Wen Ying used to rely solely on a tough, unyielding approach, but ever since she discovered that acting coquettish and speaking softly worked wonders on Manager Chen, she quickly adapted and applied it to every aspect of her life.
Xie Qian, Yuan Fenghui… even those difficult people could be won over with a bit of coquettish charm and gentle words!
Speaking softly to her readers ought to be even more effective, right?
Wen Ying decided to give it a try.
The die-hard fans, led by Gan Tao, saw Wen Ying’s latest blog post and felt a surge of hot blood rush to their heads: we were right, Little Fish really does need our protection!
“Little Fish is going through a very tough time right now.”
“If even we don’t trust her, no one else will.”
“We’ve loved her for so long. Even if we’ve decided to stop, surely we can wait a few more days?”
“Little Fish clearly has her reasons…”
Wen Ying’s swift public statement gave her loyal fans tremendous confidence.
Although they had always loved her without expecting anything in return, the fact that she cared about their feelings and put them first naturally stirred their emotions!
Not just the die-hard fans, even the wavering readers felt a pang of shame.
They had been unwilling to wait even a few days and had nearly condemned Little Fish to death in their hearts. That kind of behaviour was worse than the haters.
Haters could say whatever they wanted; Little Fish would not care.
But they… they were the ones Little Fish cared about.
Thank goodness Little Fish did not know they had wavered. They could still make amends!
The “anti-Wen” faction, led by Ran Keqing, had hired a large number of paid trolls. Miss Ran had been confident she would control the narrative, but after Wen Ying updated her blog, the massive readership flooded major online forums and fiercely battled the trolls.
In no time, the hired trolls were beaten back at every turn.
Ran Keqing could hardly believe it. “Are these people insane? She’s just a novelist!”
No, she was more than just a novelist.
Her influence now rivalled that of a super-popular celebrity!
Luo Hao was both envious and jealous. “Ordinary writers can’t do this. ‘Tianjiao’ has turned a writer into a star.”
So many people wanted fame, yet Tianjiao ignored all the eager newcomers and poured effort into making a writer a celebrity.
Luo Hao had now witnessed Wen Ying’s rallying power, the very thing he dreamed of having.
With influence like that, Wen Ying never even bothered to do endorsements or anything. What a waste. If he had that kind of popularity, he could rule the entertainment world!
Ran Keqing’s expression flickered. “So what if she’s a star?”
In Miss Ran’s eyes, stars were merely tools for the Ran family to make money. When one faded, they simply promoted the next. The company was iron; the stars were water.
Ran Keqing looked down on celebrities. Luo Hao, who craved fame, cursed her inwardly as a bitch but put on a worried face. “Sister Keqing, why don’t we let it go this time? We can find another chance later.”
Ran Keqing gave him a withering look. “You’re so spineless. A little popularity and you’re scared? Popularity is popularity. The higher you stand now, the harder you fall later!”
Wen Ying had dared to post that blog because she was clearly confident about the second part of the interview and believed Yuan Fenghui had arranged everything perfectly.
But this time, Wen Ying was destined for disappointment.
Even the best agents slipped up sometimes. Yuan Fenghui had enjoyed three or four years of success on the mainland; now it was time for her to taste failure!
Ran Keqing had no intention of pouring more money into trolls. She would focus her firepower on altering the content of the second interview and destroy Wen Ying’s popularity at its root.
…
Hunan Province.
Manager Guan had spent two days enjoying Wen Ying’s misfortune. He could not hold back and complained to his wife, Liang Dan. “That Zhao Dong keeps talking about his autobiography one minute and cultural tourism the next, making a huge fuss, yet he can’t even handle one little girl.”
Back when Si Lan had not yet gone bankrupt, Manager Guan had already seen that Zhao Dong was useless.
He had originally planned to egg Zhao Dong on to cause trouble at Hunan Satellite TV and give Director Fan a hard time, but Zhao Dong had been swiftly crushed by the beauty blogger who sued him. At the time, Manager Guan thought a mere beauty blogger could not have that much power. Now he understood: it had been “Reverse Flow Fish” pulling strings behind the scenes!
Liang Dan was exasperated. “You have the nerve to mock Zhao Dong? Didn’t you suffer a huge loss to that same girl?”
Manager Guan’s smile vanished.
“With Crown of Thorns, I was screwed over by that Fan fellow, and maybe Yuan Fenghui too… Are you trying to say this girl was involved as well?”
Liang Dan sneered. “Of course she was. Crown of Thorns plagiarised her book. Do you think she didn’t know? She didn’t sue early or late; she waited until filming was nearly finished. That was deliberate.”
“It might have been Yuan Fenghui—”
“Yuan Fenghui can’t control her completely.”
Liang Dan had never taken Wen Ying seriously before, but this time she watched the interview carefully.
Wen Ying spoke with remarkable clarity and logic.
In the interview, it was not Wen Ying following the host’s rhythm; unconsciously, the host had adapted to Wen Ying’s pace.
“I made some enquiries. Turns out she’s long been a shareholder in Tianjiao.”
Wen Ying was not the most profitable of Tianjiao’s “Four Sons”, yet she had bypassed the other three celebrities to become a shareholder with greater say than any of them!
That meant Wen Ying had been part of Tianjiao’s decision-making from early on.
Digging deeper, Tianjiao’s choices of who to promote, which dramas to invest in, and which TV stations to partner with might all have involved Wen Ying… Was that not terrifying?
“She’s only a first-year university student this year!”
Liang Dan’s eyes darkened. Manager Guan was stunned.
“Are you sure you’re not just scaring yourself?”
Liang Dan’s face was grim. “I wish I were. The moment I think of Tianjiao having a little demon like her working closely with Yuan Fenghui, and both of them being so tight with Director Fan, I can’t sleep at night!”
How formidable Wen Ying was had little direct bearing on Liang Dan.
But the fact that such a formidable person consistently stood on Director Fan’s side affected Liang Dan enormously.
In broad daylight, Manager Guan felt a chill down his neck from his wife’s words.
“What do we do, then?”
A glint flashed in Liang Dan’s eyes. “The producer of that interview programme is an old classmate of mine.”
Manager Guan was not entirely reassured. “You two haven’t been in touch much. Will he come through when it matters?”
“He owed me a big favour once. Now it’s time to repay it.”
Liang Dan found the contact details and called right in front of her husband.
The man on the other end was extremely warm towards Liang Dan. They chatted affectionately for a while, reminiscing about school days, before Liang Dan made her request.
“…Old classmate, I’ve never asked you for anything in all these years. This time I really have no choice!”
There was a pause on the line. After a long moment, he gave a wry laugh. if anyone else said that, I’d hang up immediately. Dan Dan, you helped me enormously back then. I have to repay this favour.”
“Will it be too difficult for you?”
“It will be very difficult.”
The producer gritted his teeth. “Difficult or not, I’ll do it. Don’t worry!”
Only then did Liang Dan smile. She exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up.
“What did I tell you?”
She glanced sideways at him.
“Darling, your connections are incredible. There’s nothing you can’t handle!”
Manager Guan smoothly flattered her and massaged her shoulders, but inwardly he grumbled: Dan Dan, Dan Dan, so intimate. Who knows what kind of “favour” it really was.
Maybe an old flame!
Manager Guan always felt a faint green glow above his head.
Alas, outsiders envied him for living off his wife. Was soft rice really that easy to eat?
…
The interview programme producer hung up Liang Dan’s call.
Few would believe it, but Liang Dan was not the first to phone him.
He had received several similar calls.
The callers had various statuses: some, like Liang Dan, were calling in favours; some hinted through official channels; others were entertainment company bosses offering benefits.
“Reverse Flow Fish? More like Rebellious Fish!”
The producer was speechless.
It was rare for a bestselling author to offend so many people at once!
They all shared the same goal: they did not want any reversal in the second part of the interview. They wanted to see “Reverse Flow Fish” persona collapse and be dragged down from her pedestal as a premium idol!
If it was just one person asking, the producer could refuse.
Two people, and he could still hold firm.
But when so many made the same demand, it formed an airtight net around him. He truly could not withstand it!
The producer muttered, “I’d love to have a journalist’s professional integrity, but the environment simply doesn’t allow me a conscience…”
Without a conscience, one did indeed get ahead more easily.
Being the producer of an interview programme on CCTV sounded impressive, but the rewards were meagre.
In terms of income, he lagged far behind someone like Liang Dan who had moved to a provincial station early on.
The producer picked up the desk phone and dialled an internal line. “That Reverse Flow Fish interview, re-edit it again.”
