Huayu 16: I Became the Dream-Fulfilling Master for Young Actresses

After dropping Tian Xiwei off at her dormitory, Chen Xingzhou embarked on his journey back to Hengdian.

After getting into the car, he began to check the system panel that popped up after Tian Xiwei's report.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have fulfilled actress Tian Xiwei's wish to "successfully get into the Shanghai Theatre Academy."]

[Reward: Youthful and Naturally Fit]

[Effect: It exudes a clean and pure youthful campus vibe, without being greasy or out of place, perfectly fitting the youthful roles of high school students, college students, and top students, instantly bringing a nostalgic youth filter to the screen.]

Upon seeing this, Chen Xingzhou was overjoyed.

It's true what they say, you get what you need most.

Actually, he does have a certain air about him, considering he's only a junior in college, but it's rare for him to have that.

But the difference in temperament between these things is obvious at a glance.

Take Bai Jingting for example; just one glance at him and you can feel his strong youthful, campus vibe.

He immediately opened the entry, picked up his phone screen to look at his current demeanor, and nodded in satisfaction.

He has already surpassed Bai Jingting.

In the afternoon, Chen Xingzhou returned to the set of "Princess Agents" and continued filming day after day.

……

October 22nd arrived, which happened to be the premiere date of the variety show "Grade One: Graduation Season".

On the night the show aired, the hashtags 【#MengZiyiPrincessSyndrome#】 and 【#MengZiyiDisrespectsMentor#】 immediately trended on Weibo.

Marketing accounts flooded the internet with reposted clips, accompanied by captions such as "[A freshman at Beijing Film Academy acts like a big shot, ignores his professors' requirements, and acts pretentious and dramatic because of his good looks]."

Meng Ziyi had been rehearsing all day and hadn't checked her phone. When she returned to her room at night and saw the 99+ red dots on her Weibo account, she subconsciously clicked on it.

How are you still alive?

[Meng Ziyi's home address: xxxxx, phone number: xxxxx... Feel free to call.]

[You're from Beijing Film Academy, right? I'll wait for you at the school gate.]

【…】

Countless negative comments came into view, and she froze on the spot, her phone falling to the floor with a "thud".

She has received negative comments since entering the entertainment industry, but never so overwhelming, dense, and chilling.

She suddenly felt a dryness in her throat and an unbearable tightness in her chest.

She crouched down, her body trembling, to pick up her phone and open the trending search terms.

The clip shared by the marketing account was titled, "[When Meng Ziyi learned she wasn't the female lead...]"

The film opens with her saying "I don't want to talk about it anymore" in front of several classmates, and then angrily walking outside with her phone in her hand.

[Marketing account caption: I'm not recording anymore, I'm not happy, I'm just turning around and walking away. Feeling pretty cool, huh?]

The following paragraph shows Cheng Yi following behind her, and she angrily says:

"Back then, I could give away my things to others, but now their actions make me feel like I've been sidelined."

[Caption: Mencius goes berserk, rehearsal interrupted.]

She earned the lead role through her own abilities, but several classmates voted to have her replaced in a scene.

Not a single frame.

The footage of her communicating with her mentor, who felt that "thieves don't need to deliberately dress dirty, only beggars do," was also completely cut out.

She was left with only a few seconds of resentment, which was captioned with "[Disrespectful to the mentor, impatient, princess syndrome]".

Open Bilibili, and the homepage is full of compilations of negative information about her edited by marketing accounts.

Is Meng Ziyi the most pretentious freshman in the Chinese entertainment industry? His outrageous antics throughout.

"The True Story of Princess Syndrome: Disrespecting Mentors and Acting Like a Diva"

The comments section and bullet screen were filled with the same vile language as on Weibo.

Some people even edited her unflattering expressions into memes and played them on a loop with awful background music.

The comment section was full of insults:

[Extremely spoiled princess, utterly ill-mannered!]

[A bitch is just being pretentious!]

[Holy crap, this is disgusting! How come this woman wasn't beaten to death? Disgusting mother opening the door for disgusting people, utterly disgusting! Ugh!]

[It's one thing to sing terribly yourself, but to forbid others from singing too—what's the point of having money?!]

There's a reason why it's not popular.

Seeing this cover image made me want to survive, so I closed the video. Thank you, uploader. I'm sorry, uploader, I'll give you coins as compensation.

After scanning the comments section, Meng Ziyi was so trembling that she could barely hold her phone.

pat-

The phone fell to the ground again, but she didn't pick it up.

She always believed that she was good-looking and talented, and that even if she was a bit straightforward, it wouldn't matter; in fact, she might be more likable.

But the facts made her realize that she seemed to have made a mistake.

She slowly squatted down, hugged her knees, buried her head in them, and finally couldn't control her emotions and started crying.

Her sobs were low and suppressed, because she was afraid of being heard, recorded, or filmed, which would become new dirt on her.

"I didn't... I didn't disrespect my mentor, nor did I act like a diva..."

She opened her phone, looked at her WeChat chat with Chen Xingzhou, but didn't dare to click on it.

When filming first started not long ago, Chen Xingzhou reminded her not to be as straightforward as usual.

Learn to read other people's expressions and don't say whatever comes to mind.

She gladly accepted Chen Xingzhou's suggestion and tried to restrain herself.

But when she really gets angry, she can't control herself and acts the same way as before.

Be direct and say what comes to mind.

Now that it has happened, she doesn't actually regret what she said.

She simply insisted on the actor's understanding of the role, and was unwilling to wrong herself unnecessarily.

From beginning to end, she had no malicious intent, nor did she disrespect her teachers or act arrogantly.

But she didn't understand the rules of variety shows, the horror of malicious editing, or the wickedness of people in the entertainment industry.

I have absolutely no idea how to resist this overwhelming malice.

Should she ask Chen Xingzhou for help?

But he's currently filming "Princess Agents". Not to mention whether he can find the time, what if it causes him trouble?

He's just a newcomer. His acting skills are indeed very good, but where did he get so many connections and background?

If she gets involved with him, wouldn't she become a sinner?

She couldn't forgive herself for that.

She scrolled through her phone's contacts, but still didn't know who to call.

Her family lives far away, and her agent only tells her to "bear with it and not say anything out of line."

Her fellow trainees either avoided her like the plague or were powerless to help her; no one could.

Most of the other acquaintances in the industry I know are not close friends, and even if they wanted to, they wouldn't have the ability to get involved in this mess.

There was no one around, and he was completely isolated and helpless.

The city's prosperity and bustle had nothing to do with her.

In the small room, only her cries and appalling comments remained.

……

19th floor of Hengdian Guomao Building.

Chen Xingzhou frowned as he looked at the negative comments under Meng Ziyi's Weibo post.

He knew that even if he had warned Meng Ziyi, she would still do it.

After all, how can a person so easily change the nature that is already ingrained in them?

Moreover, Meng Ziyi is currently just a college student and has no idea how treacherous people can be.

He scrolled out of Weibo and sent messages to the media outlets and marketing accounts he had already contacted.

Chen Xingzhou: [Please send out the complete clips about Meng Ziyi from "Grade One Graduation Season". Send them out before 22 PM tonight. I will verify the data at 8 AM tomorrow morning, and the final payment will be transferred to your company account.]

Media: [Okay, Mr. Chen, we've received it and started publishing it. We also can't stand seeing good people like Ms. Meng being slandered and defamed.]

Chen Xingzhou: [Hmm.]

After sending the message, Chen Xingzhou opened his chat window with Meng Ziyi.