CSGM - Chapter 89
Chapter 89: A Miscarriage of Justice
Someone was intentionally smearing Chu Xi and sabotaging the crew's relationships.
The Director went to find Chu Xi and showed her the maliciously distorted rumors and photos online.
The Director had a question about it.
"Who did you offend this time?"
Although Chu Xi had a good memory, she really couldn't recall this particular instance.
The two of them sat on folding chairs on set. The Director was completely bewildered, while Chu Xi was nonchalant.
"I've probably offended quite a few people," Chu Xi said. "Unintentionally. How would I notice?"
Just like that trainee at the boot camp who drugged the horse, getting in someone's way could also offend them.
The Director was silent. "..."
She was quite self-aware.
"But the angle and distance of this photo..." Chu Xi glanced at the Director's phone screen and sneered.
"What do you mean?" the Director asked, looking at her intriguing expression.
"It should be the same person who filmed the beverage video, and they're part of the crew. They have a habit of placing their phone around their waist when taking secret photos, with the lens pointing up, pretending to just be passing by," Chu Xi deduced.
The Director quickly looked through a few saved photos. Upon closer inspection, it was true.
If you looked closely at each photo, you'd find they were all taken from a low angle, looking up.
Chu Xi was incredibly observant and quick-witted. The Director looked at her with admiration.
"Master detective, can you figure out who on the crew is secretly taking pictures of you?"
This kind of person had to be purged!
For some reason, the Director just felt that Chu Xi could do it.
It seemed that for anything that left a clue, she could pick up on the slightest trace and follow it to the truth.
She must have watched a lot of "Sherlock Holmes" as a child, right? As the Director's mind wandered, he heard Chu Xi's calm reply.
"You can deal with them once I find them. It's not the first time, anyway."
What?
Again?
What did "again" mean?
But before the Director could voice his confusion, Chu Xi stood up. "Break's over. Time to get back to work."
Filming was a long and tedious job. Perhaps for other actors, experiencing the lives of different characters was a novel and exploratory experience, but for Chu Xi, there was no such thing.
She had already experienced 99 fast transmigration worlds. Having seen so much, she had absolutely no curiosity left for the fictional worlds and plots in scripts!
As for what some actors called "exploring the character's inner world," she found it even more absurd and couldn't understand it.
Two living people face to face couldn't even be sure what the other was thinking, yet they were supposed to imagine the thoughts of a fictional character? How interesting.
They sounded like impractical dreamers.
The Director was also very curious.
Every time, Chu Xi broke character incredibly fast. The moment he yelled "Cut," she was out of it.
But Chu Xi's acting was excellent; she handled the atmosphere and sense of immersion very well. Usually, this type of immersive actor would inevitably have a few instances where the scene ended, but they were still stuck in the emotion, unable to recover.
But the Director had never seen that happen to Chu Xi.
It was probably because her mind was too rational. Compared to the more artistically inclined actors, she was the type to analyze the script with logic.
It wasn't that this type of emotionally detached actor hadn't appeared before.
But there had never been one like Chu Xi, who could deliver such a powerfully immersive performance.
Previously, the Director had thought it was a matter of approach.
Now, he had an epiphany.
It wasn't about the difference between artistic and rational approaches at all. It was that the actors who had taken the rational route before simply weren't skilled enough!
Chu Xi's performance could be described as flawless.
Although she wasn't like some veteran actors who completely immersed themselves in the character the moment the camera started rolling, but-
The characters she portrayed were always logically consistent, which gave them the greatest sense of realism.
No abrupt images, tones, or actions; no sense of disconnect from a real person. On screen, she was a living character.
In the camera's lens, Guan Hai seemed to be that high-spirited young general.
But in his expressions and mannerisms while conversing with his subordinates, there was not only confidence in victory but also compassion for the common people caught in the chaos of war, and worry for the gravely ill leader of the Yellow Turbans.
With flawless logic, the character's image naturally became three-dimensional and complete.
It's just...
After getting drawn into the performance and calling "Cut" on the satisfactory scene, the Director snapped back to reality!
"Chu Xi! Who told you to eat all the food?!"
In the scene, there was a banquet in a military tent. Before they started rolling, the Director had reminded her not to actually eat the food. They had to conserve it in case they needed another take and didn't have replacements.
But as soon as the camera rolled, Chu Xi, while delivering her lines, took the opportunity to eat the roasted chicken and rice on the table.
But she didn't touch a single bite of the vegetables!
So had Chu Xi heard his instructions? It was as if she had!
The Director was fuming.
No wonder that last scene felt so immersive and real! It was because Chu Xi was actually wolfing down meat, building up her strength!
The glint of oil around her mouth was the perfect finishing touch for the camera, completely selling the military banquet atmosphere!
A crew assistant brought over a napkin. Chu Xi wiped the grease from her mouth and pursed her lips, as if still savoring the taste-
It would be nice to have more scenes like this. Usually on set, she could only eat fat-reducing, muscle-building meals. Her tongue was about to atrophy. The roasted chicken tasted so good!
Seeing her satisfied expression, the Director rolled his eyes, both annoyed and amused.
Seeing that she had actually gotten to eat roast chicken, the other main actors stared at the prop food on the table and swallowed.
- So nice, why did I forget to sneak a bite just now?
- The brave really do get to enjoy the world first!
- Our mouths have been bland for over six months, we've almost forgotten what barbecue tastes like. We should have followed Chu Xi's lead! One bite wouldn't make us fat, right?
The Director saw the expressions on some of the actors' faces and felt even more helpless. He quickly called for the stage manager.
"Clear the food, quickly! This take is good, on to the next scene!"
Thank goodness they got it in one take, or he would have had it out with Chu Xi!
Chu Xi even consoled him, "You can let anyone suffer but yourself."
The Director shot her a fierce glare.
Just shut up!
The day's shoot went smoothly, and for once, the entire crew managed to get home before midnight.
The Milkshakes were still fighting hard online to counter the negative press, unaware that their idol had gone home, collapsed into bed, and was sleeping soundly through the night.
【Why is everyone in such a hurry to curse people and the crew? Is your life that bad? Don't you have anything else to do? Have you fulfilled your work obligations? Have you contributed to society? Or do you just treat the anonymous internet as a place to vent your hostility, desperate to find a moral high ground to condemn others? You don't even know the cause of the incident. Are you cursing people for your own selfish desire to find a sense of existence, or do you really think you're enforcing justice?】
【When you don't know the full story, can you please refrain from commenting?!!! Does attacking Chu Xi every day make you feel superior??! /[Cracking up]】
【My unlucky little actress is either being slandered or on the way to being slandered. /[Crying with laughter]】
But many more netizens still believed the facts were right in front of them.
It was a fact that Chu Xi had the crew pour out perfectly good drinks, and it was a fact that the crew did it. What was there to argue about?
Moreover, neither the crew nor Chu Xi herself had surfaced to say anything. Wasn't that a clear sign of a guilty conscience, that they were planning to handle it with silence?
Just as one netizen directly questioned:
【If there's really an inside story, then why hasn't anyone come out to explain it yet? It's been so long, and they're still silent. Isn't that a guilty conscience?】
The fans supporting Chu Xi were speechless:
【What do you mean, so long? /[Confused] It's only been five hours. We don't even know if the crew has finished filming a single scene. You can't be unaware of how busy a film crew is, right? Does not replying instantly mean you have a guilty conscience? What kind of gangster logic is that?】
A netizen replied from afar:
【There are so many people on the crew, and not a single one is online? Chu Xi's company and team aren't online either? Don't tell me they don't know about this. It's already violated public order and good customs. If they don't come out and explain immediately, what are they waiting for? If you say the crew isn't preparing for silent PR, I'll be waiting for you to eat your words tomorrow. /[So happy]】
The "silent PR" method was used by quite a few celebrities after a scandal.
To put it bluntly: play dead continuously, wait for the incident to blow over, and then resurface when things are calm, pretending nothing ever happened.
The main point was to exploit the fact that "the internet has no memory."
This time, netizens had a gut feeling that Chu Xi and the crew most likely wouldn't respond. Seeing no sign of a response after so long, they assumed the shamefully wasteful crew was planning to play dead and wait it out.
Hmph! Tsk!
The Director collapsed on his sofa at home, scrolling through social media with a frown, getting angry.
What "playing dead"? What "silence"? He had agreed to let Honghua do their PR first, and then the crew would clarify the inside story.
He was giving a business partner a chance!
These people online were so quick to assume the worst.
He really should learn from Chu Xi's good habit of not going online. It would save him a lot of anger!
Thankfully, twenty-four hours wasn't long. By tomorrow, he could soundly slap the faces of those who had accused the crew and Chu Xi of being wasteful!
Honghua Special Drinks was also very proactive, not wasting any time or opportunity.
It hadn't even been twenty-four hours. In just twelve hours, in the shortest time possible, they issued a public statement.
- The main reason was that two incidents of drinks with rodent marks had been discovered at offline retailers, which was pressuring them. The matter was urgent and could no longer be suppressed.
Once Honghua's official Weibo post went up, all the surfing netizens were stunned by the surprise!
They never expected such a twist!
They had suspected Chu Xi's abuse of power, the Director's character, even that there was a mole in the crew, but they had never suspected the seemingly intact Scholar Ox drinks!
The next day, Honghua Special Drinks took the initiative to admit that in one of their factories in the Capital, they had discovered some "substandard" drinks, a rat's nest, and traces of rodent activity.
They further explained that some of the drinks under the Honghua Special Drinks brand, specifically those shipped from that factory, might have been crawled on or bitten by hidden rats!
The earliest a rat was detected was ten days ago. Honghua Special Drinks was now recalling all drinks shipped from the Futai District factory this month and compensating customers who bought the "rodent-marked drinks."
This included Chu Xi and her crew.
Gratefully, Honghua mentioned this point for the Three Kingdoms crew.
The inside story of the "waste" incident was finally revealed-
It turned out that the seemingly intact Scholar Ox cans in the crew's possession had actually been bitten by rats!
Truly, you can't judge the truth with just one glance!
Now the Director could finally vent his frustration. He immediately posted the Weibo message he had edited long ago, even attaching some behind-the-scenes footage the publicity department had happened to record.
- Thank heavens they had this, otherwise he wouldn't have known how to vindicate Chu Xi!
It included Chu Xi's full, original words after she said, "Pour them out."
The Director slapped the faces of both those who took things out of context and those who believed others too easily!
With Honghua's official PR statement first, followed by Director Yang Huiming's personal Weibo post with the full video, the one-two punch landed two hard "smacks" on the faces of the malicious haters.
The voices that had been clamoring "Waste is shameful, boycott the immoral artist" one minute fell silent the next, becoming an embarrassing historical record.
Who would have thought the truth was that the drinks were contaminated! It was perfectly justifiable for the crew to pour them all out, right?
No, wait. Netizens gradually felt "justifiable" wasn't the right word. It should be "absolutely necessary"!
Come on, it was rats! Drinks bitten by rats!
If they didn't pour them out, would you drink one if it was free? Who would drink that?
Knowing that those disgusting, dark, gutter-dwelling creatures had touched it with their germ-covered bodies... forget pouring it out, some people who hated rats felt that sending the cans to a crematorium to be burned to ash wouldn't be going too far!
Gag-
Suddenly, it felt like Chu Xi and the crew had it pretty rough, huh?
First, they bought drinks contaminated by rats and were grossed out. Then, an edited video led to a misunderstanding online, and they were bombarded with insults from netizens, suffering a day of cyberbullying for nothing.
Ah, this...
【Huh? So I'm the malicious netizen from the novels? /[Facepalm]】
【Holy crap, rats, so disgusting!!!】
【I can totally understand them now. Last time I found a cockroach in my kitchen cabinet, I replaced the cabinet and all the bowls the next day. /[Crying with laughter] It's mainly just so disgusting, the psychological effect of thinking about those dirty things crawling over everything makes me lose my appetite...】
【It's not a psychological issue, it's that rats and cockroaches carry a lot of bacteria!! You could get a fatal infection!】
Speaking of how disgusting rats were, it was simply outrageous!
Even when relayed over the 5G network, some people could almost empathize with the crew's feelings at that moment.
It must have been extremely depressing, nauseating, and dizzying!
In the full behind-the-scenes video, you could even hear people making "gagging" and "retching" sounds.
It was pitiable just to hear...
【Such a big deal, why didn't you guys say so earlier? If you had, who would have cursed you? This is so tragic. /[Crying with laughter]】
【Why do I get the feeling someone was maliciously guiding this? Chu Xi's words weren't even fully recorded. If they had just released the second half of her sentence, she wouldn't have been so rashly criticized...】
【Just the usual tricks of unscrupulous media. They love to fan the flames and make things bigger. /[Smile] It's just pitiful Xixizi, her ability to attract haters is second to none.】
This whole episode with Chu Xi had the distinct flavor of a wrongful conviction.
She had clearly said: "Pour them out. Don't just throw them away. There are a lot of scavengers around here. It would be risky if someone else picked them up."
But what the media released was: "Pour them out..."
Only the first three words!
They had brutally cut a considerate, kind, thoughtful, and meticulous suggestion into the words of an immoral artist who deliberately incited waste and acted tyrannically on set!
Unbelievable!
Could the paparazzi get any more unscrupulous these days?
And now, the netizens who were keeping up with the news were actually a little moved after hearing Chu Xi's original words.
People always say this and that is wrong with celebrities, that they're a class above, that they don't know what real life is like. But in reality, Chu Xi's handling of the drinks clearly showed consideration for other groups.
She was even worried about the many scavengers outside Film City, considering that people unaware of the situation might pick up these contaminated drinks, which is why she suggested pouring them out.
They couldn't stand it. After comparing the full version and the edited version, the netizens themselves were indignant on Chu Xi's behalf!
Ahem, although some of them had been bitching about Chu Xi just yesterday...
But! That didn't stop them from continuing to curse and complain today!
【I'm fucking speechless. You media outlets edited a good person into a major villain! /[Confused]/[Confused]】
【Yesterday I thought Chu Xi and the crew were the classless ones, now I know you dog media are the immoral ones!】
【Good thing I deleted my Weibo post quickly, no one saw me dissing Chu Xi yesterday, otherwise I'd look like an idiot, being led around by the nose by you marketing accounts... /[Crying with laughter]】
【Fuck! You reminded me, I'm deleting my comment from yesterday too. This whole thing was a major intelligence drop. /[Angry]】
【First, I apologize to Chu Xi. Second, the media that posted the castrated version of the video needs to apologize to ME!!!】
【Xixizi's name has finally, finally, finally, finally been cleared. Do you know how tiring it is to be her fan every day? /[Bitter smile]】
First, Chu Xi was guilty. Then, Chu Xi was innocent. Later, as the reversal of public opinion fermented, Chu Xi became noble.
A noble celebrity who pays attention to the scavenger community.
- The Evolution of Chu Xi, curtain call.
【Seriously, I'm crying. Kindness really is our Xixizi's true color. /[Bitter smile]】
The fans who had never wavered from the beginning were even more moved. Their big sister was such a beautiful and kind-hearted little angel!
They really hadn't stanned the wrong person!
With the major issue clarified, most netizens' opinions of Chu Xi quietly changed for the better.
It seemed Chu Xi wasn't... as heinous and morally bankrupt as the gossip made her out to be, right?
But there were still some buzzing voices that wouldn't stop, trickling out after the main wave had passed.
The rumors about Chu Xi bullying people on set and acting like a diva despite being a small-time actress still lingered.
These voices even seemed poised to stir up a new wave, trying to attract netizens' attention again while the topic was still hot.
Jiang Zixi had also never expected this. What happened to the dirt on Chu Xi? How did it turn out to be a misunderstanding!
The informant she'd paid was too much! Deliberately slandering Chu Xi to fool her!
After spending all that money, not only did Chu Xi's reputation not fall, but her popularity was even trending upward because of this "miscarriage of justice."
Some netizens, out of guilt, had actually started following her!
This was undoubtedly a case of trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait. How had she ended up helping Chu Xi instead?
This wouldn't do!
Jiang Zixi didn't even have time to settle scores with the informant who had screwed her over. She quickly bought a water army to push the popularity of Chu Xi's previous on-set scandals.
She hoped the public would take advantage of their current focus on Chu Xi to understand clearly what kind of person she was.
Bullying actors, questioning the director, oppressing the screenwriter, disrespecting assistants-these were all things Chu Xi had done!
After dealing with the Scholar Ox drink incident, the Director used his free time to have the publicity department create an official Weibo account for the Three Kingdoms crew.
Chu Xi had already identified the Field Logistics Assistant who was constantly twisting facts and sowing discord.
After he kicked this person off the crew, the Director also wanted to make a statement about the minor scandals flying around online.
The actors in his crew were all people he had personally supervised for six months of training. Their crew relationships were excellent! There wasn't all that bullshit the internet was talking about!
Also, the rumors had gotten so ridiculous he couldn't stand to watch anymore.
The key point was, if they slandered the protagonist like this, the box office would probably suffer when their movie was released!
The Director found a time when he wasn't busy and had the publicity department release the crew's statement-
The first sentence was that they were the crew of the movie Three Kingdoms Prequel: Yellow Turban Rebellion, and Chu Xi was currently filming with them.
In the middle was a speechless and angry explanation of the facts.
The last sentence was that the person who secretly filmed and spread rumors had been identified by the crew and would face legal consequences. From now on, if anyone else used false information about the Three Kingdoms crew to cause trouble, they shouldn't blame the crew for pursuing legal action to the fullest extent!
After all, it was the first Weibo post since the official account was established, and it would be the first impression left on the public. The Director said it had to be tough!
The official Three Kingdoms crew account personally entered the fray to debunk the rumors, refuting the claims that Chu Xi was acting like a diva on set. Netizens who had been following this scandal flocked over to see what was going on.
Let's see what kind of statement the crew had posted this time.
In the netizens' impression, official anti-slander statements were usually dry, tasteless, long, and boring. It was often a case of "listening to you speak is like listening to you speak."
The explanation is- some slandered artists would often release a long essay, a lengthy piece that looked like it had a lot of words, and then... you'd find that was all it was! You'd read it and realize they hadn't said anything of substance, especially not about the incident itself. The clarification was toothless, the whole thing was just a slippery eel using clever words. It was the same as not explaining at all!
These were common PR tactics for public figures!
So when netizens originally came to read this essay from the Three Kingdoms official account, they had no great expectations and even anticipated a piece of high-sounding, nonsensical literature.
But... it seemed it wasn't what they expected?
After reading the explanation of the facts in the middle, why did it feel like it was serious, yet with a hint of absurdity, and within that absurdity, a hint of humor?
What the f...!
Who could have imagined that the rumors about Chu Xi that had been circulating all this time were actually like this-
Fellow Actor: I had a lot of scenes today. Chu Xi saw my armor was inconvenient and reminded me to be careful when walking.
Paparazzi: Chu Xi warns a supporting actor who's stealing scenes to be careful.
Screenwriter: Chu Xi said that revising the script before bed affects sleep quality.
Paparazzi: Chu Xi forbids the crew's screenwriter from sleeping, demanding overnight script revisions.
Extra: I said I needed to take a shit. Chu Xi told me to be quieter because there were a lot of people around and it would be embarrassing to be so loud.
Paparazzi: Chu Xi forbids an extra from her group from speaking, finding him embarrassing.
Director: Chu Xi's action performance wasn't up to standard, so I was scolding her.
Paparazzi: Chu Xi arbitrarily changes action choreography and gets into an argument with the director.
This... is how the rumors spread and turned into the diva, Chu Xi!
The netizens who had come over calmly, clicked open the post, and read it, almost all stared at the text on their screens, their mouths twitching in dead silence. Their reactions were remarkably uniform.
Speechless!
【Dropping a single 6...】
Which media outlet's paparazzi is this? They should go write a book and stop wreaking havoc in the entertainment industry, okay?!
Oh, and I almost forgot the classic miscarriage of justice from a few days ago!
Chu Xi: Don't let scavengers pick up these risky drinks.
Paparazzi: Take all the drinks and pour them out.
Different tunes played with equal skill! One look and you could tell these fake rumors came from the same school of thought!
Aaaaaah, damn it! Does this mean that not a single thing they'd been cursing Chu Xi for these past few days was correct?
Oh my god, you psycho media outlets, are you trying to turn us all into Chu Xi's guilt-fans?!
In the trending topic #ChuXiGuiltFans#, a crowd of netizens gradually gathered, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
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