Chapter 33: 033 Whose Fault Is It

Chapter 33: 033 Whose Fault Is It

After the popularity of "The Son of Heaven" reached 7500+, Gu Sinian instinctively felt something was wrong.

He had always had an uncanny premonition about things related to Lu Xu.

Previously, the popularity of "The Son of Heaven" had been maintained at 6000+, and breaking through 7000 was quite challenging. However, overnight, the popularity of "The Son of Heaven" surged by a whopping 500+, an almost explosive speed.

This 500+ surge was outside the normal range of popularity.

When the hashtags #BestFriends and #CrownPrinceQinZhao inexplicably appeared on the hot search list, Gu Sinian's sense of unease grew even stronger.

It felt like... he was reliving the competition between "Watchmen" and "The Noble Son."

The discussion surrounding "The Son of Heaven" was also gradually increasing.

The next day, Gu Sinian found that his premonition had come true.

In just one night, the popularity of "The Son of Heaven" not only broke through 8000 but also reached 8400+, just a step away from 8500.

"Holy crap! We're aiming for 9000!"

"...'The Son of Heaven' is now second, 'Rising Sun' is in danger."

"I honestly didn't see this coming, 'The Son of Heaven' is at 8400+ and still rising, while 'Rising Sun' has dropped to less than 8600."

"Is the Lu Xu situation going to repeat itself?"

Originally, "Rising Sun" had far surpassed "The Son of Heaven" in popularity. Fans and spectators thought the competition between the two dramas would undoubtedly end with "Rising Sun" as the winner. Who would have thought that "The Son of Heaven" would suddenly emerge as a strong contender!

Although Lu Xu no longer sarcastically mentioned "Verse bonding," on the popularity chart, "Rising Sun" and "The Son of Heaven" were indeed close, one in first place and the other in second, with the latter just a step away from the former.

"An unpredictable turn of events..."

In the hashtag #BestFriends, the faces of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel alternated between their younger and older versions, with countless comments ultimately boiling down to one word—regret.

Under the hashtag #CrownPrinceQinZhao, the two scenes between Qin Zhao and Emperor Cheng were particularly moving. The Crown Prince's worries turned into fear, his admiration turned into disappointment... Even viewers who hadn't been following the drama were deeply impressed by Qin Zhao's character.

"The acting is so nuanced, both of them."

"...No wonder Qin Zhao went crazy, living like this every day, who wouldn't go mad?"

"For the first time, I realized that Lu Xu is really good at acting. Is this talent? I feel like he probably can't afford three acting coaches."

"Hey, don't be so harsh with your mockery."

Perhaps because "The Son of Heaven" became a hit, "Rising Sun" could no longer dominate this season. Emboldened by the power of the hot search, netizens finally started to vent their frustrations.

Gu Sinian and Li Li, who played Wu Shen, received the most criticism.

Objectively speaking, in the early episodes of "Rising Sun," Gu Sinian and Li Li's acting was quite good. At that time, the main characters were full of passion but lacked the mature mindset to match. After studying, receiving guidance, and realizing the harshness of reality, they grew rapidly.

At this point, Gu Sinian and Li Li struggled to keep up with the now-mature characters.

They were great at shouting slogans and striking passionate poses, but once the plot involved personal sympathy or the salvation of human destiny, they appeared shallow.

Director Xiao Bo, for some reason, decided to add romantic scenes to the tense plot—"Rising Sun" did have romantic elements in the original work, but they were not extensive.

Even in the romantic scenes, in the original novel, when Wu Shen was captured by the military police, what he said to his girlfriend was about ideals, not a lingering, sentimental romance.

Love in times of adversity is even more precious, but what brought their hearts together and guided them was always a sense of righteousness.

However, Xiao Bo's romantic subplot felt dragged out, with another female character who had feelings for Wu Shen, and she got quite a bit of screen time.

Li Li's acting was already thin, and adding an annoying romantic subplot made the entire storyline even more boring.

"And the dubbing! It's so awkward!"

"The dubbing is full of passion, and the lines are intense, but their acting... well, fans will praise it anyway."

"Objectively speaking, the earlier parts of *Rising Sun* are worth a watch, but the growth part... hmm... maybe it's because they haven't read enough, but their acting is really strange."

"@Gu Sinian, learn some acting from @Lu Xu, don't just buy negative hashtags about others."

The popularity of *The Son of Heaven* is almost at 8500, breaking records for historical dramas in recent years. But when you search for keywords, the top results are still things like "Analyzing the Reasons for *The Son of Heaven*'s Failure" or "Where is the Future of Historical Dramas?"

The Data Emperor is at it again.

"I went through all the trending hashtags and concluded that *The Son of Heaven* has had an average of 12 black hashtags per day in the past week, mostly released between 10 and 11 AM."

"When *The Son of Heaven* hit 7000+ in popularity, it already broke records. The hottest hashtag that day was 'Lead Actor Cheng Yun Can't Carry the Show,' and now at 8000+, there are still the same number of black hashtags. It's either bots or they're on a monthly plan."

"The funniest part is, before Qin Zhao's character even debuted, they bought the hashtag 'The Downfall of Lu Xu's Acting Career,' with a bunch of comments trashing Qin Zhao's acting. It's like seeing a ghost or something!"

Netizens: "..."

Is this what real business warfare looks like?

So vicious!

Netizens clicked on the evidence posted by the Data Emperor, and sure enough, before Qin Zhao's first scene aired, there were a lot of posts trashing Lu Xu's acting, and some even said the Crown Prince looked old. However, after Qin Zhao officially appeared in the show, praise for him gradually increased.

Just as netizens were lamenting how tragic the *The Son of Heaven* crew was, from the characters to the actors, Lu Xu suddenly reposted the hashtag "The Downfall of Lu Xu's Acting Career" with a big question mark.

"Caught red-handed mocking others!"

"LOL, he hasn't even acted yet, and it's already a downfall."

"Hahahaha Lu Xu didn't say a word, but this question mark is killing me!"

Although the characters Lu Xu plays are usually serious, given that he's a bit of a diss master, many netizens see him as having a comedic persona.

Sure enough, after posting the question mark, Lu Xu first took a screenshot of the popularity chart, circling the second-place *The Son of Heaven*'s popularity value.

Then he started crafting sentences—

"The downfall of Lu Xu's acting career is not hiring three acting coaches."

"The downfall of Lu Xu's acting career is now second on the popularity chart!"

Netizens: "..."

#Looks like low IQ#

Netizens felt that Lu Xu had grown up over the past few months because he only circled *The Son of Heaven*'s popularity value and didn't calculate the gap with *Rising Sun*.

But the enthusiastic netizens did the math for him and made sure to @Gu Sinian so he wouldn't miss it.

Gu Sinian: "..."

He was so angry he couldn't even muster the energy to jump up. If he could, he would definitely beat up Lu Xu.

In summary, once *The Son of Heaven* soared in popularity, there was no sign of it declining.

The imperial exam scandal and the disaster relief grain scandal—Lu Xu's portrayal of Qin Zhao left a deep impression on many viewers. Although Qin Zhao was merely an incompetent and cowardly crown prince, this made the character feel more authentic.

The day this scene trended on the hot search, *The Son of Heaven's* popularity officially surpassed 9000+!

For a historical drama, such an achievement has already created a miracle.

"Lu Xu's supposed acting career failure has hit a popularity score of 9000+!"

"Lu Xu's supposed acting career failure is about to match someone else's career highlight!"

As the plot of *The Son of Heaven* deepens, the discussion around it grows, gradually trending toward becoming a hit drama.

Gu Sinian is convinced that Lu Xu is bad luck for him.

As *The Son of Heaven's* popularity skyrockets, in contrast, *Rising Sun's* popularity is dropping day by day. Although industry insiders believe the decline in *Rising Sun's* popularity is more related to the lack of follow-up in the plot—and, of course, part of the audience being drawn away by *The Son of Heaven*—Gu Sinian feels it's Lu Xu who is jinxing him.

His two dramas, *Watchmen* and *Rising Sun*, initially had good popularity, but once they encountered Lu Xu, the popularity and reviews of these two dramas started to plummet. Despite numerous hot searches bought by Ling Ge Entertainment and Grape Film and Television, whether praising him or criticizing Lu Xu, ultimately, he was the one who suffered.

Previously, there were a lot of praises for *Rising Sun* on the hot search, but recently, when Gu Sinian clicked into the hot search, he saw people pointing fingers at his and Li Li's acting skills, and even some saying, "What if Lu Xu had played Wu Shen? Would the outcome have been different?"

Gu Sinian scoffed at the idea; even if Lu Xu had played Wu Shen, a mere supporting role, could it really sway *Rising Sun's* popularity?

Does Lu Xu have that kind of ability?

Gu Sinian is very anxious. *Watchmen* has already flopped once; his acting career cannot afford a second failure.

But *Rising Sun's* popularity is indeed declining day by day. According to some marketers, this drama started high but fell sharply. No matter what, with such a good start ending up like this, someone has to take the blame.

Gu Sinian glanced at his agent, silently weighing his options.

The blame for *Watchmen* fell squarely on him; there was no avoiding it. From the director to the two main actors, they were all big names in the industry—Gu Sinian really couldn't afford to offend them.

*Rising Sun* is different.

The main investor of this drama is Ling Ge Entertainment. The director, Xiao Bo, was temporarily brought in, and his status isn't even as high as Mu Qian's. The scriptwriter, Jin Mu, has a moderate reputation, and the other actors... most are not signed under Ling Ge Entertainment.

Gu Sinian discussed his thoughts with his agent, and the agent proposed to the higher-ups of Ling Ge Entertainment. After weighing the options, the blame was shifted to the scriptwriter, Jin Mu.

After all, Xiao Bo is a well-known director in the industry, and besides, he was there to save the situation. If the responsibility were blamed on Xiao Bo, Ling Ge Entertainment's reputation would be more easily damaged.

Jin Mu, a freelance scriptwriter with a modest background, was the obvious scapegoat.

In the entire TV drama industry, scriptwriters belong to the group with not much say.

...

Not long after, an article titled *The Rapid Decline in Popularity of 'Rising Sun', Whose Fault Is It?* suddenly appeared on the hot search list.

The article first praised Gu Sinian's acting skills, saying that he had improved a lot compared to when *Watchmen* was broadcast. It also noted that although director Xiao Bo took over temporarily, he managed to stabilize the bad situation, which was no small feat.

So, how did *Rising Sun* fall to its current state?

The issue clearly stems from the script.

Jin Mu's script is not in line with the times, causing the actors' performances to be out of sync with the audience's aesthetics. There is a disconnect—the actors acted their best, but the audience did not find the plot moving.

The core message that the script of "Rising Sun" is trying to convey is fundamentally flawed, and the details are overly pretentious.

"As a scriptwriter, having control over the script is a fundamental skill. Next, I will analyze Jin Mu's faults from three aspects..."

Before Jin Mu could say anything, Mu Qian, who was already furious upon seeing the trending content, exploded—

"Analyze this, you jerk!"

He directly posted the audition videos from the initial casting!

Let these people open their eyes and see who acted well and who acted poorly!

Ling Ge Entertainment seemed to have forgotten that Jin Mu and Mu Qian are close friends, and—offending Mu Qian's friend is worse than offending Mu Qian himself.

Mu Qian never hesitates to go to great lengths to stand up for his friends.

Netizens watching the spectacle: "..."

Lu Xu is really a drama magnet.

Any content related to Lu Xu can keep the drama going all year long.

"Rising Sun" has long been unrelated to Lu Xu, but Mu Qian's posted videos still feature him.

#Lu Xu is everywhere#