Chapter 72

Qin Yao didn't elaborate, and Xu Chun didn't ask. After Qin Yao hung up and turned back to work, Xu Chun stood there clutching her phone and blinking. Could it be that her parents' collaboration with Qin Yao had brought them closer?

It did make a certain kind of sense.

The project kept them constantly in each other’s orbit, and Qin Yao got along well with Grandpa besides. So it stood to reason that the opportunity had deepened Qin Yao’s relationship with her parents. Nothing surprising there.

Either way, it was good news for Xu Chun.

Yu Sui’an’s background might be twisted, ending up as the Jiang family’s illegitimate daughter, but unlike in the original plot, the current Yu Sui’an had no Jiang Zhaolie and no influence that could rally a hundred people with a single call. She had lost Jiang Zhaolie, that foolish, deep-pocketed stepping stone, and her footing in the entertainment industry was gone. That more than halved her ability to stir up trouble later and her chances of succeeding.

With Yu Sui'an no longer meddling, Xu Chun thought the odds of her family going bankrupt were still quite low.

And even if it did happen, with Qin Yao's ties to Grandpa and her parents, she probably wouldn't stand by and watch them go under.

Once she'd quietly sorted through all of that, Xu Chun finally had the presence of mind to go online and look for every sign and reaction surrounding Yu Sui'an's retirement from the industry.

First and foremost, of course, were Yu Sui'an's diehard fans. Some still refused to accept it, convinced this was all just Yu Sui'an speaking in anger and the company's despicable hype. Clinging to that stubborn hope, a group of fans cursed Yu Sui'an's former agency up one side and down the other, forcing the company to shut down its comment section just to stay safe.

But that wasn't the end of it. Fans rallied across every major platform to speak up for Yu Sui'an, trying to use public opinion to pressure the agency into issuing a statement admitting it had all been their scheme.

Innocent bystanders got dragged in too. People who offered a few fair, objective remarks were bombarded by Yu Sui’an’s fans until they disabled their private messages. Some even hid their accounts, setting them to private so no one could see, just to escape the mob.

That behavior threw the internet into a panic; everyone was terrified of becoming the next poor soul to accidentally provoke Yu Sui'an's fans and get cyberbullied.

That unreasonable, domineering behavior ultimately drew the internet’s full fury. Then someone whose identity was unknown called for a boycott of Yu Sui’an and her fans, and others rushed to join in. Even fans of other top-tier stars publicly took a stand, calling on others to do their part to cleanse the online environment and restore order to the entertainment industry.

The entertainment world had always exalted the powerful and trampled the weak, and the pool of resources was fixed. With one fewer competitor, their odds naturally improved. A crowd of people with all sorts of motives answered the call, united in forcing Yu Sui'an's fans into hiding.

The crusade and suppression lasted several days straight. During that time, Yu Sui’an’s fans could expect to be viciously cyberbullied by the opposing crowd. They suffered the same fate they’d once dealt others, repaid a hundred, a thousand times over.

Some fans, unable to bear the fall from grace and the backlash across the entire internet, renounced their fandom, deleted every post and update related to Yu Sui'an, and hastily cut all ties with her.

Others refused to concede. Some even developed a self-deluding notion of “defying the whole world for the one I love,” growing more stubborn and defiant with each battle. But the forces were wildly mismatched; against tens of thousands of enemies, they stood no chance and were quickly routed, leaving not a scrap behind.

Yu Sui’an’s super topic, her Tieba forum, and even her discussion groups on other social platforms were all razed clean. To avoid getting dragged in, some platforms simply blocked the three characters “Yu Sui’an” along with every related keyword, even abbreviations.

All that traffic could bring them profit, sure—but only if they lived long enough to enjoy it.

Besides, the pressure was coming from above. How could they dare disobey?

After days of tug-of-war, every trace of Yu Sui'an online was wiped clean. The more alert observers quickly realized there had to be a massive hand slowly pushing it all from behind the scenes. But so what? They didn't care.

They only needed to see Yu Sui'an gone and more opportunities freed up for their own idols.

When a whale falls, all things flourish. Yu Sui'an might not have reached quite that scale, but in essence it was much the same.

Yu Sui'an had once leveraged every connection to seize so many resources. Now that she'd fallen, everyone rushed in to snatch up and divide her holdings.

For all her enormous contribution to everyone's development and future, not a single person was grateful. In fact, to prevent any comeback, they secretly trampled her even harder, until she had no possibility of rising again.

In just a few days, Yu Sui’an had lost everything. Fans of every star boycotted her, trampling her across the entire internet until she became unsearchable online. Not a single message about her could be found. She had lost, utterly and completely.

Reading all this, Xu Chun couldn’t help but sigh. The entertainment world’s top star, once at the height of her popularity in the original plot, had now withered away so quietly that no one spoke up for her except her own fans. But even they no longer dared speak up for her on public platforms because the consequences weren’t something they could truly bear.

They might have worked themselves up with talk of defying the whole world for Yu Sui'an for the rest of their lives, but when the whip actually landed on their backs, it hurt all the same.

Yu Sui'an, of course, was watching the aftermath of her retirement too. Seeing her fans speak up for her and defend her everywhere filled her with joy. For a moment she was overcome, thinking it truly was a pity to retire like this. With fans like these, what peak couldn't she reach?

But the joy didn’t last. For some reason, the wind across the entire internet shifted. Everyone united to boycott her, as if determined to ban her and drive her completely out of the entertainment industry.

Yu Sui'an was shocked and furious, itching to jump in and confront these people herself. What gave them the right?

What gave them the right to boycott her, to deny her even a way out, even a shred of dignity, when she had retired of her own accord? But no one answered her.

She had terminated her contract with the agency and fallen out badly with her manager. No one could help her now. She stood alone on a deserted island, without a single close friend or ally.

So she could only watch as those people routed her fans, watch as they fled in disarray, forced into a corner until they had no choice but to distance themselves from her to protect themselves.

She watched her reputation collapse like a breached dam after her retirement. She was hunted like a rat in the sewers until she became unsearchable online, every trace wiped clean, as if she had never existed. Finally, she sensed something was wrong.

Someone was deliberately out to get her!

And that person was close to her.

In that instant, Yu Sui'an thought of Jiang Banxia.

The rotten idea to retire had come from Jiang Banxia. She had not only dangled the Jiang family fortune to lure Yu Sui’an into agreeing but also used Yu Sui’an’s father to force her hand. Young as Yu Sui’an was, faced with such coercion and temptation, she had inevitably been blinded by the promise of profit and a bright future. She never noticed the trap and jumped in without hesitation.

Now, with the realization dawning, Yu Sui'an furiously dialed Jiang Banxia's number. “You did this on purpose.”

She ground her teeth, one word at a time. “Did you want to see me ruined and left with nothing all along?”

Jiang Banxia's voice came back tinged with confusion. “You mean what happened after you retired?” Her lashes trembled faintly as she soothed her. “Now that you've retired, you shouldn't waste energy on trivial matters.”

“Pleasing Father and winning his favor is what you should be focusing on now...”

“Don’t change the subject.” Yu Sui’an clenched her jaw. “Is it because of Xu Chun?” Her voice rose, sharp and biting, as if she wouldn’t rest until she got an answer. “You want to get rid of me so I have no chance to compete with you for Xu Chun. That’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it?”

“You're overthinking it.” Jiang Banxia spoke calmly. “The die is cast; things can't be changed now. Your focus shouldn't be on clinging to such trivial matters.” She paused, then reminded Yu Sui'an again, “Have you forgotten that you still have several older brothers and sisters watching you like hawks?”

Of course Yu Sui'an hadn't forgotten. But she was caught between wolves ahead and tigers behind, and her only nominal ally, Jiang Banxia, had complicated motives that made it impossible for Yu Sui'an to calm down.

But the situation wouldn't allow her to lose her head. Yu Sui'an forced down the panic and suspicion in her heart, took a deep breath, and hung up with a blank expression. Whatever Jiang Banxia's intentions were, she absolutely could not let these external trivialities disturb her or make her give up easily.

She might have lost her foothold in the entertainment industry, but if she pleased her father and won his favor and the resources that came with it, it surely wouldn't be much worse than building a career in showbiz.

After careful consideration, Yu Sui'an immediately drove to her father's company, determined to seize this opportunity.

Meanwhile, Jiang Banxia gently set down her darkened phone. Her lashes swept down in unison, and after a moment, her crimson lips slowly curved into a faint, barely-there smile.

With the farce surrounding Yu Sui'an's retirement finally over, Xu Chun wrapped filming at last. The instant she finished the wrap photos and posted them to Weibo, Qin Yao's tall figure appeared in her line of sight right on cue.

The woman was dressed formally and exquisitely. Her brows and deep-set eyes were as cool and clear as a painting, utterly out of place in this remote, desolate patch of land. She walked over step by step, high heels clicking softly on the neat stone path, her backlit figure rimmed in a pearly, lustrous glow, beautiful beyond compare.

Xu Chun's heart skipped a beat, then raced. She instinctively walked toward her and was just about to speak when she noticed Jiang Zhaolie behind her.

After a long stare-down with Jiang Zhaolie, Xu Chun frowned, her whole face broadcasting unwelcome: Why are you here?

Jiang Zhaolie: “...” Could this person only see Qin Yao now? She was standing right behind Qin Yao, a whole big person, no less. Xu Chun hadn’t noticed her at all just now?

It had taken this long before Xu Chun had any attention to spare for being annoyed by her.

Xu Chun and Jiang Zhaolie stared at each other for a long while. Qin Yao glanced sideways at Jiang Zhaolie, and receiving that look, Jiang Zhaolie instantly tucked away the faint displeasure in her eyes and called out with a hint of excitement, “Mom!”

Xu Chun hesitated. “?” Was it her imagination?

Why did it feel like Jiang Zhaolie was calling her Mom very happily today?

How perverted.

TL Note:

super topic (超话) = a fan community page on Weibo; Tieba (贴吧) = Baidu's forum platform.

When a whale falls, all things flourish (一鲸落，万物生) is an ecological saying used metaphorically: one giant's downfall feeds many others.

The die is cast (木已成舟) literally means "the wood has already become a boat" = what's done is done.

unsearchable (查无此人) literally means "no such person found"; internet slang for being completely erased from platforms and search results.