Fu Yunzou remained calm as he listened to Yuan Xi’s explanation, showing no reaction, and this made Yuan Xi feel a bit uneasy.

After finishing the magazine cover shoot, Yuan Xi had to return to the set immediately to continue filming.

However, because of the recent controversy surrounding him, the production team once again found itself trending online. The news sparked widespread skepticism and discussion among the public, with many expressing low expectations for the drama.

Entering a production through connections was widely frowned upon.

To most people, anyone who pulled strings to get a role was either a talentless pretty face or incapable of delivering a good performance.

As soon as Yuan Xi returned to the set, he was met with an unexpected wave of concern from the crew.

While the online discussions remained speculative, the people on set knew the truth.

After seeing Chen Yang in action, they found the rumors hard to believe. Given the capabilities of Yuan Xi’s agent, even if connections were involved, they certainly wouldn’t be linked to the people the netizens had speculated about.

Feeling slightly awkward, Yuan Xi greeted the crew before sidling up to the director.

“Director, can I take a few days off?”

Yu Xinglong glanced at him, assuming the online backlash had gotten to him. He offered a reassuring smile.

“Is it because of the internet drama? Don’t let it bother you—we all believe in you.”

Yuan Xi scratched the back of his head, looking a little sheepish. Then, in a small voice, he replied.

“It’s not that. I just have some personal matters to take care of. I’m not worried about the online stuff.”

After Yuan Xi finished speaking, the director gave him a once-over before chuckling softly.

“A girlfriend, huh? You’d better explain things properly, or you might regret it for the rest of your life.”

With that, the director strolled off leisurely, not bothering to look back at Yuan Xi, whose face had turned bright red.

Flushed, Yuan Xi watched the director’s retreating figure and muttered, “It’s not a girlfriend… just a regular friend.”

With his leave successfully approved, Yuan Xi took Cheng Xiaoke and left.

Back at the main house, he glanced at the clock. There were still thirty minutes until Fu Yunzou finished work.

Determined, Yuan Xi convinced Aunt Zhang to let him take over the kitchen, planning to cook something as a peace offering for his male god.

Aunt Zhang, smiling knowingly, handed over the kitchen and then strolled to the backyard with her phone. This time, instead of reporting to Fu Yunzou, she called Shen Xiyun to give her an update.

Meanwhile, after wrapping up his meeting, Fu Yunzou instructed someone to look into the trending topic online.

He knew exactly how Yuan Xi had joined the production. With him keeping an eye on things, there was no way Chen Yang could have pulled such a blatant stunt, even if he wanted to.

Staring at the photos circulating on Weibo, Fu Yunzou felt an inexplicable irritation growing in his chest.

Fu Yunzou stared at the document in front of him, but he couldn’t process a single word.

His mind kept replaying the pictures of Hong Xue and Yuan Xi, along with the countless comments underneath.

As time passed, instead of calming down, his irritation only grew worse with all the chaotic speculations running through his head.

After sitting at his desk for a while, he finally pulled out his phone and dialed an old friend.

At that moment, Min Zi’an was at a bar, drinking. When he saw the caller ID, he nearly choked on his drink.

“Well, well, what a surprise! You’re calling me during work hours? This must be some kind of miracle.”

Fu Yunzou pinched the bridge of his nose, ignoring the teasing. “Where are you? Let’s grab a drink.”

This time, Min Zi’an was genuinely shocked. He immediately rattled off his location, then rubbed his hands together in anticipation, thoroughly amused by the unexpected turn of events.

By the time Fu Yunzou arrived at Min Zi’an’s private booth, the women who had been keeping him company had already been sent away. Now, only Min Zi’an and Yi Ge remained, chatting over drinks.

Min Zi’an smirked as he nudged Yi Ge. “Hey, what do you think is up with Lao Fu? Why the sudden urge to drink with us?”

Yi Ge took a sip of his whiskey, then glanced toward the entrance.

Fu Yunzou stood there, watching Min Zi’an with a faint smile on his lips but despite the smile, his gaze carried a dangerous edge, sending a chill down Min Zi’an’s spine.

“You curious?”

Min Zi’an immediately sensed that something was off in Fu Yunzou’s tone. His survival instincts kicked in, and he shook his head furiously.

“No, no! I was just talking nonsense. Just ignore me.”

Fu Yunzou: “…”

Rolling his eyes at Min Zi’an, Fu Yunzou sat down beside him, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and took a sip.

Unlike Min Zi’an, Yi Ge wasn’t an idiot. It was obvious that Fu Yunzou was in a bad mood. Though he wasn’t sure what the problem was, he guessed it wasn’t work-related.

“You ditched work in the middle of the day. What happened?”

Yi Ge didn’t bother with pleasantries and got straight to the point.

He knew that with someone like Fu Yunzou, the most effective way to communicate was to be direct.

Fu Yunzou downed the rest of his drink in one go, then looked up at Yi Ge.

“I… I’ve run into a situation lately.”

Main House.

Meanwhile, at home, Yuan Xi was diligently following an online recipe, carefully measuring every ingredient.

After all, he was serious about making amends.

The dishes Yuan Xi usually made were simple and unimpressive but since he needed to apologize, he had to prepare something more visually appealing and complicated to show his sincerity.

After several trials and errors, carefully learning as he went, Yuan Xi finally finished cooking. By then, the sky outside had already darkened.

He glanced out the window at the night sky, now veiled in a layer of darkness, then turned to check the clock.

Fu Yunzou had finished work half an hour ago.

Standing by the glass door, Yuan Xi watched the passing cars, his heart growing increasingly restless.

By the time Fu Yunzou arrived home, an hour had passed since he got off work. Since he had been drinking, he didn’t drive but took a cab instead.

The moment Yuan Xi spotted car lights flashing at the entrance, he immediately rushed out to greet him.

Though Fu Yunzou wasn’t drunk, a faint scent of alcohol lingered on him. When he saw Yuan Xi, his gaze flickered slightly before he naturally reached out and pulled him into an embrace.

The movement was so effortless that Yuan Xi didn’t even realize how intimate it was.

As he caught the scent of alcohol on Fu Yunzou, Yuan Xi looked up at him with concern.

“Yunzou, did you drink?”

“Mm, just a work dinner,” Fu Yunzou replied casually. His arm slowly slid down to Yuan Xi’s waist, effortlessly guiding him into the house.

The moment they stepped inside, the rich aroma of home-cooked food filled the air.

Fu Yunzou glanced at the lavish spread on the dining table, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes. He lowered his gaze to Yuan Xi.

“You made this?”

Yuan Xi rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed.

“Well… I made you dinner, so don’t be mad, okay? I can explain everything online, really.”

The smile in Fu Yunzou’s eyes deepened.

He hadn’t expected Yuan Xi to be so worried about his misunderstanding that he would take time off just to personally explain things.

Loosening his hold, Fu Yunzou reached out and ruffled Yuan Xi’s hair before taking his hand and leading him to the dining table.

“I’ll handle it. You just focus on filming.”

After they sat down, Fu Yunzou chuckled as he eyed the five or six dishes spread across the table.

“You made all this… Can we even finish it?”

For just two grown men, it was definitely a bit much.

By the time they finished eating, half of the food was still left untouched, with a few dishes barely touched at all.

Yuan Xi glanced at the table, then got up and retrieved a few storage containers from the kitchen. He carefully packed away the untouched dishes and placed them in the fridge.

While Yuan Xi was tidying up in the kitchen, Fu Yunzou’s phone lit up.

The investigation report about the trending topic had just arrived in his inbox.

Scanning through the email, his gaze lingered on the name Qi Yunrou for a moment before forwarding the message to Chen Yang.

When Yuan Xi finished washing the dishes and came out of the kitchen, he saw Fu Yunzou sitting on the sofa, looking calm as he worked on his laptop.

Drying his hands, Yuan Xi hesitantly shuffled closer, eyes filled with cautious anticipation.

“Male god, can you forgive me now? Sister Xue and I are really innocent.”

Fu Yunzou’s fingers paused on the keyboard. He lifted his head and suddenly leaned in.

“You’re that afraid I’d misunderstand?”

The space between them instantly shrank—so close that Fu Yunzou’s breath brushed against Yuan Xi’s face.

Yuan Xi’s cheeks flushed, his mind turning into a jumbled mess.

“I-I don’t know… It’s just… my instincts told me I couldn’t let you misunderstand.”

Yuan Xi blinked blankly.

He had never actually thought about why he was afraid of Fu Yunzou misunderstanding. His brain had simply given him one command: don’t let male god Yun misunderstand.

But now that Fu Yunzou had asked, Yuan Xi’s brain completely froze, unable to function properly.

Fu Yunzou hadn’t expected him to figure it out right away. Seeing Yuan Xi in a daze, he simply reached out and ruffled his hair.

“Alright, go get some rest. Tomorrow, just focus on filming. The trending topic will be taken care of by then.”

Yuan Xi had absolute trust in Fu Yunzou’s words. The moment he heard them, he nodded seriously and turned to head upstairs for bed.

Just as he reached the landing, he peeked his head back down.

“Male god Yun, you should sleep early too!”

Noticing that Fu Yunzou didn’t object to the nickname, Yuan Xi took it as silent approval and immediately grew bolder—from now on, “Male god Yun” it is!

While Yuan Xi was busy filming and shooting magazine covers, Chen Yang wasn’t exactly idle either.

As a newcomer, Yuan Xi had limited access to high-quality scripts—no matter how much Chen Yang wanted to secure them for him, he simply didn’t have the leverage yet.

So, to maintain Yuan Xi’s exposure and industry connections, Chen Yang was in the process of negotiating a spot for him on a variety show.

For celebrities, variety shows often serve as excellent platforms for exposure. The right show could propel an artist’s career forward, while the wrong one could just as easily undermine their foundation.

Just as he was deep in negotiations, Chen Yang hadn’t expected yet another round of speculation about Yuan Xi to start circulating online.

When Chen Yang saw the email from Fu Yunzou, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

Last time, Qi Yunrou had been behind the incident. He hadn’t expected her to be involved again.

But compared to before, she had leveled up—this time, at least, there was no direct evidence in the documents that could pin anything on her.

After reviewing the materials, Chen Yang trimmed the content down and forwarded it to Yu Xinglong, the director of With You for the Rest of My Life.

This incident stemmed from an internal oversight within the production crew. A props assistant had been bribed to secretly take photos of Hong Xue and Yuan Xi. The same person had also leaked the whereabouts of Hong Xue, Liang Hao, and Yuan Xi when they had gone out for dinner.

As for the trending rumors? A few paid influencers stirring the narrative in the right direction would be enough to wrap things up perfectly.

=^_^=