As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm.
By the same logic, people who stay up all night also get to see some fun.
With yesterday’s wrap-up of the “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate” filming kick-off ceremony,
the reporters went back and immediately started writing their articles, putting together the first reports about the movie as quickly as they could.
Because it was being marketed as the country’s first 3D IMAX movie, and the world’s first 3D IMAX martial arts film,
plus, with the star power of Director Tsui Hark, Jet Li, and Zhou Xun being involved,
this drama had already grabbed the attention of countless internet users as soon as filming began.
They all clicked into those news articles to check it out.
And what left the strongest impression on them was none other than Jiang Nian, who made his grand entrance at the end.
Looking at Jiang Nian, dressed in his costume, walking slowly onto the stage with that proud look on his face,
the barrage of comments just exploded.
For a moment, you couldn’t even see the video screen; you had to turn off the barrage comments just to appreciate Jiang Nian’s stunningly beautiful face.
“High energy warning ahead!”
“Holy crap, so handsome, freaking awesomely handsome!”
“So this is the actor playing Yu Huatian? He’s way too good-looking.”
“Honey, how come you secretly ran off to act without telling me? Come back home with me!”
“Oh my god, his acting is so vivid, it gave me goosebumps. Forget everything else, just because of him, I’m definitely watching this movie.”
“Same here. The director really put his heart into making this drama, especially with Yu Huatian. That look in his eyes—three parts coldness mixed with one part nonchalance, plus four parts arrogance and two parts ambition.”
“??? Is that you, Pie Chart? Is that you?”
“Haha, what a great ‘pie chart’ analogy, so incisive. You’re something else.”
“So here’s the question: who is this guy? I don’t remember seeing him at all. Is he a new face in the entertainment industry?”
In the barrage comments, people were endlessly discussing Jiang Nian.
They were not only amazed by his acting but also curious about his background.
Because many people noticed that before today, they had never seen Jiang Nian on screen at all.
And yet, such an unknown, insignificant newbie in the entertainment world could deliver such a perfect performance on his first appearance and land the role of ‘Yu Huatian’—it’s hard for anyone not to be curious about him.
Curiosity is a powerful motivator.
It drove people to do some digging.
And during that digging, Liu Kai’s incident came back into the public eye.
“Brother Liu, Brother Liu, it’s exploding!”
At ten in the morning, Liu Kai, who had been out partying all night and was sleeping with his arms around a young model, was woken up by his agent’s urgent voice.
He groggily got out of bed, opened the door, and with sleepy eyes and an impatient tone asked, “What is it? What’s all the shouting about so early in the morning?”
His agent replied anxiously, “Brother Liu, our Weibo is blowing up.”
“What’s wrong?” As soon as he heard there was a problem, Liu Kai snapped awake, walked out of the room, looked at his agent, and frowned: “Did you post something you shouldn’t have?”
“No.”
“Then did someone expose something about me?” Liu Kai asked again.
“No, not that either.”
“Then why is it blowing up?”
Liu Kai didn’t get it.
Since nothing had happened, why was his agent yelling like that?
“Just… just see for yourself.”
The agent didn’t quite know how to describe it, so he handed over his phone.
Liu Kai took it and looked closely.
He saw that in the comment section under his Weibo post, there was an overwhelming flood of comments all asking about the incident a month ago when Jiang Nian beat him up in the villa.
Liu Kai: “???”
He didn’t understand why such an old story was being dug up again, so he scrolled through the comments.
Then he found out that the reason for this was all because Jiang Nian had landed a role in a new movie.
Some sharp-eyed netizens recognized Jiang Nian as the guy who had beaten up Liu Kai a while back, and that’s why they came to his comment section to have their fun.
Seeing that name he hated appear again,
and this time as an actor,
Liu Kai’s mood turned absolutely terrible.
“Who? Who’s so blind? Who dares to disrespect me, Liu Kai?!”
He demanded to know, his tone very unpleasant.
His agent swallowed nervously and said cautiously, “Brother Liu, it’s… Director Tsui.”
“Director Tsui?” Liu Kai frowned.
“Yes, Director Tsui Hark.” The agent nodded.
Hearing this, the anger on Liu Kai’s face froze for a moment.
If it were some minor director, he could rely on his connections, background, and resources to pressure them into kicking Jiang Nian out of the crew.
But Tsui Hark…
This man’s status, position, background, and resources in the entertainment industry—even Liu Kai’s father would have to be respectful and give way to him.
“How did he get in touch with Director Tsui?”
“Is his role in the movie very important?”
Liu Kai pressed on, not ready to give up just yet.
The agent naturally knew what he was planning and gave a wry smile: “Brother Liu, it’s very important. He’s playing the main male villain. And more importantly, with all this online buzz right now, what should we do? Should we respond, or…”
Liu Kai rubbed his brow: “Don’t worry about it. No matter what netizens say, just ignore it. Wait for this to blow over. And you, arrange for someone to keep a close eye on him. He got lucky this time, sneaking into Tsui Hark’s crew. But after this, I don’t want anything like this to happen again. Got it?”
“Yes!”
The agent nodded, then left to take care of the tasks Liu Kai had given him.
Meanwhile, back on the set.
Jiang Nian had been practicing his [Sword Breaking Technique] all morning, raising it from Beginner (73/100) to Beginner (81/100).
Just as he was getting ready to push through and break it through to the “Proficient” level today,
“JJ Lin’s ‘Coca-Cola’ song – ‘Great big chicken steak, so big, so big…'”
His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.
He pulled out his phone. The director was calling.
“Hello, Teacher Jiang, where are you?” Tsui Hark asked.
Jiang Nian took a deep breath: “I’m on the set, practicing martial arts. What’s up?”
“Nothing much, just that we’ll be filming your scenes soon. Giving you a heads-up,” Tsui Hark said.
Jiang Nian understood: “Okay, I’ll go get my makeup done right away. Hold on.”
With that, he hung up and hurried to the makeup room.
He washed his face and wiped off his sweat.
Jiang Nian grabbed his costume and randomly found an empty changing room to go in and change.
But just as he was halfway done changing,
“Click.”
The door made a soft sound, and Jiang Nian looked over reflexively.
The next second, the door swung open, and Zhang Yuxin, who played Consort Li, walked in with her costume in hand.
Their eyes met.
“???”
“???”
For a moment, both of them just froze, rooted to the spot.
Consort Li looked at Jiang Nian, whose clothes weren’t fully changed yet, and was confused: “What… what are you doing?”
Jiang Nian looked bewildered: “What am I doing? I’m not doing anything! Wait, no, I was in here first changing! What are you doing?”
