Ning Ran calmed down after Cheng Xiangyun spent some time pacifying her.
The truth was, being insulted was a normal phenomenon for an actress. Ning Ran was only that agitated because she was rarely insulted.
The reason why Ning Ran wasn’t insulted before that incident was because she wasn’t famous so little to no people paid attention to what she did.
Becoming famous meant that she would be able to enjoy the resources and attention of the public because she was a public figure.
Unfortunately, those resources and attention weren’t free. A person should be prepared to withstand the backlash that came with fame.
Your fans supported you. They went to see your concerts, bought the products you endorsed, and gave you unlimited wealth and admiration… But did they do it for free? Of course not.
Fans had certain expectations from celebrities and wanted the celebrities to act a certain way. It’s similar to the way a parent puts his/her expectations on the kid or the way lovers expected things from one another.
The moment those expectations were not met, the fans would start abandoning the celebrities and started to insult them.
Power and responsibility depended on one another. One must carry out their responsibilities to enjoy the power given to them.
A celebrity’s job was to satisfy their fans mentally and on a spiritual level.
If celebrities’ did not meet their fan’s expectations, their fans would not be satisfied, or may even get hurt.
Under those circumstances, who else could the fans blame?
Ning Ran understood those fundamentals too, but she had never experienced it firsthand. The intense attacks from the internet hurt her pride and overwhelmed her.
After calming down, Ning Ran started to strategize an action plan to solve the problem.
“Should I tell them the truth? If I don’t, they will keep attacking me,” said the frustrated Ning Ran.
“No, you can’t do anything right now,” refuted Cheng Xiangyun, “No matter what you say, they will put the blame on you, and as long as you make an appearance, they will insult you.”
“So I just have to take it quietly? Let them attack me like I’m a punching bag?”
“Silence is the best course of action for now. Zheng Lunlun’s fan ranges from twelve-year-old tweens to fifty-year-old elderlies…”
“Hang on,” said Ning Ran with disbelief in her eyes, “Fifty-year-old seniors are paying attention to entertainment news?”
“Of course,” said Cheng Xiangyun, “The elderlies nowadays, especially the women, are adopting a parental style and are almost as crazy as younger fans.”
“Parental style?”
“That’s right. They see Zheng Lunlun as their own kid because they watched him grow up and live the life they’ve always dreamed of.”
“Oh my gosh,” wailed Ning Ran, “So now they are coming after me because they see me as the old woman who is trying to steal their son away?”
“More or less,” said Cheng Xiangyun who couldn’t fully contain her laughter.
“Could you be a little more serious?” growled Ning Ran, “Why are you still laughing at a time like this?”
“Alright, I’ll stop,” said Cheng Xiangyun who turned serious immediately, “And yes, your description is a little weird, but that is the general idea.”
“As for the younger fans,” said Ning Ran as she sighed and continued, “It’s easy to understand what is going on in their head. That blonde rascal is their knight in shining armor. They think that I am not worthy of having dinner with their lover so they want me gone.”
“Yes, and that is why you should be kinder and try to understand how they’re feeling,” said Cheng Xiangyun.
“Okay, now you’re just being mean to me. Did you see how they insulted me?” said Ning Ran whose anger was beginning to rise again, “They cursed my family!”
“Yes, they are too much. The internet has always been full of haters, but keeping quiet is the only way to avoid more conflict.”
“The best solution is to have Zheng Lunlun step up and personally explain what had happened last night to pacify his fans.”
“And he must do so personally or his fans won’t buy it. They would just assume that his personal account was used by his manager to send the message,” said Cheng Xiangyun.
Ning Ran shook her head and said, “That won’t be possible.”
“Why not? Aren’t you two close? Why can’t he step up and help you explain the situation?”
Still, Ning Ran shook her head and said, “He can’t right now, and I don’t want him to do that for me. It’d destroy his reputation.”
“Not likely. He is a super celebrity so everything will calm down quickly if he is willing to personally tell everyone the truth. It shouldn’t have much of an impact on him,” said Cheng Xiangyun.
Ning Ran continued to shake her head, but she didn’t explain why.
She knew that Zheng Lunlun was suffering from serious stutters, but the paparazzi cannot know about it.
If anyone were to find out about it, the current commercial loss would be devastating, and its negative impact on Zheng Lunlun’s future would be unpredictable as well.
Ning Ran was Zheng Lunlun’s friend so she didn’t want him to sacrifice his stardom for her, but she couldn’t tell Cheng Xiangyun about Zheng Lunlun’s stutter either. She didn’t have the right to do so unless Zheng Lunlun gave her permission.
“Forget about it, let’s leave it for now. We’ll wait for it to die down. This is an era where new and exciting things are happening every day. My news will be replaced by other rumors soon enough. I won’t think about it anymore. I’ll just focus on shooting the show,” said Ning Ran who was trying to make herself feel better.
“That’s the spirit,” said Cheng Xiangyun, “Who cares what others think? We must be optimistic and smile at the hurdles life throws at us.”
“Pfft, don’t act all Zen,” said Ning Ran who rolled her eyes at Cheng Xiangyun, “You’re just being mean to me.”
After having their breakfast, the two friends drove to the set where the show was being shot.
Before they even reached the set, they saw that it was surrounded. When they got closer, they noticed that there were hundreds of people there. Most of them were angry teenagers, and they were chanting something aloud.
As they listened more carefully, they heard that the people were chanting, “Go to Hell, Ding Mi! Come out, b****!”
That was a bad sign. The haters weren’t just yelling online, they were also taking actions offline.
“My gosh, they came all the way here? Just how much do they hate me? And how did they find out that I’m shooting a show here? Who let the news out?”
Cheng Xiangyun was grim too because it looked like things were getting out of control.
At first, they had thought that it was just an online rant, but the haters had set up a protest.
This is bad!
“You’re right. It’s so early in the morning, and everyone is here so someone must’ve coordinated it to get to you. Someone must be after you so they leaked the location of where you will be shooting a show and led the haters here,” commented Cheng Xiangyun.
“But everyone signed an NDA. Who would risk being sued and leak that information out?”
“With the internet being the way it is, leaking information without being caught is too easy. It’s likely that someone on the inside had done so intentionally to gather the haters and affect your work…”
Cheng Xiangyun hadn’t even finished saying her bit when Ning Ran’s phone rang.
It was the director, Wang Yan.
Wang Yan had just arrived as well and had just realized that the place had been surrounded.
Wang Yan went out with his friends and was drunk the night before so he had no idea what had happened on the internet.
He was also stunned when he saw the place surrounded by people who were cursing Ding Mi.
“Director, this is Ding Mi,” said Ning Ran who had answered the phone.
“What is going on?” yelled the director, “Who did you piss off and why is everyone after you?”
“It’s a long story, director,” said the frustrated Ning Ran, “I don’t know who I pissed off, but it’s probably Zheng Lunlun’s fans. Somebody’s after me and had gathered everyone here to personally attack me.”
“So what do we do now? With everyone surrounding the set, there is no way we can shoot the show! What do you plan to do about it?”
The director’s words had Ning Ran stumped. How would she know what to do?
