WBSGVS Chapter 220 V1

In this lifetime, Su Qingli’s status was quite formidable.

No one recognized her face on the street, because she disliked the spotlight and rarely appeared on camera—and even when she did, she always wore a mask.

But her pen name, Liuli, was widely known. Her scripts were in high demand in the industry, with many actors vying for the chance to star in her projects.

So when she extended an invitation, very few ever declined.

Still, Qingli looked into Ning Xi’s current situation.

Back when they first met, Ning Xi had claimed he wasn’t popular yet—and he was telling the truth. They’d played piano together at a restaurant full of people, and though many had seen his face, not a single person came over for a photo or autograph.

But now that he was trending on social media, things were different from five years ago.

A quick search confirmed it.

Ning Xi’s Weibo followers had surpassed 40 million—an enormous following, especially considering he had only risen to fame in the past five years. His posts routinely got hundreds of thousands of likes and tens of thousands of comments, with some even surpassing a million.

Still, his profile was tagged as “singer,” not “actor,” and all his representative works were albums.

Qingli skimmed through the data, then immediately sent out an email extending a formal casting invitation.

The female lead in this drama was the absolute main character, so the male lead didn’t need to be outrageously talented—he just had to fit the role.

After deciding on the male lead, Qingli also reached out to the actress whose role in the show had supposedly been stolen by Zhao Muyun. She sent another email to invite her in.

Once everything was set, Qingli finally opened the trending Weibo posts related to the negative buzz about her.

The first post was from a gossip account:

[BREAKING] According to inside sources, the writer-director couple had a huge fight last night. Screenwriter Liuli flew into a rage and kicked both the male lead and the director off the production. The much-anticipated drama Phoenix Kill is now just an empty shell! [image][image][image][image]

The attached screenshots are group chat messages from the production team, discussing how the director and the entire crew had walked out, and how both the male and female leads had also quit.

The team was in chaos.

Producer Zhang was still doing his best to calm everyone down in the chat, telling them not to panic.

On the surface, everyone seemed composed, but once the screenshots leaked, the internet exploded.

To be fair, in the entertainment industry, screenwriters rarely had much power. Most of the time, they had to bend over backward to accommodate the demands of directors and actors—yet they were also the ones blamed the most. No matter how the script was written, someone would always complain.

But Liuli was different.

She had an unusual level of clout. On this project, she wasn’t just the screenwriter—she was also the investor. That meant she had the final say on a lot of things. So when #LiuliBullyingTheCast shot up the trending list, most people found it believable.

The top comments were furious:

“WTF?! I’ve been looking forward to Phoenix Kill for so long, and THIS is what I get?”

“No way… Liuli’s the creator of this show—why would she blow it up herself?!”

Then came the chatter about the male lead:

“Wait… didn’t someone say Su Yan is Liuli’s biological nephew? There’s gotta be some misunderstanding, right?”

“What misunderstanding?! Ugh, I’m so pissed! My boy worked so hard for this role, and it’s gone with one word from her. Is she going through early menopause or what?!”

“Poor Su Yan. His aunt screwed him over. And didn’t he even take a pay cut for this project?!”

Qingli wasn’t fazed. This kind of online hate was par for the course in the entertainment world. She barely gave it a second thought.

But her friend Ye Qiong couldn’t stay calm and messaged her frantically:

[Ye Qiong]: Hurry up and come up with a countermeasure! I’m losing my mind here!

Qingli chuckled and replied:

[Qingli]: Give me two minutes. Get your team ready to help spread it.

[Ye Qiong]: Got it!

Ye Qiong replied instantly and sat in front of her screen, refreshing Weibo over and over. Suddenly, a new post popped up.

She stared at it, stunned.

“??? Su Qingli’s lost her damn mind!”

—

After sending the message to Ye Qiong, Qingli didn’t worry about it further. She went about her morning routine while mentally reviewing the upcoming scenes in the script.

Just as she finished getting ready, a call came in. A man’s voice greeted her enthusiastically on the other end.

“Hello, is this screenwriter Liuli? I’m Ning Xi’s manager! I heard you’re considering him for the male lead in Phoenix Kill?”

Qingli answered cheerfully, “Yes, are you free to come by and sign the contract?”

“No problem!” the manager agreed immediately.

But in the background, Ning Xi could be heard sounding confused: “Wait—what?! I’ve never acted before! What if I mess it up and they blacklist me?!”

Qingli couldn’t help laughing. “Don’t worry. Just be yourself.”

The manager gave a small cough, clearly covering the mic to reassure Ning Xi on the side. The muffled words weren’t clear, but when he came back on the line, his tone was much more professional.

“No problem at all. Please hold tight—we’ll book tickets right away!”

“Perfect,” Qingli said, hanging up and sending over the address.

Soon after, the team for the newly invited female lead called as well.

Their enthusiasm was no less than Ning Xi’s manager’s—if anything, it was even stronger.