The newly posted message from #DidTeacherTangBreakUpTodayV# had caused quite a stir.
[BangBangTang:1 Nowadays, people can pretend to be insiders without even giving us a WeChat screenshot?]
[TangBuShuai:2 Who told you that? LOL, is it Bao Ruanruan? Mind your own business when it comes to Sister Tang's affairs. Trust her judgement.]
Many fans who saw this message immediately and passionately refuted it.
But after a few scolding remarks, they were shocked.
[TangWan: Wait, has this person changed his Weibo name? Isn't this the former TangChao[3] V?]
[BangBangTang:1 Superfan TangChao[3]? No way! Didn't he unfollow her?]
[TangBuShuai:2! Crap, I just checked his personal page, 490k followers, are you really Superfan TangChao[3]!?]
TangChao[3] V was almost universally known in Tang Yuxin's fanbase as a superfan and even an OG fan.
He had followed Tang Yuxin's Weibo since her debut as an unknown sophomore in the acting department.
He used to post her photos from Hengdian when she played minor roles, her daily life photos, etc.
Now, four years had passed.
After watching her films, he would write analytical articles, analysing her posture, movements, and facial expressions frame by frame.
When she walked the red carpet, he would write in-depth articles to introduce new fans to luxury brands, high-end dresses, jewellery history and her status in the fashion world, as well as explaining how she showed off her clothes so well.
Three months ago, when she became the brand ambassador for a top luxury brand in China, he alone bought twenty or thirty women's handbags and more than forty bracelets and rings on the same day, despite being a male fan.
Both new and old fans in the Tang4 fandom respected him, and many listened to what he said.
Because he was indeed a devoted fan of her career.
At the same time, he was a real industry insider.
He had access to some inside information about magazine features, endorsement deals, and unannounced film projects ahead of time, which he shared with the fans. This helped Teacher Tang maintain her fan base during her filming seclusion.
However, Teacher Tang recently officially announced her engagement to Lu Wenyao.
After three days of silence, this superfan TangChao[3] posted on Weibo: "I hope Teacher Tang breaks up, otherwise... I'm leaving."
He had indeed stopped being her fan!
Outsiders might not know it, but the whole Tang fandom was chaotic.
Indeed, Tang Yuxin was 24 this year and in the golden age of her acting career. If she wasn't dating, her future could be even brighter.
But as a young woman, she had the right to live her own life!
Because of this, Tang Yuxin's female fans were instantly at odds with TangChao[3].
Superfan TanChao V had never appeared in Tang Yuxin's super-topic since then.
With his disappearance, although the younger fans said they wouldn't force him to stay, deep down, they still felt a sense of loss.
After all, there would never be anyone more dedicated, persistent and stubborn in supporting their Sister's career than TangChao[3].
And when he left, it was as if they had lost a real source of inside information.
But unexpectedly, he came back today!
And he even changed his username!
—to 'DidTeacherTangBreakUpToday'
[Superfan TangChao[3]! Why are you still so stubborn!]
[Have you thought about how this might hurt her? She just wants to pursue love, but in doing so, she has lost someone as devoted as you! Why force her to give up one side?]
The fans felt a pang of heartache and hoped that this superfan would change his mind.
But when the initial shock and anger subsided, rationality returned a little after a while.
[Old Tang, what do you mean by this post? Are you sure that Lu Wenyao is cheating? He tricked Bao Ruanruan, and Sister is his victim, too? Oh my God, brother, tell us in detail, has Sister really been deceived?]
Tang Chao's news has never been wrong in the past four years.
Even when he exposed minor scandals about rival fandoms, they all turned out to be true.
[Ah, if this news came from a marketing account specialising in exposing news, I wouldn't believe it. But if it's Superfan TangChao[3]... wu wu wu, what do we do now? I'm both scared and hopeful...]
[Me too! Superfan TangChao[3] may not be a fan anymore, but he's never lied. If he says it, I believe it. I can already imagine Sis Xin crying! This makes me so mad! Scumbag, get lost!]
[Superfan TangChao[3], during the time you disappeared, did you go to dig up the truth?]
[If you know more, please share. Wu wu wu, where's the admin? Can someone bring TangChao[3] back into the fan group?]
[Drop the bombshell already, give us the real scoop.]
The Weibo post on this super-topic quickly garnered thousands of comments.
It was also shared on several fan groups.
Countless people also sent private messages to the original poster asking for details.
[DidTeacherTangBreakUpToday V: Judge with your heart. Black and white will eventually become clear.]
[!]
[!!]
[!!!!]
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
The next morning, Bao Ruanruan woke up feeling refreshed but was horrified to find that her Weibo followers had suddenly increased by 20,000.
"?"
What earth-shattering event had happened?
After eating breakfast provided by the show's team, she boarded the nanny van, which arrived on time to pick her up, looking miserable.
"Did you guys buy followers for me?"
"You bought followers for yourself while on the modelling show?"
She and Chen Feng, the driver, blurted out at the same time.
Then, they were both stunned.
"Then how did I gain followers?" Bao Ruanruan felt suffocated.
Chen Feng: "..." He also wanted to know.
The modelling competition had yet to air, and yesterday, Bao Ruanruan missed the all-member gathering for the 'With Dreams as Horses' show.
She hadn't had a chance to appear on screen.
How could she gain followers without following any basic logic?
He had just checked her Weibo in the car and was startled.
The backend showed that she had gained fifteen thousand followers between 2 and 3 AM last night.
From six o'clock this morning until now, she had gained another five thousand followers.
And now, after saying just two sentences, he refreshed the data, and she gained another 200 followers!
The numbers were still growing!
Even bugs wouldn't behave like this.
She didn't even appear on the real-time entertainment charts.
"Brother Xue, was it you…?"
In the back seat, Xue Jing raised his peach blossom eyes, pushed down his gold-rimmed glasses with his index finger, and stretched his long legs forward.
He instantly changed from a yuppie elite to a picture of assured laziness.
He tapped his head.
Chen Feng: "?"
Rubbing his forehead, Xue Jing took out his phone with one hand, searched for the name 'Bao Ruanruan' on Weibo, and turned it around for them to see.
[TangBuShuai:2 Superfan TangChao[3] has a good point. I will follow Bao Ruanruan immediately and see if she's actually a good person.]
[PremiumTangBaozi:5 Sigh, I used to just want to wish Tang Mei6 well, but I forgot that she's not even 24, the age most easily fooled by scumbag men. As a 32-year-old Wall Street financier, I pride myself on my observational skills, so I should be the one looking out for her. I'll follow Bao Ruanruan and Lu Wenyao. Big Sis is watching you7!]
[NiuPiTang:8 Superfan TangChao[3] woke me up. I'm a married mother of two, and although this is my first time stanning a celebrity, I have a very rich emotional life and am very accurate in judging men. I chose my husband myself after three months of careful observation.]
[TangDou:9 I'm a master's student in psychology, and from now on, I'll be checking all of Bao Ruanruan and Lu Wenyao's online material. This includes, but is not limited to, the variety of shows she's been in recently.]
Chen Feng: "!?"
Bao Ruanruan: "!!"
Help!
Who was TangChao[3]?
Why did this person do this to her?
Xue Jing turned off the screen and put the phone in his pocket.
"TangChao[3], Tang Yuxin's most influential superfan, the one who can sway everyone?" Chen Feng, who managed Bao Ruanruan's studio, had done his homework on their competitor.
Xue Jing grunted in confirmation.
"Last night, he revealed himself as the 'Seer' and said Lu Wenyao was the 'Wolf'."ℹ️
Bao Ruanruan stared at him, her mouth agape.
This guy knew more than she did.
Xue Jing glanced at her. "He also checked your identity and said you were a 'Villager11'."
Bao Ruanruan: "???"
"The Seer spoke for Xiao Bao, so Tang Yuxin's fans are all following her now to see if the Seer was right?" Chen Feng's eyes lit up. "This is an opportunity!"
"So, who did you run into yesterday?" Chen Feng started to catch on.
Bao Ruanruan was stunned for a moment.
Oh my, there were so many people!
There were hundreds of beautiful girls at yesterday's audition alone!
Fortunately, the location of the model show wasn't far from Hengshan District.
Chen Feng drove for an hour and finally dropped Bao Ruanruan off at the set of 'With Dreams as Horses'.
Before getting out of the car, Bao Ruanruan was stopped by Xue Jing.
The usually laid-back yet assertive agent showed a rare trace of apology and remorse.
The corners of his peach-blossomed eyes were a little stiff as if he wasn't used to making this kind of expression.
"This time, it was my fault. I misjudged your abilities, which led to a conflict between the two schedules."
He had assumed she wouldn't make it through the auditions.
"...Ah."
Bao Ruanruan hadn't expected it to be about this.
"I've talked to Director Zheng, and you can take two or three days off later to go to the modelling competition."
Bao Ruanruan: "...It seems you deeply misunderstand my abilities."
"?"
"There won't be any need for that."
"..."
Bao Ruanruan was very sure that she wouldn't make it past the third round of the competition.
She waved at the car and walked towards the 'With Dreams as Horses' farmhouse.
Xue Jing narrowed his peach-blossomed eyes and chuckled softly.
"Let's go."
*
On a shady path, Bao Ruanruan held an umbrella and wore sun-protective clothing.
From a distance, even before she entered the courtyard where they lived, she could hear the increasingly frustrated voice of a man.
"D*mn it! How do you even split this firewood?"
It was Lu Wenhao's voice.
Bao Ruanruan altered her course, curving around the small walkway.
She circled around to the back door of the small courtyard, avoiding the front entrance.
However, she could still hear Lu Wenhao's complaints coming from the front yard.
"Cheng Yao, how many points do you have left?"
"Not much, only 60."
"Damn it! If Bao Ruanruan doesn't return soon, we'll have to bear more housing fees, utility bills, and Wi-Fi charges! They claim it's a fixed cost, but the total doesn't even change! What nonsense!"
Lu Wenhao slammed the axe into the ground.
"I only have 40 left. Everyone is short of points. Xiao Mengfei burned the pot and the food early this morning, and I told her she had to pay for the damages. What's wrong with that?"
Cheng Yao sighed helplessly as if unsure how to respond.
[But bro, she's still a girl.]
[So what if she's a girl? When you all want gender equality, you want everyone to be treated equally. But when something gets broken and needs to be paid for, guys are supposed to be considerate, and the equality just disappears?!]
[??? Your patriarchal attitude is so strong, why do you even watch this variety show? The educational channel next door is more suitable for you!]
[Xiao Xiao was just trying to help, she didn't mean any harm. Her hair even got burnt, and she's still shaken up. Criticising her now and asking for compensation will definitely upset her. She's a human being, after all.]
[What's going on? This Tang fan just got here, totally confused.]
[HongTang12 has arrived! Why are they arguing? Where's Bao Ruanruan?]
[BaiTang13 here, which girl broke something and didn't pay? Was it Bao Ruanruan? Ugh, just as expected, she has a terrible character.]
[Huh? Tang fans? Tang Yuxin fans? You're watching the wrong show.]
[Shh, they're not in the wrong place, they came to this show just to bash Bao Ruanruan.]
[...Oh, I see. Well, never mind then, everyone, continue watching the show.]
A wave of new viewers, all 'Tang fans', flooded into the stream and quickly mingled with the old audience.
Some kind viewers even started explaining things to the newcomers.
[So, here's what happened:
Xiao Mengfei traded kitchen duties with Cheng Yao this morning.
But once she was in the kitchen, she was overwhelmed. She turned the heat up too high, and the pot caught fire. (Familiar, isn't it? Feels like a scene from Island Restaurant, but there's more drama to come.)
Panicked, she poured water on it, making the fire even worse. The pot was completely ruined.
And remember the expensive pork that Bro Lu traded for 10 points yesterday - all wasted.
The production team wanted her to pay for the pot, which is worth 30 points.
Cheng Yao, being the good guy that he is, wanted everyone in the kitchen to help her pay, but Bro Lu strongly disagreed. He insisted that she pay for it, calling her useless and making her cry. She ran out of the courtyard, crying.
Over.]
[Ah... it was like this...]
[I never thought this show would be so intense.]
Compared to other shows, this one had more conflict.
While they were discussing this, they saw Lu Wenhao throw down his axe on the screen.
"I'm not going to coddle her!"
"How come others know how to put out a fire with a lid, but she doesn't? Doesn't she know basic safety rules?"
[True, even Bao Ruanruan knows that.]
[I just remembered how she bravely put out the fire when she was Da Mao.]
[? As a Tang fan, I'd like to know which episode of the show has the scene where 'Bao Ruanruan' put out the fire. Was it scripted?]
[It was in the Island Restaurant! It was real, not acting. If it weren't for her, Qu Feifei would have been disfigured.]
[! ]
[Qu Feifei, the girl from that idol group? Isn't she a fan of Teacher Tang?]
[That's her.]
[!!]
The Tang fans in the comments were shocked.
Before they could think about it further, they heard Lu Wenhao complaining on screen again.
"Yesterday, I cleaned the pigsty for her and didn't even ask her for anything in return, but she didn't offer anything."
"I also paid for the Wi-Fi last night."
Lu Wenhao became increasingly angry on the screen.
In the Island Restaurant, Bao Ruanruan extinguished the pot fire in a crisis without wasting any ingredients.
Xiao Mengfei, on the other hand, almost burned him to death, and in the end, she was so scared that she needed him to put out the fire despite the danger.
In the Island Restaurant, Bao Ruanruan also kept his distance from him but silently shared the work and gave him credit afterwards.
Xiao Mengfei, on the other hand, asked him to clean the pigsty, deliberately giving him all the dirty work and not even paying him!
On their first day in Hengshan Village, Bao Ruanruan gave him 'free' work points so that everyone could use Wi-Fi.
But Xiao Mengfei only freeloaded off his Wi-Fi and then pretended to ask if downloading a 2GB movie had affected his internet speed.
D*mn it!
Thinking about it now still made him furious!
Bao Ruanruan wasn't around at all yesterday. From morning to night, he lost almost 100 points!
All he got in return was a casual 'thank you' and a bunch of trouble.
"I just said a few more words, and she ran off crying! I didn't even cry; why is Xiao Mengfei crying?" Lu Wenhao angrily picked up the axe and began to swing it wildly.
[HongTang12 is shocked. Tang fans, see you in the fan group.]
[?]
[Received.]
[Received.]
A group of Tang fans immediately disappeared from the comment section and moved to the core fan groups.
[HongTang12 Admin No. 196: Lu Wenhao is Lu Wenyao's younger brother, right?]
[BaiTang13: Yeah, I didn't expect the Lu family men to be so fierce. Swinging an axe like that scared me! Is he a hothead? I'm starting to worry about Sister Tang and even feel a bit sorry for Bao Ruanruan. Could she really be a victim here?]
[HongTang12 No. 394: Shocked! Even if someone is in the wrong, they can still talk things out. Making someone cry, especially on the show, is too much.]
[BaiTang13: She cried, and he mocked her for it.]
[HongTang12 No. 949: When there is a fire, people with empathy would first check if everyone is safe, not calculate losses. Now I'm worried about Lu Wenyao's personality. Could he be like his brother?]
[HongTang12 No. 3412: Hold on, let's keep watching. We shouldn't wrong a good person, but we shouldn't let a bad person off the hook either. Let's get the facts straight before we pass judgement.]
[HongTang12 No. 1034: Right, let's not start criticising anyone until we know the whole story.]
[BaiTang13: Agreed, let's wait for Bao Ruanruan to show up!]
But after all the commotion, Bao Ruanruan still didn't dare to come out.
How dare she appear in front of 'Lu Wenhao with 100 rage points'?
What a joke.
As usual, she took the long way around to avoid him.
Getting close to men, especially men from the Lu family leads to misfortune.
Not to mention a man who had just lost his mind?
Bao Ruanruan sneaked back to her room, quietly dropped off her bag, and slipped away.
But she wasn't fast enough to escape the cameraman's lens.
The moment they noticed her return, the standby cameraman immediately rushed after her.
Bao Ruanruan looked back and took off.
In an instant, she appeared on the livestream.
[What were you Tang fans up to?]
[Oh, nothing, we were just having a little team building.]
But in just a second, the camera caught Bao Ruanruan's delicate, soft, pale little face.
"Big bro, don't chase me." She looked straight into the camera, helpless, her watery eyes squinting, red at the corners.
The cameraman shook the camera.
Bao Ruanruan threw up her hands. "Fine, come on, let's just stroll up the mountain together. We'll come back for dinner later."
Upon hearing the news, the accompanying PD also rushed over.
"Teacher Bao, you just came back—why didn't you go and greet Teacher Lu and Teacher Cheng?"
The production team loved to mess with people.
They loved to create conflict for added drama.
"Why are you in such a hurry to go to the mountain?"
Bao Ruanruan unknowingly walked right into the 'trap' as her pale little face shook in protest.
She wasn't stupid.
Going back now would mean facing two angry men.
"I'll go back when they've calmed down. I'm just going for a little walk, no big deal, the view's nice, by the way…"
As she spoke, she sat down beside a slender green poplar tree.
Leaning against the trunk, she tilted her pale face upwards.
Having been disturbed from her sleep the night before, her eyes were still red with faint traces of bloodshot, and the corners rubbed red.
Whichever way you look at it, she seemed like a fragile little thing.
It was as if someone had bullied her.
But she didn't dare say it out loud and had to deal with it all on her own.
[!]
[Has she been crying?]
[Did the Tang fans scold her to tears?]
[Tang fans: ???]
Author's Note:
Did Ruanruan survive today?
Yes, she did~
*
Throwing confetti, it's the weekend tomorrow—everyone, have fun!
Footnotes Full List
- 棒棒糖=lollipop. I decided to use their username in pinyin so that you can see that they are Tang Luxin's fans, as they used the similar sound tang 糖 (sugar) as their fandom name.
- 糖不甩=sticky rice dumpling
- 'TangChao' (糖潮) can be translated as 'Sugar Tide' or 'Candy Tide' in English. In the context of fan communities, '潮' (chao) often refers to a trend or wave, so it could also mean 'The Wave of Tang' or 'Tang Trend', referring to a fan who brings influence or a strong presence within the fandom. It suggests someone who is impactful and well-known in their fan circle.
- Tang Yuxin's fandom name, although they use Tang 糖, meaning sugar, instead of Tang Yuxin's surname 唐.
- "糖包子" (Tang Baozi) refers to sweet buns or steamed buns with sweet fillings.
- little or younger sister, short form for Meimei
- literally written in English
- Sesame Hide Sugar
- jelly bean
- Seer and Wolf are roles in the Werewolf Game.
- The good guy in the Werewolf Game.
- brown sugar
- white sugar
きつね's Musing
I should have posted this chapter on Friday or Saturday. At least then, the author's note would have made more sense. But I'm addicted to watching Chinese mini-dramas at the moment, no matter how ridiculous some of them are. Sometimes, you can find some gems among them. I'm watching 'Love Me Like I Do' right now. The CEO is such an 'unbelievably' dramatic character.
Oh, by the way, if anyone's ever wondered why DidTeacherTangBreakUpToday or TangChao[3] has a V after their username, it's because it's a verified account. Personal verified accounts will use a yellow V, and organisations or businesses will use a blue V. Like this:
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