Famous! Ch.160

Chapter 160: After Filming

A few days before wrapping up, Lu Xu and Shao Yao wandered around with nothing to do. Although the modern buildings near the filming location weren’t particularly bustling, the natural scenery was far beyond anything City C could offer.

As an actor, Lu Xu had traveled to many places, but most of his time was spent at film studios. He hadn’t had many experiences filming on location for months at a time.

Being in such an environment truly gave one a sense of vastness. During filming, with no other distractions, Lu Xu was able to focus entirely on his role.

All in all, he felt quite at ease.

As Fearless Life was nearing completion, Shao Yao returned to the company ahead of schedule. Before leaving, he even bought a bunch of jerky and snacks nearby, saying he would take them back to share with Zheng Xiao.

Lu Xu… silently bought some as well, planning to bring them back for Xu Wen and Zheng Xiao.

Playing Bai Qianshan had given Lu Xu a newfound sense of clarity.

Working with different directors allowed him to absorb different things.

He hadn’t expected that, after filming Fearless Life, he would actually become friends with Miao Zhi. Initially, he had thought the director was someone so carefree that nothing really mattered to him. Only after getting to know him did he realize that Miao Zhi simply cared too much, making him seem out of place in the industry.

Forget Liu Rennong— even Zhang Zhizhen, before The Swordsman flopped, had been thriving in the film industry and was widely respected as a renowned director.

In terms of fame, both of them ranked higher than Miao Zhi, as they produced those grand and refined artistic films. Meanwhile, Miao Zhi’s works were more grounded, solid, and relatable, never leaving the audience confused or lost.

On the day Lu Xu finished his scenes, the director still didn’t say much, but his demeanor showed a hint of reluctance. Before parting ways, they agreed to meet again in City C.

When Fearless Life first started filming, the weather was cool in autumn. By the time the movie wrapped and Lu Xu returned to City C, the heat had already set in.

During this period, the only event Lu Xu attended was the roadshow for Reverse City. While he had been quite active in checking Weibo and celebrity gossip during his time at the film studio, once the filming location changed and he gained a deeper understanding of his character, he became so busy that he barely had time to look at his phone.

A few passersby recorded a video of Lu Xu at the airport.

Among celebrities, Lu Xu was the kind whose ability to stay low-key was practically nonexistent. Wherever he went, he carried that unmistakable face. The most he would do was wear a hat. In City C, he rode his bike freely, but the moment he arrived at the airport… his truly tanned face was fully exposed.

Because he showed up so openly, fans didn’t actually swarm him, but that didn’t stop people from making fun of him.

[You’re looking a little dark, huh?]

[…Excuse me, handsome, do you still remember that you’re supposed to be handsome?]

[Dark and dashing—let’s just crown you the ‘Dark Handsome Lord.’]

[Hold on, I actually searched for ‘Dark Handsome Lord’ online—why is it so ridiculous?]

[I’m dying of laughter. Lu Xu, can you at least act like an idol? What kind of celebrity disappears for months of filming without a single update? Just the other day, I saw a post online where someone seriously asked if Lu Xu was even still alive.]

[Still… alive? I just let out a loud laugh! Yes, he’s alive, but he has lost the right to be called a handsome guy.]

Meanwhile, Lu Xu’s dog persona had fully evolved into a black-furred puppy. The golden retriever and fluffy white dog imagery had all but vanished, sparking playful protests from fans:

[This is unfair to all the little white dogs out there!]

Fortunately, Lu Xu tanned quickly but also lightened up just as fast. Before long, he was back to attending the various events arranged by his manager.

Not long after Lu Xu returned to City C from the film set, Miao Zhi also came back. The two met up for a meal and brought Shao Yao along. Miao Zhi dressed casually, while Lu Xu and Shao Yao dressed even more casually, yet despite that, they were still caught by the paparazzi who had been tailing Lu Xu.

After all, none of the three were nobodies in the entertainment industry.

During the filming of Fearless Life, some marketing accounts dug up old conflicts between Miao Zhi and Liu Rennong, and that was when netizens first realized that the two had a long-standing rivalry. Naturally, Lu Xu taking on Fearless Life led some people to speculate that Miao Zhi had deliberately cast him to spite Liu Rennong.

Even though neither of them had such intentions, that didn’t stop troublemakers from encouraging netizens to think that way.

After all… Lu Xu had already taken down two key figures from Liu Rennong’s studio.

Qi Di had terminated his contract with Liu Rennong’s studio and had yet to find a new agency. As for Bei Hong, Sanzu River had been enough to cement his place on the wall of shame. Rumor had it that Liu Rennong Studio was now rebranding Bei Hong, pushing him toward the youthful “flower boy” aesthetic.

Teen dramas were good for gaining fans, and Bei Hong’s biggest issue was his lack of popularity.

As long as he could amass enough fans, the negative press surrounding Sanzu River wouldn’t matter as much.

“A… flower boy?” The moment Lu Xu heard that term, his brows knitted together. “Is that really a good fit for him?”

“It’s not a fit now, but once he films it, it will be.” Xu Wen replied matter-of-factly. “You’d be surprised. Plenty of male actors take this route—it’s one of the easiest ways to get famous.”

Lu Xu: “……”

What could he even say?

Standing on that dirt slope near the Fearless Life set, with the vast sky above him and a sunset so magnificent it could make one feel connected to the universe itself, Lu Xu’s thoughts had been grand, sweeping, and limitless.

Yet even then, he still couldn’t stretch his imagination far enough to picture Bei Hong as a “flower boy.”

[Maybe it’s a youth drama with some fantasy elements,] Zheng Xiao tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. [Like an alien teen movie. You know, where the main character has a diamond-shaped face and looks like he was sculpted with a chisel.]

Lu Xu: […You’re not sparing him either, huh?]

In a way, the reason he and Zheng Xiao became friends was that neither of them ever held back when roasting people—even when those people were right there.

Lu Xu attempted to defend himself. [I’m actually not the type to gossip about others that much.]

Zheng Xiao immediately caught on. [I get it. I’m the same way. It’s just that… sometimes things happen that are beyond our intellectual comprehension.]

The two of them then sent a handshake emoji in the group chat to express their mutual understanding.

Meanwhile, Shao Yao simply responded with an ellipsis.

When Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao asked why he wasn’t contributing, he replied, [I just can’t come up with that many words.]

#Still Learning

#Knowledge Is Endless

—

After returning to City C, Lu Xu first tackled the commercial projects that Xu Wen had arranged for him, prioritizing them based on urgency.

In the past couple of years, his commercial engagements had decreased somewhat. To a certain extent, he had already passed the “breakthrough phase” of stardom and was now in a phase of maintaining his status.

Most of his endorsements were long-term partnerships with familiar brands. As he grew older, his collaborations had expanded to include automobiles and home furnishings.

Meanwhile, fast-moving consumer goods and electronics brands favored younger stars with higher exposure and a larger base of young fans.

Although Lu Xu still had plenty of young fans, many of them were maturing into a demographic with strong purchasing power. Films like Reverse City and Feather of Youth grossed over 1.5 billion yuan at the box office, and Lu Xu’s fanbase undeniably played a significant role in those numbers.

Although Lu Xu’s number of endorsements was no longer as high as before, his collaborations remained stable and high-quality. Across the entire entertainment industry, his endorsement fees were undoubtedly among the top.

In the business sector, Lu Xu still held the number one spot at Feiyang Entertainment.

To be honest, ever since Lu Xu signed with Feiyang, the company had been searching for “the next Lu Xu.” Unfortunately, despite years of effort, no such person had appeared.

Finding a young actor who could match even 50% of Lu Xu’s combination of looks and acting skills seemed like an impossible task.

And Feiyang Entertainment wasn’t the only company trying.

After all, Lu Xu had started out in an idol boy band, so some agencies had attempted to groom a similar talent from within the current boy groups. However, reality proved harsh—just in terms of visuals alone, today’s boy bands were already a far cry from what Verse had been back then.

Makeup and styling had improved drastically in recent years, to the point where even an unattractive guy could appear somewhat handsome if he was willing to cake on enough foundation.

And yet… forget Lu Xu. Even Gu Sinian, who had been widely mocked, was at least passable in terms of appearance as an actor. What he had been criticized for was his acting, not his looks. At the very least, no production team had ever had the misfortune of realizing mid-shoot that their lead actor had the distinct features of a pentagon-shaped nutcracker.

After a while, most agencies simply gave up.

But every so often—whenever Lu Xu got nominated for the Stellar Awards, when his dramas became massive hits, or when his films crossed the one-billion-yuan mark at the box office—the desire to find “another Lu Xu” would reignite.

All in all, in recent years, several entertainment companies had indeed promoted young actors whose looks bore some resemblance to Lu Xu’s.

[…Sure, the little pup got famous because of his face, but it was his projects that won over the audience.]

[I’m dying of laughter. The real issue is that their acting skills are leagues behind Lu Xu’s. Whenever I see these guys on screen, I just feel secondhand embarrassment. Don’t they feel embarrassed themselves?]

[…Why are they so fixated on finding someone with Lu Xu’s face? Why not look for someone with his acting skills instead? Do they just not want to?]

[Honestly, they should try looking for someone with mystical blessings or something. Feels like that would be more useful than just having a similar face.]

Even Lu Xu hadn’t expected that agencies would actually start promoting so-called “Little Lu Xus”—and not just one or two. One day, he happened to glance at a marketing account’s side-by-side comparison photos, and to be honest, he was genuinely surprised.

It was just… completely unnecessary.

But as Xu Wen had said, popularity came first. Once someone got famous, they’d have the chance to prove themselves. Winning over audiences with actual work could always come later.

—

During breaks between his commercial events, Lu Xu temporarily put off reading new scripts.

He considered himself a fairly active actor, always working at a good pace. But the release speed of his projects had been so rapid that, despite working tirelessly all year, he still only had Fearless Life, the recently completed film, as his sole unreleased work.

It made him feel like he had been busy for nothing.

Lu Xu rarely accumulated unreleased projects.

Streaming platforms were always eager to buy up dramas, and as for films… Even though he was still a rising force in the movie industry, theater chains weren’t about to turn down profits. As long as his movies were ready, they were released as soon as possible.

For an actor, having only one project in the pipeline meant it was time to start something new—otherwise, a long period of inactivity would follow.

There was no shortage of production teams wanting to cast him, but after filming Fearless Life, Lu Xu had gained new insights into acting. He had absorbed some of those lessons during filming, but it wasn’t enough. Outside of shooting, he wanted to take some time to reflect and deepen his understanding.

Lu Xu had acted in many projects and wasn’t afraid to take on any type of role. To put it proudly, he could handle most character types that audiences were familiar with.

But he never believed he had reached the pinnacle or that he no longer needed to move forward.

To him, the path of an actor was endlessly vast, with no ceiling. Every new role was a challenge. Even if he felt he had already performed a role to perfection, who could say that was the character’s true limit?

Lu Xu took a full two-month break.

During this time, he didn’t join any productions or take on extra commercial work. His daily routine consisted of reading books, watching dramas and films, and studying interviews.

Because he had no public appearances or scheduled activities, his fans couldn’t help but flood Feiyang Entertainment’s official account with private messages, asking whether Lu Xu had secretly taken on some mysterious role.

By now, there was no doubt he was an A-lister. Even if he had no work scheduled, his fans wouldn’t assume he was just lazing around at home. If he was staying out of the spotlight, it had to be a deliberate choice.

Feiyang Entertainment had to issue a statement in response.

Of course, the fans fully supported whatever Lu Xu chose to do—whether it was taking on movies they felt didn’t quite match his star status or deciding to take time to reflect.

His actions only reinforced the impression that he truly loved acting and was committed to becoming a better performer.

—

“Who’s buying this crap?”

In a villa in City C, Bei Hong sneered at the media reports. “Only an idiot would believe that.”

“Why does Lu Xu love putting on an act so much? This whole persona he’s built… People really think it’s real?”

<< _ >>

**TN

I picked up another Showbiz No-Romance novel, it’s about idols. If you know Produce 101, the setting is similar to that. It’s called From Talent Show to Superstar 🙂