The police investigation still required time. During the Lunar New Year, Xia Weiliang’s two special variety shows were broadcast, and she continued to perform at a high level.
It was strange, really. She wasn't the funniest, nor could she compare to Sister Hua and Brother Cheng, who were veritable joke machines.
But she and the entire team had a peculiar harmony, and she was skilled at setting up jokes. Especially after filming several episodes with the Tie family, their chemistry grew. She would toss the setups, and Brother Cheng and Sister Hua would always catch them!
As for Ruirui, his role was simply to be beautiful and cheerfully oblivious.
The comedic effect was always immense!
For Xia Weiliang, the top priority was the release of "Picking Up Again."
Originally, this type of period war film wasn't quite suited for the family-friendly Lunar New Year slot. However, it couldn't resist Director Zhou's directorial status, the film emperor's box office appeal, and the fervent support of her fans. Spring Festival pre-sales were far ahead.
Xia Weiliang was extremely nervous and didn't dare to open Weibo to check reviews.
When Nuomi wanted to look, she stopped her, "No! Don't look, don't look! I still want to see the beauty of this world a little longer!"
"Sister Weiliang, you're too nervous. Even if your performance isn't good, what does it matter? At worst, you'll get scolded. Besides, you're not the lead. Proportionally, they can't possibly scold you for the entire film!"
"...Is that supposed to be comforting?"
Brother Yuan walked closer, glanced at her, and said, "It's a statement of fact."
While she was still agonizing over it, her phone rang.
Seeing it was Deputy Director Wang, Wang Qiancheng, her heart leaped to her throat. The phone kept ringing, and finally, Brother Yuan couldn't stand it and walked over to answer it directly.
"This is Song Yuan... Mm-hmm, understood."
The call ended.
Xia Weiliang's eyes widened. "Th-that's it?"
"That's it."
In situations like this, the outcome could usually be predicted.
Xia Weiliang lay down on the sofa, placing her hands together over her chest. "...If I can get scolded even in Director Zhou's movie, should I just retire from the film industry?"
Nuomi, who was looking at her phone, casually replied, "I don't know if you can retire, but... it seems your fans won't allow it."
"Sigh, you know those little darlings. Whenever I perform poorly, they'll scold me along with outsiders, paving a way for me to come back..."
Truly a labor of love!
Nuomi stared at her phone and slowly said, "'Picking Up Again' breaks the 1 billion mark. The film emperor's performance remains dazzling. Newcomer Xia Weiliang—"
"Stop! !"
Xia Weiliang grabbed a cushion and covered her ears. "I don't want to hear it! Don't tell me!"
She reached out to call Song Yuan again. "Brother Yuan, book me a ticket to Planet Namek! This Earth is no longer suitable for me to flaunt myself!"
Song Yuan was quite decisive. He came over, snatched the cushion away, pinned her hands, and forced her to listen.
"Read it!"
"Roger that!"
Nuomi cleared her throat. "Newcomer Xia Weiliang's presence is stunning, her performance is surprising, and her future is promising."
"Listen! You guys listen! They say I'm surprising. It's just one word away from being shocking! They say my future is... is what?"
Nuomi covered her mouth and chuckled. "Promising!"
"Is that 'promising' as in 'deceiving'?"
Song Yuan sat opposite her. "Deputy Director Wang just said that you main actors need to be active on Weibo these days, especially you."
"Wh-why?"
Xia Weiliang stared blankly at her, her reaction slow.
"He said the entire internet is praising you, so you have to come out and thank them?"
"The en-entire internet... praising... praising me?"
Xia Weiliang was genuinely dizzy, feeling as if she were floating. "You didn't buy it, did you?"
Nuomi giggled. "This is the Spring Festival slot! Buying trending topics at this time would be like a public execution. Everyone has eyes, and their opinions are reviewed by all age groups. Buying it would only invite mockery."
"But... Rong Rong Sister and Chu Qiao are there. How could it be my turn?"
Song Yuan thought for a moment. "Perhaps the expectations for you were too low, and they were even prepared to scold you. Seeing that you were decent, it became a surprise."
Nuomi nodded in agreement. "Brother Yuan's explanation is reliable! It shows that starting from a low point isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Some public accounts had analyzed this reason, and Xia Weiliang's scenes were indeed very popular, especially the shot of her smiling through tears amidst a sea of flowers, which was breathtaking!
"Ha! Hahaha!"
Xia Weiliang suddenly burst out laughing, startling the two of them. When they looked at her again, she had sprung onto the sofa, hands on her hips, laughing uproariously at the sky.
"See? This is talent! It's talent!!"
Nuomi stated factually, "Uh, actually... it's just okay. It can't really be called talent."
Brother Yuan: "Mm."
"What you two say doesn't count! Only what the people praising me say counts!"
Xia Weiliang was truly high on her success.
She even dared to log onto Weibo!
Seeing the trending topics about her, Xia Weiliang read them repeatedly, read them aloud, and then shook her head with a knowing smile. "These words... they understand me so well."
"Exactly, that's the kind of person I am! Everything they say is absolutely right!! Hahahaha..."
Seeing this, Song Yuan manually booked tickets. "Afternoon, the three o'clock showing."
"Hold on, brave warrior!"
Xia Weiliang tried to stop her but couldn't, and suddenly felt a little flustered. "We can just go watch, right? It's a bit awkward to watch myself act."
Especially her scenes with Xiao Yi.
"If you can accept people praising your acting, what else can you not accept?"
"Brother Yuan... your mastery of rhetoric, must it be so outstanding?"
"My pleasure."
Song Yuan didn't stand on ceremony. After booking the tickets, she pulled the two of them to the cinema. As for Little Jinzi, she had been picked up by Su Hui early in the morning, who said she was taking her shopping with Xia Chengye. Little Jinzi didn't object and left holding their hands.
The cinema was packed.
Xia Weiliang, dressed warmly and wearing a hat and mask, mingled between Nuomi and Brother Yuan, incredibly nervous.
There were audiences all around them, chatting while waiting to enter.
"Empress has a beautiful face, no doubt. Her small face is perfect, but I don't believe she has acting talent."
"Exactly, I must see for myself to verify!"
After floating in her success, Xia Weiliang also calmed down. That's right, what they said was correct!
She admitted to being beautiful, but acting talent...
She shivered.
Could it be that Xiao Yi had paid people to praise her across the entire internet?
She quickly took out her phone, opened WeChat, found the unchanging "。" and asked directly: 【Did you spend money?】
A single, abrupt sentence.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yi was able to respond perfectly: 【Lack of confidence in yourself, or lack of confidence in my judgment?】
Xia Weiliang thought for a moment: 【Neither.】
【The former is permissible, the latter is not.】
【So...】
【Deservedly so.】
Looking at these few words, Xia Weiliang felt a pang of unease.
Had she truly earned it?