Chapter Forty-Five: You Si

Half a year had passed, and unsurprisingly, Yu Qian’s latest post exploded online. In less than ten minutes, the comments and shares soared past ten thousand, though most of them were insults directed at her.

Among those hurling abuse, aside from the fans of that notorious female celebrity, the majority were hired trolls. Having experienced similar chaos in her previous life, Yu Qian could instantly distinguish between real users and paid shills just by glancing at their IDs.

After being dragged onto the trending list by the celebrity’s fans and the trolls, Yu Qian grew furious. She was trying to build the persona of a classical dance master, and when the professionals dismissed her, they resorted to hiring trolls to attack her? Idiotic!

She scrolled through several pages of comments, finding nothing but harsh words; her small group of loyal fans tried their best to suppress the negativity but couldn’t manage it.

With a cold laugh, she turned and entered her private domain, transforming her outfit to match the video and stepping into the dance studio to start recording.

She had danced to this piece many times before—taught by Su Daji. With Su Daji’s brilliance guiding her, and having been harshly criticized during her initial learning, she finally mastered the dance. That’s why she couldn’t accept the celebrity’s crude performance.

The choreography itself wasn’t particularly difficult—anyone with a little dance training could learn it. The challenge lay in capturing its subtle grace.

Even now, Yu Qian could only achieve a tenth of Su Daji’s level.

Half an hour later, Yu Qian posted again.

Shallow Water Fish v: “She’s ten times removed from my teacher! [Video]”

The video was simple: Su Daji and Yu Qian danced the piece together.

Originally, Yu Qian had intended to record only herself, but when Su Daji saw her frustration and asked about it, she insisted on joining the performance.

This post was even more sensational than the last. Yu Qian’s page soon froze from the influx of traffic; she had to restart her device, and when she logged back in, she was trending again.

“Shallow Water Fish Classical Dance” shot straight to the top, surpassing all other hot topics, including the previous “Shallow Water Fish Eyesore.”

The comments and shares were now filled with awe and admiration for her mastery; the vitriol had vanished. The celebrity’s fans either fell silent or switched allegiance to Yu Qian.

Beginner’s Heart: “Master! Please, I beg for information about Princess Teacher! She’s breathtaking, I’m obsessed!”

Undefeated: “Give me everything about this woman within a minute!”

Lingering Melody: “Fifteen years of dance, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone so phenomenal! Please, info! Let me become her disciple!”

Princess Is My Wife: “I was just checking Princess’s posts before bed—why did you have to show me this beauty!”

Manman Manqing: “Ah, I’m obsessed, my screen is ruined from kissing it!”

Meaty: “My mom asked why I was kneeling in front of the computer—because my love for beauty is profound!”

...

Apart from those fawning over Su Daji’s looks, most praised Yu Qian and her partner for their superb dancing, mocking the celebrity’s abysmal performance.

Isnnk: “Now I finally understand why Princess called it an eyesore. [Salute]”

Pipi Shrimp: “Because it truly is an eyesore!”

Qiaoqiao Oni: “Say no more, I’ve switched fandoms to Princess. Thinking back, I even defended that eyesore—was I blind?”

Black Cat Fears Dark: “[Kneels] I finally get it. If you lack skill, don’t hype your persona, or the backlash will destroy you.”

...

Meanwhile, at the center of the storm, the notorious female star, You Si, was monitoring the situation on Yunbo.

“Bang!” The more she watched, the angrier she became, finally flipping her laptop onto the floor and breaking it. “A bunch of useless idiots! Can’t even bury a mere influencer’s news. What’s the use of spending money on you!”

“Smack!” Her manager, unable to hold back, slapped her. “Ha, I told you your skills weren’t enough—don’t buy press releases. Now you’re facing the backlash, what are you arrogant for? You deserve it!”

He’d warned her repeatedly not to court disaster—there were many talented people in this world. Anyone with a bit of expertise could see her performance was dreadful, only fooling clueless fans. But all his advice had been ignored, and she secretly bought hot search spots without telling him; now she was being humiliated.

She had seemed promising—good looks, decent acting—but turned out to be utterly ungrateful.

The manager decided to transfer his resources to someone else; with her intelligence, she was hopeless.

But the contract hadn’t been dissolved yet, and the company hadn’t decided to drop her. Tonight, he still had to try to contain the fallout.

He glanced at You Si with disdain and went off to coordinate with the PR team.

You Si trembled with rage, watching the two dancers in the video, their graceful movements and soft postures filling her with hatred. “Wretches! I won’t let you get away with this!”

Hearing her threats, the manager looked back at her. “Ha!” Her fanbase was nearly gone, and she was facing a freeze—she wouldn’t let others go? There was no telling if she could even remain in the industry.

While the PR team worked on managing public opinion, the manager also reached out to Yunbo’s officials, hoping to remove the trending topic.

But they refused outright, citing no rules violations.

The back-and-forth was fruitless; he barely restrained himself from smashing his phone, though he kicked over a chair in frustration. “You’d better hope someone still wants to support you after tonight!”

He cursed, ruffled his hair in irritation, and stormed out.

Taking on this foolish woman as a client had been the biggest mistake of his life.

...

Yu Qian was unaware of the chaos raging elsewhere. She skimmed through the comments and shares, found no more insults, shut down her computer, and went to bed.

It was nearly eleven—any later, and she’d miss her beauty sleep.

Yet Wen Xiu and Zhou Jingchen weren’t sleepy at all.

Buying trolls to insult Yu Qian so blatantly—did they think the two of them were dead?

Each contacted their own marketing accounts and troll studios, slowly leaking dirt on You Si. Not all at once, but bit by bit, day by day—the real fun was in the slow reveal.

The Yunbo teams were all called in for overtime, and their appreciation for Yu Qian’s importance deepened.

This young lady was Zhou’s treasured one—no one dared insult her; anyone who did would suffer.

Yu Qian slept, but the online frenzy was just beginning.

News of You Si’s diva antics surfaced from a well-known paparazzo’s Yunbo post, amplified by marketing accounts, and trolls pushed “You Si Diva Behavior” onto the trending list.

You Si, who had calmed down enough to get a new computer and log back onto Yunbo, was once again driven mad with rage.

“Wretch! Damn it!” She furiously tried to call her manager, but his line was busy.

A short while later, the manager entered.

Arms folded, he looked at her. “Heh, you’re finished.”

“What do you mean? Who’s finished?” You Si screamed, eyes wide.

“You insisted on courting disaster and hit a wall! Yunbo rejected all requests to remove the trending topic; marketing accounts and trolls won’t take your orders anymore.” He sneered as he spoke. “Congratulations, someone’s targeting you, and the rest of your scandals will soon be exposed.”

He’d worked with You Si long enough to know exactly what kind of person she was. Advice to be more decent had fallen on deaf ears. If not for her popularity and powerful backers, she would have been dealt with long ago.

Now? She was on her own.

He’d just received word from his superiors: the company’s PR team would no longer support her, and her high-level sponsor had abandoned this clueless fool. Want to clear your name? Do it yourself.

He came only to deliver one message: “The company has reassigned me to another client. Good luck fending for yourself.”

With that, he opened the door and left.