Chapter 21

In Wen Jiu’s heart, Lan Mingyan had S-tier credit; Wen Ling’s reputation, on the other hand, was so bad she couldn’t even unlock a shared bike.
More than once, Wen Ling glanced over at her and hesitated, like she had some scheme in mind, or maybe just wanted to make a new friend.
Wen Jiu pretended not to notice. She just assumed the girl had her eye on the cooling stash and quietly clutched her bag tighter.
Standing behind her, Ji Yujing rolled his eyes openly at how cheap she was being.
“She’s looking at me,” he muttered.
“Narcissist,” Wen Jiu said without turning her head.
Ji Yujing: ?
So he tells the truth and gets scolded?
Young Master Ji was very popular with girls outside, okay.
“They just called cut. I’m going to fan Sister Yue.” Wen Jiu grabbed her bag and dashed forward.
A gust of chilled air blew across Yue Ling’s face. Under the merciless 39-degree sun, it felt like a second life.
Up until then, only the makeup artist and stylist had been hovering around her, touching up her hair and face.
Without realizing it, both of their heads stretched forward too, brain cells jolted awake by the cool breeze.
Everyone else only caught a hint of that cool breeze and quietly shuffled closer without making a fuss.
By the time Wen Jiu grabbed another gadget and looked up, a whole crowd had gathered around.
She didn’t hoard anything, just smiled and handed everyone a cooling ribbon. You could tie it around your wrist or neck, give it a smack, and it would slowly release a soft, chilly sensation.
With those wide, flowing sleeves in period costume, it was easy to hide underneath without worrying about it showing on camera, and it actually helped with the heat.
Instantly, everyone’s impression of Wen Jiu improved, and along with that, their favorability for Yue Ling, the actress playing the second female lead, rose too.
Yesterday there had been friction between the female lead, Wen Ling, and the second female lead, Yue Ling. Most people had been on the fence. But after baking under the sun today, they all quietly moved to Yue Ling’s side.
You don’t bite the hand that gives you free cooling.
Pearl Chronicle tells the story of the Grand Tutor’s granddaughter Mingzhu, who enters the palace lively and innocent, only to watch people around her die or betray her. Bit by bit, she hardens, pays back every debt, and finally ascends as Empress.
Today’s “sun-baking” scene was the one where Mingzhu is sold out by her good sister, runs into the Noble Consort, and gets punished to kneel in the imperial garden corridor until she miscarries.
At the last moment, the Emperor appears, scoops her up in a princess carry, and uses the incident as leverage to strip the Noble Consort of her authority over the inner palace, sparking conflict between the front-court Grand General and the Grand Tutor.
After filming the lead-up where Yue Ling’s character orders Mingzhu to kneel, White-Moonlight Young Lady only had to sit pretty in a pavilion as background. Meanwhile, Wen Ling’s Mingzhu had to kneel in the open sun.
Wen Jiu was dying in the heat; forget enjoying the filming process. Her first-time excitement at seeing a live set had melted into pure suffering. She retreated under a tree and had to turn on the ice-fan just to feel human again.
She’d brought along an extra-large 3C-certified power bank, just in case.
It was supposedly very safe, but with the temperature like this, she didn’t dare charge while using it, terrified it might explode.
She’d already slapped cooling patches and ribbons on Young Lady. Whatever was left, she put on herself, and then she finally started to feel like she might not evaporate on the spot.
The Young Lady didn’t have an ice-fan, but under the layers of her palace robes she had cooling ribbons on her arms and patches on her skin, and she was sitting in the shade of the pavilion, so she was doing alright.
Wen Ling, on the other hand, was kneeling on a pebble path, nowhere near the shade.
High noon wasn’t the hottest part of the day, but it was the sharpest, most vicious sunlight.
She swayed, face white as paper, and even without anyone spritzing her, real sweat beaded densely along her brow, under her nose, at the tip of her chin, then dripped down onto the stones.
The director, who cared a lot about detail, was thrilled and kept praising her.
Then, just as he yelled “Cut!”, Wen Ling collapsed.
Her eyes were unfocused and her body suddenly wouldn’t move, but she was still a little conscious. She stared straight in Wen Jiu’s direction, making Wen Jiu’s back go cold even without the ice-fan.
“Who’s that?”
“Teacher Yue’s assistant.”
“Oh, go borrow her fan, quick. Teacher Wen must’ve gotten overheated, that’s why she looked at her.”
The set was suddenly noisy. A few people rushed to move Wen Ling into the shade, right where Wen Jiu had been sitting.
Taking one look at that, Wen Jiu’s backside popped up off the stool and she vacated on the spot, shoving the fan into Ji Yujing’s hands as she went. “Young Master, you can use this. Enjoy. No charge.”
Then she waddled off very efficiently to find the Young Lady.
“Teacher Yue’s assistant, what was her name again?”
“Wen Jiu.”
“Oh, right. Wen Jiu, can I borrow your fan? Teacher Wen Ling fainted.”
“I already gave it to him.” Wen Jiu nodded toward the newly cooled-off Ji Yujing, then pulled a cooling patch out of her bag. “I’ve got these cooling patches. You can take a few.”
The person who’d come over was the company assistant assigned to Wen Ling. She didn’t apologize, just took things like it was her divine right.
Then she turned away without a second thought.
After looting Wen Jiu, she went after the fan. But when she came face-to-face with Ji Yujing’s wheat-colored, handsome face, her voice faltered. “C-could you… lend me the fan?”
Wen Jiu’s ears perked straight up.
Huh? Sis, why so polite all of a sudden?
Ji Yujing lifted his eyelids. “No.”
Arrogant, six feet tall, and clearly not in the mood to play nice, he left Wen Ling’s assistant with nothing to say. And somehow, the more she stared at him, the less good-looking he seemed. She stomped her foot. “How can you be like this?”
Wen Jiu rubbed her fingers along her chin.
This was… familiar.
Like a bargain-bin version of a ditzy pure-white heroine.
Back when she watched dramas, this had been her favorite kind of female lead.
Too bad this assistant wasn’t the heroine, and Ji Yujing wasn’t the male lead.
Wen Ling’s side really was full of hidden talent, even the assistant was a piece of work.
A minute later, Wen Ling came around. She apologized to the director over and over. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’ve wasted everyone’s time. I’ve rested now, we can keep going.”
Her little assistant chimed in at just the right moment, all righteous fury. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t borrow the ice-fan.”
The little assistant’s gaze drifted meaningfully toward the pavilion where Wen Jiu was sitting. “She gave the fan to that handsome guy, and refused to lend it to me.” She very carefully didn’t say “Young Master Ji,” so everyone subconsciously assumed Wen Jiu was the selfish one.
“Teacher Wen Ling, your forehead is still hot. If we’d had that ice-fan, you’d have cooled down already.”
Everyone turned to look.
Wen Jiu: “…”
She was just a lowly sidekick; why was she suddenly living in a main-character-level drama arena? How was this fair?
Luckily, those cooling patches hadn’t been handed out in vain. People immediately spoke up on her behalf.
“That’s not quite fair. I saw Wen Jiu give you a cooling patch.”
“Yeah, yeah. And the fan was with that guy before, it’s not like she was dangling it in front of you on purpose.”
Having people defend you out loud was a beautiful feeling. Wen Jiu’s mood cleared in an instant; she was practically humming.
Thank goodness she’d thought ahead.
Though as it turned out, she still hadn’t thought far enough.
That same night, the whole incident went online in the form of a cleverly edited video.
Aside from the male lead, everyone in Pearl Chronicle was a nobody, but it was still a major IP. The male lead, Xie Junyu, had an extremely combative fanbase, and once you added in the original book fans, the video shot into the hot list in no time.
Wen Jiu hurried to click it.
The cut focused on Wen Ling fainting, then on Wen Ling trying to borrow the fan and Wen Jiu “refusing.” At the very end, it flashed a quick shot of Yue Ling sitting in the pavilion.
The caption read:
Went to visit the set of Pearl Chronicle today and saw the female lead. She’s so dedicated. But she looked so pitiful, only one assistant with her, and they couldn’t even borrow a fan. (Not a fan, not a fan, I’m a Jade Plate.)
“Jade Plate” was what Xie Junyu’s fans called themselves.
The original traffic had been modest, but with “Jade Plate” and “set visit” in there like bait, within half an hour it had over 300k likes and millions of views.
The comments were… enlightening.
Real Jade Plates:
Brother works so hard and his acting is great. Please support the drama. We Jade Plates don’t stir up drama in his name. This isn’t one of us, everyone, keep your eyes open.
Hired water army:
[The female lead in Mingzhu Zhuan is so pretty and so dedicated. When does this air? I really want to see her.]
Fake “passersby”:
[My heart hurts. Which rookie actress is this? And what’s wrong with that other woman, not lending a fan when someone’s fainted? So stingy, wow.]
Actual passersby (who clearly could not care less about the fan):
[The cast for this drama is really good-looking, huh. Forget the female lead and second lead, the tanned handsome guy who flashed by at the end, is he an actor too?]
Soon enough, some “helpful” soul had broken down the clip frame by frame. The Jade Plates and water armies clashed for a bit, then the water armies slowly took over the top-liked comments:
Wen Ling is so dedicated.
Yue Ling’s assistant has no manners.
Yue Ling gives off total white-lotus vibes, so fake.
Wen Ling seems really nice. She’s going to be big.
Tearing one woman down to prop another up was standard in the entertainment industry.
The novel had also described all sorts of online chatter. From those scenes, you could see how the audience gradually decided Yue Ling was a fake, pretentious white lotus, then proceeded to pick her apart so they could praise Wen Ling.
And Wen Ling was a master of brand-building. While drawing in casual fans, she loved to “hurt” her own fanbase a little and forged a group of extremely aggressive hardcore stans.
Wen Jiu opened Wen Ling’s Weibo. Sure enough, there was a fresh post.
Wen Ling:
[Today’s little incident was an accident. I never thought anyone would compliment me, I’m so touched~ (shy emoji) (crying-behind-hands emoji)
It’s me and little Assistant’s first day on set, we forgot to bring cooling stuff, haha~ (covering-eyes emoji) (polite silly-smile emoji)
Teacher Yue’s assistant gave us cooling patches, everyone here is so kind (laugh-cry emoji) (laugh-cry emoji).]
Attached were two carefully chosen nighttime selfies.
The night breeze lifted the hair at her temples, her gentle eyes sparkling like scattered jade, and the faint red from too much sun still marked her cheeks. She looked heartbreakingly pretty, fragile and luminous.
Wen Jiu had been following Wen Ling’s account all along, and she remembered she’d run into her downstairs on her way to dinner. She definitely hadn’t been wearing that outfit then, and her hair and makeup had been totally different.
Checking the comments and fan count, everything was exactly what she’d expected: endless virtual hugs, cooing concern, and her followers rising at speed.
Maybe the fans hadn’t been organized into groups yet, so no one was properly “controlling” comments… or maybe that had been Wen Ling’s plan all along. Either way, this one stood pinned at the top:
[They’re both “Ling,” but Wen Ling is way softer and prettier than Yue Ling, and so much more natural. Who doesn’t love a dedicated beauty? Much better than someone sitting in the cool pavilion refusing to lend a fan. Also, Wen Ling is so pure, she still speaks up for you even when they won’t lend her the fan and only give her a cooling patch.]
The comment had a big, bright “Hot” tag and sat at the very top.
Wen Jiu: !!
Called it.
The male lead and male supporting role were ignoring Wen Ling, and the Young Lady hadn’t even gone looking for trouble. Somehow Wen Ling had still managed to step on her Young Lady to climb higher first?!