The audience's affection for Jiang Ling had already been established, unbeknownst to them.
Therefore, despite the current uproar, which was largely fueled by hired internet trolls from Huohua Media and An Qiuyan, the number of people genuinely slandering Jiang Ling was not significant.
It was thanks to this that so many people believed in her innocence as soon as Jiang Ling presented her evidence.
If it were the Jiang Ling of the past, with her terrible acting and ruined reputation, the enraged netizens would have been left questioning their own sanity from the onslaught of criticism.
Even if evidence emerged to clear her name, it would have been drowned out in the deluge of virtual mudslinging.
This was somewhat akin to how some teachers at certain schools always showed favoritism towards good students who performed well and loved to study. Even if they made a mistake, the teacher was reluctant to believe it was them.
It was entirely different for mischievous underachievers. Even if they hadn't done anything, if something happened in the classroom, like an item being broken, the teacher would immediately suspect those troublesome students.
This was the complex and somewhat twisted nature of humanity, the belief that good people only get better and bad people only get worse.
Jiang Ling understood this precisely, which was why she had poured so much effort into her roles as Li Shengnan, Little Fairy, and Consort Hua.
She understood how crucial a good role, one that audiences genuinely loved and felt for, was to an actor.
Therefore, even if Jiang Ling hadn't proactively presented evidence to explain the situation and had instead remained silent, she could have easily navigated this crisis based on her fans' love for her characters.
The netizens who understood the truth felt sympathy for Jiang Ling for suffering such undeserved misfortune while simultaneously unleashing their anger upon the unscrupulous media outlets, marketing accounts, and instigating internet trolls.
The netizens and fans, united in their might, surged forward with overwhelming force, their "Zu'an true qi" terrifyingly potent, crushing everything in their path, causing continuous explosions, and defeating the trolls in a complete rout, forcing them to flee in disarray.
...
In the living room.
Sister Sa sat on the sofa, scrolling through Weibo on her iPad, and said with a chuckle, "Lingzi, you're amazing. With just one screenshot, a video, and a sentence, you easily resolved this crisis. Incredible!"
The sudden torrent of abuse last night had startled Sister Sa. Recalling Jiang Ling's despair and helplessness during the nationwide cyberbullying two years prior, she had been terrified.
Even with early precautions and immediately donating her salary, it would have taken an immense effort to clear her name in the face of such overwhelming public opinion.
She never expected that Jiang Ling would casually handle it, resolving it effortlessly. Such a skill was truly unmatched.
Jian Zhou, sitting beside her, also looked at Jiang Ling with admiring eyes.
He had originally intended to use the influence of the Jian family to suppress the trending topic for Jiang Ling. He hadn't expected her crisis resolution capabilities to be so formidable.
He couldn't help but think that if he had possessed even half of Jiang Ling's shrewdness and resourcefulness in his previous life, he wouldn't have been so miserably swindled by that woman An Qiuyan.
There was a destiny in the unseen.
Heaven had arranged for Jiang Ling to be that anomaly, not only to change her fate but also to convey through her words and actions that one should never let down their guard, regardless of time or place.
The higher one stood, the more people would try to bring you down for their own gain.
If one lost their necessary clarity due to so-called romantic affection, the ultimate outcome would be unspeakably tragic.
Wasn't Consort Hua, played by Jiang Ling, a living example of this?
As a daughter of a prominent family, with a powerful brother and excellent conditions in all aspects, she had squandered a good hand, dying from the machinations of the person sleeping beside her.