Chapter 29: [Bonus Chapter for 4,000 Favorites]

Actually, in Sang Ying's eyes this wasn't that big a deal...

Was it really that serious?

Maybe because filming was done overseas, renting from a rental company was simply more convenient. That was a possibility too, right?

But the blogger used the tone of a "truth-revealer" to blow the whole thing up into an "earth-shattering scam," and the copy was extremely inflammatory.

That Douyin video's likes had broken a hundred thousand, and views were at least ten times that, so the comment section was absolutely buzzing.

As the saying goes, the direction of a Douyin comment section depends on the first ten comments — and on the blogger's ultimate move: "deleting comments."

So under the rhythm of the leading voices, almost everything was negative. Of course, there were positive and neutral comments too.

After all, with this much heat, even with the blogger watching constantly, they couldn't delete them all in a short time.

Scroll down and you could see them.

[I may be a country bumpkin, but I'm not an idiot. The props in the drama are obviously the real deal. Are the people calling them fakes serious?]

[That rose庄园 — someone dug it up, buying it cost 200 million euros. Euros, mind you, not even counting labor and maintenance costs... I'm genuinely speechless. Would someone like that really fake a car worth a few tens of millions and let their persona collapse...?]

[Don't do this, I just finished four episodes, it's really good. Sigh, all I can say is the drama is great, everyone should watch it!]

[Am I the only one who doesn't care? I'm just a viewer, as long as the drama is good that's enough]

[The overall quality of "Favoritism" is so good — would it become bad because "the cars were rented"? No, it wouldn't.]

Sang Ying felt exactly the same way!

But other people were different. It was like they'd found a crack in "Favoritism" and swarmed in all at once.

After reading, Sang Ying punched her pillow — did you have to look?! Huh?!

There, now you're unhappy after looking, right?!

The other people in the comment section who shared her view got labeled as drama-defending stans and brain-dead fans.

Because some people were just flinging random insults to bash "Favoritism," swearing up and down that the plot was garbage, when it really wasn't like that at all.

If you'd watched it, how could you not know?!

And so she found herself battling a whole army of debaters.

(Which is why controlling comment sections and fighting flame wars has always been a great way to increase fandom stickiness.)

But the top comments stubbornly refused to go down!

[No way, the luxury goods in that drama all looked so real. Getting grossed out just from watching a show...]

[Favoritism is too popular... normal people just watch the drama, who stares at license plates to dig up whether they're rented or bought?]

[Support the blogger's exposé. Either don't market "real wealthy family," or if you do market it, don't blame people for looking at you with a magnifying glass.]

[Those things can be rented too, you know — could be borrowed for exhibition, could be leased... could be high-end replicas]

[So disgusting. Didn't that President Sang write a whole essay before scolding the entertainment industry for being insincere? Strict with others, lenient with herself, huh?]

[This whole move is such a turn-off. The actors suffered an undeserved disaster, getting stuck with this kind of hypocritical capital — the whole crew is embarrassed...]

[Real wealthy family? More like really good at pretending.]

[Hahaha, I bet the blogger is about to get "dealt with." Let me do a big collection move right now, I'll come back and check later]

Sang Ying didn't know how to describe this feeling.

Reading through it, you could completely feel the public opinion splitting into two directions... a sense of "camps"?

Maybe because netizens love building gods up and then tearing them down, the whole thing blew up at lightning speed.

It parachuted straight into the number one trending spot.

The content on the square came crashing down like a waterfall, mixed in with hot posts about "Favoritism's" data.

#Favoritism releases six episodes at once, platform heat peak breaks 18,000, data still climbing#

#Favoritism real-time viewing market share at 40 percent, ten times the second place#

#Is the first explosive hit of the year really here#

#Mega-hit drama (×) Mega-waterfall drama (√)#

...

Anyone with eyes could tell someone was fishing in troubled waters to stomp on "Favoritism."

"Favoritism's" data had no human manipulation behind it — it was all real.

But public opinion was like willow fluff on a grassland catching a spark — there was no time to put it out before it burned through a whole round.

Some people went straight to "Favoritism's" official account, to [y_03], and even to Jiguang Entertainment's official account, slapping screenshots right in their faces.

[Jiguang Entertainment] didn't play dead at all, directly tossing out a single symbol: [?]

Then [Shu Mucheng] reposted: [?]

Him stepping in — netizens found that normal.

Chen Liqi's fans had called him "a mad dog biting everyone because he holds a get-out-of-jail-free card," the one most deserving of a psychiatric hospital.

After all, with his mental state being what it was, whatever he did on the internet struck netizens as surprising yet perfectly reasonable.

"Favoritism" director Mo Jialiu: [?]

This one stepping in was normal too.

After all, he eats from the sponsor's bowl.

"Demolition Office" screenwriter Chi Hongchen: [?]

Just riding the heat — one link in Jiguang Entertainment's promotional matrix.

KM has been sleepy: [?]

Hm? Miss, you've finally resurrected?! Are you going to write that fanfic... wait, no, Miss, was your account hacked?!

Xi Xingfa: [?]

Taking a stand, busting fakes?!

Whatever... netizens interpreted it however they wanted — I'm busting fakes, busting fakes.

Yu Zhitao: [?]

Jiang Wanyin acted so well, I was about to become a fan — why did she have to jump out now? What does this have to do with her?

Netizens felt sorry for her, helping her cut ties with that President Sang — such a backstab to her fans, heartbroken, unfollowing.

The person everyone hated had finally exposed herself. You could tell back when she trashed Chen Liqi for insisting on acting in "Favoritism" — stupid and malicious both.

The people behind the marketing accounts were human too — weren't these celebrities banding together to cyberbully ordinary people? Bullying others with power, disgusting, turning from passerby to hater.

Jiang Yang reposted Yu Zhitao: [?]

So sweet!

The seducer-ge protecting his wife like that!

Mom and Dad, I've been born.

...

It was complete chaos, a whole pot of porridge.

[y_03] hadn't made a sound.

Not that anyone was popping champagne early, because netizens vaguely all knew this President Sang's sleep schedule — she consistently practiced going to bed early and waking up late.

They'd originally planned to wait until eleven tomorrow morning, to see her response before deciding whether to hammer down. But in the blink of an eye, the person herself came online, fresh and glowing.

[y_03]: [@Jiguang Entertainment]

[y_03]: [This isn't a negative press release you bought yourselves to stir up hype on purpose, is it?]

[y_03]: [Otherwise why does this look so much like a cannon-fodder villain delivering themselves to my door so I can act out a face-slapping power-fantasy scene?]

Sang Yu was serious.

She was even genuinely suspecting—

Earlier, Jiguang Entertainment had indeed sent her marketing plans for "Demolition Office" or "Favoritism," but she'd found them too wordy and never read them.

This sudden "fake-busting" — her first reaction was that the company was manufacturing hype, because otherwise this angle of attack was just too nonsensical.

But then Sang Yu thought again: if it involved her, they would definitely have run it by her separately.

Because the crew had previously specifically applied to her about the "swapping the high-spec for the low-spec" car change, wanting to release it as behind-the-scenes footage.

That would absolutely be a viral moment.

They guaranteed they'd slap a heavy mosaic QR-code censor over President Sang, rendering her voice and face completely indescribable.

Sang Yu remembered she'd only approved releasing the car-swap footage back then — she didn't remember any pre-hype scheme before it.

If there wasn't one, then it wasn't Jiguang Entertainment.

Someone was really trying to bust her for fakes?

Who?

·

It wasn't Huang Yunwen.

Reading the suspicion in his manager's eyes — clearly suspecting he'd secretly stirred something up again.

Last time, that essay had gone wrong and the ghostwriter had nearly been exposed. The manager had voluntarily taken the fall, and that assistant had been fired, but the manager knew Huang Yunwen definitely still harbored feelings about it.

What had been a perfectly promising situation had become awkwardly stuck halfway because of one small mistake. It had even handed the opponent a free wave of kills.

The fan groups were restless too. Although the company-controlled big fans were guiding things, some people believed and some didn't.

So he had motive, if he'd done it.

Huang Yunwen was both shocked and furious, and he showed no guilt whatsoever: "It really wasn't me!"

He was only enjoying the schadenfreude, that was all.

The manager frowned: "Don't hide things from me. If something's really about to blow up, how is the company supposed to cover for you?"

"The current situation is good. Don't get jealous watching "Favoritism's" high heat — that heat will soon feed back into "My Diary.""

The manager couldn't afford to be tactful at all, not even a little.

He was worried Huang Yunwen didn't realize how serious this was!

"That President Sang thinks stomping on you gives her free natural heat, a one-and-done deal, but it's actually reverse-feeding blood into us. The more people know about "Favoritism," the more people know about "My Diary"!"

"Your active fans outnumber those two washed-up nobodies' by dozens, even hundreds of times. With the same casual-viewer base as "Favoritism" plus your diehard fan base, you have a chance to bounce back from rock bottom, understand? If it works, that 18,000 heat will make you one of the 95-line top stars. Don't do anything unnecessary!"

Huang Yunwen had a basin of dirty water dumped over his head and was so angry he said: "I really didn't do it!"

Saying all that — did he think he was an idiot? That he didn't know all this?

He wasn't a fool.

The platform was in its honeymoon period with that President Sang — how could he not know the other side was genuinely rich? What the hell did it matter whether the cars were rented or bought!

Even if he wanted to pick a fight, he wouldn't pick it from this angle.

Right now the only thing making him anxious was the quality comparison between "My Diary" and "Favoritism." He had an ominous premonition.

After watching the first episode of "Favoritism," Huang Yunwen already felt things were bad — but the boat had sailed.

A finished drama couldn't be changed.

At most, at most he'd only used his assistant's side Douyin account and spent a little money...

...to buy Dou+ boosts for those Douyin videos stomping on "Favoritism," stomping on Jiguang Entertainment, stomping on Sang Yu, and accusing "Favoritism" of inflating its numbers. That was all?!

He hadn't done anything else.

Huang Yunwen's acting might be bad, but the manager could clearly tell truth from lies.

One look at his righteous indignation — he wasn't lying.

The manager froze.

So who was it?

Could it really be self-directed and self-acted?

·

On the other side.

Jiguang Entertainment responded swiftly.

Jiguang Entertainment: [It's not us, QAQ President Sang. The trending topic we originally planned to run was also car-related, but it wasn't this one [crying]]

It really wasn't them.

Most of the trending topics were planned in advance by Jiguang Entertainment, then supplemented in real time as they closely monitored public opinion.

— Catering to the audience's tastes, chasing the hot topics viewers spontaneously created.

This time was a complete accident.

Using "busting President Sang for fakes" as a gimmick... was a bit too "unorthodox." Who in the company would authorize something like that?

This trending topic had risen way too fast — clearly premeditated.

The number one hot spot wasn't cheap. Going by the current list of "enemies" President Sang had sprayed at and eliminating them one by one...

Who had the ability to spend that much money just to stomp on President Sang twice?

Hard to pin down — they'd investigate that later. The marketing team made a snap decision: in that case, let's serve up the behind-the-scenes footage first.

Better to pick the day than wait for the day.

Just as President Sang said — a great chance for a face-slap.

Jiguang Entertainment: [This was the original plan (see below) — [video] "President Sang, um, is there a cheaper car?"]

Netizens: "?"

?

A crowd swarmed over, clicked into the pre-made behind-the-scenes video, and were startled by the "alien cars" filling the screen.

The footage wasn't long, just over two minutes.

The first part was a series of shots — you could also call it a family portrait of "aliens."

No prices were labeled, yet they radiated an aura of "I'm insanely expensive."

Beside them, a group of male leads and supporting actors wearing masks, no makeup or styling done.

They hesitantly picked their cars, hesitantly climbed into the driver's seats.

A middle-aged man the audience didn't know well — director Mo Jialiu — was urging the actors: "Hurry up and start them!"

The floating captions provided an explanation: [Filming is about to begin, the director is having the actors get familiar with the props. Unfortunately, a little "accident" occurred~]

Nobody knew who shouted it: "Director! This is too expensive..."

Anyway, that shout gave everyone the auditory illusion of "Mom, this is too expensive," and everyone watching got extremely cautious.

They didn't dare drive.

Captions: [What to do...]

Then came a close-up of Mo Jialiu — he raised his hand, said nothing, and started picking at the dead skin on his lips.

Mo Jialiu wore the expression of "I'm the director, I can't panic," then his lips moved as if organizing his words.

Suddenly, another person entered the frame from the side: "What's wrong, don't dare drive?"

Immediately someone called out "President Sang."

Netizens: "!"

Holy crap.