What to Do When Pretending to Be an Alpha Gets Exhausting [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 16

Pei Yanchen’s hand, which had been drying his hair, stopped. The towel rested on his head, and the water droplets at the ends of his hair gathered into one large drop. Because of gravity, it fell and landed on the phone screen.

He picked up the phone and opened Weibo.

Liu Xiaojun’s indignant voice came through the phone. “Brother Chen, I’ve never seen anyone so shameless. He actually used your photo to post on Weibo, and even…”

Liu Xiaojun was probably too angry. Halfway through speaking, anger rushed to his chest, and he pounded it.

On this side, Pei Yanchen had just opened Weibo.

He did not follow Ye Xingyuan.

He chose to type Ye Xingyuan’s name into the homepage search bar.

Then he clicked into Ye Xingyuan’s Weibo and saw his latest post.

It was a picture with a caption.

[The Best Actor’s figure is so much worse than in his photo book. As expected, the pictures were edited, right? #cute# #cute#]

Attached image: Pei Yanchen’s swimsuit photo.

The comments under Ye Xingyuan’s Weibo post had gone completely insane. In just half an hour, the likes, reposts, and comments had all exceeded ten thousand.

Pei Yanchen’s fans rushed over after hearing the news and began a grand trash-talking competition.

[What breed of idiot is Wild Dog? Is leeching popularity that fun?]

[Questioning whether our Brother Chen’s photos are edited? Hahaha, this idiot is probably the first person in the industry who dares to publicly question it, right? Has he become so desperate for popularity that he’ll use any means necessary?]

[Carrying Brother Chen away, no thanks.]

[No one surnamed Ye is any good.]

[666. After copying his airport outfit, now he’s here to diss him?]

[Hehe, I’m laughing from anger. Everyone, stop implying things. Just attack him personally.]

[Wild Dog’s face is so thick even mosquitoes can’t bite through it.]

[Pah, you’re the one whose photos are edited. Your whole family edits photos.]

[Am I the only one who noticed that Ye Xingyuan is comparing the real person to the photo? So he saw the real person’s body?]

[Extending that thought, did he even touch it?]

[Fuck, upstairs exposed the truth. Hurry and look, Wild Dog posted a new Weibo.]

After shutting off his phone, Ye Xingyuan turned it back on within half an hour.

He felt that while the popularity was high, he might as well post another one and conveniently promote the new drama. If the promotion was done well, maybe he would not even need to follow each other with Pei Yanchen to get more scenes.

So he urgently posted a second Weibo. This time, the attached picture was Pei Yanchen’s promotional still.

He did not post his own photo. He posted Pei Yanchen’s to annoy him, while also reducing the speed at which the progress bar turned red.

[Yes, Best Actor Pei and I are filming the TV drama The Aloof Prince and the Playful Princess Consort. In the drama, I seduce the prince and even touched Best Actor Pei’s figure along the way. Seriously speaking, it doesn’t look as sexy as in the photos. The photos were definitely edited. #doghead# #doghead#]

The netizens went crazy again.

[Holy shit, I never thought there would come a day when I’d envy Ye Xingyuan.]

[What drama is this? You can actually touch the Best Actor’s abs? Then does that mean we viewers can also see the Best Actor’s abs when we watch the drama? Damn, I’m really freaking looking forward to it.]

[Say “freaking,” not the other word. Civility starts with you and me.]

[So… the Best Actor really edited his photos?!!!!]

[Is someone crazy? They actually believe Wild Dog’s words? One glance and you can tell he’s using any means necessary to leech popularity.]

[Wasn’t The Aloof Prince and the Playful Princess Consort officially announced before as starring Best Actor Pei and Ji Chuxi? When did Ye Xingyuan squeeze himself into it? What kind of background does he have?]

[? Didn’t people say his rich second-generation identity was fake hype? Then how did someone surnamed Ye enter Best Actor Pei and Ji Chuxi’s crew? Any drama with those two is definitely a good drama. What’s the meaning of adding one rat dropping? Is the idiot director afraid the drama is too good and will break the ratings record too high?]

[I’m directly blind. Best Actor Pei and Ji Chuxi’s drama added Ye Xingyuan? How powerful must his background be? Is Ye Xingyuan’s dad the emperor?]

[A local emperor?]

[Are you sick? His rich second-generation persona was fake hype. He probably accompanied some big shot and bought his way into the crew.]

[Let me raise my hand and explain. I’ve read the original novel of The Aloof Prince and the Playful Princess Consort. That servant who seduces the prince has a very trashy character setting. He’s extremely annoying, and he doesn’t have many scenes. He dies off pretty soon.]

[Damn, I’m excited. As someone in the industry, I have accurate insider news. Ye Xingyuan’s rich second-generation persona is indeed fake hype, but the reason he entered the crew to play the ungrateful servant isn’t because he found a big-shot backer. It’s because of Ji Chuxi! Those of you who’ve read the original, have you forgotten that this character gets harshly punished by the princess consort? Ji Chuxi hates Ye Xingyuan so much, so of course he wouldn’t miss this chance to openly hit him. That’s why I guess Ji Chuxi asked the director to bring Ye Xingyuan in. Anyway, it’s only an unimportant role.]

[Thank you, class representative. Put that way, it really does make sense.]

[Ji Chuxi hasn’t hated Ye Xingyuan for just a day or two. With such a rare chance for revenge, with Ji Chuxi’s petty and awful temper, he definitely wouldn’t let it go.]

[Friends, I discovered something big. The photos from Ye Xingyuan’s hot search this time were taken at the hotel where the Aloof Prince crew is staying. So?]

[OMG, so, so? Is it a newcomer from the crew?]

…

Pei Yanchen also saw this Weibo post.

He looked at the swimsuit photo on his phone, then lowered his head and glanced at his own body. After comparing them, he did not feel there was any difference.

As if possessed, he even reached out to touch and pinch a little… Then, thinking of what Ye Xingyuan had done to him during filming that day, he angrily withdrew his hand.

Liu Xiaojun was still chattering on the other end of the call, but Pei Yanchen did not hear a single word.

After directly hanging up the phone,

He used his own Weibo account to post an update.

[Ut! Ter! Non! Sense!]

Ye Xingyuan’s phone was turned off, so he did not see Pei Yanchen’s response, but netizens and fans did.

However, the style of the comments was somewhat bizarre.

[I seem to have seen a Best Actor so angry his fur exploded.]

[The exclamation marks show just how much he’s gritting his teeth, hahahahaha.]

[This is the first time I’ve seen the Best Actor get angry on Weibo. So this is his reaction? So cute. Hehehe.]

[I always thought he was the cold and aloof type, but today I’m starting to doubt my understanding?]

[Why am I tasting CP flavor? Scary! I must be crazy.]

[Sticking out a testing little foot—why do I feel like these two’s interaction has a bit of a flirty bickering feeling? And it’s kind of cute?]

[Same. I kind of want to ship it too.]

[Stupid CP fans, get lost!]

[Okay, we’ll get lost. CP sisters, let’s go open a Super Topic. Let’s go!]

[I’ll produce fan works.]

[I’ll eat the fan works.]

…

This strange CP atmosphere made Pei Yanchen’s comment section become increasingly odd. Solo fans were so angry they repeatedly tried to control the comments, but unfortunately, the CP fans also had no shortage of rich supporters. The two sides ended up fighting head-on.

The argument became fiercer and fiercer.

As a result, the popularity of Ye Xingyuan’s negative hot search dropped quite a bit.

Not long after,

#YeXingyuanSaysPeiYanchenEditedHisPhotos#

#PeiYanchenResponds#

#YeXingyuanXPeiYanchen#

and other related tags climbed the hot search at dark-horse speed, entering the top ten together.

At the same time, Ji Chuxi started a livestream.

All his social media accounts had been taken away by his manager and had their passwords changed. His phone was not by his side either.

Since he had no way to post, he thought of a brilliant plan: start a livestream.

Cool Guy Live App.

A relatively new platform. When Ji Chuxi contacted them and said he wanted to livestream on their app, Cool Guy Live thought they had run into a scammer.

As a result, Ji Chuxi wasted half an hour negotiating with the person in charge and even opened a video call before finally getting livestream permission.

Cool Guy Live App quickly announced on various social platforms that Ji Chuxi would be livestreaming.

Ji Chuxi was afraid that if the night dragged on, there would be more trouble, and that his manager would see it and come stop him. So after getting the livestream permission, he did not wait for more fans and viewers to be notified. He directly opened the livestream room and began streaming with a single-digit audience.

After being popular for so long, this was Ji Chuxi’s first time encountering such a small number of livestream viewers.

He posed and chatted awkwardly with the few people in the room.

What made it even more awkward was that these few people were not his fans, nor did they really watch his dramas, so the conversation became extremely awkward for a while.

Until one of his fans accidentally entered the livestream room and filled the screen with “Ahhhhhhhhh…”

After that, one fan told ten, ten told a hundred…

Very soon, more and more viewers and fans squeezed in.

The number of viewers in the livestream also kept increasing. After watching it break past one hundred thousand,

Ji Chuxi ended the casual chat and got to the main topic.

He explained everything that had happened that day in detail.

Ten minutes later,

Another fierce general joined the top ten hot searches on Weibo.

#JiChuxiThanksYeXingyuan#

[What’s going on? A reversal?]

[Ye Xingyuan wasn’t being loose and improper, but bravely saving someone?]

[Was Ji Chuxi being harassed by a scumbag? Damn, that scumbag is disgusting. Luckily, he ran into Ye Xingyuan. Otherwise, if he’d been taken away by that scumbag like that, who knows what would’ve happened.]

[Ji Chuxi fan here. Thank you, Ye Xingyuan, for saving him. Truly, thank you.]

[Wuwu, my Xixi baby is so pitiful. Thank you, Ye Xingyuan @YeXingyuan.]

But among these, there were also opposing voices.

[Hmm? Ji Chuxi came out to clarify for Ye Xingyuan? I’m laughing. Is that credible?]

[Ji Chuxi’s character isn’t that great either, right? The assistants and makeup artists around him have been abused by him a thousand times over, yet people still stan him? Has morality collapsed?]

[These two are at most snakes and rats in the same nest.]

[Ji Chuxi is also in the Aloof Prince crew. Maybe someone specially entrusted him to help look after someone a little.]

[The waters of the entertainment industry are really damn deep.]

[One of these two is a country bumpkin who insists on pretending to be a rich second-generation heir, and the other has no education but insists on pretending to be cultured. They’re simply a match made in heaven.]

[Hahahahaha…]

[Holy shit, holy shit, another reversal again.]

[Everyone, hurry and look at the airborne number one hot search.]

[Motherfucker, who said Ye Xingyuan was a fake rich second-generation heir? Come out and get beaten!]

[You people kept saying he was a country bumpkin pretending to be rich. Does your face hurt now? Hahahaha.]

Today’s hot searches were extremely lively, and they were all related to Ye Xingyuan.

Only Ye Xingyuan himself, the person involved, had cut off the internet, turned a deaf ear to everything online, and focused on watching his younger brother do homework.

The first airborne hot search on Weibo.

A hot search that had been bought straight into the rankings.

It came from a young talent who often appeared in financial newspapers.

He was also an outstanding Alpha.

He said—

#YeXingyuanIsMyYoungerBrother#

Author’s Note:

Pei Yanchen: …The photo wasn’t edited.