Everyone in the Entertainment Industry Thinks I’m a Flirty Diva [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 77

The moment Chu Xi saw those words, her mind went blank. Fu Bai’s voice on the phone grew distant, and she couldn’t hear anything clearly.

Her phone clattered to the floor. Chu Xi picked up the iPad and tapped the notification.

“Chu Xi’s s*x tape” was sitting at the top of the hot search list, marked with a dark-red “Explosive” tag.

She clicked on it.

The first post was from an obscure gossip account, featuring a video with the caption: “Netizens recently discovered that the woman in a certain s*x tape bears a striking resemblance to Chu Xi, the girlfriend of Yuanjing Group’s CEO Gu Mingjing. What do you think?”

On Wi-Fi, the video began playing automatically.

Under dim lighting, a girl lay on white bedsheets, her face turned to the side. Her disheveled hair spilled across the pillow and her cheeks. Her eyes were half-lidded, her gaze hazy.

The man filming this only appeared on screen as an arm—a plump, pale arm with stubby fingers that indicated his overweight physique. A large blue tattoo covered his forearm.

The video was only about ten seconds long and not particularly explicit, revealing nothing outright. The focus was mainly on the girl’s upper body, but the scene and sounds left little doubt about what was happening. Perhaps because it wasn’t graphic enough to be flagged for censorship, the video spread even faster.

The girl’s profile in the video, especially the slight upward tilt of her eyes, bore an uncanny resemblance to Chu Xi.

But after watching it, Chu Xi knew—the girl in the video wasn’t her at all!

She had only ever been with Gu Mingjing. Though he could be beastly in his own way, he didn’t have the perverse habit of filming intimate moments. Yet even Chu Xi had to admit, the girl’s side profile looked startlingly like hers. To viewers who only knew her through a screen, the resemblance was nearly indistinguishable. These days, the same person could look completely different before and after makeup or filters—let alone with this level of similarity.

For the average person, the subtle differences between the girl in the video and Chu Xi’s profile would be impossible to spot. Only those close to her, who knew her well, might recognize the discrepancies.

Under normal circumstances, coming across a girl who looked so much like her would have amazed Chu Xi—she might have marveled at the wonders of creation. But now, this eerie likeness only sent a chill down her spine.

She took a sharp breath, fingers trembling slightly as she clicked on the comments section.

[Holy shit, that’s Chu Xi! What do you mean “similar”? It’s literally her!]

[Damn, the way she moans is so slutty. I’m hard.]

[Look at that expression and those sounds—she’s clearly loving every second of it.]

[Who’s the guy filming? That tattoo and arm—definitely not Gu Mingjing.]

[Right, Gu Mingjing doesn’t have tattoos, and he’s not that fat. No way it’s him.]

[Did you all forget how Chu Xi was bankrolled to star in all those terrible dramas before? Internet memory is so short. Now that she’s latched onto Gu Mingjing, everyone conveniently ignores her past.]

[This must’ve been filmed back then. A woman like her would sleep with anyone to climb the ladder—probably ridden by thousands. Looks pure with clothes on, but who knows how filthy underneath.]

[Bet the reason she hooked Gu Mingjing is because she’s amazing in bed. wink]

[President Gu! Come see what your girlfriend’s up to!]

[Gu Mingjing has such bad taste, taking in such trash. Isn’t he afraid of catching something?]

[Hahahahaha, she probably schemed so hard to hook Gu Mingjing, and now her dream of marrying into wealth is completely shattered! Hahahahaha]

[Is Chu Xi for sale? How much for a night? Since she’s already slept with so many, what’s one or two more? Name your price, let me have a taste too.]

……

Chu Xi trembled as she read these words.

Even though she knew the girl in the video wasn’t her, everyone believed it was. These vile, degrading comments were all directed at her.

Her chest felt so tight she could barely breathe, as if she were sinking into an endless swamp. She struggled to escape, but her limbs were bound by the foul, stinking mud. Countless people stood on the shore, laughing at her, spitting into the filthy mire.

The second trending post was titled: “Whitewashing Success, One Foot Already in the Rich Man’s Door? A Deep Dive into Chu Xi’s History of Being Kept.”

The post was filled with images and text, detailing how Chu Xi, once a nobody, had suddenly risen to fame two years ago, starring in several big-budget films with A-list actors supporting her. Despite her movies flopping one after another, her resources remained shockingly good. The post painted her as a pretentious, hypocritical “white lotus,” pointing out how all negative comments about her online had been systematically deleted. Had everyone forgotten how rampant her paid trolls were back then? How anyone who dared criticize her online would immediately have their accounts banned? Had everyone forgotten how she was allegedly kept by a mysterious benefactor who pushed her career relentlessly?

[How is such a massive scandal almost whitewashed?]

[She really can’t live without men, huh? Dumped by her last sugar daddy and immediately latched onto Gu Mingjing.]

[Do you really think he’d marry her? To someone like Gu Mingjing, actresses are just playthings.]

[How is a woman like this not blacklisted? She’s corrupting society.]

[Maybe Gu Mingjing just likes playing with women who’ve been passed around. Looks pure, but who knows how filthy she really is.]

[That public appearance was probably another one of Chu Xi’s schemes—’accidentally’ knocking on the wrong door. Gu Mingjing got played.]

[Didn’t she say her dad was a cop? She even posted his badge. A cop’s daughter becoming a whore? Disgusting.]

……

Chu Xi read these comments, unsure whether they were from trolls or genuine netizens. But when she saw the words about her father being a cop, she finally broke down and cried.

Her strength drained away as she slowly crouched down, burying her face in her knees.

Her mind was filled with the video of the girl who looked just like her, the humiliating remarks about her private life, and the past that had been ruthlessly dug up again.

She had thought everything was getting better, that her life was finally on the right track. She loved Gu Mingjing. At eighteen, in the bloom of first love, he had appeared like a god—young, handsome, wealthy. She had prepared herself for the worst, expecting humiliation and degradation, but he had never deliberately mistreated or forced her. Sometimes, he even seemed to enjoy teasing her.

At some point, she had begun to look forward to his return, eagerly changing into the nightgowns she knew he liked.

Chu Xi didn’t know how long she had been crouching there, but her legs had gone numb. Only then did she notice her phone vibrating on the floor—call after call from Gu Mingjing.

Dozens of missed calls, one after another.

Chu Xi sniffled, picked up her phone, and answered the call.

“It wasn’t me.”

“It wasn’t you.”

They spoke in unison.

Gu Mingjing heard the thick, tearful nasality in Chu Xi’s voice, and the cold aura around him grew even more frigid, as if freezing the air itself.

With just one glance, he knew the woman in the video wasn’t Chu Xi at all.

No one knew Chu Xi better than he did.

The trending topic had already been taken down, and the videos were all scrubbed from the internet. It was clear these Weibo posts and hired trolls had come prepared, brazenly targeting Chu Xi despite knowing she was under his protection.

They must have assumed he, too, would believe the woman in the video was Chu Xi, while also reminding him of her past with a previous sponsor.

A man might tolerate knowing such things privately, but having them flaunted publicly—forcing him to watch as everyone gawked at his woman’s past—was a blow no man’s pride could withstand.

Assistant Gao had already contacted Fu Bai, and the two were leading a team in an overnight investigation.

Chu Xi clutched her phone. For some reason, the emotions she had just managed to suppress came flooding back the moment she heard his voice, and tears streamed down her face.

Between sobs, she said, “Gu Mingjing, I like you.”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line before the man’s deep, soothing voice responded.

“I love you,” he said.

——

The next day, Chu Xi took leave from the Blood of the Mountains and Rivers set. Gu Mingjing rushed over from City B. Though the mastermind behind the scandal had already been identified, it was best to let the authorities handle the matter officially, so he accompanied Chu Xi to the police station to file a report.

Subsequently, an official police statement was released, along with a legal declaration from Chu Xi’s lawyer.

However, even with the news suppressed on the surface, the police statement and legal notice couldn’t completely dispel doubts. Many still believed the woman in the video was Chu Xi, dismissing the report as mere theatrics. Some even began secretly selling related content.

[It’s definitely her—they look exactly alike!]

[Even if it is her, of course she’d report it. If she didn’t put on a show with an official statement, wouldn’t that be admitting it outright?]

[What’s the point of scrubbing it? I already downloaded it, hahahahaha!]

[Add WeChat: xxxxx to see Chu Xi’s scandalous video.]

[Gu Mingjing is really magnanimous, huh? wearing a green hat.jpg]

Fortunately, a one-minute-long video was soon uncovered and circulated.

This was the original footage. The earlier clip had been edited from this longer version. In the full video, the girl eventually turned her face—her profile bore a striking resemblance to Chu Xi, but the moment she faced forward, it was clear she wasn’t Chu Xi at all. She even spoke a few words to the man filming her, and it wasn’t in Chinese.

This was originally a video of a girl from a neighboring country. Because her profile looked strikingly similar to Chu Xi’s, it was deliberately edited by malicious individuals to frame Chu Xi.

Once it became clear that it wasn’t Chu Xi at all, and the video lacked any real scandalous appeal—far less sensational than adult content—the underground sales that had initially boomed quickly fizzled out, with no one willing to buy it anymore.

Chu Xi, now completely exonerated, was finally free from being associated with the indecent video.

Though the real woman in the video was a girl from a neighboring country, Chu Xi still requested the police to take down the full video. Regardless of who it was, the circulation of such footage would cause immense harm.

A leaked photo of Gu Mingjing accompanying Chu Xi to the police station to file a report was posted online, showing Gu Mingjing holding her hand.

The public was stunned to see Gu Mingjing in the photo, leading Chu Xi to the police station with unwavering support.

Even though the explicit video didn’t feature Chu Xi, the scandal about her past with a mysterious sugar daddy had blown up so widely. As a man, how could Gu Mingjing not care at all? Didn’t he feel even the slightest humiliation?

How could Gu Mingjing truly not mind that this woman had once slept with some disgusting old man to climb the ladder?

Gu Mingjing, do you even have a heart?!