The Cannon Fodder 'Seme' is the Center of Attention Again (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 40

The headlines had shifted from “The Qin-Chu Couple About to Embark on a Publicly Funded Vacation” to “Breaking! Qin and Chu Suspected to Have Long Broken Up in Private, Is One of Them Having a New Affair?!” Li Qingran lowered his eyes and stared at the title for a few moments, then slid his thumb across the screen to look at the photos accompanying the news.

In addition to the screenshots of Chu Yu and Qin Yanyun’s accidental likes, there was another secretly taken photo.

The background of the photo was the filming site of the pre-show gathering, but the angle was clearly different from the cameraman’s; it was another surreptitious perspective.

The photo was very clear. When zoomed in, one could plainly see Chu Yu rolling his eyes at Qin Yanyun. His impatient expression did not look fake at all. More importantly, half of Li Qingran’s body appeared in this photo.

In the picture, his face was turned to the side, his eyelashes lowered, and his gaze was pointed directly past Qin Yanyun toward Chu Yu, whose figure was mostly obscured by the former.

Li Qingran had to admit that the person who took this photo had great skill. They had managed to turn a scene of Qin Yanyun and Chu Yu arguing into a scene where Qin Yanyun was having a breakdown over “catching them in the act,” while he, the “new flame,” was provocatively looking at Chu Yu with deep affection right in front of Qin Yanyun’s face.

Meanwhile, Chu Yu seemed to be confronting a green-capped Qin Yanyun—whose head practically looked like it was glowing with betrayal—on his behalf.

Li Qingran blinked, then scrolled down the screen, his gaze falling on the comment section of the marketing account. The area had already exploded into a mess of various opinions.

There was the “I Knew It All Along” faction: “I already felt like they didn’t get along in private. In those military-themed behind-the-scenes photos, they didn’t interact at all. I don’t know what you all are shipping.”

There was the “Protective Shipper” faction, who clarified the surface facts but actually stumbled onto the truth in some ways: “A little lovers’ spat and you all misinterpret it like this. Do you not get angry when you’re in a relationship? Do you not pull the whole blacklisting and deleting routine?! Also, when marketing accounts post photos, can they at least get the facts straight? That person with half a body showing is Brother Qin’s assistant! You can’t even tell people apart, yet you call him a ‘new flame.’ If you said he was Brother Qin’s new flame, I might at least believe you a little!”

There was even a “Chaos Seeker” faction: “Is it just me who thinks this little assistant is also very handsome? If the three of them were together, I wouldn’t be unable to accept it (blushing) (blushing) (blushing).”

“What are we going to do? This is a total disaster!”

Xiao Wen, who had automatically entered a paid-leave state because Qin Yanyun was supposed to go abroad to film the “Let’s See the World Together” variety show, let go of the clothes he was folding. They fell into the suitcase. When he looked up at Li Qingran, his eyes were full of despair.

“Why does something have to go wrong right at this moment? What now, Brother Li? Am I going to be the one who has to accompany Brother Qin abroad this time instead?!”

No!!!

He had already planned out where he was going to play during these days half a month ago. If he received news of overtime now, it would be no different from someone dropping a bomb on him. It would be more painful than actually being blown up!

Xiao Wen was on the verge of tears, and Li Qingran was also feeling apprehensive. After all, in the original plot, the cannon fodder was strictly required to follow Qin Yanyun to the filming. Only then could he cause various troubles during the process, leak dirt on Qin Yanyun, and further harass Chu Yu.

Then, in the process, he would inadvertently soften the hostile relationship between the leads. Finally, during a plot point where he desperately wanted physical contact with the lead male, he would further promote their feelings, turning them from rivals into ambiguous interests who wondered “Why does my heart race when I see him?”

All of this required the cannon fodder to push it forward. If he was now stripped of the chance to go abroad with Qin Yanyun because of these hot searches, the plot would be a total mess.

Li Qingran pursed his lips. While Xiao Wen was busy losing his mind, he asked 888:

“If I cannot go this time and the plot cannot proceed, the primary responsibility shouldn’t be mine, right?”

After all, it was these two main characters who were acting crazy. Why did they have to have a “hand-slip” right when the assistant was booking tickets? If Brother Zhang refused to let him go due to public opinion, it wasn’t something a small assistant could resist.

Li Qingran had a massive headache. Meanwhile, 888 wasn’t feeling great either.

The Main System had just warned it to tell its host to be “restrained,” and yet within a few days, its host had turned into a prime candidate for the lead male’s “new flame.”

Who could withstand this!

At this moment, 888 didn’t even dare to send a bug report to the Main System. It felt that if it sent another one, it and Li Qingran might really be stripped of their task-taking eligibility.

888 was very worried about its upcoming job stability. “Why is this task so hard!” it couldn’t help but grumble. However, as a professional support system, it still had its work ethics. After a brief breakdown, 888 responsibly answered Li Qingran’s question.

“Rest assured, host. The primary responsibility is definitely not yours.”

Li Qingran breathed a sigh of relief. But before that breath could fully leave his lungs, he heard 888 add:

“However, you might need to take some minor responsibility.”

888 leafed through the task-taker’s handbook as it explained to Li Qingran: “Although this incident was triggered by the two main characters accidentally liking comments, the primary factor causing you to be unable to follow the lead male to the filming site might be the public opinion regarding the leads’ relationship. And you, host, just happen to be the center of that opinion, appearing before the public as the lead male’s ‘new flame’…”

Li Qingran: “…”

“Actually, you shouldn’t have been responsible for this at all, but we were exploiting a bug back then, so…”

888 didn’t finish the sentence, but Li Qingran understood. It was because they were exploiting a plot bug that the photo was taken, leading to this “new flame” content that wasn’t in the original story. If this accident were truly investigated, it really was the fault of the two of them.

“So now, we can only pray that the lead male’s feelings for the other lead are still in the hazy stage and that he won’t fire you because of this baseless news. We also have to hope his manager is generous enough to ignore those tabloid marketing accounts so that we can follow along and proceed with the plot.”

That was true. The power of decision was no longer in his hands anyway. Li Qingran exited Weibo, twitched his lips, and didn’t say anything more.

Beside him, Xiao Wen, after playing the role of a discarded concubine in a cold palace with a silk shirt for a while, had finally calmed down. He even turned around to comfort Li Qingran.

After Xiao Wen dropped the shirt and kicked the half-full suitcase, he looked up and saw Li Qingran sitting quietly on the sofa. Li Qingran was looking down, his thumb repeatedly stroking the screen, his expression unreadable, and his brow furrowed. He looked as though he was deeply worried and blaming himself over the hot search.

It made sense. As Qin Yanyun’s assistant, being labeled as Chu Yu’s “new flame” by marketing accounts was stressful. Even knowing it wasn’t true, it was normal for Li Qingran to worry that Qin Yanyun would feel uncomfortable with him or simply fire him.

Thinking this, Xiao Wen sighed, walked over to Li Qingran, and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, our boss is not a—”

At this point, Xiao Wen got stuck. He wanted to say their boss wasn’t a petty person, but anyone with a conscience who had spent time with Qin Yanyun couldn’t say those words.

So, Xiao Wen paused. He turned the words over and over on the tip of his tongue before finally polishing them into a sentence that could both save his conscience and comfort Li Qingran.

“Think about how Brother Qin usually treats you. How could he possibly fire you just because of some baseless news?”

Actually, being fired was secondary; the problem was whether he could still follow them to film the variety show. Li Qingran gave Xiao Wen a forced smile, his voice sounding confused and weak.

“I am just worried that Brother Zhang will replace me. If I cannot go with.”

“Wait a minute!”

Before Li Qingran could finish, Xiao Wen interrupted him with a look of shock. “Don’t tell me that after sitting here for half the day, your only concern is whether you can still work for the next few days?!”

“Yes,” Li Qingran nodded.

“No way!” Xiao Wen was even more shocked. He felt like his brain couldn’t quite process this. “You mean, right now, you don’t want to go on vacation; you only want to go out and work with Brother Qin?”

“Yes,” Li Qingran nodded again. “That is exactly what I mean. I do not want a vacation; I only want to follow Brother Qin to the filming site.”

After all, only then could the plot proceed, and his bug-exploiting would not turn into a responsibility or a punishment used against him.

“…Impressive.”

Xiao Wen, who didn’t know the truth, struggled for a long time before managing to squeeze out one word and a thumbs-up for Li Qingran. These days, to find someone who loved work so much that they didn’t even want a vacation was truly like seeing a ghost.

“Since you’ve said that, when Brother Zhang and the others come over later, I’ll help you speak up!”

That way, he could continue his vacation! Xiao Wen thought happily.

As the saying goes, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Just as Xiao Wen mentioned Brother Zhang and the others coming over, before he could further coordinate his story with Li Qingran, the studio door was pushed open from the outside.

Li Qingran and Xiao Wen immediately looked up.

The first to enter was a hostile-looking Brother Zhang, followed by a completely unabashed and fearless Qin Yanyun. They had likely skipped the post-work dinner and come straight to the studio after finishing their tasks. Qin Yanyun still had his filming makeup on.

The black eyeliner made his dark eyes look deeper while also making his features appear sharper. Especially when he lowered his eyelashes in silence, the indifferent sense of distance around him became even more prominent.

To anyone who did not know him, seeing Qin Yanyun like this might make them too afraid to even approach him.

But Brother Zhang knew him inside and out. At this moment, far from being afraid, he pointed directly at Qin Yanyun’s nose the second the office door closed and opened fire immediately.

 

“Tell me the truth, did you drink too much water and let it flood your brain?!”

 

Qin Yanyun replied, “Can you not speak so”

 

“Not speak so harshly, is that it?”

 

It was no exaggeration to say that Brother Zhang knew Qin Yanyun best. Before Qin Yanyun could even finish the first half of his sentence, Brother Zhang had already finished the second half for him, even adding an aggressive rebuttal.

 

“Then can you not make things look so ugly?!”

 

Qin Yanyun was not convinced. “It was not like I was the one who liked the comment first.”

 

“So just because you saw it, you absolutely had to have a slip of the thumb too? Are you a child? Do you have to win or lose even in this kind of nonsense?!”

 

Brother Zhang said, speechless, “And what if Chu Yu really did just have a slip of the thumb? By doing this, you’ve made it awkward for both sides. How is the variety show supposed to be filmed later? That is not even the main problem. The main issue is that your behavior has dragged Xiao Li into this.”

 

As Brother Zhang spoke, he suddenly shifted the topic to Li Qingran, who had been standing in the corner with Xiao Wen pretending to be a mushroom since they entered. His index finger trembled as he pointed repeatedly at the bewildered young man.

 

“He is clearly just an assistant, but now he has inexplicably become the third party ruining the relationship between you and Chu Yu. He even showed up on the hot search, and so many people have seen his face. What if some extreme CP fans try to hurt him? What if some uninformed solo fans boycott him? How can he keep being your assistant? How can he stay in this industry after this?”

 

Brother Zhang went on sentence after sentence, scolding Qin Yanyun until he was speechless.

 

“And that photo, what exactly was going on there?”

 

Taking advantage of the gap while Qin Yanyun was stunned and unable to react, Brother Zhang turned to ask Li Qingran. The latter blinked and honestly explained the entire situation.

 

Li Qingran had been worried that Brother Zhang would blame everything on him slacking off, but to his surprise, the moment he finished speaking, Brother Zhang snorted at Qin Yanyun again.

 

“See! It is your fault again!”

 

Li Qingran thought, “???”

 

Qin Yanyun thought, “??? No, how can this be blamed on me?!”

 

“How can it not?!” Brother Zhang said confidently. “If you hadn’t gone over there to meddle, Xiao Li would have just come back after helping the guy up. He wouldn’t have had to stand there and get photographed surreptitiously.”

 

“I… was I not just worried that Li Qingran would be bullied by Chu Yu?”

 

“You know exactly what you were worried about.” Brother Zhang did not buy Qin Yanyun’s stubbornness and snorted.

 

“Fortunately, because of this, the popularity of the show has increased rather than decreased. Now everyone is waiting for the show to see if your relationship has truly broken. Congratulations, Great Movie Star Qin. For your first variety show, you’ve used your own influence to bring unprecedented hype to the production team.”

 

Qin Yanyun: “…”

 

He was already immune to Brother Zhang’s sarcasm, so he only cared about one of those sentences.

 

His dark eyes flickered toward the corner of the office almost inadvertently. Qin Yanyun withdrew his gaze and said to Brother Zhang:

 

“What do you mean everyone is waiting to see if my relationship with Chu Yu has broken? We never had a relationship in the first place!”

 

“What is the use of telling me that? Go explain it to the audience.” While quickly replying to messages on his phone, Brother Zhang posed another question to Qin Yanyun.

 

“The hot search has been taken down, but the public discussion is still very high. You remember what I told you before. This time, let Xiao Wen go with you”

 

“Brother Zhang!”

 

Before Brother Zhang could finish, Li Qingran, who had been standing in the corner, spoke up urgently.

 

“Was it not agreed before that I would go so Xiao Wen could take his leave? Making a sudden change like this… is it not a bit inappropriate?”

 

Brother Zhang had not expected that out of the three of them—Qin Yanyun, Xiao Wen, and Li Qingran—the first to object to this decision would be Li Qingran, who was the one with a chance to get some good rest.

 

Brother Zhang glanced at Qin Yanyun instinctively before turning to Li Qingran.

 

“Xiao Li, do not misunderstand. This decision does not mean I am firing you. I am only considering that the current public opinion is really bad for you, so I wanted you to take a break. Once this period passes and the hype around Qin Yanyun and the others dies down, you can go back to work.”

 

“After all, most of the filming sites this time are abroad. The safety level definitely cannot be compared to domestic sites. You know that some fans can be quite extreme, and with malicious people stirring the pot, I am afraid you might get hurt if you go. We can ignore the harmless comments online, but at the very least, we have to ensure your personal safety, right?”

 

Brother Zhang said to Li Qingran earnestly:

 

“I also promise you here that a vacation is just a vacation, not a firing. As soon as Qin Yanyun and the others return from abroad, I will call you back to work immediately! Alright, you think about it. I have a call to take. Xiao Wen, keep packing so you can head to the filming location. Qin Yanyun, you be a good boss and arrange their upcoming work. Most importantly…”

 

As Brother Zhang spoke, he walked toward the door. When he passed Qin Yanyun, he patted his shoulder twice heavily, hinting:

 

“You know what to do. Comfort him properly.”

 

With that, Brother Zhang pushed the door open and left to answer his phone.

 

After he left, Qin Yanyun, who had also been opposed to this decision at first, began to waver. True. It would be bad if Li Qingran got hurt because of him.

 

Thinking this, Qin Yanyun began to lean toward having Xiao Wen accompany him for the variety show instead. Even though he would not be able to see Li Qingran for several days, as a boss, he could still make video calls to comfort an employee forced into a vacation.

 

Besides, this would protect Li Qingran better. Compared to that, what did his temporary longing and the pain of not seeing him matter?

 

With his eyelashes lowered, Qin Yanyun sat up straight. His gaze toward Li Qingran became firm.

 

“I think Brother Zhang is right. Xiao Li, this time you should”

 

“But I want to go.”

 

Before Qin Yanyun could make the final decision, Li Qingran spoke to him.

 

The young man standing in the corner was wearing loose white clothes and black pants. Far from looking bulky, his frame seemed even more delicate. When he looked at Qin Yanyun with a pale face, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes were full of pleading. It made the latter suspect that if he continued to insist on Brother Zhang’s decision, the youth would cry on the spot.

 

And he said… he said he wanted to go. He wanted to go to work with him. Even if there was a risk of being attacked by extreme fans, even if he had to give up a paid vacation, he wanted to follow him to work.

 

Li Qingran… is that what you mean?

 

Qin Yanyun stared at Li Qingran intently. His eyes trembled instinctively, and his voice was full of disbelief.

 

“You really want to go with me?”

 

With the plot on the line, he absolutely had to go!

 

Qin Yanyun’s body grew even stiffer. His ears, hidden among his black hair, turned red at a visible speed.

 

To add fuel to the fire, Xiao Wen chimed in from behind Li Qingran.

 

“Really, Brother Qin. If it were only about safety, I would definitely give up my vacation and take Brother Li’s shift immediately. But before you two arrived, Brother Li kept telling me that his biggest worry wasn’t the public opinion or the work, but that he wouldn’t be able to go out to work with you this time.”

 

Qin Yanyun looked at Li Qingran in disbelief. “You want to accompany me that much?”

 

“Brother treats me well, and I keep it all in my heart!”

 

Li Qingran was giving it his all for the sake of the plot. “Besides, we have nothing to hide. Have fans not already clarified online that I am your assistant? How could I be Mr. Chu’s new partner? That is too absurd.”

 

“That is true, but it is mainly because you’ve only been in this industry for two months and might not understand it well enough. Some fans are truly extreme.”

 

Although he was helping Li Qingran, Xiao Wen still wanted him to truly consider the situation.

 

“Some can even hide under the bed in a hotel room and come out after you fall asleep. Brother Qin has encountered this before. Luckily, that fan just liked Brother Qin intensely and only wanted to watch him sleep; it did not lead to more serious consequences. But if it were you, Brother Li…”

 

Xiao Wen did not finish his sentence, but Li Qingran understood. Since his only claim to fame was supposedly “ruining” the relationship between the two leads, he might actually be targeted for harm.

 

But if he didn’t go, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his role as a “creepy” fan hiding under beds!

 

Li Qingran twitched his lips and smiled at Xiao Wen.

 

“I know, but I still want to go. Brother, please let me accompany you.”

 

As he spoke, Li Qingran looked up at Qin Yanyun.

 

The latter was stunned for a moment. It took him several seconds to react, blinking as if waking from a dream. His voice carried a bit of breathiness.

 

“Then… then just go. Since you want to so much… ahem!”

 

Qin Yanyun reached up to rub his nose and coughed twice. He shifted his crossed legs from left to right, then felt uncomfortable and shifted back. After changing positions several times, he nodded at Li Qingran haphazardly.

 

“Fine. When Brother Zhang comes back in, I will tell him”

 

“Do not tell me anything yet.”

 

Before Qin Yanyun could finish, Brother Zhang’s voice came from behind him. Along with silencing him, he brought another piece of news that was definitely not good for Li Qingran.

 

“Xiao Li, you are coming back to the company with me. I have to take you to see the big boss.”

 

Meanwhile, at the same time on the Kyoto Grand Bridge, inside a deep black Rolls-Royce, a man in the back seat closed the laptop in front of him. He pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, his voice deep and cold.

 

“An assistant. There is no need to bring him to see me. Just fire him.”