Chapter Ninety-Seven: A Great Victory, and Passing the Goodwill On!

After these past few days, as the matter continued to snowball, most people had come to realize that it had essentially been a deliberate, orchestrated campaign against Bai Ling.

And so, the shadowy hand behind it all was, naturally, being cursed to the heavens.

Wen Boyi looked through the comments. Some were Bai Ling’s fans expressing delight. Some were passersby offering congratulations. And a considerable number of people pointed their spears directly at the one stirring the waters behind the scenes — that is, Wen Boyi himself.

The abuse was so vile that even a middle-aged man like him could not have imagined it.

Without question, he was nearly furious enough to spit blood; his whole face was flushed red.

Yet he could not lash out, because Chu Wenjun was right there beside him.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Why is your face so red?”

Chu Wenjun noticed something was off and came over to ask.

Wen Boyi immediately waved a hand. “Nothing. Just a little warm.”

Chu Wenjun said helplessly, “If you ask me, it’s because you’ve been taking too many of those tonics.”

“I told you, I don’t mind. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. We already have a son and a daughter.”

“Besides, even if you keep taking all that stuff, you still can’t turn in many assignments.”

“Listen to me. From now on, no more tonics.”

Wen Boyi smiled with a face uglier than crying. “My wife is right. No more.”

As for those strengthening medicines, he still had to take them when needed. Otherwise, he would long ago have been so depleted he could not stand it.

Still, with Bai Ling’s matter, he had only gone to add a few more blows while she was down.

To say the least, things were now at the center of a storm. If he kept pressing, he risked overreaching and crashing badly.

It was a pity. That was as far as he could go for his precious daughter.

Who could have imagined that the official media would step in?

Even Bai Ling herself found it utterly unexpected.

She and Sister Ge had already prepared for the worst.

Even there, Ouyang had brought no good news.

Status within the industry could not reach the capital outside it.

With such a massive wave of public momentum, unless vast sums of money were thrown at it, it would be very hard to smooth things over.

Money could make the devil turn the millstone; without money, one could only lie still and be ground over.

At that moment, Bai Ling finally understood why some people tried every possible way to make money.

Though she would never engage in reckless profiteering or illegal schemes, she could at least understand why some people accumulated wealth as a safeguard for uncertain times.

Still, even after going through something like this, Bai Ling would probably never align herself with those who milked their fans for money and possessed no virtue worthy of their position.

“I have to say, Teacher Zhang really helped us tremendously. If not for her, I’m afraid public opinion would never have turned around,” Sister Ge said to Bai Ling. “Actually, ever since that song last time, the education authorities have had a very good impression of you.”

“It’s just that before Teacher Zhang released that video, they didn’t really have any reason to speak up for you. After all, the entertainment industry has nothing to do with them.”

“But now it’s different...”

“Honestly, Bai Ling, this time we really stumbled into success by accident.”

In fact, when Bai Ling first presented the script, she had already told Sister Ge about her intention to donate the proceeds.

Sister Ge had of course been extremely shocked.

After so many years in the business, she had rarely seen an artist like Bai Ling.

Most artists would have brought out sacks to scoop up money, hoping their private coffers would tower higher than mountains.

Even those who claimed they wanted to do charity were mostly using it as a cover for tax breaks or donation fraud.

Even the ones who genuinely did charity work usually could not spare much money.

But Bai Ling, on her very first attempt, had planned to donate all of her profit shares, leaving not a penny behind, and on top of that she would add two million more.

From that moment on, Sister Ge had come to see Bai Ling in a new light.

She was a lazy little girl, yes, but because of her tragic past, she possessed a heart that was extraordinarily resilient and bright as sunlight.

An artist like that was worth every ounce of effort to help.

During this period, Sister Ge had worried plenty and worked hard plenty.

In the end, they had still relied on Bai Ling’s kindness and a sliver of luck to weather the crisis.

But to have come out with this result was already quite good.

Bai Ling looked at Sister Ge and said with a smile, “Sister Ge, thank you for everything you’ve done during this time.”

Just as she finished speaking, Ouyang called.

“Bai Ling, this is miraculous!”

“You’ve been praised, you know that?”

Bai Ling rolled her eyes. “How could I not know?”

“Haha, I knew you knew. And there’s another piece of good news: The Crown Princess is back online!”

“Really?” Bai Ling was pleasantly surprised.

Her public image, truth be told, did not matter all that much.

After all, she still had a group of loyal fans supporting her. But The Crown Princess concerned the labor of the entire crew, and it also affected the exact amount of the donation.

So there could be no mistakes.

That was precisely what Bai Ling had worried about before.

Now it was back online, and there should not be any more risk of it being taken down.

That put Bai Ling much more at ease.

“From here on, I’ll handle the updates for the series. You don’t need to worry about that. As for the exact profit shares and so on, I’ll calculate them properly and let you review everything later.”

“Honestly, we never expected that you made this drama for the children at Zhoujia Village Elementary School.”

“So I’ve decided not to take my director’s fee. I’ll donate it along with you. I’m also going to tell Zhuge Ming, and he’s volunteered to donate as well!”

Bai Ling smiled when she heard that. “To have a friend like you, Zhuge Ming is truly blessed.”

“When you two sever your ties for good, remember to treat me to a meal so I can witness it.”

Ouyang chuckled. “What’s there to make a fuss about? That brat isn’t short of money!”

“All right, that’s that!”

Ouyang hung up, clearly off to work on Zhuge Ming.

Bai Ling chatted a little longer with Sister Ge, then became active in the fan group for a while.

Not long after, two reposted updates appeared in the group.

They were from Ouyang Ruofeng and Zhuge Ming.

Both were saying that their income would also be donated together with Bai Ling’s.

Of course, Ouyang Ruofeng was a bit more verbose.

Not only did he explain the situation, he even started writing a little essay, recounting some of the filming process.

Most of the lengthy passages, naturally, were about Bai Ling.

In the end, though, the topic still circled back to the donation.

All in all, it was written very movingly; at least Bai Ling herself could not bear to keep reading.

But the fans in the group were thrilled.

They even spontaneously organized a fundraising activity in the group, determined to help spread Bai Ling’s kindness further.

And that was something Bai Ling had never expected.