After Being Blackened All Over the Internet, I Ruled the Military Variety
Chapter 713 - 703: Explode

Chapter 713: Chapter 703: Explode

However, soon she was too absorbed to think about these things.

After the opening credits, the main episode began.

It started with intense and exciting war scenes.

At the end of the dynasty, warlords rose, and there was chaos everywhere.

Among one of these troops, a young female general with a slightly childish face steadied the army with a single arrow, exuding heroic grace, her eyebrows radiant like the rising sun.

By Drinking Horse Lake, sleeping with weapons ready, she penned a vigorous youth different from any other woman in ancient times amidst the shine of swords and saber shadows.

Yet beneath the abandon, the pain from blade and sword, the perceivable regret in her father’s eyes, and the fear deeply hidden in her sibling’s gaze unfolded repeatedly amidst the turns of the battlefield.

Coupled with clever, brilliant transitions, fitting music, and the actors’ superb performances, the viewers in front of the TV were unknowingly completely immersed.

It wasn’t until the ending song suddenly played that many were startled awake.

"Is this one episode already?"

"Why did it go by so fast?"

"Almost fifty minutes have passed. It’s not that the episode is too short, but you were too engrossed!"

Qiao Xiaoxi only then realized that her worries about the opening credits were somewhat unnecessary.

After the main episode started, she became entirely absorbed in the plot, and even seeing the young female general with Xixi’s face couldn’t distract her for a moment, let alone worrying about other things.

"Xiaoxi, how many episodes are aired a day?"

Qiao Xiaoxi snapped back and saw her mom’s unfinished expression, raising two fingers, "Two episodes."

"Only two episodes!"

Yes, only two episodes!

Just one episode had already left the mother and daughter wanting more, and thinking that after watching the next episode, they would have to wait until tomorrow night to see new developments made even exotic cherries lose their flavor in their hands.

She could already foresee herself eagerly waiting in front of the TV every day for updates.

She should have waited until the entire show was aired and the complete resources were available online to binge-watch to her heart’s content.

No, that’s not possible. She still needed to contribute to her Xixi’s TV ratings!

But she really didn’t need to worry about that.

The staff responsible for tracking these statistics watched as "The Empress of Yuan Zhao" continued to climb in viewer ratings from the start and didn’t stop rising even at the end of the episode, leaving him utterly stunned.

Usually, if a TV series receives sufficient early promotion and features popular actors, it’ll experience a significant spike in viewership at the start.

But usually, during the main episodes, viewership declines a bit; perhaps due to unmet expectations or rather plain storylines. By the second episode, if the retention rate is fifty to sixty percent, it’s considered good.

After all, different people have different tastes—a series can’t please everyone.

A show that can be considered a classic might only appear seven or eight times a year.

Sometimes, during a downturn in the film industry, not even one appears.

This kind of absurdly high retention rate, coupled with rising viewer ratings with each episode, was something he had never seen in his eight-year career.

Maybe he’d witness the birth of a phenomenon-level blockbuster this time!

The thought alone thrilled him.

Jiang Lingxi listened to the ending song, which she had just heard live yesterday, and shared her feelings after watching an episode: "It is quite nostalgic."

During her young adulthood in past years, as she put it now, she was fearless and rebellious, ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

Afterward, she changed quite a bit.

No, she didn’t truly change; she was still herself, fearless as always, she just learned to feign depth, and over time, her pretending became genuine.

Xiazhi, hearing her voice, looked over, "What the TV shows—is it the same as Your Majesty’s experiences back then?"

"The story is the same," since she personally helped modify the script, "but the rest, the TV series can only capture one or two tenths of."

It’s not just about artfully enhancing things for drama but also the brutality of war and the complexities of human interaction, which can hardly be fully portrayed through acting alone.

Even if she portrayed her younger self, from her perspective, it still wouldn’t be quite right.

But as long as the audience thinks it resembles, that’s what matters.

If you ask Qiao Xiaoxi and other viewers, it would be not just resembling—while watching, they only saw the Empress of Yuan Zhao, and only after finishing did they remember the actress Jiang Lingxi. Oh, she was the one who played that role.

While watching, they adored only the youthful and spirited Empress of Yuan Zhao.

When the second episode finished, it was almost ten at night. Xiazhen insisted on listening to the ending song, while Jiang Lingxi dragged Shen Yunqing up to prepare for rest.

Before reaching the bedroom, her phone in her pocket vibrated several times.

Back in her room, she took out her phone and saw over ’99+ new messages’ in their group chat.

The vibrations were from everyone in the group chat tagging her multiple times.

Jiang Lingxi: [No one’s going to bed yet?]

Lu Zhengzheng: [Xixi, the internet’s exploding, and you’re still chill enough to sleep?]

Fang Yao: [Just watched "The Empress of Yuan Zhao", still feeling hyper, can’t sleep. Xixi’s acting was unbelievably good, outstanding!]

Xiaoxiao: [I can’t wait to watch the upcoming episodes.]

Tong Yue: [Xixi have you seen the trending search, it’s skyrocketing!]

Jiang Lingxi: [Not yet]

Tong Yue: [Hurry up and take a look!!!]

Jiang Lingxi replied with a [.], then took the phone Shen Yunqing left on the table and opened the trending searches.

The moment she looked, she saw the tag #JiangLingxi "The Empress of Yuan Zhao"# followed by a striking red "BOOM".

Right behind was #Actor playing Prime Minister Shen in "The Empress of Yuan Zhao"#

She clicked on it.

The top post in the discussion was just a scene from the opening.

Since the two episodes released hadn’t shown Prime Minister Shen yet, the only scenes people could screenshot were from the beginning credits.

[I’ve always been curious to see who played Prime Minister Shen, now I’ve finally seen him, and I’m satisfied. What do you all think?]

[Isn’t this the same Mr. Shen everyone online hoped to bump into recently?]

[I don’t think he’s a professional actor, right?]

[He previously participated in the recording of "Inheritance of Calligraphy and Painting", as one of the judges. They had introductions on the show, here, let me educate everyone for free...]

[Even if he’s not a professional actor, both his looks and aura match the historical descriptions of Prime Minister Shen, and I can’t wait for his appearance now.]

[It’s not enough to only have those brief seconds in the opening credits. I just want to know which episode our Prime Minister Shen will show up in?]

[Empress VS Prime Minister Shen, freshly edited scenes, but sadly there’s too little material; eagerly awaiting Prime Minister Shen’s main episode, so I can show my skills—I can’t wait!]

[The scenes are so impactful! As a fan of this pairing, I hit that subscribe button instantly]

...

Jiang Lingxi carefully scrolled through the online comments, casually saving fan-edited CP pictures until a shadow fell across her. She looked up to see the person in question already freshened up and standing in front of her.

"What are you looking at so intently?"

She handed the phone over, "Prime Minister Shen, congratulations on trending!"