The Washed-Up Movie Emperor Awakens

Xie Chuan shot to fame at a young age, winning his first Best Actor award at twenty-two. Surrounded by stardom, his market value soared. But an unfounded scandal got him blacklisted across the internet, knocking him from his pedestal. To squeeze the last bit of value out of him, the Xie family married him off to an older man he had never met. The man was the young head of the powerful Qi family in City A, the head of the Qi Corporation. He was said to be ruthless, with vicious methods. Before the wedding, Xie Chuan was terrified. After the wedding, he took a tumble and had a dream. In the dream, he was a minor cannon-fodder character in a book, there to pave the way for the protagonist. His husband, rumored to be old, ugly, and never home at night, was the book's great villain. If he wanted to get rid of his universally-hated status and take control of his own life, he had to go to the mission worlds assigned to him and save their broken storylines. After traveling to other worlds, Xie Chuan suddenly felt that being universally disliked wasn't so bad. At least he had enough to eat, warm clothes, and a good night's sleep. So after stumbling through a fictional ancient world full of intrigue, he returned looking like a mess. Let it all burn. Even more outrageous, during the two years he was away, some unknown idiot had traveled to his world, taken over his body, and tried to win over the great villain. After failing, the idiot went back to where he came from, leaving the mess for Xie Chuan to clean up. Now he had thoroughly offended the entire villainous family. To make matters worse, he was not only a has-been Best Actor, but also had a new nickname from netizens: "The Water-Hogging Emperor." "..." Xie Chuan thought expressionlessly: Better to just let things slide. But as he kept doing nothing, things suddenly started taking a baffling turn. First, he was forced to join a variety show and gained a huge new following. A role he played on a whim won the Golden X Award for Best Supporting Actor. The game he invested in became a surprise hit after launch. The scandal that had gotten him blacklisted was finally cleared up, and the rival who had publicly fallen out with him passionately defended him on Weibo... Then, after Xie Chuan was exposed in a scandal about being kept by a sugar daddy, a multinational corporation opened an official Weibo account in the middle of the night and tagged him: [He isn't being kept. They're legally married.] Fans: ? Haters: ...?! * Has-been Best Actor, seductive bottom X Sharp-tongued "villain," scheming top * 1. One-on-one romance, happy ending. My writing isn't very polished. Both leads are pure in body and heart. The bottom is universally disliked early on, then becomes something of a heartthrob later. 2. The bottom kills people while completing missions in the ancient-world setting, which is pretty twisted. Those parts are only briefly mentioned, and are just part of his growth. Everything serves the plot and the romance. 3. Since this is a wish-fulfillment story, of course there may occasionally be some logical inconsistencies (but I'll do my best to smooth them over). Theme: Your fate is in your own hands.