You already turned them down, didn’t you? It’s all in the past. Come on, let’s keep watching TV.”
Seeing that Jiang Nian’s expression wasn’t quite right, Deng Sha quickly came over to smooth things out.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian finally nodded, sat back down on the sofa, and started watching the variety show with everyone else.
On the TV, after the cooking competition between Jiang Nian and Huang Lei finished airing.
There wasn’t much content left.
Just Huang Lei getting green bean poisoning and the guest stars leaving.
Maybe out of consideration for Jiang Nian’s current reputation and popularity.
Or maybe because Huang Lei’s green bean poisoning incident had caused quite a stir a week ago.
They hadn’t done much editing on this matter.
They broadcast the green bean poisoning incident exactly as it had happened.
This was the only part Jiang Nian was somewhat satisfied with after watching for an hour and a half.
But satisfied or not.
In order to maintain the regular cast members’ personas, they had edited the dishes Jiang Nian made to look like Huang Lei made them—and he didn’t like that.
Thinking of this,
Jiang Nian stood up, walked to the door, looked at Zhang Linyu who was drinking nearby, and called out: “Old Zhang, come here for a moment.”
Hearing this, Zhang Linyu didn’t dare dawdle. He quickly put down his drink and jogged over to Jiang Nian, asking: “What’s up, bro? Something wrong?”
“Yeah.”
Jiang Nian nodded:
“Contact the troll farm now and start hyping up the matter about Huang Lei cooking. Say that dish wasn’t made by Huang Lei at all—the production team maliciously edited it, fabricated things, and stopped at nothing to promote Huang Lei.”
“As for solid evidence, I remember there’s a farmer’s house nearby with a surveillance camera that could capture what was going on inside. Just spend some money and buy the footage from them.”
When they were heading to the Mushroom House, Jiang Nian had observed the surroundings.
He remembered this matter clearly.
“Huh?”
Zhang Linyu was stunned for a moment, looking at Jiang Nian with a face full of confusion: “Bro, what do you mean by that?”
Jiang Nian looked puzzled: “Can’t you tell? I’m picking a fight.”
“Uh, of course I know you’re picking a fight, but… why are you doing this?”
Zhang Linyu asked.
He expressed that he couldn’t quite understand.
After all, Jiang Nian had just been on the show, and now he was immediately going after it.
Even if the show had maliciously edited things, this kind of thing was extremely common in the entertainment industry—surely it wasn’t worth making such a big fuss over?
At this, the puzzled look on Jiang Nian’s face only deepened:
“I’m picking a fight with someone—do I need a reason?”
“If you really want a reason, it’s that they touched my stuff, and that pisses me off.”
“And me picking a fight with them isn’t entirely bad for them either. Isn’t the whole point of what they did to get attention? Well then, I’m giving them some extra attention—what’s the problem with that?”
Honestly speaking.
If the production team had edited the dishes he made to look like He Jiong’s or Song Dandan’s.
Jiang Nian wouldn’t have minded so much—he’d just laugh it off and let it go.
But no—they had taken the dishes Jiang Nian made and edited them to look like they were made by Huang Lei, the person Jiang Nian was most at odds with.
All that hard work ending up as someone else’s bridal gown, used to solidify his enemy’s persona.
Jiang Nian couldn’t tolerate that.
Nor could he stand idly by in the face of such an obviously disgusting act.
Zhang Linyu didn’t know all this. He just heard Jiang Nian’s words and his mouth twitched, thinking that this was a huge problem.
In all his years, Zhang Linyu had never seen any celebrity who, just because they appeared on a variety show and the show twisted the truth through editing, would go after that variety show!
What Jiang Nian was doing—at best, you could call it retaliation.
At worst, he was cutting off someone’s source of income and breaking the rules!
After all, making variety shows and malicious editing—this was basically an unspoken understanding in this circle.
Even if Jiang Nian’s reputation suffered a bit because of it, so what?
Those big-name stars hadn’t said anything—what right did a newcomer who hadn’t even been in the industry for a year have to go against the grain?!
“I don’t think this is appropriate.”
After thinking it over, Zhang Linyu gave his opinion and tried to persuade him:
“Brother Jiang, even though they did maliciously edit things, it’s understandable. After all, Huang Lei is a regular cast member—he’s got to have some face, right? And even though they edited maliciously, they didn’t cut out that part about Huang Lei getting poisoned in the end, did they? We don’t need to…”
Zhang Linyu didn’t finish his sentence before Jiang Nian raised his hand to cut him off.
He looked at Zhang Linyu and said:
“So? According to you, I should be thanking them?”
“Old Zhang, have you been in the entertainment industry so long that they’ve assimilated you?”
“Them not pinning the green bean poisoning on me is only natural—because that matter had nothing to do with me in the first place.”
“It’s not that I owe them, and it’s certainly not a reason for them to freely tamper with my stuff.”
“As for Huang Lei—he wants face, but doesn’t my face count as face too?”
“As long as I’m unhappy, nobody gets to feel good. And what you need to do is complete the task I gave you. Don’t overthink it—if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up. Understood?”
Hearing this, meeting Jiang Nian’s unquestionable gaze, Zhang Linyu’s lips moved, but in the end he said nothing.
He just nodded, then walked off to the side to make some calls.
Seeing this, Jiang Nian pulled out a cigarette and took a deep drag.
He knew very well that Zhang Linyu was advising him out of concern—worried that breaking the rules would make enemies and get him targeted.
But… there was no need!
Not to mention that he had already been on bad terms with Huang Lei before this.
Even if he didn’t make a move, Huang Lei would target him anyway.
Just talking about offending people—so what?
At most, they’d use their status and position to blacklist Jiang Nian.
To Jiang Nian, that was the most trivial thing.
He was about to become someone transcendent—would he be afraid of such childish games of isolation?
Remember, the reason these people could sit with him, Jiang Nian, or even talk to him.
Wasn’t because they were capable.
It was only because Jiang Nian needed to act to unlock characters, and he found the entertainment industry somewhat interesting.
If one day Jiang Nian found the entertainment industry boring.
With his transcendent strength.
These people would have to pull strings, kowtow a few times, and call him “Grandpa Zhang” just to get a meeting with Zhang Linyu!
“In this entertainment circle, I am the rule!”
The tobacco burned, flickering bright and dark, and Jiang Nian’s eyes were filled with an arrogance that looked down on everything.
“Director, our show is a hit!”
Meanwhile, in the capital.
Looking at the backend data, the assistant director of “Back to the Countryside” said to director Wang Zhengyu with an excited face.
Wang Zhengyu stared at the display screen, nodding repeatedly: “I see it, I see it, hahaha! Everyone’s worked hard these past few days—I’ll send out red envelopes in a bit.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone was overjoyed.
For a moment, choruses of “Thank you, Director Wang” rang out everywhere.
Seeing this, Huang Lei, who was sitting nearby, let out a light snort.
He thought to himself, “How vulgar.”
Then he slowly took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and walked over: “Director Wang, how are the netizens reacting?”
Hearing this, Wang Zhengyu was slightly taken aback.
Then he realized what Huang Lei was asking about and quickly said:
“Good, your reputation is excellent right now! The netizens are all unanimously praising you as Master Chef Huang!”
“Only…”
Wang Zhengyu paused.
“Only what?” Huang Lei frowned.
“Only, if we do this, what about Old Jiang… I mean, Jiang Nian?”
Wang Zhengyu asked.
Swapping the dishes Jiang Nian made with the ones Huang Lei made.
That wasn’t his idea.
He hadn’t even planned to include that segment at first—he was going to find some other content to fill the time.
But Huang Lei, as a regular cast member, had strongly insisted on doing it this way.
So he had cut that segment into the main episode.
Hearing this, Huang Lei was dismissive:
“Him? What’s there to worry about?”
“The show’s already aired—what can he do?”
Speaking of this, Huang Lei couldn’t help but feel a bit smug.
So what if Jiang Nian’s cooking was delicious?
In the end, didn’t it all become Huang Lei’s bridal gown, used to solidify his master chef persona?
That was Huang Lei’s capital and power!
Seeing his smug look.
Wang Zhengyu’s eyelid twitched.
The words “disrespectful to the elderly” were concretely embodied before him at this moment.
But he quickly adjusted his state and prepared to go against his conscience and flatter Huang Lei.
But just at that moment.
“Director Wang, bad news—the internet is tearing us apart!”
A staff member saw something and let out a startled cry.
Hearing this, Wang Zhengyu frowned and looked at the person: “What’s going on?”
Things were fine just a moment ago—how did it suddenly turn into everyone cursing them out?
The person sat in front of the computer, frantically clicking the mouse while saying: “It seems to be about the editing. A ton of netizens are now blasting us for faking things.”
“What the hell?”
Wang Zhengyu was stunned for a moment, then quickly walked over and looked closely.
Sure enough, under the official Weibo of “Back to the Countryside,” there was a flood of criticism.
“What the hell is this? Wasn’t this supposed to be a farm-life variety show? So it’s all fake?!”
“Holy shit, I’m so done. I thought having a script was the limit for variety shows, but you went and gave me something even more explosive—straight-up fabrication and truth-twisting? Da Xia’s variety shows are completely done for!”
“??? Wait, what happened? This show just launched today, right? Why is everyone trashing it? Are you all trolls?”
“Troll my ass—didn’t you see that video? This show is disgusting. They stopped at nothing to promote Huang Lei. The dish was clearly made by Jiang Nian, but they edited it to look like Huang Lei made it. I spit on them!”
“What? There’s something like that? Is there a link?”
“Yeah, here, see for yourself [web link].”
Looking at these comments, Wang Zhengyu’s eyes narrowed.
With his years of experience hiring trolls to steer public opinion, he almost instantly recognized that these comments were from trolls, used to drive traffic.
Wang Zhengyu immediately said: “Quick, click that link and see what this is!”
It wasn’t curiosity.
Rather, when something like this happened and someone was coming after him, he had to know which angle they were attacking from so he could prepare countermeasures.
But when the staff member clicked the link and opened the video.
The content of the video made Wang Zhengyu’s face turn pale instantly.
Because the video showed exactly what had happened over a week ago—the segment where Jiang Nian and Huang Lei were cooking in the Mushroom House.
And because it was filmed from a bird’s-eye view, everyone could clearly see what was in the pot and what was happening on site!
“Where did this video come from?”
Wang Zhengyu was shocked and cried out.
If it were just some photos or some text posts.
He could still claim the other side was spreading rumors and publishing false information.
But this video was shoved right in his face.
Wang Zhengyu was completely blindsided by this video and didn’t know what to do.
Hearing this, Huang Lei sensed something was wrong and walked over, asking: “Director Wang, what happened? Why are you making such a fuss?”
But Wang Zhengyu ignored him, because compared to Huang Lei, what was more important now was how to defuse the public opinion crisis brought by this video.
If this wasn’t handled well, it would be a major production accident!
“Damn it, who’s coming after me?”
Wang Zhengyu cursed inwardly, thinking about which of the people he’d offended would do something like this.
But after thinking it over, he had no clue.
Because even if he had offended someone, that person wouldn’t go this far.
This show had just premiered.
Even if it had some potential, nothing had manifested yet.
It wasn’t worth investing this much money and resources into it.
Not to mention this show wasn’t even his—it belonged to the investors!
If it got sabotaged and the investors couldn’t even recoup their investment.
Once they found out, the investors would absolutely not let him off!
This was absolutely a thankless task!
“Fuck! Contact someone right now to report and get this post banned.”
“Everyone else, get on your accounts immediately—delete comments and control the narrative.”
Wang Zhengyu quickly gave orders.
He was determined to minimize the impact before things got out of control.
As for Huang Lei, seeing Wang Zhengyu ignore him for so long, a look of displeasure appeared on his face.
But he couldn’t bring himself to lower his pride and ask, so after thinking it over, he just pulled out his phone and looked for himself.
And what he saw nearly made his heart stop.
Because at this moment, the comment section of his official Weibo had been overrun.
“Is this the Weibo of that thief Huang Lei? WCNM! Do you have any shame left? You think just because you’re older you can bully newcomers?”
“Disgusting, truly fucking disgusting! When I watched before, I was wondering—if your cooking skills were so good, how could you not know that undercooked green beans are poisonous, and how could you end up in the hospital from eating them yourself? Turns out the cooking skills weren’t yours at all—you stole them.”
“No wonder I’d never heard of you before. Turns out you’re a shameless old turtle who disrespects the elderly. For a bit of fame, you’d throw away all dignity, and you even tried to step on my Lord Yuhuatian to climb up. I’m a locksmith, so let me ask you—do you have the key? Do you have a fucking key?”
“Is this the official Weibo of the British Museum? Come on, everyone, gather for a group photo.”
“Hahaha, what a British Museum. But you’re right—when it comes down to it, they’re both thieves and robbers.”
“Right now I’m just curious about one thing—do you have no shame? No sense of embarrassment? Good grief, making a pile of shit yourself is one thing, but then you have the nerve to take credit for someone else’s hard work and call yourself a master chef, enjoying others’ praise. I’ve truly never seen anyone so shameless!”
“I can’t imagine how awful Jiang Nian must feel seeing this show. He worked so hard to make those dishes, and just because Huang Lei is a regular cast member, they were taken away from him.”
“And the kicker is, this thief is a teacher—can you believe that?”
“What? A teacher? A teacher could do something like this? He’s basically insulting the teaching profession!”
“What’s even scarier is that a person like this has taught a bunch of students. I can’t imagine—if the teacher is this bad, how bad must his students be!”
“My heart aches for Brother Jiang Nian. Boycott Huang Lei, boycott ‘Back to the Countryside’! Give Brother Jiang Nian his justice!”
“That’s right, boycott Huang Lei! A variety show thief shouldn’t appear on screen, and doesn’t deserve to be a teacher. Strongly demand that such a disgraced artist be banned!”
“…”
Looking at these comments, Huang Lei, who had been in a good mood just moments ago, felt his head explode.
A surge of heat rushed up from his chest straight to his brain.
It hit Huang Lei so hard that his vision blurred and his body swayed.
“Clatter—”
His phone fell to the ground. Huang Lei dazedly tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing around for him to hold onto.
So he stumbled and with a “thud” fell flat on the ground.
In an instant, boundless darkness enveloped him.
In a daze, Huang Lei saw many people gathering around him, anxiously saying something.
But his ears were ringing and he couldn’t hear a thing.
At this moment, there was only one thought in Huang Lei’s mind.
It’s over! The perfect persona he’d worked so hard to build had collapsed—he was a thief!
Rage attacked his heart, and Huang Lei’s eyes nearly split open!
“Jiang Nian!”
“It must be Jiang Nian!”
“These are definitely your doing!”
“I won’t let you get away with this!”
