SFBF CH94.1

Shen Qing, of course, had no spiritual energy.

However, he did have a few rather exceptional teachers—namely, Gu Huaiyu and the cubs.

When he first decided to properly participate in the promotions for the historical idol drama, Shen Qing had actually sought out a professional poise and etiquette coach to refine his posture.

Yet, because his natural poise was already excellent, the etiquette coach was utterly baffled. The instructor noted that the moment Shen Qing put on historical attire, he was an ancient figure. As long as the speed of his gestures and movements was slowed down slightly and made a bit more steady, he could be called flawless. There was simply no need for him to study further.

Thus, after only two sessions, Shen Qing graduated.

Shen Qing hadn’t realized before that his everyday conduct was so close to the refined character and bones of an ancient scholar, which made him feel a little bit proud of himself.

But upon deeper reflection, he felt that when it came to true poise and character, one still had to look at President Gu, Duoduo, and Ao-zai.

President Gu went without saying—even while sitting in a wheelchair, the man’s posture was impeccably upright. Every gesture and movement exuded calm elegance. After spending so much time around him, Shen Qing had naturally absorbed a bit of that noble, aristocratic aura.

As for the cubs, Shen Qing had long noticed that his little ones were no ordinary children.

For instance, Duoduo’s usual sitting and standing postures were incredibly disciplined. His shoulders were always slightly dropped, his spine perfectly straight, and his lower back supported. Even when sitting down to do his homework, he never slouched, and he could remain seated like that for hours on end.

What was even more miraculous was that no one had ever taught him this; he had been that way since he was a baby.

Ao-zai, naturally possessing the attributes of a little “Dragon Aotian” protagonist, needed even less instruction from adults. His walking, sitting, and lying down were defined by pure grandeur… well, except when he was asleep. As that cub grew older, he took after Shen Qing more and more, tossing and turning restlessly like a little meatball rolling all over the bed.

But at any other time, little Ao-zai was exhibiting more and more of an imposing grandeur!

Surrounded by such an adult and such children, it would be difficult for Shen Qing not to possess good poise.

This was one of the reasons why he had graduated from his etiquette class after only two lessons, and why he managed to “wipe away his past disgrace” the moment he stepped onto the stage today—seamlessly transforming from someone previously criticized for poor poise into a perfect, 360-degree dead-angle-free presence.

As for his expressions and the way he handled things, those were similarly influenced by Gu Huaiyu and the cubs.

For example, when Shen Qing held the sword just now and raised his eyes to look at Fang Hanyi, his gaze automatically carried a few hints of Gu Huaiyu’s cold severity and detachment.

Furthermore, when he brandished and sheathed the sword, his movements naturally carried a trace of Duoduo’s earnest concentration.

Even that final glance he cast toward Fang Hanyi upon sheathing the sword—aside from President Gu-style dominance and coldness—automatically infused a bit of Ao-zai’s haughty disdain when looking at someone he disliked.

Of course, setting all of that aside, Shen Qing had not lost himself either.

He still maintained his signature bright smile, neither greedy for credit nor rushing blindly forward, remaining steady and stable, appearing thoroughly polite and refined.

Except for Fang Hanyi, who had been pinned by his direct gaze, any outsider looking at Shen Qing from beginning to end would only perceive him as a gentle, elegant, and uniquely charming young man who made people feel as comfortable as a spring breeze.

The applause inside the venue continued to echo.

Having completed his task, Shen Qing shifted back from that immortal, ethereal master into a humble yet unhurried young man.

The cameraman gave Shen Qing a long, uninterrupted close-up.

Screams, cheers, and even whistles resounded through the venue, while the live stream’s bullet comments flooded the screen in a massive wave.

【…How can a single person manage to be both cute and badass, both gentle and cold, and still look flawlessly beautiful from every single angle?】

【I feel like I must have been blind before. How am I only just realizing how unique Shen Qing is! Ahhh, cheering for Teacher Shen!】

At this exact moment on stage, Shen Qing had no idea that his long-neglected social media accounts, like Weibo, were experiencing a massive surge in followers.

In stark contrast to him, Fang Hanyi—who had originally intended to use Shen Qing as a foil to make himself look good—found himself in an incredibly precarious situation.

【Shen Qing looks like he’s practiced a ton, haha! This is hilarious. Just moments ago, Fang Hanyi was ‘guiding’ him for so long, but if they actually fought, Fang Hanyi might not even beat him!】

【I wonder if Fang Hanyi and his fans feel their faces burning from this slap.】

【What does Shen Qing performing well have to do with our Hanyi? What face-slapping? Hanyi was just being kind and trying to help him!】

【But Teacher Shen clearly performed beautifully and obviously trained for this, he didn’t need your Hanyi’s help at all! Just a moment ago, who was saying that Fang Hanyi only lectured him because he knew Shen Qing couldn’t do wirework? And who was claiming that Shen Qing dragged down the crew’s progress?】

【If certain people want to clout-chase and steal Teacher Shen’s screen time, just say it directly.】

【To be fair, Teacher Shen is incredibly polite. That guy surnamed Fang spent ages lecturing and educating him, rambling on and on, yet Teacher Shen still listened so earnestly! He’s so good, I’m literally crying!】

【Honestly, if it were me, I would have lost my patience long ago, especially knowing the other person was just trying to steal my spotlight…】

【Speaking of which, I always felt the internet-wide hate claiming the Master’s poise was terrible was a bit too harsh. How did the entire internet suddenly become experts overnight, judging historical drama styling? Looking at it now, it was probably paid anti-campaign articles bought by a certain star.】

【Fang Hanyi, who doesn’t know that he’s ugly but still wants to camp out in the historical drama section to reap benefits? So he constantly drags down other good-looking male stars. Teacher Shen is so miserable; being that handsome, it’s no wonder he gets targeted.】

It was no surprise that Fang Hanyi had backfired so spectacularly. His words guiding Shen Qing earlier had been entirely too long-winded and transparent in motive.

Even if the audience hadn’t thought much of it at the time, now that they had witnessed Shen Qing’s flawless performance, everyone began to realize—Fang Hanyi’s verbal guidance from earlier hadn’t offered a single shred of actual help to Shen Qing’s swordplay.

Besides, did Shen Qing truly need his teaching?

Of course, that string of wordy instructions could still be excused as him genuinely caring for a co-star and worrying that Shen Qing might mess up.

However, even that excuse could not halt the rapid decline of Fang Hanyi’s reputation and public image.

What truly caused Fang Hanyi’s total collapse was the horde of paid internet trolls he had hired in advance.

After all, the traces of his paid trolls were simply too glaring—

@CutePuppy007V: Shen the Vase has no talent and always has terrible luck. Whenever it’s time to show a weakness, he’s always the one. This live stage swordplay performance predictably flopped again. Does the Vase ever train normally? You’re a co-star in the same crew as Fang Hanyi, you should learn from him sometime.

(Attached below were several pictures of Fang Hanyi working out and showing off his muscles.)

Aside from this particular account, several other verified big accounts had posted nearly identical Weibo entries, criticizing Shen Qing’s stage performance as a “flop.”

It looked exactly like the usual routine—righteous big accounts taking the lead to criticize a “talentless vase” actor, encouraging the entertainment industry to rely on actual skill and hard work.

The script itself was standard enough, but when criticizing Shen Qing, every single account attached fitness photos of Fang Hanyi, heavily implying that Teacher Fang was the epitome of a self-made, hard-working professional.

This was incredibly blatant.

The intent to drag down one to lift up the other was self-evident.

In the past, because paid trolls would immediately bolster such posts, regular netizens would usually follow the crowd, criticizing the vase actor while helping Fang Hanyi gain followers. Seldom did anyone look closely at the malicious intent behind such comparison posts.

Unfortunately for him, this time was entirely different.

【Lmfao, the marketing accounts and paid trolls just copy-pasted the pre-written drafts directly without even watching the live stream, didn’t they? Sorry to burst your bubble, but Shen Qing didn’t flop this time.】

【Not only did he not flop, his swordplay was absolutely gorgeous!】

【TL;DR Summary: Several big accounts posted pre-written drafts claiming Shen Qing flopped in his live performance, and the paid trolls in the top comments used the exact same wording to bash Shen Qing for being lazy and praise Fang Hanyi for being dedicated. But Teacher Shen didn’t flop at all during the live broadcast; on the contrary, he performed beautifully. Thus, it is obvious that the marketing drafts were prepared well in advance. Based on this, it’s crystal clear who bought the trolls and who was trying to step on someone else to lift themselves up.】

【These big accounts are so unprofessional when taking money, they didn’t put any heart into it at all! At least have a backup plan!】

【It’s because Fang Hanyi was too cheap with his paid trolls. They were probably the automated, scheduled kind to save money. Otherwise, how could such a hilarious blunder happen, hahah!】

【Fang Hanyi blurting out ‘Impossible’ on stage just now is the ultimate concrete proof. He probably never dreamed in a million years that Teacher Shen would perform so well, which is why he didn’t spend the big bucks on smarter trolls.】

【The lesson Teacher Shen taught Fang Hanyi today: When away for three days, one must view them with entirely new eyes!】

The clever and resourceful netizens quickly unearthed various pieces of evidence showing Fang Hanyi’s history of subtly undermining Shen Qing. The fans below the stage were scrolling through their phones and quickly spotted the news.

Someone couldn’t help but shout out loud, asking Fang Hanyi if he had known all along that Teacher Shen would draw the stage performance slot, and if he had assumed Teacher Shen would make a fool of himself—otherwise, why would he have hired paid trolls in advance?

This question hit the nail right on the head. On stage, Fang Hanyi’s face turned bright red, leaving him entirely speechless.

The scene instantly became incredibly awkward and chaotic.

The stage hands scrambled to maintain order, and the host was forced to speak up immediately.

Initially, the host attempted to smooth things over for Fang Hanyi, but seeing the fans and netizens below firmly demanding an answer, they could only vaguely state that it was all just for “program effect.”

The host didn’t actually want to protect Fang Hanyi either; they were simply worried that if this unexpected interlude escalated, the entire fan meeting would spin completely out of control.

Meanwhile, the production team and producers already hated Fang Hanyi to the core.

They had always known Fang Hanyi relied on tearing down Shen Qing to gain traffic.

However, because Fang Hanyi was already somewhat well-known in the industry when the drama aired, whereas Shen Qing was practically semi-retired—and the character of the Master hadn’t generated the level of buzz the crew had originally anticipated—plus the fact that Shen Qing wasn’t active in self-promotion outside of basic crew requirements…

Taking everything into account, the production team had given up on using the Master character to drive engagement, choosing to turn a blind eye to Fang Hanyi’s petty tactics.

But they hadn’t expected Fang Hanyi to be so insatiable. On an occasion like today, he actually had the audacity to hire paid trolls to tear Shen Qing down!

From the perspective of the production team, arranging a live action performance—regardless of how well the actor did—was meant to be an interactive segment to liven up the atmosphere and draw popularity for promotion. It wasn’t supposed to have any major negative impact on the actor themselves. That was why they had specifically arranged this segment.

But that was under the assumption that there weren’t paid trolls outside weaponizing the segment to slander the actor!

As it turned out, Fang Hanyi was far too greedy. Even at a moment like this, he wanted to secure a wave of traffic for himself, setting up the trolls out there beforehand… only for his underhanded operation to be caught red-handed by netizens, resulting in a total backfire!

If this matter blew up, it would be incredibly difficult to clean up.

This was a live broadcast!

For a multitude of reasons, the director’s box directly signaled the cameramen to cut all feeds to Fang Hanyi, reallocating his screen time entirely to Shen Qing.

After all, Shen Qing currently commanded the highest cheers and engagement!

His performance just now had been truly spectacular, making him resemble the Master even more.

The drama production team did not want to miss this golden opportunity to make the Master character explode in popularity again, so they naturally showered Shen Qing with camera coverage.

Receiving their orders, the cameramen immediately stopped filming Fang Hanyi.

Having completed his task, Shen Qing sat back down in his seat, remaining as calm and low-key as before. No matter how long the camera lingered on him, his posture, his expression, and the smile on his lips remained completely impeccable. There was never a moment where he did not embody the Master.

Netizens, once again struck by how incredibly handsome Shen Qing was, and who hadn’t followed him previously, couldn’t resist hitting the follow button now.

As for Fang Hanyi, who barely appeared on the live stream anymore, the netizens present at the venue did not hesitate to expose him.

A drama fan on-site directly shared a series of three photos they took titled: “Teacher Fang’s Three Stages of Despair”—

In the first photo, Fang Hanyi was looking in Shen Qing’s direction, his eyes filled with intense resentment.

In the second photo, after realizing he was being entirely ignored by the cameramen, an unprecedented panic appeared in his eyes.

In the final photo, he was still looking toward Shen Qing, but the initial hostility in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a heavy sense of begging for mercy.

【Hahaha, Teacher Fang’s expression management is completely out the window! All his little schemes are written right on his face!】

【Isn’t this mental journey basically: ‘It’s all because Shen Qing suddenly performed too well, he’s ruining me!’ $\rightarrow$ ‘I actually backfired?’ $\rightarrow$ ‘Teacher Shen, I’m sorry, please let me leech off your camera time one more time!’】

【I don’t think Fang was begging to clout-chase at the end. At that point, he must have realized his mistake and wanted to beg Teacher Shen for forgiveness.】

【He’s just acting in front of the audience. Didn’t he know he was wrong when he was slandering him before? He only knows he’s wrong now that he’s been exposed? Qingqing, ignore him, bad guys begone!】

【Teacher Shen has ignored him the entire time. I think Teacher Shen not speaking up to destroy him is already giving him a lot of face.】

【Shen Qing is probably giving face to the crew and the promotions. After all, it’s a live broadcast; making a scene wouldn’t look good.】

【Agreed, Teacher Shen is so considerate of the bigger picture. Who said he was selfish? After all, he’s entirely in the right. Who cares if it’s a live broadcast? What could happen even if he made a scene now! The production team arranged for him to perform live without giving him a heads-up, highly likely not caring if he embarrassed himself. If it were me, I would have thrown a massive fit.】

【Instantly stanning Teacher Shen! A person who is both powerful and gentle, I love him so much!】

Shen Qing hadn’t thrown a fit, but it wasn’t to gain fans; he simply felt there was no need.

An artist cooperating with promotions and occasionally getting teased by the production team was all written into the contract. This included the fact that this fan meeting might require performance segments, which had been explicitly stated when the crew first sent him the itinerary.

If he truly made a scene, he would be the one violating the spirit of the agreement.

As for his grudge with Fang Hanyi, Shen Qing primarily intended to give the guy a warning, ensuring he thoroughly understood his mistake and would stop targeting him.

Looking at the current state of things, that goal had already been achieved.

The present-day Shen Qing could somewhat understand the feeling of an elephant not wanting to squabble with an ant—he had no desire to achieve fame through petty public drama, Fang Hanyi possessed nothing he wanted, he didn’t need compensation or an apology, and Fang Hanyi as an individual was utterly insignificant to him.

If it weren’t for the desire to stop the other party from repeatedly causing him trouble, Shen Qing wouldn’t even bother dealing with him.

Yet, despite Shen Qing not pursuing the matter, ever since the fan meeting concluded, Fang Hanyi’s follower count continued to plummet, and netizens bombarded him with constant criticism.

Fang Hanyi and his management agency chose silence, offering no explanation whatsoever.

However, silence amounted to admission. With the drama still airing and maintaining high engagement, the netizens’ crusade against his toxic behavior would not cease.

In particular, the fans of other lead actors who had previously been targeted by Fang Hanyi suddenly realized the pattern—their own idols had clearly been dragged down to boost his traffic before!

It was just that the situations hadn’t blown up at the time, the fans hadn’t been perceptive enough, and their idols’ status and teams couldn’t compete with Fang Hanyi’s back then, forcing them to swallow the bitter pill in silence.

But now that Fang Hanyi had been exposed for his habitual toxicity toward co-stars, the fans of stars who had previously worked with him naturally began their own investigations. Upon looking closer, they indeed uncovered clear traces of Fang Hanyi’s sabotage. Consequently, as the wall crumbled, everyone pushed, making Fang Hanyi’s life increasingly difficult.

And while Fang Hanyi brought a wave of negative traffic to the newly airing drama due to this backlash, Shen Qing brought a massive wave of positive popularity to the historical idol drama through his pristine image.

Clips of his various performances at the fan meeting were edited into short videos and shared across the internet, completely breaking out of the fan circle. Audiences who originally didn’t watch the drama, or who intended to wait until it finished airing, all rushed over to watch this historical idol drama.

They weren’t doing it for anything else—simply to marvel at his sheer visual aesthetics.

At the same time, within just a few days of the fan meeting’s conclusion, Shen Qing gained over a hundred thousand followers. His popularity and buzz directly rivaled the male and female leads, and he once again became a permanent fixture on the trending searches.

…Regarding this point, Shen Qing was completely dumbfounded.

Was he some sort of viral sensation magnet??

“I don’t think virality has anything to do with magnets. It’s because you yourself are incredibly formidable, Madam. You don’t strike often, but when you do, you stun the entire room!”

Assistant Li Hong stood beside him, speaking respectfully, “The clip of your swordplay is still sitting on the trending pages of all the major video platforms, and it’s already been several days! Plus, in just these few days, people have already started spontaneously creating fan edits and secondary creations of you. It’s more than enough to show how excellent you are, Madam.”

In the hands of Assistant Li, who was delivering these words, were several invitations and documents.

This time, those documents were not for President Gu.

Every single one of them was for Madam to review!

Since Shen Qing had gone viral once again, investors and advertisers with sharp eyes had been flooding him with contracts and event invitations starting from the morning after the press conference.

Shen Qing no longer had a management agency, but his private phone was practically ringing off the hook.