CH 30

They had already started promoting the film on Weibo. The filming progress was also moving ahead at a fast pace. Both the crew and the producers were very clear about what they wanted to do.

This was a commercial film. They weren’t going for any awards. They just wanted to make a bit of money this summer. 

Since Xie Luyu was participating, the movie was sure to be popular. They were prepared for the attention they would get from the beginning.

The crew didn’t bother leaving people on tenterhooks. On the very first day, they tagged all the actors and released their promotional photos.

Gu Qingchi’s photo was released fairly early on.

Ye Li politely forwarded the Weibo post. 

Gu Qingchi’s fans quickly arrived. The Weibo post’s comment section soon became lively.

[A guy in armor? I’m so down!]

[Finally! Some news! Wuwuwu, I’ve gone through my photo collection at least a thousand times.]

[Starlight, let’s act like human beings, okay? If you’re going to do business, at least do it properly. Forget it. Is my dogeza not good enough for you?]

[Am I the only one who’s worried about his acting skills? The reason I stopped stanning my previous idol was because the acting was really too awkward. Don’t act. If you don’t act, we can still get along.]

[Forget it, OP. There hasn’t been any other activity other than this. At the very least, we’ll be able to see his face.]

After sharing the post, Ye Li stopped worrying about it. He didn’t really manage the comments either.

He wasn’t too worried about Gu Qingchi’s acting. 

If it was Wang Haisheng, even the most incapable actor would be whipped into shape.

If it was really impossible, Wang Haisheng wouldn’t have posted the promotional photos.

Furthermore, Gu Qingchi was still a trainee. According to Ye Li’s plan, it was still going to take some time before he officially debuted.

Until then, it was too early to start managing the fans. 

That was why Ye Li didn’t realize that, as more and more people started paying attention to the movie, things on Weibo slowly started moving in the wrong direction.

[Wasn’t it already decided that the role would go to Xian Xian? Where did this guy come from? This isn’t fair to Xian Xian at all.]

[Hehe. So anyone can act as long as they look good?]

[This character is supposed to be a worldly beauty? There’s nothing wrong with choosing Chi Chi.] 

[Please, don’t ruin this movie. I was actually looking forward to it.]

Ye Li could tell at glance that someone had bought a water army and was controlling public opinion.

Gu Qingchi was simply too eye-catching. He had gotten in a lot of people’s way.

Gu Qingchi had a lot of fans because of his face, but their comments were few and far between. They were too unorganized and scattered, so their rebuttals were quickly overwhelmed by negative comments. 

On set, the chronically online Xie Luyu was scrolling through his cell phone.

He was wearing a black, sleeveless hoodie, and his long legs were lazily outstretched. He had a shiny studded earring on one ear. On his right hand, he had rings on his little finger, middle finger, and index finger.

His hair was still rather short. There was a line shaved into the right side of his crew cut, giving him more of a rebellious look.

He had one hand slung across the back of the sofa, his muscles stretching into a beautiful arc. The other hand was holding his cell phone. He typed surprisingly quickly, given the fact he was only using one hand. 

A message tagging all chat members popped up.

Xie Luyu gave it a glance and decisively tapped on it.

Ktf cjwf bo atf ugbeq mtja kjr Jtl Jtl Ofa’r Xb!

Ktlr kjr j ugbeq mtja obg Xe Hlcumtl’r ojcr. Lf vlvc’a tjnf jc boolmlji ojc ugbeq sfa. Eluta cbk, la kjr pera jc bgvlcjgs ojc jmmbeca gecclcu la. Zbra qfbqif kbeivc’a yf jyif ab ufa lc. 

Xie Luyu had been a chat member for a long time. He had even become a moderator.

All kinds of news was being updated in the chat.

[I can’t even look at the comments section anymore. Everyone, help push it down.]

[I’m so angry. It’s a bunch of trolls. I can’t beat them in an argument at all.] 

[It’s no good. We can’t do anything.]

[?]

Xie Luyu sent a question mark out of confusion.

Xie Luyu had a very high status within the group. As soon as he spoke up, everyone else enthusiastically responded. 

Xie Luyu soon found out about what had happened.

“What the hell is this?”

Xie Luyu angrily logged onto his main account.

He had never verified this account. His name on Weibo was the same as his name in the group chat. He was called Eggplant Potato Stew. He usually posted photos of his cooking on Weibo. 

He had even accumulated 10,000 followers on this account.

Xie Luyu attached a great deal of importance to the 10,000 followers who were following him on this account. He was usually very cautious about what he posted.

Whenever he was providing cooking tips, he would respond politely no matter who they were. He wouldn’t get angry if he was trolled. Instead, he would reply to them very gently.

He did all the shit talking on his side account. His side account was the verified account with his real name. He was once crowned the King of Smack Talk. However, the account no longer belonged to him. 

The Smack Talk King, Xie Luyu, sat down and stretched his neck. After cracking his neck, he started stretching his fingers.

His feet were spread slightly apart. He leaned forward and had his elbows on his knees. He was now typing with both hands instead of just one.

And away he went.

Xie Luyu didn’t really curse that often. He has a foul mouth. However, his upbringing taught him that it was rude to curse, so he wasn’t that good at cursing. 

The most he was capable of was just one or two swear words whenever he found himself unable to express what he was feeling.

However, his mind spun quickly. He was always able to find a blind spot in the other person’s reasoning and refute them.

His trash talk could almost take on a life of its own.

In that moment, he was able to suppress the entire water army within the comments section all on his own. 

After a while, Xie Luyu discovered that he wasn’t allowed to comment anymore.

He dug through his private messages and found that, since he had been reported by so many people, his account had been banned.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s no fun like this. If you have something to say, just say it. What are you reporting me for?”

Xie Luyu thought to himself for a while. Then, he sent a message to his assistant. 

[Are you logged into my Weibo account?]

The assistant responded within seconds.

[Pan ge told me that you’re not allowed on Weibo. Xie ge, forget about it. I’m not allowed to give it to you.]

Ten minutes later, Pan Xiaocheng, who was in his office, received a series of notifications from his special following. 

Pan Xiaocheng fell silent.

Pan Xiaocheng gave himself a bonus of three thousand yuan for this month.

“Stop, stop, stop. It doesn’t feel right. Stop recording. Xiao Gu, come over here”

Wang Haisheng interrupted the scene. 

In this scene, they were filming Ke Mu as he helped Ke Chengqi break out of a siege. Ke Mu, on the other hand, would die at the enemy’s hands.

Gu Qingchi’s hair was tied at the back of his head. He had a thin headband on his forehead. In the middle of the headband, there was a small yin and yang symbol with a ruby in the center.

Because of the sudden attack, he wasn’t wearing any armor. He was just wearing casual clothes. In this scene, Ke Mu’s casual clothes were very complicated and beautiful. His body was covered in bright red. The ends of his sleeves were patterned, and his boots were trimmed with gold.

He looked lively and enthusiastic. 

He should have been playing around and having fun like any other young man.

However, he was now fighting on the battlefield with a spear in hand instead.

When Wang Haisheng called to stop, Gu Qingchi was holding a long spear in his hand. He was leaning backwards to avoid an attack.

When he heard the call to stop, he straightened up, gasping slightly. Sweat dripped from his temples down to his neck before finally disappearing into his clothes. 

They had reshot this scene five or six times already.

Wang Haisheng stood up. He was getting a little anxious. He started speaking before Gu Qingchi had even walked over to him.

“You can’t be like this. You have to act a little more human. Ke Mu isn’t all there mentally. When he’s surrounded, he should be fierce, he should be furious, and he should be afraid. He shouldn’t be like this. You’re too calm. Would you be willing to die?”

He threw the script to the side. 

“You were pretty good in the beginning. Why are you getting stuck here?”

He stood with his hands behind his back.

“Forget it. Let’s wrap things up. We’ll shoot this scene tomorrow.”

He had already walked some distance away when he suddenly turned back around. 

In all fairness, the scene just now could actually be used, but Gu Qingchi’s first couple of scenes were simply too good. Without even realizing it, Wang Haisheng’s standards had been raised by a lot.

“Xie Luyu is in his lounge. He doesn’t have anything better to do, so you should go ask him for some pointers. Although he’s got an awful temper, he can be pretty reliable sometimes. If he says anything unpleasant, just take it as a bunch of—”

He coughed twice, muffling the last word.

“Anyway, there’s no need to worry.” 

Even though he was saying that, Wang Haisheng actually trusted Xie Luyu quite a bit.

Xie Luyu didn’t act very seriously. He displayed all kinds of emotions whenever he pleased. However, he actually behaved rather appropriately for the most part.

People usually found it very comfortable to be with him, very natural.

He wouldn’t make things difficult for others unless he was truly unable to bear it. 

Xie Luyu was the kind of person to change depending who he was with.

In his interpersonal relationships, Xie Luyu would respond differently according to each person’s personality.

When he was with someone who was cheerful and playful, he would match their energy and joke around. However, he always knew where to draw the line. When he was with someone who was quiet and restrained, he would only tell a couple harmless jokes to lighten up the atmosphere.

Xie Luyu was simply too famous. Most newcomers were far too afraid to ask him for advice. 

In fact, Xie Luyu would be happy to give pointers if there were any newcomers to ask him for advice.

It was said that Xie Luyu had a bad temper, but Xie Luyu’s temper was actually pretty good. Everyone in the industry knew this. However, he didn’t rely on the internet to make money, so he didn’t particularly care about managing his image.

Within the crew, he was the only one besides Wang Haisheng that had their own personal lounge. He didn’t receive any preferential treatment other than that. Whenever time was tight, he would shovel some food in his mouth and rush to film his scenes just like everyone else.

In fact, the crew gave him the lounge after taking into account that he was their leading actor. He had a high workload, so they needed to keep their leading man in good condition. 

Wang Haisheng had been a director for a long time. He’d seen plenty of people who were well-behaved in front of their fans but completely different in private.

Among people like this, Xie Luyu was actually quite easy-going.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to figure it out within a couple of minutes. I’ll push this scene back for now. Spend the next couple of days learning from Xie Luyu.”

Wang Haisheng kept talking and talking. Then, he shook his head. 

“Forget it. Come here. I’ll go talk to him about it myself.”

Wang Haisheng made good on his word. He energetically dragged Gu Qingchi to Xie Luyu’s lounge.

Xie Luyu, the King of Smack Talk, had reappeared on the playing field.

A group of Xie Luyu’s fans quickly poured onto Gu Qingchi’s Weibo account. All of them were watching the fun and laughing, hahaha. 

They didn’t care about what happened. Most of them didn’t even know that there was a fight in the comments section. They also didn’t know who Gu Qingchi was. They simply rushed into the comments sections and laughed, hahaha.

They crushed the water army with their laughter alone.

It all came to an end before it even had the chance to get started. It didn’t even cause a single splash.

Even Ye Li, who was always paying attention to Weibo, didn’t notice it. 

After fighting on the front line for three or four hours, Xie Luyu finally retreated. He let out a long sigh.

He was just about to drag Pan Xiaocheng out of his blacklist.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

“It’s me, Wang Haisheng.” 

“Go ahead and come in. Close the door behind you. Thanks.”

Xie Luyu was far too familiar with Wang Haisheng. There was no need to be polite. He didn’t even raise his head. He was busy preparing himself for Pan Xiaocheng’s interrogation.

“Are you busy? Help me teach someone.”

“If it’s a request from you, I’m naturally going to be—” Busy. 

Xie Luyu gave him a quick glance.

Then, he quickly changed what he was about to say.

“Not busy.”