Lu Manni is not a fool. Though she hadn't realized the real reason for her inability to act before, after receiving Qi Chen's meaningful look, she definitely understood.
But Lu Manni did not understand why Qi Chen was targeting her like this – she clearly had not offended him ah!
Even if their last encounter at the Drunken Moon hadn't ended too pleasantly, the one who was wronged in the end was also her!
This problem plagued Lu Manni all day long. When it came time to pack up at night, Lu Manni couldn't help but stop Qi Chen, her hands clasped together, eyes wide and hopeful. "Senior Qi, could you spare me five minutes? I have a question and I really hope you can answer me."
Qi Chen gave a slight smile at Lu Manni. "Go ahead and ask."
Lu Manni looked around with some hesitation and said, "We're going to stand here and talk?"
Qi Chen continued to smile slightly, "Five minutes of time may not be enough to find a suitable place to chat, and as of now, one minute has already passed."
Lu Manni's eye twitched. She raised her hand and smoothed her hair, just managing to cover the motion. "Senior Qi knows that I am just a newcomer – this is my first official drama. So, if there is anything lacking with my acting, I ask Senior Qi to please guide me."
Qi Chen maintained the slight smile, "Yes, providing guidance to newcomers, as it should be."
Lu Manni's smile almost froze. Her words were already this obvious, and yet Qi Chen was acting like he didn't understand at all. This was obviously intentional!
Since Lu Mani couldn't straightforwardly ask Qi Chen why he was suppressing her during their acting, her chest became even more uncomfortable.
As for Qi Chen, he pretended he didn't see Lu Manni's slight furrow of the brows and after waiting a bit, continued to smile and said, "Well, it's about time. If there is nothing else, then I will head out first."
Though that's what he said, after Qi Chen finished speaking he didn't give Lu Manni a chance to say anything before stepping away and leaving.
Lu Manni was so angry she could only stomp her foot behind Qi Chen, but she had no excuse to stop Qi Chen, so she could only watch until Qi Chen's back completely vanished. Lu Manni's emotions slowly calmed down. She took out a cellphone from her bag, smoothly entered in a stream of digits, and dialled through.
"The thing I troubled you with before, you can initiate it now." After saying this, Lu Manni quickly hung up and cleared her call history.
At 8 o'clock that evening, a series of gossip posts and microblogs suddenly appeared on the Internet. The titles were all different, but the content was surprisingly similar, and all related to Qi Chen and Lu Manni.
#Big news today – National Male God suspected of falling in love, I believe in love again! #
#Reigning Emperor vs Shining Consort: Love born out of acting together, or just to create hype for the drama? #
#News release of steamy love affair, consort binding the National Male God – where's the bottom lines of these people?! #
...
As soon as this series of posts appeared, due to Qi Chen's super high popularity, they became very hot. All kinds of fans started weighing in, contributing enthusiasm and speculations to this matter.
The general flow of the posts were like this:
1|: My Male God really is in love?! No! I don't believe, I don't believe it! Ying ying ying…
2|: This woman's face is so big, I've never seen it before. And how shameless, clinging to my husband and making such a scene! Unfortunately for her, my husband's heart only has me – other women, stand to the side!
3|: I think it's okay, although this female star is not famous, but at first glance she seems pure and sincere! A nice change to those slutty enchantresses always hanging out around my Male God.
4|: Heh, this post upstairs is a water army [1] hired by Lu Manni right? A little 18-year-old star with no fame at all, and yet she got the 3rd female lead in <Jian Jia of the Inner Palace> – if this isn't because of unspoken rules [2], then what else could it be? Don't try to be funny over here, she's not even good enough to hold the Male God's shoes!
5|: Upstairs, don't say that ah! Maybe while you're saying this, they will actually get married to your male god at this time?
6|: Hey hey! How can you say that, upstairs! How can my Male God have such bad tastes!
7|: The attitude of you fans, smh the male god is really wretched. Even if they are stars, they have the freedom to fall in love okay? Do you want your male god to grow old and lonely?
8|: If the Male God really likes her, then I'm not opposed! I think they look pretty cute together.
9|: Looks cute, your a**! I have never seen such a shameless water army, and I have never seen such a brazen star. Before making such a scene, she doesn't even consider if she's actually got the ability to back up everything.
10|: Upstairs, you've gone a bit too far. Even I – a pure passer-by – can't stand it.
11|: What passers-by – if you've got the guts, come face me directly and stop pretending!
12|: Come! Who's afraid of who, come fight me!
...
And so the fans started to fight.
Under the "friendly" cooperation of these fans and passers-by, each of the posts in the major forums all became on fire, and the microblogs' hit count started rising rapidly. The netizens even started trending #MaleGodinlove as a hot online topic.
With all these fires burning together, the result was conceivable. Su Yu couldn't help but praise the people who were behind this thing. People who are shameless, are really invincible in all the heavens and earths!
"According to the original plot line, these threads should only appear once the show is complete. Why did it appear now? At this time, there's been no major interaction between the man and the woman." The little ball ask in a puzzled manner, wiggling around Su Yu.
Su Yu laughed, and looked at Round Ball with a face that said 'I see, you really are stupid, and very naive'. "Did you think that in the original story, it was because of their interactions that these gossip blogs appeared? Let me tell you, there are no real coincidences in the world. These are just the means by which the female protagonist is trying to attract the male protagonist's attention."
Round Ball felt like it had been ruthlessly despised, but it had nothing to say back. At the moment, its heart was shocked – it completely did not expect that this world's female lead was so manipulative!
Su Yu turned off the relevant interface, and asked absentmindedly with a smile, "Guess, what do you think the male protagonist will do now?"
Round Ball silently gave its host a sympathetic look…. right now the man's IQ was still at 0, what can you expect him to do??
Thinking about it this way, its Master Host really was quite lamentable; though Qi Chen was very alike Chu Chengyan in some ways, but right now the person in his heart is another woman!
Sure enough, falling in love with a person who has no IQ… should be its Master Host of high IQ and EQ's most un-IQed action yet?
While sympathizing with Su Yu, Round Ball also couldn't help but want to gleefully laugh a little.
At eleven o'clock that night, as with the original plot, the female protagonist posted a Weibo [3] relating to the matter. Her tone was completely sincere, and the content was so straightforward and guileless that no one could find fault with it.
In less than ten minutes after the Weibo came out, Lu Manni's Weibo account gained tens of thousands of followers. The post itself had also been commented on and reblogged thousands of times.
At the same time, a large number of fans flocked to Qi Chen's Weibo, and asked questions regarding the matter, which directly led to the number of comments on Qi Chen's recent posts doubling.
Just as the gossip was becoming more and more popular, and looking like it was only going to get hotter, Qi Chen suddenly sent a Weibo around twelve o'clock midnight.
Qi Chen v: Very honoured to have met you, looking forward to our next encounter. [Picture]
This Weibo photo is one that was taken during Qi Chen and Su Yu's scenes. Both were in costumes, and with one standing and the other sitting, they were obviously master and servant; however, the atmosphere was very warm.
When Qi Chen's Weibo came out, the internet exploded. Some were complimenting the beauty of their National Male God. Others began discussing <Jian Jia of the Inner Palace> which was still being filmed. Some were asking for the name of this big internal household manager. Of course, the majority were still discussing the incident between Qi Chen and Lu Manni.
[First comment! First time being this close to my male god – hurry, help me like this! I want to get top comment and go to heaven!]
Love Male God the Most: [The male god updating at this time really is too coincidental, do I smell something fishy going on?]
I am Chen Chen's little cutie: [Where's that no-name little 18-year-old starlet who's clinging shamelessly to my male god? See?? The male god posted! And it had nothing to do with you!]
Pure Passer-By: [Chen fan upstairs, aren't your words too provocative? Qi Chen just merely posted an update – he didn't deny the relationship between them! Furthermore, this matter wasn't stirred up by Lu Manni in the first place.]
I'm a Basic Bitch, deal with it: [So can National God Qi please just answer this question? Can't you be more straightforward as a man?]
Loved you for More than Three Years: [Upstairs, are you blind? The Male God updates at this time, and makes no mention at all of the supposed scandal. Isn't this already a very clear answer? To the shameless female star, and her hired water army, can you stop trying to hype up this topic?]
It's Dark: [Who are you calling a water army, aren't you a bit too mean? The person who released the gossip wasn't even Lu Manni – even if you want to curse, she shouldn't be your target!]
Hehehehehe: [Yah, these Weibo fans really are too much. Lu Manni even specifically posted, clarifying the relationship between her and Qi Chen. And she's still being defamed? Wow, cyber bullying really is too scary.]
I want to kiss Chen Chen: [Hey, hey you guys acting so noble, stop running to my husband's Weibo and being so noisy. Pretending to be bystanders, but obviously doing the work of the internet water army, how many cents did they pay you?]
Apple Mango Juice: [Anyways, I think that Qi Chen and Lu Manni are a good pair. I hope they can be together.]
...
Once Qi Chen's Weibo updated, Su Yu received a notification. But, for a moment, he was a little scared to see what the other had posted.
But what was he afraid of?
He – Su Yu – has always received money when he wanted money, received power when he wanted power, received prestige when he wanted prestige – an existence born to explode the heavens.
Su Yu snorted, and opened Qi Chen's Weibo in the dark. A simple line of text and a simple photo appeared.
Su Yu stared at the Weibo for a while, and suddenly chuckled before rousing the little ball which had already fallen asleep. "Find a random account and expose how this was planned by human machinations, but don't directly link it to Lu Manni. Then, check Lu Manni's mobile communication record, and send the corresponding record to the person who helped her do these things. At the same time, send a reminder to help him realize Lu Manni's true face."
"Aright, I got it." Although it was woken suddenly, Round Ball did not exhibit any grumpiness since it did not need to sleep in the first place. After a little adjustment, it immediately began to work.
At this time, Lu Manni did not know that her machinations were about to be revealed. She was also staring at Qi Chen's Weibo.
"Why did Qi Chen send this Weibo at this time!" Lu Manni was so angry her eyes became red.
According to her original plan, she had hoped that Qi Chen – after seeing her response – would take initiative to help her speak up. However, she did not expect that although Qi Chen did send a Weibo, the content was completely unrelated to their matter, and instead mentioned somebody else!
Did he want to anger her to death?!
[1] – 水军, "water army" – a group of Internet ghostwriters paid to post online comments with specific content, aimed at directing the public to believe/think a certain way
[2] – unspoken rules in the entertainment circle generally refers to stars who sleep their way to the top. By finding rich/influential patrons, they get to use backdoors to get particular acting roles, good sponsorships, etc.
[3] – Weibo is basically the Chinese equivalent of twitter