Starlight Descends - 78
Wedding News
During a livestream interview, someone in the industry accidentally let slip that a close friend would be announcing wedding news soon. Although she quickly glossed over it, eagle-eyed netizens caught the slip immediately, setting off a storm of speculation.
[Ye Qingman, you absolute menace. You're born to leak gossip!]
[She didn't do it on purpose, right? Hahahahaha. She stopped herself mid-sentence, and even managed to keep a straight face. Do you know how hard that is for her?!]
[That's exactly what gave her away! Usually when she says something she shouldn't, she panics and slaps a hand over her mouth. This time she froze for a second, her eyes darted away, then consciously acted like nothing happened and flawlessly changed the subject!!]
[I've never even seen her act that well in a drama. Even her own fans are shocked. Tell us, who has you caring this much?!]
[Who else could it be? The entertainment industry's legendary besties. It has to be 71!!!!]
[Wait, do you mean 71 and that ridiculously handsome guy she hard-launched on Weibo?! We Little Yuanbaos are absolutely shipping ourselves to death AAAAHHH. Yao Qian Shu forever!!!]
[Are Yao Qian Shu really getting married?!?! Ye Qingman, don't lie to us!!! If you're making this up, may every handsome actor you ever partner with turn out to be gay!!!]
[...The commenter above is ruthless. But we accept. The fans will kneel and take the hit. Ye Qingman! They haven't announced it themselves yet! How could you leak something like that?!]
...
While the speculation was boiling over on the trending topics, the people at the center of it remained blissfully unaware, occupied instead with preparations for the upcoming Golden Eagle Awards ceremony.
After nearly six hours spent in hair and makeup, Qi Yao felt as if every muscle in her body had stiffened. The moment she rose from the dressing room chair and turned around, she heard Lizi suck in a sharp breath.
"You're... unbelievably beautiful," Lizi murmured, instinctively covering her mouth.
Qi Yao normally wore understated makeup.
Her features weren't the bold, glamorous type. To match both her temperament and the image she'd maintained over the years, her styling had always leaned toward gentle elegance. Soft-colored gowns, sleek long hair, graceful and refined. She rarely did bold, dramatic looks.
But her recent career transformation had become one of the industry's hottest talking points. Critics praised her for stepping beyond the label of traffic actress and edging into the ranks of serious performers despite never having received formal acting training. After discussing it with her management team, they decided to stop boxing her into one image. Instead, they styled her to complement the character she had portrayed.
She wore another impeccably tailored black evening gown, understated yet rich in design. Her long, straight hair wasn't teased for extra volume but lay sleek against her head, the loose strands at her temples tucked neatly behind her ears. She lowered her lashes, then lifted her gaze.
There were no extravagant accessories, and that simplicity only emphasized the elegance of her bone structure. Every gesture radiated a commanding presence that had, in the past, been carefully softened away, leaving even Lizi staring in a daze.
Qi Yao turned slightly and stretched her neck.
Her waist had grown sore from sitting so long. She rubbed it absently, looked up, and found Lizi still standing there in a trance. Qi Yao couldn't help but laugh.
"What? It's not like you've never seen me dressed up before."
"You really are gorgeous." Lizi hurried over to lift the hem of her dress, sincerity written all over her face. "People really aren't kidding when they say success nourishes a person. I feel like these past two years, you've really grown into your own style."
Qi Yao didn't reply. She curved her eyes in a smile and bent down to put on her high heels.
Lizi helped hold the gown's hem higher. She touched the soft, delicate fabric in her hand and couldn't help sighing with emotion. "This suddenly reminds me of when we used to run everywhere borrowing gowns. They never fit properly, the fabric was terrible, and we still had to put up with people looking down on us."
Just then, Yang Man pushed open the door to check whether she was ready to leave and happened to catch the last sentence.
Leaning against the doorway with her arms folded, the manager quietly looked her over. As Qi Yao straightened up, unmistakable admiration flashed across her eyes.
After a long moment, Yang Man smiled faintly.
"I never imagined the first artist I'd take on would already be nominated for Most Popular Actress."
Qi Yao tilted her head and was silent for a moment. Then she asked quietly, "Who could have imagined it?"
The success of Dust Ballad had exceeded everyone's expectations.
It wasn't a platform-funded original production. The team had refused to cram in messy product placements, and even getting it onto a streaming platform had required lengthy negotiations, and that was with Zhao Min and Yang Man pulling strings and helping out along the way.
Originally, it had been scheduled for a quiet Q2 release the following year, outside the holiday seasons. Then an S+ production lost its release slot after its lead actor became embroiled in a major scandal and was pulled from distribution, leaving an opening in Q1.
Dust Ballad had been filming and editing simultaneously, its approval process moved unusually quickly, and with Qi Yao attracting growing attention at the time, the platform bumped it forward to fill the vacancy. No one expected that little web drama, which had entered the market without much fanfare, would become the biggest breakout hit of the year.
Told through the perspective of the female university student played by Qi Yao, the story unfolded through interconnected case files layered with clues and foreshadowing. The episode count was so short that even updating daily, it couldn't stretch past two weeks. But its tight pacing was unmatched by any bloated seventy- or eighty-episode TV series.
In just twelve episodes, it portrayed five women across five case arcs. From a girl just starting high school to a recently retired auntie. Their ages and backgrounds couldn't have been more different. Reversals upon reversals, until the truth was finally uncovered.
In an entertainment landscape dominated by aggressive marketing, where bad productions often drove out good ones and quality alone rarely guaranteed attention, Dust Ballad had risen spectacularly above the crowd in a way no one had foreseen.
One respected television critic even called it a milestone for domestic web dramas. No overprocessed beauty filters that blurred every face. No flashy release gimmicks with only two or three episodes a week. No watered-down storytelling. No glaring plot holes. Every single frame served a purpose.
The first review that truly sent the drama beyond its existing audience was a thousand-word critique written by a notoriously sharp-tongued industry reviewer.
She wrote:
"The premise itself isn't especially groundbreaking. Anyone who's watched enough overseas series in this genre can probably predict where it's headed. But in the domestic market, this is still largely unexplored territory."
"The production team demonstrates genuine depth and perspective. Every case has been carefully designed, with foreshadowing and reversals woven together naturally. I wouldn't call it a flawless masterpiece, but it's still better than ninety-nine percent of the scripts written by people who've clearly never held a real job."
"That alone, however, would only make it above average. It's not the real reason I think so highly of this drama. What's more important is what I see underneath."
"For the first time in a long while, I've seen a domestic drama portray the awakening and independence of young women."
"It doesn't revolve around romance. There's no overwhelming love story between the leads, no idiotic behavior that makes you question everyone's intelligence, and the ensemble cast is handled remarkably well."
"Through small stories that reflect larger realities, it quietly reveals the challenges women face throughout their lives, from the preference for sons that begins at birth, to workplace gender discrimination, to the stereotypes that follow them well into old age."
"Most surprising of all, it never feels heavy-handed."
"Unlike many socially conscious, suspense, or workplace dramas, it doesn't begin by drowning viewers in heavy themes that scare away younger audiences who don't want to be lectured. Instead, it opens with warmth and liveliness, balancing lightheartedness and weight so naturally. It's one of the very few works that gives me the feeling of 'moistening things silently.' Its pacing control is superb."
"Without question, this marks a significant step forward for Chinese web dramas."
"Although the drama still shows some inexperience in its finer details and casting choices, the ideas it expresses deserve genuine praise. It's a truly good series."
The review was thoughtful and objective. It was reposted and promoted by many well-known critics within the industry, drawing a substantial audience in the early stages of the show's run. The comments were overwhelmingly positive, and word of mouth continued spreading far beyond its initial audience.
Its exceptional critical reception and ratings wasn't its only strength.
The series averaged over eighty million views per episode, surpassed one hundred million views in a single day at its peak, generated more than one billion reads across related Weibo topics, and accumulated over one hundred fifty thousand discussion posts. Advertisers rushed in from every direction, eager to claim a share of the phenomenon.
Despite running for less than two weeks, the drama's popularity endured from the beginning of the year well into the middle of it, all while maintaining a stellar reputation. Eventually, it received an invitation to the Golden Eagle Awards ceremony.
Even Xiao Man, who had always believed the project deserved far more recognition than it received, and who had hoped more than anyone that it would soar, had never imagined it reaching these heights.
Still a directing student who hadn't even graduated yet, she suddenly found herself nominated for Best Director at one of the country's four major television awards.
Qi Yao was genuinely happy for her.
She was happy for herself as well.
As the drama's leading actress, she had benefited from the strength of the script and earned a nomination for Most Popular Actress of the Year.
Whether she ultimately won or not, simply receiving the nomination was already an unexpected joy for her.
In fact, that same critic had added one final paragraph at the end of her review.
"One more thing deserves mentioning. The lead actress is genuinely impressive."
"I looked up her profile. She's only twenty-five. Young, talented, and full of potential. Walking away from the guaranteed popularity of romance dramas built around CP marketing to star in a small web drama with an uncertain future takes extraordinary instinct for storytelling, remarkable courage, and exceptional artistic vision. She's a wonderful young actress."
Qi Yao reached up to gather the neckline of her gown. Her other hand held the hem as she ducked into the van, heading for the awards ceremony venue.
The drive would take about half an hour. Once she settled comfortably into her seat, she finally had a moment to take her phone from Lizi. It had been vibrating nonstop this whole time.
The screen was almost entirely filled with messages from one person.
A familiar 99+.
Qi Yao: "..."
She first sent a message to the conversation pinned at the top: "I'm heading out now.”
Only then did she leave that chat and open Ye Qingman's endless stream of messages.
[Ye Qingman]: Have you checked the trending searches yet? You haven't, have you?!
[Ye Qingman]: Our Most Popular Actress of the Year is busy getting glammed up, so allow this humble servant to confess first!
[Ye Qingman]: I didn't mean to leak your wedding news! I'm sorry! Waaaaah QAQ
[Ye Qingman]: I got a little too chill and let half a sentence slip before I realized what I'd said!!
[Ye Qingman]: I honestly thought I'd acted better than I ever have in my life. Who knew people would still notice? sobsob
[Ye Qingman]: Yaozi! I'm so sorry, Yaozi!
Qi Yao: "..."
It took her a while to figure out what this was all about. She raised an eyebrow and clicked into the edited clip of Ye Qingman's livestream.
[HOLY CRAP! Manzi is feeding us again!!! WATCH THIS!!! WHO THE HELL IS GETTING MARRIED?!?!! [Video]]
Resting against the car window, Qi Yao watched as Ye Qingman attended a brand event and chatted with the host. Eventually they reached the fan Q&A segment.
"Qingman, one fan wants to know whether your main focus lately has been work." The host smiled. "They even added a cute emoji. Sounds like a career fan."
Ye Qingman leaned closer to the screen to read it and silently admired the host for managing to pick one of the least unhinged comments from the flood.
"You don't have to sugarcoat it. I know what they really want to ask." She grinned. "Has my love-brain disease been cured yet? Do I still want to date and get married?"
The barrage instantly exploded with laughter.
The host laughed too. "You and your fans really interact like friends. Since you've already said it, I'll stop beating around the bush. That's exactly what everyone wants to know."
"Nope." Ye Qingman waved a hand without hesitation. "I got over that ages ago. Getting close to men only brings bad luck."
The comments flooded even faster, everyone laughing.
Still smiling, the host teased, "You sound very certain. Is that because both you and your friends have been through something similar?"
"No," Ye Qingman replied. "Just me."
"The people around me are all very happy. Next month, one of them's going to get marr..."
The moment the words left her mouth, her eyes flew wide open.
The fingers resting on her knee curled inward for a split second. With as much naturalness as she could muster, she frantically corrected herself.
"...Ahem. Going... to tie a beautiful knot."
Qi Yao: "..."
"...?"
The comments: “??????”
You really would've been better off not showing everyone your acting skills.
That cover-up couldn't have looked more suspicious if you'd tried.
---
Author's Note:
Wanted to advance the plot a bit. Didn't expect this to result in a certain someone being absent for an entire chapter.
Shu: (cold laugh) (emotionless) (sarcastic)
Me: QAQ I'm sorry!!! We're all Yao-mei career fans, okay?! Waaaaah!!!
(The Golden Eagle Awards are fictionalized here. I just borrowed the name because I couldn't think of another one. Please don't compare it with reality.)
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