Chapter 257: Chapter 257
Shi Qingqing is from Chunzhou and is currently in her third year of middle school.
With the high school entrance exams approaching, her schoolwork was so heavy that it felt suffocating.
On the night of the National Day holiday, taking advantage of her parents’ trip to visit friends, she secretly turned on the TV. She had originally planned to watch an idol drama, but as she flipped through the channels, she was captivated by a young man in white on Chunzhou TV.
In that instant, she stared at the boy singing gently on the screen, feeling as though her soul had been struck.
At that time, she was too young to understand what an idol was or what being a fan meant; all she knew was that this boy was very handsome, sang beautifully, and his jet-black, clear eyes reminded her of the countless stars overhead during her summer visits to her grandmother’s countryside home.
His voice seemed to carry a magical power, bringing back memories of her long-lost grandmother.
When she snapped back to reality, she realized that somehow, tears were streaming down her face.
She had fallen for this boy, but it had nothing to do with romance or infatuation.
He was like the brightest morning star in the dark night sky, pointing the way forward for her.
She only had an old-fashioned phone that could make calls and an outdated tablet for online classes. Her parents, worried she’d get addicted to the internet, would unplug the router whenever they weren’t home.
So she secretly connected to her neighbor’s Wi-Fi and frantically searched online for everything about the boy in white.
It turned out his name was Rong Xianning—his name as gentle and pleasant as he was.
He was contestant No. 48 on Chunzhou TV Station’s show Youth Idol, who had shot to fame overnight after the show initially aired. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel•fire.net
Later, through the spin-off program Youth Idol Training Camp, she got to see another side of Rong Xianning’s life.
A boy who was restrained, self-disciplined, yet warm and pure.
This autumn, a whirlwind called Rong Xianning swept across Hua Country, capturing countless hearts.
Once she understood the program’s voting mechanism, she registered for a Weibo account, naming herself "Qingqing By the Riverside," and marked time daily to cast her votes for Rong Xianning.
Still unfamiliar with the fan circle, she stumbled her way into the Super Topic section and met "March Ningning to Stardom," someone with excellent photo-editing skills, a logical and commanding way of speaking, and a friendly approach to teaching new fans the voting process. This person quickly gained influence in the fan community.
Shi Qingqing followed her, clocking in daily in the comments and completing tasks. She had great trust in Chongchong’s abilities.
Unfortunately, ever since the National Day holiday, Chongchong had rarely come online, and Shi Qingqing figured the person might also be a student like her.
Not long ago, during the ballot-rigging scandal, she joined another prominent fan, "Xianxian Must Be Happy Today," in criticizing the show’s producers. Unfortunately, most fans were likely too young. Despite their large numbers, they had no coherent strategy and failed to draw the program’s attention.
It was then that she happened to catch Chongchong coming online and told her about the ballot-rigging controversy. She thought Chongchong would rally the fans to confront the producers, but all she received in response was one cryptic sentence—
"To make them go crazy, you must first bring about their downfall."
Shi Qingqing was utterly baffled.
As a third-year middle schooler, she couldn’t begin to grasp the meaning behind those words.
Soon after, Chongchong logged off again, and no matter how many messages Shi Qingqing sent, she never got a reply.
Now, with the show airing its seventh episode, Rong Xianning’s performance had been stellar and universally acknowledged. He was wildly popular, with his fanbase growing daily. However, the fan circle had become increasingly chaotic, to the point where Shi Qingqing often found herself infuriated by the arrogant comments of new fans.
"One obnoxious fan attracts ten haters"—damn if that wasn’t true.
Today, Rong Xianning was being hyped relentlessly by the producers and praised endlessly in the fan circle. He was like oil poured on roaring flames, a vivid blaze of success so excessive it made people uneasy deep down.
And sure enough, trouble soon broke out.
Three days ago, a gossip account called "Eight-Legged Entertainment" broke the news that a contestant on a talent show had let success go to his head—not only bullying teammates but even assaulting one so badly they ended up in the hospital.
The insinuations in those posts stopped just short of explicitly naming Rong Xianning.
Public opinion quickly escalated. After all, Rong Xianning’s name was the ultimate key to traffic these days, and gossip accounts couldn’t survive without it.
Initially, fans dismissed this unscrupulous account as deliberately using Rong Xianning’s name for clout. They swarmed its Weibo post, drowning it in a deluge of venomous insults.
Yet the account, seemingly provoked by the fans, appeared determined to retaliate and soon released an audio recording.
The recording captured a conversation.
"Aning, why would you instruct your fans to smear me for rigging the votes? You know how much this competition means to me."
The voice was Wen Yan’s.