Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Chapter 490: Chapter 273: Album! “Cicada Green” and “Summer of Green Forest” Fantastical Collaboration, Fans: You three…

Xu Qingyan left, but the filming on set had to continue.

Gazing at the table full of dishes, Luo Yuexiu couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. She wasn’t unaccustomed to fine dining; she often visited Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels for meals.

If asked whether there was anything she hadn’t eaten, there was indeed quite a lot.

Female stars always had to maintain their figures, especially an actress like her who depended on acting for a living. Although she had many dietary restrictions, she always saw good food without it necessarily passing her lips.

Now, she had been captivated by the aroma of the dishes for nearly half a minute.

Luo Yuexiu vaguely remembered, she had once played a similar scene. She acted as if she tasted her mother’s cooking from a plate of food, but it was all an act.

Besides, she didn’t have a mother, having relied solely on her father since childhood until he passed away a few years ago.

Now, she actually smelled a familiar aroma from the table of food, those were dishes her father often cooked. Sometimes, for convenience, he would even make them rather carelessly.

Memories always managed to alter her emotions and play tricks on her. After calming herself, Luo Yuexiu approached Director Wei Wufeng and asked,

“Director Wei, may I try the food from that table?”

“What?” Wei Wufeng snapped back to reality.

He had actually been daydreaming, stunned by Xu Qingyan’s cooking skills. Initially, he just wanted to give Xu Qingyan a hard time, a bit of petty revenge.

Xu Pluck-Skin, the stingy dog of a producer!

But how could Wei Wufeng know that Xu Qingyan wasn’t bragging? When that fluid and graceful stir-frying technique came into play, he was completely mesmerized.

The skill of his stir-frying, that wok hei, the burst of flames… he was expecting to see Xu Qingyan flustered and messing up, but damn, he ended up encountering a professional giant.

“I want to try the taste of the food that Teacher Xu cooked, I promise not to make a mess,” Luo Yuexiu said gently.

“Oh, of course, you can.” Wei Wufeng nodded, readily agreeing.

As for Luo Yuexiu’s request, as long as it wasn’t too excessive, he would try his best to accommodate her. After all, she had taken a pay cut, which was a big concession.

Xu Qingyan, the casual cook, had already left and didn’t know that after Luo Yuexiu tasted the food he had swiftly prepared, she turned around and posted it online.

…

In an office building in Capital City,

Yu Yao opened her phone and happened upon Luo Yuexiu’s post. They didn’t have much in common; their paths only crossed because they shared an agency and had collaborated twice.

“Producer Xu… What kind of crew has Luo Yuexiu joined that’s so shabby?”

She scrolled down and stopped at a familiar name, pausing abruptly.@@novelbin@@

“Xu Qingyan?”

Just then, the female assistant knocked on the door, and after being allowed in, she reviewed the schedule with Yu Yao. During the conversation, Yu Yao casually inquired,

“Do you know what drama Luo Yuexiu is shooting?”

The assistant blinked, not too surprised. After all, Luo Yuexiu had collaborated twice with Jia Hang’s artists, so it was normal for the boss to take an interest.

She pushed up her black-framed glasses and smiled, saying,

“Yes, I heard she joined a small crew. This news even trended a few days ago!”

Yu Yao exhibited a knowing look, tapping her fingers lightly on the desk as she gazed down and asked,

“Can a small crew afford Luo Yuexiu’s salary?”

“That I don’t know. Perhaps they spent big money, wanting to use Luo Yuexiu as a publicity stunt,” the assistant said nonchalantly, “But there’s something strange about this crew.”

“What’s strange?”

“They look pretty poor, perhaps they spent all their budget on hiring Luo Yuexiu.”

Yu Yao nodded, signaling the assistant to leave. She didn’t think much of it initially but then instinctively felt something was off and pulled out her phone to sift through Luo Yuexiu’s past posts.

“Promotional photos… ‘The Legend of Martial Arts.'” she murmured, opening a search engine and encountering two clickbait articles, “Wei Darui’s son directs a small crew, a certain director comments it’s a waste of effort.”

“Wei Darui,…” Yu Yao frowned, as there were few in the entertainment industry who didn’t know Wei Darui.

Wei Darui was most famous for his numerous awards, and the other was for having a son whose films flopped whatever he shot. It couldn’t exactly be considered flopping; it was more like being mediocre.

Wei Wufeng’s films had fare better box office returns than those arthouse directors, yet were utterly outperformed by several young directors who transitioned from comedy, and he was overwhelming crushed.

His last movie with an eighty-million budget was up against ‘Witch’s Spicy Hot Pot,’ and its box office performance was a complete debacle, leading to a rapid defeat.

Yu Yao remembered Wei Wufeng’s furious reaction at the time, venting online, claiming the other party was shameless and played dirty, prying open the coffin of the cinema of Xia Country.

This series of extreme comments resulted in Wei Wufeng experiencing a massive online backlash, after which he could only switch to directing TV dramas, which also bombed.

Yu Yao didn’t agree with this; ‘Witch’s Spicy Hot Pot’ was never made for men in the first place. From the outset, its target was crystal clear, aimed at young female audiences.

No matter how much men disliked it, it didn’t affect its core audience. Those who loved it found the film’s thought profound, believing that the men who didn’t get it simply lacked taste.

Rejecting male gaze, rejecting being labeled. This was where the film excelled, and what broke Wei Wufeng’s defense the most; he couldn’t refine his audience.

But such a feel-good film was fated to leave no lasting impact and would vanish like all short-lived shows after the initial thrill wore off. In the end, this wasn’t real cinema, but a form of cultural extremism.

One contradiction after another, it was about slapping sisters’ faces, ex-boyfriends’ faces, and every scumbag’s face in between. The process was completely wrung out, using the logic of fighting crazy with crazy for the ultimate thrill.

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