Chapter 122 - The High Is Easily Broken, The Clean Is Easily Defiled
Seeing that Rong Qiuchen had no intention to leave him even if the shooting of Qingqing won't go ahead, Yuan Ge's mood brightened and he said with a smile, "You don't have to be so polite. If you really are that famous Qing Dynasty actor Rong Qiuchen, then you should feel honoured, because it'd be me who would learn from you. Anyway, let's learn from each other now."
"Gege, why don't you just think of me as Rong Qiuchen? If you want to ask him anything, you can just ask me."
Yuan Ge gave him a sidelong glance and laughed, "Here we go again. Just as I thought you were normal you're getting carried away again! Well, Okay, let me ask you, Mr Rong, during the heyday of Beijing Opera in the Qing Dynasty, every famous actor had so many 'ticket followers', or fans in today's terms, which could be described as the early form of the 'fandom'. I was told that these fan groups had their own special names and were quite crazy. It is said that Tan Xinpei's fans were known as 'Phlegmatic Fans', Wang Yaoqing's fans were known as 'Yao Lunatics', and Mei Lanfang's fan group had the most dreadful name, known as 'Syphilitic'[1]. Just looking at these names, you can imagine how crazy they were."
Qiuchen said with a smile, "The actors that Gege is talking about may have come after my time, but I think the traditions of the opera circle have not changed. Back then, all "Seven Golden Flowers" of the Jinyu Troupe were adored by the public. Gege's film only shows them being invited to parties at the residences of the society elite and being rewarded by the royal family. In fact, compared to the upper class, the ordinary 'ticket followers' were even crazier. They formed their respective "societies" in which they each had their own role to play - The 'civil' followers wrote poems, lyrics, painted pictures, engraved plaques and printed books for the actors they supported; the 'military' followers not only had to grab seats in advance so that everyone in their group could watch the opera in the theatre, but also had to cheer. But the way of cheering must be regulated and not shouted indiscriminately. The word "good", its beginning, middle, and end, must be pronounced with a cadence, and it had to be full of tone, with hooks and folds, which was a great test of one's chest strength. Even if their idol did not perform well that day, supporters had to use the word "good" to help cover it up. Some ladies were even more daring, writing love poems on handkerchiefs, wrapping gold and silver jewellery in them and throwing them onto the stage. My elder, third and fifth brother had all been supported in this way, and there were even women who wanted to marry them in order to enhance their fame. Entrust them with a lifetime of happiness, ah, what crazy women...…"
Yuan Ge couldn't help but laugh when he looked at him talking so emotionally, "When you say your brothers, what you're actually trying to say is that Rong Qiuchen had the most fans, right? I guess the women who wanted to entrust their lifelong happiness to you could line up around the city walls. Hahaha! But hearing you talk about it in such detail, it seems that the craziness of fans is the same throughout the ages, and there is really nothing new under the sun."
"Are you bringing this up because now that you are about to take on a big role, your fan base has surged?"
"You're smart to guess that. It bothers me, now that the film hasn't even started rehearsing and there are 4 million more 'ticket followers'...…"
"Four million! The entire imperial capital only has a million people, but Gege already has so many followers! Gege will soon lead the stage and become the stage flower of a generation, won't you?" Rong Qiuchen's eyes went wide, clearly having a new appreciation for today's fans for the first time.
"No, no, no, you can't use Qing dynasty figures to compare! Today, there are 20 million people in Beijing alone. To be what you call a 'stage flower', I reckon there'd have to be at least 50 million 'ticket followers' for it to count."
"Is that true, Gege? How can an actor cause such a frenzy nowadays?"
"Well, that's the way the world is today. So, you work hard, 'cause it's a long way to go to become the 'Rong Qiuchen' of today."
Seeing Qiuchen's thoughtful look, Yuan Ge sighed again, "Don't assume that having so many people following you is an entirely good thing. What bothers me is that some people have ulterior motives for wanting to see me act. You see, the film hasn't even started shooting yet and public opinion is already so divided." With that, he handed his mobile phone to Qiuchen.
Rong Qiuchen had long been aware that everyone nowadays liked to hold such a shiny little box in their hands. As if using magic, it contained a big world inside, yet now that he held it in his hands, he found that the writing inside was not fully recognisable to him.
"Ah, the Qing Dynasty people couldn't read simplified characters. Is that it? This is what I admire about you - when you do something you pay attention to every little detail." Yuan Ge had long been used to his stubbornness and the fact that he'd rather die than be out of character in this cosplay game, so he simply converted the phone system to traditional Chinese and handed it back to him.
"See, now everyone is asking, who the hell is this Yuan Ge dude? Why did he get the lead role in King Guan's big production and not my idol? He must have bought his way into the cast, or he must have climbed into bed with the big boss...…"
Rong Qiuchen carefully browsed the information on the page and tried to comfort him, "Gege, as the saying goes, 'the high is easily broken, the clean is easily defiled'. People's words can be malicious, people's hearts can be evil, and such people exist in whatever age we are in. This is what happened when I won the Flower of the Opera Stage. The groups of ticket followers behind each actor would slander each other, fight with each other, and even kill each other just for the ranking of the actor they supported, for the order of their appearances on stage, whether they would be able to perform the grand finale or get the royal reward...… What happened to Gege now is the same as what happened to Qiuchen back then, or rather, it is just the beginning. If you were to become a superstar because of this film, I am afraid that you would be called upon to wait on the powerful every night, and you would never be free."
Yuan Ge didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Well, you're really good at comforting people, talking as if it's all true! So what you're saying is that my current worries are nothing compared to Rong Qiuchen's worries. But you do have a point. He was the top artist of his time, the number one superstar, and I'm not even close."
Just as the two were eating and chatting, the TweeChat app rang again and Qiuchen hurriedly handed the phone back to Yuan Ge. It turned out to be the boss, Zhou Mingyun, who had called an online video conference with the four founders.
"I can't keep you company now. They are probably all puffed up with pride. I don't know how long this meeting is going to last… " Yuan Ge sighed, put down the bowl in his hand and helplessly climbed back to the top floor for the meeting.
"No problem, Gege. I'll clean up the dishes and then go to the rooftop to air a few items." Rong Qiuchen replied without a care in the world, and happily went back to the chores at hand.
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[1] Tan Xinpei, Wang Yaoqing and Mei Lanfang were all famous Peking Opera artists of different eras in China. The names of their opera fan groups carry a play on words. Tan and phlegm are the same sound, so Tan Xinpei's fan group is jokingly called the "Phlegmatic Fan". The Chinese word for syphilis is "mei du", where the character "mei" is the same as in Mei Lanfang, so his fan group was jokingly called "Mei du" or "Syphilis".