Chapter 6

The “Falling Flowers and Glass” crew, as an S-level historical romance project of Aiku website, has attracted widespread attention from fans since the drama was first announced.

Especially after the news spread that the leading roles would be played by popular idol Jiang Zihang and rising star Ji Linghe, fans from both sides have been constantly keeping an eye on the progress of the production.

Today’s opening ceremony, of course, would not be missed by the fan clubs of both idols.

However, it was Jiang Zihang’s fan club, which was experienced in tracking idols on the front lines, that ultimately gained the upper hand.

Even though the production team had set up several meters of metal sheeting and green cloth around the set to prevent fans from sneaking a peek, Jiang Zihang’s fan club was still able to come up with the ingenious idea of bringing in an excavator to the scene, standing in the bucket to take photos.

So, shortly after the opening ceremony, photos from the scene started appearing all over the internet.

Jiang Zihang’s fanbase went wild on his fan forum, where his high-quality photos were praised from every angle, from his looks to his styling, receiving 360-degree admiration.

As for Jiang Zihang’s on-screen CP partner, Ji Linghe, the fan club and fans knew that for the drama to become a huge hit, they had to hype up the CP pairing, so they also released many of his photos and offered praise.

But Ji Linghe’s treatment wasn’t as fortunate as Jiang Zihang’s.

Jiang Zihang’s fan club noticed that in the photos where he was with Su Xingyao, their idol was overshadowed in every shot, with his looks completely outshined by Su Xingyao. Fearing that Jiang Zihang would lose the limelight just after the opening ceremony, they immediately deleted all the photos where they appeared together.

For those photos that couldn’t be deleted due to the wide-angle shots, they specifically edited them to make Su Xingyao look worse.

Soon, once the fan clubs released the edited photos, the trending topics exploded.

The first person to notice these trending topics was Jiang Zihang.

At that time, the main actors of the crew were all seated at a long table, holding pens and notebooks, ready to take notes for the upcoming script reading.

But the director was delayed and wouldn’t arrive for a while, so the script reading activity was postponed by half an hour.

With the director absent, Jiang Zihang immediately took out his phone and started scrolling through Weibo.

He had private connections with several of his big fans and knew that they would be attending the opening ceremony to take photos and promote his new drama.

When he saw his name trending at the top of the list, he smiled and clicked on the entry to enjoy the compliments from his fans.

After reviewing the photos and comments, he returned to the Weibo page and his eyes landed on the trending hashtag “#WhyHasSuXingyaoNotGoneYet#.”

This time, he didn’t click into it, but he had already guessed what the content of the entry was about.

This trending topic instantly relieved the frustration that had been building up in Jiang Zihang due to the staff’s criticism of his looks earlier.

He scanned the room and noticed that everyone was either playing games or scrolling through ^[1]Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok. It’s a short-video social media platform developed by the Chinese company ByteDance. While TikTok is used globally, Douyin operates within China and has … Continue readingDouyin, with no one checking Weibo. So, he feigned surprise and said, “Hey… how did our crew make it to the trending topics?”

Jiang Zihang’s words immediately caught everyone’s attention.

From the actors to the staff, everyone had signed a confidentiality agreement when joining the crew to ensure that no details about the production were leaked during filming.

Yet, just after the opening ceremony, they had already made it to the trending topics.

The actors and staff present were all amazed by how fast the news had spread, almost as quickly as a rocket.

When Yu Sisi heard this, she stopped scrolling through Douyin and immediately opened Weibo. The first thing she saw were three trending topics:

#FallingFlowersandGlassJiangZihang
#FallingFlowersandGlassJiLinghe
#HeHangCP

But right below these high-ranking topics was another one that felt completely out of place: #WhyHasSuXingyaoNotGoneYet.

Not only Yu Sisi, but everyone in the crew noticed this and were immediately drawn to the hashtag.

After all, of these four topics, Su Xingyao’s was the longest, most noticeable, and most sensational.

You’d have to be blind not to see it.

People are often drawn to the most sensational topics first, so almost everyone clicked on Su Xingyao’s hashtag immediately.

Unsurprisingly, the comments in the thread were almost entirely full of criticism:

【Why is this idiot still in the entertainment industry? I thought he was driven out last time.】

【He’s not leaving, it’s impossible. This guy has thicker skin than a city wall. He causes trouble every time and never learns.】

【Damn, does he have a rich backer? How could he get cast in Falling Flowers and Glass…】

【Family, who understands? This is really bad luck. Why does Su Xingyao have to ruin this drama?】

【Su Xingyao, get lost! Stay away from my Zihang, he’s definitely going to cause trouble in the crew again.】

【Family, doesn’t Su Xingyao look different after disappearing for so long?】

【A passerby asked, what was he like before? This is my first time seeing his stills, and he looks pretty good. Out of so many actors in these wide shots, he stands out quite a bit.】

【Some people just have better tastes, right? With so many people in the entertainment industry, are there really no fans left, or are their eyes just blind to be so fond of Su Xingyao?】

The posts on the forum kept updating one after another, almost all of them expressing resistance to Su Xingyao joining Falling Flowers and Glass.

Although the crew had anticipated such reactions, they expected this kind of backlash to appear only after the official photos were revealed later.

But to witness such a backlash so immediately and publicly, right in front of them, was still a bit of a shock.

Soon, many people turned their attention to Su Xingyao.

It wasn’t awkward to trend together, but the one getting criticized? That was definitely the most awkward.

One staff member couldn’t help but hug their shoulders, feeling embarrassed for Su Xingyao.

To have just joined the crew and already be publicly shamed in front of so many people, with so many others seeing the online backlash…

If it were them, they probably would have found an excuse to run to the bathroom to hide the embarrassment by now.

The staff member couldn’t help but glance over at Su Xingyao.

To their surprise, Su Xingyao sat up straight, unaffected by the various probing stares around him, deeply engrossed in marking lines in his script.

What was even more surprising was that… he hadn’t even pulled out his phone, as if he couldn’t care less about his trending topic.

The staff member was stunned by his calmness.

Just as they were shocked, Jiang Zihang’s assistant spoke up, as though deliberately reminding Su Xingyao.

“Our leads have all made it to the trending topics. Falling Flowers and Glass Jiang Zihang, Falling Flowers and Glass Ji Linghe, and, well, why has Su Xingyao…”

As the assistant read this out loud, he seemed to realize his mistake and immediately bent down to apologize to Su Xingyao.

“Sorry, sorry, Mr. Su, I didn’t mean it.”

After being repeatedly called out, both openly and subtly, Su Xingyao was getting a bit annoyed with Jiang Zihang’s childish antics.

Seeing the assistant still apologizing, he put down his script and, in a calm and measured manner, turned to face him.

He showed no anger, instead giving a slight smile, his gaze fixed on the assistant’s face.

After looking at him for two seconds, he finally spoke slowly.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, so why apologize?”

Su Xingyao’s calm and composed words left Jiang Zihang’s assistant speechless.

He met Su Xingyao’s gaze and realized that while Su Xingyao’s eyes were innocent and clear, there was an inexplicable sharpness, as though he had already seen through all of his little intentions. It felt like Su Xingyao had figured out his motives long ago but still patiently waited for him to continue his little performance.

The assistant was startled by his own overthinking.

Feeling guilty, he didn’t dare to look Su Xingyao in the eye.

He paused for a long time before shaking his head, blushing.

“No, nothing.”

Su Xingyao didn’t pursue the matter. He just smiled, looked away, and returned to his work.

It was the director, who had arrived late, who overheard the assistant’s words and immediately spoke up with a displeased expression.

“How did we end up on the trending list? Which fan is so powerful that they even managed to capture this…”

Jiang Zihang, feeling guilty, remained silent and quickly tucked his phone away, starting to twirl his pen.

Fortunately, the director didn’t seem interested in pressing further. He immediately called over a staff member to handle removing the trending topic.

“Sorry, everyone. I had to deal with something urgent just now, and I kept you waiting.”

The director briefly apologized, then sat in the center and opened the script.

“We’re on a tight schedule, so I won’t waste time. Let’s get our scripts out and go through it.”

After saying this, the director looked at Yu Sisi.

“Yu Sisi, you have the most acting experience. Why don’t you demonstrate how to read the script first?”

Yu Sisi, not hesitating, casually propped her head with one hand and began reading a section.

After Yu Sisi finished demonstrating, the director asked everyone to gather their thoughts and prepare.

Before starting, Jiang Zihang glanced at his script, pointed to the first scene, and with a smile, said to Su Xingyao, “Xingyao, you start.”

As soon as Jiang Zihang finished speaking, Ji Linghe, who was sitting beside him, immediately cast him a playful look.

Jiang Zihang didn’t notice the look from the other person, instead keeping his attention locked on Su Xingyao, eager to watch the drama unfold.

He had previously heard from Shen Huaixi that Su Xingyao’s acting was terrible, and that when filming, he delivered lines without any emotion, relying completely on post-production dubbing for redemption.

Now, with it being Su Xingyao’s turn to read first, Jiang Zihang couldn’t help but anticipate hearing just how bad his performance would be.

He was already preparing to secretly record the reading and send it to Shen Huaixi after the session to share a laugh about it.

Earlier, he hadn’t succeeded in making Su Xingyao look bad, and it still bothered him.

The more Su Xingyao acted calm, the more he wanted to expose his facade.

When Su Xingyao was suddenly called upon, he glanced at Jiang Zihang’s eager expression and immediately understood what he was trying to do.

“Yeah,” Su Xingyao responded quietly, and the director signaled for him to begin.

In the next second, Su Xingyao’s smile disappeared, his expression cooling down instantly.

Everyone froze.

It wasn’t until Su Xingyao delivered his lines almost flawlessly that they realized he had immediately immersed himself in the role!

His demeanor, expressions, tone…

As soon as Su Xingyao spoke, the arrogance and dominance of the Demon Lord, who looked down on everyone, was perfectly portrayed.

The people in the room, including the director, had heard the rumors about him being bad at acting, bad at singing, and just generally not good at anything.

So, influenced by those rumors, no one expected him to perform so well.

Thus, when Su Xingyao finished his lines, the room fell eerily silent.

Jiang Zihang, who was supposed to follow up with the next line, was so stunned that he forgot to continue.

A thousand expressions of disbelief flashed in Jiang Zihang’s eyes.

For a moment, he even wondered if he had heard it wrong.

Wasn’t Su Xingyao supposed to be an acting idiot?

How did he get into character so quickly?

Had he secretly been working hard to improve during this time?

Before Jiang Zihang could figure out the reason, the director, still with an expression of surprise, spoke up first.

“Xiao Su, I remember you’re not from a professional acting background, right?”

Su Xingyao nodded.

“Your delivery is pretty solid, though.”

“I had a roommate who majored in film and TV, and he taught me some basic knowledge.”

“No wonder.” The director seemed to understand now and didn’t hold back in praising Su Xingyao. “But to perform well, you have to put in the work yourself.”

After speaking, he glanced at the distracted Jiang Zihang and reminded everyone, “Alright, let’s start officially. Everyone, focus.”

Hearing the director subtly criticize him for not paying attention, Jiang Zihang immediately panicked.

His acting skills were never that strong to begin with, and he was already lacking in confidence.

Earlier, he thought he could rely on Su Xingyao to cover for him, so he wouldn’t look too bad.

But who would have thought… Su Xingyao was so impressive!

Jiang Zihang cursed himself for being careless and was frustrated with his earlier behavior.

So, when Su Xingyao finished his lines, Jiang Zihang, still rattled and unable to calm down, had no choice but to force himself to give it his all and try to convey more emotion.

The result of trying too hard was, of course, the opposite of what he intended.

Especially since he had to follow Su Xingyao’s performance with his own lines.

The gap between their abilities was so big that his delivery only stood out as even worse by comparison.

Yu Sisi, who had been watching the whole drama unfold, couldn’t help but cover her face with her palm and grin.

She had seen countless attempts like Jiang Zihang’s, where someone deliberately tried to embarrass another.

That’s how the entertainment industry worked—there were always conflicts, always people subtly competing against each other.

But seeing someone turn the tables so effortlessly after being put in an awkward spot was a first for her.

While Su Xingyao was delivering his lines, Yu Sisi couldn’t help but glance at him from the corner of her eye.

She felt an unexpected sense of admiration for this young man.

—

The script reading session didn’t end until nine o’clock in the evening

During the session, the director also asked everyone about their understanding and opinions on the characters they were portraying.

Jiang Zihang, still preoccupied with the embarrassment of his own lines, was clearly distracted and only offered superficial interpretations.

On the other hand, Ji Linghe gave a more in-depth analysis.

Su Xingyao, aware that he wasn’t the main character, didn’t say much.

It wasn’t until the end that he briefly shared his thoughts on the character Bai Xu with the screenwriter and suggested a few adjustments for some illogical plot points.

After the script reading officially concluded, the screenwriter, looking pleasantly surprised, gathered his notes.

“Director Wang, I’ll refine these suggestions and send them to you once they’re done.”

Director Wang waved him off. “It’s fine, those plot points can’t even be shot yet, no rush.”

After they finished talking, they both got in a car to leave.

Once they’d driven for a while, the screenwriter finally spoke up about something he had been thinking.

“I think Su Xingyao might be okay… He’s not as much of an idiot as people say.”

Indeed, he wasn’t an idiot. In fact, the few changes Su Xingyao had suggested really impressed him.

He admitted that when he created the character Bai Xu, he intentionally kept the portrayal simple.

But Su Xingyao’s small tweaks had made the character more well-rounded.

It had also given him a fresh understanding and inspiration for the role.

Director Wang, of course, agreed with the screenwriter’s opinion, but he was still cautious and added a caveat.

“He must have put some effort into understanding the script, but you can’t tell that from just a reading. Let’s wait until we start shooting tomorrow to see his performance.”

The screenwriter was surprised. “You didn’t have him do a screen test?”

Director Wang stretched and yawned before shaking his head.

“No, we didn’t. The investors insisted on casting him.”

“Which investor?”

“President Qin.”