I told Xiaotao I would go down to the station at once. When Dali asked me where I was going, I pointed towards the Weibo app.

Upon scrolling through, Dali cried indignantly, "How can Yi Xi distort the facts like that? Any good impression I had of the man is gone! I have to post something to save your reputation!"

"No, no, you mustn't get involved,” I said, waving my hands at him. “The mobs on the internet are terrible. Don’t involve yourself."

Dali clapped his chest and retorted, "But I can't just stand idly by as my buddy suffers. I don’t care what they say about me anyway!"

"I appreciate your kindness,” I laughed. “But we can't all fall into his trap. We need someone on the outside looking in, am I right?"

When I left my dormitory, I couldn’t fight the anxiety that I would be surrounded by a group of fans holding up their banners. In the cab, even the driver was scrolling through Weibo. "Gee,...