The Tycoon’s Enchanted Mermaid
Chapter 187: Playing Big with a Small Hand

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Playing Big with a Small Hand

"Sea?"

Ah Da’s mouth hung open slightly as she stared blankly for quite a while, unable to utter a word. Finally, under Qin Yu’s urging, she got out of bed in a daze, washed up, changed clothes, and went downstairs for lunch.

Qin Yu appeared to have matters to deal with and told her they would leave in about half an hour. Ah Da had no choice but to sit on the sofa, holding a cup of juice, sipping slowly as she waited for him. On her phone, Bronze Sword sent a message to greet her and to casually update her on his situation.

Su Qingtong: "I’m basically just filming, joining the crew too frequently. Not to mention whether I’m tired, it’s the people in the crew that I really want to slap across the face."

"What happened?" Ah Da was curious.

Su Qingtong: "The usual belittling and favoritism. I used to think only small crews had these messy issues, but big productions are even worse. If idiocy could fly, this place would be an airport. Every day is a test of my limits. You can check Weibo’s hot search; you should be able to see me."

Weibo? Ah Da exited WeChat, clicked into Weibo to take a look, and sure enough, she saw the eighth-place trending topic—#XueLinyinSuQingtongActingLikeDivas#

The hot search was filled with marketing accounts dissecting and offering loads of opinions, accompanied by a video. The most forwarded and discussed post was from a marketing account called Big Entertainment Gossip, with a hundred thousand comments, fifty thousand shares, and likes had long since broken the million mark. Fans were already tearing each other apart in the comment section.

Big Entertainment Gossip: "Last night at 2:30 AM, the fan site manager for ’Charming Heart Records’ leading lady Xue Linyin, @LittleLiYing, posted a long Weibo of 800 characters, roughly revealing that the second female lead, Su Qingtong, was a nepotism case in the crew, flaunting her power thanks to her financial backer and completely ignoring the senior main actors and actresses. The fan site manager called on the crew and director to give careful consideration, to take advantage of the early stages of filming, and replace Su Qingtong, the bane of the group, to ensure the film’s quality.

From the video, it’s not hard to see that Su Qingtong’s presence is quite domineering, utterly disrespectful to Xue Linyin, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the small-time celebrity is throwing her weight around. What’s your take?"

In the attached video, Su Qingtong sat on a blue plastic chair, legs crossed, playing with her phone, while her assistant held a small fan to cool her. Xue Linyin walked up, holding a script and smiling as she talked to Qingtong. The video only showed the mouth moving, and what was said was unclear, but the most apparent message was that from start to finish, Su Qingtong didn’t give Xue Linyin the time of day, sitting in her chair without lifting her eyes, and in the end, Xue Linyin turned away in embarrassment.

The video was flawlessly damning, all but stamping Su Qingtong with the label of a diva who doesn’t respect her seniors.

Whether it’s rational fans or blindly loyal fans, none could tolerate their idol being ignored, and this expose coupled with the video was like dropping a bomb in Xue Linyin’s fan zone.

A real pot-stirrer.

Ah Da clicked into the comment section; the top comments all had tens of thousands of likes. It was no wonder that Xue Linyin, a veteran actress, with more than eighty million Weibo followers, absolutely dominated the narrative.

Cat Worm: I’m curious, who is behind Su Qingtong? Our Sister Xue has struggled for over a decade to become a leading lady, and Su Qingtong, after just half a year in the industry, can walk through major crews as an extra and now she’s even snagged a supporting role, 666 really.

Sharp Sword Comes from Grinding: The classic diva behavior, who is really behind Su Qingtong?

Future Expectations: So disgusting, why does Su Qingtong act so high and mighty, sitting on that chair like she’s all that? Given her lackluster acting skills, oh wait, she actually doesn’t have fans, or is it her plastic surgery face? Just how big a financial backer is behind her to hoist some nobody up to a leading role in this year’s big drama ’Charming Heart Records’?

Da Pangpang: If the production crew doesn’t replace Su Qingtong, I’ll firmly boycott ’Charming Heart Records’. Here’s to it, may it flop hard.

Chunfeng De Yi: Let me put on a layer of armor first, to clarify that I am not a fan of Xue Linyin, just a bystander, but in the video, Su Qingtong is really too much. She has a terrible personality. The original secondary female lead in ’Charming Heart Records’ is supposed to be a breathtaking beauty, and I think Su Qingtong doesn’t fit at all. She makes me sick just looking at her.

Red Sleeves: @Charming Heart Records official Weibo, see clearly who your daddy is, your daddy is Xue Linyin and her fans. Without us, who would give you the data? Who is it that promotes you for free on various platforms? Hurry up and kick Su Qingtong out, replace the actor!

Ah Dai scrolled down the comments, the top twenty hot reviews not a single one from her own fans, but that was also expected, as Su Qingtong was not considered popular now.

Exiting Weibo and returning to WeChat, Ah Dai sent a message to Su Qingtong, "I’ve finished checking. The comments section is all cursing at you."

Su Qingtong replied quickly, "I’m used to it. Anyway, ever since the role was officially announced, I’ve been cursed every day (sigh)."

Ah Dai was about to reply when suddenly a video call came in. She slid to answer, and there was Su Qingtong in traditional blue attire, sitting in her trailer with the sound of rain trickling through the handset.

"Is it raining?"

"Yes." Su Qingtong nodded while supporting her chin, and her eyeliner flicked upwards, "I’m currently in Sea City Film and TV City. The weather is bad today, it’s been raining continuously. The director is cursing and saying the weather forecast is not accurate, regretting that we didn’t shoot indoor scenes this afternoon, wasting time... time is money blah blah blah..."

"It’s not raining here. The sun is really strong today in Capital City." Ah Dai curled up on the couch, holding her phone, "Take a good rest if it’s raining, and don’t look at the comments online. Reading too much can easily hurt your feelings and health."

Just browsing a bit earlier, she saw a dense array of disgusting remarks, personal attacks, and baseless rumors. Cyberbullying was truly more frightening than one could imagine.

Ah Dai was a little worried about Su Qingtong.

Seeing the concern in her eyes, Su Qingtong smiled and said, "Don’t worry, little incense burner, are you underestimating me? Do I look like someone with a fragile spirit? Obviously, I’m not."

"If it weren’t for Sister Liu and my assistant desperately holding me back, I would’ve gone on Weibo to teach them a lesson long ago. Who am I afraid of?"

Ah Dai chuckled, "If you started arguing on Weibo, you might really become famous. The new hot topic on Weibo would be—Su Qingtong online self-defense against black PR."

"Not bad, little incense burner, you are getting to understand fan circle lingo better and better. It’s my fortune to have you in my fan circle." Su Qingtong gave a thumbs up, then continued, "Too bad I suggested playing with an alt account, but Sister Liu firmly disagreed. She fears I’d accidentally switch the wrong account, adding fuel to the fire, and asked me to hold off for now."

"It’s right to stay steady for the time being. It looks like Xue Linyin’s fans want to kick you out of the production by making a fuss. Do you have some conflict with her? What exactly happened?"

Ah Dai asked out of curiosity.

Su Qingtong took a sip of her milk tea, moistened her throat, and said, "This matter really gets me angry. I’ve had such bad luck, as if a huge scapegoat pot fell on me from the sky, and the worst part is that I can’t even explain it clearly."

"Xue Linyin’s fans have been cursing at me for more than a day or two. They started when the casting was announced, as if they were afraid I would steal the spotlight. Originally, I didn’t take the online curses too seriously, but who knew Xue Linyin would actually become so annoying. She kept asking to rehearse scenes with me with the script. Step back ten thousand steps, rehearsing with me is fine, after all, we work together and nobody wants to waste time because of each other."

"But it turned out she was two-faced, using the rehearsals as an opportunity to throw shade at me, saying that my acting was bad, jokingly asking if I was close to the director. You have no idea how speechless I was. There were several times I almost couldn’t hold back and slap her."

"Now that I think about it, it’s a good thing I didn’t hit her. Otherwise, the video trending on the hot search would not be me acting like a diva, but rather the supporting actress of the production family publicly beating the leading actress out of jealousy."