Against the Light - Chapter 54
Chapter 54: The Person Playing the Piano
"Ahhh, it's Sister Lan! It's Sister Lan!!!"
"I'm fucking crying my eyes out! Sister Lan basically saved the world!!"
"Sob, sob, what kind of heaven-sent, earth-shattering divine love is this? Just when Sister Ran was at her most helpless, Sister Lan descended from the heavens! Are the two of them really not considering remarrying?"
"I just want to know, when did the two of them learn how to design clothes??"
"I'm telling you, can you all pull yourselves together? What's with all the sniffling and crying??" Yu Hua glanced at the crowd. Why was every single one of them teary-eyed??
"Director, you're old."
"???"
"Young President Ming, would you say this counts as solid proof?"
"This isn't just solid proof. This is an ironclad hammer!"
The crowd cheered and turned their attention back to the screen.
On stage, Gu Xinran's aura was in full force, forcing Ye Ting to retreat step by step, not daring to meet her gaze.
"Designer Ye, what else do you have to say for yourself?"
Ye Ting composed herself and met Gu Xinran's gaze. "I did not plagiarize."
Gu Xinran smiled and took two steps back.
"Miss Ye, remember this face you're making right now."
"It's so ugly."
After saying this, Gu Xinran turned and walked off the stage, making a clean and confident exit.
The whispers in the audience turned into loud discussions.
"If you plagiarized, you plagiarized. The person has come to confront you, and everything has been made clear. Are you going to do it but not dare to admit it?"
"Although I don't know why she designed a small handprint on that dress, a normal designer wouldn't think of putting a handprint on clothes, right? Not to mention it's in the exact same position! How do you explain that?"
"Exactly, stop trying to hold on. It's really ugly. If you just apologized and admitted your mistake, people wouldn't be this angry!"
"Right, just apologize. This is too ugly."
A wave of questioning voices came from the audience, and the situation looked like it was about to spiral out of control.
Many people watched Gu Xinran leave through the audience section. Seeing her tear-streaked, sorrowful appearance made their hearts ache with an unbearable sourness.
Some audience members spontaneously began to leave with her, one after another. Before long, almost the entire audience had left, leaving only a few of Ye Ting's die-hard fans and the staff.
A mass audience walkout in protest during a live broadcast—this was a first! Gossip-loving netizens flocked online, and Weibo's trending topics were immediately arranged, pushing the show's popularity to a whole new level!
"Ye Ting is so shameless. These audience members are awesome. Thank god not everyone is blind and deaf."
"Sob, sob, sob, Sister Ran has it so tough, being targeted by clout-chasers everywhere. When will she finally make it through all this!" Fang Jinghai cried.
Ever since seeing a different side of Gu Xinran on 【Escape from Death】, she had been on a near-daily journey to prove her innocence. Before the framing incident with Luo Bing was even sorted out, Yang Xue got involved. Just as she managed to make a comeback with her own strength, she was accused of plastic surgery. Now, she was plagiarized by Ye Ting, who even turned around and accused her of stealing the design. Even so, she refused to admit defeat, refused to back down, and was still trying her best to prove herself, shouldering so many baseless accusations all alone. It was painful just to watch.
Fortunately, Sister Yilan had stepped up this time. Otherwise, she truly couldn't imagine how things would have turned out!
When Gu Xinran came out of the studio, she turned to see a large crowd of audience members following her. Her heart warmed, and she bowed to them. "Thank you for being willing to believe me."
Her words made the audience members feel a bit embarrassed. "No, no, no, please don't do that. I misunderstood you before, too. I'm sorry."
"Don't cry, it's not your fault!"
Many audience members also bowed to her in apology.
Gu Xinran gave a faint smile and turned to leave.
In the car, Gu Xinran leaned back in her seat, head tilted up, eyes closed, a smile playing on her lips.
A small handprint…
How clever of her to think of that.
It must have been from when she was working on the design, and that little troublemaker Xiao Ye was making a mess nearby, pressing her handprint onto it. She couldn't bear to delete it, so she left it there. No wonder she insisted on telling her this amusing story in person.
Gu Xinran took a moment to compose herself, then picked up her phone, her hand trembling slightly.
She opened the call log, found Yilan's number, and after much hesitation, called back.
Bai Yilan pressed a hand to her forehead. The moment she saw the dress Xinran presented on the show, many strange images flashed through her mind. She saw that familiar courtyard again, that mischievous little girl. The girl pressed her small, paint-covered hands onto the dress, making a handprint, then looked up at her with a playful smile.
After seeing the many design sketches Xinran had drawn, she felt a flood of things rush into her mind, like someone else's memories that didn't belong to her! It left her feeling utterly confused, her head splitting with pain.
When her phone rang, she didn't have the energy to deal with it. She ran into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to calm herself down.
At the same time, Weibo exploded. Topics like 【Ye Ting Plagiarized】, 【Gu-Bai Divine Love】, 【Star Wardrobe Apologizes】, 【First Mass Audience Walkout in Variety Show History】, and 【The Bottom Line of the Design Industry】 shot to the top of the trending list. Among them, the topic 【Gu-Bai Divine Love】 directly blew up Weibo!
Gu Xinran's Weibo account exploded again. Her follower count skyrocketed; a single refresh added tens of thousands.
【Sob, sob, sob, I can't believe I used to call Ranran a scumbag. I'm sorry! If you're a scumbag, then there are no good people left in this world!!】
【!!! I'm literally splitting! 开 -> 幵 ← I've split!! You're not a little fairy, you're a goddess!!】
【A treasure!! A treasure!! I want to wear a little dress designed by Sister, sob, sob, sob. I want one, ahhh!】
【I'm begging you two to get back together, I'm begging you!!】
【Writing each other's names on clothes is just too romantic!!】
【Sister, please enter the fashion world! You are the best designer of the year!】
【That rose wedding dress is so beautiful, ahhhhhh—I want to see the finished product, I want to see it!!】
【You thought you were a fan of an actress? No, she's actually a singer. You thought you were a fan of a singer? No, she's also a designer [doge]】
【I miss Teacher Bai, sob, sob, sob. I'm begging you two to come out and show off your love. Go crazy with it, I'll never complain that you're annoying again!】
In stark contrast to the mood on Xinran's side, Ye Ting and her brand 【Chan Ye】's official Weibo were completely overrun by netizens. The comment sections were a disaster. Many of her die-hard fans, who had originally supported her, collectively went silent and played dead. A good number of them even unfollowed and turned on her, declaring they would never buy clothes from her brand again.
Light & Shadow Entertainment also issued a public statement, declaring they would defend their artist's rights to the very end so she could work in peace, unaffected by these matters.
As soon as Gu Xinran left the stage, Fang Jinghai and Qu Qi sped off to Yuchuan City to pick her up overnight.
The three of them finally met up at eleven o'clock.
When Fang Jinghai saw the scab on Gu Xinran's palm, her heart ached terribly. She quickly ran to a roadside pharmacy to buy some antiseptic.
"Sister Ran, next time something like this happens, can you please take me with you? Stop trying to carry everything on your own." The little assistant's eyes were red, and her heart felt like it was being crushed.
Gu Xinran smiled at her. "Okay."
"Alright, you. Are you going to have a good cry with Xinran now?"
"That won't be necessary. I'm afraid Teacher Bai will beat me up," Fang Jinghai joked.
"Xinran, don't worry. The company's legal department is already preparing a lawyer's letter. We'll be suing Ye Ting for plagiarism in the next couple of days. You don't have to worry about this. With the company backing you, we'll face her head-on!"
Gu Xinran sighed inwardly. She truly hadn't expected Ye Ting to be so shameless. After everything that had been said, she still resorted to playing dumb and refusing to admit it!
"Actually, after listening to Young President Ming's analysis, I also think Ye Ting won't be that easy to deal with. By the way, President Ming just reminded me to have Sister Ran post on Weibo, telling your fans to remain calm and not let people with ulterior motives stir things up and target Ye Ting's previous designs. Once people start targeting her past work without any evidence, in the eyes of casual onlookers, Ye Ting will become an innocent designer being persecuted by a certain celebrity's fans through cyberbullying! She'll play the victim first, then wait for an opportunity to whitewash her image. We have to be on guard against this disgusting tactic!"
Qu Qi nodded. "We should be. Xinran, give me your Weibo password. Let Jinghai handle this for you. Don't pay any more attention to this stuff. Go back, focus on filming, and get a representative work of your own as soon as possible. That's the only way to secure your footing in the industry. Also, be careful during this time. I suspect Ye Ting will definitely try to find a way to strike back. Don't let her get any dirt on you. Right now, whoever controls public opinion holds the key to victory!"
Gu Xinran turned her head to look out the window, lost in thought.
The other two exchanged a glance, unsure of what she was thinking, and didn't dare to disturb her.
A short while later, Qu Qi dropped Gu Xinran off downstairs. Feeling a bit uneasy, the two of them went upstairs with her. Her state was very strange, as if she were completely immersed in her own world. When they spoke to her, she would only give a perfunctory reply before ignoring them again.
At home, Gu Xinran sat at the piano, looking at the black and white keys.
Qu Qi's words, 'get a representative work of your own as soon as possible. That's the only way to secure your footing in the industry,' had left her feeling lost.
Once she had a representative work, once she was highly popular, could she really secure her footing in the entertainment industry? Would no one dare to provoke her, bully her, harm her, or target her anymore?
No.
Gu Xinran denied it in her heart.
Today on stage, when she confronted Ye Ting, the other party flatly denied it, and yet she was helpless. It had been a long time since she had felt this profound sense of powerlessness.
The last time she felt this way was in her previous life, when Yilan committed suicide.
She had rushed to the hospital, holding Yilan's cold body, only to find the hospital entrance blocked by countless reporters. They were all questioning her, asking why she liked women, why she would do something as unethical as loving another woman!
No one saw the blood-soaked girl in her arms. No one knew that their every interrogation was like a red-hot iron nail driven deep into Gu Xinran's heart, completely extinguishing any hope she and Yilan had of surviving.
Back then, she was a national idol, a double Movie Queen, showered with countless honors. She had a plethora of representative works and had created numerous household-name characters. Her fanbase spanned all age groups.
People liked her, adored her, yet just because she wanted to be with the person she loved, she was thrown into hell by the very people who had lifted her up!
She once thought that having representative works meant having a voice. That if she slapped faces hard enough, no one would dare to provoke her.
But Ye Ting's brazen demeanor was like a mockery. So what if you have representative works? So what if you become a Movie Queen? So what if you're adored by thousands? Even if reason is on your side, can you really take me down?
"Xinran? Are… are you okay?" Qu Qi and Fang Jinghai were starting to panic. The woman had come back, sat down at the piano, and had just been stroking the keys ever since, as if she were possessed. What on earth was wrong with her?!
"These keys are so interesting," Gu Xinran suddenly chuckled.
"Huh?"
"Look, whichever sound I want to hear, I can make them produce it," Gu Xinran said, pressing a few keys at random.
"Wha…?" Qu Qi's voice trembled. This person… what in the world was wrong with her?!
"Xinran? What's… what's wrong with you?"
Gu Xinran turned to look at her, a serene smile gracing her lips.
I don't want to be a piano key anymore.
I want to be the one playing the piano.
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