Normally, once Shen Yeqing finished unwrapping his gift, it should have been the next person's turn.
But the others clearly had no intention of leaving it at that.
"Xie Mi, did you really paint this?" Xiao Jingxi asked out of nowhere.
He had known Xie Mi for so long, yet he had never known she could paint, let alone with such exquisite skill.
There was no way Xie Mi had painted this.
It wasn't just Xiao Jingxi. Plenty of viewers were questioning it in the comments, too.
The haters seized the opportunity to stir things up.
[Xie Mi didn't paint it. She bought it. I've seen this painting in a shop before.]
[Guess why they stopped filming early yesterday? So they wouldn't have to film Xie Mi "painting," hahaha.]
[Yeah, she just bought a painting and pretended she painted it herself. I just don't get why she's trying to build this artist persona. Is she planning a career pivot?]
[I work at a media company, and we've worked with Xie Mi's agency, so I know some inside info. Her agency's strategy right now is to have her act goofy on shows to grab attention, then pivot once she's popular enough. After that, she gets to go back to acting, while her fans are the only idiots getting strung along.]
The haters muddied the waters with all sorts of claims, successfully misleading some casual viewers who didn't know the truth. They, too, began flooding the livestream with question marks and demanding an explanation.
On the show, Xiao Jingxi continued questioning her.
"I don't think there's anything shameful about buying a painting, but you can't insist someone else's work is yours."
Xiao Jingxi's brows furrowed tightly, as if he were disappointed. "Xie Mi, how could you lie?"
All trace of amusement had