FLME Ch9: Trending

The staff coaxed Yu Wen and Xiao Li to the front.

Four figures were squeezed into the frame. Yu Wen and Xiao Li were on the sides, barely in view, while Chu Han and the host squeezed in the middle. All sat properly, like they were cosplaying elementary students.

[Chu Han stays; Xiao Yu and Xiao Li stay; the other one out.]

[Xiao Chu is delicate, Xiao Yu is beautiful, Xiao Li is gorgeous, the other one’s still alive.]

“Oh dear, alright folks, I won’t be an eyesore here.” The host pretended to get up, joking, “I’m not in the same style as these three.”

The bullet screen casually comforted a few words, and he sat back down.

Yu Wen occupied a corner of the camera, his eyes unfocused.

He respected every job, but he really didn’t want to work. Compared to sitting in front and selling goods, he preferred to be a background prop in the back.

After all, he only got paid to be a background prop.

[Just think of it as your own home, don’t be restrained.]

[It shouldn’t be like this.]

[Is my beloved consort really so docile and lovely? Was the lively appearance just now all a trick?]

[A quiet child must be up to no good.]

Yu Wen’s sharp eyes caught this comment, and the hand resting on his knee moved slightly. He was about to force himself to perk up when the screen suddenly exploded with colorful effects—someone had sent a carnival gift.

Next to him, Chu Han was stunned for a second, his expression gradually turning cold.

Yu Wen instantly relaxed, slumping back to his original state.

—The main character is on stage.

He had just reviewed the book the night before and knew that Feng Chengzhou would crazily send gifts to Chu Han in the live stream, probably some clumsy courtship method of a male peacock. Overall, it was ineffective, even counterproductive.

In any case, the last part of Chu Han’s scene was like this: [He barely endured until the live stream ended, his smile almost failing in the face of the surrounding flattery, wishing he could leave with a flick of his sleeve.]

“Rise, Film Emperor!” was an entertainment industry career novel centered around the main character (shou) Chu Han, with the official pairing being Feng Chengzhou. Whether the romance line is appealing is unknown, but it’s quite hardcore.

Feng Chengzhou, the heir of a top entertainment group, accidentally met Chu Han a few months ago. They hit it off and chatted pleasantly. Chu Han didn’t pay much attention to the industry, and Feng Chengzhou deliberately hid his identity. Until half a month ago, Chu Han still thought this friend was a poor, homeless soul.

Naturally, he was furious when he found out the truth, deleting all of Feng Chengzhou’s contact information in a fit of anger.

All the ambiguities brewed during their previous interactions vanished in an instant.

Chu Han was sincere and somewhat aloof; acting was just a job for him, with no intention of chasing resources. He avoided people like Feng Chengzhou, who were in high positions, like the plague.

If Feng Chengzhou had lowered himself and started from friendship, there might have been a chance for their relationship to continue. But Feng Chengzhou, this fool, used all his cunning in their first meeting.

This young, rich second-generation was also proud, clumsy with words in matters of the heart, and clueless about courtship. After several failed attempts to show goodwill, he lost patience, thinking of binding Chu Han to his side by any means. As the heir of a grand group, how could he fail to keep someone?

Based on his limited reading experience, Yu Wen felt the later stages had a bit of a forced possession, coercive love, and forced compliance flavor.

Unfortunately, the writing was too brief to analyze further.

For today’s live stream, Yu Wen was just a passerby in the live stream room. After Feng Chengzhou’s account was exposed, he was there to be “shocked” and “blown away” along with the viewers.

No acting skills were required, just lying back and enjoying the drama.

With an ID full of initial gibberish frantically sending gifts in the live stream room, it definitely looked like there was a juicy story.

At first, the bullet screen praised him, but gradually, some couldn’t sit still and clicked into the gibberish ID’s profile, following the clues to deduce the person behind the screen.

This account wasn’t new and was used occasionally, so Chu Han could recognize it at a glance.

In the short-video-dominated internet, even with elite family education, Feng Chengzhou couldn’t completely avoid young people’s circles. There were saved videos of him skiing a few years ago without showing his face.

But, but—

The person in the video used a famous snowboard signed by a renowned skier.

This snowboard was shown off by the prince a few years ago on social media.

Then, comparing body shape, location, the small mole on the neck…

The whole internet exploded!

[What’s the scoop? The prince of Huiteng chasing his little wife?]

[Then he turned and walked towards Kongtong Mountain.]

[I…you… I’ll fight you guys…]

[Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe the prince is just genuinely supporting agriculture.]

[#PrinceSupportingAgriculture#]

[Hahaha, don’t make me laugh.]

[Supporting agriculture isn’t shameful. Why doesn’t the prince admit it now? Unless he never thought we could find out.]

[Prince: My silence is deafening.]

[Oh dear, this clumsiness, how to chase a boyfriend like this.]

[It isn’t even half an hour since the prince end the gift. You all have already dug it out. This generation of netizens are all spies.]

[So, who exactly is the prince? What’s his connection with Chu Han?]

[Lost internet connection upstairs? When Chu Han was filming Fenghua, didn’t the paparazzi constantly report that the prince was pursuing him? Sending meals every day, turning him into a Meituan delivery guy.]

[It even trended, if I remember correctly.]

[Pulled back after half an hour, I thought it was paparazzi nonsense; turns out it’s real love pursuit.]

Chu Han was a third-tier actor with some popularity and public goodwill, but actors typically didn’t cultivate fan circles much. He didn’t have a company backing him and there were almost no die-hard fans, so faced with such a rumor, the bullet screen was full of jokes.

Some fans even started shipping the CP, betting on who’s the top or bottom.

Another host barely pulled the conversation back on track, but the bullet screen continued chatting about everything under the sun. Chu Han couldn’t sit still, excusing himself to the restroom but actually leaving the camera to take his phone from a staff member and furiously typing.

He was probably arguing with Feng Chengzhou.

He left the camera but didn’t go far, sitting in a position to Yu Wen’s left and forward. Yu Wen could see his screen with just a glance.

Chu Han: [Mr. Feng, please clarify our relationship in the live stream to avoid causing trouble for both of us.]

Yu Wen glanced at it and instinctively looked away, but then Chu Han changed his posture, his screen shining brightly right in front of him.

Yu Wen suspected his role this time was to be the “passerby sitting next to Chu Han who accidentally saw the chat and was shocked.”

You, main protagonists, really enjoy messing around.

Even a chat needs to have a third-person perspective.

He had no choice but to prop up his chin and watch.

He roughly remembered this scene. The main point was that Chu Han wanted Feng Chengzhou to explain, but Feng Chengzhou refused. Their tones were bad, the conversation fell apart, and then Feng Chengzhou came out live on stream and confessed his love for Chu Han.

This time, the whole internet really exploded.

At this moment, they hadn’t fallen out yet. They were in the middle of a conversation:

[Why deny it? I like you. This isn’t something shameful.]

Chu Han: [I’ve already refused many times!]

Feng Chengzhou: [Why? Because I’m the young master of Huiteng?]

Chu Han: [Isn’t that enough?]

Feng Chengzhou: [You always like to act on impulse! Holding on to your pointless pride and arrogance, keeping people at a distance. Clearly, what’s between you and me has nothing to do with all this. No one’s forcing you into my circle. This is just a mutually willing love.]

Chu Han: [There is no mutual willingness.]

Feng Chengzhou: [Heh. Weren’t you the one who secretly held my clothes and mastu-rbated in the bathroom back then?]

Chu Han: […]

Yu Wen slowly sat up straight.

In broad daylight, under the bright sun… you guys… fine, fine, fine, you’re talking like this, huh?

No wonder the book didn’t write down your conversation.

On some clean websites, you’d be taken to the little black room for this!

The bullet comments were still hotly discussing, and only one noticed Yu Wen’s odd behavior:

[What’s the guy on the right staring with those big eyes?]

The live stream ended in an absolute accident. As soon as it went off-air, the hashtag #HuitengYoungMasterCameOut# quickly climbed to the top of the trending list.

Yu Wen had just gotten off the plane when Xie Jiamao cheerfully sent a congratulatory message: [Xiao Yu! You’re famous!]

Yu Wen: [?]

Why? Just because he played along with the joke during the live stream?

He hurriedly opened his social media to take a look and was immediately relieved—Xie Jiamao had exaggerated. This live stream did have a lot of traffic, and he looked decent enough. It was normal for his Weibo followers to increase by a hundred or so; he was not considered famous.

Sticking to his original goal, he aimed to be a passable small actor; true fame would only increase his workload too much.

His account, which had only been registered and verified a few days ago, now had just over a thousand followers. Yu Wen estimated that his boss hadn’t thought of buying followers, so at least most of these thousand were real people.

He felt relieved and opened the private message page. Seeing a bunch of varied questions, he whimsically replied “Thank you” to each person.

Then he took a screenshot of those thousand-plus followers and sent it to his boss.

Yu Wen: [Thousand-fan group photo! Yay.jpg]

Xie Jiamao: [Lina Bell holding face.jpg]

Xie Jiamao: [You’re still on the trending list, still gaining followers. Who knows how many you’ll have by tonight.]

Yu Wen: [Trending?]

Yu Wen opened social media again, carefully browsing each trending topic, and confirmed his name wasn’t there.

Until he clicked on the top trending topic.

#HuitengYoungMasterCameOut#

[Hot Topic] Huiteng’s young master came out with a high-profile confession in the live stream…

[Pictures][Pictures][Pictures] Don’t bother me, I’m thinking.jpg

Yu Wen was the one in the “Don’t bother me, I’m thinking” picture.

Yu Wen: “…”

What to say?

Indeed, he was on the trending list.

Indeed, it was very eye-catching.

And it wasn’t just that one picture. Because of its overly vivid expression and how well it matched the viewers’ mindset while gossiping, all his reactions throughout the live stream were screenshotted, turned into various memes, and appeared in the comment section. Besides “I’m thinking,” there were also “Oh my god,” “Huh?” and “What a thrilling coming out”…

The screenshots weren’t very clear, which made them especially funny. In the “I’m thinking” one, he had his arms crossed, his little brain running fast, processing the information, curled up in the corner of the screen, like a weasel choked by a melon seed.

The comment section discussions focused on “Is the young master serious?” and “How do they know each other?” with a few going off-topic:

[What kind of broken meme is this hahahaha…]

[It’s so expressive, I feel like he was actually there.]

[Haha, he was actually there!]

[Here’s a live viewer from the whole stream! The guy is really handsome, and when Feng Chengzhou confessed later, his eyes were as big as copper bells!]

[You can tell he’s good-looking even in blurry pics.]

[He’s an actor, right? I haven’t seen his work, but based on these reactions, I bet he’ll get famous!]

[What’s his name? I want to invest in him.]

[Waiting.]

[Waiting.]

…

[All are lazy; not one handing over a tissue. I have to fetch it myself. @YuWen, should be this one.]

[Thank you, kind person.]

Knowing the plot in advance but witnessing the drama live was like turning printed text into a 3D scene, more engaging. And the live version added many details not in the text.

Yu Wen: [Nice; I love watching it.]

His live reactions were half acting and half genuine emotional response.

He exited the trending list, returned to the chat app, and Xie Jiamao created a group, posted the viewers’ comments and the hilarious edits, and announced: [Our Xiao Yu is about to get famous!]

Yu Wen opened the group chat and saw, no more, no less, exactly the four core members of StarLight Media.

The live streaming platform had already reached out to Xie Jiamao, wanting to sign a long-term contract with the four from the live stream. Because of Feng Chengzhou’s involvement, this live stream had enough hype, and the follow-up wouldn’t lose heat. But to keep the original cast, the key was still Chu Han.

A long-term contract?

It looks like this love-hate relationship still has a lot to play out.

Yu Wen nodded, then suddenly recalled those baskets of oranges and felt like he was struck by lightning. He privately messaged his boss to gently express his reluctance.

The boss didn’t reply; he was busy posting screenshots of the platform negotiations in the group, looking proud as if he were the one signing the contract.

Director Gao was also idle, expressing his differing opinion in the group chat, believing that since Xiao Yu had not yet debuted with any works, such exposure would be detrimental to the subsequent development of his persona.

He sharply criticized those few memes: [He looks like an idiot.]

Yu Wen’s “thank you” got stuck in the dialogue box, unable to be sent.

The boss disagreed, and the middle-aged men’s group started quarreling. Another member in the group briefly chimed in with two simple words.

Xie Heyu: [Not stupid.]

Xie Jiamao: [Right, Xiao Xie! Clearly, he is adorable to death!]

Xie Heyu: [Hmm, adorable.]

Gao Kaiyu: [Xiao Xie, don’t be led astray by Lao Xie. To mix in the entertainment industry, you need judgment. Blindly spoiling the kid won’t do.]

Director Gao forced him into silence for two minutes to carefully judge.

Two minutes later, amidst the middle-aged man’s bickering, Xie Heyu spoke again: [Judgment complete.]

Gao Kaiyu: [Well?]

Xie Heyu: [Adorable.]

Gao Kaiyu: […]

Yu Wen inexplicably hit his laughter point, laughing back and forth in the airport lobby. Seeing that Director Gao was about to call him out to judge, he quickly went offline and played dead.