Is He Crazy, or Is the Boss Crazy?

Song Mingzhou paid him no mind and turned toward the elevators.

"Stop!"

A suppressed, angry shout came from behind him. The newcomer grabbed Song Mingzhou's arm, his tone grim. "What are you doing here?"

[Host, he is the male lead of this novel, Gu Yanting.]

Oh.

He had nearly forgotten.

This was actually a BL novel about a beloved group favorite.

The male lead, Gu Yanting, had come from a typical impoverished background: a single-parent household, a shrewish mother, and a princess of a younger sister. He had ventured out into the world alone with his mother and sister in tow.

His life had been nothing but cheat codes, with countless benefactors helping him along.

Before long, he had won the Best Actor crown, become famous across the internet, met Shen Qing through a drama, and taken the chance to start a company. Before turning thirty, he had built the Gu Commercial Empire, one of the world's top corporations.

Ridiculous.

Even more ridiculous than Jack Ma becoming a beggar overnight.

And the original host had been the male lead's first disposable stepping stone.

When Gu Yanting had just debuted, he had been dirt poor, while the original host already had a modest reputation. After falling in love with him at first sight, the original host had turned into Wang Baochuan, giving everything he had to pave Gu Yanting's way and help him rise to fame.

But after becoming famous, Gu Yanting had met Shen Qing, who had come from the same kind of hardship.

He did not want Shen Qing to misunderstand, so he avoided the original host like the plague. To maintain his image, he even said, "I can't stand the harassment," in front of the media, pushing the original host into the abyss.

The original host had been branded a sexual harasser. Public opinion continued to ferment, he was thrown behind bars, and Gu Yanting despised him, eventually turning him into a psychologically twisted, vicious villain.

And last night...

The original host had gone to find Gu Yanting. In a daze, he had misstepped along the way and fallen into a lake.

Mm.

He had died on the spot.

An important character had died unexpectedly, and the novel world had faced collapse. That was why Song Mingzhou, who shared the same name, had been dragged in to replace the original host's descent into darkness and repair the original host's key predetermined plot points.

Song Mingzhou wanted to cry. He had been a pampered, well-behaved darling since childhood. How did he look anything like a vicious villain?

Was he vicious?

Honestly, he was a little hungry.

Song Mingzhou rubbed his flat, hollow stomach, then looked at the claw gripping his arm. His eyes narrowed, and an icy pressure radiated from him. "Let go."

"What?"

Gu Yanting seemed to suspect he had heard wrong. He hesitated for several seconds before his hand was suddenly twisted hard. Excruciating pain shot from his elbow to his toes, and he immediately doubled over.

"Trash."

"Have you lost your mind?" Gu Yanting glared at him venomously and sneered. "You really went to great lengths just to corner me. I'm warning you: if you use Shen Qing to stir up trouble again, don't blame me for forgetting our past."

[Host, the original host cursed Shen Qing on Weibo two days ago.]

[Good cursing.]

After thinking it over, Song Mingzhou took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of Gu Yanting before turning to leave. Gu Yanting was briefly stunned.

Whenever he said something like that before, Song Mingzhou would immediately apologize humbly.

Now?

By the time he came to his senses and wanted to chase after Song Mingzhou to question him, someone happened to be coming up by the elevators. He did not want anyone to see him appearing together with Song Mingzhou, so he quickly left.

Song Mingzhou went downstairs and hailed a taxi by the roadside.

[Go home.]

Once home, he sprawled across the sofa with a sly smile on his lips and opened Weibo.

[Song Mingzhou]: Caught an ugly turtle. You guys have no idea, it scared the hell out of your baby. [Image] [Image] [Image]

They were all new photos he had just taken of Gu Yanting.

Because he had been so close, Gu Yanting's expression had been captured with perfect clarity despite his cap. Song Mingzhou had even deliberately picked especially ugly angles, creating the dizzying sense of ugliness hitting viewers straight in the face.

The moment the post went up, Gu Yanting's fans exploded on the spot. They flooded Song Mingzhou's comment section and cursed until they saw red.

Song Mingzhou replied calmly:

—Such an ugly man. Who's coming to claim him?

—Let me state this clearly: if this kind of toad stripped naked and got put on my bed, I'd puke up a carload overnight. He couldn't harass me even a little, so stop smearing me.

—We can hold hands and jump off the forty-eighth floor together, crushing two ugly freaks to death.

—Of course I have standards. If any of you have ridiculously handsome friends, feel free to introduce them to me. Anyone under 185 centimeters, forget it. My standards are high.

—I have an aversion to stupidity. I genuinely cannot get interested in idiots.

—Why am I clinging to him? Oh, he owes me money.

Even the bystanders were dumbfounded.

Had he gone crazy?

Was he planning to quit the industry after pulling this stunt?

Not really. This was also one of his tasks: publicly curse the two male leads online and stand against them.

[Ding. Host Song Mingzhou's key plot point has been successfully repaired. Current task progress: 2/100.]

Song Mingzhou was about to keep typing when Weibo went offline.

His manager called and immediately tore into him. "Are you out of your mind? What kind of nonsense are you posting on Weibo? Are you so desperate to get famous through hate that you've lost your mind? Don't you dare log onto Weibo again!"

Only after a full three minutes did he finally stop.

Whatever.

Song Mingzhou muted the call. He had only heard the first sentence anyway.

Online, "Song Mingzhou posts ugly photos of Gu Yanting" and "Song Mingzhou responds to sexual harassment rumors" rapidly climbed the trending charts. The moment Duan Xun opened his phone, several entertainment headlines popped up.

Song Mingzhou?

Seeing that name, Duan Xun recalled last night's absurdity. The two of them had tangled desperately in the bathroom, the young man's soft, delicate skin covered in marks he had left behind.

His gaze darkened. He reached up to loosen his tie for easier breathing, then, as if possessed, tapped into entertainment news he never usually followed.

The first thing he saw was an ugly photo.

"Hiss."

Duan Xun took half a step back, scrolled down, and then saw the little guy's remarkable feat of verbally taking on the masses.

As he read those words, that obedient, soft, exquisite face seemed to appear before his eyes. On one side, he looked aloof and innocent; on the other, he cursed away in his heart. The contrast was irresistible.

Duan Xun's waist went a little numb.

He called over his assistant. "How is the contract coming along?"

Assistant: ?? He had only learned this news two short hours ago. He had been running around nonstop and had not even sat down once. Where would he have found the time to draft some kind of sugar-baby contract?

Was he crazy, or was the boss crazy?

Seeing the shock and blankness on his assistant's face, Duan Xun realized he had been too impatient. He quietly looked away and added, "I was just asking. It's not that urgent."

Assistant: You're not in a hurry?

He had never seen anyone this impatient. The boss had barely climbed out of a one-night stand's bed and was already urgently ordering him to draft a sugar-baby contract. God knew it had felt like the sky was falling when he learned the news. Who was the boss? He was the industry's stabilizing pillar—Duan Xun, the legendary Duan. Yet he had been so easily set up by someone and even wanted to keep that person.

What the hell.

If he had known the boss was this innocent, that sleeping with him meant getting kept by him, then...

"Teacher Duan." The director came over to invite him. "Everything is ready here. Can we start filming now?"

Duan Xun tossed his phone to his assistant. "Yes."

Evening.

Song Mingzhou was curled up on the sofa, eating watermelon and searching "Duan Xun." Baidu said he came from an illustrious family, was the young master of a wealthy household, and was also a legendary figure at the pinnacle of China's entertainment industry. But his temperament was unruly and carefree; he did whatever he pleased and snapped at people whenever the mood struck.

Outstanding enough. He was practically Song Mingzhou's dream man!

He was engrossed in reading.

Beep.

The front door opened.

A fully armed man appeared in the living room. He was even wearing sunglasses, looking kind of cool.

Song Mingzhou flipped his phone facedown, his eyes shining. The netizens these days really are reliable. They found me such a top-tier man this quickly?

And he even came with doorstep service!

Hiss~