Chapter 39 Cannon Fodder Assistant 4: Both Hands Slide to the Top of the Trending Search
Li Qingran naturally had no chance of accepting.
With a clear and resolute touch, Li Qingran immediately turned off the screen. The large black screen fell silent, leaving only a face with a bewildered and complex expression.
【888……】
Didn't you say that celebrities don't read private messages?
Li Qingran's voice was calm, but 888 detected a faint hint of death in it. "So what's going on now?"
Why is there a read mark under that photo?
What were Chu Yu's considerations and mindset when she made this video call to him?
Li Qingran didn't know.
All he knew was that, amidst all these plot developments, the bug occurred precisely in the part about the harassment from obsessive fans that he least wanted to avoid going wrong.
How come Chu Yu has already read it?!
Li Qingran couldn't understand it at all. Her mind, which used to be able to instantly come up with the most advantageous solution for herself when faced with any plot error, was completely blank.
Li Qingran could only turn to 888 for help.
What do we do now? He's already read it, how can we send the photos?
Li Qingran looked at the photo of Chu Yu that she had secretly taken when Qin Yanyun wasn't paying attention. The face was blurry, but the large white marks on the coat were very obvious.
Originally, all he needed to do was send the photo to Chu Yu, and then have 888 add the caption, "[The gift I left for you, do you like it?]"
That concludes today's episode.
But now, with Chu Yu having just made him a video call and perhaps still frowning in thought while looking at their chat window, if he were to recklessly send the photos over, Li Qingran was certain that within an hour, he would be dragged to Chu Yu's presence by his staff, and Chu Yu would point fingers at him and tell everyone what a twisted fan he was in private.
As a result, he definitely won't be able to continue working as Qin Yanyun's assistant.
Not only will they be unable to carry out subsequent tasks, but they will also lose face.
Li Qingran really couldn't think of a better way to proceed with the plot.
Fortunately, this plot bug wasn't something he intentionally created, so after a brief moment of panic, 888 immediately sent a bug report to the main system.
Whether it was because the main system happened to be online at that moment, or for some other reason, 888 discovered that the main system actually replied to its report message instantly this time.
However, the reply was somewhat different from what it had imagined.
888 watched as the small checkmark below the report he had sent changed to "read," and the next second, a message from the main system immediately appeared in the chat box between the two systems.
Another bug?
888 honestly replied: 【Yes.】
Main system: [...]
888 didn't quite understand what the string of ellipses sent by the main system meant. Could it be that the system thought their group of taskers had too much trouble?
Thinking this way, 888 couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
However, just when it thought the main system would disqualify them from completing the mission because of the repeated plot bugs on their side, the main system, after roughly understanding the details of this bug, directly provided a solution.
[The protagonist's memory of the photo has been erased. The cannon fodder mission takers' private messages have also been hidden in the latter half of the protagonist's backend chat interface. Furthermore, to prevent this bug from recurring, headquarters has also processed the mission takers' messages. From now on, no matter what messages you send to the protagonist, they will not appear at the top of his backend, thus preventing the mission takers' messages from being discovered again.]
【Okay, okay, thank you for your help, main system.】888 replied immediately, then prepared to close the chat window so as to quickly tell Li Qingran the good news.
However, just a second before it closed the chat window, the main system, which usually wouldn't send any more messages after providing a solution, sent another message after a brief silence.
[You should tell the mission takers to... tone it down a bit.]
?
Convergence point?
What should we tone down?
888 looked completely bewildered, and when he relayed the same words to Li Qingran, the latter showed the same blank expression.
"What do you mean by 'restrain'?" Li Qingran asked, puzzled.
Could it be that his attempt to sabotage the plot has been discovered?
That shouldn't be the case.
If this thought were discovered, the main system would definitely punish him directly; how could it possibly offer a suggestion to him to restrain himself?
The main system wasn't on his side. Li Qingran had a clear understanding of this matter.
So, what exactly does the other party mean by "convergence"?
Li Qingran was very puzzled, and 888 scratched his head until he was bald, still unable to figure out what the main system meant by that sentence.
[Forget it, let's not dwell on it anymore. As long as the protagonist's problem is solved, that's all that matters!]
888 respects its identity as a lazy, unambitious system. If it can't figure something out, it won't think about it. It'll just finish dealing with the plot at hand first.
Coincidentally, Li Qingran wasn't one to try to figure out what her superiors were thinking. After hitting it off with 888, she sent the edited photos and information to Chu Yu via private message.
With the main system's intervention, the photo above had returned to an unread status. Li Qingran breathed a sigh of relief, but also expressed her concerns about the future development of the private message storyline.
Are you sure he won't read it again?
[The host of the package!]
Regarding this, 888 is quite confident. [The main system has stated that even if our private messages are recently sent, they won't appear at the top of his chat interface; they'll only appear in the middle or later sections.]
[Furthermore, regarding the protagonist himself, not only has his memories related to the photos been erased, but as a celebrity, he's already incredibly busy with work every day, so where would he find the time to scroll through those endless private messages!]
[So, host, you can rest assured, this time, our private messages will absolutely, positively remain undetected!]
【…That's fine then.】 Although 888 had already failed so many times before, since it had made such a guarantee, Li Qingran decided to trust it one more time.
Of course, this is not because Li Qingran is confident in 888 or the main system's methods for handling plot bugs.
Rather, Li Qingran herself didn't want his private messages to be discovered again.
The bug is a minor issue; the main problem is how embarrassing and infuriating it is.
Looking at the explicit messages sent by 888 editors, Li Qingran felt even more uncomfortable than when he was in the game, watching the domineering CEO propose and confess his love, and hearing the greasy words "Woman, from today onwards, you will always belong to me" hundreds of times.
Especially the fact that the sender of these messages was the same person he played in this world... made Li Qingran feel even worse.
At this moment, he desperately wanted to break free from the plot and gain the right to move freely in the world.
Set him free as soon as possible.
At that time, he will be far away from these main characters, so far away that he will never be able to imagine the magical experience he has had during this period.
Li Qingran took a deep breath, then reached out and wearily pressed her temples twice.
Xiao Wen, who was standing nearby, noticed his actions and immediately looked over with concern, only to find that Li Qingran's complexion was extremely poor.
His pale, almost transparent face, combined with Li Qingran's already thin figure, amplified the faint aura of death surrounding him, giving people a sense of dread that the boy in front of them might disappear at any moment.
His appearance startled Xiaowen, and when she asked him what was wrong, she didn't pay attention to controlling her voice.
"Brother Li, are you alright?!"
In an instant, everyone in the dressing room heard Xiaowen's shout, and Li Qingran even felt that she heard an echo.
The sound was indeed quite loud, which means...
"What’s wrong with you?"
Li Qingran blinked, and sure enough, the next second after Xiao Wen finished speaking, she heard Qin Yanyun's question.
He took a deep breath, smiled reassuringly at Xiao Wen who was looking at him with worry, then turned to Qin Yanyun and waved his hand, saying:
"It's nothing, just a little low blood sugar."
His reason for going out to buy ice cream not long ago was that he felt a little low blood sugar and wanted to eat something sweet, but before he could even take two bites, Chu Yu bumped into him and knocked it away.
Therefore, this reason is still reasonable in this context.
Qin Yanyun had no suspicions and turned to have Xiaowen place the candy he had just asked the other party to buy in front of Li Qingran.
"Pick one of your favorite flavors and eat it to calm down first."
Qin Yanyun spoke, paused, and under Li Qingran's surprised gaze, could only cough twice before awkwardly adding:
"The filming schedule is quite demanding later, and I'm worried I might experience low blood sugar, so I asked Xiaowen to go out and buy some supplies."
His reasoning was actually quite weak, because although the filming tasks at the upcoming pre-party were indeed quite demanding, the problem was... they were filming while eating.
The steaming hot pot had already been placed on the large round table in the center of the venue when Li Qingran went out to buy ice cream.
Xiaowen touched her nose, wanting to say something, but considering her boss's proud and easily broken personality, she closed her lips after moving them twice.
Li Qingran, sitting opposite him, appeared even more composed.
Xiao Wen watched as the handsome young man stared at Qin Yanyun for two seconds before looking away. His slender, fair fingers traced the colorful candies on the table before finally landing on a pink hard candy.
The plastic packaging was slowly opened, and Li Qingran stuffed the peach-flavored candy inside into her mouth.
The candy swirled in Li Qingran's mouth before finally settling on the right side of her cheek.
Qin Yanyun watched as his right cheek puffed out slightly, then he turned back and smiled at her with a slight smile.
"Brother, thank you."
boom--
In an instant, Qin Yanyun felt as if fireworks were exploding right next to his ears. The huge roar made his heart pound uncontrollably, and the sparks from the falling fireworks ignited his body, causing his ears to burn again.
"without……"
Qin Yanyun abruptly looked away, her ears, hidden beneath her black hair, turning a deep red as if they were about to bleed.
"I only bought it because of my health reasons."
Li Qingran listened to his explanation.
Xiao Wen's mouth twitched so badly he almost had a stroke. He really wanted to complain, but considering his salary and bonus, he held back and planned to have a good talk with Li Qingran about their boss's recent unusual behavior after Qin Yanyun started filming.
And it was even less likely that Li Qingran would expose him.
The black-haired youth sitting on the sofa looked up, his gaze gentle and clear. When he looked at Qin Yanyun under the light, his eyes seemed to be filled with sparkling light, making Qin Yanyun sway.
"I also want to thank you for sharing one with me, otherwise, I really wouldn't know what to do."
Li Qingran spoke slowly, her voice soft, yet it seemed to contain a flame, easily making the fire burning in Qin Yanyun's heart burn even brighter.
He said he didn't know what to do.
He said that if it weren't for him, he wouldn't know what to do...
He needs him!
Li Qingran needs Qin Yanyun!
Even Li Qingran had no idea how Qin Yanyun had misinterpreted his simple thank you.
All he knew was that when Qin Yanyun was called away by the staff to take photos, the excitement in her eyes had not completely disappeared, and the blush on her ears was still very obvious.
Especially when it was pointed at in a close-up shot, it was clearly presented to the viewers in the live broadcast room.
Viewers who were unaware of what had happened in the live stream naturally assumed that Qin Yanyun's excitement and shyness were his reaction when he met Chu Yu.
In an instant, the comments section went wild with the couple's love story.
[I told you they were real! Look how red Qin Yanyun's ears are!]
[Is this seemingly aloof male god actually quite shy in private?]
[Please, please, could you give me a kiss during the live stream?! We're so sweet together!]
So, no matter how aloof a person is, they'll become a fool in front of someone they like.
So when Chu Yu rolled his eyes at Qin Yanyun, did he also think his brother looked a bit too worthless, hahaha?
"...No, am I the only one who thinks they really don't like each other? They barely interact at all, and they don't even offer each other food..."
Hey bro, do I need to remind you? Are they eating mini hot pot...?
[Yeah, this kind of pot is for cooking your own food! How can you even pick out these kinds of bones?! Amazing!]
...
A barrage of comments flashed across the public chat. Even if a few came to nitpick, they were instantly drowned out by the army of people coming to enjoy the sweet moments.
The director, sitting in front of the computer, exchanged a glance with the screenwriter beside him, then beckoned the cameraman who had been waiting nearby to come over.
"Is the video footage shot this afternoon ready for editing?"
"Alright." Upon hearing this, the cameraman immediately bent down and said:
"As you instructed, Director, cut out all the scenes of that little assistant, leaving only the scenes of Brother Qin and Brother Chu. It does look quite sweet, but some parts still look a bit unnatural."
Thinking of this, a hint of worry appeared on the cameraman's face.
Unexpectedly, this was exactly the effect the director wanted.
"It's better if it's unnatural. After all, the title is 'candid shot,' and what we want is to see how the two of them interact in private!"
The director also watched the rough edited footage. The way Qin Yanyun and Chu Yu rolled their eyes and smiled shyly in the footage was indeed quite disjointed. But real couples are like that, sometimes angry and sometimes making up. This kind of video is what allows netizens to better enjoy watching the two of them.
So, the director waved his hand and had the cameraman release the video, and then had the assistant director buy a trending topic on social media.
In no time, the live stream footage and the secretly filmed video appeared together on Weibo's trending topics list. As the director had predicted, netizens who clicked on the video following the trending topics were indeed so engrossed in shipping the couple in the comments section that they lost all sense of time and place.
However, amidst the numerous harmonious comments supporting the pairings, one or two nitpicking remarks would occasionally appear.
[This was clearly instructed by the production team to be released, otherwise, how could they release a secretly filmed video while the other side was still broadcasting live? Aren't they afraid of being fired?]
[They do look quite sweet, but am I the only one who thinks their expressions are a bit disconnected?]
[Am I just imagining things? I have this feeling that Chu Yu isn't smiling at Qin Yanyun, but rather at someone behind him who was edited out of the edited-out scene?]
...
There are many similar comments, but because so many people are flooding the screen with comments about shipping couples, these nitpicking comments don't seem to matter much in the face of the huge number of shipping fans.
This did not affect the ever-increasing popularity of the "Let's Watch the World Together" program.
However, just as "Let's See the World Together" was soaring to the top of the list of most anticipated variety shows of the year and was about to break the record for the number of reservations on the Fruit Video platform, some errors suddenly appeared in the comment section of the secretly filmed video.
It's not that competing variety shows hired online trolls to smear them, but rather that the "Let's See the World Together" program team itself had internal problems.
The day before the filming of the first episode, the trending topic "The start of filming" that the director had bought in advance was pushed down by another topic less than two seconds after it topped the trending list.
Then, before the production team could react, their trending topic dropped another place.
At this moment, the top two trending topics were—
#Breaking News: Chu Yu accidentally liked a comment about Qin Chu's discord.
#Breaking news, Qin Yanyun also accidentally accidentally clicked the button...
-----------------------
Author's Note: Chu Yu: The more I watch that secretly filmed video, the more annoyed I get. No, I have to give a thumbs up to the one with bright eyes!
Qin Yanyun: Yes, I did! That's what I was thinking too!
Pear, who still wants this assistant job: Can you two please stop causing trouble?! [Cracks]
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