บท 39: Chapter 39 – Blackspots and PR~
Translator: Vian
Editing: namio, celes (Say hello to the new editors~)
This encounter in the club naturally ended on bad terms.
After Ling Zhen left, smirking, Han Yanghao threw the cards in his hands onto the table and sat on the sofa, his expression cold with his arms crossed. After a while, he went out to call his assistant and whispered a few words to him. Another ten minutes later, he returned to the room and continued playing cards with his friends.
On Friday night, all working society members finally ushered in a rare day off and could hole up at home for a good rest. But for many drama fans, tonight wasn't just an ordinary Friday night, but also the day of the "Vie for Supremacy" finale.
Numerous viewers planted themselves in front of the TV earlier, making various posts with the tag #VieforSupremacyBigFinale while waiting for the big finale to air.
Liu Qinqin was one of them.
"Vie for Supremacy" had already been airing for more than a month now. Liu Qinqin came to like Huo Xi because of "Ambush" but later became Rong Xu's diehard fan. She originally watched "Vie for Supremacy" for her family's male god, but now, although Rong Xu's role, Wanqi Yao, had already died long ago, Liu Qinqin persisted on and became a loyal viewer of "Vie for Supremacy".
Not to mention, after Wanqi Yao's death, "Vie for Supremacy" would often mention Wanqi Yao's name from time to time, and there would even be a couple of snippets with Wanqi Yao! Sometimes, they would be from Xiao Xiang and Xie Jingxian's memories, and sometimes, they would come from Dongli Lan's self-blame.
Every time, Liu Qinqin would be so excited that she couldn't contain herself and hated that she couldn't pull at the screenwriter's clothes, begging them to give Wanqi Yao more scenes.
But there were no banquets in the world that did not end. "Vie for Supremacy" would finally end tonight.
In the last episode, the second male lead, Dongli Lan, played by Ye Qiao, fell into a trap prepared by Xiao Xiang. Liang Empire was defeated and lost the Yan Mountains. Without the Yan Mountains' natural barrier, Liang Empire was in a crisis. In tonight's finale, Chu State, under the right time and entirely favorable conditions, completely captured Liang Empire and seized the throne of the world.
The endings for many drama series were obvious, but people would still watch them with gusto. For example, in romance films, the male and female lead would definitely end up together, but how they ended up together and what happened between them were all key points that attracted the audience.
In the last two episodes, Chu State's army marched south and invaded the Liang Empire. The mighty army was like a majestic, iron-blooded lion reconquering the land it had lost, capturing the enemy country that had looked down on them for nine years.
At the end of the war, Xie Jingxian was enthroned as the Emperor, but Xiao Xiang did not take off her armor. She was the Empress, but more than that, she was Chu State's General Xiao.
As for Dongli Lan, after he lost his country, he stood on top of Wan Qiu Pavilion, staring into the distance at Chu State's seizure of Liang Empire's capital. He silently watched as the enemy's war flag was inserted at the top of the imperial palace, then he suddenly jumped down from the top of Wang Qiu Pavilion, plunging into the ice-cold Yun Meng Lake, killing himself.
Everyone had the ending they should have gotten. Chu State became the biggest winner in this decade-long war.
Liu Qinqin watched, still wanting the drama to continue and was reluctant for it to end. When the familiar background music of the ending song started, she was still immersed in the atmosphere and didn't come to her senses for a while. But not long later, she sent out a post, emotionally expressing——
[#VieforSupremacy #LanYao That "I'm sorry" the Crown Prince said before he died was definitely meant for Yaoyao. If the Crown Prince didn't leave Wan Qiu Pavilion ten years ago then there would be no war between the Liang Empire and Chu State, there wouldn't be Yaoyao's three chess games, and there definitely wouldn't be any of the things that happened later. "Vie for Supremacy" is a good watch, what I admire most is Xiao Xiang's free and unrestrained personality and what I loved most is Yaoyao's bright and intelligent character. Today, I also want to confess to @Rong Xu! I will love Rongrong forever ah ah ah!!!]
After making the post, Liu Qinqin refreshed that day's hot topics in the passing. Suddenly! She saw Rong Xu's name! And on this hot topic, Rong Xu's name was followed by familiar yet unfamiliar words——
#RongXuBlackClouds
That's right, at 9 o'clock in the evening, during "Vie for Supremacy" big finale, a well-known marketing account in the entertainment circle released an unconfirmed insider's information.
[Entertainment Circle's Gossip King: According to an inside source, a certain recently-popular fresh meat has been filming in a movie that has first-rate cast and crew since last month and is playing a music superstar that had died a few years ago. The drama series that fresh meat acted in just had its finale tonight and the ratings are bursting through the skies! Such a promising future ah!]
This marketing account had more than six hundred thousand fans, so as soon as this post came out, in just three minutes, some people already started ridiculing it.
[Definitely an exaggeration, a small fresh meat in a first-rate movie? Which small fresh meat?]
[Must be fake info, I haven't heard of any recent big production movies with first-rate cast and crew ah.]
But after a few more minutes, someone suddenly thought——
[Wait! First-rate cast and crew… It's true that there hasn't been any huge investment movies, but isn't "Black Clouds" currently filming?! "Black Clouds" invited a lot of famous names to guest star, this should be considered a first-rate cast right. A music superstar that passed away a few years ago… it must be talking about Ling Xiao! Music King Ling Xiao! And the drama series that ended tonight and have high ratings… could it be "Vie for Supremacy"?!]
The first reaction of all the netizens was——
[Dong Zheng is actually playing Ling Xiao?!]
One can't blame the netizens for thinking it's Dong Zheng. Dong Zheng was the male lead of "Vie for Supremacy", was very popular, and also has good acting skills. He had also acted in a movie before, although the box office was only so-so.
But soon, Dong Zheng's fans expressed:[Of course not, my family's Master is still filming in "Hunting" crew today, there's even news about it! ]
Since it wasn't Dong Zheng, then could it be Ye Qiao?
Ye Qiao's fans immediately stood up:[My family's Master is participating in an event in New York, there are pictures from the red carpet!]
If it's not Dong Zheng or Ye Qiao…
These two were the two biggest young male stars in "Vie for Supremacy". Since it wasn't them, then who else could it be? The third male lead Song Mingfei? The supporting male character Rong Xu?
Not long after, the netizens ruled out the possibility of it being Song Mingfei. Extremely coincidentally, there was a reality show this morning that officially announced that they invited Song Mingfei to the show as a guest. If Song Mingfei was really acting in "Black Clouds", then how could he have the time to participate in a reality show? He couldn't possibly make a bunch of big coffee seats adjust their schedules just to accommodate him filming a reality show.
Then, there was only Rong Xu left.
[My family's Rongrong as Ling Xiao? It can't be…]
[Haha Rongrong is starring in "Black Clouds"? How can it be possible, I was even betting with some others two days ago that it's Jiao Jingshan starring in "Black Clouds". Jiao Jingshan is more suitable ah, Rongrong… is a bit too young.]
Young?
Actually, him being young wasn't the problem, but that his qualifications were too shallow!
Rong Xu had just debuted last summer. His first work was "Ambush" that aired in November, followed by "Vie for Supremacy". Both dramas won the title of highest ratings among those in the same time slots and had been extremely popular all over the country, especially for "Vie for Supremacy" tonight. The big finale's ratings instantly breached 5.3 and became the champion with the highest rating among those in the past two years!
However, no matter how high his popularity was or how famous he instantly became, Rong Xu's qualifications were still too shallow.
Such a newbie can actually become the lead actor in "Black Clouds" and make a group of famous stars act with him?
However, the netizens didn't even have the time to determine whether or not Rong Xu really was starring in "Black Clouds". A particular remark slowly popped up and quickly occupied the major forums, Tieba, and Weibo.
[Our family's Rongrong is so popular, of course he can play Ling Xiao ah. In half a year his fans surpassed five million, acted in two drama series, and the ratings are even so high~ ]
If only one or two netizens said this, then the passersby could still regard this as them being brain damaged, but more and more people who made such remarks quickly appeared in large numbers. This statement was quickly seen by countless netizens and was scoffed at.
[If Rong Xu doesn't act then others also aren't qualified to act? Being brain damaged is a disease, hurry back home to take your medicine!]
[Who the hell is that? Who's Rong Xu? On what basis can he come play my family's Music God and even tell us to be grateful about it? These fans are too disgusting, they're all brain-dead fans, do you even have any brains?]
Seeing this situation, Rong Xu's fans were all stunned. Several top fans quickly posted, urging the fans to stop making trouble; in Rong Xu's fan forums and Tieba, the forum moderator and bar owner also sent out posts asking the fans to manage themselves and not talk nonsense before the truth of the matter came out.
However, even if the top fans joined together to remind every one of smaller fans, those brain-dead fans were like cockroaches who refused to die. It wasn't known why, but they were all boldly coming out one by one with such remarks.
By now, the experienced top fans immediately understood: [How are these people fans? They're obviously blackspots! And it's even a whole group of blackspots! Looking at this scale and speed, it's probably someone buying the water army!]
At the same time, the "Black Clouds" crew that just finished suddenly heard the news.
When Director Liang heard that Rong Xu's information had been leaked, he was furious and took a deep breath before harshly yelling: "Who leaked it?! Didn't I already say to wait till next week when the filming was done, then use it together with the promotion? Who was it! Who actually leaked such important information! Old Wang, is this how you do your work!?"
Assistant Wang's expression was gloomy: "I've already reminded every guest star who came. I also don't know how it was leaked out ah."
Director Liang was angry and anxious, but he had to react fast due to the current public opinion outside. Many netizens had been led around by these blackspots that suddenly appeared into thinking that Rong Xu's fans were arrogant for saying that their family's Master starring in "Black Clouds" was an honor for "Black Clouds".
If this continued, not only would Rong Xu's reputation drop, he was afraid that even the crew would suffer a strike.
Director Liang quickly turned around wanting to find Rong Xu, but even after searching for a while, he still couldn't see Rong Xu's figure. Assistant Director Wang reminded him: "I saw He jie call Rong Xu away just now."
Director Liang pulled at his hair and said with an ugly expression: "Then first, go admit the truth of this matter and stabilize the emotions of Ling Xiao's fans. This time, it's insiders who are messing with our crew. You can tell that those blackspots are the water army at a glance, I just don't know who bought them. There are too many people who know information about our crew right now, so it's excusable if some couldn't keep it a secret. If you can investigate, then go investigate and find who leaked it. Then…"
"What happened?"
Director Liang's voice stopped, and he turned around to see a tall and handsome man wearing a dark, black trench coat staring at him.
In order to play Gu Mingxiu, Qin Cheng especially wore hair extensions. Right now, he was using a hair tie to tie together the long hair behind his head, showing the beautiful contours of his jawline.
This matter wasn't anything good as the crew didn't do a good job of keeping things confidential, leading to early disclosure of their information. At the same time, they didn't even know who was buying the water army to deliberately splash dirty water on the crew and their lead actor.
These words weren't something Director Liang could easily say out loud.
No matter how one said it, Qin Cheng was disregarding his pay and status to play the second male lead out of friendship. But now this kind of thing happened. It was really too disgraceful.
After hesitating for a moment, Director Liang dryly laughed twice and said: "It's nothing big, it's just… an actor's information was leaked outside a bit."
Qin Cheng was a bit surprised: "Director Liang, can you find out the specific situation?"
After another internal struggle, Director Liang finally sighed: "I don't know who it was that leaked out the fact that Rong Xu was the male lead and they even bought the water army to splash dirty water. Right now, I'm getting ready to stabilize the situation so it shouldn't be a big problem. It's the matter of the leak… that's more troublesome and will cause an impact on the follow-up promotion work."
The thin lips slightly pursed. Following Director Liang's words, the man's deep and profound gaze gradually sank. After a moment, Qin Cheng's tone was indifferent as he asked: "Bought the water army to splash dirty water… is this aimed at Rong Xu?"
Director Liang reluctantly answered: "Of course not. I've already let someone go look for Rong Xu. We were too busy filming tonight that we didn't notice this problem. It seems he just left with He Xinrou. After I find him, I will discuss this problem with him."
Shortly afterwards, Director Liang turned to leave and busy himself with PR. And so he naturally didn't find out that behind him, this cold and noble man narrowed his eyes and tightly pressed his lips into a thin line.
***
A little later, after Xu Jin ate a bit in the lounge and came back, the first thing he saw was the Great Young Master gloomily staring at him.
Xu Jin: "..."
After a few moments, Xu Jin smiled to ease the atmosphere and asked: "What happened, did you eat something bad? Your complexion looks horrible ah."
"Investigate the "Black Clouds" crew to find out who leaked information. Also, control the public opinion outside."
The smile on Xu Jin's face vanished. From Qin Cheng's meager sentences, he heard two important pieces: One, someone leaked the crew's information. Two, the public opinion seemed to be unfavorable; otherwise, Qin Cheng wouldn't tell him to control it.
Xu Jin nodded: "En, okay, I understand." Pausing, Xu Jin then habitually asked: "What was leaked?"
Qin Cheng glanced at him and quietly answered: "The matter of Rong Xu being the lead actor."
Xu Jin immediately released his breath in relief: "I was wondering what happened, so it wasn't your information that was leaked…" His voice abruptly stopped. Xu Jin couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the man's cold and heavy gaze and suddenly realized: "Ah that's right! I remember you said that Madame Qin wanted you to take care of Rong Xu before? En, someone actually leaked out his information, this is a big deal, I'll go investigate now!"
***
At the same time, on the olden streets in S-City's Film City.
The cool moonlight faintly shone through the clouds, illuminating the black stone road and reflect a layer of white frost.
Rong Xu stood beside He Xinrou and politely retreated half a step behind her as he patiently listened to the other talk.
He Xinrou spoke softly. She spoke about things that happened in the past, about her first encounter and acquaintance with Ling Xiao.
Rong Xu didn't think that this famous Film Empress would tell him so much, but he was not impatient. Instead, he nodded from time to time, appearing to encourage He Xinrou to continue.
In the end, He Xinrou's voice stopped, and she turned to steadily look at him. She smiled: "When you auditioned, I thought you were very similar to Ling Xiao. He's not as handsome as you, but he's very good. I like the gaze he used to look at everyone very much. No matter who he was facing, he was always very patient and gentle."
Rong Xu lightly smiled and nodded: "It is my honor."
He Xinrou smiled and asked: "What do you think of this script?"
The topic returned to the question from before. Rong Xu calmly replied: "It's well written. "Black Clouds" is a good movie."
He Xinrou's eyes curved as she smiled and her gaze remained steady on Rong Xu, but Rong Xu also calmly looked back, not the slightest bit nervous. His lips gently rose in a warm and polite smile. No one could pick out any faults within him.
The two people looked at each other like this for a long time. He Xinrou softly sighed and withdrew her gaze. She smiled and said: "I also think that the way the movie is written is the best version. Even if it does not tell the complete truth, it is already a good story. This kind of Ling Xiao… is enough. You acted very well, Qin Cheng also acted very well. Both of you did better than I thought."
Rong Xu straightforwardly changed the topic: "Qin Cheng's acting is very good."
He Xinrou also went along with him and asked: "Is that so? I have not worked with him yet, so I don't know…"
The two people chatted as they walked towards the studio. Just as they were about to arrive at the studio, He Xinrou's assistant quickly trotted over and called her away, appearing to have something urgent to say.
Rong Xu lightly smiled and said goodbye to this Film Empress. As he looked at the elegant retreating back, the youth's clear gaze slowly sunk.
"Qin Cheng and I performed well… as Ling Xiao and Gu Mingxiu hmm…"
The youth's softly murmured words were soon drowned by the evening winds of the cold early spring.
***
When Rong Xu returned to the studio, Luo Zhentao hurried over and quietly whispered: "Information about you was leaked out by someone. Currently, Director Liang has already decided to release information for some of the actors first. Xiao Xu, we'll have to work with Director Liang on some PR work presently. As for the water army, I've already started investigating the situation with them. I don't know who bought them, but they'll definitely never think about spreading such rumors again!"
Translator's Corner:
Vian: …I think the true relationship between Gu Mingxiu and Ling Xiao is something that only He Xinrou, who is the only one left, would know. No matter the speculations, somethings would forever stays hidden to the world and will be eventually washed away with time.
That's why I think He Xinrou said that Rong Xu's "Ling Xiao" was enough. It's more than a 'good enough' image of Ling Xiao to stay with the fans. There's no need to dig up a relationship that is already gone, just let the two rest peacefully together.
namio: I do think she likes Ling Xiao, but knows that those two had Something; even if she did like him, it was clear that Ling Xiao was far closer to Gu Mingxiu than her.
That "Lost Wings" was given to Zhao Chuyun to be 'safeguarded' hurts me though… Ling Xiao's last work, one that sounds like it's about how he felt about Gu Mingxiu's death… kill me scoob…
Vain: Wait till you hear the lyrics then ψ(｀∇´)ψ
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Yan Mountains – A major mountain range to the north of the North China Plain, principally in the province of Hebei – Wiki
Master – Original was some nonsense [蒸煮 – Zhēngzhǔ] that's supposed to be a homonym of Master[正主 – zhèng zhǔ]. It's what the fans would call their bias actor/singer/ect. The homonym is suppose to sound cute and a bit proud, kinda like baby talk really. If you guys really want the full effect, I can change it to Mashter owo
Blackspots – People who blacken someone. It could actually be anti-fans or the water army, usually the water army though.
Tieba – My idiot self didn't realize this was an actual site and was translating it as "discussion forum" and such. Which is technically what it is, but it's a specific site's forums like NUF. I already fixed it in the past chapters.
Baidu Tieba [百度贴吧 – bǎidù tiēbā] literally trans. to 'Baidu Paste Bar' is the largest Chinese communication platform hosted by Baidu. It is an online community that heavily integrates Baidu's search engine. Users may search for a "bar" or forums, as a place for users to socially interact. The bars are mostly created by fans, which covered a variety of topics, such as celebrities, films, comics and books. – via. Wiki
Bar owner – The owner of a Tieba's "bar" or forum. ^^^
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