Chapter 38

Pulei’s body is soft and its movements are slow, quite similar to Xuanwu.

The difference between the two lies in that Xuanwu’s turtle shell is impenetrable, often serving as a meat shield on the battlefield, while Pulei’s snail shell material is similar to jade, hard but brittle, unable to withstand impacts. Its essence lies in the medicinal water within the snail shell, which can treat various external injuries. Before falling, it exchanged healing medicine for the protection and food of other spirit beasts, like an alligator and a toothpick bird.

“Ah, thank you.” Ye Chen realized that Pulei was healing him, so he gently scratched Pulei’s belly with his nails to show friendliness. Pulei Cub curled up slowly, giggling softly, and its two round cheeks and black bean eyes formed a crescent moon shape.

“Let me introduce you to the other little friends.” Ye Chen said as he lifted Pulei Cub and walked out.

Hearing that there was a new little friend hatched, the six spirit beast cubs were obediently waiting in the courtyard. Fenghuang Cub stood on top of Xuanwu Cub’s head, overlooking the surroundings as if a new emperor was enthroned – it had recently entered the cub phase after leaving infancy stage, gaining the ability to transform into a human form. However, in proud Fenghuang Cub’s eyes, the appearance of a phoenix was far more beautiful than that of a human. Therefore, except for occasions where human hands and chopsticks were needed, Fenghuang Cub refused to appear in human form.

After entering the cub phase, Fenghuang Cub finally resigned from its duty of warming the chicken coop because with its growing abilities, it could now sense and control real fire to a certain extent. It placed several clusters of real fire in the west wing room, remotely sensing and controlling the flames. The fuel for real fire was spiritual energy, and during combustion, it produced no pollutants, making it safe, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly.

The usually taciturn Xuanwu Cub showed great interest in the new little friend, even taking the initiative to take Pulei Cub from Ye Chen’s hands and greeted warmly, “I… am… Xuan… Wu…”

Pulei Cub: “Bo… Ji…”

Xuanwu Cub: “Come…let’s… race… ya…”

Pulei Cub smiled, its black bean eyes curved, and it slowly nodded its two antennae on its head, “Bo… Bo…”

Ye Chen: “…”

It was as if the stubborn bronze living among many kings had finally encountered another stubborn bronze. The two bronzes met each other, eager to solo a father-son match, both wanting to experience the joy of being each other’s father. After all, they were destined not to be anyone else’s father.

Seeing that Xuanwu Cub and Pulei Cub needed some time to communicate, Ye Chen packed up five pillows and placed them at the door. He plucked a fresh and tender spirit cabbage leaf from the vegetable garden, washed it, and found an empty vitamin bottle. After he finished these trivial tasks, the solo father-son match between Xuanwu and Pulei had just ended. In this race to see who could reach the door from the main house to the hanging flower gate first, the still immature Pulei Cub lost by a tiny margin of thirty-two seconds. It was the first time Xuanwu Cub experienced the joy of being faster than others, but he kept his inner joy hidden, showing a cold and proud expression reminiscent of his Big Brother Qiongqi, and casually said, “Beating… a… newbie… is… not… fun…”

He even floated away!

Pulei Cub was slightly stunned, its cheeks flushed, and it said, “Bo…”

I’m still small ne…

“Tsk.” Ye Chen tore off a small piece of washed cabbage leaf and handed it to Pulei Cub. He then gave Xuanwu Cub’s head a hearty rub and said in a serious tone, “Xuan’er, stay humble in victory and don’t be discouraged in defeat. Don’t get cocky.”

After feeding Pulei Cub’s little belly with the spirit cabbage, Ye Chen negotiated with it, “Little Pulei, can I borrow some medicine from your shell? My lifesaver has been injured.”

Pulei Cub nodded its antennae, “Bo…”

With a ‘bo’, the small lid on top of the shell popped open, and a faint herbal fragrance filled the air.

“Hehe, thanks.” Ye Chen picked up Pulei Cub, aimed the round hole on top of its shell at the medicine bottle, slowly turned Pulei Cub upside down, and filled the bottle with medicine.

The liquid in Pulei’s shell would slowly secrete after being emptied. As Pulei’s abilities improved, both the efficacy and secretion speed of the medicine would increase. At present, these medicines wouldn’t have an immediate exaggerated effect on subcutaneous bruises, but they could shorten Shen Mofeng’s recovery process by a few days and also had some analgesic effect. Ye Chen planned to apply some to Shen Mofeng when giving him medicine.

In stark contrast to the heartwarming scene of Ye Chen taking care of the cubs, there was the frantic Gu Qiu in the company and the irritable Shen Mofeng in the guest room.

Due to the instigation of the black fans under the guidance of Jiashang Entertainment, after Gu Qiu successfully managed to suppress the hot search #Shen Mofeng Injured While Saving Ye Chen#, an even more malicious hot search #Ye Chen rescued with indifferent attitude# began to gain prominence on the hot search list. Ye Chen, being humble and obedient, didn’t have any particularly damaging scandals, so the black fans who disliked him were simmering with malicious intentions, nowhere to vent their round bellies of malice. When the needle named ‘accident’ pricked them, the bad water splashed all over the place.

“After watching the interview, it seems like he doesn’t care at all whether Shen Mofeng lives or dies, right?”

“He’s got enough popularity for half a year just from being saved by Feng Feng once. Even if I didn’t burst out laughing, I’ve already lit incense for him.”

“Am I the only one suspecting that the accident wasn’t as simple as it seems? How come it’s so coincidental that the tree just happened to fall in his direction, and Shen Mofeng just happened to be closest to him… Seriously, have I watched too much Conan?”

“I imagined what Ye Chen must look like now, frantically trying to withdraw from the hot search, and I’m laughing my *ss off.”

“+1 to laughing to death. On the surface, everything seems calm and peaceful, but maybe he’s using an alternate account to clap back.”

…

In the hotel room, Shen Mofeng paced back and forth, instructing his agent to withdraw from the hot search.

Shen Mofeng’s adoptive father, Zhang Honglin, the owner of Hongrui Entertainment, was a good friend he had met during Shen Ting’s rise from obscurity. At that time, Shen Ting was also helpless. In the spirit of accepting the decision that his son would enter the entertainment industry, Shen Ting insisted that Shen Mofeng must sign with Hongrui Entertainment and be cared for by Uncle Zhang, at least to ensure that he could thrive in the entertainment industry and not disgrace himself by being treated poorly. Shen Mofeng readily agreed.

After the young master signed the top-tier contract with Hongrui, Zhang Honglin immediately assembled a team to serve the young master. Apart from issues that might negatively impact Hongrui, Shen Mofeng had absolute authority within the team. Including his agent, Guo Yue, everyone was essentially running errands for him from top to bottom, and no one could boss him around.

“Alright, I’ll go take care of it right away.” Guo Yue wisely said no more and hung up the phone before going to handle Ye Chen’s hot search.

Next, Shen Mofeng ground his teeth with hatred, using a borrowed account from Xiao He to click into a Weibo post questioning the accident’s relationship with Ye Chen. While typing out a clarification, he also offered a warm consolation to the post’s owner.

Click to send.

Send failed.

Shen Mofeng’s temples throbbed violently. Looking into his private messages, he found that the Weibo account borrowed from Xiao He to clap back at others had been deleted and blocked by a gossip blogger with over a hundred thousand followers, and he was banned from posting for three days.

Having been in the industry for nearly six years, Shen Mofeng had seen all sorts of lowly black fans—malicious curses, rumors, photoshopped images… His nerves had been tempered to the point where they could withstand ten people’s embrace. If these dirty waters were poured on him today, he might not even bother to bat an eyelid, just waiting for his team’s public relations to handle it. But if they were poured on his little friend…

Shen Mofeng remembered Ye Chen’s face, wet with tears in the early morning.

He could tell that Ye Chen wasn’t someone who would burst into tears over every little thing; a man may shed tears, but not lightly. Ye Chen simply cared about him.

Shen Mofeng felt a pang of guilt.

“You forced me into this…” Shen Mofeng logged out of Xiao He’s Weibo account, logged into his own main account, and with red eyes, searched for the entertainment gossip blogger who had blocked and deleted him, and reposted the blogger’s malicious speculation about the accident.

…

Shen Mofeng’s Weibo post: “The crane weighs over ten tons. If it wasn’t an accident, why don’t you come and push it for me? If you don’t need your brain, you can donate it to Jiashang Entertainment.”

As soon as this Weibo post went out, the comments section exploded, and Ye Chen’s fans, who had been singing “The Injustice to Dou E”^[1]Dou E Yuan, commonly translated as The Injustice to Dou E, and also known as Snow in Midsummer, is a Chinese zaju play written by Guan Hanqing (c. 1241–1320) during the Yuan dynasty. The full … Continue reading all morning, seemed to have seen the arrival of the just and incorruptible official.

“Woc, am I hallucinating from being too angry?! Did Feng Ge actually speak up for Chen Chen?!”

“Ah ah ah, even the most die-hard fans are appeased now!”

“Although it might not be appropriate to say this now, even this Feng-Ye girl is appeased now…”

“Thank you so much for being willing to clarify for Ye Chen, I’m truly grateful. [Tears]”

Immediately after, Shen Mofeng turned his head like a starving wolf and bit into another influential entertainment blogger who insincerely accused Ye Chen of not being grateful enough, reposting their Weibo post.

Shen Mofeng V: “What, does he have to cry while taking a selfie for you too?”

Finally, Shen Mofeng directed his spearhead towards the instigator of all the accusations, Jiashang Entertainment, reposting their Weibo post full of malice, with just one word in the caption, succinct and powerful, full of righteous indignation…

Shen Mofeng V: “Get lost!!!”

The comments section was instantly flooded with neatly aligned formations.

“Feng Ge: Bang, you’re dead. [Pistol emoji]”

“Feng Ge: Bang, you’re dead. [Pistol emoji]”

“…”

After a few minutes, the formation changed to—

“Feng Ge: Bang, you’re dead for bullying my Chen Chen. [Pistol emoji]”

Shen Mofeng’s blood boiled, relentlessly retorting with three posts in a row. The fury from moments ago had turned into satisfaction now, but the pain in his wounds surged intermittently. He was just thinking about who else to borrow a Weibo account from to retaliate against Ye Chen’s brainless black fans and vent his remaining anger when the doorbell rang.

“Shen Ge,” Ye Chen’s voice came from behind the door.

Shen Mofeng’s throat rolled, stunned for two seconds before getting up to open the door.

Ye Chen stood outside, holding a small bottle of medicine. When he looked up and saw the lingering fierceness on Shen Mofeng’s handsome face behind the door, he was immediately taken aback. “What’s wrong with you? Are you in a lot of pain?”

His nerves weren’t as tough as Shen Mofeng’s, and he knew that after this incident, he would inevitably be scolded, even subjected to malicious speculations, but it was just a matter of scale. Therefore, after issuing a statement and learning that Gu Qiu had already withdrawn one round of unfavorable hot searches, Ye Chen followed Gu Qiu’s instructions and refrained from impulsively checking Weibo. If negative comments escalated, Gu Qiu would handle it, and if something major happened online, Gu Qiu would inform him.

“…” Shen Mofeng choked up, silently staring at Ye Chen for a moment before reluctantly uttering, “Hmm.”

The kid still didn’t know…

He had defended him with three retorts, such a big deal, and his manager didn’t inform him right away?

What was his manager even doing?!

“…” Shen Mofeng couldn’t bring himself to boast, feeling the momentum of his triumphant three kills dissipate in an instant. He stiffly stepped aside to let Ye Chen into the room, mentally cursing Ye Chen’s manager a thousand times over.

Ye Chen shifted his train of thought away from worrying about Shen Mofeng’s injuries and felt a sudden realization. “Is something being said online again?”

Shen Mofeng bit his lip and gruffly replied, “Hmm.”

Instantly, Ye Chen disregarded Gu Qiu’s prohibition on checking Weibo, pulling out his phone to look at it.

Shen Mofeng watched Ye Chen, his heart pounding rapidly.

Unbidden, he felt like he had suddenly regressed ten years.

He felt like a reckless high schooler, fighting bullies for the boy he liked, a boy who was still unaware, but would soon find out, who would soon see the idiots he had beaten lying in the corridor, he…

Ye Chen looked up at him, nervously licking his lips, his pupils trembling slightly.

Those lips were moist, reflecting a faint and delicate light. Shen Mofeng’s heart skipped a beat, his neck unconsciously leaning forward about five centimeters.

But then Ye Chen’s phone rang.

“Hello, Qiu Ge.” Ye Chen hurriedly answered, “Hmm, I’ve seen it, hmm…”

Finally, Ye Chen’s manager, who Shen Mofeng had cursed to call him a thousand times, called Ye Chen as he wished…

Shen Mofeng gritted his teeth and pulled his neck back.

The author has something to say:

Will Xuanwu Cub and the grown-up Pulei Cub bully each other in the future…!

TN:

I sometimes cut-off the author’s not when they put spoilerish content there. If you’d like to see the full notes you can head on to the Novel itself.