This director is vindictive.

Chapter 561 Seven Women Make a Drama: The Trending Topics Gone Mad After Retiring from the Entertainment Industry

The impact of this press conference continues to grow.

Chen Mo's retirement press conference was like a bombshell dropped into the entertainment industry, sending ripples through the sector. The most surreal and interesting part, however, is the controversy surrounding the "Backstabbing Cult."

Although the members of the Backstabbing Cult are ancient history, and you could even say they are fossils of the entertainment industry, Du Chun can only now jump around in 18th-tier commercial performances, and occasionally you might hear him playing a supporting role in a low-budget drama. In this respect, he should really thank Chen Mo for not wiping him out completely.

Li Cheng is even more interesting. He has now been reduced to selling alcohol via live streaming, and his already poor reputation has plummeted again due to a "fake alcohol" incident.

One of the female protectors even became the spokesperson for a counterfeit, substandard face mask sold through WeChat.

In some ways, they should even thank Chen Mo, because if Chen Mo hadn't mentioned them from time to time, everyone would have almost forgotten about them.

As for what they really think—whether they're grateful to Chen Mo or cursing Chen Mo's ancestors for eighteen generations—that's up to them to decide.

For example, Du Chun, Li Cheng, and a certain female protector—under their latest Weibo posts after this press conference, the comments were all uniformly, "Listen to me, thank you. Because of you, the four seasons are warm."

Some netizens even dug up old records and found the current situation of the members involved back then, creating an "Illustrated Guide to the Current Status of the Backstabbing Cult," with the caption: "Thanks for the backstabbing back then, which made today's legendary 'Silent God' possible."

As one netizen put it: "Do you think these people are suffering? When they ganged up to bully others back then, who would have thought that more than ten years later they would be nailed to the pillar of shame and repeatedly punished?"

Now, every time Chen Mo makes a move, they automatically become free tools for trending topics.

If you ask me, these people should be giving Chen Mo a banner that reads: "Thank you, Teacher Chen, for your long-term support, allowing us to maintain our exposure even though we're practically unknown in the entertainment industry."

Of course, nowadays, Chen Mo is an insurmountable mountain for them.

As for Chen Mo, he had long since come to regard them merely as people for his amusement.

Of course, some people criticized Chen Mo for being petty. After all these years, he's even more outrageous than a certain female celebrity who claimed to have been French kissed. However, Chen Mo responded, "No problem, I am just that petty."

However, the fact that Chen Mo is indeed retiring from acting, and that his women are also leaving the entertainment industry en masse, has a significant impact.

Many people then realized just how terrifying Chen Mo's influence was in the Chinese entertainment industry.

His past works suddenly resurfaced and became popular again afterward.

The data surged dramatically. Of course, some people were amazed, saying that Chen Mo was indeed Chen Mo; they were astonished when they saw the results.

Looking across the entire Chinese entertainment industry, it's safe to say there's no one like him.

Even the most acclaimed actors and actresses in China wouldn't dare say they've never made a bad film, let alone directors.

For example, several of today's veteran directors have made bad films to varying degrees, but Chen Mo has never made a single bad film since his debut.

But this press conference brought more than just that; some words, spoken by different people, have completely different impacts.

For example, if an ordinary person said "I'm not interested in money," probably no one would care. But when Lao Ma said it, it was completely different and became a popular internet meme.

The same applies to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo's words to fans at the press conference, "True companionship is allowing each other to grow," were quickly hailed as the golden quote of the year by major educational institutions.

In his column in the Youth Daily, Professor Wang, an education expert, specifically quoted this sentence, believing that it accurately interprets the core of a healthy idol-following relationship—both fans and idols should have the freedom to grow.

Renowned psychologist Dr. Li subsequently published a lengthy article, "Three Lessons for Growth Behind the Top Celebrity's Retirement," which analyzed the social significance of this event in detail:

Lesson 1 [Professional Boundaries]: Just as we can't expect doctors to stay young forever or athletes to win every time, the public should learn to respect the right of artists to transition to new roles. The article cites a comment from a programmer fan: "Our company tells people to retire at 35, but we expect celebrities to be singing and dancing on stage at 50. That's inherently unfair."

Lesson Two [Demystifying Idols] uses data to show that excessive idol worship can lead to "emotional exhaustion." A survey revealed that after Chen Mo announced his retirement plans, 19% of his most extreme fans experienced anxiety symptoms, the majority of whom were those who saw their idols as the "entire meaning of their lives."

Dr. Li cautioned: "When you treat others as the sun, you will live your life like a sunflower that always faces the sun—but people should be stars that can shine on their own."

The third lesson, "Self-Growth," directly quotes a comment from a montage of Chen Mo's works: "From 'Meteor Shower' to 'Cheongsam,' it's all about youth."

The article analyzes this phenomenon: "The audience cried not because Chen Mo retired, but because they suddenly realized that they had been enjoying other people's stories all these years, but forgot to write their own life script."

The article specifically praised the little girl who said, "Bald Qiang doesn't cut down trees every day," believing that this simple analogy from a child precisely reveals a common misconception among adults: "We always use past labels to bind others, but forget that everyone has the right to turn a new page in their life."

Let's rewind to the evening of the day the press conference ended.

"Hey, why do I already feel a little out of sorts even though I haven't officially retired from the entertainment industry yet?" Yang Mi said somewhat dejectedly.

Chen Mo reached out and pulled her into his arms, then playfully pinched her nose, saying, "I told you before, there was no need for you to back down."

"The main problem is that I've been living in the spotlight for so many years, and suddenly having to step back is hard to adjust to. Although I could switch to working behind the scenes, but..." Yang Mi said with a touch of melancholy, resting her face on Chen Mo's shoulder.

Zhang Yuqi, who was sitting cross-legged on the wool carpet in the villa's living room, scrolling through her tablet, suddenly lit up her eyes when she heard Yang Mi's words and leaned closer.

"How about it, Honey, sisters, we're all just killing time anyway, why don't we form a 'retired girls' live-streaming team'?" Her eyes were frighteningly bright.

"No way? Sister Yuqi, are you serious? You're really going to do live-streaming e-commerce?" Zhao Liying looked at Zhang Yuqi in astonishment.

Everyone else looked surprised as well.

They had thought that Zhang Yuqi was just talking at the press conference, but they never expected that this fierce woman would actually do it for real.

"So what? Are we really going to retire from the entertainment industry and become housewives? Besides, we're not old yet. Are we really going to never show our faces again? Even for the sake of our fans who have supported us for so many years, we can't just disappear without a trace," Zhang Yuqi said nonchalantly.

“Anyway, Master Chen is still busy with his ‘Silent Era Project’ all day long. We can’t really keep succulents at home, can we?” Zhang Yuqi said, then looked at Jing Tian.

Chen Mo glared at her irritably, but the tiger-woman wasn't afraid at all. Instead, she returned his glare with a charming smile.

Yang Mi straightened up from Chen Mo's embrace.

With a joking expression, he retorted, "Have you forgotten about that time you argued with netizens about whether I've gained weight or not during your last live stream, which went viral?"

"That was an accident!" Zhang Yuqi immediately bristled.

"Besides, I wasn't fat to begin with, okay? Ugh, that's not the point. The point is, we've retired from the entertainment industry, which just means we're not acting anymore, not that we're never going to show our faces again. We sisters are the top-tier actresses in the entertainment industry. If we're going to do something, let's do something big. If you ask me, let's just jump into the live streaming arena together and turn the world upside down!" Zhang Yuqi looked ambitious.

"Director Chen, what do you think of my idea?" Zhang Yuqi suddenly looked at Chen Mo with a threatening gaze, as if to say, "If you dare to object, you'll be sorry."

What can Chen Mo say?
Although the tiger women's threats were meaningless, Chen Mo still cooperated and said, "I think, I think it's perfectly fine. Of course, it mainly depends on your own thoughts."

After receiving Chen Mo's affirmation, Zhang Yuqi continued to encourage him.

"This time we're going big! Tian Tian can sell her limited-edition cheongsams, Yi Fei can teach classical dance, and Li Ying can organize a cooking challenge—"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, and suddenly hugged Gao Yuanyuan from behind: "Yuanyuan, you're in charge of being the visual representative. Netizens love to see you make a fool of yourself when you're all gentle and sweet!"

"Ahem, but won't people say we're just retiring but not actually working?" Liu Yifei suddenly asked weakly.

"Hey, Yifei, how can you say that? Okay, even if it is, so what? I'm just being willful, so what?" Zhang Yuqi let go of Gao Yuanyuan and put her arm around Liu Yifei's shoulder like a buddy.

Zhao Liying suddenly poked her head out from the kitchen: "I have a better idea!"

She held up a jar of pickled vegetables that was being pickled: "How about we take turns being the main host each week, and the other six people are the assistant hosts? For example, this week we'll sell agricultural products, and next week we'll sell domestic cosmetics."

Jing Tian's eyes suddenly lit up: "We can also link up with Chen Mo's director fund! Ten lucky viewers will be drawn during each live stream, and the winners can bring their scripts to participate in the new director audition!"

Chen Mo opened his mouth wide as Yang Mi, who had previously been reluctant to criticize Zhang Yuqi, joined the discussion.

I watched as seven women gathered around a tablet, chattering away.

Chen Mo was completely overwhelmed. Good heavens, this was truly terrible.

These tiger women are really something else; they'll climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles if you don't discipline them for three days.

"Ahem, you guys aren't really going to..." Chen Moren couldn't help but ask.

However, Zhang Yuqi rushed over and covered his mouth, winking at her friends: "Objection overruled!"

Chen Mo wasn't really against it. Seeing the group of women looking like they'd been given a second wind in their careers, he was actually quite happy.

As for things like a live stream mishap, he really doesn't care.

As long as they are happy.

The thing that Zuo You's family has in abundance is money.

However, Chen Mo couldn't help but shake his head. They were already among the top actresses in the entertainment industry.

If they really break into the live streaming industry, wow, that's a complete game-changer!

Don't believe what many people say, that the ultimate goal for celebrities is live-streaming e-commerce. In reality, how many truly mainstream celebrities have you actually seen doing live-streaming e-commerce?

Even if there are any, many of them follow the route of large platforms.

(End of this chapter)