Chapter 094: Pen Name-Sports and Entertainment Superstar(Big Yoyo)

P.S. I ate something bad today and ended up with food poisoning. I have been vomiting and having diarrhea, and the dizziness is terrible. There may only be one chapter today; I will make up for it tomorrow.

Lin Feng logged into Weibo full of doubt.

By then, his comment section had already been flooded with abuse, and the pattern was remarkably uniform.

“Shameless plagiarist, Lin Feng is a total idiot!”

…

Clearly, this was the handiwork of Zhou Ziqian’s fan club. Since Lin Feng’s performance on the stage of Original Good Songs had been flawless, they could not find a single weak point to attack after the episode aired.

But with plagiarism as a target, Zhou Ziqian’s fans were instantly ecstatic.

In fact, before Zhou Ziqian even posted on Weibo, he had already coordinated with his die-hard fans. The moment his post went up, his fan club immediately swarmed Lin Feng’s Weibo to bury it under a barrage of comments.

And so, Lin Feng’s comment section was swiftly overrun. Since everything had happened so suddenly, the Shenfeng Guard Corps had not even had time to react.

Lin Feng found the post in which Zhou Ziqian accused him of plagiarism. It was a long piece, several hundred words in all. It was obvious Zhou Ziqian had gone to considerable lengths to smear him, but after reading it, Lin Feng actually laughed.

The original post read:

Today everyone is praising Lin Feng’s song Love-Loving Eyes for how good it sounds. Curious, I listened to it myself, and sure enough, just as people said, it is indeed a rare gem. The lyrics and melody both have something distinctive about them. For a newcomer to create such a brilliant song, I have to look at the author of this piece with renewed respect. For a moment, I even felt a little worried about the Music PK Arena the day after tomorrow. If Lin Feng can bring out two more songs of the same caliber on Music PK Arena, I am afraid my chances of winning really will not be very high...

I had thought I had encountered a “genius” composer. Unfortunately, reality was deeply disappointing, because a friend of mine who works at the Original Music Copyright Registry told me that Lin Feng is not the original author of Love-Loving Eyes. The original author of this song is a friend named Lin Junjie. I know that doing this may violate someone else’s rights, but in order to give the public the truth, I have decided to post a screenshot of the registration information for Love-Loving Eyes from the registry backend...

Zhou Ziqian really did attach a screenshot of the Love-Loving Eyes record from the copyright registry’s backend. In the author field, the name written there was clearly Lin Junjie, not Lin Feng.

After posting the screenshot, Zhou Ziqian seemed to grow even more confident and continued:

Also, I want to ask Lin Feng one thing: is it not shameful to take someone else’s creative work and use it in a competition? Is it not disgraceful to plagiarize another person’s work? And as for the official Weibo of Original Good Songs, I have always loved your program, because you give opportunities to those creators who work quietly and are not known to the public, and because you value originality!

But now you are actually protecting a plagiarist like Lin Feng. I am utterly disappointed in your program. I had already verbally agreed with the production team to serve as a guest vocalist for this season, but now I have changed my mind. I do not want to appear on the same stage as a plagiarist like Lin Feng. That would be an insult to me!!

...

The post ended there. It could be said that Zhou Ziqian had written it with considerable skill. He first praised Love-Loving Eyes to the skies, then dropped the bombshell that Lin Feng was not the author, and that sharp contrast made Lin Feng look utterly pathetic. Then, in the rest of the post, Zhou Ziqian positioned himself on the moral high ground and launched into a round of condemnation, even dragging the production team of Original Good Songs down with him in order to make himself seem noble and untarnished.

After reading it, any ordinary netizen would naturally side with him, because he had “solid evidence.”

“Brother, everyone’s cursing you now. What are we going to do?” Lin Wen said anxiously.

“Brother-in-law, how could you do something like plagiarism? That’s the most despicable thing of all. Sigh, the glorious image you had in my heart has fallen straight into the abyss...” Qin Han said with a sigh.

“Wenwen, do you believe your brother plagiarized?” Lin Feng asked Lin Wen with a smile.

“Of course I don’t! My brother would never do something that shameless!” Lin Wen replied firmly.

Lin Feng nodded with satisfaction. “Relax. The plagiarism thing is completely groundless.”

“So that screenshot must have been photoshopped?” Lin Wen asked.

“That picture is real enough,” Lin Feng said with a smile. “They just don’t know that Lin Junjie is my pen name. When uploading works on the copyright registry, only the registration account information has to use a real name. But when publishing a work, you can use a pen name. Lin Junjie was just a name I came up with on the spot when I uploaded Love-Loving Eyes. Zhou Ziqian must have assumed that Lin Junjie was the original author’s real name, which is why he jumped out and accused me of plagiarism.”

“Oh, I see. I told you, Brother is the best. How could you possibly plagiarize?” Lin Wen said happily.

“Brother-in-law, is what you said true?” Qin Han asked.

“Of course.” Lin Feng shrugged.

What he said was true. The copyright registry required only the original registration information to use a real name; published works could use a pen name, and if one wished, every work could be published under a different pen name. This rule was also meant to protect creators’ rights and interests, especially when auctioning works, since many creators did not want their earnings exposed.

When Lin Feng uploaded Love-Loving Eyes, he had casually written the name Lin Junjie in the author field, after all, this song really was someone else’s original composition.

He had never imagined that even a pen name would become grounds for suspicion.

The denunciations against Lin Feng on the internet only grew louder, because Zhou Ziqian’s side had “pictures and the truth.” Netizens who did not know the situation all rushed to Lin Feng’s Weibo to hurl abuse, while at the same time, the Shenfeng Guard Corps had already assembled and was battling the invaders to the death. Unfortunately, this time all the netizens were on Zhou Ziqian’s side, so the Guard Corps looked painfully small.

“I thought he was really talented. Turns out he plagiarized. Truly shameless!!”

“I actually used to be a fan of yours, damn it. Unfollowed immediately. What kind of person are you?”

“If you can’t bring out your own work, then don’t go on Original Good Songs. What kind of skill is plagiarism supposed to be?”

“Just based on your character, I’ll be a ‘Lin hater’ for life!!”

“...”

Although the Shenfeng Guard Corps had begun to counterattack, there were simply too many netizens cursing Lin Feng. They could not possibly keep up.

Soon, Lin Feng’s Weibo was once again occupied by abuse. He knew he had to speak up, or he would really be branded a shameless villain.

And so, one hour after Zhou Ziqian accused Lin Feng of plagiarism,

Lin Feng posted a clarification on Weibo.

The content was extremely concise.

“Zhou Ziqian, you’re a complete square. Lin Junjie is my pen name!!”

...