Chapter 2694 - 2756: Causes and Consequences

That’s right, it’s interference. Since what Xia Hai did was mentioned earlier, although there is no clear evidence about what he did to those two top female stars, there is one thing Ning Xin’er is absolutely sure of: Xia Hai had expressed his admiration for her multiple times in both public and private occasions. Of course, that’s a nice way of putting it; in reality, Xia Hai wanted to sleep with Ning Xin’er. After she realized his intentions, she resolutely refused. Fortunately, Ning Xin’er had forces behind her protecting her, otherwise, she might have been interfered with.

This was just the beginning. Xia Hai held a grudge against Ning Xin’er after failing to win her over multiple times. During an award ceremony for domestic music, he publicly made remarks against Ning Xin’er, which caused a stir at the time. Later, due to public opinion’s intervention, Xia Hai admitted his inappropriate remarks and ’apologized’ to Ning Xin’er, but it was limited to just those two words. Ning Xin’er started her own company and was not affiliated with any major entertainment company, so Xia Hai acted recklessly.

Since then, there have been several harassment incidents. Xia Hai even publicly insulted Ning Xin’er, implying she rose to fame through men. His behavior was always extremely vile. On one side was a well-known entertainment company’s president, on the other, a star acting as her own agent. Ning Xin’er could protect herself but counterattacking was indeed challenging.

It’s not easy for a young, beautiful woman to survive in this society, especially when this young, beautiful woman is struggling in the entertainment industry. This is an outwardly glamorous but actually murky world. Trying to maintain one’s integrity is already very difficult, and being targeted by such high-profile individuals is a disaster. Fortunately, Ning Xin’er persevered back then.

Li Yifei frowned and asked, "Xin’er, when I was ordered to protect you back then, was it because of this?"

Ning Xin’er gently sighed and said, "Yes, it was because someone intended to harm me, so I had to ask you to protect me."

"Oh, it was him, haha. This is truly a case of old and new scores coming together—well, still old friends!" Li Yifei frowned with a smile, remembering the past task—it wasn’t easy to dispatch the captain of the Flying Hawk Squad for protection.

What really infuriates Ning Xin’er is that years later, this person still pops up to trouble her, which is already a bit too much. People shouldn’t be so shameless; there should always be a line. Of course, Ning Xin’er can imagine why he is doing this; it’s simple. Summer Entertainment recently invested in two films, one of which is a major production, claiming to have a five-billion investment, with a star-studded cast, including foreign actors, top directors, and top stars. At least the salary is top-notch, and such a lineup is aimed at both box office and awards for a double win.

This is one thing; the second is the other film, which is also aiming for awards, and both films are reportedly targeting the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, oh, and Venice. Anyway, they’re targeting international awards, and although winning isn’t the key, it’s a mark of honor. With honor, future investments are easier.

The idea is admirable, the dream is there, but the process of realizing the dream is not smooth. Not to mention that arty film with two to three hundred million investment; take the high-investment film claiming five billion—it can be easily found that it didn’t even make it to the list for Cannes Film Festival, which is quite awkward. With such a big production aiming for awards, they would certainly communicate with the committee, and generally, they would get an entry ticket. Yet this time, they miscalculated and didn’t receive any nominations, only as a film screened during the festival.

And art films are generally easier to enter, especially with a two to three hundred million investment, a decent production cost. Typically, Huaxia entering international film festivals is either a grand production or relies on edgy art films, so Summer Entertainment was confident enough to think their side would certainly win an award. Yet things didn’t go as hoped; this art film only got a nomination for Best Editing, with no other nominations.

This is fine, since such occurrences are very common. It happens almost every year; big directors, big actors, big productions might not win awards, nor might they earn reputation. Yet right at this moment, Ning Xin’er, the prominent former female star who debuted as a director, suddenly emerged with a playful low-budget film with a quirky name, sent it to the film festival, and it passed the committee’s selection, even achieving three very impressive nominations, leaving Summer Entertainment’s people quite embarrassed, feeling slapped in the face. Many netizens following such news also left comments asking how Summer Entertainment’s films sunk without a trace, and how Ning Xin’er’s low-budget film secured multiple nominations.

Though a nomination doesn’t equate to winning, no nomination means definitely no win. This logic is crystal clear.

Seeing the director is Ning Xin’er, those at Summer Entertainment were surprised—hadn’t that woman been out of the news for years? Why is she appearing now, even competing with them, and managing to overshadow Summer Entertainment, achieving multiple nominations at Cannes Film Festival? This was too frustrating. The news reached Xia Hai’s ears, and he felt angry, pounding the table as he ordered his people to resolve this matter.

Summer Entertainment, despite its domestic influence in the entertainment industry, isn’t so impressive internationally. Since Cannes Film Festival had already nominated, it’s beyond their ability to change, and even calling the publication bureau’s intervention couldn’t prevent this film from attending overseas film exhibitions.

Xia Hai himself was quite upset, feeling it was a provocation to Summer Entertainment, a slap in the face: my debut directing a low-budget film surpasses your five-billion film, and even with low-tier actors still outshines yours!

Once this thought emerged, people at Summer Entertainment began pondering how to disgust Ning Xin’er. The overseas situation couldn’t be changed, but domestically they could still maneuver. Netizens are foolish; they believe what they’re shown. Public opinion is quite easy to guide.

So with the intent to disgust, Summer Entertainment began their operation, in which they are very skilled, easily maneuvered, even having a large batch of trolls, nurturing many critics and such. Besides, there’s nothing money can’t fix on the internet.

Thus, those people suddenly attacked, but they didn’t anticipate that the matter would immediately prompt a counterattack from an Internet Celebrity with over ten million followers. While slightly over ten million followers on Twitter don’t make an absolute Internet Celebrity—many stars have seventy to eighty million followers, even less famous ones have twenty to thirty million—Li Yifei isn’t a star nor does he manage an official account. He relied on his fame to quickly amass many active followers, some known as Nationalistic Online Warriors, Patriotic Youths, some are highly educated individuals, and some appreciate what Li Yifei does; the group composition is quite peculiar.

There’s no wall in the internet that doesn’t let the wind through, so soon under Ning Xin’er’s investigation, the entire matter emerged clearly, including the troll companies hired by the opponent, their fees, and some of the troll drafts were all unveiled.

"Open battle?" Li Yifei asked.

Ning Xin’er bit her lip, then released and said, "Once we respond frontally, it might be hard to contain it. Summer Entertainment has been entrenched for years, despite having many scandals..."

"That’s nothing to worry about. Exposure of our relationship isn’t feared, and as for other aspects, we have no dark spots. On the contrary, Summer Entertainment has done plenty of nasty things over the years, haven’t they? Find someone to collect evidence; since they want to play, we’ll accompany them in a big game!" Li Yifei said with murderous intent; he didn’t care about entertainment—but affronting his woman, that was touching his inverse scale. Family is his inverse scale internationally; nation and homeland are his inverse scale, and now what he wants is just to protect his woman, that’s all.

With Li Yifei’s encouragement, Ning Xin’er lightly nodded and said, "Then let’s face them directly!"

"Summer Entertainment’s actors probably will jump out." Li Yifei reminded.

"That’s irrelevant; after being in the circle for years, there’s no true friend—everyone’s fighting for interests, and Summer Entertainment isn’t the sole dominator. Although they’ve developed well these years, this development may not have come naturally. So once we go frontal, there will definitely be allies!" Ning Xin’er said nonchalantly.

Pinching Ning Xin’er’s cheek, Li Yifei encouraged, "Then let’s f*** their mothers, dare bully us, we’ll hit back with bricks!"

"Alright, let me start with one!" Ning Xin’er first instructed her agent and the company staff, asking them to prepare mentally and to gear up for the battle; also, she herself edited a post. Ning Xin’er may have been retired for years, but her fan base is hardly lacking, even on Twitter, having fifty to sixty million level followers—several times more than Li Yifei’s. Her tweets caused sensational effects.

True to her fearlessness, Ning Xin’er’s character is not afraid of escalation. Since she managed to overcome all difficulties to give birth to her eldest daughter back then, it already proved her character is very tough. Once she gets angry, it’s impossible to rein her in, and with Li Yifei backing her, along with family support—since Ning Xin’er decided to face them directly, her words would certainly be very sharp, there’s no doubt about it.