Superstar Aspirations

In the center of the armies and amongst the flames of wars, the evilly good-looking man pointed his sword and offered a high reward.

How would that make you feel?

The audience knew not how Moqi Yao felt, yet they themselves were thrilled to the point of exploding.

[Dongli Lan actually knows Moqi Yao? How come? Did I miss something? And I forgot that they were old acquaintances?]

[Oh my! This is awesome! How come someone as domineering and cool as Dongli Lan wanted Yaoyao on his list? And he even offered such a lucrative reward! Is there something secret between them or why would he want Yaoyao dead? Please enlighten upon us about their relationship! @Crew of Vie for Supremacy]

[One the cold-blooded and evil crown prince. The other the unsurpassed consellor. When the two meet in battlefield, the prince wants the counselor dead knowing not that they two will someday fall deeply in love, creating a touching romance that lasts life after life.]

[The upstair synopsis looks hilarious, quite similar to the style of some web novel site. Yet once I bought it, I found it extremely intriguing! So what is the true story between Dongli Lan and Moqi Yao? It seemed they two were old acquaintance?]

The newly released two episodes told one of the great wars between Chu and Liang.

Before this the army of Chu defeated Liang, taking back their territory lost nine years ago with the help of Moqi Yao. One month after that, Crown Prince of Liang led an army to the border of Chu. Thus the war bagan.

The army of Liang was far mightier that of Chu, thus though with the instruct of Moqi Yao, Chu didn't gain any advantage in the battlefield. A stalemate followed with neither side daring to initiate an attack.

The two new episodes revealed only this much information yet the unexpected way Dongli Lan treated Moqi Yao led audience's thoughts to wonder. Soon the heat discussion of #VieForSupremacy overwhelmed the Internet and some deduced the possible identity of Dongli Lan.

[In the first few episodes Moqi Yao had mentioned that he also had a friend, his martial brother. They two grew up together, enjoyed deep friendship but somehow were out of touch with each other. If Dongli Lan knew Moqi Yao, then he could be Yao's martial brother, or at least was acquainted with Yao's martial brother.]

The following two episodes proved the speculation.

When asked by Xiao Xiang about their story, Moqi Yao answered with a gentle smile, "He is my Shixiong (common address for martial brother)."

Then a happy memory flashed in.

Born of an imperial maid, Dongli Lan was ignored by Emperor Liang. There was a time when he fell into a lake by 'accident' and was nearly drowned to death. Though he survived, he was infected with smallpox thereby sent out of the imperial palace to avoid spreading the infection. It was then he met with his Master, head of Wang Qiu Pavilion.

Wang Qiu Pavilion was not only a place of counselling strategies and wisdom but also a place of unparalleled martial arts. The late Master took Dongli Lan as disciple after seeing his great aptitude, cured him of smallpox and taught him Martial arts. Five years later, he took Moqi Yao as disciple and taught him too.

However, Moqi Yao had no talent in martial arts while Dongli Lan excelled in almost everything.

Moqi Yao never won in martial skills but surpassed Dongli Lan in civil virtues. Dongli Lan never beat Moqi Yao in politics and counselling but he was way better than most of the ordinary. When asked why Dongli Lan would leave, Moqi Yao shook his head and said, "We both believed that Master would appoint Shixiong as the next head of Wang Qiu Pavilion but secretly he chose me."

Unwilling to accept the unannounced reality, the proud Dongli Lan left Wang Qiu Pavilion and returned to Liang. He usurped the place of Crown Prince, made the Emperor a mere figurehead and became the Emperor of Liang.

All audience were touched by the unbending tie of fate between the two.

[Truely outdated! But also awesome! They two had a stirring story!]

[In Yaoyao's memory, the Little Crown Prince liked Little Yaoyao. He cut fruits for Yaoyao, and led Little Yaoyao to sneak out to town. I didn't believe that he wanted Yaoyao dead.]

[You knew nothing. It's the sort of tormenting love that kills. I'd like to offer the scriptwriter some sweet candies for their good job! Even BL novels dare not to have such plots. The scriptwriter is definitely a man of creation.]

The Lan & Yao CP (couple) went viral in just four episodes after the two met. Originally, only a few discussed the CP, however, by the time a single-frame comic strip of the chubby little Yaoyao and Little Crown Prince went online, yaoyi fandom were thrilled to join in the discussion.

12 o'clock that night, Lan & Yao CP became the most heated one under the super topic of #VieForSupremacy, leaving the Xiang & Xian CP of ML and FL far behind. Many more jokes themed on the possible guess of the story between the two brothers came online in one day, some of them were so adorable and touching that they would melt your heart.

Then some fan-illustrators joined in creating some amazing single-frame comic strip or four-frame comic strips. The following release on the third day didn't elaborate on the story between Moqi Yao and Dongli Lan, but revealed something breaking: Yaoyao had been keeping a jade pendant that Dongli Lan gave him.

Xiao Xiang once accidently knocked it off; luckily, it stayed intact. Xiao apologized repeatedly as Moqi Yao smiled, "Something bad may indeed happen if it broke into pieces. Not that it is valuable, two tales of silver at most. But it is the only thing Shixiong's mother left him. Back when we were young, I took the blame for him and, as punishment, knelt in Discipline Chamber for three days. Shixiong had been guarding at the door all the while. Later he gave me this jade pendant and said that he owed me a favor. The jade pendant is the token for his promise."

Xiao Xiang asked out of surprise, "Then why did he…"

Moqi Yao immediately got the meaning of her unsaid words.

Why would Dongli Lan want his young martial brother dead after gifting him the jade pendant important as this?

Moqi Yao smiled with a slight shook of his head, not a bit grudge detected in his tone, "We were too young. Perhaps Shixiong just forgot it."

By no means was Xiao Xiang some ignoble man who would demand Moqi Yao to use the jade pendant and let Dongli Lan surrender. So she stopped the conversation after a slight nod.

Itching to know more, the audience were nearly driven mad with curiosity.

[Oh my! Yaoyao is such a considerate and intelligent boy, so appallingly beautiful to the point of deserved by none. If I were Dongli Lan, I would be willing to give up the whole world for him, let alone some sort of head of a pavilion. I want Yaoyao!!!]

[I just pictured the character setting for the CP: The Heartless Evil Arrogant Top & Spoony Gentle Intelligent Bottom!]

[Report! The plot of lost memory fits perfectly for the two.]

[So you all believed Yaoyao to be a bottom? Why I thought Yaoyao is an evil top who looks good-natured and amicable but deep down he is a vicious beauty.]

The heat discussion of Lan & Yao CP brought great benefits to Vie for Supremacy and the two actors.

Rong Xu had already gone viral with Ambush, turning from a third-level star to ab-lister by virtue of a weekly released TV drama.

Now with adorable and rich character Moqi Yao, he enjoyed the shockingly high popularity the second to none among ab-listers.

Rong Xu had been a frequent topic for heat discussion online from July when he first joined the crew of Vie for Supremacy to the premiere of Ambush. Even with half of the episodes released, it was merely half a year for his rise.

Now he was frequently mentioned together with Ye Qiao because of Lan & Yao CP.

Rong Xu's fans had been increasing fast every day, tens of thousands of fans every day. Every weblog he posted would be reposted for over ten thousand times. However, Ye Qiao's would only be reposted for about 5,000 times at most.

That didn't mean that Rong Xu's popularity of four million fans surpassed Ye Qiao who was followed by over seven million fans. The fact lied in that Rong Xu's most fans were new followers in just half a year who would naturally be alive on weblog.

Ye Qiao welcomed his second boom of career as Lan & Yao CP went viral.

Many audience were intrigued to discuss the complicated story between Dongli Lan and Moqi Yao, many audience followed Ye Qiao's weblog and the forum of the entertainment company he started. Ye Qiao became popular, his fans booming. Just like what Dong Zheng had said half a year ago, Qi Li Studio boomed the popularity of the second male lead and fourth male lead with Vie for Supremacy just as it had done many years ago with a black horse movie on homosexuality.

Many celebrities would go viral because of certain TV drama or a movie. As it was in the Crew of Vie for Supremacy, the female lead Tang Menglan was a superstar liked by many already. She now won the Queen of Audience Rating with her steady performance in the TV drama.

The latest rating for Vie for Supremacy was 3.4! And that would certainly keep increasing considering the heat discussion.

The male lead Dong Zheng gained his very first high rating TV drama with him starring.

And the second male lead Ye Qiao and fourth male lead Rong Xu got most out of Vie for Supremacy. For Ye, this was a TV drama that helped him back to the prime of his career; for Rong, this TV drama set a solid foundation for his future career.

The third male lead Song Mingfei was the one least noticed, but only temporarily as the role he played didn't come into audience's views yet. His popularity might also enjoy a great boom when the role he played came out.

For all these, Rong Xu only learned a rough idea from Luo Zhentao. He didn't the crew of Vie for Supremacy and Ye Qiao from fan faring up the popularity. Yes, behind the heat of Lan & Yao CP lied the intervene of the Crew of View for Supremacy.

Reasonable marketing could also increase his popularity, bringing more eyes to him. Why would he refuse? Besides, he himself didn't have to do anything except for providing his name. So he could focus on preparing for the new movie with Crew of Vie for Supremacy and Ye Qiao's team taking in charge of the whole thing.