The following week, The Legend of Siyao welcomed its grand finale, only to be heavily blasted across the entire internet for having a rushed and messy ending. Dozens of trending searches erupted one after another, and Today’s Greatest Joy, which aired on the same day, was also dragged out for public trial, creating a temporary wave of widespread public indignation.
[#SiyaoFanRuinedEnding# After watching the final two episodes tonight, I genuinely laughed. Are the scriptwriters treating the audience like fools? They wanted factional struggles to farm hype, they wanted a female-centric career arc, and they wanted to pass regulatory review. Wanting everything at once resulted in a plot that jumps around, fractured character designs, and a cliff-dive of a ruined ending that is absolute garbage!]
[#JingGuIsDead# I am truly foolish, truly. I only watched it to laugh at Liao Bin, but I ended up shipping Jing Gu and Siyao. They were so sweet in the early episodes, so how did it suddenly turn into a tragic ending? I am crying my eyes out. There was zero buildup between the male and female leads! Seeing Liao Bin just reminds me of his leaked video; I cannot bear to watch a single second anymore.]
[#SiyaoFanEditingTechniques# Let us be reasonable, this is the editor’s fault, right? The original script was a completely normal xianxia drama with the male lead as top billing and the female lead as second billing. To get it cleared for broadcast, they cut Liao Bin’s scenes down to just 10 percent, leaving him as a background extra for the whole show and only letting him show his face at the very end. But I never expected the editing to be this terrible—the ending turned them into a pair of unhinged lunatics.]
[#JingGuSiyaoTragicEnding# Now I finally know why they did not do any promotional couple appearances outside the show. Turns out they were not even close in the original script! They literally edited it into a deep, agonizing romance out of thin air. Who says editors are not professional? Turning a Jing Gu whose mind is entirely focused on career into a simping love-brain is something else. Bro, you should come write scripts instead.]
[#SiyaoFanFraud# I have already downloaded the National Anti-Fraud Center app, everyone who has not downloaded it yet go move your little fingers. Haha, it is just a poorly ended drama, it is no big deal… You motherfucker, I am calling the police right now and getting you all thrown in jail!]
[#QiuMianILikeLooks# … Another person using bad manners as a raw, authentic personality to build a persona.]
[#QiuMianILikeLooks# Wow, dares to speak his mind. Bro, I support you. Everyone puts on a fake, holier-than-thou mask in front of the cameras, but who does not love handsome guys and beautiful women? Bro hates ugly people jumping around on TV the most.]
[#QiuMianWhatsSoFunny# ……… Such a pretentious persona, speechless.]
[#QiuMianWhatsSoFunny# Teacher, please do not drag our Zihan into this kind of negative trending tag.]
[#QiuMianWhatsSoFunny##QiuMianILikeLooks##QiuMianClarification# The hot screenshot is purely taken out of context! Actual order is shown below! Qiu Mian had no intention of mocking the teachers! Fans all know he has always had a persona of being a bit slow-paced and not quite clicking with jokes! Previous behind-the-scenes leaks and interviews have all proven this. Families who are interested can check out Qiu Mian’s upcoming dramas: FengHua Apocalypse Season 2 as Jian Bing, Triple Dissection as Yuan Zhiyi, Disaster Origins in the Southeast as Huang Tingsu, and Youth in Spring Clothes as Ye Yinian.]
[Topic: After watching this episode of Today’s Most Boring, people who bought stock in Qiu Mian can wash up and go to sleep. I have never seen such an uninteresting guest; he will not catch jokes, will not converse, will not dish out sugar, and will not play the fool. To think I used to look forward to him so much.]
[Indeed, being able to make me cringe so hard my toes curl inside my shoes is a talent in its own right.]
[How can someone with that face have this kind of persona? Dead-pan expressions are not even trendy among anime nerds anymore. Can Duo Yi Media do a background check before signing people?]
[Apart from a cameo in her ex-husband’s movie, Wen Yi hasn’t filmed anything in over a decade. She probably really doesn’t understand the market. Fans, hurry up and send private messages; a rude, sullen-faced guy is a huge turn-off for the general public.]
[How do you know this is a persona? What if he is just acting naturally as himself?]
[Fans are just being stubborn, refusing to admit their idol has no brain.]
[I watched it too. Is it really that exaggerated? Between an annoying ugly person with banter and a boring vase, I would still choose the latter.]
[Thanks for the recommendation, the hypnotic effect is great.]
[Topic: Asking out of ignorance, why did The Legend of Siyao have such a tortuous release even after Liao Bin was soft-blocked? Couldn’t they just recast and reshoot? Now that it has been edited into this dog-chewed state, the original novel’s male and female leads were tangled across three lifetimes, and now that they are finally together, nobody is buying it.]
[It is totally on purpose. Haven’t you seen the screenshots of the wealthy socialite’s WeChat moments? It was dug up during the first few days The Legend of Siyao went live, full of explicit innuendos meant to disgust Liao Bin every time he shows up, reminding everyone of that leaked video of him getting pegged.]
[Because if you let things cool down for too long, people forget. Popping up every now and then lets them keep popularizing the trivia. I bet there is also the intention of aggravating her husband.]
[Damn! That is vicious… total social death! Even though Liao Bin deserved it for lacking moral integrity, isn’t the root of the problem her husband?!]
[Yeah, get rid of Liao Bin and there will be others. I am sick of hearing about Shao Zhonghui’s kept-lover scandals. All I can say is Huimao’s male artists are truly blessed, with a whole bunch of young, handsome guys waiting to be favored.]
[Didn’t they say Shao Zhonghui even visited the set when Liao Bin was filming Siyao? So how come Shao Zhonghui did not take a fancy to Qiu Mian? This guy screams his exact type.]
[He is Wen Yi’s artist after all, probably hard to mess with. Qiu Mian would have to be an idiot to not stay at Duo Yi as a crown prince and instead go to Huimao to fight for favor. Besides, cozying up to an old man is nowhere near as comfortable as cozying up to a beauty.]
[The person spreading rumors above, you are dead. Your idol got kept and gets treated that poorly? He has never played a male lead, has no studio, no fan operations, and only has one assistant who shows up late and leaves early during a three-month shoot!]
[Lol, since when are Qiu Mian’s resources bad? The only young actor under the Best Actress’s company, debuting with a cameo in a Grand Slam TV award-winning drama, getting a S+ satellite-TV production block-buster male supporting role as his second project, getting the first-generation top martial arts master role in season two of a hit drama’s original cast for his third, getting the Lexiang Mystery Theater New Year’s presentation for his fourth, and a scheduled CCTV-8 classic spy thriller for his fifth. You call that bad?? Fans have the nerve to complain?? Give those unwanted resources to my idol, thanks.]
[Heh, didn’t know until listed out. Wen Yi wants to break convention and find a fresh meat hunk after divorcing Chang Gou, huh?]
[You guys are so disgusting. When mocking him, he is the new-era plague emperor, acting in one plague project after another as unwanted garbage resources; when spreading kept-lover gossip, they all magically become good resources!]
[This is just how this forum is. If you cannot take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. You cannot handle a tiny bit of bashing and your fans are this fragile?]
[Heh heh, Qiu Mian’s fans shouldn’t speak too soon. Whether there is an issue with Shao Zhonghui is far from certain.]
[Details, upstairs?]
[I glanced at the title of this thread. Wasn’t it asking about Liao Bin? How did it drift to Qiu Mian?]
[Qiu Mian is on an upward trajectory, needs to be suppressed. Nobody cares about Liao Bin anymore, pack up and prepare for your next life.]
[Topic: Is anyone eating the melon about Qiu Mian’s top fan un-fan-ing and turning on him?]
[Hilarious, calling that a top fan. Look closer and apart from private-schedule stalkers and paparazzi, there is nothing else. You dragged everyone out just for this?]
[What the heck? Isn’t this just a stalker fan throwing a tantrum from embarrassment after being ignored? But looking at it this way, Qiu Mian really is cold and aloof, not putting on an act.]
[If my idol were this bking-like too, being harsh to stalkers is being kind to everyone else.]
[That is it, that is it, that is it? Did they team up to whitewash him?]
[Cracking up, this blogger got cursed out and still had to emphasize it was not because of stalkers, but because Tianxuan’s sin caused her photo card to drop, which is why she got angry and un-fanned. Talk about protesting too much.]
[Qiu Mian actually has a nice reverse-charm, I want to eat spicy rabbit snacks too.]
[Eat away, eat away, one bite and you will not make a peep. Back before Qiu Mian turned into a chubby ball, this forum only dared to stare in stunned silence; ever since he ballooned into a fat sphere, his fans’ brawls have lost their momentum too.]
[Upstairs, why are you bringing your dad into this?]
[Front-row fans trying to control the narrative and playing blind?? Can’t you see your top fan specifically pointed out that she photographed him walking out of the clubhouse right behind Shao Zhonghui early in the morning?]
[Clubhouse your mother, that is Guyi Building! The crew was having their wrap party that day, the director has photos on Weibo!!]
[The director and main cast left that very night, what were the two of them staying overnight for?]
[Resting because they drank too much, what is wrong with staying in one of the hundreds of rooms? Besides, how was that right behind? There was over an hour in between!]
[At least they still had brains, neither came out in the same car, otherwise it would not be clear.]
[Can it be cleared up now? A room at Guyi Building costs nearly a hundred thousand, normally not even open to the public, you cannot book one even with money. Shao Zhonghui aside, why was Qiu Mian staying there?]
[This blogger is a notorious slander-stalker mental patient who loves making up rumors. You guys actually believe this?]
[Whoa, looks like there really is a huge issue!! Look at the thread next door, Shao Zhonghui posted Qiu Mian’s stills on his WeChat moments with the caption: “Ye Yinian, looking forward.”]
[I am going to puke. Can Shao Zhonghui stop sharing my exact tastes? Whoever I stan, he sets his eyes on them.]
[Turns out the real dream-girl harvester is Shao Zhonghui.]
[Is it possible Shao Zhonghui was the one clinging on? He even posted Qiu Mian’s drama stills before; his backstage backer cannot possibly be him, right?]
[Do Qiu Mian’s fans have any shame? Remembering your dad now?]
[Hahahahaha to prove he was not kept, Qiu Mian’s fans spread the news of Qiu Mian losing his project all over the forum. What does this prove? It only proves Shao Zhonghui could not win against Chi Jianying. Suggesting you find a new sugar daddy.]
[Seriously, isn’t Guyi Building owned by the eldest young master? Maybe Qiu Mian went there to scout him out.]
[Stop joking, if it were him he would still lose projects.]
[If it were him, fans could laugh out loud.]
[Of course, getting kept is not scary; what is scary is the sugar daddy being old and ugly. An old and ugly sugar daddy is not scary; what is scary is having no resources even after all that. What is the point?]
[This post has been deleted]
While Weibo and various forums were locked in fierce combat, Qiu Mian was boarding a plane at Beijing Capital International Airport. He had shot four magazines and three commercial endorsements in a single week. Sporting a full face of stage makeup, his expression still showed no signs of fatigue.
Wei Pu, on the other hand, looked far more haggard, his dyed yellow hair drooping like withered grass. Although his schedule was slightly lighter than Qiu Mian’s, it still qualified as high-intensity work, making him admire Qiu Mian all the more: “Mianmian, thinking about how you shoot so many things during the day and still have the energy to dream-travel at night, I really have to hand it to you.”
“Used to it,” Qiu Mian said lightly.
Once aboard the plane, the business class seats were comfortable, and Wei Pu was genuinely exhausted. He fell asleep not long after, his soft snores filling the air. Qiu Mian did not close his eyes to dream-travel. He ate some airline food and idly scrolled through his phone, admiring the pictures in his saved folders.
Image after image slid past, occasionally pausing to bookmark one, completely unbothered even when someone directly blocked his path.
“Qiu Mian! Look up at me!” a shrill female voice snapped. Her volume was not high, but it was enough to draw the attention of the cabin. “You are standing at the center of the storm right now! You need to issue a clarification, you need to clear your name! Only I can help you! Why will you not contact me?!”
One hand propped under his chin, Qiu Mian did not even bother lifting his eyelids. Just hearing the voice told him he did not know this person.
“Who are you?”
The stalker’s hand holding the camera shook: “I have been running a fansite and sending you gifts for two years, and you would not even sign an autograph, and now you cannot even be bothered to look at me? Asking who I am?!”
Qiu Mian paused his movements, feeling perplexed by her self-introduction.
The stalker grew even more agitated, aiming her camera right at his phone screen: “Look at me!! What are you doing??”
The screen displayed pairs of overlapping, artistically posed hands—knuckle-defined, slender, and uniformly proportioned—compiled into a nine-grid summary graphic. The review read: [@HandFanBot: Top 10 Best Hands of the Year. Look which pair is your favorite]
The moment she saw the content, her emotions exploded into a chaotic outburst of incomprehensible roaring.
“I said it before, I’m a looks-maximizer.” He just happened to like looking at hands a little bit.
Qiu Mian extinguished his phone screen, hesitated for a second on whether to wake Wei Pu up, and ultimately opted for his usual coping mechanism—pulling a snack out of his backpack: “Star City specialty, dried duck board, it is pretty good.”
The stalker slapped the local specialty away and shrieked curses: “Are you insane!! Qiu Mian! What status do you think you have to look down on fans and break their hearts! Do you have any idea how many nights I stayed up cursing anti-fans for you! You betrayed my youth, you wasted my emotions, you’ll be a washed-up nobody for the rest of your life—”
Her subsequent words were drowned out by the screams of other passengers as the plane suddenly began to shake violently.
“Dear passengers, due to air turbulence, the aircraft is experiencing turbulence. Please return to your seats immediately, stow your tray tables, fasten your seatbelts, and hold onto the armrests on both sides. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The stalker almost crashed onto the floor, but fortunately, Qiu Mian reacted with lightning speed, grabbing her arm and preventing her from tumbling all the way down.
“Go back and sit down.” Qiu Mian let go of her and glanced out the plane window.
“All passengers please return to your seats! Fasten your seatbelts!!”
The flight attendant repeated the instruction with even greater urgency. The stalker dazed for a moment, suddenly realizing preserving her own life took precedence, and stumbled away in a panic.
Yet Qiu Mian’s expression was far more solemn than usual.
“Ahhhhh, why is it shaking so much!!”
“Look outside, what is that?!”
“It’s just turbulence, don’t scare me!!”
“Use your phone to zoom in and look… why does it look so much like a bug…?”
“Which lunatic is running a public projection stunt again?! They reported this in the news before!!!”
Wei Pu was woken up as well. Unlike the other half-skeptical passengers, the moment he saw the towering biological entities outside, his face drained completely of color.
“Mianmian, that couldn’t be…?”
“Yeah, the one I mentioned. The giant worm from the continuous dream,” Qiu Mian murmured softly. “Thought the authorities could handle it, but now it’s fused with reality.”
He pulled the small blanket Wei Pu had been using while sleeping over his lap, leaned his seat back into a reclined slant, and muttered a single sentence before closing his eyes.
“Wonder what certain people are up to right now.”