Chapter 56: Take a Nap (Wait, No!) (Extra Chapter Added)

After finishing his shower, Xu Xiu found himself with nothing to do, so he opened his phone and started scrolling through Douyin.

No sooner had he started scrolling than he discovered his follower count had somehow skyrocketed to 660,000.

Startled, he quickly rubbed his eyes, thinking he must have seen it wrong, but the number stubbornly remained at 660,000.

Far from bringing him any joy, this discovery terrified him so much that his face turned green!

No way! I’ve been acting so absurd, why are you people still following me?

Are you out of your minds?

How is he supposed to salvage his image after this? Won't everyone just assume he is some kind of meme-lord weirdo? How is he supposed to remain a bright, carefree, and dashing young man?

He was destined to be someone who could make a fortune just by standing there and looking cool, not a monkey meant to entertain the masses for people's amusement!

He wasn't Pete, he couldn't do stand-up comedy, nor could he deliver lines like:

"A simp can never read the goddess's script, but in the simp's script, the simp is the protagonist, hehe~ Your show has wrapped, but in my script..."

"Your show is wrapped!"

"Passion!"

As he kept scrolling, the algorithm pushed a flood of content his way. Every single video he saw was related to him and Fifty Kilometers Taohuawu.

There were even videos edited by shipping fans that were simply too atrocious to look at!

What a lunatic world!

Xu Xiu automatically ignored the videos cursing him out. In this industry, bumps and bruises along the way were inevitable!

Getting cursed at was completely normal; even revered veteran actor Li Xuejian got cursed at. What was this compared to that? Habit becomes second nature, and if Xu Xiu had nothing else, his skin was thick enough!

Finally, among dozens of videos, he spotted one that actually praised his looks.

When he clicked on it, his brain short-circuited. What is going on here, little buddy? You actually set up a sting operation!

The post was packed with animated GIFs of his awkward moments and ugly photos, and the comment section was filled with people roasting him!

"Are you out of your gourd? Is my beloved idol someone you can just casually drop? Little black fan, your chicken feet are showing, aren't they?"

"Who told you to make an animated video of my idol playing basketball? Are you trying to get a dark coffin shipped to your door?"

"Stop! Quick, stop! You guys shouldn't be fighting like this! This kind of beating won't kill anyone!"

"This is utterly absurd. Keeping it real, Xu Xiu's dance is actually quite hypnotic /doge"

"Chicken you too me! My idol's dance is the best in the world!"

These comments and GIFs completely ruined Xu Xiu's mood for scrolling through Douyin. Even his favorite adventures of Uncle Odebu failed to interest him.

He never could have imagined that a shot he fired two and a half years ago would finally strike him right between the eyes today!

What the actual fudge!

Who would have thought he would one day enjoy the exact same treatment as a certain traffic idol!

Oh dear~ what are you guys doing!

Still, haters were fans too. Xu Xiu silently gave the video a like and then exited Douyin.

Over the next two days, Xu Xiu busied himself around the crew, running back and forth. Even he had no idea what he was actually busy with, but to everyone else, he looked extremely occupied, which earned Xu Xiu a fair amount of... quiet resentment from the others!

The crew staff were driven to distraction by his antics, and Xu Xiu aggressively harvested a massive wave of exposure points from them.

Returning to the hotel in the evening, just as Xu Xiu finished his shower, his WeChat chimed.

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Have you rented a place yet?]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Why aren't you replying? If you don't reply to me again, I'm going to ignore you!]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: My hand just slipped while I was doing laundry a moment ago, don't take it seriously.]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Wanna go out and hang out? /expectant]

[......]

Xu Xiu was dumbfounded. Meng Ziyi had actually sent him more than a dozen messages.

How bored must she be?

[Righteous to the Core: Currently in Hengdian, thanks for the invite!]

Not long after this message was sent, Xu Xiu received a reply from Meng Ziyi.

[Mengmeng Little Tink: You went to Hengdian to film? Why didn't you tell me when you went to shoot a project? I happen to know a lot of people there /smug]

[Righteous to the Core: Oh, do you know Little Dragon Girl and Yang Guo?]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Are you out of your mind? How would I know characters from a book?]

Xu Xiu paused for a moment before realizing what had happened. Meng Ziyi was talking about literary characters, but he meant the actors!

[Righteous to the Core: I meant the actors. Do you know those two actors?]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Are you crazy? Who do you think I am? How could I possibly know people like Crystal Liu and Teacher Huang? I know of them, but they might not necessarily know me.]

Meng Ziyi still had a fairly accurate self-awareness, lacking the bloated ego typical of people who achieve a tiny bit of success and start floating on air.

In truth, Meng Ziyi's acting wasn't bad; she wasn't the kind of actress who only knew how to roll her eyes and pull a frozen face.

Her acting skills also improved year by year, which showed she must have put in plenty of grueling practice behind the scenes.

[Righteous to the Core: I'm talking about The Romance of the Condor Heroes. I'm on that crew.]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Oh~ Well, I'm not familiar with that. What role did you get? You got a gig right after debuting, you're amazing!]

Xu Xiu took this as Meng Ziyi mocking him. Did she really think he hadn't checked her background before joining the show?

Meng Ziyi was an absolute female tyro!

[Righteous to the Core: Heh! Zhen Zhibing!]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Who? /shocked.jpg]

[Righteous to the Core: Zhen Zhibing!]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Why? Don't you know this character is bound to get flak? All the previous actors who played Zhen Zhibing got blasted online!]

Meng Ziyi was practically driven crazy by Xu Xiu. Was this guy mentally deranged? Weren't there any other roles available? Why pick Zhen Zhibing of all characters?

From the day that character was created, he was destined to be cursed at!

[Righteous to the Core: Because I love acting and want to challenge high-difficulty roles!]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Speak human!]

[Righteous to the Core: I want to be a Dragon Knight /blush.jpg]

[Mengmeng Little Tink: Vulgar! Shameless! Pervert!!!]

Xu Xiu didn't reply.

If you don't say anything, she keeps asking; the moment you tell her the truth, she gets mad!

What kind of person is this?

Just as he closed the chat interface, he suddenly received a message from someone else.

This person was much more straightforward.

[Thoughts in My Heart: Wanna sleep together?]

Xu Xiu's facial features scrunched up. What kind of wild and bold statement was this?

But almost immediately, the other party recalled the message.

[Thoughts in My Heart: Are you asleep?]

Xu Xiu realized he didn't recognize this person. Clicking into her Moments, he discovered she was none other than Li Qin.

The two of them had just added each other as friends—how could she be messaging him so quickly?

After a moment of thought, Xu Xiu decided he should reply. After all, he had just eaten two lunch boxes courtesy of her.

[Righteous to the Core: Not yet.]

[Thoughts in My Heart: Then what are you up to? You wouldn't happen to be taking a shower, would you?]

Xu Xiu's mouth twitched. Why did he feel like this woman was a bit off?

Not a single sentence explicitly mentioned anything suggestive, yet every single sentence reeked of innuendo!

At thirty, women were at their most voracious age, and Xu Xiu genuinely found it a bit headache-inducing.

[Righteous to the Core: Just finished my shower, getting ready for bed.]

[Thoughts in My Heart: Oh, I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come out and hang out, but since you're sleeping, forget it. I made an extra portion when preparing breakfast for tomorrow, so you don't need to bother making breakfast tomorrow morning.]