CH 8

Yu Le scrolled through the private messages as he continued reading.

[Teacher Mu Yuxing is not someone you can pull down! Teacher Tao Feng is not someone you can climb atop of! You’re an idiot, just like your idol! No matter how much praise your brainless fans give you, you’ll never amount to anything!]

He kept going.

[The photos you take are all trash! You even dared to try and one-up Tao Feng; he’s won awards in the field of photography! You’re nowhere near the same level as him, and if you want to try and gain fame by relying on these methods, you might as well go eat shit! It’ll do you as much good as those dreams of yours!]

Seeing this one, he couldn’t help but laugh.

These fans are pretty good at cursing.

At least he could puzzle out who they were; all these commenters were definitely fans of Mu Yuxing and Tao Feng.

But how did he offend both of them?

[Yu Beiman: Sister An An, what’s going on?]

[the finest old lady in the world: This is going to make me kill someone! Didn’t Yu Youzhi appear in Martha Magazine before? Well, now that Mu Yuxing will be on the cover, all the fans are making it a competition.]

[the finest old lady in the world: It’s terrible; the stinky fans on the other side immediately began to trample on our brother in every way they could find. They said his singing skills are bad, his acting skills are horrible, his resources are stolen, and every job he’s landed is through the backdoor! Not a single thing is fact-based, but they won’t shut up! It makes me want to scream!!]

[the finest old lady in the world: It’s not all bad though, the cover of Martha Magazine was released yesterday and it’s so ugly! I’ve never seen such a bad photo of him before!]

Sending an emoji package afterwards, An An was very obviously gloating at Mu Yuxing’s misfortune.

[the finest old lady in the world: After those fans began to spit on our idol, a little sister called [ignorant little girl]  taunted them directly on Weibo, saying that even professional photographers were not as good as us common fans.]

[Yu Beiman: …and she called me in for evidence?]

[the finest old lady in the world: That’s right, she linked your account! I’m so pissed! She was definitely not trying to pull you in, but it’s all her fault! There’s no reason for you to be roasted by Mu Yuxing’s fans like this!]

In her anger, she sent Yu Le a link next.

Clicking in, Yu Le saw a profile picture of a middle-aged man holding a camera to take pictures. It was the Weibo homepage of Tao Feng.

The top comment showing was a repost of [ignorant little girl]’s taunts with the accompanying text: [I heard that I, a professional photographer, is not as good as one of Yu Youzhi’s little followers, so I decided to go and learn from the master!].

Yu Le started to laugh uncontrollably; this person, he was really giving him too much credit.

[the finest old lady in the world: Tao Feng already has so many fans, and Mu Yuxing’s army is no less. With the two groups so unhappy with recent events, they’ve banded together to attack you, saying that [ignorant little girl] is your sockpuppet account.]

[the finest old lady in the world: Although I’ve managed to control the flow of the comments somewhat, and we have the cooperation of most of brother’s fans, there’s still not much we can do. And a marketing account involved themselves, too, starting to flame things even more. If this reaches the hot search, it’s over! Manman, you have to be careful!]

Yu Le had never experienced an online battle between fans, and his attitude was still lax facing it.

He even took it as an opportunity to increase his own publicity.

So why not take advantage?

He began to type away on his keyboard.

[Yu Beiman: Don’t worry, Sister An An, these marketing accounts got involved too quickly; I understand that something must be wrong.]

[Yu Beiman: But who am I to let them step all over me? I won’t let them bully me so easily!]

[the finest old lady in the world: Manman, what are you going to do??]

[Yu Beiman: Nothing too big; just post a very sincere response explaining my side to everyone.]

In the next second, he rummaged through the better photos of Yu Youzhi that he hadn’t released yet and began his counterattack with fingers flying.

At this very moment, Tao Feng was sitting in front of his computer with a glass of red wine in hand as he browsed the internet.

From the microblog of a famous blogger with over four hundred thousand fans nicknamed [Eating Melon in the Front Seats]:

[Award-winning photographer Tao Feng has returned to China and was invited to a shoot for the literary blockbuster of a certain star, but has begun to be despised by his fans the very next day. The reason? His skills are not as good as even a random passerby on the internet. Is said passerby really so skilled? Or has Tao Feng just been overhyped far too much?]

Below the post, many mocking screenshots had been taken from [Photographer Tao Feng]’s Weibo to compare with similar screenshots of [Fully Automatic Green Tea Machine]’s.

The comment area was full of ridicule and insults for Yu Le; even the seemingly random spectators had left posts about him that were very demeaning.

Tao Feng looked at those excited messages with satisfaction, clicked back on his Weibo homepage, and the corner of his mouth curled up triumphantly.

In just one night, his fans had grown twenty thousand more in number.

It was faster than he expected.

That’s right, he had single-handedly led the bloodbath on the internet for his own gain.

He deliberately reposted [Fully Automatic Green Tea Machine]’s account and even invited the marketing accounts to keep the favour on his side of the court.

Of course, he was not deliberately targeting this random netizen whom he’d never met before.

He’d looked at the photos taken by the other party, and there was indeed some charm to them, but as a professional, he could tell the other was a layman at a glance.

As a “very promising photographer” who had won the newcomer’s award at the young age of twenty-three and was highly regarded by the industry, Tao Feng simply disdained being compared with this kind of person.

But now it was different; he was in control.

Moreover, he was back in China and needed to spread his name.

It simply wasn’t enough to be recognized by the industry as “very promising”.

He needed everyone to know his name.

He didn’t have the old-fashioned idea that he had to rely on photography to express himself or explore the world. No, it was just a convenient way of gaining fame, and thus this was the path that he had chosen to gain popularity.

After revealing their intentions for him to return to China, Martha Magazine had immediately offered him an olive branch of taking photos for Mu Yuxing with the artistic theme of “Forgetting”, but that level of fame came nowhere near to satisfying him.

And besides that, there was a larger problem. His artistic photography techniques were different enough from those of commercial blockbusters that they seemed pale in comparison with the norm. After his shoot came out to the public, many voices of doubt appeared, commenting on his skill.

The most dissatisfied being Mu Yuxing’s fans.

But how could a photographer with over a hundred thousand fans be worse than a wannabe starlet who had only just appeared?

Still wandering around on Weibo, he came across the Weibo of [ignorant little girl].

[What kind of rubbish award did this so-called professional photographer win? Do his photos really deserve to even be called that? He’s a disgrace to the industry! I was afraid that I was too biassed at first, so I took a closer look, but I still don’t see any artistic value in his work! It’s nowhere near as good as [Fully Automatic Green Tea Machine]’s posts!]

He sneered.

This “[ignorant little girl]”, he didn’t know whether she was truly so naive or just putting up a front.

Although a newcomer’s award could not be compared to some of the other awards out there, it was still something to be proud of. As for the posts she praised, they were amateurish in every way.

Obviously, the fans were just blind to their idols.

Straightening his posture, Tao Feng narrowed his eyes as he decided to make good use of them.

He contacted some more water armies as the fight between Yu Youzhi’s fans and his grew even more.

Those stupid fans of Mu Yuxing had been dissatisfied with him since the cover came out, but now that they were up against Yu Youzhi’s fans, they supported him completely.

Tao Feng was satisfied.

From the beginning to the end, the only person who truly lost in this confrontation was the netizen [Fully Automatic Green Tea Machine].

Tao Feng didn’t hate them, but there was no reason to feel bad about it either. They could only blame themselves for attracting his attention.

Who made that [ignorant little girl] link their account?

Everything was under his control.

Just as Tao Feng was riding the high of his win, a notification popped up on his screen, [Fully Automatic Green Tea Machine] had posted a response!

An eloquent reply of four hundred words, but it was still quite a small composition for the stage it was on.

He took a sip of his wine as clicked in to read it.

[I went home today and opened Weibo with shock. I hadn’t expected to have so many private messages and comments after only a day; I really thought I was popular for a moment [Wry smile.jpg].

It’s a pity that most of these comments are full of malicious intent, not at all what I was expecting as I clicked on them full of expectations.

Because there were so many messages, it took me a while to actually sort out the context of what was going on.

But now, I think I do need to clarify some things.

First of all, [ignorant little girl] is not my trumpet, I swear, and she has vastly overrated my photography skills.

In fact, I am just a photography enthusiast. Some people have gone so far as to call me the trash of the industry, but I have to tell you that I am not in the industry at all. It’s purely a hobby for me.

The title trash of the industry, it’s even an affirmation for me, who has never had any sort of training for others to assume I have [laughs].

Secondly, although I am just an enthusiast, I really want more people to see my photos. After all, who doesn’t like compliments?

But I really never thought about bullying anyone, whether it be Teacher Tao Feng or Teacher Mu Yuxing. I wasn’t paying either of them any attention at all, to be honest.

The only person in my eyes is my brother, and the only person I take photos of is my brother.

As for Tao Feng saying that he wants to learn from me, I am really ashamed as a photography enthusiast.

But if he is genuinely willing to lower himself enough to ask me, I am, of course, happy to communicate with him and maybe even learn some things from him.

And finally, I would like to warn everyone to stop attacking me at will without knowing the truth. It might not be physical, but cyberbullying is still extremely hurtful, and if it comes to be necessary, I will take the measures I need to protect myself.

Please note that the internet is not free of the law~

It constitutes a crime if a rumour online is forwarded more than five hundred times~

Moving on, though, I’ll do my best to forget all these unhappy things!

Many, many thanks to the sisters who love me and protect me, and I hope that you will stop putting your words on the line to scold back for me. In return, I will try my best to take more pictures of my brother in the future!]

There were nine new pictures of Yu Youzhi below the post to finish up the essay.

It had only been published for a few minutes, and there were already a hundred comments below.

Netizen A: [Wow! He’s so handsome, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah [Lick.jpg] [Lick.jpg]!!!]

Netizen B: [Thank you so much, my treasured Green Tea! I love you so much!! Thank you to Teacher Tao Feng, thank you to Teacher Mu Yuxing, and many, many thanks to the fans of Teacher Mu Yuxing! Because of all of you, I discovered such a precious treasure!]

Netizen C: [Hehe, now anyone can say anything on the internet. How about I start a one-man show?]

Netizen D: [How could you be so shameless? Come out and apologise! Apologise to Mu Yuxing and Tao Feng!!]

Netizen E: [Ahhhhhhhhh! Sister, you’re so cool!! Let those rubbish go to hell; I will always support you!!]

Netizen F: [Go away, goblins and ghosts! Get rid of all the evil spirits! Ma’am, I will always support you! Ma’am, you will always be mine!]

Tao Feng’s mood fell after he read the short composition, and he quickly pulled to the comments to lift his mood, but the more he read, the more livid his face became.

Why was this person so calm?

What does it mean when they say that whether it was him or Mu Yuxing, they had never paid attention to either of them?!

They’re just a layman; they deserve to be stepped on by him! What qualifications do they have to say that they’d discuss photography with him?!

How did he deserve this humiliation?

The more Tao Feng thought about it, the more eye-catching this little essay became.

Between each and every line, he could feel the contempt and irony radiating out at him.

And so many people were laughing at him below!

An anger surged in his heart. Impulsively, he smashed his wine glass with a bang, and the scarlet liquid flowed on the ground like blood, reflecting his crazed eyes.

In the next second, he picked up his mobile phone, logged on to Weibo, and switched to his main account to send a message. His operation was swift and without hesitation.

Back at his apartment, Yu Le received a new reminder.

It was a private message from Tao Feng.

[I’m Tao Feng. Didn’t you say you wanted to discuss photography techniques with me? Here I am.]

Yu Le glanced at the content of the message without a care.

He didn’t even click to confirm the other party’s account as he swiped it away.

He casually smirked to himself; he was not stupid enough to fall for such a trick. If that was really the photographer Tao Feng, he would be the protagonist of this book!

Trying to lie to me, no way!