Shang Lu's words left Lin Yanyan at a loss for rebuttal. She was furious yet unable to utter a single word.
At that moment, the production team announced their victory.
Shang Lu looked at Lin Yanyan and praised, "You're amazing. We won."
Lin Yanyan: "?!"
Huh... Was Shang Lu just praising her?
No, winning was originally her contribution! It was the truth, not praise!
Until the entire episode's recording ended, Lin Yanyan still "remained true to her original aspiration," insisting on hating Shang Lu.
Shang Lu naturally sensed Lin Yanyan's hostility toward her.
So before leaving after the recording ended, Shang Lu got straight to the point and asked, "Lin Yanyan, do you hate me?"
Lin Yanyan was stunned for a moment, then deliberately stomped on her sore spot, saying, "Of course! Don't you have any self-awareness? What I like are gentle and considerate beauties like Ning Lin. You two aren't comparable at all, okay?"
Lin Yanyan didn't actually like Ning Lin either, but she knew mentioning Ning Lin would anger Shang Lu, so she deliberately provoked her like this.
"Got it." Shang Lu nodded to show she understood, clearly without much emotional fluctuation, and simply said, "Then I don't like you either."
After speaking, Shang Lu walked toward the nanny car not far away, leaving Lin Yanyan with only her back.
Lin Yanyan stood frozen in place, a flash of something called confusion crossing her face.
What did Shang Lu's last words mean?
What did she mean by "don't like you either"? So she originally...
Pah pah pah! What was she thinking?
She and Shang Lu had clearly always had a mutual hatred relationship! She definitely wouldn't be imagining things just because of such a baffling sentence!
Soon, Lin Yanyan's manager came to pick her up as well.
Seeing Lin Yanyan's annoyed appearance, her manager asked, "Young Miss, who provoked you again? Why do you look so unhappy?"
"Everyone provoked me! This variety show is really annoying; I don't understand why Dad wants me on it! These people are all too much. On the first day of recording, they actually scored me as the least popular person here!" Lin Yanyan felt especially aggrieved saying this, then said angrily, "Shang Lu definitely gave me the lowest score. When I get back, I'll study hard and definitely win it back during the next recording!"
The manager was slightly stunned, then said, "But Shang Lu clearly gave you ten points."
Lin Yanyan looked at her manager with an expression reserved for idiots: "What are you saying? Didn't you watch the livestream? My relationship with Shang Lu isn't good at all. How could she possibly give me ten points?"
The manager started the car and didn't elaborate much, saying, "It's true. Go search on Weibo yourself. There's a livestream cut."
Seeing her manager so certain, Lin Yanyan took out her phone in disbelief and searched for her own and Shang Lu's names on Weibo.
Then she understood that the so-called scoring result was just a trap deliberately set by the production team, and she had fallen for it.
But looking at Shang Lu giving her the highest score, Lin Yanyan felt only a surreal sense of daze.
Clicking into her own supertopic, sure enough, many fans were discussing this matter.
And soon, someone found the reason and posted a video of an interview with Shang Lu from a few years ago.
The reporter asked Shang Lu which celebrity she didn't know but most wanted to be friends with, and why.
Shang Lu thought for a moment and answered with a smile: "Lin Yanyan, probably. She should be a girl who grew up surrounded by love. I want to be friends with someone like that and see what her life is like."
The video finished playing, and Lin Yanyan only felt her mind go blank, even feeling an indescribable daze.
Shang Lu had actually said she wanted to be friends with her.
Shang Lu gave her the highest score.
Shang Lu seemed to genuinely like her.
But how had she responded?
She chose Shang Lu as the person she hated most.
She gave Shang Lu the lowest score.
In the end, she even deliberately praised Ning Lin to belittle Shang Lu.
What should she do...
Had she done something wrong?
Lin Yanyan fell into endless regret. However, on the other side, the atmosphere between Shang Lu and her own manager was quite good.
The middle-aged man's lips were practically stretched to his ears in delight as he said, "This show was the right choice! Shang Lu! You're popular! You're really popular!"
Shang Lu replied carelessly, "Mm, black-red is still red."
"It's not entirely black-red; this is controversy, it's traffic and discussion!" The manager grew more excited as he spoke, saying directly, "Your performance these past two days has been good. Although I was sweating for you, it's clear the audience is eating this up. You've been on several trending searches! Quite a few advertisers have also sent cooperation invitations at the first opportunity. Go back and choose carefully!"
The manager wasn't wrong. *The Her and Him I Hate Most* had countless people looking forward to it before recording, with plenty of hype.
After a full episode of recording, the guest group's performance and interaction model very much met the audience's expectations.
On the guys' side, Song Zeqian was overbearing and didn't pay attention to anyone. Xu Ze wasn't the talkative type to begin with. Ye Lu was fiercely competitive yet completely lost control of his expressions due to constant losses in the games.
On the girls' side, Lin Yanyan was dissatisfied with everything, Shang Lu was perfunctory the entire time, and Jiang Jing alone couldn't liven up the atmosphere even if she wanted to.
Netizens called it the most "real" variety show in history—
The six guests were completely on six different channels; clearly, none of them really wanted to interact with each other.
[Obviously, these people really aren't familiar with each other, and they don't seem to have good relationships.]
[I thought this show was real, but I didn't think it would be this real (complimentary)]
[One-sentence summary: Other variety shows, guests: We're all friends. This variety show: Who's friends with you?]
Because of this, the first episode's three-day, two-night livestream recording ended and could be called a high-opening, high-closing success. Both its topic index and discussion level directly exploded.
Among them, the artist with the highest discussion level was Shang Lu. At this moment, she alone occupied three spots in the top ten trending searches.
#WhatDidShangLuSayToTiantianquan#
#ShangLuLinYanyan#
#ShangLuSlackingOff#
And those who paid the most attention to the first topic were none other than the Linjiang CP fans of Ning Lin and Jiang Yi.
On Weibo, including in the large supertopic group, people had been @-ing Tiantianquan, asking her what Shang Lu had said to her.
After a long while, Tiantianquan finally responded.
[Tiantianquan]: The specifics aren't convenient to say, but Shang Lu is a good person. We are all quality CP fans. Focus on our own ship, and don't curse at her.
Everyone: ???
Some expressed that although they didn't understand, they felt Tiantianquan made sense—focusing on their own ship was best.
But more of the younger fans couldn't understand and felt Tiantianquan had been brainwashed by Shang Lu. Thus they grew even angrier, escalating their insults toward Shang Lu.
Watching the uncontrollable situation, Tiantianquan only felt a headache.
She suddenly felt that these sisters shipping CPs with her... seemed a bit crazy?
However, online, even more people had their impressions of Shang Lu changed through this show.
[Truthfully, I always hated Shang Lu before, but in this livestream she's really weirdly cute.]
[Shang Lu is really brave. The part where she refused to help Lin Yanyan move her luggage, I watched it ten times on repeat and laughed to death.]
[To some extent, I really like Shang Lu's personality. Her temper is actually quite good; she doesn't get angry easily, yet she always manages to make others grit their teeth in anger hahaha.]
[Also sisters, although Shang Lu looks like she's slacking off, she's winning all the games!]
[When is the second episode recording? I really want to continue watching Shang Lu.]
*
On the other side, at the film set.
Looking at the almost unanimous positive reviews for Shang Lu on Weibo, Ning Lin held her phone, her expression not looking good.
Because among those comments praising Shang Lu, there were actually several using her photo as their avatar—this was what Ning Lin couldn't tolerate the most.
The makeup artist carefully helped her touch up her makeup, not even daring to breathe heavily at this moment.
Ning Lin's manager, who understood her best, comforted her: "Don't worry, everyone is just looking for entertainment. It's impossible for anyone to really like her on this kind of show."
"Are we just going to watch this continue?" Ning Lin put away her phone and took a deep breath, then looked at the makeup artist and asked impatiently, "How long are you going to keep touching up? With this skill level, you should change careers sooner rather than later."
"Done... done." The makeup artist hurriedly put away her brush and answered somewhat stammeringly.
The manager glanced at the makeup artist, signaling for her to leave first.
The door was closed.
The manager's voice carried some reproach as he said, "Ning Lin, there were outsiders present; watch yourself."
One must know that Ning Lin was a young leading actress in idol dramas, always maintaining a gentle, girl-next-door persona. Her current state was a serious collapse of that persona.
"I have a sense of propriety." Ning Lin's voice was very cold. "She's just an assistant. Even if she goes out and talks nonsense, no one will believe her."
The manager earnestly advised: "The truth of 'three men make a tiger'—rumors are troublesome too."
"Got it, I'll pay attention in the future." Ning Lin said, reaching out to scratch her hair. Normally she would never do this; at this moment, it was because Shang Lu's improving reputation made her extremely irritable, and she didn't want to control her emotions.
Then she searched for and clicked into Shang Lu's anti-fan supertopic, scrolling through it for a while before feeling her mood calm somewhat.
Sure enough, there were still many people who hated Shang Lu.
At the same time, Ning Lin discovered something that could be magnified and made into a big deal.
The interruption of the first day's livestream was definitely not that simple.
She knew what to do.
Ning Lin opened WeChat, switched accounts, and sent a private message to a black profile picture using a side account.
[Buy a trending search.]
*
#TheHerAndHimIHateMostLivestreamInterrupted#
The trending tag with Shang Lu's name directly shot to number one, but this time it was clearly not friendly toward her.
First, an entertainment blogger posted on Weibo.
Variety Expert V: The entire internet is praising Shang Lu. How many water armies did she hire? Shang Lu really spent a fortune this time to whitewash herself. You're all praising Shang Lu's interesting personality, but in my opinion, she clearly bribed the production team to act according to a script. Her real personality is still obviously terrible. On the first day, she was the only one who had the livestream interrupted while reading hate comments, right? Stop with the mindless praise. It's obviously a privileged insider, the main person the production team is pushing.
This wave of rhythm-guiding was very effective.
[Ahhh sure enough, I'm not the only one who remembers this matter. It was just very strange.]
[Previous comment +1. The livestream suddenly interrupted; I remember Shang Lu's expression was pretty ugly at the time too.]
[So, what was the malicious comment Shang Lu faced at the time?]
Someone edited the part of the livestream where Ye Lu read Shang Lu's malicious comment into a cut.
Soon, two more trending tags related to Shang Lu appeared on the hot searches.
#ShangLuThinSkinned#
#ShangLuUnableToRespondToHateCommentsEmotionalBreakdown#
[I thought it would be something terrible... and it was just this? I really can't take it. Was this little criticism worth it? If a public figure can't accept even this much criticism, hurry up and leave the entertainment circle.]
[Anyway, the thin-skinned part can't be washed clean, right? But the production team actually interrupted the livestream for her. If you say they aren't promoting her and there's no insider deal, who would believe it?]
But soon, someone discovered something off.
[Why do I feel like Ye Lu's expression was quite strange, and when he was halfway through reading, there was a very obvious pause, as if he was thinking about something?]
[Ye Lu crumpled the card into a ball after reading. Did he not want Shang Lu to see the content on the card?]
[Previous comment +1, I think so too. When Shang Lu asked him for it, he didn't give it to her either. Shang Lu directly snatched it away.]
[I have a bold idea. Could what Ye Lu read out be different from what was written on the paper? At least there must be discrepancies in the latter part.]
[F*ck! Look carefully! At the 23-second mark, the camera swept over the card! There were many words on it. Although the specific content can't be seen clearly, it absolutely doesn't match what Ye Lu read out!!!]
[I remember these malicious comments were all selected from the guests' official announcement Weibo posts.]
There actually really was a Sherlock Holmes scrolling through tens of thousands of comments under Shang Lu's Weibo post, successfully finding the original hate comment that Ye Lu didn't read out—
[Does Shang Lu think she's very pretty? Always crowding around Jiang Yi. Could she be delusionally trying to marry into a wealthy family to change her fate? This kind of woman is really cheap. Sister, work hard to accompany a few more men instead of fixating on Jiang Yi. Spread your legs and bite your lip, endure a bit and you'll get resources. A little pain is better than hard work. Who knows what her skills in bed are to be able to keep a man. But anyway, a mistress is a mistress, forever unable to see the light of day.]
Moreover, this hater's avatar was a maliciously photoshopped memorial photo of Shang Lu, clearly hating her to the bone.
This silenced those who had originally been mocking Shang Lu for being too thin-skinned to face malicious comments.
[...That's too harsh.]
[Although I don't really like Shang Lu either, isn't saying this too excessive?]
[This is to the degree of being lawsuit-worthy, right?]
[Rather than someone posting this comment online, isn't it stranger that this comment would be selected by the production team? This is definitely targeting her, right?]
Online, there had originally been some controversy about this matter, but after this malicious comment was dug out, most people felt the production team had gone too far.
But some felt these were just speculations, until the production team's official account stepped forward to apologize.
The Her and Him I Hate Most V: Due to negligence in the intern's work, inappropriate remarks were included in the official program recording. We express our sincere apologies for the harm caused to Teacher Shang Lu and her work team. In future segments, we will strengthen supervision and absolutely not make similar mistakes again.
The comments were like this:
[The official account came out to apologize, so does that mean they admit what netizens dug out is the truth, and Shang Lu indeed faced that personal attack comment?]
[Sure enough, when something happens, it's always the intern who takes the blame.]
[If everyone hadn't dug it out, the production team wouldn't have apologized, right?]
[Suddenly feeling a bit heartbroken for Shang Lu. Facing this kind of comment, not long after the livestream interrupted, she continued recording as if nothing happened.]
[Everyone keeps saying Shang Lu is the main person the production team is pushing, but why do I feel like the production team is bullying her...]
[Lin Yanyan's family has a mine, Xu Ze has fans backing him, Jiang Jing and Director Song have resources and connections built up over the years, and Ye Lu's company especially has a strong legal department. If they want to generate topic heat without limits, pick the softest persimmon to squeeze. Clearly, Shang Lu is the best choice.]
It could be said that after Ning Lin's round of maneuvering, it inadvertently ended up earning sympathy for Shang Lu, causing public opinion to tilt in Shang Lu's favor instead.
However, the current Shang Lu didn't yet know what was happening online, because something even more troublesome was waiting for her to face.
After dinner, Shang Lu's manager Meng Zhichuan sent her back to her apartment.
The two had originally planned to properly discuss upcoming work arrangements that evening, but after seeing the tall man standing in front of Shang Lu's apartment, they fell silent together.
Meng Zhichuan's eyes widened, using his gaze to confirm in disbelief, because the man before them was the president of Tianyi Entertainment and also the culprit who had caused his artist to be scolded to this day—Jiang Yi.
Meng Zhichuan also knew that Shang Lu liked Jiang Yi and had privately accepted who knew how many terrible films because of him.
Theoretically, he shouldn't interfere in his artist's private affairs and should leave on his own now, but Jiang Yi clearly came with ill intentions. Thus he could only stand in front of Shang Lu, forcing a smile as he said, "President Jiang, long time no see. What a coincidence, you live here too?"
Jiang Yi didn't pay attention to Meng Zhichuan, instead looking directly at Shang Lu. His handsome face seemed shrouded in a gloomy emotion that others couldn't understand.
Perhaps because he had waited here too long, his voice was even hoarse when he spoke, asking, "You blocked all my contact methods?"
Shang Lu looked at Meng Zhichuan and said, "You should go back and rest first. We'll talk about work arrangements tomorrow."
Although Meng Zhichuan wasn't very reassured about Shang Lu facing Jiang Yi alone, since it was their private matter after all, he could only instruct Shang Lu to call him if anything happened, then left with repeated backward glances.
In the quiet corridor, only Shang Lu and Jiang Yi remained.
Shang Lu looked at Jiang Yi and said directly, "You came at just the right time. I also have something to say to you."
Hearing Shang Lu's words, the expression on Jiang Yi's face finally softened somewhat.
He had known. The reason Shang Lu blocked all his contact methods was to force him to come see her in person.
Sure enough, Shang Lu still cared too much about him.
Thinking of this, that inexplicable feeling of discomfort and worry in his heart finally dissipated. Jiang Yi raised his chin expressionlessly and reluctantly said, "Speak."
Shang Lu didn't know what Jiang Yi had imagined in these few short seconds. She didn't even look at Jiang Yi again, pressing her fingerprint to unlock the door as she said, "Let's cancel our engagement."
Jiang Yi stood frozen in place.
At the moment the door was about to close, he finally came to his senses, reaching out to tightly grip the door frame to stop Shang Lu from continuing to close the door. He asked in disbelief, "Shang Lu, are you clear about what you're saying?"
Shang Lu looked at Jiang Yi and answered sarcastically, "I'm more sober now than I ever was when I said I liked you."