Character on the fringe, but strength takes center stage! Long live Xin! (Subscriptions and monthly votes appreciated!)

Li Shixin had previously imagined what the scene would look like after the premiere of "The Forbidden City at Dead's End".

Because of stealing a few scenes, the role of the beggar turned out quite prominent. However, he had never expected to explode in popularity based entirely on this role.

After all, this was merely a bit-part extra who didn't even make the credit roll!

He truly, truly never anticipated that this character would attract a new wave of attention in precisely this manner.

Yet, upon seeing the logo of "Huaqi Shares" beneath the premiere video on the streaming website, Li Shixin smiled slightly.

He understood.

"The Forbidden City at Dead's End" was a film and television project invested in by Huaqi, while "The Lying Father" was an advertisement filmed and broadcast by Huaqi.

It was entirely their own platform!

At this moment, the bullet comments on the video were buzzing with lively activity.

Around the twelve-minute and thirty-second mark of the video, countless platoons of viewers who had already watched the advertisement began to assemble:

"Having watched the commercial, I specifically came over for this segment. I just want to say it's awesome! The advertisement is so touching! If not for the slogan of the Wanzhi Job-Hunting APP appearing at the very end, I would have thought it was a promotional trailer for some movie!"

"Watching the main feature left my heart completely unmoved, but a single commercial actually moved me to tears! Damn it!"

"The father in the commercial reminded me of my own dad. Truly... he keeps all his hardships locked inside his heart, and forever wants to give me the best things he is capable of providing. I'm genuinely in tears!"

"Hey, hey! What are you people posting in white text talking about? What advertisement? VIP users here are saying we can't understand the subtitles at all! [A distinguished VIP 9 user passing by]"

"Silly VIPs, hurry up and log out of your accounts! Not watching the ads and only watching the main show in this drama is your absolute loss!"

"Plus one! Hurry up and log out of your VIP, watch the twelve-minute thirty-second mark of episode three paired with the commercial, and I guarantee you'll experience the exact same joy as us!"

"A confused fruit on a confused tree, a VIP level 15 user like me standing bewildered beneath the confused tree... Do I really have to strip off this distinguished garment today and join the common folk in merrymaking using a guest account?"

"Hhahahaha! Six-six-six-six! Exactly, want to experience true happiness? Log out of your VIP!"

"Damn, I'm dying of laughter. The first time I've ever seen ordinary users powerfully mocking VIPs... Got my source of daily joy right here!"

Watching the ocean of silly bullet comments, numerous VIPs...

Logged out of their accounts!

When these individuals watched the video up to the twelve-minute mark once again, the Wanzhi advertisement appeared.

Upon seeing that heartfelt confession from the daughter, followed by a father's paternal love constructed entirely of lies and sacrifices, everyone exploded!

"What the heck! As a three-year consecutive annual VIP user, I just want to ask one question today: Have online video ads always been this good?! If this is the case, what on earth have I been missing all these years, you damn fools!"

"No wonder so many people would rather waste a few minutes of their lives than spend nine bucks to get a VIP pass. Turns out... these guys have been secretly experiencing double the joy all along!"

"Holy crap, a one-minute commercial actually made me cry! What kind of divine planning is this? The person who directed this ad is an absolute genius!"

"Ahhhhh! What use do I have for this VIP status? Not renewing, not renewing! I'm watching ads from now on!"

"Wait! Holy crap, look at the main point, everybody! The father in this commercial and that beggar who appeared at the twelve-minute thirty-second mark of episode three are played by the same actor!"

"Awesome! I checked after the reminder just now, and this actor's acting skills are divine! He plays a father in his forties to perfection, and carries the remaining pride and spirit of an old beggar in his sixties or seventies just as well. I almost didn't recognize him, his acting talent is off the charts!"

Watching the bullet comment heat steadily climbing, Li Shixin's old face broke into a full bloom of smiles.

If he didn't properly capitalize on this wave of hype, would he be doing justice to this massive blunder orchestrated by Huaqi?

After some thought, he immediately clipped and downloaded the commercial and the dozens of seconds of footage from "The Forbidden City at Dead's End" where he performed.

Then, he opened Weibo.

"Let me share a piece of good news—no, two pieces of good news! 'The Forbidden City at Dead's End', in which I participated, and 'The Lying Father', filmed for the Wanzhi APP, premiered today on Chadou Video! Everyone is welcome to show your support, and please remember... do not use VIP. Only with a guest account can you experience double the joy!"

Following the copyright donation incident, Li Shixin's Weibo follower count had already reached 170,000.

Among these 170,000, a large portion might be casual passing fans, but there were zero fake bot followers!

Following the update to his Weibo feed, Li Shixin's fans swarmed into the Chadou Video website en masse.

Following Li Shixin's lead, after watching three episodes as a guest, everyone burst into laughter!

"Lord Xin is mighty!"

"Did you see that? This is my Lord Xin! Even as an extra, even filming a commercial, so what? The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center!"

"Pfft! 'The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center'—is that even allowed! Brothers, we are taking a peak free ride here, but don't just freeload entirely, let's keep the formation going!"

"The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center! Lord Xin is mighty!"

"The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center! Lord Xin is mighty!"

"The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center! Lord Xin is mighty!"

In an instant, the video's bullet comments flooded the entire screen.

A massive wave of Chadou users, seeing this abruptly arriving wall of bullet comments, were completely dumbfounded.

"What on earth is this?"

"Why is everyone suddenly forming a formation?"

"Is there some inside joke I missed?"

Faced with these questions, those newly descended guests provided their reply: Go to Weibo, follow Rongdian actor Li Shixin, and check his very first Weibo post. You will attain triple the joy. No need to thank me, my name is Little Red Scarf!

And then...

The direction of the bullet comments shifted once again.

"Holy crap! No wonder the first two episodes of 'Dead's End' felt so awkward! That silly character played by Liu Xin took up way too much screen time! And this character completely fails to advance the plot!"

"His acting skills are terrible, yet he desperately tries to force extra scenes. I just checked veteran Li Shixin's Weibo and learned the story behind this actor. Right now, I only want to say one thing!"

"Liu Xin, your damn acting skills aren't even as good as an extra! Come out and take a beating!"

"@Liu Xin, come out and take a beating!"

...

Ding!

The cumulative time-period applause value has arrived!

Ding!

Acquired applause value, 57,611 points!

As Li Shixin watched the bullet comments with rapt interest for over two hours, a soft chime suddenly sounded in his ears once more.

To prevent the constant notifications from disturbing him, Li Shixin had already changed the system's applause value notifications to time-bracketed reports.

Ever since the commercial and the premiere of "The Forbidden City at Dead's End" until now, these 57,000 points, combined with the previous scattered small batches of applause value, had brought his total to 70,000 points!

You must know, this was merely his very first film and television work officially facing the general public.

Although this batch of applause value included the bonus generated by the comedic clash between the commercial and "The Forbidden City at Dead's End", imagining the continuous sustainable returns he would reap day after day as his future works were released successively, Li Shixin couldn't help but feel quite excited.

In just over two hours, his Weibo follower count had increased by more than eight thousand.

Looking at the white-text bullet comments flooding the screen by his fans—"The role is on the fringes, but the acting prowess is front and center! Lord Xin is mighty!"—alongside the rapidly scrolling "Liu Xin, come out and take a beating" posted by users who had logged back into their VIP accounts, Li Shixin laughed out loud.

Old man, you're about to blow up!

Liu Xin's fan nest.

The president of the fan club had received the news last night that "The Forbidden City at Dead's End" would premiere today on Chadou Video. Seeing the bullet comments dragging up their idol's old scandals and tearing him apart because of this old fogey Li Shixin, the fan club president, "Xin's Beloved", was so furious her hair practically stood on end.

Without hesitation, she tagged the fan administrators in the fan club management group.

"Where the hell are you all dead at?! Show up quickly, organize the manpower, control the comment sections, and counter the black PR!"