Love Rival Is Getting Prettier Everyday - Chap 17
Chapter 17: Beauty is Coming!
One night two years ago, Bai Qingquan and Shen Jintai debuted in a limited group. A group of seven people went to participate in a charity event for Harper’s Bazaar. When they were about to take a photo, Shen Jintai suddenly pushed him and crowded him out of the steps.
He staggered to the ground in front of a bunch of top celebrities. His scalp became numb with embarrassment. When he raised his head, he saw Shen Jintai with heavy makeup smirking at him.
He held on to the end with a smile, and when he returned to his room, he turned on the faucet and cried in the bathroom. Just after crying, the president of his official support group told him she had found a pipi black* in the group who was a fan of Shen Jintai.
*Term used referring to black fans who pretend to be fans. I’m keeping it in pinyin form since I have no idea what’s an equivalent translation.
This fan was very hateful. She was obviously a black powder. She pretended to be a fan and every day would instigate his fans in the group until she was finally caught by the president.
This gave Bai Qingquan inspiration. He registered an account that night and posted Shen Jintai’s rainbow farts for over a month. Whenever Shen Jintai would shoot for magazines, his fans would rush to buy them. Bai Qingquan bought 500 copies alone and was finally accepted into the “Gold Powder Family”.
He named his alt account “Black Moonlight”.
He worked hard with his rainbow farts. Due to his familiarity with the entertainment industry, he finally became an administrator for the group. This group was full of hateful gold powder that had similar virtues to Shen Jintai. Everyday they would flatter Shen Jintai or went to scold Bai Qingquan.
Bai Qingquan didn’t know what he did that offended Shen Jintai and his fans. He was a newly signed artist with Sunshine Media. He signed a ten-year contract with them as soon as he debuted. It was natural that Yan Qiuchi would support him! Yet somehow this offended Shen Jintai!
However, he blew rainbow farts every day, ignoring his conscience, all in the name of future rewards. He devised several large-scale blackouts for the gold powders and then contacted the key members of his own fan club to successfully counter* against them.
*Anti-kill (反杀) In Chinese means to kill a person for revenge. The word does not have the same meaning as it does in English. (In English, it would mean opposing killing, which is not the case here). I decided to use counter as anti-kill doesn’t make sense translated.
The feeling of counterattacking was euphoric. He finally ate bone marrow and knew the taste*!
*Metaphor that means people become greedy after getting a benefit.
Even after Shen Jintai left the circle, Bai Qingquan didn’t leave the group. He would still log into his alt account every other day and wander around the “Gold Powder Family”.
But now, he had been kicked out! Why was he kicked? Bai Qingquan’s heart was beating wildly, feeling that his secret was suddenly revealed!
Where were the horse’s feet exposed? Did he not use “Brother Jintai” sweetly enough? Was his rainbow fart not real enough? Or maybe because he didn’t scold himself enough.
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh.
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh.
He couldn’t accept it!
This was a secret that even his agent didn’t know about. The dark and private life that he had enjoyed alone all these years was gone, and he had no one to confide in!
Bai Qingquan couldn’t sleep all night. Unable to resist, he sent a message to Xiao Tang. He was very familiar with Shen Jintai’s assistant.
Bai Qingquan: [Oh my god! Kiss kiss, Xiao Tang! What happened?!! Why did I get kicked out???]
After a while, he received Xiao Tang’s reply: [Black Moonlight, I was wrong to believe in you. You turned out to be a moonlight powder!]
Bai Qingquan: [Ah??!! What the hell! Wrong! I am a loyal gold powder!!! Who is wronging me! I will confront him!]
Xiao Tang: [Brother Jin stamped it himself. He can’t wrong you.]
Brother Jin… Shen Jintai?
Bai Qingquan threw away the phone, grabbed a pillow, and covered his head. He didn’t want to live anymore. He felt like he had been stripped naked by Shen Jintai and wanted to find a seam and go in*.
*Idiom referring to feeling so embarrassed that you just want to disappear (AKA crawl under a rock and hide.)
Shen Jintai doesn’t know that he’s “Black Moonlight”, right? Does he know?!
Ahhhhhhh, he’s dead!!
—
Shen Jintai had to go to the crew today. He was waiting for Xiao Tang to pick him up early in the morning.
As soon as he got in the car, Xiao Tang said to him, “That black moonlight is really a pipi black!”
“What happened?”
“She contacted me around midnight last night and asked me why I kicked her out. I told her why, but she never responded. Later, I sent another message and found that she had blocked me. It was obvious from this that she’s a thief with a guilty conscience*! Brother Jin, why do you think people’s hearts are so terrible!”
*Idiom meaning people who have done bad things are always afraid of being found out and feel uneasy.
Shen Jintai said, “I told you she was originally a moonlight powder lurking in the group, but you didn’t believe me. I estimate there are still more moonlight powders mixed in my fan groups. You must strictly review the fan base in the future, especially key members. Do not let the enemy come from the inside.”
Xiao Tang became wiser overnight and solemnly nodded. “I see. I will check all the key members of the fan base today.”
Today was the last day of the script reading. Like the first reading, all members were required to be present. He could see Bai Qingquan again today. It was only a few days of separation, but he still missed him. Bai Qingquan’s beautiful and gentle face appeared in his mind, and it made Shen Jintai felt relaxed.
Today he would officially start to attack the white moonlight. Thinking about this, he felt like he hadn’t chatted with Xiao Ai in a long time.
“Hello, Xiao Ai.”
With a ding dong, Xiao Ai came online. “Dear, it’s been a long time since I saw you.”
“I’m going to start attacking Bai Qingquan. What rewards do I get? Is it also based on points?”
He couldn’t just try to take Bai Qingquan and make him his boyfriend without getting some kind of reward in the process.
“It was originally like this.” Xiao Ai heard his inner thoughts. “Our love system has too many rewards. Therefore, we’ll apply the same discount here as the discount you have for Yan Qiuchi. However, the point system here is the opposite of that of Yan Qiuchi. To get points for attacking Bai Yueguang, you must increase his favorability towards you. If his favorability goes up by ten, you’ll get your lips reward.”
Shen Jintai: “OK!”
“Friendly reminder, if you want to get as many rewards and as quickly as possible, you can do both sides at the same time. The points can be stacked!”
“Wow.”
Shen Jintai was in such a good mood that he couldn’t help but open the car window a little bit and hummed a song. The sun was shining on his face, and Xiao Tang saw his smile through the rearview mirror, causing him to smile as well.
Shen Jintai arrived with the crew, feeling happy and looking more energetic. He smiled and bowed to Song Wei. “Teacher Song.”
Song Wei smiled and said, “You’re always here so early.”
“I’m afraid of traffic jams, so I leave early, but it’s still not as early as you.”
“I’ve been accustomed it for many years. I like to stay with the crew. Since I’m getting old, I don’t get many parts anymore, so I cherish these moments.”
“I want to learn from you and strive to be a dedicated actor like you.”
As the sun was getting higher, actors started to file in. Beauties and hotties could be seen getting out of different luxury cars one after another, showing a colorful scene of the entertainment industry. Whenever Shen Jintai saw such a scene, it made him even more motivated. He liked the feeling the showbiz industry gave him. Its world was infinitely vast. As long as he worked hard to climb up, he could reach greater heights.
This was the beginning of his career as an actor. He would continue along this path and prove to Yan Qiuchi that he could do a good job at acting!
“Are you all here?” Guo Rui came in and looked around.
“Our Zhou Jing hasn’t arrived yet,” the staff member said.
They had started calling the actors by the names of the characters in the drama. Zhou Jing was the male lead played by Bai Qingquan.
“Then wait a little longer,” Guo Rui said.
Shen Jintai remembered that he wanted to modify some scenes, so he got up and chased Director Guo to his room.
“Director Guo, do you have time? I wanted to talk to you about the script.”
Guo Rui pulled a chair out and sat down. “Let’s talk about it.”
Shen Jintai proposed his idea.
The screenwriter had written Li Xu’s role to be extremely solid. The lines and plot were fine, but there was one issue that was common in domestic dramas. It was the kind of villain similar to “sisters turn against each other1“. In the beginning, he had to be a kind little white rabbit2. Only after being mistreated badly did he learn how to fight back.
1This saying arises from parents treating their children unequally. When parents favor one child over the other, resentment will brew, which could eventually make them turn on each other.
2This is in reference to the story of The Kind Little White Rabbit (you’ll have to use Google translate to read the story). The TLDR: Day after day, the little white rabbit goes out to pick mushrooms, and every day he is asked by different animals if they can have it. He innocently obliges without any scruples, so he never has enough mushrooms to make his soup. But whatever, he can still happily eat carrots. Eventually, all the animals came to his house to thank him for the mushrooms. THE END. Moral of the story: Our lives are gradually bewildered by interests, and the vanity of external beauty is inflated. Therefore, the more we must be sincere in such a world, the more it will make people become optimistic, make people smile, and make people’s hearts more beautiful.
“I have two points. First, the heroine’s personality transforms from a white lotus1 to a black lotus2. Li Xu’s and her transformation are virtually identical. It’ll make the character’s persona look repetitive. Second is Li Xu’s descent to becoming dark and twisted. I think it’s already in his nature to lean towards the dark side. Such a person should not start off as a white rabbit. I think the scenes showing him as a white lotus should be deleted. This will make his character deliberate from the beginning and will create a mutual contrast effect with the male protagonist, Zhou Jing.”
1Use to describe a person who looks innocent
2Opposite of a white lotus. Someone who’s scheming and conniving.
Guo Rui scratched his nose and asked the screenwriter, Meng Xiaosheng, who came in when he was talking just now. “What do you think?”
Meng Xiaosheng looked at Shen Jintai and asked, “You don’t have many scenes in the first few episodes. Are you sure you want it deleted?”
Shen Jintai nodded. “Even if some scenes are deleted, the effect will make the characters more vivid and concise.”
All actors wanted to add scenes, but it was rare for one to ask to have their scenes deleted.
Guo Rui discussed it with Meng Xiaosheng and agreed to his request.
“I saw your script,” Guo Rui said with a smile. “You did your homework very thoroughly.”
“The book is so good. I dare not ruin Teacher Meng’s hard work, and I dare not disappoint your trust.”
Who said that Shen Jintai had a bad temper and was difficult to get along with? This did not ring true at all!
Guo Rui and the two of them returned to the study room and found that Bai Qingquan still hadn’t come.
“Call his agent and ask what’s going on,” Guo Rui said.
Brother Wei answered the phone and looked at Bai Qingquan in the car. “I’m waiting for you to get out of the car. Do you want everyone to say that you’re a diva?”
Bai Qingquan’s face was hot. He didn’t have the courage to see Shen Jintai!
Did Shen Jintai know that he was “Black Moonlight”?!
It stood to reason that the chance of knowing should be very low. Even if it was revealed that he was a moonlight powder, he shouldn’t be able to identify that “Black Moonlight” was Bai Qingquan himself. Knowing Shen Jintai’s personality, this matter would have been exposed a long time ago.
“What’s wrong with you?” Wei Ge’s expression became severe.
Bai Qingquan pursed his lips, took a breath, and was about to get out of the car when he heard a familiar voice shouting, “Qingquan!”
When he looked up and saw Shen Jintai looking at him with a smile, standing in the sun with a white shirt and black pants. His eyes were hot.
Bai Qingquan became embarrassed, and his face blushed slightly.
Because of his embarrassment, the feelings of disgust and hatred had faded, and the favorability had risen from a negative number.
“Ding dong,” Xiao Ai suddenly went online. “Congratulations, dear! I noticed that Bai Yueguang’s favorability for you has greatly improved, and it can no longer be judged by numerical values. The reward for your lips will be given out immediately!”
Shen Jintai: …!!!
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The first step to becoming beautiful!
