Release that Man

Nowadays, new movies would be aggressively promoted before the premier. After the premier, the fire would last for almost two weeks, and then the ticket sales would rise or drop depending on the reviews. Thus, the topic would remain in the media for about a month. Whether a movie was popular or not, it could be discerned within this one month, but this new film was slightly different.

Due to the small incident that happened during the premier, even though the news did not blow up, it still had its influence. The focus of the media and the fans was on the relationship between the ‘brothers’. They were curious about the truth and tried to see whether there were any clues about the relationship between Brother Shuang and Celebrity Luo or a response from Tian Mo Media. In any case, the focus of the critics and fans was on the rumors, not on the film itself.

After realizing that Tian Mo Media did not have any response and that the rumors were nothing but a ‘misunderstanding’, people started to pay focus back to the film itself, then…

Then, Brother Shuang became famous.

Just as Luo Mingxin predicted, the film’s main storyline was drama and detective. With Director Zhou’s power and Luo Mingxin’s acting, it was natural that the film would be popular. However, popularity did not really translate to quality. To put it simply, the plot was too direct. It might have been interesting to watch, but there was nothing worth remembering about it.

The soul of this movie was the big brother of ‘Liu Xuan’. Only by having the actor playing this character to its maximum potential could the soul of the movie be found. In the few scenes that were spread throughout the movie, he had to evoke the pain and regret in the audience’s hearts, and that would add some artistic merit to this commercial film.

Brother Shuang had outdone himself. Director Zhou had also worked his magic. He spliced some of the memories between the siblings together, and just as everyone was submerged in the beauty of the big brother, he made them take a bat to the head. The camera turned, and the darkened screen produced a loud, ominous crashing sound. When the screen lit up again, Brother Shuang was dying, and the white cloth was slowly being covered over his body.

The audience was sighing at the big brother’s handsomeness for one second but cried the next. Even though they knew this was an extra character and death was inevitable…

How could you kill such a handsome man so soon‽

What about the happy memories with the little brother that we’re promised‽

They continued to watch and realized that all the good memories were lies. After the big brother’s death, the truth slowly surfaced. The little brother’s immaturity was exposed to the audience. In comparison to the man whom the little brother had become, the raucous child at the beginning was horrid and deplorable.

He had such a perfect brother to protect him, but he did not understand the meaning of this love. He would rather believe his so-called friend and lover until the day the sky fell on his head. Rather, it was because the big brother did not gloat about his love and the sacrifices that he had made for his brother that the audience could not help but feel bad for this perfect man.

The lowered gaze after his little brother left in a fit, the habit he had of pulling his brother’s blanket over after he returned late from work, the shadow of him eating dinner at the large dining table alone, the cold coffee that reached his lips but did not sip, and his cold gaze that looked out the window at his little brother who was leaving…

He did not say anything and had a detached expression and gaze, but he had done everything for his little brother without complaint. It was not until his departure that Liu Xuan understood the silent sacrifice that he had been the beneficiary of, but it was already too late for regrets.

Even if Liu Xuan managed to become the lynchpin in the business world in the end, in the audience’s eyes, compared to the big brother, he was still somewhat lacking. This contrast pulled at people’s heartstrings. Whenever Liu Xuan reached success, they would sigh involuntarily. Alas, the person he wanted to celebrate with was already gone.

The shorter the memory, the more precious the ‘big brother’ became. Just like the main character, the audience did not want the shining emperor to lose himself in the movement of time. Even though they knew that he would not show himself again, they would not let him go blurry in their memory.

The repeated regret, the repeated memory, the repeated crazy mourning. They missed his smile, his once glory. They missed how radiant he was.

Even if it was just a temporary solution, even if they knew the memory was going to make the pain even sharper and the loneliness stronger, they could not stop the memory.

He was more amazing than the main character, more deserving of being idolized. However, the separation of life and death made him a shadow that the main character would never reach.

The regret, the dissatisfaction, and the helplessness at this result could not be changed.

At the end of the movie, everything was settled. Liu Xuan found his success and managed to get his vengeance. He was resting on the chair on the balcony. In this twilight period between consciousness and dream, the big brother’s soul appeared beside him. The lips twitched into a small smile that was radiant with warmth. The calm eyes were filled with gentleness. Using that detached voice, he called out the main character’s pet name.

“Xiao Xuan… you’ve finally grown up.”

In that moment, almost every member of the audience before the screen started to cry. It felt like they had been on a long journey and had finally found the person they were looking for. Be it a soul or an imagination, be it a ghost movie or a crime drama, with the appearance of Brother Shuang, everything was right with the world again.

Big brother, please marry us!

We also miss you and want you to come to our home, big brother!

Two weeks after the movie’s premier, the reviews finally appeared online. After half a month of silence, the film that did not cause any initial stir finally found its popularity.

The thing that surprised Celebrity Luo and Director Zhou was that the most radiant star from this movie was not the male or female lead but Brother Shuang, who had fewer scenes than many supporting characters.

‘Big brother, marry us!’ became a viral saying online, and the fans, regardless of their gender, begged for big brother to come to their home—part of them were even Luo Mingxin’s loyal fans.

When Luo Mingxin called Director Zhou to ask about the ticket sales, he could not help but sigh. “This is… surprising.”