Everyone in the Entertainment Industry Thinks I’m a Flirty Diva [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 20

[If Chu Xi doesn’t have a sugar daddy anymore, does that mean we won’t have to watch her act from now on?]

[Rejoice and celebrate!!!]

[Right, right! Remember when she mentioned on Brave Heart that she was single? They must’ve already broken up by then!]

[So what’s going to happen to Chu Xi now?]

[What else? Wearing two-hundred-yuan dresses, flying economy, appearing on flop online shows, and getting no acting gigs, of course.]

[As long as Chu Xi doesn’t act, I can still appreciate her looks.]

[Even her sugar daddy probably couldn’t stand her acting anymore, LOL!]

[From haute couture fairy dresses to two-hundred-yuan Taobao finds—what a steep drop in living standards. How can Chu Xi even handle it? Though, to be fair, that two-hundred-yuan dress actually looked pretty good on her.]

…

No one expected that Le Shan’s public denial would ultimately lead to the entire internet discussing Chu Xi.

Headlines like “Male co-stars voice support for Chu Xi,” “Chu Xi dumped by her sugar daddy,” “Chu Xi’s career takes a sharp downturn,” and “Chu Xi never went to college and lived a rough life” flooded entertainment gossip platforms, sparking nationwide debate.

Chu Xi first sent WeChat messages to thank the five male guests from Brave Heart who had publicly supported her on Weibo. Then, she asked Fu Bai to get her a phone number.

Expressionless, Chu Xi dialed.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end sounded irritated.

Chu Xi let out a cold laugh. “After orchestrating all this, only for the spotlight to end up on me—are you throwing a tantrum now?”

The person on the other end paused, then said in disbelief, “Chu Xi?!”

Chu Xi: “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Don’t you know that while buying PR articles to promote yourself is normal, dragging others down in the process is considered utterly despicable in this industry? No one even cares about how chaste and noble you are anymore. Those trending topics must’ve cost you a fortune—thanks for that. I didn’t spend a single cent.”

Her tone was light, as if the raging online storm hadn’t affected her at all.

The contrast was stark compared to Le Shan, who had sounded furious when answering the call.

From Le Shan’s reaction, Chu Xi knew she had guessed right.

Gu Mingjing and Le Shan—they couldn’t be completely unrelated.

Le Shan was in talks for endorsing products under Yuanjing Group’s portfolio and naturally wouldn’t let go of Gu Mingjing, this prime catch. However, judging by Gu Mingjing’s extravagant spending on women, it was more likely that Le Shan had her eyes on this lucrative target and was actively throwing herself at him. Otherwise, if there really was something between them, she wouldn’t just be flaunting a few hundred-thousand-yuan luxury items—she could easily secure several endorsements or film resources, if not skyrocket to fame.

It seemed Le Shan had failed in her advances and had even been warned by Gu Mingjing’s people. The endorsement she was negotiating had slipped away, but the rumors were already out there. Having flaunted the gifts, she couldn’t just slink away and wait for the gossip to die down. So she decided to go all out—publicly denying the rumors to craft a pure and untainted image for herself in the entertainment industry while taking a jab at Chu Xi, whom she couldn’t stand.

Unfortunately, her plan backfired. Chu Xi was dragged into the spotlight as the main target, bombarded with one explosive scandal after another, including being dumped by her sugar daddy. The public was too busy feasting on these juicy revelations to care about Le Shan’s denials.

As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. Chu Xi’s name dominated entertainment headlines, while Le Shan, despite orchestrating it all, didn’t even get a slice of the pie. How could she not be furious?

Le Shan had assumed Chu Xi would be holed up at home crying under the weight of the backlash. Instead, not only was she not crying, she even called Le Shan.

Suppressing her rage, Le Shan reminded herself not to lose face and sneered, “Even after being dumped by your sugar daddy, you’re still so composed. Without his backing, you can’t land any roles and are stuck wearing 200-yuan dresses. Soon you’ll be reduced to playing second fiddle to nobodies.”

Chu Xi replied, “At least I was pampered once. That’s better than someone who threw themselves at a sugar daddy and got rejected, don’t you think?”

“You—” Le Shan was so angry she could barely breathe. How did Chu Xi know about her failed advances?

Gu Mingjing was young, wealthy, and handsome. Being with him would be a thousand times better than Chu Xi’s old, decrepit former sugar daddy.

Hearing Le Shan’s furious sputtering, Chu Xi hung up and finally exhaled.

She suddenly smirked.

No wonder Gu Mingjing didn’t fancy Le Shan.

If she were a man, she wouldn’t either.

——

Fu Bai had braced himself for a long battle against the flood of hate posts targeting Chu Xi. But the next day, as if by magic, all the related negative posts were either deleted or blocked, vanishing without a trace.

Even the trending searches disappeared overnight.

In the studio, Fu Bai incredulously opened the malicious posts on his computer, only to find they were all deleted with 404 errors: “This… what’s going on…?”

He turned to look at Chu Xi: “Do you know what happened?”

Chu Xi lifted her gaze: “No.”

Though the posts were deleted and the trending searches vanished, Chu Xi didn’t seem particularly happy about it.

Fu Bai watched her, hesitating to speak.

Truth be told, what good did deleting those posts or removing the searches do? Whenever Chu Xi was mentioned now, it was always about her terrible acting, being forcefully promoted for two years before finally being dumped by her sugar daddy, and now becoming the laughingstock of the internet.

Chu Xi had originally planned to star in a small web drama after Brave Heart ended, titled The Rich CEO and His Heart-Stealing Wife. The shooting schedule was short, and the pay was decent. Fu Bai had tried to dissuade her several times from taking on such a cringe-worthy project, but Chu Xi insisted she didn’t care. Left with no choice, Fu Bai negotiated with the production team. They had almost finalized the deal, and the contract was already signed. She was supposed to join the set in a few days. But then, out of nowhere, Chu Xi was hit with this wave of backlash, and the production team backed out at the last minute, fearing her poor acting would drag down the entire project. They replaced her with another actress.

The drama was an original production by Xiyou Video. Since the production team’s sudden breach of contract was unjustified, they offered Chu Xi a small variety show from their platform instead: We Are Classmates.

Although Brave Heart was a web variety show, it was backed by Tencent and had a solid foundation—already a pretty good resource. But We Are Classmates was a genuine small-scale web variety show. The official Weibo account’s posts barely scraped a hundred likes per post. It was another celebrity reality show. While Brave Heart was about military camp experiences, We Are Classmates, as the name suggested, revolved around school life. It followed a live-streaming format, where five celebrities would enter a high school as transfer students, reliving their high school days by attending classes and following the same schedule as the students, reminiscing about the innocence and nostalgia of youth.

Fu Bai checked the guest list. Though it claimed to feature five celebrities, apart from Chu Xi, two were internet influencers, and the other two were obscure figures in the industry whose names most people wouldn’t even recognize. He immediately understood.

As the saying goes, no business is without deceit. While this was framed as compensation for the breached drama contract, it was clear they were taking advantage of Chu Xi’s current lack of opportunities, using her for clout and to leech off her popularity.

Still, experiencing high school life would surely be much easier than Brave Heart. Fu Bai had expected Chu Xi, who wasn’t picky about gigs, to agree right away. To his surprise, she hesitated for a long time before finally nodding.

Fu Bai couldn’t help but recall the rumors about Chu Xi’s troubled high school past. He wanted to ask, but seeing how reluctant she seemed to bring it up, he dropped the matter.

Ever since Chu Xi was exposed for breaking up with her sugar daddy, the entire internet had been waiting to see what her next project would be without his backing. And soon enough, her next gig was announced.

An unknown variety show from an obscure video platform, We Are Classmates, featuring four “celebrities” most people had never even heard of?

It was worse than anyone had imagined.

What a spectacular downfall!

[She’s really hit rock bottom after losing her sugar daddy!]

[Serves her right!]

[“From the synopsis, it says she’s going as a transfer student to experience high school life with the students? Chu Xi totally looks like the type who was just passably good-looking in class but had terrible grades and hung out with shady people outside school. Is this social butterfly going to corrupt the high schoolers?”]

[“After appearing in so many hit variety shows last year, she’s actually ended up in some obscure online show this year. I’m dying of laughter.”]

[“Chu Xi isn’t that irredeemably bad, is she? Why the harsh criticism? Several male guests who worked with her before have spoken up for her.”]

[“Honestly, I kind of feel sorry for Chu Xi. Life’s not easy for her.”]

[“Go, Chu Xi! Bricks will always support you!”]

[“Welcome our new classmate, Chu Xi!”]

…

The school-themed variety show wouldn’t start for a few more days, so Chu Xi went back to her rural hometown to visit her grandmother. She only returned to the city and her rented apartment the day before filming began.

At the entrance of her apartment complex, Chu Xi was rummaging through her bag for the access card when she suddenly sensed someone approaching.

Alert, she looked up and saw a man in a tailored suit, polished shoes, and impeccably groomed hair smiling at her.

“Assistant Gao?” Chu Xi was surprised to run into Gu Mingjing’s assistant here.

Assistant Gao nodded politely. “Good day, Miss Chu.”

Chu Xi had gotten along well with Assistant Gao before, but she didn’t understand why he was here now that she and Gu Mingjing had broken up. “Is there… something you need?” she asked.

Assistant Gao gestured toward the roadside. “Mr. Gu is waiting for you in the car. He’d like you to join him.”

Following his direction, Chu Xi spotted a black Rolls-Royce parked by the curb.

The moment she heard this, she immediately lowered her head and resumed searching for her access card. “I’m not going.”

She finally found the card in a hidden compartment of her bag and was about to swipe it when Assistant Gao stepped in front of her. “Miss Chu, please don’t make this difficult for us.”

Chu Xi stared at him. He was still smiling, ever the picture of courtesy.

Gu Mingjing’s orders were never to be disobeyed. She had a feeling that if she refused, two black-suited bodyguards might emerge from the bushes, knock her out, and carry her over.

Sighing, Chu Xi glanced back at the Rolls-Royce, then reluctantly trudged toward it.

Assistant Gao considerately opened the car door for her. Even from outside, Chu Xi could feel the overwhelming presence inside the vehicle, and for a moment, she nearly turned to flee.

Gripping the strap of her bag tightly, she took a deep breath—as if marching to her execution—and finally climbed in.

The moment she sat down, Assistant Gao shut the door. Before she could even dare to look at the man beside her, an arm suddenly wrapped around the back of her head, pulling her into a kiss.