Chapter 70: I Could Never Imagine

To be honest, Fu Jianzhi is indeed exceptional.

It’s understandable why the author didn’t make him the male lead.

If he were the male lead, who would be his commercial rival?

How could the plot involve his competitors setting him up, only for the wise female lead to uncover and resolve the issues?

With millions of words of love and hate entanglements in the original book, how would the story unfold with such a character?

For the melodramatic sweet-and-sour male lead, the intelligence needs to be high, but he must appear foolish in daily life, unable to see the female supporting role’s sabotage or the villain’s scheming.

He should also be fickle and indecisive, falling in love with the female lead one moment, being with the supporting role the next, arranging blind dates for the family’s future, and then running away from marriage for love.

With such a series of wise yet contradictory actions, Fu Jianzhi would probably just laugh coldly.

Making Fu Jianzhi the male lead would at least cut the plot by more than half.

If the author can’t write the plot, they can’t fill up the text, and without that, they can’t make money. If they don’t make money, they can’t eat.

Thus, having Fu Jianzhi as a mysterious big shot who occasionally extends an olive branch to the male lead Lu Beichen, allowing Lu Beichen to enter high society and explore new plotlines, is the best choice for both readers and the author.

No wonder Fu Jianzhi is so busy.

In the novel, Lu Beichen’s daily life is entangled with the evil female supporting role’s schemes against Xia Wanwan, misunderstanding her, clearing up the misunderstanding, slapping the villain’s face, and switching up the scenes with Xia Wanwan.

Fu Jianzhi’s daily life is company—private jet—business trip—meeting—private jet—home.

Compared to this, Lu Beichen seems more like the typical male lead material.

Butler Li suggested a good idea to Mu Ruo: “Madam, you should ask Mr. Fu for help. As long as he threatens to stop the ads, Xia Wanwan and all the others will have to leave!”

Mu Ruo: “…”

Do you know that your Mr. Fu is the protector of the protagonist group?

Mu Ruo, who is instigating the antagonist group to go against the protagonist group, wants to make the final outcome even worse?

Besides, Fu Jianzhi is just her nominal husband.

Is she really so special that one sentence can make the big shot help her?

Moreover, Mu Ruo felt that the situation wasn’t beyond redemption.

Turning public opinion around isn’t just about crushing it with capital.

It’s about relying on her own brilliance.

Even without the protagonist halo.

The world in the book is also a real world.

Pain is real, and emotions are real.

Even Butler Li, who barely gets mentioned in the text, is a real and lovely old man.

Perhaps—there’s a one in a million chance that she might break free from the ending’s curse?

Huo Minli finished the dungeon and went to have a meal.

Mu Ruo stretched and got up from the sofa: “How about we bake a pizza for lunch?”

Xia Wanwan looked at her phone, visibly agitated.

Despite her efforts to guide viewers to dislike Mu Ruo and her friends, Xia Wanwan wasn’t happy.

She knew that in this industry, it ultimately comes down to one’s work.

Mu Ruo’s performance in Director Zhao’s film was excellent. With her looks and acting skills, she would surely attract attention in the future.

The more this was the case, the more anxious Xia Wanwan became.

She expected Mu Ruo to jump out and explain and refute the online criticism.

Xia Wanwan was waiting for her to explain and refute.

Because in such situations, angry netizens won’t listen to anything.

The more one says, the more mistakes they make, and they could end up being even more criticized and insulted.

Just imagining that scenario made Xia Wanwan feel a twisted sense of satisfaction.

However, Mu Ruo did not do that.

She didn’t even open a Weibo account, offering no response at all.

Just like that, plain and simple.

Xia Wanwan could clearly feel that the public attention in the past couple of days wasn’t as intense as before.

Xia Wanwan opened a Weibo account, and her follower count quickly surged by over a million. These followers brought her quite a bit of income, at least she didn’t have to secretly ask Lu Beichen for it.

Yesterday, to provoke Mu Ruo, she intentionally posted a photo of herself holding hands with Lu Beichen.

The comments section was full of praise, saying how sweet and well-matched they were.

As Xia Wanwan scrolled down, she saw a glaring comment: “This is a food show. Can you stop talking about your school and relationship issues? Who hasn’t met a few goddesses during school? Constantly bringing it up just makes you seem envious of others.”

This comment was like a poison needle, stabbing deeply into Xia Wanwan’s heart.

Reluctantly, Xia Wanwan clicked on the user’s profile, hoping it was Mu Ruo’s fake account.

It wasn’t; it was just an ordinary girl who liked sharing her daily life. She had an average appearance, an average job, enjoyed watching TV and variety shows, and occasionally criticized celebrities.

Harboring ill intentions, Xia Wanwan responded very politely: “Sorry, I will pay attention to this in future episodes. Thank you for your feedback.”

The girl didn’t expect such a good attitude and quickly replied: “Oh, it’s okay. I just hope the show returns to its theme.”

But soon, the army of fans drowned her: “How dare an ugly monster like you criticize our Wanwan fairy? If you don’t like it, don’t watch!”

“Checked your profile, and you look like a pig. Does Wanwan need to be jealous of that bullying girl? Laughable, I think you’re the one who’s envious of Wanwan.”

“We love these gossip stories. If you don’t like it, just get lost!”

“…”

Seeing the insults and abuse directed at the girl in the comments section, Xia Wanwan coldly curled her lips.

She had now hired a dedicated assistant. When the assistant returned, Xia Wanwan looked down from her elevated position: “Did you make the call? What did Director Song say? I was introduced by Beichen; he wouldn’t refuse me completely, right?”

The assistant looked a bit awkward: “Director Song said their crew doesn’t take in anyone, no matter whose connections they are. If Mr. Lu isn’t happy, he can withdraw the investment. There are plenty of other investors.”

Xia Wanwan had gained some fame from a variety show.

But this bit of fame was insignificant in the eyes of a big director. Not only was she not being considered for the crew, but she wouldn’t even be given a chance to audition.

“However, two TV drama crews have contacted us. The crews are quite small, and she’s not the lead…”

Xia Wanwan bit her lip: “Fine, agree for now.”

She would secure some roles first and make sure Mu Ruo could never catch up to her.