Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

More than anyone else, Lady Zhao strongly wanted this book to flourish. The romanticized version of Zhang Guorong had to be made known to the world. She wanted everyone in this world to know about this fantastic lady, even if she no longer walked on this earth. The world had to know this character, even if this was an improved, albeit romanticized version of a famous, deceased actress.

70% truth, 30% fiction were the most convincing lie possible. Creating a character who was perfect in every form with maxed out acting skills, would only result in boredom for the readers. As if we haven’t read enough of those in novels. Some novels even categorized geniuses in different levels, such as regular geniuses, godly geniuses, lowly geniuses, etc. Geniuses and novels basically walked hand-in-hand, so how could they still end up stirring up hearts?

Let’s not forget that Zhang Guorong actually existed. She once lived on the same earth as you now do. She was someone who once sat at the top of the world, earning international acclaim as an actress. Time may have robbed memories of her from the world. She had been too mysterious, too incognito. Hardly anyone spoke of her! Mystery in itself could be tedious if overused. Readers preferred to delve into the contents of their secrets.

In “Perfect Acting — A Lifetime of Youth,” she now had to opportunity to return to international recognition.

A living person would never experience such fame. The living was riddled with flaws. Others might not even see the good in people. As a legend, things are different. This was why there’s the saying, “Being famous is not easy.”

But dig into the History of China, and you’ll find another saying, “The death of a person is profound.” Zhang Guorong was untouchable in this state. She had what it took to topple typical, sensationalized news in the same vein as a streamer screwing up during a session or something like that.

Lesser-known celebrities were also seen rising into momentary fame, whenever they experience something like a simple divorce, contraband or something similar. Celebrities thrived on negative news.

Actors did not even bother asking about the details of their roles. They would pull off cheap imitations of greater actors, viralizing their work and raking in cash.

It was no longer the film or project flopping as a whole. It all fell down on the shoulders of actors and actresses.

Take a look at the upcoming live adaptation of Han Leng’s “Beautiful April.” It was supposed to have an all-star cast, but budget constraints quickly got in their way, and they were forced to rope in less-experienced actors. Even so, it had not turned out to be a bad choice. In this case, Han Leng alone had proven sufficient to promote the film.

Zhang Guorong from “Perfect Acting — A Lifetime of Youth” was a highly popular main character. The past her was already well-known enough. She just needed a slight push to reach the realm of Gods.

November came upon them. Zhao Youyue had kept one eye glued to the new arrivals in bookstores. She quickly procured her own copy of the book in the calm before the storm, and finished it in the blink of an eye. Oh, how cute had she been, playing her part as a lovestruck lady. It had been incredibly fun.

In the process, she had picked up some acting skills. This was similar to how she got to advance in her academics while possessing Xu Jing, even without her card.

She did not yet have the maxed-out, genius-level acting. Only the character card would be able to grant her that.

Zhao Youyue could see the potential in this book. It was a fun read, the story was engaging and thrilling, and there was not a single dull moment. It was basically a book regarding Zhang Guorong’s life, and readers would be in for an exhilarating ride. How could it not be famous?

Even if it did not end up famous, she would use any methods possible to turn it into something famous.

Thus, Zhao Youyue set her plans in motion. Successful authors Su Li and Han Leng would be mobilized, but first, they needed to taste the book firsthand.

The famous streamer, Ah Yu would not be left behind either. She would one day proclaim to the internet that of all the Goddesses from the Golden Age of cinematography, she worshipped Zhang Guorong the most. Ah Yu would affectionately refer to Zhang Guorong as her imouto.

Zhang Guorong may not have gotten herself involved in the singing industry, but she had definitely dabbled in it before. It was time for Ah Yu to sing covers of Guorong’s songs.

Ah Yu’s Weibo sprung to life, throwing out a post that recommended “Perfect Acting — A Lifetime Of Wonderful Youth” while dropping quotes and clippings from this actress’ wonderful life.

She had also listed some of Zhang Guorong’s major films to show how good of an actress was Guorong.

Other than that, she would start a trend of Zhang Guorong memes and clippings. Even stickers would be fine. She wasn’t called the “Thousand Faced Actress” for no reason. Her face hosted a plethora of endless expressions, the likes of which were never seen, and would never be seen again.

If all this did not suffice, Lady Zhao still had her money. She should start paying advertisements for Zhang Guorong. So what if she gets found out?

Such actions would have proven to be futile if Zhang Guorong was still alive. A living target was a target that one could critique and poke at.

A dead person – well, who would want to poke at that?

Lady Zhao first confessing from the bottom of her heart that she was a diehard fan of Zhang Guorong, before actually spending money for the world to learn more about her idol, was not too big of an issue, right?

I’m a huge fan of my imouto, and I’m so proud of her that I would spend money for others to see her.

The world would have no choice but to accept that Zhao Youyue would do some outrageous things for her wife. She would stop at nothing to protect her wife.

Zhao Youyue was convinced that she had discovered a new method of harvesting character cards. Most of the character cards did not mean much now. The Zhang Guorong character card was all that mattered. Zhang Guorong would give her the power to be a world-class actress.