Chapter 6 006 Blown Away

Chapter 6 006 Blown Away

Marketers compared screenshots and confirmed that Lu Xu had indeed unfollowed all his former Verse connections.

He didn’t follow many people to begin with, and after some unfollowing and refollowing, all that remained were the official blog of *The Noble Young Master* and the accounts of Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen.

“……I can't believe he did this. He was the one dragging Verse down. Weren’t Xie Qingyang and the others dragged down by him? I became a fan of Xie Qingyang because of Verse. I really don’t want this Verse chapter to be a stain on Xie Qingyang’s idol career.”

“Can’t he be decent? Shouldn’t Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin be the ones unfollowing him?”

“It’s fine to unfollow former teammates, but who are these newly followed people? Yang Shu, Xia Xuewen… hahaha, the male and female leads of his crappy web drama.”

“Did anyone else notice Lu Xu’s bio? He actually calls himself Actor Lu Xu. Wow, talk about thick skin!”

“He’s got some nerve! My idol is truly suffering here.”

Not long after Lu Xu followed Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen, his private messages exploded again. He didn’t need to open them to know they were full of insults and offensive images.

Lu Xu had only been in this world as the original owner for a short time, but in that time, he had already seen tens of thousands of such messages. One could only imagine the storm of abuse the original owner had endured when Verse disbanded.

Lu Xu didn’t understand. When he followed Verse-related accounts, he was accused of leeching for attention, and now that he had unfollowed them, he was still accused of the same. Will this ever end?

Before joining Verse, the original owner had harbored dreams of becoming an idol. Xie Qingyang, Meng Qin, and Gu Sinian had been signed with Ling Ge Entertainment for a long time. Ling Ge Entertainment initially planned to debut Verse as a trio. However, during that period, various agencies were pushing boy groups frequently, and the competition between them was fierce.

If the three debuted with their initial image, they wouldn’t stand out among the boy groups with strong looks and skills.

That’s why Ling Ge Entertainment brought in Lu Xu.

He was indeed the weak link in Verse, and his talent wasn’t particularly strong. However, Verse’s activities were extremely frequent after their debut, leaving the original owner no time to rest, let alone improve his stage skills.

Ling Ge Entertainment only wanted the other three to become popular. Whether the original owner was popular or not didn’t matter. He wasn’t the protégé of any agent at Ling Ge Entertainment.

In Lu Xu’s view, the original owner’s skills were indeed the weak link in Verse, but the abuse and humiliation he suffered far outweighed the mistakes he had made.

……

Lu Xu scrolled through Weibo for a while. The top post on his feed was still about Yao Yuan owing money. Since he unfollowed the other three Verse members, the comment count had been blowing up.

Lu Xu could practically recite these repetitive insults by heart.

But as he scrolled, he suddenly noticed a shift in the tone of the comments.

“How could you do this to Gu Sinian?”

“It’s heartbreaking to see how much Gu Sinian cared about Verse.”

“Why keep hurting him? Let Gu Sinian pursue his acting career in peace!”

“Aww, Gu Sinian, the ultimate Verse fan, we love you!”

Shortly after Lu Xu unfollowed Xie Qingyang and the others, Gu Sinian unexpectedly posted an update on Weibo.

Ever since he started pursuing an acting career, Gu Sinian’s page had been filled with promotional posts for his dramas. He hadn’t posted a personal Weibo for a long time.

And his latest post featured just two emojis: a musical note and a tear.

The name Verse originally signifies a part of a song. Since Verse debuted as a four-member group, the musical note has been the group's symbol.

Since Verse disbanded, Gu Sinian has been constantly emphasizing how much he misses Verse. For the fans, even though Gu Sinian only posted two emojis, it felt like he had spoken volumes.

"I hate Lu Xu!!!"

"!!!! Ahhhhhh Lu Xu, why didn’t you die the moment Verse disbanded!!"

"I’ve never hated anyone this much!! What can you offer to make up for Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin!"

In short, after Gu Sinian posted this Weibo, the other members of Verse started trending again, and the hate Lu Xu received doubled. The comments under the trending hashtags were almost all calling for him to leave the entertainment industry.

…

Lu Xu put his phone aside and continued reading the script.

Yang Shu and Xia Xuewen, who had just mutually followed him, remained silent… Just moments ago, they were being mocked by Verse fans as obscure, third-rate actors. Now, the battlefield had shifted.

They were indeed obscure actors. Strictly speaking, they weren’t even considered third-rate, and the little attention they had came from the drama *My Precious Young Master*. Most of their Weibo followers were people they knew personally.

Yang Shu carefully watched Lu Xu’s expression. He sensed something big was about to happen when Gu Sinian posted that Weibo. However, at that moment, Lu Xu’s expression was calm, as if the person being told to leave the entertainment industry wasn’t him at all.

After finishing the day’s shoot, Lu Xu ate and carried out his activities as usual. The hotel where the cast stayed was in terrible shape, but he didn’t utter a word.

The shooting continued the next day.

The filming schedule was tight, and Hua Zhu’s standards for filming weren’t particularly stringent. However, Yang Shu noticed that even with lines that could easily break the scene’s immersion, Lu Xu treated them very seriously.

Under his performance, the character Yu Wei didn’t come off as flat. Instead, there was an aura of an old-school idol drama. Regardless of how over-the-top the dialogue or how weak the plot, Lu Xu stayed completely committed to his character.

One day, there was a scene where Zhong Baobei, full of optimism, saved Yu Wei’s soul.

To some extent, the drama *My Precious Young Master* had a tiny bit of merit in its character consistency. Even when Yu Wei later turned dark, it was due to his own personality.

His melancholy often turned into gloom.

The windows to Yu Wei’s heart were always tightly closed. Although he was excellent, he only gave off a sense of detachment.

Then one day, after a tug-of-war event at Ariel Academy, Yu Wei and Zhong Baobei found themselves trapped in a pit less than a meter deep. It suddenly started raining heavily. Yu Wei hated rainy days as they reminded him of a dark childhood memory.

But Zhong Baobei did her best to shield him from the rain, her radiant smile healing the wounds in his heart.

The script described Zhong Baobei as a ray of sunshine that illuminated Yu Wei’s heart. At that moment, Yu Wei revealed his most genuine smile.

As one of the actors in this drama, Yang Shu couldn’t help but criticize the script. "Couldn’t they just climb out of a pit that’s less than a meter deep?

Why couldn’t Ariel Academy play golf or tennis instead of holding a tug-of-war competition?

Even in the rain, they insisted on continuing, claiming it was a symbol of their Ariel spirit."

But Lu Xu acted as if the plot made perfect sense.

He pulled up a chair and sat down, wanting to see Yu Wei’s "genuine smile."

And then he saw it—

Under Lu Xu’s performance, Yu Wei, who had always been a somewhat melancholic and noble young master, had an indescribable sense of brokenness. At this moment, when he and Zhong Baobei were trapped in the pit and she saved him, his eyes sparkled brightly, as if the dark clouds around him had been swept away.

This was the real self of Yu Wei, hidden away.

During the time they were filming "The Aristocrat," Lu Xu didn’t have any exaggerated expressions or forced coolness. Since Yu Wei’s character is introverted, Lu Xu played him with restraint. But at this moment, all of Yu Wei’s melancholy and silence vanished, and his smile was bright and sunny.

Yang Shu felt as if he was seeing two different people.

"Is this the kind of acting we expect in a web drama?" Yang Shu wondered to himself.

He was certain he hadn’t said it out loud, but when he looked up, he heard someone else say exactly the same thing.

The person who spoke was another actor, Ji Zhan, who played a sidekick to Pan Lingfeng in the drama.

"Has Ling Ge Entertainment started an acting workshop?"

"Even if they had a workshop, they probably wouldn’t include Brother Lu."

Despite outside rumors painting Lu Xu negatively, the cast and crew of "The Aristocrat" didn’t see it that way.

Most of them were somewhat connected to the entertainment industry. If outsiders didn’t understand, did people in their circle not get it either?

Regardless of how fans of Ling Ge Entertainment and Verse described Lu Xu dragging the group down, or how the other three members were supposedly miserable, it was Lu Xu who got kicked out of the company, while the others enjoyed all the resources.

Even when Verse was still around, Lu Xu’s treatment was never on the same level as the others.

Where was the misery for Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin? These three were treated like A-listers wherever they went.

Although Verse’s group fans always emphasized that Lu Xu dragged down Verse and the other members, in the year since Verse disbanded, the achievements of the three members still included instantly selling out fashion magazines.

Yang Shu couldn’t understand why Ling Ge Entertainment was investing so heavily in Gu Sinian while sidelining Lu Xu.

Realizing how talented Lu Xu was, Yang Shu and Ji Zhan redoubled their efforts to improve their performances. Lu Xu’s personality was also great. The cast consisted mostly of young people, and once they realized Lu Xu wasn’t intimidating, they started inviting him to hang out with them.

There were too many plot holes in the "The Aristocrat" script, and at first, Yang Shu didn’t dare bring it up with Director Hua Zhu. But one day, when he and Lu Xu were having a meal and happened to talk about it, they decided to approach Hua Zhu together.

Though they couldn’t extend the shooting schedule due to budget constraints and couldn’t overhaul the script, thanks to their persistence, they managed to revise some of the most illogical and weak parts of the script.

For the remaining parts… though there were still many issues because there were too many bugs to fully address, it was still better than the initial version.

Yang Shu was clear on one thing: if it hadn’t been for Lu Xu joining him to see Director Hua Zhu, Hua Zhu might not have agreed to revise the script.

Every day on set, he found himself continually impressed by Lu Xu’s acting.