CH 30.1

Do You Still Hate Her? 20 – Character has nothing to do with popularity

Many fans of Xia Yuan have firmly decided to ‘un-fan’ him due to his recent behavior. All of this is because Xia Yuan had built a gentle, kind, and respectful image towards women, which earned him a lot of popularity. Now that he has a major public relations crisis, it’s even more unsightly than expected.

The online discussions about this incident have escalated to the point where several hot searches exploded, which can be considered a significant blow to Xia Yuan’s status as a top star. Fans are eager to witness the spectacle.

[Indeed, he’s a top star. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a lively hot search.]

[This might be the hottest day in Xia Yuan’s remaining days as a top star, hahaha. After all, even the prominent fans have spoken up. He won’t be a top star anymore in the future.]

[I hope all actors and idols can take the words of Shang Lu to heart. Character and popularity are not related. Even if you become very popular, it’s only because fans support you. But when your image shatters, their love will disappear too.]

[I cried so loudly. How could the person I’ve liked for so long turn out to be like this?]

[I’ve liked Xia Yuan since his debut… I never expected him to be this kind of person. After what happened with Ning Lin, why does it feel like my world is collapsing again? It’s somewhat ridiculous that this incident involves Ning Lin too.]

Some netizens find amusement in the situation.

[To the person above, who will you support now? You need to prepare myself mentally.]

[Yes, this year, the two most disastrous collapsed houses1 in the entertainment industry are both yours!]

At this moment, Tang Qingqing took out her trumpet and went online.

[Xia Yuan is really disgusting… He actually wants to instigate Shang Lu to go find trouble with Ning Lin, spreading rumors, and badmouthing others. How could he say such nasty things? No matter what Ning Lin has done, it’s none of his business. Does he really need to be so malicious? Ning Lin is really pitiful.]

Some netizens echoed the sentiment, but others felt it was not right and immediately refuted:

[Why suddenly whitewash Ning Lin? Xia Yuan being a scumbag doesn’t justify Ning Lin shamelessly being a third party.]

[Just because I’m scolding Xia Yuan doesn’t mean I like Ning Lin. I’m just saying she’s already fading out of the entertainment circle, so there’s no need to keep bashing her.]

[So, in conclusion, who’s really miserable here is Shang Lu. @Shang_Lu, go to the temple and pray. Why is there always such a bunch of ominous people around you?]

[That’s why you shouldn’t offend Shang Lu. She’s like the mirror of the entertainment industry, and anyone who tries to deceive her will eventually be exposed. Hahaha]

Tang Qingqing : “???”

How did it turn out like this?

Tang Qingqing was so angry that she threw her phone and decided not to read these comments anymore. Her gaze fell on the voice recorder on the table.

She picked up the voice recorder once again and pressed play.

Xia Yuan’s voice came through, and it was so disgusting to hear.

“She and Jiang Yi have not separated; Jiang Yi bought her an apartment.”

“My friend took some photos, and as long as you want, you can publish them anytime to show everyone their true colors.”

“Don’t you hate Ning Lin? Are you willing to see her live so easily now? Are you satisfied with leaving it at this point?”

And Shang Lu responded like this:

“How is she living easily? Her career has already been ruined. Why should I completely destroy her life?”

“I am not willing. This matter has had no impact on Jiang Yi whatsoever.”

The voice recorder continued to play, and Tang Qingqing’s eyes turned red, feeling somewhat at a loss.

Shang Lu was unaware that Tang Qingqing had placed the voice recorder in the dressing room, so these were her sincere words.

Shang Lu doesn’t hate Ning Lin that much; on the contrary, she is kind and principled. She didn’t choose to follow Xia Yuan’s advice and harm Ning Lin. She believes in sparing others and doesn’t want to completely ruin Ning Lin’s life.

At the same time, Tang Qingqing finally understands what she has been feeling unwilling for Ning Lin all this time.

She naturally knew that Ning Lin was at fault, but there are too many morally problematic artists in the entertainment industry. Why did Ning Lin receive such a harsh backlash? Those male artists who have had affairs can still thrive on the screen, so why is it that only Ning Lin has faced such consequences?

Moreover, this matter is not solely Ning Lin’s problem. The person with a fiancée is clearly Jiang Yi, as mentioned by Shang Lu. So why does this situation seem to have little impact on Jiang Yi?

It’s just that the company’s stock fluctuated a bit, lost a few business partners, and maybe their annual profits will be slightly lower. But other than that, he is still the same President Jiang.

In the end, only Ning Lin received the punishment for this wrongdoing. Why is this unfair treatment happening?

It’s also because of such emotions that Tang Qingqing chose to expose the recorded conversation in a fit of anger. She wanted everyone to see Jiang Yi’s true face as a scumbag.

Although she achieved her goal, it seems like she didn’t fully succeed.

Tang Qingqing finally understood the reason.

Because Jiang Yi is not someone from the entertainment industry, no matter how much the public opinion ferments, it won’t fundamentally affect him. It never will.

But then she thought about what Xia Yuan said. Is Ning Lin still together with such a person?

What does Ning Lin see in him? Does he truly love her?

Tang Qingqing felt confused and had a splitting headache.

This incident had a tremendous impact on Xia Yuan, just as his top fan said in her final words. From today onwards, he was no longer a top star.

Numerous fan sites announced their closure, and the fandom was in turmoil, akin to an ‘earthquake.’

As for Xia Yuan’s management studio, seeing the situation had escalated to this extent, they couldn’t cover it up any longer. They had to step forward, first claiming it was unintentional use of public resources, then apologizing and admitting that Xia Yuan did indeed have a girlfriend, but they had already broken up. They stated that the time of his confession to Shang Lu didn’t count as cheating.

Being in a romantic relationship and cheating are two different things. The former might make him fall from grace as an idol, but as long as he returned to being single, fans could eventually forget about it. However, the latter was a matter of morality.

Of course, it’s hard to say how many fans would accept this explanation.

On the other hand, Jiang Yi felt that he was an innocent victim of all this.

In order to establish this image of a deep and affectionate person, he had chosen to terminate his contract with Xia Yuan last night, even before the complete version of the recording was exposed. As there was no violation of any terms, Tianyi Entertainment had to pay the penalty for breaking the contract.

If he had just delayed it for one more day, it would have been Xia Yuan’s side compensating them!

Losing some money wasn’t a big deal in itself; he could endure it and let it pass.

But Jiang Yi never expected that the recording used to attack Xia Yuan would actually mention him and Ning Lin. Just when netizens were starting to forget about this incident, he had planned to re-emphasize his pursuit of Shang Lu, but now, he ended up being labeled as a ‘scumbag’ again.

Now he had to endure being criticized alongside Xia Yuan.

Xia Yuan is truly foolish.

However, for Shang Lu, it was indeed a miraculous night.

She hadn’t done anything, just slept, and her name had skyrocketed along with this recording, becoming a hot search among countless searches. With the popularity came countless endorsement and script collaboration offers.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but sigh: Is this what it means to be a top star? She had truly witnessed that compared to the hype around Xia Yuan, the things concerning Ning Lin were nothing.

Online public opinion continued to ferment, with all sorts of statements. Xia Yuan’s studio temporarily suspended all his activities, stating that they wanted him to reflect on his actions and concentrate on creating better works to repay his fans.

However, all of this no longer concerned Shang Lu, as she quickly approached the recording of the fifth episode of .

This episode was originally planned to have Xia Yuan as a guest, but due to his current scandal, he naturally couldn’t appear on the show anymore.

However, what surprised Shang Lu was that Jiang Jing, who was supposed to be absent from this episode, actually showed up.

The person she thought would come didn’t, and the person she thought wouldn’t be there showed up.

Although Xia Yuan couldn’t participate, for the program team, the show must go on. So they invited another guest, the renowned commercial film director Yue Qi.

Yue Qi, also in his early thirties, had the highest-grossing domestic film last year. He could be considered a formidable rival to Song Zeqian. Both of them were seen as the most promising directors of their generation in the film industry.

While Song Zeqian favored realistic themes and pursued depth in his films, Yue Qi openly admitted that he was a director of commercial films. His goal was to achieve high box office results and create the most popular family-friendly movies for the Chinese New Year holiday season.

Yue Qi looked down on Song Zeqian, feeling that his films had too much unnecessary whining, claiming to pursue artistry while also seeking box office success, which he found impure.

On the other hand, Song Zeqian also despised Yue Qi’s approach. He believed that popcorn commercial films might be loved by the masses due to their fast-paced nature, but they would be forgotten completely after a few years. None of them would become classics.