Damn It! The Main Shou Turned Me Gay! (Showbiz) - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Domineering Screenwriter Qi

Xu Du was on the verge of losing it.
“Master Qi, is this really the time to be focused on that?!”

Qi Wenyan looked regretful—he was genuinely curious about how that photo had been taken. After all, their lunch outing had been totally spontaneous. For someone to be ready and waiting at just the right time? That smelled fishy.

He had just been about to seriously analyze the situation when Xu Du cut him off.

Xu Du then turned to the calmly composed Chu Zhiyu beside them.
“Xiao Chu, what do you think?”

The newbie hadn’t joined the team long enough to be corrupted by Qi Wenyan’s chaotic behavior.
And besides, he looked reliable!

As expected, Chu Zhiyu didn’t disappoint. After a moment of thought, he finally said:

“I remember there’s a row of large plane trees across the street by the power pole—no security cameras there either.”

Xu Du’s expression went completely blank. The compliment he’d been about to blurt out got stuck in his throat and died before birth.

Suddenly, Xu Du began to question his entire acting career:
Did I really make the right decision turning down three variety shows just to join this production?

Unlike Xu Du, Qi Wenyan’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard Chu Zhiyu’s observation. Clearly, the kid’s brain worked just like his own!

The trees could conceal someone’s figure, and the lack of cameras meant no one would get suspicious if someone lingered. Choosing a place like that to take secret photos only proved how deliberate it was. This had nothing to do with their impromptu lunch outing.

The person was clearly targeting the two of them specifically.

Having been transmigrated into this novel for a while now, Qi Wenyan had a pretty solid grasp of his situation.

If someone asked how many people in the industry he had offended… Well, considering how his last script blew up in popularity, probably half the industry had fantasized about putting him on a blacklist.

The comments currently flooding in made it obvious that most people were just waiting to drag him down.

Qi casually opened a few comments and read them aloud:

“This is Qi Wenyan’s taste? So-called golden screenwriter? Just go back and quietly write your scripts!”

“Isn’t this the guy who wrote Fallen Blossoms? Why’s a screenwriter meddling in casting now?”

Li An, who’d just calmed down from his earlier outburst, immediately snapped to attention.
“Qi-ge, don’t let the hate comments get to you!”

This was his team’s golden goose—who dared insult him!

But before Li An could finish his sentence, Qi Wenyan had already responded, looking both amazed and delighted:

“Wow, people are really this confident in my writing skills? Thank you, thank you—I’m flattered!”

Li An: “…”

Maybe he was overthinking things.

Chu Zhiyu didn’t pull out his own phone. Instead, he casually leaned closer to Qi Wenyan and peeked at his screen, murmuring,

“Qi-ge, everyone’s saying I’ve got nothing going for me except my face. No acting skills, no résumé. Just a plain college student who made it because of some unspeakable backdoor deal—tsk.”

Chu Zhiyu didn’t find anything wrong with being a grown man and acting a little spoiled. He stretched out the last syllable as he whined to Qi Wenyan.

Being a newcomer, he instantly reminded Xu Du of his own early days getting flamed. Sighing, Xu Du tried to comfort him:

“Don’t let it get to you, Xiao Chu. We’ve all been through this. Even Qi-ge here got bashed nonstop during the filming of his last project. People said the script wasn’t good enough for such top-tier production resources.”

“Based on what?!”

The familiar outburst made Li An feel like he’d time-traveled to ten minutes ago.
Only this time, it was Qi Wenyan doing the shouting.

Qi was furious.
“Our Xiao Chu is amazing—why are people insulting him?!”

Li An blinked dramatically in mock surprise. Xu Du just blurted out,
“Dude, when we were getting bashed for the OST collab, you didn’t say any of this!”

Qi Wenyan looked blank. He didn’t remember what “he” had said back then, so he deflected,
“What did I say?”

Xu Du mimicked his old tone, dripping with sarcasm:
“Your words, dear young master, were: ‘If people are hating on me, it means I’m about to blow up. The more hate, the brighter my star shines!’”

“And me,” Xu Du smiled bitterly, “You said: ‘You’ve been flamed for years and still haven’t gotten used to it?’”

“…Yeah, that really does sound like something I’d say.”

Qi Wenyan had to admit—he and the original version of this character were freakishly similar.

But hey, double standards are human nature.

Qi suddenly grabbed Chu Zhiyu and marched right up to Li An, righteously indignant:

“Director Li, are you really just going to stand by and let your male lead get bullied like this?!”

Chu Zhiyu softly interjected,
“It’s okay, Qi-ge. I’ll prove myself.”

Qi Wenyan immediately pinched his lips shut.
“Adults are talking. Kids shouldn’t butt in.”

The “kid” in question—who was very much an adult—wasn’t offended at all. His eyes just sparkled even more.

“Got something!” the assistant director suddenly shouted.
“Director Li, your friend just looked into the source of the smear campaign. The first few posts came from a PR account under Baihua Entertainment.”

Qi Wenyan squinted.
“Why does that sound so familiar?”

Noticing Li An’s exasperated glare, Qi pointed to himself in confusion:
“What? Should I know?”

Li An looked like a girl who’d just been dumped by a scumbag.
“Qi-ge… That Wu Tianyi you roasted this morning? He’s from Baihua.”

Oh. Right.

Qi finally remembered. When he passed by the lounge earlier, Li An had mentioned something, but he was too distracted by Chu Zhiyu to pay attention to some spoiled rich kid from a corporate family.

“He’s Baihua’s young master? And that massive company started a smear campaign against me, a poor, humble, no-name screenwriter?” Qi gasped.

Xu Du had had enough.
“Qi, have some shame!”

If Qi Wenyan was “humble,” then the rest of them must be brain-dead.

If it weren’t for his falling out with his family during his return to start a company, Qi’s background was so powerful he could’ve just bought Baihua outright.

Not that Qi Wenyan remembered any of that—thanks to his amnesia.

Feeling isolated and wronged, Qi glared at Xu Du and turned back to Li An seriously:

“Actually, it’s easy to guess who’s behind this. It’s either someone I pissed off, or a fellow actor who’s jealous of Xiao Chu’s rise.”

Before anyone could interrupt, Qi went on:

“The account posted tons of stolen pics of Xiao Chu, clearly trying to ruin him. But the funny thing is—it didn’t work. Not a single comment turned out the way they wanted.”

Chu Zhiyu beamed.
“Thanks, Qi-ge. A lot of fans are saying you’re handsome too. That we look great together!”

“Really?” Qi leaned in, checking out the comment.
“Such excellent taste—clearly not a paid troll.”

Qi was living his best life. Xu Du, on the other hand, nearly choked on his water. He immediately looked at Chu Zhiyu, wary.

The entertainment world was messy—he’d seen it all.

After confirming that Chu had just been making a casual comment, Xu Du relaxed a little.

Maybe he was just overthinking it.

Li An mulled things over.
“So you’re saying Wu Tianyi couldn’t handle a newbie taking his role, so he had someone stir up a smear campaign?”

Qi shook his head.
“No. This is actually easy to fix. We can just have someone from the production team post an ‘insider’ statement saying that Chu Zhiyu was cast because of his talent and that he fits the role perfectly. Give it a few days—it’ll all blow over.”

The assistant director and Xu Du nodded repeatedly. That did sound like the best strategy.

But then Qi changed course.
“But… there are two problems. One: if Xiao Chu slips up even a little when the show airs, the hate posts will come flooding back. Two—”

Li An leaned in. The assistant director listened intently.

Qi smiled.
“Wu Tianyi isn’t smart enough to come up with this on his own. There’s probably someone behind him—a rival who doesn’t like me.”

“When it comes to judging if Xiao Chu suits the role of Feng Xiao, the only person whose opinion really matters is me—the original author. But if I speak up now, people will say I have some ‘special relationship’ with him and accuse me of favoritism.”

He wasn’t wrong. Li An understood that clearly.

The assistant director grabbed a broom and cursed,
“Ugh, I hate this kind of toxic PR—you can’t win either way. Normally this kind of drama happens after filming wraps! Who did we offend?!”

“Damn it, I’m ready to go to war with these industry snakes!”

Li An held him back and turned to Qi Wenyan.
“Qi-ge, just tell us—what’s the plan?”

Honestly, even bad publicity could help build a name. For a newcomer like Chu Zhiyu, this hot topic—even if controversial—was still exposure.

But Qi Wenyan didn’t want this hardworking kid to suffer like that.

Besides, who knew what nasty tricks the other side had waiting? What if every outing ended up full of paparazzi photos?

So Qi said matter-of-factly,
“Simple. Track it back to the source—then wipe them out at the root.”

Xu Du, startled by the murderous tone, stepped back.
“Wait, but we did trace it to Baihua’s PR account. Are you saying we’re going to go head-to-head with Baihua?!”

Qi gave him a look, then pointed at Li An.
“Director Li, which company are you signed with?”

Xu Du answered instinctively.
“Chengfeng Media—why?”

“And how does Chengfeng stack up against Baihua?”

Li An replied,
“Chengfeng’s a subsidiary of a major group. In terms of power, we’re at least on equal footing—maybe even stronger.”

Chu Zhiyu added calmly,
“Baihua wouldn’t openly use their own PR accounts to attack a rival company’s key project. So whoever did this is likely someone connected to Baihua, and also someone who can’t stand me or Qi-ge.”

Qi beamed.
“Exactly. Well said, Xiao Chu.”

A college brain really was sharp.

He cleared his throat and finally shared his theory:

“I’ve been wondering—Wu Tianyi and Wu Feng… are they related at all?”

“!!!”

Everyone except Xu Du froze. Li An and the assistant director’s eyes went wide.

Li An sent ten urgent messages digging for info, then clenched his fist.
“Damn it—we got betrayed from the inside!”

Qi casually comforted them, then laid out the rest of his plan:

“Investigation takes time. What we need now is something explosive to flip public opinion and keep the heat on our side.”

As he watched the stream of hateful comments roll in, Qi suddenly felt a surge of righteous fury!

He let out a cold chuckle.

“Looks like the season’s changed—it’s time for the Wu family to go bankrupt.”