Showbiz's Number One Pretty Face

Print editions of Volumes 1 and 2 are now available. Search for “Eye-Catching Novel” to buy them. For more updates, follow the author on Weibo: @SaturnCamus Everyone in the entertainment industry knows that Ke Yu is beautiful but a terrible actor. In his six years since debut, he has won the favor of one top director after another. Everyone says it’s all thanks to the powerful backer behind him, pulling strings in secret and keeping trouble at bay. Everyone in the entertainment industry also knows that Shang Lu comes from a wealthy family and is exceptionally gifted. He also has countless investors backing him. Actors fight tooth and nail, expose one another’s scandals, and slash their pay just to get cast in his films. It wasn’t until later that they finally caught on. Shang Lu’s first leading man was Ke Yu, the pretty face. His second leading man was Ke Yu. And the third leading man… was that seriously Ke Yu again? “The nominees for Best Actor at this year’s Nebula Awards are…” “The nominees for Best Leading Actor at this year’s Film Industry Association Awards are…” “The winner of the Golden Director’s Baton Directors Association’s Favorite Actor award is…” “I’ll lift you to the farthest reaches of the stars, where you’ll shine brighter than them all.” From plummeting off a cliff amid a storm of scandals to standing at the summit with every major award in hand, he had only ever run toward him. From the crew’s perspective: #The director and leading man are once again trying to expense their dates to the production budget# No way, do they really think we haven’t noticed they’re having an affair? When the director slipped the room key into the leading man’s hand, everyone pretended to admire the scenery. #We’re all blind# A young master versus a movie star. A sweet, puppy-like, straightforward younger top and an unruffled bottom. They meet each other head-on. I’m no good at writing blurbs or coming up with catchy titles. The story is set in the film industry, with a Hong Kong-style, serious drama feel. [If you want to give this five stars but don’t have permission to rate it, please hold off for now. Thank you, everyone T^T] - [Content notes / reading guide] 1. No real-life inspiration. Don’t project real people onto the characters. 2. They both pursue each other, but there is a breakup and reconciliation. It isn’t all sweetness. 3. A dangerous creep appears early on. 4. In the end, it’s about falling in love properly and making movies properly. The text is revised regularly. Stolen copies are based on the original version. · My next novel will be “Unattached to Appearances,” a bittersweet contemporary romance. Gu Xun and Xie Yubai slept together for two years. They spent every weekend together during those two years, watching movies, sleeping together, and having Gu Xun cook for Xie Yubai. Gu Xun had always thought he and Xie Yubai were dating, until one day Xie Yubai told him, “You shouldn’t come over anymore.” Gu Xun didn’t understand. He just gave a silly, half-dazed smile, his lashes curving upward. “Why?” he asked. “Because there’s someone I want to date seriously now.” Xie Yubai lowered his eyes and said flatly, “It wouldn’t be appropriate. He’d be upset.” Only then did Gu Xun realize that Xie Yubai had never thought they were in a serious relationship, and had never considered him his boyfriend. So what had he been? A housekeeper? A tool? He met Xie Yubai’s boyfriend once later on. He seemed like a nice person. Gu Xun was easygoing, and even started wondering if he had caused Xie Yubai a lot of trouble. After all, Xie Yubai was such a solitary person. Putting up with Gu Xun pestering him for two years must have been painful and exhausting. Gu Xun soon figured things out. He stopped being sad and holding grudges, embraced a new life, and began meeting new people. But Xie Yubai wouldn’t let him. At the lobby of a resort hotel, he grabbed Gu Xun and stopped him from going upstairs to meet his new boyfriend. They struggled with each other, making quite a scene. “Gu Xun,” Xie Yubai said, his voice catching and his eyes reddening. “Do you even have a heart?” Gu Xun gave that same half-dazed smile, then asked politely, bewildered, “…And you are?” The day he met Xie Yubai’s new boyfriend, he erased every memory he had of Xie Yubai. /And so the secret admirer turned away and waved goodbye. You chase after him, like the evening sky pursuing the moon./ Xie Yubai is the top; Gu Xun is the bottom. * “Unattached to appearances” is a Buddhist term. It means not allowing the appearances of worldly things to take root in one’s heart, and letting go of all three spheres. The top does not change. It’s melodramatic, both characters are virgins, and the blurb contains plenty of misdirection. Don’t try to guess the story from it. Theme: Even when trapped in a cage, keep your heart turned toward the stars.