Chapter 35 The imposter will eventually be exposed...
Yun Qingqing's words were like a bombshell, leaving everyone present stunned.
Everyone was stunned speechless by the sudden accusation and could only stare blankly at the two people facing off.
Ding Manni's gaze shifted back and forth between Meng Xian, whose face was deathly pale, and Gu Mingyan, whose expression was cold. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
Jiang Mingqian directly and categorically denied it: "Impossible!"
His voice carried a panic he himself was unaware of: "The person in that photo is clearly Meng Xian."
He couldn't accept that the fleeting image he cherished in his heart, the source of his moonlight and obsession, had belonged to someone else from the very beginning—someone he had never looked at seriously and had even ridiculed repeatedly.
The comments section was completely chaotic:
[Wait, wait, wait... my brain can't process this!!! Does Yun Qingqing mean that Meng Xian stole Gu Mingyan's photos?]
【I don't believe it! Meng Xian's face looks exactly the same as in the photo!】
[But Meng Xian and Gu Mingyan do look quite alike, and that photo only shows their profiles; if someone really wanted to impersonate her, it would be very easy.]
I really don't want to believe this, but from a rational perspective, Gu Mingyan's ballet is indeed much better than Meng Xian's; the difference is obvious when compared.
[Yes, Meng Xian couldn't use ballet terminology and was evasive about the location where she was filmed; even a fool could tell something was wrong.]
[Go back and watch the replay yourself, and take a screenshot of Gu Mingyan's profile while she's dancing ballet. It's exactly the same as in the photo.]
Meng Xian felt her heart pounding wildly in her chest, making her eardrums buzz.
She was in high school when that photo first went viral online.
Countless classmates and friends excitedly gathered around, pointing at the photos and saying to her, "Meng Xian, look! You're trending!"
She looked at the profile of the girl dancing gracefully in the sunlight on the screen, and at the comments section filled with praise such as "goddess" and "campus white moonlight"... For some inexplicable reason, she didn't deny it.
She simply lowered her head, smiled slightly, and said, "Oh, were you photographed?"
This ambiguous response was interpreted by the students as tacit agreement.
Thus, the title "National School Beauty Meng Xian" spread like wildfire.
Later, even reporters and people from other schools came to see the "female protagonist of the divine picture".
Wherever she goes, people point at her and whisper, "Look, she's that super beautiful national school beauty!"
Meng Xian was initially apprehensive and uneasy, fearing that one day her lies would be exposed.
But as the days went by, nothing happened.
She's worn the title of "National School Beauty" for so long that she herself has blurred the boundaries of her memory of it.
She began to accept the adulation of others and started to vaguely mention in interviews that "she had practiced ballet for several years".
In countless quiet nights or under the spotlight, she subconsciously believed that the dancer whose eternal beauty was captured in the photograph was herself, Meng Xian.
Anyway, she looks exactly like the person in the photo, doesn't she?
Meng Xian barely managed to maintain her swaying figure and feigned grievance as she questioned Yun Qingqing: "Qingqing, I know you and Mingyan are close, but you can't just make up such a lie to slander me in order to clear her name about her recent plastic surgery scandal, can you?"
She turned to Gu Mingyan, as if she was holding back tears: "If the person in the photo is really you, why have you never come out to clarify this all these years?"
Gu Mingyan scoffed: "Back in high school, I was busy traveling to competitions all over the country. Who had the time to keep an eye on the trending topics all day?"
Students at elite schools have rich extracurricular lives, spending their time preparing for the SAT, academic competitions, and charity projects, as well as learning equestrianism, fencing, and rehearsing with a symphony orchestra.
The trending topic of the so-called "national school beauty" is at most just something to talk about in your spare time; people laugh it off and move on, and nobody takes it seriously.
Unexpectedly, it was because of this that Meng Xian was able to impersonate Li Tao for so many years.
"Aren't you getting a little too into character?" Gu Mingyan looked at her with a mixture of pity and sarcasm.
"Don't talk nonsense," Meng Xian retorted. "The person in that photo is me! You're the one who coveted my fame and is now turning around and accusing me!"
Yun Qingqing stepped in front of Gu Mingyan and said, "Teacher Meng, it's normal to feel uncomfortable when you've enjoyed the limelight and benefits for so long by taking someone else's name off. But we don't need to have a pointless argument here."
She smiled at Meng Xian: "Anyway, everyone will have the answer soon."
Meng Xian looked at her, her eyelids suddenly twitching uncontrollably.
At this very moment, Meng Xian's fans are still indignant and refuse to believe that the "national school beauty" is someone else.
A massive fan base flooded the supertopic with comments and controlled the chat:
[I'm taking Xianxian away, no thanks! Gu Mingyan's team is shameless in their efforts to clear their name of plastic surgery rumors!]
Even if someone dances ballet better than Xianxian, does that prove anything?
[And those huge crowd of bystanders who support Gu Mingyan, I think they're blind. They could donate their brains if they didn't need them.]
They relentlessly tagged the production team and Gu Mingyan, using harsh language, even including a lot of personal attacks and sarcasm.
The chaotic battle lasted for more than half an hour. Just when Meng Xian's fans were feeling a sense of tragic heroism, as if they were the only ones who were sober in a world of drunks, a Weibo post silenced the entire internet.
The poster is a blogger with the ID "林深见鹿" whose verified information identifies him as the founder of a well-known photography studio and a master's degree holder in architecture from Cambridge University.
She posted on Weibo:
A while ago, a girl named Yun Qingqing contacted me after much effort, asking me to help clarify a widely circulated rumor. When I checked Weibo, I was truly astonished. I am a 20XX graduate of Yuncheng International High School, and I went abroad shortly after that photo was taken.
That day, when I went back to school to complete the final procedures, I passed by an empty classroom and saw a female student practicing ballet alone inside. The light and shadow and her posture at that moment were beautiful, so I casually took a picture with my phone.
The photo was taken around 3 PM on May 17, 20XX. I didn't recognize the girl in the photo at the time, but later I found out she was a junior student two years below me named Gu Mingyan. I was surprised that this was misunderstood because many people in our school knew that Gu Mingyan was a very good ballet dancer and often practiced alone.
I still have some photos I casually took back then on my old hard drive. I'll export them and post them here. Here's a nine-grid layout; the truth will speak for itself.
Below the text are nine photos.
The first picture is the one that went viral back then.
When netizens clicked on the other eight photos, they immediately recognized Gu Mingyan, with her bright eyes, white teeth, and haughty demeanor, in the candid shots that captured her face.
[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! The front view confirms it! This is Gu Mingyan herself!]
[Those haters who said Gu Mingyan had plastic surgery to look like Meng Xian, get out here! This is what you call plastic surgery? She's clearly grown proportionally!]
No wonder Meng Xian couldn't use ballet terminology, no wonder she was evasive about the photo location. Yun Qingqing was right, she really isn't the true national school beauty.
So Meng Xian impersonated someone else for so many years using only that photo showing her profile?!
[Gu Mingyan is so pitiful. Her own halo has been stolen for so many years, and now she's being falsely accused of having plastic surgery...]
I just want to know what Jiang Mingqian's expression is, hahaha!
Meng Xian's fans immediately fell silent, and the comments in the super topic were deleted in a flash. Their previous arrogance vanished.
The online discussion about Meng Xian's identity theft incident is in full swing, with related terms dominating the top ten trending topics on various social media platforms.
Just as the public outcry reached its peak, several mainstream music platforms and video websites simultaneously launched a music video titled "Breaking the Cocoon" on their homepages.
Because the music video was tagged with the words #GuMingyan# when it was released, countless netizens clicked on it without thinking.
The music video opens with a scene in a dimly lit practice room where sweat soaks the floor. The girl repeatedly performs dance moves in front of a mirror, falling down and getting up again.
The music abruptly shifts from subdued piano notes to explosive electronic drum beats, and the visuals change accordingly—
Wearing a black stage outfit, Gu Mingyan performed a series of challenging dance moves against a futuristic, broken cityscape backdrop.
The singing parts interspersed throughout, while revealing the inexperience of a novice, showcased excellent vocal qualities and rich emotional expression, demonstrating surprising potential.
Netizens who originally came to watch the drama unfold: ? ? ?
Who is this??? Is this still the Gu Mingyan I know who can only stare blankly during acting?
[No, someone slap me to wake me up? This singing, this dancing power, this stage presence... Gu Mingyan, you're so amazing it feels like I'm from another world.]
[I'm officially a fan now! This music video is of such high quality; from the concept to the production to the performance, it's nothing like a mass-produced product from the Chinese entertainment industry.]
[It feels like her singing power could pierce through the skull! What a singing and dancing prodigy whose talent was wasted on acting!]
Wait a minute, if she's been seriously preparing for her transition to releasing music videos these past few months, then isn't there also a problem with the previous rumor about her "stealing Meng Xian's second female lead"?
With the unprecedented traffic brought by the truth about the "national school beauty" and the excellent quality of the MV itself, the data of "Breaking the Cocoon" began to climb at an alarming rate.
The number of views exceeded 10 million within minutes, and the number of reposts quickly broke through the million mark, and it is still rising rapidly.
Gu Mingyan's Weibo followers surged at an unprecedented rate, and the comment section was quickly flooded with compliments.
Just as the entire internet was immersed in the shock of Gu Mingyan's MV, another heavyweight account joined in, adding fuel to the fire of this drama.
Renowned director Sun Mo belatedly discovered the comments from Meng Xian's fans attacking him for "fawning over the rich" and "groveling to the wealthy."
This renowned director, who has always avoided fan wars and whose Weibo account primarily focuses on film promotions, was so angered that night that he went online and posted a long article on Weibo:
Recently, the casting of the second female lead in the film "Changfengdu" has sparked numerous unfounded speculations, even affecting innocent actresses. The actress and the production team are deeply troubled by this and hereby issue the following statement:
1. The role of "Lin Zhao," the second female lead in the film "Changfengdu," was never intended for Meng Xian from the very beginning of the project; rather, it was a highly promising newcomer. Therefore, rumors of her being robbed of the role are pure nonsense.
2. We have secured evidence against certain marketing accounts and groups that have been spreading rumors and maliciously attacking the production team and actors, and will resolutely pursue their legal responsibilities.
3. Regarding Ms. Gu Mingyan, who has been maliciously slandered by rumors, although I have never collaborated with her, I have recently come across her related works. Her stage presence in the "Breaking the Cocoon" MV is truly impressive.
Rumors stop with the wise, and strength proves innocence.
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Author's Note: I received so many requests for more updates last night, I almost turned into an octopus on the spot! [doge head with rose in hand] Please rest assured, dear readers, as long as I have more time to slack off that day, I will try my best to update more!
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