Best friend turned enemy? Marrying the villain, if she runs, I'll run too.

In just half a month, Meng Tang finished filming the second half of "Midsummer". The company's editing was also very efficient, working around the clock for a week before submitting it for review.

The review process was very fast; it was approved in just one month.

When "Midsummer" was scheduled to air on Tomato Video, it quickly became a trending topic.

[Did I see that right? The female lead is Li Su? Is she the Li Su who starred in hit dramas like "The Forensic Examiner" and "The Beauty"?]

[It's been three years! My goddess has finally returned!]

[It's directed by Director Meng again, with handsome men and beautiful women. Just watching the trailer makes it incredibly pleasing to the eye. I'm spreading the word! I finally have a good drama to watch again.]

[Familiar cast, familiar formula. Although there's only a three-minute trailer, I bet a bag of spicy strips that this drama, produced by Director Meng and starring Li Su, is a guaranteed hit of the year.]

……

Amidst the excitement, "Midsummer" premiered.

The platform's popularity exceeded 10,000, and it continued to soar as the broadcast progressed.

As its popularity soared, it was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Especially those haters, who flooded in with curses and insults, were stunned by the female lead's beauty when they opened the screen.

Just as I was about to nitpick, I was once again captivated by the male lead's handsomeness.

The plot of "Midsummer" is not the kind of family drama, nor is it the fast-paced, conflict-ridden storyline that is currently popular.

It evokes a sense of tranquility and peacefulness, a style completely different from the dramas that made Meng Tang a sensation three years ago.

But as the audience said, the cast of handsome men and beautiful women all delivered solid performances, and after watching it, I felt as if my soul had been cleansed.

Despite its slow-paced plot, it manages to immerse the viewer in the story's development. As the protagonist's storyline unfolds, it feels as if the viewer is living her life alongside her.

It even sparked a trend online of people wanting to have a cross-border romance.

Not everyone can afford to travel abroad to Luxembourg.

But they have the opportunity to come to Jiangcheng, especially to those filming locations. With the popularity of the drama, those locations are packed with people, all of whom are fans of the drama coming to check in, which has also boosted the local tourism industry.

Originally, these were several neglected tourist attractions that hadn't been developed much. However, because the scenes in the drama were so beautifully filmed, many people said that if they didn't come and see them in person, they would regret it in their lives.

Because "Midsummer" boosted the local economy, the government was happy to benefit from it, and the official media continuously praised "Midsummer" for promoting the beauty of China and the city of Wuhan.

This further fueled the immense popularity of "Midsummer," even sparking a rare nationwide craze for watching the show. The subject matter of "Midsummer" is suitable for all ages.

They managed to elevate a web series with only fifteen episodes into an excellent serious drama, and it concluded perfectly with a high score of 9.8 on Douban.

This is considered the highest-rated web series in recent years, and it also broke the record for the highest score of any series directed by Meng Tang.

Because of "Midsummer", netizens have been digging up all the dramas Meng Tang has filmed over the years.

Almost every film in the series has a rating of 9 or higher, maintaining an absolutely high standard.

The dramas featuring Li Su as the female lead, in particular, have received unanimous praise.

Following this, netizens also discovered that Director Meng and Li Su are very good friends, and the two are almost always seen together on many occasions.

There's even a leaked photo of Meng Tang and Li Su with their arms around each other, sharing a microphone while singing karaoke at the celebration party for "Midsummer".

Li Su's face is shown from the front, while Meng Tang's face is shown from the side, but many netizens have expressed that they are shipping them.

A genius female director and a stunningly beautiful actress – they couldn't be more perfect together!

Furthermore, paparazzi even revealed that Meng Tang and Li Su disappeared for three years because they went abroad to get married, and that they were actually a couple.

When this news broke, although fans who shipped the two as a couple were thrilled, many others were very resistant and even went to Meng Tang and Li Su's Weibo accounts to hurl insults.

Meanwhile, their competitors, already envious of the immense popularity of "Midsummer," seized the opportunity to smear them, calling them shameless, and even inciting viewers to boycott "Midsummer."

Just as this matter was causing a great stir, Meng Tang and Li Su suddenly reposted an official Weibo post on their respective Weibo accounts.

Meng Tang V: Tomorrow at 9 AM, the couple's reality show "You in My Eyes" will be broadcast. Please look forward to it.

Li Su V: "You in My Eyes," a reality show about married couples, will air tomorrow at 9 PM.

Both of their Weibo posts included a picture.

It was two hands with their fingers intertwined. One hand was noticeably larger than the other, while the other was much smaller. The most striking feature was the wedding ring on the ring finger of both hands.

[Ahhh, it's a reality show about couples! Couples! I knew Su Su and Director Meng couldn't be lesbians, everyone who spread rumors should kneel down and apologize!]

What?! My goddess Su Su got married?!

[No way, I just fell in love and I'm already heartbroken?]

[Who, who on earth married Su Su? I don't believe it! No jerk like him is good enough for Su Su!]

[As a hand fetishist, I have to say, this hand is long, slender, and has clearly defined knuckles—it's practically a manga hand! Even if the owner of such a beautiful hand were as ugly as Pigsy (from Journey to the West), I'd still have to take a second look.]

……

"You in My Eyes" is a brand new reality show about couples' relationships, and it's groundbreaking in that it's broadcast live.

This means that it was a live, live performance with no post-production editing, providing a comprehensive and very authentic view of the celebrities' married life.

The variety show invited four couples in total. In addition to Meng Tang and Li Su's couples, there were two other couples.

One couple is Chu Weiwei and Cheng Youjun, while the other couple is Angela, a currently popular female internet celebrity, and her wealthy second-generation husband.

Meng Tang only found out that Chu Weiwei had actually married Cheng Youjun after the official announcement of "You in My Eyes" on Weibo. She remembered that the original plot did not develop in this way.

After experiencing a series of melodramatic events, including being imprisoned by the villain and being forced into love, the two finally announced their relationship while participating in a dating reality show.

However, the dating reality show in the original work is not this "You in My Eyes," but another very popular dating reality show.

Furthermore, this happened at the height of Cheng Youjun's career. The reason Cheng Youjun made his official announcement on the dating reality show was to help Chu Weiwei gain popularity among the general public and be accepted by fans.

In the original novel, Chu Weiwei successfully used her Mary Sue heroine's genuine personality to gain the approval of fans, and in the end, the two had a happy ending, achieving success in both love and career.

But now, the plot is completely messed up, and neither Song Guanting nor Fu Jishu, the two major villains, have tried to force themselves on her.

Cheng Youjun's career showed no improvement. In three years, he not only failed to become a top male star, but also went from playing the male lead in every drama to becoming a supporting actor.

He doesn't even qualify as the second male lead; he's at most a minor character.

"Song Guanting, why did you let Chu Weiwei and Cheng Youjun participate in this variety show as well?"