Ch6 - The Peak of Competition Between Beauty and Acting Skills (6)

After the photoshoot, the members quickly left the studio.

There were many fans gathered outside the door and on seeing them, they all rushed up together. 

The assistants around them had to block the fans until all the members got safely into the car.

“So tired!” Bai Yi leant his head on the car window. “I still have to go record an OST after this. I feel like I’m being hollowed out! Shen Huan, you also have to go on a program today right?”

Shen Huan nodded. “But I’m a tutor. All I have to do is move my mouth. It’s much more relaxing than being a competitor.”

Hearing this, Bai Yi began to wail again. 

“Mengze, you should go get some rest.” Ming Qi looked at Xu Qichen who was in a daze. “I feel like you’re almost unconscious.”

“I heard that Director Chen is very terrible. If the actors make mistakes, they’ll be scolded to death. He keeps yelling ‘Cut’. He doesn’t care about your schedule and insists that you act until he’s satisfied.” Bai Yi poked Xu Qichen’s cheek and comforted, “It’s fine if you can’t go. For idols like us, entering his crew is as good as committing suicide.”

Shen Huan: “Speaking of, didn’t Chen Anping’s last film also win awards.”

“En, he’s one of the directors who have won many awards these past years. Even the film Lin Ran won an award for back then was directed by him. He acted as a psychopath, hahaha!”

“It’s amazing, alright? Wasn’t he only 21 at that time?”

“Anyway nowadays playing characters that are psychopathic, have split personality or dementia, are the easiest to win awards with.”

Everyone was discussing heatedly, but Xu Qichen felt like something was off. He took out his handphone and looked up the film that Lin Ran won an award for.

Child. 

This film was like Nan Ke, both films were jointly invested in by Chinese and foreign investors.

The main character was a child of Chinese descent who grew up in the lowest strata of the American society. His father died of drug abuse, and his mother was also an addict. He was bullied in school as well.

As a result of which, he grew up to be a cruel serial murderer.

The script touched on many sensitive topics such as racial discrimination, drugs, schoolyard bullying, and illegal immigration. 

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Taking advantage of the empty lounge, Xu Qichen put on Lin Ran’s film to watch.

0901 could not resist saying: “Mr. Xu, will you not use this precious break to take a nap?” 

Xu Qichen put down the biscuit in his hand. “0901, you sound like an old father.”

0901 did not speak again.

Xu Qichen was a bit excited to see the film that was brought to life from the few lines of script he wrote, but he was actually more curious about Lin Ran’s performance in the film.

The whole film’s tone was a solemn realism, almost completely fulfilling Xu Qichen’s original vision, which was pleasantly surprising. 

The film used the flashback technique, where the protagonist Chris Chen, as a prisoner, was being interrogated.

Lin Ran was the main character of the film, and the only Asian actor. In order to match the character’s image, he lost so much weight that he appeared out of shape. Sitting on the chair being interrogated, he seemed almost like an empty shell. His hollow gaze looked like a bottomless black hole.

The entire film jumped endlessly between the interrogation and his memories, the lines from the interrogation acting as the link between scenes.

In the beginning, Xu Qichen was eating biscuits while watching, but after watching almost half of it, he couldn’t eat another bite. 

It’s not because of any gory scenes. In fact, the film was very realistic. But because it was so realistic it’s almost like a documentary, especially the scenes of Chris being bullied from primary school to highschool. They were presented in the form of malicious videos filmed by the perpetrators; the violence, verbal attacks, stripped clothes, food spilled on the victim… every terrifyingly lifelike scene chilled the viewers.

It’s really very difficult for him to imagine how Lin Ran managed to act in this film.

At the end of the film, the middle-aged Chris, who was being pushed step by step further into the prison, slowly smiled.

The image gradually fused with the image of a smiling boy entering his school with an old and torn bag. 

The two smiles reflected each other, depressing and frightening.

Just this smile alone was enough for Lin Ran to win an award.

All the words he used to describe Lin Ran’s acting skills, when faced with this person’s actual performance, felt extremely shallow.

Throughout the film, aside from the interrogation, there were almost no spoken lines. But the heartfelt pleasure when he murdered, the terror when he was bullied, and the self-loathing when his classmates stepped on him and called him ‘ching chong’, were all showcased to their utmost. 

This kind of acting at only 21 was definitely talent.

After watching the film, Xu Qichen felt the impact brought on by the art of filming, which took a while to recover from.

To be able to work with this kind of person, the feeling must be great, right?
To be honest, in the beginning he wanted to use his own ability to seize this opportunity to work with Lin Ran and get closer to him, purely for the task, but now, he wants, just a little bit, to work with him to create a film with such a soul.

With this thought, Xu Qichen opened his Weibo and found that Nan Ke was on the hot search, again. 

He tapped on the links and saw that the same marketing account made another post, but this time it clearly used Sun Cheng’s name, and even attached photos of both Lin Ran and Sun Cheng, with the film’s information.

It’s still the same content, but it seems much more reliable than the posts from this morning.

Xu Qichen checked the comments.

[You’re the clearest]: Carry my family’s Chengcheng away, awaiting the official announcement~ 

[Melon-eating public widely opening mouth]: putting aside whether this is real or not, this duo really has no CP feels at all ah! btw I’ve always admired Lin Ran’s ability to choose scripts

[Enthusiastic citizen aunty Chen]: I’m not anyone’s fan, just wanted to say, Sun Cheng might have the youthful feeling, but with such a cheerful look is he really suited for this literary film? (I don’t mean to diss his looks, he’s very cute)

[Chengcheng is the no.1 good kid]: begging please don’t mislead us fans aah TAT

[Has Lin Ran married me today]: How does a certain family have the face to say ‘mislead fans’, isn’t this clearly self-frying… 

[Love Chengcheng]: Those who say it’s self-fry show evidence ah, whoever self-fries their mom dies

…

Ah, it’s a little scary.

And this is only Sun Cheng. If it were the top level traffic Ji Mengze, Xu Qichen does not even dare to imagine how terrible the fan war would be. 

For young actors like Lin Ran, with smooth careers and good reputation, their fans seldom started wars. But because of his position in the industry, they really despised celebrities who cling to him for popularity.

On the other hand, traffic celebrities’ fans, no matter which kind, the greater the traffic, the more controversial, the higher the fans’ EXP, the stronger their war strength.

For those like Ji Mengze, their fans basically grew up in a rain of bullets.

Sometimes his heart aches for these young ladies. If the one who was harmed was themselves, they might not resist and fight back, but for the people they like, they would become strong and stubborn. 

The sudden ringing of his phone shocked Xu Qichen so much that he nearly threw his phone away.

“Hello?”

“Mengze? Why is your voice so hazy? Are you sleeping in the hostel?” It’s Li Yun.

Xu Qichen replied with a simple ‘en’. 

Li Yun’s tone had an unconcealable excitement.

“Stop sleeping! Get over here!”

“I’ve got good news for you. Sun Cheng has been rejected by Director Chen and the investors!”

But he was just frying on Weibo, why has he suddenly been rejected? 

He was still wondering when his phone sounded again. He looked down to see a WeChat friend invitation.

Opened it.

The profile picture was a tree.

The message with the invitation had only four words. 

‘I am Lin Ran.’