My Queen, My Rules - 61
Fermenting
In truth, by the time Cen Sen called Ji Mingshu, both the Cen and Ji families had already gotten word of what was happening and began taking action. The trending topic had been up for less than two hours before, in the blink of an eye, every related hashtag vanished without a trace.
The staff of Designer's Abode had been monitoring public opinion in real time. They had been secretly delighted as the show's engagement numbers climbed higher and higher. But the next second, all the hot searches were gone. Worse still, discussion threads about the program across every major forum were visibly and rapidly disappearing.
Completely baffled, the production team immediately contacted the marketing agency they had partnered with.
The agency replied, "We're not sure yet why everything was suddenly taken down. We haven't received any explanation from Weibo, and the forums are all giving us the same official responses. Either the posts violated regulations, or someone reported them. We'll keep reaching out to the senior management of the major platforms and let you know the moment we hear anything."
The PR representative had a voice that was sweet, polished, and effortlessly reassuring. She sounded courteous, warm, and completely trustworthy.
The young staffer handling the call was inexperienced. After being talked around so smoothly, he could only nod along over the phone, blurting out, "Right, right, okay, got it."
As soon as the call ended, the producer asked, "So? What did they say?"
The staffer froze. Only then did he realize that despite talking for ages, the PR representative hadn't actually answered a single question.
Why the trending topic had disappeared? Unknown.
Why the posts were being deleted? Unknown.
When they could expect a definite answer? Also unknown.
The producer was already overwhelmed, pacing back and forth around the office. Finally he snapped, hands on his hips. "Are you an idiot? Seriously, are you? Call them again and keep pushing!"
The staffer shrank back guiltily. When he dialed again, the call predictably went unanswered.
None of the show's senior staff could make sense of what was happening. Their biggest fear was that this was another repeat of the previous episode, when some new directive from higher up had come down and, by sheer bad luck, their program had been caught in the crossfire.
Everyone tossed theories back and forth, but after a long discussion, they still had no answers.
At last, someone cautiously voiced the possibility that everyone had been thinking about but none of them wanted to consider.
"...Could it have been Ji Mingshu herself? Maybe she had the trending topic taken down?"
The room fell silent for four or five seconds before someone finally replied, "...Probably not? She's just a designer. She didn't even have much of a portfolio before."
"I don't think so either... Wasn't she introduced by Meng Xiaowei? Meng Xiaowei was trying to distance herself from Li Che. She handed Ji Mingshu over and never asked about her again. It didn't seem like she had any extraordinary background or influence..."
Even as they said this, they looked uneasily at one another, their voices grew quieter and their confidence steadily faded.
Because they suddenly realized something.
The possibility of Ji Mingshu having a powerful background was beginning to seem far more likely than their program simply getting caught up in another government directive.
Without a moment's hesitation, the producer used every connection he had to reach Meng Xiaowei, who was currently isolated on set filming.
Meng Xiaowei was a smart girl. After gaining popularity, she had decided to focus on building a solid acting career. She had spent the past few months buried deep in the mountains filming with almost no internet access, so until the producer called, she had known nothing about any of this.
Her own understanding of Ji Mingshu was limited. After telling the producer everything she knew, the more she thought about it, the more afraid she became that she herself might get dragged into the mess. She quickly sent Ji Mingshu a message apologizing.
The moment she heard the producer's carefully measured version of events, she knew something wasn't right. He had obviously left far more unsaid than said. If things had escalated this badly, then the production team had almost certainly been in the wrong first.
Whatever had happened, and whether or not Ji Mingshu truly had powerful backing, apologizing first could never be the wrong move.
After sending the apology, Meng Xiaowei contacted Gu Kaiyang, hoping to sound her out.
Normally, Gu Kaiyang had maintained a fairly close rapport toward this entertainment industry's rising star. But tonight, the coolness in her voice was impossible to miss.
Not wanting to make things worse, Meng Xiaowei skipped the pleasantries and stated her purpose upfront.
Gu Kaiyang didn't answer directly. She merely said lightly, "What's done is done. Whether she can be offended or not, she has already been offended. What's the point of talking about it now? Oh, by the way, dear, I heard you'll still be filming in He Mountain for another two months? We originally reserved that solo magazine cover for you after the New Year, but after checking the schedule, it doesn't look like the timing will work out. Let's wait until you've finished filming before arranging anything."
Before Meng Xiaowei could utter a word, Gu Kaiyang cut her off. "It's getting late, dear. You must be tired from filming. Get some rest early. I still have work to finish, so let's leave it here tonight."
The implication was so obvious that anyone who missed it had no business surviving in the entertainment industry.
Although Gu Kaiyang had never given a direct answer, her words all but confirmed it. The disappearance of the trending topics and deleted discussion posts were indeed connected to Ji Mingshu. Judging from Gu Kaiyang's tone, Ji Mingshu almost certainly possessed a background no one should provoke.
After all, Meng Xiaowei had been the one who introduced her to the program. If she handled this poorly, she could offend both sides. While relaying everything back to the producer, she also had her assistant organize the entire sequence of events, hoping there was still some way to repair the damage.
In truth, the entire incident was painfully simple. Anyone familiar with the entertainment industry could see it immediately. The production team had most likely had a deal with Yan Yuexing's side and chose an non-celebrity guest as the sacrificial target to manufacture controversy.
Even before that night's episode aired, Designer's Abode had already arranged numerous promotional articles across major forums to stir anticipation.
Once viewers were drawn into watching the show, another wave of articles was deployed, analyzing the newest episode from every possible angle. Real viewers and genuine fans soon joined the arguments, steadily driving up the discussion.
Then, right in the middle of it all, Yan Yuexing posted a Weibo containing nothing but a single smiling emoji, then deleted it almost instantly.
Yan Yuexing might have belonged to a struggling idol group, but she was its undisputed ace and the only member with real name recognition. With nearly ten million Weibo followers, she couldn't compete with the industry's biggest traffic stars, but her fans were fiercely loyal. They followed wherever she pointed. She could upload a random photo or make the smallest move imaginable, and they would shower her with endless praise without a second thought.
That one deliberately suggestive post instantly pushed the controversy to an entirely new level.
Her fans flooded the internet with a frenzy of protective pity. Even those who had originally dismissed the whole thing as nothing more than the show's publicity stunt rushed into battle, practically radiating the conviction of ‘Anyone who bullies our Xingxing deserves to die,’ ‘I can suffer, but our Xingxing absolutely cannot’.
Still, plenty of people on the major forums disliked Yan Yuexing. Fans of her teammates, rival fandoms, and ordinary users weren't so easily swept along by hired accounts or fan campaigns.
Many veterans of idol fandom culture predicted the truth almost immediately: Ji Mingshu was likely a victim of malicious editing.
She was just an ordinary guest. Why would she suddenly target Yan Yuexing? Why hadn't she criticized Feng Yan or Pei Xiyan?
Besides, the way Ji Mingshu was portrayed openly impatient toward Yan Yuexing while Yan Yuexing acted like an endlessly sweet, silently suffering innocent was simply too fake. The whole thing felt absurd.
Some anti-fans quickly skimmed the episode, dumped old GIFs of Yan Yuexing rolling her eyes and acting like a diva, with a mocking post:
[I'm dying. YYX actually has the nerve to come on TV pretending to be some sweet little victim? Does she think everyone has amnesia? Here's a reminder. Enjoy this classic GIF of Her Majesty acting like the biggest celebrity on earth. Also, one second of silence for the designer. By the way, I'm officially obsessed with her face. If she ever decides to debut through crowdfunding, I'll happily throw in a hundred yuan.]
The internet quickly turned into a battlefield without smoke. Before the trending topics disappeared and the discussion posts were deleted, public opinion had settled into a three-way standoff.
One group consisted of Yan Yuexing's fans, split between attacking Ji Mingshu and flooding Weibo, forums, and comment sections with coordinated post.
Another consisted of ordinary Weibo users, most of whom only saw the trending topics and promotional articles. The majority sympathized with Yan Yuexing and criticized Ji Mingshu, while a smaller number condemned the online abuse directed at a non-celebrity.
The third group gathered on the forums, where veteran gossip hunters and fandom regulars took a more cautious view. They dissected the episode from every angle, and some people's interpretations became so wildly off track that they actually concluded Ji Mingshu looked incredibly cool every time she called out Yan Yuexing.
But all of that existed only before the trending topics were erased and the discussion threads disappeared.
The members of the Cen and Ji families understood very little about the entertainment industry.
Someone was getting cursed on the trending list? Take the trending list down.
People opened new threads to keep attacking her? Delete those too.
Ji Mingshu's second uncle was a typical man in power. His methods for handling public opinion were blunt and decisive.
By the time the news reached him late that night, he had already removed the trending topics and deleted the posts. Then, deciding to eliminate the problem once and for all, he ordered an even broader cleanup.
It was simple.
It was efficient.
And it absolutely stunned the gossip addicts who had been starving for fresh drama.
[Holy crap. What kind of background does this designer have?! First the trending topics disappear, then the posts get deleted, and now search results don't even exist anymore?!]
[Seriously, I never imagined some nobody renovation show stirring shit for buzz would reach this point. Respect.]
[So does this mean the designer really has that much backing, which is why she dared to confront that certain idol on camera? Did the production team seriously have no idea? They actually aired the episode anyway? Oh my god... I suddenly feel like both the production team and Yan Yuexing are in serious trouble.]
[I only disappeared long enough to finish my thesis proposal and somehow missed this much?! Cries. Need a kind soul to catch me up!]
Late into the night, night owls continued refreshing forum after forum. No one cared anymore about who had really been throwing shade at whom on some obscure variety show. Everyone wanted to know one thing:
Who exactly was Ji Mingshu?
As expected of such a resourceful place called the internet. Amid the flood of outrageous rumors, someone with genuine insider knowledge finally posted a version of Ji Mingshu's background that was half true and half deliberately vague.
[I'm honestly amazed this whole thing even happened... Is Xingcheng so small that nobody there has got the memo? Has Xingcheng TV lost its mind? A friend of mine sort of knows this young lady. Well... "knows" is a strong word. Her social circle is so exclusive it's basically one-sided acquaintance. This young lady is a sister fan of Pei Xiyan; she probably only joined the show because of him.]
[My friend's family owns mines. She drove a Ferrari to school at eighteen, and she still very sincerely told me her family was considered completely average in that circle. This young lady is what you call a real wealthy heiress. Her own family is one of those Beijing elites, and the family she married into is another one. The kind of old-money powerhouse that stays out of the spotlight.]
[One more thing. She attended the Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris when she was fifteen. You know, that debutante ball reserved for the world's top socialites. When she goes to Fashion Week, luxury brand presidents invite her to private dinners. That's the level we're talking about. Honestly... it's one of those "poverty limits your imagination" situations. I genuinely cannot understand how this whole mess even happened. That's all I'll say.]
To ordinary readers, the revelations were dazzling.
To Yan Yuexing's fans, they felt like knives twisting in the heart.
Our Xingxing worked so hard to get where she is today. Just because you have powerful connections, does that mean you can openly disrespect her on television?
Emotions ran especially high in the middle of the night. Fan club leaders tearfully rallied everyone in their group chats: “No matter what happens, we can't let Xingxing be crushed by the powerful! We have to protect the girl we love!”
Teenage fans, barely old enough to be in high school, abandoned homework and skipped their showers, staying awake deep into the night as if they could bleed themselves dry defending their idol, flooding Ji Mingshu's Weibo comment section from both their phones and computers.
When Ji Mingshu woke the next morning, she discovered that after the takedown of the hot searches and discussions threads, the situation had spiraled even further out of control.
Some of Yan Yuexing's fans were even tagging major state media beneath Ji Mingshu's Weibo posts, accusing her of abusing her powerful background and demanding investigations into whether her family's wealth had been earned legally.
Meanwhile, Yan Yuexing hadn't slept all night. After finally learning the truth about Ji Mingshu's background, her team spent the entire night coordinating with the production staff while their public relations department raced to draft crisis-management plans.
At that moment, Yan Yuexing had only one wish: for her fans to just shut up.
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