Chapter 46

Due to the time difference, when Shen Huaixi, who had been abroad for a break after being scolded, received the news from his agent about the incident with Yingxing, he had just woken up.

He was still full of morning grumpiness and hadn’t even had time to vent it. After hearing the developments of the situation, Shen Huaixi had to forcefully suppress all his anger.

The situation had come so suddenly that he wasn’t prepared at all.

Throwing off his blanket, he paced barefoot back and forth in the room, as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

He had just been scolded, and now he was about to face another round of criticism, which made him very unhappy.

But more than the scolding, what concerned him now was Qin Mingchuan.

If this had been in the past, Shen Huaixi wouldn’t have cared at all.

Because he was sure that Qin Mingchuan would unconditionally stand by him.

But things are different now. After the incident with Su Xingyao’s contract termination, Shen Huaixi realized that many things had already slipped out of his control.

For example, Qin Mingchuan’s protection of Su Xingyao had become so obvious.

And since that event, Qin Mingchuan had not contacted him again.

Now that the situation had escalated so much, Shen Huaixi knew that Qin Mingchuan would definitely investigate.

So it was only a matter of time before Qin Mingchuan found out about his involvement in Yingxing’s efforts to suppress Su Xingyao.

Shen Huaixi didn’t know how much Qin Mingchuan had discovered. He held his phone, found Qin Mingchuan’s number, and hesitated on how to approach the conversation and feel out his attitude.

With his mind preoccupied, Shen Huaixi accidentally bumped into the vase on the table as he moved.

Water spilled all over the table.

Just as he stepped barefoot onto the wet surface, he lost his balance and stumbled forward, falling to the floor in a way that looked like a dog eating shit.

The pain made Shen Huaixi grit his teeth, tears welling up in his eyes.

Suppressing the urge to curse, he quickly dialed Qin Mingchuan’s number, trying to take advantage of his pitiful state.

He figured that if he cried, Qin Mingchuan would soften.

On the other side of the world, after failing to get through to Su Xingyao, Qin Mingchuan had sobered up quite a bit.

When he was lying in bed and felt his phone vibrating by his pillow, his heart skipped a beat.

Qin Mingchuan almost immediately propped himself up on the bed with one hand and reached for the phone with the other.

But when he saw the caller ID, the hope in his eyes instantly turned into irritation.

Qin Mingchuan didn’t want to answer Shen Huaixi’s call at all.

He didn’t even want to hear his name.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but the three characters that had once been so important to him seemed to be gradually becoming more and more distant.

Especially after learning about the things Shen Huaixi had done to Su Xingyao, he couldn’t help but want to extend the cold period between them for even longer.

Knowing that now wasn’t the right time to take a call, Qin Mingchuan reached for the phone, intending to hang up Shen Huaixi’s call.

But the habit of always answering the phone immediately after years of practice caused him to accidentally pick up the call.

Just as Qin Mingchuan was about to hang up, Shen Huaixi’s voice came through.

“Mingchuan…”

When he spoke, Shen Huaixi’s voice sounded a little wronged, with an obvious trace of crying.

Qin Mingchuan frowned. His emotions didn’t change at all because of Shen Huaixi’s crying tone. He simply asked coldly, “What’s wrong?”

Hearing the indifference in his voice, Shen Huaixi’s heart sank.

It was the first time in so many years that Qin Mingchuan had treated him so coldly.

From his attitude, Shen Huaixi immediately guessed that Qin Mingchuan must have already known everything about the company and was now holding a grudge against him.

Seeing that Qin Mingchuan was upset, Shen Huaixi quickly realized that now was not the time to try to explain things to him.

So, he rubbed his ankle, speaking in a half-petulant, half-complaining tone, “I dreamed about you, and the first thing I did after waking up was call you. But when I was getting my phone, I accidentally slipped and hurt my ankle.”

After lying, Shen Huaixi paused as usual, waiting for Qin Mingchuan to comfort him.

But after waiting for a long time, no words of comfort came from the other side.

The silence was deafening, and the atmosphere instantly became awkward.

The motion of rubbing his ankle stopped, and an inexplicable sense of grievance overwhelmed Shen Huaixi.

Although he had hurt his ankle, his earlier crying was fake.

But now, being ignored and treated coldly by someone who had once been so attentive to him for many years created a huge psychological gap, and Shen Huaixi couldn’t hold back his tears anymore.

“Mingchuan, my foot really hurts… it really hurts.”

The sound of Shen Huaixi’s aggrieved sobs kept ringing in his ears, and Qin Mingchuan gripped the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

But he just listened, not offering any comfort.

After a long while, when Shen Huaixi’s crying had calmed down a little, Qin Mingchuan finally spoke again.

“If your foot hurts, go see a doctor. I can’t help you just by you telling me.”

Shen Huaixi, who had been wiping his tears, was immediately choked. The moisture in his eyes froze, and the tears that had been ready to fall were forcefully held back by his anger.

He felt completely humiliated after his teasing and crying had been ignored. He bit his lower lip, his voice trembling.

“Qin Mingchuan, what do you mean by that?”

Qin Mingchuan, who was already in a very bad mood, gradually lost his patience under Shen Huaixi’s questioning.

“What about you?”

He asked coldly, almost ruthlessly, “What was the purpose of this call?”

Qin Mingchuan’s bluntness angered Shen Huaixi, who had been ready to explain. He now didn’t even want to respond.

But he stubbornly refused to hang up, raising his chin high, waiting for Qin Mingchuan to sense his anger and give in.

The two of them remained in a tense silence over the phone for several minutes.

In the end, Qin Mingchuan sighed helplessly.

The knot in Shen Huaixi’s heart loosened slightly as he waited for the other party to apologize.

However, instead of comforting him as he had expected, Qin Mingchuan coldly said something that caught him off guard.

“Since you’re not going to say anything, then I will.”

Qin Mingchuan took out the lighter from his pocket and opened and closed it absentmindedly.

“Why did you treat Xingyao that way?”

The sound of the lighter flicking on and off filled the air.

It was like the snap of a kite string that had been stretched too tightly, suddenly breaking under the pressure.

Shen Huaixi felt a chill run down his spine.

He felt that he and Qin Mingchuan were like the kite and the broken string—their relationship, because of Su Xingyao, was likely about to snap completely.

He couldn’t describe the feeling, but Shen Huaixi, who was clearly panicking, still tried to hold onto the string.

“Mingchuan, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Seeing that Shen Huaixi was still playing dumb, Qin Mingchuan suddenly felt that the other person seemed very unfamiliar.

But at the same time, this scene and tone felt oddly familiar.

In the past, whenever something “accidental” happened, Shen Huaixi had acted the same way.

It seemed like he knew nothing, but in the end, all the blame would fall on Su Xingyao.

Was he really clueless?

Or did he understand everything, but was pretending otherwise…?

The flame from the lighter singed Qin Mingchuan’s fingers.

Coming back to his senses, he opened WeChat and took a screenshot of what the other person had said.

“Huaixi, Liu Huai has already confessed everything.”

Shen Huaixi’s breath hitched for a second.

But reason told him that now was not the time to say anything.

So, he stubbornly said, “I think there’s some misunderstanding here. Wait for me to come back, and we can discuss this in detail.”

Shen Huaixi’s attitude made Qin Mingchuan stop trying to talk to him any further.

He immediately hung up the phone.

The screenshot that he had originally sent to Shen Huaixi was also unsent.

He stared at Shen Huaixi’s chat page until the screen went dark.

Qin Mingchuan felt as if the heart he had been burning and beating for the other person was slowly dying piece by piece.

Years of secret admiration seemed like a joke.

The person he had been so passionately in love with, turned out to be like this behind his back.

Realizing this, Qin Mingchuan didn’t feel as sad as he had expected.

Instead, whenever he thought about Su Xingyao’s departure, his heart felt as if it had been hollowed out, leaving a gaping emptiness.

That feeling of helplessness, of not being able to hold onto someone, made him panic uncontrollably.

Qin Mingchuan sat on the bed, lost in thought for a long time.

When he snapped out of it, he realized that without even noticing, his finger had accidentally opened his Moments (WeChat feed) on his phone screen.

The page was stuck on the most recent comment someone had left on his Moments.

asduasn: Master Qin, you’re amazing, there’s no one like you on the internet, is this a custom-made model?

Qin Mingchuan was in a bad mood and didn’t want to pay attention to these trivial comments or likes.

But what made him look at the post further was the content of the comment itself.

The image above was from his birthday this year, showing a birthday gift.

A set of mecha models from Su Xingyao.

At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention, just casually taking a photo and posting it.

He hadn’t expected it to be dug up and commented on days later.

And of course, it was when he regretted everything the most.

Qin Mingchuan didn’t respond to the comment. He threw his phone aside and walked over to the display cabinet.

Inside, six different mecha models were neatly arranged.

These were the birthday gifts Su Xingyao had given him over the six years they had known each other.

He had never paid much attention to these models before, thinking Su Xingyao had just bought them because they were slightly rare or special versions.

It wasn’t until tonight’s comment about custom-made models that he suddenly realized.

These were all custom-made by Su Xingyao for him.

They were hand-crafted birthday gifts from him…

Qin Mingchuan felt the mecha in his hands suddenly become incredibly heavy, as if it’s worth could not be measured in gold.

The overwhelming waves of regret slammed into him, leaving him utterly devastated.

Qin Mingchuan couldn’t bring himself to touch the birthday gifts Su Xingyao had given him.

He didn’t deserve the genuine affection Su Xingyao had once given him…

—

The head of the public relations department at the Yingxing’s company, who had been tense all day and dared not leave work, finally received instructions from the boss late at night.

However, the message the boss conveyed to them wasn’t about handling the company’s public relations.

It was to find a way to delete the screenshots and recordings about the hacker’s revelation of the hate comments directed at Su Xingyao by anti-fans.

The department head completely didn’t understand why, at a time like this, President Qin still wanted to clean up the mess caused by the person who had made the company and Shen Huaixi get verbally attacked.

But he didn’t dare ask what the reason was.

The games and entanglements among the rich, the working people like him really didn’t understand.

However, although he didn’t get why Qin Mingchuan thought this way, there was no way for him to help get the job done.

“President Qin, these things can’t be deleted. Someone already handled it the moment it happened.”

Qin Mingchuan was silent for a few seconds. This time, he didn’t ask who had deleted the content.

This was the second time.

Every time something happened regarding Su Xingyao, he was always one step behind that person.

Thinking of that person who was always by Su Xingyao’s side, Qin Mingchuan’s headache worsened after drinking.

In his intense discomfort, Qin Mingchuan hazily lay on the bed, his mind replaying a scene over and over.

It was when he first met Su Xingyao. He was so clingy, almost to the point of wanting to hang around his classroom door whenever he had free time.

One day, Fu Qingyan saw him doing this and deliberately stopped him.

“I see you following Su Xingyao around every day, do you want to be his shadow?”

The sunlight was shining on him as Fu Qingyan even stepped on Qin Mingchuan’s shadow.

“You two are inseparable, it’s like you’re chasing him…”

Qin Mingchuan painfully closed his eyes.

Time has passed too long…

So long that he had almost forgotten where the name “Yingxing Entertainment” came from…

Yingxing, when reversed, becomes ^[1]影星 (yǐng xīng) – “Movie Star” to 星影 (xīng yǐng) – “Star Shadow”Xingying.

Su Xingyao’s shadow’s Ying…

But in the end, he boldly admitted to Fu Qingyan that he was the shadow of Su Xingyao, and the company he founded ended up destroying the other’s dreams and future.

In the darkness, Qin Mingchuan’s blood froze in an instant. His hands tightly clenched into fists and he slammed them hard against the solid wall.

Su Xingyao had no idea about the huge storm of incitement online.

While people were criticizing Yingxing and Shen Huaixi, defending him, Su Xingyao was working on a video for their six-member group in the Lushui series, drawing illustrations and doing editing.

It was quite a big project, and while working on the editing, Su Xingyao didn’t want to be disturbed, so he put his phone on silent.

When he finally finished the editing for the day, he remembered to check his phone for the time.

Su Xingyao swiped his phone open and found many unread messages.

Before he could even look at them, a video from Lu Jiuxu came through.

Su Xingyao was a bit surprised but answered the call right away.

He smiled faintly. “Mr. Lu, have you installed a tracker on me?”

“Meow~”

The screen on the other side lit up, and instead of a response from Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao heard the sound of a cat meowing.

Coral’s small paws lightly scratched the screen a few times, then it meowed again.

Su Xingyao extended his finger and gently poked Coral’s little paw through the screen.

“Coral.”

Hearing Su Xingyao call its name, the confused cat finally understood it had been looking in the wrong place and lowered its head.

In the next second, the round, dark eyes of the cat, along with its big round face, appeared in Su Xingyao’s view.

A long, slender, and bony hand was casually resting on the cat’s body.

Having lost the initiative to the cat, the man, who could only manage to get his hand in the frame, gently rubbed Coral’s ear with his index finger to keep it from falling.

“The tracker wasn’t installed by me.”

Lu Jiuxu smiled faintly. “Coral installed it.”

Su Xingyao looked at the screen, now mostly blocked by the cat. All he could see were a few corners of Lu Jiuxu’s clothes.

After a few days without seeing Su Xingyao, Coral was quite restless.

Its sharp little paws scratched the screen lightly, but since it couldn’t reach Su Xingyao, it anxiously stretched out its paw, trying to keep the phone from falling.

Lu Jiuxu, worried it might drop, held the cat close to him.

The camera angle shifted slightly upward with this motion, and the fluffy ears of the cat now partially revealed the man’s open pajama collar and his beautifully sculpted collarbone.

From this angle, it was a bit too easy on the eyes…

Su Xingyao quickly lowered his gaze.

But two seconds later, Lu Jiuxu asked, “Why are you keeping your head down?”

Su Xingyao hurriedly lifted his head and focused his eyes on Coral, who was a bit lower in the frame.

Lu Jiuxu smiled, his narrow eyes gleaming with a subtle light.

“Su Cat, are you done recording the show?”

“I finished recording today. I’m editing the video now.”

After saying this without any warning, Su Xingyao suddenly realized he had accidentally revealed some details about the show, so he quickly covered his mouth and stopped speaking.

Fortunately, Lu Jiuxu was a person who knew when to stop. He didn’t press further, instead, he switched the topic as though he hadn’t heard the previous question.

“When are you planning to come back?”

As Lu Jiuxu spoke, Coral’s tail swished, brushing against the skin at his collar.

Forced to scratch the itch, Lu Jiuxu helplessly adjusted Coral’s position, pressing its restless tail beneath his foot.

Su Xingyao looked at the screen, waiting for Lu Jiuxu to finish everything before answering, “The flight is at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

After saying this, he leaned his head closer to the camera and softly said to Coral, “Be good, Coral.”

Upon hearing Su Xingyao’s voice, Coral happily tried to get up, its tail wagging eagerly.

Seeing this, Lu Jiuxu gently pressed Coral’s head down.

He lowered his gaze and looked at Su Xingyao, who was almost lying down, speaking to the phone.

Since they were so close, Su Xingyao’s eyes appeared especially large.

Suppressing the impulse to take a screenshot of how cute Su Xingyao looked, Lu Jiuxu said to him, “I’ll pick you up.”

Su Xingyao instinctively wanted to reply “okay,” but suddenly remembered his previous agreement with Lu Zhiyun when they had a hotpot together.

“I made plans with Zhiyun earlier. Tomorrow at six one, he’s going to take me to meet his first wife…”

After gently stroking Coral’s head several times with his long, knuckle-defined fingers, Lu Jiuxu lazily spoke again.

“Alright.”

“Have fun at six one.”

The video had been running for a while, and the late-arriving Sunset finally came over.

Compared to Coral’s prideful demeanor, Sunset was much more reckless.

It lifted its little legs and, in a few moves, climbed onto the sofa and stepped onto Lu Jiuxu’s lap, its little head poking out in front of the screen.

Su Xingyao waved his hand at the dog, “Hey, Sunset.”

Upon hearing Su Xingyao’s voice, Sunset instantly became excited and responded with a “woof woof woof.”

Lu Jiuxu, who had barely been in the frame to begin with, was now completely pushed out of the shot by the cat and the dog.

Su Xingyao teased the cat and the dog for a while through the screen before he heard Lu Jiuxu’s voice again.

“I haven’t seen you in a few days.”

Amid the playful sounds of Coral and Sunset, Su Xingyao didn’t quite catch what he said.

He looked up in confusion, “Hmm?”

Lu Jiuxu didn’t repeat his previous words but paused for a moment before speaking again.

“Sunset and Coral both miss you.”

Su Xingyao gave a soft “hmm,” his gaze briefly flicking over the little bit of sleepwear visible through the gap in the screen.

It was getting late, so after a bit more playful teasing with the animals, Su Xingyao told them to go to sleep.

Lu Jiuxu, who had been holding both the cat and the dog, gently placed them down. Coral obediently lay next to Lu Jiuxu’s feet, but energetic Sunset tried once again to climb up.

“They’re still a bit reluctant,” the man said, and the camera finally moved upward.

First, there was the graceful line of the chin, followed by the handsome and heroic face.

Through the screen, Su Xingyao gazed at the slight curve of his eyes and met his gaze.

“Mr. Lu…”

He asked, “What about you?”

Without deliberately naming the question he was asking, Su Xingyao just asked him based on his feelings.

The person on the screen also looked at him.

After a moment, he spoke gently.

“Mm, me too.”

After saying goodnight to each other, Su Xingyao didn’t immediately go to sleep.

The video call from Lu Jiuxu, the countless unfamiliar incoming calls on his phone, and the various messages his friends had sent all suggested that something was happening regarding him.

Recently, Su Xingyao had stopped caring much about external opinions.

But since his friends had sent so many messages, not replying would seem rude.

However, if he replied, he had no idea what to say.

So in the end, he decided to check the trending topics.

But when he searched for information about himself, the messages from his Weibo inbox, which had been exposed, had already been dealt with by Lu Jiuxu.

What remained were mostly netizens’ sympathy for him and collective condemnation of Yingxing and Shen Huaixi.

After a quick glance, Su Xingyao understood the general situation.

However, what surprised him was that in Yingxing’s latest statement, they generously admitted their mistakes and even sent an apology letter to him and the netizens.

Looking at the apology letter, it mentioned that the relevant personnel had been punished and that the company would be dissolved, with a promise to no longer be involved in the entertainment industry.

Su Xingyao was slightly surprised by Qin Mingchuan’s decision.

However, he was not at all interested in why he made that decision.

After closing Weibo, he replied to the messages from his concerned friends.

Before going to sleep, he noticed a familiar number had sent him a message.

But after quickly glancing at the message preview, Su Xingyao didn’t open it.

Not all unread messages need to be opened.

The next afternoon, after Su Xingyao got off the plane, he immediately spotted Lu Zhiyun, who was standing out in the crowd with his stylish presence.

Dressed in all black with black sunglasses, Lu Zhiyun swiftly led Su Xingyao through the crowd and brought him to the airport garage.

Then, proudly, he patted the car he was driving.

“This is my big wife.”

Lu Zhiyun said this with a proud look on his face.

Today, he was driving a sports car that was even more eye-catching than his outfit.

Compared to the yellow sports car he drove last time, this all-black, luxurious sports car looked even more extravagant and imposing.

After enthusiastically inviting Su Xingyao into the car, Lu Zhiyun raised an eyebrow at him.

“My wife is handsome, right? It’s a global limited edition.”

As he spoke, he made a “10” gesture with his fingers at Su Xingyao.

Su Xingyao wasn’t interested in cars.

So, he had no idea what brand this car was.

But that didn’t stop him from knowing how expensive the car must be.

After all, a car with only ten units globally made Su Xingyao subconsciously lighten his step as he got in.

“It’s so expensive, I’m almost afraid to sit in it…”

Lu Zhiyun snapped his fingers. “What’s the big deal? Later, I’ll have my brother take you in an even more expensive one.”

Su Xingyao found Lu Zhiyun’s words a bit strange, but before he could think further, Lu Zhiyun started the car.

“I’m taking you to a fun place today.”

As Lu Zhiyun was taking Su Xingyao out, Ban Yang had found Qin Mingchuan.

“Mr. Qin, how about going out and having some fun with the guys today? Relax a bit?”

Qin Mingchuan, feeling exhausted, didn’t even raise his eyelids as he said indifferently, “I’m not going.”

Ban Yang didn’t care about his response and directly pulled him toward the garage. “Come on, come on, we’ve got a special guest today. Perfect time to introduce you to him. He loves cars too.”

Qin Mingchuan, annoyed, glanced at Ban Yang and impatiently asked, “Who?”

Ban Yang grinned. “The young master of the Lu family.”