Chapter 56 056 Criticized

Chapter 56 056 Criticized

Qiao Mengyao herself is quite easygoing. Her position in the industry has long been solidified. Even if "The Empress" becomes a blockbuster again, it would merely be the cherry on top for her.

Whether it's her salary or endorsement fees, she is at the top of the TV actress hierarchy. Her marketability even outshines several film actresses, and it couldn't be higher. If "The Empress" surpasses her past records, it would just add another feather to her cap.

However, "The Empress" doesn't just have her as the leading actress; there are also several male actors on the verge of breaking out joining the cast.

Currently, "The Empress" is nearing a popularity score of 14,000, and its buzz is just as strong. Even though several male characters in the show haven't appeared yet, they should still be creating some noise.

But what's trending now?

"Lu Xu, Yu Yi," "The Path of Bones breaks 10,000 in popularity," "Lu Xu, acting skills#..." Lu Xu has clearly become the season's most talked-about male actor.

All this is due to "The Path of Bones" being a huge hit.

Despite "The Empress" dominating the scene, "The Path of Bones" has also made its mark, largely due to Lu Xu's portrayal of the character Yu Yi.

The male leads of "The Empress" aren't happy about Lu Xu hogging the limelight.

"The Empress" was scheduled for this season precisely to target Lu Xu, and they joined the show expecting it to be a smash hit.

Do they really think being Qiao Mengyao's male lead is a walk in the park?

Landing a major role in "The Empress" required the male actors to pull out all the stops. The production team auditioned countless male actors, big and small, before finally choosing them.

After months of hard work, swapping resources and locking in deals early, only to have Lu Xu steal the show, what was the point of starring in "The Empress"?

Just to keep "The Empress" and "The Path of Bones" on equal footing, they didn't need to go to such lengths.

...

Two days into the shows' run, "The Empress" still maintained a popularity of over 13,000, but "The Path of Bones" wasn't far behind, also breaking the 10,000 mark.

This rare scenario has the industry wondering if this February season could rival the summer's excitement.

However, since the shows have just started, celebrating too soon often backfires. So, when talking about the potential of "The Empress" and "The Path of Bones," the industry has stayed cautious.

By the third day, both shows hit a small plot twist.

The childhood scenes of the Empress ended, and Qiao Mengyao's portrayal of the young Xi Rongyi officially appeared.

She grew up alongside the young general Li Chengfeng, but her father aimed to steer her down the same path as the eldest princess, sending her north for a political alliance.

The empire was faltering, while the northern powers were on the rise. Thus, in the court, although the princes were favored, the princesses' status wasn't as bad as it was during Xi Rongyi's childhood. They were trained as pawns for political alliances, pampered in luxury to ensure their loyalty to the empire.

Xi Rongyi faced a choice.

Li Chengfeng had always been fond of her, but in her heart, she treated him like a brother. The young man was tormented by his feelings, but she couldn't reciprocate.

In the 6th episode, Li Chengfeng's clear and affectionate gaze almost froze on the screen.

Xu Qingtian, who played Li Chengfeng, is a rising star at Ning Shi Entertainment. Before "The Empress," he had played leading and supporting roles in various projects invested by Ning Shi Entertainment, but none had made much of a splash.

This time, landing the role of Li Chengfeng, he became the "soon-to-explode" star in the mouths of many marketers.

Xu Qingtian didn't mind being called that. There are many actors in the entertainment industry waiting for their big break, and being categorized as "soon-to-explode" means he already has a significant presence.

On the day Li Chengfeng appeared, Xu Qingtian enjoyed a grand showcase.

Hot search topics kept popping up one after another, with Li Chengfeng's deeply emotional and shattered gaze causing countless fans to scream silently.

"Ah, hopeless love is just like this."

"Poor Li Chengfeng, just start a harem, and he won't have to despair anymore."

"Always crying and screaming for Li Chengfeng, Xu Qingtian really knows how to act!"

"My favorite, Qingtian, is finally getting noticed. He has actually played many excellent roles, but they just never gained much popularity."

Qiao Mengyao's own trending topics didn't even reach half of Xu Qingtian's, and even when both were trending, Qiao Mengyao's name was ranked after Xu Qingtian.

But according to Xu Qingtian's fans, he played Li Chengfeng so brilliantly that it's only natural for him to gain popularity.

...

"It's not that impressive..." Tan Qi silently complained to her friend, "I think the acting is just average."

Tan Qi naturally doesn't have any grudge against Xu Qingtian; it's mainly because, in her opinion, Li Chengfeng isn't the type of role that tests an actor's skills. It's very conventional—a young general fresh out of the academy, honest, sentimental, and passionate. Only after experiencing the flames of war will he truly grow.

Tan Qi specifically checked the trending topics mainly to find like-minded people who would praise Lu Xu with her.

In Episode 6 of "The Path of Bones," Yu Yi killed his first enemy.

In that confined room, he performed the act like a solemn surgery, cutting open the enemy's throat, letting the blood drain out.

Yu Yi wanted his enemies to experience everything his team members had endured.

In this scene, the production team focused on depicting Yu Yi's movements—his evasive moves were swift and agile. Amidst the surrounding chaos, he silently infiltrated the enemy's side, equally nimble. However, when carrying out his revenge, except for the decisive act of plunging the dagger into the enemy's throat, Yu Yi coldly and cruelly witnessed the enemy's death.

For most of the time during his revenge, Yu Yi was indifferent, but at this moment, his eyes were filled with a deep, blood-red hue.

It was the gaze of a true avenger.

Yu Yi had changed.

The cold and cruel aura was no longer that of the person he used to be, but through his movements and gaze, onlookers could fully sense the boundless hatred in his heart.

After killing his first enemy, Yu Yi was not filled with excitement; his world was just an empty void.

Although the director fully depicted this scene, the bloodthirsty scene was enough to make adrenaline surge, yet amidst this brutal scenario, Yu Yi's presence remained impossible to ignore.

At this moment, Tan Qi couldn't help but lament her own lack of eloquence. She could only muster phrases like "great acting" or "amazing" to praise Lu Xu.

But when she opened the hot searches, the screen was flooded with praises for Xu Qingtian's acting, like "divine," "the man who saved Qiao Mengyao," "top-tier acting among young actors in historical dramas"... Although Lu Xu's trending topics were there, they were all pushed to the back.

Grape Pictures is also a major player in marketing, but this time they couldn't outdo Ning Entertainment.

However, in Tan Qi's view, whether the trending topics recognize Lu Xu or not isn't that important, as long as the audience recognizes him, that's enough.

She just couldn't bring herself to write lengthy praises for Lu Xu or use overly flowery language to describe him.

But... can't people with discerning eyes see it?

The only thing Tan Qi is sure of is that Xu Qingtian probably really needs the popularity from "The Empress."

"It's okay, our 'The Path of Bones' is still doing quite well," her friend comforted Tan Qi. "It's been consistently above 10,000, with stable data."

"The Empress" does seem to have high popularity, but "The Path of Bones" isn't bad either.

Besides, Lu Xu has his own trending topics too.

Tan Qi checked out the hashtags related to Lu Xu and noticed that most of the discussions about "The Path of Bones" were from real people, not just copied and pasted comments.

"I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like 'The Empress' hashtags suddenly blew up, multiplying several times over," her friend remarked.

On the first day of 'The Empress' premiere, the story was mostly carried by young actors. While there were plenty of trending topics, it wasn’t overwhelming. But today, when Qiao Mengyao and Xu Qingtian’s characters appeared, the hashtags exploded, with two even labeled 'explosive,' making people wonder if there was some big scandal in the entertainment world—affairs, crimes, or divorces.

"It’s probably not just you," Tan Qi agreed. "I feel it too."

But Tan Qi had a hunch that the peaceful coexistence between 'The Empress' and 'The Path of Bones' wouldn’t last long.

Maybe because a few days ago, she saw a leak claiming that 'The Empress' was intentionally scheduled.

...

Both 'The Empress' and 'The Path of Bones' are steadily moving forward with their plots. Both shows’ ratings have dipped slightly, with 'The Path of Bones' at 9.3 and 'The Empress' at 9.1. Compared to other dramas aired in the past two years, both shows have gotten pretty good reviews.

Both shows’ popularity has dipped a bit, but the changes aren’t huge.

Then, just as Tan Qi expected, one morning, 'The Path of Bones' got slammed by an industry insider.

When it came to Lei Ai’s adaptation, the insider didn’t have any issues. As for Lu Xu’s performance, the insider didn’t praise it, but they didn’t bash it either. Lu Xu had been nominated for the Starlight Award, and the insider had worked on a Starlight Award ceremony before, so it wouldn’t make sense to contradict themselves.

The insider criticized 'The Path of Bones' for being too brutal and bloody, saying it didn’t align with today’s values.

"Sure, audiences might get a thrill from the revenge, but what’s the takeaway? Random killing or bloody revenge?"

"It’s just eye-catching gore."

"These scenes don’t add any value to society or make people happy. They just leave you feeling empty."

Lei Ai: "...What a load of crap."

The criticism was posted just hours ago but shot to the top of the trending list, even beating Xu Qingtian’s hashtags.

The 'Path of Bones' crew obviously saw what was going on.

Grape Pictures reached out, asking them to take back their statement, but they gave some high-minded reason—they felt it was their duty to voice concerns about the future of the TV industry. Even if the platform pushed them, they’d stand by their principles.

They even said Grape Pictures shouldn’t try to strong-arm them into changing their stance.

"Honestly, there aren’t many insiders left who’ll tell it like it is."

"Tsk tsk, Grape Pictures wants to take down the hashtag? They’re really pulling out all the stops to keep 'The Path of Bones' popular. They must still be shaken from 'Watchmen’s' flop."

"At other times, 'The Path of Bones' would indeed have good results, but who asked it to run into 'The Empress'? The outcome is obvious."

"Please provide a reasonable platform for insiders who speak the truth to voice their opinions. Thank you."

With many supporters, this person's statements became even more extreme, piling words like cruelty, perversion, and mental devastation onto the crew of 'The Path of Bones.'

Lu Xu started to wonder if he’d actually starred in some kind of cult film.

Thus, when "Lu Ding's Second Question to 'The Path of Bones'" and "Lu Ding's Third Question to 'The Path of Bones'" both trended—

Lu Xu: "Shared 'X Happy House' with you."

Then, Lu Xu's account was banned by the platform.

The reason given was the dissemination of XX pornography.

The issue is that "Pleasure House" is an earlier work by Lu Ding, who is currently criticizing "The Path of Bones."

This is a masterpiece filled with erotic themes, group encounters, dark elements, and explicit content, but unfortunately, it did not become popular. Lu Ding lamented that the audience couldn't grasp his profound artistic vision.

However, after "Pleasure House," Lu Ding reformed and became a respected industry veteran. His work "Pleasure House" has since faded into obscurity, and some less experienced colleagues have not even heard of it.

Lu Xu: "?"

Mu Qian, who had been absent from the internet since "Rising Sun," couldn't resist chiming in: "Shouldn't it be @Lu Ding who gets banned? Why ban Lu Xu?"

The online crowd fell silent: "..."

Sensing the tension of an impending clash.