CH 10

After the reality show aired, because ‘My Heart Longs for You‘ was recently very popular, many fans watched the show that night which gave the episode high ratings.

The people of the show were naturally very happy with the high ratings, but the heroine, Liang Qianya's fans were not very happy. This was because they realised that from beginning to end, the second female lead had stolen the spotlight. Sometimes, the host of the program had obviously spoken to Chu Heng and Liang Qianya, but she ran in the middle, interrupting, deliberately making her presence known.

When the program was over, Liang Qianya's fans had blown up on Weibo. Someone immediately started this topic there. They began fighting against her by saying that Ceng Xue’s (the second female lead) behaviour was too unsightly and she couldn’t understand who was the protagonist and things like that.

Although Ceng Xue was not as popular as Liang Qianya, she did have a bunch of very loyal fans. Seeing that someone was bullying their idol, they rolled up their sleeves and entered the virtual battlefield.

As both sides fought, Chu Heng was also dragged in. One side said that Chu Heng looked better with their idol, while the other side bragged that recently, Chu Heng had done a magazine photo shoot with their idol.

Chu Heng’s fans didn’t know his stance, so they didn’t want to be dragged in by speaking irresponsibly. Who knew that despite being so cautious, they were nevertheless dragged in unjustly.

When the two sides were being noisy, the scene was very ugly. When Chu Heng’s fans didn’t speak up, and he didn’t stand by either woman, they were displeased and complained that he wasn’t a gentleman; that he preferred to watch people fight but not put a stop to it.

Looking at their god dragged into murky waters, his fans couldn’t sit still. The two sides became three, and everyone was filled with fighting spirit. Passers-by consciously avoided this fight.

Ning Xi scrolled through the page. Watching the fans’ high combat power, she lamented, “These fans are really powerful!”

“The artist pays for his or her fans’ behaviour. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this.” Zhang Qingyun looked at the comments which he had become used to, “The advantage is that it allows the investors to see the influence and value of the artist. The disadvantage is that those irrelevant people can casually comment on these artists.”

Ning Xi switched off her phone and yawned, “Anyway, I have nothing to do with this.”

Zhang Qingyun assumed that she was envious of the fanbase of these three people. He comforted her, “Don’t worry, you’ll always have loyal fans later.”

Ning Xi smiled noncommittally. Such words couldn’t be said so soon.

Of the five actors who participated in the show, the fans of three of them were involved in this. So a frustrated onlooker suddenly commented, “Don’t you think it’s very sad that no one’s concerned about the third male and female lead? Actually, I realised after last night that the third female lead is very beautiful! Her skin was flawless when the cameras took a close-up, what could be more proof than that?”

After this user posted this, he also posted a photo of the third male lead and Ning Xi.

The man was burly and appeared very manly in the photo. And the screenshots of Ning Xi were of her laughing. She looked very friendly and approachable.

One couldn’t blame this netizen for thinking so because there were many foreign actors who came to China for publicity. And under the HD cameras, one could even see the pimples on their faces. So some people made fun saying that China’s cameras were like God’s presence, bringing out the true ugly halo of everyone.

This post was forwarded by many passers-by with a laughing emoji, saying, “Poor people.”

People were rebellious. They didn’t necessarily like this male artist and Ning Xi. But they were tired of this pointless fighting between the three idols’ fans, so they vented their dissatisfaction through this post.

So Ning Xi became bafflingly popular and people who followed her now numbered to thousands.

Jiuji Entertainment’s publicity team initially wanted to take advantage of Ning Xi’s situation, but Zhang Qingyun stopped them.

“The company wants to cultivate an influential actress genuinely, not by creating popularity through articles on the internet.” He said, “I believe in her strength.”

Liu Kun sat beside him, holding a cigarette, and put an arm around the other’s shoulder. “I heard during the ad shoot with Zhengchuan, Ning Xi met Chang’s big boss?”

Seeing Liu Kun like this, Zhang Qingyun laughed helplessly, “It was just a greeting. Who dares to be close to such a big man?”

“Showing her face in front of such a person is also good enough,” Liu Kun laughed loudly. He knew Zhang Qingyun was cautious in all matters at work, so he didn’t take his words seriously. “If I knew Ning Xi would do so well, I wouldn’t have exchanged artists with you before.”

“How many artists do you have on your hand? And which of them is not a cash-cow?” Zhang Qingyun said with a smile. “Now I’ll take Ning Xi to compete with you.”

Hearing this, Liu Kun sighed, “You have the courage; I don’t dare to do things like you anyway.”

Zhang Qingyun originally managed several actors. Now, just to manage Ning Xi, he let go off all these artists to others. Who would be able to do such a thing with such foresight?

“I just made a gamble.” Zhang Qingyun bowed his head and smiled. “I have been working hard for money for ten years. Once in a while, one must take such gambles.”

Liu Kun was silent for a minute and patted his shoulder. “You’re right. Even if you failed, you could bring in any actor again and cultivate them with your ability, isn’t it?”

“Thanks,” Zhang Qingyun smoked his cigarette. The smoke hovered before his face. At that moment, he seemed very hazy and unrealistic.

Liu Kun glanced at him and shook his head, not speaking anymore.

Ning Xi looked through Weibo for comments about her that night. Then, she saw a fan’s comment that her boyfriend always disliked that she was fat. He often ridiculed her and wasn’t gentle enough with her. She said that she felt like a failure but couldn’t bear to end the relationship.

Maybe this person couldn’t share this with anyone in real life and so, she posted this on Ning Xi’s wall, to make herself feel better.

When she saw this comment, Ning Xi hesitated for a moment and replied.

Ning Xi’s Reply to Baby Bear: From the point of view of your health, being overweight is not good for your body. You need to exercise to be healthy. From an emotional point of view, I think partners should be tolerant and gentle with each other rather than show dislike. If people who love you think you’re fat, they should first feel worry and not dislike. If he picks on you all day, doesn’t care about your feelings at all, then I suggest that you send him packing and kick him flying a thousand miles away.

When she replied, the post attracted the attention of many. Most people thought that what she had said was justified, but there were some who thought that she could talk it out with her boyfriend. But many were envious that this netizen called Baby Bear had actually got a reply from the goddess but there were also those who consoled Baby Bear.

Baby Bear saw that Ning Xi had replied to her and was first filled with disbelief. She then expressed that she was unhappy that she simply couldn’t slim down.

Ning Xi’s Reply to Baby Bear: Don’t try too hard and don’t easily doubt yourself. A few years ago, I was also quite fat, but I slowly slimmed down. I believe in you.

Her fans saw her reply and playfully asked her how she looked when she was fat.

Half an hour later, Ning Xi sent a post with a picture she had drawn with a mouse.

Ning Xi [V]: In the past, I looked like this. But because I didn't want to lose fans, I didn’t send the real picture. [Image]

It was hard to describe the picture she had drawn. Round head, round belly, chubby hands, chubby legs… all in all, the level of drawing was that of a kindergartener.

Fan A: Seeing the spiritual painting style of the goddess, I don’t want to paint anymore.

Fan B: Goddess, does your agent know about this spiritual painting you posted on Weibo?

Fan C: No one is perfect. Although the goddess is beautiful, her paintings are really ugly.

They interacted harmoniously on Weibo. Not only Ning Xi’s fans, but onlookers also humorously ridiculed her. The result was that 'although I don’t have a beauty like the goddess, my drawing skills are definitely better than hers'.

When everyone was joking around, a netizen said, “The goddess is so tender and gentle. To comfort her fans, she even posted her drawing. I think I’m about to bend1. Goddess, do you need a sister who has graduated from college, can cook and also paint?"

Very few fans believed that Ning Xi had really been fat. Most assumed that she had said so to comfort her fan.

Ning Xi didn’t mind that her fans were taking her drawing to make fun of her, she also didn’t care that they didn’t believe what she said. She said this to firstly, encourage the downcast female fan, and secondly, to take preventive measures for the future.

Not many people knew her so not many would come to find trouble with her. But this didn’t mean that no one would look for trouble with her unless she was lucky and popular all her life.

Instead of waiting to be beaten, it was better to take some measures earlier, so when people would really talk about her past, she wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.

Seeing Ning Xi’s post, Zhang Qingyun gave her a call.

“This self-portrait you drew… is really funny.” Sitting in his office, he looked at his computer’s screen. He was speechless at her masterpiece.

“Your old photos?” He paused, “Okay, send them to me.”

A few minutes later, he received some pictures from her.

There were a few photos of a sweet, cute girl wearing a beautiful flower-patterned skirt. She looked like a little angel.

But the last photo was not that good. She was obviously a little fat, she looked a little ugly too. The only thing worth praising was her fair skin.

“You still have such ugly pictures?” Zhang Qingyun joked, “This is your dark history.”

Ning Xi sat in front of her laptop, looking at her old self. She whispered with a smile, “What dark history, clearly I’m white.”

Zhang Qingyun: “…”

(1) Bend: Feel an attraction towards the opposite sex or the sex which you usually don’t.