Cheng Zhou wanted to give these fans a massive shocking visual impact.
When ‘Empire Under Siege’ first released some of their promotional preview pictures, Princess Qixia that was portrayed by Jin Sitian received severe critiques from the fans of the original novel. The characters in ‘Empire Under Siege’ were all very much alive and full of depth, there were practically no antagonists in it, only passionate and intense characters, which in itself was a highlight of the entire work.
Apart from the male lead who attracted the most fanbase, one of other female character—Princess Qixia, was also amazing. When the fans of the novel first read about the death of Princess Qixia, most of them were imagining skinning the author and chopping him up with a knife because it wasn’t necessary for her to die in the first place.
So once there was news about how the novel was going to be turned into a drama, the fans of the novel were very much looking forward to it. Then when they saw the director of the movie was Cheng Zhou and who the male lead was, their anticipation increased another notch.
But later, there was some massive disbelief when they heard that Cheng Zhou had used a newcomer with no prior acting experience to play the second female lead, and the third female lead was an entertainer that was only known for her pretty face and nothing else in the entertainment industry.
When the promotional pictures came out, the second female lead had the forbearing affection deep in her pair of cold eyes, and Xiao Yun had really proved her strength with it. The fans were all going crazy on Weibo, screaming that this was exactly the ‘Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang’ that they love—the independent, strong, and unconventional woman!
There were no problems or critiques for the rest of the crew selection, except for Jin Sitian who played the role of Princess Qixia.
As the number one beauty in the novel, there were many discussions among the fans regarding the selection of the actress for Princess Qixia before the release of the actual list. There were even some who had made polls on Weibo, only everyone’s opinions had differed, and finally one person concluded: For such a stunning, amazing and gorgeous woman, I don’t think anyone in the current entertainment circle is suitable. Those who are good in acting don’t have the looks, and those who are great in appearance don’t have the skills. They simply can’t display the temperament that Princess Qixia has.
This comment had been liked by countless people. That’s right, the celebrities nowadays, including those first-rate ones, relied on their looks to earn the money, and not their acting skills.
So in the end, everyone wasn’t bothered too much by Jin Sitian’s problem. Since no one could fit the role of Princess Qixia, at least they had found someone with a gorgeous face that was pleasing to the eyes.
Then the actress was changed in the middle, and this made Jin Sitian’s fans angry. They felt that their idol had been wronged, and Jin Sitian herself had yet to update her blog for a good few days. Various thoughts like ‘Tian Tian has been oppressed by the people in the crew’ lingered on their minds for a long time.
So all day, there were many comments in the Weibo forum, all talking about how they needed to seek justice for their idol. And then a post came out on the crew’s official Weibo page.
The Crew of ‘Empire Under Siege’: I think we have found our perfect Princess Qixia @ For A Millennium [JPEG] [JPEG]
The first picture showed a woman in a red princess dressing, her face as pretty as a picture, fair appearance, elegant arch of eyebrows. She was looking up slightly, revealing a pair of obsidian eyes that glittered, clear and sparkling. It made everyone who saw the picture catch their breath in their throat.
The second picture had a woman in a snow-white piece of clothing, her eyes tightly shut. Her black hair tumbling down her back like a waterfall, the skin on her body was white and gave off a soft glow, and the layer of snow on her skin gave her a frosty ethereal feeling. Her lips were extremely pale, and in a cold, white world, she was all alone in the silence.
Once the two pictures were out on the net, the Weibo crowd was silent for a few minutes, and Cheng Zhou only saw a few comments popping up here and there.
That wasn’t right, he himself couldn’t contain the excitement and awe when he saw the pictures, how could the response from the fans be so lukewarm?
Just when he thought maybe it was a problem with his phone instead, it started vibrating and ringing non-stop, all indicating that notifications from Weibo were pouring in.
He immediately refreshed the page.
“Can you not be so cool! Production crew, can you still say you won’t rise to the heavens?! Princess Qixia is so beautiful! Gorgeous! There is no one better than this!”
“Ahhhhhh! My Qixia, that is definitely Qixia!”
“Wuuuu!! Is the second picture the death of Princess Qixia? I really want to bawl my eyes out! ???
“The screen is dirty, I need to lick it clean!”
“My momma is asking me why am I bowing while swiping Weibo!”
“Am I the only one who has gone to the link from the crew’s Weibo?”
“For A Millennium? It doesn’t seem like a stage name that I’ve seen before?”
“And it’s even a new account…”
As everyone was licking their screen at the delicious pictures that had been released, Jin Sitian’s fans started their trolling behavior after seeing them react like this.
“This person replaced our Tian Tian? Some newcomer without a single fan that came through the back door?”
“Although I don’t want to say it, the entertainment industry is really so shoddy.”
“Tian Tian has been bullied to the point that she’s on the verge of quitting the industry, and you guys treat her like this without any form of compensation?”
“The crew really put in a lot of effort though, this picture has been photoshopped really great?”
“Hehe, don’t talk nonsense if you’re not a pro at this, this picture doesn’t have a single trace of being edited. As for your Tian Tian, the picture that you guys posted at that time was the one that was photoshopped before!”
The two types of comments kept popping up in the discussion, and soon it caught fire and raged on. Soon, it was pushed up to one of the top Weibo discussion lists.
At the same time, Li Yu had shared the crew’s Weibo’s post.
Li Yu: My sister, Princess Qixia, please take care of her, everyone ?
This Weibo post immediately attracted all of Li Yu’s crazy fans.
As an actor that was well known for his looks and skills, Li Yu had tens of millions of fans following him, and these fans were those that were the die-hard loyal kind. Unlike other artistes on Weibo, all his posts were followed with comments that were peaceful and in harmony.
Seeing that the male god had posted such a post in Weibo, these fans immediately stood up to stand up for him. How strong were Li Yu’s fans, you ask?
It’s hard to say, but seeing the fans of Jin Sitian abusing all the other fans in the comments, the fans of Li Yu soon came in and swept them all away with their own scolding.
***
Gu Xiqiao didn’t have many scenes, and the entire movie wasn’t all that long either. When Jin Sitian was playing Princess Qixia, Cheng Zhou had done his best to shorten her screen time little by little, and finally was only left with just ten minutes. Now that he was extremely satisfied with the person playing Princess Qixia, he added back all the original screen time that she was meant to have. However, Princess Qixia was not a character in the novel that had many scenes in the first place, and even with the adding back here and there, she only had a total of fifteen minutes screen time.
In addition, the scenes of her against her opponent were Li Yu and Xiao Yun, and there was basically no need for retakes. Especially when she was shooting with Li Yubiao, which made the onlookers very satisfied with their performances when they were shooting.
After two to three days on set, she had finished her part in the movie. When Cheng Zhou had asked her to register for a Weibo account, she thought about it, and instead of using her real name, she used the cover name she had always been using.
“Er Qiao, let’s follow each other!” Xiao Yun said as she came over with her own official Weibo account that the company had registered for her.
Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and logged into her Weibo, and followed Xiao Yun’s account.
“You already have two million fans?!” Xiao Yun exclaimed in surprise when she looked at Gu Xiqiao’s phone screen. Her own Weibo only had tens of thousands of fans over the few days, and half of them were bought by the company, while the other half were fans that came over from the crew’s official Weibo.
But Gu Xiqiao’s Weibo had just opened right? There were no posts, no news, even her homepage had nothing, and her avatar was still empty.
Gu Xiqiao smiled at her. “They all crowded over from Brother Li’s Weibo. You can only say that his fans really are very strong and loyal.”
She was on the hot spot once in Weibo, when the two beautiful, amazing pictures made their appearance. She was on the top rankings and hot topics list in Weibo for the whole day, and got more than a million fans during that time. Adding on the post that Li Yu had posted, she gained another million followers from there.
This really was a world where they only looked at your face.
“And you and Senior Li are actually following each other!” Xiao Yun had flipped to Gu Xiqiao’s following list, and there was an indicator that showed Li Yu was also following her back.
Gu Xiqiao took her phone back and turned on the camera, switching it to the front camera. “Don’t be so excited about it, let’s take a selfie.”
Ka-chak!
Gu Xiqiao took a selfie with Xiao Yun, and although she was only here for a short couple of days, she had been very happy. The people in the production crew were very friendly and warm, and so she took a group picture with them as she was leaving the set today.
She also specially took a picture of her together with Cheng Zhou and Li Yu.
Everybody on the production crew loved Gu Xiqiao. After all, who doesn’t like a stunning beauty? What more, she had a very cute and lovable gorgeous bird, Xixi. Every person it called out to would either be ‘beauty’ or ‘handsome’, and it was very lively—it’s popularity was even comparable to Gu Xiqiao’s.
Even Cheng Zhou had been won over by it, and he couldn’t resist adding a scene for Xixi in his movie.
So for the first time after opening her Weibo account two days ago, Gu Xiqiao finally posted something on it.
For A Millenium: I’m very happy and had fun during these two days, thank you everyone. [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]
Because of her inner obsessive-compulsive disorder, she made sure that the pictures were lined up neatly in a nine-square grid.
The first picture was the selfie of her and Xiao Yun, followed by Li Yu, Cheng Zhou, Xixi, and then the rest of the crew.
The fans who were following her refreshed their own feed to find a new post by her on Weibo, and suddenly their entire person was just crumbled onto themselves.
“Ahhh! Goddess, you are my goddess! Your appearance without makeup is not the same as the princess, at all! But it’s even more stunning and gorgeous than the princess!”
“I can see the wonderful face of my godly Li just by following the goddess, GJ!”
“Ahhh! You be quiet! Love is just one word! After so many years on the internet, I finally found my destiny!”
“Ahhh! That bird is so so so so cute! Why do I get a feeling from its eyes that it’s practically screaming ‘you petty mortals’!”
“The bird is a beauty, and the owner is even more beautiful.”
“The Princess Qixia that you brought to life and your normal photos are really on two different ends of the scale in differences, now I finally believe that you really were the one that played Princess Qixia! You brought her soul to life! ADMIRATION!”
“Other than Li Yu, you are the only other artiste that I admire.”
As this post on Weibo kept consistently getting comments from the fans, it ultimately ended up with Gu Xiqiao on the hot topic list once again.
Seeing the tens of thousands of comments that Gu Xiqiao was getting every minute, Xiao Yun could only stare utterly dumbfoundedly at Gu Xiqiao.
“Stop looking already, your manager is here.” Gu Xiqiao kept away her phone when she saw a young man approaching them slowly. He was wearing gold-framed glasses, with a refined appearance and a bright spark in his eyes.
Xiao Yun glanced over to what Gu Xiqiao was looking at, and then she lowered her voice and spoke to her, “I really can’t believe that my manager has changed to Xiang Kun.”
Ever since the person in charge of Tang Enterprise mentioned that her manager’s surname was Xiang, Xiao Yun felt weird. She knew that when she signed the contract, her manager’s surname was Li, and was just an ordinary manager.
And who was Xiang Kun? He was one of the golden top managers in Tang Enterprise!
He had been the one to have brought in Li Yu! He didn’t bring in many other artistes, but the ones that he did went on to being top of the line artistes, and even the lowest one he had was still a popular first-rate artiste.
So when Xiang Kun appeared today, Xiao Yun felt as though she had been hit by a sledgehammer.
“Xiao Yun, Director Cheng is calling for you.” Xiang Kun said, his tone friendly and a warm smile on his face that could make anyone lower their guard.
Xiao Yun bid Gu Xiqiao goodbye, and then she left.
Xiang Kun didn’t look at Gu Xiqiao until Xiao Yun left their sight. At first when he had been notified by the company for this job, to babysit a newbie, he had refused. He had even gone all the way up to Tang Qingqiu, because although he was a manager in the Tang Enterprise, he was also a part of the management of it, and he was close to Tang Qingqiu.
So when even Tang Qingqiu had requested his help to bring Xiao Yun around, he decided to give him face even though he was feeling dissatisfied about it. When he returned to the country and met with Xiao Yun, all those feelings disappeared.
Xiao Yun’s appearance and acting skills were far beyond the average level in the entertainment industry, with a little bit of polishing and a few good parts in great movies, the days when her popularity would boom wouldn’t be too far, he thought.
However, it was Gu Xiqiao that surprised him even more. “Are you sure you won’t consider coming under my management?”
Xiang Kun felt completely unlike himself, other than Li Yu, this was the second time he was taking the initiative to try to reel in somebody, and the other party was completely uncaring about him.
“Aren’t you good friends with Xiao Yun? Wouldn’t it be great if the both of you could win an international award together?” He persuaded patiently. When he came to the set today, he was very satisfied watching Xiao Yun and Li Yu’s scenes together, because Xiao Yun could hold herself well without being overwhelmed by Li Yu’s intimidating aura, and her acting skills were fantastic.
And then when he saw Gu Xiqiao’s scene with Li Yu, he was stunned speechless. She had improvised on the scenes with Li Yu on the spot! This was extremely difficult to do, even for the actress Song Guanjing.
When he learned that Gu Xiqiao was a newcomer that hadn’t sign on any company nor had any managers, the calculative mind of his going a hundred miles an hour. However, when he mentioned this to her, the girl had looked completely indifferent.
“Mr. Xiang, I’m a med student. The entertainment industry is not suitable for me.” Gu Xiqiao sighed, putting down her phone and looking at Xiang Kun with an indifferent expression.
Xiang Kun’s mouth twitched. “With such great acting skills? And a gorgeous appearance? You’re practically born to be in this industry! And you’re telling me you want to study medicine?!” Such a person who was born to be an actress actually said she wanted to study medicine, was there a mistake somewhere?!
“A lot of people say the same thing,” Gu Xiqiao replied, smiling.
Shen Nianzhi had said that she was born to paint, Luo Wenlang had said that she was born to do finance, Xiao Yun and the others thought that she was more suitable for research, and today someone said that she was born to act. Later, when Yao Jiamu learned that she was promoted to Fleet Foot from her brush with lightning, he would say that she was born for ancient martial arts.
“I’m really not joking with you.” Xiang Kun was unwilling to let such a gem go, he felt that Gu Xiqiao was deliberately being evasive. “Be under me, and by this time next year, you’ll definitely become a superstar!”
Gu Xiqiao shook her head, and looked at Xiang Kun, narrowing her eyes a little. “Mr. Xiang, have you not slept well lately? Especially at night, you can’t really get a good sleep, or you’ll wake up frequently after nightmares and can’t go back to sleep, and you’re now on medication?”
They were just talking about entering the entertainment industry a second ago, and now the topic had switched to himself. Xiang Kun was taken aback, and the expression in his eyes changed quickly, closely looking at Gu Xiqiao now.
He had been having insomnia symptoms for almost half a month now, and just yesterday he was still seeing a psychologist abroad.
Although he felt that it was fine to not sleep so many hours in a day, because he felt that his mental powers were strong enough to endure it, the situation with his insomnia and nightmares still made him frustrated, and so he finally went for treatment with a psychologist.
No one knew about his situation though, not even his family members.
He didn’t expect that Gu Xiqiao would be able to see through the entire matter in a moment, and it made him suspicious, had she been digging around for his information?”
“Don’t make that sort of expression.” Gu Xiqiao smiled lightly when she saw his guarded face. “I’m not interested in you at all, but I’m just trying to prove to you that I’m a med student. You have sort of discolored patches on your face, and it seems to be faint, but it’s obvious that it’s a recent development. You will find that the color is slightly redder than a normal person, which is a sign of heart problems; you are a little sluggish, although you behave in a spirited manner, your pupils are in a dilated state. I think your complexion is still fine, and you don’t have any major problems in your body on usual days. Thinking about all your symptoms, it could only be insomnia and nightmares that cause you to be in this state. I’m guessing it’s been about fourteen days since you’ve had this problem, am I right?”
Listening to Gu Xiqiao’s detailed explanation, Xiang Kun was completely dumbfounded, staring at her in a daze.
Did she really know or was she blindly guessing? This was nothing short of amazing! The psychologist that he had been seeing couldn’t even diagnose his symptoms clearly, and even the most sophisticated machines in the world couldn’t help. How could she have known it so clearly by just looking at him?
“You really know? Just after looking at me at a glance?” He continued to stare at Gu Xiqiao, the uncertainty and doubt was clear in his eyes, but his heart inside was wavering.
Gu Xiqiao pulled out a string of obsidian bracelets from her pocket (actually it was from her Inventory) and rolled it around in her hands. “Have you forgotten the four traditional methods of Chinese medicine? Look, listen, question, and feel the pulse. The first is always ‘look’.”
“You’re studying traditional medicine?” Xiang Kun guessed, did she really know what he was sick with just a glance?
“No, I’m studying clinical medicine.” Gu Xiqiao shook her head. She looked at Xiang Kun’s twitching mouth, and immediately followed up with an explanation. “Although I study Western medicine, I’m also good in Chinese medicine.”
Looking at Gu Xiqiao’s earnest expression, Xiang Kun decided that her words were true. “It’s okay even if you’re studying medicine. You can come to the site occasionally, treat it as a hobby. It’s a huge loss to the industry to lose you. My occupation is not just a manager, but because I love the industry, I also occasionally bring in a few artistes in.”
Of course, once your popularity has been established and risen, then you would just be thrown to other managers or agents.
“I will try.” Gu Xiqiao said, touching her nose awkwardly.
“That’s right, since you’re studying medicine and diagnosed my insomnia, what do you think of my condition? Can I still be saved?” He glanced at Gu Xiqiao, his heart skipping a beat at the anticipation of her answer.
Gu Xiqiao’s face was solemn as she answered, “You’re in a critical state.”
Xiang Kun: “…”
“Just kidding, trying to ease the tension.” Gu Xiqiao smiled as she passed the obsidian beads in her hands to him. “These are beads that I have soaked in various medicinal materials from my ancestors. Wear it on your hand to exorcise the evil spirits, I guarantee that you will have a good sleep.”
The system spirit looked up from what it was doing in the void, and said, [Beauty Qiao, you’ve changed.]
‘How so?’ Gu Xiqiao asked.
[This was obviously something that you bought at a bargain from the system shop. You weren’t like this last time.]
‘People change.’
[I haven’t, I’ve been cute and I always will be~]
‘Humans.’ Gu Xiqiao emphasized.
The system spirit, who wasn’t a human being: […]
Xiang Kun looked at the beads in Gu Xiqiao’s hands that she was holding out to him, and from what he could see, it was just a string of ordinary beads. However, the beads were unusually black, and when he squinted his eyes to take a closer look, he thought he could see purple lights running inside them. He knew then they weren’t any ordinary beads.
As he reached out to take it, a small red shadow suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.
The speed was too fast, and he couldn’t bring himself to react at all, and the bracelet that he was reaching out for was snatched away by this red shadow.
Piak!
Gu Xiqiao’s hand reached out to smack down the red shadow.
Xiang Kun could only see the red shadow being smacked out of the air and onto the ground, and when he could see clearly again, he realized that it was just a red bird. Taking a closer look, he was surprised again—Why did the bird look like the mythical beast, the Vermillion Bird?!
Being smack to the ground so mercilessly by Gu Xiqiao, Xixi felt aggrieved and refused to get up.
“Chirp chirp chirp!” (Why are you giving this wonderful bracelet full of profound energy to this bitch in front of me!)
Haha had a bowl, and it had nothing, it really was completely unloved!
Gu Xiqiao ignored it, bending over to pick up the beads and handing it over to Xiang Kun. “Sorry, my pet is quite naughty.”
Xiang Kun waved off her apology, but he resisted the urge to look at Xixi again. The bird really really looked like the Vermillion Bird, he couldn’t help but think, there was just a slight difference, which was the size of it.
The myths state that the Vermillion Bird was as big as a mountain.
As soon as the beads made contact with his skin, he could feel a refreshing sensation spreading through his body. His head that felt slightly muddled was suddenly clear, and the mild throbbing headache that he didn’t even realize he consistently had was also gone, and a realization came across his face as he stared at Gu Xiqiao in undisguised surprise. However, Gu Xiqiao merely picked Xixi up as she lectured it, a completely harmless expression on her delicate face, as though she didn’t know that her bracelet had such a powerful effect at all.
The crew that was cheerful and lively suddenly plugged into an awkward silence, most of them had shut their mouth, looking at the main entrance with an indecisive manner whether or not to look.
Xiang Kun was still holding the beads in his hand, and was staring dumbfounded at the entrance. This was a really dumbfounded stare, he swore that he had never been so surprised in his life!
After being friends with Tang Qingqiu for so long, he obviously had the honor to meet Jiang Shuxuan once. He was a completely mysterious existence, and even his own family hardly saw him. So Xiang Kun couldn’t believe that he was able to see his idol again? And why was he here?!