Page 45

Xuan Yu: "I didn't."

"I don't believe you." Cai Jinbai said, "Let me see your tablet."

Xuan Yu hesitated, still keeping his back turned.

Cai Jinbai said, "Jinbao."

"Master~" Cai Jinbao immediately appeared.

Xuan Yu said, "Jinbai, that's cheating. You fat gold ingot, how dare you!"

Cai Jinbao said, "Hmph hmph, f-for Master, Jinbao isn't afraid of you. Charge!"

The golden ingot rushed before Xuan Yu, nimbly dodging left and right as it tried to break through his defenses and see what was on his tablet.

Xuan Yu: "..."

"Alright, alright, I wasn't doing anything. I was just reading a novel." Seeing Jinbai's determined stance, Xuan Yu simply took out the tablet.

"What novel?" Cai Jinbai asked curiously.

The tips of Xuan Yu's ears reddened. He ran his fingers through his hair and simply handed it over. "See for yourself."

It was a novel shared in the group chat about the two of them as a couple.

Anyway, Jinbai was the one who wanted to read it. As for how he would react afterward...

After Cai Jinbai took the tablet, Xuan Yu secretly watched him. What kind of reaction would Jinbai have?

Completely unprepared, Cai Jinbai took it and looked. The page happened to be stopped on a rather explicit passage. He froze.

He abruptly tossed the tablet away. It landed on the sofa and bounced twice.

Cai Jinbai said, "Y-you read this kind of novel?"

Who read this sort of smut written about the people involved?

Xuan Yu stared unblinkingly at Jinbai's reddened ear tips and flustered expression. "I was just curious. Is that not allowed?"

Jinbai was actually embarrassed. Did that mean he also...

Cai Jinbai: "..."

Though he had not read it carefully, those two passages alone had left him unable to sit still.

Curious?

Why the hell were you curious about this?

Now he did not even dare look at Xuan.

Who would be curious about this?

Cai Jinbai cleared his throat twice and changed the subject. "The drama is about to start. Let's watch it first."

Xuan Yu's gaze had not moved from his face. He was watching with great interest, and at that, he replied, "Oh."

"..."

In the end, Cai Jinbai could not take it anymore. He reached out and turned Xuan Yu's face toward the television.

The corners of Xuan Yu's lips curled up. So Jinbai wasn't completely unaffected by him after all. Otherwise, with Jinbai's personality, even after reading that kind of novel, he would only calmly make a few sarcastic comments before putting down the tablet, without caring much at all. How could he be like this now...

Xuan Yu was in an exceptionally good mood. Leaning against the sofa, he stretched out one arm, which happened to rest behind Cai Jinbai.

Cai Jinbai immediately straightened up imperceptibly. No matter how intimate they normally were, it was never a problem, but tonight... he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

The drama began, and its excellent picture quality was the first thing to catch the eye.

Then came the tightly paced plot. The actors' performances blended into it seamlessly, never once breaking immersion.

Soon, the two episodes had finished airing.

Cai Jinbai lowered his head and searched for online reviews.

[It looks pretty good. It makes me want to keep watching.]

[I watched it with my parents, but I ended up getting completely absorbed too. Once the two episodes ended, my parents kept asking, "Is there more? Is there more?" Hahaha, you can tell they really liked this drama.]

[I like it too! I'm a twenty-year-old girl who usually likes romance dramas, but this is the first time I've been drawn in by a period drama. It's really good.]

[President Cai, hurry up and release the later episodes too. I'm dying to see them.]

[My mom said, don't they have some kind of VVIP now? Hahaha, she said to hurry up and release the rest of the plot. She has money and can buy it.]

[I'm dying laughing. My dad is the same. He said he'd finally found such a good drama after so long.]

[I watched it and thought it was boring. What's so good about it? I'd rather wait for Starlight's.]

[I also don't think it's that good. The plot is boring, and it feels like it ended before anything even happened.]

[Starlight's drama seems to air the day after tomorrow. I'll come back and review this after watching Starlight's.]

Besides the positive reviews, quite a few pessimistic comments also emerged online.

Jinbao confirmed that most of them were paid trolls. Starlight was still making moves behind the scenes.

It seemed Starlight was determined to go against Jinbai Entertainment. They were going head-to-head, and neither side would rest until one of them had been brought down.

Cai Jinbai said, "They don't know their place."

He said something so domineering with a calm expression and an even tone.

Xuan Yu's heart beat a little faster.

He liked Jinbai's arrogant look the most. He was truly beautiful.

The day after tomorrow, Starlight's period drama finally aired. Before its release, Starlight had spent heavily marketing it, putting great effort into promotion and carefully editing promotional clips. The internet was flooded with publicity, calling it a painstaking masterpiece that deeply recreated life in that era, with meticulous attention to every detail and not a dull moment.

They also touted it as a combination of veteran acting legends and popular stars, with carefully polished acting and a thoughtfully crafted script...

The promotional videos online did look fairly good, and so quite a few viewers began looking forward to the drama.

After Jinbai Entertainment's Family Matters aired, netizens had been drawn in by its polished, heartfelt production. They might not have been interested at first, but a good drama was a good drama, and it was easy to become immersed without even realizing it. With Jinbai Entertainment setting the bar first, some netizens had also developed high expectations for Starlight's drama.

After all, who ever complained about having too many good dramas?

Jinbai and Starlight were fighting? Fine, let them fight. The fiercer, the better. That was how good dramas got made, and weren't the viewers the ones who benefited?

That way, they would have two good dramas worth following.

They did not care whether Jinbai Entertainment or Star Universe Entertainment won in the end. Either way, they were not losing out.

Therefore, in their minds, Starlight's drama probably would not be bad either.

Some people who had not gotten their fill earlier began patiently waiting for Starlight's drama to air, especially elderly viewers. They had nothing much to do at home, and they had watched the old dramas over and over until they were sick of them. This time, they had finally found a drama to their liking, but they still had to wait. The drama could not air all at once, and without anything to watch, they felt as if something were missing. Fortunately, the younger members of their families said another period drama would air in a few days, so they eagerly awaited it.

That night, Starlight's drama aired, and its ratings surged sharply as soon as it began.

But immediately afterward, the ratings plummeted. Fewer and fewer people kept watching...

[Umm... this is really hard to judge. Is this seriously the quality of Starlight's drama? I'd rather go back and watch those old dramas that aired before. There's really nothing new about it, and compared with Jinbai Entertainment's drama, the quality of these two dramas is like heaven and earth.]

"They said it was carefully made. Didn't Starlight blush when they used those words in their promotions? I think it was made with their feet. What kind of garbage plot is this? It starts off like this, so it's hard to imagine the later plot being any good. Also, it's another drama made just to promote people, specifically Starlight's popular stars. What a waste of the veteran actors. Their acting here is excellent, but the others... I won't say more. I'm afraid their fans will come curse me out and tell me to go act myself. No time, no schedule."

[My grandpa watched half an episode, then fell asleep. Gotta say, this drama is pretty good at putting people to sleep. I'm getting sleepy too, hahaha.]

[My mom complained to me about what the hell this was supposed to be. Their generation was not like this at all. It feels like a tacky idol drama wearing the shell of a period drama. You can tell Starlight really has no experience making period dramas. Look beneath the surface, and it's still a pile of shit idol drama.]

[This is hilarious. I dragged my mom to watch Starlight's drama with me, and we were pretty excited. But after one episode, my mom started scolding me, asking why we weren't watching that earlier drama instead, the Family Matters made by Jinbai Entertainment. Everyone, you can tell which one is good and which one is bad after just one or two episodes.]

After Starlight's drama finished airing two episodes, the internet was already flooded with criticism, and the discussion only continued to climb.

Before long, Starlight's paid trolls entered the fray, vigorously praising the drama and saying it needed to be savored slowly. Once viewers endured the first two episodes, it would get better afterward.

The fans of the popular stars in the drama also began controlling the comments.

They did not just praise Starlight's drama. They also cursed Jinbai Entertainment's drama as terrible, called for boycotts, and secretly pulled some dirty tricks.

But was Cai Jinbai someone they could bully?

Starlight could hire paid trolls, but that did not mean he could not.

He did not need to hire anyone. With Jinbao around, one fat gold ingot could fend off countless paid trolls.

The chubby ingot chuckled, little golden lights continuously spilling from its body.

Very soon, the genuine comments criticizing Star Universe Entertainment's terrible drama, which had originally been suppressed, rose back to the top.

Then, the trolls simply could not type fast enough to keep up with the criticism of Starlight's drama. Their keyboards were practically smoking, yet they could not suppress a single negative comment.

And then, comment control became completely useless.

Those claiming Family Matters was bad were exposed as fans of this person or that person.

At once, terms related to Starlight's terrible period drama shot onto the trending searches.

Passersby came to watch the drama unfold. Confused netizens clicked in, watched it, liked the comments, and left their own reviews: it really was bad.

[This is a satisfying sight. This is what happens when you don't make dramas properly. Star Universe Entertainment lost again, yet I'm not surprised in the slightest, hahaha.]