CH 172

As per their suggestion I will start putting ko-fi links on every chapter because they seem to be hard to find xS

https://ko-fi.com/wingedneko

Also thank you everyone for the kind christmas and new year wishes.･ﾟ☆Happyヾ(*∇*)ﾉ☆ﾟ･. I did have a wonderful start to the new year and watched the beautiful fireworks worldwide~

Soon, there was a reply from some original novel fans:

“As a fan of the original book I give it a thumbs up In fact, the film mostly follows the original plot, and after watching the trailer, I thought the casting was not bad. The only point was that Chen Ai is too good-looking, he wasn’t so good-looking in the book, Bai Xuege is really handsome! Originally, the most handsome character in the book is Su Qing, but now it’s a bit hard to tell who is more handsome!”

“Shen Qingshu’s did really well. And  Chen Ai’s characterisation is also really good. When the novel was serialised, many people felt sorry for him. Now with the face of Bai Xuege, if it is shot according to the original novel, he will attract a lot of fans. I never thought Shen Qingshu would like to give him the role. he should really have a good relationship with Bai Xuege.”

“After watching the trailer there’s nothing to criticise, we can see that the crew is very attentive. But to be honest as an original fan, although this movie has a male lead role, Chen Ai and Jiajia are also very brilliant, especially Chen Ai, so it will depend on their acting skills. If the acting is good, all three of them will shine, if the acting is mediocre, Shen Qingshu will be miserable, and it is easy for him to be overshadowed.”

“”As a fan of the original novel, it gives the same feeling as in the book with three young characters, I’m just worried whether their acting skills are up to par. I hope so. I really want to watch this kind of high attractive index crime movie.”

“If you shoot according to the original work, it can explode. The original work is beautiful. But if you shoot according to the original work, Shen Qingshu must have high acting skills, so I don’t know whether he has changed the script. As for Bai Xuege, if shot according to the original work, his role is too attractive. Since Shen Qingshu is the hero, I don’t know whether he will weaken Chen Ai’s role. The current trailer doesn’t show much, I still have to wait to see the film.”

While everyone was scrambling to speak, someone posted, [Report! In drunk dreams, light up the oil lamp and admire the sword posted on Weibo, saying that they are looking forward to it!]

“It’s normal. The author just cooperates with the publicity team. Is it possible for them to say they aren’t looking forward to it?”

“No one really takes the author’s work Weibo seriously, right? No way? No way? No way?”

“This is not informative, let’s see the author’s attitude after the movie is released.”

“Let’s separate the novel from the movie. The fans said they would go to see it, but if they don’t shoot well, they won’t buy it.”

“That’s right. If it’s good they’ll praise it, but if it’s bad they’ll curse it.”

There is a lot of discussion on the Internet. The search topic of Ephemera is also rising, and more presale tickets are getting sold day by day.

Zhou Mian was filled with joy when he saw the advance box office rising, which would probably exceed 100 million yuan before the release.

Shen Qingshu is also happy, but more worried.

“Plundering Time” has just been released. In almost every show, the host will ask him, “What are the differences and advantages between this movie and the previous “Plundering Time”? Which one do you prefer?”

“I like both of them very much,” Shen Qingshu replied calmly “Both “Plundering Time” and “Ephemera” are my works, I like them both. If I had to say a difference, it is probably the personalities of Luo Yi and Su Qing are different, so their experiences are also different. For more details, you can watch it in theatres after it is released, I believe everyone will like it.”

“In addition to being the male lead, you are also the producer and screenwriter, right? Why do you want to be a producer and screenwriter?”

“Because I like this work very much, I want to put this work on the screen as true to the original as possible. But if I were just the male lead, I would not have such authority, so I added other identities to myself. Of course, I would also like to thank Zhou ge for helping me all the time, Director Mei Ruo for believing me, Qin jie for understanding me, and Teacher Xiao Bai for supporting me. Without any of them, this work would not be as complete as it is now.”

“So you have high hopes for this movie, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Shen Qingshu said frankly, “I hope you can give it a chance, and also give me a chance.”

The fans below immediately shouted, “Yes! Gege, we will all go to see it!”

Shen Qingshu smiled and said to them gently, “Thank you.”

The publicity team cooperated with his promotions and steadily released the clips that had been prepared before, maintaining the popularity on the Internet and the expectations of netizens for this movie.

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The official Weibo releases a trailer every week along with a new set of posters. The ultimate trailer was not released until the last week before the release.

This trailer is longer than the previous one, and its content is more abundant. It includes Chen Ai’s past, JiaJia crying over her father, Su Qing waking up from a dream, and the sentence “sending ephemera to the world, a drop in the vast ocean”. 1 

“What is an ephemera?” asked the young Su Qing.

“Ephemera is a tiny life.” Grandpa smiled and said to him, “We are all Ephemeras in this world. After all, ashes return to ashes, so we must live well while we are alive.”

“I’m alive,” Su Qing said during the last second of the trailer.

Different from the previous trailer, the characters and past of some characters can be vaguely seen in this version, which fully aroused the curiosity of netizens and the enthusiasm of fans.

“Damn it, why do I feel as if all the highlights in the book were taken?!”

“Was none of the plot cut? It feels like JiaJia and Chen Ai still have all their scenes!”

“Ah ah ah, was it really fully restored? I’m looking forward to it so much. If it is really filmed according to the novel, I will praise Shen Qingshu for the rest of my life!”

“Really want to watch it. f*ck Su Qing’s past plus Shen Qingshu’s face, I can rewatch it 20 times!”

“Has the plot in the book been retained? The crew has not publicised that point, and I don’t know if it has been retained. If it has been retained, it will definitely be a hot search later.”

“Ah ah ah, is that what I thought upstairs? It should be kept, I hope it has been kept!”

“The same hope!”

Novel fans were so excited that they finally walked into the movie theatre on July 10 to find out.

In the same batch, there were fans from all walks of life and audiences who liked this kind of theme, as well as ordinary audiences who were attracted by Shen Qingshu’s films because they remembered him from when he was playing Luo Yi.

Everyone went in with different feelings, but almost all of them shed tears while watching.

When Su Qing was wearing a skirt, when he was laughed at as a child, when he quarrelled and compromised with his mother, they began to sob and one after another took out tissues.

When the tears finally stopped, Chen Ai committed suicide. He was pushed by fate step by step onto the road he didn’t want to walk.

He looked at the snowflakes all over the sky and said, “It’s beautiful.”

Later, he took back the hand extended to Su Qing and jumped down.

The audience’s tears fell again unconsciously, but they watched Su Qing slowly stand up after some emotional upheavals. He finally decided to live a good life.

“I’m alive,” Su Qing said at the end of the film.

He received a WeChat message that stated: [I’m back.]

He laughed and, as usual, left work smiling.

At the other end, JiaJia sat in the car and slowly opened the pendant on her neck. There was a group photo of her and Chen Ai, the only one she had with Chen Ai.

She looked at the picture quietly and took it out. She pressed the window open and put her hand out of the window.

She slowly opened her hand, but suddenly remembered when they had met for the first time. Chen Ai looked at him with a smile and happily called her, “Jiejie.”

In an instant, her hand closed again, the photo that almost flew away in her palm, was held tightly by her again.

May you have a loved one who truly loves you in the next life. She retracted back her hand and looked as usual.

At the end of the film, the ending song slowly bega, with a male voice singing in a low voice, “The way you arrived was abrupt, the way you left was without a trace, the flowing water is far away, just like in your gaze.”

The lights of the cinema came on, and the credits list appeared. Many audience members reluctantly stood up and walked out.

Almost from the time the first audience member left the cinema, the film’s reputation exploded.

“What a surprise!! It’s totally worth a second watch. All the acting skills are online, and everyone has their own highlights. Shen Qingshu has really good acting skills. From Luo Yi to Su Qing, there were no similarities. I like Su Qing so much. Su Qing is really a flower blooming from the mud, he’s so distressing!”

“I cried to death. I have been crying since the second half. Su Qing cried and I cried, Su Qing laughed and I still cried. I cried when Chen Ai passed by, and I continued to cry when Chen Ai died. After watching the movie, my eye makeup was all ruined. Everyone remembered to bring tissues. I didn’t expect it would be so tear jerking. I had to borrow from the younger sister next to me.”

“Ah, ah, ah, I’m going to watch it again. The director of this movie is a master. Shen Qingshu and Bai Xuege are invincible, and the face value on the big screen is too high. I’m so anguished with JiaJia ! ! ! You are such a terrible woman!!! You are too f*cking awesome! !”

“This movie is really worthy of Bai Xuege. Shen Qingshu must absolutely have true love for him. Such a good character was given to him, and the costumes in the movie are so good. It makes me think that he can directly use this image to play a gloomy deviant, but there was no deviant here. He was actually a half angel and half devil, JiaJia ! ! You are really cruel ! !”

“Speaking of which, who played JiaJia? She is really beautiful and has amazing acting skills. I thought she was a vase all the time. The final reversal was really astonishing, especially the part where she fought with Su Qing. She was elegant and confident, just like an imperial sister. It was so charming. “

“Shen Qingshu is a real monster. At the beginning everyone didn’t like this movie, and they thought it would be bad. In the end, he was able to shoot so well. This is the peak of his acting skills with Bai Xuege. Also Yao Lu, a newcomer, will definitely be a big name in the future.”

“It looks good, it looks good, I’m very satisfied as a fan of the original work!! It’s really basically a restoration of the original work, and the acting is great, especially the scenes of Su Qing and his mother, and the scene of Chen Ai jumping down. It’s amazing!! I thought what was written in the book was excellent, but I didn’t expect that the movie would be even more beautiful. How did the director think of adding the snow scenery? It’s too great. Director I love you!”

“Grab the original fan upstairs and ask, what is the relationship between Su Qing and the person he sent away? At the end, he received the message [I’m back], is it the person he sent away back? Who is this person? A friend of Su Qing?”

“No ! ! ! How can that handsome man be just a friend ! ! And they are so close. The handsome man touched Su Qing’s head. He must like Su Qing!”

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“So who is this handsome guy? Afterwards, I looked at the cast credits very carefully, but I couldn’t find his name. He is really handsome, my ideal type. Isn’t the attractiveness index of this movie too much?”

“What handsome guy?” asked one of the original fans who had not seen the film. “Su Qing has no cp, in the book Su Qing has never sent anyone off, and no one has touched his head, except his grandparents.”

“It’s only seen in the movie.” A fan of the original book replied, “A friend was added for Su Qing. In fact, I don’t understand what this detail means, they probably want to express that Su Qing still has a healthy friendship. At that time, I was just looking at his face. He was so handsome, is there such a handsome guy in the entertainment circle that I don’t know? It’s unscientific!”

“Ah ah ah, finally someone asked this question. I have been searching who played this role since I left the cinema. He’s so damn handsome, I want all his information within three minutes.”

“I want it too!”

“I want it too!”

“I not only want it too, but also want Su Qing to be with him. Su Qing is so miserable. Doesn’t he deserve a reliable man ? !”

“It’s impossible. Give it up, you guys don’t know enough about In drunk dreams, light up the oil lamp and admire the sword. Su Qing is either single or can only be with Cheng Han. Other original characters are impossible, not even in this lifetime.”

“No ! ! ! I don’t accept it ! ! ! It’s too cruel!”

“So, who is Cheng Han? ?”

At the same time, Shen Qingshu, who was in the process of the premiere ceremony, was also asked, “Hello, teacher Shen. I have seen all your works, including your first “Rose of the South “, as well as the previous” Plundering Time” and the current “Ephemera”. I think your acting skills are remarkable. I cried several times when I first saw the film.”

“So I want to ask, there is a scene in the movie where you are going to see your friend off, who is the actor? I couldn’t find his name in the after credits, and it seems that he is not at today’s premiere. I really liked that scene, it was very refreshing. So I am curious, what is the name of that actor? The last sentence in the movie [I’m back], is he the one coming back?”

1 Send ephemera/mayfly to the world, a drop in the vast ocean means: (we) are like an ephemera in the vast world, as small as a drop in the ocean.

It comes from the “Ode to the Former Red Cliff” 《前赤壁赋》 written by Su Shi in the Northern Song Dynasty 北宋苏轼.