[{"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-353":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},1297651,1723,"Chapter 353: He Isn’t Even as Good as Chen San","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-353",353,"\u003Cp>Chapter 353: He Isn’t Even as Good as Chen San\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan felt a sinister fire burning in his chest, wanting nothing more than to tear this script that humiliated him into shreds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He bent down, picked up the instant noodle box, and casually tossed it into the small mountain of trash already piled in the corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After doing this, he picked up the script again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fingers tightened, the edges of the paper already beginning to curl and deform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his hands were shaking violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The strength to tear it apart had been drained away as if by magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if possessed, his trembling fingers turned to the second page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the dim yellow light, he began to read.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, his face was full of a cold sneer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What kind of crap is this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The protagonist \"Chen San,\" in order to sneak into a film set, disguises himself as a food delivery guy and ends up knocking the director's wig clean off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lowbrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen San plays a corpse in a period drama. Because he's too nervous, while the protagonist is delivering a long, emotional monologue, he lets out a loud fart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Toilet humor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan cursed inwardly as he read.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The screenwriter who wrote this stuff doesn't understand what film is at all. This is an insult to art!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He read quickly, wanting to find more garbage within it that he could look down upon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until he flipped to a certain page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Scene 13, Take 7.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Location: Exterior of an ancient battlefield, Winter.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Chen San plays a scorched, withered tree, covered in mud, motionless.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[From dawn, until dusk.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The director calls wrap, the film crew leaves, no one remembers him.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Chen San stands in the biting wind for six hours, frozen stiff. He crawls out of his \"tree\" disguise and limps after the last set assistant's van.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Chen San (with an ingratiating smile): Bro, my boxed meal...]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The set assistant impatiently tosses a lunchbox down from the van.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The lunchbox falls to the ground, vegetables and rice scattering everywhere.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Set Assistant (O.S.): Eat it or don't!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The van drives away. Chen San stares at the food on the ground for a long time.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He squats down, picking up the rice that didn't touch the mud, putting it bit by bit into his mouth.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan's cold sneer froze on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He snapped the script shut, his chest feeling terribly clogged, almost suffocating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He frantically rummaged around the room, finally fishing out a crumpled cigarette pack from a sofa crevice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shook out the last bent cigarette, taking several tries to light it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smoke swirled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what appeared before his eyes wasn't his own pigsty of a room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a glittering, gold-and-jade banquet five years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He held a wine glass, bending at the waist to toast a fat, greasy investor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said every sweet word imaginable, boasting about his script to the heavens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The investor listened, took his wine glass, and then poured the entire glass of red wine over his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Director Gu, this little thing of yours, you dare call it art?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You, just like your movies, are a joke.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The whole table erupted in uproarious laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He just stood there then, wine dripping from his hair, a forced smile still plastered on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Manager Li is absolutely right, I'll revise it, I'll keep revising until you're satisfied...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cigarette butt burned his finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan snapped back to reality, viciously stubbing out the cigarette butt on the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Agitated, he opened the script again, wanting to use the later trashy plotlines to overwrite the memory just now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the more he read, the heavier his heart sank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three in the morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan suddenly jumped up from the sofa, pointing at the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Idiot!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was cursing the Chen San in the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen San had his boxed meal kicked over, yet the next day he still went back to that crew to be a cannon fodder extra.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen San, for a role with two lines, acted as a slave for the assistant director for a month, washing his stinky socks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen San was swindled out of all his savings, slept under a bridge, and the next morning, still got up to practice his lines facing the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No backbone! Waste!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cursed and cursed, but his voice grew hoarse, vaguely choked with tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That idiot named Chen San, trampled into the mud, could still get up the next day and continue dreaming of being an actor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What about him, Gu Zhiyuan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He'd even sold the courage to dream, leaving only hiding in this garbage heap, hoping for a damn lottery ticket!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even worse than a spineless waste in a script!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He flipped to the last page of the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Scene 99, Final Take.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Location: Chen San's rented room.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Chen San has just received his first-ever Best Supporting Actor award.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He returns home, no wild celebration, no party.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He walks to the mirror, looking at his reflection.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He carefully lifts the trophy, then, facing the mirror, practices smiling.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Not the proper, appropriate smile from the awards ceremony.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[But a smile that truly belongs to him.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He smiles once, thinks it doesn't look good, too fake.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He smiles again, thinks it looks too stupid.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[He practices, over and over, again and again, how to \"truly be happy\" in front of the mirror.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Finally, he smiles.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Smiling, tears begin to fall.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This scene completely crushed Gu Zhiyuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't wail, didn't roar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that moment, the world before his eyes distorted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old posters on the wall, the trash on the floor, the dim yellow light all faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An silent lens appeared before his eyes—the \"Chen San\" in the mirror was crying,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and outside the mirror, his own figure from five years ago, drenched in red wine yet still forcing a smile, slowly overlapped with \"Chen San's\" silhouette.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could no longer stand. His body went limp, and he crumpled, curling up as he fell back into that pile of trash reeking of sour decay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The script remained tightly clutched in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't sleep all night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the morning sunlight pierced through the dust-covered window,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>illuminating the room, the beam of light seemed especially harsh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan sat on the floor, eyes bloodshot, his appearance haggard and withered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eight in the morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Knock, knock, knock.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The knocking on the door sounded right on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan's heart jolted. It was the landlord coming to evict him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He dragged his heavy body, shuffling to the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled it open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The person standing outside wasn't the landlord with the mean, meaty face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was that young Film Emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Ci.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had come alone today, wearing a simple windbreaker,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>holding two cups of hot soy milk and a bag of freshly fried youtiao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing at the doorway, looking at the garbage dump-like scene inside,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>looking at the man before him with greasy hair, unshaven stubble, and sunken eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He seemed utterly blind to all this wretchedness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He extended the breakfast in his hand forward, using a tone as natural as could be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eat it while it's hot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The aroma of the food drifted into Gu Zhiyuan's nostrils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the scent belonging to the mundane fires of life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan didn't take it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice hoarse, he extended the crumpled script he had been clutching, handing it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes were dull, devoid of any light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Take it away.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This role... I still can't accept it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhiyuan looked at Jiang Ci, forcing an ugly smile onto his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you know who I am? I'm Gu Zhiyuan, the industry's cursed lamp, box office poison.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't come to me. I lose money on every film I make, who in the industry doesn't know that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You're red-hot right now, do you want to get a taste of being washed-up in advance?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'm already used to rotting in the mud. You're different. Get lost, don't come and dirty your future.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1335,"2026-06-05T18:00:08.557Z",1,"novelbin.me","be68f605f51c5e110c714d36857b9a2ac0300bfb512ecb4461790eba48255013","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-354","the-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-chapter-352",366,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-more-tragic-i-act-the-stronger-i-get-my-fans-cover.jpg"]