Within just a few minutes, Yan Man witnessed the entire process of an anti-CP fan becoming a CP fan.

Simon: “Do you have anything else to say?”

“No,” she said, “let me be alone for a while.”

“...”

She sat by the window, propping her head up for a long time. When getting out of the car, Yan Man tried to cheer herself up.

At least there were five people before, and only one has defected so far. There are still four left, right?

Back at the hotel, after opening the homepages of the other four anti-fans, she found that their attitudes hadn’t changed, and Yan Man breathed a sigh of relief.

Keep it up, the organization has high hopes for you all.

After taking a relaxing bath, it was another day of relaxation.

The next few days were relatively calm. She didn’t have much time left to read scripts as she had to prepare for the recording of the fourth episode. Therefore, Simon didn’t arrange too many jobs for her, and she stayed in her room every day, focusing on reading the competition script.

Just a small incident occurred when Simon appeared in her room again.

“You’re gaining followers really fast; you already have five million,” Simon said, “Do you want to do a five-million follower giveaway?”

“Yes,” Yan Man replied, “Is there something simple? I don’t have time for anything complicated.”

They finally decided on a theme related to acting.

In this role, she played a manga artist who liked to travel around gathering inspiration. Yan Man also planned to go out and visit more places to get a feel for it.

Perfectly, she could film her daily routine and edit it into a short clip in comic form, which would also promote this episode of her show.

After recording a day’s worth of outings, she handed over the raw footage to her team. The team edited it according to her ideas and sent it back to her, and she casually posted it on Weibo.

When she woke up, the situation had drastically changed, and #YanManSocialButterfly had topped the trending list.

SweetDreamsDonut: [Everyone come and see! I burst out laughing uncontrollably. Yan Man’s social butterfly one-day tour — whether male or female, young or old, from astronomy to geography, she can chat with square-dancing grandpas for ten minutes... Come in to cure your day’s unhappiness.]

21,000 comments:

[Holy crap… I didn’t expect it to be this funny before clicking.]

[She put the hyperactive dog to sleep through chatting hahahahahahahahaha help!]

[Yan Man’s original words: Other people struggle to write eight hundred words for an essay, but my essay paper often isn’t enough.]

[Her amazing part isn’t that she can keep talking, but that she always talks about different things. It’s like her mouth is equipped with a motor, and so is her brain.]

[A grandpa asked her about her views on choosing a partner. She said she likes quiet ones. The grandpa asked why. Yan Man: Can a house with two chatterboxes ever have peace? hahahahahahahahaha Love some beautiful women who know themselves well!]

[@Ye Lin, come out, your ID number is reported.]

[I really didn’t expect to encounter Yan-Ye fans here.]

[Really want to see the scene where Yan Man talks endlessly, and the man finds it annoying and directly shuts her up with his mouth [rose]]

[@This Is Acting, aren’t you going to arrange this?]

The trending topic lasted for a long time. Yan Man was taking a nap in the afternoon, and Simon thought they couldn’t let the heat go to waste, so he started a live stream to try things out for Yan Man.

Sure enough, just after starting, the first few comments were uniform: [@Manman knows she’s trending, how does she feel? Why doesn’t she come out and talk?]

“She’s taking a nap,” Simon said, “Otherwise, do you think the room would be this quiet?”

A wave of “Ha”s rolled through the barrage, and someone asked: [@Does she talk while reading the script?]

“Yes,” Simon said, “Even if no sound comes out, her mouth keeps reciting lines quietly.”

[So cute OvO]

[Yan Man playing a mute might be the biggest challenge of her career.]

[Don’t let her see this; I’m afraid she’ll really want to challenge playing a mute hahaha.]

Yan Man slept until three o’clock before waking up. She sat at the table to clear her mind and heard Simon recount everything that happened earlier and said, “They said they would immediately boost you to eight million followers.”

Still half-asleep, she mumbled, “Why?”

Simon: “They want to see you live-streaming an immersive makeup removal session. You’ve seen similar videos, right?”

“I think I have,” but Yan Man wasn’t sure, “Is it…”

“Yes, the kind where you can’t talk from start to finish.”

Yan Man jolted awake, suddenly clear-headed.

“Then they might as well kill me. How could I possibly do that?” She outright rejected it, “They want to see a chatterbox go silent? Such cruel hearts—”

Simon said: “That’s the challenge.”

After thinking for a moment, Yan Man said: “I can challenge myself to talk non-stop from start to finish.”

Simon looked at her.

“Is there even a need for such a challenge? Is there any possibility of you losing?”

“...”

The next day, before rehearsal, Yan Man arrived at the set and heard everyone talking about the next mentor collaboration drama.

She saw the staff chatting animatedly. They didn’t greet her when she came in, so she instinctively thought it wasn’t about her and went to the bathroom first.

A Zhao moved closer, listening to the staff still talking: “Anyway, the audience definitely likes Yan Ye…”

“Not only the audience likes it, I like it too.” A Zhao said, “Can we see the script, teacher?”

She opened the script and read for a long time, eventually locking her gaze on a particular spot,

There, inside a red box, was written this string—

[She was forced against the edge of the bathtub, her chin clamped by the man, sobbing and crying in fear. The man leaned down, slowly and teasingly kissing away the tears on her cheek.]

[Then he moved to attack her lips. She dodged, but the man roughly clamped her shoulders, deepening the kiss.]

Wow, a forceful kiss.

With no one nearby to share with, A Zhao took a picture and sent it to Li Haoge.

A Zhao: [[drooling][drooling][drooling]]

Li Haoge: [?]

A Zhao: [hehe… hehe…]

Li Haoge: [You look like a sp.]

A Zhao: [What’s wrong with being a sp? Sp people! Sp souls! Being a sp makes you top tier!]

During their chat, Yan Man also came in.

Thinking everything was unrelated to her, who knew that as soon as she sat down, the staff informed her that the production team still preferred her and Ye Lin for this episode’s collaborative drama.

“Us again?” Yan Man was still completely unaware of the script, “Always us, the audience will get tired of it.”

“They won’t get tired of it!” A Zhao said, “Apart from that Republican-era movie, you two have only done one short film so far.”

Who wouldn’t want to see you two passionately kissing in the bathtub?! Who would complain about not seeing enough intimate scenes?! What would our CP fans live for if you two don’t collaborate?!

I wish I could use 502 glue to stick you two together forever :)

“But it can’t always be us every episode, right? Or maybe I can pair up with other teachers,” Yan Man said, “I can’t possibly act with Ye Lin alone my whole life, can I??”

After saying this, A Zhao kicked her leg, signaling her to look behind.

Yan Man turned around and discovered Ye Lin had arrived without her noticing.

He didn’t have much expression on his face. Yan Man felt he probably heard her last sentence, but she wasn’t nervous because what she said was true.

He probably thought the same way, right? It’s impossible for them to collaborate for a lifetime; otherwise, where would the freshness be?

Thus, she sought his agreement: “Teacher Ye, what do you think?”

Ye Lin: “I haven’t thought much about it.”

“...”

If you haven’t thought much about it, then what do you think?

Yan Man looked at the staff: “Is this episode’s collaborative drama still decided by audience voting?”

“No, it’s chosen freely by the teachers.”

That simplifies things. Yan Man snapped her fingers and began introducing A Zhao to Ye Lin.

“A Zhao can act. Let me see what this is… ‘The Last Mermaid.’ Sure, A Zhao hasn’t acted in this genre before, right? I’ve already acted in vampire-themed ones.”

A Zhao shook her head: “No, I absolutely—”

Won’t be the third wheel in my own CP.

Who would personally dismantle their own CP?

Yan Man: “Absolutely what?”

A Zhao was evasive: “Anyway, I can’t do it. I can’t handle the teacher’s scenes; I don’t have that level.”

Yan Man: “Then you should act with him more often and learn some knowledge.”

A Zhao: “I can only learn when the two of you are together.”

Film our kissing scenes for us!!!

Yan Man: “...”

“Anyway, you two think about it,” she gestured to A Zhao and Ye Lin, “Come up with something new. If the production team thinks I’m idle, I can act with other male actors too.”

Everyone chatted about this matter for a while. Soon, rehearsals were about to start, and the actors all devoted themselves to their scripts.

A Zhao quietly asked the staff: “Why are all the intimate scenes in this collaboration script boxed out?”

The staff replied: “Teacher Ye doesn’t like filming these kinds of scenes, so all the intimate scenes need to be marked in advance. If he disagrees, they will be deleted.”

After the final dress rehearsal ended, that night’s performance went smoothly as well.

Yan Man, as usual, gave her full sincerity.

This performance used a new format. Within just fifteen minutes, she changed into three different outfits and didn’t make any mistakes with her lines or positioning.

Even Teacher Shi praised her: “Actually, I was a bit nervous before your performance because you needed to quickly switch scenes in the middle, re-entering the character each time. I was afraid it would affect your performance.”

“But you still surprised me. You didn’t let the complexity of the form distract you from thinking about your positioning beforehand. The emotions were still fully there, you were completely in the role, very good.”

The barrage comments started shipping again:

[Teacher Shi is praising his daughter-in-law again, huh!]

[Teacher looks very much like the groom’s parents at a wedding scene today!]

[Not bad, I approve of the newlyweds going straight to the bridal chamber after the show ends.]

[Director: Are you arranging this? Why don’t you come and direct?]

[Sure, but I’m afraid it’ll turn into ‘This Is Yan-Ye’s Wedding Night Scene’.]

[Everyone, fill the public screen with ‘doi’.]

Not long after Yan Man left the stage, #YanManStageCostumeChange# hit the trending list.

Thanks to her figure and performance, these few outfits were highly watchable. Many people were interested and asked her for styling tips and links.

Since the camera pushed upwards from below, in the first few photos, Yan Man didn’t show her face.

Under the trending topic, someone posted under an avatar with doubt: [Although, I keep seeing her name everywhere. Is she really that pretty? Isn’t it exaggerated? She’s not even a model.]

One minute later, a fan gently pointed out:

[Although, the avatar you’re using is taken by Yan Man.]

Blogger: [?]

Cranberries copied back: [?]

Soon, perhaps realizing that questioning “Is she really that pretty?” while using that avatar was somewhat hypocritical, the blogger changed to another picture.

[I didn’t notice before, now I’ve changed to another beautiful girl. Now can I speak?]

Fans politely yet brazenly responded: [This set was also taken by her, sorry.]

[Why don’t you send me all the profile pictures you have saved? Let me see how many of them feature our star. After all, there’s a very popular set out there, covering a wide range, hard to avoid.]

[After all, she naturally has a camera-friendly presence; random shots bring her lots of admirers hahaha!]

This Weibo post once made it to the trending square. Surprisingly, despite the blogger’s unfriendly tone, the fans handled it cleverly, venting their frustration while leaving no room for criticism—a textbook example of increasing goodwill among casual viewers.

Soon, this screenshot was reposted by another blogger: [Yan Man’s fans are really funny. Watching them talk makes me want to watch for three hours.]

[Fans follow her lead, mastering some communication skills (not).]

[But really, many people don’t know that the orange-themed photo set was taken by Yan Man. I only realized after being reminded. Her style is really versatile.]

[You can tell a bit about her popularity here. I remember a few years ago, my entire social circle used this avatar. A born star.]

Half an hour later, the previous criticizing blogger probably searched for Yan Man and received many of her viral images via private message. They posted a Weibo on their homepage:

[I’ve received the pictures you sent. She’s quite pretty. I’ve followed her. Can I use them now?]

[hhhh, wise choices make heroes. Not a hater now, right? You can use them now!]

[#YanMan, unifying fandom aesthetics with her face#]

[I’ll record some instances of turning haters into fans. Yan Man’s ability to attract fans never disappoints me.]

Seeing everyone’s responses so peaceful, the blogger’s goodwill immediately deepened: [Thank you, you guys are really nice.]

Below, the fans’ witty banter built up:

[We treat normal people nicely. Marketing accounts that are sarcastic can go away.]

[Who would have thought that Cranberry-sensei has two faces.]

[Yeah, anyone who offends our little Man will be punished, no matter how far away they are.]

Having happily finished today’s scenes, Yan Man completed her task and heard everyone talking about the script backstage.

Coincidentally, Qi Geng from the neighboring group found her at this moment.

Yan Man turned around: “What’s up?”

Qi Geng smiled: “The production team said they added two new scripts to the spin-off episode. Actors who are free can sign up. I really want to act in one Qing Dynasty drama. I wonder if Little Yan-sensei is interested?”

“I think you’d be perfect for the female lead, and your acting is great too. I’ve wanted to collaborate with you for a long time.”

“Sure, I’ll check if I have time when I get back. If I do, I’ll let you know,” Yan Man sincerely said, “I really liked your role in ‘If Water Transmitted.’ That farewell scene was performed exceptionally well.”

As they chatted, she pushed open the door leading from backstage to the lounge.

The moment she opened the door, Ye Lin appeared from somewhere, standing just one meter away, clearly visible when she looked up.

She was startled and met the man’s expressionless, cold face.

Yan Man: “...”

He ignored them and passed by. It was Qi Geng who turned back and sighed: “You’re really blessed to be able to act with Ye Lin twice.”

Yan Man: “Do you want this blessing?”

Qi Geng: “Yes, I do.”

“...”

The two chatted for a while before parting ways. Yan Man vaguely overheard the staff talking about the mermaid episode’s female lead already having a preliminary idea.

She went back to the lounge to check her things and happened to leave with A Zhao and others.

Just before leaving, Yan Man, being polite, turned back and waved to the staff: “Alright, we’re leaving.”

“Uh... wait,” the staff said, “The tentative female lead for the mermaid episode should stay behind.”

She turned back and, wanting to see the commotion, smiled: “Who’s the female lead?”

The staff’s gaze was subtle and unclear, offering a sly smile of those obsessed.

“You.”