Chapter 327: The Silver Needle
Rong Ping's fan base was large, and they came forth in support of their idol, speaking up in Xia Ling's favor.
It was the first time that their Acting King had shown any interest in a female artiste, and they could not let the relationship die out just because of the netizens' untrue words.
They were dying to see Mr. Best Actor Rong get married and settle down!
After all, Rong Ping was in his thirties already.
The counterattack from Rong Ping's fans soon drowned out Xia Yu's fans.
"Big Brother Rong thinks that Ye Xingling is better! What are you going to do about it?"
"Our Rong Ping has the freedom to like anyone! Who are you to say anything about it? Who is Xia Yu? Don't think too highly of yourself!"
"Big Brother Rong has the best taste, and I'm sure the girl of his choice is the best too! Ye Xingling, we support you! Hang in there! Don't be defeated by the fans of some devious woman!"
These comments came in swiftly and soon dominated the entire official page.
The fans were indeed powerful, and one spit from each of them would drown Xia Yu.
Xia Ling scanned the comment pages a few times between her filming. She thought about it for a while before sending Rong Ping a message. "Thanks."
After a short while, Rong Ping replied to her. "You're welcome."
The tide of the comments was in their favor, and Rong Ping had received several comments that were useful to his image as well. Some said that he was a God, that he was dependable and able to protect his girl. With Xia Ling's gratitude as well, it was all worth it.
Xia Ling's emotions also became calmer with Rong Ping stepping forward to mitigate the situation. Xia Yu's fans had been successfully drowned out, and she considered Xia Yu's mood at this point in time, before feeling her mood lift knowing that Xia Yu could not be happy.
In the midst of the high viewership and all the talk, "Extraordinary Risks" started the second week of filming.
This week, the group of them had to fight for the "real princess." After a series of small games, Xia Ling's talent in playing games and Rong Ping's intellect helped them to win.
"Let's take a rest." The director was satisfied with the filming progress and called for his staff to change the film set. "Xiao Ling, you and Rong Ping should go get changed. We will be filming the close up of the real princess in a bit." This referred to the scene where they would announce her as the real princess, and she would appear in a grand princess outfit, holding on to the arm of the gallant knight under the romantic shower of perfume, wearing a resplendent tiara.
She walked over the to simple makeshift makeup room, where several makeup artists crowded over to help her get ready.
Lin Yunan walked in and told her, "Gu Lin is here."
Xia Ling's peaceful mood immediately turned bad. "What is she doing here?" Why was it that the people that she disliked tended to come at her all at the same time? Xia Yu being at the film location was already annoying enough, and now Gu Lin was here as well. How was she going to remain happy?
Lin Yunan said, "The Gu family is the sponsor of this episode, and the perfume rain is created using Meteor Wings. Miss Gu said that she wanted to come to take a look. Who would dare to deny her that right?"
Xia Ling did not say anything in front of the makeup artists and outsiders. Even though she disliked Gu Lin, there was no need to wilfully show her displeasure in front of all these people, and for them to be invested in how things would progress.
Lin Yunan recognized her inner turmoil and said, "Don't worry, I know that you're really busy today. I've asked Wei Wei to keep watch outside so that no one can come in here."
Xia Ling felt a little better hearing his words since she really did not want to meet Gu Lin.
Gu Lin indeed did not appear in front of her.
Backstage.
Gu Lin said to the production staff following her around, "Go do what you have to do. I'll just rest here by myself and take a look around. Don't worry, I won't get lost."
The production staff were extremely busy and did not want to have to follow her around. Hearing her words, they happily went about to complete their other work.
Gu Lin walked to the coat room and found all the props and outfits that were to be used in the filming. The princess dress that Xia Ling was going to wear later was also in the room. The long dress was made of seven or eight layers of chiffon, with lace and pearls lining the edges. It took up a lot of space in the room.
Gu Lin laughed as she looked at this long dress.
She did not come just to take a look at the film set. She was here to look for this long dress actually. Ever since her conflict with Xia Ling during the Meteor Wings advertisement filming, she was unhappy that Xia Ling had managed to one-up her again. In her anger, she had demanded that the Gu family's Head of Marketing, Qian Yong, was to inform her immediately of any movement of Meteor Wings or Xia Ling in the future.
As such, Gu Lin was informed once the Meteor Wings sponsorship was confirmed for this program.
The Head of Marketing informed Gu Lin of the detailed film schedule and told her that Xia Ling was the hot favorite to win the crown of the real princess.
Gu Lin was not happy hearing this. How did that woman deserve to be called a real princess? She was just a commoner, a Cinderella that knew nothing at all. She did not deserve it! She thought of an idea that she considered being foolproof.
She looked around, and seeing that there was nobody in the coat room, she picked up the long princess dress and retrieved several long sewing needles from her purse, pushing them into the bodice of the dress.
Hehe, you b*tch, I'm going to poke you to death!
Gu Lin could already imagine the sight of Xia Ling putting on the dress and starting to bleed from being pricked by the needles. With her injury, the filming would definitely be imperfect, and the director would want to change the princess candidate. Even if the director did not want to change the princess candidate, Gu Lin could use her status as the sponsor to pressurize him into changing the princess candidate. She would just need to say that Xia Ling's condition was not acceptable for the Meteor Wings sponsorship, and then he would be forced to change the candidate.
Even though Xia Ling was the Meteor Wings' endorsement model, there was no conflict when it came to variety shows like these. Any female artiste could walk under the perfume shower.
Gu Lin left the coat room delighted at her plan.
Someone walked towards her as she was leaving.
A tinge of nervousness flashed through Gu Lin's eyes, but she quickly lowered her head to hide it and walked away quickly.
The person that was walking towards her was Xia Yu.
Xia Yu recognized Gu Lin since she had met her at a dinner party hosted by Imperial Entertainment, and Xia Yu's memory had always been good. What was Miss Gu doing here? Xia Yu did not believe that she was so bored and free that she would want to spend a day at the film site, especially since there was no one that Gu Lin was particularly close to in the set. What was more, Gu Lin looked so nervous when she was walking away. There was definitely something fishy going on.
Xia Yu had always been meticulous, and she traced the path that Gu Lin had come from, arriving at the coat room.
She saw the princess dress piled in the corner of the room.
She bent over and looked closely at the dress, before reaching over and picking it up gently with her slender fingers. She saw the thin silver needles hidden amidst the ruffles of the dress. They were poked into the dress roughly and could be easily seen. It was highly likely that before Xia Ling put on the dress, someone would spot them and give the dress a thorough once over. All the needles would be discovered and removed.
Xia Yu pulled out the needles from the dress and laughed to herself. Was Gu Lin a moron? This was no way to set anyone up. It would not succeed since it was done so unprofessionally, and would even trigger a thorough investigation on the matter.
Well, since they had the same enemy, perhaps she could give Gu Lin a helping hand.
Xia Yu smiled and stood up.