In the living room of their house, Yu Xinjie watched a TV series with her mother. Although they watched the new episode every single day without fail, she couldn’t concentrate on it today. Yu Xinjie kept checking Weibo time and again. In a short while, several microblogs sprang up:

【After Yu Yaoyao became famous, she never returned to her maiden family. She was so unfilial to her parents that a little bird tooted in surprise 】

【With a rich husband in hand, forgets her old mother, the actress who is in decline! 】

The corners of Yu Xinji’s mouth rose up in a smile. Yu Yaoyao was always being protected by Shen Yichong these days. But scandals and rumors were something that even he didn’t have the power to subdue once it got out. The media would drag Yu Yaoyao through the mud. She watched as this became the most searched topic. It rose to the top ten popular picks… top five… the first!

“Xiaojie, what happened?” said Zhao Mei to her daughter, seeing how happy she had become.

“Mommy! The public have caught on,” she said happily. She turned the phone screen to her mum so she could have a look too. Although some of Yu Yaoyao’s fans were adamantly insisting that they did not believe these claims, others on the internet started slandering her name for being an ungrateful brat:

【What an artist, don’t even want mom, let’s learn to be a human first! 】

【A femme fatale! 】

【Oh my God, the entertainment industry really has everything! 】

【@National Youth Communist email protected Please block these kinds of people! 】

Yu Xinjie was ecstatic, and Zhao Mei smiled. This was truly good news. But Zhao Mei saw that there were a different set of opinions cropping up now and then:

【I checked, Sister Y’s father is in his second marriage, and the current mother is not biological. So, don’t scold my sister, okay? Stepmother may have a problem with her, right? 】

【I ignored my stepmother and couldn’t accept it, so far, I only called her aunt. If my dad dies, I will never go home again! 】

【My sister Y must have a reason, don’t follow the wind without all the details! 】

Yu Xinjie saw too, that many voices were still in support of Yu Yaoyao. “Mommy don’t look at these small bunch of comments. These don’t matter,” she said to her mother, “And anyway, these people are being scolded for their narrow thinking.” Indeed, many were in support of the stepmothers not being all bad:

【The stepmother used her own dowry to buy her clothes for her birthday! Such a mother! How can she abandon her without any thought?! 】

【Stepmothers aren’t all bad. Don’t they deserve support too? Fans always have to slander the stepmom without any evidence. So vile. Please cleanse your thinking! 】

【I wish when you are old in the future, your daughter won’t come to see you either! Also, make excuses for her! 】

The public opinion is always one-sided, most of the time. They follow the mob mentality of jumping the wagon and blaming the target. Yu Xinjie’s heart was beating wildly with happiness. She sent a text to Yu Yaoyao:

‘My dear sister, do you want to come home for dinner now?’

She got a reply from Yu Yaoyao in just a few seconds. Yu Xinjie laughed. “Mummy, look!” she said, showing her phone to her mother, “She replied so fast! She is finally afraid.”

In China, filial piety was of utmost importance. The children were always expected to show respect and support to their parents. Yu Yaoyao would be slandered and shunned for being a ‘bad’ daughter even if it wasn’t true.

“Mummy, when she comes home this time, we will make her apologize for everything,” said Yu Xinjie, “You said your beauty salon is not big enough and the equipment were old. Just wait till she gets home—”

Her sentence was cut short as she opened the website to check for the comments expecting to see more people rallying to shame Yu Yaoyao. But a jarring headline faced her:

‘Maiden’s Bloodsucking Family: The celebrity cried so much that she fainted.’

Yu Xinjie’s face twitched with shock and disbelief.