After Reuniting with My Aloof Movie Queen Childhood Friend - Chapter 27.1

The very last post on her homepage was a promotional update Little Ji had posted in early March. The comment section had originally been overrun by antis long ago.

Now, as Ji Youyi clicked on it again, what filled her vision were entirely comments from fans.

Some were checking in after joining the fandom, some were asking about her current situation, some were wishing her a happy festival, some were praising how good the new drama was and lauding her acting skills, and there were even those who had followed the trend tonight to buy flowers and show off their order receipts…?

Ji Youyi clicked on an order to take a look, and all her superfluous emotions instantly vanished. “Wait, a few stems of flowers are being sold for 520 yuan? What does this mean? Are they robbing my fans’ money?”

She only made six hundred yuan a day working as a script supervisor!

If money was really this easy to scam, why would she bother filming dramas? She might as well open an online shop to sell flowers directly.

With Ji Youyi herself wrapping them by hand, selling them for 521 yuan would be reasonable, right? She would clear her debts in minutes!

The more Ji Youyi thought about it, the angrier she became. She tapped open a comment box and began to vent. 【Baby TuT cancel the order!!! They are scamming you, this bouquet is worth a few dozen yuan at most, absolutely no more!】

After replying to the comment, she still felt it wasn’t enough. She decided to post a new Weibo entry to instruct everyone not to engage in impulsive consumption.

Ji Youyi muttered furiously, “These black hearted merchants give things a nice sounding name, add an ‘XX Limited’ tag, and can make a fortune just by riding the wave of popularity. They think they can earn this money because they have a business mind and a clear conscience, but in reality, it’s just because they are shameless enough! To dare sell it for 520, why don’t they just sell it for 250? Treating my fans like 250s, they are the real 250s! Wa-ya wa-ya, I’m furious!”

The typed-out Weibo post, however, carried a cute tone, filled with one emoji after another.

Meng Xingshu watched her as she mumbled and wrote her Weibo post, the corners of her lips curving up slightly.

“Should I post one too? I’m too lazy to write. Can I just share yours directly?” Meng Xingshu asked.

Ji Youyi was very generous: “Share it! Teacher Meng, you have a lot of fans, so your words will definitely be more effective.”

“Thanks.” Meng Xingshu lowered her eyes, pressing the repost button on the newly refreshed Weibo post.

Before exiting the app, her finger moved down, casually hitting the follow button.

If one were to catalog the celebrities with the highest organic online popularity in the first half of the year, it would absolute be Ji Youyi.

First, she was frequently dragged onto the hot search with hate in the beginning of the year, and then in March, she broke into the mainstream consciousness due to suicide rumors.

Not long after she was saved, she joined a drama crew to work, while her rumored partner, Zhou Wenchen, wept during a livestream, claiming he had fallen into depression out of deep self-reproach.

For a time, public opinion exploded, with all spearheads aimed squarely at Ji Youyi, who was accused of “faking a suicide to play the sympathy card.”

Just when everyone thought Ji Youyi was going to be completely crushed to death, the turning point arrived in April.

Zhou Wenchen’s extreme fans were locked up at the police station for physically assaulting Ji Youyi. That very night, the lawyer retained by Ji Youyi began gathering evidence to sue the online trolls.

The sheer force and momentum of the legal action caused those who posted personal attacks online to frantically delete their posts. Those who stubbornly refused to delete them joyfully received a defendant status, and under the court’s ruling, they obediently wiped their malicious comments completely clean and issued public apologies.

Coupled with the fact that Zhou Wenchen had suddenly lost his popularity for some reason, his fans crying or scattering, their combat effectiveness far weaker than before, naturally, very few people ran over to throw tantrums at Ji Youyi.

Thus, the relevant keywords for Ji Youyi became completely cleared.

Did you think Ji Youyi lost her popularity just because she had no more antis?

No, she became even hotter.

In early April, because of that viral hug video that took the internet by storm, her bright and beautiful smile became a highly popular profile picture trend for a time.

There were even quite a few face analysis videos of her circulating online.

Aside from face card fans, the massive wave that arrived consisted of CP (couple) shippers.

Although the #MengYouJi shippers weren’t incredibly massive in numbers, their activity levels were exceptionally high. Their Super Topic ranking remained firmly at the top for a long time, showing a fierce upward trend.

There were countless talented creators within the circle.

Those who wrote fanfiction, those who drew fan art, and those who edited videos were all highly skilled and incredibly prolific. Among them, the well-known writer 【Zhu Zhu A Qie】 held the highest popularity.

Her short brain rot scenarios achieved maximum likes exceeding one hundred thousand, and her ongoing long form fanfic Her and Her Non-Celebrity Friend was being aggressively pushed for updates by thousands of readers.

For the CP to be this hot, besides the fact that the two individuals possessed an exceptionally high compatibility level, the dedication of the main stars themselves could not be ignored.

Hugging in the streets, picking her up from work, and liking posts twice were already quite something, but on June 29th, Meng Xingshu’s birthday, they dropped a massive bomb.

One hand-prepared a birthday bouquet, while the other dressed up meticulously for a late-night rendezvous.

Not long after midnight passed, Ji Youyi posted a Weibo thanking fans for their love of the bouquet, urging everyone to consume rationally.

The next second, Meng Xingshu shared it and gave Ji Youyi a one-way follow.

How was this any different from an official announcement!

You two should honestly confess: did you gather together after celebrating the birthday to look at the hot search, and then discuss how to follow each other’s lead?

Where were you watching it? In what posture? Don’t hide it and treat your fans like outsiders, share it with everyone!

Furthermore, that one way follow made people shake their heads and chuckle.

A fan sharply commented. 【Someone logged into Weibo this year either to like her wife’s post or to share her wife’s post and follow her wife. She was probably even too embarrassed to ask her wife to follow back, terrified her wife would see that follow count [1], right? Too reasonable [Sweating Emoji]. This priceless vibe of throwing oneself at the other… Say no more, I’m going to re-read Non-Celebrity Friend once again.】

The CP shippers were losing their minds over the sweetness, and the casual onlookers couldn’t stay idle either.

Because after pulling through the entire timeline, they finally realized an issue that had perplexed them for a long time.

Ji Youyi and Meng Xingshu were a pair, Zhou Wenchen and Meng Xiao were a pair, and the two Mengs were sisters. That meant Ji Youyi and Zhou Wenchen were in-laws!

So during that travel variety show, that was why Ji Youyi paid special attention to Zhou Wenchen and took extra care of him.

That was just being polite among relatives!

Everything became perfectly logical!

Look at that gaze Ji Youyi directed at Zhou Wenchen, how sincere, how kind! It was filled with the care and affection of an elder relative!

What kind of thing was this Zhou Wenchen to treat his sister-in-law like that? Not giving her face on the show was one thing, but she had endured months of cursing just to help you hide your relationship, yet we didn’t see you utter a single word for her.

Not an ounce of emotional intelligence, no wonder he was being rejected everywhere in the industry!

Individual topics gathered together like a deep water bomb, directly blowing up the trending page.

Around midnight, Meng Xiao over on the other side had posted a birthday blessing video, which featured a childhood photo of Meng Xingshu, loudly singing praises of sisterly affection.

Under normal circumstances, it would have easily reached the top spot on the trending list, but right now…

Sorry, we’ll just download the photo screenshot, but we won’t be watching the video. Too busy researching your sister and her wife.

However, the skyrocketing popularity of the CP did not go entirely unquestioned.

A passerby mocked: > 【This Ji Youyi is quite hilarious. She has no works to her name, but the media play is endless.】

And what answered him was the popularity of The Bone of a Thousand Gold Pieces reaching a brand new peak.

On July 10th, Episode 14 of The Bone of a Thousand Gold Pieces aired. Ning Li died.

In truth, from the moment Ning Li’s backstory was disclosed in the previous episodes, the tragic color enveloping this character had gradually grown denser.

From her arrogant and cute initial appearance to her sharp witted and clever nature in the mid-section, the audience had grown accustomed to Ning Li’s companionship.

Even though some had faintly detected something amiss when she entered the Fourth Prince’s manor, everyone was used to Cao Qiu’s repeated successes against all odds. Thus, they, like Cao Qiu, believed that danger would be averted this time as well.

Consequently, that girl’s death hit everyone’s heart like a heavy blow.

The internet was ablaze with discussions regarding this plot point. The dramatized scenes were edited out to become classic second generation creations, with netizens shouting that Wen Yang’s acting was god-tier, and Ning Li’s death earned floods of tears from the audience.

While receiving widespread acclaim, voices of opposition emerged endlessly.

【Are you insane, are you insane, are you insane? Why write this kind of plot? Who among us hasn’t treated Libao like a daughter after watching the show for so long? My daughter is dead, what the hell am I watching for? Dropping the drama.】

【I understand that Cao and Song have limited capabilities, and the situation was indeed critical, but even if you gave them a sudden deus ex machina, it would have been fine. Why did you have to kill off a popular character? Screenwriter, just say it directly if you hate Ning Li. Don’t you just think that because she comes from a slave background, she isn’t worthy of your noble Miss Cao and Princess Song? [Smile]】

【There were rumors online before that Ning Li was originally written as a vicious female supporting character. I didn’t believe it back then, but now I do. This drama never intended to give Ning Li a good ending from the very start [Smile]. It can only be said that Ji Youyi acted too well, granting this character popularity she shouldn’t have had. I went back and watched the Ning Li cut again. Seriously, if anyone else had played her, I definitely wouldn’t have liked her.】 …

The trending topics were thus wiped clean by The Bone of a Thousand Gold Pieces once more. As netizens argued back and forth, a staff member from the crew published a thousand words essay.

【I am the Director of Photography for The Bone of a Thousand Gold Pieces. Please stop cursing the crew, everything is my fault! Please believe that our entire crew loved Little Pear very much, and the original script was supposed to give her a happy ending. I deserve to die, blame me for drunk driving…】

As a current hit drama, The Bone of a Thousand Gold Pieces actually had many behind the scenes tidbits worth talking about.

The original director fleeing, investors pulling funding, the crew restructuring, the screenwriter writing pages overnight, the director sleeping on set with a fever, and the entire cast and crew being so broke that one person had to juggle multiple roles.

But Ji Youyi felt there was no need to say all that.

Speaking about those things felt like complaining. Why did the audience need to know about them? As long as the drama was good, did it matter how it was filmed?

Additionally, Ji Youyi feared causing aversion among the viewers, so she never promoted herself as the director of this drama, and the vast majority of the audience wouldn’t intentionally look it up.

Therefore, many people only found out through the Director of Photography’s Weibo post.