145 On the Ranking

 

A normal movie press conference was quite boring, mainly it was about the introduction of the movie, actors and teams. However, the conference for Twin Flowers was wildly different. Once Han Fei stepped onto the stage, the stream was swarmed by online hecklers. This kind of ‘celebrity treatment’ was extremely rare so it attracted the attention of normal viewers. Han Fei’s reaction at the conference added more flair to the already trending conference livestream. The man did not appear to be that interested in common popularity but he had his pulse inadvertently on public interest. When the viewership was at its peak, the team released the prepared trailers.

To be honest, most netizens had little anticipation of such indie films. After all, how good could it be with a limited budget? But when the high quality trailers were released, the netizens were stunned. Be it plot quality, or character acting, the indie film could rival or even surpass most AAA films. This horror flick was an unexpected dark horse!

The response from the netizens was extremely positive. Zhan Yueyue and Director Jiang handled the later part of the press conference, they fielded the questions from both the online and live audience as well as shared some bloopers on scene. The atmosphere was joyful as if the hitch with Han Fei earlier did not happen at all. Most audience expressed anticipation of the movie, but there were some that had a carved frown on their faces.

Hidden at the back of the crowd, there was a middle-aged man whose eyes darkened. He stared at Han Fei’s face in the trailer and his lips curled with dissatisfaction. He took out his phone and deleted the messages that the host just sent him. He then swapped out his normal sim card for a secondary one. He reached out to a mysterious individual through social media. “I need you to help me dig up all the dirt you can on an actor.”

“Who is the poor victim this time?”

“His name is Han Fei. He’s the star in the upcoming movie, Twin Flowers.”

“You know what to do. Mail me the deposit and I’ll have my people watch over him 24/7.”

“You better don’t let me wait too long this time.” After the middle-aged man sent the last message, he stood up and left the hall. He headed silently towards the exit, not realizing Han Fei, at the backstage, had been following his moves.

The movie conference ended successfully. Throughout the event, the viewership was maintained at over 50000 people, that was a positive news for the crew. This was Han Fei’s first public appearance and it marked a new chapter in his life. In just 2 hours, Han Fei’s social media fans rose up to 30000. To his surprise, he realized his name was finally on the top Chinese actor ranking!

Currently, Han Fei was placed at the 10000th spot but he was the only actor who did not have any actual completed projects under his belt. He was the only one to get on the ranking with just popularity and movie trailers. The ranking was arranged by the photon computer based on various factors like fan numbers, project numbers and clicks. It was the most objective way to inspect a celebrity’s clout for it could not be manipulated by people and agencies. Han Fei’s dream was to get on the ranking because only then he’d be recognized as an actual actor.

‘I’m at the 10000th spot? I believe it’ll continue to rise after Twin Flowers is released.’ When the movie conference ended, it was already 9.30 pm. Han Fei was backstage packing when his phone rang. ‘Why is Jin Jun calling me all of a sudden?’ Han Fei had once rescued this senior paparazzi and thus had each other’s contact.

After the call was accepted, Jin Jun fired off, “Someone just offered my subordinate a high price to dig up your dirt. The person used an untraceable number but he has used my people’s service before. He always goes after celebrities who have had conflict with Wu Wu Entertainment. Therefore, I suspect this is someone important from Wu Wu Entertainment.” Jin Jun was a man of his words, he not only warned Han Fei of someone targeting him, he also provided his own analysis to whom this person was.

“Wu Wu Entertainment’s parent company is my former agency. This person appears to have it out for me.”

“That’s to be expected, Twin Flowers is going to be released at the same time as their Secret Urban Romance. Their budget is about 10 times your crew’s budget but they fail to garner the same amount of popularity as you do. Definitely, they’ll have to do something about that!” Jin Jun was the go-to person to find out about this insider information. “Also, listen to this. You were supposed to play the second male character in Secret Urban Romance but your role was replaced by another actor. But now that you have gained so much popularity by helping the police, you’re in direct competition with Secret Urban Romance’s first main character. Can you blame them for being mad? The more popular Twin Flowers become, the angrier they’ll be. If Twin Flowers becomes a box office hit, they’ll never live down this humiliation. Furthermore, the actor who stole your original role will have a hard time surviving in this industry in the future. After it was his fault that Secret Urban Romance lost a talent as big as you, Brother Han.”

“I don’t really care about how they feel. I only wish to live my own life in peace.” Han Fei still remembered what Huang Yin said. Perfect Life would enter OB soon. This game would become a second life for most citizens. The game after OB would be handled fully by the photon computer so if these people crossed the line, Han Fei would not hesitate to summon their souls to the cryptic world. Even though his Spirit Farer talent was still quite low, no one knew how it would grow in the future.

After hanging up, before Han Fei could put his phone away, another call came. When he saw the caller id, Han Fei was quite shocked. He answered it immediately. “Did those ruffians come back to harass you?” It was Qu Wenhou who called Han Fei, his mother, Qu Yun was a tenant at Happiness Neighbourhood Apartment 2.

“Brother, how come you never told me that you’re a celebrity?! I cannot believe I have had the honor of sharing cup noodles with you!” Qu Wenhou sounded so excited.

“You didn’t know I’m an actor? What kind of business did you think I was in?”

“I thought you’re with the Yakuza. You knew where to spot the surveillance blind spot and you’re such a good fighter. You’re much realer than the mafia portrayed on the tv!”

“Ha ha. You sure have a great imagination. In any case, help me keep that info to yourself, okay?” Han Fei lowered the volume. “I’m leaving the venue soon. Is there anything else, Wenhou?”

“I saw the livestream earlier. I tried to defend your name on your behalf but no matter what I said, they refused to believe me.”

“You argued for me?” Han Fei’s heart warmed. He approached Qu Wenhou just to get information about Qu Yun. He did not expect to cultivate this friendship out of it.

“If it was me on that stage, I would have cried. I don’t know how you manage to keep your head up high even after going through so many things. Not only that, you will not hesitate to help others along the way as well.” For a moment, Qu Wenhou sounded far beyond his years. “In any case, thank you for everything you’ve done! I will go back to school tomorrow, thank you for being such an inspiration!”

“Good luck, study hard and get into a good university. Make your mother proud and leave those bullies in the dust!”

Han Fei chatted a few minutes longer with the young man. After he hung up, a strange feeling bubbled within him. He never expected that one day, others would see him as inspiration. All along, he thought he was someone who radiated negative energy. There was nothing about himself that was worth replicating in others. ‘When did this change happen to me? Was it from the moment I picked up that Iyashikei game?’

 

Happy Dragon Boat Festival