Twenty years later, a classic is revived, and new audiences once again grieve for Li Shengnan's death.
This is the charm of classics; they are fearless of the passage of time. Even after so long, they can still move audiences to tears with genuine emotion.
The trending topic of Li Shengnan's death has allowed a younger generation of viewers to finally understand the brilliance of the former top-tier king's acting.
Unknowingly, younger audiences, bridging the gap of time, are captivated by Jiang Ling's performance. They, like her long-time fans, believe that her portrayal of Li Shengnan is unsurpassable.
Any remake would be a poor imitation, an insult to the classic.
Subsequently, the audience recalled Xu Feifei's recent idol drama, where her acting was so terrible it made one question life itself.
To prevent Xu Feifei from ruining the classic, new and old audiences united to boycott the remake of "The Romance of the Jade Bow of the Sea of Clouds."
Only Xu Feifei's devoted fans believed their idol's acting was superb and that remaking this drama would surely surpass Jiang Ling's version, creating new glory.
As the saying goes, comparison is the thief of joy.
Good or bad is often determined by comparison.
For example, if a person has a deposit of one million yuan, most people would consider them wealthy.
However, compared to the top ten on the Forbes rich list, they would seem abysmally poor.
Similarly, before Jiang Ling's version of Li Shengnan resurfaced, the younger generation of viewers thought Xu Feifei would bring a lot of excitement to the role.
But after witnessing Jiang Ling portray Li Shengnan with such meticulous detail, vivid emotion, like a thorny red rose, they could not accept a mere traffic star like Xu Feifei ruining such a classic.
Consequently, the younger generation of viewers clashed with Xu Feifei's fans.
The spark of conflict ignited and quickly spread across the internet.
Curious onlookers joined the wave of drama viewership.
After watching, they too wept over Li Shengnan's fate, believing Jiang Ling's version was the true classic and that Xu Feifei should not dare to touch this character that left countless viewers with unfulfilled longing.
[@Xu Feifei, don't you dare play Li Shengnan! Besides Jiang Ling, no one can perfectly embody this character!]
[You can't act well yourself, yet you incite your fans to curse others. Where is your decency?]
[We are both traffic stars. Look at Jiang Ling's acting, then look at yourself. If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job.]
[I was originally Xu Feifei's fan. From now on, I'm switching my allegiance to Jiang Ling. Even though Jiang Ling is almost twenty years older than me, I can still call her 'Jiejie' (older sister).]
[Me too! Who says traffic stars can't act? Who says all traffic stars are terrible actors? Jiang Ling also debuted as a traffic idol, so why is her acting so good, and you aren't?]
[...]
Because of the role of Li Shengnan, Jiang Ling experienced a surge in her fan base again after sixteen years.
In contrast, Xu Feifei's fan count plummeted.
She originally had over twenty-six million fans, but after viewers witnessed Li Shengnan's death, her numbers rapidly dropped to just over twenty-one million.
Losing five million fans overnight is indeed major news in the entertainment industry.
At this moment, Xu Feifei and her agent were unaware of this development.
Xu Feifei and her agent were on a plane to Hengdian, smugly discussing the online confrontation between her fans and Jiang Ling's old fans.
That's right; this conflict between her fans and Jiang Ling's old fans was also fueled by her own instigation.