Emily Bennett gave her a particularly obedient smile, thinking to herself: Starting tomorrow, you can forget about having a good mood.

That very afternoon, Tommy sent her a WeChat message, reporting that the task was complete.

Emily Bennett asked a few questions, and Tommy said he had sent some kind of ad links and emails, planting a Trojan horse in Sarah Cooper's phone and computer. After that, he could control them at will—not only deleting all files related to Emily Bennett, but also copying a lot of chat records between Sarah Cooper and people in the industry.

Emily Bennett didn't really understand these hacking techniques, but she was quite interested in the chat logs Tommy sent her.

They recorded how Sarah Cooper used all sorts of methods—buying fake followers, marketing accounts, and paid announcements—to tie herself to popular celebrities, spread rumors, and smear rival artists.

Emily Bennett realized that some of the scandals she'd heard about certain artists in the past were actually leaked by Sarah Cooper through marketing accounts. Sarah Cooper didn't just manage one artist; in this industry, people trample over each other, and the tactics were even dirtier than she had imagined.

Tommy was still worried whether Sarah Cooper might have any paper originals, but someone as cautious as Sarah Cooper probably wouldn't print easily leaked photos. After all, she signed Emily Bennett to control her as a cash cow, not to destroy her.

Besides, the old Emily Bennett was both dumb and weak—Sarah Cooper never even took her seriously, let alone thought to make backup plans.

Even if, in the end, something really did leak, she could only blame her own bad luck. If it leaked, so be it—she’d done all she could, and left the rest to fate. At this point, she had nothing left to fear.

After handing over her upcoming work schedule, it was already evening by the time she got home.

She hadn’t been back in a while, so the house was covered in a layer of dust. Emily Bennett cleaned inside and out, then took a shower and happily lay down in bed. Before sleeping, she scrolled through Weibo and saw that the official account for "Mad Words" had posted about her wrapping up filming.

The cast, led by Edward Grant, all reposted it, with identical messages:

—The first day Xiao Qiao is gone, we miss her.

Emily Bennett replied to Edward Grant from her main account: If you miss me, send money.

Edward Grant was probably on his phone too, replying super fast: If I send money, will you come back to me?

He even added a pitiful, teary emoji.

Emily Bennett said: That depends on how much you send.

This time Edward Grant didn’t reply. Emily Bennett switched to her official fan club account to post a goodnight message and was just about to sleep when her WeChat notification sounded. She opened it to see Edward Grant had transferred her 9,999 yuan.

Emily Bennett couldn’t help but laugh, but she didn’t accept the money—she just replied: Stop messing around, go to sleep.

Edward Grant replied: Hurry up and interact with me on Weibo!

Emily Bennett didn’t get it, so she switched back to her main account and saw that Edward Grant had posted a screenshot of the transfer on Weibo, tagging her and asking: Is that enough?

Before she could catch up, WeChat pinged again. She picked up her phone to see Anna Foster had transferred her 10,000 yuan—just one yuan more than Edward Grant—and then Emily Bennett was tagged on Weibo again.

Anna Foster also posted a screenshot, asking her: Is that enough?

This little stunt by the three of them quickly shot up the trending topics. Netizens all picked up on the vibe that Edward Grant and Anna Foster were competing for her favor. But... the person in question is Emily Bennett! Are you two fighting over the wrong person?!

Thinking back to the daily life on set, netizens couldn’t help but wonder: How did Emily Bennett, who used to be disliked by everyone, suddenly become so popular?

Haters immediately jumped in:

—A BL drama turning into a female lead drama in the end, that’s something.

—Damn, now I’m really worried the plot will get randomly turned into a love triangle.

—Adding drama for herself both on and off screen, give the Drama Queen of the Year award to Emily Bennett.

—I heard Emily Bennett is going for a tough-girl, self-blackening persona this year. Everyone, keep your eyes open and don’t get fooled by her act.

—I’d rather die than ever become a fan of someone who brings shame to my life like her.

—The production team is just hyping up the three of them for attention, don’t fall for it.

—When the show airs, I’m going to edit a “No Qiao” version.

...

While the internet was full of criticism, Emily Bennett had already turned off the lights and gone to sleep. She needed to rest up, because the next day was the day she would officially file for contract termination.

The next morning, after breakfast, Emily Bennett sat at her computer, opened Weibo, and posted an official statement, formally filing a lawsuit to terminate her contract with Xingyao Entertainment Media. [Suing Xingyao for coercing the plaintiff into signing an exploitative contract through improper means, demanding Xingyao immediately cease infringement and terminate the contract, or legal action will be pursued to the end.]

She attached two images to the Weibo post: one was the official stamped lawsuit, the other was Emily Bennett’s signed contract.

The post caused a huge stir, instantly blowing up on Weibo.

In all these years, no one had ever seen a celebrity actually get paid on a salary basis. Twenty thousand a month? A twenty-year contract? That’s just fucking tragic.

Within five minutes of posting, Emily Bennett’s phone was blowing up.

Sarah Cooper’s calls and messages came one after another. Emily Bennett took a sip of hot milk, calmly answered, and before she could say anything, the shock and anger from the other end almost pierced her eardrum through the receiver.

“Emily Bennett! What the hell do you mean?!”

Emily Bennett stayed calm, tapped the call recording button, and replied with a smile: “Exactly what it says—I want to terminate the contract. I tried to talk to you nicely before, but you refused, so now I have no choice but to seek legal protection.”