137: Chapter 137 I'm sorry, dogs, I've insulted you.

"Mr. Lin Chen, do you have anything to say regarding Teacher Zhang Jiang's assessment?"

Seeing Lin Chen playing dumb, the bespectacled man pressed on relentlessly.

Lin Chen shook his head, his tone as flat as if he were discussing what to have for dinner: "There's nothing to say. If a mad dog on the side of the road barks at me, I'm not going to get down on all fours and bark back at it, am I?"

"Whoa—"

As soon as these words left his lips, the whole place erupted!

Countless camera flashes flickered like crazy, and the sound of shutters became a continuous roar.

Big news! This was absolutely massive news that could explode across the entire internet!

Seeing infighting in the entertainment industry was common, but being as aggressive as Lin Chen, tearing off the mask directly at a press conference and calling the other party a dog by name, was definitely the first time in history.

If it were two C-list celebrities bickering, everyone would just watch for the fun of it. But what was the status of these two?

One was Lin Chen, the current "it boy" who sat on a throne of five top-tier celebrity wives and had become immensely popular thanks to two seasons of variety shows.

The other was Zhang Jiang, a veteran in the industry with over twenty million Weibo followers, holding the title of "renowned critic," and possessing an incredibly extensive network of contacts.

The two of them going head-to-head, Mars hitting Earth—the scene was too beautiful!

"So, Mr. Lin Chen, do you think Teacher Zhang Jiang is right in saying that you ignored the audience and are in the wrong?"

The bespectacled man threw out a lethal question with venomous intent.

This bastard was truly wicked; he slapped the label of "disrespecting the audience" directly onto Lin Chen, forcing him to admit it.

The faces of the Divas Hit the Road Group members on stage changed.

Little Song Zuer was trembling with anger, staring daggers at that bespectacled man.

Lei Jiayin was anxious as an ant on a hot pan, desperately signaling to Lin Chen to keep his cool.

Lin Chen didn't even glance at him. He leaned back in his chair, held the microphone with one hand, and replied in a deep voice: "I refuse to answer your question."

"Why won't you answer?"

The corners of the bespectacled man's mouth curled into a cold smirk of success, "Is it because Teacher Zhang Jiang hit a sore spot, and you're feeling guilty? Or are you proving through your actions that not only do you disrespect the audience, but you also look down on us reporters?"

Lin Chen looked at him coldly: "It's not that I won't answer; it's that you don't deserve to hear the answer from my mouth."

"Whoa—"

Another wave of shock swept through the audience.

The bespectacled man laughed even more brazenly: "So, Mr. Lin is publicly despising us as a group of reporters? Do you think none of us are worthy of asking you questions?"

He cast another poisoned bait, trying to pull all the reporters in the room into his camp to crusade against Lin Chen together.

However, the reporters below were all sharp; who couldn't hear that this was an attempt to incite hatred?

Everyone just looked at Lin Chen with complex expressions, and no one spoke up.

They hadn't expected Lin Chen to be such a loose cannon, exploding at the slightest spark.

To say something so thoughtless in front of so many cameras—once it hit the trending searches tomorrow, his career would probably be half-destroyed.

What was this?

This was typical arrogance and ignorance!

Even the careers of Yang Mi and the others would be implicated.

Lin Chen shook his head, looking at him as if he were looking at someone mentally disabled: "Don't go pinning labels on me. I'm not targeting reporters; I just happen to look down on you specifically."

The smile on the bespectacled man's face stiffened for a moment, but he quickly returned to that punchable expression.

He wanted Lin Chen to curse him; the fiercer the curse, the happier he would be.

As long as he provoked Lin Chen, he could gain both fame and fortune from this report.

"Mr. Lin, you are engaging in personal attacks!"

"That's right, I am attacking you."

Lin Chen leaned forward, his gaze as sharp as a knife, "Because you are not only a vicious dog, but a vicious dog without a bottom line. In order to earn some dirty traffic money, you can distort facts and frame others without any moral bottom line."

"Base, shameless, despicable—using these words on you is actually giving you too much credit. Allowing someone like you, who has absolutely no moral bottom line, to control the narrative is the true tragedy of society. Today you can frame me here for profit, and tomorrow you could destroy someone else's family for money!"

The smile on the bespectacled man's face completely disappeared.

Lin Chen's words were too ruthless. Cursing him was one thing, but stripping away the skin of "reporter" and accusing him of fabricating rumors and framing people was going to cost him his livelihood!

If words like this got out, even the media company he worked for would be finished.

In this line of work, once your reputation is ruined, you're completely done for.

"Lin Chen! Please mind your language! I reserve the right to pursue your legal liability!" The bespectacled man roared in frustration, "I'd like to ask, where did I fabricate rumors or frame you?"

"You followed Zhang Jiang's crazy ramblings and insisted that I didn't respect the audience. If that's not fabricating rumors, what is?" Lin Chen countered.

"There's video evidence online!"

The bespectacled man sneered, "After you finished your performance at the Deyun Society, you didn't bow, didn't express gratitude, and just walked away. Isn't that a fact? The evidence is ironclad; do you still want to spin this?"

Lin Chen looked at him as if looking at a clown: "That just goes to show you're not only wicked but pitifully stupid. Who made the rule that not bowing when leaving the stage means disrespecting the audience?"

"Isn't it?!"

"Of course not."

Lin Chen picked up the microphone, his voice resonant and powerful, carrying throughout the entire hall, "For a qualified artist, the greatest respect for the audience is to polish every single work with heart and soul, and to repay the patrons who bought tickets with the most perfect performance. Keeping your true skills on stage—that is true professionalism!"

"As for the so-called bowing and expressing gratitude you keep harping on, that's just a hypocritical formality to go through the motions."

The bespectacled man's face went deathly pale. He opened his mouth, but couldn't squeeze out a single word for a long time.

Lin Chen's words were flawless.

He trampled the logic that "not bowing equals lack of artistic ethics," which the man was so proud of, into smithereens.

In the face of absolute strength and artistic work, those rigid formalities indeed seemed ridiculous.

"You, and that guy called Zhang... whatever..." Lin Chen turned his head to look at Liu Shishi.

"Zhang Jiang." Liu Shishi answered obediently.

"Right, Zhang Jiang."

Lin Chen's gaze swept coldly over the bespectacled man, "You two are birds of a feather, using a magnifying glass to take things out of context, relying on stepping on others to climb up and grab eyeballs. Such low-class tactics—do you really think you deserve my respect? Do you really think you deserve for me to answer your questions?"

"..."

The bespectacled reporter was retorted by Lin Chen until his face turned pale, unable to squeeze out a word for a long time.

The other reporters and media personnel present were all stunned by Lin Chen's terrifying ability to talk trash.

It was hard to imagine that this handsome man, who usually looked gentle and unassuming, was actually so fierce in combat when he really decided to open fire.

Some colleagues even started to sympathize with the bespectacled man.

Lin Chen's words didn't contain a single swear word, yet every word pierced the heart and drew blood, directly stripping away the other party's dignity.

If anyone had slightly weaker mental fortitude, they probably would have burst into tears on the spot.

The most fatal part was that Lin Chen was in the right the whole time.

If he hadn't been in the right, this rhetoric would definitely have been blasted as arrogance.

But his logic was tight, and in just a few words, he dismantled Zhang Jiang's twisted theory that "not bowing equals lack of artistic ethics," leaving no room for anyone to find fault.

"Where were we? Oh right, that Zhang... Zhang what's-his-name?" Lin Chen suddenly turned his head and looked at Liu Shishi beside him.

"Zhang Jiang!"

Liu Shishi bit her red lips tightly, holding back her laughter.

She couldn't have imagined that the husband who was usually domineering and wild in bed could be so black-bellied when roasting people.

This was clearly pretending to have amnesia just to disgust him; he was too bad!

"Right, Zhang Jiang."

Lin Chen nodded and said sincerely into the microphone, "Just now, I compared this reporter friend and Zhang Jiang to dogs. It was indeed a bit impulsive of me. After all, I'm considered a public figure now, and such remarks don't sound good if they get out."

"So here, I must solemnly apologize. Sorry, dogs, I insulted you."

"Pfft!"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

After a second of silence, bursts of spraying laughter erupted from the crowd.

A few reporters who were drinking water sprayed the back of the person in front of them directly.

The scene was like this, and the livestream chat was even more chaotic.

The comments were dense and layered, making it impossible to even see people's faces.

"Hahahaha! Mr. Lin is awesome! This reversal is amazing!"

"Holy crap, apologizing to dogs! Is Mr. Lin's mouth blessed by the gods?!"

"Brother Lin is mighty! So satisfying!"

"I was an audience member at the Deyun Society that day! Mr. Lin's performance was god-tier, okay? We were all mesmerized; where was there any feeling of not being respected? Who is Zhang Jiang to represent us audience members?"

"Zhang Jiang really kicked a titanium steel plate this time. It's one thing to usually try to pull stunts on others, but daring to provoke Mr. Lin is really asking for death."

"I'm dying of laughter, this is killing someone and attacking their heart! This is what you call the highest realm of cursing without dirty words!"

...

After that earth-shattering battle of words, the subsequent Q&A session seemed dull and uninteresting.

The reporters' minds had long since flown to how to grab the headline and publish their articles.

After Lin Chen finished roasting, he went silent and leaned quietly against the back of his chair.

There was no smugness of victory on his face, only his usual calm.

In fact, he found this kind of nonsense quite annoying.

If it were before, he wouldn't even have given that bespectacled man a glance.

Who do you think you are? Why should I explain myself to you? Just because you ask, I have to answer?

But it's different now; he isn't fighting alone.

He has five beautiful wives behind him.

He can do as he pleases and not care about his reputation, but Yang Mi and the others can't.

If he had backed down today and accepted that label, tomorrow the entire internet would be flooded with black material about him.

Yang Mi and the other four would definitely be implicated.

After all, in everyone's eyes, they are a family; they prosper together and suffer together.

When he first transmigrated and married the five women, and was cyberbullied by the entire internet, he still ate and slept as usual because he wasn't famous then, and he didn't take it to heart.

But now, the five wives are in the rising period of their careers; they love acting and love this industry.

Lin Chen would never allow them to suffer even the slightest grievance because of him, or to carry those unmerited slanders.

Even if the five wives were willing to carry it for him, he wouldn't agree to it.

So he not only had to fight back, but he also had to trample the other party under his feet and beat them so they would never be able to turn things around.