06/03 Edit: Thanks to Aisem for catching the missing part.
The power of money is undoubtedly formidable. Although Ye Zhou was penniless after filming ‘Thriller Circus’, he still had the funds to push Melon to the top of the trending list.
Today, Flying Melon’s right eye kept twitching incessantly since morning, and even covering it with a piece of paper1Based on “左眼跳财， 右眼跳灾” which translates to “left eye twitching brings wealth, right eye twitching brings calamity”. So, if your right eye twitches, it is seen as a sign of impending bad luck or disaster. While left eye twitching means good fortune or incoming money. Some people believe that covering the twitching eye with red paper can help ward off the negative effects associated with eye twitching. The color red is considered auspicious in Chinese culture, and using red paper is believed to counteract the bad luck or misfortune. couldn’t alleviate it. He had an uneasy feeling, as if something was about to happen, and it probably wasn’t good.
This intuition instantly disrupted his good mood in the morning, making him distracted even during the meeting, getting called out by his boss twice.
The company meeting today lasted a long time, from 8:30 AM until past 2 PM. During this period, Flying Melon’s phone kept ringing, but under his boss’s death glare, he dared not take it out.
Finally, after the meeting ended, he rushed to the washroom without even eating, and only relaxed once he locked the door behind him.
Sitting on the toilet lid, he took out a cigarette from his pocket, smoking leisurely as he checked the messages on his phone.
His relaxed expression froze within seconds as he stared in disbelief at his exploding inbox, which was originally sparse but now overflowing with messages that kept flooding in even as he opened it.
Here’s what happened: at 9 AM today, Flying Melon’s diss piece against Ye Zhou appeared at the top of the trending list.
Although the film industry was well aware of the grudge between Flying Melon and Ye Zhou due to the previous two movies and knew that Flying Melon was an old “Ye Zhou hater,” far fewer people outside the industry knew about this.
Initially, when this trending topic appeared, most netizens simply clicked on it out of curiosity upon realizing that the main character was a director they recognized.
Although Ye Zhou is a director, his previous two films, especially ‘A Farce’, were so successfully marketed that even netizens who weren’t interested in movies would recognize his name.
When netizens realized that the blogger Flying Melon was a film critic, they were quite interested. They wanted to know what terrible film Ye Zhou made to be dissed onto the trending list. How bad could it be?
However, their initial eagerness turned to disappointment upon clicking.
That’s it? Just this?!
The entire post was a subjective diss, revolving around the central idea: ‘Ye Zhou’s box office was a failure, and I’m very happy, really happy.’
As a film critic, it’s fine to diss, but at least be objective and provide some substance, right? But there was none, almost zero substance.
The netizens patiently went through his previous Weibo posts, wanting to understand the situation. After browsing, they found numerous diss comments about Ye Zhou, yet without exception, they all… lacked substance.
A proper film blogger turned himself into something akin to a marketing account, making it uninteresting.
As the trending topic gained traction, more and more netizens attracted by Melon’s post joined in, but finding no juice on his Weibo, they decided to check the other party’s Weibo instead.
Ye Zhou’s long-dormant Weibo account, despite having hundreds of thousands of followers, was mostly inactive. It only showed signs of life when promoting a new film by reposting the official promotional videos.
Since ‘Thriller Circus’ was recently released, Ye Zhou’s Weibo has had two fresh posts—one with the movie poster and the other a four-minute trailer.
That was it.
So, the many bored, melon-eating netizens who wanted to find some juicy gossip on Ye Zhou’s side realized there was nothing to dig up after seeing the neglected state of his Weibo.
Upholding the traditional Chinese virtue of “since I’m already here”, many of these netizens started watching the advertisements on Ye Zhou’s Weibo. Originally just intending to take a quick glance before closing it, they unexpectedly thought –
Huh? This movie seems… kind of interesting?
Let me watch it again? Damn, it actually looks quite interesting! Why don’t I buy a ticket and check it out?
Wait, before buying the ticket, let me read some reviews first. That Flying Melon blogger dissed it so passionately, there must be some truth to it. Although movie tickets aren’t expensive, it would be punishing myself to watch a terrible film. Better be cautious.
Attracted by the trailer but harboring doubts, the netizens exited Ye Zhou’s Weibo and stealthily typed “Thriller Circus reviews” in the search bar.
Just like that, ‘Thriller Circus’ quietly appeared on the trending list and began climbing up.
Thanks to Flying Melon’s diss post earlier, although he didn’t provide any substantial evidence to prove the film was terrible, most people were predisposed to believing it was a bad movie after seeing that Weibo post.
In this situation, when they saw an array of positive reviews pop up on screen, the netizens were momentarily stunned.
This- this- wasn’t it supposed to be a terrible movie? With so many good reviews, they must all be paid trolls, right?
Thinking this, some netizens immediately started questioning the authenticity of these positive reviews. However, their doubts dissipated after browsing through several Weibo accounts that gave good reviews.
The reason was simple – it’s actually quite easy to distinguish paid trolls from real viewers. Although paid trolls have become more sophisticated, trying to sound sincere when praising, fake is still fake, and anyone with some understanding can easily tell the difference.
Real viewers’ reviews mostly focus on the movie’s plot, while paid trolls mostly give vague, flowery praises or mindless “it’s good” comments. Even if the film producers prepare some reviews in advance, there are only so many scripted lines, and they become stale after reading them repeatedly from different accounts. Who would believe them?
Real viewers are different. Even if they give flowery praises, a genuinely heartfelt one sounds far more authentic than formulaic, template-based ones.
So… is this movie good or bad?
Perhaps there were too many netizens with this question, as two more trending topics stemmed from Melon’s post riding this momentum:
#ThrillerCircusIsBad#
#ThrillerCircusIsGood#
More and more netizens were attracted by these two peculiar trending topics, developing a keen interest in this film that they probably wouldn’t have given a second glance in theaters.
So the question arose – is Thriller Circus good or not?
If you asked the famous “Ye Zhou hater” Mr. Melon, he would undoubtedly and resolutely tell you, “It’s bad, extremely bad! A terrible film, unprecedentedly terrible!”
Melon’s inbox was flooded with this question: “Is it good? Is it good? Is it good?”
After finally finishing the long meeting, when Flying Melon opened his Weibo in the company washroom and saw thousands upon thousands of messages asking “Is it good or not?” covering the screen, his heart sank.
Apart from the messages, there were over a dozen missed calls from reporters he had previously collaborated with, who were very familiar contacts.
As one of the main parties involved, Melon’s words were highly anticipated, and he should have had the opportunity to be interviewed. However…
Corporate slaves have no human rights – work kept him from it!
By the time he checked his messages after the meeting, it was a done deal, a lost cause. Everyone’s attention had been captured by the movie. Who still cared about him, a film blogger without any substance, unable to make a coherent argument?
His hands trembled with intense emotion, almost dropping his phone into the toilet bowl.
“Is it good?” Flying Melon muttered, then angrily shouted seconds later, “How the hell should I know if it’s good or not? I haven’t even watched it!”
In fact, when Thriller Circus was first released, Flying Melon had planned to watch it since, as a film critic, he should criticize based on his own experience with the film.
However, his hatred for Ye Zhou was so deep at the time that he didn’t even want to contribute a single ticket sale. Instead, he scoured others’ viewing materials online to mock Ye Zhou while secretly planning to watch the pirated version in a couple of days.
Did Ye Zhou deserve his ticket money? No! He didn’t deserve it!
Additionally, Melon was quite timid, and horror movies were never on his viewing agenda. He had intended to wait until most spoilers were out, mentally preparing himself before watching, hoping it wouldn’t be as scary then.
With this mindset, it was natural for Melon not to watch the film. He had planned well—fire shots first before watching, then deliver a precise attack afterward.
However, plans never keep up with changes. Now, three days into the film’s release, the pirated version was out on the premiere day itself, but the quality was so poor that Melon, a film critic with extremely high standards, couldn’t bear to watch past the opening and closed it.
This led to Flying Melon truly not having watched this film. His ability to consistently mock it stemmed solely from his deep-rooted hatred for Ye Zhou.
So if you asked him if the movie was good or not, how would he know?
Flying Melon pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, feeling a breath caught in his chest that he could neither exhale nor swallow. His fingers rapidly tapped on his phone’s keyboard: Can’t you go and see for yourself whether it’s good or not? Ask, ask, ask!
After sending the message, his mood finally eased a little. Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, he unexpectedly noticed a swift reply appearing in the still-open private message chat box.
Gegegegeda: Thank you, I’m already buying tickets!
Flying Melon: ?
Melon haphazardly shoved his phone into his pocket and clenched his fist, fiercely pounding his own chest while cursing, “Serves you right for being a blabbermouth, serves you right!”
The pounding left his chest aching, and his face looked quite unsightly. Just then, his phone suddenly started vibrating in his pocket.
He initially had no intention of paying attention to it, but he couldn’t resist the caller’s persistence. It seemed as if they would keep calling until his phone ran out of battery if he didn’t answer.
Flying Melon’s head buzzed from the stimulation. After a few seconds of hesitation, he resignedly took out his phone, only to discover an unfamiliar number he had never seen before displayed on the screen.
He had planned to directly block the call, but then another thought occurred to him. Regardless of the situation, he had contributed to today’s hot search topic. As the focal point of the topic, what if the other party was contacting him for a commissioned article?
With the mindset of not letting any money-making opportunity slip by, Flying Melon ultimately answered the call.
He forced a smile and greeted in a dry voice, “Hello, who is this?”
The person on the other end of the line evidently hadn’t expected the call to be answered. After a few seconds of pause, they finally reacted. A voice that sounded strangely familiar spoke in a casual tone, “Hey, is that you, Melon?”
“Mel…” Flying Melon was stunned by this odd nickname. He squeezed out three words through gritted teeth, “Who are you?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a rustling sound from the other end of the line. A few seconds later, the same voice spoke again, now carrying a hint of delight, “It’s me. Don’t you remember me?”
Flying Melon: “We know each other?”
“Yes, you usually care about me a lot. Whenever you mention me, your emotions surge and swell, sometimes to an extent that I can hardly handle.”
Flying Melon: “??? Who the hell are you?!”
“Sigh.” A sigh could be heard from the other end of the line. The person softly said, “It’s me.”
“It’s me, Ye Zhou!”
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