In fact, there was no concrete evidence regarding Wen Li's involvement in Lu Ming and Zheng Xue's relationship two years ago. It was all about interests in this small industry. Those artists who openly tore each other apart, regardless of who was the victim, the onlookers always enjoy watching the spectacle and hope for more intense conflicts where both sides end up getting hurt.
So even though Zheng Xue sided with Lu Ming two years ago, she never officially stated that Wen Li was the third party in public. Instead, she used ambiguous language and suggestive actions to lead the public to believe that Wen Li was the third party.
This was a common PR tactic used by artists. If they personally make statements, they may be accused of spreading rumors, which would damage their public image. But by guiding, condoning, and insinuating to so-called "righteous bystanders" and fans to spread rumors and slander the other party, they can use them as weapons. In the end, they can maintain their own innocence, appearing clean and blameless.
Now, Zheng Xue personally accused Lu Ming of cheating, which was much more credible than her previous insinuations about Wen Li being the third party. The evidence was there and now Lu Ming's response statement from an hour ago has become a joke.
The comments from his supporters below have also become a joke.
「I knew Brother Ming was innocent. 」
Reply to the comment:「Let me tell you a joke: Lu Ming is the one being falsely accused.」
「I believe in Brother Ming. 」
Reply to the comment:「Tell your parents to hurry up and have another child.」
「Wuwuwu, my baby, I feel so sorry for you.」
Reply to the comment:「Your sympathy is so cheap.」
Meanwhile, the comments on Zheng Xue and Wen Li's Weibo posts have quietly been deleted by the fans themselves.
But deleting them is useless. Zheng Xue's fans and Wen Li's fans have already noted down these usernames and compiled them on the anti-blacklist Weibo account.
「We can't let you get away with it in our territory. You guys are amazing for daring to go against us without concrete evidence. Don't blame us for being impatient when we press your brother down to the ground. So, cheating scumbag, you like playing the victim, right? We'll strip you of everything, including your underwear. Don't even think about running away. Come and experience the consequences of brainlessly defending your idol.」
The PR team at Jiarui Entertainment quickly sent legal letters to several marketing accounts that spread Lu Ming's false narrative.
With the concrete evidence, Lu Ming had no choice but to delete his previous lengthy response and issue another one.
This time, the response was short.
「I am Lu Ming. I sincerely apologize for the false statements made by my PR team. When I'm wrong, I admit it. I accept all criticism and apologize for occupying public resources on a workday.」
The comments below were no longer solely his fans defending him.
「Let me translate for you: The previous lengthy response, where I blamed Zheng Xue and Wen Li without any evidence because I thought there was no proof of my infidelity, was written by my PR team. It has nothing to do with me. I am a cheating scumbag who takes responsibility for my actions without shifting blame.」
「Why won't the scumbag apologize to Sanli? She had been unjustly attacked for two years. What did Sanli do wrong?」
「After two years of supporting Ming-Zheng CP, I never expected this outcome. I'm scared and will never ship any CP with genuine emotions again. Scumbag, get lost. 」
Then Zheng Xue responded on Weibo:
「Thank you to all my loved ones and friends for your concern and support. The road ahead is still long and there are many unknown landscapes waiting for me to explore. Finally, I want to apologize again to Miss Wen Li (@Wen Litchi) for my ignorance and misunderstanding two years ago. I don't expect your forgiveness, but I wish you a successful career and a bright future. I'm sorry, and thank you.」
Finally, Zheng Xue, who woke up from her foolishness, did something that impressed Wen Li.
She dared to openly admit her two-year-old mistake on Weibo, her words genuine. It didn't appear to be written by a PR team.
Once female artists break free from the shackles of romantic love, they immediately become smart.
Moreover, as she was a woman who was cheated on, she can easily gain sympathy from many people, and her career won't be greatly affected by this. If Zheng Xue can handle it well, she might even rise to an even higher level.
With her manager's permission, Wen Li reposted this Weibo post:
「Welcome fair and healthy competition! // @Zheng Xue snow: [Weibo post]」
It wasn't a forgiving gesture from a saintly heart, because the baseless defamation of the past two years cannot be erased. It wasn't about holding onto grievances either. It was a display of tolerance towards Zheng Xue, calmly expressing a welcome to fair competition and implying that Zheng Xue should refrain from plotting against others behind the scenes.
「Ah, ah, ah, Sister looks so cool.」
「Today, we have the calm and principled Queen Sanli!!!!!!」
「We love you, Sanli!」
「The harm that was done was real, so we don't forgive, but career competition is fair, and we welcome it anytime.」
By the end of the day, all of Lu Ming's current brand endorsements and contracts were unilaterally terminated by the clients citing "unethical behavior and damage to public image". The upcoming TV series also issued an official statement, announcing the replacement of Lu Ming as the male lead and reopening the casting process.
Lu Ming's fan clubs and big fans, who had supported him with genuine emotions for many years, apart from a few who found it difficult to accept for a while, expressed their grievances in long posts on the super-topic but were unable to easily stop being fans. All of them changed their profile pictures to black or directly deactivated their accounts.
As for "Little Wen Li" who bears some resemblance to Wen Li, her popularity was nowhere near as high as Lu Ming's, and she didn't have as many die-hard fans. In Lu Ming's super-topic, while some true fans were still struggling, the fans of "Little Wen Li" collectively abandoned the ship and left after the video was exposed. Regardless of whether she can make a comeback in the future, as long as she appears in the public eye, the label "homewrecker" will follow her like a shadow.
Wen Li spent the day resting at home. Except for following Lu Dan's instructions to post a few Weibo updates, she didn't have to worry about anything else.
Later, she learned that Song Yan was being targeted, resulting in him receiving abusive private messages from Lu Ming's fans. Without caring about being scolded herself, Wen Li snatched his phone and immediately reported and blocked those fans who sent the private messages, using the reason of "personal attacks".
When she returned the phone to the study, Song Yan was still reading the script.
The Republican-era script was still under discussion regarding the female lead's role, various investing parties were still competing and evaluating. But it was already confirmed that Song Yan would be the male lead.
"I reported those fans who sent you abusive messages for you," She placed the phone on the table, "Next time, don't read those messages. Those people have filthy mouths. Let your assistant report and block them for you directly."
Song Yan, still bowing his head, said, "I rarely check my main account, so I can't see those private messages."
Wen Li was somewhat surprised, "You have a secondary account?"
"Yeah," Song Yan admitted.
Wen Li clicked her tongue. If she had known he also had a secondary account to browse Weibo, she should have sneakily checked what his secondary account was called before returning the phone, so she could secretly see what he usually paid attention to.
She subtly moved closer to Song Yan and asked in a seemingly casual manner, "So, what do you usually look at with your secondary account?"
"Just random stuff," Song Yan replied.
Wen Li reached out to grab his phone, intending to take a look. However, Song Yan held the phone in his palm and raised an eyebrow at her, "Reciprocity."
Wen Li's expression changed slightly, and she disdainfully said, "Whatever, I'm not interested anymore. Who cares."
Then, she raised her head arrogantly and left the study.
As soon as she returned to her bedroom, she hurriedly took out her phone and logged into her own secondary account. She looked at the ridiculous marketing accounts she followed and the absurd Weibo posts she had shared. Finally, she glanced at the fan demographics of her secondary account.
Wen Li's super-topic had tens of thousands of dedicated fans, while Salt Grain super-topic had tens of thousands of dedicated fans as well.
Wen Li was a Level Ten fan of the 'Wen Li super-topic' and the 'Salt Grain super-topic'.
She loved reading her own super-topic because she was narcissistic and enjoyed hearing her fans compliment her. As for why she enjoyed reading the super topic about Salt Grain CP, it was because the fans of this CP always managed to create some interesting videos.
She then looked at the content she had shared from the super topics.
「[Wen Li Super Topic] #WenLi# Sanli's ancient costume crossover!
I will forever be in awe of Sanli's unparalleled beauty. [awsl] @Wen Litchi
[Video]」
Sanshui Ri Dish1 reposted:「Ah, my cursed beauty with nowhere to place it.」
「[Salt Grain CP] #Sweetness of Salt Grain CP# A sweet Republican era drama! Military uniform Beauty x Qipao Sanli!
Today is also a day of collaboration between Beauty and Sanli Film and Television!
He has stars in his eyes, she has the moon in hers;
He is a cold prince, she is a little tsundere;
In his eyes, there is her, in her eyes, there is him.
[Video]」
Sanshui Ri Dish reposted:「Hahaha, this video made me laugh so hard.」
"..."
She covered it up. She must keep her alternate account secret.
Wen Li silently hugged her phone.
——
A few days had passed since the highly-discussed scandal of infidelity. Due to the unforeseen circumstances of Zheng Xue and Lu Ming withdrawing from the variety show recording, the production team of the show had to temporarily halt the recording and the production crew returned to the headquarters of the television station for a meeting to find new substitute guests.
Meanwhile, the recently issued program script had to be urgently revised, which resulted in a break for the remaining guests.
However, Wen Li didn't have time to idle around.
With the official recording date of the boy group talent show approaching, Wen Li had promised Qi Sihan during the charity gala to learn their group's dance for the program. Since she had made that promise, she couldn't go back on her word.
Taking advantage of the hiatus of [In This World with You], Wen Li had specially gone to the dance studio to practice the dance two days before the recording.
The innocent and energetic style of girl groups had become less popular overseas in recent years. The current trend was dominated by the girl crush style, so most girl groups followed a cool and edgy route that was no less than boy groups. During her training period overseas, Wen Li mostly learned cool and edgy style dances.
Unfortunately, Qi Sihan's group followed the innocent and energetic style.
The dance of their group was cute and lively when performed by teenage girls, but for a mature person in her twenties like Wen Li, who had been in the industry for many years under the image of "Brother Sanli", it was almost impossible for her to do something cute besides acting. It was truly challenging for her.
However, everyone, except for her, was looking forward to seeing her dance.
The stylist even managed to find a pink plaid miniskirt for her from somewhere and took a picture to send to her, asking her to wear it while performing the girl group dance on the show.
Stylist:「I'll give you double pigtails and do a pink cherry blossom girl makeup.」
Wen Li looked at herself in the wall-length mirrors of the dance studio, which was reflecting her helpless and bewildered expression. She thought to herself that making money was not easy.
The dance itself wasn't difficult, and the moves were simple, but the dance teacher was still not satisfied.
"It's like this," The dance teacher tried to express it tactfully, not wanting to offend Wen Li, "In the context of this song, you are a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl experiencing first love. So, when you dance, your facial expressions should be shy and cute. As an actress, Teacher Wen, you should be able to understand what I mean, right?"
After speaking, the dance teacher demonstrated by cupping her face with clenched fists, pouting, and making a coquettish expression.
The lyrics accompanying this little action were, "I hate that you're foolish and oblivious to my feelings, yet I'm afraid you'll discover my love for you."
Wen Li also knew where her problem lay, but she just felt awkward and couldn't adapt to it.
After practicing for the whole afternoon, Wen Li finally managed to correct her expressions. She took a small video and sent it to Wen Wen, hoping she could help determine if she had the essence of a young girl.
Wen Wen quickly edited a scene from the video using editing software.
Wen Wen:「Sister, you are super cute.」
Wen Wen did a great job with the video, adding a sweet love song as the background music, overlaying it with a pink filter, and even adding cat facial effects to Wen Li's face. The video's title was 'With a Cat Like This, What Time Do You Come Home at Night?'
Wen Li's confidence instantly surged, feeling that she was incredibly cute.
She thought for a moment and decided to send it to Song Yan for help, to see if she truly looked ten years younger, if she had returned to her sixteen-year-old self.
Wen Li:「Are you there?」
Song Yan:「Just finished an interview, taking a break.」
Wen Li:「Oh, then I'll send you something.」
Song Yan:「Go ahead.」
Wen Li:「Take a few steps away from everyone else. Make sure no one's around and I'll send it to you.」
Song Yan:「What are you going to send?」
Wen Li:「Don't ask so many questions. Just step away first and don't let anyone see it.」
For a while, there was no response from Song Yan's end, but the chatbox kept showing "The other person is typing...". Just as Wen Li thought he wasn't interested and hesitated for so long because he was considering rejecting her, she received a reply from Song Yan.
Song Yan:「Is it a treat for me?」
Wen Li:「It's a slap.jpg」
Wen Li:「You perverted weirdo, what are you thinking?」
Song Yan:「What I'm thinking, you should know well.」
Wen Li pursed her lips, feeling a bit flustered by Song Yan's words.
Forget it, she wouldn't ask the pervert. She would ask the innocent youth instead.
She quickly sent the video to Xu Li.
Wen Li:「How about it? Does it capture the youthful spirit of your sister when she was sixteen?」
Little Bunny:「?」
Little Bunny:「I would rather become a monk.」
Wen Li didn't understand what Xu Li's reply meant for a while. She glanced at her video's title and finally understood.
[With a Little Cat Like This, What Time Do You Come Home Every Day?]
「I would rather become a monk.」
Meanwhile, Song Yan was still asking her:「Why didn't you send it yet?」
Wen Li:「I'm not sending it anymore!!! Get lost!!!」
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