Chapter 17: Beauty is Coming!

One night two years ago, Bai Qingquan and Shen Jintai debuted in a limited group. A group of seven people went to participate in a charity of Harper’s Bazaar. When they were about to take a photo, Shen Jintai suddenly push him and crowded him out from the steps.

He staggered to the ground in front of a bunch of top celebrities. His scalp became numb with embarrassment. When he raised his head, he saw Shen Jintai with heavy makeup smirking at him.

He held on to the end with a smile, and when he returned to his room, he turned on the faucet and cried in the bathroom. Just after crying, the president of his official support group told him she found a pipi black* in the group who was a fan of Shen Jintai.

*Term use referring to black fans who pretends to be fans. I’m keeping it in pinyin form since I have no idea what’s an equivalent translation.

This fan was very hateful. She was obviously a black powder. She pretended to be a fan and every day would instigate his fans in the group until she was finally caught by the president.

This gave Bai Qingquan inspiration. He registered an account that night and posted Shen Jintai’s rainbow farts for a month. Whenever Shen Jintai would shoot for magazines, his fans would rush to buy them. Bai Qingquan bought 500 copies alone and was finally accepted into the “Gold Powder Family”.

He named his alt account: “Black Moonlight”.

He worked hard with his rainbow farts. Due to his familiarity with the entertainment industry, he finally became an administrator for the group. This group was full of hateful gold powder that have similar virtue likes Shen Jintai. Everyday they would flatter Shen Jintai or went to scold Bai Qingquan.

Bai Qingquan didn’t know what he did that offended Shen Jintai and his fans. He was a newly signed artist of Sunshine Media. He signed a ten-year contract with them as soon as he debuted. It was natural that Yan Qiuchi would support him! Yet somehow this offended Shen Jintai!

However, he blew rainbow farts every day ignoring his conscience, all in the name of future rewards. He devised several large-scale blackouts for the Gold Powder, and then contacted the key members of his own fan club to successfully counter* against them.

*Anti-kill (反杀) This was what was originally used = in Chinese means to kill a person for revenge. The word does not have the same meaning as it does in English.  (In English it would mean opposing killing which is not the case here). I decided to use counter as anti-kill just doesn’t flow well or make sense in the translation.

The feeling of counterattacking* was euphoric. He finally ate the marrow and knew the taste*!

*Again, word is here is anti-kill. I used counterattacking instead to keep consistency.
*Once you eat bone marrow, you will know its deliciousness. = metaphor that means people become greedy after getting a benefit.

Even after Shen Jintai left the circle, Bai Qingquan didn’t leave the group. He would still log into his alt account every other day and wander around the “Gold Powder Family”.

But now, he’s been kicked out! Why was he kicked? Bai Qingquan’s heart was beating wildly, feeling that his secret was suddenly revealed!

Where was the horse’s feet* exposed? Did he not use “Brother Jintai” sweetly enough? Was his rainbow fart not real enough? Or maybe because he didn’t scold himself enough. 

*Reminder: Bare the horse’s feet (露出马脚) = it’s metaphorically revealing the hidden truth or inadvertently leaking out inside information.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.

He can’t accept it!

This was a secret that even his agent didn’t know about. The dark and private life that he had enjoyed alone all these years is gone and he had no one to confide in!

Bai Qingquan couldn’t sleep all night. Unable to resist, he sent a message to Xiao Tang. He was very familiar with Shen Jintai’s assistant, Xiao Tang.

Bai Qingquan: [Oh my god*! Kiss kiss, Xiao Tang! What happened?!! Why did I get kicked out???]

*Original was in English.

After a while, he received Xiaotang’s reply: [Black Moonlight, I was wrong to believe in you. You turned out to be a moonlight powder!]

Bai Qingquan: [Ah??!! What the hell! Wrong! I am a loyal gold powder!!! Who is wronging me! I will confront him!]

Xiao Tang: [Brother Jin stamped it himself. He can’t wrong you.]

Brother Jin… Shen Jintai?

Bai Qingquan threw away the phone, grabbed a pillow, and covered his head. He didn’t want to live anymore. He felt like he had been stripped naked by Shen Jintai and wanted to find a seam and go in*.

*Find a seam and go in = idiom referring to feeling so embarrassed that you just want to disappear. The English equivalent is to crawl under a rock and hide.

Shen Jintai wouldn’t know that he was “Black Moonlight”, would he? Does he know?!

Ahhhhhhh, he’s dead!!

—

Shen Jintai had to go the crew today. He was waiting for Xiao Tang to pick him up early in the morning.

As soon as he got in the car, Xiao Tang said to him: “That black moonlight is really a pipi black!”

Shen Jintai: “What happened?”

Xiao Tang: “She contacted me around midnight last night and asked me why I kicked her out. I told her why, but she never responded. Later, I sent another message and found that she had blocked me. It was obvious from this that she was a thief with a guilty conscience*! Brother Jin, why do you think people’s heart are so terrible!”

*Thief with a guilty conscience = idiom meaning people who have done bad things are always afraid of being found out and feels uneasy. AKA a guilty conscience.

Shen Jintai said: “I told you she was originally a moonlight powder lurking in the group but you didn’t believe me. I estimate there are still more moonlight powder mixed in my fan groups. You must strictly review the fan base in the future, especially key members. Do not let the enemy come from the inside.”

Xiao Tang became wiser overnight and solemnly nodded: “I see, I will check all the key members of the fan base today.”

Today was the last day of the script reading. Like the first reading, all members were required to be present. He could see Bai Yueguang* again today. It was only a few days of separation, but he stilled missed him. Bai Qingquan’s beautiful and gentle face appeared in his mind. It made Shen Jintai felt relaxed.

*Clarity: Shen Jintai often refers to Bai Qingquan as Bai Yueguang (through narrations). Reminder that it’s the name given to him by his fan and remember that he currently likes Bai Qingquan.

Today he will officially start to attack the white moonlight. Thinking about this, he felt like he hadn’t chatted with Xiao Ai in a long time.

Shen Jintai: “Hello, Xiao Ai.”

With a ding dong Xiao Ai came online: “Dear, it’s been a long time since I saw you.”

Shen Jintai: “I’m going to start attacking Bai Qingquan. What rewards do I get? Is it also based on points?”

He couldn’t just try to take Bai Qingquan and make him his boyfriend without getting some kind of reward in the process.

“It was originally like this,” Xiao Ai heard his inner thoughts: “Our love system has too many rewards. Therefore we’ll apply the same discount here as the discount you have for Yan Qiuchi. However, the point system here is opposite of Yan Qiuchi. To get points for attacking Bai Yueguang, you must increase his favorability towards you. If his favorability goes up by ten, you’ll get your lips reward.”

Shen Jintai: “OK*!”

*Originally written in English.

Xiao Ai: “Friendly reminder, if you want to get as many rewards as possible as quickly as possible, you can do both sides at the same time. The points can be stacked!”

Shen Jintai: “Wow.”

Shen Jintai was in such a good mood he couldn’t help but open the car window a little bit and hummed a song. The sun was shining on his face, and Xiao Tang saw his smile through the rearview mirror causing him to smile as well.

Feeling happy and looking more energetic, Shen Jintai arrived on the crew. He smiled and bowed to Song Wei: “Teacher Song.”

Song Wei smiled and said, “You’re always here so early.”

Shen Jintai: “I’m afraid of traffic jams so I leave early, but it’s still not as early as you.”

Song Wei: “I’ve been accustomed it for many years. I like to stay with the crew. Since I’m getting old, I don’t get many parts anymore, so I cherish these moments.”

Shen Jintai: “I want to learn from you and strive to be a dedicated actor like you.”

As the sun was getting higher actors started to file in. Beauties and hotties could be seen getting out of different luxury cars one after another showing a colorful scene of the entertainment industry. Whenever Shen Jintai sees such a scene, it made him even more motivated. He likes the feeling the showbiz industry gave him. Its’ world was infinitely vast. As long as you work hard to climb up, you can reach greater heights.

This was the beginning of his career as an actor. He will continue along this path and prove to Yan Qiuchi that he can do a good job at acting!

“Are you all here?” Guo Ruijin came in and took a look.

“Our Zhou Jing hasn’t arrived yet,” the staff member said.

They have started calling the actors by the names of the characters in the drama. Zhou Jing was the male lead played by Bai Qingquan.

Guo Rui said, “Then wait a little longer.”

Shen Jintai remembered that he wanted to modify some scenes, so he got up and chased Director Guo to his room.

Shen Jintai: “Director Guo, do you have time? I wanted to talk to you about the script.”

Guo Rui pulled a chair out and sat down: “Let’s talk about it.”

Shen Jintai proposed his idea.

The screen writer had written Li Xu’s role to be extremely solid. The lines and plot were fine, but there was one issue that was common in domestic dramas. It was the kind of villain similar to “sisters turn against each other*”. In the beginning, he had to be a kind little white rabbit*. Only after being mistreated badly did, he learn how to fight back.

*Sister turn against each other = this saying arises from parents treating their children unequally. When parents favor one child over the other, resentment will brew which could eventually make them turn on each other.
*Little white rabbit = this is in reference to the story of The Kind Little White Rabbit (you’ll have to use google translate to read the story). The TLDR: Day after day the little white rabbit goes out to pick mushrooms and every day was asked by different animals if they can have it. He innocently obliges without any scruples, so he never have enough mushroom to make his soup. But whatever, he can still happily eat carrots. Eventually all the animals came to his house and thank him for the mushrooms. THE END.  Morale of the story: Our lives are gradually bewildered by interests, and the vanity of external beauty is inflated. Therefore, the more we must be sincere in such a world, it will make people become optimistic, make people smile, and make people’s hearts more beautiful.

“I have two points. First, the heroine’s personality of transforming from a white lotus* to a black lotus*. Li Xu’s and her transformation are virtually identical. It’ll make the character persona look repetitive. Second is Li Xu’s descent to becoming dark and twisted. I think it’s already in his nature to learn towards the dark side. Such a person should not start off as a white rabbit. The scenes showing him as a white lotus, I think should be deleted. This will make his character deliberate from the beginning and will create a mutual contrast effect with the male protagonist, Zhou Jing.”

*Reminder: White lotus = use to describe a person who looks innocent
*Reminder: Black lotus = opposite of a white lotus. Someone who’s scheming and conniving.

Guo Rui scratched his nose and asked the screenwriter Meng Xiaosheng who came in when he was talking just now: “What do you think?”

Meng Xiaosheng looked at Shen Jintai and asked: “You don’t have many scenes in the first few episodes. Are you sure you want it deleted?”

Shen Jintai nodded: “Even if some scenes are deleted, the effect will make the characters more vivid and concise.”

All actors wanted to add scenes, but it was rare for one who would ask to have their scenes deleted.

Guo Rui discussed with Meng Xiaosheng and agreed to his request.

“I saw your script,” Guo Rui said with a smile: “You did your homework very carefully.”

Shen Jintai: “The book is so good. I dare not ruin Teacher Meng’s hard work, and I dare not disappoint your trust.”

Who said that Shen Jintai had a big temper and is difficult to get along with? This did not ring true at all!

Guo Rui and the two of them returned to the study room and found that Bai Qingquan still hadn’t come.

“Call his agent and ask what’s going on,” Guo Rui said.

Brother Wei answered the phone and looked at Bai Qingquan in the car: “I’m waiting for you to get out of the car. Do you want everyone to say that you’re a diva?”

Bai Qingquan’s face was hot. He didn’t have the courage to see Shen Jintai!

Did Shen Jintai know that he was “Black Moonlight”?!

It stands to reason that the chance of knowing should be very low. Even if it was revealed that he was a moonlight powder, he shouldn’t be able to identify that “Black Moonlight” was Bai Qingquan himself. Knowing Shen Jintai’s personality, this matter would have been exposed a long time ago.

“What’s wrong with you?” Wei Ge’s expression became severe.

Bai Qingquan pursed his lips, took a breath, and was about to get out of the car when he heard a familiar voice shouting: “Qingquan!”

When he looked up, he saw Shen Jintai looking at him with a smile, standing in the sun, with a white shirt and black pants. His eyes were hot.

Bai Qingquan became embarrassed, and his face blushed slightly.

Because of his embarrassment, the feelings of disgust and hatred have faded, and the favorability has risen from a negative number.

“Ding dong,” Xiao Ai suddenly went online: “Congratulations dear! I noticed that Bai Yueguang’s favorability for you has greatly improved, and it can no longer be judged by numerical values. The reward for your lips will be given out immediately!”

Shen Jintai: …!!!

The author has something to say:

The first step to becoming beautiful!

Kinky Thoughts: My heart aches for Bai Qingquan, especially at the beginning of the chapter. I’m liking his character more and more. So cute! Truly worthy of being a White Lotus (and maybe a little bit of the bitch part)!!!!

Side note: If you read my notes on The Kind Little White Rabbit or read the actual story… all I got to say is, what terrible story to apply to the morale. My inner thoughts when reading the story was: ‘What a dumbass rabbit. This story is about a naïve rabbit being taken advantage of by all the animals in the forest. And STILL he doesn’t learn. They got mushrooms, he got a thank you. At least bring him a fucking cabbage or something!’… Thus I suppose begin the blackening of the little white rabbit…