If An Qiuyan dared to cause trouble, a single recording from the big beard would shatter her pure and innocent persona.
With An Qiuyan's intelligence, it was highly unlikely she would do something as foolish as lifting a rock only to drop it on her own feet.
“Lingzi, what should we do now?” Sister Sa asked worriedly.
“Four words: wait and see!”
Having toiled in the entertainment industry for so many years in her previous life, Jiang Ling had become incredibly shrewd.
As soon as the trending topic appeared, she had a premonition that the production and investment parties of "Tian Long" were behind the scheme.
Their motive was simple: to leverage the animosity between Jiang Ling and An Qiuyan, stir up public discussion, and thus ensure high viewership for the television series upon its release.
Jiang Ling saw through it all but chose not to expose it, allowing events to unfold.
This was because she keenly sensed that this situation would bring her more benefits than harm.
The more she was criticized now, the faster she would rebound once the truth was revealed.
Meanwhile, An Qiuyan, upon learning that she and Jiang Ling had both made it onto the trending list, also felt she was being framed.
However, with her tendency towards paranoia, she immediately suspected Jiang Ling.
In her opinion, Jiang Ling was playing the victim while being the aggressor, seeing her own reputation crumbling and her career fading, she decided to take a crooked path and drag An Qiuyan down to create buzz.
An Qiuyan was furious and posted a meme of "Someone is always trying to harm me" on Sina Weibo, accompanied by the text: "The pure will remain pure, the impure will remain impure. Those who ride the wave of hype will ultimately be trapped by their own schemes and suffer backlash from the very wave they rode."
Although this post did not name Jiang Ling, its implication was unmistakable.
Riding the wave of hype and ultimately suffering backlash from it – wasn't that exactly what Jiang Ling had done?
She debuted by leveraging popularity, only to be completely ostracized by it, becoming a discarded pawn of the capital.
Her deluded fans, who saw An Qiuyan as an angel on earth, experienced immediate euphoria upon reading the post and flooded the comments section.
【Yan Yan, don't cry. It's not worth it for such trash!】
【In my heart, you are the most outstanding actress. It’s okay to miss out on Tianshan Tonglao, better roles await you in the future!】
【Good wine needs no bush. Jiang Ling, that conniving hoe who's utterly fallen from grace, isn't even fit to carry your shoes!】
【The Tian Long crew claims to be a big investment, big production, yet they bowed to hype. I guess the show is just mediocre!】
As the situation escalated, the trending topics exploded.
More and more people began to pay attention to the matter.
Netizens from all walks of life flocked to the Weibo accounts of the Tian Long crew, production team, and major actors, inquiring about the inside story.
The Tian Long crew and production team remained silent. The main and supporting actors, fearing they might say something wrong and get caught in the crossfire, gave evasive answers, shifting blame.
Uninformed netizens took the silence as tacit admission. Sympathizing with the underdog, they preemptively conjured up various astonishing and earth-shattering rumors.
Some claimed that Shen Mingjue, still harboring feelings for Jiang Ling, had secretly maneuvered behind the scenes to get the Tian Long crew to choose Jiang Ling.
Others alleged that Jiang Ling, unwilling to be outdone by An Qiuyan, had used her beauty to ensnare a certain influential figure among the investors, snatching the role of Tianshan Tonglao.
Even more sensational was the rumor that Jiang Ling was the illegitimate daughter of a hidden capitalist in the industry. Having recently reunited with her parents through DNA testing, her father forcefully arranged for Jiang Ling to join the crew with her own investment.
In short, all sorts of rumors were flying, spreading like wildfire.