In August, Lin Feifei successfully got admitted to the National Film Academy, becoming Ye Qiu's junior, and Du Siqi bought her trending searches.
As she had been studying dance since her childhood, she appeared slim and elegant; with her long hair and white dress, she stood under the shade of trees exuding an 'Immortal Energy'. Moreover, hailing from a family of teachers and excelling in academics from a young age, she quickly garnered positive public feelings online.
Lin Feifei had that kind of pleasing appearance which easily made people feel good about her, her starry eyes seemed to shimmer with moisture all the time, unconsciously making people let their guard down.
It was precisely because of this that in her past life, Ye Qiu would share everything with her and introduced her to Xingyao, which led to her joining forces with Du Siqi and eventually led her to ruin.
Unexpectedly, in this life, without her introduction, the two of them still ended up together after many twists and turns.
Ye Qiu sat in the dark room, chuckling. They were buying trending searches, eh? Well, she might as well kindly lend them a helping hand.
In the evening, when the internet was the most active, various major forums like Weibo, Flower Field, and Tree Bar started to see posts praising Lin Feifei. Initially, it was just sneaky photos from her school days—the blue and white school uniform, the long waist-length hair, which were the epitome of many netizens' first love fantasies—a bunch of homebodies exclaimed in admiration while licking their screens, and a few discordant voices were easily ignored.
Meanwhile, Du Siqi and Lin Feifei constantly monitored the online messages, their faces full of smiles, feeling that the investment in the 'Water Army' was worthwhile.
After the 'School Beauty's First Love' trend gradually subsided after two days, major websites started featuring comparative beauty posts between Lin Feifei and various young actresses, including Ye Qiu. Being from the same school and given the 'senior-junior' relationship, the comparisons between them were intense.
Because Ye Qiu was strikingly beautiful and not exactly the 'good housewife' type, numerous 'Water Armies' slandered her at the comments section as though she had committed heinous crimes while also mocking her for trend-riding.
Ye Qiu had acted in two TV series and a movie, where the movie "The God of Misfortune" made a box office of 1.3 billion. Already having around a million fans, and having appeared on several variety shows, her superb acting and stable personality had earned her good public favor. Being defamed out of the blue naturally caused some people to defend her, but their voices were quickly suppressed by the more numerous opposing voices.
Sister Yang, learning about Ye Qiu being drawn into comparisons with newcomers, though angered, didn't pay much heed. Being an old hand in the entertainment industry, she saw right through the schemes of buying 'Water Armies'. This was just a low-level tactic. With such high-profile exposure, a newcomer would soon generate resistance among the general public without them having to lift a finger.
The more intensely she was hyped, the more sympathy Ye Qiu would eventually garner from the public.
However, Du Siqi and Lin Feifei did not realize that due to conflicts during the initial audition, Du Siqi had harbored resentment towards Ye Qiu, and under his influence, Lin Feifei unconsciously always compared herself with her senior from the same school.
At the moment, the two of them, seeing the one-sided statements on the internet, felt thrilled, oblivious to the looming danger.
Because the voices of passersby and fans defending Ye Qiu were quickly countered by Lin Feifei's 'Water Army', it gradually began to irritate many people.
The following day, the internet saw another wave of beauty comparisons between Lin Feifei and the popular young actress Li Yan.
Li Yan, due to her beautiful appearance and ethereal demeanor, debuted as a protagonist and became an overnight sensation on the internet after playing 'Spiritual Girl', earning the title of the 'most beautiful Fairy' by netizens.
Upon closer inspection, Lin Feifei and Li Yan bore some resemblance.
Weibo did not explicitly state that Lin Feifei was more beautiful than Li Yan, but simply juxtaposed Lin Feifei's 'Fairy' photo under the shade with a school photo of Li Yan, branding them as the two 'Fairy sisters' of the entertainment industry.
Li Yan's modern outfits were not as stunning as her costumes, and despite choosing a rather plain school photo, her five years of career experience made her incomparable to the newcomer Lin Feifei.
With millions of fans, although Li Yan's acting was not very mature, her attitude towards learning was admirable and she cared well for her fans, earning good reviews from within the industry. At this point, seeing her fans infuriated after being dragged into a beauty comparison with an unknown newcomer, they exploded with anger.
Li Yan is not like Ye Qiu, her fans are not very combative. Due to her sudden rise to fame, there were many negative comments online at one point, but they were eventually countered strongly by her ever-growing fan base.
Situations like today's beauty-degrading news have occurred quite a few times, and the seasoned fans knew right away that it was the work of paid trolls.
Who have they ever been afraid of when it comes to online violence?
Soon, fans from various places began to gather and fiercely countered back.
"Hmph... A newcomer dares to compare with our Yan? If you're comparing beauty, then post more photos."
Swipe, swipe, swipe, the comments were instantly filled with beautiful photos of Li Yan, while the newly debuted Lin Feifei obviously could not compare. She had only taken a couple of photo shoots and a few sneaky shots.
Looking at Lin Feifei alone, one could indeed be impressed, but when really compared with Li Yan, who had debuted five years earlier, she seemed somewhat amateurish.
Ye Qiu moved her hand, and the photo of Lin Feifei under the tree, called the Fairy, instantly flooded the screen.
This provocative action thoroughly infuriated the fans.
The fans then began to flood with beautiful photos of Li Yan. In the end, Li Yan found out about this and felt that squabbling with a newcomer was beneath her dignity. After contacting her own fans, the fervor gradually subsided.
Meanwhile, Du Siqi and Lin Feifei urgently contacted the trolls they initially hired, asking them to retract but obviously, it wasn't their doing. How could they admit it?
Du Siqi had not gone cheap on hiring the troll service this time, but it ended up backfiring. He wanted compensation, but the trolls felt that it was their own fault for offending others. Essentially just an unprincipled group that spread rumors for money, how could they possibly return the money they had received?
After both parties cursed each other out, the trolls threatened Du Siqi that if he continued, they would keep smearing Lin Feifei, which finally settled the matter.
Ye Qiu, sitting in front of the computer, skilfully played her cards, but overthrowing someone instantly wasn't amusing. It was more fun to watch them rise high and then fall.
Moreover, Sister Yang had recently gotten her a role in a reality show, leaving her with no time to linger on the internet.
Considering Ye Qiu's lack of comedic talent, Yang Tao had her join a new outdoor survival reality show on Banana TV.
This reality show is live-streamed online daily, and only the edited highlights make it to television.
Normally, Ye Qiu wouldn't have landed this gig, but thanks to her fellow disciple, the movie star Bo Rong, it was a package deal that got her into the production team.
The show has six regular guests, including Bo Rong and Ye Qiu. Besides them, the known ones are the familiar face Xiao Hua and the recently trending Li Yan. The other two are said to be a veteran singer and an Olympic champion, but their identities are still unclear.
Apart from the first episode, at least one guest will be invited to join their survival game in each subsequent episode.
Compared to conventional variety shows, their show is way more unpredictable and risky. Prospective participants were made clearly aware of this before joining, and a waiver was signed.
Ye Qiu knew that this show would eventually become hugely popular. She initially thought she might at most be a temporary guest in a certain episode, but she didn't expect her agent to pull such a powerful move, and the great actor Bo Da didn't mind at all.