Chapter 640: Complaining

"Unforgettable tonight, unforgettable tonight..."

"No matter how far the horizon..."

Amid the unchanged ending theme song, the 2019 Pig Year Spring Festival Gala finally ended successfully.

It was a complete performance with not a single mistake.

But the word "perfect" only held up the "complete" part.

As for beauty, it certainly wasn't particularly beautiful.

Wen Xia watched for over an hour before heading upstairs to play games; Su Yu didn't hold out much longer either.

As for Luo Quan, she sat in front of the TV only to fulfill her duty—mainly listening to the Gala while constantly scrolling through Bilibili's live stream of it on her phone.

The Gala ended, but with the new year just begun, most young people still had plenty of energy and hadn't gone to bed yet.

Luo Quan took this opportunity to go live, with the stream title: How to Evaluate This Year's Spring Festival Gala?

This time, she wasn't offering her own evaluation—she wanted to hear what her fans thought.

The stream's Redu was lower than usual, but the barrage comments were extremely dense; it was clear everyone had been holding back and was eager to start venting.

"In the past, comedians hoped the audience would laugh."

"Now, comedians wish everyone would burst into tears."

"The core of comedy is tragedy—that's how art works."

"But I don't want to watch art—I just want something vulgar that can make me laugh."

"Then why are you watching the Gala? (dog face)"

"True, the Gala no longer has these things."

"Last year was still pretty good—why did it suddenly turn into this this year?"

"It's been like this for years; last year was just an exceptional performance, and this year is a return to normal levels."

"Wasted several hours of my time—I should've just watched Bilibili's Gala."

"Those idol stars lip-syncing were actually entertaining—they made me laugh, better than the skits."

The stream was flooded with mocking and sarcastic comments; not a single supportive barrage appeared.

Clearly, the quality of this year's Gala was poor and sparked widespread viewer dissatisfaction.

Interestingly, while the stream was full of criticism, Weibo's trending topics were harmonious, all praising the Gala's stages as stunningly beautiful and spectacular.

Truly a scene of peace and prosperity.

Fans asked Luo Quan for her opinion, but she merely shook her head: "What's there to say? I didn't even watch it. But as a traditional Chinese New Year program, the Gala's quality isn't actually that important."

"What people truly enjoy is the feeling of family reunion—the so-called 'New Year atmosphere.' Even if the Gala is terrible, the whole family can still watch it with delight."

"Low emotional intelligence: The Gala is so bad I can't even complain about it."

"High emotional intelligence: Without the Gala, there's no New Year atmosphere."

"Haha, looks like Luo Quan has a strong survival instinct."

"After all, it's CCTV's program—you can't just freely criticize it."

There were things Luo Quan couldn't say, but the barrage comments had already voiced them all for her.

She hadn't watched the Gala, but the TV's audio had been playing the whole time.

Even so, not a single segment made her look up—clearly, this year's level was what it was.

But that's normal; it's a program with many restrictions, trying to cater to every age group across the nation.

Unlike Bilibili, which can do whatever it wants.

So it's understandable if it turned out poorly.

But netizens weren't as forgiving as she was.

The next day, the Some Zhihu question "How to Evaluate This Year's Spring Festival Gala?" surged to the top with over seventy million views.

Netizens used various subtle expressions to vent about how terrible and disappointing the program was.

So much so that many had lost all hope for next year's Gala.

Of course, despite saying that, when next Spring Festival draws near, people would inevitably still harbor a sliver of hope.

In short, this year's Spring Festival Gala was over, and for many, it was a relief.

Quality was one thing; avoiding mishaps was another.

For Gala performers, the latter was what mattered most.

As the New Year's bell rang, the Spring Festival officially began.

Many films in the Spring Festival season had already launched at midnight, including domestic works led by The Wandering Earth.

Also included were Hollywood blockbusters led by The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Farewell My Concubine wouldn't be released for a few more days, so no new updates had emerged yet.

Everyone had expected this year's Spring Festival season to be a massacre dominated by The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

But no one anticipated that The Wandering Earth had become the current box office champion, earning 120 million yuan in just half a day—over 100 million more than The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Its reception was also excellent, hailed as the pinnacle of domestic sci-fi cinema, with both plot and special effects described as explosive.

As word of mouth spread, more and more people headed to theaters to witness this domestic sci-fi masterpiece.

Although The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was also a grand-scale spectacle, most Chinese preferred to support The Wandering Earth.

By the end of the first day of the Pig Year, The Wandering Earth had earned 320 million yuan in box office, with its opening-day revenue second only to Wolf Warrior 2.

Notably, the lead actor in both films was Wu Jin.

Undoubtedly, Wu Jin had once again silenced all those who doubted him.

The proof was clear: those who put genuine effort into their work succeed—adding mainstream themes to films has never been a drawback.

No one expected a film dismissed as a flop to dominate the entire Spring Festival season.

From now on, Wu Jin would officially become the undisputed king of box office appeal in the Chinese-language film industry; whenever he released another movie, no one would dare say they didn't believe in it anymore.

Meanwhile, netizens turned their attention to another film yet to be released.

"What is Luo Quan doing?"

"Has Farewell My Concubine been released yet?"

Related topics remained pinned to the trending list.

In fact, Farewell My Concubine was already scheduled for release on the fourth day of the New Year; netizens were just overly eager, hence the repeated questions.

As for what Luo Quan was doing.

On New Year's Day, she did nothing but lie in bed all day.

In her words, the New Year holiday was the most relaxed and joyful time of the year.

No work-related matters could disturb her during this period—wasn't there a song that went like this?

Right, it was called:

"I'm not working tomorrow—I'll be as lazy as I want."

Luo Quan remained in this state all day.

Of course, only for one day—on the next day, she immediately went to the photo studio she'd booked to shoot her fans' first New Year photo set.

As someone in China, she had to wear clothing with Chinese themes.

This time, she chose a martial arts hero theme—specifically, a female swordsman.

To achieve this, she specially used the hair dye gifted by her system to dye her hair black at home.

This would reduce the sense of incongruity.

After all, the only Wu Xia character with her hair color was probably Master Xie Zun, the Golden Lion.

Black hair certainly aligned better with mainstream Chinese aesthetics.

After dyeing her hair, Wen Xia and Su Yu were both visibly surprised, saying she looked like a completely different person.

She naturally had black eyebrows and black eyes; once her hair turned black, her Caucasian features became far less noticeable.

Her nose was indeed high-bridged, but most Chinese stars, after makeup and highlight contouring, also sculpted their noses to appear straight and defined.

Similarly, Luo Quan could use makeup to soften her sharply angular facial contours into something more rounded and gentle.

It was just a matter of applying more powder—makeup's purpose was exactly this.

After all the adjustments, she truly became a stunning beauty radiating classical Chinese charm.

Of course, there was still a touch of exotic flair—but that was definitely a plus.

"I always said it—she has Chinese blood, how could she not resemble a Chinese person at all?" Luo Quan looked at her reflection in the mirror and said contentedly.

This version of herself certainly had a unique allure, but it came at the cost of twenty minutes of makeup—impossible to maintain daily.

But the photos from this shoot would surely shock many.

After getting ready, Luo Quan changed into her outfit at the studio and began a two-hour photo shoot.

Shooting photos wasn't enough—she had to add music too, otherwise it would feel dry and incomplete.

By the time everything was finished, it was nearly six in the afternoon.

On Wen Xia's end, some photos had already been released as a teaser.

They showed Luo Quan's back: a cascade of jet-black hair, with a shimmering light strip running through it, highlighting her shampoo-ad-level hair quality.

"Can you guess who this is?"

Wen Xia added a question beneath the photo with no real mystery.

Even though her hair color had changed, everyone was already very familiar with this silhouette.

Who else could have such an incredible waist-to-hip ratio besides Luo Quan?

So netizens recognized her at a glance.

Damn, the first thing I'm doing for the New Year is dyeing my hair black.

New look unlocked—I've been wanting to see Luo Quan with black hair for ages.

Wait, you guys figured out who it was just from the back view?

That dumbbell physique—only Luo Quan could have it. Wen Xia and Su Yu don't get this kind of nutrition.

Wen Xia and Su Yu said they're feeling very gan.

Seeing these comments, Wen Xia was both amused and exasperated—she'd been tagged for no reason.

But what they said was true, so there was no point arguing.

The pre-release hype was excellent; online discussions had already exploded.

Fans familiar with Luo Quan's habits were already waiting for her new work.

Whenever she pre-releases, it's always around 8 p. m. —she posts photos, songs, and videos, and she always posts all three together!

She's always followed this routine; the pre-releases are only a few hours ahead.

Sure enough, at exactly 8 p. m., Luo Quan updated her Bilibili status with a new video and photos, and simultaneously, QQ Music released a new song—"Bright Moon, Endless Horizon."

Fans opened the video immediately, eager to see Luo Quan's new look.

But that single glance felt like crossing a thousand years of time.

On screen appeared a female swordsman clad in a white martial robe, her right hand gripping a sword, her snow-white, exquisite face framed by eyebrows as sharp as blades.

At first glance, you'd never guess she was a foreigner—she was unmistakably a Han Chinese female swordsman.

In the video, Luo Quan also performed a breathtaking sword dance at lightning speed.

Her movements were fierce and dashing, elegant yet powerful, beautiful and combat-ready.

Though she slashed at empty air, no one doubted her skill.

Even if surrounded by enemies, with that sword in hand, she could still cut through the ranks.

Especially her eyes—beautiful as a painting, yet laced with ferocity.

It made people recall a line of poetry:

"A hall full of flowers intoxicates a thousand guests; one sword's glow chills nineteen provinces."

She was the intoxicating flower—and also the icy blade.

These two traits didn't clash; instead, together they complemented each other perfectly, hitting the sweet spot of countless fans.

Before this, no one had imagined Luo Quan could pull off such a look—and portray a Han Chinese female swordsman with such authentic flavor.

This look would fit perfectly in any Wu Xia drama; it could almost serve as the standard female Wu Xia costume template for domestic productions.

But this was only the first look.

Luo Quan had prepared a second one.

Still Wu Xia-themed, but this time she wasn't a swordsman—she was a queen.

When Luo Quan competed in the World's Most Beautiful Contest's three-part challenge, TCC had launched many polls about her.

One question was: What kind of Luo Quan do you like best?

Some preferred her cute, clingy vibe.

Others liked her gentle older-sister vibe.

Some favored her cold, queenly vibe.

And the cold, queenly vibe received the most votes—consistently, both domestically and abroad, a global consensus.

With her appearance and height, Luo Quan was meant to be a queen.

And her previous similar looks had indeed received tremendous praise.

So this time, she was repeating her old trick.

But in Chinese terms, this look shouldn't be called "queen"—it should be called "sect leader."

Dressed in red, with lavish makeup, her look was none other than the female version of Dongfang Bubai, the sect leader.

Previously, a Hong Kong actress had delivered a groundbreaking portrayal of Dongfang Bubai, originally written as a man.

She preserved the woman's beauty while incorporating dominance, merging both into a cinematic classic, widely acclaimed.

Luo Quan's recreation matched the original's aura and surpassed it in beauty.

As soon as this look appeared, the video's danmu exploded—both male and female fans were overwhelmed.

"Aaaah! It's the sect leader—those eyes are so commanding!"

"Why do I suddenly feel like a stan girl?"

"I admit I'm biased—I'm completely obsessed with Luo Quan. I'd do anything she asks right now."

"Queen, hehe, my queen, please whip me hard."

"Wrong—it's the sect leader, and her weapon's a embroidery needle."

"Just watch me stab you."

"I unilaterally declare my name is Yang Lianting."

"Damn, you're fast."

This time, the danmu was utterly chaotic.