Love at First Sight? More Like Lust at First Glance

Gu Shiyan had no time to stop him. After rattling off that long speech, Chu Tian covered his face and bolted as if his ass were on fire.

Gu Shiyan watched him, still wearing his white shirt in a disheveled state, run out of his room. His face darkened as he squeezed his eyes shut...

He knew that this spoiled young heir was no pushover. That speech just now had definitely been a strategic retreat—apologizing on the surface while secretly scheming!

No, that was not right. He seemed to have heard a whole lot of incoherent nonsense just now.

Something about an orphan, transmigrating into a book, and a man he could not have...

His mind had been clouded by rage earlier, so he had not processed it. But thinking back now, Chu Tian had not seemed to open his mouth at all?

Then where had that crystal-clear voice come from?

Could he be hallucinating?

Gu Shiyan's expression turned grave. He even considered sending himself to the hospital to get his brain checked.

Meanwhile, Chu Tian fled without daring to look back. He rushed headlong into his room, slammed the door shut, then slid down against it on weak legs. Panting, he tried to sort out his current situation.

What he knew was that he might have transmigrated into the novel he had read just before bed, a no-romance story about a male lead's struggle for success, where he had become a cannon fodder character with the same name.

That character had offended the protagonist through sheer audacity. As a result, he was run over and killed by one of the male lead's obsessive stalker fans, while the older brother who had protected and indulged him, along with the family company, went bankrupt. His family's fate was miserable.

In short, it was one disaster piled on top of another.

But now that he had become the cannon fodder himself, Chu Tian had no intention of meeting the same fate as in the book.

He needed to save his own life, and he also had to protect the family that had loved and spoiled him without limits.

As he gradually calmed down, Chu Tian recalled that, based on the conversation and scene just now, this should be the very beginning of the story. Gu Shiyan had only just entered the entertainment industry when he encountered his first roadblock—him.

For reasons the novel had never explained in detail, Gu Shiyan had signed a "slave contract" with a small entertainment company. The first job the company arranged for him was as a guest on a minor web variety show, his debut appearance.

"Chu Tian" had accidentally met Gu Shiyan at an investor banquet arranged by the variety show production team. He had fallen in love at first sight and relentlessly pursued him. To force Gu Shiyan to submit to his lecherous intimidation, he had threatened him with his debut show and taken his guest slot.

Just thinking about those brain-dead, childish tactics made Chu Tian's head hurt.

Love at first sight? More like lust at first glance.

After being rejected, he still refused to give up. He had used his family's influence to obstruct the other man's work and resorted to despicable methods to force him into submission. If Chu Tian were the protagonist, he would want to kill himself too.

Thinking of "his" fate in the original novel, Chu Tian dialed his brother's number with trembling fingers.

"Bro—"

The instant the call connected, Chu Maoming was startled by his younger brother's miserable cry.

"What's wrong, Little Treasure?" Chu Maoming's heart immediately ached for him. While repeatedly asking what had happened, he grabbed the coat hanging over the back of his chair, ready to rush to his brother's side at once. "Don't panic. Tell your brother slowly. Did someone wrong you?"

Chu Tian: "..."

He was already this old, and his brother still called him Little Treasure.

Suppressing his embarrassment, Chu Tian mumbled, "Well, Bro, could you get me another guest slot on Haunted Mystery Exploration?"

Chu Tian felt guilty the moment he said it. To seize Gu Shiyan's spot and use it to control him, Chu Maoming had gone to no small amount of trouble to help.

Now that Chu Maoming had finally gotten it done for him, he was pushing his luck and making an even more excessive demand.

If he were Chu Maoming, he would probably beat this troublesome little brother to death.

Yet unexpectedly, Chu Maoming, who had no principles whatsoever when it came to his brother, agreed immediately.

"Alright." Chu Maoming's tone was gentle and indulgent. "Your brother will find a way to settle it for you. At worst, I'll make another investment."

Chu Tian felt ashamed. He remembered that the reason he had successfully squeezed Gu Shiyan out of his spot was because he had entered the production with money.

Chu Tian's nose stung. The family affection he had yearned for most as an orphan in his previous life seemed to have become his now.

"Don't worry, Bro." Chu Tian spoke with the solemnity of someone making an oath. "I'll work hard and earn lots of money. Even if our family goes bankrupt someday, I'll still be able to support you and Mom and Dad!"

Chu Maoming: "...?"

Why was he suddenly talking about bankruptcy?

Still, Chu Tian had always been absurd, so Chu Maoming did not take his words to heart. He patiently asked about trivial things, such as whether he was staying comfortably at the hotel and eating well, fussing over every detail like an old mother.

In the past, his younger brother had always been impatient with this sort of nagging and would make an excuse to hang up in a hurry. This time, though, he was unbelievably well-behaved. Not only did he listen patiently, but he answered every question.

Chu Maoming was both surprised and delighted, and he could not help saying a few more things.

While the brothers were getting along warmly, a marketing account quietly leaked a set of videos online.

Soon, countless marketing accounts reposted them, and the topic shot up the trending rankings at an unbelievable speed.

#New Same-Sex Couple in Chinese Entertainment Exposed#

The moment such an eye-catching tag hit the trending list, its ranking climbed rapidly, and a "Booming" label soon appeared beside it.

By the time Chu Tian finally hung up on his brother, his head was still buzzing from all the nagging when a message from the contact saved as "Manager" startled him into letting out a loud hiccup.

[Manager: The video has been released as planned. It only climbed to third on the trending list, which does not match the original plan. Should we add more funding?]

Only then did Chu Tian remember something extremely important.

The reason the original Chu Tian had become enemies with Gu Shiyan, eventually leading to his death, was not limited to stealing his guest slot.

Gu Shiyan had originally arrived as scheduled to record the show and checked into the hotel arranged by the production team. Before filming could begin as planned, his guest slot had been taken from him.

Chu Tian had even taken the opportunity to run into his room. Besides trying to seduce him, he had prepared a backup plan.

He had arranged for his manager to contact the hotel manager early on, obtain the surveillance footage of him entering and leaving Gu Shiyan's room at the first opportunity, and release it at the right time. Whether Gu Shiyan submitted to him or not, he intended to make it an established "fact" that the two of them were sleeping together.

Remembering this passage from the original novel that he had overlooked, Chu Tian's vision went dark. With trembling lips, he opened Weibo.

The original owner had invested heavily to achieve his goal. The plan had been to buy the number one trending spot.

But now, the top trend was #State Council Announces New Same-Sex Marriage Legislation#, while the second was #Same-Sex Marriage Granted Equal Legal Validity#.

Even with ten times the courage, Chu Tian would not dare suppress those two serious news topics!

What was wrong with this manager? It would have been one thing if he had not stopped him, but he had actually helped him do evil!

Chu Tian's hand shook slightly as he tapped the trending tag. Just as expected, the discussion feed was full of comments like, "Who are these two?" and "What kind of nobodies can make it to third on the trends?" and so on.

The original owner really had guts. The debut variety show had not even started filming yet, but he had already dared to buy a trending topic for himself under the banner of "Chinese entertainment." It would be strange if people did not mock him into the heavens... Huh?

As Chu Tian kept scrolling through the feed, he noticed something strange. Amid all the confused comments asking who the people in the marketing account's post were, there was actually a wave of people sincerely praising how good-looking and well-matched the two were.

Had his manager bought fake commenters for him?

While Chu Tian silently questioned and complained about this, his manager, having received no reply for a long time, came to his room.

The manager was about to ask how Chu Tian planned to handle things next, but before he could speak, the pale-faced Chu Tian grabbed his arm.

"Bro, you're my real brother. Hurry and take down the trending topic, then come with me to apologize to Gu Shiyan with a bundle of thorns on my back!"

Manager: "?" Are you okay?