How did I become famous?

Chapter 156 The Beauty in Male Attire (Seeking monthly votes...)

"To kill someone and then destroy their spirit? Isn't that going too far?"

"Taking the opportunity to promote himself? Could it be that the person who hired online trolls to smear him is actually himself? Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that he always ends up promoting himself in the opposite way?"

"Then what should we do? Should you expose it?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Or do you think his brainless fans haven't been harsh enough in their criticism?"

"But now some people are saying we're suppressing and smearing him, what should we do?"

"Heh, who knows if one of you hired an online troll team to do it?"

"Alright! Quiet down!" Lu Shengyan finally spoke up to interrupt their infighting. "Send messages to dispel the rumors."

Xu Kuangfu, who had remained silent, frowned: "But if we release a message to refute the rumors, wouldn't that be like protesting too much? I'm afraid that then I'll be manipulated by online trolls."

Lu Shengyan sighed, "We have no choice but to do this; their methods are truly ingenious. It seems we need to take remedial measures as well."

He glanced at Xu Kuangfu: "Kuangfu, first post a message on Weibo to Fang Biexiao to apologize, and then we'll try to repair our relationship with him."

"It's not a problem for me to back down," Xu Kuangfu said seriously, "but Fang Bie is the kind of arrogant person who hasn't contacted us in so long. Do you think he'll accept our goodwill?"

Lu Shengyan said, "There's no need to say it outright. As long as Wu Kai's film isn't bad, the Golden Dragon Award will be given to him. I can tolerate even Wu Kai, so how can others say I'm targeting Fang Bie?"

"That side, not over there."

"Didn't he post on Weibo that he'd be starring in Liu Mang's movie? He'll get the Best Actor award then."

"Alright, that's the only way."

Xu Kuangfu sighed, using this to conceal his true thoughts.

[Nice! All objectives have been achieved!]

Fang Bie was of course unaware of this. Today, he was finally "released from prison" and allowed to continue going to the film crew to make a living.

Since the scenes of the young lady alone have finally been filmed, today we're going to film the scenes of him alone.

On set, Liu Mang and a few others were discussing: "We've finished filming the scenes of the young lady alone. Next up are the scenes with the cross-dressing character, Fang Bie, and the final scene. How should we film those?"

He was afraid that the young lady would be too nervous to act after seeing him again.

"What are you going to film? Give me a cigarette first." Fang Bie's voice came from behind.

Liu Mang turned around and saw that Fang Bie was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, light-colored casual pants, and casual running shoes. He had also shaved his beard and looked much more refreshed.

He took the cigarette Liu Mang offered and was about to speak when a voice sounded behind him: "Have a cigarette with me first."

Fang handed it over casually, then suddenly felt something was wrong and turned around.

Standing behind her was the tall and slender Su Mulin.

Her attire was similar to Fang Bie's now.

A white shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, light-colored casual pants, and a pair of casual running shoes.

His long hair at the back of his head was tied into a low ponytail, similar to Neji's in Naruto, only a little higher.

She now stands in the same posture as Fang Bie, and they both have cigarettes in their mouths, but the difference is that Fang Bie lit one while she didn't.

Fang Bie suddenly felt a little mentally deranged.

He thought of a book he had seen in his previous life, in which the protagonist was trying to win over his parallel world self, except that his parallel world self was a girl.

Of course, even though Su Mulin is dressed in men's clothing just like him, he still looks incredibly handsome, completely on a different level from his barely-handsome face.

To be specific, Fang Bie was like someone trying to strike up a conversation with a girl and ask for her contact information. Even a girl who is 1.5 meters tall and weighs 130 pounds wouldn't give him her contact information.

Su Mulin, on the other hand, is the type of person who can sit there without moving and have a tall, beautiful girl with a great figure (around 1.68 meters) ask for his contact information.

Fang flicked his cigarette ash: "Xiao Lin, what's wrong?"

Are you addicted to wearing my clothes?

Su Mulin, however, took the initiative, glaring at him fiercely with her almond-shaped eyes: "How many is this today?"

Fang Bie made a peace sign: "The second one."

"Really?" Su Mulin lifted Fang Bie's arm and smelled his shirt collar.

Then the young lady's expression softened: "It seems you're telling the truth."

Liu Mang and the others standing nearby remained expressionless, only feeling a sour taste in their mouths.

What's the difference between you two and a couple? Lao Fang, you're asking me how to pursue someone? Are you two getting married first and then starting to date?

Su Mulin felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Fang Bie: "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Because you're handsome," Fang Bie sighed. "Richer than me, more talented than me, and more handsome than me—how can I possibly live like this?!"

Su Mulin resisted the urge to gather her hair and, mimicking Fang Bie's nonchalant manner, said, "Anyway, I'm a woman, and I'm not gay."

"Tsk tsk tsk." Fang Bie didn't say anything, but just clicked his tongue.

The more he looked at Miss Su, the more he liked her.

When Miss Su wears a dress and lets her hair down, she is a cool and aloof girl or a dashing young lady. But when she changes into men's clothing and ties her hair up, she becomes a handsome but effeminate young man.

It's really tempting.

Liu Mang, having finally finished feeling envious, came over to interrupt their awkward conversation: "How about we start filming first?"

Can't you two go back to the company and watch it slowly? That would save us sour grapes from being jealous.

"Hmm," Fang Bie replied casually, "What's the next scene?"

Liu Mang glanced at the schedule: "The young lady's scenes are all filmed by herself. All that's left is for you, Lao Fang, to play the role of a woman in drag and the scene where the two of you meet at the end."

Actually, he still didn't have a concrete image of the final scene in his mind, so he still wanted Fang to draw a storyboard.

You don't need too many, just the last one will do.

I already told Fang about this a few days ago.

Fang Bie took out a stack of papers and handed them to him: "These are the storyboards you wanted. Since the workload wasn't too heavy this time, I also added some color."

Liu Mang quickly took it and opened it, and Nie Fang, Wu Kai and others also gathered around.

The storyboard opens with a railway track crossing the highway, flanked by warning lights and raised barriers.

The next scene is a close-up, showing legs in casual clothes and legs in skirts walking forward.

Then comes a close-up of the upper body, showing the two brushing past each other.

Then the scene was zoomed out to a side panoramic view.

After they passed each other, the male protagonist suddenly looked up and then turned around.

The female protagonist turns around at the same time, but the camera angle is drawn from the male protagonist's perspective.

Then a train roared past, blocking their view.

The camera shot a long shot from behind the male protagonist, clearly showing him waiting for the train to pass.

Then, the train passed by, revealing the female protagonist on the other side of the tracks.

The next moment, the camera zoomed in on the female lead's face, where Fang Bie directly used Su Mulin as the model for the character's face.

The female protagonist was smiling, but her face was slightly furrowed, and two clear tears slid down from the corners of her eyes.

This is especially borrowed from the sad smile of the protagonist, Kousei Arima, at the end of a manga called "Your Lie in April".

However, Fang changed the pain in his eyes into joy.

Wu Kai gasped, "Old Fang, it's such a shame you're not drawing comics."

Although he already knew how terrifying Fang Bie was from the storyboard of "The Grandmaster," and Liu Mang had recently shown him the storyboard of "Shadow of Light," this still shocked him.

This time, the pieces are colored, and almost every single one could be displayed as a poster.

Su Mulin nudged Fang Bie's lower back with her elbow: "Why did you just give it away like that?"

Fang Bie chuckled and lowered his voice: "We only gave them copies; the originals are kept in the closet in the company bedroom."

Su Mulin nodded in satisfaction.

But Liu Mang raised a new question: "Here's the problem: where do we find cherry blossoms? Do we have to go to Wuhan University?"

We need to negotiate and communicate with them in advance. If we apply now, it will be too late by the time it is approved. Besides, it's already this late in the month, and the cherry blossoms will be long gone.

The young lady suggested a solution: "If that doesn't work, we can go to Japan and find winter cherry blossoms to photograph."

"No need, there aren't any suitable railway tracks there anyway." Wu Kai showed his phone. "I wonder if using elm-leaf plum trees would work? If so, I happen to know a place with a similar scene. That place isn't far from Hengdian."

The flowering plum, also known as the little peach blossom, has a flowering period of three to four months, which is more than enough.

"Alright!" Fang Bie made the decision. "Let's go there. Kai, you contact the location first. After we finish filming here, we'll head straight there. There's no need to go to Fusang. We'd be better off spending that money on more meat in everyone's lunchboxes."

Wu Kai smiled wryly: "Old Fang, don't laugh at me."

Actually, he has changed a lot since joining Fang Mu.

At the very least, the boxed lunch that originally cost a few yuan has been upgraded to twenty yuan per serving.

It has meat, vegetables, eggs, soup, yogurt, and fruit.

However, his crew's food budget was still much higher than Liu Mang's crew, whose meals cost 30 yuan per box.

The main reason is that his entire crew consists of martial arts practitioners, and martial arts practitioners tend to have huge appetites.

"That's settled then. Contact the local authorities, and we'll head straight there!"

While Fang Bie and his team were busy wrapping up the movie, Lu Shengyan and his team were in a bit of a mess.

After they issued their clarification, some "insightful people" stepped forward and asked: "If you weren't the ones hiring online trolls to smear us, why are you in such a hurry to come forward and explain?"

What are they supposed to say?

They really didn't hire any online trolls or smear campaigns this time!

But if you ask for evidence, they can't produce any.

I didn't do it, so where would I get the evidence?

It's like trying to prove to a bank that "I am my father's son," or like going to a bank to conduct business after an elder's death, only to be told that the deceased must be present in person before they will process the transaction—it's simply unsolvable.

Actually, in this kind of situation, whoever raises the issue should be responsible for providing the evidence.

But the key point is that Wu Kai did indeed hire online trolls to smear Fang Bie in the past, and there is solid evidence to support this.

The other party directly produced this evidence, saying that you had done this kind of thing before, so why wouldn't it be you this time?

And why did Wu Kai leave? It's because he had a change of heart! Wu Kai is the one taking the blame; you guys are the real masterminds!

Otherwise, why would Fang accept other people's offers and ignore you?

This wave has almost completely rehabilitated Wu Kai's image.

In particular, "Director Fang Bie" posted another still from the show, in which Fang Bie, Liu Mang, and Wu Kai are all arm in arm, laughing like idiots.

This shows that they have a very good relationship!

Conversely, doesn't this further prove that Wu Kai was the one who took the blame for you before?

Who told you, Lu Shengyan, to be Wu Kai's teacher?

In the huge conference room, Lu Shengyan sighed: "Help me contact Fang Bie, I want to see him in person."

I'm having a bit of writer's block; let me sort it out.

I'm asking for monthly votes first; there will be at least one more chapter tonight.

(End of this chapter)