CH 29.1

Playing the Guzheng*

Guzheng – it is a Chinese plucked zither

Su Shen did not mind Xiao Zhou’s complaint. It was best to leave this matter to Liu jie to handle. 

She noticed that after the movie trailer was released, she and Fan Meng were trending on hot search again. However, this time, she was not suppressed and attacked by netizens. 

Netizen A: I must not be the only one who’s actually impressed by Su Shen’s acting?!

Netizen B: Sure enough, being instructed by a famous director is different. Director Huang is simply a miracle, even Su Shen attained acting skills under him. [laugh] 

Netizen C: A passerby turned fan, looking forward to the full movie. Our beautiful Su Su [drooling]

Netizen D: The water army of the D-lister is here to wash the floor again. Front row, get out of the way! 

Netizen E: Is this the original voice-over? The last sentence gave me goosebumps. 

Netizen F: I see this kind of meaningless catfight each and every time. Regardless of how well the actors performed, we should wait for the movie to be aired before making a judgment. To tear each other apart like this, is it to be gossip for other films scheduled for the same time? ps: For passerbys, stop calling D-Lister this or that. For a best actress to fight with a D-lister, don’t you think it’s devaluing themself? 

Netizen G: Am I the only one caring about that kiss scene? Why isn’t it in the trailer? Is the production team trying to give us a surprise?  

Netizen H: A dud movie! With the female lead’s stiff ass face, Wang Cheng’s exaggerated acting, an unknown supporting female lead, and the tasteless love triangle plot, even Xie Yan’s first onscreen kiss can’t save this dud movie. [smiley face]

The movie would not be released until after next year’s Chinese New Year. At that time, there would be a multitude of films released. From Su Shen’s perspective, the female supporting character was pitiful, but this was only her perception. From the perspective of God, she was the villainess in the entire movie. The male protagonist had not done her any wrong and had even searched for her in private. After reuniting, he also advised her not to harm others. However, the female supporting character had already been overwhelmed by jealousy and continued her evil acts. 

All in all, the war scenes and description of the troubled times period were impressive. It may be that the screenwriter was not very adept in writing love scenes, hence why the depiction of the love triangle plot was crudely portrayed. She had to rely on her own understanding to act out the scenes, else the supporting female character was a villainess through and through throughout.    

After the trailer came out, many people said that this movie was ruined by her and Wang Cheng, and that Fan Meng’s stiff ass face could not be looked at. It was definitely going to be a dud. It could be seen that those antis were in fact water armies. The competition for movies airing around the spring festival was intense. Other production teams must have wanted to discredit the impression of this film to passerbys. After all, tearing down one film was still one film. In two months, this film will start pre-sale. 

After scrolling through the comments, Su Shen sent Liu jie a message to inform her about the matter with the script. Liu jie just said she would handle it. 

Her scenes today had not changed much, so Su Shen continued to shoot all day. When she returned to the hotel at night, the comments online were not just targeted at her but at the entire film. 

In particular, a marketing account had even posted an equivocal breaking allegation, saying that a certain young best actor from China was caught by a police raid at a brothel abroad. He had just been released on bail and had not returned to China yet.  

As soon as this news broke out, it caused an uproar.  

The scope of a young best actor from China narrowed down the list a lot, with several candidates. But those antis were pointing to Xie Yan. There were also others who said that Xie Yan was still in the country and had not gone abroad. However, Xie Yan’s whereabouts had always been concealed. This fact was used by those antis who began to throw mud at him wantonly. 

Netizen A: Dogs that can bite don’t bark. Some people’s persona was being low-profile, but they play around the most behind the scenes!  

Netizen B: Stop beating around, you marketing dog! Show your evidence!  

Netizen C: I feel like there is a conspiracy behind all this. Why did a large number of people say that it was Xie Yan as soon as the news broke out?

Netizen D: Movie hype?

Netizen E: Are you stupid, PP*? Which movie will use this to hype? It’s obvious that they are trying to splash dirty water. Since the trailer was released, the movie’s been ridiculed. It’s clearly a conspiracy by other production teams. After all, who doesn’t want a piece of the cake during the Spring Festival quarter! 

PP – Previous Poster of a thread forum 

Netizen F: Even low-profile people will be attacked; Yan ge, come out and slap them in the face!

The public opinion was so boisterous that it overwhelmed the hype of the trailer itself. Su Shen definitely did not believe that Xie Yan was such a person. Moreover, he was clearly having dinner with her yesterday, but this allegation was too coincidental. Breaking the news as the trailer got released?

Su Shen sent a message to Liu jie and asked; it took about five or six minutes before she responded.

Liu jie: It’s true that another film’s production crew is spreading libel against you guys’ film, but your production crew will also counterattack. But Xie Yan’s case is indeed a coincidence. From the news I got, Ma Yue was arrested by a police raid on prostitution rings abroad. As for why it’s all pointing to Xie Yan, you may not know but there’s a Hollywood blockbuster that has intentions to cast someone from China. It’s a Hollywood production, who wouldn’t want a slice of that cake?  

It sure was different among A-listers fighting for roles—with a breaking allegation the next moment. Even if Xie Yan clarified, he would still leave a bad impression behind. 

Su Shen didn’t think too much of it, and she was not in the position to catfight either. 

After taking a shower, Su Shen was about to go to bed when she logged onto Weibo and saw that Xie Yan’s swift and exceptional manager had taken action once again. He first showed Xie Yan’s flight ticket from Shanghai to Guangzhou this morning and then posted a lawyer letter. He had even exposed the user IDs of the most malicious anti-netizens, seemingly as if they were going to sue them.    

Xie Yan was still in the country and thus, those antis naturally backed off. But the public opinion did not reduce in the slightest, and people were still discussing which best actor got arrested.

When Su Shen got up and went to set the next day, the popularity of the matter online did not subside one bit and had even started a national discussion on whether it was Ma Yue or Zheng Tong. However, this was also beyond Liu jie’s expectations. She had planned to use the trailer to haul back the comments criticizing her poor acting, but she didn’t expect this to happen.

“Su Shen, come here.” The Director sat in front of the monitor and motioned for her. 

Su Shen just happened to finish changing into her costume, and she walked over while lifting her dress. The Director handed her another script, “What do you think of this?”

Early in the morning, many staff members were still following the spectacle online. Su Shen sat on the stool at the side and carefully looked through the script. She found that there were some changes, and although her scenes did not increase, they became more important. It resulted in her role becoming more prominent. However, Zhu Qinqin’s scenes were, as usual, many.

“It’s fine.” Su Shen closed the script and didn’t say much. After all, this was also the result that Liu jie fought for.

“That’s good. You can go, it’s almost time to start filming.” Seeing her agree, the Director didn’t say much more. 

Su Shen took the script and left. It’s quality rather than quantity that counts. Ultimately, the public would curse at the screenwriter, not her.