Against the Light - Chapter 43
Chapter 43: Fierce and of Few Words
On the set of Yu Hua's new film, shooting was scheduled to begin the following week. The crew was busy arranging the scenery, and the atmosphere was lively with the sound of chatter and laughter.
"Hey, hey, look what just popped up on my feed! Gu Xinran is actually livestreaming plastic surgery!"
"What? Damn, that's just shameless. Does she think any publicity is good publicity?"
"Hold on, don't be so quick to judge. She's not getting surgery, it looks like she's there to confront the hospital."
"Confront them? What do you mean? Was the plastic surgery story fake?"
"Mmm, could be. Come watch with me."
Casting Director Zheng Ying overheard and came closer. She had a rather good impression of Gu Xinran, mainly because her acting was truly superb.
Just then, Gu Xinran's voice came from the phone, telling the doctor to "change her face back." The group looked completely baffled, their interest instantly piqued.
When Fang Jinghai and Qu Qi saw that Xinran had started her head-on confrontation, they couldn't be bothered with anything else and quickly slipped inside.
When Fang Yi saw Fang Jinghai, she shot her a meaningful look. Fang Jinghai took out her phone and saw a text message from Fang Yi. Though a bit confused, she obediently did as instructed and immediately ran off.
Inside the hospital, after seeing Gu Xinran reveal her true face, Dr. Zheng's expression became incredibly strange.
Gu Xinran studied him but had no memory of the man whatsoever.
"This Dr. Zheng… you look a bit unfamiliar. Did you really perform this surgery?" Gu Xinran asked with a smile.
"Of course, it was me. You were under anesthesia at the time, so it's perfectly normal not to remember the doctor."
"Oh." Gu Xinran nodded in realization. "Then could you tell me in detail what procedures I had done? There were so many, I can't quite remember."
"You-you stop causing trouble here! I'm calling security."
Gu Xinran frowned. "I did get this face done here, after all. Why can't I even ask about it?"
The onlookers recognized Gu Xinran and instantly crowded around. As more and more people gathered to watch the spectacle, Dr. Zheng was clearly becoming flustered.
"You… What exactly are you trying to do?"
Gu Xinran shot him a sidelong glance. In her peripheral vision, she saw Fang Jinghai hurrying back, carrying a projector. She immediately turned her head to look at Fang Yi.
Fang Yi shoved her phone into Fang Jinghai's hands, took the projector, pulled a laptop from her backpack, and placed it on the reception desk. She connected the projector, and an image lit up the white wall.
Fang Jinghai stared blankly at this series of actions. Gu Xinran lifted a finger and pointed, and only then did Fang Jinghai belatedly project her phone's screen.
"Actually, I'm also quite curious how I transformed from my 'pre-surgery' self to my 'post-surgery' self. Let's all take a look together," Gu Xinran said, then shoved her hands in her pockets and watched with an air of detachment.
Fang Yi was a woman of action, not words. She glanced at the projection screen, then began working on the laptop. She placed the 'before' and 'after' photos side by side for comparison, then opened an editing program. Importing the 'after' photo, she began to modify it—raising the cheekbones, squaring the jawline, erasing the double eyelids, flattening the bridge of the nose…
Under her skilled hands, Gu Xinran's photo gradually began to resemble the 'before' picture. Finally, she selected a sallow, yellowish color with a brush tool and added a few strokes to the image.
Finally, she placed the modified photo next to the original 'before' photo. They were nearly identical.
"Hiss…" A collective gasp went through the lobby.
Fang Yi glanced back, looking rather satisfied.
Gu Xinran nodded at her, then turned her gaze to Dr. Zheng.
"My assistant's photo editing skills are pretty decent, wouldn't you say?" she asked with a smile.
The doctor's face flushed with anger. "Stop this nonsense! Security!"
"Don't be so hasty. Keep watching." Gu Xinran gave Fang Yi a look. Fang Yi stepped forward and randomly pulled a woman from the crowd. "Miss, what procedure are you here for?"
"Uh, I want to get double eyelid surgery."
"Pardon the intrusion." Fang Yi took out her phone, snapped a picture of the woman, and uploaded it to the laptop. Then, in front of everyone, she began to edit the photo.
She made three copies of the woman's photo. On one, she slightly enlarged the eyes and added double eyelids. Another was the untouched original. For the third, she used the same method as before, editing it until she had transformed the pleasant-looking young woman into someone with a sallow complexion, lifeless eyes, and a wide, flat face instead of an oval one. The young woman was absolutely furious.
"This," Fang Yi said, dragging the photo with the beautiful double eyelids into view, "is your 'post-surgery' photo."
"And this," she continued, dragging over the hideously altered picture, "is your 'pre-surgery' photo."
"As for this one." Fang Yi clicked on the original photo. "Sorry, it no longer exists." With a click, she deleted it.
"What do you mean by that?!" the young woman exploded.
Fang Yi spread her hands. "If you became this beautiful just from a simple double eyelid procedure, how would that highlight the superb skills of our hospital's doctors?"
"Besides, you had work done anyway. So, of course, the story of what you looked like before surgery is more credible coming from our hospital."
"You say you had good features to begin with? Sorry, all I see is that you had plastic surgery," Fang Yi stated calmly.
"You! You're just being a shameless liar! Let everyone see for themselves, am I really that ugly?"
"Sorry, but compared to your rebuttal, I'm more inclined to believe this photo."
"I! You…" The young woman looked like she was about to cry from anger.
"I'm sorry, I was just making an example. Please forgive the offense." Fang Yi quickly deleted both photos. Gu Xinran also hurried over, gave the young woman a slight bow, and offered an apology.
Then, she turned to face the camera.
"I did this simply to ask everyone to be a little more rational and not to blindly follow the crowd. In this day and age, seeing isn't always believing," Gu Xinran said.
"Damn, what kind of awful hospital is this? It's terrifying! If I got surgery and they used a photo like that to slander me, how could I even face the world? What would everyone around me think?"
"Exactly, that's just too scary!!"
"This hospital is so unscrupulous! To actually use such tactics to slander someone!"
"I can't even imagine how they'd distort my appearance. It's disgusting!!"
The crowd of onlookers was stunned by this audacious demonstration, and they all turned to look at the hospital staff with disgust.
"Don't believe their nonsense! Gu Xinran really did look like that before her surgery. She's only maliciously slandering our hospital to clear her own name!" Dr. Zheng gestured for everyone to calm down.
The words had barely left his mouth when another voice cut in…
"Dr. Zheng, so you found the time to get some work done yourself?" Having a moment to spare while the crowd was agitated, Fang Yi had snapped a picture of Dr. Zheng's 'Outstanding Employee' photo on the wall and edited it. In the new image, Dr. Zheng had thinning hair, triangular eyes, a flat nose, a square jaw, and a downturned mouth. The entire photo looked shockingly natural; her editing skills were truly a sight to behold.
"Oh, you used to be bald? Where'd you get the hair transplant?" Fang Yi asked with a grin, propping her chin on her hand.
The crowd burst into laughter, and some people even raised their phones to snap a picture of his 'pre-surgery' photo.
"Stop spouting nonsense! I've never had plastic surgery! You're violating my right to my own image! I'll sue you!" Dr. Zheng shouted, pointing at Fang Yi in a flustered rage.
"Don't be ridiculous. The proof of surgery is right here. I have evidence, so why would I be afraid of you?" Fang Yi pulled up another image: a plastic surgery certificate for Dr. Zheng, complete with the hospital's official seal.
"You! You're framing me! You…"
Fang Yi shrugged and spread her hands.
"Quiet down!" an irritable male voice boomed from the entrance, and the noisy crowd instantly fell silent.
"Director, they're here to cause trouble!" Dr. Zheng, as if grasping at a lifeline, immediately pushed through the crowd to the director's side.
Seeing that the man in charge had arrived, Gu Xinran let her smile fade. She squinted, sizing up the director, and her heart skipped a beat. The man… he looked vaguely familiar.
The director's eyes immediately fell on the projection of Dr. Zheng's 'surgery photo' on the wall. He shot a glare at Fang Yi, rolling his eyes in anger, before turning to address the crowd.
"Everyone, I am the director of this hospital. Please rest assured, our institution would never deliberately defame others for self-promotion. That would be a gross violation of medical ethics!"
"So you didn't defame anyone? Then what about fabricating plastic surgery records?" Fang Yi asked.
"We have never fabricated any information. This woman did, in fact, have plastic surgery at our hospital. That is the absolute truth."
The crowd erupted in another uproar. Seeing the director's sincere expression, they were once again unsure who to believe.
"Then does publicly leaking a patient's surgical records not violate medical ethics?" Gu Xinran took Fang Jinghai's phone, opened Weibo, and pulled up the post with the surgery information.
"Let's assume for a moment that I did have surgery here. It is still an indisputable fact that you maliciously leaked my private information." Gu Xinran turned to the crowd. "A hospital that could leak a patient's private information at any time for its own gain—is that really a place you can trust?"
"You…" The director and Dr. Zheng exchanged a glance.
"You leaked my surgical records and gained a massive amount of publicity from it. Shouldn't you be paying me an endorsement fee?" Gu Xinran chuckled.
"Sister Ran, did you really have plastic surgery?" someone in the crowd asked.
"Yeah, is it true?"
Gu Xinran thought for a moment. "I'd like to ask that myself. Director, I want to see my file. You must keep records for every patient, right? Let me see exactly what work I had done. It's been so long, I honestly don't remember."
"No, patient files are strictly confidential."
"!? I can't even see my own file?!"
"What kind of hospital is this? You can't see your own file, but they can leak it to the public?" The director's words successfully ignited the crowd's indignation.
"Exactly, that's outrageous! Why can't she see her own file? I bet it's because you don't have one to show!"
"Unscrupulous hospital! Give us a refund!"
"Refund! Refund!"
The crowd was seething with anger. Gu Xinran pursed her lips with a look of feigned helplessness. Well, now she didn't even have to clear her own name; everyone could see there was a problem with the hospital.
The director whispered "call security" to the person beside him, then turned to leave without a moment's hesitation.
However, before he reached the door, his path was blocked.
Qu Qi stood there, hands in her pockets, looking impossibly cool.
"On behalf of Light & Shadow Entertainment, I am formally filing a lawsuit against your hospital. First, for the malicious defamation of our artist, which has damaged the reputation of both our company and the artist herself. Second, for leaking our artist's private information, causing her extreme distress. And third, for gaining attention and profiting by damaging our artist's reputation. Director, you can wait for the court summons." Qu Qi smiled at him, her expression completely harmless.
【Damn, this manager is such a cool sister!!】
【What a scummy hospital, so disgusting. Sister Ran is amazing, that was a beautiful takedown!! The photo editor was right, photos are evidence. So many people think seeing is believing, but the sad thing is, what you see might be something maliciously fabricated by others! Don't blindly follow the crowd and be used as a weapon by the haters!!】
【Ahhhhhh, hyping up Sister Ran!!】
【Am I the only one who thinks that photo-editing miss is amazing?】
【Damn, what kind of god-tier photo editor is that! I've never seen her before, is she Sister Ran's new assistant? She's so freaking awesome, I want one!】
【Ahhhhhh Sister Ran is awesome!!】
【I was thinking of getting some minor work done, but this scared me out of it. If you really run into an unscrupulous hospital like this and they leak your personal info, that would be really upsetting. It feels like someone has leverage over you, it's just gross.】
【Seconding the comment above, sisters who want plastic surgery, please think twice!】
【I'm liking Sister Ran more and more. So many people slander her, but she never just talks crap, she just slaps them in the face with facts. Fierce and of few words! This personality is totally my style!】
【Sisters, let's get Sister Ran trending and vindicate her!!】
【Go go go—it's been on the trending list for so many days, if we don't promote this properly, it'll be a real disservice to all those haters!】
【Wuwuwu sisters, I saw Sister Ran up close, she's so beautiful, I want to snatch her away wuwuwu】
【Haters, really, stop trying to slander Gu Xinran. You can't win against her. You get your faces slapped every day, it's embarrassing just to watch.】
【Seconded. I've seen plenty of dirt on Gu Xinran these days, but none of it has stuck. Instead, she's just getting more and more popular. Are you sure you guys aren't reverse-hyping her??】
【Say no more. Scummy hospital, please give us an explanation.】
On Weibo, public sentiment was equally furious. This time, it wasn't just Gu Xinran's fans who were up in arms; the casual onlookers who had watched the livestream were enraged as well. Through this incident, they naturally cast Gu Xinran as the victim and began to denounce the hospital, demanding an explanation!
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