Amidst the wave of online skepticism targeting Bai Baozhu, the production team of Love Cottage urgently contacted Song Zhi’s side. After reaching an agreement, they immediately set about resolving the issue.
Although the internet was currently abuzz, deliberately stirred up by a hired “water army” to create a huge commotion, the matter of Bai Baozhu playing games with Song Zhi wasn’t actually that difficult to clear up.
After all, back when the production team had noticed Bai Baozhu’s exceptional gaming skills, they had filmed her entire gaming sessions. Every time she pulled off an impressive move, they had given close-up shots of her hands and face, planning to release these clips as bonus gaming footage online during the later stages of the show’s broadcast.
Therefore, the accusation that Song Zhi and Bai Baozhu were putting on a gaming act to clean up her image was completely baseless. Overturning this particular smear was a matter of minutes.
Moreover, after reviewing the emergency-edited gaming highlights, the production team became even more convinced. Releasing this footage early to clear her name wouldn’t just achieve that—it would definitely help her gain fans!
Bai Baozhu’s gaming skills were simply too impressive! She seemed almost on par with a professional team player!
The main point of concern for the production team now was… Bai Baozhu’s identity as a signed trainee about to debut.
This was the real headache.
When they had selected Bai Baozhu, they hadn’t known she was already signed and planning to debut.
They had simply chosen Bai Baozhu, a girl who had just graduated from university, as one of their female guests because she was the most beautiful among all the applicants and her personal resume looked very promising.
But now…
“Bai Baozhu is the person involved. We should discuss this with her and see what her attitude is.”
Although the show’s higher-ups were angry about Bai Baozhu concealing her true identity to join the show, from the current perspective, she was undoubtedly the program’s biggest draw.
And also… Bo Shenyu, the producer’s younger brother, seemed to quite like Bai Baozhu. Therefore, the production team was very lenient towards her and had already decided to fully cooperate with Bai Baozhu to clear all the online smears against her.
“Huh? Someone online exposed me as a signed trainee about to debut?”
Bai Baozhu had initially thought the production team wanted to conduct another boring personal interview. She never expected to hear such shocking news from the staff member.
“Bai Baozhu, what do you plan to do now? Do you want to come clean, or…”
Before the staff member responsible for communicating with Bai Baozhu could finish, Bai Baozhu replied with complete nonchalance.
“Come clean, of course I’ll come clean!”
Bai Baozhu answered without hesitation.
She didn’t have much interest in becoming a celebrity.
In her mind, being a chef seemed much more enjoyable than being a star.
So, she wasn’t bothered at all by being smeared online or potentially being unable to debut.
“Since I’ve already been exposed and smeared, and can’t be a star anymore, then I just won’t debut. I’ll be a chef instead.”
Seeing Bai Baozhu treat the exposure and online attacks as utterly inconsequential, the staff member, who was communicating with her for the first time, was completely dumbfounded.
After a long pause, she finally managed, “Uh, be… be a chef?”
Who would choose to be a chef over a perfectly good celebrity career! And Bai Baozhu was so beautiful!
“Mhm, yes. I’ve already thought it through. Since I can’t debut as a star now, I plan to change careers and become a chef.”
Bai Baozhu had already figured out what she wanted to do after the show ended!
She had heard from Xia Tiantian that Su Han, as an influencer, made a lot of money from the Taobao online store she opened using her fans and fame!
She felt she could learn from Su Han. She could use the “foodie effect” the show had given her to open a Taobao store specializing in selling delicious food!
This would be faster and more efficient than opening a physical restaurant to make money.
As Bai Baozhu happily talked about her goal, fantasizing about making money as soon as she left the show, the staff member communicating with her was utterly bewildered. She felt her brain might be a little inadequate, completely unable to comprehend Bai Baozhu’s thought process! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
In the end, the staff member could only force a dry laugh.
“As long as you’re happy.”
“Thank you.”
“So, how do you want to handle this situation now? Any ideas?”
Hearing the staff member’s question, Bai Baozhu thought for a moment and then said very calmly.
“Since everyone already knows my identity, let’s skip the pretenses. Keep it simple and direct. I’ll just apologize.”
“Well, actually, our show’s public relations department also considered this option. We just haven’t finalized how the apology statement should be worded…”
Before the staff member could finish, Bai Baozhu interrupted again.
“What script does an apology need? Having someone else write your lines is too fake. Let’s do it now. If you did something wrong, you should apologize sincerely.”
With that, Bai Baozhu very frankly pointed at herself, addressing the cameraman who had been filming her.
“Alright, let’s start. I’ll begin my apology now.”
Under the incredulous stares of everyone present, Bai Baozhu began her utterly sincere apology.
The staff member originally thought Bai Baozhu’s idea was too fantastical.
She was sure the impromptu apology statement Bai Baozhu was about to give would be unusable. They would definitely need to write a proper apology script and have Bai Baozhu re-record it.
However, to everyone’s surprise, after Bai Baozhu finished her ‘improvised’ apology statement, they all unanimously felt… Bai Baozhu was a damn genius!!
They believed that once this apology video was posted online, no one would harp on her identity as a trainee about to debut anymore.
Moreover, it was highly, highly possible that Bai Baozhu would gain another huge wave of fans.
After the filming ended, the staff member still couldn’t hold back her curiosity. She looked at Bai Baozhu, already developing a strong liking for this beautiful, sincere, and straightforward girl.
“Bai Baozhu, do you really just want to be a chef? Open a Taobao food store?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Then… what about quitting the show?”
“The audience doesn’t like me, right? They think I’m a fraud. So I’ll quit the show and stop bothering them.”
She had wanted to quit this show for a long time! Anyway! Her goal of promoting her culinary skills on the show had been achieved. Quitting a day earlier meant she could start making money a day sooner!
“Pfft—!”
Seeing Bai Baozhu’s carefree attitude, the staff member found her utterly adorable.
She had never seen such a stunning beauty who possessed no sense of aggression, who was so simple, direct, and genuinely forthright.
“However, I think once this apology statement is released, you definitely won’t be leaving.”
Hearing the staff member’s words, Bai Baozhu, who had been quite happy, suddenly felt a bit confused.
“No way… I concealed my identity. I should be fired.”
“Don’t worry, the production team won’t just let you quit the show. Wait and see, this matter will be resolved very soon. Not only that, you’ll gain a huge wave of fans, and you won’t be unable to debut as a star either.”
“……？？？” Bai Baozhu: Wait! Who wants to debut as a star? [Black person question mark face.jpg]
Because Bai Baozhu’s apology statement was so effective, the Love Cottage production team completed all preparations to clear her name in a very short time.
The smear campaign against Bai Baozhu and Song Zhi broke out at noon. By the afternoon, both Love Cottage and Song Zhi’s side had simultaneously issued official statements. They stated outright that the incident was the result of someone deliberately stirring up trouble to smear Bai Baozhu and Song Zhi. The two did not know each other in real life and had no connection whatsoever.
Matching together in Glory of Kings was purely coincidental and contained no element of performance.
Song Zhi’s talent agency went further, stating they would take legal action against netizens who maliciously smeared Song Zhi and Bai Baozhu.
The official Weibo account of the Love Cottage production team not only emphasized that they would soon release the complete, unedited footage of Bai Baozhu’s gaming sessions online but also highlighted another point—
They would release Bai Baozhu’s apology statement and would decide whether Bai Baozhu remained on the show based on the audience’s feedback.
When Love Cottage made this announcement, all the netizens were stunned.
They never imagined things could be handled this way!
But what stunned them even more was that right after Love Cottage announced they would release Bai Baozhu’s apology statement, they posted it on their official Weibo barely a second later!
And it was in video format!
Witnessing such efficiency, all the netizens were dumbfounded!
The reaction speed was too fast! Did they really not need time to think about the apology and redemption script?
Was it really that genuine?
Just as everyone was complaining internally, wondering if the Love Cottage official account was moving so quickly because they had given up on Bai Baozhu and planned to let her quit the dating reality show, they clicked on the video and were first met with a devastating close-up of Bai Baozhu’s beauty!
In the video, Bai Baozhu’s clean, elegant, makeup-free face was like a lotus flower emerging from clear water—fresh, lovely, and radiating a natural beauty that washed over the viewer.
All the netizens who clicked on the video were captivated by Bai Baozhu’s stunningly beautiful bare face, sharing the same thought—it would be such a waste for Bai Baozhu with this divine appearance not to debut!
Just as all the netizens were immersed in Bai Baozhu’s heavenly, fairy-like beauty, unable to extricate themselves, they were stunned by the apology statement she delivered next!
Because Bai Baozhu’s apology was far too sincere, far too genuine! So genuine it left people feeling a bit dazed, unsure of what to say.
Especially after hearing Bai Baozhu’s simple, direct apology, her announcement that she would quit the show, not become a star, but instead become a chef, and her very happy declaration of her plan to open a Taobao store to sell food… everyone felt like they were dreaming again…
“After I quit the show, please be sure to support the Taobao food store I’m going to open! My cooking is really great!”
Alright, this move… was truly something else.