Chapter 153: Not Drinking Coconut Juice Means You're a Mole (Bonus Chapter, Begging for Double Monthly Tickets)

The movie version of "Weiwei" pulled in fifty million yuan on its opening day.

Relying on the film's own strong word-of-mouth, pre-release publicity, and the leading stars' massive drawing power, its box-office share was nearly one-third, attendance rates stayed red-hot all the way through — a textbook case of "highest cost-performance ratio" at the box office.

For a fantasy romance, this result is dazzlingly bright, its commanding performance arguably the biggest surprise of the current release window.

Behind the all-red box-office, screening share, and attendance numbers, of course, lies the film's excellent quality and reputation.

It has the powerful IP of the original novel, the creative dual-timeline plot weaving game and reality, plus a pair of eye-catching, perfectly matched A-list stars.

It had every commercial element going for it — light, entertaining, and so on — and the film, with its remarkably high degree of completion, lived up to the audience's imagination.

Audiences who had seen the film cried out:

"This is what a true hit actually looks like!"

"Won't say much, it's really good! The biggest surprise!"

"I've read the novel back and forth more than a dozen times, and the movie adaptation is unexpectedly awesome — way better than I imagined!"

"The completion rate is like eighty galaxies better than I expected, and the MMO parts aren't awkward at all! Huge thumbs-up!"

"Da Baobei is just too perfect as an esports girl — she finally has her own signature role, and she's even the one leading Bei Weiwei's rhythm."

"Jing Bairan is just too perfect as Xiao Nai, I can't take it, I'm melting from the sweetness!"

Da Baobei and Jing Bairan's acting also won unanimous recognition from the audience, who called them "the most perfectly matched couple on the big screen this year."

All of the above was content Bai Liang had been scrolling through in various press releases.

He hadn't seen the movie version, and had no idea whether any of it was true.

But… Da Baobei, huh~ something about it just felt a little off.

So he went to sneak a peek at the rating.

"Huh? A six?"

Bai Liang wasn't the type to gloat when he saw someone else having bad luck.

But then again~ humans really are pretty complicated creatures.

For instance, he saw the most up-voted Douban comment: Jing-bao's period look is so ugly it made this baby want to cry.

Bai Liang felt that if he laughed out loud, it might be a little immoral.

But he really couldn't hold it in.

What are you gonna do~

The genius netizens were just too talented — someone even said the extra point was only because the film didn't have Huang Xiaoming in it, otherwise it would have dragged even further.

Summing up the venomous netizens' reviews: the male lead was too down-to-earth, the female lead was too flighty.

This was the least poisonous review Bai Liang could pick after thinking about it for a long time.

He really was too kind-hearted.

Last time he had dinner with Jing Bairan, they actually had a pretty good time chatting — they just had some minor disagreements on the matter of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

That hardly counts as a conflict; as long as he doesn't say any Ultraman is more handsome than Tiga, Bai Liang figures it's all fine.

So seeing this buddy getting roasted pretty badly, Bai Liang still felt a little sorry for him for a moment.

As it turned out, Jing Bairan actually took the initiative to send him a message.

Very interesting — no words, just a pitiful little sticker~

Not knowing how to comfort him, Bai Liang sent over a red packet.

Fifty yuan.

"You won't even give me a hundred?!"

Give? Of course he had to give!

But Bai Liang checked his WeChat wallet balance — only four yuan and eighty cents left in there, and the bank card linked to it seemed to be empty too.

"Hold on a sec, yeah?"

He poked his head around, found Dilireba, who was equally absorbed in surfing the net. "Reba, send me a red packet."

"Huh? Okay~"

Dilireba transferred him five thousand yuan on the spot, and only after sending it did she curiously ask: "Are you out of pocket change?"

"To comfort Jing Bairan, send him a red packet." Bai Liang happily pocketed the five thousand, then turned around and sent over a fifty-yuan red packet — somehow netting a cool four thousand nine hundred yuan in the process.

Reba: ah this~

Sounds kind of like provocation, doesn't it? You sure he won't come beat you up?

Still, the movie version's collapsing ratings and word of mouth also cured Dilireba's little anxiety.

A five-thousand-yuan transfer was nothing — in her delight, the girl even did a little spin for Bai Liang~

But she soon had a new worry, mainly that the movie version's bad reputation might affect the TV drama side.

Regardless, the movie version's word of mouth had already gone into freefall.

By the second day, the rating couldn't even hold the passing line, plunging headlong toward five!

Under these circumstances, the imminent launch of the TV drama version had plenty of stakeholders sweating bullets.

If they weren't confident enough in this IP, why would they have greenlit both the movie and the TV drama at the same time?

If this flopped, forget the investors and producers — even Gu Man's reputation as an adapter might get smashed.

In this atmosphere, time flew by, and the day "Weiwei" officially premiered finally arrived.

——

Shanghai, a certain residential compound.

"So unfair! I wrote a whole essay hyping that guy's new drama, and it still didn't get as much buzz as some offhand quip of his~"

Hearing Li Yitong say this, Meng Ziyi, who was busy petting her own dog Chocolate, got curious. "You wrote an essay? That dedicated?!"

"Wanted to ride his wave of popularity a bit, figured writing more words would make it look like we're close — but who knew this guy's network is so insane now, so many A-listers have come out to promote for him, I couldn't even piggyback on any of that buzz."

Li Yitong rested her chin on her hand, feeling that all her effort had been for nothing — she hadn't had anyone ghostwrite that little essay for her; she'd worked it all out herself.

Over a hundred characters, and it took her a full two hours!

"Let me see~" Mengziyi found Li Yitong's Weibo on her follow list, tapped in, and admired the little essay.

Mm, not bad — she'd found four typos.

"Huh? It really is Meng Jie. You don't usually look that bright, so how come you're so sharp today?"

"I'm very smart!" Mengziyi was not pleased, insisting she was a proper good student with decent grades.

Li Yitong's eyes swivelled. "Is it the same kind of clever as the big villain in the movie I just filmed?"

"What big villain? Are they impressive?" While envying the other for being able to act in films, Mengziyi was genuinely curious now.

"Eight-Faced Buddha — sounds pretty impressive, right!"

"Mm-hmm! Tell me more~ Is it the especially clever and cruel kind?"

Li Yitong laughed till her eyes narrowed into slits, nodding frantically. "You'll know once you see it at the cinema — it's called 'Undercover Superstar.'"

She couldn't really judge the film's quality, but there was one line she'd never been able to forget.

Don't drink the coconut juice, and you're an undercover~

"Ding-dong~"

"Oh, the friend I met on the show is here."

Mengziyi stuffed the chocolate into Li Yitong's arms and hurried to get the door.

Today she was holding a little team-building thing at home, and watching tonight's premiere of "Love O2O" together.

Originally she'd only invited one girl she'd met on the show, but Li Yitong had just finished filming and come to Shanghai to hang out with her — perfect timing.

"Meng Meng~ I brought coconut juice, not sure if your friend likes it~"

She hadn't seen anyone yet, but she heard the cutesy voice first.

Li Yitong shuddered all over — good lord, even more cutesy than Mengziyi?

Had she wandered into a nest of cutesy-voiced people?!

She turned her head, and a slightly chubby little face came into view.

She did know who this was — Mengziyi had mentioned her when they were chatting over messages before.

A girl named Yu Shuxin, who spoke in a coquettish little voice~ She'd only just debuted this year. "Heeellooo~"

"Hello, ah, no need, no need, plain water is fine for me, I won't have the coconut juice."

Li Yitong refused the coconut drink — not because she was an undercover, but mainly because she was on a diet lately.

Anything with even a hint of sugar, she didn't want to touch.

Even though she wasn't actually fat at all.

But female celebrities — they look ten jin heavier on camera, there's really nothing to be done.

Yu Shuxin seemed very interested in the topic of dieting, and before the drama started, she got remarkably chummy with Li Yitong and pulled her into a discussion.

"I lose weight purely by starving myself. But Meng Jie is skinny too — though back on set she ate and drank plenty with a certain someone, and she just doesn't gain weight."

"Meng Meng! How do you control your weight? Teach me~" Yu Shuxin broke into an on-the-spot act of flirtatious pleading, and even Li Yitong, a girl herself, got goosebumps listening.

Good lord — a cutesy-spirit! Definitely a cutesy-spirit!

!. read

But when there are no boys around, girls gathered together often catch the cutesy-spirit by contagion.

Couldn't help joining in the cutesy act~

Sure enough, Li Yitong couldn't hold back and chimed in: "Meng Meng~ I wanna know too~"

Her cutesy act was pretty mediocre, but she did manage to blend in.

Mengziyi then struck a pose with hands on hips and proudly declared her weight-loss method was one no one else could copy.

"Food poisoning? Are you serious?!"

"Sweet-and-sour-spicy grilled cold noodles — I'll remember them for the rest of my life." Mengziyi spoke with such conviction that the other two had no choice but to believe her.

But obviously this method can't be copied!

If it doesn't even work for losing weight, and you accidentally kick the bucket, wouldn't that be a total loss~

As they chatted, the topic naturally drifted to Dilireba — our Great Immortal's new CP partner.

Li Yitong fired the first shot, Mengziyi followed right behind, and Yu Shuxin, though she didn't know why, loved joining in on the buzz.

Mainly they took a good hard swing at the new persona Jiaxing was building for Dilireba.

A foodie.

Isn't that nonsense? How many female celebrities dare to eat whatever they want without holding back~

Of course, Li Yitong also raised a possibility — surely it wasn't Bai Liang dragging her around eating and drinking wildly again?

Because this exact thing had happened back on the "Legend of the Condor Heroes" set.

Mengziyi, thanks to her special constitution of having once "gotten food poisoning," had escaped unscathed.

But Li Yitong, who'd tagged along for several meals, had gained five jin — a source of endless grievance.

Might as well eat some wall plaster — at least that stuff doesn't make you fat.

That guy Bai Liang is simply a heinous criminal!

"That Dilireba's filming two movies back-to-back with him — let's hope she doesn't show up looking like a little chubby~"

Such a "vicious" curse made Mengziyi feel something was off about Li Yitong — why did this older sister seem even more triggered than she was?

She herself wasn't even that harsh on her "ex-boyfriend's" current CP.

A bit embarrassing to admit, but she'd secretly shipped it — though Mengziyi didn't dare say so. No matter how wild her train of thought, she knew that saying it out loud would definitely get her called crazy.

Well, in the end she still couldn't hold it in.

After speaking, she indeed received Li Yitong's scornful look: "How unambitious are you?"

But Yu Shuxin didn't know the story behind it and enthusiastically responded.

Yet this little meddler seemed to sense something.

She tilted her head, studying Li Yitong and Mencius, feeling something was off.

Under this atmosphere, it soon became just minutes before the broadcast of "Wee."

The drama premiered simultaneously on Oriental TV and Jiangsu TV, with Anhui TV airing it two days later; all three channels launched it nearly at the same time.

Hmm, ratings will surely be split, and compiling them will be a hassle—add up the first two channels' ratings?

But online streaming data is much easier to track—Youku has exclusive rights.

Broadcast time has arrived!

The girls sat in a row and began watching the opening theme, "A Smile That Tilts a City."

"I always casually tell you my wishes."

"And give you glances that words can never fully express."

"In this world, someone is always bustling, searching for treasure."

"."

"On the ancient bridge in the old city."

"People like a sea, cars in rows."

"."

The song by Wang Sulong is beautiful!

Too bad it's not the "official" version—the official one requires finding three treasures~

But a beautiful song doesn't help, because the girls soon spotted the blind spot.

The opening sequence showed every other character making their debut—but not Bai Liang, the male lead!

That's way too abnormal!

Even after the entire first episode's opening theme finished, not a single frame of the male lead appeared.

Only a subtitle appeared at the very beginning, listing the main cast: when Dilireba's image flashed, Bai Liang's name appeared beside it.

Is this normal?

At this moment, viewers sharing the same confusion were far more than just these few—some had already begun ranting online.

"Are you even capable of making an opening? The production team should come out and apologize!"

Fortunately, the drama had just started airing; only a small fraction were eager to rage—the majority wouldn't arrive until after the first episode ended.

The first episode's plot still didn't feature Bai Liang—first to appear was Dilireba as Bei Weiwei.

Still, she was in costume, battling monsters in the game; this live-action gaming scenario intrigued some viewers.

But Dilireba's ancient costume lacked the flair of her modern attire.

Only when the real-life scenes began did Bei Weiwei fully shine—this contrast made it feel intentional.

Yet even halfway through the first episode, Bai Liang, the male lead Xiao Nai, remained only mentioned—briefly in Bei Weiwei and her roommate's excited chatter about watching him play basketball.

He still didn't show his face.

It had the audience hooked.

Even after Bei Weiwei and the campus queen, the Nufan Sect, had their first clash, Xiao Nai still didn't appear.

Many viewers were already getting annoyed.

Then, just then, the camera cut.

Sunlight filtered through the big tree, casting dappled shadows.

In a half-body close-up, a figure leaned against the tree, a Go board before him.

He played Go while calmly discussing post-graduation career paths with his opponent, tone unhurried, relaxed and carefree.

A clean, fitted white shirt, long fingers pinching Go stones—one by one, close-ups pushed the audience's anticipation to its peak.

The camera slowly rose, making viewers' hearts tighten.

Until a side profile appeared.

At that moment, countless viewers gasped in awe and burst into shrill screams!

—

Brothers, double monthly vote time is here! Fourteen thousand words delivered!

Requesting monthly votes!

(End of Chapter)