Chapter 24: Script Invitation

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【The Running Man brotherhood makes a stunning debut! Premiere viewership breaks 1.1%!】

【Running Man #Baby Natural Beauty Goddess】

【Running Man #Acupressure Mat】

【Running Man #Wang Baoqiang and Gu Qing fall into the water】

【Running Man #Deng Chao: The water is a bit salty】

【Running Man #Gu Qing: I want it all!】

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After the first episode of *Running Man* aired, multiple related topics climbed the trending charts. Related videos and artist blog recommendations exceeded 60 trending items, with total reposts and comments surpassing 500,000.

In just 12 hours, the views for the main topic reached an exaggerated 1.95 billion, with discussions hitting 3.07 million, completely sweeping the top ten trending slots!

Among them,

The viewership rating topped the trending list at 1.1, ranking 3rd in its time slot,

Second only to: the hit variety show *Day Day Up* on Huangguo Satellite TV and a certain massive television drama.

Surpassing them in the future would clearly be a piece of cake.

Secondly,

The management companies behind every artist began to exert their influence, aggressively buying trending spots.

But the most ruthless was the Leader from Big Baby's camp.

He occupied three of the top ten trending spots: 【Natural Beauty Goddess】, 【Tomboy】, and 【Superhuman Girl】 were lined up neatly in positions 2, 3, and 4.

As for the management company behind Gu Qing, their strength was somewhat weak; they were stuck in the middle, only managing to buy the 9th position.

Specifically, it was because of his line: "Only children make choices."

The good news was,

Gu Qing's performance in the program was so outstanding that he also gained a great deal of goodwill from the older brothers.

Whether it was Wang Baoqiang falling into the water or Deng Chao drinking face-washing water, the trending topics all included Gu Qing, providing a wave of momentum.

As the popularity of *Running Man* fermented,

Gu Qing's fame was effectively launched with a bang.

The most direct benefit: Money!

Many sponsors of *Running Man* hoped Gu Qing could film an endorsement advertisement.

Because modern variety shows are generally released simultaneously on internet platforms,

The advertisements interspersed within the videos are often filmed with the artists who showed outstanding performances in the previous episode.

One episode, one payment—pursuing the maximization of traffic.

Besides that,

The next day, while Gu Qing was still sleeping in his hotel,

He was woken up by his manager's bombardment of phone calls.

"Baby, open the door quickly."

A radiant Li Li stood outside the room, her tone as gentle as water.

The explosive success of *Running Man* and Gu Qing's brilliant performance in the show

Proved her unique vision!

The company also praised her extensively, granting Li Li greater autonomy.

It was truly a case of "a refreshed spirit comes with happy events."

"Sister Li, why are you here?"

Gu Qing opened the door with bleary eyes, covering his mouth to yawn.

"I am your manager; saying that is far too formal."

"Sister Li, shouldn't men and women maintain a respectful distance?"

Gu Qing felt numb.

A young man with vigorous vitality likes to be bold and competitive.

Now, early in the morning,

He was being held closely by a woman of lingering charm; wouldn't this be the death of him?

"Where is there any gender distinction in the entertainment industry?"

"Sister Li, I'm here to make money, not to sell my body."

Suppressing his annoyance, Gu Qing straightened the woman's head.

"Selling your body and making money... are they in conflict?"

Li Li, whose mindset had long since taken the shape of the "entertainment industry," showed deep confusion on her face. "Or are you looking down on me for being old and faded, only willing to let those young female artists touch you?"

"I heard from Zhao Ya that you were taken advantage of quite a bit during the last recording..."

"What, you didn't resist when they took advantage of you, but now that it's me, you won't comply?"

This wave of perfectly logical rhetoric caused Gu Qing's brain to stall briefly.

But immediately, he reacted.

Wait, that's not right!

Hadn't he been trying his best to avoid suspicion?

Furthermore,

So, the people taking advantage of him are in the right,

And I'm in the wrong for not letting them?

*Knock knock.*

At that moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Boss, get up quickly, Sister Li is here."

The voice of the little assistant, Zhao Ya, came from outside to give notice.

"No need to knock, I'm already here."

Li Li quickly bounced back, smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes, and pulled the door open expressionlessly.

"Uh... Sister Li?"

Looking at the two people behind the door, Zhao Ya's eyes went blank, and she instinctively sniffed the air.

The air was fresh; there was no strange smell of semen.

"Did you copy the materials I asked for?"

Li Li's tone was impatient.

"I've copied them; they're all here."

Zhao Ya quietly held up a stack of documents.

"Sister Xiaoya, don't stand outside, come in and sit."

Gu Qing gestured for her to enter.

"Sit for what? You have no situational awareness at all. Hurry back and pack your luggage; we might have to go to Hengdian this afternoon."

Li Li snatched the documents and waved Zhao Ya away.

Gu Qing's brow furrowed. He wanted to speak up to defend her, but then he remembered that he wasn't the one paying Zhao Ya's salary.

He hadn't reached a status where he could hire his own assistant.

Secondly, Gu Qing had no income yet; even his monthly salary of twenty thousand hadn't been deposited.

A single cent can baffle a hero;

He had never heard of a star starving to death,

And Gu Qing's desire to make money was even greater!

"Come, baby, come take a look at these scripts."

Li Li was cold toward Zhao Ya but wore a warm face for Gu Qing. "These are all scripts that certain production teams specifically sent to you after your program aired."

"So many?"

Gu Qing sat on the sofa in surprise and picked up the documents to read. "Are they all TV drama scripts?"

Hearing this,

Li Li mistakenly thought Gu Qing was looking down on them and said awkwardly, "Baby, it's very hard to break into the film circle...

It's not that our company lacks connections, but as you know, compared to those two top-tier stars who returned from abroad,

Your popularity is still quite superficial. Even if you can act, you'd likely only be a small supporting character, which wouldn't be worth the effort."

In reality, this was just Li Li's way of gaslighting him.

She was shifting the blame to Gu Qing instead of the company.

At most, their company could spend money to buy trending topics and fool some fools; getting A- or B-list television scripts was already their limit.

As for those big-budget, high-production movies?

Unless the artist proved themselves, don't even dream about it!

"I haven't heard of a single one of these TV drama titles?"

"My Baby Falls in Love with Me? The Sweet Burden of the Cold Scholar? The Domineering CEO's Runaway Sweetheart..."

"What kind of stuff is this?!"

Gu Qing's scalp felt a bit numb.

Not to mention he didn't know how to act yet,

Even if he did, going to these sets would likely be a dead end.

Just as Gu Qing was about to give up on acting and planned to bring out the demo of *Just Happened to Meet You* that he had recorded last night,

The last script title caught his attention.

"《The Journey of Flower》?!"

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(End of Chapter)