Launch Press Conference

Offscreen, Liu Jiawei, who played the arch-traitor Wu Guowei, was a multi-award-winning Best Actor, while Rong Xiu was an even bigger star across film, television, and music. Whether in popularity or acting ability, both of them firmly overshadowed Yue Sennan.

Autumn Dew White was the first major film Yue Sennan had taken on after moving to Star Entertainment. Naturally, he wanted to achieve something and prove that he had made the right choice. That made it necessary for him to fight for a say during filming.

Rong Xiu understood Yue Sennan's intentions very well, so he did not fuss over the little tricks he had pulled during the audition. Still, he had no appreciation for Yue Sennan's character or conduct.

But Rong Xiu's magnanimity did not mean no one else had objections. Yue Sennan wanted to use a show of force to seize some influence, yet he did not dare go too far and offend people. So he had planned to push Zhao Miao out to take the blame. He had assumed that Zhao Miao was young and unsophisticated, and that his notorious reputation for acting like a diva meant it would not be unusual for him to put on an arrogant display at the audition.

He had not expected Zhao Miao to be young and wild but not stupid. Before he had even settled into the production, he had already returned Yue Sennan's show of force in kind.

Truly, "small" people took revenge morning, noon, and night.

Yue Sennan had only just joined his new company and had already offended someone like that without understanding the situation. His days ahead were sure to be exciting!

At the thought of Zhao Miao's endless and vindictive methods of revenge, even Liu Jiawei, who had nothing to do with it, could not help shedding a few crocodile tears for Yue Sennan.

Launch Press Conference

The next day was the launch press conference for Autumn Dew White. Director Fang required all the actors to attend in the appearance of their characters from the film. To avoid missing the auspicious time, everyone was woken at five in the morning and rushed to the set to have their makeup and costumes done.

Normally, major stars such as Liu Jiawei, Rong Xiu, Zhao Miao, and Zhou Jingxiao would bring their own regular makeup artists when joining a production. Although Yue Sennan could not compare to those stars in status or seniority, Star Entertainment had spent heavily to poach him and intended to promote him aggressively. To win him over, they had naturally provided such basic support as well. Thus, most of the male and female leads and major supporting actors would not use the production's makeup artists.

There were exceptions, however. Rong Xiu and Yue Sennan had many scenes in the film where they appeared in full Peking Opera makeup, so they needed professional Peking Opera makeup artists. The production had specially invited several makeup instructors from the National Peking Opera Company. Among them, Lu Heng's role as the second male lead required a Kunqu Opera huadan makeup look for The Interrupted Dream when he first appeared at the age of thirteen, so those instructors' help was essential.

Aside from the male lead and second male lead who needed Peking Opera makeup, as well as the female lead and male supporting actors who had brought their own makeup artists, there were also quite a few veteran actors in the production who were highly experienced and capable but not particularly well known to the public. To accommodate the senior actors' health and energy, the production's makeup artists naturally attended to them first.

So Lu Heng and several other young actors waited patiently outside the makeup room for their turn.

However, Lu Heng did not have to wait long before Zhao Miao's assistant called him away.

Zhao Miao, who was playing on a handheld console in his private makeup room, watched Lu Heng enter and said with a smile, "I just asked Director Fang. Neither of us needs Peking Opera makeup for the press conference. We only need to wear training clothes: white shirts and black trousers. Since that's the case, don't stand around outside like an idiot. I'll have Lei Jie do your makeup, so you won't have to wait another hour out there."

Zhao Miao felt an instinctive sense of closeness toward this young hero who was about the same age as him. And Zhao Miao's way of showing affection was straightforward: treating people well whenever he could, along with endless chatter.

"Where did you put the costume you need to change into later? I'll have my assistant get it for you."

Lu Heng smiled and thanked him, then Zhao Miao pressed him down by the shoulders into the chair before the makeup table. From time to time, the makeup artist Lei Jie picked up various bottles, jars, powder puffs, and small brushes from the table, dabbing and drawing across Lu Heng's face.

Zhao Miao plopped down beside Lu Heng, waved the game console in his hand, and asked, "Do you play games? This is the newest handheld console. It has hundreds of games on it. Want to borrow it?"

Lu Heng smiled and shook his head. Zhao Miao said, "Right. I'm here keeping you company, so why would you play games? Let's chat instead."

So Zhao Miao rested his chin on his hand and carried on a particularly one-sided conversation for over half an hour. Only after Lu Heng's makeup was finished did Zhao Miao pick up his half-empty bottle of mineral water and say, "It's about time. Let's go out."

The launch ceremony for Autumn Dew White was set for 8:58 in the morning, supposedly an auspicious time specially chosen by a master.

An incense table and pig's head had already been arranged on set, while the invited media reporters gradually arrived as well.

When the auspicious time came, Director Fang Kaizhi led the investors and the rest of the production crew in offering incense and worshipping the gods.

For most film and television productions, offering incense and worshipping the gods was an indispensable part of the launch ceremony. Lu Heng remembered a humorous old actor once joking that most crews made such a grand spectacle of worshipping at their launch ceremonies not because they wanted the gods to bless the production with a smooth start, but because they did not want to think every setback during filming had happened because they had failed to worship the gods.

After the worship ceremony came guest introductions, the director's speech, remarks from the main creative team, and other segments. Only then did they reach the main event: media interaction.

This was usually the part where an actor's popularity and standing in the industry became obvious. Superstars such as Rong Xiu, Liu Jiawei, and Zhao Miao were inevitably the reporters' primary targets and hardest-hit areas. Once the host announced the start of the question segment, the reporters, their eyes gleaming green, swarmed forward. They raised their hands as though they wanted to poke holes in the sky, racking their brains to ask about the hottest gossip that fans and audiences cared about. Even the production's repeated, impatient reminders that "only questions related to the film are permitted" could not dampen their enthusiasm.

Zhao Miao, who had repeatedly declined Fang Kaizhi's invitations during the early preparations for Autumn Dew White on the grounds of scheduling conflicts, only to inexplicably accept a cameo role as the young male lead afterward, was an even greater focus of attention.

The media reporters were not only curious about the thought process behind Zhao Miao's change of attitude. They were even more curious about the battle for Star Entertainment's top male star between Zhao Miao and Yue Sennan—

Many people knew that Zhao Miao had always been the child star Star Entertainment heavily promoted, with the company pouring most of its resources into him. But now the company had added Yue Sennan. Though Yue Sennan and Zhao Miao did not overlap much in the kinds of roles they played, and their fan bases were quite different, Zhao Miao had always presented an overbearing image in the entertainment industry. As the saying went, one mountain could not hold two tigers. Could he truly allow Star Entertainment to promote another top male star besides himself?