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Join the ServerShen Chao knew the novel even better than the director. The author had made a definitive decision: no matter how much controversy arose among the book fans after Shen Chao was announced as the male lead, he adamantly refused to change his mind.
And indeed, Shen Chao did not disappoint him.
Nine Streams went on to become the highest-grossing novel adaptation film in history.
After its film adaptation, the novel’s popularity only continued to soar. It now approached three million characters, nearing its conclusion. Naturally, a web drama adaptation emerging at this point, especially with largely the original cast, garnered immense audience anticipation.
Most people had already embraced the original film’s cast and found it intolerable to swap out actors. Even if an actor far superior to Wang Muzhe were cast, the audience would still perceive it as flawed, inferior to the original.
What’s more, in the public eye, the gap between Su Xuan and Wang Muzhe was not just a small difference.
Such a significant casting change typically required extensive groundwork. Star Culture meticulously released information, gauging reactions, but *Nine Streams* was akin to the ‘Shen Chao’ of web novels. Once touched, it provoked violent backlash from both viewers and readers.
There was only one exception: the ‘God-Chosen’ CP fans. They dreamed of Su Xuan taking the role, for it meant another collaboration between Su Xuan and Shen Chao!
After several waves of Star Culture’s promotional efforts, anyone with a modicum of insight understood: a casting change was truly imminent.
Wang Muzhe’s fans immediately launched a fierce counterattack. Brainwashing narratives claiming Su Xuan had stolen the role spread like wildfire. Book fans hurled abuse, and film fans expressed disapproval, even impacting the box office of *Courtyard House*, which began to decline sharply.
Star Culture had anticipated such a scenario but found themselves powerless.
Aside from Shen Chao’s fans, no other group in the industry could withstand such an onslaught.
When the film was first casting, Shen Chao was also assailed from multiple fronts. Fans of rival actors and some book fans united, joined by professional haters and agencies, to launch what could only be described as a bloodbath against Shen Chao.
Insults flooded the internet, each more vile than the last.
Shen Chao was barely in his early twenties at the time.
Yet, this misfortune turned into a blessing. It was through this trial that Shen Chao’s fans honed their formidable combat prowess and organizational skills.
Su Xuan wasn’t as utterly devastated as Shen Chao had been, but he was still in a dire state. Leaf Media’s publicity department was effectively a sham, leaving his current public relations entirely dependent on Star Culture’s assistance.
Moreover, Su Xuan’s fanbase was relatively new; under the multi-pronged assault, they quickly dissolved into disarray, utterly powerless to fight back.
Su Xuan himself wasn’t keen on these young girls charging into battle to defend him. But honestly, seeing an idol get cursed at was infuriating. Only saints could tolerate it.
He was also a fan himself, a fan of Shen Chao. When Shen Chao was maligned, Su Xuan would genuinely get so angry his spiritual energy would feel like it was flying three feet high. He could instantly transform into an expert keyboard warrior, typing so fast his vision blurred.
So, watching these young girls being tormented and utterly unable to retaliate, Su Xuan felt he couldn’t let it stand.
‘My women shouldn’t have to endure such indignity.’
Su Xuan secretly bought himself some internet trolls.
Their main task wasn’t to engage in direct arguments, but rather to comfort the beleaguered fans on their Weibo pages. Messages like, ‘It’s okay, sisters, as long as we love him, that’s enough,’ ‘Hugs,’ and ‘Su Xuan is the best in the world’ were posted.
However, no sooner had he finished purchasing these trolls to soothe his embattled fans than someone else charged in, stirring up the injured troops: [Don’t stop! Someone has joined us! We can win!]
Su Xuan: ‘?????’
Su Xuan, perplexed, followed this person’s lead. And then—he witnessed the second army of the entertainment industry, rivaling Shen Chao’s fans.
His and Shen Chao’s CP fans: the God-Chosen Army.
Star Culture had initially predicted that the controversy surrounding Su Xuan’s casting change wouldn’t subside until the first episode of the Nine Streams web drama aired.
Much like how, before the Nine Streams film was released and grossed 4.7 billion at the box office, Shen Chao was largely viewed within the industry as an IP destroyer, reviled by all.
Once the web drama’s first episode aired, the controversy would take one of two directions:
The first was an extremely remote possibility: Su Xuan performing exceptionally, far surpassing Wang Muzhe, and winning over all the viewers.
The second: Su Xuan performing worse than Wang Muzhe, leading to his being torn apart by various fan groups, effectively sacrificing him to the former male lead, Wang Muzhe—’Forever mourning the departed former male lead actor, Wang Muzhe!’ (Wang Muzhe: ‘?????’)
While it might sound a bit unkind, the staff in Star Culture’s publicity department were secretly pleased by Su Xuan’s predicament.
Because with the release of Courtyard House, Su Xuan had not only reaped considerable benefits from Shen Chao’s popularity but had also caused a great deal of trouble for Star Culture’s publicity department. Star Culture was now feigning assistance for Su Xuan, but in reality, they were simply enjoying the drama.
That is, until the plot began to veer wildly off course. The head of the publicity department looked at yet another gossip marketing account exposing Su Xuan’s casting change, observing the perfectly uniform fan control comments beneath it.
He asked in confusion, “Su Xuan’s fans can handle these fan control comments now? Where are the other fans?”
He browsed the page, puzzled, and discovered it wasn’t just this one post. Many previous personal attacks against Su Xuan had been deleted, replaced by this: [The best Su Xuan in the world (giant sparkling colorful marquee heart) love~love~]
The head of the publicity department: “……”
It was simply too tacky! So tacky that everyone lost the desire to continue cursing Su Xuan.
Someone answered the department head, “It’s not Su Xuan’s fans; these fan control comments are from the God-Chosen CP fans.”
There were other fan control comments too. Though different from the first, most combined dazzling, bling-bling hearts and stars with incredibly unsophisticated phrases.
For instance, [Red Roses, Third Young Master, My Tuxedo Knight]. Each word in this phrase varied in size and color, strung together amidst various graphics. The head of the publicity department felt like he was solving a 12306 captcha, trying to find these specific words from a jumble of items and then arrange them in order to form the sentence.
After staring at it for too long, he felt like he was becoming so non-mainstream he might develop ‘Funeral Love (Reading) Disorder.’
Clicking on the comments, the head of the publicity department felt as if he had stumbled into a meticulously decorated QQ Green Diamond VIP space from over a decade ago.
And these God-Chosen CP fans, who had seemingly materialized out of nowhere, possessed a bizarre aesthetic but an incredibly strong fighting spirit. They quickly stabilized the situation, gently educating passersby that the web drama hadn’t even aired yet, urging them not to hastily judge Su Xuan.
They encouraged discussion but strictly forbade personal attacks. They used fan control comments to create memes and treated passersby with kindness. Many passersby, after laughing at the quirky fan control comments, began to join the fans in meme-making.
The previous overwhelming wave of online negativity halted. Su Xuan, remarkably, managed to salvage some public goodwill amidst the major casting controversy, all thanks to these fans’ various meme-driven, audacious tactics before the show even aired.
The head of the publicity department frowned deeply. He had suspected before that these CP fans were being led by someone in the industry.
Now he was certain: there must be a highly experienced individual, someone who had handled many such large-scale disputes, leading them.
The head of the publicity department fell into deep thought. ‘Could it be that Leaf Media’s publicity department only appears to be a sham, but secretly harbors such a formidable expert?’
‘Is it like Leaf Media’s office in a residential building, appearing humble but actually a weapon to disarm opponents?’ the publicity department head mused profoundly. ‘Truly, Leaf Media is not to be judged by its cover!’
Song Xiao, eyes bloodshot and wide open like a zombie, commanded her fiancé to charge into battle. Her fiancé typed nervously: [May your entire household register experience every curse you just hurled at me (cute) (cute)]
Her fiancé licked his lips, trembling as he advised, “Darling, don’t be angry. Don’t get so upset you have a miscarriage…”
Song Xiao let out a ghostly, piercing laugh, her hair swaying in the background despite no wind: “Miscarriage? Even if all these bitches miscarry, I won’t! Trying to argue with me? I’m your ancestor!”
Her fiancé: “…………”
Song Xiao sneered, “Dare to curse my CP? Your main star is waiting for the backlash.”
Her fiancé reminded her wistfully, “Her main star is Wang Muzhe, and he’s your colleague… You really shouldn’t curse…” *his backlash*…
Song Xiao blew on her fingernails, “I’m cursing *her*, not Wang Muzhe. Even if Wang Muzhe gets cursed, it’s because he has such unlucky fans.”
Her fiancé: “…………”
Truly, a pregnant woman’s temper was utterly illogical.
Her fiancé silently apologized to Wang Muzhe on Song Xiao’s behalf, then patted Song Xiao’s back soothingly. He said, “You even used a burner account to lead the CP fans and quell this situation. You’re so amazing, so why bother with these haters, alright?”
Song Xiao’s burner account was now one of the major CP fan leaders. She had even hired a studio to help manage it.
Song Xiao had her own dedicated studio, filled with many highly experienced individuals, some of whom had been with her since her debut. Although the studio staff were also bewildered by operating such a burner account, the studio was essentially Song Xiao’s domain.
They rarely questioned why Song Xiao did things; they simply followed their boss’s orders. Star Culture likely never imagined that the expert team secretly assisting Su Xuan was Song Xiao’s.
Song Xiao was still seething. She sat down. “It’s a good thing someone like me, who’s seen every kind of storm, stepped in to control the situation. Otherwise, Su Xuan would have been utterly annihilated by the insults. These young girls, every single one of them, how can their mouths be so venomous? Didn’t their families raise them properly?”
Being a celebrity was a controversial profession, but Song Xiao believed that, as a profession, it came with duties to fulfill and fundamental human rights.
Yet, often, celebrities were cursed without reason, and viciously so—reviled by thousands. Thinking about it made Song Xiao feel a little upset; she had become more emotional since her pregnancy.
“…They’re all born of fathers and mothers, they haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just normal acting, filming, casting changes. Are these people involved parties? Every single one of them acts like they watched us bully Wang Muzhe and force him to change roles from under a table, immediately cursing. How can they be cursed like this…?”
Her eyes reddened as she spoke. “It was the same for Shen Chao back then, and now for Su Xuan. They’re being cursed so terribly. Even I, who’s used to being cursed, feel distressed watching it.”
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Read : Crow's Golden Fragment
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