Chapter 63: Fingertips

Li Yunzhou was the first to speak out. Immediately after, three more artists posted on Weibo, using the hashtag #OpposeBullyingInFilmCrews, publicly supporting Wu Cisheng, condemning Shen Xici’s bullying behavior, and demanding that Shen Xici must publicly apologize to Wu Cisheng.

By noon the next day, there were already seven artists who had taken a side. Among them, Zhou Ranyi, a young actor who debuted in a youth campus film, wrote a thousand-word essay, detailing his memories of his debut work where Teacher Wu Cisheng played his grandfather. He was young and new to the industry at the time, and didn’t understand many things. It was Wu Cisheng who patiently taught him.

He found it hard to imagine why a veteran actor like Uncle Wu, with such a good temper, kindness, and extreme professionalism, would be reprimanded by a newcomer traffic celebrity.

Finally, he said that after seeing the video, he had called Wu Cisheng. Uncle Wu was not angry at all and even advised him not to blow the matter up, saying it would be bad if it got too big. The film crew was inherently a place with a clear hierarchy. He was old, not as famous or able to earn as much as the young people, and was already very lucky to have a role. Moreover, everyone in the crew was under a lot of pressure. Sometimes emotions were bad, and a harsher tone was normal. Teacher Shen was usually very amicable on set.

Zhou Ranyi concluded by writing that if he didn’t stand up this time, then he didn’t know how many more Shen Xicis would continue to throw their weight around, and how many more Uncle Wus would have to bow and scrape, swallowing their grievances. He knew that speaking out this time would affect his career prospects, but if he didn’t, his conscience would trouble him for the rest of his life.

The short essay directly ignited the emotions of netizens.

“—I don’t usually curse people, but Shen Xici really went too far this time. Usually amicable? So that means you just pick on the honest, hard-working Uncle Wu to bully, right? This kind of thing definitely isn’t the first time. Who knows how many grievances Uncle Wu has swallowed behind the scenes!”

“—So what if there’s a lot of pressure? Who doesn’t have pressure at work? Is pressure a reason to curse people out? Shen Xici, get out here and apologize!”

“—Honestly, I don’t believe Shen Xici would do something like this. A person with a dirty mind could never act out the feeling of the mute boy!”

“—I’m really going to cry. Even after being bullied like this, Uncle Wu still calls Shen Xici ‘Teacher Shen’ and even understands that Shen Xici’s bad temper is due to the pressure of filming. F*ck, Shen Xici, come out and see, are you even worthy!!”

“—This is truly the tragedy of our era. A newly emerged traffic idol can randomly insult a senior in the industry who has been working for many years. If this trend doesn’t change, the film industry will be finished sooner or later!”

The topic #OpposeBullyingInFilmCrews was pushed higher and higher, firmly landing at the number one spot on the trending list, followed by a dark red “Exploding” tag. The fans of the artists who took a side all charged into battle, their fighting power extremely strong. Many of Shen Xici’s fans were new and not yet stable. The few posts analyzing the editing marks in the video were all drowned in a sea of scolding.

In the video call, Ge Lanjing stood by the office window, her tone sarcastic. “He’s really playing the perfect victim. Speaking so meekly and humbly, yet he’s refused to answer my calls until now.”

Shen Xici also hadn’t expected Wu Cisheng to resort to such “green tea” tactics. In the words Wu Cisheng conveyed through Zhou Ranyi, it seemed on the surface that he was trying to make excuses for him, but in reality, every word was saying how pitiful, miserable, and difficult his own situation was, how wronged he felt. He was already so pitiful and wronged, yet Shen Xici still bullied him.

Shen Xici also lamented, “If he wasn’t the perfect victim, the people behind this definitely wouldn’t have approached him. Now, with the comparison between a young traffic star and a veteran actor, the weaker party is certainly more likely to arouse widespread sympathy. Incidentally, I also touched upon traditional social morals—disrespecting elders and seniors. The neighborhood folks sunbathing and playing cards downstairs would probably curse me a few times if they talked about me.”

Ge Lanjing also had a headache. “The trigger point for public opinion was chosen very well.”

Shen Xici pondered, “Yes, not only well, but also very comprehensively. In the video they edited, my tone, expression, and what I said were all processed layer by layer and directly classified as ‘bullying,’ raising the nature and severity by several levels. People who don’t know the situation, just seeing the words ‘Oppose Bullying On Set,’ will subconsciously define me with the image of a ‘bully,’ and every person who scolds me is a messenger of justice, standing on the moral high ground.”

Ge Lanjing sat back down in front of her computer, pinching the bridge of her nose. “The other side is indeed very well-prepared. Besides approaching Wu Cisheng, they also spent a lot of money on a water army, and their PR is very professional. Look, in the plaster incident, you had three trending topics, two of which were related to your acting. But this time with Wu Cisheng, the public opinion directly defined you as a ‘traffic idol,’ not mentioning your acting at all. It’s clearly a targeted effort to solidify the audience’s impression of you and weaken the presence of your acting skills.”

Shen Xici had been in this circle for so long in his past life and knew very well that for an actor, establishing an image of “good acting” in the audience’s mind already required one or even several roles. The margin for error was extremely low. If the “traffic” label was stuck on him, it would take even more excellent works to tear it off.

He concluded, “This operation is indeed precise and vicious.”

At this point, Ge Lanjing was a little surprised. “Before I contacted you, I had already prepared a whole basket of comforting words, but I didn’t expect to use them at all. You’re acting nothing like a newcomer. If I were you, seeing myself being cursed so badly, and being framed and set up by others, I definitely couldn’t be this calm.”

Ge Lanjing had managed many newcomers. The difference between this circle and real life was that in real life, at most, it would be classmates at school or colleagues at work slandering and gossiping. But an artist had to face malice coming from hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of strangers they didn’t know. Many newcomers couldn’t take it in a short time and needed to gradually adjust and accept it. Severe cases even required seeing a psychologist.

But Shen Xici had no such problem at all. He was more like a mature artist, with a strong and firm heart, already capable of handling the surging tide of these negative words.

“Sister Lanjing, I usually hypnotize myself. The ‘Shen Xici’ everyone likes and praises is me, myself. The ‘Shen Xici’ they scold has nothing to do with me.”

Ge Lanjing was amused by him, her expression relaxing a little. “This mentality is indeed very good. At least it can protect your little heart. Do you have any clue who wants to take you down?”

Shen Xici didn’t answer directly, but first asked, “These artists who have publicly spoken out and taken a side, do they have any connection with Jia Rui Media? Or, what is their relationship with Cheng Ningyu and Ye Mei?”

Ge Lanjing understood. “You suspect Xu Lingjia?”

“Yes, I have this suspicion.” Shen Xici really couldn’t think of anyone other than Xu Lingjia who would have such great malice towards him, trying every means to trample him down.

Both in his past life and this one.

However, in his past life, Xu Lingjia’s methods were much more covert. He usually played the victim in front of others, using the sympathy of fans and others to achieve his goals. But as long as he didn’t cooperate with Xu Lingjia’s act, there was nothing Xu Lingjia could do.

But in this life, perhaps because the baby-swapping incident wasn’t exposed, Xu Lingjia was still the only son of the Xu family and Ye Mei’s godson. Xu Lingjia’s style of doing things was much more direct.

“They are indeed Jia Rui’s people. You know, I used to work at Jia Rui for a while. Let’s not talk about Li Yunzhou, he’s a capable general of Ye Mei’s faction and has a very good relationship with Xu Lingjia. Many people in the company said he was always accompanying the prince in his studies. All the resources Xu Lingjia disdained ended up in his pocket.

“Zhou Ranyi came from a talent show, and the contract he signed was very poor. His contract is about to expire recently. Obviously, he wants to jump to Jia Rui Media, and now is a good time to show his loyalty.

“As for Wu Cisheng, to be willing to go to such great lengths to help set this up, it’s either an exchange of interests, or he has some leverage being held against him, or he needs something from Ye Mei and the others.”

Ge Lanjing looked at the ever-increasing number of comments under the statement released by the personal studio. “Once these people stand on the same front, coupled with the addition of fan groups and passersby, they indeed appear numerous and powerful, with great momentum. They are many, so the voices they send out will spread, and the voice we send out will be covered up. It’s very difficult to break through.”

Confirming that Shen Xici had a clear understanding of the current situation, they chatted for a few more sentences. Ge Lanjing comforted him, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. There will definitely be a solution. I’ll think more about what can be done.”

With a major hot topic finally emerging, marketing accounts all flocked to ride the wave of popularity. All sorts of true and false revelations kept coming out, and the popularity grew higher and higher.

In the afternoon, new material was exposed.

“A beast of burden worker on the film set, heavily censored, I’ll lose my job if my identity is revealed. I’ll just say one thing everyone in the crew knows. The newcomer with the surname Shen doesn’t just scold veteran actors on set, he scolds the director too. Impressive, right? The director can only hold it in after being scolded. No one dares to disobey. The gold master behind him is powerful and influential, allowing him to walk sideways. For him, scolding an old actor with no background is nothing. He just scolds them. Netizens are just making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“—No wonder! So he’s used to being tyrannical. It’s great to have a backer [smile].”

“—I’ve been jumping between platforms since last night eating melon seeds. This revelation is the most credible! I said it, for a newcomer to suddenly become so popular, there’s definitely something fishy. So there really is a gold master smashing money behind him!”

“—I’m disappointed in this world. A veteran actor who has been conscientiously filming for decades, and a traffic idol who relies on a gold master to get whatever he wants. Everyone, don’t forget, you and I, these beasts of burden, will only be the former, the one who is scolded for not being able to memorize lines and not deserving to eat a box lunch.”

“—So that’s why Uncle Wu only dared to appease the situation with a smile and didn’t dare to speak up. Uncle Wu even advised Zhou Ranyi not to blow things up, because Uncle Wu knew that this person was not someone ordinary people could afford to offend. Zhou Ranyi probably also knew a bit of the inside story, which is why he said it might affect his career prospects. I’m bursting into tears! Both of them are so good!! I’m converting from a passerby to a fan!”

Shen Xici called Lu Jiming. Through the screen, Lu Jiming was furious.

“The director gets scolded too? I’m the director, how come I don’t know I got scolded by you? At most, you just ‘PUA’ me a little. Where did I get scolded?” Lu Jiming filmed during the day, edited at night, and even before sleeping, he would open several alternate accounts to passionately argue with thousands of netizens online. His sleep time had been compressed to two hours. With a pair of dark circles under his eyes, he had the irritability of someone sleep-deprived. “No, I have to argue it out with them!”

Shen Xici said helplessly, “How are you going to make it clear? If you post on Weibo, clarifying that I don’t usually scold you and that we have a good relationship, do you think those people will believe you? They will only say that I am indeed tyrannical on set, and can even order the director to speak against his will and give false testimony.”

Lu Jiming scratched his messy hair. “So that’s it? We just let those people spread rumors? On my way here, I took a look. They’ve already started spreading rumors that you have more than one gold master behind you. And that Zhou Ranyi, his fans are increasing like crazy! Isn’t he afraid of backlash for overacting!”

“Sister Lanjing will issue a statement explaining the reason, but the effect will certainly not be great because the other party has a video, and we have no evidence. The key to breaking the situation now is to find that original video.”