After Binding the Face-Slapping System, I Rose to Fame [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 11

“I bet my life on it—with starch, vegetable soup, and protein, I definitely have the most lavish lunch of all the guests!”

On the big screen, the three livestreams were displayed side-by-side. Lin Shuyu’s team was currently feasting on grilled oysters. The cameraman, clearly a pro, pushed the lens in close to show the sizzling, bubbling juices—it looked exactly like a high-end food channel.

Meanwhile, in the adjacent stream, Chu Jinzhi was patting the ash off a wild tuber, blowing on it frantically as she peeled the skin to get to the core. She was covered in dust and grime, yet looked utterly triumphant.

The contrast was so sharp that the netizens nearly laughed their teeth off.

【In all honesty, what kind of luck does Chu ‘Red Rose’ have? Are we sure she hasn’t opened her ‘Heavenly Eye’ to intentionally time these moments for a comedy-actress persona?】

【Hahaha, I’m dying, stop it, someone call 911.】

【Is the person above okay? Have they actually passed away from laughter?】

【No hope left. Bury them.】

【No hope left. Cremate them.】

【No hope left. Scatter them.】

【No hope left. Light a candle.】

【Uwu, I’m so nervous, it’s my first time joining a comment chain. What should I say?】

【Hahaha, you idiots! If you want me dead so you can inherit my mortgage, car loan, and marriage debt, just say it!】

【I’m starting to find Chu ‘Red Rose’ quite entertaining. Suggestion: open both streams simultaneously for maximum effect [doge].】

Perhaps because Young Master Wang’s troll army was busy fighting a bloody war against the fans of eighteen superstars, the bullet chat in Chu Jinzhi’s room was significantly more harmonious and adorable. Even the derogatory nickname “Red Rose” felt less like a malicious insult and more like a term of endearment.

Over in Lin Shuyu’s room, things were even more raucous. Tong Zixuan’s fans were gleefully watching their “Cool Girl” idol’s persona collapse instantly due to the “One-Click Makeup Removal.” This was undoubtedly the most joyful persona-collapse in the history of the entertainment industry.

Cao Xu’s fans were also there for the fun, enjoying the banter and the beauty. But the largest contingent remained Lin Shuyu’s fans, confessing their love for their “Big Sister” and celebrating how she had, once again, slapped the face of the “Red Rose” who kept trying to ride her coattails.

Lin Shuyu had debuted in a blockbuster by a famous director, with billions in box-office earnings to her name—a true “peak at debut” career. Combined with her stunning looks and undeniably excellent acting, she stood in stark contrast to her “faded” senior, Chu Jinzhi, who seemingly only had her looks left and insisted on clinging to Shuyu for relevance.

Fans follow stars for many strange reasons, but the most common is a “reverence for the strong.” As long as you are powerful enough, fans will act like iron filings to your magnet, flying toward you and sticking to you with absolute devotion and love. In the month since her movie premiered, Lin Shuyu’s follower count had skyrocketed from a few thousand to over six million and that was without buying fake data.

Her ability to attract fans in such a short time was staggering. Her manager, Yao Tong, was confident that Lin Shuyu would solidify her position as an A-list star within the year. The only minor annoyance was Chu Jinzhi, who had been hell-bent on tying herself to Shuyu’s heat since before Shuyu was even famous. However, since the result was always Chu Jinzhi getting “slapped” and Shuyu gaining more fans and traffic in the process, Yao Tong hadn’t felt the need to start an all-out PR war yet.

The Shelter Debate

The sharp contrast between the two streams continued. After lunch, Chu Jinzhi bragged that Lin Shuyu’s camp couldn’t possibly be as safe or comfortable as her rock crevice.

In reality, Lin Shuyu’s team had just finished building a rustic treehouse. It was elevated from the ground, avoiding dampness and moisture, and was remarkably spacious, bright, and dry. During the construction, Lin Shuyu even showed off her knowledge of herbal medicine, using various plants to repel snakes and insects. Resting in that treehouse meant having zero worries about mosquito bites.

Meanwhile, although Chu Jinzhi’s rock crevice was shielded from the wind and floods, it was a highway for various crawling insects. Every time she wanted to sleep, she had to smoke the place out with embers and relay the dry grass.

This was yet another self-inflicted face-slap that had the audience howling. Cui Meili, the executive director who knew the reality of both sides, couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He finally asked Chu Jinzhi: “Do you care about Lin Shuyu that much? You only ever talk about her and ignore the other guests.”

It was a question the netizens had been dying to ask, but coming from the director, it took on a curious edge.

Chu Jinzhi paused, wiped her face with a damp sleeve revealing a face as radiant and clear as a red rose and said seriously: “Because only her beauty can arguably stand alongside mine.”

The answer caught everyone off guard. What made it even better was how sincere she looked.

Livestream Chat:
【Help, she’s actually so serious about it!!!】

【Ahhh, why am I suddenly shipping them?!】

【That’s actually kind of interesting, cough.】

【Is this a ‘dissing your way into a CP’ (Couple Pairing) dynamic? [doge]】

【Some of you have had enough. Ship what? You people would ship Pikachu with the Emperor!】

【Why can’t my Pikachu be in a CP with the Emperor? You looking down on our matching skins?】

【To be fair, if Red Rose puts it that way, it makes sense. It seems she’s finally found her ‘Destined Arch-Nemesis’ [funny].】

【I suspect Red Rose is throwing shade at the makeup-less Tong Zixuan.】

【Hahaha, now that wakes me up. Tong Zixuan is so funny. I used to complain that her thick makeup made her look too worldly, but I didn’t realize she was just trying to hide a natural baby face.】

【Makeup truly is one of the Four Great Sorceries of Asia—it actually managed to hide that bouncy baby fat.】

Amidst the joyful comments, some of Lin Shuyu’s fans were still annoyed, telling the “Red Rose” to walk her own path and stop trying to bind herself to their “Fairy Sister.”

Some newly minted male fans began describing Chu Jinzhi and Lin Shuyu as the “Red Rose and White Rose.” Many casual observers wholeheartedly agreed, and restless meddlers quickly dragged the comparison onto Weibo. Before long, it was pushed to the Hot Search list by a mix of “visual stans” and drama-hungry netizens eager to see more “face-slapping” action.

At the same time, Lin Shuyu’s fanbase showed their strength for the first time, trending hashtags like #LinShuyuFairySister and #StopClingingWalkYourOwnPath.

The trending topics drew in massive traffic, which was almost entirely split between Lin Shuyu’s and Chu Jinzhi’s livestreams. Through this maneuver, Chu Jinzhi actually managed to win over a significant number of casual viewers, and her Weibo follower count began to climb.

Her manager, Sister Lin, took a moment out of her busy schedule to check the numbers. Finding that the situation was miraculously developing within a controllable range, she could only mutter to herself: Is this a case of ‘the amateur’s chaotic punches beating the master’? She decided to let it be for now.

The Strategy Behind the “Clown”

On the island, after tidying up her little nest following lunch, Chu Jinzhi curled up for a nap and used the System to exchange points for an Interstellar Acting Class.

Seeing her calmly closing her eyes to immerse herself in the holographic classroom, the System couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity: “Don’t you want to fight for the top rewards?”

Currently, she was almost exclusively using her “clown” persona to act as a foil for Lin Shuyu. While the mission was to get “slapped” in the face, surely, she didn’t need to be this humble?

Chu Jinzhi replied lazily with her eyes shut, “I only need to survive the seven days to secure my spot as a permanent guest. As for ‘S-rank’ resources—don’t I have you, System? If I work hard to farm points, I can have anything I want.”

Young Master Wang had hired people to smear her for two years; she was currently “blacklisted” by the entire internet. Even casual passersby who didn’t know her had a negative impression. By hitching herself to the rising momentum of Lin Shuyu and establishing an “antithesis” persona, she was effectively refreshing the public’s initial impression of her from a different angle.

She hoped that by the time she released a formal work, the audience’s first fixed impression of her would be: Oh, that’s the ‘antithesis’ girl who always gets her face slapped by Lin Shuyu in real-time!

Rather than: Oh, that’s the scandal-ridden diva who was kept by a sugar daddy and used body doubles for every single scene!

While the System was gratified by its host’s self-awareness, it still felt a bit odd. Thinking it over, it was probably because the host’s change in attitude before and after accepting the mission was too drastic!

Before, she had sworn she would never be a stepping stone and insisted on maintaining her dignity. Now, she was so proactive, so shameless, cough, so dedicated!

Could all of this really be based on the host’s supposed “Academic Overachiever Worship”?