Part 4 of Chapter 49
This chapter is brought to you by Celestialsiren, thanks for the ko-fi! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･
Do You Still Hate Her? 39 – Becoming popular through a character trailer
Three days later, the official Weibo account for <Life’s Journey> released the first official trailer.
@TV_Drama_Life’s_Journey(V) : [A Hundred Years of Life, Full of Twists and Turns, a Long Road Ahead, with Light in the Distance.]
The three-minute trailer connects various stories from the perspective of the female lead, leaving countless suspenseful elements, intertwining themes of family, friendship, and love, as mysteries and different life paths converge at this moment.
Because it is an ensemble drama, there aren’t many scenes featuring Shang Lu. The single and group shots combined only add up to a dozen or so seconds per character. However, each frame in the post-production was carefully selected to represent each character adequately.
@Shang_Lu(V) : [Looking forward to it~ Hope to see Song Yanxue soon with everyone. // Retweet Weibo @TV_Drama_Life’s_Journey : A Hundred…//]
This Weibo post was quickly liked and commented on by fans, and fans even made crazy GIFs from screenshots of the few seconds of footage, appreciating every frame of beauty.
[Ah, looking forward to Shang Lu’s Song Yanxue! So beautiful!]
[So cool!]
[Internal news, <Life’s Journey> is a project that a certain television network is focusing on this year. The broadcast time might be earlier than expected.]
[Really? I want to see this drama today! Ah!]
At night.
The moment she saw the official trailer, Sweetie Donut opened her computer. Her desk was filled with stimulating drinks like coffee and tea, preparing for an all-nighter.
Thinking about the several times she met Shang Lu, she had to bring out better work to live up to Shang Lu praises!
The next morning, with panda eyes, Sweetie Donut finally uploaded the edited video and clicked the publish button.
@Sweetie_Donut : [She is the last withered rose nourished by blood, <Life’s Journey> / Shang Lu X Song Yanxue]
The materials provided by <Life’s Journey>’s trailer were limited, but Sweetie Donut extracted audio from Shang Lu’s audition video, combined it with beautiful wide shots and close-ups from other TV shows and movies, and edited a full one-minute video.
The video began with Shang Lu’s rose manor, a footage specially shot as per Sweet Donut’s request when Zhai Yue Liang went to shoot for a vlog. It transitioned from an aerial view of the rose manor to a close-up of an unnamed tombstone. Then, it smoothly transitioned to falling rose petals in the evening. The subsequent shots cleverly chose the dripping blood from a dagger, which was truly shocking.
The scene then shifted to the center of the spotlight, where the Best Actress trophy was displayed. The camera moved up to reveal Song Yanxue, played by Shang Lu, wearing a perfect yet numb smile like a mechanical doll.
“If your expectations of me are endless, can it all end this way?”
The line marked the end, but also the beginning.
The image changed to the silhouette of a young girl, but the transition showed her limbs bound with thick threads, controlled to imitate human walking, like a doll.
Subsequently, scene after scene in the video cleverly integrates Shang Lu’s performances from other dramas and the clips provided in the trailer, filling in some gaps they temporarily couldn’t see and depicting the controlled life of the character Song Yanxue.
And at the end of the video, after Song Yanxue kills her parents, she closes her eyes and curls up next to her mother, wanting to feel the warmth her parents never gave her through their bodies. This character is both pitiful and tragic.
The scene gets darker and darker, accompanied by a gentle but powerless voice.
“I can never truly receive your love. Then I don’t want it anymore.”
Just a one-minute video created by Sweetie Donut caused a frenzy of sharing among Shang Lu’s fans.
[Ahhh, Sweetie Donut’s work is always top-notch! So lucky to have the same idol as Sweetie Donut!]
[I could have waited patiently, but after watching this video, I went crazy. Let me see Song Yanxue! Show her to me quickly!]
[Amazing! This video really tugs at my heartstrings, I feel so sorry for this character. Shang Lu is such a talented actor, *sob*!]
Sweetie Donut’s edited video had over 500,000 views on the same day, and its momentum continued to grow. Shang Lu’s audition clips had gained high visibility due to a gossip incident, and the performance in those clips had received good reviews. The trailer did not disappoint either. This wave of attention resulted in the rare phenomenon of Shang Lu becoming popular even before the drama has been broadcast, igniting the anticipation of countless fans and casual viewers.
Marketing accounts also began discussing the level of Shang Lu’s acting in <Life’s Journey> which was full of distinguished actors as its cast.
Some fans provided their answers.
[Shang Lu’s acting? It’s quite poor, to be honest. She didn’t get overshadowed at all when she shared the screen with numerous veteran actors in the trailer. The clip of the audition she did with Ning Lin was made public, and it received overwhelming support from hundreds of thousands of people online. Screenwriter Yu Qi and Director Han Cheng openly expressed their desire to collaborate with her again. Director Yue Qi met her once and cast her as the female lead in his new film. After working with Xue Zishan and Wang Rong, they praised her multiple times. In a variety show, even Song Zeqian said she resembled Jiang Jing from the past. Senior actor Cheng Zhe mentioned in an interview that Shang Lu gave him a quite significant help in the filming of <Salvation Plan>, so she’s not that bad.]
[Redefining ‘quite poor’ and ‘not that bad.’]
[At the beginning, I was all prepared to scold, but as I read on, I couldn’t help but smile. That commenter the best! They know how to praise!]
[Is this the joy of being a fan? Lulu is amazing! I’m so proud!]
Before the trailer for “Life’s Journey” was released, no one expected that the most discussed character on the internet would be Shang Lu, the sixth female lead, a character who is not particularly positive and not usually likable.
It’s also because the production team of the whole show is of extremely high quality, and realistic themes have received countless praises in recent years, arousing even more anticipation among netizens for the entire series.
Shang Lu didn’t pay much attention to these online discussions. She returned to the set of <Salvation Plan> and continued filming.
Days passed quite peacefully.
Xue Zishan and Wang Rong came to visit the set for her and Duan Anguo, bringing a lot of homemade pastries.
As Xue Zishan took the snacks out of the food box and confirmed with Shang Lu, she said, “I remember you don’t like strawberries, right? How about cranberry cookies?”
“I can eat them,” Shang Lu nodded and reached out to take them.
However, Xue Zishan didn’t give them to her directly. She asked again, “Do you like them?”
Shang Lu pursed her lips and said, “I can eat them, but I don’t really like them.”
“Then that means you shouldn’t eat them. I also prepared chocolates and matcha. We’ll try different flavors next time,” Xue Zishan said and handed the box of cranberries directly to Wang Rong, saying, “You eat these.”
Wang Rong looked pitiful, saying, “If Shang Lu won’t eat them, you’re giving them all to me?”
“Is there a problem?” Xue Zishan asked him and then said, “If it weren’t for Lulu not liking them, you wouldn’t get a single bite.”
Wang Rong looked helpless and then looked at Shang Lu, saying, “It’s thanks to you that I got this box. She never made these for me at home. It seems that being married for so many years has led to a lack of affection.”
Xue Zishan felt a bit embarrassed and scolded him, “Are you saying you’ll go hungry one day if it weren’t for me? Are you so idle that you came here to tattle on me to the kid? You’re not having dinner tonight!”
The daily interactions between these two made Shang Lu couldn’t help but smile. When she realized it, she lowered her head in embarrassment and took a piece of chocolate chip cookie into her mouth.
It has the perfect blend of sweet and bitter, the taste was excellent.
I just want them to adopt her. I know she’s an adult but it would be nice if she had a set of parent who loved her.
the next chalter links broek 😭
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My expectations for this to become a fake daughter troupe has been destroyed by Shang Mu’s memories, but in my heart, they are Lulu’s soul parents
I got a flash speculation that she’s not really the Shang’s when this couple actor and actress introduced. But, I quickly sobered up when I remembered how much she inherited her mother’s talents and interest. The Shang’s condition and the circumstances of her birth at that time also didn’t allow a baby swapping incident. Then, her physical appearance. If I remember it right, it’s mentioned that she resemble the Shang (whether the father or thr brother, I don’t remember). But, the last hammer was Father Shang’s words about how much she resemble Mother Shang.