Starlet Taotie Chapter 32 (Part 1)
Chapter 32.1 Can You Buy Familial Love with Money?
At eight that evening, a Weibo post from a gossip marketing account suddenly spread across the internet:
【A certain J-surname female celebrity, who recently shot back to fame thanks to eating, apparently ran away from home in her teens after a falling-out and blocked all contact with her parents. Now that her father is seriously ill and hospitalized, she hasn’t given him a single cent toward his medical expenses, and she’s even unwilling to visit him.】
The comments quickly filled with discussion.
【u can tell at a glance they’re talking about jiang tao】
【holy crap i was actually starting to become a fan of hers before this... didn’t know she was this unfilial】
【she’s a huge celebrity making bank and she won’t even pay her dad’s medical bills??】
【even if her parents did something wrong, they still raised her all those years. she really had to go this far?】
【@OG Poster, how can someone this unfilial not count as a problematic celebrity?】
【Money really talks. They can even whitewash someone like this. She’s appearing on variety shows and acting in movies and TV dramas directed by big-name directors...】
【I don’t think we should jump to conclusions based on a single exposé. There might be more to the story.】
【exactly. let the bullets fly for a while】
【Jiang Tao even stepped in to help someone in danger before. I don’t believe she’s that kind of person.】
【obviously Jiang Tao fans lmao just keep trying to whitewash her】
【birds of a feather flock together... says a lot about a person when u look at the kind of fans they attract】
The two sides immediately began arguing.
The heated debate only drove the story’s popularity even higher.
Before long, the marketing account released more content.
It showed a middle-aged couple. The husband was lying in a hospital bed while his wife wore a deeply troubled expression. Their clothes were extremely plain as well. Compared to the glamorous gown Jiang Tao had worn when she attended the tasting banquet, the difference was like night and day.
【The evidence is right here. What do fans have to say now?】
【This couple looks so pitiful. They worked hard their whole lives only to raise an ungrateful daughter like this, and people still have the nerve to defend her. Some people have completely lost their conscience over a celebrity.】
【So far, it’s only her parents who have spoken out. I think everyone should stay rational and wait until both sides have had their say before judging.】
【what’s there to be rational about? its obvious she abandoned her parents after getting famous. if u sympathize with her this much, are u that kind of person too?】
【I live in the same residential compound as them. They really did treat their daughter well. I never would’ve thought Jiang Tao would turn out to be this kind of person.】
【No matter how serious the conflict is, can’t you talk things out with your parents? Running away from home, blocking all contact, refusing to pay medical expenses... It’s obvious which side is more in the wrong.】
With the paid posters deliberately steering the narrative, almost all of Weibo was filled with people attacking Jiang Tao.
Even the few people who spoke up for her were immediately branded as Jiang Tao’s fans and bombarded with abusive private messages.
As for Jiang Tao’s side, although the company stepped in to handle the PR, it had little effect.
The internet was in an uproar, and many people had even begun calling for a boycott of Jiang Tao.
Tong Tong had been with Jiang Tao for so long that she simply did not believe Jiang Tao was the ungrateful person the internet was making her out to be.
But the facts were right there. The couple had produced their household registration booklet, along with photos of Jiang Tao from when she was a child. Everything proved that Jiang Tao was indeed their daughter.
And yet, Jiang Tao knew absolutely nothing about any of it.
After all, everything Jiang Tao knew about the original owner came from the novel. The original owner’s only purpose in the story had been to serve as a stepping stone for Su Yingxue, and she eventually died of depression. There had been absolutely no information about her family.
Tong Tong hurriedly went to look up Jiang Tao’s records, only to discover that those records had also been tampered with.
Tampering with her records and deliberately steering public opinion with paid posters... It was obviously a deliberate scheme.
And they had caught them completely off guard.
It only takes a mouth to spread a rumor, but disproving one can run your legs ragged.
If this continued, then even if they eventually uncovered the truth, Jiang Tao’s reputation would already be ruined.
It was a truly vicious move.
The abuse under Jiang Tao’s Weibo posts continued to grow.
Although some of her fans tried to argue back, their efforts were little more than a drop in the bucket.
Jiang Tao’s private messages were filled not only with insults, but also with many people urging her and her team to respond as soon as possible.
Tong Tong was helpless.
They had no evidence at all. Even if they wanted to respond, there was simply nothing they could do.
She was deeply puzzled.
Just who could hate Jiang Tao enough to go to such lengths to target her?
It was at that moment, she received a phone call.
It was none other than Jiang Tao’s former manager, Sun Jianxian.
A light went off in Tong Tong’s head.
It’s him!
Right!
She had already run into him skulking around outside the archives before. And before he left, he had even thrown out those ominous threats. It had to be him.
Tong Tong regretted it terribly.
Why had she only asked the staff about it back then instead of looking into the records herself?!
Suppressing her anger, Tong Tong asked, “Why are you framing jie?!”
Sun Jianxian replied with a cheerful laugh, “Don’t go making wild accusations. Jiang Tao’s parents just happened to find me. I couldn’t bear to watch those two elderly people get bullied by their unfilial daughter, so I simply decided to lend them a hand.”
Tong Tong forced herself to calm down.
She knew Sun Jianxian. Even if he had a motive, he had been fired by the company. He probably didn’t have enough money to create such a huge uproar on his own.
There had to be someone else behind this.
She had to find that person pulling the strings before she could completely resolve jie’s crisis.
Although Sun Jianxian was getting carried away with himself, he was careful not to let anything slip. “Enough, put Jiang Tao on the phone!”
Tong Tong had no choice but to hand the phone to Jiang Tao.
Jiang Tao was eating potato chips, the loud crunch, crunch sound reverberated through the call.
Sun Jianxian had assumed Jiang Tao would be crying and mortified by now. He never expected her to still be in the mood to eat potato chips?!
Sun Jianxian immediately felt insulted.
He said stiffly, “You have two ways to resolve this. Either you come up with fifty million, or you leave the entertainment industry! You choose!”
“Oh.” Jiang Tao finished chewing the chips in her mouth, crunching away calmly. Then she replied matter-of-factly, “I’ll give you two choices too. Either you stop causing trouble, or I eat you. You choose.”
Sun Jianxian: “???”
His face flushed red with anger.
“Jiang Tao! This is not a joke!”
Jiang Tao asked in confusion, “Do you really think I was joking?”
Sun Jianxian: “Fine! Don’t regret it!”
Jiang Tao: Crunch, crunch.
Sun Jianxian: Blood pressure rising.
After a while, Jiang Tao finally finished her chips and leisurely hung up.
Tong Tong immediately asked nervously, “What did he say?”
Jiang Tao blinked, then opened another bag.
“He said not to regret it.”
Tong Tong’s heart leaped into her throat. “What else?”
Jiang Tao: “He said there’s a show called ‘Found Family’, and he wants me to appear on the show.”
Tong Tong’s face instantly went pale.
'Found Family' was a live-streamed show that helped people search for their lost family members. Its reputation was far from good, as the production team would fabricate all sorts of baseless claims to stir up conflict.
Sun Jianxian was trying to use public opinion to drive Jiang Tao into a corner!
How vicious!
Tong Tong: “Jie, don’t panic. We’ll figure something out.”
“I’m not panicking.” Jiang Tao replied, “The lime flavor is good. Buy two more bags next time.”
Tong Tong: “…”
She sighed helplessly. “Jie! Do you have any idea how serious this is?!”
Jiang Tao said indifferently, “He said he wants me to go on the show, so I’ll go.”
Tong Tong grew anxious. “Jie, you don’t understan—”
Jiang Tao said, “They say they’re my parents. There should be some familial love, right? Even if there’s only a little.”
She gestured with her pinky finger, indicating the tiniest amount.
Ever since Director Zhou had explained it to her, she had been craving it.
And now the food had come right to her doorstep.
She wouldn’t turn them down, no matter how little there was.
She just didn’t know what it would taste like.
Jiang Tao licked the corner of her lips. Instead of being nervous, she was actually a little...excited.
Tong Tong: “???”
'Found Family' was a live-streamed family-search program on Watermelon Network. Its melodramatic and sensational content kept its viewership consistently high.
This time, word got out that the people searching for their family member were Jiang Tao’s parents, so the show’s popularity soared even higher.
The livestream had yet to begin, but the number of viewers online had already surpassed ten million.
【I used to think family-search shows were all just petty family drama and nagging in-laws. never thought we'd get entertainment industry tea this time lol】
【Jiang Tao’s parents even dared to go on the show. Looks like the accusations that she’s unfilial are true.】
【parents always love their kids. if they werent pushed to the point of desperation, they wouldnt have gone this far right?】
【I can understand other things, but someone who’s this unfilial? I’m a lifelong anti-fan.】
【Sigh, another celebrity has fallen.】
【Looks like everyone has already forgotten all those scandals Jiang Tao had before. I knew it. There’s no smoke without fire. If Jiang Tao really had nothing to hide, why would she have been targeted in the first place?】
【Jiang Tao, get out of the entertainment industry. I said it first.】
【Jiang Tao, get out of the entertainment industry +1.】
Sun Jianxian watched the comments flooding the screen, all of them insulting Jiang Tao, and smiled smugly.
Ever since leaving the company, he had been unable to find a suitable job and had fallen on hard times. He blamed everything on Jiang Tao.
Originally, he had been working with Han Ziheng. Who could have imagined that Han Ziheng would actually be taken down by Jiang Tao and sent straight to prison?
Sun Jianxian was scared half to death and kept a low profile for quite some time.
During that period, he became addicted to gambling and lost every last bit of his savings.
Just when he had reached rock bottom, someone approached him anonymously, offering him money to deal with Jiang Tao.
Sun Jianxian was desperate for cash, so the two sides immediately struck a deal.
When Sun Jianxian signed Jiang Tao, she had told him about her family situation.
Those two people weren’t actually her biological parents. The couple had terrible tempers and treated her horribly. She had grown up never knowing when her next meal would come. She had to handle all the housework at home, and whenever her parents were unhappy, they took it out on her. Yet she endured it all.
It wasn’t until her adoptive father’s business failed and he took out loans from loan sharks that he tried to use her to pay off his debts. That was when she fled from home.
Jiang Tao had worked all sorts of jobs before Sun Jianxian discovered her and signed her to Starfruit Entertainment.
After learning that their adopted daughter had become a celebrity, those parasitic parents came looking for her again. To get away from them, Jiang Tao had no choice but to agree to give them all the money she earned.
That was why, after all these years, Jiang Tao didn’t have a single penny in savings.
Sun Jianxian knew that if he wanted to destroy Jiang Tao, her adoptive parents would be the best weapon he could use.
So he tracked down Jiang Tao’s adoptive parents and proposed this plan to them.
The couple hadn’t been able to get through to Jiang Tao for the entire month. They had already begun suspecting that she no longer wanted to give them money, and had been cursing her nonstop in anger.
So when Sun Jianxian made his proposal, they agreed immediately.
The couple was greedy and shameless.
They could make a quick profit while also extorting a large sum from Jiang Tao. To them, it was a deal well worth making.
As for whether Jiang Tao lived or died, they couldn’t care less.
Finding marketing accounts and hiring paid posters to stir up public opinion were things Sun Jianxian was good at.
And today’s 'Found Family' was his chance to completely ruin Jiang Tao, so that he could finally vent the hatred he’d been holding inside.
More importantly, his anonymous partner had told him that if Jiang Tao’s career was ruined, he would be given another one million yuan.
He had arranged everything perfectly.
All evidence had been destroyed without a trace.
There was absolutely no way Jiang Tao could make a comeback!
