I'm not a drama freak, I can really see through the script

Chapter 285, The Four Little Fresh Meat, The Script of "Hidden in the Dust"
The reason the data was delayed was because the actuarial department didn't believe the results. They repeatedly reviewed the data due to its unbelievable nature, leading to the delayed delivery.
Huang Xiaoming has already opened his champagne.

They were all ready to open champagne and host a banquet for the entire film crew.

Not to mention Huang Xiaoming, even Zhang Jizhong felt like he was about to pop open a bottle of champagne.

Before the champagne could even be opened, the marketing and actuarial department received some truly terrible news.

The champagne was halfway opened, as if it had already been opened.

Huang Xiaoming was completely stunned and stood there dumbfounded.

I really can't believe this result.

Say it again?
The Legend of Chu Liuxiang.

He wasn't number one in viewership ratings, nor was he number one in popularity.

It achieved the dual first place in both viewership ratings and popularity.

This achievement is truly phenomenal.

But at this point, Zhang Jizhong had no time to consider Huang Xiaoming's feelings.

Now he was looking at Jin Yong beside him—

This Mr. Jin is an undefeated master in the world of martial arts.

Now, this veteran has failed for the first time.

It was one of my favorite works, "The Return of the Condor Heroes," that resulted in a defeat.

Zhang Jizhong wasn't entirely clear on what this meant for him, but it certainly wasn't a very comfortable situation.

But when I turned to look at Jin Yong next to me, I saw that Mr. Jin Yong's face showed no sign of disappointment due to failure.

Or rather, the emotion on the surface is more of a strange sense of melancholy.

Jin Yong lost to Gu Long.

first.
Ever since the name "Jin, Gu, Wen, Liang" came about, Jin Yong and Gu Long have been constantly compared and compared, and there has always been such a saying.

"Gu Long defeated me for the first time, although it was many years after his death."

So, he doesn't actually care.

At this moment, Li Xuan was looking at the ratings and popularity, information he received from the director.

Liu Pengsheng and Ju Jueliang were extremely excited.

Although when they arrived.
He expressed his excitement about the first thing.

Li Xuan.

You are the first person to beat Jin Yong's dramas with Gu Long's works.

You are the first one.
Even in the realm of novels, Gu Long himself could not surpass Jin Yong—at least, he never surpassed Jin Yong in terms of the breadth of his influence.

This time was the only exception.

Only once.

But Li Xuan knew.

Gu Long didn't care—the important thing was to quickly use his royalties to buy some wine and have a couple of drinks.

He's Gu Long, you know.

Jin Yong was defeated by Gu Long.

This news was a bombshell from the start. Jin Yong's fans were excited, but Gu Long's fans, or those familiar with Gu Long's works, knew that...

He doesn't care about this kind of thing at all.
But for Li Xuan, it meant something different.

The ratings—as the main character, it completely shouldered the responsibility for the ratings.

One thing is beyond doubt.
It exists as the main character.

One of the most important qualities of a 'protagonist' is the ability to carry viewership ratings.

Whether the performance was good or not.

Does it have audience appeal?

The production team's understanding of the characters and the script is also part of their capabilities.

"Li Xuan has now fully proven one thing: his ability to maintain high viewership ratings."

At this moment, Wang Fengsheng murmured.

I never imagined that I would live to see Jin Yong defeated by Gu Long.

This matter is important to him.

It's something I've never seen before; they all come from the era of martial arts novels dominated by Jin Yong, Gu Long, Wen Ruian, and Liang Yusheng.
"This time, Li Xuan did more than just boost the ratings."

Xu Xiang, standing nearby with a complex expression, said, "It's about truly bringing Gu Long's works to life."

The significance of this is absolutely extraordinary.

Jin Yong's works are very accessible, and generally speaking, understanding the characters in them doesn't present any particularly high or exaggerated difficulties.

The actors who played Jin Yong characters were probably aware of this as well.

Most of the actors used were very young, like Gu Tianle and Liu Dehua back then, all newcomers and new works.

Because it is indeed simple, and the barrier to understanding is not high.

The journey from having nothing to becoming a great hero.

Even though Li Yapeng's acting in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was so terrible and his understanding of the character so abstract, he was still considered to have done something quite like the great hero Guo Jing.

That's the character; that's one of the advantages of a simple storyline.

Many actors have successfully adapted Gu Long's works, such as Adam Cheng and Vincent Chiao. Their adaptations of Gu Long's works have also achieved good ratings, such as the cool and stylish "The Sword of the Three Young Masters".

They can still achieve results, but results are one thing, and whether their understanding of the performance is correct is another.

There aren't many works by Gu Long that are considered 'correct'.

What makes Li Xuan special is that he truly captured the wandering heart of Gu Long in his film.

From then on, Li Xuan gained another group of die-hard fans—these fans of Gu Long believed that Li Xuan was the only one who captured the essence of Gu Long's wandering poets in his films.

This is definitely worth paying attention to.

And now, when everything has come to a head.

It's time for a 'liquidation'.

For Li Xuan, it was indeed time for 'reckoning'.

This time, it's time for a complete reversal of my previous image as a 'low-budget Huang Xiaoming'.

At this moment, Li Xuan was looking at the public opinion on the internet.

Someone made a GIF, and wow, it looks exactly like the style of "The Story of Siblings After the Rain".

Huang Xiaoming was riding a divine eagle, and then Yang Guo, the great hero, was kicked off the eagle by Chu Liuxiang.

Get lost, this is my eagle!

"Good guy"

Li Xuan looked at Sina Blog, unsure of what to say. He was probably feeling both amused and exasperated by this whole ordeal.
The low-budget Huang Xiaoming became the low-budget Li Xuan.

The situation has completely reversed; the more hype they put on this before, the more severe the backlash will be.
That's how public opinion works; negative opinions can turn into positive ones, and positive opinions can sometimes turn into negative ones.

At that time, Huang Xiaoming was indeed stepping on his own footing.

However, once "The Plot" and "To Live" begin to gain traction, if Huang Xiaoming can still overcome himself, then he will be the ultimate winner, having defeated his 'powerful' self.

However, the same applies.

This time, there is a strong contrast between "The Return of the Condor Heroes" and "Legend of Chu Liuxiang" in terms of ratings and character understanding, even among similarly sized comparisons.
Moreover, neither Ma Kuzi's "The Banquet" nor Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower" achieved particularly outstanding results this time.

In particular, the critical reception of "The Banquet" is probably only slightly better than that of "The Promise" among the blockbusters of recent years.

Hey, "The Promise" is still the absolute worst movie ever, bar none.

This will still be helpful to Huang Xiaoming's career.

But there really aren't that many.

at this time.

Li Xuan looked at the list of the "Four Little Fresh Meat" from the era above.

Tong Dawei, Yin Xiaotian, Nie Yuan, Huang Xiaoming (crossed out).

Li Xuan.

The four most popular young male stars of the new era.

Huang Xiaoming's name was removed.

Young men of the new era
This time, it was truly a success.

Huang Xiaoming, one of the "Four Little Fresh Meat" (a term referring to popular young male actors), has been replaced.
“Based on pure ability, you wouldn’t have been the one to be replaced, but your problem is that you brought your own name up.” At this moment, Chen Kun looked at Huang Xiaoming.

He didn't "fall down a level"; in any case, Huang Xiaoming has leveled up compared to the past.

However, he was still spectacularly removed from the list of the "Four Little Fresh Meat" (a term referring to four popular young male actors).

It's not that he dropped a grade.

Instead, it's Li Xuan, currently a top-tier male celebrity.

He is more capable than him of deserving the title of one of the four most popular young male stars of our time.
"But you don't need to worry, this won't affect your film contracts or your level."

Chen Kun didn't want to continue talking.

Because what Huang Xiaoming lost was not something else.

It's not about status or anything in the entertainment industry.

It is dignity.

My goal is clearly to catch up with him.

Now, however, they have been overtaken.

I was overtaken by a senior.

Now he has become a complete laughingstock.

However, just as Chen Kun was about to comfort Huang Xiaoming, he slowly spoke after a long silence: "I was actually just thinking about what to eat tonight."

"you"

"Do you think I'll be down on my luck, feeling lost and sad? You're sorely mistaken. You won't see me in those states."

Huang Xiaoming said calmly.

It's definitely not visible anymore.

Because I spent the whole night digesting it last night.

I've hit, smashed, and cursed—I've vented my frustrations about fate.

But in the end, they accepted this cruel reality.

He was promoted.

He was promoted by a young senior college student named Li Xuan.

We've been surpassed.

"But in terms of popularity and viewership appeal, we were crushed by them, and my IP strength is even higher, which means that their viewership appeal is stronger and better than mine. Since it is such a comprehensive defeat, I have nothing to say."

Any explanation is weak and feeble.

Failure is failure.

"I used to think that the one who would threaten me was you."

Chen Kun remarked with emotion.

He has always maintained a ambivalent attitude towards Huang Xiaoming, sometimes as an enemy and sometimes as a friend.

They are even more like friends—and more like elements of healthy competition.

Of course, Huang Xiaoming's level of stress may be another matter.

For now.

The only difference is that Huang Xiaoming's role has been changed to that of another junior student.

A prodigiously talented junior.

However, at this moment, Huang Xiaoming said...

"You may like someone, but they may not like you."

Chen Kun: ? ? ? ?

I said, buddy.

They just beat you.

But I'm a top-tier male celebrity, excelling in both film and television.

"The Knot" proves that I still have the ability to drive box office success.

Don't assume that box office appeal and viewership appeal are the same thing.

One is real money, the other is making money from advertisers.

The two carriers are different.

Movie stars, whose credentials are proven by real money, are many times more valuable.
"To be frank, with his ability to understand scripts, do you think he would only want to crush you? Or rather, with his ability, if you wanted to beat him, you'd probably have to wait in line. There are plenty of people who don't want him to rise to the top."

He wants to be a director.

He wants to go even further.

At that moment, Li Xuan was at home.

for others.

The "Four Little Fresh Meat" are probably more like exceptionally talented male actors.
But for Li Xuan, this was a significant achievement.

Each stage of achievement means a stage of reward, just like now.

[The "Four Little Heavenly Kings": This is an overstatement of praise for young actors of this era. Only four people in an entire generation represent such a significant achievement, and you have already attained an accomplishment you can remember for a lifetime. However, whether you can become one of the four greatest film emperors and four greatest television emperors in the future depends on your continued hard work.]
[Gained: Charisma attribute +1]
[Script acquired: Hidden Like Dust]
[It is recommended that the host, when filming this movie, not only check their own mental strength, but also the female lead's mental strength.]
Good guy.

Are you trying to get me banned, System Bro?

Li Xuan, of course, knew of the name of the man who had hidden himself in the dust.
But this is also a challenge.

a chance.

I never expected that after becoming a leading man, I would get a movie like this. It's really a bit of a laugh and cry.

If he himself receives awards and recognition for commercial films, does that mean he has earned commercial film credits?

Li Xuan asked, but the system didn't answer.

Or perhaps this thing isn't as intelligent as we imagine.

He has now achieved the status of one of the "Four Little Heavenly Kings".

In the realm of young actors, he is basically only weaker than top stars like Chen Kun.

On the path to becoming an actor and star.

That's absolutely true.

For an actor who hasn't even graduated yet, such achievements are incredible.

But that's not enough.

That's still far from enough.

It's not enough, at least not for Li Xuan.

A top-tier young star.

Does he dare to go against capital?

The answer is no. Even someone at the level of Chen Kun or Zhao Yanzi needs to be under the control of capital.

Because they control and manipulate the resources of the superstructure.

Chen Kun certainly has the ability to become a star, but for those in power to remove him from his current status, it would be as simple as lifting a finger.

Actors and celebrities.

If you only have this status, then you will have no sense of security whatsoever.

The path they chose was inherently opposed to theirs.

"Graduation performance, my youthful days. And what needs to be done after this."

Li Xuan was very clear about what to do next. He wrote, directed, and acted in his own films, highlighting a self-sustaining cycle that did not rely on external resources.

It won't be.
A bottleneck.

It will not be unable to improve simply because capital monopolizes resources.
Mastering—or gradually mastering—the techniques of directing, producing, and scriptwriting itself.

This is my greatest advantage.

The next goal, in terms of acting, is to reach the level of top-tier actors like Chen Kun.

As a director and producer, I am exploring the food chain step by step, moving further upstream.

I want my graduation ceremony to be a celebration of my life, a moment that will be shared with everyone.

I am coming.

(End of this chapter)