Chapter 39: Lu Man'er Posts on Weibo

Chapter 39: Lu Man'er Posts on Weibo

But that night, Lu Man'er posted a strange Weibo message:

["In this world, effort alone isn’t always enough."]

Fans commented below:

["Man'er baby, what's wrong?"]

["We all know how hard Man'er works. Who says effort doesn’t pay off? It will!"]

["Happy wrap-up, Man'er!"]

["Let’s work hard together, Man'er!"]

["What happened??"]

["This sentence is making me imagine a whole drama right now!"]

["Did something happen?"]

["I have a feeling this will trend."]

["Did someone bully my goddess? I, Pang Hu, won’t let them get away with it!"]

["Guns in hand, follow me—goddess, just say which dog to shoot!"]

...

Lu Man'er’s fans had no idea what was going on, but out of concern, they flocked to the wrap-up post of Ding Qian Kun to ask questions.

And that’s when trouble started. Fans noticed a change in the order of the actors tagged in the official post—Lu Man'er’s name was now listed behind An Wen’s.

Big Fans began posting about how Lu Man'er had once been nominated by marketing accounts to play Qing Sha, and how leaked set photos had been criticized for making her look inferior to An Wen.

["Man'er was always fourth in billing—how did she suddenly drop to fifth? What notable works does someone even have to deserve ranking above Man'er?"]

["Hard work goes unrewarded because some people always take shortcuts and cut in line."]

...

Soon, Big Fans started subtly shading An Wen, while Battle Fans directly tagged her name and flooded her Square with insults.

An Wen’s fans, who had been happily admiring her beauty, were baffled by the sudden attacks. Searching An Wen’s Square revealed all kinds of vile insults. When they clashed in the comments, those posts were boosted to trending.

Jiang Yiwen then posted:

["#AnWen# Our dear An Wen is celebrating at the wrap-up party tonight. Let’s not let any filth ruin her happy mood! All Guardian Army members, post Original Weibo Posts to Clean the Square!"]

The fan group chat was soon flooded with Original Weibo Posts, with everyone liking and commenting on each other’s posts.

While one side kept Cleaning the Square, the other kept hurling abuse. The Guardian Army, mostly composed of admirers of An Wen’s looks and male book fans who were new to fandom, had never seen such a battle before. They could only keep posting Original Weibo Posts to counter the attacks.

Some fans even mentioned Lu Man'er in their posts:

["An Wen is the second female lead, Lu Man'er is the third—what’s strange about her billing being higher? Just because you’re a senior’s fans, does that give you the right to bully others?"]

Lu Man'er’s fans, already furious and heartbroken, saw this post as the final spark. They unleashed their rage, hurling insults like "plastic surgery monster," "gold-digger," and "sugar daddy’s mistress," along with even more vulgar and explicit slurs.

The Guardian Army didn’t want to engage in a fight, but with the attacks reaching their doorstep, they couldn’t hold back. The two sides clashed fiercely.

Lu Man'er, a six-year veteran in the industry, had experienced many fan wars with rising actresses. Her fans Photoshopped black propaganda images, spammed the hashtag #AnWenPlasticSurgery, and even had Big Fans write lengthy essays praising Lu Man'er’s hard work and virtuous character while condemning An Wen for taking shortcuts. The posts ended with nine stunning photos of Lu Man'er from her debut youth film, each capturing her gentle, pure smile.

These essays were mass-liked, commented on, and reposted by fans, pushing them to the top of both sides’ Squares.

Just as the Guardian Army was left disoriented and seething with frustration, numerous marketing accounts emerged. They posted under the hashtags #LuMan'erWrapUpNightSentiments and #AnWenPlasticSurgery, uniformly insinuating that Lu Man'er's cryptic message likely pointed to An Wen taking shortcuts instead of working hard.

Jiang Yiwen immediately took to Weibo to organize fans for damage control, but An Wen's fanbase was no match for Lu Man'er's in numbers. To make matters worse, even bystanders stepped in to side with Lu Man'er.