Bonus Chap
Thanks for the kofi 🌟V M ✨
Xie Yifeng and Zhou Yuhe’s influence in China was too big, but with I.S and Black Emperor moving behind the scenes, although their studio had used all its strength to save their popularity, but like a mayfly shaking a tree, the effect wasn’t visible.
Zhou Yuhe left I.S, who trained him, and left his new employer only a year ago, his wolfish behavior showed that his character was already problematic; in order to star in the new movie “Martial Arts”, he deliberately got close to the young diva Cao Qiyue, taking advantage of her popularity; since his debut, he had played only leading roles, there must be a secret behind it …… overwhelming scandals swept in furiously, threatening to drown Zhou Yuhe.
For most idols, nothing was more important than the love of fans. If it were normal and someone made up so much lies to mess with him, as long as the fans believed in Zhou Yuhe, then his position as a top star couldn’t be shaken, but now, the most critical problem was that Zhou Yuhe was losing his fans at a staggering rate.
In fact, idols in love certainly lost a lot of fans, but Zhou Yuhe’s romance was more appalling, more difficult to accept it.
Even if China allowed same-sex marriages, the conditions for marriage were too harsh, only few could successfully walk into the wedding hall, not to mention that the entertainment industry had always been prejudiced against homosexuality, until this year, China’s entertainment industry had never had an open same-sex couple.
No one cared if it was hidden, but it became a big deal when it was exposed.
More than anger, they were disappointed, disappointed to the core.
Some of the old fans who had been following Zhou Yuhe since his debut, looked at the obviously fake news with no evidence, but they couldn’t rise half as much as before to defend him, in the heart of many fans, not attacking him was already their biggest concession to Zhou Yuhe.
They wouldn’t attack, but they wouldn’t love him again.
********************
“The scale of things far exceeded our imagination, I.S is worthy of being I.S.” Yang Yu leaned on the sofa, his face was full of the tiredness that had accumulated over the past few days.
“The fundamental problem is not IS, the important thing is that your coming out has brought too much impact to fans, especially Yuhe. Your girlfriend fans and career fans has been stimulated too much in this event. The lethality of them stepping back is really serious. Not only has it ruined your popularity but there are also the fans who really spent money to create traffic for you, hey…” Even Xu Feng, who was happy all the time, also had a sad expression on his face.
This was really a very helpless thing.
Zhou Yuhe’s acting skills hadn’t been fully uncovered, but he could even be said to have done very well, he was the undisputed TOP 1 among the young actors of the same period, but more outstanding, was his superior appearance.
Even in the entertainment industry, where handsome men and beautiful women were in abundance, Zhou Yuhe’s looks were amazing enough to make people forget.
This, at the beginning of his debut, he attracted a huge number of girlfriend fans.
In addition, not long after his debut, he played the first male lead of two dramas one after another, his star path was full of legendary works.
In the road of being a strong actor, Zhou Yuhe still had a long way to go, but the road of an idol, he’d stepped on the peak early, which led to his image in the eyes of passers-by, being more of an idol.
This had also led to the composition of his fans, most of them were girlfriend fans, pro-mother fans and career fans.
These fans, in the artist’s journey upward climb would give great support, but on the contrary, once they turned their backs, the damage caused to the artist was also immeasurable.
In the past few days alone, Zhou Yuhe and Xie Yifeng’s personal endorsements had been reduced by about a third, and the rest were still on hold, but they had already prepared for the worst.
“I think everyone is too pessimistic, have you guys ever thought that if you survive this difficult time, maybe …… it’s an opportunity instead?” Xie Yifeng suddenly said, although he was also affected in this incident, but compared to Zhou Yuhe, he was still much better, so he was a little more objective and rational.
The four people in the room all looked at him.
“The opportunity for transformation.” Xie Yifeng said emphatically.
“High popularity sounds wonderful, but in fact it’s unfair to Yuhe’s acting skills, if we can get through this huge crisis safely, it may be an opportunity to reverse Yuhe’s stereotypical image in the eyes of the public.”
Xie Yifeng said this with a calm look, there was no reason to give a sense of reassurance.
But Zhou Yuhe strangely felt it, before he had a thousand fears, now that it happened, he was very calm instead.
Perhaps because in his last life, he also happened to fall from the clouds.
Perhaps it was because in this life he had the company of Xie Yifeng.
But more than that, he had what he definitely didn’t have in his last life – acting skills.
Acting skills brought him the strength and confidence from the bottom of his heart.
“Then what should we do?” Zhou Yuhe asked.
Xie Yifeng took Zhou Yuhe’s hand, and the heat coming from his palm constantly soothed Zhou Yuhe’s restless mood.
“What we should do is to do nothing,” Xu Feng spoke up, outsiders always thought that he who stayed in the company all year round and took over the affairs of big actors wasn’t good at running big stars, in fact he had decades of experience as an agent in the entertainment industry he could see through at a glance what many young people couldn’t see through. “Putting aside the factor of homosexuality, in fact, you two are just openly in love, it’s not as difficult to cleanse as some scandals of artists with character problems, with this kind of thing, as long as time passes, fans will slowly accept it and it would slowly fade away. The more we jump up and down at this time, the more we anger the fans, it is better to do nothing and wait quietly for the storm to pass.”
Xu Feng had an extremely good point, but –
“We still have the betting agreement, have you forgotten?” Yang Yu held his forehead and looked like he had a headache, “We still have more than a year before the three-year goal of 150 million, we lost a lot of endorsements and acting offers this time, if we really do nothing, what should we do at that time? The betting agreement is the knife hanging over our heads, guys.”
150 million for three years, if they didn’t reach this net profit, the rest of the money had to be paid out by Zhou Yuhe and Xie Yifeng together to make up for it, if not ……
Then until the debt was paid off, Ji Yuan had the right to designate every movie and TV show that the two would take in the future.
You should know that businessmen weren’t philanthropists, they wouldn’t check which movie was suitable for the actor.
In case it came to that point, in order to pay back the 150 million, the two people’s star path would definitely be ruined by bad movies after another!
The four people fell into silence.
What they should do had been done, were they really powerless?
Just at this time, Xie Yifeng suddenly opened his mouth, his voice was low and emotionless.
“Maybe …… you guys have heard of “Bo Ying”?”
Yang Yu listened in confusion, Xu Feng carefully repeated the words, he thought of something, but he wasn’t really sure.
Only Zhou Yuhe, like a lightning strike, was stunned in place.
“Bo Ying”?
Why did he mention “Bo Ying”? Did it mean-
“I bought the script two years ago.” Sure enough, the next thing Xie Yifeng said confirmed Zhou Yuhe’s suspicions.
This time Xu Feng also reacted, his face became a bit odd, only Yang Yu was still outside the situation.
“No wonder, a few years ago, there was still “Bo Ying” in circulation in the script market, two years ago, it went silent, I thought a big company was preparing to release it, the original …… Xifeng, why didn’t you mention it earlier?” Xu Feng said.
“I thought I wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity to use it in this life,” Xie Yifeng looked to Zhou Yuhe and his words held a deeper meaning, “there is still about a year and a half before the betting agreement takes effect. If it’s this film, we can give it a go.”
“Are you saying that …… the current situation can be redeemed by one movie?” Yang Yu obviously didn’t believe it.
But Zhou Yuhe knew that if it was “Bo Ying”, it was entirely possible to do it!
That was a legendary film that swept the awards season that year, no less than “Emperor Xuan Tong”! The two leading actors of this film almost won all the film awards that year, and Meng Chuan, who had always made only commercial films, officially made a name for himself in the history of literary films with this film!
But …… this film because of some reasons, from the project to later release, its path wasn’t very smooth.
No, to be precise, it was very unlucky.
Although Zhou Yuhe didn’t participate in this film that year, then he came close to starring as one of the male lead, Cheng Ying, so he knew about the film’s situation.
“Bo Ying” was a same-se-x literary film, and it shocked the nation twenty years ago and made countless people wonder, and even made the law have change to recognize same-s-ex marriage.
The case of Bo Ying was too cruel, but it was also a serious challenge to the ethical framework of China from ancient times, since same-sex marriage was successfully enshrined in the marriage law, the state intended to suppress the case, to this day, those who remembered the case of Bo Ying were few and far between, they only had a vague impression.
The movie “Bo Ying” undoubtedly stepped on this red line, in order to shoot smoothly, the script alone was revised hundreds of times, and finally the producer had to use their connections, plus the “Bo Ying” finished film was excellent enough, before this movie was released in China.
He couldn’t imagine that the movie that he rejected in his previous life and lamented every time he thought of it, actually fell into his hands again in this life, and the one who’d act it with him was actually Xie Yifeng!
The two of them wouldn’t be worse than the actors in his previous life, and by then, all the crises would be solved.
Because of Cheng Ying and Cai Bowen.
Although they were gay, no one could bear to blame them.
No one.
This was the power of a good movie.
More importantly ……
Zhou Yuhe looked to Xie Yifeng.
He said he bought the script of “Bo Ying” two years ago.
…… Did he think about it for the public at that time?
TN:
Sorry for the extremely late updates, for the old readers that know, back in December/January, I went to stay with my grandma after she had a stroke and I made arrangements to keep visiting but sadly she passed away on the 10th. I cried like a baby but I’ve had time to process, the last moments I spent with her were precious and I’m glad she and I had that. Sorry for the heavy stuff, next chapter should lighten it 💙.
My condolences. I’m happy you were able to spend time with her and be able to process that grief since then. Best wishes to you and again many thanks for continuing to translate this novel!