First Kiss Diary - Chapter 12
Three hot searches on Weibo are running neck and neck, each generating intense discussions:
1. #JiShiyanJiNing#
2. #JiNingMakeupRemoval#
3. #FirstKissDiary#
There’s also a 15th one, #JiNingReceivedInstructions#.
After concluding her press conference, Ji Ning returned to her hotel, kicked off her shoes, and lay on the bed to rest. Despite being exhausted from the day’s events, she felt compelled to check her phone for feedback, whether it was positive or negative.
She first clicked on the hot search about her makeup removal.
During the halftime break, she had discreetly glanced at it. At that time, there were many criticisms, mostly revolving around: “It was just filmed a month ago. Now she just got her eyebrows, eyeliner, and lips done, along with a bunch of cosmetic procedures. Which female celebrity wouldn’t dare to remove makeup in public? It’s all staged. This level of hype is unbelievable. Huge respect for Ning Jie and her team.”
However, without any beauty filters during the live broadcast, the girl who removed all her makeup on the spot showed no trace of semi-permanent makeup. Her thick eyelashes created a natural eyeliner effect, her eyebrows were distinct and natural, and even her bare face and hands were the same skin tone.
Truly fair.
Anyone could see that she had appeared without makeup on the show a month ago, but her flawless natural look was mistaken for makeup.
So when a large number of onlookers joined in, the tide turned.
[What’s wrong with Ji Ning having good skin? Are all the other actresses so inferior that they need excessive makeup? Even if Ji Ning has many antis now, it doesn’t mean she deserves all this criticism. Do they think we’re all idiots?]
[I used to wonder if the world had gone crazy. Can’t someone naturally beautiful be criticized?]
[This is ridiculous. If Ji Ning wasn’t good-looking, why would Feng Nan choose her for a movie? Old Feng is famously demanding when it comes to female leads. She clearly doesn’t have much makeup in the sonnet, but she’s still stunning. The antis haven’t surfed the internet in five hundred years.]
[Do you know that I am the antis who filmed her a month ago? If you love staring at my idol so much, is your idol dead?]
[What’s the trend now? As long as everyone is dirty, there’s no blame, but if you act properly, fulfill your contract, and appear without makeup, you’ll be criticized. It’s ridiculous.]
[Other female artists are fine. They spend two hours putting on makeup and still get “heartbroken by the beauty.” They end up with the highest ratings for the episode and become familiar faces, but it’s still pathetic.]
The antis gradually felt overwhelmed and stopped criticizing, self-preserving themselves.
The tide finally turned back to normal, and Ji Ning breathed a sigh of relief, clicking on her own trending makeup removal video.
The host clearly hadn’t expected Ji Ning to remove her makeup on the spot. While smiling and laughing, he subtly hinted that she didn’t need to go to such lengths, implying that the sponsors would praise her later.
But Ji Shiyan, after a moment’s thought, agreed. She grabbed a few makeup removal pads and sparked another round of cheers.
Then Ji Shiyan actually removed her makeup on stage, sitting on a stool and feeling the careful service of these insured hands. She was initially worried that he might hold back and not clean it thoroughly, but the man wiped her face meticulously, even removing the eyeliner.
After removing the makeup, the man whispered to her ear in a low voice, “The same.”
The deafening cheers and screams from the audience below made it difficult for Ji Ning to hear his voice properly, so she covered one ear and could barely hear him. “The same as what?”
“As in ‘Received Instructions.'” he said nonchalantly.
She didn’t expect him to know about the trending topic. Slightly hesitating and surprised, her pupils involuntarily dilated. “Did you see it?”
“Yeah, it’s boring. Don’t take it to heart.”
His voice was already calm and faint, but it carried a hint of comfort and reassurance when he said these words.
If it were someone else saying this, she might not have found it convincing, but this was Ji Shiyan, the man who had truly fought against the rumors and gossip of the popular factions years ago, paving his own way to success. His comfort held more weight than anyone else’s.
The path she was walking now was one he had walked before, and this was one of the reasons that supported her to persevere. If he could overcome it, then she definitely could too.
Of course, besides the makeup removal, what the audience was most excited about at the “First Kiss Diary” press conference was undoubtedly the top-tier and minor celebrity CP.
As soon as insiders leaked the information on Weibo, and just before the end of the press conference, the official Weibo account of “First Kiss Diary” made an announcement, with a promotional photo of the two. The three major trending topics immediately overwhelmed Weibo.
Ji Ning clicked on the first trending topic, and the official account’s announcement caught her eye.
First Kiss Diary Official Weibo: [@JiShiyan @JiNing Welcome aboard! Looking forward to the double-click couple writing the First Kiss Diary.]
The top comment wasn’t from Ji Shiyan’s fans or Ji Ning’s fans, but a brief and straightforward series of 13 question marks from an ordinary bystander.
[???????????????]
Sure, here it is with spaces between paragraphs:
The second hottest comment is… a full 140 question marks.
The following comments, although not filled with a screen of question marks, still show plenty of confusion.
“What? Who?? Who and who? Is this the Ji Shiyu I know?”
“@Ji Shiyu, if you get kidnapped, change your Weibo name to Ji Shiyu.”
“It’s your first kiss, your whole family’s first kiss [crying]”
“How can these two people possibly be a couple? How were the roles chosen?”
“It’s definitely not genuine, I’m not getting into it, we’re not getting into it, uncle, we’re not getting into it.”
In fact, Ji Ning had anticipated this situation long ago, and it’s better than she expected. She thought she would have to face another round of personal attacks, accusing her of being a fraud, chasing after, being scheming, having powerful backers, etc. However, she didn’t expect everyone to just doubt the CP of the two, thinking it definitely won’t be sweet.
Not to mention everyone else, she herself is unclear about how this relationship will develop… Moreover, since the preview hasn’t been released yet, the audience can’t see anything, so it’s normal for them to feel that there’s no CP feeling between them. Specific feedback will have to wait until the show airs to know.
Someone below doesn’t understand the direction of things and asks in shock: “Is Ji Shiyu crazy? There’s no need to participate in this kind of variety show nonsense, right? What’s he thinking? Isn’t he afraid of losing fans?”
Reply 1: “He’s already transitioned from being an idol, and he’s not exactly an idol disgrace, so it doesn’t have much impact. Fans would actually be happy to have another exposure channel. (I hope those fans who are just guessing don’t scold me)”
As the largest group on Weibo, the Sea Salt Sisters quickly replied: “Variety shows all have scripts, it’s just formulaic acting. Fans can see it clearly and won’t lose fans, after all, who doesn’t like handsome guys with looks and talent. Everyone has worried for nothing, please pay more attention to the handsome guy’s new movie ‘Autumn Time’.”
“Just ask if you don’t understand, what are Sea Salt Sisters and Lemon Sisters? Is this a fruit variety show?”
“Nope, Sea Salt is Ji Shiyu’s fan name, Lemon is Ji Ning’s fan name.”
For every rational fan, there naturally will be irrational ones. Among the tens of thousands of comments, Ji Ning is inevitably accused of seeking attention, attaching herself to the top star, and the “Overturning Super Topic” emerged—#Please release Ji Ning from being tied to the top star#.
There’s also a group of losers mixed in, venting their own dirtiness by insulting others, seeking temporary, backlit, condescending pleasure.
Ji Ning’s fans are not that easy to bully, and they quickly replied.
“After reading some comments, I just realized that some people’s mouths are not mouths, but sewers. Once opened, they emit unbearable stench. After committing online violence, do they still need to open their phones and send a Weibo about the tranquility of time passing? All nurtured by the same socialist core values, yet there’s such a big difference in how people behave.”
“Some Sea Salt Sisters really don’t need to. If your top star doesn’t want to participate in the program, no one can force him. But our little artist doesn’t have much choice and can only listen to the company. If anyone should be feeling pressured, it should be us, and if anyone should be asking for release, it should be us.”
Even bystanders are saying: “Why is it that whenever news is announced, it’s female artists who get attacked? Why make it difficult for women. But Ji Ning’s fans are fierce haha, and I didn’t expect her fan base to be quite large, I thought there weren’t many at all.”
“So many scandals today, what’s Ji Ning’s background and constitution after all, clicking into any one of her trending topics, it’s all about her, and she even manages to pair up with the top star.”
“Anyway, I absolutely won’t support this pair of Double Ji, there’s absolutely no CP feeling. Li Yujia, this rumor queen, let’s forget about her, I’ll just wait for Zhang Yan and Shen Xin’s Medal Couple.”
Ji Ning browsed for a while and found a Weibo post that aggressively captured her attention—
“Ji! Ning! Mom! Mom! You! Are! Not! Allowed! To! Date!!”
Most star-chasing girls or boys have clear roles. Those who consider themselves as an artist’s girlfriend are called girlfriend fans, those who see themselves as the artist’s mother are called mom fans. Of course, there are also brother fans, sister fans, career fans, and appearance fans.
Most fans of popular idols are girlfriend fans, while younger idols tend to have more mom fans. Generally speaking, those who are willing to spend a lot of money and time on artists are mostly girlfriend fans and mom fans.
This is also the origin of the joke “If idols date, they will be criticized,” after all, who can bear it when someone spends money and time supporting them as a boyfriend or mother, only to see them spending that money on someone else or pursuing others?
Of course, after idols graduate, they owe nothing to each other—just like Ji Ning.
As the name suggests, graduating from being an idol means you have enough business skills and popularity to thrive without relying on fans. At that point, your success is not built by fans but by your own efforts. Only then can fans and idols witness each other’s growth to some extent without interfering with each other.
Seeing the comments from mom fans, Ji Ning couldn’t help but smile. In a sarcastic tone, she replied, “This can’t be called dating, it’s more like being on a variety show.”
After completing two major tasks of the day, she put down her phone and started to remove her makeup.
Female artists often have to work with makeup for long periods, so when not shooting, she keeps her face clean to give her skin a chance to breathe.
Meanwhile, Jiang Sheng and Ji Shiyi were deeply engrossed in discussing hot topics.
“Ji Ning is really something. She got criticized all day long the other day just for accidentally tripping, and today, such a big issue only resulted in questioning her CP (couple pairing) rumors. Hey, did you know, I heard that Ji Ning’s team isn’t managing her much anymore, and all those control comments online are apparently her doing.”
The man who had been bowing his head all along paused at this. “She did it herself?”
“That’s what I heard, not sure if it’s true.” Jiang Sheng gossiped while tapping his leg. “And the production team of ‘Received Orders’ is really shameless. Just to create buzz, they kept her trending for so long. I even lost interest before, but I guess after seeing your publicized topic, they bought the trend again, and now it’s sixth.”
Ji Shiyi pondered silently, not saying a word.
“If you look closely at the data, you’ll see that popular Weibo posts with so few likes, shares, and comments wouldn’t make it to the top trend,” Jiang Sheng asserted confidently. “Other female stars wouldn’t want to be compared to her with their bare faces alongside hers. After all, they’re not on the same level as her, so there’s no need to target her. The only beneficiary of that trend is the program. I saw that after buying the trend, the program’s views tripled, and its search data and discussions also skyrocketed. It’s all about raw traffic.”
“I think they invited Ji Ning just to use her to create buzz for themselves. Considering the nature of those people, it’s entirely possible. They have no bottom line.”
Ji Shiyi glanced at his ring and said in a deep voice, “Should I go meet them later?”
“Yeah, otherwise, I wouldn’t have randomly brought this up. After ‘Received Orders’ finishes recording, they’re planning a new outdoor variety show and want to discuss it with you. I guess buying the trend for the show is paving the way for their future.”
After transitioning, Ji Shiyi hardly participated in variety shows, but “First Kiss Diary” provided a breakthrough, and his collaboration with the “Received Orders” program team in recent years paved the way for this meeting.
The man’s words were so indifferent that they were almost devoid of warmth. “They want to collaborate with someone of such caliber?”
“So you’re not going to accept? Just say you have something urgent and postpone it?” Jiang Sheng silently criticized, although the production team might have misled other artists, they treated you with utmost respect. Your temperament is so unpredictable.
Ji Shiyi stood up, put on his cap, opened the door, and prepared to take a walk outside. “Hmm, let’s postpone.”
But as soon as he opened the door, he bumped into Ji Ning, who was wearing a cap and passing by.
Her long hair spread like seaweed over her shoulders, her delicate features were exquisite, and her star quality was evident from every angle.
He leaned against the door and looked at her. “Where are you going?”
Ji Ning replied without hesitation, “I’m supposed to meet a variety show team.”
“The one from ‘Received Orders’?”
“Yes.”
Her assistant behind her was still whispering something, mouthing what seemed like “Anyway, we shouldn’t cooperate with that kind of trash anymore.”
Ji Shiyi stood there pondering for a moment. After Ji Ning left, he turned back to Jiang Sheng. “Let’s not postpone. I’ll go.”
Jiang Sheng, who had just finished typing a message: “???”
“Are you messing with me?”
The man pressed down on his cap. “Yes.”
“…”
Certainly, here’s the text with spaces between paragraphs:
“Ji Shixi casually took a coat and went out, while Jiang Sheng followed behind like an old lady, asking, ‘Have you decided to cooperate again?’
‘Cooperate my ass.’
‘Then what are you going to do? Accompany Ji Ning in portraying a married couple? Are you getting into character?’
Ji Shixi felt this person talked too much, so he turned back impatiently and said, ‘Talk about something else.’
Ji Ning and Ji Shixi almost entered the door simultaneously, but the attitude of the program team towards the two was visibly different. One side was serving tea and asking about their well-being, while the other side was smiling and patting her shoulder, allowing her to move freely.
Ji Ning was already accustomed to the theater, treating it like officialdom. She knew that whoever was famous, she would play along with them, as if without some utilitarianism and purpose, one wouldn’t be qualified to step into this circle. She had also guessed that the trending topics were bought by the program team, but she didn’t know who specifically planned it. Coming here today, she also wanted to inquire about this matter.
During the first half of the event, she cooperated, not interrupting, just quietly sitting aside eating holy fruit.
Soon, the dishes were served. Ji Shixi got up to ladle soup, but the producer quickly got up and snatched the ladle from him, layers of smiles on his face, saying that this soup was special, and not drinking it was like coming here in vain, drinking a bowl of soup was like ten face masks, and so on, endless socializing.
Ji Shixi stood by and watched him serve, then turned around and exchanged what was in his hand with the empty bowl in front of Ji Ning.
The almost unnoticed Ji Ning suddenly had a bowl of soup filled with flattering smiles.
The producer was stunned for a moment, quickly realizing something, and awkwardly smiled, ‘What a gentlemanly demeanor, girls should indeed drink more of this, Ji Ning, have some more, don’t be shy.’
As the meal progressed, Ji Ning had almost finished her salad, and she heard the producer constantly painting a rosy picture, telling Ji Shixi about the benefits of appearing on the show.
Ji Shixi just looked at him without speaking. The producer was a clever person who could read people’s expressions, so he immediately started flattering Ji Ning, ‘You and Shixi just publicly announced your relationship, right? Perfect, coming on our show can keep the hype going, and there will be more topics, right?’
After listing a bunch of resources for Ji Ning, the producer asked, ‘What do you think?’
Ji Shixi, who had been silent all along, finally spoke, pushing his chair back slightly, ‘Shouldn’t something else be said?’
The producer was dumbfounded and didn’t quite understand, ‘Like what?’
The man narrowed his eyes slightly and said decisively, ‘Like an apology.'”