Chapter 104: A Bloody Tempest

Under the hashtags bearing her name, my name had nothing to do with it, and clarification of her name, there was a statement her team had released the night before about what had happened in the toy store.

It was vague about the incident, saying only that it had been a quarrel between two children, twisted maliciously by people with ulterior motives, and that they had not known the truth.

The statement also fit her usual public image rather well.

In essence, it said: this has nothing to do with me. Believe it if you want to, or don’t. Just don’t fling mud at me.

As for the major fan account that had spread the rumor, they also disclaimed any connection, saying perhaps it was only because of how much that person cared for her that they had done something like this.

“Pretty good crisis management,” Jiang Sui said, quite impressed with Bai Xixue’s PR team.

This statement blurred the events in the toy store and shifted attention elsewhere, while also preserving Bai Xixue’s longtime image of blunt honesty. It validated the notion that her fans protected her fiercely, and once again left her completely detached from blame.

After all, the team that had lifted Bai Xixue to dizzying fame and made her the entertainment world’s number one figure was not collecting money for nothing.

Or to put it another way, the PR team behind Bai Xixue was already among the best in the industry.

Otherwise, with everything that had happened during this period, Bai Xixue would probably already have been mocked into oblivion.

Then, following right behind her team’s statement, another clarification was posted.

It declared complete ignorance of the matters beneath Shengqiang Group, along with a string of perfunctory PR phrases, and said that she and her husband would weather the storm together and handle everything properly.

Under that trending topic, the comments were split almost evenly between fans managing the narrative and passersby sneering in mockery.

And someone had dug up evidence that Bai Xixue had had a publicity team and coordinated marketing posts since the very start of her career.

The title was: Is this the queen of giving up, as you call her? She’s had protection every step of the way since her debut.

That was not all. All the black material that had once been buried about Bai Xixue was dragged into the light.

For example, before one certain program premiered, she met with the director in advance.

For example, proof showing a sudden increase in her screen time on the show.

For example, how she had squeezed out an actress with real ability to become the female lead.

For example, getting pregnant before marriage and only returning after having the child in order to secure her husband’s family fortune...

But such posts were taken down shortly after being reposted.

Even though not many people saw them, they still stirred up a rebellious streak among netizens.

People began playing with euphemisms and jokes, deliberately steering clear of key words.

I got sucked dry by Bai Bai today. I said, ptui, what bad luck! Brothers, if I die, please remember me as a brave soul.

I thought it was some kind of blood sucking, but it turns out she was sucking the country’s blood.

Let me try: a certain female star has relied on her husband’s packaging to build her image and rise in the entertainment industry; she uses her son to win fans while behaving like a lazy, spoiled giant baby, and she loves smearing the opposition with filth. Oh, you ask who she is? Why, of course it’s our blood-sucking elder sister.

...

People like this, constantly testing the edge of a ban, began to grow more and more numerous.

And naturally, their accounts were banned one wave after another.

But that still could not stop the rebellion in the bones of the internet crowd.

Hahaha, I made thirty new throwaway accounts and I’m back again, hahahaha. Come on, keep banning me!

The replies beneath read:

— Laughing to death. A 199-pound rebel inside a 200-pound body.

— Hahahaha, I’m dying. My account was just nuked. Sister, take it easy.

...

Among them, of course, were Jiang Sui’s own fans.

Jiang Sui knew that her fanbase had already grown to a considerable size. Before this, Shi Heng had mentioned it to her as well: a rapid rise in fans was a double-edged sword. Since she could not interfere too much, she also could not simply do nothing.

She handed the matter over to Shi Heng. After all, he was extremely adept at handling this sort of thing.

Jiang Sui left the storm-lashed Weibo and only then noticed the unread messages on WeChat.