The Counterattack Plan of A Villain With Ten Thousand Fans - Chapter 343 (Patreon)

Chapter 343: Extra Story 8

Originally, the cup was supposed to contain red wine, but it seemed for some purpose it was replaced with a thicker, colored juice. Upon hearing 098's warning, Ling Chunann didn’t stop, but continued naturally and took a sip.

Seeing Ling Chunann drink the juice, Su Manqing's eyes flickered, and then, following the script, she bumped into him.

Su Manqing's force was strong, causing Ling Chunann to stagger, and the tray of wine in the female lead’s hand splashed all over him, instantly staining his light-colored suit.

"I'm so sorry, sir! I will compensate you," the female lead apologized repeatedly, her face full of panic.

"Sorry?" Ling Chunann sneered, setting down the half-spilled cup on the table, elegantly beginning to take off his soaked suit jacket and tossing it aside, while he lifted the female lead’s chin, looking down at her panicked expression, his tone condescending, his gaze as if looking at trash, "Do you know how much one of my suits costs? Tsk, even selling you wouldn’t cover the cost."

Ling Chunann's actions were undeniably off-script—not only off-script, but he also made a typically shallow character appear more charming. And off-character? Didn't you see the director didn’t call cut?

The director didn’t call cut, so the actors had to continue performing. Han Chen, as the male lead of the drama, knew it was his cue to step in, quickly stepping forward and pushing Ling Chunann, "You, a grown man, find it fun to bully a girl?"

The plot progressed smoothly; Ling Chunann and the male lead got into a fight, and then Ling Chunann was successfully thrown into the swimming pool.

"Cut! Good!" The director watched the scene with satisfaction, finding that Tan Anyue had more acting talent and charisma than he expected. He had seen those scandalous reports about Tan Anyue but believed more in what he saw with his own eyes. This kid must have been slandered.

It’s common in this circle, either someone blocking someone's path, or someone disliking him, but Ling Chunann was handsome and seemed very proud, making the director lean towards the idea that some bigwig fancied him, attempted to keep him, failed, then destroyed him, and then when he was down on his luck, a hero would come along to force him into submission. Thinking about how Ling Chunann joined the cast, Director Hong shook his head, knowing this was beyond what he as a small-time director could manage.

Unaware of the director's speculations, Ling Chunann, after falling into the pool, simply closed his eyes and didn’t struggle, sinking downwards.

Seeing Ling Chunann motionless, 098 quickly called out, “Host, are you alright?”

“That juice earlier had a sleeping drug in it,” Ling Chunann stated, revealing no more.

098: "...” But you didn’t actually drink it, don’t think it didn’t notice. Ling Chunann’s sip hadn’t even touched the juice, so how could it have affected him?

The host was surely up to some mischief again.

"098, I heard you slander me again," Ling Chunann’s voice coolly resonated in 098’s ear.

"…”

"Mr. Tan is here.” Just then, the periphery of the set began to stir.

Tan Ancheng had called yesterday, and Ling Chunann had ignored all his calls. After finishing work today and thinking of him and Su Manqing being in the same drama crew, he couldn’t help but come over.

As the CEO of a major corporation and a top bachelor in the circle, Tan Ancheng’s popularity was undeniable, but though people were curious, none dared to approach due to his imposing aura. Tan Ancheng scanned the area, “Where is Tan Anyue?”

By this time, more than a minute had passed, Su Manqing had left to change her clothes due to the wine spill, and the male lead had gone to remove his makeup. Ling Chunann’s assistant was nowhere to be found. Hearing Tan Ancheng’s question, finally, a crew member noticed Ling Chunann hadn’t emerged from the pool yet.

“Tan Anyue hasn’t come out of the pool yet!”

“He knows how to swim, doesn’t he?”

“I noticed he looked unwell when he was pushed in. Hurry, send someone to find him!”

Before the staff could jump in, Tan Ancheng had already leapt into the pool, and another figure, even quicker, had already retrieved the person.

Ling Chunann certainly noticed Tan Anyue’s arrival. His breath-holding skills had been perfected over many years to an almost transcendent level; even if this body wasn’t much help, holding his breath for a few minutes was still no issue. However, because he was pretending to drown, he still planned to swallow a few mouthfuls of water.

Fortunately,

 the pool water had been changed beforehand.

Yet before Ling Chunann could act on his thoughts, he was scooped into an embrace and brought ashore. During his time underwater, Ling Chunann had recognized the man who pulled him up—it was the same man who had approached him on the street days ago offering to be his agent, the CEO of Xingyu Entertainment, "What is Xing Yihong doing here?” It seemed he had to change his plans, "098, give me a simulated unconsciousness pill."

The benefit of a simulated unconsciousness pill is that it can make a person's body data appear as if they had passed out, but without losing consciousness, and they could awaken at any time—a must-have prop for acting. This was a result of Ling Chunann's research to confuse Helian Feng.

Hearing this, 098 timely applied the unconsciousness buff to Ling Chunann, “Sorry, host, you were acting just now, so I didn’t remind you, Xing Yihong has been here since you started shooting.”

Xing Yihong carefully wrapped Ling Chunann in a blanket laid out on the ground. The youth, originally too pale, now looked even more pallid, nearly translucent. He pressed on Ling Chunann’s chest, then tweaked his eyelids, “It’s not drowning, he passed out.” With that, he picked him up and headed outside the set. As he passed by Tan Ancheng, he whispered, “I’ll take Anyue to the hospital first. Mr. Tan, I’ll leave this place to you. Also, watch that cup of juice.”

The crowd had formed a circle, buzzing with discussions.

“That’s odd, Tan Anyue wasn’t down there long, how could he faint?” someone questioned.

“I think he’s pretending. With both the CEO and Mr. Tan here, isn’t it a good opportunity?” another sneered sourly.

“Unlikely, Tan Anyue looked unwell when he fell in. Xing CEO used to be a soldier, he could definitely tell if it was fake fainting or real.”

“By the way, why would Xing CEO appear in our drama crew?”

“What’s really going on?” Hearing the crowd’s chatter, Tan Ancheng darkened his face, looking around, “Where are Anyue’s assistant and agent?”

Hearing Tan Ancheng’s icy question, the crowd on the outskirts felt a jolt, yet none dared not step forward, with one tremblingly speaking up, “I, I am Tan Anyue’s assistant. I just had to go to the restroom.”

“Good, you can stop following him now.” Tan Ancheng’s cold voice did not mince words, even his drenched attire did not diminish his authority. He walked to the props table, picking up the cup of juice Xing Yihong had pointed to earlier, “I suspect someone in the crew attempted to murder my brother. I’ll take this juice for testing. Director Hong, I assume you won’t object to me taking a piece of evidence.”

“Of, of course not.” Director Hong was stunned; he hadn’t expected such a thing in his crew, nor had he imagined Tan Anyue was from the powerful Tan family—this was indeed too much for him to provoke.

Seeing Tan Ancheng’s protective demeanor, those who had previously looked down on Ling Chunann were now in shock, secretly wondering if they had ever offended him.

Yet the most frightened wasn’t them, but the mastermind behind the drugging, Su Manqing’s assistant, who shivered at Tan Ancheng’s gaze, then, fearing discovery, bowed his head and quietly exited the crowd, hurrying toward the changing room.

Xing Yihong had just left the set carrying Ling Chunann and hadn’t even gotten into the car when he encountered the arriving Zhong Lian.

The two men exchanged glances, the atmosphere between them indescribable. According to 098, this was a rivalry between love rivals.

...Wait, wasn’t Zhong Lian supposed to be just an agent? How could there be a rivalry between him and this supposed male lead?

Compared to 098’s myriad guesses, Ling Chunann had fewer concerns, being securely held and pretending to be unconscious. According to the previous developments, with Chen Chun and the female lead both chastised by Tan Ancheng, all he needed was to take a few days off to rest.

As for being caught faking unconsciousness? That was virtually impossible.

If this were in the Main God Space, he might have been discovered by Helian Feng, but in this hidden world, even if Helian Feng himself came down, he might not be able to see through the improved effects of his special effect pill. Ling Chunann was quite confident about this.

According to the sleeping drug concentration in that cup of juice, he would probably wake up by tomorrow morning.

Thinking this, Ling Chunann actually felt a bit sleepy. As long as there was no danger, Ling

 Chunann was always ready to sleep, so under the cold release of the two men, he still fell asleep securely.

Waking up feeling refreshed, only Zhong Lian’s presence filled the hospital room. Ling Chunann had 098 report the time; there was still half an hour until the set time for him to wake from his feigned unconsciousness. “098, who changed my clothes yesterday?”

“Host, it was your agent.”

“Huh? What about the male lead?”

“Xing Yihong just delivered you to the hospital, then was called away by an urgent call. Later, Tan Ancheng also came, talked with Zhong Lian in the corridor for half an hour, and then was also called away by urgent matters.”

This was also beyond 098’s understanding, seemingly every male lead-like figure who got close to the host would be tied up by this or that reason, truly bizarre.

Take the last time, the gangster male lead who had confessed to Ling Chunann in the apartment corridor, he went back to his country right after confessing, and to this day, he’s still busy. And yesterday, that movie star classmate, ah! He came to visit the host in the hospital.

Seeing this through the hospital monitors, 098 was somewhat excited, “Host, He Jingqing came to see you.”

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