Chapter 24: Hype! It Must Be Hype

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Hype! It Must Be Hype

That wasn’t all.

The "super brain" performance Nan Yi put on while catching the thief last night had also been filmed by bystanders and posted online.

At first, it only circulated within small, local circles.

Then, a marketing account clipped the most crucial 20-second segment, slapped on a clickbait hashtag like #MaxLevelHumanCub, and reposted the video.

Unsurprisingly, the video blew up in less than half a day, hitting the top three on the trending charts of every major platform.

There were those who were amazed, those who claimed it was scripted, and those who analyzed it rationally before also being amazed...

Nan Yi instantly became a little genius known to all netizens!

And then they discovered—

Standing in the corner of the video was Nan Zhi, watching her child with a look of relief and pride.

’Hmph, what’s she looking at?’

’Does she think the little genius will become hers just by staring?’

’Wh-what?’

’The little genius really *is* hers?’

-

The super-brained genius Cub, food vlogger Yang Nick, and the great food connoisseur Zhu Jin...

They should have been parallel lines, never destined to cross.

But now, through a chance encounter, these parallel lines had begun to intersect and collide, creating a massive burst of energy.

And at the center of this intersection was one name—

Nan Zhi.

The news sent shockwaves across the internet.

Netizens almost thought they were still asleep and dreaming.

Or perhaps the world had finally gone so crazy that it no longer made sense.

Who?

Say that again, who?

Nan Zhi?

That Nan Zhi, the one who was a minor actress with a major diva attitude, always causing trouble on set?

The Nan Zhi who, aside from a pretty face, had acting skills so bad she was like a wooden block come to life, worse than my aunt haggling over vegetables?

...A publicity stunt! It has to be a publicity stunt!

Some "clever" netizens even did a full breakdown of the entire incident, believing they had found the reasonable truth—

They concluded that it was all a marketing ploy by the unscrupulous production team of `Cub Observation Diary` to generate buzz!

This speculation spread, and because it was more in line with public perception than "Nan Zhi = God of Fried Rice," it quickly gained widespread acceptance.

A flood of malicious comments followed:

[LMAO, God of Fried Rice? In that case, I’m the ancient Greek god of instant noodles!]

[What are the authorities doing? They’re usually so strict with censorship, why aren’t they cracking down on such a shameless production team?]

[So disappointing! They’re fooling the public! Malicious marketing! I demand this show be banned and taken down!]

[The thought of my Brother Fu being involved with a production team like this gives me a heart attack.]

[What? Fu Chao is on this show? I feel like he wouldn’t do something like this.]

[Is there even a need to guess? It’s definitely Nan Zhi’s doing. Who knows what wealthy benefactor she latched onto to make the entire production team play along with her. My poor Brother Fu is just another pawn in her game!]

[Now that I think about it, Nan Zhi’s genius cub must be part of the script too, right? No wonder! He knows how to help his mom deceive people at such a young age. He’ll probably grow up to be a menace to society!]

[Nan Zhi Nan Yi, get off the show!]

...

Of course, there were also rational voices raising doubts:

[There was a police officer in the video of the thief being caught; you can look up their badge number. Besides, what kind of actor would agree to a script that involves going to jail?]

[Zhu Jin has always been serious about his food reviews and never fakes them. Plus, he’s a low-key super-rich man with businesses all over the world. Who could possibly order him around?]

[Yang Nick is a terrible actor. As a long-time fan, I can definitely tell the difference between him genuinely thinking something is delicious and him just pretending.]

[What a coincidence, I’ve eaten this fried rice before. I didn’t know they were filming a show at the time, but the taste was absolutely incredible!]

...

Even with actual customers speaking up, most netizens remained unmoved.

’Customers? Who knows if they’re actual customers or just paid shills.’

’Yang Nick? So what if his acting was a bit more convincing for the money?’

’Zhu Jin? Maybe Nan Zhi’s wealthy benefactor knows Zhu Jin!’

’The police? Wow, so Nan Zhi’s benefactor is powerful enough to pull those strings!’

...

Tsk.

Their imaginations were running wild enough to weave together an entire backstory.

Even the production team, who had watched the rumors evolve firsthand, couldn’t help but marvel at it.

"They’re better at making things up than our screenwriters. They should get into the business."

"Wow, why didn’t I think of that? I’m adding it to my trashy CEO drama script later!"

"So, does this count as a successful sacrifice?"

"I... guess so?"

"What should we do next?"

In an instant, all eyes turned to the chief director, Xu Lin, who was standing at the front.

Xu Lin let out a long sigh and finally made a decision:

"Find someone to go talk to Nan Zhi."

His back was to the others, so he didn’t see—

—that after he made his decision, everyone except him breathed a sigh of relief.

-

"...So, is there something I need to do?"

The moonlight, cool as water, fell lightly on Nan Zhi’s slender shoulders.

She wore a cardigan, leaning lazily against the mottled, paint-chipped metal doorframe.

Perhaps because she had been woken up, her face was tinged with weariness, and she yawned as she spoke.

As she raised a hand to cover her mouth, her sleeve slid down, revealing a forearm as white as a tender lotus root.

The young woman standing across from Nan Zhi blushed slightly.

The woman was one of the executive directors for `Cub Observation Diary`. She had been sent to discuss the situation with Nan Zhi. She wasn’t old, but she was very capable, explaining the online storm that had brewed that evening in just a few words.

—Because of the production team’s rules, the guests’ phones didn’t have internet functions like search or social media. Their only connection to the outside world was through the livestream’s bullet comments, which Nan Zhi almost never read.

So, before the production team came to her, Nan Zhi had no idea what a bloodbath the online discussions about her had become that night.

And even now that she knew, she still seemed far too calm.

The young woman cleared her throat, her tone so gentle it could have been dripping honey:

"Actually, you don’t need to do anything. The show will officially air on television tomorrow at 7:30 PM. We have a complete PR strategy to deal with the negative sentiment, and all the rumors will be cleared up then. But before that, we thought you had a right to know, so we wanted to inform you in advance so you wouldn’t worry."

Nan Zhi gave her a surprised look.

’The production team that was ready to sacrifice me for ratings suddenly decided to act human?’

’What’s gotten into them?’

The young woman’s cheeks grew redder. She gave an embarrassed cough and said in a small voice:

"...Your egg-fried rice was delicious!"

Nan Zhi: Got it.

A faint smile appeared in her eyes. She tugged at her slipping cardigan, and her tone softened considerably.

"Then I’ll be troubling you."

"No, no, not at all, it’s our job. Actually, Miss Nan, if you have any requests, you can tell the production team at any time. We’ll do our best to take care of them."

"Mm."

Nan Zhi was about to turn and go back inside.

The young woman couldn’t help but call out to her:

"Miss Nan, aren’t you worried?"

"Worried?"

Nan Zhi glanced to the side, the corners of her eyes crinkling with a confident smile.

She repeated the same words she had once said to Nan Yi—

"Flavor doesn’t lie."