The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 61: "Love Itself Is the Only Logic."

Saturday afternoon, rehearsal ended.

Jiang Ci dragged his legs, walking out of the rehearsal hall utterly exhausted.

He was completely unaware of everything happening outside, only faintly sensing that during today's rehearsal, Director Liu Guodong and his classmates looked at him with more... complexity in their eyes than ever before.

Jiang Ci headed towards the cafeteria. Along the way, his rate of people turning to look at him was a staggering three hundred percent.

Students around him pointed and whispered, their gazes making his skin crawl.

He keenly sensed that the atmosphere was off.

Had something bad happened again?

He frowned, instinctively thinking that some bizarre new version of his "capital-backed actor" rumors had emerged.

While waiting in line at the cafeteria, that eerie feeling of being watched grew stronger and stronger. Jiang Ci finally couldn't take it anymore and opened Weibo, which he hadn't checked all day.

A flood of @mentions, comments, and private message notifications surged in.

Jiang Ci clicked on the trending topics list.

Then, he saw it. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Topping the list, followed by a massive "EXPLOSIVE" tag.

#JiangCiMom'sWeibo#

Jiang Ci's brain short-circuited for three seconds.

He clicked in, and then, he saw that all-too-familiar, utterly tacky "big sweet potato" photo.

Beneath the photo was an overwhelming sea of "HAHAHAHAHAHA."

He swiftly scrolled through the comments and saw the one pinned at the top, from Su Qingying.

"Auntie, hello. [Rose]"

Boom!

Jiang Ci's face visibly changed from pale, to flushed red, to ashen gray.

The classmates queuing around him, seeing him take out his phone, stared with even more burning intensity.

"Look, he saw it!"

"His face has gone completely dark, hahahaha sorry I can't help it..."

"He's the embodiment of social death, so tragic."

Amidst the chaos, Jiang Ci's train of thought once again veered in a direction ordinary people couldn't comprehend.

He just felt...

The photo his mom picked did indeed somewhat undermine his "tragic male god" persona.

But since when did his mom know how to use Weibo? Seems he needed to find time to ask what was going on.

The person who could post this "little sweet potato" photo of him, along with those sincere words, was undoubtedly, without a doubt, his mom.

And so, under the watchful, amused gazes of his classmates, Jiang Ci, expressionless, used the official gold-V verified account his company gave him, went straight to his mom's Weibo post.

Left a comment.

Then, put away his phone, and calmly said to the cafeteria lady serving food, "Auntie, one serving of braised pork, extra rice, please."

While he remained calm and unruffled, Weibo went absolutely crazy.

Because Jiang Ci's comment was pinned to the top of the hot comments by the system within minutes.

@JiangCiV: Thanks, Mom, for clearing things up and giving me back my innocence. But next time, remember to pick a handsomer one from the album, thanks. [Bowing Emoji]

As soon as this comment appeared, netizens who were already laughing themselves breathless were instantly injected with new vitality.

[OMG!!! The man himself has appeared!!!]

[Hahahahahahahaha help! I thought he'd be angry, but he's actually bargaining with his mom about the photo not being handsome enough?!]

[What kind of bizarre thought process is this! The comedic effect is off the charts!]

[Bro! Your idol image is still intact at a time like this! I'm crying!]

[The whole internet is sympathizing with your social death, and you're worried about the photo? Jiang Ci, that's so you!]

The new hashtag #JiangCiBargainsOnline forcefully parachuted onto the trending list.

A tragic carnival whipped up by marketing accounts ultimately concluded as a hilarious, absurd comedy for the entire nation.

The previous night, Xia Meng experienced the collapse of her worldview built over twenty-plus years.

First, she was utterly stunned by Jiang Ci's "divinely inspired tear," learning what the pinnacle of emotion unreachable by technique truly was.

Immediately after, she was left completely bewildered by his answer, "I was thinking about my mom."

She realized she could no longer use "technique" to measure this monster, Jiang Ci.

Sunday, 1:30 PM.

Rehearsal Hall No. 1.

For the first time ever, Xia Meng did not immediately begin her warm-up routine.

Wearing her practice clothes but holding the script in her hand, she walked step by step towards Jiang Ci, who was stretching his legs in the corner.

This was the first time she had actively sought him out outside of rehearsal.

Jiang Ci, grimacing in his struggle with his ligaments, felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up and saw Xia Meng's cool, detached face.

"Something up?" he asked lazily, thinking she was about to launch into another round of "academic criticism."

Xia Meng's gaze settled on him, getting straight to the point. "I saw what happened online last night."

Her tone was still cool, but her eyes held less of the usual distance and scrutiny, replaced by a touch of genuine inquiry and confusion.

"Oh," Jiang Ci continued stretching, answering nonchalantly, "A large-scale public execution scene. I'm used to it."

But Xia Meng shook her head.

She opened the script in her hand, pointing to a monologue circled in red pen.

"I'm not here to gossip."

"I want to ask you, about Ma Lu's action of giving up everything for Ming Ming, gouging out his own eyes to give them to her as a gift..." Xia Meng lifted her head, her gaze burning as she looked at Jiang Ci. "Don't you think this fundamentally lacks logical justification?"

Jiang Ci's stretching motion stopped.

He was taken aback, not expecting Xia Meng to actively discuss the core logic of the script with him.

He slowly retracted his leg, sat up straight, and for the first time, in the truest sense, gave his full attention to this opponent hailed as the "technical genius."

Seeing he didn't refute her, Xia Meng continued her calm analysis. "Ma Lu's sacrifice lacks sufficient prior motivation and emotional buildup. From the perspective of behavioral psychology, a mentally sound adult would absolutely not pay such a reckless, even self-destructive price for a woman he's only met a few times and who has no interest in him."

"His obsession is detached, forcibly set by the author for dramatic conflict."

Her words, each and every one, were built upon absolute rationality and logic.

This was a classic academic analysis method: precise, yet cold.

After listening, Jiang Ci didn't directly refute her.

Regarding this question, the skill in his mind, the *Complete Guide to Scumbag Quotes and Techniques*, gave him an answer.

Instead, he asked her a question that seemed completely unrelated.

"What do you think logic is?"

Xia Meng answered almost reflexively. "It's cause and effect. It's patterns. It's objective existence, rational principles that can be analyzed and predicted."

Jiang Ci smiled.

That smile held no mockery or disdain, only a kind of understanding that saw through to the essence.

He looked into Xia Meng's clear but emotionless eyes and said, word by word, clearly:

"You're wrong."

"For Ma Lu, when love reaches its extreme..."

"Love itself is the only logic."