[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans":3,"chapter-the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-128":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1297692,1723,"Chapter 128: Script – “The Lurker”","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-128",128,"\u003Cp>The entourage van smoothly drove into a villa area in the Beijing suburbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, it came to a gradual stop in front of a modern-style detached villa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Zhou didn't get out of the car, he just leaned over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Brother Ci, I'll wait for you right here in the car.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci walked alone towards the entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could even raise his hand to knock, the heavy door silently opened from the inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan's housekeeper had been waiting; she gave Jiang Ci a gentle smile and stepped aside to let him pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci entered the living room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wave of dry, warm air rushed to meet him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan was sitting on the sofa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wasn't wearing her usual sharp professional attire, just a loose-fitting grey loungewear set, with a pair of black-framed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That queenly, decisive aura she usually projected was considerably toned down, revealing a hint of the creator's languor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the coffee table in front of her sat an open laptop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next to the laptop was a stack of A4 papers secured with a black binder clip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Jiang Ci, Lin Wan didn't get up; she merely lifted her chin, gesturing towards the sofa opposite her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci sat down as instructed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gaze went straight past the water glasses and fruit platter on the table, firmly locking onto that stack of A4 papers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci got straight to the point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sister Wan, is the script finished?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan didn't answer immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She reached out and pushed the thick stack of manuscript pages towards Jiang Ci, neither lightly nor heavily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Film script, The Lurker.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci extended his hand and picked up the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the manuscript pages landed in his hand, a weighty, substantial texture transmitted through his fingertips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the cover, there were only the two large characters \"The Lurker\" printed in a Song typeface, simple and direct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Below that was the screenwriter's name: Lin Wan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened to the first page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What met his eyes was the character profiles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Protagonist: Shen Qingyuan.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Background: The only son of the renowned Shanghai silk merchant \"Shen's Cloth Shop,\" his family is immensely wealthy.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Personality: Studied abroad since childhood, loves poetry and piano. Influenced by Western education, he is naive, romantic, and not very concerned with major national affairs.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Relationships: Has a well-matched, childhood sweetheart fiancée, Gu Wanbai. The two are deeply in love and about to be married.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci read every single word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A young master from a wealthy family, naive and romantic, with a mutually devoted fiancée.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This opening...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed somewhat different from the \"earth-shattering, moving heaven and earth\" death he had imagined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This felt more like the perfect opening for a sweet, pampering romance drama set in the Republican era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suppressing the confusion in his heart, he continued flipping through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next page was the plot synopsis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just the first line of text caused Jiang Ci's pupils to contract sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[War breaks out, Shanghai falls. Shen Qingyuan, because of his proficiency in multiple languages and near-photographic memory, is unexpectedly noticed by an underground organization at a cocktail party and forcibly recruited as an intelligence agent, codename \"Abyss.\"]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci's back instantly stiffened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He kept reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[To infiltrate the enemy and obtain the highest-level intelligence, the organization demands Shen Qingyuan completely sever all ties to his past.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He must pretend to be a cowardly, greedy, self-serving traitor who sides with the enemy for wealth and glory.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could almost immediately imagine the kind of scorn and contempt such a favored son of heaven would provoke when he appeared before the world in such a disgraceful guise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci felt his blood flow quickening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forced himself to stay calm, his gaze continuing downward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He must personally push away his beloved fiancée, using the most hurtful words to slowly, inch by inch, crush all her pure love for him.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He must watch helplessly as she misunderstands him, as she comes to hate him.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Finally, to protect her teetering family and to completely sever ties with him, the \"traitor,\" Gu Wanbai, under her family's arrangements, marries someone else.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reading this, the edges of the manuscript paper crumpled under the clear pressure of his grip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Personally pushing away one's beloved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Being misunderstood and hated by that beloved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching her marry another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His already pale face, from excessively immersing himself in the character's tragedy, actually revealed a trace of genuine pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan, sitting across from him, took in every subtle change in his expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn't interrupt, just crossed her arms, quietly observing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this world, only Jiang Ci\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>could, the moment he saw the script, resonate so deeply, so tremulously, with the soul of the character.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci was completely unaware of Lin Wan's gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His consciousness had utterly sunk into the pages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He flipped to the last page of the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, it was the synopsis of the final scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[On the eve of victory, the final piece of intelligence that would decide the war has been sent.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Shen Qingyuan, his cover blown, is escorted by the enemy to the Paramount Ballroom, the place where he and Gu Wanbai once pledged their love.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The head of the secret police reads out his \"crimes\" before everyone and executes him.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Upon receiving the news, Gu Wanbai is in disbelief. It turns out all the past events were Shen Qingyuan's disguise! He was shouldering the great cause of his nation!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Under the swaying lights of the ballroom, he calmly straightens his suit and tie, smiles, and walks towards the enemy's gun.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[A gunshot rings out.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The next day, Shanghai is liberated.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The script synopsis ended there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci closed the script, his mind emerging from its pages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gently placed the stack of manuscript paper, which carried the entirety of a man's tragedy, back onto the coffee table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perfect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was practically a textbook-level masterpiece of \"Bad Ending Aesthetics\"!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dying just before the dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan's voice finally broke the silence in the living room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci looked up, meeting Lin Wan's probing eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like, \"Boss, you're amazing! I love this way to die, it's intense!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or, \"What's the next way to die? Are there more scripts like this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when he saw Lin Wan's serious, almost reverent attitude towards the work as if it were a piece of art, he forcibly suppressed those silly thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He adjusted his emotions and, in the tone of a professional actor, asked the most crucial question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This script...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Has the director... been decided?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan didn't answer directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, she pulled out another document from under the coffee table and handed it to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is a supplementary agreement I had the legal department draft.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The salary split in your previous contract is too low.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"For this film, if it gets made, I'll raise it to fifteen percent after tax for you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't take the document.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fifteen percent after tax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a newcomer actor who had only released one supporting role film, this was practically treatment reserved for top-tier stars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan seemed to see through his thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't misunderstand, I'm not running a charity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She leaned forward slightly, her gaze sharp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I've already used my connections to send this script to Director Hou Hsiao-hsien's team.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If he agrees to take it on...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Wan's voice paused briefly before she gave her promise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"For the male lead role, I will only recommend you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1264,"2026-06-05T18:00:08.556Z",1,"novelbin.me","77c6901d0a3adfebfd08cc33a42e95d05836e45911026bb9e2c2b97e904a92f2","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-129","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-127",366,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-cover.jpg"]