Superstar Aspirations

Translator: Vian

Editor: Shem

Tang Menglan had been one of the reddest flower within the country in recent years. She did not only has a large number of male fans because she once acted in a royal elder sister type role, but also inhaled a bunch of wife powder fans.

Zhuang Xiaoliu was one of them.

"Vie for Supremacy" was officially announced four months ago, so everyone knew that the male lead was Dong Zheng and the female lead was Tang Menglan. With these two popular 'peanuts' performing on the same film, one could easily imagine that it would attract tens of thousands of fans all at once. The drama's official Weibo account altogether had 370,000 fans, with that vast majority still being an active fans.

On this certain day, Zhuang Xiaoliu was randomly scrolling through the Weibo and forums as usual, when she suddenly got a particularly special notification.

【'Vie for Supremacy' crew: Heroes weep of blood, forcibly snatching the world under the Heavens; the sword points towards the blue dome of Heavens, attempting to seize the throne!】

Zhuang Xiaoliu hurriedly opened it to look, and suddenly…..saw her family's goddess!

【One small willow tree: Ao ao ao ao!!! Goddess' character poster is out! Forwarding forwarding~ everyone quickly come over! @Tang Menglan National Fan club @Tang Menglan Goddess Platoon @Love Tang Menglan Association】

However, within five minutes, this Weibo's character posters post had already been forwarded more than three thousand times. The more and more people had seen this Weibo , the more and more people were forwarding it. In just a short half an hour, the Weibo's number of forwards surpassed ten thousand, while the number of likes directly broke through twenty thousand!

For an official Weibo with only 370,000 fans, these numbers were already quite gratifying.

Zhuang Xiaoliu opened up Weibo and started reading carefully.

Although "Vie for Supremacy" wasn't considered as a male-centric drama or even a female-centric drama, however, on the coffee seat, Tang Menglan was still above Dong Zheng by a head. This Weibo post had a total of nine posters, the first one was a valiant and heroic, with an awe-inspiring bearing female general.

The female general had an overbearing and heroic spirit as she wore a military uniform, the completely white armor lining her skin. Beautiful, gorgeous, and dazzling to the eyes. Long brows adorned on the temple; a severe and sharp gaze, holding a seven foot-three inches long spear. Her gaze was cutting and formidable, her expression was calm and composed. The tip of her spear was stabbing outwards, just looking at it would make one feel like there was a murderous aura attacking at you.

On the right side of the picture were a row of words:

『Xiao Family has a daughter named Xiang, removing her female clothing, coiling waves of thousands layers with a strike of her spear!』

『Tang Menglan as Xiao Xiang』

Zhuang Xiaoliu excitedly read it over and over again, and only after she counted the number of lines on Tang Menglan's armor several times did she reluctantly turned to the next picture.

"Oh, Dong Zheng is also quite handsome like this ah, but still not as handsome as my family's Tang ge…… Eh! Ye Qiao can actually also be so handsome? This feeling's not bad… Oh, what was this guy called again…… called… Oh right, he's called Song Mingfei. Still okay, sounds like he's a Confucian scholar?"

As she looked and looked, Zhuang Xiaoliu slowly realized: "Ah! Could it be that the only female actor in this drama is my family's Tang ge!?"

When it was the official announcement, they only announced the director and who were the male and female lead. So no one ever thought that in such an age where ancient-style, romance, and idol dramas were currently popular, there would be a drama series that would decide to take an alternate route. They deliberately didn't take an emotional romance drama route but instead found a bunch of men to act out a power struggle!

Zhuang Xiaoliu was now even more excited: "Song Mingfei is already very handsome ah, if even the third male lead is so handsome, this film is definitely……."

Her voice suddenly stopped short. The little lady's originally big eyes widened, becoming even rounder and bigger, unwaveringly staring at her phone screen. She stared at that person inside the photo, looking once then again, and again and again. She first looked at this man's distinctly handsome appearance that seemed to have no time for amusement, then looked at this person's lip that brought in a cold and indifferent smile.

This man was dressed in a pale blue changpao. He was standing at the riverside while facing the wind, and his sleeves were dancing in the wind. Even through the cold electronic screen, it seemed as if you could hear the howling of the wind. As she kept on looking at his eminent and handsome face, this person's gaze seemed to be aimed at the camera. So when Zhuang Xiaoliu looked at him, she felt that the other had passed through the screen and was earnestly staring at her!

Appearing to had penetrated through space and time, that man faintly raised his lips and smiled; the slender and cunningly pretty phoenix eyes flicked with a bright intelligent radiance. His smile brought about a peaceful and calm hint, not seeking any fame or wealth, merely living a simple life. Simply looking at him like this would make one's mood and mind feel at ease and tranquil, calming down a myriads of agitated restlessness; steadily listening to the sound of the great waves of the river water rhythmically beating against the shore.

It was obviously just a young and handsome youth. But he had a kind of extremely powerful aura that could shock people's hearts, making one unable to bear his gaze and instead settle on his unperturbed and placid smile, letting one could not help but trust him.

After looking for full of five minutes, Zhuang Xiaoliu swallowed a mouthful of saliva and shifted her line of sight to see the text next to it.

『Alone on Yun Meng Lake stands Wan Qiu Pavilion, asking heroes, who ever gets Wanqi, gets the world! 』

『Rong Xu as Wanqi Yao』

After a moment: 【Ah ah ah ah ah this newbie is so handsome ah! The name is also suppeerrr nice to hear, Rong Xu is nice to hear, Wanqi Yao is also nice to hear! Exactly who is he, is he really just a newcomer? So handsome ah! This poster is reallllyyyy niccceee to look at licklicklicklicklick. Is there anyone who knows him!!!】

Zhuang Xiaoli quickly opened up the Weibo comments and found out that at least one-thirds of the popular Weibo accounts there were actually talking about this newbie.

Don't think that one-thirds was a very small portion, first off, Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng, these two people's fans occupied more than half of the forwarding and comments. And as for the other second male lead, Ye Qiao and third male lead, Song Mingfei, although they were a bit famous, they were still far off from Tang Menglan's level. There was simply no possibility of them being equals.

And right now, inside the popular comments, countless people were going crazy asking questions and licking the screen.

【So handsome! Simply a stunning beauty! This drama's attractive value is so high! Tang Menglan iz handsome, Dong Zhuang is handsome, Ye Qiao is handsome, Song Mingfei is also very handsome and that Rong Xu is even more of a beauty!!! I feel that the drama's handsome role is taken by Tang Menglan but the beauty of the drama is absolutely Rong Xu ah ah ah ah!!!!】

【When is it going to broadcast?! When is it going to broadcast?! When is it going to broadcast?! I also want to look look look at these beauties! 】

【Who ever gets Wanqi, gets the world…could this little beauty be acting as whatever Emperor and the like? Feudal prince under the Emperor?】

【 I think he should be the same as Teacher Kongming, don't you think that this little beauty is clean and free from the mortal world and it's vulgarity? How can he be whatever Emperor or Emperor ah? He's definitely a high person from the outside! I bet a cucumber that he's a super super powerful behind the scenes BOSS!】

【Speaking of which… that character's surname is Wan?】

Zhuang Xiaoliu quickly replied: 【Surname's Wanqi! W-a-n-q-i! Wan (million) Qi (wait)! Ao ao ao ao I originally just came for Tang ge, now I decided to be little beauty's passerby powder. The character poster is just too beautiful!】

【*Bows down to the beauty's power* typing with feet to prove it _(:3」∠)_ 】

【*Bows down to the beauty's power* +1!!! So beautiful ah ah ah ah!!!!! I can't endure under this kind of immortal aura! The aura's too much!】

【*Bows down to the beauty's power*+10086! Directing to the beauty's Weibo, it seems like he's really a newcomer ah. His Weibo fans are only a few hundreds! Everyone, hurry and come and follow~ I decided to switch to being little beauty's fan! Sitting tight to wait for "Vie for Supremacy" broadcasting! @Rong Xu】

……

Luo Zhentao once said before that "Vie for Supremacy" was Huaxia Entertainment's biggest TV drama series production investment this year, and could be said to be a trump card for the end of the year's rating. For this kind of TV drama to release their character posters, it soon set off waves in Weibo, Baidu forums, discussion forums and plus many others where everyone were discussing their character posters.

And the new actor that nobody had ever heard of was especially discussed.

When Rong Xu returned home at night, #VieforSupremacy, #TangMenglan, #DongZheng, and #Wanqi, these four tags have already became Weibo's most popular searches that very same day. The first three were in the top ten hottest searches, while the last one, #Wanqi, was ranked 41st. However, even if it was 41st, it still let Rong Xu be rather surprised.

He clicked up the popular searches only to see that one-thirds of the netizens were discussing 「Exactly what is this role for」,「Who is Rong Xu?」, another one-third of the netizens were discussing 「meimeimei」, 「licklicklicklick」, and there was still that last one-thirds of the netizens……

【Eh, China still had the surname Wanqi?】

【When you pass by an illiterate person, my nine years of compulsory education just taught me to lick the beauty, I'm proud to lick23333】

Rong Xu: "……"

In a way, the position of these popular searches, uhhh… En, it's really positive and formidable.

Rong Xu soon found that his own Weibo fans were already close to becoming 100,000. Just within a few hours, there were more than 90,000 fans who followed him. Looking at it like that, it really did look amazing. However, it was still the fact that Rong Xu's total fans so far was 100,000. After all in the end, he was still someone who started from zero, to have such a breakthrough was already considered very good. Just as when Rong Xu began making a congee, he received some information from Luo Zhentao.

【Luo Zhentao: It's estimated that your number of fans can exceed 200,000 tonight. I will slightly control the public opinion, you don't have to be too concerned about borrowing the heat from "Vie for Supremacy".】

Rong Xu dropped his gaze to look at this line, and quickly replied: 【Okay, I understand, Luo ge.】

'Wanqi' this hot search tag was something Luo Zhentao and Rong Xu never thought about. Rong Xu wasn't an ordinary newcomer, he always knew that this circle was not simple. If an artist wanted to become famous on his debut like Qin Cheng—with that kind of starting point that was too high for an ordinary people—most artists would need to have their own marketing team.

Do you really think that just be relying on Tang Menglan's fans, each and every Weibo post's forwards and comments could reach hundreds of thousands, with even a few reaching the millions?

When an artist needed some heat, the marketing team would take the stage. For example, this time, according to Rong Xu's speculations, Dong Zheng shouldn't have been able to just rely on "Vie for Supremacy" eastern wind to enter the top ten hottest searches list. At most, he would be in the top twenty, but in the end he still went up.

Before an artist reached a certain status and position, he needed to first learn on how to put himself before the audience.

Luo Zhentao originally didn't think of carrying out any PR promotion for Rong Xu during the character poster releases, he wanted to move when the first trailer came out. However, since the netizens were spontaneously making Rong Xu a hot topic, then Luo Zhentao would naturally borrow that and take the opportunity to contact Huaxia Entertainment's PR department to use all means to maintain Rong Xu's hottest search ranking around the forty to fifty list, maintaining it overnight.

So once the night was over, as expected, Rong Xu's Weibo fans really did broke through 200,000, and even reached 300,000!

Luo Zhentao excitedly sent over a message: 【This is a very good beginning, that first-tier star I used to have didn't even have such a good momentum. Xiao Xu, I think that you can advance a huge step this time with "Vie for Supremacy"! Third-tier or even second-tier would be possible!】

Rong Xu thought for a second, then calmly sent over a reply: 【Okay, Luo ge, we shall make persistent efforts! [fist][fist][fist]】

……Then expressionlessly place down the phone.

You couldn't blame our family's Rong Xu for not being excited at getting over 300,000 fans. When it was in his last life, his Weibo fans broke through 240 million and was the first artist with the most fans in the country. And on the foreign social platforms, his fans also nearly had 150 million people. Even if that both sides were to overlap, presumably the number of fans definitely would've exceeded 300 million.

300 million vs. 300,000……

Even if he wanted to be excited, there was really no way for him to be excited.

Did not know what his heart was thinking, but Rong Xu silently searched up a certain name on the Weibo and opened this certain person's homepage.

The profile picture used was a good quality photo. After he opened up the photo, he only saw an extremely handsome man who was slightly leaning against a wall, with his head and gaze lowered. The black and white photo style didn't let people clearly make out his face, but the strong and indifferent aura that still passed through the photo ruthlessly pressured down on everyone, so that even if one couldn't clearly see the face, there would be no one who would mistaken him.

Because he was Qin Cheng.

Rong Xu looked at this profile picture, and after a while, then went to look at the number of fans the other had.

342,000,000. Three hundred and forty-two million.

This world's China didn't set up a wall against foreign social platforms, the local celebrities basically would not play with any foreign social platforms either, and would only use their own China's Weibo. So many foreign fans would especially register in a Chinese account to pay attention to their favorite stars.

This person was currently China's number one ah……

Rong Xu's heart inexplicably flashed this sentence. Just as he was narrowing his eyes, staring at the other's Weibo profile picture without focus, when he suddenly heard the crisp sound of a key opening the lock! Rong Xu was immediately startled, and turned around to look in surprise.

He only saw the mahogany door was gently pushed open, first revealing a slender hand.

When that person raised his head and saw Rong Xu, probably because he didn't think that the teen would actually be here, a gleam of light quickly flashed through the obsidian and abstruse eyes, before it was well hidden once again. With his lips slightly pursed, Qin Cheng concealed his surprise expression and calmly closed the door as he entered the house.

Almost unconsciously, Rong Xu quickly turned over his phone on the table.

Qin Cheng walked over to the dining table in a stable and calm pace. When he was close enough, Rong Xu already had his lip hooked up in a smile and said: "I had already let my manager find a good place. Mister Qin, I have to go filming tomorrow, but the next time I return to B-City, I will move out of here. Thank you for your hospitality these past few days. I didn't touch anything in the house, but I still borrowed the kitchen for a bit. I've already cleaned it for you."

Qin Cheng who had been filming until now and was finally able to make a trip back to his apartment: "……"

As if he didn't see the man's shocked expression or sensed the other's silence, Rong Xu continued on: "I know that you only gave me the key to here because of Auntie Qin. I also feel sorry for the inconvenience of me living here for three days."

Qin Cheng: "……"

After half a day, he snapped out of his silence and opened his mouth to only say this one sentence: "You can still continue to live here."

Rong Xu thought for a moment there that he didn't hear clearly. He sightly widened his eyes and asked: "What?"

Qin Cheng lowered his gaze, looking at the teen's confused appearance. He saw the pair of slender and bright eyes clearly reflecting a glistening light like waves under the sunlight. It was obviously just a pure and simple smile of goodwill, but don’t know why, Qin Cheng's gaze suddenly darkened slightly, as if he saw from those eyes a hint of… flirting.

Gently sighing, Qin Cheng raised the corner of his lip in a smile and finally got rid of his involuntarily "suddenly saw the other and was unable to react at once" kind of impolite reaction. He walked to the side of the table, pulled out the chair and then sat down across from the teen.

When he lifted up his head, the man focused his pair of phoenix eyes to watch the boy who was still at a loss, quietly revealing a touch of a small smile and said in a low voice: "There's no better apartment than this one around Huaxia Entertainment. Since you want to rent someone's apartment, why not… rent mine? For the sake of giving mother some face, I can give you a bit of preferential treatment."

Rong Xu's gaze quivered, and stared at this man in front of him in a daze.

Qin Cheng had, since the beginning, been holding on to that cool, calm and unhurried appearance. He raised his left hand and gently tapped the table, making a 'da da' sound. If Auntie Qin was here, she would have definitely exclaimed aloud: "Son, you're tapping your fingers again, what are you so nervous about ah!"

……So to say, there were some people who were obviously begging someone to live with them, En. They would even say a "For the sake of giving mother some face."

Reddest Flower – In China, they say someone is popular by saying they are ‘red’ So “They are the reddest.” , “How red are they?” like that. Flower is referring to a famous female actress (usually a young one) I could’ve just put most popular female actress, but reddest flower sounded prettier 😛

Royal Elder Sister type role – Those who are more familiar with Japanese, something like an oneesama chara type

It comes from the JP term [御姊 – Yù zǐ] (same meaning, different pronunciation [御姐 – Yù jiě]) The original meaning was a term of respect to an elder sister, but in the ACGN (animation, comic, game, novel) term, it refers to females with the appearance, body, personality, and temperament of a mature young women (usually 16-34 yrs.old) They usually are a calm, cool-headed, strong personality, mature mind, noble temperament, and has a height of 160cm + and C cups + (Why? =_=)

There are also sub-types like the gentle healing type, cold & mysterious type, bold & carefree type, black-bellied/sado type, mature & reliable type, and intimate wife type.

Wife powder fans – The word fans is an extended meaning from [粉丝 – fěnsī] which original meaning was glass noodles or cellophane noodles (a traditional Chinese noodle)

It can be shortened to just [粉 – fěn ] which means powder. In the original raws, it was [老婆粉 – Lǎopó fěn] so it’s just wife fans or female fans that treats themselves as your wife, which is why Zhuang Xiaoliu called Menglan, Tang ge instead of Tang jie <.<

Peanuts [花生] – Flower [花 – Huā] ^^^As above, and Life [生 – Shēng] (probably because [神 – Shén] is usually used to call male gods (really famous & popular male artists in the circle) refers to young famous male actors. And together they had to make the words peanuts! I’m more interested in why peanut has the characters flower life though……..

Ao ao ao ao – Wailing sounds

Coffee Seat – It’s the status of a star in the entertainment circle. The higher the coffee seat, the higher the paycheck, and the greater their influence

Changpao – A traditional Chinese clothing that is an one-piece garment extending from the shoulders all the way to the heels

Suppeerrr – Grass chicken [草雞 – Cǎojī] was the raws. It’s suppose to be [超级 – Cǎojī], it’s a coquettish and cringy way to say it, and mimic how Taiwanese people talk. As someone who speaks Cantonese, I admit does sound similar.

Reallllyyyy niccceee – Monkey [猴 – Hóu]. It’s [好 – Hǎo], ^^^same thing. Just know that whenever I extend the words, it’s either one of these two. I might not mind peanuts but i am not saying that Rong Rong sounds like grass chicken or look like a monkey.

Licklicklicklicklick – It’s probably part of [跪舔 – guì tiǎn] Kneel & lick. It’s an internet slang humorously describing someone’s fervent admiration for someone or something. Or as Shem said: Oh Lol typical fan girl XD

Meimeimei– It’s just beautybeautybeauty, I just thought meimeimei sounded better

Passerby powder – ^^^same fans explanation, but these people aren’t ‘official fans’ like they aren’t in the fan club but just has a good impression of the artists not to the point of worship though and would just occasionally check them out. Which, by the way, I’m like that too mostly XD Tsukiuta is probably the only fandom I like enough to buy them merch despite me dabbing in alot of other fandoms(seiyuus, otome games & VN, BJDs)

Wan (million) Qi (wait) – The orginal was [萬（莫）俟（齊）- Wàn (mò) qí (qí)] vvv

Surname Wanqi – It is uncommon surname, I’m getting tired so here’s the simplified ver.

It was originally [莫齊 – mò qí] both are just surname mò and surname qí.

It’s one of the earliest surname for the Qiaole ethnic tribe and Xianbei clan that developed into their clan name and eventually changed to [萬俟 – Wàn qí] Oh, and also even though [俟 – qí] is written like that, it’s pronounced more like [四 – Sì]

Baidu – China’s biggest search engine like google here

Eastern wind – Someone’s or something’s influence, riding on someone or something else’s coattails

Kongming – Remember back in ch 6 that had another really long footnote? Kongming is the courtesy name Zhuge Liang of that Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor that angered Zhou Yu to death.

Attempting to seize the throne – Something that is lost in translation. The drama’s name which I trans. to ‘Vie for Supremacy’ is the figurative meaning of [逐鹿 – zhú lù] To pursue deer. This line was an idiom [逐鹿中原 – zhú lù zhōng yuán] lit. Hunting deer in the central plain

I bet a cucumber – My searches led me to:

“Because cucumbers can not only be used in public, can also be used privately……”

“You can play with it?”

“Haha how is this use to curse, it’s just not very good to hear when said because cucumbers can mean a lot of other things. The other party probably just casually said it, you don’t have to be too concerned about it.”

“Only Hao can bet with more cucumbers because all the cucumbers in the world got a job under Hao!!!”

Hao – 壕 meaning local tyrant or tycoon, it’s a group label for contemporary Chinese rich people.

“No but cucumber has a bad meaning.”

Ι Ι

Translator's Corner

Qin Cheng's gaze suddenly darkened slightly, as if he saw from those eyes a hint of… flirting.

Vian: No, that’s just your wish. *eats popcorn* No, I was literally eating popcorn as I translated this, school was doing a fundraiser and I brought some

Vian: Come on! Let's see if my popcorn runs out or if you can get Rong Rong into your bed first! I still have a few bags left and a jar, worst comes to worse I still have a bunch of chocolate and knick knack snack in my snack box

Shem: *smacks Vian* #ﾟÅﾟ）⊂彡☆))ﾟДﾟ)･∵ you have a good life ha! Just eating popcorns! While you dump works on me and then going MIA again!

Btw, is Qin Cheng already gay from the start? Like, he really prefers men than women…? Kwkwkwkw.

Vian: Teehee~

I think it's more like he didn't care either way and then *plomp* Rong Rong appears and love at first sight?