Gu Xingye seemed to have come purely to borrow a light. After saying that one sentence, he left directly.
Gu Xingye came for no apparent reason.
Gu Xingye left for no apparent reason.
Leaving behind only the baffled and furious UR, and the player who wasn't baffled at all but had to pretend to be because of a guilty conscience.
"He's a friend I grew up with," Duan Mingxuan explained. "You should know him since you've been filming on set."
Xia Cheng: "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
"He's a bit self-centered. You don't need to pay him any mind."
Xia Cheng: "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
This insignificant little episode passed quickly, and Xia Cheng returned to the set to continue grinding her career line.
[Late September 20XX, the three-month filming of the movie Calming the Storm came to an end. After five months of meticulous post-production, the film was released simultaneously worldwide in February of the following year.]
| A Well-Known Internet Gossip Forum |
[Topic Post]
The trailer for the young lady's new movie is out—come judge it now!
[Floor 1]
I'm stuck at work, and my boss is watching me so I didn't dare watch it. Does our Orange get a lot of screen time? If so, I'll sneak off to the bathroom later to enjoy it properly!
…Ah, no need to sneak off—our boss is an Orange fan. She put the trailer up on the big screen!
[Floor 2]
Why is nobody talking in this thread? Everyone gone mute?
[Floor 3]
They've all gone to watch the trailer, haven't they? Haven't you noticed that all the forums went quiet after the trailer dropped? Everyone's flooded onto the video platforms. The only one who can achieve this "one-button mute" effect is our Orange.
[Floor 5]
Wait, what about those members who swore they wouldn't contribute a single view to Orange? So I was the only one who took them seriously, and you were all secretly watching behind the scenes?
[Floor 6]
Loving ugly people is work; looking at beauties is life.
[Floor 10]
I don't dare watch the trailer… As an Orange fan, I've never had the courage to look directly into Orange's incomparably beautiful eyes… Orange's eyes are the thing Orange fans fear most in this lifetime, and Orange's beauty is the highest reward bestowed upon Orange fans…
[Floor 12]
Help, what kind of cringe fan fiction is this.
[Floor 15]
I'll never forget when the first trailer for Ode to Great Yan came out. I looped it for three whole days straight. I had every line and every frame memorized, but I just couldn't bear to turn it off. My eyes simply refused to leave Orange's face for even a single second… I'd wake up in the middle of the night and have to kiss the screen before I could go back to sleep peacefully… I'd jolt awake from nightmares and burst into tears immediately, because I was terrified that the existence of such a beauty was just a dream… and when I woke up, there'd be nothing left…
[Floor 21]
You have such a high-speed rotating beauty entering the Eastern Continent
It's just a star-chaser, it's just this Orange-god principle
It's the Orange-god overseer
Remember the principle I gave you, the era of Orange
Do you know why Orange fans offer her ancestral shrines
Why this world produces such a beauty
[Floor 23]
Ugh, how did a bot get in here? Has Orange already beautified her fans into incoherent babbling?
[Floor 25]
Everyone's only paying attention to Orange-god's beauty—am I the only one looking at the numbers? It's terrifying. Orange has swept every trending list on every platform. The top ten are all "EXPLOSIVE" in red-so-dark-it's-black. And this is just a teaser trailer. I can't imagine what it'll be like when the official trailer drops.
[Floor 32]
Just ten minutes after the trailer came out, the official video hit 100 million views, 10 million likes, and 1 million shares… I checked Orange's tag feed, and there are endless praise comments refreshing faster than I can keep up—everyone's suffocating from Orange's beauty.
[Floor 38]
Orange has hit number one on worldwide trends again. These days, any little stir from Orange lands her on the global trending list. She's officially become a world-class superstar.
[Floor 45]
So ridiculous. Netizens from every country are trying to prove Orange has their country's bloodline… The most absurd one said he consulted a fortune-teller and found out Orange was actually a princess of their country in her past life. They're now protesting under official accounts, demanding documents acknowledging Orange's Western Continent citizenship. Ugh, I can't even.
[Floor 58]
Why are they trying to claim her again? Orange clearly has Eastern Continent features. You might as well say she's the reincarnation of Princess Changning.
[Floor 72]
So what's the new movie trailer actually like? All I see is discussion about Orange's beauty. What about the rest of the cast? Did they go invisible? Isn't Gu Xingye the top star of the Eastern Continent? I haven't seen many posts about him.
[Floor 85]
Just got internet access? The top star has already changed. Orange is the new world-class superstar. Gu Xingye is last year's news—never heard of him.
[Floor 93]
Heh, then let's see how much box office she can pull. Since she's a "world-class superstar" now, she should sell at least 20 billion globally, right?
[Floor 94]
This idiot's gone crazy. There are only two films in world box office history that have surpassed 20 billion. You're praising her so hard you've thrown all reason out the window?
[Floor 95]
Isn't she a "world-class superstar"? Hasn't she hit number one on world trends multiple times? She doesn't even have that much drawing power?
[Floor 96]
You're unhappy when it actually sells for 20 billion. So sour upstairs—why the hatred? Did Xing Si come after you?
Xing Cheng 99
[Floor 105]
Xing Cheng 99
[Floor 110]
Xing Cheng 99
[Floor 114]
Family, you're too mean… Don't drive Xing Si to death… Their brother already gave up top billing for love, which drove Xing Si insane… Then some Xing fans even defected and became Cheng fans mid-blackout. The remaining Xing fans are cursing furiously, but their idol doesn't even care—he couldn't care less about his fans, clinging to your Cheng all day, looking at her with that Dark Crawling, love-hate gaze…
[Floor 115]
Do Cheng fans have no shame?! During promotion, the two had zero interaction—clearly just colleagues who don't know each other. Just one glance and you start fantasizing that everyone loves your sister, right?!
[Floor 116]
Don't rush, solo stan upstairs. Xing Cheng CP has been the undisputed top for ages. Whether you love Cheng or not doesn't matter—your brother is crazy about her. Xing Cheng 99.
[Floor 120]
Isn't this a kind of "tortured love"? Xing tortures himself over Cheng, while Cheng never cares about Xing… Just like Xing fans torture themselves over their brother, while he never cares about them… kswl.
[Floor 126]
Has-been top star, don't come near a global superstar. Xing fans, get out. CP fans, get out too. My Cheng shines alone!
[Floor 137]
So is Gu Xingye's behavior really him giving up on his fans?
[Floor 148]
He's been doing whatever he wants since debut. When has he ever cared about fans?
Besides, he's the ultimate nepo baby—a famous crown prince with terrifying connections, they say. Last time he attended an official event with some corporate big shot, the guy was practically groveling in deference to him.
[Floor 163]
This movie is a gathering of nepo babies—prince and princess all in one place, with Best Actor and Best Actress as footstools… Suddenly worried about the final quality. Box office depends on word of mouth these days. If word of mouth doesn't hold, first-day box office will collapse, right?
If word of mouth crashes and another film takes advantage, that'll be fun to watch.
[Floor 185]
Trust Director Cao, trust my Cheng's acting. Praying.
The day Settling the Storm premiered.
"So many people…" The moment she entered the cinema, Zhuang Jing was stunned. Gazing at the sea of heads, she looked at her friend beside her in disbelief. "We bought tickets for the first morning show, right? Why are there so many people?"
"Too many people want to see the beauty ASAP!" Her friend, clutching popcorn and soda, squeezed through the crowd with difficulty. "Even the morning show tickets—I had to ask my senior to pull strings with the theater manager. You don't know how high scalpers have driven up ticket prices. Laser IMAX and Dolby Cinema prime-time seats are going for astronomical prices, and they're still sold out! Humanity's pursuit of beauty is terrifying."
This time they'd also gotten Laser IMAX tickets. They weren't late, but by the time they found their seats, the theater was nearly full.
The movie hadn't started yet, and many people were chatting quietly. It was a period martial arts film—a genre kids wouldn't normally be interested in—yet quite a few people had brought children. Next to Zhuang Jing sat a couple with a little girl, who was asking her mother in a baby voice when the pretty sister would come out.
Her friend sighed beside her about Xia Cheng's immense popularity and national recognition. Zhuang Jing sat calmly in her seat, but inside, her feelings were complicated.
Zhuang Jing was a freshman at City A Film Academy, same year as Xia Cheng—technically her classmate. They'd even attended Director Qin's "audition" together.
Zhuang Jing only learned later that she wasn't the only one with connections—nearly a third of the people who showed up that day had known in advance that Director Qin was coming to cast.
But after all their scheming and maneuvering, the one chosen to play Princess Changning was Xia Cheng, who knew nothing about the inside scoop and hadn't even prepared.
After Ode to Great Yan aired, "Princess Changning" exploded overnight, setting a ratings record unseen in decades. Xia Cheng shot straight to the top as a rising star. But Zhuang Jing, her classmate who'd auditioned alongside her, was still just an unknown freshman at the film academy.
One drama, one role—that was the difference between heaven and earth.
Though she knew this was just how the entertainment industry worked, Zhuang Jing couldn't help feeling envious and jealous. Countless times she'd imagined what would have happened if she'd been the one cast as "Princess Changning"—whether her life would have changed just as dramatically.
But Zhuang Jing also knew clearly it was impossible.
Because it was Xia Cheng, "Princess Changning" became a phenomenon. Because it was Xia Cheng, Ode to Great Yan achieved such astonishing results.
Everyone knew this.
Actually, more than her beauty, what hit Zhuang Jing harder was that girl's acting.
On the day of the audition, Zhuang Jing watched her performance from just a few meters away.
Before this, Zhuang Jing had only a vague understanding of acting. She had never known that someone could perform so naturally, with such spirit and grace—so effortless, so perfectly polished that it made her feel utterly inadequate.
How could someone be born to act like this?
Zhuang Jing could no longer deceive herself. She was jealous of that girl—jealous of her beauty, jealous of her luck, but most of all, jealous of her dazzling, extraordinary talent.
This jealousy was like a venomous insect gnawing at her heart. Even knowing she shouldn't, she couldn't help but keep tabs on that girl's news.
When she saw hateful comments about her, Zhuang Jing would silently like them and secretly feel a flicker of joy. But when she saw posts disparaging her as someone who only got roles through connections and had no real talent, she couldn't resist logging into her burner account to argue back: "She earned the role in Ode to Great Yan purely on her own merit—it wasn't through anyone's connections! She's a truly gifted actress. Don't talk nonsense if you've never seen her perform!"
Zhuang Jing couldn't untangle the complex web of emotions inside her. She was jealous of Xia Cheng—jealous that despite starting from a similar, even lower, point than herself, Xia Cheng had soared to fame overnight.
Part of her wanted Xia Cheng to fall, to crash and burn, to prove to the public that her acting was nothing special, that it couldn't withstand the scrutiny of the big screen. And yet, another part of her wanted Xia Cheng to continue her legend—aloof, arrogant, and untouchable—using her breathtaking performances to declare to the world that she was a born actress, a born queen of cinema.
Whatever tangled thoughts churned in her mind, the lights dimmed, and the film officially began.
"In the final years of the Dasheng Dynasty, the imperial court was in decline, and the martial world was rife with conflict. To compete for the legendary treasure map said to contain clues to the previous dynasty's imperial seal, the major martial arts sects decided to hold a grand martial arts tournament…"
As the narration unfolded, a face of unparalleled beauty appeared on the big screen.
The entire theater fell silent for a moment—so quiet that even breathing couldn't be heard, as if everyone had forgotten to inhale.
For an ugly person, being magnified on screen is a cruelty. But for a beauty, it is an overwhelming shock.
The moment that stunning face appeared on the screen, it was as if a massive spiderweb had been cast over everyone in the audience. Every silken thread silently seeped into their blood. Trapped within that web, they had nowhere to go, no way to escape—they could only surrender completely to her beauty, becoming her prey.
Yet her beauty did not overshadow her acting.
The story of Calming the Storm was not particularly complex. It began with martial artists fighting for power and personal gain, and later shifted to them setting aside their grudges to defend their homeland against foreign invaders. Though simple, the story was stirring and grand.
The female lead was unquestionably the heart of the film, carrying the vast majority of the pivotal plot. When the final scene arrived—where "Xie Kulan," who had prepared herself for sacrifice, ultimately turned the tide and reversed the defeat—countless people in the theater wept tears of joy. They had been completely drawn into her story.
Every smile, every frown of the character on screen tugged at their heartstrings. They could only rejoice because of her, grieve for her, be haunted by her, and utterly enchanted by her.
As the film ended and the audience filed out, the air buzzed with praise for the female lead's beauty and acting. Some people even tried to snatch the life-sized standee of the heroine from the theater lobby on the spot. So many people lunged for it that they ended up in a tangled heap, unable to move.
Walking out of the theater, Zhuang Jing still felt dazed.
"Let's watch another showing this afternoon," her friend said.
"You want to relive the plot too, right?" Zhuang Jing's voice was soft. She didn't know whether to feel happy or bitter. "She… she really is too gifted. Even if I practiced for another ten or twenty years… I could never pull off Xie Kulan's final smile."
"No," her friend said, still in a daze. "I didn't even pay attention to whether she acted well. I just want to use the big screen to admire that beautiful sister's face again."
People like Zhuang Jing, who could resist the assault of beauty and focus more on the acting, were in the minority. Most people were so dazzled by her looks the moment she appeared that they spent the entire film in a dizzy haze, only realizing after leaving the theater that they hadn't even followed the plot.
But just looking at the beauty was worth the ticket price!
And so, the proportion of viewers who watched the film a second time, a third time, or even more times was unusually high. The film's initial audience base was already massive, and with the snowball effect, the box office eventually rolled into a terrifying astronomical figure.