"No, I don’t want to."
The speaker was Xu Siyao.
She was wearing a shiny performance outfit, having just finished recording as a special guest performer on an online variety show, and was on her way back to the backstage dressing room to change.
Her agent received instructions from the company to remind Xu Siyao to post a Weibo to support Zhou Yun, but Xu Siyao refused without a second thought.
The agent said, "You are a fan of Zhou Yun now, supporting her at this time would be beneficial for increasing your popularity."
Xu Siyao rolled her eyes and said, "I must be crazy to support her. Everyone online is scolding her now. What if I get scolded too if I support her?"
The agent tried to persuade kindly, "It’s definite that netizens will scold you, but the more people scold you, the more your popularity will increase."
"I don’t want to take the infamous route," Xu Siyao shook her head.
The agent: "This isn’t about becoming infamous. You being scolded for supporting Zhou Yun is different from you having issues. You can easily clear your name afterwards."
Xu Siyao still shook her head, "No, at times , I should stay far away from her. Don’t mess around, what if I get implicated?"
The agent had nothing to say and could only reply to the company.
Actually, she thought the company’s suggestion was correct.
This was the best time for Xu Siyao to boost her popularity. Even if she got scolded, it wasn’t a big deal.
Once her popularity rose, she could later apologize impartially, saying she was blinded momentarily by her belief in her idol and that she would be more careful with her words in the future. Then, her image would be cleared.
Who would hold onto such a small incident involving a young girl?
And she hadn’t made any substantial mistake.
Thinking this, the agent felt it was a pity, but seeing Xu Siyao’s expression, she knew it was impossible to persuade her and gave up.
The uproar of public opinion lasted for two days after which Zhou Lan told Zhou Yun that all the jobs they had previously secured were postponed.
Zhou Lan didn’t say why, but Zhou Yun knew the reason.
Even though the company issued a statement, the direction of public opinion hadn’t shifted in her favor. Online public opinion was often led by influencers, and many ill-informed people got carried away by others. A lie told by many becomes the truth, and rational voices are always a minority.
The collaborators might not doubt her, but they also had to consider public opinion.
Whether it was the show crew or brand sides, everyone in today’s context feared trouble the most.
Once an artist becomes tainted, all work might come to naught.
They were cautious, and Zhou Yun understood.
Her schedule unexpectedly opened up.
With no work, Zhou Yun only had the show "After the Scandal" to shoot.
This show was estimated to air at the end of the month, by which time the peak of public aversion might pass.
With free time, Zhou Yun started attending more classes at the company.
Zhou Lan was relieved to see Zhou Yun proactively asking to schedule more classes.
Li Yuning brought a crew to shoot at the company.
One day while entering the company, Zhou Yun happened to run into Xu Siyao.
Xu Siyao’s agent even greeted Zhou Yun, but Xu Siyao herself passed by without a glance as if she hadn’t seen Zhou Yun at all.
Zhou Yun was surprised, thinking, isn’t this girl even pretending anymore?
The camera was still rolling.
During a break in the middle of the class, Zhou Yun asked Zheng Xiaoju to order milk tea for the performance teacher and crew members, and she went to the restroom.
As she was about to leave the stall, suddenly she heard footsteps coming in.
"Zhou Yun is at the company today."
"Her work has been canceled recently, she must be coming to the company for classes every day, wasn’t her film supposed to start shooting at the end of the month?"
The two speaking were women.
Zhou Yun paused her movement.
"I wonder if the rumors with Zhao Qin are true or false."
"They are probably false. I know about ’Geology Talk’; wasn’t it Zhou Lan who secured that for her when Zhou Yun wasn’t even famous yet?"
"Who knows, but with the current storm so big, I don’t know if she’ll get through it. I heard from colleagues in public relations that they’ve been trying to redirect the online public opinion these days, but several parties have spent a lot of money aiming to suppress Zhou Yun because of this incident."
"It’s a shame, our company finally had a famous female artist this year, if it ends , it really would be an unlucky year for us."