Director Li had initially given up, figuring it was a fan-driven film after all, with the fans to back him up; he was happy to let the acting be bad. But then he saw Chu Meibo's dedication—she stayed with Tao Xuanxuan for take after take, consistently delivering solid performances—which moved him. He adjusted his approach and put in considerable effort during post-production filming and editing. While the lead actors' performances were still awkward, at least they were somewhat masked, and the film became passable.
Although the Douban rating dropped to 7 points after five days of airing, most people in the production team felt that it was much better than they had expected.
In the following days, the popularity of "Honey" continued to rise, and its viewership quickly surpassed 100 million. This is a very good achievement for a low-budget campus drama.
Wen Hanyi's top-tier status brought a huge amount of traffic to the drama, but what really made "Honey" a hit was the friendship between the female lead and the supporting female lead.
So much so that the next day, #WenMengIsSoSweet# became a trending topic.
One of the most widely circulated GIFs is the scene where Wen Nan removes the flower petals from Meng Shishi's head.
Wen Nan was half a head taller than Meng Shishi. She lowered her head slightly and focused on removing the petals. Meng Shishi looked up at her, then blushed and looked away.
Below, a bunch of people were screaming, "So sweet!" "It's so incredibly sweet!" "The country owes me a best friend like that!"
For today's well-informed netizens, the concept of "CP" (couple pairing) is no longer limited to men and women. Male-male CPs are all the rage and nothing new. Female-female CPs do exist, but they are mostly limited to older movies.
In recent years, the public's aesthetic preferences for female celebrities have been trending towards youthful and innocent types, and it has been a long time since a strong and glamorous female star has emerged in China.
That's why Aoi-hime was able to become popular with just a short, unedited video clip.
While Wen Nan is portrayed as a gentle character, she plays a protective role towards Meng Shishi throughout the story. Furthermore, Chu Meibo exerted extra effort to get Tao Xuanxuan into character, practically controlling the pace of the entire plot. Most viewers didn't notice, but that didn't prevent them from experiencing the emotions.
Does Meng Shishi really like Qin Shu? Their relationship is so awkward; she's much more natural with Wen Nan.
[Actually, if you think about it this way, Meng Shishi doesn't like Qin Shu at all. She only pretends to like Qin Shu in front of Wen Nan because she knows Wen Nan likes Qin Shu, so she wants Wen Nan to give up and thus monopolize Wen Nan. Isn't that right?]
Holy crap, the logic is flawless!
[I've figured out the right way to watch this show!!]
[Sisters shake hands! Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks this way!]
In the second episode, Meng Shishi deliberately talked to Wen Nan about Qin Shu, and Wen Nan seemed a little sad. For the first time, she left without waiting for Meng Shishi. Look at Meng Shishi's expression; wasn't she both heartbroken and jealous?
[Yeah! I was wondering why something seemed off when I watched it before, now that you mention it, it all makes sense.]
These days, besides socialist brotherhood, is there even socialist best friend friendship? [laughing and crying emojis]
Since the drama aired, Wen Hanyi's fans have been on high alert, actively controlling comments to prevent "haters" from slandering and attacking them.
In particular, we must prevent certain bitches from using their own children to get on the trending topics.
Therefore, when the first trending topic for "Honey" appeared, everyone was on high alert, but after seeing the trending topic...
Wen Hanyi's fans: "???"
There was no response in the huge QQ group for a full five minutes.
Are trending topics these days all taking such unusual and quirky angles?
After a long while, a fan finally spoke indignantly in the group chat.
Wen Meng's trending topic ranking has risen again! They're going too far! They won't even include our Yi Bao!
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When Hua Rong saw the trending topic, her eyes almost turned red with jealousy. With her years of experience, she could naturally tell that this trending topic was indeed pushed up by netizens' organic efforts.
With her acting skills and presence, there's no need to rack her brains to generate buzz for her. With just a little push from her agent, she'll become a national sensation.
Hua Rong was absolutely agonizing; if this were in her hands...
Never mind, I won't say anything more.
She was feeling down, but the thought that she also had a secret weapon made her feel much better. She made a phone call and gave Bai Shilan, who was filming, a few words of advice.
Bai Shilan was recruited by her from the dance academy. Bai Shilan is a ballroom dancer, especially skilled in tango.
Bai Shilan is tall and fair-skinned. Because of her mixed heritage, she has deep-set eyes. In addition, tango requires dancers to have strong eye contact and physical contact. In terms of appearance alone, Bai Shilan has an advantage over Chu Meibo.
Hua Rong wants to replicate Chu Meibo's path, so she has Bai Shilan act like Chu Meibo, and then uses Chu Meibo as a stepping stone to rise to power.
Hua Rong's plan was sound. No matter how good Chu Meibo's acting skills were, she could only play supporting roles now. How much room for acting skills could a supporting role have? She was just lucky. Kui Ji in "The Secret" was originally designed with that kind of character. In "Honey," Wen Hanyi and she had no conflict, and Tao Xuanxuan didn't care about such things. Both of them had really bad acting skills, which made her stand out.
Where else will such a good opportunity come from? Not to mention how fierce the competition is among actresses on set, directors will not allow a supporting actress to stand out too much and overshadow the leading lady.
Moreover, Hua Rong had already inquired and found out that Chu Meibo had taken on a variety show, "Traveling with History," directed by Director Yu, and was also preparing for the college entrance examination. Shen Huai hadn't gotten her any acting roles at all.
This is Bai Shilan's chance to shine!
Hua Rong became more and more excited as she thought about it, and just then, she received a phone call.
This made her face turn ugly immediately.
"What did you say? He refuses to go?"
"Okay, I understand. You guys come back first and let Song Yimian come see me."
An hour later, there was a knock on Hua Rong's door, and Song Yimian walked in.
Hua Rong suppressed her anger and asked, "I heard that President Guo came to see you today, but you refused?"
Song Yimian lowered his head and slowly said, "I submitted my resume before, and there happens to be an audition today, so I'd like to go and give it a try."
"Huh?" Hua Rong looked incredulous. "You turned down President Guo's offer just for an audition?"
Song Yimian then raised his head, his face filled with hope, and his speech quickened: "Sister Hua, I passed that audition. It's for the second male lead in a crime drama, a forensic doctor. The role is very compelling, and I've been studying it for a long time. I think..."