The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 247: A Night Where Joy and Sorrow Don’t Intersect
The host, holding cue cards, quickly walked onto the stage, trying to regain control of the scene.
"Thank you to all the creators for bringing us such a wonderful performance!"
He tried to make his voice sound cheerful, but the waves of sobbing from the audience below made this cheerfulness seem particularly thin and hollow.
"Now, let's give a warm round of applause and welcome the main creative team of 'Three Lifetimes Tribulation' onto the stage!"
As his words fell, there was no thunderous applause as expected from the audience below.
The main creators sitting in the guest seats exchanged awkward glances, the atmosphere becoming somewhat uncomfortable for a moment.
Gu Huai was the first to stand up. He straightened his suit and strode towards the stage.
The other lead actors also followed one after another.
However, when Jiang Ci stood up, he found that Qiao Xinran beside him was still slumped in her seat, her body trembling slightly.
She was clearly still immersed in the film, to the point where she didn't even have the strength to stand up.
Jiang Ci hesitated for half a second.
If the media captured him being "cold and heartless," it might affect his future KPIs.
He reached out and, using a posture that deliberately maintained distance, supported Qiao Xinran's arm.
"Ms. Qiao, it's time to go on stage."
Qiao Xinran looked up. Her face, tear-streaked like pear blossoms after rain, appeared especially fragile under the bright stage lights.
She took the opportunity to lean most of her body weight onto Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci had no choice but to support her, step by step, slowly making their way towards the stage.
This scene was clearly recorded by countless cameras and phones from the audience below.
The area occupied by the CP fans instantly exploded.
"Ahhhh! It's Master! Master came back to support his Nian Nian!"
"I knew it! He couldn't bear to leave her!"
The sounds of camera shutters clicked continuously, forever freezing this image of "the Master's spirit returning to support his beloved."
The main creative team finally stood in a row on the stage.
There was still no applause from below, only wave after wave of choked sobs.
The host felt his professional career was facing a huge challenge.
Gritting his teeth, he tried to liven up the atmosphere and handed the microphone towards the audience.
"Was the movie good?"
This question became a drop of water tossed into a pot of boiling oil.
A woman's voice, thick with tears, roared a response from a corner of the audience.
"It was too tragic! Pay up!"
This shout seemed to open a curtain.
"Yeah! Pay for my tears! Pay for my tissues!"
"My Chu Wuchen! Screenwriter, you have no heart!"
The crowd was incensed.
Gu Huai, as the male lead, looked at the scene below and revealed a complicated, bitter smile on his face.
He took the microphone from the host.
"It seems everyone has a lot they want to say about our film."
He paused, shaking his head self-deprecatingly.
"I feel like I, the Demon Lord, was quite superfluous. It feels like everyone came to reminisce about the Immortal Lord, Chu Wuchen."
As soon as his words fell, a fan in the audience holding a light-up sign that said "Gu Huai I Love You" shouted through her tears.
"Brother Huai, you acted really well too! It's just... you acted too late!"
Gu Huai: "..."
The host's gaze finally landed on the center of the storm, Jiang Ci.
"Jiang Ci, seeing such an intense reaction from everyone, what would you like to say to the audience?"
Jiang Ci took the microphone.
He looked at the faces below, makeup smeared by tears, the hundreds of pairs of red, swollen eyes, his mind racing.
He tried to speak in the lightest, most soothing tone possible.
"Everyone, please don't cry."
"I'm still alive."
This blunt truth not only failed to provide any comfort, but instead became a new tear-inducing bomb.
A young girl in the audience cried even harder, pointing at him and shouting.
"You're lying! Your smile is so forced, you're just trying to comfort us!"
The smile on Jiang Ci's face froze.
He instinctively went expressionless.
Another voice immediately rang out: "Look! He's not smiling anymore! His heart is in pain too! There is no sorrow greater than a heart that has died!"
Jiang Ci felt things were developing in a direction he couldn't control.
He lightly frowned, thinking about how to salvage the situation.
A bespectacled guy in the front row immediately cried out in anguish: "He frowned! He must be recalling the pain of being pierced by the heavenly lightning! Lingering pain!"
Jiang Ci: "..."
He discovered that no matter what expression he made, the audience would automatically overlay it with a thick layer of a "broken filter."
He gave up the struggle.
The interactive segment ended in an extremely heavy and bizarre atmosphere.
The main creators retreated to the backstage rest area to prepare for the media group interview.
Jiang Ci had just sat down, not even having time to take a sip of water, when his phone vibrated.
It was a WeChat message from Zhao Zhen.
[Ci-ge! Amazing! The big brother next to me cried so hard his fake eyelashes fell off! Gu Huai acted well, sure, but you were absolutely lethal!]
Before Jiang Ci's fingertip could touch the screen, a second message followed closely behind.
It was from Chen Mo.
[Data analysis shows that although your screen time in the latter half of the film was only 15%, all the audience's emotional peaks were concentrated on you. In performance studies, this is called 'effective scene-stealing.']
Looking at these two messages, Jiang Ci's mood was somewhat complicated.
He had just put his phone back in his pocket when the door to the restroom was pushed open from outside.
Lin Wan stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe.
Her gaze passed over the artists who were touching up their makeup and going over the schedule, landing precisely on Jiang Ci in the corner.
Her eyes were filled with a boss's satisfaction with an employee.
The media group interview began.
Jiang Ci was once again pushed into the spotlight.
After the event, the organizers arranged a grand celebratory banquet.
But when the banquet began and everyone raised their glasses to celebrate, they found that the person who most deserved to be celebrated was missing.
Sun Zhou fended off all the toasts and inquiries on his behalf.
"Sorry everyone, Ci-ge got too immersed in the role, his emotions haven't settled yet. He needs some time alone to quiet down."
This reason once again ignited the media circle.
That night.
#Chu Wuchen Unresolved Injustice#
#Jiang Ci Bad Ending Aesthetics Ceiling#
#Three Lifetimes Tribulation Whole Crew Heartbroken#
#Jiang Ci Too Deeply Immersed in Role Misses Celebration Banquet#
Several hashtags, with a domineering attitude, rapidly occupied the top ten spots on the trending chart.
Jiang Ci's personal Weibo follower count began to skyrocket at a terrifying rate of tens of thousands per minute.
In the entourage van back to the hotel.
Jiang Ci leaned back in his seat, quietly scrolling through his Weibo private messages.
Besides the tens of thousands of wailing, grief-stricken messages from fans.
He also saw a long post sent from an account called "Su Nian Herself."
It was Qiao Xinran's alternate account.
The content was all incoherent ramblings about how she couldn't break free from the role of Su Nian, how her heart shattered every time she saw Chu Wuchen's smile.
Jiang Ci swiped past it expressionlessly.
Just then, a message from Lin Wan popped up.
[Come to the company tomorrow at 10 AM. There are still details to discuss regarding 'The Lurker' contract. Also, there's some not-so-good news, you'd better take a look.]
Below the message was attached a news link.
Jiang Ci clicked it.
On his phone screen, a female leader from an island country, who resembled a giant from a certain anime,
was giving a speech to countless cameras in an extremely arrogant tone.
Jiang Ci held his phone.
He suddenly understood what Lin Wan meant by "not-so-good news,"
and he understood more deeply the weight borne by the story of 'The Lurker' and the character Shen Qingyuan.
