Chapter 16

I thought that after Xiao Xiao’s live stream, things would calm down. But to my surprise, she posted an article that same night. In it, she openly and covertly accused me of not only trying to extort her for two thousand yuan but also of following her to the show and opposing her. She claimed that the fire incident was a result of me deliberately leaving the microphone on, bribing the staff to set her up. As for the mushroom incident, she said I intentionally muddied the keywords, showing off my knowledge to embarrass her. The entire article turned black and white upside down, painting me as the villain. She claimed that it was her innocent naivety that led her to fall for my tricks. But sadly, Xiao Xiao's fans bought into it. Since the live stream was during a weekday, most fans were either at work or in class. Even if some bystanders tried to explain things, they were more inclined to believe the person they supported. Fans, seeing the photo of Xiao Xiao with red eyes, began controlling the comments on Weibo's public square: "Xiao Bao, we believe you." "Don’t let that bad woman ruin your mood. We will always be behind you." Some crazy fans even tried to post embarrassing photos of me in the comment section. But unfortunately for them, thanks to the cameraman, I looked like I was wearing ten layers of filters — with honey-toned skin, graceful muscle lines, and beautiful like a wild leopard. Someone even edited a memorial photo of me. Surprisingly, the bystanders were stunned. "Even in black and white, she looks so good. Who is this girl? A star or an influencer?" It wasn't until Chen Qing made a move. He liked and reposted Xiao Xiao’s article. The influence of an entertainment industry actor was still quite broad. My haters’ army got suppressed by the bystanders' comments. The comment section was flooded with vulgar language. But an hour later, many of Xiao Xiao’s fans’ accounts were banned. Even the movie emperor was forced to delete the video repost about Xiao Xiao. I received a call from an old senior in the industry. She congratulated me, telling me that I had been nominated as a candidate for the academy. After years of research on plants and medicine, I had developed many anti-cancer drugs. Though the drugs were covered by medical insurance, many ordinary people still couldn’t afford them. I had started my own pharmaceutical company and lowered the prices as much as possible. Sometimes, I even lost money to fund the research. My brother gave me most of his shares: "At my level, money is just a string of numbers that keep moving. "It no longer holds much meaning for me. It’s more meaningful for you to have it." The senior smiled with satisfaction: "You remember the country, and the country will remember you." While people were still guessing who was behind me, I stretched. My backing? It’s my country.