Chapter 20: 020 – Drama Magnet

Chapter 20: 020 - Drama Magnet

During the break of *Rising Sun*, Gu Sinian was constantly staring at his phone, his fingers tapping away. He was completely absorbed in it.

The TV drama forums were anonymous, so no one would know even if he revealed some insider information.

Director Mu Qian silently cast several glances his way.

Gu Sinian hadn’t performed well in a scene today. Mu Qian had told him to take a break and study the script, but instead, Gu was back to playing with his phone.

Mu Qian hadn’t even seen him flip through the script.

Mu Qian frowned in frustration.

His gaze shifted back to the set, where You Zichen, playing Wu Shen, gave him an even bigger headache. He couldn’t understand why he had chosen someone even worse than Gu Sinian over Lu Xu.

You Zichen’s acting was so bad it was unbearable, a complete mess.

You Zichen’s presence probably made Gu Sinian feel superior, giving him the impression that his acting had improved dramatically. Little did they know, they were both equally bad.

Mu Qian was pushed to his limits, his anger bubbling up, especially seeing how both of them looked so indifferent. Mu Qian really felt like he had hit rock bottom.

He didn’t dare to get angrier. If he did, these guys might remain unaffected, but his own health would suffer.

At his age, he just couldn’t handle it anymore.

He sighed and looked at scriptwriter Jin Mu. “Am I asking too much?”

Or had he fallen out of touch with the times? Was this the kind of thing modern directors just had to endure?

Jin Mu shook his head sympathetically. “We just have to tough it out a bit longer.”

Both of them had high hopes for this drama’s production. Who would have thought the set atmosphere would turn out like this?

……

After posting that malicious reply, Gu Sinian kept refreshing the thread, waiting to see how other netizens would react.

He was really annoyed by those who believed Lu Xu would become a big star. What wishful thinking!

Recently, Gu Sinian had lost several commercial deals, and his reputation had taken a hit. It was hard for him to resist gloating over Lu Xu’s misfortune.

Fortunately, the netizens’ reactions were quite satisfying. After he revealed that Lu Xu had failed the audition, many comments agreed with his point of view.

“A serious director wouldn’t give him the time of day. Directors generally dislike actors who stir up public opinion. A real actor doesn’t go on trending lists every day, right?”

“Yang Shu didn’t land the lead role either. It’s totally normal that Lu Xu didn’t get the second male lead. Who does he think he is?”

Gu Sinian waited patiently for a while, and sure enough, before long, the thread was shared on Weibo.

“Is getting the second male lead role in *Rising Sun* really that difficult?”

“Well, it’s simple. He’s not popular enough, or maybe his acting isn’t good enough. It’s normal for him to lose the audition, right?”

“Hilarious. Lu Xu acts like he wants to distance himself from Verse, pretending to cut ties, but then he desperately goes after Gu Sinian’s second male lead role. What a drama queen.”

“+1. The fans are all riled up, but the person they’re supporting has already given up. This is too funny.”

"He's just trying to ride Verse's coattails. He wouldn't last a day without Verse."

"No way Ling Ge Entertainment would ever give him a chance. He didn't get the role purely because of his own doing."

During this time, because of Lu Xu, Ling Ge Entertainment and the other three members of Verse have been heavily mocked. V Studies are blowing up, and Ling Ge Entertainment tried to lower the hot searches, but V Studies are becoming a meme. Lowering the hot searches won’t fix it.

Ling Ge Entertainment even reached out to Lu Xu, telling him to lay low and not hold onto past grudges, but Lu Xu didn't buy it.

When this post appeared on the forum, Ling Ge Entertainment came up with a good idea—

#Lu Xu Betrayal# quickly skyrocketed into the top ten of the trending searches.

Ling Ge’s marketers jumped into action, summarizing that Lu Xu used his fans to diss Ling Ge Entertainment, only to betray them.

"Fans are important, but profits matter more."

"Not landing the role is on him, isn’t it? I've never seen such a shameful celebrity."

"So trashy, what a lowlife. If he wants to act noble, then stay noble."

"I don't think the problem is that he's clinging to Gu Sinian, it's that he didn't even manage to cling to him. It's really laughable."

The fans originally expected Lu Xu to get a good role, but who knew he would go and audition for *Rising Sun*. Although he didn't get the role, he had previously avoided Gu Sinian like the plague.

"Hating Gu Sinian is his job, but sucking up to him is his life. Lu Xu really knows how to separate the two, tsk."

…

As soon as Lu Xu went online, he saw that he was trending again.

He now feels that the CEO of Weibo should come to him for a collaboration. He's practically living on the trending page. They should share some of the profits with him, right?

Spotting the trending hashtag, Lu Xu squinted.

He quietly sighed, then said, "Does auditioning with Gu Sinian automatically mean kissing up to him?"

Then, he opened the search box and took a screenshot.

"Actor A and Gu Sinian collaborated," "Actor B joined hands with Gu Sinian," "Actor C," "Actor D"... "Actor Z."

After taking N screenshots, Lu Xu sighed, "Gu Sinian doesn’t even need to shower these days."

"I'm different. I shower every day."

"…Pfft."

"Hahahaha, such a unique perspective."

"Are you crazy? I was drinking milk tea! My computer would’ve crashed!"

"I also think the trending topic is ridiculous. It was just an audition. Not getting the role is normal, right? How is that clinging? Gu Sinian has auditioned for too many people. He's not exempt from auditions either."

"+1+1+1."

Lu Xu posted the audition notice sent by the production team: "I went to the audition as required. Before the audition, I didn't know that the male lead of this drama had already been decided to be Gu Sinian."

"As an actor, trying to get every audition opportunity is part of my job. I cherish every hard-earned audition opportunity."

"I'm not sure if the unsuccessful audition is related to Gu Sinian and Ling Ge Entertainment. If it is, I express my regret. I don’t want the regular audition process messed up. Every actor should have equal opportunities."

The audition notice was simple and clear, without any extra details, like who the male lead or the investors were.

Lu Xu was unusually serious this time, and his words hinted at something more—

"This drama is invested in by Ling Ge Entertainment and Fei Wo Film, so the male lead is Gu Sinian, and the second male lead is You Zichen."

"Is Lu Xu hinting that his opportunity was ruined by Ling Ge Entertainment?"

"That seems like a clear implication..."

Since Lu Xu didn’t say it outright, using the word "whether" instead, most of the comments were still along the lines of "keep up the good work."

Personally, Lu Xu wasn’t fond of revealing the details of auditions. A role always corresponds to one actor. Does that mean the actor who didn’t get the role is automatically a failure?

The answer is clearly no.

By the evening, Lu Xu’s statement was supported by evidence.

The role of Wu Shen had more than just Lu Xu auditioning. Another actor had briefly mentioned it in a previous live stream, saying he didn’t get the part.

After Lu Xu’s audition failure made it to the trending topics, fans of that actor asked him about it in the live stream.

His response was, "Yes, I also found out on the day of the audition that the male lead had already been decided. I hadn’t heard about it before."

"I found out later who was cast as Wu Shen, but... since... there was no need to make us go through the trouble. Our time is valuable too. Each failure is disheartening and can shake your confidence."

The actor didn’t say it directly, but he said enough—since Ling Ge Entertainment and Fei Wo Film had decided on the cast early on, why call them in to audition?

As if they weren’t as good as You Zichen!

Fei Wo Film did release a statement regarding this, claiming that the casting for Wu Shen's role had always been fair and just, considering only the suitability of the actor and the character, without regard for anything else. Those questioning this were accused of spreading unfounded rumors, and a legal notice was sent out.

However, with Gu Sinian involved, and adding You Zichen to the mix, Fei Wo Film’s statement had no credibility.

"They might as well admit they invested and picked the cast. It’s nothing to be ashamed of."

"Agreed, the investors could just directly appoint someone. Why bother with auditions? If you choose someone from your own company, other actors wouldn’t have any objections."

"Why mock Lu Xu? This is just a standard audition process. Using the term 'backstabbing' seems overblown."

"Agreed."

"I remember back in the 80s, Huang Jin and Yuan Xiaoyu had such a bad relationship that they fought on set, but it didn’t affect the final release of the movie, which was of high quality. That’s the basic professionalism of actors. Personal grudges are personal; filming is filming. Huang Jin and Yuan Xiaoyu were both superstars, and the box office market at that time was so bad that it needed stars to save it. No matter how incompatible they were, they were still willing to contribute to the industry’s development. If Lu Xu collaborates with Gu Sinian, I can accept that."

"The way Verse portrayed Lu Xu was terrible, framing him as if he was bullying three people single-handedly. Now that Lu Xu auditioned for a drama with Gu Sinian as the lead, they’re saying he backstabbed his fans. Lu Xu is really pitiful."

"I can’t help but feel sympathy for Lu Xu."

Although the fans were upset, Lu Xu’s audition failure was a fact. The crew of *Rising Sun* had already started filming.

Luckily, Lu Xu’s reputation was restored.

No backstabbing here. He was simply participating in the audition alongside the favored candidate.

...

Of course, looking at the recent developments in the entertainment industry and the aftermath of the backstabbing incident, fans concluded that any gossip involving Lu Xu would eventually turn into a big event.

Like V-ology.

For example... the director clashing with the cast and crew.

Here's what happened—

As the upcoming "prince" of Fei Wo Film, You Zichen is highly valued within the company. This time, he was cast as Wu Shen because Fei Wo Film invested less in *Rising Sun* compared to Ling Ge Entertainment.

If Fei Wo Film had a larger investment share next time, You Zichen would definitely land the lead role.

You Zichen has a certain fanbase of his own, and with the resource allocation from Fei Wo Film, his fans initially thought that he would be given preferential treatment on the *Rising Sun* set.

However, after monitoring his time on set, his fans discovered that You Zichen was getting yelled at by the director daily.

His fans were furious.

On one hand, they claimed that You Zichen, as the "prince" of the company, earned his role through his own efforts, but on the other hand, he was still getting yelled at.

How could a "prince" be getting yelled at every day?

Fei Wo Film, are you going to step in or what?

So, his fans relentlessly posted comments on Fei Wo Film's official Weibo, demanding that the company intervene and ensure that You Zichen was treated the same as other actors in the crew.

On the other hand, You Zichen's fans also found Mu Qian's Weibo and begged him to be gentler with You Zichen.

"As the director, you just need to guide him properly."

"Yelling doesn't help actors improve. Zichen is a talented actor and he won't let you down, Director Mu."

"Why are you always scolding people? You don't have the demeanor of a famous director at all."

They kept flooding his feed with these messages, which had already pushed Mu Qian over the edge, and seeing these comments made him even angrier.

He felt that You Zichen was a lost cause.

If he didn't love Jin Mu's script and Jin Mu wasn't his friend, why would he bother dealing with these jerks?

It's a piece of shit!

As we all know, Mu Qian's temper was notoriously short-tempered.

A powder keg was bound to explode one day.

So, after consulting with Jin Mu, the director finally snapped—

"From the beginning, I wasn't satisfied with Gu Sinian and You Zichen. Mu Qian and I both agreed that Lu Xu was the most suitable actor for the role of Wu Shen, but our request was rejected."

"Since the roles have been assigned, as actors, it's their duty to complete their parts well."

"From today onwards, I officially stepping down from the *Rising Sun* production. Ling Ge Entertainment and Fei Wo Film, please find someone else."