Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 550 I don't care about that trivial matter
When Li Qiutang, Guo Fan, and others returned to China, it happened to coincide with the May Day holiday.

The May Day holiday film season is getting less and less interesting, but it is still a three-day holiday, and three noteworthy films have chosen to try their luck during this period.

"Partners in Crime", "Finding Mr. Right 2", and "Xuanzang".

Needless to say, “Finding Mr. Right 2” is a project by Edko Films. The second film introduced investment from Zhejiang Radio and Television. As a co-producer of the first film, Autumn also participated in the investment of the new film, providing project approval and publicity services for the second film. The company did not really attach much importance to this film. It was profitable, but not much. It was just considered a small achievement. In a way, the company did not miss the May Day film season.

The hype surrounding the film "Partners in Crime" is even bigger than that of "Finding Mr. Right 2". It seems that during the filming of "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe", Zhao Liying and Yao Chen got along well, and Yao Chen actually brought her into the "Partners in Crime" cast, where she played the second female lead, Gu Qiaoyin.

The cast of this film is very strong, including Yao Chen, Zhao Liying, Hao Lei, Li Chen, Guo Fucheng (special appearance), and Wang Yibo, a future top star who is not yet well-known.

The promotional slogan was "Female version of American Dreams in China".

"Xuanzang" carried a political mission, but nowadays political forces will not easily protect the film, and the film still participates in fierce market competition.

But, even though "Partners in Crime" is worse than "Xuanzang", why are viewers only criticizing Xiaoming?
But to be fair, "Xuanzang" is not a bad movie.

The art direction, cinematography, and soundtrack are all excellent. Xiaoming's performance has some flaws, but it's not enough to ruin the whole movie.

The problem lies in the film's positioning; the creative team never figured out whether "Xuanzang" was an art film or a commercial film.

But since Huang Xiaoming is the biggest star in the entire crew, who else would get scolded if not him?

It's clear that Huang Xiaoming has high ambitions for this film; he wants to prove to the audience that he has good acting skills and can play a virtuous monk like Xuanzang.

Why is Huang Xiaoming constantly trying to prove his acting skills? He was proving his acting skills 10 years ago, and he's still proving it 10 years later?

"Huang Xiaoming truly lives up to everyone's prejudices, proving with his life that the audience's prejudices against him are correct."

"I was initially very interested in this subject matter, but when I clicked in and saw how low the rating was, I was shocked. Then I saw the male lead and decided to stop watching."

"Huang Xiaoming's innate qualities are lacking. His face with overly angular lines, his murderous aura and slick temperament, and his bright but not deep, refined and detached eyes are not at all like the eminent monk Xuanzang."

"Why don't you try contacting Li Qiutang and see if he has any roles for you?"

According to Qin Lan, after finishing the promotional tour for "Xuanzang," Huang Xiaoming locked himself in his room for an entire afternoon and evening, refusing to see anyone.

Li Qiutang was about to tell Huang Xiaoming not to care too much about these negative reviews when she thought about it and felt something was amiss: "Wait a minute, how did you know he locked himself in his room?"

Qin Lan retorted, "Shouldn't I know?"

"That's absolutely unacceptable!" Li Qiutang laughed. "Who do you think you are?"

"What's my identity?" Qin Lan continued to ask, then explained, "It was his assistant who called me, saying that he had locked himself in his room for most of the day without eating or drinking, and that he was worried something might happen to him, so he asked me to talk to him. I called him, and he did answer, but he didn't say anything. I chatted with him for ages, which not only delayed my work, but I don't even know if he appreciates it."

Li Qiutang had no intention of getting involved in Huang Xiaoming and Qin Lan's messy affairs, and said, "So do you want him to appreciate it or not? If he doesn't appreciate it, you can just kill him. If he does appreciate it, how do you expect him to repay you?"

Qin Lan said, "Why are you so shameless after you got married? Showing off that you're married, huh? Mind your own business."

Li Qiutang said, "If Xiaoming hadn't drunk himself into nagging me about how he was young and ignorant and apologized to you, do you think I would have bothered with your messy affairs?"

Qin Lan was taken aback, then said, "He really said he was sorry to me?"

Huang Xiaoming is such a chauvinist, it won't be easy for him to back down.

Liu Yifei felt she should show up; there was no need to eavesdrop in her own home—in fact, she only eavesdropped for a couple of sentences. When Li Qiutang mentioned that Xiaoming had gotten drunk and apologized to Qin Lan, she felt she should sit properly next to her husband and listen.

"What are you saying?" Liu Yifei plopped down next to Li Qiutang. "Is something wrong, Xiaoming?"

“You’re everywhere,” Li Qiutang said. “Tell me about it, Xiaoming has been my good friend for over ten years, I want to hear it too,” Liu Yifei pleaded, shaking her husband’s arm.

Li Qiutang added, "At the party after my wedding, he drank too much and was sitting there dozing off."

"Get to the point, the backstory is too long," Liu Yifei urged.

"You're being a bit sleazy now."

Qin Lan also said, "Let's get straight to the point: what happened after we sat there and dozed off?"

“Xiao Ming was completely drunk that night, and his assistant wasn’t there either. In the end, Ya Wen and I had to take him back to his room. Once he got back to his room, he lay on the bed and started rambling on and on,” he said to Liu Yifei. “Are you sure you want to hear what he says next? It’s his private matter.”

"Oh dear, you've already teased us so much, you've been keeping us in suspense for too long." Liu Yifei punched Li Qiutang.

Then Li Qiutang imitated Huang Xiaoming's posture, leaning back in the sofa chair and saying, "'If I had gotten married earlier, my kids would be running all over the place by now.'"

"Then Yawen and I took the opportunity to get some information out of him, asking him who he planned to marry soon. He mentioned your name and said, 'I didn't appreciate people when I was younger, and now they don't care about me anymore.'"

“These are my exact words, I haven’t changed a single word. Ya Wen heard them too, you can ask him if you don’t believe me.”

After hearing this, Liu Yifei laughed and said, "I didn't expect Xiaoming to have this side to him."

Qin Lan blushed a little: "That was just drunken talk, don't take it seriously."

"People speak the truth when they're drunk. Even if there's a hint of falsehood, it's still true that they think well of you," Li Qiutang said.

"He just broke up with his girlfriend and is feeling lonely, so he's using me as an excuse."

"If that's the case, then being together is just about keeping each other company and relieving loneliness."

Li Qiutang wasn't trying to force the two to get back together; he was just telling Qin Lan what he knew. If Qin Lan wasn't willing or had found someone else, he wouldn't say anything.

"Yes, yes, two people are always better than one." Liu Yifei said this with a straight face, happy after her marriage.

"You two are so boring." Qin Lan didn't want to stay with Li Qiutang anymore.

Li Qiutang has known Qin Lan longer than he has known his wife, so he can say things that are sometimes impolite and lack boundaries: "You're 37, sister, it's time to make some plans. You know Xiaoming, he's stubborn and prideful. If you have any ideas, give him a way out, and things will be much easier later on."

"Other people's opinions don't matter at all at this time; you still have to live your own life."

“Yes, yes,” Liu Yifei chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

Qin Lan couldn't stand it anymore, so she grabbed her bag and said, "I'm not talking to you guys anymore, it's no fun."

After Qin Lan left, Liu Yifei suddenly asked Li Qiutang, "What did you just say was the reason the two of them were together?"

"what?"

You said that the two of you are together to keep each other company and relieve loneliness.

"That's not wrong, is it?"

“My mom’s not coming back today,” Liu Yifei said with a smile, taking her husband’s hand. “Come on, let’s go and relieve our loneliness.” She then walked upstairs to the bedroom.

"It's broad daylight." But Li Qiutang let her have her way, not forgetting to complain, "Your needs have been a bit too strong lately."

(End of this chapter)