The Rise of the White Lotus

Chapter 224 Movie

"Bestie~!! Oh my god!" The moment Rika Song saw Lexi, she glided to her with an excited grin and she scrutinized Lexi from head to toe.

"Gosh! How can you do this to me? Making me look like a backdrop even with all this makeup on me?" After their cheeks met, Rika frowned as she peered at her simple attire yet, it didn't make her less noticeable.

"I'm envious!"

"Rika, if only you know how stunning you look tonight— you won't say that." Giggling back, Lexi coaxed her envious friend who was instantly persuaded with that.

"Well, were besties after all so we should look beautiful together, right?" Grinning brightly, Rika winked as she gestured to Lexi for them to take their respective seats in the front row.

Along the way, Lexi bowed and greeted the people present before the movie could even begin. She exchanged pleasantries along with other cast and Director Arnold Shen. Soon, before the movie would start rolling, Lexi sat where her name was placed— next to Elliot Gong on her left.

However, her brows raised as the seat on her right side was vacant with only a nametag "investor", nothing more. Despite that, she thought there was a mishap of the arrangement of their seats, Lexi didn't dwell on it as Churu sat on the unoccupied seat instead.

"Hehe, maybe they know I need my own seat so they left this one empty— I am an investor after all," Churu uttered as she comfortably sat next to Lexi.

*****

When the movie started rolling, the whole theater room fell into a peaceful silence as every one attentively watched the film. The setting of the movie was a modern fantasy with a little bit of sci-fi that instantly revealed with the drone shot as an opening.

The first scene was Rika Song wearing a white plain dress looking up to the bright sky in the middle of the plains with a bittersweet smile on her lips. Unlike her gorgeous look tonight, she looked innocent and pure on the large screen. As she uttered her words, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere and the blinking sun slowly collided with darkness—

*BAAAM!*

Unaware, Xue Yingyue was still mesmerized at the scene above that she was oblivious of the woman silently appearing behind her: it was Chang'e, Lexi's character.

The first half of the movie, after Xue Yingyue had a brief encounter with the silly and odd Chang'e— it was focused on her, entering the biggest city and her journey to be a well-known government body— fighting for her nation in the brewing war with the opposing nation.

As she became one of the elite law bodies and soon the first female general leading hundreds of thousands of military forces— she became pals with Long Yutao, Elliot Gong's character. However, on one of her missions to infiltrate the enemy's base, she was put in a difficult situation with Gael Zhang's character, Xie Jing Xing who was the son of the president and also the general of the rival country that led her to disguise herself as an innocent civilian.

Xie Jing Xing was ruthless, cold, and cunning or that's what he displayed to be. Unlike Xue Yingyue who fairly attained her position with her genius mind and strategic capabilities— Xie Jing Xing, on the other hand, reached his current position with a strong conviction that only he knew with the help of being the son of the leader of the nation.

Unbeknownst to Xue Yingyue, the more she interacted with Xie Jing Xing, her loathing towards the man reduced as she came to know him better and slowly unraveled a mindblowing scheme as to why these two nations turned at odds.

Meanwhile, as Xue Yingyue was trapped in a predicament inside the enemy territory, Elliot Gong's character, Long Yutao did the best he could to rescue his beloved. As he does so, he was accidentally entangled with Lexi's character, Chang'e, while she was out looking for her husband.

Due to some circumstances, Chang'e became more and more entangled with Long Yutao as he introduced her to modern food and stuff— riding along with her silliness.

Unaware of his growing fondness to the weird Chang'e, Long Yutao found himself one day looking for the strange woman that disappeared without a trace after the bombing incident.

A lot had happened while Xue Yingyue was hanging around with Xie Jing Xing, Long Yutao desperately tried finding a way to contact Xue Yingyue, while Chang'e leisurely was looking for her husband Houyi.

It took a year for Xue Yingyue to get herself out from the shackles of the affair she developed with Xie Jing Xing. One long year before she completely unraveled the truth, however, her secret was also found out by Xie Jing Xing. Fortunately, Long Yutao was able to contact her a few days prior and hence, by force, he rescued the unwilling Xue Yingyue.

As the story goes on, Churu's facial expression had an unreadable countenance as she was too focused on the film rolling. She snapped when the scene about Chang'e being shot and her white rabbit turned into a man and sang a song for her. The face of the man wasn't seen and only glimpses of his lips, hands, and back were shown. Still, the audience could feel his eternal love that made them shed a tear.

This time, though Churu was unable to well up, her heart was completely pierced by the scene. She wasn't around when this scene was filmed but, she knew that it was Ethan Lu.

Why does he have such strong emotions?

Why?

It was just a scene showing his unrequited love, yet, why did Churu feel a much deeper pain? Why did it appear to her that he wasn't just playing his role as the white rabbit but he's the white rabbit all along?

Churu's heart pounded… louder and louder as her heart bled each time. Was it because of the scene? Or something more? No one knows but herself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the audience wiped their tears with that one scene of the white rabbit and Chang'e. Some felt sorry for the white rabbit and yet, as the story goes on, it was told that part of Houyi resided inside Long Yutao— Chang'e's soulmate, a match made in heaven.

It was an emotional ending for both of them as Chang'e and Long Yutao had a sweet moment yet tragic ending. In the end, to save Long Yutao once again, Chang'e had to use the full extent of her powers to revive him in exchange for her mortal life.

And after years, Long Yutao would always look up at the moon, offering her favorite chicken nuggets instead of moon cakes with their miracle child. While Xue Yingyue and Xie Jing Xing cleared their misunderstanding and together uncovered the real perpetrator that put wedges between the two nations. The war was put on a complete halt and both nations became strong allies.

When the movie ended and the lights turned on, the audience one after another stood up and slowly clapped their hands— giving it a standing ovation. It is indeed another masterpiece. It was moving, intriguing, and heart-wrenching at the same time.

The corner of Lexi's lips curled into a smile as the end product was indeed good. Even to her, she didn't know that the outcome was even greater than she expected. Hence, she felt honored to be a part of this movie.

Turning her head to her left where Churu perched, her brows raised seeing an expression she never had seen before.

'Sissy, are you alright? Are you crying?' Inside her mind, Lexi softly inquired that reached the teary-eyed dumpling. She was utterly puzzled as she knew that Churu was unable to shed a tear or completely pity other people aside from her. Therefore, why would she feel moved about the movie? Did it give that much impact?

"I am…" Churu lowly responded as she hung her head low. After a beat, Churu immediately collected her thoughts as she raised her head again with a bright smile.

"I am alright!! Lexi, I am so proud of you!" Churu flew to Lexi's cheek and hugged her tightly.

Relieved, Lexi shrugged the uneasiness that her heart felt and smiled, giving her the benefit of the doubt. Carrying the stickied dumpling on her face, Lexi stood from her seat and welcomed all the praises along with the cast.

Through the years of her entire acting career, Lexi hadn't felt this accomplished with her previous projects. Which was why she felt excited to give Ethan Lu a call to share this moment with him even through a call.

Unbeknownst to Lexi, in spite of the happiness and fulfillment she was currently at, she would face an unexpected heart wrecking pain later that night.