Chapter 13: Because It Didn’t Want To?

After My Baby Prince was moved to a prime-time slot, industry insiders had predicted that the drama’s popularity would climb to a new level.

However, the latest released data left them all stunned.

10,000+!

What kind of concept was this?

For a big-budget, high-production series like The Watchers, reaching such a level of popularity was unsurprising. But no one could have imagined that this kind of data would ever be associated with a low-budget web drama.

Yet, no matter how much the industry questioned it, the drama occupying the number one spot on the popularity charts at the moment was indeed My Baby Prince.

Upon closer observation, while My Baby Prince didn’t dominate trending topics like The Watchers, discussions about its plot and characters remained steady after ten episodes had aired. Searching for relevant keywords revealed that most of these discussions came from real people, not just fans controlling the data.

In contrast, The Watchers’ statistics looked much worse.

Although Gu Sinian’s fans tirelessly promoted The Watchers in the comment sections of various marketing accounts, the drama’s popularity stabilized in its later stages but hovered around 8,000+.

After Lu Xu unfollowed the other three members of Verse, his Weibo follower count had once dropped to just hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin all boasted fan counts in the tens of millions. But as My Baby Prince’s popularity surged, Lu Xu’s Weibo follower count officially broke through the one-million mark.

For the first time, his Weibo comment section saw fans speaking up for him.

Gu Sinian’s fans, however, were still mocking him for only being able to act in lousy web dramas, though their momentum was nowhere near as overwhelming as before.

[Yes, yes, my bias can only act in lousy web dramas. Too bad their popularity is still higher than your high-budget masterpiece.]

[All you talk about is lousy web dramas. So where’s your record-breaking high-end drama?]

[To be fair, even if he’s acting in web dramas, Lu Xu’s acting skills absolutely crush Gu Sinian’s, don’t you think?]

Lu Xu pressed his lips together and gave a silent “like” to the comments praising him.

After My Baby Prince climbed to the top of the popularity charts, his WeChat became lively once again.

Industry friends he had met during his time in Verse began reaching out one by one to reconnect. Even agents who had previously contacted him suddenly remembered their interest in signing him.

Lu Xu had already deleted most of these so-called “friends” from his contacts, and their renewed attempts to reach him now only served as reminders to delete them again.

Lu Xu firmly believed that an actor’s worth was proven by their work.

Even though My Baby Prince had its flaws in terms of cast, production, and plot, its viewership numbers and popularity were undeniable.

Ever since Chenxi Film moved it to a prime-time slot, My Baby Prince consistently maintained a popularity score above 10,000. Especially during the episodes speculating whether Pan Lingfeng or Yu Wei was Zhong Baobei’s brother, fans flooded forums, building long threads just to argue over the answer.

In the episode where Pan Lingfeng was ruled out, the “FengBao” CP fans celebrated all day long, while the “ZhongYu” CP fans refused to back down, plastering the word “Orthopedics” across forum headlines for hours. Moderators had their hands full deleting posts over and over.

The cheerful and sunny male lead won hearts, while the brooding, deeply affectionate second male lead became the classic love triangle element that fans couldn’t resist.

For Chenxi Film, the unexpected success of My Baby Prince was like a pie falling from the sky, leaving everyone at the platform dizzy with excitement.

As a second-tier platform, Chenxi Film had always been overshadowed by heavyweights like Grape Film and Deyi Film. Breaking into the top ten on the popularity charts was already considered a commendable achievement. If they reached the top five, the platform’s executives would make a special appearance to celebrate.

The struggles of a second-tier platform were known to few.

Grape Film could afford to invite A-listers like Yue Hui and Ren Ningyi—actors of movie king caliber—to support Gu Sinian. Meanwhile, no matter how high a price Chenxi Film offered, the big stars still refused to collaborate with them.

Chenxi Film lacked the resources to hire renowned directors and screenwriters. Over time, the platform’s visibility diminished, and its audience naturally dwindled.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that for Chenxi Film to reach the top of the popularity charts, they’d need a lineup rivaling The Watchers, coupled with daily trips to the temple by executives to pray for a miracle.

It sounded ridiculous, but this was the harsh reality Chenxi Film faced.

The way My Baby Prince effortlessly climbed to the top of the charts left the platform’s executives utterly unprepared.

“…Am I seeing this right?”

“…Is this really our drama with an investment of less than 10 million?”

The unexpected success of My Baby Prince taught Chenxi Film’s executives the true meaning of “spending a little to achieve a lot.”

The VIP subscription revenue alone had executives grinning from ear to ear, not to mention the massive advertising revenue during its broadcast—an area where the platform had previously struggled embarrassingly.

Thanks to the platform’s decision to buy the rights to several classic dramas when it split from Deyi Film years ago, it had managed to stay afloat. Without that foresight, Chenxi Film might have gone bankrupt within a few years.

With My Baby Prince barely halfway through its run, the production costs had already been fully recouped. As the plot thickened and the drama remained at the top of the popularity charts for over ten days, Chenxi Film recorded the largest revenue in its history.

With a modest investment of only a few million but profits in the hundreds of millions, the profit margin was astronomical, leaving competitors green with envy.

While the underperforming The Watchers declared it had broken even and Cloud Film proudly announced profits from The Sweetness of a Candy, these gains paled in comparison to the windfall from My Baby Prince.

My Baby Prince was practically zero-cost.

This summer, platforms across the industry were envious of Chenxi Film.

Lu Xu also reaped significant benefits from this drama.

The character Yu Wei gave Lu Xu newfound recognition in the acting world. Not only did his Weibo followers increase, but he also landed on a couple of “Rising Actor” rankings.

During his time with Verse, Lu Xu’s presence had been relatively low. His quieter personality and smaller fanbase, coupled with makeup styling that didn’t highlight his features, kept him from being seen as the standout visual in the group.

But now, more people knew his name.

Before landing the role in My Baby Prince, Lu Xu had been actively approaching various production teams, recommending himself in hopes of securing roles he wanted. Yet, most of those teams didn’t even offer him an audition.

Now, however, Lu Xu had five or six audition invitations on his desk. At least he finally had options.

Following the surge in My Baby Prince’s popularity, Lu Xu received several collaboration offers, including drama interviews, commercial deals, and fashion magazine covers. But to be honest, while Yu Wei’s character was well-liked, the commercial offers he received were still fairly average in quality.

He wasn’t interested.

It wasn’t that Lu Xu was being arrogant; rather, he saw his career as just beginning. He wanted to wait until his identity as an actor was more widely recognized and his name better known before taking on commercial projects.

Becoming a “prince of endorsements” was never his goal.

Lu Xu sat down to review his audition invitations.

Because of his role as Yu Wei, most of the parts offered to him were for characters with a similar archetype—brooding, deeply emotional second male leads. Without hesitation, Lu Xu set these aside.

At least for the short term, he wouldn’t consider roles like that.

After narrowing things down, he realized there weren’t many scripts left to choose from.

One was for a historical costume drama, where he’d audition for the role of a crown prince who spent forty years waiting to ascend the throne, focusing on his youth.

The production team hadn’t explicitly stated it, but from their comments, Lu Xu gathered that whether he played just the young prince or both the young and adult versions would depend on his performance in the audition.

The other script told the story of a generation that came of age during a challenging era. As teenagers, this group of young people set ambitious goals, devoting themselves to studying and acquiring knowledge to help save their country.

Lu Xu leaned more toward the latter script. He hadn’t acted in many costume dramas, and to him, the crown prince role felt overly timid—a character who, under the shadow of a domineering emperor father, spoke cautiously, afraid of stepping out of line.

Lu Xu suspected that if he auditioned for the first script, the crown prince role would be easier to secure.

The production team was looking for actors around his age. However, younger actors generally avoided playing such weak-willed characters, preferring even villain roles over them.

The second script, by contrast, offered a role closer to his age and experience. Lu Xu had portrayed similar characters before.

The audition for the second script had already been scheduled, and Lu Xu was preparing for the role of the second male lead. With a portion of the character’s scenes in hand, he began studying the script while My Baby Prince was still airing.

Lu Xu always approached auditions with meticulous preparation.

In his past life, during his first couple of years after debuting, he went to auditions frequently. Later, after rising to fame, he became the kind of actor directors sought out specifically for certain roles. Scripts piled up, and direct offers from directors became commonplace. Auditioning became a distant memory.

Still, whether through auditions or direct offers, Lu Xu could proudly say he had never let down any character he portrayed.

Despite receiving only limited materials from the production team, Lu Xu carefully read the provided script, then sought out as much written and visual information from that era as he could find.

Without an agent, he had to prepare everything on his own. But he preferred to stay busy rather than risk misinterpreting a character due to insufficient preparation.

After a period of intense work, audition day finally arrived.

The audition venue was quite far from Lu Xu’s home, but fortunately still within City C. It was a one-and-a-half-hour drive in the morning, so Lu Xu made sure to get up early.

He dozed off briefly in the car, and upon waking, opened Weibo only to find that the top three trending topics were all related to My Baby Prince:

#Song Zhong Slams My Baby Prince#

#My Baby Prince Is Garbage Born of Vulgar Fantasies#

#Song Zhong Criticizes Lu Xu#

Lu Xu: ?

The immediate question in his mind was: why would anyone name themselves Song Zhong (sending off the dead)?

Curious, he clicked on the trending tags and discovered that Song Zhong was a well-known drama critic, an award judge, and a respected figure in the industry. This person had taken time out of their busy schedule to lament My Baby Prince’s dominance on the charts, declaring that such a “trashy web drama” topping the rankings was a disgrace to the entire TV industry.

Song Zhong harshly criticized My Baby Prince, from its melodramatic plot to what he deemed “pretentious” performances, and even called out Chenxi Film for smugly moving it to a prime-time slot (?).

Lu Xu was singled out, accused of relying on his looks to act—a strategy Song Zhong predicted wouldn’t last.

In the same breath, Song Zhong praised Gu Sinian, commending his hard work in The Watchers and applauding him for resisting the lure of idol dramas and focusing on honing his craft.

Song Zhong’s sharp tongue was infamous in the industry, and most production teams avoided provoking him. But this time, he seemed to have gone all out in his takedown of My Baby Prince. Words like “disgrace,” “degeneration,” and “embarrassment” poured out freely, as if there were no limit.

The comment section of his review was filled with accounts sporting Gu Sinian’s profile picture, all cheering enthusiastically. Some even tagged Lu Xu repeatedly, making it impossible for him to ignore.

Lu Xu sighed.

He wasn’t the type to be sharp-tongued or argumentative, nor did he want to be seen as someone who enjoyed clapping back.

His friends knew him well enough to understand he simply spoke his mind.

So, he was genuinely curious:

[Did The Watchers not hit the top of the rankings because it didn’t want to?]

[Why beat around the bush? What’s wrong with Gu Sinian’s looks?]

Gu Sinian, who was happy to see Song Zhong angrily criticizing Lu Xu, said: “…is he sick?”

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**TN

Orthopedics – slang term for “inc*st”; there was a guy who sl*pt with his sister, and his father broke his leg so he had to go to Germany to see orthopedics.

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3 thoughts on “Famous! Ch.13

  1. i’ve always seen the orthopedics tag while scrolling through MTL sites but i never knew the origin of the slang lmao. i’ll probably end up laughing whenever i see that keyword from now on

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