Lovesickness Explodes in Popularity, Heavenly Queen Returns

When the two entered the cinema's 3D IMAX auditorium, it was already two-thirds full.

After finding their seats and sitting down, people continued to file in.

There was still some time before the screening began, and the people around them were whispering excitedly.

"I heard from classmates who caught the midnight screening last night that Director Zhang's movie is incredible. Not only are the special effects top-notch, but the plot is amazing too..."

"I heard Wu Zhiqi and the White Tiger Demon's romance is especially heartbreaking. Is Director Zhang going for that kind of thing now too?"

"The fight scenes are absolutely exhilarating! And the story is great—it's not just about romance..."

"You don't know this, but Sister Fei actually sings in it, right at the climax of the story. Lots of people said it made them cry."

"Everyone online is talking about it, but Penguin Music hasn't released it yet. There's no way to find the audio source. It's driving me crazy!"

Listening to the conversations around them, the two exchanged a glance and smiled happily.

There was really nothing to worry about.

The song's quality spoke for itself, and so did Lin Fei's abilities.

They had been the first to hear the recorded version.

They had absolute confidence in it!

Still, hearing people discussing it so soon naturally made them happy.

It wasn't until the auditorium lights dimmed that the two took off their masks.

As the movie began, its captivating story unfolded before the audience.

Song Dao wasn't particularly fond of popcorn.

So, wearing his 3D glasses, he focused on the movie.

Yan Yu had gotten up late and skipped breakfast, so she ate while watching.

Before long, she was drawn into the plot as well.

It wasn't until a scene transition more than ten minutes later that she noticed Song Dao did not seem to have eaten a single piece of popcorn.

So she casually grabbed one and held it up to Song Dao's mouth.

Song Dao was startled and turned to look at her.

Even with his glasses on, he could not make out Yan Yu's expression at that moment.

He only felt her fingers push the popcorn closer.

He could only open his mouth and eat it.

It was rather sweet.

Yan Yu then casually picked up another piece and put it into her own mouth.

A little while later, she held another piece up to Song Dao's mouth.

When the third one came over, Song Dao finally pushed her hand away lightly, somewhat speechless.

"Can you just watch the movie properly?"

Yan Yu stopped feeding him and continued eating on her own.

As the plot unfolded, cries of surprise, bursts of laughter, and sighs continuously rang out through the auditorium.

The actor playing Wu Zhiqi was a Best Actor winner named Huang Hai.

He was ordinary-looking, had started out singing in bars, debuted in low-budget arthouse films, and had even acted in comedies.

Yet now, he had grown into a versatile actor.

He could handle humorous comedies, perfectly portray evil villains, and, with a suit, tie, and different hairstyle, play a judge in a way that instantly immersed the audience.

The Wu Zhiqi he portrayed in this movie initially appeared to be a moody, comical monkey—full of bad intentions and utterly unreliable.

As the plot progressed, people gradually realized that his moodiness was merely a facade.

This was a monkey who kept all his worries hidden away.

Even when he met his lover from five hundred years ago, he still wore a cynical expression, acting as though he had no idea who she was.

But the grief in his eyes when he was alone, so deep it could not be dissolved, instantly moved every audience member.

The White Tiger Demon was played by Han Ling, Xia Kingdom's most popular young Best Actress. She had debuted at seventeen and was only twenty-three this year, yet she had already won two Xia Kingdom Best Actress trophies.

A true superstar at the height of her popularity.

Her looks were not goddess-tier like Yan Yu's or Lin Fei's, but she possessed an extraordinarily powerful aura.

As many people in the industry put it, Han Ling had been born for the big screen.

Under her portrayal, the White Tiger Demon perfectly conveyed the great demon's coldness, a lover's tenderness, her determination to resist the Heavenly Court, and a whole range of complex, conflicting emotions!

The movie even featured a line that shocked Song Dao—

"Is the Heavenly Court truly heaven? Then I want this heaven to no longer obscure my eyes, this earth to no longer bury my heart, and all living beings in this world to live however they wish!"

If not for a few slight differences, Song Dao might have thought he was not the only transmigrator in this world.

As the plot continued.

The White Tiger Demon seized Wu Zhiqi, pressing her sword tip against his chest as she cursed, "You heartless, ungrateful bastard! Pretending you don't know me, are you? Believe me, I'll kill you with one strike!"

After saying that, she coldly watched Wu Zhiqi, who had turned his head aside without a word, his eyes full of defiance and stubborn pride.

Her sword viciously pierced... a little deeper.

Blood began to stream down Wu Zhiqi's chest.

A flicker of heartache flashed through her eyes, though her expression remained icy.

A wave of low gasps rose from the theater.

"Kill me, then. I should've died five hundred years ago. And who the hell are you, little vixen? You know me? Are you worthy? I don't know you," Wu Zhiqi said expressionlessly.

With a flick of her wrist, the White Tiger Demon sliced open his clothes.

A string of Red Beans, long shriveled and withered, their color already blackened, fell to the ground and scattered everywhere.

She asked, "What is this?"

Wu Zhiqi said nothing.

Furiously, the White Tiger Demon plunged her sword into the ground and slowly crouched down.

One by one, she picked up the Red Beans that Wu Zhiqi had carried on him for more than five hundred years.

Tears fell in large drops.

"You said you don't know me, so what is this? Say something!"

"Who knows? Maybe some mischievous little vixen secretly put them on me, and I just didn't notice. If I had, I would've thrown them away long ago! After all, I was imprisoned for five hundred years. My powers aren't what they used to be..."

Wu Zhiqi still stubbornly refused to admit it.

Soft sobs had already begun to sound throughout the theater.

The novel Journey to the West held immense influence in the Xia Kingdom and had been a childhood companion to several generations.

Huang Hai and Han Ling, the male and female leads, were simply incredible actors.

Most importantly, along with this scene came the long-unheard voice of Heavenly Queen Lin Fei!

[Red beans grow in the southern lands, a thing from long ago]

[What is lovesickness? No one cares anymore]

[Drunk in the sleepless city, neon lights everywhere]

[Such a lavish air of romance in this cup of wine~]

A breathtaking voice, peerless singing technique, and overwhelming emotional power.

And the flashback scenes that appeared alongside the plot.

That faint melancholy, grand yet gentle and restrained emotion was rendered to perfection by Lin Fei!

Forget the girls—even Song Dao, a burly man with the soul of a middle-aged adult, felt terrible inside, his nose stinging with emotion.

In the flashback, Wu Zhiqi stood beneath a Red Bean tree in golden armor, looking majestic and high-spirited.

He accepted a string of Red Beans picked by the White Tiger Demon and carefully tucked it into his robes.

The two great demons—one imposing and domineering, the other peerlessly beautiful—looked at each other with eyes brimming with love.

Four lines of text appeared in the air—

Red beans grow in the southern lands; when spring comes, how many branches bloom? I hope you gather more of them, for this thing best embodies lovesickness.

This scene had been an emergency reshoot added by Director Zhang, completed and integrated into the film in the shortest possible time.

To that end, he had even specifically asked Lin Fei to pass along the message that he was willing to pay Teacher Sanqian one hundred thousand yuan in copyright fees.

At the time, Song Dao hadn't thought this poem would really appear in the movie.

For one thing, it was difficult to pull off; for another, the schedule had been far too rushed.

Now, it seemed this man truly deserved his title as the Xia Kingdom's number one director. He really was impressive.

Being able to incorporate this poem without making it feel abrupt, even if it was only a flashback scene, was already no easy feat.

What was even more impressive was that he had managed to get the scene approved so quickly!

It wasn't that there was anything prohibited about it, but the review process for a film's release was extremely cumbersome.

For an ordinary person to add a scene like this so close to the premiere would have been nearly impossible.

Even more fittingly, as the poem appeared, Lin Fei happened to sing, "The easiest thing to forget is the poems of the ancients; the thing most scorned is lovesickness. Guarding love, afraid of being laughed at, and afraid of being seen through..."

When emotions reached their peak, there was no need to force them.

This scene, with its perfect fusion of acting and music, swiftly drew everyone into its emotions.

In the dark theater, the sound of sniffling filled the air.

Flashback scenes were actually a major taboo in film and television. Used poorly, they would only become an unnecessary embellishment.

But these flashbacks in Demon Love perfectly laid out Wu Zhiqi and the White Tiger Demon's shared past in the shortest possible time.

The footage, totaling less than a minute, became one of the climactic highlights of the entire film.

When the flashback ended, the camera returned to Wu Zhiqi, hunched over in tattered clothes, the golden headband still around his head.

The singing abruptly stopped as well.

A sense of loss washed over everyone.

At the end of the film, the White Tiger Demon finally realized that Wu Zhiqi still loved her deeply; he had simply been unable to act as he wished.

At peace, she chose to spare Master Zhenxuan and let them continue their journey west.

Master Zhenxuan, who seemed to have little presence throughout the film but was likewise played by a veteran actor of exquisite skill, slapped the horse on the rump.

The horse trotted forward.

The monk had deliberately left some time for his disciple and that pitiful White Tiger Demon who had waited five hundred years.

But he slapped it too hard, and the horse kicked up its hooves and galloped ahead.

He shouted wildly from its back, drawing a burst of laughter.

The camera shifted to Wu Zhiqi and the White Tiger Demon.

This time, Wu Zhiqi was the one who looked utterly unconcerned, though he secretly used his divine powers, one arm suddenly stretching out without limit.

It extended all the way to the place where they had once fallen in love, plucking a fresh cluster of red beans from a red bean tree.

He silently placed them in the White Tiger Demon's hand.

"Here, I'm giving you a cluster back!" he said cockily.

"This time, will you wait until they turn black before coming to see me?" the White Tiger Demon asked softly.

Wu Zhiqi said nothing. He merely waved, laid the staff across his shoulders, and strutted away step by step with an arrogant gait.

The White Tiger Demon stared dazedly at his retreating back.

Lin Fei's singing rose once more—

[The poets of old are easiest to forget; Lovesickness is what people dismiss most readily]

[Guarding love, afraid of being mocked, yet more afraid of being seen through]

[Spring comes again, and the red beans bloom, yet no lovers come to gather them]

[Fireworks embrace fleeting romance; true love is no more]

The film ended there.

In the nearly full theater, almost no one stood up.

Everyone was still immersed in that emotion.

That night.

Demon Love dominated the trending lists across every social media platform.

Two-thirds of the top ten trends were related to it.

The film's plot, its male and female leads, Director Zhang, even Water Strike Three Thousand, who had written the lyrics.

Yet the topic firmly occupying the number one spot on every trending list was the same—

Demon Love, "Lovesickness," the diva returns!

"I cried my eyes out. I was like a lunatic in the theater, crying and laughing at the same time. Luckily, everyone else was the same, so it didn't feel embarrassing at all. The plot was amazing, and there were so many memorable lines. I'm not Crimson, but Lin Fei's song was seriously heartbreaking. My mom went with me, and she cried even harder than I did. I seriously suspect she had some unresolved regrets back then!"

"The movie really was great, but I have to say, without the insert song sung by Lin Fei, it definitely would've lost some of its charm!"

"They're both beans, so why do red beans get paired with lovesickness, while mung beans can only be paired with turtles? I looked it up and found that red beans taste bitter and are mildly toxic, while mung beans clear heat, detoxify, and reduce internal heat. So lovesickness is bitter, while turtle is highly nutritious; the longer red beans are cooked, the bitterer they get, while the longer turtle is stewed, the more nourishing it becomes; lovesickness isn't worth a penny, but turtle costs eighty a pound. Sadly, I can't bear the bitterness of lovesickness, and I can't afford the nourishment of turtle either..."

"Damn it, the person above actually made me laugh. Were you trained in cross-talk or something? Everyone else is feeling sentimental, and you're over here doing comedy?"

"Who dares call Lin Fei a fake diva from now on? Top-tier songs, god-tier vocals, unbeatable emotional impact. After years away, Sister Fei has finally mastered her craft!"

"This is what true ability looks like. Lin Fei's song is incredible—silent until she stunned everyone in a single stroke. The diva is back, and her first move is an absolute trump card!"

"Always Been Quiet, Dark Sky, A Lifetime of Loneliness, Well-intentioned but Misguided, 'Lovesickness'... Oh my god, can someone tell me which big shot Water Strike Three Thousand really is? This is insane, isn't it? That kind of all-around creative ability without a single weakness—I'm sure this isn't even his limit. I'm dying to hear the new songs he writes!"

"Why does Lin Fei sound even better than she did back then? Does anyone know how she managed that?"

"The National Goddess returned to the Chinese music scene with 'Lovesickness' and went absolutely wild! What's going on this year? Who poured resurrection potion into the music industry?"

As wave after wave of praise and acclaim poured in.

Lin Fei, the diva, had returned.