Before the two women could speak more about the way to go about the design project, Hu Lei's phone rang. She dug the device out from the cushions with a frown. When she realised that it was Bo Qian, her frown became deeper.

"Hello. What's up?" She asked curtly.

"Hu Lei, have you been online?" The man sounded anxious.

"Mmmh… No, I have been busy. Is this about forgetting to create a post? I will get to it at some point." She asked rolling her eyes.

"We have more serious concerns." He paused. "It's a rather complicated matter, but your reputation is currently not looking too good."

"What do you mean?" She could not understand what he was implying.

"You should probably check on it yourself. Meanwhile, I will think about what to do." Bo Qian wanted to explain, but he did not know how to talk about the incident over the phone.

"Don't do anything for now. Let me find out what is going on." Hu Lei did not bother asking him for more information.

After hanging up, she looked at Beatrice.

"It seems our design project has to wait for a little longer."

Beatrice looked at her employer in concern. She had not been eaves dropping, but she could hear a few things since she was not too far from Hu Lei.

"Is there a problem? Perhaps I can help." She offered.

She was hoping for a chance to shine. From what she could see, Hu Lei was not planning on relying on her too much. If she could prove useful, perhaps Hu Lei would give her more responsibilities. There was no opportunity to small.

"Apparently, I have a bad reputation." She looked amused. "Can you find out what is being said and the source of the problem?"

Hu Lei had become somewhat familiar with social media, but she could not be called an expert. She was essentially like at the level of an auntie who had just learnt about social media. She knew the basics but she could not use it for complex things. Therefore, it would be better if someone else could dig.

"What am I looking for?" Beatrice dug out a slim tablet from her bag.

"I think the keywords should be Little Ninja Cat, The Queen of the Apocalypse and my name." It was better to be thorough.

Hu Lei did not feel like it would be efficient for both of them to look into the matter. So, she instead logged into the official Sonata website and checked the discussion forums. If her online reputation was bad, there would be something there. At the top, there were official announcements, including her return and the schedule for the release of her old books.

She did not bother checking on these. Instead, she turned to the readers' discussions. There were multiple topics on Little Ninja Cat. It could be said that she was trending. Unfortunately, they all seemed negative. Some seemed to be positive but on looking closer, there were hidden thorns.

She clicked on 'LNC is back?' since it seemed to have the longest discussion.

[I just learned that Little Ninja Cat is making a comeback. I used to be a fan, but right now, I do not feel like I can keep supporting this author. What does she take her fans for? Does she think that people will continue supporting her when she treats everyone so irresponsibly? What do you think?]

[She said in that TQA conference that she was away for personal reasons.]

[Is that even a good excuse? Isn't that what people say when they have nothing else to explain?]

[Three years is a long time. We cannot simply accept her, or all the other writers will begin behaving equally irresponsibly.]

[I don't even care about the excuse. What bothers me is how she has created so much hype just a few days after her first appearance into the public. I would have liked her more if she did not try to become a celebrity.]

Hu Lei read on the comments with an incredulous look on her face. She did know the right response. More importantly, she had not made an attempt to become a celebrity. She only wanted to build up her reputation a little for her own goals and future.

She checked up on other topics about herself, but they had the same complaints in different words. The latest one was titled 'Do you ship LNC and Bei Gong Hai?' and the topic was very popular. Hu Lei's face became dark.

[Has everyone seen the photo of Bei Gong Hai and the freshly revealed LNC? There are speculations that they might be together. Otherwise, why would he promote her? I thought it was weird when I heard that the writer of TQA had been finally revealed. But if you think about it, this could be the reason.]

[Don't put the Timeless Lord together with that irresponsible author. He is only promoting her for the sake of the movie. She is taking advantage to build up her fame. I am not going to read her books anymore.]

[I agree with the person upstairs. Bei Gong Hai has always been a professional. That author could learn one or two things.]

Hu Lei sighed in exasperation as she continued to read. It seemed that her reputation was worse than she had imagined. But what did this have to do with Bei Gong Hai? She did not feel comfortable with being put in a random CP.

"Have you found out the source of the problem?" She turned to Beatrice.

"It seems that Bei Gong Hai praised Little Ninja Cat and even posted a photo of you at a conference on his public social account. He also liked and reposted a fan's photo of you two in Maven Resort. It seems that this attracted a lot of negative attention to you from the netizens." Beatrice explained.

"Why?" Hu Lei was baffled.

"You must be the only person in Supreme City who does not follow news on Bei Gong Hai. He is known to be a pure pool of water. He is a consummate professional without scandals. Moreover, he is not arrogant."

Hu Lei thought back to her short interactions with Bei Gong Hai. Was this really the case? He did not seem like a bad person. However, she would not go as far as calling him a pure pool of water. He was definitely someone who had numerous tricks and knew manipulation.

"Shouldn't they be mad at him for ruining his image?" It had nothing to do with her.

Beatrice looked at the naïve Hu Lei and shook her head as realised that this simple question was asked in earnest.

"You do not understand fans. In their eyes, their idols can do no wrong. If it's anyone's fault, it's the other party's. They most likely assume that he has been forced to create a CP with you for the sake of TQA." She paused. "Moreover, the fact that you were at a resort with him has caused people to assume the worst."

Hu Lei felt that this matter was too complicated and utterly nonsensical.

"Miss Hu, can I speak freely?" Beatrice asked.

Hu Lei waved a hand casually in assent.

"I believe that someone is manipulating the public opinion."