The Villain Debuts in the Center Position [Entertainment Industry]

[Complete. Read to your heart's content!]

*Next book: When the Warm Tide Returns. Unrequited love comes true, with a touch of regret and redemption. See the blurb below.

[Blurb]

The hugely popular crime investigation franchise Songs at Dawn, Questions at Night is finally getting a screen adaptation, and word is it's a big-budget production.

Fans of the original are both excited and nervous as they await the casting announcement:

The male lead is Fang Yan, a respected film actor, sure, he's handsome, talented, and has a reputation for being rude, but acting ability matters most.

The female lead is Li Zhiqi, a popular young actress, her acting isn't great, but she's popular enough, so that'll do.

And the beloved villain is... a nobody whose name doesn't even match the person playing him? An idol from a boy band?

Fans of the original: Ha! Is this director casting with his feet? Does the villain not deserve any respect? If Tang Chuxing can manage even a tenth of the original character, I'll call him Dad!

After Songs at Dawn, Questions at Night aired, Tang Chuxing's Weibo was flooded with comments

Fan 1: My face hurts. Dad, you've got female fans now!

Fan 2: I love this adorable, irresistible villain so much, sob! Come to Mama so I can cuddle you!

Fan 3: Is it just me, or do the male lead and the villain have amazing chemistry? Their love-hate relationship is so good. This show is dangerously addictive!

[Sharp-tongued, aloof, arrogant on the outside, childish with a low threshold for laughter actor gong X Gentle and composed on the outside, secretly flirtatious with mild obsessive tendencies vocalist shou]

Fang Yan gong X Tang Chuxing shou, shou-focused, younger gong

There is a secondary couple, but they don't get much page time. They're mainly there to help the main couple.

****Please add my next book, When the Warm Tide Returns, to your reading list!****

1.

Wen Nanjia grew up adored by everyone, but that summer, she lost her wings.

As a young girl discovering romance, she fell for Ji Lan, the golden boy in the class next door. She tried to win him over with gifts, made him laugh with stories, and confessed her feelings in a love letter every week. All she got in return was her straightforward affection posted everywhere for people to laugh at.

Wen Nanjia ran to find him with tears in her eyes, only to see Ji Lan's deskmate grin and sling an arm around his shoulder. "If you're going to pursue the school beauty, shouldn't you get his permission first? She likes you so much, after all."

The boy's cool voice cut like a knife scraping bone. "What does her liking me have to do with me?"

2.

Seven years later, in the stairwell of a new apartment complex.

A strikingly handsome man stood tall, his cool, elegant bearing, facing a young woman through the doors of an elevator.

By then, Wen Nanjia was a beautiful woman with a million followers as an illustrator and countless suitors. She thought she had long since moved on, but the same man still unsettled her with ease.

The elevator doors were about to close, with no one paying them any mind. Ji Lan raised a hand, his gaze pale and his voice distant, as if speaking to a stranger. "Aren't you getting out?"

The ripples in her heart slowly froze over. Wen Nanjia knew Ji Lan didn't recognize her.

3.

Their friends all knew Ji Lan never drank. The only two times he had were both tied to the same name: Wen Nanjia.

The boy's light brown eyes grew hazy with drunkenness. Setting aside the composure and restraint he'd been taught for over twenty years, he stopped the girl beneath the eaves on that rainy night.

It took him seven years to understand how much he cared and that he was in love. It took him less than a second to follow his heart.

For the first time, those eyes that always kept others at a distance, devoid of affection or desire, held a look of longing. "Nanjia, don't give up on me. Let me be the one to pursue you this time, okay?"

"Separated from the one you love for seven years, the warm tide returns."

"From beginning to end, you're the only one who has ever moved my heart."

Reader's Guide:

1. The male lead is cold, quiet, and clueless about love at first. The female lead has no problem keeping men on the hook. Neither lead is perfect.

2. Please note: Both have had exes in name only, and there is an annoying ex plot at the beginning.

3. The male lead doesn't like the difficult female supporting character, for a reason. There are misunderstandings. First kiss and first love for both.

4. Girl pursues boy / unrequited love comes true / reunion after years apart / mild regret-and-redemption romance / neither lead is a scumbag.

5. A sweet romance with a touch of angst, 10-20% tartness and plenty of sweetness. One-on-one, both virgins, happy ending.

***Please add my book after next, I Vanished from the Set and Became Famous, to your reading list!***

Song Li has a face hailed as heaven-sent even in the entertainment industry, where handsome men are everywhere.

The problem is, he doesn't value it at all

In his three years in the industry, he's earned the dubious title of "King of Bad Movies" for taking any role that comes his way.

Whether it's a fantasy drama with laughably cheap effects, a brainless old-fashioned melodrama, or a shabby little web series made on a shoestring, if it's a bad production, just check the lead cast: yep, he's in it.

Even his endorsements are hopelessly tacky. The lower the budget, the better. He averages one endorsement a week, quantity over quality.

After he took another role in a terrible costume drama,

#SongLiVanishedAfterFallingOffACliffOnSet# suddenly topped the headlines everywhere.

The police searched the area thoroughly for three days and three nights but couldn't find him.

His fans wept and prayed for their idol.

Three months later, just when Song Li's disappearance was about to be listed among the entertainment industry's ten greatest unsolved mysteries, he suddenly appeared hundreds of kilometers away.

#UCC'sShockingNewsDivisionInvitesHimAsAGuest

#MediaOutletsRushToInterviewHim

#ScriptsForHorrorAndMysteryShowsComePouringIn

#EndorsementDealsHeCanHardlyKeepUpWith

Song Li, dazed by his sudden rise to fame: To be honest, I was just roleplaying for three months.

Also known as: I Vanished from the Set and Built a Mysterious Persona

Uncovering the Enigmatic Third-Rate Star of the Entertainment Industry, Song Li

One night, Song Li had a nightmare. As he struggled to survive in the dream, a mysterious man saved him.

The next day, he woke up in his own bed and assumed it had all been a dream.

But before long, he ran into the man at a magazine photoshoot.

Song Li: Did I somehow unlock the ability to daydream while awake?

Months later

Song Li: Why did you knock me out back then?

Wei Ci: There were plenty of reasons.

Song Li: Give me an example?

Before he could finish speaking, someone swept him up in their arms. He struggled.

Wei Ci: "Let me give you an example."

Song Li: ...

Boss! Please stop telling jokes. They're freezing!

They say those who travel through cycles of reincarnation are doomed to die a terrible death.

What they thought was real was actually false. Where could they go from here?

"Even if this world is fake, my love for you is real."

King of Bad Movies, easygoing, thinks he's straight shou X Ice-cold beauty, highly skilled fighter, impressive in every way gong

PS: This isn't purely about the entertainment industry, and it isn't a typical quick transmigration story; it involves another world. The important mysteries are being kept under wraps. The setting is all made up by the author, so please don't overanalyze it. Much love!

Theme: Protecting each other as they make their way through the entertainment industry