Ding Wanyu actually didn't show much embarrassment. Instead, she examined Xiao He seriously, her gaze calm and composed. After a long silence, she finally said, "Indeed, the perfect man in this world can be acted out. He simply doesn't exist in reality."
Shu Yuxiu was an act, and Xiao He was also an act.
Xiao He: …
Xiao He didn't even know how to respond to Ding Wanyu's statement.
After saying this, Ding Wanyu was the first to let out a soft chuckle. "Sorry, I got too deep into the role recently and thought about some of my own past. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."
Xiao He quickly waved his hand. "It's fine, it's fine, not at all."
At most, he just felt a bit guilty.
"Shu Yuxiu is truly scum."
Ding Wanyu murmured softly, then asked Xiao He with some curiosity, "What is Shu Yuxiu's final outcome? Can you tell me?"
Xiao He, however, shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know either."
"That's right, Director Ning does love creating this kind of suspense."
Ding Wanyu nodded thoughtfully, then gave a light laugh.
Xiao He had an intuition that this senior had some unspeakable, sorrowful past.
"It seems I'll have to go to the cinema to find out the answer then."
Ding Wanyu tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her expression gentle. When she looked at Xiao He again, she had returned to how she was during their first meeting—carrying the amiable and carefree demeanor of a senior, her tone warm. "Well then, goodbye, Xiao He."
"Goodbye, Ms. Ding."
Soon, Ding Wanyu also left the island.
Xiao He continued to immerse himself in the filming of the following plot.
…
In the blink of an eye, time had already reached July.
During this period, Xiao He returned to the country again to participate in several other well-known star-studded events and award ceremonies.
Last year, Xiao He had quite a few standout roles. Apart from Meng Zetian, there were also Mu Ze and Shen Jue. These roles also earned Xiao He several awards at other ceremonies, though these awards were far less prestigious than the White Magnolia Awards.
Of course, with these activities, Xiao He's reputation as a skilled actor, a new-generation talent, and a rising star with significant traffic was thoroughly established. His fanbase visibly grew, and the script invitations and other promotional offers that had previously decreased gradually recovered and began to increase again.
By the end of July, most of the filming for *No Bait* was basically complete, with only the final few versions of the grand finale remaining.
Thinking that he would soon finish filming here, Xiao He couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Shu Yuxiu was truly the most mentally exhausting character he had ever portrayed.
It was strange, really. When playing a lunatic or a serial killer, he never had this feeling. Only when playing Shu Yuxiu did he feel a sense of being drawn into the character's world.
Logically, playing Shu Yuxiu shouldn't have been as pressuring on his acting skills as playing Yin Qi. After all, Shu Yuxiu's state of mind in many situations was quite similar to Xiao He's own... But upon careful thought, that was actually somewhat terrifying. He and Shu Yuxiu were in a state of like attracting like.
Thinking about the *Record of Chasing the Wind* production team he was about to join next, Xiao He actually felt a bit impatient.
He urgently needed the righteous aura of Song Chenye to counterbalance Shu Yuxiu's influence.
Also, during the summer season at the end of July, a web palace intrigue drama titled *Imperial Decree* officially announced its broadcast date: August 12th.
This year's summer season, breaking from tradition, did not revolve around immortal romance dramas but instead focused on grand female-led palace intrigue and household power struggles.
It was unclear whether the various platforms were deliberately competing or if the copyrights for this type of theme from the same period had all been sold out. Anyway, when netizens counted carefully, they discovered that this summer season, from start to finish, there were actually four works of the same genre preparing to air.
Two were household intrigue dramas, and two were palace intrigue dramas, each distributed across four major video platforms for broadcast. Among them, the deep-pocketed Penguin Video was heavily promoting its major investment project, the palace intrigue drama *The Legend of Zhaohua*. Meanwhile, the usually more low-key Cozy Video held the small-budget investment web drama *Imperial Decree*, produced by Linghui Studio.
Among these, *The Legend of Zhaohua* was undoubtedly the most eye-catching. It boasted a star-studded cast with numerous veteran actors. It was said to be adapted from another novel by the same author of that classic, massively popular palace intrigue drama from years past, giving it a solid fanbase and high recognition.
The other two household intrigue dramas were also adaptations of major IP novels. One was a rebirth theme, and the other was a time-travel theme. Furthermore, both dramas featured currently very popular traffic stars—rising male and female idols—in pairings that felt like relationship swaps, with massive fanbases. Long before the dramas officially announced their broadcast dates, waves of arguments had already erupted online, foreshadowing the "bloody storms" that would sweep the internet in August.
Only the web drama *Imperial Decree*, produced by Linghui Studio, was stacked with debuffs: unknown director, unknown script, unknown team, unknown leads.
Although the casting was quite good, and the female lead Pan Yuerou's natural willow-leaf eyebrows were quite memorable, with her looks not being a drawback, this drama was simply too obscure. Apart from being produced by Xiao He's studio, it had no other highlights or advantages whatsoever. It was terrifyingly under-the-radar.
Moreover, it wasn't even Cozy Video's main promotional drama for the summer season.
Cozy's main promotion this year was a suspense-themed crime investigation series. So, they had practically forgotten they even had a palace intrigue drama in their summer lineup. It was the netizens who dug up *Imperial Decree* and placed it alongside the dramas from other platforms, conveniently stirring up some heat and fanning the flames for the summer season competition.
After all, it was very normal for the major platforms to clash every summer season. Even if they didn't fight directly, countless marketing accounts and bloggers would analyze the popularity and revenue situations of the works airing in the same period.
Resourceful netizens could always dig up approximate data, analyze which drama would be the most profitable hit, incidentally shatter the fragile glass hearts of various fanbases, and once again ignite a wave of online flame wars, successfully generating new heat.
This was just the basic operation of the internet.
Cozy Video was also pragmatic. Since *Imperial Decree* had become their representative work in this genre amidst this commotion, they didn't hesitate to give it a small promotional spot on their main page.
—Basically, after you clicked into the video platform and scrolled a few pages through the frequently changing main page recommendation bar, you could see *Imperial Decree*.
How to put it… Better than nothing. At least Cozy was being somewhat decent this time and didn't completely abandon it.
But don't expect more. Capitalists wouldn't set their sights on such a tiny speck.
Fortunately, both Xiao He and Shu Han now had some influence. When *Imperial Decree* officially announced its broadcast date, they also helped promote it on Weibo.
Many fans were still willing to show their support for them.
-
Beijing.
"Ah! Yue Rou, look! Brother Xiao and the others are all helping to repost and promote it! So many people have already set reminders!"
Fu Meihua excitedly shook her friend's arm.
"Mmm, I see it."
Pan Yuerou also lowered her head, scrolling through the comments online, her eyes filled with both anticipation and nervousness.
"I'm so happy! This is your first drama as the female lead! I'm so looking forward to the finished product!"
Fu Meihua rubbed her hands together, then placed her elbows on the table, propping her chin in thought. "I just don't know when *The Legend of Zhaohua* will announce its broadcast date. I really hope it doesn't end up airing at the same time as ours."
Even though their *Imperial Decree* production team was in no way comparable to a major production like *The Legend of Zhaohua*, the thought that Pan Yuerou had turned down a supporting role in *The Legend of Zhaohua* to play the female lead in *Imperial Decree* made Fu Meihua privately hope that *The Legend of Zhaohua* would be less successful than *Imperial Decree*.
Besides, to put it bluntly, they were competitors now.
However, as soon as Fu Meihua finished speaking, Pan Yuerou refreshed and saw the official Weibo account of *The Legend of Zhaohua*.
She then slightly furrowed her brows.
"*The Legend of Zhaohua* has also announced its broadcast date. It's the same day as ours."
"What?!"
Fu Meihua was shocked.
"Oh no! How can they air on the same day as us?!"