After a long silence, he asked, "Can you do it?"
"What can't I do? Even my cousin knows to help me remove the trending topics. By the time people in remote areas like you get the news, my grave will be overgrown with weeds from all the cursing. You're not allowed to come back!"
Ji Mingshu's voice was trembling with sobs, but there was also a sense of relief after venting, and even a sense of... a satisfaction of being comforted that only she knew.
Chapter 61
In fact, when Cen Sen called Ji Mingshu, the Cen and Ji families had already received the news and taken action. The trending topic was on the hot search for less than two hours, and then the related topics disappeared without a trace in a second.
The staff of the "Designer" program had been monitoring the real-time public opinion trend. They were delighted to see the actual conversion rate soaring, but the next second, the trending topics suddenly disappeared. Moreover, many discussion posts related to the program on various forums were also disappearing at a visible speed.
The program crew was baffled and immediately contacted the marketing company they were working with.
The marketing company replied, "We don't know why it was suddenly withdrawn yet. Weibo hasn't given a response, and several forums have also given rather official replies, saying either the post was non-compliant or that it was reported... However, we will contact the senior management of the major forums further, and we will notify you immediately if we have any news."
The marketing company's PR person had a sweet yet slightly sarcastic voice, polite, gentle, and incredibly friendly.
The caller was a naive young man who, after being coaxed and cajoled, readily agreed with "okay, okay, okay."
After the call ended, the producer asked, "What did they say on the other end?"
The staff member paused for a moment, then belatedly realized that the PR lady had just said a lot of things, but actually said nothing at all.
I don't know why the trending topics were removed, or why the posts were deleted. I don't know when I'll get a clear answer.
The producer, already overwhelmed and pacing back and forth in his office, finally snapped, hands on his hips, "Are you an idiot? I'm asking you, are you an idiot? Hurry up and call them again to urge them on!"
The staff member shrugged, feeling a little guilty. When they called back, the phone, as expected, went unanswered.
The production team's managers couldn't understand what was going on. They were afraid that, like when the previous episode aired, they had run into some new directive from above, and their show would be unlucky enough to be affected again.
The group talked back and forth for a long time without reaching any conclusion.
Finally, someone tentatively voiced a guess that everyone had been harboring but no one wanted to delve into: "Could it be that Ji Mingshu... arranged for someone to leave on his own?"
There was a silence for four or five seconds before a voice rang out, "I don't think so. She's just a designer, and she doesn't have many works to her name before."
"I also think... she seems to have been introduced by Meng Xiaowei. Meng Xiaowei did it to untie herself from Li Che. After handing her over, she didn't ask any more questions. She doesn't seem to have any remarkable abilities or background..."
Although everyone was saying this, they looked at each other, their voices grew softer and softer, and they felt increasingly uneasy.
Because they suddenly realized that the possibility of Ji Mingshu having a powerful background seemed far greater than the unfortunate situation of being affected by the new orders from above.
The producer contacted Meng Xiaowei, who was in seclusion filming, almost without hesitation, using every means possible.
Meng Xiaowei is a smart girl. After gaining popularity, she decided to change her career path and focus on creating new works. She has been working hard in the mountains for the past few months and rarely goes online. She was unaware of this until the producer called.
Moreover, her understanding of Ji Mingshu was quite limited. After telling the producer what she knew, she became increasingly afraid that this matter would implicate her, so she quickly sent a message to apologize to Ji Mingshu.
She immediately sensed something was wrong. The producer said they were only leaving 30% for the rest, so if something went wrong, it would definitely be because they were dishonest first.
Regardless of the cause and effect, and regardless of whether Ji Mingshu has a background or not, it is definitely the right thing to do to apologize to Ji Mingshu first.
After apologizing, Meng Xiaowei contacted Gu Kaiyang again, hoping to get some information from him.
Gu Kaiyang usually treated this rising star quite warmly, but when he answered her call tonight, there was a noticeable coldness in his tone.
Meng Xiaowei didn't want to annoy anyone, so she got straight to the point.
Gu Kaiyang didn't answer directly, but only said lightly, "What's done is done, and we've already offended you, so what's the point of saying anything now... Oh, by the way, darling, I heard you'll be filming in Heshan for another two months, right? The solo cover after the New Year was originally reserved for you, but the company estimated that the schedule might not work out, so we'll wait until you finish filming before scheduling it."
Meng Xiaowei opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Gu Kaiyang cut her off, saying, "It's getting late, darling. You've worked hard filming, so get some rest. I still have some work to finish, so let's not talk anymore today."
The implication of shifting blame is so obvious; if Meng Xiaowei still doesn't understand, then she's wasted her time in the entertainment industry.
Furthermore, although Gu Kaiyang didn't give a direct answer, the implication in his words essentially confirmed that the removal and deletion of trending topics and related posts were indeed related to Ji Mingshu. Judging from Gu Kaiyang's tone, Ji Mingshu probably does indeed have a powerful and untouchable background.
After all, she was the one who introduced the person, and if things went wrong, she would offend both sides. While informing the producer, she also asked her assistant to sort out the ins and outs of the matter and see if there was any chance she could salvage the situation.
Actually, the cause and effect of this incident is very simple, and anyone who is familiar with the industry can understand it at a glance—the production team probably has a collaboration with Yan Yuexing and used an ordinary person as a scapegoat to generate buzz.
Before tonight's program aired, the "Designer" program team prepared a lot of press releases and generated buzz on various forums.
Once everyone was drawn to watch the show, a new batch of press releases were released, offering in-depth analyses of the latest episode from different angles. During this time, genuine casual viewers and fans began to argue, and the show's popularity started to rise slightly.
Just then, Yan Yuexing suddenly posted a Weibo post with only a smiling emoji, which she then deleted immediately.
Yan Yuexing is the only ace in the obscure group with a name. She is a girl idol with nearly 10 million followers on Weibo. Although her fans cannot be compared with top celebrities, they are very loyal. They are always full of energy and will do whatever she says. They will praise her to the skies even if she just posts a photo or does something trivial.
Her Weibo post, with its obvious implications, instantly propelled public opinion to a new level.
Fans were ecstatic and affectionate. Even those who initially thought it was just a publicity stunt by the production team suddenly joined in, radiating a fierce aura that screamed, "Whoever bullies my star must die!" and "I can suffer injustice, but our star absolutely cannot suffer injustice!"
However, on various forums, there are quite a few fans of Yan Yuexing's teammates and rivals who dislike her, and not everyone will buy into the hype swayed by paid trolls and fans.
Many fans of other groups who frequent fan circles predicted early on that Ji Mingshu's image was likely maliciously edited.
She's just an ordinary person; she couldn't possibly be criticizing Yan Yuexing for no reason. Why didn't she criticize Feng Yan and Pei Xiyan?
Moreover, Ji Mingshu in the show was extremely impatient with Yan Yuexing, and Yan Yuexing silently endured hardship like a soft and cute punching bag, which was too fake and surreal.
A hater quickly finished watching the show and immediately posted a GIF of Yan Yuexing rolling her eyes and acting like a diva from her early days, mocking her in a post: "[Hilarious! YYX still has the nerve to pretend to be a kind, submissive person on TV shows? Does she think everyone has forgotten? I suggest everyone take this picture to wake up and feel the aura of the world's number one diva. And by the way, I feel sorry for the designer for a second; I'm drooling over her looks. If anyone wants to crowdfund her debut, I'm willing to contribute 100 yuan.]"
The back-and-forth online is essentially a war without gunfire. Before the trending topics were removed and the discussion posts were deleted, the online situation was roughly a three-way standoff:
Yan Yuexing's fans were divided into two groups: one group was responsible for verbally abusing Ji Mingshu, and the other group was responsible for controlling comments on Weibo, forums, and Tieba.
Most Weibo users only look at the trending topics and press releases. The majority sympathize with Yan Yuexing and criticize Ji Mingshu, while a small number see Yan Yuexing's fans' insults and call for an end to cyberbullying of ordinary people.
The forum has many seasoned gossip enthusiasts and fandom members who take a wait-and-see attitude towards the show's drama. Their analysis and interpretation of the show's segments are also quite diverse. Some people's thinking has gone particularly astray, and they even think that Ji Mingshu was both beautiful and cool when she dissed Yan Yuexing.
—But all of this happened before the trending topics were removed and the discussion posts were deleted.
Neither the Cen nor Ji families really understand these things in the entertainment industry. They'll get their insults trending? Then they'll remove them. They'll start a new thread to continue the insults? Then they'll delete it.
Ji Mingshu's second uncle is a typical person in a position of power, and his methods of dealing with public opinion are extremely crude.
When the news reached his ears late at night, in addition to removing the trending topics and deleting the posts, he also took a drastic step, thinking that he could eliminate any future troubles cleanly and decisively.
This simplistic and brutal cut shocked the gossip queens who hadn't had any new juicy gossip for a long time.
Holy crap, this designer's background is incredible! They removed the trending topic and deleted the post, and now the search results aren't showing up?!
Honestly, I never expected that a soap opera about a struggling, low-quality TV show going this far with its drama and publicity stunts. Respect.
[So this designer is really confident now, which is why she went on the show to tear apart a certain ace? Also, didn't the production team know this? Did they just broadcast it so bluntly? Holy crap, I think the production team and Yan Yuexing are going to be in trouble.]
[I only wrote the thesis proposal and I've already missed so many classes! Waaaaah, please, class representative, make me catch up!]
Late at night, night owls were still active on various forums. Bystanders no longer cared who was being so pretentious on this flop show; all they cared about was Ji Mingshu's background.
As expected, the forum is full of talented people. Among the many messy and unpredictable revelations, there was actually an insider who revealed Ji Mingshu's true background in a way that was half true and half false.
[I'm genuinely surprised how this happened... Is Xingcheng too small to have internet access? Xingcheng TV is really something else. I have a friend who knows this girl personally (because she's from a very high-class circle, so it's just a one-sided acquaintance). This girl is a big fan of Pei Xiyan, and she probably participated in the show because of him.]
[My friend's family owns a mine, and she was driving a Ferrari to school when she was eighteen. She told me, with great sincerity, that while she comes from an ordinary family in the industry, this young lady is a true "rich, beautiful, and successful woman," with a Beijing-related family background and her husband's family also having a Beijing name, and they are genuinely wealthy and influential, almost hidden.]
[To add one more thing, this young lady attended the Crillon Ball in Paris when she was fifteen, the kind of ball only top socialites can attend. When she went to Fashion Week, she was invited to dinner by the CEOs of high-end luxury brands. Well... anyway, it's a case of poverty limiting imagination. I really don't understand how this happened. That's all I'll say.]
These revelations may seem dazzling and exciting to casual observers, but they are quite jarring and hurtful to Yan Yuexing's fans.
Our Xingxing has worked hard to get to where she is today. Just because you have connections doesn't mean you can treat her badly on the show!
People's emotions are easily stirred up late at night. The fan leader made a tearful appeal in the group, saying that we must not let our star be overthrown by the powerful, and we must protect our beloved girl!
Even teenage girls were swayed to the point that they would stay up all night neglecting their homework and showers, burning the midnight oil to defend their idol, and flooding Ji Mingshu's Weibo comment section with their phones and computers.
When Ji Mingshu woke up, he discovered that after the trending topics were removed and the posts were deleted, the situation had become even more uncontrollable.
Yan Yuexing's fans also tagged various official media outlets in the comments section of her Weibo post, saying that Ji Mingshu was acting recklessly because of his background and that they wanted to investigate whether their family's money was earned cleanly.
Meanwhile, Yan Yuexing didn't sleep all night. After finally figuring out Ji Mingshu's background, her team communicated with the production team overnight, and the public relations team was also working overtime to come up with a plan.
At this moment, she has only one wish: that her fans shut up.
Chapter 62
Perhaps because she had just woken up, Ji Mingshu was a little dazed. Her eyes were still swollen and painful from crying last night, but she was comforted by Cen Sen as she had hoped. Now, seeing the even more frantic insults on Weibo, she didn't have any particularly intense emotional fluctuations.
Last night she thought she would be so angry that she couldn't sleep, but unexpectedly, she fell asleep quickly after talking to Cen Sen on the phone.
However, when she woke up, she found that something that should have been suppressed had become a major scandal, and she was quite confused.
Just then, Gu Kaiyang called to offer his condolences. She yawned and said she was fine, while brushing her teeth and listening to Gu Kaiyang vividly recount the "Ji Mingshu Incident" that he had launched late the night before.
As expected of Gu Bian, he could come up with such a sensational narrative title off the top of his head, which scared Ji Mingshu back to his senses.
Upon closer listening, it seemed that the main content was a long chain reaction of online surfing triggered by her family's intervention.
Gu Kaiyang said that her family members were very strong-willed. They found that the popularity did not decrease after the name "Ji Mingshu" was blocked, and they also blocked a series of related keywords such as "designer" and "jms" on various forums.
Thanks to this move, Ji Mingshu instantly gained her own exclusive title on various forums—the Silent Master :)
The gossip queens also created derivative buzzwords and cryptic phrases for her, such as "Quiet as Ji", "Shut up when it gets dark", and "It's getting cold, let me treat you to a meal of Ji Ji Hong".
Ji Mingshu, who was originally quite annoyed by the matter, suddenly laughed, even spraying toothpaste foam onto the mirror.
After brushing her teeth, she quickly called her second uncle, using both sweet talk and vows to ensure she could handle the situation. Only then did her second uncle retract all the actions he had taken.
As expected, Ji Mingshu received a scolding, which was nothing more than the usual clichés about not showing her face in public and needing to cultivate a good relationship with Cen Sen.
She patiently hummed and groaned, waiting for her second uncle to say, "Think it over carefully," before the call was hung up.
Unexpectedly, her second uncle scolded her early this morning and then added a new argument: "Xiao Shu, you two are not young anymore. You should start preparing for the next two years and have a child. After giving birth, you can rest for a year or two and have a second child before you turn thirty. It won't delay things."
"...?"
Ji Mingshu was stunned. She never expected that her second uncle would still be thinking about children at a time like this, and even think about having a second child. Truly, Director Ji is the one who always keeps up with national policies and has the highest political awareness in the family. She was so choked up that she couldn't speak for a long time.
To be honest, she and Cen Sen have been married for more than three years and have never really thought about having children. It seems that neither of them is even aware of this issue. Since they got married, they have had a high degree of consensus on safety measures.
As for home, I guess it's because Cen Sen went to Australia a couple of years ago, and urging him was useless, so they simply stopped urging him.
After hanging up the phone, she lay on the bed with her chin propped up, lost in thought for a while. Following her second uncle's train of thought, she considered the sex of the baby, the first pregnancy, and the second pregnancy. She remained in this state for nearly half an hour before remembering that she had important business to attend to.
After Cen Sen comforted her last night, she wrote a long post on Weibo while holding her phone, but fell asleep before posting it.
Now things have changed. After she came to her senses, she reviewed the long article she wrote yesterday and felt that many parts were not quite right. So she spent some time revising it on her phone and even asked Gu Kaiyang, a senior editor who deals with words, to review it for her.
At 11:00 AM, Ji Mingshu posted an article—