Six months later
When Shen Xingsui came out of the recording hall, the weather had already turned cold.
He stood downstairs in a cotton-padded coat. A cool breeze blew through the building, making him shiver. He exhaled a long breath, and the mist dispersed in the air, leaving a wisp of fog.
Can Can came up from behind and said, "It's going to snow in a few days."
"This year has gone by so fast," Shen Xingsui said with a smile. "It feels like last year's Spring Festival was just yesterday."
Can Can nodded in agreement.
Last year during the Lunar New Year, Shen Xingsui was still filming "Starlight". At that time, An Ran and Jian Zhi had not yet retired from the entertainment industry, and Shen Xingsui and Fu Jinxiao were not that close. Only a whole year has passed, and it seems that nothing has changed, yet it also seems that many things have changed.
Cancan said softly, "Things will always get better."
Shen Xingsui got into the car: "I hope so."
"I haven't had much rest all year, but around the Lunar New Year, the movie will be released, and I'm afraid I'll have to travel around for promotion and won't be able to rest either." Can Can looked at their schedule and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
Shen Xingsui also took a look at the schedule and replied, "It's okay, I'm busy, but Teacher Fu is busy too."
Can Can nodded in deep agreement and said, "That's right, Teacher Fu is such a busy man. He's been busy for years, and he's still busy this year. He hasn't had much rest at all."
Even the rest period she had recently was something Shen Xingsui forced herself to take.
The film's promotional campaign was swift and intensive. Since it was invested in by Shen Xingsui and Fu Jinxiao, their own entertainment company handled the main publicity. They had a very mature promotional team, and the film was extremely popular during the pre-sale period. However, aside from Fu Jinxiao's well-known status as a film emperor, the rest of the cast were newcomers to the entertainment industry, resulting in a lukewarm reception from audiences.
"Is Teacher Fu mentoring a newcomer?"
"Apart from Teacher Fu, no one else is interested at all."
"Why is it this team?"
"Doesn't Teacher Fu have a lot of resources for big-budget movies?"
Judging from external market reviews, audiences are not very optimistic about this film overall.
Especially after discovering that Shen Xingsui was another lead actress and that this was a BL (Boys' Love) film, the mainstream market did not give the film a very high rating.
Shen Xingsui was a little nervous.
He had never tried making a movie before, and this was his first time. He was afraid the film would flop. It wouldn't matter if he himself flopped, but if it dragged Fu Jinxiao down with him, he would be guilty beyond redemption. While he was reading the online reviews, he received a call from Fu Jinxiao.
After the call was connected, a man's voice came from the other end: "Why didn't you answer for so long?"
"Hmm?" Shen Xingsui quickly replied softly, "No, I'm just looking at online reviews of the movie."
"Why look at those things?" Fu Jinxiao didn't seem to be under much pressure. His voice sounded like he had just finished showering. He sat in front of the hairdryer and said slowly, "You can't please everyone. You can never satisfy 100% of people."
Shen Xingsui softly said, "Mmm..."
Fu Jinxiao sensed his low spirits and smiled, "Does Teacher Shen lack confidence in himself?"
“That’s not it.” Shen Xingsui wanted to refute, but then looked dejected: “I’m afraid that if the movie doesn’t get good reviews after its release, it will end up dragging you down…”
Fu Jinxiao raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by the answer.
In fact, he noticed Shen Xingsui's low spirits a few months before the movie was released. He thought it was because of fear and timidity, but he didn't expect it to be for this reason.
"So what if the reviews or the box office flop?" Fu Jinxiao sighed slightly, his voice indifferent, and chuckled lightly, "It's not like we haven't had flops before."
Shen Xingsui was very surprised.
Anyway, ever since he started paying attention to Fu Jinxiao, almost every movie he's seen has been a flop.
Fu Jinxiao seemed to know what he was thinking and said slowly, "Sometimes what you see is not necessarily the whole story. Many movies are shelved and can never be released because they haven't passed censorship or because of the actors they work with. There are also some movies with very poor box office data, but actually the investors themselves manipulate the ticket sales to make the data look better."
“Oh, and in the early years, because of my poor acting skills or various other reasons, I was criticized by many directors and audiences.” Fu Jinxiao spoke in a very light tone about the hardships of these years: “Many things may look glamorous on the outside, but year after year, no matter how beautiful the flower is, its roots are still in the mud.”
Shen Xingsui suddenly felt relaxed and understood many things clearly. She chuckled and said, "So everyone faces the risk of failure?"
Fu Jinxiao listened to her lover's voice on the other end of the phone and whispered, "There will be."
Shen Xingsui's features softened considerably.
"but……"
He heard Fu Jinxiao's slow, deliberate chuckle on the other end of the phone, her words somewhat domineering yet strangely reassuring: "With me here, this risk can be minimized."
Shen Xingsui's eyes widened slightly, and the unease in his heart seemed to be washed away and faded away at this moment.
Fu Jinxiao asked softly, "Don't you believe me?"
"I believe you." This time, Shen Xingsui answered with great certainty, a gentle smile appearing in his eyes: "I believe in you more than I believe in myself."
...
With the New Year approaching, big-budget movies are being released during the holiday season.
Despite not being initially well-received, "The Lonely City" defied expectations, with many doubting its success due to the large number of newcomers. However, after the first wave of viewers finished their screenings, a wave of positive reviews for "The Lonely City" began to flood the internet.
"Such a meticulously crafted product."
"The budget was not spent on hiring actors, but on the production itself."
I cried my eyes out when Fang Zhiwen died.
"Bring plenty of tissues when you go to the movies!"
"The best movie I've seen this year."
A flood of positive reviews swept across major platforms, and many people began to promote the film organically. Whether it's the high rating of 9.7 on Douban, or Taobao Tickets and various online ticketing platforms, "The Lonely City" has achieved comprehensive praise.
Of course, along with the positive reviews came controversy online. Some viewers naturally wanted to ship the characters, and a large group started creating their own content, linking Fu Jinxiao and Shen Xingsui's names frequently together based on the film's plot and scenes, extending their shipping from the characters in the story to the real people.
"Sui Sui's acting skills are not bad."
"And his daily life with Teacher Fu on set is so sweet."
"This teacher-student relationship is definitely real."
"I wept repeatedly at Fang Zhiwen's restrained yet profound love for Xu Yan."
"These two should get together already!"
The large-scale emergence of CP (couple) girls has also sparked dissatisfaction among many people, especially Fu Jinxiao's solo fans, who are extremely resentful. They detest the malicious pairing and hype, especially when the characters in the script are brought into the lives of real people, and therefore launched a counterattack against the CP fans:
"If you're shipping a couple, then ship them based on their real-life features."
"I really hate homosexuals, I won't even watch movies with them."
"Get together? Is Shen Xingsui even worthy of Teacher Fu?"
"I hope the movie is just a movie and they can get rid of this 'television' thing as soon as possible!"
Many fans, including those in Fu Jinxiao's fan community, are protesting this pairing and hype. Some have even started attacking Shen Xingsui herself, labeling her as someone who is trying to ride on the coattails of others' popularity and scheming to climb the social ladder. Their resistance has reached its peak.
Even Fu Jinxiao's official studio Weibo account received a large number of private messages and complaints, demanding that the association be removed, that the artist be given a clean image, and that the label of "same-sex" should not exist.
...
The scene of the movie promotion event
Many of the main actors and guests of "The Lonely City" were present. Today is a large media launch event because "The Lonely City" has a very good box office performance, so there are a lot of media people here.
The backstage dressing room was also very lively.
The planner had been going over the process with Shen Xingsui, and had given him drafts of what he could say in response to questions he might face at the press conference.
On the other side
On the way to the press conference, the atmosphere in a van was somewhat somber.
Wang Meican was also helpless after watching: "I didn't expect that the audience could accept other people's CP, but they couldn't stand the pairing of you and Sui Sui. This time it was actually a test to see how much the audience could accept your relationship. I didn't expect it to be so resistant."
Inside the car, Fu Jinxiao's face was as cold as frost as some netizens on the platform commented.
The man sat there, his gaze ashen, clearly in a bad mood. After listening to his agent's words, he sneered, raised his eyelids, and said, "What are you going to do?"
“I talked to Sui Sui a couple of days ago. The child was also very upset about this, but he cares more about your image and influence. So he said he would reduce marketing and publicity in this area in the future, and he will keep a low profile and try to avoid being photographed by the media.” Wang Meican sighed: “Sui Sui is such a sensible child. He would never make a fuss if he was wronged. Even now, he is still thinking about you.”
Fu Jinxiao frowned slightly: "He said that?"
Wang Meican nodded: "This seems to be the best solution now. Since Sui Sui is willing to handle it discreetly, it will at least quell some of the fans' anger..."
Fu Jinxiao gave a cold laugh.
Looking into his cold gaze, Wang Meican suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Is simply lying and concealing the truth a satisfactory answer for fans?" Fu Jinxiao tossed the tablet aside and slowly said, "Publicly promoting being single to attract traffic and consume fans is not living up to their trust. Privately letting your lover be exposed to cyberbullying is also not fulfilling the responsibilities of a man."
Fu Jinxiao had a faint smile on her face: "Sister Wang, do you think this is the right thing to do?"
Wang Meican was struck by Fu Jinxiao's words. She wanted to say that many celebrities do the same thing, but when she looked at Fu Jinxiao's open and honest eyes, she felt that she couldn't say anything to refute him. Some people hide and exploit their fans for traffic, while others choose to stand up in the eye of the storm, even if the consequences may be disastrous.
Wang Meican chuckled and said, "There might be serious consequences later. Sui Sui is a newcomer, so there won't be a collapse of her fanbase. But your decades of accumulation in the entertainment industry could cause you to fall from grace. So this is not a decision that can be made impulsively. Even so, are you still willing to pay the price?"
Fu Jinxiao smiled and said, "I'm willing to do anything."
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