Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 101 Sudden Emergence of Scandalous Information

Chapter 101: Chapter 101 Sudden Emergence of Scandalous Information

Cheng Xiaohua watched He Jinxia eat her meal. Even though she was hungry, she didn’t wolf down her food and showed no signs of disdain on her face, no matter the quality of the meal; her demeanor while eating was both elegant and dignified.

For some reason, Cheng Xiaohua suddenly felt it was quite unfair to He Jinxia.

She looked around and, seeing that no one was nearby, whispered, "The production team is really stingy. These boxed meals aren’t worth fifty Hua Coins, are they? The contract you signed clearly guaranteed that the boxed meal provided to you would be worth fifty!"

He Jinxia calmly countered, "With such a big investment from the production, someone has to skim a bit off the top. Skimming from the meals is most common. With hundreds of people in the crew, if they don’t cut costs on food, where else?"

Cheng Xiaohua understood this logic. Although it was her first time accompanying an artist, she had friends who were assistants to stars. After talking with her friends before coming here, along with some simulated exercises in class, she wasn’t surprised by these practices.

But knowing is one thing and experiencing it firsthand is quite another.

While He Jinxia was eating, she looked up at Cheng Xiaohua and saw her conflicted expression, so she put down her meal, handed her a pair of chopsticks, opened another boxed meal on the table, and pushed Cheng Xiaohua to sit down, saying earnestly,

"When you’re in the Itinerant World, you cannot always do as you wish. Who told me to be poor right now and can’t afford to order takeout? You better eat quickly too. We have a lot of work to do this afternoon. If we don’t eat well, we won’t have the energy. How else are you going to help me blend in at the grassroots level and gather information?"

Cheng Xiaohua laughed out loud, "Jinxia, that’s something I should be saying to you."

He Jinxia blinked at her, "So hurry up and eat, and remember to buy me some fruit afterward."

The two of them chatted as they ate, and the two unappetizing boxed meals were finished without them realizing it.

After eating, Cheng Xiaohua hurried out to buy fruit for He Jinxia. She refused to believe that the fruit here could be sold for the same exorbitant price as the boxed meals.

Wrapped in a long down coat, He Jinxia lay back in her chair for a short rest. Winter always made it so easy to feel sleepy.

After resting for a while, her brows furrowed; the quiet set seemed to have become a bit noisy all of a sudden.

Opening her eyes and looking around, she noticed groups of crew members standing nearby, huddled together with their phones in hand, occasionally glancing in her direction.

He Jinxia avoided their gaze, her eyes briefly hardening as she read their lips.

"...How could she be that kind of person, to actually hit another actress from the same crew?"

"Shhh—not necessarily hitting, right? The reporters just saw Li Li with tearful eyes coming out of the hospital."

"Coming out crying doesn’t prove anything? Why would Li Li cry if she just went to visit? He Jinxia isn’t seriously injured. I think this is probably about He Jinxia throwing her weight around and giving Li Li a hard time!"

...

He Jinxia stopped paying attention to what they were saying when she heard the name "Li Li." A bad feeling began to rise in her heart.

Her brows knitted, she pulled out her phone, and immediately called Luo You.

Luo You answered the phone quickly, speaking at a rapid pace, "Good, it seems you already know what’s happened. Don’t respond to anything; the crisis PR team is handling it. Don’t panic, it’s just a scandal with maliciously manipulated facts."

He Jinxia heard some noise in the background of Luo You’s end, as if there were people talking. Connecting the dots from what he had just said, she guessed Luo You was probably discussing strategies with the PR team.

Luo You was busy with her own business, and all she, being clueless, could do to help was not to cause more trouble. So she said, "Okay, I won’t respond to anything. I’ll just focus on filming. You go ahead with your work!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than she hung up the call, exited the contacts list, and prepared to open Weibo to see what was really going on.

Before Weibo even loaded, a pop-up message from a WeChat group chat appeared at the top of the screen. He Jinxia clicked into it, her eyebrows involuntarily raising.

It was quite the coincidence. Aunt Rui had shared a Weibo post related to her and Li Li.

She didn’t even need to search; He Jinxia tapped the link in the group, and the press release from an entertainment marketing account with several million followers appeared on her phone screen.

[Shocking! He Jinxia Throws Diva Tantrums, Makes Supporting Actress Li Li Cry?!]

That was the headline, followed by a photo of Li Li with red eyes, walking down a hospital corridor.

But was that all?

Of course not.

If it were that simple, the entertainment marketing account wouldn’t dare to release it. Fans and bystanders would have thousands of reasons to explain this photo: perhaps she was filming, perhaps she was visiting relatives, perhaps she was just in a bad mood, etc.

After setting the stage with the key photo, the marketing account began a detailed explanation.

[Last August, while He Jinxia was filming "Chen Xiaohui, Go Forward!", she suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. Li Li, as a fellow cast member, went to visit her, and after nearly twenty minutes in the ward, Li Li walked out.

She entered the ward with a good expression and even a smile on her face, but in just twenty minutes, she emerged with tears streaming down her face! We speculate that He Jinxia must have thrown a diva tantrum at Li Li in the ward, making the fellow cast member cry!]

The marketing account had prepared thorough materials, capturing before and after photos of Li Li entering the ward—same place, same context, virtually ruling out Photoshop.

Not only that, but they even got a photo of He Jinxia’s medical record!

What exactly happened in those twenty minutes? Why did Li Li cry? What really happened inside the ward...

With these questions in mind, numerous netizens left comments:

[Assessment complete, something unknown definitely happened in that ward!]

[If you’re going to claim she’s a diva, why don’t you investigate what happened in those twenty minutes in the ward? You say she’s a diva, where’s the evidence? Just because Li Li cried doesn’t prove Fat Emperor acted like a diva, right?]

[The comment above is hilarious. Why can’t Li Li’s tears be proof of diva behavior? Tears do indicate something, and I can’t find any reason for Li Li to fake cry!]

Netizens were divided into three factions: one supporting He Jinxia, another supporting Li Li, and the last were the neutral onlookers, who were not siding with anyone and just waiting for the subsequent developments.

But as things developed, the tide of the online discussion shifted dramatically, with a flood of comments dissing He Jinxia’s diva behavior, overwhelming the other two factions.

[Tsk tsk, the entertainment circle is full of falsehoods and truths—who knows what the reality is? But I’d say the diva act is real, the crying is real, and the plastic sisterhood is even more real. Congratulations to both for being nominated for the ’Best Sisters of the Year’ award!]