Chapter 44: Chen Ye’s Disappointment

Chapter 44: Chen Ye's Disappointment

Even the main leads, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu, were being heavily criticized, so as a supporting actor, Chen Ye's role was practically invisible.

After the release of the drama series *Nine Turns Decree*, Chen Ye was initially full of anticipation, but gradually, that anticipation turned into disappointment.

Chen Ye discovered that the content edited in the final cut was completely different from what he had filmed on set.

He had worked hard to shoot so many scenes, putting all his effort into his acting, yet his parts were cut into fragments, with no highlights to be found.

Chen Ye knew very well that collaborating with Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu meant his scenes would have to make way for the two big stars, but he never expected it would come to this.

"Now, besides the people from *The Supreme*, who even knows I acted in *Nine Turns Decree*?" Chen Ye couldn't help but mock himself.

He had left *The Supreme* midway to join *Nine Turns Decree*, suffering a huge blow to his reputation, and this was not the result he wanted!

Even if he was just a supporting actor, he shouldn't have been this invisible.

While grumbling, Chen Ye secretly deleted the tweets where he had criticized *The Supreme*.

"In this situation, the less visible you are, the better," his agent said, unsure how to comfort Chen Ye. Before the show aired, no one expected *Nine Turns Decree* to perform so poorly. "Right now, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu are being heavily criticized, and the criticism hasn't targeted you yet."

"The two of them... their actions are just too shameless," Chen Ye sighed. "I heard a long time ago that Wei Fangfei is quite overbearing."

On set, Chen Ye had stayed humble and kept a low profile, thinking he had a good relationship with Wei Fangfei. Although her career hadn't been as strong in recent years, she was still an A-list actress, and any opportunities she could offer would be enough for him.

But in the end...

*Nine Turns Decree* wasn't even a serious drama; it had turned into a collection of viral jokes. Every morning, he would wake up to find online commentators mocking *Nine Turns Decree*, and Chu Tianshu's awkward gifs were spreading all over the internet.

Just the day before, Wei Fangfei had been the one being mocked more harshly.

Seeing this, Chen Ye knew that both Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu were trying to shift blame behind the scenes—neither wanted to take responsibility for *Nine Turns Decree's* failure. A regular poor performance would have been one thing, but this show's failure was just too embarrassing.

When Wei Fangfei saw the data, *Nine Turns Decree* was barely holding onto second place on the popularity chart. But as Chu Tianshu's embarrassing gifs went viral, the show's popularity kept dropping, performing even worse than *Watchmen*.

At least *Watchmen* had topped the charts at one point. What about *Nine Turns Decree*? Its best performance since airing was second place on the popularity chart, and even that was overshadowed by the already concluded *The Supreme*.

*Watchmen* might have failed, but Yue Hui and Ren Ningyi's acting skills were still recognized. As for Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu, perhaps because they hadn't acted in dramas for so many years, their performances felt overly exaggerated.

"After entering the film industry, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu never touched the fantasy genre again. They just couldn't grasp the subtleties of these roles."

"The failures of *Watchmen* and *Nine Turns Decree* prove that whether you're playing a lead or a supporting role, you really shouldn't be too greedy."

"+1, Lu Xu's roles that made him famous have all been supporting ones, and that hasn't stopped him from having a successful acting career."

"I just want to ask, does Chen Ye regret it now?"

"Every time I think about how he used *Nine Turns Decree* to criticize *The Supreme*, I can't help but laugh. He wanted to stand at the top, but now he's taken a hard fall, hasn't he?"

Chen Ye's expectations were ultimately dashed. The online users didn't let him off the hook, and even though he had learned to stay quiet by now, his silence had come too late.

It was all because *The Supreme* had become a hit.

Even though Chen Ye had never acted in *The Supreme*, his name was now tightly bound to it.

And even though he had disabled comments on his social media, every time *The Supreme* or the character Ji Xiuya trended, internet users would ask him not to try and piggyback on *The Supreme's* success.

"Don't try to associate yourself with Ji Xiuya, thanks."

"The Supreme crew should kneel down to Chen Ye and thank him for not acting, otherwise The Supreme wouldn’t be this popular."

"Although Nine Turns Decree didn’t become popular, Chen Ye’s famous quotes and catchphrases have piled up."

"#You gotta climb high to see far#"

"#IWantToStandAtTheTop#"

"#I don’t wanna use that kind of role to get famous#"

"Ahem, just a heads-up, Chen Ye didn’t say the first one."

"What’s the big deal?"

Even though Chen Ye’s quotes haven’t spawned "Chen Studies," they’ve outshone him in popularity.

Netizens are baffled—how does someone like him exist, with every word he says getting roasted?

"Chen Ye, hurry up and jinx my lottery ticket!"

"Done!"

"Done, done, done!"

To some extent, Nine Turns Decree did boost some actors’ visibility, but not in the way they hoped.

...

When The Supreme wrapped up, its popularity stayed above 12,000, and Ji Xiuya’s Demon Lord became the gold standard for fantasy dramas. Despite his strong presence, he never stole the spotlight from the leads.

Ji Xiuya was just a wildcard who messed with the leads now and then, but their love story stayed intact.

"I can’t speak for everything, but casting Lu Xu as the supporting male was a genius move."

"+1 +1, has anyone missed the Qin Zhao and Ji Xiuya edits on X site? 'When You Become Me'—Demon Lord Ji Xiuya rescuing the timid prince Qin Zhao—so good, who gets it?"

"Drop the link!"

"I’ve watched it 30 times on repeat—Qin Zhao and Ji Xiuya’s chemistry is off the charts, even though it’s the same actor, the character contrast is adorable!"

"There’s also that edit where the Demon Lord goes after Zhong Baobei, while Yu Wei cries over their sibling bond—Demon Lord’s like, 'Incest? Perfect!'"

Edits of Yu Wei, Ji Xiuya, and Qin Zhao are blowing up online, and even old shows like The Noble Son and The Son of Heaven are getting a viewership boost.

And just like that—they all left Nine Turns Decree in the dust.

#What was Nine Turns Decree even trying to do?#

Wei Fangfei’s always been flashy, so when she jumped into TV dramas, her rivals were ready to laugh at her. Nine Turns Decree bombed hard, and her competitors couldn’t resist giving interviews.

"Well, here’s to her success."

"Her guts to try something new is inspiring—I could never do it."

"The entertainment scene’s getting more complicated—we definitely need more variety."

Netizens are saying, forget V Studies or Chen Studies—this is the real mic-drop moment.

...

The entire crew of "The Supreme," including Lu Xu, was stunned by the development of "Nine Turns Decree."

Everyone had long known that once "Nine Turns Decree" was released, "The Supreme" would inevitably be compared and possibly even criticized.

But before they could do anything, "Nine Turns Decree" had already collapsed, and so miserably that no one knew what kind of misfortune the crew had incurred.

The latest episode of "Nine Turns Decree" had a real-time popularity score of 3976, not even breaking the 4000 mark.

As for its ranking, it didn’t even make the top ten on the popularity chart.

"Did my spell work?" Wei Yi sent a "scared mouse" emoji.

"What did you do?" Zheng Xiao asked.

"I just... prayed that the data for 'Nine Turns Decree' wouldn't be so strong, and then—" Wei Yi added, "I recently bought a mountain bike."

Lu Xu: "...Not my problem."

Zheng Xiao, Wei Yi, and Jiang Wangshu: "..."

No one said it was your problem, thank you.

Lu Xu: "..."

He thought these people were all being a bit superstitious.

Of course, this mindset was because the entire crew had relaxed.

The anticipated fierce competition never happened. "The Supreme" had good ratings and a solid reputation, the actors landed new gigs, and Director Jiang Wangshu immediately got a new project after the finale.

The days when Chen Ye left the crew and everyone was fretting over the role of Ji Xiuya felt like ancient history.

Though Zheng Xiao and the others didn’t say it out loud, they were quietly relieved that Lu Xu had taken on the role of Ji Xiuya.

They were relieved that the neighboring crew was filming "The Son of Heaven," that Director Jiang and Director Liu Chunfeng were old friends, and that with Lu Xu’s involvement, the show wrapped up without a hitch.

After "The Supreme" aired, some folks around Zheng Xiao whispered that Lu Xu had stolen his thunder.

Zheng Xiao knew better.

Besides, no matter how much attention Ji Xiuya got, he was still part of "The Supreme" crew, and his success was the crew’s success.

Ji Xiuya brought more eyes to "The Supreme," and the whole crew reaped the rewards.

Zheng Xiao didn’t see the point of internal drama, nor did he consider clashing with Lu Xu.

That mountain bike was too powerful.

Should he get one too?

Zheng Xiao later realized he was late to the game; Wei Yi had already bought one, and Jiang Wangshu had quietly snagged one too.

Lu Xu joked that the manufacturer should cut him a check.

...

To be honest, filming "The Path of Bones" was pretty monotonous. As the lead, Lu Xu had scenes almost every day, and his script was the bulkiest in the crew. The other actors only needed to know when they had scenes with him, not the full shooting schedule.

Recently, the gossip about "Nine Turns Decree" was Lu Xu’s source of amusement.

"Clearly, they didn’t give a damn about the script," Kong Le said helplessly. "If this keeps up, it’ll end up like 'The Informant.'"

"'The Informant' had a similar vibe."

Talking about 'The Informant' adaptation, Kong Le sighed but wasn’t as worried as he used to be.

He was on the 'The Path of Bones' set all day, keeping an eye on things. Even if 'The Path of Bones' didn’t click with the audience, Kong Le, as the author, was happy with it.

From Lei Ai’s on-set ideas to the actors’ takes on the characters, everything matched his vision.

Small crews have their perks, but in a big crew, you need someone to keep the big egos in check.

Lu Xu’s commitment to 'The Path of Bones' even caught Kong Le off guard—he’d already put together a detailed backstory for his character. As he got deeper into Yu Yi’s role, his character notes kept growing.

In his final scene, Lu Xu’s Yu Yi turns himself in after taking care of his teammates’ families.

He’d always stayed on the straight and narrow, but his friends’ tragedies pushed him off course into a life he never saw coming.

'Old Cat’s' daughter came to visit him. The little girl, still innocent, hugged him tightly, clutching the toy he’d given her.

Yu Yi, who’d killed without flinching, now had tears welling up in his eyes.

He didn’t promise to see her again.

He knew he’d never break free from this prison.

'Old Cat’s' wife asked, "Was it worth it?"

"It was worth it," Yu Yi whispered. If you thought about it, he was just in his 20s—still so young.

"It was worth it," Yu Yi said again, like he needed to convince himself.

He smiled at the girl, his face free of hate, his smile almost shy—laughing didn’t come easy to him.

The girl waved, and he waved back softly.

The scene hung in the air.

Yu Yi had his revenge. He looked at peace, his hands clean, like he’d never changed.

Behind the monitor, Lei Ai looked stern, his lips pressed tight.

The set fell dead silent.

Most of the crew were 'The Path of Bones' fans, and now they’d finally seen the Yu Yi they’d been waiting for.