Demon Consort Runs into the Beijing Crown Prince - Chapter 22

The scene required post-production dubbing, so the noise wasn’t a major issue. However, non-essential personnel usually maintained silence to avoid distracting the actors.

The camera continued rolling, and the faces of the crew members froze.

Chu Muyun acted as if he hadn’t heard anything, continuing his performance until the scene was finished. Only then did he sit down to rest at the edge of the set.

Xiao Xing handed him a bottle of mineral water, her voice indignant.

“What a rude person,” she muttered. “Teacher Chu, I was filming you earlier and caught that comment on video. You can’t see the assistant’s face, but her voice is pretty clear.”

Chu Muyun had asked her to film behind-the-scenes clips to send to Lu Hanzhang later, and she had inadvertently captured the incident.

“I should post this online,” Xiao Xing suggested. “Everyone will be furious at her.”

Chu Muyun took a sip of water and smiled, “If you post it directly, I’ll be forever associated with that ‘bitch’ label.” He knew how easily online narratives could twist.

“Ah!” Xiao Xing slapped her forehead. “Sorry, Teacher Chu. I didn’t think that through.”

Chu Muyun knew the assistant wasn’t particularly quick-witted, but she was loyal enough.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Just send me the video. It’s good to have evidence, just in case.”

Filming for the next scene was temporarily halted. The director approached Chu Muyun to ask how he wanted to handle the situation.

“She’s part of Luo Yi’s team, and I don’t pay her salary, so I can’t dictate how they handle it,” Chu Muyun replied. “My only request is that she apologize and not appear on set from tomorrow onward. We can’t risk another slip of the tongue disrupting filming.”

“Alright, I’ll go negotiate with them.”

The director walked away with a frown. A few minutes later, the female assistant returned to Chu Muyun, bowing deeply.

“I’m so sorry, Teacher Chu,” she whispered. “I was so engrossed in your performance that I lost myself for a moment. I was cursing the character, not you personally. You were just acting so well.”

She bowed again, nearly bending at a ninety-degree angle, her posture humble.

If Chu Muyun hadn’t had a past grudge with Luo Yi, her apology might have sounded sincere.

“It’s alright,” Chu Muyun said with a calm smile. “I accept your apology.”

The moment Chu Muyun saw the female assistant approaching, he knew she was coming to apologize. Pretending to play with his phone, he secretly activated the recording function. After five years in the entertainment industry, he knew it never hurt to keep a record of everything.

“Thank you for your understanding. I apologize again,” the assistant said, bowing deeply.

After she left, Xiao Xing remarked, “Teacher Chu, you’re so magnanimous.”

“It’s fine. As long as they don’t cause any more trouble, I’ll let it go. We can’t afford to delay filming.”

Chu Muyun himself felt rather magnanimous. In the past, he would have ordered her dragged away and slapped at least thirty times, swelling her face like a pig’s. The Great King’s temper was even worse, if this had reached his ears, leaving her with all her limbs intact would have been the best possible outcome.

That evening, Director Shao, the producer, heard about the incident. Though he didn’t need to be on set constantly, he sent Chu Muyun a WeChat message: [Mr. Chu, rest assured, the production team will resolve this matter to your satisfaction.]

The next day, Chu Muyun indeed didn’t see the female assistant on set.

The matter seemed to have been resolved.

…Or so it seemed?

After two more days of filming, Jin Ming, Chu Muyun’s manager, called early one morning. He had seen a smear campaign against Chu Muyun circulating online. A fan had captured the moment when the female assistant bowed ninety degrees to Chu Muyun and posted it, accusing him of throwing his weight around and forcing an apology over a minor disagreement, acting like royalty on set. Luo Yi’s fans were now organizedly attacking Chu Muyun’s Weibo supertopic and demanding his replacement on the official Weibo account for Misaligned.

“What exactly happened on set?” Jin Ming asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was nothing, I thought it was over,” Chu Muyun replied. “I happen to have video evidence. I’ll send it to you.”

Luo Yi’s team truly couldn’t change their ways, clinging to their target and determined to smear him to death, treating living people as “sacrifices” to maintain fan loyalty. Did they really think Xiao Xing was just taking photos and not recording video?

After hanging up, Chu Muyun sent the video and audio to Jin Ming and also forwarded a copy to Lu Hanzhang.

The docile, harmless white rabbit had instantly transformed into a treacherous seductress, whispering poison into the emperor’s ear.

Chu Muyun: [Waaah, Boss, I was verbally abused on set! I demanded an apology, but they turned around and bought hit pieces against me. Little Rabbit wiping tears.jpg]

The reply came instantly: [Who was it?]

A few minutes later, Lu Hanzhang responded: [I’ve looked into the situation. I’ll handle it.]

[Okay, Boss, I love you! Little Rabbit sending hearts.jpg]

With the Great King taking action, Chu Muyun had no worries. He cheerfully opened Weibo to check the situation.

The haters were spamming:

[Playing the big shot? Even an 18th-tier actor thinks he’s a star?]

[The more irrelevant you are, the more drama you cause.]

[Ugly people always cause trouble.]

Fine, nothing original here.

The company moved swiftly. When Chu Muyun refreshed his feed, he found a newly posted Weibo in his fan community:

[I’m just a small crew member on set, but I happened to record the incident. The female assistant was rude and disrupted filming. She was asked to apologize by the production team, and the matter was settled. So who’s maliciously stirring up trouble now?]

A short video was attached.

The video had been edited. The last two words of “Damn it, bitch” were muted, and the assistant’s apology audio was spliced into the latter half.

A black screen with text appeared: [Teacher Chu’s tone was very calm. Does this sound like someone throwing a tantrum?]

The moment the clarification Weibo was posted, its popularity skyrocketed, quickly climbing to the top of the trending searches.

The facts were clear, the evidence was solid, and the screen recording was high-definition.

The more rational Luo Yi fans fell silent, while a few persistent haters continued to hurl insults in the comments. However, their voices were soon drowned out by the overwhelming flood of replies.

Because Chu Muyun—or rather, the character Gu Minglun he was portraying—was simply too captivating and eye-catching in the video!

The clip was cleverly edited, freezing on the moment he stood behind Father and Mother Gu, glancing up with a faint smile. His features were exquisitely refined, and the tear mole at the corner of his eye, glistening with moisture, seemed to glow. His smile was both adorable and smug, so alluring that it made you feel like you deserved to be tricked by him.

Abruptly, a female voice cut through the scene, “Damn it, beep beep.”

Curious onlookers, Chu Muyun’s few genuine fans, and possibly even a swarm of company-controlled bots, all joined in a “Damn it, ( )” fill-in-the-blank game beneath the original post, with tens of thousands of likes flooding the top comments.

[Damn it, he’s too good.]

[Damn it, he’s so handsome.]

[Damn, who wouldn’t fall for him?]

The viral wave continued to surge. On Douyin, the short video quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of likes.

Drawn in by Chu Muyun’s captivating looks, passersby flooded his Weibo account, leaving encouraging comments at a rate of several per second: [Keep going! Looking forward to your new drama!]

While the online drama unfolded with explosive intensity, Chu Muyun remained focused on filming his scenes. It wasn’t until late afternoon, when his scenes wrapped up and he sat down to check his phone, that he discovered his Weibo notifications had exploded once again.

And there was a surprising trending topic:

#LuoYiStudioApologizes

An hour earlier, Luo Yi Studio had posted a public apology on Weibo: [Ji Mou, the assistant hired by our studio, lacked professionalism and became overly emotional during work, offending Teacher Chu Muyun and disrupting the normal filming schedule. We have terminated his employment and extend our sincere apologies to Teacher Chu once again.]

They caved this quickly?

Chu Muyun sent Lu Hanzhang a WeChat message: [How did you get Luo Yi to apologize?]

[Several of his endorsement brands have investments from the Lu Clan.]

Ah, so that’s it. The Sugar Daddy’s influence was impressive.

Lu Hanzhang replied: [Under pressure from the brands, Luo Yi has agreed to personally apologize to you on set. Is that enough?]

Chu Muyun considered for a moment before replying: [Alright. Let’s not let his reputation collapse just yet. He serves as a perfect foil in this drama. We’ll deal with it after filming wraps and the show airs. I haven’t fully exploited his popularity yet.]

He wanted to climb the ladder by stepping on Luo Yi, but how could he succeed if Luo Yi’s reputation crumbled before he even got started?

[Understood.]

After chatting on WeChat for a while, Chu Muyun looked up and saw Luo Yi approaching him, having just finished filming. His manager, assistants, and bodyguards trailed behind.

Luo Yi’s face was tense with irritation, but when he reached Chu Muyun, he forced a friendly smile, “I apologize for my assistant’s behavior. I’ve already fired her.”

Since rising to stardom, Luo Yi had never spoken to anyone with such humility. It was unprecedented.

Every member of the crew, who had been packing up for the day, turned to watch them, including the director and his team, their faces alight with gossip.

“Um, just to be sure,” Chu Muyun glanced around, “no one’s filming this, right?”

A flicker of anger flashed in Luo Yi’s eyes. “Don’t worry, no one’s recording.”

“Good. I accept your apology.” Chu Muyun nodded, then flashed a dazzling smile. Lowering his voice to a soft whisper that only Luo Yi could hear, he added, “But you might need to apologize many more times in the future. Are you prepared for that, Top-Tier King of Online Backlash?”

Does he really think I’m some naive rabbit?

After all…

I was once the champion of palace intrigue.