Reborn Rich: Prices Dropped, My Savings Didn't

It was a message from James Lockwood. Cecilia Sterling’s expression instinctively turned serious; she immediately guessed it was about her younger sister.

Sure enough, as she slowly made sense of the long message from James Lockwood, her expression grew even darker.

"What’s wrong?"

Estelle Goodman noticed Cecilia Sterling’s troubled expression and couldn’t help but lean in to ask.

Cecilia Sterling handed the phone to Estelle Goodman, letting her see for herself.

Estelle Goodman had followed celebrities for years. Though she wasn’t active in any fandoms, she was well aware of some of their more bizarre behaviors.

"This kind of extreme behavior from obsessive fans is rare. The important thing is that she’s okay," Estelle Goodman said, trying to comfort Cecilia and ease her worries.

Cecilia Sterling wasn’t one to dwell on things, but since this involved her younger sister, she was bound to be a little angry.

But she also knew such incidents were uncontrollable. Especially in the entertainment industry, nothing should come as a surprise.

James Lockwood’s attitude was sincere, and he had sent Connie over with security, promising that her younger sister’s personal safety would never be threatened again. She had no reason to be angry with him.

Besides, it wasn’t his fault.

After a moment of thought, Cecilia Sterling sighed. ’Whose fault was it, anyway? Nobody’s. No one wanted this to happen, and no one could control it.’

Once you become a public figure, you’re exposed to over a billion people. No one can control the personal actions of that many individuals.

"You go ahead and eat. I’m going to video call my sister," Cecilia Sterling said. She took her phone, walked over to the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window, and started a video call with Lily Sterling.

The call connected. Judging by the background, Lily Sterling was already in the dressing room, having her makeup done.

"Sis!"

Upon seeing her older sister, Lily Sterling called out sweetly. Judging by the sound of her voice, nothing seemed to be wrong.

Cecilia Sterling smiled faintly. "I heard about what happened this morning. You must have been scared, huh?"

Lily Sterling was taken aback. "You found out that quickly?"

Then, she put on a smile to reassure her sister. "I’m fine, Sis. I was scared at the time, but I’m over it now."

Her younger sister was guileless and a terrible liar. Seeing that she seemed perfectly fine, Cecilia Sterling believed her.

’This industry is like Grandview Garden; anything can happen. No matter how far I try to reach, there will always be times I can’t protect her. There are some situations and some things she has to face on her own. She’ll have to grow up eventually.’

「That afternoon, the story hit the trending topics as expected.」

First, passersby and the obsessive fans posted the morning’s ridiculous videos across major platforms.

Then, these obsessive fans began a coordinated campaign, openly demanding an explanation from Andrew Sutton’s agency and team: Why did they let him film a kiss scene?!

Immediately after, Andrew Sutton’s agency issued a public statement. It concisely stated that filming kiss scenes was a necessary part of an actor’s career and a basic professional requirement. The agency also condemned the extreme behavior of certain obsessive fans, declaring they had crossed the line between fan and idol. Lastly, it apologized to Lily Sterling, who had been innocently embroiled in the incident.

Of course, the obsessive fans weren’t buying it. They flooded Lily Sterling’s social media accounts to launch a large-scale campaign of comment-bombing and boycotts. They even started a petition demanding the crew replace the actress playing "Flora," attempting to drive Lily Sterling out of the production.

However, Lily Sterling’s fans were no pushovers. With a fanbase of over seven million across all platforms, their numbers completely dwarfed those of Andrew Sutton’s obsessive fans.

Lily Sterling’s fans began to speak out for their idol, engaging in heated arguments with these haters across all major social platforms.

Soon, the couple’s shippers for Lily Sterling and Andrew Sutton, as well as Andrew’s rational fans, joined the "Anti-Hater Brigade," chasing down the obsessive fans online to call them out. The situation quickly reversed. Not only was Lily completely unaffected, but she also gained the sympathy and affection of tens of millions of netizens for being an innocent victim and for the footage showing her being cornered and harassed.

As related topics exploded online, Lily Sterling’s total fanbase across all platforms actually surpassed 10 million because of the incident!

The promotional team for Heavenly Destiny as Phoenix seized the opportunity, striking while the iron was hot. They released a short behind-the-scenes clip from the previous day’s kiss scene. The clip didn’t show them actually kissing, only the part where they gazed deeply into each other’s eyes. It cut off the exact moment their lips were about to meet, leaving everyone in suspense.

The shippers were celebrating as if it were a national holiday!

Their career-focused fans were even exclaiming, "Our baby is all grown up! She can do kissing scenes now!"

The butterfly effect quickly followed. Related keywords like "Lily Sterling," "Andrew Sutton," and "Heavenly Destiny as Phoenix" all shot up the trending lists, once again dominating the rankings.

The day’s events, which had started as a ridiculous incident and evolved into an internet-wide celebration, had taken a turn no one could have predicted.

Drake scrolled through the trending topics with a goofy grin on his face. ’Does this count as me contributing to the cause? It feels like it had nothing to do with me, but then again, maybe it did.’

The rest of the team was naturally thrilled as well. Andrew’s public profile had soared once again because of the incident. Marketing plans the team had previously racked their brains over had never achieved this kind of result.

It truly was a case of trying to force a flower that won’t bloom, while a casually planted willow grows to provide shade!

Everyone on set was also glued to the trending topics online. Seeing how well things were turning out, they were all delighted.

With a few exceptions, of course.

Jessica Reynolds, for instance.

Ever since James Lockwood had warned her, Jessica Reynolds had been keeping a much lower profile. It was mainly because she had no other choice; stuck on set, she was powerless to make any moves. She just posted fun tidbits from the set every day as a way to get some exposure, but compared to the production’s official promotions, the results were worlds apart.

And now, Lily Sterling’s name was exploding on the trending lists again. A newcomer who hadn’t even debuted had already dominated the charts twice in a row. How could she possibly accept that?

The more she scrolled, the angrier she got, and the more stifled she felt. Finally, with a SMACK, she slammed her phone face down on the vanity, making the makeup artist flinch.

Her team members fell silent, not daring to speak for fear of becoming the target of her anger.

Suzanne Sawyer was so jealous she wanted to scream. When she first saw the news, she’d been gloating. She never expected the public opinion to completely shift in less than an hour. She didn’t get to see Lily Sterling getting torn apart by Andrew Sutton’s fans. Instead, everyone was defending Lily. The haters’ voices grew quieter and quieter until they disappeared completely, like a stone sinking into the ocean.

Meanwhile, Lily Sterling’s total fanbase across all platforms had surpassed ten million.

’And her? She had 12,000 followers on X, and 10,000 of those were bought. On Tiktok, she had fewer than 800 fans.’

It was at this moment that Suzanne Sawyer suddenly realized that she and Lily Sterling were no longer in the same league. It seemed she was no longer even qualified to be compared to Lily.

"Oh my gosh, Lily, there really are more good people in the world! Look, besides the accounts with your fan badges, all these other random people are speaking up for you."

Yuna said with a gratified expression, excitedly holding her phone as she watched the tide of public opinion online.

Lily Sterling nodded with a small smile. The gloom in her heart was swept away, and the fear from the morning’s incident now completely vanished, dispelled by the kindness of strangers.