That update of Wen Nianshen's, paired with the cheek-to-cheek photo of her and A-Xin, nearly made the netizens' hearts leap out of their chests.
Even after they later realized this was just Wen Nianshen promoting the fact that she'd be collaborating with A-Xin again, they were still a bit furious. They weren't the least bit curious anymore about whether the two would work together—they were all discussing what state their respected Director Ruan would revise the script into for Wen Nianshen this time.
Just then, one comment was pushed to the top.
"You're all discussing that, but did none of you notice a terrifying thing in that update? Wen Nianshen said Director Ruan is her wife in the drama—you're really not the least bit shocked? Not curious? Didn't you notice that this next drama's orientation is between one girl and another?"
The masses of netizens snapped back to attention and stared at that peculiar update several times over, discovering that it actually carried an enormous amount of information, as follows:
Director Ruan is collaborating with Wen Nianshen again.
The leads' orientation is girl and girl.
In the drama, Director Ruan and Wen Nianshen are lovers.
Holy crap! Unbelievable!! Director Ruan is going to take the helm herself???
The masses of netizens boiled over. Director Ruan was going to act herself—and play a lead, no less—performing opposite Wen Nianshen, with the two of them lovers in the drama. The masses of netizens stared at the few-word update, eyeballs about to pop out.
Once they came to their senses, they began heatedly discussing the two's new drama. Perhaps no anti-fans in this circle had a longer lifespan than Wen Nianshen's. From her debut until now, she'd been trashed for over ten years.
Up early and to bed late at their jobs every day, and still they wouldn't forget to fish out their phones, like a post trashing Wen Nianshen, and toss off a couple of jabs while they were at it.
Whatever they felt about Wen Nianshen, trashing her for over a decade without leaving the circle was a kind of perseverance in itself.
"This sock-puppet account of mine—everyone I follow is one of the people who trash me." Wen Nianshen had used a sock-puppet to follow the person who'd said he'd eat sh*t if she and A-Xin came out, taken a screenshot, and handed the phone to A-Xin to see. "On here, it's all anti-fans who've trashed me for years and haven't given up even now."
"They've really got so much perseverance. I admire them so much."
A-Xin didn't quite understand. "Why are you following them? Does watching them trash you put you in a better mood?"
"Now that's where you don't understand." Wen Nianshen smiled with pressed lips. "I'm waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
Wen Nianshen leaned close to A-Xin's ear and whispered, "Waiting for them to turn from anti to fan and slap their own faces. When that happens, I'll @ every one of them—I've screenshotted all their posts trashing me."
"Trash me, and it won't be for free. I'd like to see just how long they can hold out." Wen Nianshen lifted her chin. "Director Ruan, you've no idea—these people are truly strange. They trash me to no end, yet their photo albums are full of my pretty pictures. I want to see just how long these dead-duck-stubborn mouths can keep it up."
A-Xin: "..."
With the script confirmed for filming, A-Xin and Wen Nianshen again revised some details together, then selected the actors together at the end.
The actors in the circle all knew that Wen Nianshen actually had ability. It had been nearly ten years; every time, Wen Nianshen vetted the cast, and they didn't feel the least bit reluctant—it was "Teacher Nianshen" this, "Teacher Nianshen" that. Those invited to audition included veteran actors and newly debuted ones alike. To receive an audition invitation meant they'd been recognized by these two.
Even if they weren't cast, their companies would value them more. The netizens clearly didn't like Wen Nianshen and kept predicting Director Ruan was on the decline, that Wen Nianshen would surely ruin her one day. But every film she shot sold big—and the most eager buyers were precisely that crowd who trashed Wen Nianshen.
For the dramas that aired, the bullet-comment scrolls online were full of abuse everywhere, yet the viewership was the highest every time. They'd seen it too: netizens cursed with their mouths, but their eyes were honest.
A-Xin's new drama was announced as having an apocalyptic backdrop, and once it began shooting, the masses of netizens started discussing it all over again.
"Wen Nianshen's annoying, sure, but she does have some ability."
"Just on the strength of her being able to coax Director Ruan into acting, I rather admire her. Of course, saying this doesn't mean I'm a fan—at most my hate's dialed down just a teeny bit, just a tiny bit."
When they saw the costume-test photos, the netizens gagged a little.
"Of course—Wen Nianshen is Wen Nianshen. She has to make herself this good-looking even playing a zombie. When I say she's good-looking, I'm not praising her. The words 'good-looking,' applied to her, are derogatory."
"Wen Nianshen really is shameless. She's thirty-four and still playing a young girl. Even if she looks youthful, she can't bully us like this, can she?"
"Say what you will, but Wen Nianshen's pretty little face really is unchanged in ten years, not a bit different. I really want to know what skincare products she uses."
"Want to know +1."
"By the way, do you all feel like Wen Nianshen and Director Ruan have real CP chemistry?"
"Quietly now—I've always felt they suit each other perfectly. Just think about it: all these years, how much Director Ruan has indulged Wen Nianshen, and Wen Nianshen, wherever she goes, it's 'Director Ruan, Director Ruan.'"
"Also, when netizens curse Wen Nianshen, however ugly it gets, she never really cares. But if they curse Director Ruan—do you all know how many netizens who cursed Director Ruan Wen Nianshen has reduced to tears over the years?"
"Not only reduced them to tears, but said she'd sue them for personal attacks, scaring the netizens into hurriedly apologizing."
Before anyone realized it, a batch of Wen Nianshen-and-A-Xin CP fans had cropped up online. You could often see this group of CP fans and the anti-fans clashing. The anti-fans held that Director Ruan, such an excellent person, could never come out of the closet with Wen Nianshen. Director Ruan was very feminine, Wen Nianshen was very feminine too—both soft girls, and surely the ones they liked were men. There was no way they'd come out; if they were going to, they'd have done it long ago.
The CP fans held that the two were probably already together in private—otherwise why would Director Ruan revise the script for Wen Nianshen every single time? Clearly the two were lovers; that was why she'd do this. Why did Wen Nianshen care so much about Director Ruan being cursed, even suing netizens for personal attacks? That was protecting her wife.
The two sides clashed endlessly, and this zombie film was also in production.
The script had been brought out by Wen Nianshen, and even with many details revised, the scenes between Han Xiaojiao and Ning Shen had hardly been changed. Only, in the drama, Han Xiaojiao didn't tell Ning Shen she liked her out loud. Instead, it was written on paper—and the words were written by someone else as a prop. So when A-Xin saw those words, she had no reaction at all.
But when the two performed together, in others' eyes it was still extremely sweet. The onlookers all felt the two were a couple, because the way they got along really was just too much like lovers. Whether the small details or the looks in their eyes, it was all so lifelike. The way Wen Nianshen looked at A-Xin was truly full of love; the way A-Xin looked at Wen Nianshen, even without that kind of love, brimmed with tenderness—no one could overlook it, nor say there was nothing between them.
Once a take was over, the two would instantly revert to their original selves, as though everything that had just happened were an illusion.
The participating actors felt, for the first time, that they'd not only underestimated Wen Nianshen but underestimated Director Ruan too. Rather, they'd never once seen clearly the true ability of these two people.
Wen Nianshen was dressed so beautifully, yet once she got into character, not a single person felt she was human—as though what stood before them were a real zombie, except this zombie was a touch vain about her looks.
If they hadn't known each other so long, they'd surely have thought these two really had something going on. Director Ruan's lines were truly too gentle. The way Wen Nianshen acted coquettishly toward Director Ruan—heavens, it was just like a real couple.
Su Wei sometimes actually thought: if only the two of them were real.
There was even a line she'd never spoken aloud—she'd always felt the two suited each other perfectly. Equally good-looking, equally excellent—one an excellent director, one an excellent actress. A perfect match.
CP fans of the two had already cropped up among the public. Truth be told, she was one of them—an administrator, even. Of course, she used a sock-puppet account. Apart from herself, no one knew; being a CP fan was something best done in secret—it wouldn't look good if people found out.
Many years ago, Su Wei had already won the Best Actress award.
This zombie film—you could say that before it had even been shot, the announced cast list alone made people enormously eager.
The masses of netizens still spat on Wen Nianshen as usual, saying that without her, all of this would be perfect. It was as if doing these things had become a habit for them—spitting on her, jabbing her, trashing her, cursing her, all a kind of habit.
After more than half a year of filming, this zombie drama wrapped and entered the post-production phase.
The netizens were all looking forward to when it could air. These days there were more and more dramas and films, yet wherever Wen Nianshen wasn't, they always felt something was off. And because of Wen Nianshen's exquisite face that hadn't aged in ten years, the new generation of actors that came after didn't dare hype themselves with "peerless beauty of the age."
The slightest hint of it, and the netizens would nitpick. They'd say, what, that face, peerless beauty of the age? Please—go look at Wen Nianshen's photos. Annoying as she is, you have to admit she's a little good-looking. The funny thing was, these nitpickers were all Wen Nianshen's anti-fans. Some young actors planned to ride Wen Nianshen's coattails this way to hype up some attention, but the netizens didn't buy it; they didn't get famous—their reputations got ruined instead.
Face not pretty, no particular talents, wooden-faced no matter what they played, nothing special at singing either—before long they sank without a trace.
Every time such a person popped up wanting to use Wen Nianshen for hype, the moment the netizens cursed them, they'd spin it as Wen Nianshen bullying newcomers, leaving them no way to survive. This the anti-fans couldn't stand—they'd open fire at once: were these people blind?
Wen Nianshen had so much stinking money, shot only one film and one drama a year—both collaborations with Director Ruan—took no ads or endorsements, went on no variety shows. When had she ever blocked you newcomers' path? Hype yourselves with a little sense—and you came to leech off her here, of all places? Sure, we're all Wen Nianshen's anti-fans, but this kind of baseless trashing we will not accept!!
Being an anti-fan takes principles too!
What they trashed was Wen Nianshen's arrogance, her relying on her looks, only playing pretty roles, that face of hers always stealing the scene from the plot.
Relying on a few stinking dollars to make their beloved Director Ruan bow for ten years.
If you're going to spit, that's how you spit—that's the right way to trash her.
These leeches really were even more annoying than Wen Nianshen. Hate them for life!
The hype-seeking newcomers: "..." Who did they offend? Stirring up a little attention was this hard? Wasn't it said netizens were dumb, that any old hype would draw attention?
Amid all the squabbling, the zombie film You're Most Beautiful in a Floral Dress finally premiered.
The masses of netizens had long been ready, posted up in front of their computers to watch. The opening was the moment Han Xiaojiao woke up already turned into a zombie. Seeing that Han Xiaojiao still didn't forget to change into a pretty dress and do her makeup, they were dumbfounded.
But this time, they didn't overlook the zombie Wen Nianshen played—it was extremely lifelike. After so many years of acting, it was the first time they'd seen a Wen Nianshen who didn't steal the scene from the plot. Before they knew it, they were drawn in.
After that, almost every day they waited for this drama to air. However busy, they had to watch. Once hooked, they all forgot to spit on Wen Nianshen.
From this drama, they saw the suffering of people in the apocalypse, the strife and darkness of human nature; they also saw the beautiful bond between a vain zombie and a human, and saw, in Su Wei's performance, the growth of a woman and her resilient side.
There were those who spat on Wen Nianshen, saying a zombie shouldn't be that pretty—but this time, the masses of netizens were all drawn in by the plot, found the bullet-comments especially obtrusive, and simply blocked them to watch the drama in peace. After finishing, they'd go discuss it in the forums, and only after discussing did they suddenly realize: they'd forgotten to trash Wen Nianshen.
And when they wanted to trash her, they felt there was nowhere to do it—this time she'd really acted well.
"It's just that she's too pretty. Where would a zombie that pretty come from?"
Yes, this was the only point of attack they could find.
When the show finished airing, everyone was left wanting more.
"Actually, in this drama, Wen Nianshen's acting wasn't bad. If she keeps it up and doesn't drag Director Ruan down, my hate can drop just a teeny bit."
"I never imagined a bond between two girls could be so beautiful."
"Best Actress Su Wei truly lives up to the title. Watching that segment she performed really got my blood pumping."
They were all looking forward to whether Wen Nianshen would deliver a surprise next time—though of course they didn't forget to spit on this drama's flaw: that zombie was just too beautiful; that was the one and only blemish.
A few months later, Wen Nianshen won an award for this drama: Best Leading Actress.
A-Xin won too—yet another Best Director.
The two went to accept their awards together, and this time, the ceremony was broadcast live from start to finish. No one knew this was a condition Wen Nianshen had demanded—who told her to have a few stinking dollars? She could do as she pleased.
She dressed herself up very beautifully tonight, and before going in, she even posted an update: Remember to watch the livestream—there's a surprise.