Chapter 67 Part 3
After most of the scenes had been filmed, Bai Ruogu’s body finally recovered. He rushed to the set to catch up on progress.
Once he finished filming this scene, the web drama could be released. In the future, they would film and broadcast simultaneously, adjusting the plot based on viewers’ reactions.
The emperor died when Wei Huan was twelve, and the entire nation mourned. In the eyes of outsiders, the empress, who seemed to only respect her husband, followed him in death shortly after.
The emperor and empress were buried together. Crown Prince Wei Yang was ready to take the throne, but then something happened.
Before his death, the emperor had left an edict, loyal ministers, and an army, all for Wei Huan. After his death, Wei Yang was unprepared and saw his younger brother being supported by civil and military officials as he ascended the throne.
That day, Wei Yang, who had been groomed as the heir for nearly twenty years, knelt alongside the officials during the new emperor’s coronation. He bowed his head, once held high above all others, and shouted long live the emperor to the person who had once followed behind him, calling him “Royal Brother”.
As his hand touched the cold marble floor, Wei Yang looked at the reflection on the ground and smiled.
At that moment, as everyone knelt, a pair of small shoes stepped into his view.
A small hand lifted his shoulder, and a childish voice said, “Royal brother, get up. Even though I am the emperor, you are my dear brother, my favorite person.”
Wei Yang, bent over, found his forehead level with the small figure before him. The boy’s innocent gaze shone brightly, his admiration clear.
After filming this scene, they had a two-day break. Meanwhile, <Dusty Life Palace> premiered at midnight on the first day of the break.
For others, these two days were a vacation, but for Bai Ruogu, they were busier than usual filming days.
This was the first web drama produced by their company, the second project overall. Whether they could establish their name depended on tonight.
That evening, netizens were exceptionally active. Millions of people were waiting in front of their smart brains, counting down the hours until midnight.
Among the anxious netizens were not only Bai Ruogu’s fans but also many fans of the original work.
In recent years, many major IPs had been poorly adapted, making <Dusty Life Palace> fans particularly worried. With previous disappointments in mind, they were prepared, as long as it wasn’t too bad, they were willing to support it financially.
An hour before midnight, the platform collaborating with Xingsu was already crashing, forcing technicians to work overtime. The executives were confident that with such data, the drama would definitely be a hit.
On the internet, fans and haters clashed, with a large number of netizens engaged in heated debates.
[OMG, I’m so nervous! I’m both an original fan and a fan of the lead actor. I really hope this drama turns out well.]
[The program team is really a pit. Couldn’t they release more trailers? I have no idea what to expect.]
[Original fan here. I’ve already accepted the worst. As long as it’s not too bad, I can force myself to watch it.]
Because Bai Ruogu and Xingsu rose to fame so quickly, they attracted a lot of jealousy, and negative comments from haters poured in endlessly.
[Hmph, nine out of ten remakes flop. I bet this drama is doomed. Don’t get your hopes up.]
[I heard many actors in this drama were pre-selected, and many of them are newbies with unknown names. My goodness, can they even act? They must be desperate for money.]
[I’ve read the original. If Bai Ruogu can capture even a tenth of Wei Huan’s essence, I’ll wash my hair upside down and call him da on my knees.]
[Trash drama. I’ll hate Bai Ruogu for life, no explanation needed.]
Fans immediately fired back.
[Don’t speak too soon. When the drama airs, we’ll see who laughs last.]
[Haha, your jealousy is so strong it’s seeping through the screen.]
But no matter what, as time passed, midnight finally arrived.
In fact, <Dusty Life Palace> wasn’t the only show premiering at this time. Two other highly anticipated dramas were also launching on neighboring platforms.
It’s just that the lead actor, Bai Ruogu, has relatively high national popularity, which leads to everyone constantly discussing his topics.
Mu Qiuqiu was a hardcore fan of the original <Dusty Life Palace,> especially the main character Wei Huan. Her house was filled with fan art of Wei Huan, and her desk was cluttered with fan merchandise.
Even her friends jokingly called her Wei Huan’s number one superfan.
She always hoped <Dusty Life Palace> could remain pure and not become just another moneymaking tool for capitalists.
Then this year, when she heard it was being adapted into a web drama, she was nearly furious.
She locked herself in her bedroom, and sitting at her desk, she looked at all the Wei Huan fan items and couldn’t help but cry.
She had always been fragile, crying over the smallest things.
But this time was different. This wasn’t a small matter. Her long-time beloved character was being played by someone she didn’t know.
She heard the actor was very good-looking, most likely just a pretty face.
This made Mu Qiuqiu so angry that she almost tore up her book. As a result, she didn’t hesitate to become a member of the anti-remake faction on Star Network.
She had never seen the so-called <Light Years>, but she had only one thought: she absolutely could not let others destroy the image of Wei Huan, whom she cherished.
However, she was just a small internet user. Even though her family was relatively wealthy, it was impossible for her to stop the big companies.
Despite all her efforts to prevent it, <Dusty Life Palace> still premiered.
Mu Qiuqiu spent the whole night fuming. As she watched the overwhelming number of messages about <Dusty Life Palace> online, her feelings began to change subtly.
With just 10 minutes left until midnight, she pouted and finally opened the interface for <Dusty Life Palace>.
Clutching her figurine, she leaned in front of the smart brain and stared at the countdown, feeling mostly unwilling.
As the time approached, midnight finally arrived, and the screen lit up with the opening theme.
“The long night sky, an empty scene…”
This couldn’t be fast-forwarded, so Mu Qiuqiu could only watch the screen. However, when the opening scene appeared, her eyes widened. She didn’t want to miss any part of it.
The story began with a man in white standing atop a high mountain, overlooking the world. He smiled, and then it started to snow.
The snow was heavy, covering footprints, bloodstains, and bodies… eventually blanketing the crimson plum blossoms.
When the snow appeared, Mu Qiuqiu immediately covered her mouth and almost cried.
The story featured many snowy scenes, but every snowfall was accompanied by the death of a supporting character, which completely struck her emotional chords.
Heaven, what kind of magical filming, magical special effects, magical post-production… it was simply 100% perfect recreation.
The snow kept swirling around the man in white. The camera first showed his upright figure from behind.
When that silhouette appeared, Mu Qiuqiu froze. She stared blankly at the fan art on the wall and then back at the screen.
Is this… Wei Huan?
At first, she couldn’t believe it. When the camera focused on those deep, ancient-looking eyes, Mu Qiuqiu shivered.
She jumped out of bed, staring at the screen in a daze. She suddenly bit her lip, her eyes welling up.
This… this was exactly how she had imagined him.
Every subsequent scene shook Mu Qiuqiu. As the opening credits reached the halfway point, she suddenly remembered and frantically started taking screenshots.
Oh my, all the effort she put into thinking up different poses every day to commission artists for… Does she even need to hire an artist now that she’s looking at this person? Any screenshot you take would be a ready-made picture.
The more she screenshot, the more she felt that this drama was necessary, completely fulfilling all her imaginations.
By the time the opening credits ended, Mu Qiuqiu was caught off guard.
She almost smashed her smart brain in frustration. How could the opening credits end so quickly? She hadn’t had enough!
However, the plot had already begun, so Mu Qiuqiu reluctantly watched the first episode.
She hadn’t realized how much it exceeded her expectations until she watched it! Besides rounding up some scenes, the plot was mostly uncut.
Regarding the image quality, Mu Qiuqiu could only say that her imagination was rather lacking. The visuals were far more detailed than she had imagined, with each shot delivering an unusual impact.
As for the actors…
When it came to this, Mu Qiuqiu could barely contain her excitement! The casting was truly divine. Could it be that the director had invited the character themselves to play the role?
The most successful casting, surprisingly, was her beloved Wei Huan?!
As a die-hard fan of Wei Huan, Mu Qiuqiu was already picky. But she hadn’t expected that this actor would completely satisfy her!
Watching the drama made her feel disoriented, as if she couldn’t tell whether the actor was playing Wei Huan or if Wei Huan was modeled after the actor.
She wiped her drool while looking at the calm and composed young man on the screen. His gaze was both calm and innocent, as if he had really lived through a whole era.
Today’s drama only aired two episodes, and Mu Qiuqiu felt as if she had merely taken a sip of water and the drama was over in an instant.
Mu Qiuqiu: ???
She shook her smart brain in disbelief. When she confirmed she had indeed finished watching, she almost cried out loud.
Her heart was pounding, and when she scrolled down, she discovered that the show only had these two episodes per week.
Mu Qiuqiu: …
Meanwhile, the book fans of <Dusty Life Palace> were buzzing, chattering excitedly.
[Wow, incredible! Have you all watched the web drama?]
[Of course, it shocked my whole family.]
[Wow, compared to the disastrous remakes next door, our luck is truly against the odds! What kind of divine drama team is this?!]
[Okay, I take back my earlier diss. This is simply the best remake I’ve ever seen.]
Bai Ruogu’s performance in this drama completely outshone the other actors, earning him a lot of fans from the original work.
At this point, a bunch of haters were still causing a ruckus online. A lot of them hadn’t even watched the web drama and were just spreading rumors.
[Tsk! I thought it was supposed to be a good drama, but the production was terrible, and the actors were even worse. As a fan of the original work, I really couldn’t stand it.]
The person thought they would gather a group of like-minded individuals, but instead, a large number of original work fans rallied against them, almost causing the haters group to break apart.
[Passerby A: ??? What did I just see?!]
[Sweet Donut: Haha, this haters clearly didn’t do their homework.]
[Weather: Don’t blame everything on us original work fans. As a fan of the original work, I was very satisfied with Bai Ruogu’s portrayal of this character.]
[Upstairs +1, I really like Bai Ruogu. He is exactly the Wei Huan in my mind.]
The people who liked this drama were not just fans of the original work, many were first-time viewers of the web drama.
Li Mumu was also a fan of the original work, but her mother was watching the drama for the first time.
That night, her mother stayed up late to finish watching the drama, and the next day, Li Mumu heard the sound of someone binge-watching.
Her curiosity was piqued, and when she discovered that it was her mother watching the drama, she immediately slapped her thigh and said with a humph, “Weren’t you always saying that I shouldn’t watch these kinds of things? You even said they were not suitable for kids. Why are you watching it now?”
Her mother’s face turned slightly red, and she sternly said, “You’re a child, and I’m an adult. It’s different for us!”
Li Mumu was furious, but her mother then quietly added, “I have to say, this drama is actually quite good.”
Li Mumu: …