Chapter 44: Anticipation for Yu Yi

Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu, the two main leads, had already been criticized so heavily; naturally, Chen Ye, as a supporting character, barely had any presence.

When Book of Nine Revolutions was released, Chen Ye was initially full of anticipation. However, that anticipation slowly turned into disappointment.

Chen Ye realized that the content edited for the show was completely different from what he had filmed on set.

He had painstakingly acted in so many scenes, pouring his heart into his performance as if it were the pinnacle of his career. Yet, his scenes had been cut into tiny fragments, leaving no highlights to speak of.

Chen Ye understood well that, when working with big stars like Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu, his scenes would naturally take a back seat. But he never expected to be sidelined to this extent.

“Now, besides those fans of Supreme, who even remembers that I acted in Book of Nine Revolutions?” Chen Ye couldn’t help but mock himself.

He had quit Supreme midway to take on Book of Nine Revolutions, risking embarrassment for this project, and this was the result he got?

Even as a supporting character, he didn’t expect to be this invisible.

Grumbling under his breath, Chen Ye secretly deleted the few posts he had posted dissing Supreme.

“In this situation, the less presence you have, the better,” his agent said, unsure how to console him. Before the show aired, no one had anticipated that Book of Nine Revolutions would flop so miserably. “Right now, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu are taking all the heat, and the fire hasn’t reached you yet.”

“They… their behavior is just too shameless.” Chen Ye sighed. “I’ve heard for a long time that Wei Fangfei is strong-willed.”

On set, Chen Ye had been humble and accommodating, believing he had managed to get along well with Wei Fangfei. Even though her career in recent years hadn’t been as stellar as before, she was still a top actress, and even a small leftover opportunity from her could have been enough to keep him going.

But in the end…

Book of Nine Revolutions couldn’t even be called a drama; it had turned into a collection of internet jokes. Every morning when Chen Ye woke up, marketing accounts were mocking Book of Nine Revolutions, and Chu Tianshu’s cringe-worthy GIFs had spread across the entire internet.

The day before, Wei Fangfei had been the primary target of ridicule.

Seeing the situation, Chen Ye immediately understood that both Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu were working behind the scenes—neither of them wanted to take the blame for Book of Nine Revolutions’ failure. It wasn’t just an ordinary flop; this show had flopped spectacularly.

When Wei Fangfei saw the data, Book of Nine Revolutions had at least been holding onto second place on the trending chart. But after Chu Tianshu’s embarrassing images went viral, the show’s popularity plummeted further, performing even worse than The Watchers.

At least The Watchers had once reached the top spot on the chart. What about Book of Nine Revolutions? Its best performance since its release had been second place on the trending list, and even then, it had been overshadowed by the already-concluded Supreme.

While The Watchers had failed, the performances of Yue Hui and Ren Ningyi were at least acknowledged. In contrast, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu seemed overly strained in their acting, perhaps because they hadn’t worked on a drama in years. Both appeared to overdo their roles.

[After transitioning to the film industry, Wei Fangfei and Chu Tianshu haven’t touched fantasy dramas again. They just can’t grasp the nuances of these roles anymore.]

[The failures of The Watchers and Book of Nine Revolutions show that whether you’re playing a lead or a supporting role, you really shouldn’t be too greedy.]

[+1. Look at Lu Xu—his breakout roles have all been supporting characters, but that hasn’t stopped him from advancing steadily in his career.]

[I just want to know, does Chen Ye regret it now?]

[Every time I think about how he used Book of Nine Revolutions to diss Supreme, I find it hilarious. He said he wanted to ‘stand tall,’ but now he’s taken quite the fall, hasn’t he?]

Chen Ye’s expectations had ultimately been dashed. The internet didn’t let him off the hook, even though he had now learned to keep quiet. Unfortunately, his silence had come too late.

And it was all because Supreme had become a hit.

Although Chen Ye never acted in Supreme, his name had become inextricably linked to it.

Even though he had closed the comment section on his social media, whenever Supreme or the character Ji Xiuya trended, netizens would show up to ask him not to leech off Supreme’s popularity.

[Stay away from Ji Xiuya, thank you.]

[Supreme production team should thank Chen Ye on their knees. If he had acted in it, the show wouldn’t have been this successful.]

[Book of Nine Revolutions may not have gained popularity, but Chen Ye’s famous quotes sure did.]

[#You need to climb high to see far#]

[#I want to stand at the top#]

[#I don’t want to gain attention by selling meat #]

[Ahem, just a reminder—the first line wasn’t actually said by Chen Ye.]

[What’s the difference?]

Chen Ye’s quotes, though they didn’t evolve into a “Chen philosophy,” gradually became more famous than Chen Ye himself.

Netizens were endlessly curious about how someone could exist in this world whose every word seemed destined to backfire spectacularly.

[Chen Ye, please wish that my lottery ticket won’t win.]

[Come on!]

[Come on, come on, come on!]

In a way, Book of Nine Revolutions did bring the actors more attention—just not the kind any of them had hoped for.

By the time Supreme reached its finale, its popularity remained above 12,000 points. The character Ji Xiuya had practically become the archetype of the Demon Lord in fantasy costume dramas. Despite his strong presence, however, he never overshadowed the lead characters.

Ji Xiuya was just an eccentric villain who occasionally popped up to antagonize the leads, while the main love story between the male and female leads remained intact and independent.

[One thing I’m certain of—the production team made the right choice casting Lu Xu as the supporting male lead.]

[+1, +1! Has anyone watched the edited videos of Qin Zhao and Ji Xiuya on X site? There’s one called When You Become Me. Ji Xiuya transmigrated as Qin Zhao, the arrogant Demon Lord saving the timid crown prince—such a vibe, who gets it?]

[Drop the link!]

[I’ve only casually watched it thirty times. The CP vibes between Qin Zhao and Ji Xiuya are insanely strong. It’s crazy that they’re played by the same actor; the contrast between the characters is so adorable!]

[There’s also that edit where the charmingly wicked Demon Lord openly adores ‘Baby Zhong.’ Meanwhile, Yu Wei’s tearful anguish over their sibling bond just screams bone-deep drama, and the Demon Lord’s reaction? ‘Orthopaedics is the best.’]

Edits of Yu Wei, Ji Xiuya, and Qin Zhao dominated major video platforms, skyrocketing the views of My Baby Prince and Son of Heaven, even long after their finales.

And soon—both series surpassed Book of Nine Revolutions in viewership.

#What Was The Point Of Nine Revolutions Anyway#

Wei Fangfei had always been a bit flashy in her actions. When she ventured into television, many of her industry rivals were eagerly waiting for her to fail. With Book of Nine Revolutions turning out to be an epic flop, several competitors were interviewed by reporters.

[Well, I wish her all the best.]

[This courage to explore new fields is something we should all learn from. I couldn’t take that step myself.]

[The entertainment industry is becoming more and more complex. We definitely need more diverse performances like this.]

The gossip-hungry crowd watching the drama unfold concluded: forget about V- School or Chen Philosophy—this was the real mic-drop moment.

The entire cast and crew of Supreme, including Lu Xu, were utterly speechless at the trajectory of Book of Nine Revolutions.

Everyone had expected that once Book of Nine Revolutions premiered, Supreme would inevitably be dragged into comparisons and probably stomped on a little. But this? This went far beyond their imagination.

Yet, before they even had the chance to do anything, Book of Nine Revolutions had already collapsed—and in such a spectacularly disastrous way that no one could figure out what kind of bad luck had befallen the production.

The latest episode of Book of Nine Revolutions recorded a real-time popularity score of only 3,976, not even breaking the 4,000 mark.

As for its ranking? It had fallen out of the top ten entirely.

[Could it be that my spell worked?] Wei Yi sent a meme of a scared mouse with the caption “mouse-mouse afraid.”

[What did you do?] Zheng Xiao asked.

[I just… prayed that Book of Nine Revolutions wouldn’t perform so well, and then—] Wei Yi added, [Oh, and I recently bought a mountain bike.]

Lu Xu: […Has nothing to do with me.]

Zheng Xiao, Wei Yi, and Jiang Wangshu: “…”

No one said it was your fault, thank you.

Lu Xu: “…”

He thought to himself, ‘This group is so superstitious.’

Of course, the casual atmosphere came from the fact that the entire team had finally relaxed.

The intense competition they’d anticipated never materialized. Supreme had decent popularity and reviews, the actors were getting new opportunities, and shortly after Supreme’s finale, Director Jiang Wangshu immediately landed a new project.

The days when Chen Ye terminated his contract with the team and everyone worried over casting Ji Xiuya felt like a distant memory.

Although Zheng Xiao and the others didn’t say it outright, they were genuinely grateful that Lu Xu had taken on the role of Ji Xiuya.

They were thankful that the neighboring production at the time was Son of Heaven, thankful that Director Jiang was an old acquaintance of Director Liu Chunfeng, and thankful for Lu Xu’s involvement, which ensured the show could be completed smoothly.

After Supreme aired, some people around Zheng Xiao made comments, saying things like Lu Xu had stolen his spotlight.

But Zheng Xiao knew better.

After all, no matter how much attention Ji Xiuya as a character received, Lu Xu was part of the Supreme team. His popularity contributed to the show’s overall success, and that was something they all shared.

Ji Xiuya had brought Supreme more attention from viewers, and the entire production team reaped the benefits.

Zheng Xiao couldn’t understand why there was any point in internal disputes within the team, nor did he ever consider competing with Lu Xu.

The mountain bike’s “power” was just too strong.

Should he get one to try out as well?

It was only later that Zheng Xiao realized he was slower than most—Wei Yi had long since bought one, and even Jiang Wangshu had secretly gotten one too.

Lu Xu suggested the bike manufacturer start paying them.

Objectively speaking, filming The Path of Bones was quite tedious. As the lead actor, Lu Xu had scenes to shoot almost every single day. His script was the thickest in the entire crew, and other actors didn’t even need to remember the filming order; they just needed to know which days they had scenes with him.

Lately, the gossip surrounding Book of Nine Revolutions was Lu Xu’s main source of entertainment.

“They clearly didn’t take the script seriously,” Kong Le remarked helplessly. “If it keeps falling, it’ll catch up to Undercover.”

“The situation with Undercover back then was pretty similar to this.”

Mentioning the failed adaptation of Undercover, Kong Le sighed but didn’t seem as touchy about it as he used to.

Now, he spent his days on the set of The Path of Bones supervising production. Even if the finished show didn’t cater to audience tastes, he, as the original author, was satisfied with it.

Whether it was Lei Ai’s spur-of-the-moment ideas during filming or the actors’ interpretations of the characters, they all aligned with the vision he had when writing The Path of Bones.

Small crews had their advantages, while big crews… well, at the very least, they needed a core figure capable of holding the star-studded cast together.

As filming progressed, Lu Xu’s dedication to his role as the protagonist, Yu Yi, even surprised Kong Le. Lu Xu had prepared a detailed character biography before joining the crew, and after immersing himself in the role, he continued to expand and refine it as his understanding of Yu Yi deepened.

Lu Xu’s final scene in The Path of Bones was a poignant one. In it, Yu Yi, after ensuring the safety and care of his teammates’ families, turned himself in voluntarily.

Yu Yi had always lived a life within the bounds of society’s rules. It was only the tragic fate of his friends that forced him to deviate from that path, leading him to live a life he’d never imagined.

“Old Cat’s” young daughter came to see him. The little girl, still too young to understand much, clutched the toy he had given her and wrapped her small arms around him in a soft hug.

At that moment, the man who had slain his enemies without hesitation felt his eyes redden, and a single tear slipped down his cheek.

He didn’t promise her he’d come back to see her again.

He knew that his life would inevitably remain confined within the walls of a prison for the rest of his days.

“Old Cat’s” wife asked him, “Was it worth it?”

“It was worth it,” Yu Yi replied softly, his voice barely above a whisper. After all, he was only in his twenties—a young man, still at the start of his life.

“It was worth it,” he repeated, as if to reaffirm the statement.

He offered the little girl a smile. For once, his face wasn’t overshadowed by hatred. His smile carried a hint of shyness—he’d never been one for big, bold laughter.

As the little girl waved at him, he returned the gesture with a gentle wave of his own.

The frame froze on that moment.

Yu Yi had completed his revenge. His expression was now serene, his hands seemingly cleansed of the blood they had shed, as if he had returned to the person he once was.

Outside the monitor, Lei Ai stood with a serious expression, his lips pressed tightly together.

The set was silent.

This was a crew largely made up of fans of The Path of Bones, and at that moment, they all witnessed the Yu Yi they had long envisioned come to life before their eyes.

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