CH 4

February 18, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 4: Weibo Storm

Translated and Edited by KChandraTL

The official release of “Princess of the Closed Moon” featured three final photos of the same person in the same costume, the only difference being the posture and attitude of the person in the photos.

The first photo showed a man in a fancy dress sitting on a luxurious gold chair with his chin slightly raised, no smile on his face. His eyes seemed to be indifferent to the people in front of the screen, high and mighty, but it was difficult to have any resentment.

The second photo showed the man in fancy clothes standing under a pear tree, hands behind his back, with a gentle, intoxicating smile at the corners of his mouth, but his eyes hid an unspeakable sadness.

The third one showed him kneeling on one knee, holding a longsword in his bloodied hand, green silk draped over his shoulder, making a white outfit snow-white, but with a vague sense of despair.

“Blogger, you have the ability to add photos, you have the ability to add a few more ah, tell me the name of this handsome man, I promise not to kill you.”

“My screen is so dirty, I want to lick it, no one stop me.”

“This is the Xu Ruiheng in my heart, the living Xu Ruiheng ah!”

“There’s nothing to see in this photo, I’ve only looked at it a few dozen times.”

“This actor is called Gongxi Qiao? I’ve never heard of the name, is it a newcomer? It looks more like Xu Ruiheng than Liang Dong.”

“There is even someone with the surname Gong[1], this surname is really rare.”

“Oh, the person who said this beautiful man is surnamed Gong come out, his surname is Gongxi, not Gong.”

After the final photo was released, in less than half a day, the reposts were already over 10,000, and it even made it to the list of popular topics on Weibo.

But there was positive attention and negative attention, and soon there were people who came forward to express their doubts about the final photo.

“This is which P expert’s[2] picture, the effect isn’t bad, I hope that when the drama airs, it doesn’t smack too much in the face.”

“Oh, just such a newcomer who came out of nowhere, there are actually people who say he’s better than Liang Dong. I’m not a fan of anyone, but even if Liang Dong’s drug use is wrong, he shouldn’t be stepped on by a cat or a dog to get to the top. What is this Gongxi Qiao, you haven’t seen his acting skills, but also have the nerve to say that he played a living Xu Ruiheng?”

The topic involved Liang Dong, which immediately caused another scolding war that ended with Liang Dong fans leaving in defeat, leaving a group of face fans to continue to lick the screen at the newcomer’s makeup photos under Weibo.

In the film set filming Gongxi Qiao didn’t know that Weibo was already noisy, but for he who had experienced the scolding of two armies in his previous life, even if he knew, he wouldn’t take it seriously.

This life, even if the fighting was strong, it was only a war of words. In the last life, it wasn’t only a war of words, but also a fight for life.

Although Director Zhang had intentionally asked the scriptwriter to add a scene to the third male lead, how could it be added? Gongxi Qiao played only a third male lead, so after following the crew around for about a month, his character finally had to be killed.

It was unknown whether it was a deliberate arrangement by the director or just a coincidence that his last two scenes were about Xu Ruiheng’s return to the country to be crowned prince, as well as the scenes where he reminisced about the female lead before he died of old age.

As the villain of the play, after Xu Ruiheng got the crown prince’s throne, it was the highlight/climax of the whole drama.

Although the final outcome was that the third male lead, this big villain, was illuminated by the heroine’s aura. He put an end to the slaughter, signed a treaty of peaceful coexistence with the heroine’s country, and then hid the heroine, this white rose, deep in his heart and married a rich white beauty from his own country, ascended to the throne and embarked on the pinnacle of life.

For this kind of plot direction, Gongxi Qiao just couldn’t help spitting, but the author and screenwriter were happy at least.

Changing into the prince’s robe with golden dragons on a dark background, with a crown weighing two pounds on his head, Gongxi Qiao stood under the stone steps and stepped up after hearing the opening prompt.

In front of him was the frail and old emperor, behind him were the kneeling courtiers, and with each step he took, he could feel himself getting a little closer to power.

“Although I’m rich, if you smile at me, Yan’er, these riches are smoke and clouds.”

“What use is it for a gentleman to be proficient in the six arts, I would rather be an idle cloud and a wild crane, soaring between the mountains and forests, far away from the mundane world.”

“Sir Xu is a good actor, under this breezy and light-hearted skin, he hides such a dirty heart of power.”

“Xu Ruiheng, those words you said to me, is there a single word that’s true?”

Recalling the rights and wrongs that had happened in the Qian Kingdom, his footsteps paused slightly, but then he stepped down without hesitation.

He was born in the royal family, what he aspired to was the golden dragon throne. What was the importance of other truths and falsehoods?

Director Zhang looked at Gongxi Qiao under the camera and secretly sucked in a breath. The young man in front of him was so spiritual that he almost thought that there was really a prince in front of the camera with all his heart and soul, and not an actor acting.

This kind of infectious power was too terrible. So terrible that he felt that such a strong infectious power was a waste to use in such a fast food drama.

In August, the summer sun was in full swing, and Gongxi Qiao was wearing a heavy black costume, and when a scene was shot, he was sweating like rain, so he changed out of his prince’s costume and, with the help of the costumer, into a king’s robe.

The electric fan in the dressing room was blowing, and he tilted his head for Sister Yao to put on his old age makeup.

Director Zhang walked in from outside and gently touched his shoulder: “We were going to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate your death, but unfortunately the weather forecast says it’s going to rain tomorrow, so we can only rush to shoot tomorrow’s night scenes tonight, and we’ll get together again next time the whole crew is finished.”

“Don’t be polite, Director Zhang. Although my scenes are finished, we will meet again often, so we can have dinner whenever we want. I’ll have a bad conscience if I have to delay the shooting schedule for a meal.” Gongxi Qiao smiled. He was a newcomer playing the third male lead. Even if he had some background, he couldn’t be so big that the main crew put aside the filming progress to hold a banquet for him.

“You’re right, we’ll have more time to get together in the future,” Director Zhang said with a satisfied smile, “This next scene is an indoor scene that isn’t so easy to shoot, so don’t feel pressured, the crew has prepared all the red envelopes for you.”

He had long heard that most of the crew would give red packets to actors who played death scenes, so he didn’t refuse.

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After sitting for two or three hours, the elderly makeup was finally completed. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and took a sip of mineral water carefully from He Peng’s hand, then said, “Finally, we’re almost done shooting. Shooting winter scenes on a hot day is simply a free steam sauna.”

“Now the scene hasn’t started shooting yet. Why don’t we go sit in the car first? The car has cold air, cooler than here.” He Peng looked at Gongxi Qiao’s appearance and felt hot. This wasn’t filming, it was simply extreme sports.

“Okay,” Gongxi Qiao didn’t hesitate to agree. It wasn’t his style to suffer when he could enjoy blessings.

The cars of Gongxi Qiao and several lead actors were parked outside the set, and it was just a few steps away, so it was convenient for everyone to rest in the car.

He exhaled a long breath and leaned back in his chair as if he had no bones, lazily saying, “Acting is also a physical job, life is really hard.” If he had not assumed a more comfortable posture when he said this, it might have been a little more believable.

This month’s time together, He Peng has long been accustomed to Gongxi Qiao two-faced nature. He quietly listened and handed Gongxi Qiao’s cell phone to him, carefully listening to the movement of the set, waiting for Director Zhang to call for shooting at any time.

After receiving the phone from He Peng, he unintentionally tapped the Weibo shortcut icon on his phone screen. Gongxi Qiao found a blogger showing off a vase on the home page, saying that it was used by the royal family a thousand years ago and that one piece was worth nearly ten million. He didn’t know whether he was showing off his wealth or being proud of his collection.

He clicked on the person’s Weibo page and found that the person’s words were very arrogant, even calling a wealthy businessman like a coal mine owner crude and vulgar.

Seeing this, Gongxi Qiao frowned and quickly registered an account called “Coal Miner Xiao Qiao”.

Coal Miner Xiao Qiao: blogger, your five-color golden lotus vase, although the workmanship is good, also can not get rid of the fact that it’s actually just an imitation. Although the porcelain of more than a thousand years ago was very elegant and delicate, and the craftsmanship had reached the peak, due to the conditions at that time, there were often joint marks on this type of porcelain, and your vase doesn’t even show any joint marks. Most importantly, the five-color golden lotus pattern vase also doesn’t meet the aesthetics of the era, and the font written on the mark isn’t in line with the atmospheric style of the special official kilns at that time. So if you didn’t put the wrong picture, this high imitation porcelain is worth at most a thousand yuan, you accidentally typed an extra five zeros.

After typing this paragraph, he calmly exited Weibo and threw his phone to the side.

What was wrong with being a coal mine boss? Did he eat his family’s rice or drink his family’s water?

Soon after, below this show-off blogger’s microblog, there was already a ha-ha sound, and many netizens began to watch the pretentious blogger being slapped in the face.

“When the pretend goods meet god, this picture is too beautiful I dare not look.”

“Hahahaha, blogger does your face hurt, quickly hold your vase worth 10 million to cry in the toilet.”

“The friend above, you blindly say what big truth, it’s not 10 million, is a thousand.”

“Worship the god, god you help me look at this bronze mirror, my grandmother said this is a few hundred years old, to keep as a family heirloom, you say is it really a few hundred years old? @ Coal Miner Xiao Qiao”

“God help me look at this vase, is it real?”

Under the show-off Weibo, half of the netizens were laughing at the blogger, and half were begging the god to help see if it was real or not. Only when the show-off blogger deleted the Weibo did the excitement of the netizens come down.

While the Weibo site was buzzing with activity, Gongxi Qiao started to get out of the car to shoot the last scene. He stepped out of the car, squinted his eyes and looked up at the blinding sun overhead, and walked towards the set with an imperial demeanor.

At this time outside the set, a black car slowly stopped.

“Boss, there’s a problem with the car. The car that came to pick you up still has five minutes to arrive.” The driver cautiously looked at the man in the back seat of the car, and his voice was unconsciously a few degrees quieter.

“Mm.” The man in the back seat of the car answered in a low voice, no joy or anger. He looked out of the car window and saw something, his eyes also slightly followed.

Five minutes later, a silver car stopped next to this car. The bodyguard wearing a shirt and bow tie bent slightly to open the door for him, followed by a large black sunshade propped up above the door, not allowing half the sunlight to shine in.

The man took a step, without a single speck of dust on his dark leather shoes, and he walked expressionlessly to the side of the silver sedan. Suddenly his footsteps stopped and he looked at the young bodyguard who opened the door for him: “Which drama group is this?”

“The ‘Princess of the Closed Moon’ crew, it’s a TV drama invested by Ringstar Entertainment.”

The name of the television drama didn’t quite match that man’s aesthetics. He twitched his eyebrows slightly, then sat in the car.

Until the silver car drove away, he didn’t look at the set again.

T/N:

FYI It’s a pain to translate the Weibo comments. They often use internet slang and bad grammar so they’re hard to translate. I did my best.