HuaYu: Starting with Photography to Navigate the Entertainment Industry

Watching Qin Feifei's retreating figure as she gave up and left, Xu Lang truly became angry.

"Stop right there!"

The loud shout made Qin Feifei tremble, and she involuntarily stopped in her tracks.

Xu Lang strode up to Qin Feifei, put his hands behind his back, and looked her up and down, chuckling repeatedly.

"Trying to run away? Then admit defeat and apologize to me!"

"snort!"

Qin Feifei frowned, snorted coldly, neither apologizing nor speaking, and didn't even look Xu Lang in the eye.

"ha!"

Xu Lang chuckled softly and pointed to the photos in the camera.

"This is the worst photo I've taken in the past two months, and the one with the lowest rating. Look at it yourself. When you kneel down there, do you look a little like Guo Fu?"

"Damn it, you're just like Sister Jiang, here to bravely sacrifice yourself?"

"You insisted on assigning me the role of Guo Fu. I never liked the character of Guo Fu from beginning to end. I wouldn't bother playing such a shameless character!"

"Looking down on someone, yet willing to put on an act? Haha, you really know how to make excuses for yourself!"

Xu Lang felt like he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

After laughing, his expression turned serious, and he pointed at Qin Feifei.

"Qin Feifei, who was once considered a rising star by everyone inside and outside the school and the entertainment industry, was rejected from 'Swordsman'. Everyone thought it was because you didn't accept the unspoken rules, but that's all nonsense. You made it all up yourself, didn't you?"

The real reason is that you simply can't act, right?

In the end, you're just like Guo Fu—you look glamorous and have an impressive background, but deep down you're just a good-for-nothing!

You dare not act, for fear that if you act, you will expose your true colors and everyone will see through your foolish nature. You are just afraid.

Yes or no?"

"You're talking nonsense!"

Qin Feifei finally stopped wearing a disdainful expression and completely broke down.

"What do you know, you little brat? What right do you have to judge me?"

Hmph, I'm scared?

I, Qin Feifei, have always acted uprightly and sat properly. What have I ever been afraid of?

Back then, that shameless guy tried to grope me and even used a role to force me to go to Macau with him. I slapped him back.

"I don't even want the role anymore, so what do I have to be afraid of?"

Qin Feifei spoke with righteous indignation, but the next second, her self-justification was ruthlessly shattered by Xu Lang.

"Do you think that slapping that investor away proves you're not afraid?"

Wrong, completely wrong, you're so naive!

When I say you're afraid, I don't mean whether you dare to challenge the investors, but rather that you're afraid to face yourself and lower your self-righteous head.

Like Guo Fu, you were born into a good family, were beautiful, and grew up surrounded by praise.

You feel that everything is rightfully yours, and you are unwilling to compromise or suffer even the slightest grievance with anyone or anything. You reject unspoken rules, and that is not wrong.

But the mistake is that you've gotten stuck on this issue.

From that day on, you linked "not bowing your head" with "your self-righteous pride" and subconsciously reinforced it.

You've created a prison for yourself, using "never bowing down" as an excuse for everything.

Think about it yourself, in ten years, have you taken on a single acting role? Have you played any character at all? Does every role that comes your way require you to be sexually exploited?

You say you disdain being in this industry, that those scripts are not good enough for you, but is that really what you think?

No!

You're just scared!

You're afraid that even if you lower yourself to audition, you'll still be rejected in the end;

You're afraid that even if you act seriously, you'll still be criticized for acting badly in the end;

You're afraid you'll discover that once you're free from the Beijing socialite status your parents gave you, and once you're free from the fig leaf of "not bowing your head," you're not as tough as you pretend to be!

You're afraid of being discovered that you're actually a complete idiot!

Xu Lang spoke fluently and thoroughly in one breath.

Qin Feifei, however, was completely shattered by his attack.

"I don't!"

She yelled, but tears still streamed down her face like a broken string of pearls.

"I... I just don't want to become the kind of person I despise. I don't want to bow and scrape, begging for a role!"

"You've now become the person you despise the most!"

Since it's already pierced, let's smash it completely.

Xu Lang suddenly grabbed her wrist and pointed at her chest.

"You look down on those who trade their bodies for resources, but at least they dare to risk everything for what they want and fight for their ideals. What about you?"

You traded your dreams for a comforting phrase like "I'm proud and I won't bow down"!

You clung to this placebo for a full ten years, and were numbed by it for ten years.

This isn't pride, it's cowardice!

It's because you're afraid to face your regrets, afraid to admit you've lost!

Today, the fact that you dare not kneel, look down on Guo Fu, and dare not play Guo Fu proves this point.

Actually, you know in your heart that the reason you dare not touch Guo Fu is:

Guo Fu is stronger than you. The bravest moment of Guo Fu's life wasn't when she raised her sword to cut off Yang Guo's arm, nor was it when she defied everyone at the Heroes' Banquet, but the moment she knelt before Yang Guo.

"what?"

Xu Lang's words were like a thunderbolt, completely stunning Qin Feifei.

She was trembling all over.

Memories from the past ten years came flooding back like a tide.

Every time she missed out on a role, she was initially saddened and regretful, but in the end, she was comforted by the solace of "I am proud, I will not bow my head";

Seeing her former classmates, who were not as good as her, standing under the spotlight, walking on the red carpet, and being adored by thousands, she would disdainfully say:

"I'm willing to act no matter what!"

Whenever people around her ask about her acting career, she brings up her experience of being sexually harassed in the entertainment industry, and then the public opinion shifts to praising her for not bowing to evil forces.

Seeing her unemployed and unable to find work, her parents had no choice but to beg and plead with everyone they knew to get her back to school as a counselor.

She originally thought that she would live peacefully under this all-powerful "placebo".

But then, Xu Lang appeared.

Now, Xu Lang has smashed the shell she was carrying and completely destroyed the placebo in her hand.

"Ahhhh!"

Qin Feifei sighed, her legs went weak, and she knelt down on the ground.

At this moment, Xu Lang stripped her bare, inside and out, leaving her with nothing to cover her shame.

Looking at Qin Feifei's ashen face, Xu Lang felt a pang of pity.

Xu Lang pierced Qin Feifei completely, shattering her.

But he didn't want to watch Qin Feifei "die" like that, so he squatted down, his voice becoming less shrill.

"Think about it, why did you slap me back then? Do you remember?"

I guess it's not for a moment of pleasure, but rather you want to prove something to yourself and others:

My role and glory as Qin Feifei have never been earned by drinking with others, by using my body, or by bending over and flattering others!

But what are you doing now?

Xu Lang's voice rose again.

"Don't even talk about acting, you don't even dare to take a photo of yourself kneeling, you don't even have the courage to fight for the role of Guo Fu."

You need to understand that if you can play Guo Fu today, it's not about admitting defeat to anyone, nor is it about denying your perseverance back then.

Rather, it's that you've truly awakened, just like the moment Guo Fu knelt down:

A decade-long obsession, shattered in a single day!

"A decade-long obsession suddenly shattered?!"

Qin Feifei stared blankly for a moment, repeating the same sentence over and over.

Suddenly, she burst into tears, wailing and crying without reservation or restraint.

"Cry, just cry it out!"

Wow~~~!

Qin Feifei collapsed to the ground, crying so hard that she was trembling all over and couldn't catch her breath.

Xu Lang sat down on the ground and just watched her cry without saying a word, offering no comfort, or even reaching out to pat her.