Chapter 288: Crazy Brawls and Gathering at Hengdian

The BaSha Celebrity Charity Night went viral!

Even more viral were the Four Dan and Two Bing—though the charity night had no live broadcast or full recording, many media outlets were present, capturing all the essential moments, with ample photos and articles.

Official feature reports were still restrained, at most adding a bit of personal bias to portray the charity night as extremely "harmonious."

Beyond official reports, everyone went wild, writing like novelists—the Four Dan and Two Bing nearly drew knives and slashed.

The media was lively, and the online spectators were even livelier—Tianya was completely overrun by the charity night, with endless discussions and leaks from insiders on the scene.

The most praised moment was the covert power struggles on stage, lasting a cumulative eight minutes, nicknamed the 【Death Eight Minutes】 or 【Black Eight Minutes】.

But the most heated of all were the Four Dan and Two Bing themselves and their fans.

The end of the charity night did not mean the end of their grudges.

On the contrary, the five, unable to fully break ties under public scrutiny, held back their fury and, upon returning home, immediately launched attacks through their teams and companies, viciously smearing each other.

Xiao Yanzi and Zhang Ziyi felt they had been bullied by Huayi and Yi'an, and refused to let any of Fan, Zhou, or Li off the hook.

Li Bingbing harbored resentment over the price hikes and launched indiscriminate attacks, focusing most of her firepower on Fan and Zhou, her longtime rivals.

Young Master Zhou's first target was undoubtedly Li Bingbing, then Zhang Ziyi—clearly still bitter over Wang Zhongjun forcing Zhang to go first, and also holding old grudges from their time filming The Banquet.

Fan Xiaopang's main enemies were Li Bingbing and Xiao Yanzi, and she also had to send her greetings.

In short, you hit me, I hit her, she hits you—a total mess.

At first they targeted each other, but later no one knew who had done what to whom, so they all just opened fire on everyone.

Not only did the five fight among themselves, even Xu Caivü, who hadn't attended the charity night, got dragged in.

They were tearing each other apart—why should Xu get to play the innocent lotus flower on the sidelines? They strongly suspected she was secretly stirring the pot.

While their teams fought in front, fans gradually joined in—blogs, tieba, Tianya—all erupted into chaos.

First, dig up the dirt!

None of the Four Dan and Two Bing were clean.

One XX scandal after another—who slept with whom, who slept with whom else.

Who hit someone, who was the third party, who cheated, who had a messy love life, who two women fought over one man, and so on.

These were just the relatively evidence-backed claims—other rumors, fake news, or outright fabrications were hurled at their opponents without hesitation.

After digging up dirt, they weren't satisfied—they started climbing the ladder of disdain!

Xiao Yanzi's fans called Fan Xiaopang "maid Jin Suo" at every turn; Young Master Zhou's fans mocked International Zhang for licking foreigners; Li Bingbing's fans implied Zhou had a shrill voice and was scheming.

Some targeted specific opponents; others launched full-spectrum ridicule.

Fan Xiaopang's fans thought everyone else was old and ugly; Xu Caivü's fans thought everyone else was uncultured and shallow; Zhang Ziyi's fans believed their idol was number one and everyone else was trash, unworthy of comparison.

"…"

At this point, the importance of concrete achievements, national recognition, and team professionalism became clear.

Xiao Yanzi had the most fans—if not for years of scandals that ruined her public image, she might not have taken on all five, but at least could've handled several.

Even now, diminished from her peak, she still held firm in the top tier thanks to her old foundation.

Next was Fan Xiaopang—her years of TV dramas and ads weren't wasted, nor was her reputation built in vain; she had many fans and sufficient influence among the general public.

Though her rise was controversial, Yi'an's protection kept her from sinking into the black-red vortex, giving her a mid-to-upper reputation among the Four Dan and Two Bing.

Coupled with Yi'an's professional management team and rich experience, Fan Xiaopang held a distinct advantage in this chaotic battle.

Then came Li Bingbing and Young Master Zhou.

Both came from TV dramas, with solid national recognition and tangible achievements, backed by mature teams and companies—especially Li Bingbing, who could leverage the "Two Bing" bond.

To put it simply, though the Two Bing themselves fought fiercely, in large-scale brawls like this, they sometimes found common ground.

Especially when the Four Dan targeted the Two Bing, that's when the Two Bing fans became most united.

Zhang Ziyi was deeply frustrated—by concrete achievements and status, she was indeed the top among all female stars now.

But she was severely disadvantaged in national recognition and fanbase, and both she and her fans were arrogant, making her an easy target for mob attacks and earning her poor public perception.

More critically, she had no major company backing her—her American agency was too far away to help, utterly no match for local giants like Huayi or Yi'an.

Her status, fame, and influence might help her befriend celebrities and win favor with producers and directors, but in this kind of mudslinging war, she could only be crushed.

The worst off was Xu Caivü—aside from her "talented woman" and "blog queen" titles, she had nothing substantial to show.

Though her blog had high traffic and many fans calling her "Old Xu," these people were mostly netizens who could cheer from the sidelines but were no match for the other factions in actual fights.

Several fanbases directly stormed her blog—she was the most innocent, yet also the most devastated.

There was nothing to be done—she was simply the weakest.

People always pick the softest targets; in this chaos, the strongest and most aggressive might survive, but the weakest would suffer the most.

This brawl was destined to become a minor milestone for the Four Dan and Two Bing—and even the entire entertainment industry.

Previously, the Four Dan and Two Bing's feuds, though never denied, were never openly acknowledged; team smear campaigns and fan clashes were confined to their own circles—but now, everything was exposed nakedly before the public, satisfying every onlooker.

Yet this wasn't over—after realizing they were losing in official press releases and fan wars, Xu Caivü and Zhang Ziyi stepped down themselves.

First, Xu Caivü posted an article on her blog, implying that a group of people used charity as a cover to chase fame and profit, pretending to be enthusiastic while revealing their ugly faces.

The next day, Fan Xiaopang directly targeted her in an interview, pointing fingers and berating her.

"Someone once told me that when it comes to charity, we judge by actions, not intentions—don't obsess over motives; if you help someone, it's a good deed."

"I'd like to ask: Are those of us who spent money and effort the ugly ones, or is it those who tap keyboards and speak grandly, pretending to be clear-headed while being selfish?"

"…"

Fan Xiaopang's angle was crucial—she seized the moral high ground and drew support from others.

Regardless of anything, they had all contributed money and effort—Xu Caivü had no right to blab nonsense.

Xu Caivü was silenced, and then the others launched another round of mudslinging.

Zhang Ziyi struck first: "Actually, I'm friends with Su Mang—we just wanted to do good. Now that this has happened, I feel many people have changed, becoming disappointing."

One after another, people spoke out—even those who didn't want to join couldn't escape reporters' relentless questions.

Young Master Zhou cryptically remarked, "Some people are pretending to be innocent."

Xiao Yanzi expressed regret about attending the charity night: "It was a terrible experience in every way—I wish I hadn't gone."

Li Bingbing openly exposed some smear tactics used in the infighting on her blog, condemning certain individuals as "insane" in heart and "outrageous" in method, declaring they would "face retribution in due time."

Fan Xiaopang issued a battle declaration: "This may be the cruelty of the entertainment industry—I won't be afraid. Whoever wants to bully me, I'll fight them to the end."

In short, whether cryptic or aggressive, all of them held the same stance.

I'm good-hearted, I'm forced—everyone else is beasts, scumbags, bastards……

The principals themselves stepped in to trade insults across the void, further inflaming the heat and pushing the situation slightly out of control.

As the most popular female stars on the mainland tearing into each other, this had profoundly negative effects in many ways—it damaged the image of the nation and society.

In short, the relevant authorities stepped in to cool things down.

The entertainment media, eager for spectacle, withdrew, replaced by social media outlets beginning to criticize and condemn this chaos in entertainment.

Once the authorities appeared, several overheated individuals calmed down.

Or perhaps they weren't truly uncalm—just lacking a pretext.

The scale of the conflict, with all the dirt exposed, had significantly damaged their own reputations, and their business partners and production teams all voiced complaints.

But others kept shouting, refusing to appear weak—they simply couldn't back down—so they were all pushed onto the stage and had to grit their teeth and hold on.

Now there was a face-saving exit; everyone could conveniently cease hostilities without losing dignity.

…

"They got off too easily."

Fan Xiaopang, somewhat unsatisfied with the ceasefire, voiced her regret; Seeing Yan Li couldn't help but shake his head.

In this brawl, Fan Xiaopang had advantages, but also disadvantages—and she wasn't well-liked to begin with.

More accurately, she was hated—her beauty, her career, her men—all made people resent her.

Aside from the barely passable Young Master Zhou, Li and Zhao held old grudges, Zhang and Xu disliked her; had it not been for Yi'an backing her, she would have been squarely in the crosshairs.

"Letting off steam, stoking buzz—there are pros and cons. If we keep going, the disadvantages will outweigh the benefits—it harms us too."

"When you go out to seek fortune, don't make unprofitable deals."

Seeing Yan Li actually didn't strongly support Fan Xiaopang fighting the Four Dan and Two Bing—he didn't think it was worth the cost.

But often, you can't just chase cost-effectiveness; when others strike, Fan Xiaopang can't refuse—she must fight.

Seeing Yan Li could support Fan Xiaopang, but at best he could gain minor advantages—he couldn't cripple the Four Dan and Two Bing entirely.

After all, they too had patrons. Unless Seeing Yan Li unleashed his system's ultimate move, the situation would spiral completely out of control.

And no one's a fool—there are only so many people involved. Killing one or two wouldn't stay hidden; one misstep, and you become the target of all.

So if it were a one-on-one duel or a direct clash, Seeing Yan Li could strike hard—but in this chaotic, messy brawl, he could only rely on Yi'an's resources to respond, neither needing nor using his intelligence system.

And the facts proved that Yi'an and Fan Xiaopang hadn't spent these years in vain.

In this brawl, our side performed remarkably well—at least far better than Huayi.

There was no choice: Huayi had to support two sides, and internal strife erupted—Zhou and Li, over unequal resource allocation, began fighting each other and even sabotaged one another.

As everyone knows, traitors cause more damage than external enemies. That these two didn't come in last speaks to Huayi's resilience and the strength of their respective teams.

"It's not necessarily a loss."

Fan Xiaopang smiled, showed Seeing Yan Li a text message—he was slightly surprised.