Chapter 500: Chapter 500: Reaping What One Sows
The next afternoon, Tang Li received several breaking news alerts.
[Phoenix Concubine’s director Zhao Zhenglei resigns from shooting, following Lai Yuaner’s departure and Tianyi’s withdrawal of investment, another sensational news from the crew.]
[Le Wen has resigned as Lai Yuaner’s agent, met with the head of Fenghua Media for lunch, suspected of intending to join Fenghua Media.]
[The Cyber Administration convened a meeting with the heads of several major domestic social platforms concerning their failure to fulfill their review responsibilities, ordering them to immediately self-inspect and rectify, and undergo comprehensive rectification.]
By evening, the online news about Tang Li was almost completely retracted.
In the morning, [Lai Yuaner’s Studio V]posted another VCR of Lai Yuaner herself.
The video, lasting a few minutes, featured Lai Yuaner’s apology.
Compared to yesterday, Lai Yuaner looked worse but her attitude was even more sincere. She only admitted that she took Shen Na’s words for granted after seeing Shen Na’s recorded VCR because of her youthful ignorance. She had some past grievances with Tang Li and, acting out of selfishness, failed to clarify for Tang Li immediately. However, she insisted that she had not known about the rope’s problems beforehand as netizens suggested; the bungee jumping was indeed an accident, and her urging Shen Na to “hurry up” was because she did not want to stay with Tang Li any longer.
Including Lai Yuaner’s assistant, Shen Na, who had the studio post a handwritten letter on her behalf, expressing guilt for distorting the truth, not realizing the severity of the consequences, and hence dragging Yuanyuan down with her. She would resign from her assistant position and publicly apologize to Tang Li.
Even though Lai Yuaner’s acknowledgment of her mistakes was timely, netizens were still not buying it, their dislike for her only increased, and they collectively demanded that Lai Yuaner leave the entertainment industry.
“Lai Yuaner is done this time.” Wu Xuehan swiped her cellphone screen: “Netizens refuse to forgive her, and they’ve started mocking her en masse. The films and television works that were originally set with Lai Yuaner are now being recast, and there’s even talk that the film version of Original Sin is considering reshooting Ying Xuaner’s scenes.”
Yu Sui commented beside her, “This is called reaping what you sow.”
“True, if Ah Li hadn’t recorded, he might be the one being forced out of the entertainment industry now.”
“The most hateful is Bitch Jiang, she gained hundreds of thousands of fans because of this.”
Tang Li came out from the kitchen and happened to hear their discussion, placing her water glass on the coffee table: “Are you really planning to go back to the Art College to stay tonight?”
Wu Xuehan and Yu Sui nodded together.
Later that night, just after 8 PM, reporters who had been camping outside the Art College saw a girl wearing a cap and a face mask getting out of a taxi, accompanied by two other girls. One sharp-eyed reporter instantly shouted “Tang Li,” and the other reporters swarmed in.
Blocked by reporters at the school gate, Tang Li did not dodge but responded.
Amid the clicking sound of cameras, a reporter asked if Tang Li would forgive Lai Yuaner.
After all, Lai Yuaner had realized her mistakes.
As a fellow professional, shouldn’t one leave some leeway for the possibility of a future reconciliation?
In front of the cameras, Tang Li’s calm voice came from behind the mask: “Whether she has realized her mistakes, I’m not sure. But one thing I am sure of is that I do not wish to see her again.”
Reporter: “…”
With no reconciliation from the parties involved, the online opinions grew even more intense.
In the early hours, Lai Yuaner’s studio issued another statement, indicating that Lai Yuaner had been suffering mentally and physically these past few days, and she would temporarily halt all her entertainment activities in the country, and would take time for self-reflection.
This statement was met with collective jeers from netizens: “Better to stop forever, not just temporarily!”