Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Collapse of Liu Xin's Fan Club

Since the release of the statement video, Li Shixin’s Weibo traffic had been steadily climbing. By midday, the first wave of users moved by Li Shixin had posted quite a few threads, engaging in fierce flame wars with Liu Xin’s diehard fans.

But, after all, the nature of the groups was different: on one side were casual users who stumbled upon Li Shixin and thought, “This old man is incredible,” and on the other, organized hardcore fans. It was like the difference between a ragtag militia and a professional army.

After a whole afternoon of relentless spamming by Liu Xin’s fan club, although there were still a few voices in the comment section championing “Support Grandpa Li, Liu Xin’s fans get out,” facing a horde of energetic brats with nowhere to vent their energy on a Sunday with no tutoring to attend, it was clearly a losing battle—the defenders were overwhelmed.

“Xin-loves, they’re about to fall back! Speed up! Let’s go for an all-out blitz and wipe this old geezer off the page!”

“Anyone whose account got banned, switch to a new one and get back in! We’ve taken over the frontpage comments, but this is only a temporary victory, not the final one! If we hold on through the night, newer users seeing the comment section won’t stay interested!”

“Sisters, remember, everything you’re doing now is for Xin! Spam with all your might—get justice for Xin!”

“Charge! We’ll get justice for Xin!”

Li Shixin’s Weibo comment section was flooded with dominating messages, rolling in like an avalanche. Seeing this, some users who’d been arguing with the diehard fans since noon began to feel hopeless.

Don’t these brats ever have homework?

Their fighting power was insane!

Just then, suddenly, a new post appeared in Li Shixin’s comment section.

blueSky202 [Devoted to Xin, a lifetime together]: Brother Li Shixin, I really like you! Don’t be afraid of these slanders and reckless comments. From now on, I’ll guard your dreams for you!

What the heck?!

Several users who’d battled all afternoon were stunned by this comment.

Many people rubbed their eyes hard in front of their computers, double- and triple-checking, finally convinced they weren’t seeing things.

What was going on? Wasn’t this blueSky202 the deputy leader of the Xin-love fan club, the same one stirring up trouble in the comments just moments ago?

How did she suddenly switch sides?

There was no time to ponder. The users, frustrated all afternoon, immediately screenshot and reposted it to Li Shixin’s Weibo, tagging Liu Xin.

“See this? That’s the old man’s charm! Liu Xin’s diehard fans, your deputy leader... has defected!”

Meanwhile,

In Liu Xin’s fan club forum, the top [Battle] thread was abuzz:

“Where’s the deputy leader? Earlier, a lot of people said they had to leave for evening tutoring, we barely managed to hold them back. It’s almost eight now, a lot of us can’t hang on much longer—this is when the deputy leader should rally the outer circle fans!”

“Exactly, we’re all exhausted after a whole afternoon, but Xin has suffered such injustice—this is precisely when we, the fans, should step up! Someone has to organize and encourage everyone to keep going! Where has deputy leader-sama disappeared to?”

“Oh no! Girls, bad news! Check the old geezer’s Weibo comments! Our deputy leader, she—she’s switched sides!”

“What?! Impossible! Deputy leader-sama joined the club back when Xin had just debuted in Korea—she’s a diehard among diehards!”

“No way, the person who posted about deputy leader Sky defecting must be an enemy spy stirring up trouble! Anyone in Xin’s fan club might switch sides, but never little Sky!”

“There’s a screenshot, go see for yourselves!”

With suspicion, many fan club organizers coordinating the water army to defend Liu Xin hurried over to Li Shixin’s Weibo comment section.

Right on cue, blueSky202, right after her first suspiciously “defecting” comment, posted a fresh second comment:

[Devoted to Xin, a lifetime together] blueSky202: Brother Li Shixin, ever since I saw you in person, I haven’t been able to forget the way you sing, dance, and rap. Your indomitable spirit and golden vitality have truly won me over!

(:OдO)...
(:OдO)...?
(:OдO)!!!

At the instant this second comment appeared, a whole group of Xin-fan kids were petrified.

“...From deputy leader’s comment, does this mean she met that old geezer in person?”

“...And saw him sing, dance, and rap?”

“...And then got won over by him and defected as soon as she got back?”

“Waaah, deputy leader, how could you? You’re the one who got me into this fandom! Now that you’ve defected, what am I supposed to do? Should I keep being a fan?”

“No way, something’s wrong with deputy leader. It must be a hacker, her computer must’ve been compromised! How could she possibly fangirl over someone so old and ugly?! Deputy leader, cute little Sky, where’s your dignity? Where’s your taste? What happened to your style?!”

Just then, a third comment appeared.

[Devoted to Xin, a lifetime together] blueSky202: Sigh, it’s a pity I didn’t meet you when I was younger. But it doesn’t matter—now is just as good. Because today, from you, I found true faith! From now on, there will be no other man in my heart—I will love only you!

(ಥ﹏ಥ)......

(╯>д<)......

Seeing this comment, Liu Xin’s diehard fans who had fought all afternoon in Li Shixin’s Weibo utterly broke down!

“A pity I didn’t meet you when I was younger... Is deputy leader saying she regrets being a fan of Xin? T.T So sad.”

“From you, I found true faith... Damn it! Even in our own club, deputy leader-sama has never confessed to Xin like this! She’s changed, she’s completely changed!”

“No other man in my heart, only you from now on... This sounds wrong, could it be... after seeing that old geezer, cute little Sky fell in love with him? Oh my god! She’s only fourteen and a half, and that old man is sixty-five! Ahhh! My worldview, give me back my worldview!”

The deputy leader’s defection deeply wounded the fragile, naïve hearts of the kids! The onslaught from Liu Xin’s diehard fans against Li Shixin’s Weibo comment section completely collapsed after these three consecutive comments.

The comment section returned to normal.

Those Li Shixin supporters who’d been suppressed all afternoon were now practically laughing themselves silly at this unexpected reversal.

“Grandpa is a legend! Managed to capture the enemy general in such a short time—and she’s just a teenage girl, incredible!”

“Damn, I bow to Grandpa Li! I’m twenty-eight, and after chasing a girl for half a year, she still ignores me. But Grandpa, at sixty-five, managed to win over a young girl in just one afternoon. Grandpa, I’m your fan for life! But please, share your secrets! Whether I can escape singlehood for the rest of my life depends on you!”

“Legendary! Grandpa is awesome! He even converted a Liu Xin fan—there’s one less brainless fan in the world now, what a hero!”

...

In Wu Ming’s house.

Looking at Li Shixin’s profile on Weibo, Wu Ming flushed and finally let go of the keyboard.

She could type, but only because she was forced to learn during workplace training before retirement, so she really wasn’t any good at surfing the internet. She had no idea that her heartfelt confession to Li Shixin had triggered a nuclear explosion in Liu Xin’s fan community.

Rubbing her tired eyes, she turned to glance at her granddaughter, whose tears had soaked her collar.

“Chen Boshi, answer me, do you still want your pocket money?”

“Mm...” The weeping girl nodded furiously—after all, she spent hundreds every month on Ma Huateng’s horses, NetEase Cloud’s black membership, Bilibili’s VIP... Not to mention all the 2D wives she had to support in Arknights.

Grandma was pleased with her granddaughter’s attitude.

“Good. Then, how about we strike a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“Haven’t you been the deputy leader of that fan club for that brute Liu Xin...”

“Liu Xin isn’t a brute!”

“Oh?”

“Waaah... Liu Xin acts like a diva, doesn’t act properly, even pushed over an old man... he really is a brute...”

“Good. So, you’ve been the deputy leader of Liu Xin’s fan club for a while, right? Tell me, how exactly does your fan club operate?”

“That’s complicated!”

“If it’s that complicated, never mind. Starting tomorrow, you’ll help me run a fan club for Grandpa Li Shixin.”

“No way! Absolutely impossible! I, Chen Boshi, swear to the heavens—if I ever run a fan club for that old geezer...”

“I’ll double your pocket money.”

“Grandma, actually, it’s not that hard. First, you start with Grandpa Li’s existing supporters. For example, this Weibo post...”

Listening to her granddaughter seriously brainstorm and even volunteer as her advisor, Wu Ming was quite satisfied.