Xin Ying didn't notice her assistant's expression. She said to Lin Leyao, "I'll take the trash away for you."
"Okay... thank you."
Xin Ying's actions took Lin Leyao by surprise. She felt Kong Anqing's burning gaze sweeping over her and Xin Ying, and her thin earlobes gradually turned a light red.
This Xin Ying is quite different from the descriptions found online and the impression she gave me when we last met. Has she already begun to take on the responsibilities of being a partner since the marriage was arranged?
Xin Ying, unaware of what Lin Leyao was thinking, was changing her shoes with her head down when she replied to what Lin Leyao had just said, "Don't mention it!"
Soon, the door opened and then closed again, and Xin Ying and her assistant left together.
The apartment, which had been bustling all morning, fell silent again.
Chapter 6
Lin Leyao nestled on the sofa, lost in thought.
Xin Ying had been keeping the air conditioner on all morning, so the whole room was warm and cozy, and Lin Leyao's usually cold hands and feet were now warm too.
The afternoon sun at two o'clock was scorching and intense, radiating heat even in autumn.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating Lin Leyao as she lay sprawled on the sofa, feeling drowsy and lethargic.
Just then, the cell phone rang suddenly, breaking the silence in the room.
It was Xiao Yan calling.
Lin Leyao clicked to answer, "Hello, Sister Yan."
Do you know Xin Wenwen?
The direct question startled Lin Leyao. Only Xiaomi knew that Xin Wenwen was her ex-girlfriend; how did Xiao Yan know?
"Yes, we know each other. So what?"
"Damn it." Xiao Yan cursed, "This guy got you trending on social media."
Xiao Yan continued to explain in detail: "After the photos of this person kissing Tang Ran came out, Tang Ran's fans kept making a fuss, dissatisfied with Xin Wenwen. Later, they dug up Xin Wenwen's account and found that she used to frequently confess her love to you on Weibo, saying that you were her favorite celebrity. You know you have a lot of haters, and Tang Ran's fans already had a grudge against your fans, so they went crazy on Weibo, spreading rumors about you and Xin Wenwen everywhere. Your fans fought with Tang Ran's fans to protect you, and now it's trending on Weibo. However, only your name and Xin Wenwen's name are trending. I guess Tang Ran's team did it, directly shifting the blame. Her fans were already angry about her scandal, so they used you as a target to vent their anger!"
So that's the problem. Lin Leyao replied calmly, "There's no way to solve this kind of thing. We can only leave it to cool down and issue a statement tonight. If that doesn't work, we can sue a few people who use foul language."
Xiao Yan: "Who will issue a statement for you? You don't have a studio; the company used to issue them. But in the past six months since you offended President Li, has the company's official Weibo account posted anything about you? Are you going to issue your own statement?"
Lin Leyao: "...Then let's not post it. Fan wars are no big deal. Besides, how many messy stories have been fabricated about me over the years?"
This time, it was Xiao Yan's turn to be speechless. She sighed, wanted to say something but held back, and after a long pause, asked, "So you're definitely not going to apologize to President Li?"
Lin Leyao didn't answer immediately. After a while, she said, "Let me think about it some more."
"Okay." Xiao Yan emphasized, carefully instructing, "You must think about it seriously, really, really well."
"Um."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Leyao opened Weibo's trending topics list and found that she and Xin Wenwen's names were listed at number seventeen.
Clicking on the trending search name, the top trending Weibo account belongs to a very famous hater of Lin Leyao.
This hater started by attacking Lin Leyao, and later transformed into a marketing account, but still continues to relentlessly attack Lin Leyao.
Lin Leyao opened the comments section and found that her supporters were evenly split between fans and haters. Clicking on the haters' accounts revealed that most of the harshly worded and vulgar comments were actually Tang Ran's fans.
Lin Leyao had become desensitized to these insulting words. She stopped reading the comments and went to her own super topic instead.
Lin Leyao used her own alternate account, on which she followed some long-time fans who had liked her for several years, and also followed her own super topic.
The fans in the super topic were already crying their eyes out.
Fan 1: [Waaaaah, why is it that when Tang Ran and Xin Wenwen date, it's my daughter who gets all the flak?!]
Fan 2: [Damn it! What does Xin Wenwen's confession on Weibo have to do with Lin Leyao?! Her idol is a playboy, always dating, but she can't be crazy with her own idol, so she takes it out on other people. A bunch of lunatics!]
Fan 3: [I'm so familiar with this trending topic. Which company bought this trending topic to smear my idol?]
Fan 4: [That account on the top trending list is a blacklist account of ours. All our comments trying to control the narrative were deleted by this jerk, leaving only comments from haters. It's disgusting!]
Fan 5: [Holy crap, I've only been a fan of Yao Yao for a short time, how come she's so pitiful...]
Besides the fans who were crying, there were also some fans who wrote heartbreaking little essays in the super topic.
The Wind Continues to Blow (lin): [Our Le Yao entered the entertainment industry at 20. She's always been a cheerful and bright young girl. When she entered film school, she must have naively dreamed of working hard in her acting career and making everyone like her performances. But back then, as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, she didn't know that the entertainment industry is a ruthless place that eats people alive. She plunged in headfirst and was left battered and bruised. The little girl who used to love to laugh no longer smiles whenever she appears in public. Our Le Yao is also a child loved by her family! Why is there so much unwarranted 'evil' in the world? Why do they all bully my child?!]
No Illusions: [I'm really tired! I've been targeted by online trolls for five years now, and it's continued to this day. I've been working day and night to clarify things and control online comments. Some of my family and colleagues don't understand; some directly ask me about the negative rumors surrounding Lin Leyao and why I like her. I tell them they're fake! I send them clarifications, and they say, "So what if it's fake? Why are you getting so worked up?" They don't understand and think I'm making a fuss. I keep thinking, if you all don't care, what about the person hurt by these rumors? Does she have to bear all this malice alone? I'm really tired. I was recently diagnosed with moderate depression. I thought being a fan was a happy thing, but it seems it isn't. I'll be taking a break from the internet for a while. I still really like Leyao; I'm not unfollowing her.]
Lonely Home: [After the massive online backlash last year, Yao Yao didn't post on Weibo for six months. Over the years, she's always told us she's not afraid of being criticized and doesn't mind the comments, but does she really not mind? If she didn't mind, she wouldn't have stopped posting. During that time last year, I often cried for no reason. Later, I saw a doctor and found out I had depression. The doctor told me to pay attention to my mood, but how can I? Should I quit the internet and stop seeing any information about Yao Yao?]
Xu Xu: [Xinghai Entertainment hasn't posted anything about Yao Yao for half a year. What does this mean? Is she being sidelined? Or has her contract been terminated?]
sdfghjkl: [Actually, every time Le Yao joins a production team over the years, it's the happiest moment for me. Knowing she has work and can experience another character's life on set makes me very happy. But this year is almost over and Le Yao still hasn't joined a production team, and there's still no news for the remaining half year.]
There are many similar Weibo posts. As Lin Leyao read these comments from fans in the super topic, her heart slowly clenched.
Lin Leyao may not care about the comments from haters, but she can't possibly ignore the words of her fans, especially those fans who have suffered a lot for her sake, who have not felt much joy from liking her but have shed many tears for her.
Lin Leyao held her phone for hours, scrolling through it. As the sun slowly set, she took a deep breath and logged out of Weibo.
She turned on her phone's camera, took a selfie, logged into Weibo, quickly edited it, and posted it.
Lin Leyao: [Starting today, it's time for a Sailor Moon transformation! Selfie jpg.]
This is a selfie that Lin Leyao posted after a long time. It wasn't posted in the comments of her previous Weibo posts, but in a separate Weibo post.
The fans who were crying in the super topic suddenly realized what was happening and started screaming excitedly.
Soon, the comments section and the super topic on Weibo were filled with the word "ah".
Fan 1: [Aa ...
Fan 2: [Ahhhhhh, my wife, it's been so long!]
Fan 3: [My little one! My little one! My little one!!]
Fan 4: [What do you mean by a big transformation, baby?! You're already a beautiful girl! No need for a transformation!!]
Fan 5: [I always felt there was a deeper meaning behind my wife's words.]
No illusions: 【I'm alive again!】
The fans who were just posting long essays in the super topic and crying about quitting the internet immediately perked up after Lin Leyao posted on Weibo.
Other fans left comments laughing and teasing.
abcda: [Is Fantasy going to quit the internet?]
No fantasy reply: [I'm not backing out, doge]
It's possible that the money spent on buying negative trending topics wasn't renewed, because just ten minutes after Lin Leyao posted on Weibo, the trending topic, which was originally ranked seventeenth, suddenly disappeared.
With the negative trending topics disappearing, Lin Leyao's fans breathed a sigh of relief.
As dusk fell, Lin Leyao picked up her car keys and prepared to return to the Ji residence.
-
An hour earlier, in a coffee shop a hundred meters away from the Huanning Group building, Xin Ying, dressed in a business suit, sat in a seat and texted her sixth brother on her phone.
After receiving the reply, Xin Ying looked up at the little girl in front of her with bangs and a ponytail, and said, "You'll stay at my house tonight, and tomorrow you'll fly back to N City. Your dad will pick you up at the airport."
Hearing this, the girl on the other end of the line, who was playing on her phone, pouted and said unhappily, "Auntie, I went through all that trouble to take the high-speed train here, why are you kicking me out of the house as soon as I arrive?!"
"You're running away from home, you know? Your dad's worried sick at home! You need to get back to school right now. You're in the final year of junior high, how come you don't feel any pressure at all!"
"Oh dear, Auntie! I'm a good-for-nothing. My lifelong dream is to sponge off my parents. To achieve this goal, I definitely won't study hard!"
Seeing that the girl remained unmoved, Xin Ying's voice turned cold, "Xin Yuan!"
Hearing this voice, Xin Yuan knew that her aunt was angry, so she quickly nodded obediently, "Okay, I'll go home tomorrow!"
Hearing the child agree, Xin Ying's expression softened. She leaned back in her chair and looked at the little girl across from her who bore a striking resemblance to her sixth brother.
Xin Yuan's mother died from postpartum hemorrhage during her birth. Her sixth brother has never remarried since, and because the child was born without a mother, the family has spoiled Xin Yuan a bit. Although Xin Yuan is a little delicate, she has a good temper. In addition, Xin Yuan has lived in another city with her sixth brother since she was a child, and the elders in the family rarely see her. Therefore, everyone is willing to continue to indulge her.
The girl is in her adolescence. Since we met, she has been looking down at her phone, her expression changing from excited to frustrated. Could she be in a relationship?
"Little Kite, what are you playing?"
"I'm scrolling through Weibo, Auntie!" After saying that, Xin Yuan looked up from the screen and asked Xin Ying, "Auntie, you don't know about Weibo, do you?"
"Know."
"Oh—you know that, but you don't play, right!"
Xin Ying did not refute this time, saying, "Weibo is of no use to me."
Xin Yuan nodded, "That's true. If you don't follow celebrities, you don't need to use Weibo. I only use Weibo because I follow celebrities and need to check my idol's updates every day. Otherwise, with so many trolls on Weibo, I would have quit a long time ago!"
"Stanning celebrities?"
“Yes.” Xin Yuan nodded, then suddenly remembered something, “I found out that Sister Wenwen is trending on Weibo, she’s having a rumored relationship with a celebrity.”
"Wenwen?"
Xin Yuan explained, "It was with a female celebrity named Tang Ran."
Xin Ying didn't know who Tang Ran was. Xin Wenwen was already in her twenties, and she wouldn't care who she dated.
However, Xin Yuan immediately followed up with, "But she's trending on social media today because of Lin Leyao."
Xin Yuan kept her eyes glued to her phone, unaware that as soon as she finished speaking, her aunt's usually calm and composed expression changed slightly.
Xin Ying slowly asked again, "Lin, Le, Yao?"
Xin Yuan answered decisively, "Yes!"
Chapter 7
"Lin Leyao is really pitiful. She's been criticized since her debut." Xin Yuan got excited when talking about celebrity gossip, shaking her head and explaining, "She wore a backless dress on the red carpet, and people online called her provocative and dressed too revealingly; at a TV series launch press conference, she smiled at the male actor next to her, and people accused her of seducing the young heartthrob; when she recorded a variety show and participated in a game with other actresses, people online criticized her for being too rough. This woman is really pitiful, but fortunately she has played many attractive roles. Although the online public opinion is very unfriendly towards her, the public's evaluation of the dramas she has acted in is quite good."
Hearing what Xin Yuan said, Xin Ying was somewhat stunned. She had never paid attention to the entertainment industry before. In the past, she had never noticed that so many people were attacking her online.
Xin Yuan continued, "That's just how it is for public figures. There are already a lot of disgusting people on Weibo and forums. My idol gets cursed at every day. And you rich people get cursed as evil capitalists every day!"