Capter 18
The online boycott against Qin You grew louder by the day; in other words, the buzz surrounding the title *Sleepless City* grew along with it.
Qin You continued her filming as scheduled, while the familiar Wang Hexing and Xiao Hong enthusiastically reported the situation from the Assistant Director’s side.
Word was that the Assistant Director was working himself to death to keep up with the schedule, losing another patch of hair in the process. Among the actors, while others had breaks, the girl playing Fang Ziyu had to work round the clock, and she barely managed to pull through.
This exaggerated rush made Qin You thoughtful. Recently, she had been monitoring the online activity in her spare time. Yang Qiu’s revelations had started to lose steam after two or three days, but then several professional accounts clearly joined in to maintain the heat. Even now, a week later, she and the drama were still being intensely vilified.
These calculated tactics made her suspect that Director Wang might be planning an early release. After all, the original promotion plan was ruined, and as the saying goes, “A determined effort is followed by waning strength, and then exhaustion.” If they let this momentum pass, the effect of trying to grab the netizens’ attention again later would be much weaker.
Just as she was considering this, Director Wang made his move, exactly as she had expected.
As their side of the filming neared completion, Director Wang suddenly vanished for a day, giving the actors a day off. By the following evening, their phones were flooded with trending topics:
#*Sleepless City* Trailer#
#*Sleepless City* Director Interview#
#Reason for Choosing Qin You#
The format was very orderly, and the titles were long—clearly paid for—but that didn’t stop them from being explosive. Netizens who had been venting for a week based on vague rumors finally had something tangible to see. They swarmed the topics in a frenzy, turning the paid trends into real ones.
The first to be released was the *Sleepless City* trailer.
Qin You clicked on the video.
The trailer wasn’t long, only forty seconds, but the shots were tight. It opened with that sweeping crane shot of the banquet. Unlike the raw footage from the film set, the trailer now featured a musical score and narration.
Accompanied by deep orchestral music and intermittent, clear piano notes, a beautiful female voice spoke:
“During the summer vacation after I graduated high school, my best friend invited me to a cocktail party. It was there that I decided what my major would be.”
The voice was young and clear, carrying a hint of memory and longing, instantly drawing the audience into the story on the screen.
The gorgeous and ostentatious Venture Capital Queen’s lips curled slightly. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes weren’t hidden, but they didn’t look old; they only added to her allure. After expressing her clear admiration for the person in front of her, she still spat out a sarcastic remark:
“Does your team have a UX?”
“I thought not. Hire one.”
The camera cut to the young girl in the white dress, her face filled with uncontrollable longing and surging emotions.
Next, the shots cut rapidly between the glass skyscrapers under a gloomy sky and the fierce confrontations within them. The only bright spot was a memory of the girl and her boyfriend—one of the few shots where one could clearly see sunshine and hear laughter. However, that memory was spliced into a heated and uncompromising phone argument.
Then came Qin You.
The final shot was Qin You in a long dress, turning back from the side of the female lead’s boyfriend and colliding into her line of sight. This scene only used a snippet of the original take; Qin You didn’t turn back fully, showing only half a face.
Then it abruptly stopped, cutting to a black screen. Only the music continued.
Director Wang’s aesthetic had always been excellent. Even though it was a rush job, the trailer was as exquisite as a work of art.
Qin You opened the comments. The most popular ones were from people who hadn’t even watched the video but rushed to start flaming. They held the top spots due to their time advantage and had gained more likes due to their position, tenaciously holding their ground.
However, switching to the time sorting mode revealed the comments from those who had actually watched the trailer.
Interspersed among the abuse were comments like these:
“I just came for the gossip, but why does this trailer look so good? Isn’t this way better than all those trashy dramas with fluorescent filters this year?”
“This trailer… the quality is quite good.”
“Is this Qin You?? Is this Qin You?? Am I blind? Is that what she looks like?”
Someone replied to that one:
“It’s probably the change in makeup. She used to always wear that ‘silly, sweet, and innocent’ look, so switching to a ‘domineering older sister’ style really makes her look like a different person. Her character looks like a mistress, though… can that even be a lead role?”
“Qin You’s role doesn’t look like a protagonist; she looks like a vicious supporting female character. What happened to all those people worried the new drama would whitewash her? You worried for nothing. I told you, with her current image, no one would cast her as a protagonist.”
“…”
Next, Qin You clicked the second trending topic: a five-minute interview with Director Wang.
Director Wang knew exactly how to find selling points. The reporter first brought up his past as a legendary investor, then asked why he decided to direct this show and, more importantly, if the business war theme was based on his real experiences.
In the video, Director Wang looked gentle, but he spoke with a decisive aura. He replied without hesitation, “How could it be? Real-world business wars aren’t nearly that cool.”
The reporter couldn’t help but laugh. “So it’s been through some artistic license?”
“Yes.”
After about two minutes, the reporter finally asked the question the onlookers cared about most.
“Why did you choose Qin You for this drama?”
Director Wang maintained his blunt style: “Because her image is suitable.”
Qin You couldn’t help but laugh.
She opened the comment section. The comments under this video weren’t as unified as the ones under the trailer; people were saying all sorts of things.
First, there were those shocked by Director Wang’s resume. Someone had already looked up his past and posted it in the comments, followed by hundreds of replies of “666.”
Then there were those repeating his line: “Real-world business wars aren’t nearly that cool.” The thread was full of jokes and memes, with people posting funny business war news from recent years.
This was exactly the same as in her previous life. Back then, there was no news highlight like Qin You, but *Sleepless City* had still ignited the netizens’ passion during the trailer phase. It wasn’t just because of its refined quality, but because Director Wang himself was a selling point that could be used for promotion.
Simply by presenting his background, many people were willing to watch the business drama for his sake. After all, who wouldn’t be curious about an industry story written by an industry legend?
However, the top-rated comment was still about Director Wang’s evaluation of Qin You.
“‘Because her image is suitable’… Damn, is he openly insulting Qin You by calling her a mistress? Scholars really know how to talk—cursing without using a single dirty word.”