Chapter 583 (2/2)

But of course, we should not paint all celebrities with the same brush. Some actresses still lived by the old-school code of solitary method-acting. Unfortunately, these great souls were either underappreciated or completely obscure. Nobody gave them the honor of the leading role. At most, they either acted as sidekicks or goons. Celebrities who had their personal brand and knew how to market themselves, imprinting their presence in the scene usually received these roles.

When Zhou Xing was finished watching Zhang Guorong’s movies, he wanted to find out more about this legendary actress, just like others. His searches on the internet came up short. He could only find some quotes and movie lines from her.

Even those great Gods on Zhihu were unable to come up with any truthful-sounding, convincing stories. After all, they did not even have access to 70% of the truth. No story could be made up out of thin air. Those great Gods did not intend to ruin their reputations, not after working so hard to build up good reviews about themselves. Thus, they could only reply like so——

“Thanks for the invitation. Zhang Guorong has indeed gotten very popular recently. Unfortunately, we could only speculate from what little we’ve seen from her movies, but we are unable to retrieve any of her private information. I can only say that the paparazzi of her era were too incompetent! I know, I know. You guys will try to show me the various scandals from so and so from her generation. Well, what can I say? People are different. Perhaps “sis” was as frugal as reality permitted, so the paparazzi would be left helpless…”

Although Zhou Xing was thoroughly disappointed in the great Gods on Zhihu, he finally learned of a particular book that had been trending on the internet. People had even recognized it as Zhang Guorong’s official biography.

Without any hesitation, he immediately purchased this book from the web store. He had no other choice. Generally, bookstores would never place self-help/professional books on their shelves. What’s the point of ordering something that would not sell?

The bookstores close to his university mostly sold trivia and gossip magazines that were catered for university students. Indeed, the market for actual reading material these days was dying. After all, people had phones in hand. They could find everything they wanted to read on the internet.

It took a few days for the book to reach his doorstep. After shoving aside his other plans to make more free time for himself, he headed to the library and read the book. Compared to the relatively noisy bedroom, the library was nirvana. Such a book deserved his full, careful attention. He could not afford to be distracted by the sound of a pin drop.

He had initially believed that it would take all his effort to focus on the book. After all, it was a self-help book – not something that would give the heart a few skips. After reading, he was thoroughly fascinated!

This was no self-help book. It hardly even spoke about “good acting.” If anything, this was a non-fictional biography! Most impressively, the author had perfectly conveyed the golden age of the film industry, when it was just at the brink of several technological breakthroughs that revolutionalized the game. Reading it through you back into a time capsule. The nostalgia – for lack of a better word – even if one had not actually lived in that time, was bone-chilling!

Most interestingly, it had been written from Zhang Guorong’s first-person perspective, as if Zhang Guorong had written the book herself. She had returned to life and wrote this masterpiece. Her recollections and retellings had been so vivid and detailed!

Zhou Xing leaned back, satisfied. He could never describe the pleasure of reading this book to anyone else. They would simply have to read it themselves!

Translation Note:

[1] Pipeline-style – It refers to a type of method in producing new idols and celebrities. They are chosen by companies through drafting, following by training, and then debut. The results would be standardized and consistent.

[2] “Love and Producer” – This is a card collection love mobile game, produced by Suzhou Diezhi Network Technology Co. Ltd. The game is developed, issued, and operated by the company itself. The game focuses more towards female players.

[3] High standard critics – It refers to those critics who use high standard, civilized, humorous language to negatively criticize everything in the world. To be simple, they praise on appearance, yet satirize in fact. But the thing they praised is not the same object they satirized. They satirize the object they wanted to criticize with the help of the object they praised.