Chapter 6: The Fallen Child Star (6)

“Don’t you want to wait until the contract is terminated before leaving?” Yao Rong asked. She had thought Xu Weiheng would only agree to leave with her after successfully terminating the contract.

Xu Weiheng shook his head.

He didn’t want to stay in A City or live in this apartment anymore.

Starting anew in a different city might be a good choice.

Yao Rong decisively replied: “I’ll book the tickets right away.”

Xu Weiheng voluntarily proposing to return to D City with her was good news for her.

It meant he was starting to trust her again.

Moreover, his emotions were still unstable, and his condition poor. Staying in A City could easily lead to more distress. While D City’s economy wasn’t advanced, its environment was excellent for recovery.

After booking the tickets, Xu Weiheng started packing his luggage, with Yao Rong helping on the side.

Xu Weiheng didn’t let her help: “You should go rest. I don’t have much stuff, I can manage on my own.”

Yao Rong stopped insisting and returned to her room to count her savings.

She owned a three-story self-built house on the outskirts of a small county town in D City.

She had converted the house into a guesthouse, living on the first floor while renting out the second and third floors.

For years, she had made a living by running this guesthouse.

However, the small county town in D City had only one unremarkable tourist attraction, resulting in few visitors and low annual profits for the guesthouse.

Additionally, she had spent a significant amount renovating the guesthouse earlier this year, leaving her with limited savings.

She now had less money than her underage son.

With this in mind, Yao Rong opened the laptop she had borrowed from Xu Weiheng.

Using the laptop, Yao Rong quickly scanned through various information.

The general development trends of this world were similar to the Earth she had once visited, but there were differences in specific areas such as economics, politics, history, and technology. For instance, none of the well-known figures from Earth existed here.

After reading for a long time, Yao Rong gradually formed a clear understanding.

Considering her current body’s experiences, background, and Xu Weiheng’s situation, the most suitable careers for her were those with low entry barriers and high freedom.

Ideally, this career should allow her to earn money and realize her self-worth while also helping Xu Weiheng.

So what should she do?

Yao Rong hesitated.

It wasn’t because she had no options; on the contrary, she had too many to choose from, which made her indecisive.

Suddenly, a pop-up appeared in the lower right corner of the computer screen: [Congratulations! “2050 II” total box office breaks 400 million]

As of today, “2050 II” had been in theaters for half a month, but its total box office had just surpassed 400 million.

The film had an investment of 300 million for production, plus additional promotional costs, totaling at least 400 million.

While the current box office seemed to exceed the film’s cost, a movie’s release also involved sharing profits with theaters and other parties.

For a film to break even, its box office needed to be at least three times the investment.

It could be said that the investors of “2050 II” had suffered a significant loss.

No wonder Director Chen and others were in such a hurry to push Xu Weiheng out as a scapegoat.

The burden of blame was so heavy that whoever bore it would be ruined. They all refused to take responsibility, so naturally, they chose a small-time celebrity with no background or agency support.

Now, Xu Weiheng’s agent faced compensation and unemployment, the agency faced the tax bureau’s hammer of Thor, and only Xu Yiyuan’s family and the “2050 II” crew remained among those who had framed Xu Weiheng.

Dealing with Xu Yiyuan’s family wouldn’t be difficult, but the “2050 II” crew…

Movies spoke for themselves in terms of quality.

After pondering for a moment, Yao Rong opened a file and typed a title on the first line:

“Starry Sky”

She had decided to become a science fiction writer.

Those magnificent and wondrous technologies, humanity’s deepest explorations of science, existed only in the imagination of people in this world, but she had personally witnessed, experienced, and even developed them.

She didn’t need to fabricate or invent; she only needed to describe these elements clearly to construct a grand sci-fi universe.

When the time was right, she would seek investment to produce a post-apocalyptic disaster film.

She would use facts to show Director Chen and the audience that the failure of “2050 II” was due to the director’s incompetence, poor special effects, and a terrible script, rather than blaming an actor who wasn’t even the male lead.

…,

Time flew by, and just as Yao Rong finished outlining her novel, the day of their flight arrived.

Lawyer Zhou had business to discuss with Xu Weiheng and afterwards offered to drive Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng to the airport.

As the car entered the airport, Lawyer Zhou helped take out the luggage from the trunk: “Leave the contract termination matter entirely to me. You two can wait for news in D City without worry.”

Xu Weiheng asked, “How long will it take to get results?”

“If things go quickly, we should have news in a month or two.”

Satisfied with the clear answer, Xu Weiheng thanked Lawyer Zhou and walked into the airport with Yao Rong.

While checking in their luggage, a passenger in front suddenly had their phone’s flash go off. No one else paid attention, but Xu Weiheng pressed his lips together tightly and pulled down the baseball cap on his head, the wide brim almost covering his eyes.

Yao Rong asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Weiheng was already wearing a large mask, and now with his cap pulled so low, almost his entire face was hidden.

Xu Weiheng shook his head: “Just adjusting my hat.”

The flash went off again, from the same passenger.

Xu Weiheng reflexively tensed his body, only relaxing his muscles slowly after the flash subsided.

Yao Rong realized where the problem lay.

Was he afraid of cameras?

Following this thought, Yao Rong suddenly realized that in the half month she had lived with Xu Weiheng, she had never seen him use a phone.

Not even once.

Logically, a young man his age should be most addicted to playing with phones. But he would rather sit idle all day or watch “SpongeBob SquarePants” than use electronic devices to pass the time.

Yao Rong rummaged through her bag and took out a can of Wangzai milk^[1]Want Want milk, handing it to Xu Weiheng: “I almost forgot I bought this for you.”

Xu Weiheng rubbed his nose with the back of his finger, feeling a bit strange about drinking Wangzai milk in public.

Yao Rong opened it directly: “Drink quickly, we can’t take this on the plane.”

Xu Weiheng remained silent.

He touched the cap on his head, the mask covering most of his face, and his upturned collar, reassuring himself: It’s fine, no one will recognize him anyway.

Thinking this, Xu Weiheng reached for the Wangzai milk. He pulled down his mask slightly and lowered his eyes to drink, appearing both serious and gentle. He looked just like an ordinary sixteen-year-old high school student.

Yao Rong touched the phone in her pocket, pondering how to change this situation.

Xu Weiheng feared cameras and deliberately cut off his access to external information.

But he used to be a star, living in the spotlight and public opinion.

Can avoidance really solve the problem?

How could one possibly live in this information society without receiving any outside information?

…

The surrounding boarding gates all belonged to a single airline. There weren’t many flights departing at this time, so after queuing for a while, Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng completed the check-in procedures.

Yao Rong hadn’t booked business class tickets, only the most basic economy seats.

Their seats were together, relatively close to the middle.

In front of them sat a couple. The man appeared to be in his thirties, while the girl looked like she had just graduated from university. They were intimate, with the girl resting her head on the man’s shoulder, whispering softly, her face full of sweetness and shyness.

Xu Weiheng glanced at them once before looking away, closing his eyes to rest.

He had suffered from insomnia again last night, barely falling asleep as dawn approached. Now was a good time to catch up on some sleep.

The plane took off quickly. After a period of turbulence, it began to fly steadily.

Passengers started moving about to use the restroom. Xu Weiheng, being a light sleeper, was awakened. He rubbed his brow with his fingertips, preparing to sleep again when suddenly a commotion erupted from the row ahead.

A blonde woman with pearl earrings and a bob haircut stood in the middle of the aisle, barely containing her anger: “Who is this young girl? I knew it! I wondered why you suddenly had to go on a business trip to D City. So it was to accompany your little mistress! If I hadn’t sensed something was wrong and followed you, how long were you planning to fool me?”

The girl who had been sweetly leaning on the man’s shoulder sensed something was amiss. She bit her lip and clutched the man’s arm, questioning him: “Who… who is she?”

The man’s eyes widened, his face full of panic at being caught red-handed. He instinctively pulled away the girl’s hand, unbuckled his seatbelt, and stood up to grab the blonde woman.

His voice was low; Xu Weiheng could only vaguely hear some key words.

“… Don’t make a scene… There are so many people… We’re on a plane…”

“This young lady is just a colleague traveling with me for work. She fell asleep and that’s why her head was on my shoulder…”

A flight attendant from the back, noticing the disturbance, quickly approached.

Other passengers around them were also drawn to the argument between the standing man and the blonde woman, whispering among themselves.

The blonde woman sneered, “Colleague? Things have gone this far, and you still take me for a fool? Once we get off this plane, let’s get a divorce!”

“Are you crazy? You might not care about losing face, but what about our son? He’s still so young. Have you thought about what will happen to him if you insist on a divorce?”

The man, unable to maintain his composure, forcefully pushed the blonde woman.

At that moment, the plane suddenly experienced a brief moment of turbulence due to air currents.

The blonde woman, already stumbling from the push, lost her balance entirely with this unexpected turbulence and fell backwards hard.

Just as she was about to fall, a hand reached out from behind to steady her.

“Careful.”

It was Xu Weiheng.

The blonde woman regained her balance with his help, repeatedly thanking Xu Weiheng while averting her reddened eyes.

The plane had already returned to stable flight. Xu Weiheng sat in his seat, coldly watching the man.

He had heard the entire argument from the beginning but hadn’t even felt the urge to gossip, remaining detached with his eyes closed. It wasn’t until he heard the man mention his son that he was disgusted enough to open his eyes.

Seeing the man about to lay hands on his lawful wife crossed a line for Xu Weiheng.

The man’s face seemed to overlap with Xu Ji’s in his mind.

A nameless anger burned in Xu Weiheng’s heart.

Ever since he learned that Xu Ji and Xu Yiyuan were biological father and son, this anger had been smoldering in his heart, and now it finally erupted.

“I’ve always believed that the biggest difference between humans and beasts is that humans can control their desires, while beasts can’t control their lower halves.”

“You want to have your cake and eat it too, keeping a mistress while maintaining your marriage. It sounds nice, but when faced with a problem, all you can do is push away your lover’s hand, shove your wife, and use your son as a threat. What else can you do?!”

“Don’t talk about how young your son is, and don’t pretend to care about him. Your wife hasn’t done anything wrong. If you truly loved your son, why would you put him in such an awkward position?”

“Is this how you show responsibility as a husband and a father?!”

He had managed to control his volume for most of his speech.

But with the last sentence, he couldn’t hold back and raised his voice.

After his outburst, Xu Weiheng realized his loss of composure.

He looked at the flight attendant who had just arrived and pressed his lips tightly together.

“You…” the man, left speechless by Xu Weiheng’s words, cursed, “Who are you?”

“Just an ordinary concerned citizen.” Dropping these words, Xu Weiheng lowered his cap brim and sat back down, not wanting to cause more trouble for the flight attendant.

The blonde woman bowed to thank Xu Weiheng, then returned to her seat at the flight attendant’s urging.

Suddenly, a crisp “slap” cut through the plane’s noisy atmosphere, silencing everyone.

The man, holding his red and swollen cheek, looked at his usually compliant lover in disbelief.

“Scumbag! This young man is right, you have no sense of responsibility at all!” The girl trembled with anger. “When faced with a problem, your first instinct is to shirk responsibility. How could I have been so blind as to fall for a man like you? You even said you were single and unmarried. I can’t believe it!”

After harshly reprimanding the scumbag, the girl turned to the flight attendant and politely requested a seat change.

What began as a confrontation between the wife and her cheating husband unexpectedly evolved into all three parties joining forces against him, leaving onlookers stunned.

Xu Weiheng stopped paying attention to the scene. Noticing the stares directed at him, he pulled his hat brim down as low as possible and adjusted his mask up to the bridge of his nose.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, Yao Rong beside him suddenly began to applaud softly. Others, as if waking from a trance, also started applauding Xu Weiheng.

Xu Weiheng looked at Yao Rong.

Yao Rong praised him: “What you just said was really good.”

It was all truly excellent. So good that it made her a bit sad.

Everyone thought Xu Weiheng was berating the man, but only Yao Rong knew what had really triggered this outburst.

Xu Weiheng, not in the mood to talk, simply murmured a low “Mm” in response.

As he was about to drift off to sleep, Yao Rong slipped an earbud into his ear. It played soft, upbeat music.

Xu Weiheng hesitated but didn’t remove the earbud.

Listening to the gentle, cheerful melody, the tension in Xu Weiheng’s furrowed brow gradually eased. He finally fell into a deep sleep, not waking until the plane landed safely.

As soon as they disembarked, Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng were stopped by the flight crew, who asked them to provide statements to the air marshals.

While they were giving their statements, a video quickly went viral online.

[Tao Tiantian v: Wife and “mistress” team up to confront cheating man on a plane, righteous bystander from City A speaks up]

The video was posted by a beauty blogger with millions of followers on Weibo.

If Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng had known, they would have realized that this beauty blogger, “Tao Tiantian,” was the passenger who had accidentally turned on her flash while taking selfies in the baggage check-in line. She was on the same flight, seated not far from them.

Sensing the tension early on, she had quickly taken out her phone, recording the entire incident and posting it to her Weibo account.

Comments flooded in:

[Wow, I didn’t expect that twist]

[That slap was so satisfying]

[Ugh, to hell with that scumbag and the mistress]

[Right, that woman looks all soft and weak, clearly a green tea b*tch^[2]Green Tea B*tch’ (绿茶婊 luchabiao): According to Chinese netizens, the term is used to describe ambitious women who “pretend to be very innocent”.

[??? Wait, the video clearly shows the young lady was the one cheated on, and she immediately distanced herself from the cheating man. It’s bad enough to be deceived by a scumbag, why does she have to be insulted too? That’s too much]

Netizens argued fiercely over this issue, but mixed in with these comments were some about Xu Weiheng:

[Who is this handsome guy? He looks so tall and slim, with such good posture and aura]

[As someone who loves voices, I really like his. It sounds so youthful, is he not even an adult yet? I need this little brother’s full info in three seconds!]

[Hilarious! ‘Concerned bystander from A City,’ I’ll use that intro from now on.]

As more influential accounts shared it, the video climbed higher on Weibo’s trending list.

Some viewers noticed something odd:

[Who is this guy? His baseball cap is pulled so low, his mask covers so much, and even his coat collar is turned up. He’s hiding his face way too much, even celebrities don’t go this far when traveling]

[I don’t know why, but he looks so familiar]

[+1, I feel like he resembles Xu Weiheng]

[Are you joking? Haha, Xu Weiheng stutters so badly he can only say “sorry”, you think he could speak so eloquently???]

[Exactly. Xu Weiheng’s career is over. Stop trying to stir up trouble.”]

However, just as the topic’s popularity began to decline around 10 PM, the editor-in-chief of City A Daily reposted the video and publicly thanked Xu Weiheng on Weibo.