The red carpet looks of various celebrities quickly topped the hot search charts, and Zhong Ruanxing’s name shot up from the bottom of the charts to number three. This was the second time her beauty had made it onto the hot search charts. Anti-fans could criticize her for not having any works and spread rumors about her finding a sugar daddy, but no one could criticize her looks. That dress, which was like a blue ocean wave, seemed to come alive on her and shone brilliantly with her every step.
The anti-fans really couldn't find anything to criticize, so they could only start with her dress.
Several marketing accounts looking to stir up trouble stealthily released several posts that pretended to review the brands of the dresses worn by the celebrities at the event tonight, but ended up focusing on Zhong Ruanxing's dress:
- For someone of Zhong Ruanxing's caliber, it's understandable that she couldn't borrow a dress from a brand, but wearing an off-brand dress on the red carpet is still quite embarrassing for the Song family.
- She's beautiful, but the dress has a strong thrift store vibe. Could it be a dress borrowed from a photo studio?
- The entertainment industry still needs to focus on works and data. Just having good looks without any achievements means brands don't buy it.
- There are leaks saying Zhong Ruanxing's team was still trying to contact Brand C yesterday to borrow a dress, but unfortunately Brand C doesn't think much of a D-lister like her.
- A word of advice to Ms. Zhong - focus more on your works than just marketing your looks. Otherwise, you'll only be able to wear thrift store dresses on the red carpet in the future.
These posts popped up one after another, and the originally fawning discussion gradually shifted to focus on her dress. Although Zhong Ruanxing had Deep Sea Law Firm as her backer, they weren't spreading rumors now, just commenting on her dress.
Zhong Ruanxing didn't have many fans to begin with. The thousand or so in her superfan group were visual fans attracted during the hype around the trailer release of her spy drama. Let alone going head to head with these marketing accounts, even her fans were a bit swayed, and started posting in her superfan group:
- First time on the red carpet and already being mocked, what exactly was her team doing? She's the ambassador for Yun Shan, how could she not even borrow a dress?
- She has the looks, she could have killed it in any brand dress, yet she insisted on wearing an off-brand one. Is she trying to highlight her lack of popularity?
Of course there were also diehard visual fans like Zhang Qianyi steadfastly controlling the narrative:
- Looks are all that matter! Who cares what brand it is!
- Judging by the workmanship and quality of this dress, it definitely can't be an off-brand!
- What's wrong with off-brands? Our star can bring off-brands the aura of top brands!
Everyone was arguing fiercely, and the hot search topic showed no signs of cooling down. Zhong Ruanxing's fan square was filled with both praise and criticism - the main "criticism" mocked her lack of works while wearing an off-brand dress and embarrassing herself.
Just as the anti-fans thought they could harshly criticize Zhong Ruanxing, a well-known socialite with some fame online made a post bringing up the topic:
- @Huanhuan Traveling the Earth: Come on, don't be ridiculous. If BLOOMING is considered an off-brand, then no one would dare to call themselves a top brand. Ignorance is not embarrassing, but ignorance while being arrogant is embarrassing to your ancestors.
Huanhuan Traveling the Earth was a famous socialite and rich young miss, the heiress to the Huancheng Group. Her Weibo was all about showing off designer bags, mansions, cars and worldwide travels, representing the younger generation of wealthy families like Song LeCheng.
As soon as she made this post, it immediately shot up to pin the top of the fan square. Everyone started asking in the comments what brand BLOOMING was.
Huanhuan Traveling the Earth didn't elaborate, just explaining: [A private haute couture favored by European royalty. Currently there is only one studio in Shanghai, on Hengshan Road.]
As soon as this reply came out, it was quickly screenshotted and reposted by various marketing accounts.
Especially those accounts that had just pinned apologies to Zhong Ruanxing on their homepages, they were exceptionally eager to share it.
Look, Lawyer Qi! We're speaking up for Zhong Ruanxing! Don't target us in the future!
The name BLOOMING also rose up the hot search charts. Rich second generation surfers online saw the pictures of the dress and the previous posts mocking BLOOMING, and mocked back:
- Live long enough and you'll see the day BLOOMING is mocked as an off-brand. Evans would be furious if he knew.
- I just went to the boutique the day before yesterday. This looks like one of Evans' new designs. What's the background of this celebrity that she got to debut it?
There were also patient netizens who explained what BLOOMING was - a former royal couturier, now high fashion for nobility. Soon, everyone understood what kind of background this brand had, and what kind of status someone who could wear it possessed.
The marketing accounts who had previously mocked BLOOMING as an off-brand were ridiculed by surfers for being ignorant until they couldn't take it anymore and deleted their posts.
However, everyone assumed that Zhong Ruanxing being able to wear a BLOOMING dress was due to the Song family's connections, and didn't suspect anything else.
The anti-fans had wanted to harshly criticize Zhong Ruanxing, but instead brought up this noble couture brand, giving her extra hype instead. They were so angry their heads buzzed.
Meanwhile, Song Jingxing at the event was unaware of all the online discussions. Leaving the crowded red carpet for the indoor venue, he felt much more relaxed. The awards tonight were unrelated to A Toast to Drunken Peach Blossoms, they were just here to make an appearance and walk the carpet, but he kept getting close-up shots on the big screen.
Song Jingxing didn't notice at first until Yu Liang next to him tipped his head to point it out, before realizing the broadcaster kept showing him.
It couldn't be helped, he was too beautiful, and the broadcaster happened to appreciate beauty.
However, each time the camera zoomed for a close-up, that exceedingly handsome face was expressionless. His jet black eyes were tranquil yet icy, and even when he casually glanced at the camera, it made the person behind the lens shrink back a bit.
The livestream audience was going crazy over these close-up shots, the bullet screen chat initially filled with "wife" changed to "marry me".
Because of Yu Liang's few head tilts interacting with her, Zhong Ruanxing and his small handful of shippers started popping up too. It couldn't be helped, the seme aura between them when they sat together was just too strong, too tantalizing.
And the audience noticed Zhong Ruanxing had no interactions with anyone else, only responding when Yu Liang spoke to her.
Well, after watching the livestream, they even got a ship name, "Cosmic Giants".
If Song Jingxing knew netizens nowadays shipped so easily, he definitely wouldn't have entertained Yu Liang.
At the same time, Zhong Ruanxing watching the livestream took a huge bite of watermelon and hissed: "Not bad, not bad, this CP of mine. The ship name is pretty good too, Cosmic Giants, nice meaning! I like it!"
She immediately opened her surfer alt and hit follow.
In just ten minutes, even fanfiction of her and Yu Liang appeared in their ship hashtag.
Zhong Ruanxing browsed the tag, feeling the star CP in these posts would have a very interesting reaction if he saw them.
Kind of wanted to see him explode, now what to do.