Chapter Ninety-Eight: Is a Singer Who Cannot Write a Script Not a Good Actor?

However, it was charity, after all.

Most of the fans were giving of their own free will, so there was naturally no need for Bai Ling to stop them.

All she could do was do everything possible to ensure that every donation was recorded and, in the end, made public.

Moreover, if any of the donors were underage fans, Bai Ling would have someone keep an eye on them and return the money.

In general, it was not all that different from managing the practice of sending gifts in a livestream room.

By now, Bai Ling had long since weathered more than her share of storms.

Some things were worth guarding against, and she would still guard against them.

She did not want to hear some public opinion storm later on, some rumor about Bai Ling committing fraud with charity, or taking money from underage fans.

It was not that she would be unhappy at having trouble on her hands; rather, she did not want a good deed to end up stained with blemishes.

That would not do.

Although Bai Ling's reputation had turned around and the Princess Consort was now airing, those paid trolls did not dare act too recklessly. They did not want their IP addresses traced and to be made an example of.

But the aftershocks from the previous wave of hype still lingered.

There were still plenty of black fans who could not stand Bai Ling.

As the Princess Consort became a sensation, praise kept pouring in, and some people even began praising Bai Ling's acting to absurd heights.

It reached the point where Bai Ling herself felt a little embarrassed.

Those black fans could not keep their itchy fingers still either, and began typing out line after line of cold words with their body temperature hovering at a healthy thirty-seven degrees.

"I think Bai Ling's acting is average, even quite average. Her fans are exaggerating a bit too much."

"Is this kind of overblown acting really that good? I think it's somewhat inappropriate."

"Bai Ling's fans are just like that; they love to make everything sound bigger than it is!"

"Exactly, they're going too far!"

"She just made a charitable donation, so is there really any need to praise her to this extent?"

"Charity isn't a shield. There are so many people in the industry who do charity, so why don't we see them being praised like this?"

"It's too fake. In the end, it's just too fake!"

"This industry is finished."

"Now that Princess Consort is a hit, I still think it's the director's and screenwriter's achievement. Ouyang Ruofeng has always had talent; among the younger generation of directors, he's already quite outstanding."

"Zhuge Ming too. He's a bestselling author, and I really like reading his books. This script counts as a major innovation for him, doesn't it!"

"Zhuge Ming and Ouyang Ruofeng really do have a promising future. I'm optimistic about them. As for Bai Ling..."

"Don't even mention Bai Ling. The actors in this crew are actually pretty average. It feels more like two gods dragging a pile of weak links along!"

"Hahaha, that metaphor is vivid and perfect!"

Bai Ling watched with her own eyes as some so-called passersby and the fans of Zhuge Ming and Ouyang Ruofeng were, at that very moment, praising their own idols while trampling on Bai Ling.

It was as though Bai Ling had truly been carried by those two.

Bai Ling was left speechless. Though Ouyang and Zhuge Ming were indeed good colleagues of hers, she had not expected their fan bases to include such tactless people.

Whatever might happen later, at least for now Bai Ling and Zhuge Ming were on the same side.

And yet they were already starting to tear others down while lifting themselves up.

Was that appropriate?

Still, Bai Ling thought of some situations from her previous life.

Fans: Even if the whole world turns against my brother, we will stand firmly by his side.

Idol: Why would I want to fight the whole world?

Fans: We will help you!

Pfft.

At the thought of that, Bai Ling laughed out loud.

It really proved the saying: the rival only wants to ruin you, but only the fans want to kill you.

Though Zhuge Ming's and Ouyang Ruofeng's fans had not reached that extreme yet.

If there were a few more of them, they might really have been able to pin Ruofeng and Zhuge Ming to the bonfire and roast them.

Of course, the two people involved themselves could not possibly be like those fans.

They responded very decisively.

Zhuge Ming's post said: "The script was generously provided by Miss Bai Ling. I only handled the polishing and adjustments to some of the plot!"

And Ouyang Ruofeng said nothing at all; he simply released behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot.

In the footage, Bai Ling filmed several takes in one breath without a single retake, everything flowing so smoothly, and then Ouyang Ruofeng himself showered Bai Ling with wild, over-the-top praise.

Things like, Bai Jie is the ultimate forever queen!

Bai Jie is simply the god of acting!

Those kinds of words kept jumping out of Ouyang's lively, excited mouth.

To anyone who did not know better, it would have seemed that Ouyang was actually a fan of Bai Ling's acting.

With just these two posts, two whole groups of people were left silent.

Those who had been frantically liking the "two gods dragging a pile of weak links" comment were now especially speechless.

Really, what was that supposed to be?

Their own idol had come out and slapped them in the face. That was far too much.

Zhuge Ming's post still left room for doubt; one could spin theories around it, even imagine that Zhuge Ming had already been kidnapped and was being forced to say such insincere things to save himself.

But how was Ouyang Ruofeng's behind-the-scenes footage supposed to be explained?

Could it be that, within just a few minutes, they had specifically gone back to Bai Ling on set, shot a little clip, and used it to fool everyone?

That did not seem right.

In short, once you got slapped in the face, you should just quietly leave the scene, as though you had never appeared beneath those posts at all.

A losing battle?

No need to take it.

But the posts made by Zhuge Ming and Ouyang Ruofeng were not simply meant to refute the rumors.

They were, in effect, dropping two heavyweight bombs.

Princess Consort was already highly popular to begin with. After Bai Ling's public controversy erupted, it had become an enormous hot topic for promotion.

No one knew how many people had originally had no interest in Princess Consort, only to click on it out of curiosity because of this matter.

There was no need to say much about the impact. The drama's view count and popularity were surging nonstop.

It had to be said: Bai Ling was the face of this drama.

And with Zhuge Ming and Ouyang Ruofeng throwing out these revelations, the heat was pushed to a peak.

"So the script for Princess Consort was actually chiefly written by Bai Ling? Is she an actress? A singer? Or a screenwriter?"

"She made her acting debut and still won such high praise from the director. So a singer who can write scripts isn't a bad actress?"

"The underestimated ornamental beauty: Bai Ling's road to proving herself!"

Various marketing accounts began to flood the trending lists, continuously boosting the heat and traffic for Princess Consort.

There was no need to say more: over the next few months, Princess Consort's view count would be shockingly high, and it might even have a chance, just like in her previous life, to break the ceiling for web dramas.

However one looked at it, Bai Ling, once a former girl group member and now a singer, had finally and formally succeeded in connecting herself with the identity of an actress.

The End.