Gentleness has been in the industry for four years, with a total fan count of only over six million.
A million of these fans were artificially purchased by the company during her debut to inflate the numbers.
And now, just one day after not logging onto Weibo, her fan count grew by five million, equivalent to the total for her years in the industry.
The exaggerated numbers made Gentleness extremely nervous.
In her mind, she thought, could it be that the Sina Weibo system has a bug, or someone is paying to smear her?
Gentleness quickly scanned the comments section and found almost all the comments praising her handsome and domineering appearance, with a portion of the fans clamoring, "Marry me, husband."
The tone of the comments was completely different from the past, but they were all active accounts, nothing like the style of a water army, and certainly not a Weibo bug.
Gentleness continued to browse and discovered that many of the accounts commenting were attributed to Su Nan.
She remembered the video of Wen Yao saving Su Nan before and speculated in her heart whether Su Nan had done something?
She quickly switched to the search page, intending to see if there was anything happening with Su Nan, but found several glaring trending topics in the popular search bar.
#Gentlewoman Style#
#Su Nan Visits Gentleness#
#Gentle Swordsmanship#
This was the first time since her debut that she had simultaneously appeared in three trending topics, not through team operation, but because of Wen Yao.
Considering the five million surge in fan count, it seemed that none of these trending topics were bad news.
So she became more curious about what Wen Yao had done to generate such a following.
Gentleness quickly opened the trending topic and soon understood the cause and effect.
It turned out that when Su Nan visited the set yesterday afternoon, she recorded a video of Wen Yao wielding a sword and uploaded it to her own Weibo.
However, Su Nan’s influence, no matter how high, should not have led to a five-million surge in fans overnight.
With this question in mind, Gentleness opened the video.
She was soon shocked by the video of Wen Yao.
Wen Yao, in the video, was dressed in a black robe, holding a long sword, exuding an imposing air, entirely different from her usual self.
While gentleness was beautiful, she lacked any presence, appearing soft and weak, lacking any aggression.
But in the video, Wen Yao was different, with the look in her eyes alone resembling a sharp blade ready to be unsheathed at any moment, terrifying and intimidating.
And when she wielded the sword, her movements were clean and powerful, making the viewer instinctively forget Wen Yao's gender.
Gentleness was deeply shaken after watching the video.
She suppressed her emotions and took a deep breath, scrolling further down the trending topics and clicking on the #Gentle Swordsmanship# topic.
Wei Zelin, an authoritative figure in the Chinese martial arts world and also the president of the Martial Arts Association, wrote an article assessing Wen Yao’s swordsmanship after watching the video.
The article offered a detailed analysis of Wen Yao’s moves, using many professional terms unfamiliar to gentleness.
All she knew was that the article highly praised Wen Yao’s skills, even expressing admiration at the end, stating that Wen Yao, despite her young age, had such profound skills, ensuring the future of Chinese kung fu.
Seeing the assessment from such an authoritative figure, Gentleness was completely dumbfounded.
She couldn't believe that everyone was talking about the Wen Yao she knew.
The Wen Yao who had been foolish and indecisive since childhood, who didn't even dare to speak loudly.
As she watched her increasing followers and the praises from netizens, Gentleness felt no joy, only fear and trepidation.
She had worked hard for four years, yet Wen Yao achieved more with one video.
She had tried to build good relationships in the industry, yet she still languished in the third-rate circle.
Wen Yao, on the other hand, effortlessly gained the favor of an international director, getting the most popular actress to personally post a video on Weibo to attract fans.
These were things she couldn't do.
When did the little lamb without any aggression silently transform into a wolf in sheep's clothing?
Gentle thought that Wen Yao might replace her and become an irreplaceable presence, which made her extremely panicked.
She clenched her hands in fear and was trembling all over.
No, absolutely not!
She had to do something, absolutely could not just sit and wait for death!
---
Before Su Nan uploaded the video to Weibo, she sought Wen Yao's consent, so she knew about the video. But she never expected the video to go viral to this extent, watching Wen Ruo's fan count soar by over five million, she was also shocked.
But soon, Wen Yao's heart calmed down.
Now, how many people were paying attention to Wen Ruo because of her, and when the truth was revealed, how many people would turn their current liking into disgust and backlash against Wen Ruo.
Wen Yao was looking forward to that day.
"Jiang Men" is Director Wen An's transition work, from an art film director to an action film director, with great risks. Afraid that if news of it spread, some unethical media would hold opposing views for the sake of it, randomly analyzing and undermining the team's morale, he did not announce it to the public at the beginning. Wen An's original plan was to promote it on the internet after the film was finished and entered the publicity period.
But now, Wen Ruo's video was trending across the internet, garnering significant public approval, and people were curious about what drama Wen Yao was shooting. This was an excellent publicity opportunity for the movie; no matter how much money was spent later, it was probably difficult to achieve such an effect.
Wen An immediately arranged for the team to register the movie official Weibo account for "Jiang Men" and then personally posted on Weibo.
Director Wen An V: After two years, the production is underway again. I was planning to inform everyone after the end of the movie, but unexpectedly, before the completion, the leading actress of the movie became popular on the internet. Thank you for your love and recognition of the female lead @Wen Ruo, and please pay attention to @Jiang Men Official Weibo.
[Movie Poster.jpg]
As a leading director in the country, and having directed numerous award-winning movies both domestically and internationally, he had a considerable number of fans. His fans wished that he could release high-quality works every day, but the reality was that he hadn't released a work in over two years. The quality of movies in China was declining, with more and more money-making works, and everyone was extremely disappointed in domestic films, looking forward to Wen's return to save the domestic film market.
So when Director Wen An posted on Weibo, the entire platform went crazy!
"Oh my god! I just became a fan of Wen Ruo yesterday and was worried that it would be some rubbish web series, but it's just a great excerpt. I didn't expect it to be Director Wen's film. I'm relieved! Hurry up, I've already prepared the ticket money!"
"Wen Ruo is actually the female lead in Director Wen's film! No wonder the video was so fantastic! Looking forward to the release of 'Jiang Men'."
"What kind of heavenly combination is this? My favorite director and my favorite actress, oh my god, I'm going to die!"
"This is simply a guaranteed box office hit!"
"Please ask the official account to release more behind-the-scenes footage of my husband, she's truly amazing!"
...
After the Director announced the production of the new film "Jiang Men," the name of "Wen Ruo," as the female lead, was trending on hot search for a whole week, and Wen Ruo's fan base continued to grow significantly, quickly breaking through fifteen million.
Knowing the truth, Wen Ruo looked at the sudden growth of her fan base, feeling as if she was holding a hot potato.
But she was helpless and could only seek help from her manager, Yuan Min.
Seeing this situation in recent days, Yuan Min also felt that things were not going well, but she was more mature than Wen Ruo, who had not yet taken her college entrance exam and had experienced some life experiences.
She comforted Wen Ruo's emotions and said, "Soft, calm down. Now, as long as we can stabilize Wen Yao, no one will know about it."
"But now, she's so popular, we can't guarantee that she won't tell anyone. What if she wants fame?"
Everything that had happened these days had completely lost Wen Ruo's confidence in controlling Wen Yao. She anxiously said, "Yuan Jie, why don't we send Wen Yao abroad now, forget about the movie, I'll compensate for how much the breach fee is!"
Upon hearing Wen Ruo's proposal, Yuan Min immediately shook her head, "That's not possible. If it were a regular crew, it might be possible, but it's Director Wen. Can you afford to offend him?"
Director Wen An was highly regarded in the industry, and nearly half of the first-line actors in the industry had been promoted by his films, with wide-ranging connections.
If Wen Ruo offended Wen An, she could forget about making it in this industry. Furthermore, Director Wen An had just announced on Weibo the movie and the female lead. With the intense reaction from netizens, if they announced their withdrawal now, how would they explain it to the crew and the public?
If they couldn't explain it clearly, the media would surely delve deep into the reasons, and the matter of a stand-in would still be exposed.
After Yuan Min made such an analysis, Wen Ruo found herself in a very difficult situation on all sides.
She anxiously asked, "Yuan Jie, what should we do now?"
After Yuan Min pondered and weighed the pros and cons, she said, "There's no other way. We can only stabilize Wen Yao, send her away after she finishes this movie, and then rely on your own strength to stabilize the popularity she brought you. You can't let people discover the loopholes, and at the same time, you must be more likable than her."
"This is the only option for the moment."
Upon hearing this, Wen Ruo clenched her hands and said, "Alright, Yuan Jie, you can rest assured, I won't lose to her!"
Yuan Min was very worried but did not show it on her face. She comfortingly patted Wen Ruo's shoulder, "I'll go back to the company now to arrange your work after the movie ends."
"Okay, thank you, Yuan Jie."
After Yuan Min left, Wen Ruo, unwilling to give up, opened Weibo again.
At that moment, a strange call came in.
"Is this Miss Wen?"
In the face of an unfamiliar call, Wenrou hesitated and answered gently, "Yes, may I ask who's calling?" "I'm Shen Yixuan from Yusheng Group. We danced together on the cruise ship, don't you remember?" Wenrou searched her memory. She had attended a cruise ship birthday party for a wealthy businessman more than a month ago, during which she had danced with several men. She vaguely remembered Shen Yixuan, but couldn't recall his appearance. Although she couldn't remember, Wenrou didn't show it and immediately smiled, saying, "So it's Mr. Shen. Is there something you need?" "I recently invested in a film directed by Zhou Baogang. They're auditioning for the female lead, and I think you should give it a try." Upon hearing the words "Zhou Baogang," Wenrou's eyes lit up.
If Wen An was considered the quality guarantee in the film industry, then Zhou Baogang was the quality guarantee in the television industry. She had been worried about how to outdo Wen Yao and become more popular than her, and now the opportunity had come. Wenrou immediately responded, "Really? When is the audition?" "Miss Wen, don't rush, it's still early. But do you have time tonight? I have a gathering here, I wonder if you can come." Upon hearing this, Wenrou instantly understood the man's intentions. There's no such thing as a free lunch, she tightened her grip and replied, "Okay, I'll be there!" That night, Wenrou arrived at the club as per Shen Yixuan's instructions. Guided by the staff, she entered the private room. Inside, there were many men and women drinking and playing games. She walked in, put on a familiar appearance, and greeted everyone with a smile, "Sorry, I'm late."
After seeing her, Shen Yixuan immediately came over and embraced her, proudly introducing her to everyone in the room, "No need for further introduction, the popular actress Wenrou!" Upon hearing Shen Yixuan's introduction, Han Muyao, who was sitting alone and drinking at the far end, looked up.