Huayu: Traffic is king

Chapter 134 A Kiss Will Make It Hurt Less

On an ordinary afternoon, Gu Jingyi had just finished filming, dressed in black.

Yang Zi sat beside him, patting his shoulder and laughing heartily.

“Jingyi, you really are…”

As they filmed together for a long time, their relationship visibly warmed up.

After being subtly rejected by Gu Jingyi several times, Yang Zi composed herself. She and Gu Jingyi stood together as brothers, with absolutely no romantic feelings involved.

Can there be pure friendship between men and women? Yes, there are.

If there's a significant difference in appearance between the two people, then it's pure.

Actually, when casting for this role, Perfect World hesitated for a long time between Yang Zi and Li Yitong.

At that time, Yang Zi already had the role of "Little Qiu" in "Ode to Joy", while Li Yitong did not yet have any particularly outstanding film or television works.

Perfect World Entertainment favored Li Yitong's looks, but Zhu Ruibing preferred Yang Zi. He repeatedly suggested to Perfect World that Yang Zi was more suitable, arguing that her acting skills and national recognition would be a better asset to "Ashes of Love" than Li Yitong's.

Perfect World also made its choice, casting Yang Zi in the role. As Zhu Ruibing predicted, the final product did indeed draw a wider audience to Yang Zi. It wasn't just young people watching; older, middle-aged women also enthusiastically discussed the plot of "Ashes of Love."

Casting actors involves considering many factors, with appearance being the least important one.

For example, "The Crown Prince" has an amazing amount of resources in both dramas and movies.

However, once Gu Jingyi appeared, the matter of the "Crown Prince" was no longer relevant.

Gu Jingyi has a very good reputation in the film and television industry and is known as "the most talented traffic star". Now, almost every big-budget production in the industry sends a draft to Huace to see if Gu Jingyi is interested in it.

Unless Gu Jingyi doesn't approve of it, he won't give other top celebrities the chance to eat leftovers.

When Jiu Yuexi's drama "Better Days, So Beautiful" was released, and she noticed that Lu Han's popularity had plummeted to the same level as Yang Yang's, she also subtly courted Huace, her intention to curry favor quite obvious.

Huace is considering whether or not to take on the project, given that the original work is suspected of plagiarism.

Given Gu Jingyi's status, it would only be the end of July by the time "Ashes of Love" finishes filming. For him to go and shoot a low-budget youth film like "Take My Brother Away" would be considered taking on multiple projects simultaneously.

Even if he acts like a diva, the crew of "Take My Brother Away" will just laugh and forgive him.

Because Gu Jingyi was officially announced as the male lead "Shi Fen" in "Take My Brother Away," the film was already attracting a flood of sponsors even in its early stages of preparation, eager to invest.

It's said that the production team of "Take My Brother Away" calculated all the investment costs and found that the movie had already broken even before filming began!

In this situation, even if Gu Jingyi wanted the stars in the sky, let alone just taking on multiple projects simultaneously, the production team would try their best to fulfill his wish.

There are always people who think that top male celebrities are not well-liked in the film and television industry and do not have as much say as well-known actors on set.

Look at the already ruined "The Golden Hairpin". Even with his popularity already flopping, Chris still managed to fight with Yang Zi over billing order to such an embarrassing situation.

Finally, the official channels couldn't stand it anymore and publicly criticized this "tearing apart of roles" behavior. Only then did this farce officially end. However, small-scale battles continued to erupt between the two sides' fans privately.

Chris, who has no notable works but only fashion resources to boast about, dares to challenge Yang Zi, who already has two hit dramas, "Ashes of Love" and "Go Go Squid!" Dissatisfied with being treated as an equal, Chris wants to be the male lead.

No one in the industry has any objection to this, which is the transcendent status of a top male celebrity.

Du Hua had been trying to mass-produce "top influencers," but after repeated failures, she realized that only traffic can be mass-produced, and the emergence of each top influencer is a success that cannot be replicated.

Gu Jingyi's rise to fame has been thoroughly investigated by domestic entertainment agencies. Yuehua Entertainment is attempting to dismantle the entire UNIQ group and send them to talent shows. They plan to have Li Wenhao lead the team on "Youth With You," following Gu Jingyi's path to becoming the "center of attention" and embodying the "demon king" narrative.

Wajiwa Entertainment packaged Zhou Zhennan, who debuted with Tea & Wine Boys and The Moon's Son, and sent him to "Produce Camp" in the same way, hoping to cultivate a top star.

Both of these talent shows will be held next year, and soon these two leading domestic idol companies will end in failure.

Both Li Wenhao and Zhou Zhennan only achieved average popularity after their debut.

With that kind of popularity, they're not even good enough to shine Gu Jingyi's shoes. They can't even compete with the popularity of Cai Xukun, Fan Chengcheng, or Justin.

Every season of the talent show is most classic in its first season, featuring the strongest contestants.

Is Gu Jingyi's rise to top popularity solely due to his inherent fanbase? If he hadn't starred in "A Love So Beautiful" and entered "Idol Producer," he would most likely have been used as a "blood bank" by the show, with his image deliberately edited together with favored contestants to boost their popularity.

Those who watched the entire "Produce 202" are mostly K-pop fans; most K-pop fans look down on Chinese entertainment. At most, only a small fraction of them watched "Idol Producer," and even then, not all of them necessarily voted for Gu Jingyi.

Everyone has different aesthetic standards; some people like striking features, some prefer subtle features, and some even have a thing for unattractive appearances.

Gu Jingyi's incredibly handsome face is only liked by 95% of people. Some fans who enjoy watching games find his perfect face less appealing and therefore less motivated to continue following him.

I don't like guys who are handsome from the start; I prefer those like the "Go Fighting!" boys who started off a bit plain but gradually became handsome. That way, I feel involved and experience the joy of growing up together.

If Gu Jingyi hadn't entered "Idol Producer" with the popularity of "A Love So Beautiful," he could still have been the clear winner. However, he wouldn't have had the "all-around domination" and "killing the game the moment he appeared" charm he has now. He would definitely have been evenly matched with Kun Kun before the third performance.

It's not that Gu Jingyi is less popular than she is now, but rather that the "Idol Producer" program team "deliberately controlled the score" in order to get both sides' fans to work themselves to the bone to vote.

In his previous life, Cai Xukun's overwhelming popularity in "Idol Producer" was still suppressed by the show's producers in various ways during the performance votes. Even in the ranking announcement closest to the final night, they allowed Nong Nong, who was far inferior in both popularity and ability, to take first place, while making Cai Xukun second – such shameless behavior.

Everyone who watched "Idol Producer" at the time agreed that if Cai Xukun wasn't in the center position, there must have been something fishy going on.

Capital, in its pursuit of profit, will abandon all moral boundaries. Being criticized? It has absolutely no fear.

Even without the boost from "A Love So Beautiful," Gu Jingyi could still have been a clear frontrunner, but the result wasn't as satisfying. She went through the same "vote-boosting" phase as Kun Kun, leading some casual viewers to mistakenly believe that other characters could occasionally rival Gu Jingyi in popularity.

If Gu Jingyi hadn't participated in "Idol Producer," his path to becoming a top star would have been much more difficult.

A role as big as "Ashes of Love" might not necessarily land in his hands. Deng Lun's first idol drama was the third highest-rated drama of the year. Even if he turned down "Ashes of Love," there were top stars like Chris and Yang Yang, as well as other actors who were near-top stars like Gu Jingyi at the time, waiting to take his place.

If he really wants to become a top star, he'll have to wait until Huace uses a drama like "Go Go Squid!" to elevate Gu Jingyi's status.

However, the "current boyfriend's" fanbase isn't that stable. After a series of setbacks, the number of fans checking in on his Weibo supertopic has plummeted. Even the collaboration with Fei Fei on the movie "Where the Wind Blows" gave him a boost, but he can't return to his former glory.

In contrast, Cai Xukun, despite his past reputation for "adding chicken essence to fried noodles," has a different story.

After a three-year hiatus, his comeback was met with tremendous fanfare. His popularity has never diminished despite the lack of new works and performances; the love from his fans remains undiminished.

Cai Xukun's seal has only just begun to loosen, and the top luxury brand Versace has already officially announced his global brand ambassador status.

It can only be said that Gu Jingyi has a truly unique vision; his path is not only unreplicable within the industry, but also unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated.

A few years later, the "milk dumping" incident led to the complete elimination of talent shows.

In the future, the saying "The top stars come and go, but Emperor Jing remains" will definitely not be a joke.

While Gu Jingyi and Yang Zi were rehearsing their lines with the script, they heard the assistant director walking ahead enthusiastically introducing, "Teacher Dilraba is here to visit the set! Everyone has worked hard."

As soon as Gu Jingyi turned around, he saw Dilraba, dressed in a gold gauze dress, smiling and greeting the crew.

When Dilraba was mentioned, Gu Jingyi couldn't help but glance at Yang Zi again.

Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have words on my face?

Yang Zi was puzzled and had no idea what was going on.

At this time, Zizi was still following the "leading lady" route, and her popularity was only second-tier. She was far from being able to compete with Dilraba. It was just that Gu Jingyi, as a reborn person, had a deep impression of this pair of "top 90s stars" and "arch-rivals" due to the influence of his memories.

He subconsciously began to observe the relationship between the two.

The result was disappointing; they were just colleagues who had met a few times.

"Teacher Gu, you must be tired from filming. I happened to be here with Xu Dan for promotional activities, so I thought I'd drop by to see you."

Dilraba smiled sweetly and looked perfectly fine.

"Yes, isn't that a surprise? Isn't that unexpected? Gu Jingyi."

Another small head popped up behind her, and Zhu Xudan greeted Gu Jingyi in a very familiar manner.

"It's a pleasant surprise, it's been a long time."

Although he had no connection with Zhu Xudan, Gu Jingyi did not expose him.

He's not stupid; it's obvious that Dilraba brought Zhu Xudan along to avoid the scandal.

Even if Dilraba is love-struck, she wouldn't go so far as to publicly announce her relationship.

When she confessed her secret relationship that day, it wasn't just a way of fulfilling Gu Jingyi's wishes; it also revealed her inner thoughts, which is a true reflection of Dilraba's feelings about love.

Once you reach the top, any emotional move you make will have far-reaching consequences.

Only Lu Han could be as fierce as him. After that, those who announced their relationships in the Chinese entertainment industry were either obscure celebrities who no one cared about, or they made official announcements by publicly displaying their marriage certificates.

As Gu Jingyi and Zhu Xudan greeted each other, Dilraba was using the pretense of visiting the set to secretly flirt with him.

After delivering the coffee, she showed no sign of leaving.

"Director Zhu, I've read the original novel of 'Ashes of Love' and I really like it. Could you consider resuming filming without affecting the production?"

Dilraba asked with a smile, her attitude very proper.

One shouldn't hit a smiling face, so Zhu Ruibing would certainly give her that face.

"Of course, Xiao Zhao. Go get a stool for Reba," Zhu Ruibing said, only noticing Zhu Xudan halfway through his sentence.

He quickly retracted his statement, adding, "There were two stools."

"Okay, Director Zhu."

Xiao Zhao moved quickly and soon set up a large parasol and carried the two small stools over.

"Thanks for your hard work"

Dilraba and Zhu Xudan sat down, looking radiant and beautiful.

The two didn't talk; instead, they blinked their big eyes and looked longingly at the direction the film crew was shooting.

They seemed genuinely interested in filming, and Dianxian, the author of the original novel "Ashes of Love," also seemed quite excited.

She took the initiative to come closer and said, "Hello, Ms. Dilraba, I'm your fan."

"Really?" Dilraba covered her mouth, somewhat incredulous.

She quickly laughed again, "Actually, I'm a fan of yours too. I really like your novels."

"Really?" Wire Master actually believed it. "What other works of mine have you seen?"

Dilraba's face stiffened for a moment. She hadn't seen any of the other works. Even "Ashes of Love" was just a polite way of saying it; her knowledge of the drama came entirely from snippets of information Gu Jingyi would occasionally share with her during his lunch break.

"Dear Wire Master, I'm also your fan!"

Gu Jingyi noticed something was wrong and came over as well.

He took a cup of Manner that Dilraba had brought from the support truck and handed it to DaDian.

"You too? When did you become my fan?" If it was just a pleasant surprise when Dilraba told her she was a fan, then her telling Gu Jingyi she was a fan made her so happy she almost fainted. "I've been a fan for ten years, the kind who comes uninvited."

Gu Jingyi smiled and said this as he raised his eyes.

"Jingyi, you have such a big mouth!" Dianxian Dada was amused by him. He covered his mouth and laughed heartily.

Dilraba lowered her eyes, and the corners of her mouth slightly curved upwards.

She knew that Gu Jingyi had come specifically to help her out of that predicament.

The scene being filmed today for "Ashes of Love" is the reunion of Jinmi and Xufeng, and this part of the Demon Realm is a specially constructed set.

"Preparing for sound recording"

Lighting preparation

"Photography Preparation"

"preparation"

"3, 2, 1, start!"

With this command given, all the actors were ready to take their positions.

This scene being filmed depicts Xu Feng's rebirth as the Demon Lord and his reunion with Jin Mi.

Gu Jingyi was dressed in a stylish black cloak armor, and his hairstyle had been changed to a youthful side-swept bangs ponytail.

Dilraba's eyes were immediately drawn to her appearance.

Moreover, this outfit perfectly accentuated Gu Jingyi's figure, making her feel incredibly satisfied.

After Xu Feng entered the Demon Realm, Sui He was always by his side. Jin Mi finally found Xu Feng, and upon seeing Sui He, who had been plotting against him, she immediately stabbed her.

Yang Zi's thrust at Sui He was incredibly fast, but Gu Jingyi precisely used his thumb to lock onto Yang Zi's radial styloid process—a common grappling technique that allows the opponent's wrist to naturally lose its grip. Using it here also fits his "God of War" persona, who is experienced in combat.

The lighting technician shone a beam of cold light on Gu Jingyi's profile, making his features appear even more defined.

After falling into demonic possession, Xu Feng is like a sharp blade that has been drawn from its tip, and Gu Jingyi also portrayed the changes in Xu Feng's personality very well.

The affection he once held for Jinmi was gone, replaced by suspicion and doubt.

Gu Jingyi's movement of raising his hand and pushing Yang Zi was swift and decisive, without any hesitation. Yang Zi was also pushed to the ground several meters away by Gu Jingyi. She bit open the blood pack and looked at Xu Feng with deep affection.

"It was her, she killed my father."

She pointed at the ears of grain and began her accusations.
Suihe grabbed Gu Jingyi's arm and cried, "Your Excellency, save me!"

Although Jinmi was injured by Xu Feng, she still thought that Xu Feng would protect her as usual.

She pointed at Suihe and continued her accusations: "She just admitted that she killed Father and Aunt Linxiu, Phoenix... we were all deceived by him."

When Gu Jingyi heard the word "we," a fleeting hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.

Xu Feng has already been betrayed by Jin Mi, how can he trust her? And where does this "we" even come from?
After seeing that look, Suihe went from being flustered to being confident.

"Nonsense, if I could kill the Water God... I wouldn't have been injured by you."

Jinmi still couldn't grasp the situation. Losing control of her emotions, she loudly accused, "You clearly used the Glazed Pure Fire just now! You're the one who killed my father, you're the one who framed Xufeng..."

"Enough," Gu Jingyi said, and then slightly altered the script again. Originally, there would have been a short scene after this where Jinmi asked Xufeng if he believed that Suihe had framed her.

However, Gu Jingyi felt that there was no need to add this part at all. He used the method acting approach to get into the role of Xu Feng and captured the character's consciousness.

At this point, the truth is no longer important.

He's too lazy to bother to tell who framed him now.

He has mixed feelings about Jinmi; he instinctively wants to get closer to her, yet he doesn't dare to trust her.

The betrayal from his lover was still vivid in his mind, and Xu Feng couldn't and didn't want to distinguish anymore.

As for Suihe, Xufeng only knew that Suihe had stayed by his side after he fell into the Demon Realm. He already regarded Suihe as a capable subordinate, so naturally he would speak up for her.

"Framed? Was it her who framed me, or you?" Xu Feng's expression was cold, and he recalled the heartache of being stabbed.

Suihe also added fuel to the fire by breaking up Xufeng and Jinmi.

"Your Majesty, this woman is extremely vicious. She killed you before, and now she is angry that I have resurrected you and is determined to kill me."

Gu Jingyi glanced down at Yang Zi, his expression complicated, and said, "Your repeated infiltrations into the Demon Realm were all at Runyu's behest, weren't they?"

As soon as he spoke, he began to sound a warning to himself. As if to remind himself, Gu Jingyi said with an icy expression, "Don't think that I will be as naive as before and fall for your tricks again. Today, if you harm a single hair on Suihe's head, I will make you vanish into thin air."

When Yang Zi looked at Gu Jingyi, her eyes were full of disbelief; there was no greater sorrow than a broken heart.

She didn't argue anymore, but instead went back to Suihe, wanting to avenge her parents.

Gu Jingyi's sleeves fluttered, summoning the Phoenix Feather that Jinmi had returned, intending to protect Suihe. Unexpectedly, the Phoenix Feather flew straight towards Jinmi, transforming into a pair of gilded wings to protect her.

Even you betrayed me.

Gu Jingyi was utterly disappointed and murmured softly.

He made a hand seal to summon back the Phoenix Feather of the Universe, and the Pure Flame of Glazed Glass burst forth in his palm, melting it with a blue-green flame.

"No, Phoenix, no!"

Yang Zi looked at the destroyed token of their love and pleaded with a sob in her voice.

But the flames continued to burn, and the Phoenix Feather was completely devoured.

"Cut!"

As soon as Zhu Ruibing yelled "Cut!", the props team quickly placed an ice pack on Gu Jingyi's finger.

Although it's a low-temperature flame, it's still over fifty degrees Celsius.

Gu Jingyi's fingers were still burned and turned a little red.

"Director, I think we can do that take again."

Gu Jingyi was still applying ice, but he was still talking about the scene: "The trajectory of the phoenix feather retrieval was wrong just now. It would be cooler if the magic weapon recognized its master with a magnetic effect. Using wires should have been faster. The movement was a bit slow just now."

"I'm fine, but Jingyi, aren't you afraid of getting hurt?"

Zhu Ruibing asked with some concern, speaking in broken Mandarin.

The Phoenix Feather hairpin, after all, is made in the shape of a phoenix totem, and its sharp material still poses a risk of injury.

"It's okay, let's try again."

……

Gu Jingyi's home

Dilraba, feeling a pang of sympathy, bandaged Gu Jingyi's palm with a cloth, asking, "Doesn't this really hurt?"

"It's alright, I'm an actor. As long as the final result is good, a few minor injuries are nothing."

Gu Jingyi didn't seem to care at all; he wasn't delicate. So what if the hairpin, which was attached to the wire, pricked his palm a little when it was taken away?

Nothing much has happened yet, and the final result of this segment will be really cool.

For actors, the most important thing is to find their own highlight within a limited number of scenes.

For example, Huo Jianhua has a famous move: "Practicing swordsmanship with a tree branch in the snow, and smiling with his eyes when he sheathes the sword." Even though it was a bad drama, it still became a hit.

It was later made into a GIF, becoming another classic of ancient costume dramas.

The footage Gu Jingyi filmed today, showing Xu Feng burning the Phoenix Feather of the Universe, is likely to be criticized by viewers after it airs.

Although there was a reason for this, it was because Xu Feng dared not trust anyone after being betrayed by Jin Mi.

However, he is still easily called a scumbag by some "female protagonist-obsessed" men, and his smooth withdrawal of the action made him look cool.

This one gesture alone is enough to make those girls' values ​​follow his facial features.

"As expected of the Demon Lord, he's so handsome, I could fall off my feet!"

Gu Jingyi had already thought about the comments after this segment aired, and then he would have Huace buy a trending topic to promote the GIF.

Another male god has been added to the list of ancient costume dramas, and it's "Xu Feng" whose character design is exceptionally good.

Gu Jingyi is poised to become a sensation once again, and his net worth will double.

This time, what he wants to do is completely differentiate himself from other top celebrities.

Why aren't you saying anything?

Seeing that Gu Jingyi was distracted again, Dilraba deliberately tugged at his bandage.

"Can you be a little gentler?"

"No," Dilraba pouted, clearly unhappy.

"If you weren't so meticulous, you wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. I'll make you remember the pain, so you won't dare to do it again next time."

Gu Jingyi was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. "I'm an actor. I definitely make a living through my acting skills. I can turn my career around through my work. What's there to be afraid of?"

"You!" Dilraba was angered by his attitude and got up to leave.

I won't bother with you next time.

Gu Jingyi grabbed her waist and held her bandaged hand up to her.

"If you kiss me, it won't hurt anymore."

Dilraba was speechless after being touched like that.

She sighed and actually kissed him.

"Is this better now? Does it still hurt?"

Gu Jingyi was still not satisfied. "Not enough. Give me another kiss."

"Hey you two, can you please consider how single people feel?"

Zhu Xudan sat on the sofa opposite, watching the two lovey-dovey lovers. He almost threw up his dinner from the night before; it's hard to empathize with this nauseating, sour feeling of being in a relationship unless you've experienced it yourself.

(End of this chapter)