Chapter 22: Sinking Costs

Chapter 22: Sinking Costs

Liu Chunfeng’s tense expression in front of the monitor softened as he watched Lu Xu and Cheng Yun’s scene together.

During the audition, Liu Chunfeng felt that Lu Xu’s temperament matched that of Qin Zhao. Lu Xu got into character quickly and had a thorough understanding of the role.

However, during the filming of the first scene today, Liu Chunfeng noticed that once Lu Xu put on the costume, he seemed to even look like Qin Zhao.

He was lean, but not in a sickly way. His eyes were very dark, his skin pale, and his features delicate. This kind of appearance could handle any type of makeup and costume without giving a sense of mismatch.

The classical aura of the Qin Zhao he portrayed was evident.

Liu Chunfeng was not the type of director who loved to nitpick details. In terms of performance, he preferred to let the actors improvise, using the chemistry between them to drive the plot.

Cheng Yun’s acting was seasoned and skilled. Even though he was playing the ailing Emperor Cheng, he managed to convey the majesty and suspicion of an emperor with just his eyes and a few lines of dialogue.

Lu Xu, on the other hand, perfectly displayed the weakness and fear of Crown Prince Qin Zhao. One was majestic, the other fearful. Their performances conveyed the harsh reality of the lack of familial bonds in the imperial court without needing any additional dialogue.

Liu Chunfeng felt that there was a spark between Lu Xu and Cheng Yun. He didn’t need to micromanage every line. The two knew how to act on their own.

"Lu Xu really isn’t a professional actor? He hasn’t acted before?"

When the same question was asked for the fifth time, Liu Chunfeng couldn’t help but facepalm. "Why does everyone keep asking me? I’m not a walking encyclopedia!"

"Didn’t you find him?" the person asked without any guilt for disturbing Liu Chunfeng. "I’m just curious."

The seasoned middle-aged and elderly cast members of *The Son of Heaven* knew Liu Chunfeng well. They strolled over to ask him and then slowly wandered back.

Thankfully, they got their answer—Lu Xu wasn’t a trained actor. Before taking on the role of Qin Zhao, the only thing he had acted in was Chenxi TV’s self-produced drama *My Baby, The Noble Son*.

"Doesn’t that title sound a bit odd?"

Guo Yining, who played the high-ranking official in the drama, furrowed his brow and said, "It also sounds oddly familiar."

Just then, his daughter texted him. Out of habit, Guo Yining checked if she had blocked him on social media. As he clicked on it, he saw a video that his daughter had recently liked—

"I’m not your brother! I just want to be your lover!"

"If he can, why can’t I?"

"I’m going to lock you up deep in this dungeon, so that your eyes will only reflect my image."

Guo Yining: "..."

Tsk, not even giving someone a proper house to live in. Isn’t a dungeon stuffy?

He couldn’t understand it. He had been acting for many years and had a couple of classic roles under his belt, but his own daughter had no interest in the dramas he acted in. She only loved watching these bizarre shows.

First a brother, then a lover. Isn’t it illegal to imprison someone?

Before Guo Yining could finish his mental rant, the character spouting all those wild lines finally appeared on screen.

Wait, isn’t that Lu Xu?

Guo Yining then realized that this drama... was the legendary *My Baby, The Noble Son*.

Guo Yining: "..."

He now somewhat admires Lu Xu for being able to deliver those lines that make you want to call the police with a straight face.

He also has to admire Liu Chunfeng for being able to discover a suitable candidate for the role of Qin Zhao from an ordinary show.

...

After filming three or four scenes, Lu Xu gained more than a dozen new followers on Weibo, the social media platform.

Although actors like Cheng Yun and Guo Yining don't use Weibo much, they do have accounts. They only really use them during new drama promotions. Recently, they've also noticed the online buzz surrounding Lu Xu and Verse.

However, at that time, their focus wasn't on Lu Xu.

For such a big production like *Watchmen*, it ended up being all bark and no bite.

"Old Ren has acted for his whole life and probably never expected his scenes to be edited down to almost nothing," Cheng Yun is familiar with both Yue Hui and Ren Ningyi, having collaborated with them several times in the past. It's hard for him not to sympathize with Ren Ningyi over the outcome of *Watchmen*.

As fellow Best Actor winners, Yue Hui’s public recognition is higher than Ren Ningyi’s, and he also has better relationships with several film companies. Therefore, the *Watchmen* crew didn’t dare to reduce Yue Hui’s scenes and could only cut Ren Ningyi’s instead.

It’s common for crews to do this to promote new actors, and Cheng Yun and the others are used to it.

Older actors just don’t have the same market appeal as younger stars.

But no one expected *Watchmen* to go down in flames like that!

Although it’s known within the industry that the responsibility lies with Gu Sinian, both Ren Ningyi and Yue Hui are listed as the top actors in *Watchmen*. When the drama flopped, both were equally affected.

“Frustrating.”

While sighing, Cheng Yun continued to browse the gossip he hadn’t finished reading the other day.

Ren Ningyi had the misfortune of working with Gu Sinian, and Lu Xu also had bad luck with such a former teammate.

Rather than honing their craft, some actors are obsessed with self-promotion. In the end, even the director was scared away.

He and Ren Ningyi are good friends, and because of *Watchmen*, Cheng Yun already had some issues with Gu Sinian. Now, because of Lu Xu, his dislike has deepened.

Although Lu Xu has only worked with him once, in Cheng Yun’s eyes, Lu Xu is a qualified actor.

He doesn't understand why the *Rising Sun* crew would dismiss Lu Xu.

Or, even if Lu Xu’s performance didn’t meet the requirements, how could the *Rising Sun* crew dismiss Lu Xu while still keeping Gu Sinian?

What were they thinking?

Lu Xu didn’t initiate the follow; Cheng Yun and Guo Yining reached out first.

Cheng Yun’s reasoning was simple. Despite the uncertainty surrounding *Rising Sun* after Mu Qian left, he found online comments mocking Lu Xu for supposedly being unemployable.

Some even claimed Lu Xu would be stuck doing cheap, low-budget web series.

That comment also threw shade at *The Son of Heaven* crew.

The budget for *The Son of Heaven* wasn’t high, but Director Liu Chunfeng went above and beyond, while scriptwriter Qin Yu meticulously broke down the script for the cast. There were no dirty incidents during filming, and the atmosphere on set was pleasant.

After joining the crew, Lu Xu filmed a total of four scenes, all of which were opposite Cheng Yun.

Cheng Yun has worked with many young actors, and, not to exaggerate, out of all the young actors he’s worked with, Lu Xu is the only one who nails every line and emotion in a single take.

Cheng Yun is very willing to film opposite Lu Xu. It’s not exhausting and actually saves time.

Occasionally, the two of them might have differences in their understanding of the characters, but these are usually minor. After hashing out their differences, their understanding of the characters deepens.

After working together on a few scenes, Cheng Yun grew quite fond of Lu Xu.

Before, when he saw Lu Xu dissing this and that online, he thought Lu Xu had a hot temper. However, after spending some time together, he found that Lu Xu was even more silent than he had imagined.

His daily routine involved studying the script, memorizing lines, and... delivering performances that put a lot of pressure on the seasoned actors.

...

Lu Xu’s Weibo followers have surpassed 5 million, but since he joined the crew, he hasn’t updated his Weibo. His last post is still an explanation about the audition for *Rising Sun*.

While he’s been keeping a low profile, online discussions about him haven’t let up.

The *Rising Sun* crew is still desperately looking for a director, and due to Mu Qian’s angry statement, even though You Zichen has been dropped by the *Rising Sun* crew, the backlash against him is growing.

Directors, scriptwriters, and actors who have worked with him, either directly or indirectly, have expressed their dissatisfaction with You Zichen.

In summary, You Zichen is a piece of shit.

A normal piece of shit stinks on its own, but he is different. He insists on stirring up trouble in the crew, making the entire atmosphere unbearably foul.

The whole mess started with Mu Qian’s ‘[Pile of Shit]’ emoji.

So, following the Verse drama, the ‘Biology’ drama quickly followed.

One thrives on sarcasm, the other on blunt criticism, with the latter hitting the former hard.

Lu Xu: "..."

He really didn’t want to get caught up in this trending topic.

Lu Xu considered making a sarcastic comment about the *Rising Sun* crew, but decided against it. His comment section already had enough Verse-related content, and throwing in a bunch of ‘[Pile of Shit]’ emojis would just stress him out.

Lu Xu himself is very peaceful, but his new Weibo follows have still attracted a lot of attention.

"Cheng Yun, Guo Yining, Zhao Fan... It feels like Lu Xu has joined a new crew."

"New mutual follows, is Lu Xu's new drama a serious drama?"

"No big names here. Judging by that, Lu Xu’s new drama lineup looks pretty average, maybe not even better than the *Rising Sun* crew."

"But, could it be worse than *The Noble Son*? Worse than paying for his own costumes and getting accused of bullying his co-stars?"

Fans: "..."

Some of the new fans following Lu Xu were fans of *The Noble Son*, and some were fans from the Verse period who had given up on him because of the scandals, similar to Tan Qi.

They didn’t turn into anti-fans, but back then, Lu Xu’s situation made it hard for them to continue being fans.

Now that the truth has come to light, the development of other Verse members still far surpasses Lu Xu’s.

The fans can only follow him again, giving him some heat support.

Although the current Lu Xu might not need it anymore.

Since he cleared his Weibo, fans realized that Lu Xu is likely sticking to acting, leaving his Verse days behind.

As an actor, Lu Xu likely doesn’t crave the idol spotlight.

……

In fact, shortly after Lu Xu started following Cheng Yun and others on social media, some marketers revealed his new drama—

"Historical drama *The Son of Heaven*, with Director Liu Chunfeng, scriptwriter Qin Yu, and starring Cheng Yun, Guo Yining, and Lu Xu."

"Is the new drama a historical drama??? Wow, how daring!"

"I thought Lu Xu would go on to do romantic dramas. With such a beautiful face, he should do more romantic dramas!"

"Although I respect Lu Xu's current choice, historical dramas... are really cold and unpopular. Have there even been any historical dramas airing in the last couple of years?"

"I've always believed that actors need professional advice from agencies. The success of *The Noble Son* was partly due to luck. If Lu Xu wants to continue getting good roles, he can't just follow his heart."

The cold reception of historical dramas is obvious to all, but since Lu Xu has taken on such a project, fans can only respect his decision.

And then—

The next day, on the live variety show *Foggy Checkpoint*, former Verse member Xie Qingyang shared his favorite TV drama genre:

"Historical dramas, I love watching historical themes. *Hegemony*, *Calamitous Country*, and *The World Under One Heart* are all classics. Unfortunately, not many historical dramas are being made these days."

The host next to him reminded, "There seems to be a historical drama being made recently, with Lu Xu starring in it."

"Really?" Xie Qingyang showed a surprised expression. "That will definitely be a good drama. When it airs, I'll use both my phone and tablet to support it."

Verse has already fallen out, which has led to the birth of V-science.

However, Ling Ge Entertainment explained the incident of Lu Xu purchasing his own clothes—the other members were unaware; it was just the stylist for the Verse team who held a personal bias against Lu Xu, and as a result, gave Lu Xu inappropriate outfits. Lu Xu had no choice but to buy his own performance outfits.

After learning about this, Ling Ge Entertainment promptly fired the stylist, and the members were deeply saddened by the truth, willing to give part of their income to Lu Xu to compensate for his losses.

After the incident was exposed, Xie Qingyang and Meng Qin expressed their shock in different occasions: "Oh my god, such a thing happened?"

"I always thought that the company handled costume changes and that this part of the expenditure was reimbursed by the company. Apparently... I didn't show enough concern for my teammates. This is a dereliction of duty as a leader."

Netizens: "...Definitely a Ph.D. in V-theory."

Some said that Ling Ge Entertainment was treating netizens like fools and no one would believe it.

In fact, the fans do believe it.

After some fans left, the remaining ones became more stubborn and united.

To a certain extent, stanning is a process of continuously investing sunk costs.

After the incident of purchasing his own clothes was exposed, fans remained silent, but after Xie Qingyang and Meng Qin spoke out, a group of fans expressed their sympathy for Xie Qingyang and Meng Qin with cries of 'aww': "Ling Ge Entertainment has been screwing over artists for a long time."

"I knew it, they are definitely not that kind of person!"

"It's so tragic. During Verse's activities, Xie Qingyang and Meng Qin also thought that the company gave Lu Xu extra preferential treatment, and yet they remained silent?"

"Is making everyone suffer what Ling Ge Entertainment wants?"

Lu Xu: "..."

#Sometimes, he just doesn't want to deal with idiots.