Chapter 49.2

The song 《Follow Me》 was somewhat sensual. Originally a song for seven people, Lin Weining graciously accepted Jian Yueyin’s offer to share the lines, and she diligently acted as one of the mv’s female leads. She also handed out water bottles and assisted in getting clothes for the seven girls.

In the specially prepared room, the colors were mysterious, predominantly black and red. The seven girls changed into black outfits first, danced a complete routine, then quickly switched to red dresses. They changed rooms, changed clothes again, changed scenes…

Additionally, each person had their own perspective. The director’s requested golden cage had arrived. Xin Nuo had to change back into the white dress she wore before, standing inside the cage, fingers gripping the slightly cool railing, adding another layer to the visuals.

By the time it all ended, it was past midnight again, and they had another music video shoot for a different song the next day.

Fortunately, apart from the title track and 《Follow Me》 the other song’s music videos weren’t as complex. One reason was the tight recording schedule of the album, making it impossible to perfectly arrange an mv for every song from start to finish.

The eight girls rotated tirelessly, changing clothes, dancing, changing clothes again, switching scenes. One scene required three costume changes, and one costume was used for three different scenes. After a few days, they were so exhausted that they didn’t even want to talk.

“Feeling tired? Hang in there. We only have 《Stellar Catch》 and 《Yaco》 left. For 《Stellar Catch》 everyone will be on stage singing, so the focus is on 《Yaco》” Cui Qi said with concern. The girls were working hard to cooperate with the shoot, so she and the rest of the team were doing their best to provide them with food and monitor their well-being.

“You must be tired. Hang in there. We only have 《Stellar Catch》 and 《Yaco》 left. For 《Stellar Catch》 everyone just needs to stand on stage and record the performance. Our focus is on 《Yaco》” Cui Qi said with heartfelt concern. The girls were working hard to cooperate with the shoot. She and the rest of the team were doing their best to provide the girls with food and monitor their well-being.

What made Cui Qi even more concerned was that these eight girls were becoming more and more resilient. Apart from occasionally exclaiming that they were tired and wanted to sleep, as soon as the cameras started rolling, they turned into energetic and radiant girls.

“《Yaco》 will be shot at the water park. Everyone, get a good night’s sleep tonight. After we finish shooting 《Yaco》 you can all rest well until October 19th!” Cui Qi handed the girls straws for their milk teas and, along with assistants, handed the drinks to them.

They’re so skinny, they better eat!

“Ah…”

Xu Heran leaned back a bit, everyone was getting their hair dyed. Laurel and Jiang Qiong were napping on the couch.

“We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Xin Nuo’s eyes were somewhat hazy as she whispered softly.

“Keep it up, just two songs left.”

The girls, who were barely getting a few hours of sleep each day, raised their hands and high-fived each other.

The hair dyeing process took a long time. Once the hair had been permed and the hairdryer was placed on their heads, the hairstylist gently set down the stool and let the girls who had already dozed off lie down and rest.

Xu Heran squinted for a moment. When she woke up, her head was still warm. She took out her phone from her pocket, planning to clean up her Weibo, which she hadn’t posted on much since her debut. With sleepy eyes, she opened Weibo and saw a headline on the homepage: #Emperor Mu and Chen the Emperor’s Late-Night Mutual Teasing Amazes#.

Xu Heran’s eyelids shot up.

Was this Emperor Mu the one she was thinking of?

A certain Little Pearl immediately forgot about cleaning up her Weibo. She happily opened her account to indulge in some celebrity gossip. She clicked on the trending topic #Emperor Mu and Chen the Emperor’s Late-Night Mutual Teasing# and found that the news was already trending on the entertainment section. The trending hashtag was filled with countless gossip enthusiasts and fans of the two emperors, all eager to join the discussion.

A said, “Our Yiyue is good at acting, and our movies and TV dramas are both huge hits this year! How could someone fall off a stool during an audition? This is slander! Defamation! You’re just spewing nonsense that’s unfounded and unacceptable! Our Yiyue are truly deserving of the title ‘Emperor of Acting!’ You can’t stand to see him succeed, you’re just jealous of him!”

B chimed in, “Come on, who hasn’t won an acting award? Today you’re in the spotlight, tomorrow it’s his turn. How about the day after tomorrow, we all get a piece of the action together?”

C retorted, “If you’re talking about getting attention, it’s us who’ve been quiet. Unlike someone who acts like a nouveau riche landowner, sending out press releases every day, flaunting themselves shamelessly. They’re always creating buzz around whoever they can, even minors aren’t off-limits. Disgusting, isn’t it?”

D added, “Nonsense! Some underage people are throwing themselves at us. Some rookie wannabe tried to pick a fight with our Yiyue just after debuting. Take a look, Yiyue is not having any of it!”

“Hmm?” Xu Heran raised an eyebrow.

The Knights’ brigade arrived in full force.

“Yeah, our underage rookies have only twenty million fans. It’s nothing compared to Emperor Mu, who’s been in the industry for ten years and just recently jumped from ten million to this number. Our rookie comments are even more numerous than those on a regular day. How much did they spend?”

“And the so-called throwing themselves at us, don’t joke around. Let me add a comment from one of our underage fans: ‘Today, I went out to buy cake with a certain Pearl, when suddenly a mysterious guy greeted us. After a brief chat, it turned out to be Emperor Mu, who’s been super popular this year. Unfortunately, due to preparing for a talent show, I haven’t had time to watch Emperor Mu’s work yet, which is a pity. I really want to lie down and binge-watch once I have time, there are so many movies and shows I want to watch. What a shame.'”

“Let me interpret this for you. Xin Nuo and Xu Heran went out to buy cake and were approached by an unknown person, a guy named Mu Yiyue, who claims to be Emperor Mu. This clearly shows that these two girls don’t know him at all! They haven’t seen his work! Plus, Xin Nuo mentioned having the chance to binge-watch, but she didn’t specify watching Mu Yiyue’s work, right? They’re not familiar at all, are they? On the other hand, why did Emperor Mu carry flowers to a cake shop? And why did they later release a statement saying Mu Yiyue and Xin Nuo’s rumors are true? During the first half of this year, the female stars who got caught up in rumors with Mu Yiyue ended up apologizing after deleting their Weibo posts twice. Now ‘Insider of the Industry’ is facing lawsuits for spreading rumors, and everybody knows it’s Dream Entertainment’s pet project. Is there still anyone who doesn’t know this?”

“Hey… That’s disgusting! Some people seem well-mannered on the surface, but they’re secretly cozying up to underage girls. Can Emperor Mu now be called Uncle Xin Nuo?”

“Xin Nuo’s fans, don’t try to muddy the waters. This is a dispute between Mu Yiyue and Chen Yufeng, nothing to do with you. Get out if it doesn’t concern you!”

“No! We want to know!”

Xu Heran was taken aback, refreshing the page a few times until she stumbled upon Chen Yufeng’s Weibo.

As it turned out, earlier in the afternoon, this lead male actor who had crossed paths with her and Xin Nuo during an audition had posted a Weibo.

Chen Yufeng: “Looking back, during the audition, being dominated by a newly debuted artist, scared to the point of falling off a stool, is also a kind of skill.”

Someone in the comments asked, “Ah, who’s that? It’s not you, Yufeng, right? Embarrassing!”

“Oh, I’d actually love to experience that feeling. Unfortunately, it wasn’t me; it was a funny incident from a previous audition. It seems even funnier now. I’m sharing it to bring some joy to everyone.”

Why does it seem funnier now?

Fans pressed Chen Yufeng for an answer, but he didn’t respond. His fans were curious and immediately went to check the schedule posted by his manager. The manager had casually mentioned in a previous Weibo reply that the director Li You’s 《Rustling in the Wind》 was about to start filming. The manager had expressed hope that Chen Yufeng would catch the director’s attention.

Chen Yufeng’s manager and fans communicate in this manner; his attitude isn’t lofty. Fans are accustomed to it, and down below they pray fervently that Li You, the director, doesn’t wear glasses on that day and might wave his hand, letting Chen Yufeng get past.

Upon discovering this, fans immediately swarmed the official Weibo account of 《Rustling in the Wind》 They found that Dream Entertainment had posted a new Weibo earlier in the morning, mentioning Li You, the director, and the film crew of 《Rustling in the Wind》 The post announced that the movie was ready to start shooting, and thanked Li You for choosing Dream Entertainment and Mu Yiyue. They assured that Mu Yiyue would strive to perform well in his role as the male lead.

Apart from Mu Yiyue, Dream Entertainment also mentioned many other individuals who are set to appear in the movie and what roles they will play. Fans counted them up; in this one movie, Dream Entertainment’s artists would take up seven important roles.

However, they realized that besides Dream Entertainment, neither Li You nor the official 《Rustling in the Wind》 account had posted any updates. After another two hours, Li You finally posted a Weibo. He was sitting at a dining table with an array of delicious food spread out, a large ceramic bowl filled with stewed fish in front of him. There was a wine glass beside him. Sitting opposite was a man, only half of his body visible. His hand rested on the table, and a familiar-looking wristwatch adorned his wrist.

Li You: “In life, there are many moments of dissatisfaction.”

The certified Liu Youshu, the man opposite, retweeted the post and laughed heartily: “No worries, old friend. Gain wisdom from setbacks, and enjoy the fish.”

Onlookers: “???”

They pieced together clues from the interactions between various Weibo accounts, as well as comments from individuals claiming to have insider information. Based on these fragments, they deduced the following: Mu Yiyue and Chen Yufeng both participated in the audition for 《Rustling in the Wind》 vying for the role of the male lead. During a scene where Mu Yiyue acted opposite a supporting character, he was so frightened that he fell off the stool. This supporting character was a recently debuted artist. Eventually, the audition results were announced, and shockingly, Mu Yiyue got the role!

The crowd was shocked. Former film emperors and the recently popular film emperor’s fans began arguing on Weibo. Onlookers also dug deeper and discovered that 《Rustling in the Wind》 was actually funded by Dream Entertainment! So, Mu Yiyue, the male lead, was cast… making things a bit complicated.

No wonder Chen Yufeng found it even more amusing.

However, Mu Yiyue’s fans staunchly refused to believe that Mu Yiyue could be frightened off a stool by a recently debuted small artist. Did that small artist look like a ghost? Could they truly scare someone that much? Utterly ridiculous.

Fans argued for a long time until Mu Yiyue himself emerged and posted a photo. On an ancient-style desk, there was a piece of calligraphy with four characters: “清者自清” (The pure-hearted are self-purified).

Mu Yiyue’s fans found immense motivation in these four characters. They felt that Mu Yiyue was genuinely being treated unfairly. After finally securing the male lead role, he was still being speculated about and rumored. These people were truly despicable! They were just jealous, jealous of Mu Yiyue’s exceptional acting skills and his ability to get the male lead role.

Many people started commenting “小醜” (ugly) under Chen Yufeng’s Weibo posts, while under Mu Yiyue’s Weibo, they praised his calligraphy as beautiful and noted his improvement in writing. They wondered if he was working hard for the new drama.

Chen Yufeng didn’t debut later than Mu Yiyue. He kept a relatively low profile and focused on acting. He had won many awards in his early years, and in recent years, he became interested in stage plays and even participated in scriptwriting. His angry Weibo post was just an outburst of frustration.

He was quite interested in the script of 《Rustling in the Wind》 Moreover, on the day of the audition, Li You personally assured him that they would choose based on talent. But when the audition results were revealed, it was truly Mu Yiyue who got the male lead role. This made him find the situation laughable.

Li You personally visited him last night to apologize. Because they had signed a contract with Dream Entertainment, the funds from Dream Entertainment had already been deposited. If they didn’t withdraw the funds first, the production team would have to grit their teeth and continue shooting; otherwise, the penalty for breach of contract would be astronomical.

If Dream Entertainment’s funds hadn’t been transferred, Li You would have had a chance to make the decision himself. But now, he was completely in a passive position.

Although Chen Yufeng understood the situation, he was disgusted by Dream Entertainment’s actions. He wasn’t a part of Dream Entertainment and had achieved a certain status over the years. He wasn’t afraid to confront Mu Yiyue head-on. However, seeing Mu Yiyue acting so smug and reading comments under his Weibo post where he threatened to send a lawyer’s letter and take him to court, Chen Yufeng couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Even clay figures had a hint of temper, let alone he considered himself to have achieved something in his own industry, not at the pinnacle but with accomplishments. For those who couldn’t surpass him in their respective professional fields, did they really want to be coddled?

So, Chen Yufeng casually picked a comment from Mu Yiyue’s fan and asked, “Alright then, I’m willing to go to court with someone over this matter. Go back and tell him, ask him if he’s willing to stand in front of a judge with me and discuss whether he was truly scared off a stool by a newbie, unable to get up for half the day, and whether it’s true or false that before leaving, he arrogantly claimed the production team couldn’t do it without her, and she had what he didn’t.?”

“I sincerely welcome him to send me a lawyer’s letter. But I haven’t named names, and I also kindly ask certain people not to jump to conclusions.”

Regular onlookers chimed in, “It’s a female artist? Really? Managed to scare the film emperor off a stool? Is her acting that good?”

Mu Yiyue’s fans grew even angrier. “Alright then, you’re mocking Yiyi, don’t deny it! How dare they use a newly debuted small artist’s acting to overshadow Yiyi? These ridiculous lies that people can’t even believe!”

As a result, they became even more wild and flooded Chen Yufeng’s comments with “ugly” insults, adding fuel to the fire and claiming that he couldn’t act well and couldn’t secure roles, resulting in sour grapes.

Chen Yufeng didn’t bother looking and closed his phone, then delved back into the script.

Meanwhile, Mu Yiyue’s fans quickly rushed to his Weibo, demanding that he seek justice from Chen Yufeng. When Mu Yiyue remained silent, they turned their attention to Mu Yiyue’s agent and the company’s Weibo accounts, demanding their intervention. They absolutely wouldn’t let this anger go unaddressed!

Mu Yiyue absolutely couldn’t tolerate this injustice!

Xu Heran covered her mouth, chuckling, visibly amused. At this moment, Xin Nuo, who was seated next to her, woke up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, looking at Xu Heran and softly asking, “What’s going on?”

“Aren’t you sleeping? Are you tired, Zhuzhu?”

Having just woken up, her voice was a bit hoarse, and she lightly rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

Xu Heran’s heart suddenly felt like ice cream melting in a glass bowl on a summer day, softening and melting. She squinted her eyes and smiled, saying, “It’s nothing.”

The hairstylist walked over, took a look at Xin Nuo’s hair, and whispered, “Let me take you to wash it.”

“Sure, thank you.”

Xin Nuo stood up. Having slept quite heavily and with the chair not as comfortable as a bed, her body felt somewhat stiff. When she stood up, she didn’t manage to steady herself and placed her hand on the armrest of Xu Heran’s chair for support.

Xu Heran quickly reached out to help her, and Xin Nuo took the opportunity to playfully pinch her cheek. With a smile, like a little pearl, she watched her walk away.

After the sound of water started behind the opaque glass, Xu Heran sighed and glanced at the time on her phone.

She was the last one to get her hair dyed, so it would take a while. Meanwhile, little Pearl continued enjoying herself, eating her popcorn, experiencing the fun that Jiang Qiong and Haya usually had while surfing the internet.

Since it was a mutual jest between film emperors, the focus naturally lay on the word “mutual.”

After Mu Yiyue’s fans demanded the company’s intervention, about half an hour later, Mu Yiyue emerged again. He didn’t say anything, just posted a picture of the Film Emperor’s trophy with four accompanying words.

“Keep working hard!”

Mu Yiyue’s fans immediately felt relieved.

See, this is their idol, with superb acting skills. This year’s awards, while Chen Yufeng was indeed the Film Emperor, that was ancient history! Those Best Actor awards in stage plays? Never even heard of them. Don’t come out to make a fool of yourself.

Our Yiyi will continue to work hard this year, acting in TV dramas and movies one after another, receiving one trophy after another. Those of you who are envious can stew in your own jealousy~

Xu Heran pouted, then she noticed that the once one-sided online verbal battle was shifting in another direction. Some of Mu Yiyue’s fans were asking everywhere about the artist Chen Yufeng mentioned. They speculated whether it was an artist from Chen Yufeng’s company, intentionally trying to tarnish Yiyi’s reputation, undermining the Film Emperor, and trying to gain undeserved recognition.

But they found out that Chen Yufeng had a personal studio and didn’t have any other artists under him. Rational onlookers emerged to suggest that it might actually be true, as acting talent could vary widely. After all, there are child stars with impressive acting skills.

Mu Yiyue’s fans couldn’t tolerate such comments. Anyone speaking for Chen Yufeng was immediately labeled as an enemy, and some of the fans were clamoring that even if Mu Yiyue was truly startled, it was because of how ugly this female artist looked! Where did this ugly creature come from? Why doesn’t she stay home instead of scaring people out here!

“Wow, these people are crazy.” Xu Heran said in disbelief, feeling a bit annoyed. She realized that in the end, Li You had still chosen Mu Yiyue. She wished she hadn’t let Nuo Nuo participate in the auditions. It wouldn’t have entangled her in this chaotic mess.

Her enjoyment of the spectacle dissipated like smoke. She casually checked her phone, only to discover that the trending topic was now about Mu Yiyue’s fans searching for the female artist who auditioned. They were especially focused on investigating those who had just debuted. They wanted to see how ugly this person really was! They intended to advise this young artist not to go around scaring people!

Rational individuals ridiculed them, asking if they were admitting that Mu Yiyue really fell, but Mu Yiyue’s fans turned a blind eye to such comments.

“This is too ridiculous,” Xu Heran grumbled. At this moment, Xin Nuo came out with a towel wrapped around her head, water droplets rolling down her fair cheeks like drops on a wet flower.

The hairstylist dried her hair and picked up a hair dryer.

“Whoosh,” her purple hair fluttered as Xin Nuo looked towards Xu Heran amidst the sound of the wind and the tousled strands, lifting her gaze with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

What’s the matter?

She inquired with her gaze, her eyes carrying a hint of a smile.

“Don’t move.” Xu Heran mouthed, then raised her phone and with a “click,” took a snapshot of Xin Nuo’s natural, makeup-free face.

One minute later.

SGS Xu Pearl: “Is it ugly?”

She had just weeded her Weibo. SGS fans rushed in with baskets, liking, reposting, saving the picture, and then commenting, “Our trash Pearl finally posted on Weibo!” “I know you’ve been busy lately, forgive you, mama.” “I still want to see little Pearl.” And then, “Ah ah ah, my goodness, Nuo Nuo dyed her hair, purple, it looks so good… truly a fairy!”

In the photo, the girl’s eyes were bright, with a touch of weariness at the corners. Her purple hair was fluffy and disheveled, making her already petite face appear even smaller. Her gaze wandered innocently, looking at the camera with a pure and bewildered expression.

“Ah—”

“Baby! It’s my baby!!”

“Xu Pearl, have you gotten gutsier? Who are you calling ugly!!”

“Wait, hold on, something doesn’t seem right to the bystanders… It reminds me of something…”

“Me too…”

“Never mind the melon drama. I’m calling ‘wife’ first! Nuo Nuo’s hubby, watch out! Watch out!”

“You up front, you’ve got more guts than Xu Pearl! Do you see whose territory this is?”

“Pounding Sin’s fans are furious, kick them out!”

Ten minutes later, Xu Heran uploaded another photo.

In the picture, Xu Heran had a wet, green head of hair and her right hand pressed against her face, making a funny expression.

SGS Xu Pearl: What color is this~

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Author’s Note:

Just in time ~ (Adjusts sunglasses with coolness)

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Sinensis

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