Chapter 143: Riding the Coattails

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“Boss, wake up! You’re famous!” Early the next morning, before Xie Qingtang had fully awakened, Zhou Jinfan was pounding furiously on the door and shouting from outside.

Roused from sleep, Xie Qingtang opened the door with considerable irritation. Her brows drew together as she snapped, “Why are you making such a racket at this hour? It’s only five in the morning. Kindness Hall doesn’t open until six.”

“Boss, how can you still be sleeping? Look—you’re already number one on the trending searches!” Zhou Jinfan hurriedly thrust his phone toward her.

Still rubbing her head in confusion, Xie Qingtang took the phone and glanced at it. She was instantly stunned. The Weibo post she had published the previous day, stating that Sun Ying and Sima Wei were both suffering from severe hair loss, had somehow been pushed straight to the top of the trending list by netizens.

The short post contained only a few dozen words, yet it already had several hundred thousand comments and replies—and the number was continuing to climb.

“Where did this owner of Kindness Hall come from? What right does she have to say that our goddess is suffering from hair loss?”

“There really are all kinds of people online. This Xie Qingtang looks like nothing more than a minor traditional medicine practitioner, yet she’s trying to leech off our goddess’s popularity. How shameless.”

“Drive this shameless attention-seeker off Weibo. We can’t let one rotten apple spoil the whole barrel.”

“But there have long been rumors that Sun Ying has been troubled by severe hair loss. Now a traditional medicine practitioner has pointed it out too. Maybe the hair-loss problem is real. Everyone shouldn’t blindly believe in their goddess.”

Once the post reached the trending list, every kind of sinister character began to emerge. Even some of Sun Ying and Sima Wei’s rivals left comments beneath it, openly or subtly suggesting that the two women really were suffering from severe hair loss.

Competition in the entertainment industry was fierce. Now that they had finally found an opportunity to splash mud on their rivals, naturally, no one intended to let it pass.

What was more, the post had been published by Xie Qingtang, someone entirely unrelated to the entertainment world. Their rivals could therefore use her as a convenient stepping-stone, quietly planting all kinds of damaging rumors on Sun Ying and Sima Wei.

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“Where exactly did this Xie Qingtang come from? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of her. Is she connected to one of my rival companies, or was she hired by them? Find out immediately.” Sun Ying slammed the phone in her hand onto the table, her teeth clenched in fury.

Her manager nodded at once and went to investigate. Sun Ying stared at her steadily receding hairline and the scant hair remaining on her head, her eyes cold and sinister.

“Wasn’t this something you leaked?” Sun Ying finally composed herself. A contemptuous glimmer touched the corner of her lips as she looked at the stylist behind her.

Apart from a few members of her team, the stylist was the only person who knew the truth most thoroughly. Every time Sun Ying appeared on a program, the stylist covered her exposed scalp with a thick hairpiece. If anyone knew the full extent of her hair-loss problem, it was him.

At her accusation, the stylist hurriedly waved his hands, flustered. “How could I possibly spread this around? We’re all part of the same team. Our fortunes rise and fall together.”

A cold smile appeared on Sun Ying’s lips. She glanced contemptuously at his panicked expression, then lowered her head and idly examined her nails.

“At least you understand where you stand. We’re all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. If I fall, none of you will fare any better.”

“Of course. I specially picked a wig today that’s very close to your natural hair color. No one will be able to tell it’s fake. I’ll secure every piece firmly against your scalp, so don’t worry.” The stylist immediately smiled ingratiatingly and brought out the hairpieces.

Still, after concealing the truth for so long, Sun Ying found it irritating that an obscure traditional medicine practitioner had exposed her. The moment she saw the hairpieces, she turned her head away.

As the controversy on Weibo continued to gain momentum, the two young starlets soon responded.

Sun Ying sternly declared that she had no hair-loss problem whatsoever. She further stated that Xie Qingtang would pay the price for her irresponsible remarks, and instructed her studio to send Kindness Hall a formal notice holding it accountable.

After all, Xie Qingtang’s irresponsible statements had caused immense trouble in both Sun Ying’s personal life and professional career.

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On the other hand, young starlet Sima Wei handled the matter in a way that stood in stark contrast to Sun Ying’s response.

“My hairline isn’t receding. My life is simply moving forward—after all, I’m brilliant to the point of baldness.” Sima Wei first posted these words on Weibo, poking fun at her own hair-loss problem. She included a photograph of herself when she had just entered the entertainment industry, back when her hair was perfectly normal, followed by another showing her present-day receding hairline.

Her frank and open admission formed a sharp contrast with Sun Ying’s furious denial and her insistence on pursuing Xie Qingtang for making false statements. The two women could not have taken more opposite positions.

Because of the two stars’ responses, Xie Qingtang became even more famous. Many people flocked to the comments beneath her Weibo post, hoping to confirm once again whether Sun Ying really was suffering from severe hair loss—and whether she was truly going bald.

“That Sima Wei has always gone against me. Now she’s openly admitted that she’s losing her hair. What does that make me? She’s absolutely hateful!” As a female celebrity, Sun Ying placed enormous importance on her image. She had assumed that once she denied the hair-loss allegations, Sima Wei would most likely deny them as well. She had never expected Sima Wei to ignore the usual script and admit it outright.

The move caught Sun Ying completely off guard. Her petty dispute with Xie Qingtang now stood in stark contrast to Sima Wei’s candid and magnanimous attitude.

Moreover, Sima Wei’s admission prompted most netizens to flood Sun Ying’s Weibo comments, asking whether she had been lying, since someone else had already acknowledged the problem.

“We should stop responding to this matter. Let the controversy die down on its own.” Seeing the online discussion over the hair-loss issue grow increasingly heated, the manager spoke with some difficulty.

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