IPCFS: Chapter 59 Part 1

“Brother Ji, quickly take a look! Xu Ziming is on the hot search for an event that is related to plagiarism!”

Baozi had already heard about how Xu Ziming took the initiative to find Ji Li in order to cause trouble on the night of the exchange party, and that the confrontation of the two people wasn’t happy.

In addition, a month ago, when they officially announced their respective endorsements, the two corresponding fan groups had a conflict due to the brand’s position and sales.

In other words, from the main artist to their team and their fans, both sides were in a state of mutual dissatisfaction.

As an assistant, Baozi was naturally devoted to Ji Li.

The moment he saw the hot search topic, he didn’t even have time to eat the melon before he handed his phone over to the young man.

Ji Li sucked up the last of his noodles and looked over. “What happened? How is he involved in plagiarism?”

Impressively, the 19th place topic on the hot search list had the title ‘Xu Ziming endorsement plagiarism.’

Ji Li took the phone, clicked on the first popular summary Weibo post in the hot search, and carefully read through it.

On the opposite side, Qin Yue heard the discussion between the two of them and silently opened Weibo on his phone.

There was a plagiarism scandal over this season’s main necklace of the Nocolan sub-brand Fenlan, which was endorsed by Xu Ziming. This matter was personally exposed on Weibo by the original designer!

There was a detailed explanation on the original designer’s Weibo.

Five months ago, the original designer Yun Jing had received an email from the head of Fenlan’s design department saying that they wanted to hire her as the product designer for the upcoming season.

She could work from home and would be paid a daily salary.

If the original necklace design was approved by the company’s top management, the copyright of the necklace would be purchased at the market price, and subsequent dividends would be paid based on the amount of sales accrued on a quarterly basis.

Fenlan was under the luxury brand Nocolan, so Yun Jing gladly accepted their invitation after thinking about it.

Then she embarked on a three month design.

Two months ago, Yun Jing handed over the designed necklace and creative concepts over to the brand side, but was asked to modify it.

However, each modification still didn’t receive 100% approval from the other party.

After redoing the design five times, Yun Jing felt that her designed product had deviated from the original concept.

So, due to her physical and mental exhaustion, she proposed to terminate the contract with Fenlan. The latter regretfully agreed and also gave her a certain amount of compensation salary.

Yun Jing quit the WeChat group that was used for business communication, and the cooperation of the two sides was terminated.

It just so happened that a designer friend said he wanted to start an accessories studio that would belong to them.

Yun Jing thought about it and took the necklace she originally designed as the studio’s main product.

Unexpectedly, their studio just launched the new product half a month ago, and they were accused of plagiarism by netizens.

It was obviously an original product. Where did the plagiarism come from?

Yun Jing asked around and found that the main product launched by Fenlan a month and a half ago was very similar to her own design!

In order to ensure the authenticity of the comparison, Yun Jing specially placed an order to buy one. The moment she took the necklace home and compared the two products, she was completely dumbfounded.

The material of the necklace was the same, the overall design of the appearance was the same, and the details had hardly changed. Even the design instructions attached to the necklace’s gift back were the same description she had sent at the beginning!

Based on this degree of similarity, it wasn’t an exaggeration to directly describe it as ‘plagiarism.’

The only difference was that the other party launched the new product earlier than them.

Yun Jing suppressed the anger in her heart and sent an email to Fenlan’s headquarters. She waited patiently for a whole week only to get the other party’s reply that wasn’t light or heavy.

“Ms Yun, our cooperation has already ended. All the company’s products are original designs. Thank you for your feedback.”

These words were spoken on the surface, but the person in charge of Fenlan took the initiative to send a sum of money into Yun Jing’s account in private and threatened her openly and secretly.

The design and design costs had already been settled, so she should stop making trouble. Otherwise, they would use legal channels to protect the interests of the brand, and her studio would soon go bankrupt.

Yun Jing was furious this time.

It was useless to find the headquarters of a small company, so Yun Kin directly found the Nocolan headquarters. The latter’s reply came very quickly and they said they would definitely investigate the matter carefully.

Three days later, Nocolan gave Yun Jing a reply.

The person in charge of Fenlan had already explained the situation. This was absolutely an original design, and the newly established studio was just trying to scam them. There was no need to care about the situation.

This rogue attribute of refusing to admit their wrongdoings and blaming her directly completely angered Yun Jing.

There was the ‘good-intentioned’ compensation salary, and the post-incident ‘hush money’. Did they want to cover up their plagiarism?

An independent original designer was indeed unable to attack a company, but the unwilling Yun Jing still exposed Fanlan’s plagiarism on Weibo.

In order to expand the influence of the post, she added the name of the spokesperson Xu Ziming before the content.

As a result, before the number of views were high, Yun Jing was first unanimously abused by Xu Ziming’s fans. She was even reported by fans one after another to have her posts blocked and deleted.

Yun Jing had to watch her hard work being stolen by others, and suffer the abuse of tens of millions of fans in her Weibo’s private messages. Her mental state was about to collapse.

Fortunately, an entertainment marketing account finally saw her post and forwarded her Weibo.

In less than a day, this Weibo was miraculously forwarded by a number of marketing accounts and suddenly rose onto the hot search.

Qin Yue seemed to have noticed something and opened his mouth. “These marketing accounts seem to be owned by Mengguo Studio.”

“Mengguo Studio? Are they related to Xu Ziming?” Ji Li cocked his head in bewilderment.

To be honest, he didn’t think that Xu Ziming, who was developing in the TV industry, was his opponent. Therefore, he hadn’t paid attention to him.

“I know this!” Baozi suddenly made a well-behaved gesture and took the initiative to answer.

“In Xu Ziming’s last small costume comedy, the male protagonist was played by Yan Chengjun of Mengguo Studio. The fans of the two of them have argued several times.”

The fans of Yan Chengjun thought that Xu Ziming, the second male lead, was taking the lead during the publicity period. On the other hand, Xu Ziming’s fans accused the former of not being popular and said that the male protagonist’s role was given to him for nothing.

“Dream Media is in a temporary deficit right now, and there are no resources to feed him. Recently, in order to grab the role of male protagonist in a modern drama, the two of them started to fight again openly and secretly.”

“He became slightly popular due to a TV drama, and now his nose is soaring to the sky.” Baozi snorted.

The main artist didn’t know how to restrain himself, and the fans were proud of this master. In this way, it was easy to cause trouble.

Ji Li looked at Qin Yue and asked clearly, “Did Mengguo intentionally send the Fenlan matter to the hot search this time? Was it done to drag the spokesperson Xu Ziming into the water?”

This way, Yan Chengjun could successfully win the male protagonist role of the new drama.

Qin Yue bluntly replied, “The possibility can’t be ruled out.”

In fact, it was hard to appear on the hot search list by relying on the forwards of a number of marketing accounts when there were no fans or passersby to deliberately create a trending topic. The only way was to secretly spend money to operate the hot search.

“However, the moment the post goes on the hot search, there will be more netizens and passersby paying attention right?” Baozi’s mind spun. “Brother Ji, Xu Ziming deliberately targeted you before. Do you want us to…”

Ji Li guessed Baozi’s intention and immediately raised a hand to his lips, signaling for him not to cause any more trouble.

“There is no need. No matter how troublesome the event, this is a dispute between the brand and the original designer. Xu Ziming can get rid of the relationship in the end as long as he doesn’t do anything.”

It would just cause trouble if they muddied up the waters and were discovered by the other side’s team.

Ji Li thought about it very thoroughly and bluntly said, “This is the entertainment industry. If Xu Ziming and his fans don’t know how to control themselves, something will eventually happen, even if they avoid trouble this time.”

He just wanted to go his own way and disdained taking the initiative to harm others. Of course, if someone targeted him, then he would fight back mercilessly, just as he did the previous times.

Faint appreciation appeared in Qin Yue’s eyes when he heard this.

This young man lived a more thorough life than ordinary young stars the same age. He knew how to avoid things, how to fight back, how to give way, and how to fight for things.

“Brother Ji, I was wrong.” Baozi easily admitted his mistake.

The next second, Xu Ziming’s related Weibo popped up on the Weibo hot search. The latter’s team had posted a new Weibo which was probably a response to the endorsement plagiarism issue.

“No matter whether it is in the past or the future, the team adheres to Mr Xu Ziming’s wishes and will only cooperate with brand companies that stick to a true moral heart.”

“As this is a well-known international brand, we believe that all the designs adhere to professional ethics. Please stop spreading false rumors and delete the false Weibo posts. Otherwise, our team will jointly sue with the brand.”

Xu Ziming quickly forwarded it.

The attitude of the artist and his team clearly showed that they were on the brand’s side.

Qin Yue shook his head and gave a pertinent evaluation. “It is stupid.”

Forget the truth or falseness of Yun Jing’s revelations. Xu Ziming’s team actually took a stand before the other person involved even came forward?

Did he think he could work with the brand for a long time? Was he trying to gain the favor of the main brand, Nocolan?

Furthermore, they would definitely absorb a large amount of the firepower if Yun Jing provided stronger evidence to prove that Fenlan’s plagiarism was true.

In other words, they were likely to be used as the gun by the brand side.

Baozi clicked on the comments. In addition to the timely control of the comments by the fans at the top, there were some disputes later on.

-Haha, is the moon in foreign countries rounder? Why is he speaking for the brand?

-What foreign moon? This is completely a local brand. Does it think its name can be transformed under a foreign luxury brand? How dare one buy a plagiarized necklace for 1,000 yuan?

-Ming Ming said that the brand didn’t plagiarize. In other words, there is no plagiarism! Black fans and fans of other artists should get out! The original designer, this disgusting woman. Hasn’t she gained enough hype? Can a few drawings prove that it is plagiarism?

-Yes, it is clear that she is the one who plagiarized and is trying to scam people! I unconditionally support Baby Ming Ming!

-Don’t think I don’t know which fans are saying sarcastic things in the comments. If you use the small workshop perfume endorsed by your own family, be careful that the skin of your face doesn’t rot after using it!

-Let’s be tough! Our family’s endorsement is much better than a small domestic workshop!

Baozi saw this comment and couldn’t help scolding them. “What the hell? Can this still involve our fans? They keep mentioning a small domestic workshop and stepping on your endorsement so vigorously. I think they are just envious and jealous!”

Our Brother Ji’s advertisement was filmed by Director Adolphe!

The endorsement of our Brother Ji was sold out as soon as it was announced! In addition, just by relying on the advertising video, Brother Ji gained 600,000 fans.

Taking it out now and comparing the two endorsements on the hot search, don’t you feel shabby? Don’t you have any shame?

What a joke!

In his heart, Baozi madly praised Ji Li. Before he could feel completely comfortable, he received a call from Yu Fuya.

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TL: Advance chapters are available over on my Patreon. You can go check out the details on my Patreon page.

Proofreader: Azure