Chapter 307: The Frontline of Gossip: Weibo

The X-photo incident actually began appearing at the end of January.

At first, a few lewd photos were posted in Xiangjiang, then spread to the mainland, and the uproar grew worse and worse.

During the Spring Festival, Ying Huang reported it to the police; the two popular female parties faced massive fan boycotts of denials, the male party released an apology video, the matter exploded completely, multiple Hong Kong stars spoke out, and then a flood of photos were exposed, triggering nationwide euphoria.

The Hong Kong entertainment circle shook, and Seeing Yan Li was in pain but also delighted!

The pain was that Bai Zhi was now a top-four contender for Weibo Goddess; after the X-photo scandal broke, her vote count didn't drop—it increased.

Some votes came from casual users drawn by the heightened attention, some from fans voting to show support, and others as a kind of reward after viewing the photos.

At this peak of public frenzy, Weibo couldn't openly manipulate the results—her top-four spot was essentially secured.

That alone wasn't bad, but Seeing Yan Li feared these people would push Bai Zhi all the way to the championship, turning Weibo Goddess into a real joke.

Fortunately, Bai Zhi's next opponent was Liu Tianxian, and the final opponent might be Fan Xiaopang—both were formidable, and at the right moment, Seeing Yan Li could consider behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

In any case, Bai Zhi had reached the end of her journey to the top four.

The delight, of course, was this ultra-gossipy scandal bringing enormous traffic to Weibo.

As everyone knew, Weibo was a new website, ill-prepared for such sudden events; being inherently viral in its information spread, it propagated at lightning speed, so the official team couldn't delete photos fast enough to keep up with netizens posting them.

Besides photos, discussions were overwhelming and wildly popular.

Just like the earlier ice storm incident, Weibo once again demonstrated the platform's advanced superiority.

First, its real-time nature and propagation speed nearly crushed traditional platforms.

These days, many forums and BBS require posting, moderation, and pinning procedures—information travels slowly through layers.

Blogs update irregularly and require readers to actively visit, causing propagation delays.

News portals are even worse—all press releases, longer processes, utterly unmatched in timeliness.

QQ groups and chat rooms spread quickly, but only within small circles, unable to form public discourse.

Weibo allows instant posting, brief messages, and viral propagation that can reach massive users in an extremely short time.

The sudden X-photo scandal, fragmented information, and the distance across Xiangjiang made Weibo's efficiency and speed truly revolutionary.

Second, the diversity of information sources and its self-media nature.

On portals and forums, publishing rights rest in the hands of a few editors and moderators.

Weibo lets every user speak out, offering firsthand reports, diversified information, and a flood of leaks and rumors from those involved.

While Tieba could achieve this too, what made Weibo stand out was that a few celebrities actually joined in and interacted.

That's right—these days, celebrities don't understand all that messy stuff, and since Weibo is mostly populated by mainland artists, they joined in the gossip, expressing opinions and even leaking details.

Although many celebrities were on blogs, propagation was slower, and gossiping was far less convenient than on Weibo.

Some celebrities had direct ties to the parties involved and chose Weibo as their platform to speak out.

These days, many celebrities release statements through media, but media tends to edit content, and influence varies widely.

Better to use Weibo to communicate directly with the public, avoid unnecessary trouble, and directly reach massive followings for effective information delivery.

Thanks to this incident, Weibo even gained a number of celebrities as loyal users.

Celebrities aren't stupid; once they realized Weibo was a great tool and felt the platform's popularity and benefits, they naturally wouldn't abandon it, and began to manage their presence carefully.

Third, building a public discussion square.

Tieba and other forums had interactive replies, but their structure was loose and easily drowned out.

Blog and portal comment sections sat below articles, relatively closed and hard to expand.

Weibo's core interaction mechanism—【retweet + comment】—allowed users to add comments while retweeting, letting viewpoints spread and collide rapidly.

The 【@】 + 【topic hashtag】 system enabled direct dialogue with specific users, improving interaction efficiency, while also aggregating all discussions on a particular event into a massive public square.

This was absolutely impossible on previous internet platforms; though Weibo still looked slightly crude, it was already a breakthrough moment.

These three advantages, plus some scattered minor ones.

Although Weibo was a new platform with few users, it somehow became one of the three major gossip platforms alongside Tieba and Tieba.

To some extent, Weibo became the frontline of gossip—most related information appeared first on Weibo, then was copied and reposted to Tieba, Tieba, and other platforms.

Riding this nationwide euphoria, Weibo's user base exploded.

On average, 150,000 to 200,000 new users registered daily, and the number kept rising, mostly active users—far exceeding the new users drawn by the ice storm incident.

Don't think this is exaggerated; during the ice storm incident, people still habitually turned to newspapers and TV.

Weibo merely played a supporting role, attracting mostly netizens concerned with rescue efforts—not a mainstream publicity platform.

But the X-photo scandal was different—TV and print media could only report the event, utterly incapable of showing photos or specific gossip; Weibo had it all.

At the same time, this kind of scandal was far more attractive than ice storm relief, especially involving several superstars, and crucially—there were actual photos.

You say some place needs rescue, it's none of your business, many people don't care; but you say "Bai Zhi's photos on Weibo," and everyone immediately begs the big shots for a link.

…

Sanya, vacation villa

Seeing Yan Li looked at the email from Weibo, his smile impossible to suppress.

In just a few days, Weibo's total registered users were heading toward five million; the incident wasn't over yet, and if it held out a bit longer, after digesting the aftermath, ten million was definitely inevitable.

Once it reached this scale, Weibo's momentum would truly take off, poised to form a positive feedback loop, getting better and better.

Fan Xiaopang's face, however, was not pleasant—the X-photo scandal broke, and this bastard's phone wouldn't stop ringing.

She vaguely knew what those calls were about; although Yan Boss wasn't as professional as Teacher Chen, he occasionally kept souvenirs.

With the X-photo leak exposed, how could those women not panic?

Not to mention them—even Fan Xiaopang broke out in cold sweat, nearly smashing her computer.

"Dinner's ready."

When Seeing Yan Li had laughed enough, Fan Xiaopang huffed and called him to eat.

Seeing Yan Li, who roughly understood why Fan Xiaopang was angry, wrapped his arms around her plump waist and whispered soothing words into her ear.

Fan Xiaopang pinched him hard: "You said it—don't back out."

"When have I ever broken my word?"

"Hmph."

Fan Xiaopang sneered, dragged him downstairs, and as they passed the stairs, the former tigress instantly turned into a delicate flower.

"I've told you a hundred times—work needs breaks too. Skipping meals hurts your stomach. You, stop making your uncle and aunt worry."

Saying this, she affectionately wrapped her arm around Zhang Hong and smiled at her: "Auntie, I've brought him down."

"Good, good, good—go eat now."

Zhang Hong smiled warmly, but Seeing Yan Li shook his head and reached for a piece of eggplant cutlet—when Fan Xiaopang called out to him.

"Go wash your hands."

She pulled him to the bathroom in the living room and washed his hands herself.

Amid the sound of running water, Seeing Yan Li felt speechless: "That's enough—you're overdoing it."

Fan Xiaopang had clearly figured out why Zhang Hong was slightly resistant to her; these past few days, she'd been relentlessly playing the role of a virtuous girlfriend and obedient daughter-in-law, trying to change Zhang Hong's mind.

"Don't worry about it—just go along with me."

Fan Xiaopang ignored Seeing Yan Li. Zhang Hong's attitude toward her had noticeably softened and grown warmer these past few days—this proved the tactic worked, so she must keep performing.

After washing her hands, she took the Mao Jin and wiped his hands clean right in front of Zhang Hong.

Seeing Yan Li grumbled, but his body willingly cooperated with Fan Xiaopang's attentions.

This Yan Zihu had a strong personality, a successful career, and solid confidence. Though she usually listened to him and occasionally showed tender, feminine sides in daily life, such overt displays of devotion were rare.

Two days ago, Fan Xiaopang brought him a basin of foot-washing water, massaged his feet—and nearly choked Old Yan to death while he was smoking.

Zhang Hong had privately talked to him: "Men should give way to women. Don't act so high-and-mighty."

Seeing Yan Li's hometown still had some feudal customs, but few men treated their wives like this.

If Old Yan ever asked Zhang Hong to wash his feet, she'd splash the water right in his face.

After washing their hands, they sat down to eat. Since the family ran a restaurant, Old Yan himself cooked—hired help only assisted.

The chef didn't like cooking at home, but he made exceptions—during the New Year, with his long-absent son and future daughter-in-law home, Old Yan showed off his skills daily.

Since becoming wealthy, Old Yan no longer had to endure heavy kitchen labor, so he had more time to study cuisine, had seen many famous chefs' dishes, and with Seeing Yan Li's occasional recipes, his cooking had improved significantly.

The new dishes developed with these recipes even surprised Seeing Yan Li.

Remember, Seeing Yan Li attended countless banquets, had eaten at many fine restaurants, knew how to cook himself, and had access to system recipes—he occasionally cooked for fun too.

Under these circumstances, if even he was surprised, you could judge Old Yan's skill.

Fan Xiaopang had also benefited greatly—these past few days, she'd dared not step on the scale, constantly worrying about returning to the grueling days on the "Xiao Yanzhi" set.

"Bingbing, eat more. The TV doesn't show it, but you're clearly thinner in person."

Zhang Hong routinely served Fan Xiaopang dishes; Fan Xiaopang cried inside but smiled brightly.

Seeing Yan Li, being mischievous, kept pointing out fatty, weight-gaining dishes and claiming they were Fan Xiaopang's favorites, prompting Zhang Hong to pile more on her plate. Fan Xiaopang couldn't take it anymore and quickly changed the subject.

"Aren't you saying that ad was supposed to launch after the New Year? Why hasn't anything happened?"

Seeing Yan Li took a bite of beef: "How was I supposed to know so much would happen during the Spring Festival?"

"Originally, we planned to drive traffic and expand influence—but now you know how Weibo is. Let's hold off until the storm passes."

On one hand, to avoid overlapping traffic and maximize returns; on the other, with all this snowstorm and the X-photo scandal, your ad just doesn't fit—it's inappropriate no matter how you look at it.

This is better anyway. When Weibo's influence grows later, your ad's impact will be even stronger.

Fan Xiaopang felt a bit regretful—Seeing Yan Li had hardly ever done ads, aside from public service announcements.

This one was kept so mysterious, with zero details leaked—she was genuinely curious.

Fan Xiaopang then chatted with Seeing Yan Li about other work, occasionally explaining things to the confused Old Yan couple.

Her move wasn't just to avoid the food—it was leveraging her strengths.

The virtuous girlfriend persona? That was just catering to Zhang Hong's tastes—anyone could do that. Beyond that, she had to establish herself as Seeing Yan Li's capable helper and wise inner support—that was her foundation, her unique persona, impossible for others to copy.

Fan Xiaopang's thinking was right!

Though Zhang Hong sometimes felt pressure, she also saw Fan Xiaopang as capable and helpful to her son.

Yan's small restaurant: Old Yan handled the kitchen, everything else was managed by Zhang Hong—she was essentially a woman who held up half the sky.

As a mother-in-law, she wanted a sweet daughter-in-law; as a mother, she also wanted her son to have a capable partner who could share his burdens.

In short, though Zhang Hong still harbored complex feelings toward Fan Xiaopang deep down, they had softened immensely compared to before.

Even Zhang Hong mentioned the Weibo Goddess voting, saying she'd call family members to vote for Fan Xiaopang.

Amid the X-photo scandal's peak, the Weibo Goddess contest was about to enter its finals.

Bai Zhi, who had made it to the top four, was currently popular but had suffered backlash; her opponent, Liu Tianxian, was famed as a pure girl—she'd already lost public favor.

On the fan side, Bai's camp was in chaos; Liu's side kept winning, morale high, and with Weibo secretly manipulating behind the scenes.

Though voting hadn't ended, Liu Tianxian already held a 60% lead and was virtually guaranteed a spot in the finals.

The other top-four matchup was Fan Xiaopang versus Xiao Yanzi—the "Huanzhu Gege" rivalry.

After years apart, the two finally faced off directly—the battle was brutal; at its most intense, the vote stood at 51%–49%, with fans and netizens frantically hunting down the "Huanzhu Gege" creators to force them to pick sides.