Chapter 31: Xiao Huixiang isn’t short of admirers

Cen Yueze’s words were indeed poisonous—he called him a cripple, and then said he didn’t cut it. Every word was like a lethal strike.

However, Yu Mandong didn’t mind being mocked as a cripple. His legs were indeed useless now; he could hardly stand for long.

Cen Yueze seemed to have just stopped by to watch the fun. His eyes had a sharp, seductive gleam, and when he moved his lips, his voice hadn’t even come out yet. Lu Hui hurriedly interrupted him, “Cen, shut up.”

Cen Yueze’s eyebrows were perfectly shaped, and he slightly raised one in question, “Are you feeling sorry for him?”

Lu Hui shook her head. “No.”

Cen Yueze’s eyes were especially captivating, sparkling as he flirted, hands coolly in his pockets. “Then are you afraid I’ll fight with him, or argue?”

Lu Hui denied it, “I’m afraid of making it to the trending topics.”

She really didn’t want to be on the trending topics, ahhh!

Fighting or arguing didn’t matter to her.

Cen Yueze’s snarky remarks were immediately blocked in his throat, like something stuck, and he reluctantly swallowed them back.

After Lu Hui quelled this potential world war, Yu Mandong furrowed his brows and changed his strategy. “It’s late. I’ll drive you.”

She shrugged off his hand and casually said, her words cutting like a knife, “You can’t even drive, how are you going to take me?”

Cen Yueze, who had been watching the show, almost wanted to clap for her. She had a real talent for killing with words.

Yu Mandong said, “I have an assistant.”

Lu Hui directly rejected, “No need.”

Yu Mandong’s legs were starting to give way, and it hadn’t even been more than half an hour. His lower leg joints ached so much that cold sweat formed on his forehead, and his face turned ghostly white. His lips were tightly pressed together, still pale.

In order to quickly escape Yu Mandong in this moment, Lu Hui decided to use Cen Yueze as a tool. “Did you see? My driver’s here to pick me up.”

Cen Yueze: ?

Lu Hui walked up and pushed him forward by the waist, “Hurry up.”

Cen Yueze reluctantly bore it. “Don’t rush, miss. You can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry.”

Cen Yueze’s car was parked in a free parking lot outside the police station. When Lu Hui saw the blinking hazard lights, she opened the door and was about to climb in. However, the man grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out. “Sit in the passenger seat. I’m not really your driver.”

Lu Hui climbed into the passenger seat. “I was worried your girlfriend might mind.”

After a moment, she added, “Oh, never mind. I’m overthinking it. How could you possibly have a girlfriend?”

Cen Yueze buckled his seatbelt, a cold smile tugging at his lips. “Get out of the car.”

“I take back what I said.” Recognizing when to back down was essential when you needed something. “Teacher Cen, just pretend I didn’t say it.”

Cen Yueze started the engine and turned on the headlights. “Buckle up.”

Lu Hui had forgotten, so she quickly corrected herself, and as she leaned into the car, she added, “You’re such a great person.”

Cen Yueze accepted the compliment. “It’s never too late for you to realize that.”

Lu Hui hadn’t seen someone this shameless in a long time who could compete with her.

“Address.”

Lu Hui immediately answered, “No need to go all the way to my doorstep. Just drop me off at the entrance of the neighborhood.”

Cen Yueze responded with a “Mm.” Then he asked, “How did you end up at the police station tonight?”

Lu Hui, feeling tired, half-closed her eyes and yawned. “Just experiencing life.”

“Taking your new boyfriend to the police station to experience life?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, thank you.”

Cen Yueze chatted with her casually as he drove, suddenly realizing, “I get it.”

Lu Hui was full of question marks—what did he understand? What did he think he understood?

When they hit a red light and found no other cars on the road, Cen Yueze’s hands were elegantly resting on the steering wheel, tapping out a rhythm. Suddenly, he commented, “Impressive.”

Lu Hui was in a daze, not sure what he was talking about. “Which part?”

She was impressive in so many ways, she didn’t know what he meant.

Cen Yueze genuinely laughed, and once they passed the red light, he said, “The first person to get caught for soliciting. Lucky for you, you ran into me tonight. If a reporter had spotted you, tomorrow there’d be a trending topic: #Lu Hui, get out of the entertainment industry#.”

Lu Hui didn’t expect him to misunderstand her so badly. Did he think she was soliciting Yu Mandong? Was he out of his mind?!

“I didn’t solicit anyone,” Lu Hui quickly clarified.

Cen Yueze didn’t believe her. “If you’re going to do it, own it. Next time, pick a reliable place and hire some tight-lipped girls. You wouldn’t have ended up in the police station like tonight.”

Lu Hui sighed. “Teacher Cen, I really didn’t solicit anyone.”

Cen Yueze, never short on words, kept going. “I’m just reminding you. Soliciting might only get you detained for fifteen days, but running a prostitution ring? That’s a prison sentence, so be careful.”

Lu Hui lost it. “I told you I didn’t do it! Didn’t you hear me?”

After a brief shout, she continued, “Do I really need to solicit with my looks? Huixin’s speechless.”

Cen Yueze made a turn and entered the main road, then after a few seconds, he asked back, “You have looks?”

Lu Hui was ready to get out of the car.

Let! Me! Out!

She would rather walk back than endure this humiliation!

With less than five hundred meters to go until Sheng’s house, Lu Hui broke the bridge after crossing it. “I do have looks, it’s just that some people are blind.”

After Lu Hui said that, she saw the entrance to the residential complex. She thanked Cen Yueze and asked him to stop at the gate.

But the man didn’t listen. He told her to take out her access card, passed the security checkpoint, and personally drove her all the way to the front of the Sheng family villa. He watched her enter the house before turning the car around and driving home.

That night, Lu Hui was so exhausted she didn’t even take off her makeup. She kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep instantly.

She had a long, terrible nightmare. The dream was bizarre and chaotic, full of abrupt, surreal scenes.

Most of it took place in prison. Iron doors, iron beds, iron-barred windows, and tears. They were given only ten minutes to eat each day, and the food was tasteless and oily.

One day, she was lucky enough to get a meat bun. She stared at it hungrily, unable to bring herself to eat it right away. After admiring it long enough, she finally opened her mouth, planning to eat it in two bites. But the ten minutes were up, and someone snatched the bun from her hand and threw it in the trash.

Lu Hui watched helplessly as the beloved meat bun rolled into a black, charred lump. She burst into tears on the spot.

The sound of her own sobbing woke her up. Drenched in cold sweat, she bolted upright from bed, panting, heart pounding in fear.

Damn Yu Mandong. Because of him, she had to spend time in prison, and the trauma still lingered.

If he loved his childhood sweetheart so much, then why hadn’t he taken the fall for her when she committed the crime? Why did he have to drag her down instead?

By the time Lu Hui woke up from the nightmare, it was already late in the morning. The sky outside the window was bright, and the clock showed nine o’clock.

Her face felt stifled. She got up, brushed her teeth, removed her makeup, washed her face, applied a face mask, and then noticed in the mirror that she had developed two big, dark circles under her eyes.

She wandered downstairs. Neither Sheng Zhaoming nor Sheng Lian were home, so she enjoyed breakfast alone. After eating, she went to the company barefaced.

Lin Tong told her that they had recently received many variety show proposals. Unfortunately, most of them were too similar to the previous Star 1v1 format. Taking on another would just feel repetitive. After sorting through them, only one slow-paced show about cooking and taking care of kids remained.

“I think this one’s okay, but I was worried you’d find looking after kids annoying,” Lin Tong said. He still didn’t have the ability to get her better scripts, and rather than accept a terrible one, it was better to keep her on variety shows to stay visible and gain more fans. “I’ve already signed a preliminary agreement with the production team.”

Lu Hui asked, “How much?”

That’s just the kind of woman she was—vulgar and proud of it. What cures sorrow? Only money.

Lin Tong told her the number—it was the highest offer she’d received since her debut.

Lu Hui said, “Relax. Even if the King of Heaven said no, I’d still go take care of those kids.”

“You really love money.”

“Don’t you?”

“Well, what a coincidence. We share the same lover.”

Running on a sleep deficit, Lu Hui couldn’t stop yawning as she lay sprawled across the desk. “No one’s coming to see me this morning, right?”

Lin Tong shook his head. “No one.”

Still uneasy, he added, “Don’t go out causing trouble again.”

Lu Hui raised her hand and swore to the heavens. “I didn’t.”

Lin Tong looked pained. “Your drama’s doing really well this week. There are at least twenty or thirty pairs of eyes watching you, all waiting for a chance to kick you back into the mud.”

Lu Hui couldn’t care less.

That xianxia drama’s ratings had been climbing day by day—unstoppable. It was almost certain to become a classic hit of the winter season. As the story progressed, her character Qing Ji was getting more and more screen time.

Qing Ji was beautiful and devoted, and had a love-hate relationship with the male lead that gave their scenes an intense, romantic tension. Because of this, the fans of the female side character and male lead CP were going wild. On Weibo’s CP rankings, they’d already surpassed the official pairing from the show.

The war between the official ship and the “cult ship” was intense and heated.

Qing Ji’s story hadn’t even reached its climax yet, but the female lead’s team had already caught on. They contacted the TV station through higher-ups at the production company and were requesting to re-edit several episodes.

They were trying to cut Lu Hui’s highlight scenes before she could break out—to deny her any chance to threaten their lead.

Lu Hui still knew nothing about this. Neither she nor Lin Tong had grand ambitions; they were content to ride the coattails of the main leads and get some attention.

Lu Hui said, “Brother Lin, I’m a good girl. As long as no one comes looking for me, I’m fine.”

Yu Mandong was a cunning, calculating man. He wasn’t as reckless as the two before him. If he hadn’t shown up to cause trouble at the company, that was good news—but hopefully he wasn’t brewing up some scheme at home.

Once was enough when it came to prison.

Lin Tong brought up yesterday’s interview again. “That team from Channel 3 was really unprofessional. Totally snobbish. They were probably ignoring you on purpose yesterday.”

Lu Hui nodded. “The worst part was that we had more than enough time during the break, and they still wouldn’t let me go eat no matter how nicely I asked.”

It’s hard to work on an empty stomach.

“It’s not a big deal—missing one interview won’t kill us. I’m just worried that petty chief editor might write a shady article to throw you under the bus.”

“I’m scared of being scolded? Please.”

“I’m not touching that line.”

Sorry, but Huihui had long since developed an impenetrable shell—nothing could faze her.

Lu Hui and Lin Tong were too quick to feel relieved, thinking it would be a quiet Saturday.

CP fans of the drama were in a frenzy, and right then someone dropped a piece of gossip: the second female lead of the hit show was dating a former talent show mentor.

The second female lead? Lu Hui.

The mentor? Cen Yueze.

The whistleblower swore on their life that the info was solid. Asked how they knew, they answered: “Because I was literally hiding under their bed.”

The detailed version of the gossip painted Lu Hui as a manipulative flirt who went after anyone she saw.

Lu Hui’s fans were fed up with the smear campaign and snapped back immediately:
“Xiao Huixiang isn’t short on suitors—take your fake gossip and get lost.”

The gossiper had no bed photos to share, but they did release paparazzi pictures of Lu Hui and Cen Yueze getting in and out of the same car, entering and leaving the same residential complex.

With the caption:
“Congrats, fans. You wanted proof—you got it.”

Lu Hui had something to say:
“Proof my ass.”