Infamy could be divided into several categories. However, if a person lacking in fame lacked infamy as well, it was unlikely that they could make any waves in the entertainment industry.
Jun Zishu filtered through the original storyline once more as she sat in the hospital.
The original owner was Yu Fanshu's substitute, and she had always lived under Yu Fanshu's shadow. The only reason she managed to get a contract, make her debut in the entertainment industry, and receive attention was that she had a face similar to Yu Fanshu's.
However, because of the original owner's terrible and awkward acting skills and Yu Fanshu serving as a comparison, netizens lambasted her brutally. Meanwhile, with her career failing to take flight and her mother in need of medical treatment, the original owner eventually stepped onto the path of becoming Yan Jue's mistress.
After becoming Yan Jue's mistress, the original owner's career started to take flight, and she also started to make progress in the romantic department. Yet, before the original owner could achieve success in either department, Yu Fanshu returned, and the original owner discovered that she was nothing more than a substitute to Yan Jue. Thus began a love-hate relationship filled with physical and emotional abuse between the original owner and Yan Jue.
Eventually, though, the Juliet in this story became the cannon fodder, and the stand-in successfully got together with the male lead.
Reading up to this point, Jun Zishu focused her attention on Yu Fanshu and started studying Yu Fanshu's situation.
Yu Fanshu's and Yan Jue's families were close to each other. Thus, the two of them were childhood friends that grew up with each other.
Yan Jue liked Yu Fanshu romantically, but Yu Fanshu only saw Yan Jue as a friend.
When Yu Fanshu returned from abroad after receiving medical treatment and saw someone looking very similar to herself appearing next to her best friend, how could she not feel sickened? Even if she didn't like Yan Jue romantically, she still found the situation disgusting.
Thus, Yu Fanshu decided to crush the original owner using her superior acting skills, make the original owner realize who was superior, and drive the original owner out of her sight.
Unfortunately, Yu Fanshu's indirect method of chasing the original owner away only turned herself into a grindstone for the original owner. Initially, it was thanks to Yu Fanshu that the original owner managed to start her career and love life. Afterward, it was also because of Yu Fanshu that the original owner managed to succeed in her career and love life.
Eventually, the complicated relationship ended with Yu Fanshu leaving the country again for medical treatment and Yan Jue realizing who his true love was.
Objectively speaking, Yu Fanshu hadn't done anything excessive throughout her struggles with the original owner. The only person Jun Zishu truly detested was Yan Jue, the scumbag messing around using the excuse of infatuation.
Now that Jun Zishu adamantly refused to become a mistress, there'd naturally be no situation where she would come into conflict with Yu Fanshu.
After tying her hair into a ponytail, Jun Zishu gave herself a pat on her face.
From now on, let's keep the stand-in trope far away.
While Jun Zishu was planning her mission, Chenzi was on the phone with Jun Zishu's manager. Then, after ending the call, Chenzi's face sank as she said, "Big Sis Ming said that there isn't anything scheduled these days, Big Sis Jun."
"Let's take it slowly."
Chenzi nodded, her heart filled with worries for their future.
…
Yan Jue did exactly as he promised and transferred Jun Zishu's mother to a different hospital in the afternoon. Then, Jun Zishu was left with the responsibility of discussing when to conduct her mother's surgery with the new hospital's doctors.
Jun Zishu spent the next few days working busily in the hospital room. Although Chenzi remained by Jun Zishu's side, there wasn't much she could help with, so she spent most of her time fiddling with her phone.
Today, Chenzi logged onto her Weibo account just like usual. Then, she discovered something that made her eyes widen.
"Big Sis Jun! Big Sis Jun! Look at this quickly! The poll results for A Week in Love are out! So many people actually voted for you! Did our company hire ghostwriters for this?"
Jun Zishu took a look at the phone and similarly reacted in surprise, which Chenzi took at face value.
"Ugh, Sis, there are so many people cursing at you on your Weibo because of this matter. Whatever. Just ignore them. It's not like Empress Yu will actually attend the show."
A Week in Love was a variety show that simulated romantic relationships. Before filming, the variety show had first advertised itself by opening a voting column for the audience to choose their favorite ships[1]. Meanwhile, the more popular a ship was, the more likely the celebrities involved would get invited to attend the variety show.
Meanwhile, the most voted ship in the poll was a combination named "Twins." As to why the ship was named as such? It was because the two people involved in the ship were Jun Zishu and Yu Fanshu. Moreover, their personal portraits were taken at very similar angles, making them look even more alike.
In the modern society of this world, perception toward a person's sexual orientation had already become much more liberal. Although heterosexual relationships were still the mainstream, homosexual relationships were no longer discriminated against.
If a person still held heretical thoughts of homosexual relationships, others would more than likely deem them as morons.
Though, was Jun Zishu really surprised by this development? Of course not.
This was also the part where Little Fairy finally managed to shine.
Little Fairy was a super-intelligent AI, so playing with online data was child's play for her.
Meanwhile, under Jun Zishu's instructions, Little Fairy first added the "Twins" ship into the variety show's voting poll. Then, she used a large number of virtual accounts to generate traction on the internet and bring awareness to the "Twins" ship, thereby getting more people to vote for the ship. While advertising the ship in such a manner was unethical, it couldn't be considered cheating since they weren't falsifying any votes.
However, the surprise Jun Zishu showed just now wasn't entirely fake, either. In reality, she was partly surprised by the current development.
While it was true that she had manipulated the audience's attention, she did nothing to influence their opinions on the matter.
When Jun Zishu opened up her phone and logged into her Weibo, she found that the variety show's comment section was indeed very lively. Among the many comments, one of them represented the views of Yu Fanshu's fans.
Love Only Fanshu: Even though I detest Jun Ling, other than her terrible acting skills, she doesn't seem to have any other bad points. So, even though I know this ship will never sail, I still can't help but hope it will come true. I don't care about Jun Ling, but I hope that my Fanshu can make a return. I am still waiting for her until today.
Regardless of who Yu Fanshu was shipped with, every one of Yu Fanshu's fans hoped that she could make a comeback. This was the extent of Yu Fanshu's popularity.
Unfortunately, Yu Fanshu's fans were going to be disappointed as Yu Fanshu wouldn't be returning anytime soon. Yu Fanshu was still in a coma overseas, and it would be another two years before she would have a role in the story.
In the original storyline, the original owner naturally didn't attend this variety show since her ship with Yu Fanshu never existed in the first place.
Honestly, Jun Zishu felt a little guilty for abusing Yu Fanshu's popularity like this, so she decided she would apologize to the other party should they meet in the future.
After reading the comments under the variety show's post, Jun Zishu visited her own Weibo account. Sure enough, negative criticisms filled the comment section under her latest post.
…
Has Jun Ling Left the Entertainment Circle Yet: I got infuriated when I saw this ship a few days ago. Have you no end? Other than leeching off of Empress Yu's fame, what else can you do? You've been like this since you debuted. If you have so much time on your hand, why don't you use it to improve yourself first? I'm so fed up that I can't even be bothered to curse at you. You're just plain disgusting. It's been a few years since Empress Yu went on a hiatus to take care of her health. Her health will probably worsen if she finds out that you have been jumping around abusing her name.
Has Jun Ling Left the Entertainment Circle Yet: Continuing from above: I don't know what's going through the minds of everyone who's supporting this ship. Are you kidding me? You people are pairing up a goddess with such trash? Do you people want to see Empress Yu suffer a heart attack?
…
Jun Zishu had seen this commenter's ID many times in the original owner's ID. This user was most likely one of the leaders of the original owner's haters. Every comment this person made would always contain disparaging messages for the original owner. Moreover, this person would consistently record whether the original user had left the entertainment circle yet on a daily basis. This person must hate the original owner down to the bone.
In reality, though, Jun Zishu didn't think there was anything wrong with what this commenter said. After all, the original owner had been leeching off Yu Fanshu's fame since she entered the entertainment circle. Although the original owner wasn't very willing to do this—after all, who'd be willing to live in another person's shadow—this was her production company's arrangement, so there was nothing she could do about it.
Apart from comments made by haters, there were also comments made by passersby and supporters.
…
I'll Give You a Big Mouth: Pfft. Is Jun Ling's company buying traction again? Are they not afraid of the Little Stars' retaliation? On a personal note, I think this ship is interesting. What will happen if the genuine article and the high-quality imitation meet?
Suffocating From Love: Low-quality imitation, you mean? But I agree. I do think it will be an interesting ship. It'd also be interesting to see how the Little Stars will react if Empress Yu resurrects and even likes Jun Ling. They'll probably die from embarrassment, hahaha!
Jun Ling is Cute: Can you people stop bashing our Junjun? What has our Junjun done wrong? Is it her fault for looking similar to Empress Yu? Why must you people keep criticizing her? Although her acting skills are poor, she is working hard to improve herself. I don't care. I like Junjun no matter what. [Image]
Second Battalion Commander Pasta: ^ You are such an excellent fan.
…
Little Star was the nickname for Yu Fanshu's fans. After scrolling through a bunch of hateful comments, Jun Zishu finally found a comment that spoke up for her. Then, when she clicked on the image linked in the comment, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The linked image was a sticker made using an edited image of herself. The image was edited to look like she was screaming in anger, and all of her facial features were distorted. Even though it was a relatively horrifying image, Jun Zishu found it very comedic.
Meanwhile, when Chenzi heard Jun Zishu laughing and took a peek at Jun Zishu's phone, she couldn't help but have mixed feelings.
After all, when her Big Sis Jun saw such edited images in the past, she would always close them immediately. Yet, now, her Big Sis Jun was laughing joyfully after seeing such an image.
Subsequently, Jun Zishu saw many more edited photos of herself, and she laughed until her sides ached.
Sometime later, Jun Zishu received a call from her manager, Big Sis Ming.
"Big Sis Ming? Mhm, I'm at the hospital now."
"Huh? I did see it."
"Me? I'm busy enough handling my mother's matters. How could I possibly have the time to hire ghostwriters?"
"Mhm, mhm. I won't comment. I got it. I'll just watch from the sidelines."
Jun Zishu spoke cooperatively with her manager, her expression looking a little fearful. After hanging up the phone, she even let out a sigh of relief, thoroughly acting the part of an amateur actor being afraid of her manager.
Honestly, though, her manager's concerns were unnecessary. She never really intended on attending the variety show. She was simply using this opportunity to garner some attention to herself.
However, unbeknownst to Jun Zishu, some things had already started changing quietly.
…
Inside a clean hospital ward across the Pacific Ocean, a woman gradually opened her eyes.
"You're awake, Fanshu?"
Yu Fanshu nodded after sitting up with the help of the person sitting by the bed. Then, she was subjected to a series of medical examinations.
"Are you really planning on returning to the country, Fanshu?"
"Mhm."
"Is acting so important to you? Is it even more important than your health?"
"I like it there, Mother. My body can handle it," Yu Fanshu said with half-shut eyes.
"You can go back, but you're not allowed to act in any roles right away. You must rest for at least a month first."
"Okay."
Afterward, Yu Fanshu picked up her phone and looked through the many messages she had received from her manager.
Two years had passed since she went on a hiatus. Her body hadn't been in good shape during this period, and she would occasionally fall into short-term comas. It was especially true after she did her heart surgery.
Meanwhile, her family had prohibited her from using any electronic devices for fear of radiation. So, she had no idea what had happened in the entertainment industry during her two-year hiatus.
After spending two hours reading through her manager's periodic updates, Yu Fanshu more or less knew what had happened during her absence, and she couldn't help but frown slightly.
Jun Ling, is it?
…
TL Notes:
[1]ships: Shipping (derived from the word relationship) is the desire by followers of a fandom for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters (in film, literature, television series, etc.) to be in a romantic and/or sexual relationship. It is considered a general term for fans' involvement with the ongoing character development of two people's character arcs in a work of fiction. Shipping often takes the form of unofficial creative works, including fanfiction stories and fan art, most often published on the internet. (Taken from Wikipedia. Link:
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