Zhou Tang closed his eyes, suppressing his sudden surge of emotion, "Do you think Teacher Ning would manipulate comments like this?"

"No." Xiao Qian shook his head, "Teacher Ning is so good-tempered. Last time when your fans bashed her, she wasn’t even angry. This time she has even less reason to do anything like that."

Zhou Tang felt like a knife had been driven deeply into his heart again, "Go find out if someone is manipulating the trending topics this time, and if so, see who is behind it."

"Okay, bro." Xiao Qian dutifully went to work.

Zhou Tang lay back on the bed, but he couldn’t sleep at all.

His mind was constantly turning, pondering who might be behind this. Once he knew who was controlling the comments, it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out their motive.

Although Xiao Qian was often confused, he had a knack for uncovering information.

Soon, Zhou Tang learned who was behind the manipulated trending topic.

"The production team?" Zhou Tang, sitting by a small tea table eating, was stunned.

"Yes." Xiao Qian, holding his phone, was equally surprised, "Old Shen said so."

Old Shen, a head of an army of 180 marketing accounts.

He’s someone Zhou Tang’s personal studio occasionally collaborates with.

Zhou Tang gulped down a mouthful of soup, "Did Old Shen mention why the production team manipulated the comments?"

"Old Shen said it seemed to be an order directly from the higher-ups at ’Apple Video’." Xiao Qian appeared equally bewildered, "Since when do the higher-ups at ’Apple Video’ bother with such things?"

Zhou Tang paused his chopsticks mid-air.

He thought of the recent rumor circulating wildly in the industry about the union between ’Youle’ and ’Apple’.

Now, the capital behind these two platforms is ’Starlight’...

"Shi Wangyue." A name that, upon thinking about, made Zhou Tang feel uncomfortable all over appeared in his mind.

For quite a while.

Feeling queasy, he looked at Xiao Qian who was happily gnawing on sweet and sour ribs, "Let’s just drop this matter."

Xiao Qian nodded while biting a rib.

The feeling couldn’t be more frustrating.

Zhou Tang planned to continue eating, yet couldn’t manage to take a bite for quite some time.

By the time a box of sweet and sour ribs was mostly finished by Xiao Qian.

He raised his head to look at him, "Later, have someone monitor the comments on our topic. Delete any that pair Teacher Ning and me together, and also straighten out the atmosphere below our Weibo."

"Bro, are you planning to follow the production team’s approach?" Xiao Qian said joyfully, "I think it’s fine. With ’Old Friends’ being so highly regarded by ’Apple Video’s higher-ups, the show might become the centerpiece of ’Apple Video’s efforts in the future. Cooperating with them is a gain!"

Zhou Tang put down his chopsticks, "Are you done eating?"

"Almost." Though it was good news, why did his brother suddenly become unhappy?

Xiao Qian couldn’t understand.

Yet he didn’t dare provoke him at this moment either.

"Finish up and get the job done, make sure it’s done nicely." Zhou Tang stood up, a slight frown on his face, "I’ll go freshen up. In five minutes, we’ll run through lines and head to the set."

...

Once the episode on family education from ’Old Friends’ aired, it sparked considerable public discussion and emphasis on "family education."

Many parents actually took Ning Youguang’s advice to heart, searching for relevant "family education" courses on learning platforms.

This caused a sharp increase in paid subscription clicks for family education-related courses on many domestic knowledge-paying platforms, with platforms rapidly enhancing the promotion of related content, forming a perfect business loop in the family education industry.

For the downstream parents, after earnestly attending courses, they realized how many shortcomings they had in educating their children.

Upon discovering this issue, some regretted not having encountered such good courses earlier, while others immediately adjusted their parenting style at home based on what they learned daily.

In short, once the major issue of "family education" received national attention, parents, children, platforms, and content creators all benefitted.

As a result, Ning Youguang continuously received invitations from many shows and platforms.

The show types included entertainment talk shows, intelligence competition shows, lifestyle experience shows, marriage matchmaking shows...

The platforms were also diverse, including knowledge-paying platforms, long and short video content platforms, national and local TV stations, and even entertainment agencies asked her if she had any interest in crossing over to acting.

Caught between laughter and tears, Ning Youguang repeatedly declined.

She went on ’Old Friends’ purely because ’Apple Video’ produced a good show, coupled with her friend He Yuan’s earnest invitation.

As for the others, she’d rather not.

As a serene second-generation celebrity, she neither sought fame nor intended to enter the circle.

This lifetime, she only wished to live each day in an ordinary manner.

Even appearing on a cultural talk show could cause such a stir on Weibo trending, Ning Youguang decided that she must be more cautious in selecting collaboration partners in the future.

...

That afternoon.

Gusts of wind rose, followed by pattering rain, impatiently beating against the glass windows, tapping out a rhythm unique to summer.

Ning Youguang was held by Shi Wangyue, just taking a nap not long ago, when she was startled awake by the clattering raindrops on the window glass.

The thick curtains blocked the bright light from outside, enshrouding the room in darkness.

The dark and quiet space sharpened her auditory senses.

After listening to the rain for a while, her mood became brighter than the weather. Taking advantage while Shi Wangyue, who was embracing her, was still deep in sleep, she struggled out of his hold, stuffed a pillow into his arms to continue hugging, and quietly slipped away to the "Wusheng Study" – to boil water, brew tea.

Enjoying the peace and simple joys of the moment.

...

When Shi Wangyue awoke, he found the space beside him empty, with him holding a pillow in his arms; he got up, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and headed straight to the "Wusheng Study."

He gently opened the door to the "Wusheng Study" and saw the person he was looking for quietly sitting alone by the slightly empty-floor-to-ceiling window, drinking tea.

On the bare floor, she sat cross-legged, her head tilted, leaning on her knees, gazing quietly at the scene of raindrops falling in the small garden and on the terrace outside the window.

Beside her was a bottle of blue Endless Summer flowers still clinging with droplets of water and a tea tray.

The tea tray held half a pot of hot tea, and two tea cups.

One of the cups was empty, the other was also empty.

The especially fresh and lush "Endless Summer" clearly had been cut from the outdoor small garden by her just shortly before, emitting a refreshing scent intertwined with misty vapors.

Shi Wangyue retrieved his phone from his pocket, tenderly capturing the scene before him in a picture.

The person in the photo was as graceful as a painting, surrounded by an aura of serenity.

He bowed his head, caressing the screen of his phone, as if softly caressing a treasured gem with his fingertips. 1314