The "Qingying Guards" across the entire internet, ard with eight-fold magnifiers, began a pixel-level analysis of the interaction history between Gu Huai and Su Qingying on Weibo.
"Sisters! Pay attention to the timing! Su Qingying liked the post nine minutes after Gu Huai posted it!"
"What was she doing during those nine minutes? Was she hesitating? Or confirming the news internally?!"
"Among the male actors she has worked with before, who could be called an 'old friend'? And it has to be Gu Huai's old friend! That narrows the field down significantly!"
"I just did a deep dive! The term 'old friend,' in classical poetry, often carries more of a sense of 'destined soulmates across the horizon' than just an old acquaintance!"
"This ans this mysterious person has had a very profound connection with both Gu Huai and Su Qingying!"
"Oh my god! I don't even dare to think! Who on earth is this mysterious person!"
Jiang Ci, at the eye of the storm, was completely unaware of all this.
In the hotel room.
He watched calmly as Sun Zhou spun around the room like a top, muttering under his breath.
"Bro! It's not that you're trending! It's that 'mysterious person' who's trending! You are currently the biggest living gossip in the entire entertainnt industry!" Sun Zhou held his phone high, the screen displaying the trending chart.
Jiang Ci didn't respond, simply reaching out a hand towards him.
Sun Zhou was stunned for a mont, thinking his artist had finally been awakened to worldly concerns by the public opinion and wanted to check on the storm outside. He hurriedly handed the phone over.
Jiang Ci took the phone.
His fingers moved deftly across the screen.
Settings.
Teenage Mode.
Activate.
The entire sequence was executed in one fluid motion, so fast Sun Zhou's pupils didn't even have ti to focus.
"Bro! What are you doing?!" Sun Zhou stared at the "Teenage Mode Activated" prompt that popped up on his phone screen, feeling utterly shattered.
Jiang Ci handed the phone back to him, speaking in a serious, instructive tone.
"To prepare for an exam, one must be free from distractions."
"Pre... prepare for an exam?" Sun Zhou's tongue almost tied itself in a knot. "Bro! I'm begging you! What exam? The Entertainnt Industry Gossip Knowledge Level Proficiency Test? You are the test bank itself right now!"
He was on the verge of a breakdown. Grabbing his phone, he practically shoved it in Jiang Ci's face, pointing at the blood-red "EXPLOSIVE" tag.
"Look at this! #WhoIsWorthyOfSuQingyingsYeChen#! #DaylightEntertainntMysteryPerson#! You! You are that mysterious person! The entire internet is fighting over you!"
Jiang Ci remained unmoved.
He casually picked up a brand-new notebook and a pen from the table and handed them to Sun Zhou.
This action cut Sun Zhou's tirade short.
"Since we have so free ti now," Jiang Ci said in a flat voice, "there happens to be a preliminary research project for a new role that requires your assistance."
Sun Zhou: "...?"
"The core of the project is 'Research on the Correlation Between Kiss Scenes and the Efficiency of Triggering Audience Emotional Breakdowns.'"
"Huh??"
Completely ignoring his assistant's dumbfounded reaction, Jiang Ci continued laying out the requirents.
"The research needs to cover several dinsions. First, analyze the shot types, angles, and cara movent techniques in classic film history cases, and how they maximize visual impact."
"Second, focus on analyzing the subtle changes in the actors' facial muscles during the half-second before and after lip contact, and how they convey the progression and breakdown of emotion."
"Third, quantitative analysis of audience emotional feedback. Go to major film review sites and social platforms, study the highly-liked comnts, and analyze the empathy trigger points for audiences when they see different types of kiss scenes."
Sun Zhou completely gave up on thinking.
He stared blankly at Jiang Ci, feeling like he wasn't facing an actor, but an anti-social scientist about to conduct a precise experint on human emotions.
Seeing no reaction, Jiang Ci added another sentence, with a touch of encouragent.
"This is academic preparation for core professional competency. It must be taken seriously."
Sun Zhou, utterly resigned, opened his laptop and, with a sense of humiliation, typed a line into the search bar.
"How... to make audiences emotionally break down over kiss scenes."
After typing, he buried his face deep in his hands, letting out a groan from between his fingers.
In the following days, Jiang Ci completely entered a near-ascetic "monk-in-a-film-crew" mode.
He blocked out all external information.
His life was simplified to the extre: hotel, film set, a straight line between two points.
Apart from filming, all his ti was spent studying the scripts for *The Lurker* and *Longing Across Ti*.
The level of imrsion and focus, the sheer efficiency of it, gave the entire crew a sense of eerie awe.
The rumors about Jiang Ci within the crew also grew increasingly bizarre.
"Did you see it? Today, during a simple dialogue scene, I kept feeling he still carried a lingering scent of blood from the day 'Xiang Yu took his own life.'"
"Right, right! I felt it too, it's creepy."
"The contrast is just too insane... A few days ago, watching him play the Hegemon marching to his death, I cried so hard I almost hyperventilated. Today, watching him chat with soone, I was so scared I almost hyperventilated."
"That 'surgical-style acting'... I don't think it's a school of acting. It's that he himself... has so major issues..."
Jiang Ci was completely unaware of these whispers.
He was simply greedily absorbing the essence of each character, making his final preparations for the next grand harvest.
Ti, in this strange yet highly efficient atmosphere, arrived at April 9th.
*The Legend of Han and Chu* crew welcod the final scene for the character of "Xiang Yu."
The night before the Battle of Gaixia.
Inside the massive tent, the lamplight was dim and yellow.
Jiang Ci, clad in tattered armor, stood alone before a huge military sand table.
The face that once brimd with high spirits now held only a weariness and emptiness, as if all vitality had been drained from it.
The entire set was dead silent.
All the crew mbers, whether from the lighting departnt or the production assistants, subconsciously held their breath, watching quietly that solitary, mountain-like figure.
They felt they weren't watching an actor perform.
But a true hero, slowly walking towards his destined end.
Ti ticked by, second by second.
Jiang Ci had no lines, no major movents.
He simply stood there.
Bidding a silent, final farewell to this world he was about to lose.
Finally.
Wei Song's voice cut through the silence.
"Xiang Yu, wrapped!"
The two words fell heavily.
After a brief mont of silence, the people on set spontaneously rose to their feet.
They paid their highest respects to the figure still standing before the sand table, not yet out of character.
They applauded.
For the "Hegemon" they believed was truly one of a kind.
And for the indescribable, extre shock brought by this sacrificial performance over the past period.
That night.
Back at the crew's hotel, Jiang Ci had just washed away the fatigue of the day.
Lin Wan's call ca through.
"Jiang Ci, we just received final confirmation from Daylight Entertainnt."
Lin Wan paused.
"*Longing Across Ti*."
"The official announcent ti for the male lead..."
"Is set for tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."
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