What Should I Do if My Best Friend Is a Green Tea? [Transmigrated Into a Book]

Online, there was a flood of mocking comments about Yan Xi's persona crumbling. Suddenly, a Weibo post appeared on the trending topic's real-time feed:

【Not only is her academic excellence fake, but Yan Xi was also a delinquent in high school, skipping classes and bullying her classmates. There's no way someone like her could have gotten into Hai City University!】

【School bullying? What kind of trash is in the entertainment industry these days!】

【Wow! I thought Yan Xi looked so pure and innocent, I assumed she was a good student!】

【Don't be fooled by a woman's face!】

Lin Ranran, using a burner account, casually fabricated a fake scandal. These kinds of baseless rumors are the hardest to debunk—how do you prove something that never happened? With netizens already riled up, many impressionable users quickly believed the claims, even without evidence.

Xu Yangyang was one of them.

"She looks innocent, but that woman is full of schemes!"

Xu Yangyang lounged on her apartment sofa, furiously tapping her screen as she liked every comment criticizing Yan Xi with her alt account.

If Yan Xi wasn't scheming, how could she have snatched Xu Yangyang's spot as the S-tier variety show partner? How could she have prevented Xu Yangyang from swindling a designer bag from Zhou Qingyu? How could she have cost Xu Yangyang her already secured spa membership?

The thought of her losses made Xu Yangyang seethe. To make matters worse, Zhou Qingyu seemed bewitched by Yan Xi, always siding with her!

Now that Yan Xi's reputation was crashing, it served her right!

The exposure also included photos of Xu Yangyang, taken by paparazzi while she was out watching a late-night movie. As one of the "involved parties," Xu Yangyang received an outpouring of sympathy and praise from netizens:

【Poor Xu Yangyang, a low-tier celebrity with no rights, her resources just get snatched away!】

【Exactly, my heart aches for Xu Yangyang!】

【Can someone clean up the entertainment industry? I can't stand these talentless, ugly kids being shoved down our throats by capital!】

【To be fair... Yan Xi isn't ugly, she's actually quite pretty.】

【What's the point of being pretty if she can't act? I'd rather watch Xu Yangyang—at least she's professionally trained!】

【The entertainment industry is being ruined by these capital-backed nobodies!】

The online uproar intensified.

As one of the involved parties, Starlight Entertainment had to respond. The internet claimed that Yan Xi had signed with Starlight and was building her persona to debut in the entertainment industry. However, the PR department at Starlight had no idea they had signed Yan Xi!

Had the talent department not informed them?

Wu Liao, the PR director, barged into the talent department director's office. "Qiao Yan, be honest with me. When did you sign Yan Xi? How could you not tell me something this important?"

Qiao Yan, who was sorting through documents, looked up in confusion. "Yan Xi is a Starlight artist? I didn't know that!"

Wu Liao: ???

Wu Liao gritted his teeth. "You can fool the fans, but don't fool me! We're in this together. After years of cleaning up the young miss's messes at Starlight, do you really need to hide this from me? Yan Xi replaced Xu Yangyang on that variety show. I don't believe for a second she's just a friend!"

Within Starlight, the most beleaguered figures were undoubtedly Wu Liao and Qiao Yan. Both had previously been PR managers at Zhou Corporation before being assigned to Starlight as directors when the company was established. While others saw it as a cushy job, for Wu Liao, the past two years at Starlight had been spent constantly putting out fires for Zhou Qingyu. The internet was rife with scandals about her, all of which Wu Liao had to suppress. Zhou Qingyu's brash personality would have been torn apart by netizens if not for Wu Liao's efforts. Qiao Yan wasn't faring much better either. As the talent director, all her resources were funneled into feeding Zhou Qingyu's favorites, earning her the title of the worst talent agent in the industry.

In Wu Liao's eyes, the two of them, both victims of Zhou Qingyu's whims, shared a sense of camaraderie in their daily struggles.

Qiao Yan remained silent for a long moment. She truly had no idea what Zhou Qingyu's intentions were in bringing Yan Xi into the mix.

Zhou Qingyu was as unpredictable as the weather. She had casually handed over resources to Pei Yubai and others countless times before. Qiao Yan used to question her decisions, but after being scolded repeatedly, she stopped asking.

The only thing Qiao Yan was certain of was that Yan Xi hadn't been officially signed.

When Zhou Qingyu had Yan Xi replace Xu Yangyang, she only mentioned putting her on the variety show—nothing else.

Qiao Yan explained the situation to Wu Liao, who also fell silent.

If the academic scandal was fake, they could handle it with PR tactics. If it wasn't, they could issue a straightforward clarification.

But now, the internet was flooded with screenshots allegedly from Hai City University's app, and Wu Liao was starting to worry that Da Jiajun's claims might be true.

"Can't we reach the young miss?" Qiao Yan asked.

Wu Liao shrugged. "She left her phone charging in the car and went grocery shopping with the show's guests."

"This is such a headache..." Qiao Yan rubbed her temples. "But based on what I know of the young miss, if she said Yan Xi graduated from Hai City University, she wouldn't be lying."

Wu Liao: "But if the young miss isn't lying, then what's with all those screenshots?"

Qiao Yan and Wu Liao exchanged glances, both sighing heavily.

"For now, you need to contact... Xu Yangyang!" Wu Liao tossed over the paparazzi photos of Xu Yangyang. "She claimed she sprained her ankle, but then she went out to watch a movie? Is she trying to make things harder for us?"

Qiao Yan gave Wu Liao a pointed look. "Her ankle injury was fake to begin with. The medical report was forged. How are we supposed to clarify that?"

Wu Liao fumed, "That's her problem! She got the 'Leisure' resource, and now she's burning bridges? What kind of people did you sign?"

Even without Wu Liao's prompting, Qiao Yan had already planned to contact Xu Yangyang. The academic scandal would have to wait until they could reach Zhou Qingyu, but with Xu Yangyang, they could still control the narrative.

Qiao Yan immediately called Xu Yangyang. On the phone, Xu Yangyang sounded pitiful. "Sister Qiao, I'm pretending to be sick, so I don't have any gigs. Can't I go out to watch a movie and learn from other actors' performances? I didn't think a low-tier celebrity like me would get photographed!"

"You need to post a Weibo clarifying that it wasn't you!" Qiao Yan ordered.

"Sister Qiao, I can't do that," Xu Yangyang whispered. "I ran into a fan that night, and I signed an autograph for her..."

Qiao Yan: ???

Qiao Yan felt like she needed oxygen.

A female celebrity who publicly claimed to have a sprained ankle was not only caught perfectly healthy but also signing autographs for fans?!

What was her agent thinking when they signed Xu Yangyang? Why was her team filled with such incompetence?

"That's your problem," Wu Liao's voice cut in, cold and venomous, a stark contrast to his earlier tone with Qiao Yan. "If you claimed to have a sprained ankle, you need to commit to the act. Getting caught in a paparazzi shot is your mess to clean up."

"Director Wu..." Xu Yangyang stammered softly. "But I didn't think I'd get photographed!"

Wu Liao's tone turned even icier. "Find a way to contact that fan and make sure she doesn't expose you. Then issue a clarification. If we have to step in, the consequences will be far worse."

With that, Wu Liao hung up.

Qiao Yan rarely saw Wu Liao this serious. "Do you think Xu Yangyang did this on purpose?"

Wu Liao scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm not a top-tier PR expert, but her methods are too clumsy. The paparazzi shots might have been accidental, but signing an autograph for a fan? She's either malicious or just plain stupid!"

Qiao Yan nodded. She could sense that Xu Yangyang harbored resentment toward Yan Xi. Even though she had been compensated with better resources, her bitterness remained. "But right now, the public opinion is overwhelmingly against Yan Xi, and Xu Yangyang is being painted as the victim. To turn this around, Yan Xi's image needs to be salvaged first." The academic scandal was the core of this controversy.

Wu Liao suddenly remembered something from the wine estate the previous day.

After work, he had gone to a bar for a drink as usual and ran into some colleagues from Zhou Corporation's PR department. They were praising Starlight's recent PR move, saying how they had turned Zhou Qingyu's public image around with a million-dollar donation and redirected all of Ye Luoyi's settlement funds to charity—a masterstroke.

Wu Liao was baffled. He hadn't done anything except delete some negative comments about Zhou Qingyu and Yan Xi.

If it wasn't him, then who? Or was it just a coincidence?

Years of experience told Wu Liao not to believe in coincidences—there were no coincidences in the entertainment industry.

That night, Wu Liao rewatched the livestream footage from start to finish. The only thing that stood out to him was Yan Xi.

Wu Liao couldn't be 100% sure, but he had a vague feeling that every time public opinion shifted, it somehow involved Yan Xi.

Was Yan Xi orchestrating this?

Or was it just a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—pure luck?

Today's exposure of the academic fraud incident made Wu Liao realize one thing: if Yan Xi is indeed a student of Hai City University, then all of this was likely her doing. She is intelligent enough, with clear logic, to publicly unravel the reasoning behind Zhou Qingyu slapping Ye Luoyi.

She is cunning enough to play dumb intentionally, downplaying her aggressiveness and presence. And she is smooth enough to subtly guide Zhou Qingyu to that winery and quietly donate the "extorted" money from Ye Luoyi to the Red Cross, making the funds legal and compliant.

"Should we trust the young ladies?" Wu Liao suddenly said. "What?" Qiao Yan didn't understand.

Wu Liao: "Perhaps this matter isn't as complicated as we think. Yan Xi… might have a way to resolve it."

Wu Liao held some expectations for Yan Xi, stemming from his public relations instincts. But others didn't share his optimism. For example, Xu Yangyang, even after receiving Qiao Yan's call, showed no intention of clarifying anything.

Clarify what?

Yan Xi's persona collapse was a done deal. Academic fraud had been confirmed—how could she possibly recover? She probably wouldn't even be able to continue filming the variety show. In such a situation, would she "clarify"? Let her fans slap her in the face? No way!

She didn't need to do anything. She could just wait for Yan Xi to withdraw from the show, and then Zhou Qingyu would invite her to join. By then, the one enjoying good food and drinks with Zhou Qingyu during the trip would be Xu Yangyang!

Similarly, Da Jiajun also held no expectations for Yan Xi.

More and more screenshots from Hai City University's app were circulating online, along with statements from students of various departments claiming that there was no one named "Yan Xi" in their faculties.

Da Jiajun only glanced at one piece of information: someone claimed to be a student from Hai City University's School of Finance, saying there was no undergraduate named "Yan Xi," but there was a graduate student with that name.

A graduate student? That would make her at least 22 years old.

But Yan Xi is only 20 now!

Da Jiajun naturally attributed this to a coincidence of names.

Later, the revelation of "Yan Xi bullying classmates in high school" made Da Jiajun ecstatic. This further proved that Yan Xi had a terrible character and misconduct! The text-based exposé was a bit lackluster, but that wasn't a problem. Marketing accounts could easily embellish it. Bullying scandals were hard to clarify, especially ones from years ago. Da Jiajun had his team's graphic designers create a few blurry photos of school bullying and photoshopped some chat records between bullies, directly implicating Yan Xi.

【Yan Xi is clearly a delinquent—don't be fooled by her looks!】【I suggest the blogger dig into Zhou Qingyu. The two are best friends and probably did similar things in high school!】

【Zhou Qingyu's arrogant demeanor—she must have bullied students back then!】【This doesn't make sense. It makes Yan Xi seem too stupid. If she wanted to establish a top student persona, why not choose a 985 or 211 university? In the entertainment industry, being from a 985 or 211 is already considered a top student. Choosing a top 3 university is just absurd!】

(1.…She seems so dumb that I doubt the authenticity of this…）【Although she doesn't look particularly smart… Pretty girls can't be that clever!】

【That's prejudice! Our Yiyi is very talented!】

Da Jiajun also found it strange. An ordinary student wouldn't go so far as to impersonate a top 3 university's top student. The persona was too exaggerated.

But with a little investigation, it became clear that Hai City University had an affiliated vocational college—Hangcheng College.

Many students from Hangcheng College would introduce themselves as being from Hai City University.

Out of pride, everyone would rather be seen as a prestigious university student than a vocational college student. If exposed, they could just clarify the full name of their school.

However, Hangcheng College had mediocre faculty and didn't share resources with Hai City University. Their students couldn't use the Hai City University app, so Da Jiajun couldn't verify whether Yan Xi was a student there.

But Da Jiajun felt it was almost certain.

When Su Lingling saw the trending topic, the guests were already on their way back to the guesthouse. On the way, Zhou Qingyu and Yan Xi were chatting and laughing, admiring the beautiful photos Louis had taken of them, too busy to check the news online.

Su Lingling, excited by the trending topic, leaned closer to Ye Luoyi and said, "Yiyi! Yan Xi's top student persona has been exposed!"

Ye Luoyi's heart skipped a beat, suppressing her excitement. "Exposed? What happened?"

Su Lingling gloated, "Zhou Qingyu said Yan Xi was a top student from Hai City University, right? Well, netizens looked into it, and guess what? There's no such person at Hai City University! But there is a vocational college affiliated with it, and everyone thinks Yan Xi might be from there."

Ye Luoyi blinked. Zhou Qingyu had claimed Yan Xi was a top student from Hai City University just half an hour ago. In such a short time, Yan Xi's persona had already collapsed. The speed was astonishing.

Normal public opinion fermentation didn't happen this fast!

Ye Luoyi's gaze inadvertently fell on Qin Li, looking at his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Her cheeks flushed, and a warm feeling spread through her chest. Ye Luoyi feigned pity, "Ah, Yan Xi shouldn't have done this. Establishing personas in the entertainment industry is so risky!"

"She just wanted to break into the entertainment industry!" Su Lingling snorted. "Serves her right for getting exposed!"

Ye Luoyi glanced at the Weibo post summarizing the "Yan Xi academic fraud" incident, which included her academic fraud, snatching resources from Xu Yangyang, and high school bullying.

Ye Luoyi gasped softly, "She even bullied people? Yan Xi doesn't seem like that type!"

"Appearances can be deceiving!" Su Lingling looked at Yan Xi with even more disdain.

Yan Xi felt Su Lingling's gaze and turned to look at her, meeting her eyes directly.

Then, she smiled faintly.

Su Lingling felt a bit confused and rubbed her eyes. "Weird, why does Yan Xi look familiar? Have I seen her somewhere before?" Ye Luoyi paused, "Qingyu went to Bowen, and Yan Xi is her best friend. Could she have also gone to Bowen? Maybe you were schoolmates and met there?"

Su Lingling tried to recall her high school days, but it had been five years since she graduated, and many memories were hazy.

"I don't remember," Su Lingling shook her head. "I knew all of Zhou Qingyu's high school lackeys, and Yan Xi wasn't among them. But I can ask around." Bowen Private High School was a prestigious aristocratic school in Hai City, attended by most of the city's wealthy young masters and ladies. Although Su Lingling had graduated, she still had connections with younger siblings of her peers who attended Bowen. Finding out about someone wasn't difficult. A few minutes later, Su Lingling concluded, "I asked around. There's no such person at our school."

Ye Luoyi breathed a sigh of relief. Schools like Bowen Private High School had strict school regulations, and bullying incidents were rare. Even if they occurred, the perpetrators were usually top-tier wealthy second-generation individuals like Zhou Qingyu, not someone from an ordinary family. If Zhou Qingyu had bullied classmates in high school, Ye Luoyi might have believed it.

Ye Luoyi suggested, "Yan Xi is Qingyu's best friend. She must have attended Qingyu's birthday parties. Maybe you saw her there."

Su Lingling scratched the back of her head, "That makes sense…"

Back at the guesthouse, it was almost dinner time.

The guests had participated in a sailing competition and were wet, so they went to their rooms to shower first before coming down to prepare ingredients for a hotpot dinner. Zhou Qingyu couldn't stand feeling sticky. Although she hadn't fallen into the water, she had gotten wet while sailing and rushed into the bathroom with a towel. Yan Xi received a call from her roommate about some documents she needed to sign regarding her decision to give up the exchange program. She decided to take out her laptop and handle the paperwork.

"Xi Xi, have you seen what's happening online? Someone is spreading rumors about your academic fraud!"

Her roommate was a 5G internet surfer and had been watching the live stream of "Travel." She immediately informed Yan Xi when she saw the news. Yan Xi had heard a mention from the system while at the supermarket but hadn't paid much attention. Now, with some free time, she opened Weibo and saw the trending topics filled with comments criticizing her for building a false persona.

Her roommate was furious, "I tried to clarify for so long, but they wouldn't believe me. They just called me your lackey! They're the lackeys! Their whole family are lackeys!"

Yan Xi was worried, "You didn't post our photos together to help prove my innocence, did you?"

"I thought about it. I still have our graduation photo in my bookshelf, but I'm out right now. Do you need it? I'll go back later and post the photo for you, to shut up those rumor-spreading keyboard warriors!"

"Absolutely not!"

Yan Xi quickly stopped her. Her roommate was outspoken and often carelessly shared things online, making her an easy target for criticism.

Yan Xi spoke earnestly, "Right now, netizens have already taken sides, believing I faked my academic credentials. If you post our graduation photo to back me up, they'll assume you're one of my paid supporters and dox you. Think about all the comments you've made online, and those posts asking for resources..."

Her roommate shuddered.

If she got exposed, all the photos of hot guys with abs on her Xiaohongshu account, the files and resources in her cloud drive, and even the 18+ romance novels she secretly downloaded would be discovered! Oh, and the fanfiction she wrote on AO3! That was a secret even Yan Xi didn't know about!

If she got publicly humiliated, it would be social suicide!

Her roommate swallowed hard, "Being a celebrity is tough... Good thing I'm not famous." But then she changed the subject, "XiXi, I watched your livestream. Zhou Qingyu just praised you as a top student, and then someone immediately exposed you. The news spread way too fast!"

Yan Xi nodded, "It did spread quickly."

They didn't even give netizens time to discuss her academic background before they started attacking her.

Yan Xi couldn't believe there wasn't someone behind the scenes pushing this narrative. Was it Ye Luoyi?

The image of Ye Luoyi's gentle face flashed through Yan Xi's mind.

No, the female lead of the novel was, at least on the surface, virtuous and upright. She wouldn't do something like this. Pei Yubai?

That was unlikely too. Although Yan Xi hadn't interacted much with Pei Yubai, given his relationship with Zhou Qingyu, he couldn't possibly be unaware that Yan Xi was a student at Hai City University. Such a baseless accusation was too amateurish.

It could only mean that the person behind this had a grudge against Yan Xi but didn't know her well, resorting to such clumsy tactics.

And it had to be someone within the industry.

A scandal like this, involving a shattered public image, was something only celebrities and influencers would use. A name quickly came to Yan Xi's mind—Qin Li. In the novel, Qin Li and Ye Luoyi grew closer during this variety show period. From the readers' perspective, it seemed like Qin Li kept Ye Luoyi at arm's length, making people curious about their relationship.

But from Yan Xi's perspective, Qin Li saw Ye Luoyi as the pure, unattainable love of his life. If his feelings for her were measured on a scale of 100, Qin Li's affection for Ye Luoyi was at least a 90. In the words of the system: 【He's obsessed.】

So, seeing the woman he loved getting less attention than the other group of guests, it was understandable that he might get a little anxious and pull some strings.

In the entertainment industry, a scandal about academic credentials wasn't a big deal—just a minor lesson. But for an ordinary person, this kind of overwhelming online hate could be devastating, enough to destroy someone.

Yan Xi had a strong heart. She had seen even more vicious insults in her dreams, directed at Zhou Qingyu—the most humiliating words imaginable, aimed at tearing a young woman apart.

So now, seeing all the hateful comments about herself, Yan Xi actually felt unfazed.

"XiXi, aside from the academic scandal, I saw they're also accusing you of bullying! Do you need my help?" her roommate asked with concern.

Yan Xi glanced at the comments online, her fingers lightly tapping the desk. Suddenly, a text message from an unknown sender popped up on her phone: 【Hello, Miss Yan. I'm Wu Liao, the PR director of Starlight Entertainment. Regarding the rumors online, I'd like to have a chat with you...】

Yan Xi's eyes lit up, and a smile curled on her lips. "Don't worry, Chaochao. It's not a big deal. I'll clear things up soon~"