Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain

by Usui Takumii

not mine, new novel . org

8. 141 to 160

Chapter 141 – Lewd WeChat Comments (2)

But, even if it was just in the discussion area… Huo Chengming still couldn't help but frown a little. He couldn't shake the feeling that his precious treasure that he cherished for the longest time had been discovered by others and was now desecrated by many others' sight. That made him extremely unhappy.

Huo Chengming scrolled down some more in the discussion area.

More comments appeared on the bottom.

"Where was this picture taken? I want to go and see if I can run into her. [picture]. I felt that little sister would definitely fall for me!"

"Her legs were so straight. She'd definitely look good in black pantyhose.]

Huo Chengming's face turned dark.

Where did this disgusting man come from?

He immediately found the "Report" button and clicked on it. But, he was prompted immediately "Please log in to report."

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Huo Chengming frowned again. Now he needed to mess around for a little bit and register for a WeChat account first, log in, and go back to looking for that message.

By the time he found that WeChat message again, another flood of comments had already come in.

But so what?

Huo Chengming was determined to see this through. Frowning deeply, he stared straight at the screen and rolled through the comments, reading each of them at the same time. He swore he would find that message and report it before he quit.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other end, waited for a long time for Huo Chengming to respond. She figured he got sucked into reading on WeChat, so she stopped sending him more messages. She turned to harass Li Jinyuan instead and wanted to also congratulate him at the same time.

The secretary had knocked a few times already but hadn't heard anything. Finally, she decided to brave it and pushed open the door.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw that young Mr. Huo was sitting in his chair and unlike the usual workaholic that he was, he was looking down at… his cellphone? His cellphone?

Was she mistaken?

"Mr. Huo, this is the new proposal that just came in," said the secretary as she carefully placed the document on his desk.

She dared not look down on this Mr. Huo.

When she first joined the company, she immediately assumed that he was just some SGR there to get some experience. She had since found out that the entire company belonged to him. He was the legitimate CEO.

Huo Chengming didn't even look up but just grunted deeply.

That was not someone that one would see every day. The secretary couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Mr. Huo, you are…"

Huo Chengming finally looked up at her and asked, "Have you used WeChat before?"

The secretary nodded. "Yes, I use WeChat. You are… reading on WeChat?"

"No." Huo Chengming frowned. There was a hint of irritation between his brows. That was even more rare. After all, only too many times had the secretary seen him being nothing but relaxed and confident…

Huo Chengming asked, "I wanted to report a comment but I couldn't find it anymore after the screen had refreshed…."

The secretary was a little dumbfounded.

Report? Report a comment?

Was it some idiot who said something about him under his personal account?

But she never knew that Mr. Huo has a WeChat account.

And, even so, Mr. Huo so didn't need to do this on his own!

The secretary said softly, "It will be very difficult to find it just from scrolling."

Huo Chengming stared back down on his screen and said, "I will find it."

The secretary wasn't sure if she should cry or laugh after hearing that. This was the first time she felt a sense of petulance from the young and successful Mr. Huo. She cleared her throat some and said to him, "Would you like some help with that?"

Huo Chengming was about to nod, but he immediately recalled the content of the comment.

It was lewd and disgusting.

Words that desecrated Zhong Yuhuan, even if it was just online, just thinking about repeating them to someone else enraged him.

Yes, he wouldn't stop at just reporting him.

He wanted him to be arrested.

Scum like that. What was the point of just banning his account?

Huo Chengming didn't even look up when he said, "No need. I will take care of it myself."

Chapter 142 – Lewd WeChat Comments (3)

The secretary felt that she wouldn't be able to be of help. She just looked at her boss, who kept on scrolling down one message at a time, and felt a tremendous amount of pressure. She switched her approach. "Then do you need to verify your WeChat account? I can help you with that?"

Huo Chengming nodded casually, "Yes, after I am done here."

As he was saying that, Huo Chengming accidentally exited out of discussion.

When he clicked back in, there were even more comments in the discussion area.

The comments that were pushed to top had also changed. It was now – "This is little sister's WeChat YuanhuanhL. No need to thank me! I am a nice person!"

Huo Chengming paused and clicked inside of it.

The newest post was, "Art show. [Picture] [Picture]"

This was Zhong Yuhuan's WeChat?

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Huo Chengming had never really used WeChat before. He had only looked at it occasionally in the past. He had never commented, liked, or reposted. Naturally, he had never needed to have his own account.

He clicked back out and did a search and found Li Jinyuan's WeChat. Even Li Jinyuan had his WeChat now! Even though he had just registered for one two days ago.

Huo Chengming's eyelid skipped. Could he wait any longer?

Of course he couldn't!

Huo Chengming immediately followed Zhong Yuhuan's WeChat.

Then, he returned to looking for that one message, carefully, without missing even one of them.

It took him a whole hour before he finally found it again. He clicked into the poster's main page, posting history, screenshot his comment under the article and finally reported him.

After he was done with all that, he didn't stop. He continued to scroll down and see if there were any other similar comments.

He kept going until he had reported 7 to 8 comments before he turned and handed his cellphone over to his secretary and had her take screenshots of them.

Now, the secretary was truly shocked. She had never seen anything that obsessive-compulsive!

She couldn't believe that those kinds of languages in a WeChat discussion bothered Mr. Huo so much!

The secretary carefully looked over the picture and discovered that Mr. Huo wasn't even doing it for himself. He was doing it for someone else… and looked to be a girl who had just become popular online… Oh, she had come across that top trending search today as well.

Suddenly, the secretary had an odd look on her.

Was this the rumored domineering CEO?

He wouldn't even allow others to talk sh*t about the girl that he liked online!

While the secretary was thinking that, she also felt a sense of joy at the same time.

There were too many obscene men on the internet that would always make lewd comments at a girl's picture. In a carelessly lazy manner, they would comment on how big her chest was and whether she would look good in black panty hose. Even if the girls just have a bruise on their knees, that would still bring about a bunch of suggestive comments. Even if the girl was a victim, they would still comment on the pictures of the victims…

The secretary, with her boss's cellphone in hand, emotionally and a little panicky sent over all the screenshots to her own computer before she quickly returned the cellphone back to Huo Chengming.

Huo Chengming took his cellphone back and gave Zhong Yuhuan a call.

Maybe he should ask her to not use WeChat so often?

That way there wouldn't be all those disgusting comments.

Chapter 143 – Huanhuan, call me gege (1)

When Huo Chengming was calling Zhong Yuhuan, she was on the phone with Li Jinyuan.

"We are filming the third season right now," said Li Jinyuan on the other end of the phone.

"Oh! There have only been two seasons?" asked Zhong Yuhuan hazily. She hadn't been paying too much attention to this.

"Only the first season has aired."

Zhong Yuhuan, "…"

So that was the first season that she saw? That was pretty impressive.

"Have you finished taking care of all of your matters, Huanhuan?" asked Li Jinyuan.

"Mm, more or less."

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"Then how'd you like to come visit the filming location?" asked Li Jinyuan with his voice lowered. Zhong Yuhuan could almost imagine how he gripped on to the phone tightly from his nervousness.

But Zhong Yuhuan turned his offer down anyway, "Nah."

Li Jinyuan had done very well in the overseas' modeling world, but now that he is back in his home country, he is still just a newbie in the domestic entertainment circle. If she was to visit, he'll need to have his production team's approval. So why bother? "As a newbie, it's better to hold off on visiting."

Li Jinyuan sounded down all of a sudden. "Okay, then you come after a few more seasons."

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a little and said, "Okay."

With Li Jinyuan's ability, the show was already up on the trending searches list after just the first season. He'd be the star on the team in a few more seasons. When she goes to visit him then, whether or not it'd be a hassle would no longer be an issue.

"Take lots of pictures. We will look at them with Huo Chengming when you return!" said Zhong Yuhuan on her end.

"Okay."

Their conversation was more or less over, so Zhong Yuhuan was getting ready to hang up. But Li Jinyuan's breathing became heavier, a hint that his mood has changed. He pushed the microphone closer to his face and said, both with a smile and a sense of dejection, "I miss you already, Huanhuan."

Before the official filming of the show, Li Jinyuan, along with the other candidates, had undergone training in isolation. The entire training was also filmed and would be aired later on as extras.

Which was why Li Jinyuan had barely any contact with Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan hadn't thought much about it. Afterall, she had spent quite a bit of time with both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming over the last few years.

Now that Li Jinyuan had said it out loud in the longing and at a loss tone, Zhong Yuhuan also felt a slight tug at her heart. She did miss the time when all three of them were spending Christmas together in England. That seemed like it had just taken place yesterday…

"Huo Chengming and I miss you too." Zhong Yuhuan's voice became softer and more tender.

On his end, Li Jinyuan's grip on the phone tightened even more.

Normally speaking, there was nothing wrong with what she had said.

Li Jinyuan didn't care about whether Huo Chengming missed him or not. What was the point of two grown men missing each other? He only wanted to hear that Zhong Yuhuan missed him too directly from her.

"Okay, bye-bye then," Li Jinyuan's tone was even deeper. The voice that belonged to an adult man came through the phone. It was light and low. The voice seemed to have turned into threads that had tangled up with the sound wave and entered into Zhong Yuhuan's ear.

"Bye bye," said Zhong Yuhuan as she reflexively lifted her hand and rubbed her ear.

After she had put the phone down, she couldn't help but let out a sigh.

He was, indeed, the male lead.

Even his tone was so charming when he said goodbye.

Chapter 144 – Huanhuan, call me gege (2)

On the other side, as soon as Li Jinyuan had hung up the phone, he looked up and saw his three old roommates from during the training period looking squarely at him.

"Phone call with your girlfriend?" One of them asked.

Li Jinyuan busted out laughing. "Of course not."

The one who asked nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Good then. Keep in mind that we've all signed contracts when we joined the show. We are not allowed to date during the period when the contract is in effect."

Another one chimed in as well, "Never mind about the contracted period. We can't date even after the show is over. Once we started dating, our career would be over before it even got started."

Someone teased, "No worries. Li Jinyuan is still so young. He won't be dating for a while."

Li Jinyuan nodded.

Exactly.

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He wouldn't be dating for a while.

He didn't know how Huo Chengming felt about this, but at least he himself had never considered that possibility.

Picturing Zhong Yuhuan's look in his head, Li Jinyuan tightened his lips a bit and said, "I was talking to my sister on the phone."

"What? Li Jinyuan has a sister?"

"She must be very pretty!"

"How old is your sister now? Does she have a boyfriend?"

Li Jinyuan's face dropped all of a sudden. "Didn't you just say that we are not allowed to date?"

The others chuckled and said, "We are not the same as you. Even if you don't get first place, you are still someone that the show wants to come back. There will be companies lining up to sign with you after the show is over. Of course you won't be able to date. We are just here for the head count. Once it's over, we are going to go back to become interns… when we can't even do that anymore, we will just go home."

"That's right. I am going to go home and become a piano instructor."

"I will go open up a bookstore…"

"And that's why we can date all we want!" said all three of them at them at the same time.

Li Jinyuan: "…"

"My sister is the same age as me. She can't get married legally yet," said Li Jinyuan with his brows raised.

One of them patted him on his shoulder and said, "So what? We could be dating for 2-3 years. Then it'd be perfect…"

Li Jinyuan's face turned dark. "No, you can't. You are not my sister's type."

"Are we not good looking enough?" The three of them looked at each other as they talked.

Of course, they were just kidding. None of them were truly interested.

But Li Jinyuan sulked and stopped talking after giving them a polite smile.

Were they as good looking as him? No, they were not as good looking as him.

The group had a short break after another two hours of filming.

Sitting to one side, Li Jinyuan slowly replayed the dancing and singing techniques that were taught to them by the instructors, as well as how to insert one's emotion into them… that was Li Jinyuan's weakness.

While he was in his own little world, he heard his three roommates, along with a few other candidates talking about the latest discussions on WeChat.

"That's so wealthy…."

"So nice to be a Second Generation Rich."

"This one is pretty!"

"She is very pretty. When she stands in front of the picture, you can't even tell who's the art here…"

"I am saving this picture."

"I am following her as well…"

Li Jinyuan was still quietly going through the lessons in his head, unaffected by what was going on around him.

He didn't care who was rich or who was pretty. That had nothing to do with him.

Shortly after, the filming of the show resumed. Li Jinyuan quickly put down his cellphone and had no more time to look at the WeChat that Zhong Yuhuan was sending over.

Chapter 145 – Huanhuan, call me gege (3)

Zhong Yuhuan received the call from Huo Chengming as soon as she had hung up with Li Jinyuan.

"What are you doing?"

"Lying on the couch. Like a salted fish."

Huo Chengming couldn't help but grumble to himself.

What did she mean by "salted fish"? But he was too embarrassed to ask. He didn't want to be seen as ignorant in front of Zhong Yuhuan.

Huo Chengming figured he'd just look it up later. Huo Chengming quickly chucked that idea and moved onto a more important subject.

"Don't read so much WeChat. Sleep some more. You had been so busy a while back."

Zhong Yuhuan found his tone amusing. All of a sudden, Huo Chengming was sounding more and more like an older brother now.

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Zhong Yuhuan nodded immediately and said, "Mm, okay."

Huo Chengming didn't feel that that was good enough and added, "Especially the comment section. There's no need to read through them. They are all stupid anyway."

That was awfully specific, but Zhong Yuhuan acknowledged docilely anyway, "Mm, alright."

After Huo Chengming had said what he wanted to say, he still felt that something was a little off.

Phone in his hand, he had no intention of hanging up just yet.

Zhong Yuhuan waited for a little before she started talking again, "Why aren't you talking anymore? Something happened on your end?"

Suddenly, Huo Chengming was enlightened.

He finally realized what that awkward feeling was all about.

Huo Chengming asked in a deep voice, "How come Huanhuan doesn't call me 'Chengming-gege' anymore?"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't pay too much attention to what he said right away. She couldn't help the urge to rub her ear first. Aiya, another cannon of deep voice.

Both of them were talking in different tones, as though they were letting out their male pheromone subconsciously. Granted, both of them sounded quite attractive as well.

"Huanhuan?" called Huo Chengming again in a low voice.

Zhong Yuhuan finally said, "Now that we are all grown up, that didn't seem right anymore."

Huo Chengming felt that he couldn't sit still anymore. There was an indescribable irritation inside of him.

He stood up and said in a deep voice, "I am not your brother anymore now that we are grownups?"

"You don't find that awkward?"

"No."

"But still…" Zhong Yuhuan gave it some serious thought and said, "What happens when you have a girlfriend later on?"

She couldn't offend both the female lead and the villain's wife at the same time.

That sounded like a very bad idea. It's must safer to just stick with using his name.

Besides, there was no more need to use words like that to make them feel close together with each other anymore.

Huo Chengming's irritation thickened.

He couldn't even stand looking at anything on his desk. With one hand propped on his desk, he said in a deep voice, "I don't have a girlfriend. What a girlfriend. And why is it not good?"

Huo Chengming gripped on tighter to the phone. In his mind, there was a picture of the very first time that Zhong Yuhuan called him big brother a long, long time ago.

Huo Chengming's breathing slowed, and he settled down. The numbing, achy, and burning sensation had returned to his chest once again.

He let out a deep breath slowly then. With a deep and domineering voice, he said into the phone, "Call me 'gege'."

Zhong Yuhuan felt a numbing sensation in her ear for a quick second.

Huo Chengming's voice came over like an electric current through the phone.

Huo Chengming didn't hear her, so he repeated himself, "Huanhuan, call me 'gege'."

His voice was deep, and this time, there was a distinctive domineering feel to it.

Chapter 146 – Excuse Me. I Need To Go Get My Wife Some Tea (1)

"Hmmm… Chengming-gege," said Zhong Yuhuan softly. It was just like old times. Her voice was soft and delicate.

Huo Chengming had heard it many a times in the past.

But this time seemed to have overlapped with the very first time he heard it. He felt heat radiating from his neck, ears, and chest.

Huo Chengming parted his lips and wanted to say something else, but the next moment he could already hear the dial tone from his phone.

Huo Chengming had no choice but to swallow up what he was going to say.

But the "Chengming-gege" from earlier stayed inside him, bouncing back and forth and wouldn't go anywhere.

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Zhong Yuhuan put down her phone and touched her ear.

Huo Chengming's tone just now suddenly reminded her of his real identity. He was the boss villain.

Zhong Yuhuan let out a breath and thought to herself; his ears used to turn red when she called him "gege" when he was a kid. Now he asked for it proactively.

Tsk.

Men!

They are all up to no good!

The show that Li Jinyuan was in had quickly moved into season 3.

He was up on most trending searches again and many netizens were referring to him as "Puppy Love Face of the Citizens". They believed that nobody would not want to be in love with him given his look and constitution!

Li Jinyuan became super popular on the web at an astonishing speed. His fans had further increased to 5 million in a matter of weeks!

By the time season 4 was on air, Xu Yunhui and Xu Yushan's trials were over.

Xu Yunhui was sentenced to life in prison and the latter 3 years of prison time.

That was the result of Xu Yushan pushing everything she could onto Xu Yunhui.

A scandal of this magnitude involving a prominent family would, of course, become news. All the media outlets were fighting over reporting the news.

Even Lang Jinzhi read that in the newspaper.

It wasn't a big deal for everyone under the sun to learn about the crimes of Xu Yunhui and her daughter. Problem was when the focus was the scandal of a prominent family. They would be locked onto the Zhong's and that would turn into harassment for Zhong Yuhuan.

When Secretary Cheng came into his office carrying some documents, Lang Jinzhi looked up and said to him in a low voice, "Go and let them know that they can do all the reporting that they want, but do not go harass Zhong Yuhuan."

Secretary Cheng nodded and said, "Okay."

Secretary Cheng was a man of high efficiency. After he had put down the documents, he immediately picked up the newspaper on Lang Jinzhi's desk, took it with him, and quickly contacted all the newspapers and media.

All he needed to do was say a few words to each; it was nothing difficult to take care of.

To put it bluntly, the media never worried about anyone else. They didn't care for actors/actresses nor did they care about prominent families or wealthy businessmen, but they did care for Lang Jinzhi and his sort. Lang Jinzhi didn't even need to say the words himself, even when it was just his secretary who passed on his words, that would be sufficient to get them to behave themselves.

The very next day, Zhong Yuhuan immediately noticed significantly fewer reporters waiting outside of her house.

Even the maid at home couldn't help but say, "Even with our tight security, they somehow were still able to sneak inside. Such shameless people! Luckily, they finally know to leave on their own… Miss almost couldn't even walk out of the house because of them."

Zhong Yuhuan, curled up on the couch, smiled mildly and didn't say anything.

Assistant Zhao was reporting to her the recent activities of the company and even made Zhong Yuhuan a cup of black tea. The black tea was brought back from England by Zhong Yuhuan previously. Black tea in hand, Zhong Yuhuan asked in a low voice, "Xu Xing should have found out about it by now? What was his reaction about all this?"

Chapter 147 – Excuse Me. I Need To Go Get My Wife Some Tea (2)

"That was quite odd… Young Master Xu didn't seem fond of Xu Yunhui, but he cried after hearing the verdict. But then, the first thing he said was that he wanted to switch to a different school and not stay at Murphy's anymore."

"Where is he now?"

"The Xu's took him in."

Zhong Yuhuan raised her brows, "The Xu's have other family members?"

"Yes, Xu Yunhui's parents are still around. She has two sisters as well. Her parents had taken Young Master Xu in," said Assistant Zhao. Then, after a pause, he added, "What Boss Zhong said previously was that he wouldn't admit Young Master Xu as part of the Zhong's…" Except that everybody with half a brain knew that Xu Xing was Zhong Chi's son. So the matters of Xu Xing became a sticky issue.

If they were to stick to Boss Zhong's words, it would be Zhong Yuhuan who'd be called uncaring by the public.

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Assistant Zhao was mostly on Zhong Yuhuan's side. Naturally, it was not his wish to see Miss Zhong, his current boss, to be chided by public opinions.

And negative public opinions may also affect their stock prices.

When Boss Zhong was around, he was the older generation and nobody would challenge decisions that he made. But when it came to Miss Zhong, it could be viewed as her attacking her younger brother.

Naturally, Zhong Yuhuan understood what Assistant Zhao was trying to tell her. She smiled slightly and said, "The Zhong's will continue to pay for his school. Whether he wants to complete his bachelor degree or get a phD, we will take care of that as well. I think that should be sufficient. And, didn't Xu Yunhui have a house and a car? All those will become his as well when the time comes. With house, car, and tuition paid for, he is already luckier than many."

"Okay, we will see to that."

Having said that, Zhong Yuhuan put down her tea and turned on her phone to watch a video clip on WeChat.

It was a clip about Li Jinyuan.

During the filming of his show, Li Jinyuan had recorded a MV for a very popular singer. In the MV, he played the role of a lonely prince whose empire had collapsed. He had on a crown that was tilted to one side and a wasp-waisted red and white Napoleon outfit with a sword in his hand.

Li Jinyuan had taken fencing in the past, so when he held the sword under the camera, he was tall, slender, exquisitely handsome, and the Napoleon outfit made him seem even more restrained and noble.

Even Zhong Yuhuan must sigh after she finished watching the video clip and lament about how charming Li Jinyuan was.

No wonder he was the male lead!

After she had finished watching the clip, she looked under the WeChat message – reposted 10,000 times, 13,000 comments.

Sure enough…

She wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Everybody else felt the same way as well! Which was why they reposted it so readily!

Zhong Yuhuan then clicked into Li Jinyuan's WeChat.

He has even more fans now. Now he has 6,800,000 fans.

At this rate, his number of fans would exceed 10 million in no time…

Zhong Yuhuan hadn't looked at WeChat for a few days because of what Huo Chengming had said. Now that she remembered, she clicked under her own WeChat to look.

She re-logged into her WeChat that she has already been logged out of.

She looked under her main page and she has 2,300,000 fans. Naturally, it didn't come close to what Li Jinyuan has. But if that was merely from one picture, that was still pretty impressive.

Zhong Yuhuan casually took a picture of her black tea and posted it onto WeChat.

Even though she wasn't some sort of internet influencer, now that she has so many followers, she felt bad that she hasn't posted anything new in such a long time. She didn't want to disappoint her fans.

Chapter 148 – Excuse Me. I Need To Go Get My Wife Some Tea (3)

As soon as her WeChat was posted, comments came flooding in immediately.

"Wife's hand is so pretty. Her fingers are so slender and long and pretty!"

"What's wife drinking right now? Tea? Excuse me, I need to get my wife some tea!"

"Even her hand is so pretty… looking back at myself I feel like a piggy…"

Zhong Yuhuan clicked on the profiles of posters who referred to her as "wife". It turned out that they were mostly girls.

Hmm. So girls nowadays didn't just refer to others as "husband", they use "wife" as well?

That's kind of cute.

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Zhong Yuhuan picked a couple of them randomly and replied with a "heart" emoji.

Huo Chengming took off his jacket and placed it aside.

Leaning over slightly, he was studying a construction plan with a very focused look.

Nobody dared to breath too loudly around him.

Soon, a chime from his cellphone broke the silence in the room, even Huo Chengming paused for a second before he realized what the chime was.

It was a notification.

It was set by his secretary. He would receive notifications whenever there were activities on Zhong Yuhuan's WeChat.

Huo Chengming stood up straight and picked up his cellphone.

And that's when he saw Zhong Yuhuan's new post on WeChat.

Huo Chengming didn't even think about it before he responded, "The F&M Earl Grey that we brought back last time was even better. It's inside the cabinet on the left-hand side when you walk inside the living room."

He waited and waited with his phone in hand, but he didn't see any responses from Zhong Yuhuan.

Okay, never mind that.

Huo Chengming refreshed the page and saw that the hottest comments were "Wife's hand is so pretty. Lick, lick, lick." And "What's wife drinking right now? Tea? Excuse me, I need to go get my wife some tea!"

Huo Chengming clicked in to look and saw that not only did Zhong Yuhuan respond back to them, she responded with a heart emoji!

Immediately, Huo Chengming felt that he had just eaten a whole lemon.

… soo sour.

"Mr. Huo?" Someone prompted him softly from one side.

They still have other issues that need to be taken care of.

Huo Chengming suppressed his rage under his eyes and put away his cellphone, feigning a sense of calmness. But his ears were still perked up, waiting to see if he would hear another notification.

During the filming of his show, Li Jinyuan did not accept any interviews from the media with the exception of a few regular activities.

And the less interviews he went on, the more curious his web fans became.

So, all of a sudden, everybody wanted to have an interview with him.

Strawberry Media was the lucky media who was able to book Li Jinyuan!

Li Jinyuan was very different in person than he was on the camera.

That was the thought of the workers at Strawberry Media as they were dazed.

He was 100 times better looking in person! And his temperament was 100 times better as well!

What kind of mighty prince-like character was this?! When he walked in front of the camera, not only was his image not ruined, he was even more outstanding!

After some simple greetings, the interview commenced.

"Age?"

"18."

"Height?"

"1.82 meter."

"Oh, you've grown taller! Can you let us know what you were thinking during the shooting of this MV?"

"I appreciate the opportunity of being a part of it."

"Haha, that sounded like such an official answer." The host laughed and asked, "Everybody said that you looked very much like a noble prince with the sword in hand. What are your thoughts on that?"

"I don't want to be a prince. I would much rather be a knight."

"Prince, knight, both are cool!" Praised the host before he asked again, "I heard that the way you held the sword was very professional?"

"Yes, I have had some lessons in fencing in the past."

"Wow! That's amazing! What kind of hobbies do you have normally? Is it fencing?"

Li Jinyuan smiled tenderly and said, "Does tea-drinking count? Black tea."

Chapter 149 – A visit from the Xu's (1)

"The closeup shots during the interview were so amazing!"

"Likes drinking tea? Had fencing lessons? What kind of fairy hobbies are those?"

"I want to see Li Jinyuan at fencing!"

"Agree +1"

"Agree +2"

"Likes to drink tea sounds so old school… along with fencing though, now it sounds classy and restrained!"

Among all the raves, there were a couple of black fans.

"Other people's hobbies are always playing games, listening to music. Emmmm, why is this Li Jinyuan so different? Fencing and tea-drinking? Why did he bring up tea-drinking so randomly? Was he waiting for some sort of offer to be a spokesperson? Tsk, tsk, the new people nowadays. Just a few seasons into the show and he's already being manipulative."

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"Probably his team wanted to create a certain image for him…"

"Oh, c'mon, you people. So what if he mentioned that he likes to drink tea during his interview? He isn't the only person who likes tea. Why did it have to be about setting an image?"

"+1. Didn't what's her name, yuhuanhL, who made the top trending list, also posted a picture of her black tea? So many people like tea under the sun. What was your problem that he must be trying to set an image or waiting to be a spokesperson?"

"…"

With so many people online, naturally some would like Li Jinyuan and others not so much.

When the director came over, Li Jinyuan was just flipping over the comments from the interview.

The director noticed that he was looking a little cold. "Hey, don't mind those. Naturally there would be praises along with criticisms. Just don't read so much and stay happy. You are popular now. Who cares about what those idiots are saying? C'mon over, let's talk about filming for the next season."

Li Jinyuan nodded and didn't explain himself.

Naturally, it wasn't the comments online that was bothering him.

With him and Huo Chengming's background, they had been through a lot already. The comments online were nothing to him.

Praises from others wouldn't give him a big head, nor would criticisms bring him down.

The only thing that Li Jinyuan cares about is…

So many people liked tea under the sun…

Really, that many?

Li Jinyuan felt an odd disappointment.

Would Huanhuan be able to get his meaning? What he intended to do was to refer to Huanhuan's tea picture in his interview.

… That kind of unspoken understanding would have given Li Jinyuan great joy. But now that joy was ruined.

Li Jinyuan put away his cellphone and walked over to the conference room with the director.

Inside the conference room, the other 21 candidates have already been seated. They all looked up at Li Jinyuan when they heard footsteps. The way the others looked at him has changed. Some were envious, others wanted to curry favors from him. Among the 22 candidates, Li Jinyuan was the only one who has become superstar popular and he was always up on the most trended list. How could others still look at him the same way they used to?

Li Jinyuan saw how all the others were looking at him. Refined and cultured, he remained a perfect gentleman on the outside; but he was happy deep down inside.

But, that was nothing. He would be climbing even higher.

If he could go all the way to the top, did that mean he could provide even more for Huanhuan?

With that in mind, Li Jinyuan pulled out the chair in front of him.

Zhong Yuhuan went to a concert. When she got home, she called up Han Yingying and set a time to go shopping with her in a few days.

The car stopped outside of the mansion. As soon as Zhong Yuhuan got out of her car, she could see a few shadows outside of the front door. Obviously waiting for someone…. They could only be waiting for her.

Zhong Yuhuan's face dropped right away.

Assistant Zhao broke out in cold sweat from behind her. "I am sorry, Miss. I didn't think they would come here."

"It's not your fault."

When Zhong Yuhuan got closer, she could see their looks clearly.

There were quite a few of them. One, two… seven. There were a total of 7 people. Zhong Yuhuan speculated from their ages. They were Xu Yunhui's parents, two sisters, brother-in-laws, and the one at the very front, with his head lower and radiating an air of gloominess, was Xu Xing.

Xu Yunhui's two sisters looked a lot like her. Their faces were pretty and their bodies full. Yet the way they were carrying their purses made them look very stuck up.

Chapter 150 – A visit from the Xu's (2)

When Zhong Yuhuan walked up, both of Xu Yunhui's two sisters refrained themselves a little bit.

They were both pretty experienced individuals as well, but standing in front of Zhong Yuhuan, they just look like wild pheasants pretending to be phoenixes. They dared not humiliate themselves in front of her.

"Something's the matter?" asked Zhong Yuhuan politely even though she quite disliked these individuals.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Xu Yunhui's parents must know about Xu Yunhui's affair with Zhong Chi for years despite his marriage, and even having and raising his kids. They probably have a hand in that as well.

"Xu Xing is, after all, the son of Mr. Zhong." The old lady lifted her eyelids that were wrinkled like orange peels and stuttered as she spoke, "We are not here to ask for a lot, but just the childcare fees for him. He is still in senior high school and will need more money in the future. His grandfather and I are old and we don't have pensions. Things are difficult for us… do you think…"

Zhong Yuhuan turned to look at Assistant Zhao.

Assistant Zhao immediately said, "Ah, you may not be aware of it but Miss has already set money aside for Mr. Xu all the way until he graduates college. Whether he decides on going for a master degree or a phD, it would not be an issue. Of course, that wasn't because Mr. Xu is Boss Zhong's son, but that our Miss has a kind heart and wants to help him out."

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Xu Yunhui's sisters' faces dropped immediately. "What do you mean by he's not Boss Zhong's son?"

The old lady, on the other hand, immediately grabbed the two of them by their wrists and bowed to them with embarrassment and stuttered, "Aye, aye, that's great. Thank you. Thank you. We didn't know. We will leave now. Right now…"

The old lady was not an unreasonable person.

Zhong Yuhuan was surprised too.

But that was nice. If every member of the Xu's were shameless, Xu Xing wouldn't have much future to speak of.

Zhong Yuhuan had only recently found out from Assistant Zhao that while she was overseas, Xu Xing was doing worse and worse every year at Murphy's High School. Not only was he not able to blend into the circle of the Second Generation Rich kids, the kids of politicians or other prestigious families were definitely out of the question. The problem was that he didn't get along with any of them. Zhong Chi was always angry about that and each time after Zhong Chi yelled at him, Xu Xing would become more and more quiet.

Even Zhong Yuhuan felt bad for him just hearing about it.

She did not, however, have the kindness of Mother Mary to be concerned about him. She has a handful with just Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

"Assistant Zhao, see them out," said Zhong Yuhuan in a low voice.

"Okay." Assistant Zhao, along with the security guards of the mansion, saw the group out.

At the other end, as soon as Assistant Zhao had walked the group out, a car pulled up in front of them.

Assistant Zhao took a closer look and saw that it was Huo Chengming who just got out of the car.

He hasn't seen Huo Chengming very many times. He used to think of him as the kid who was adopted by the Zhong's but now he saw him differently… Now, the only impression left was what he had read about him in financial news. He had heard rumors about him as well. It was said that he used to be in business with Young Master Chen. Later on, he seemed to have some sort of ties with a triad in Europe. He had become quite well-known not long after that… he was described by those in the circle as a "young talent" whom one didn't "want to offend".

When everyone was able to put Huo Chengming together with the boy who was adopted by Zhong Chi, they all lamented – Boss Zhong may have passed away early, but Miss Zhong was truly a lucky person!

Never mind the rest, just Young Master Huo current status alone would be able to guarantee that Miss Zhong would never have a bad day in her life. In addition, Huo Chengming ties with the Zhong's would, in a sense, further solidify the Zhong's business. It was the same way a wedding alliance would stabilize stock prices.

That in and of itself had stabilized the feelings of a lot of the Zhong's upper management.

Chapter 151 – A visit from the Xu's (3)

Assistant Zhao quickly pushed aside all of his other thoughts and greeted Huo Chengming.

Huo Chengming nodded at him and glanced over at Father Xu, Mother Xu, and the group… He frowned slightly and asked coldly, "Who are those people?"

Assistant Zhao explained to him right away.

Unlike Zhong Yuhuan, Huo Chengming was tall with broad shoulders. Standing next to Zhong Yuhuan, he was very intimidating.

His standing there alone was enough to make others feel a strong pressure and wouldn't even so much as think about rebelling against him.

The young man in suit and tie standing in front of him gave off the image of a male lion.

Xu Yunhui's two sisters were just thinking that this Miss Zhong must be a pushover with good temperament, seeing how she had just casually handed out money to Xu Xing. And that when Xu Yunhui first moved into the Zhong's, she had immediately gone overseas. It was quite obvious. It must just be a coincidence that she was the sole heir of the entire Zhong's fortune. A girl could never safeguard a family's fortune. Both of Xu Yunhui's sisters thought that they could hit Zhong Yuhuan up from time to time for money.

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But now, never mind about hitting her up, even all of their thoughts about it were squashed.

They gulped with difficulty and felt that they have been seen through. They wouldn't even dare look Huo Chengming in his eyes.

"Don't ever come here again. I don't have a lot of patience," said Huo Chengming coldly.

He didn't say much after that but quickly went inside. It wasn't easy for him to take time away from work, and he came specifically to spend some time with Zhong Yuhuan. He wouldn't want to waste his time on these people.

After Huo Chengming had gone inside the house, Xu Yunhui's second sister asked out loud, "Is that Boss Zhong's son too?" Why was it that he could stay in the Zhong's mansion?

Assistant Zhao replied nonchalantly, "He's the Zhong's adopted son, brother of our Miss."

"Adopted son?" The sister's tone changed right away. She was obviously feeling very unjust that they refused to admit that Xu Xing, who was his biological son, as his real son, and that he was still living with the Xu's, but the adopted son could freely go in and out of the Zhong's mansion. How did that happen?

The other sister quickly tugged her on her arm and said in a low voice, "The adopted son is already CEO of his own company…"

The second sister shut up immediately.

Yes, they could not afford to offend them…

Assistant Zhao saw them out. After the car was gone, he couldn't help but lament.

Whatever happened to Boss Zhong to want to be with a woman coming from a family like that?

Wouldn't a true lady like Miss Zhong's mother be more pleasing and likeable?

When Huo Chengming stepped inside the mansion, he immediately heard a song being played.

Probably from some sort of a video clip.

When he walked closer, he could see that it was a video clip of Li Jinyuan.

Li Jinyuan was singing a love song. His voice was soft and lingering, as though he was whispering to his lover…

Huo Chengming walked closer and saw that Zhong Yuhuan was smiling. She was smiling happily.

What was so funny about that?

Huo Chengming wasn't too happy about it.

She hasn't even responded to his comment yet.

"Huanhuan."

"Eh?" Zhong Yuhuan looked up at him and said, "How come you are back?"

Huo Chengming frowned and said, "I need to go on a business trip so I wanted to come home and see you first."

Zhong Yuhuan patted the spot next to her and said, "C'mon over. Watch this with me."

That made Huo Chengming even more unhappy.

She wanted to share Li Jinyuan's video with him? Was Li Jinyuan really that good at singing and dancing?

Zhong Yuhuan shoved her cellphone into his hand. Huo Chengming looked down at the cellphone and noticed that it was a comical video clip of Li Jinyuan, and on the screen was all sorts of comical comments…

Huo Chengming felt better right away and his mood immediately improved.

Chapter 152 – Isn't It Obvious Who Is More Important? (1)

When Huo Chengming said he'd spend some time with Zhong Yuhuan, he really only stayed to have dinner with her.

The chef at the mansion made a seafood feast with shrimp and crab. Huo Chengming took off his suit, rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands, sat down, and started peeling the shrimp.

Zhong Yuhuan, too, had washed her hands, but as soon as she reached out her hand and before she had even touched a shrimp, Huo Chengming didn't even look up when he said, "Don't move."

"Huh?" Zhong Yuhuan looked at him dubiously.

"The shrimp are prickly. You will be hurt."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't believe him, so she reached her finger out and poked at one of them.

Sure enough, the thorns on the shrimp were hard and sharp.

"Why is it okay for you?" asked Zhong Yuhuan again. Wouldn't he be hurt too?

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She looked down at his hands. Huo Chengming had been peeling them at lightning speed. The small plate in front of him was already lined with a row of nicely peeled shrimp.

Zhong Yuhuan touched his wrist. Even through the thin layer of the plastic glove, Huo Chengming could feel the heat from her hand. He stopped what he was doing immediately.

"…. Hmm? Hard?" Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second before she figured it out. "This is callous? How come you have such calloused hands?" Zhong Yuhuan lifted up his hand and studied it back and forth.

Her fingers were soft, and her palm was smooth and warm.

All of a sudden, Huo Chengming felt that his hand didn't even belong to him anymore, and he had lost the ability to control it.

Zhong Yuhuan flipped his palm up and finally saw all the callouses.

She couldn't help but wonder.

Huo Chengming hadn't been doing any laborious work since he left the Welfare Services. Why would his hands be calloused? Did Huo Chengming go to do some construction work after she had left for college in Australia? …Obviously that was a ludicrous thought. Zhong Yuhuan quickly shot down that idea.

Not having heard a response from Huo Chengming after a long while, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but look up at him.

Huo Chengming, sitting there, seemed to have turned into a statue. He, too, was looking at Zhong Yuhuan with a profound look.

The air around them seemed to be a bit curious.

Zhong Yuhuan took her hand back and said, "Yikes, got grease on my hand… doesn't look like these gloves are very grease-proof…"

Huo Chengming finally seemed like his "Play" button had been pushed again. He retrieved his hand, readjusted his glove, and said in a low voice, "Yes, that's why you shouldn't be touching them anymore."

Zhong Yuhuan felt that the atmosphere was a bit odd so she nodded docilely and didn't say anything else.

Huo Chengming secretly let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn't like this in the past, thought Huo Chengming to himself as he lowered his head and turned his attention back to the shrimp.

Up until now, he had enjoyed being close to Zhong Yuhuan. He had carried her on his back, hugged her, and been a pillow for her in the past. He would feel an indescribable peacefulness whenever he has done that and his heart would soften.

But now, he felt nervous. Even his breath had slowed.

As though each time Zhong Yuhuan touched him, it'd stir up some sort of chemical reaction and he would suddenly feel all sorts of awkwardness.

Huo Chengming has yet to figure out why that was even after he had finished peeling the entire plate of shrimp.

When he reached out to the second plate of shrimp, Zhong Yuhuan finally said to him, "I won't be able to eat it all if you peel more." Having said that, she peeked at his look before she added, "Chengming-gege."

That's when Huo Chengming finally stopped, removed his gloves, and went to wash his hands.

As she was eating the shrimp, Zhong Yuhuan asked, "What's the matter, Chengming-gege?"

"What do you mean?" asked Huo Chengming as he pulled out the chair and sat down. He looked like he was at loss again.

Chapter 153 – Isn't It Obvious Who Is More Important? (2)

Zhong Yuhuan lifted her finger and pointed at him. "You seem a bit odd… Have you been working too hard lately?"

Huo Chengming looked down and avoided Zhong Yuhuan's look as he said, "Yeah, a little bit."

"Then you should get some more rest." As she was talking, Zhong Yuhuan quickly ate over half of the shrimp and left the remaining ones for Huo Chengming. "You have some. I am full."

Huo Chengming didn't think much about it and finished all the remaining ones using his chopsticks.

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Early in the morning."

"Then wake me up. I'll go to the airport with you."

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Huo Chengming shook his head and said, "No, just sleep in. I have chauffeur and bodyguards. I won't need you there."

"That's not the same. I am your sister. They are not."

The odd sensation that was weighing down inside of him seemed to have dispersed. He may have said he didn't want her to go to the airport with him, but he hoped that she would deep down inside. He tightened his lips a bit and said, "Okay, then don't stay up too late."

"Okay, I am just going to watch some more videos and give Li Jinyuan a call then I will turn in. Remember to wake me up tomorrow morning." Zhong Yuhuan urged him again. She had gotten very used to her cozy days lately. All she did day in and day out was to eat and play and sleep till whenever she wanted to. She worried that she wouldn't be able to get up on time.

Huo Chengming nodded. Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind.

Watch some more videos?

Videos of whom?

Li Jinyuan again?

And she was going to call him after that?

Huo Chengming felt as though someone had shoved a lemon inside his mouth.

Zhong Yuhuan hasn't responded to his comment yet!

He wanted to say something, but he couldn't bring himself to…

He gripped onto the chopsticks and gritted his teeth tightly. He would wait… Huanhuan would eventually reply to him… she would!

When Li Jinyuan received the call, he had just finished his busy day of filming.

They were filming for a different variety show this time – one that was considered a top variety show with interviews of the guests and games.

He had been filming for 14 hours and even had a lunch box on site for lunch. He had just walked out from the actors' exit, looked up, and he could see a lot of fans holding up lights in their hands, having no intention of leaving any time soon.

Even Wei Jie next to him must lament, "The fans here are much more passionate than the fans overseas…"

Wie Jie thought that Li Jinyuan would experience a slow period when they returned to China, but in reality, he climbed straight up to the top and invitations for him came flying to him like snowflakes. Li Jinyuan had become one of the hottest stars currently.

A worker came running over and asked Li Jinyuan to greet his fans first before he took off.

When they reached the edge where the security started, Li Jinyuan's phone rang all of a sudden. He had a custom ringer specifically for Zhong Yuhuan and he knew immediately that it was from her. A smile immediately appeared on his exhausted look.

Nobody else noticed the minor change on him and his assistant even asked, "Young Master Li, would you like me to hold that for you? You can return the call later?"

Li Jinyuan, on the other hand, avoided her hand and chose to answer the call.

The assistant was a bit stunned.

"Hello?"

Li Jinyuan's voice, coming from the other end, was mixed with some background noises.

Zhong Yuhuan asked, "Where are you now? Why is it so noisy over there?"

"I'm at the filming location." Li Jinyuan lowered his head slightly, leaving his tender side profile for all to see.

"Oh, are you busy? Okay, I'll hang up now. We will talk later. But it's getting late now. You get some rest when you get back. Hmm, you can use an eye mask and earplugs; they will help improve the quality of your sleep…"

Li Jinyuan listened attentively to everything that Zhong Yuhuan had to say before he responded, "No, no need to hang up. It's alright. I am done filming. Just a lot of people around; that's why it's a bit noisy."

"Oh, is that so?" Zhong Yuhuan puckered her lips and was at loss of words all of a sudden, "Hmm, I just called to see how you are doing. If you are tired; if you have caught a cold…"

On the other side, Li Jinyuan lifted his head up slightly. His lips pursed a little and a smile appeared on him. "No, not tired. Especially now, when I received a call from Huanhuan. I feel quite relaxed."

The layers of fans outside suddenly caught sight of the smile and started screeching, "OOOOOOOHHHHH, LI JINYUAN!"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't feel anything wrong with what he had said. She lamented to herself; he was finally no longer the innocent child that once was. Now he could spiel out sweet words one after another. No girl would be able to resist his pursuit in the future!

And the very next moment, Zhong Yuhuan almost went deaf from the fan's screech.

Chapter 154 – Isn't It Obvious Who Is More Important? (3)

"You have fans nearby?" asked Zhong Yuhuan after she had rubbed her ear.

"Mmm."

"How many fans are there?" asked Zhong Yuhuan curiously. How many fans do you need to make such booming noise?

"Do you want to see?" asked Li Jinyuan all of a sudden.

"Huh?"

"Let me show you."

Having said that, Li Jinyuan pulled his phone away. His lips curved even more than they were before. He asked loudly, "Can I preserve your image in my phone?"

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The assistant was more dumbfounded.

As was Wie Jie.

After a should moment of silent, a screech of an even higher decibel erupted. "AAAAHHHHHHHH. YYYESSS! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

No idol had ever asked such a question on site.

And that's exactly why Li Jinyuan's behavior seemed even more unique and attractive.

Fans had always been taking pictures and videos of their idols. Who'd ever thought that their own image would be saved in the phone of their idol…

That very moment, all the fans went berserk.

Li Jinyuan backed out of the chat interface temporarily and snapped a few pictures before he waved bye-bye at his fans. "Thank you everyone. We have good memories today. See you all next time?"

"YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"LI JINYUAN I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Li Jinyuan smiled at them, then he said into the phone, "Huanhuan, what say we switch to WeChat video chat?"

Zhong Yuhuan, still rubbing her ears, said, "Oh, sure."

Li Jinyuan finally hung up the phone, then quickly locating Zhong Yuhuan's WeChat window, he sent over to her the pictures that he had just taken and asked, "Am I awesome?"

"Li Jinyuan is super awesome! [Boss drinking iced ]"

Li Jinyuan was smiling even more now.

He immediately initiated a video chat and Zhong Yuhuan quickly picked it up. The camera shook a little and then he could see Zhong Yuhuan's face with a face mask on.

"Am I pretty?" asked Zhong Yuhuan as she pointed at her face.

Li Jinyuan nodded seriously. "Yes, very."

Zhong Yuhuan: "…. Li Jinyuan, has your sense for what is pretty has been warped?"

"No, I have a very high standard of what is pretty."

Zhong Yuhuan held down the four corners of the face mask and finally was able to stop herself from laughing out. She barely moved her lips and said, "That mouth of yours is so sweet. I'll have Wie-ge give you some candies next time."

Li Jinyuan smiled and nodded. "Okay."

"I feel better now that I can see that you haven't lost any weight. Okay, I need to go to bed. I am going to see Chengming-gege off at the airport tomorrow morning."

The smile on Li Jinyuan's face collapsed in one second flat, but it took him just another second to pick it back up.

Zhong Yuhuan: "Bye-bye."

"…Bye-bye." Li Jinyuan said, then added, "Sweet dreams."

The cellphone screen went off quickly.

Li Jinyuan put away his cellphone and saw the look on his assistant as though she had something to say.

Li Jinyuan: "What is it? Something you want to tell me?"

The assistant moved her lips a little and said, "Oh, nothing just… just that you probably should have taken care of your fans first before you answer the call. You don't want anyone complaining that you don't care about your fans."

As the assistant was talking, she was also curious.

She joined Li Jinyuan's team at a later time. She was very attentive and was quite knowledgeable about the entertainment circle, which was why Wei Jie assigned her to Li Jinyuan.

She didn't know who Li Jinyuan was talking to on the phone, which made her even more worried.

Luckily, Li Jinyuan was a natural-born idol.

One line from him and he was able to keep the situation under control.

Li Jinyuan put away his smile and the weary look returned as he said nonchalantly, "You can't compare the two. I have only known my fans for a few months." Then, pointing at his cellphone, he said, "Her and I, we have known each other for years. Isn't it obvious who's more important?"

Chapter 155 – Your family of three – you, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming (1)

The assistant shut up.

Except that after the nanny van had started moving forward, the assistant couldn't help but start again, "But idols being in a relationship is a big deal in China. If your romance was ever exposed, your image would be ruined and you risk to lose a lot of your fans…"

Suddenly, Wei Jie chuckled and said, "Oh, Xiao Yang, who did you think was Young Master Li video-chatting earlier?"

The assistant was nervous right away after he asked that. She stuttered, "Girl… girlfriend?"

Li Jinyuan didn't say anything.

Wei Jie chuckled and said, "What are you talking about. That's Young Master Li's older sister!"

The assistant blushed right immediately. "Oh, oh. Look at me… I'm so sorry, Young Master Li. I really had no idea… My bad about Sister Li…"

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Li Jinyuan suddenly turned around. He smiled at Wie Jie and said, "You have seen her a few times already. Do you really think that she looks like my sister?"

Wei Jie didn't think much about it. Smiling, he said, "No, not really. Miss Zhong is kind of petite and her features are delicate and soft. Young Master Li looks more like her older brother…"

The assistant couldn't help but grumble. How was it that they didn't have the same last name then? Were they cousins?

Wei Jie stopped and switched to a different topic. "That being said, it's still too early for Young Master Li to be in a romantic relationship. He's not even at the legal age to get married yet… It is so far away. Don't worry about it."

Wie Jie had worked very closely with Li Jinyuan overseas and he knew how restrained Li Jinyuan was better than anyone else.

Too much micromanaging would only cause backlash. It really wasn't necessary.

Li Jinyuan turned and looked out of the window. He didn't say anything else.

Everybody knew that he was very tired from the filming today, so one by one, they stopped talking and let him rest.

"Who went to the filming location today? I've heard that Li Jinyuan was all sorts of flirty outside the location today. Was that true?"

"Yes! That is true! I almost bawled! It was alright during filming. I was only ogling his amazing look. But he was so flirty after the filming was over! He smiled, looked up, and talked. He was just irresistible!"

"On sight. This is the video clip! See for yourself…"

"Li Jinyuan was born for this. Every movement of his was so charming. And his EQ was high as well. It'd make no sense if he was not popular!"

And, just like that, Li Jinyuan made the most trended list again. The video clips from that day were reposted uncontrollably.

His smile when he looked down in front of the camera and what he said to his fans when he looked back up were talked about incessantly. They were discussed ardently on all different forums.

And, just like that, Li Jinyuan's fans went over 8 million.

As his popularity grew higher and higher, finally his dark history was clawed out.

But, before his dark history was clawed out, a very heated topic appeared on a few of the major forums – "So Capricious. Li Jinyuan Returned to China Amidst His Flourishing Modeling Career…"

The channel owner found pictures of Li Jinyuan as a model overseas — some of him on stage, magazine covers, as spokesperson for advertisements…

"Hot dang! I thought it was him. But he went with a different name overseas, plus his style was very western in all of his shows and he had never mentioned this before. I was almost leery to say this was him!"

"That's incredible. He had participated in quite a few of the major shows overseas… It was just that we paid more attention to female models in China; otherwise, we would have noticed that way before now."

"He's a true prince of royalty! Such amazing temperament… but why did he suddenly decide to return to China? Looking at his accomplishment, he was already popular among the entire England. He has so many fans in Europe already."

"Maybe it's easier to make money here?"

"I suggest the last poster to check out the comments on him from overseas first. Rumor had it that he was born in some prestigious family…"

"Okay. I shall keep my mouth shut then."

"Not necessarily. That could be fake. So many stars had fake certificates from universities overseas, or Second Generation Rich, or Second Generation Star images…"

"Oh, stop with that conspiracy theory already… his modeling career was real, okay?"

No matter how many black fans there were in the mix, or how many there were who wanted to speak poorly of Li Jinyuan just to show that they were different, none of them stopped Li Jinyuan from gaining more fans.

Chapter 156 – Your family of three – you, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming (2)

By the sixth season of the talent show and another variety show was also launched, Li Jinyuan's fan count officially exceeded 10 million.

Whenever Zhong Yuhuan went onto Weibo, she could see a screen full of news about Li Jinyuan.

She thought about it for a bit and felt that she should go and support him some, which was why she searched for some videos online and watched them attentively.

In the variety show with Li Jinyuan, there was a girl band and a boy band.

Both bands had four members each.

Li Jinyuan didn't feel awkward in the middle of them. In fact, he felt closer and closer to being in the center spot toward the end.

Let it be games, singing love songs, or Q&A, Li Jinyuan had mastered them all.

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If someone like that didn't become the #1 star, then who could?

Lamenting, Zhong Yuhuan closed out of the app and sent Li Jinyuan a Boss-drinking-iced-cola emoji.*

She had assumed Li Jinyuan would be busy on his end, but his reply came almost instantaneously.

"I brought my pay to look for gifts for you. "

"[Photo]"

"[Photo]"

"[Photo]"

"Do you like any of them?"

Zhong Yuhuan felt a little perplexed. "Where are you?"

"London. They needed my help here. And also to get you some gifts on the side."

Zhong Yuhuan was just about to respond back to him before her cellphone buzzed again.

Huo Chengming sent over Wechat messages.

"[Photo]"

"[Photo]"

"The sun is too harsh here."

"My secretary said the merchandise at this counter is very suitable for you."

"[Photo]"

"Do you like this one?"

Zhong Yuhuan looked at the high-end purses displaying in the cabins, some even have gemstones on them.

She wasn't sure if they were selling purses or gems.

Zhong Yuhuan went silent.

Was this some sort of a special day?

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan both shopped for gifts for her.

Her cellphone buzzed again.

Zhong Yuhuan temporarily clicked out of the chat window with Huo Chengming and went back to the one with Li Jinyuan.

Li Jinyuan: Huanhuan?

Li Jinyuan: Are you busy?

Li Jinyuan: Okay. I will just buy them all. I can't tell the difference between them anyway.

Zhong Yuhuan: …

Zhong Yuhuan: I don't need that many.

Li Jinyuan:

He certainly was good with his emojis.

Zhong Yuhuan returned to the chat window with Huo Chengming.

Relatively speaking, the messages from Huo Chengming were much more formal. Very much like chatting with an elderly person, using the minimum number of characters possible.

Huo Chengming: Okay. I am done buying them.

Huo Chengming: I will be back in a few days.

Huo Chengming: You should come with me next time. My secretary said all girls will like this place.

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a little bit.

Dubai, huh?

Of course! All girls want to go shopping there!

Zhong Yuhuan felt inappropriate at first, but after thinking about it some more, she felt very justified.

It wasn't strange that they'd buy gifts for her!

It wasn't the female lead's turn yet!

Zhong Yuhuan immediately returned an emoji to both of them:

When Huo Chengming saw the reply, he immediately recalled the time when she responded to the heart that someone had sent her. All of a sudden, he felt relieved.

Looking at the display case in front of him, he asked his secretary, "What else do girls like?"

The secretary asked a little incredulously, "You are going to buy more?"

Translator's rambling:

Boss drinking iced cola – the best I could figure out, has the meaning of saying to someone "wow, I didn't know you are that good!" Do not ask this translator how that meaning came about.

I swear I sometimes come across the most random pictures while translating. This appeared to be a picture of a dog disguised as a bottle of coke. I randomly came across this when I was looking up the meaning of "boss drinking iced cola"… All I can say is, "This must be a Chinese thing…."

Chapter 157 – Your family of three – you, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming (3)

The secretary immediately started talking before letting him have a chance to respond, "This is a very classic design. It's appealing to most girls. Then there's this one, this pair of shoes, this pair of earrings…. All of these are the ones that girls will want…"

Huo Chengming looked up and said to the sales person, "Wrap them all up."

Secretary, "…" TvT Yup! She sure didn't understand the world of the riches.

Huo Chengming felt even more relieved after they were done shopping.

Even if he was to run into that fool from the factory side, he would be able to control himself and now blow the other party's head off.

"Let's go."

"Back to your hotel?" asked the secretary.

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"No, to the next meeting."

"….next meeting? Don't you want to get some rest?"

"How can we rest before all the matters were taken care of?"

Hearing that, the secretary immediately felt a lot of respect for him.

There was certainly a reason why he could be so successful at his young age.

He was a workaholic!

With excellent self-discipline!

"Alright! I will go ahead and notify each and every single one of them," said the secretary immediately.

"Mmm," replied Huo Chengming, thinking that he would be able to return home sooner that way.

Zhong Yuhuan just stayed home and relaxed. When she had free time she'd paint, play the piano, or dance. Life couldn't be any better. Yang Sen called her up to go out to dinner. Joining them were also Han Yingying, Zhuang Yongning, and other old friends from school. After graduation, they had all gone to different countries or schools, but they had kept in touch the entire time. Now that all of them had mostly returned to China, they would go out to dinner together.

Zhong Yuhuan accepted the invite and went with Yang Sen to the restaurant.

They might have felt a little bit of awkwardness at the beginning but once they had sat down and had a couple drinks, the awkwardness was gone.

As though they had gone back in time when they all followed Zhong Yuhuan around, sometimes to join in the fun of taking fencing lessons and sometimes to free combat classes. Then there were piano and violin. They even tried ballet for a few days there… there were more memories than they had time to recount.

After everyone had randomly talked about their recent experiences, Yang Sen said, "Li Jinyuan is very mighty now. Any backdoor for us?"

"What backdoor?" asked Zhong Yuhuan dubiously.

"Remember I had mentioned before that my sister had taken over the family business? They had a joint project with a TV station and wanted to do a reality TV with stars. My sister thought about me; I thought about you; then I thought about Li Jinyuan. Li Jinyuan is so popular now. I am sure he has countless invitations already. We will offer him the best contract but wanted to backdoor it and put ours on the top of the pile is all."

Yang Sen smacked his lips and said, "Of course, if you would join too, all the more better."

Zhong Yuhuan was completely baffled, "What does that have to do with me?"

"The TV station's policy is to have a regular person join in every episode; else it won't make the cut. You will make a great candidate. You were popular online not too long ago and being around Li Jinyuan for so many years, you two have tacit understanding of each other. Truth be told, just your family of three – you, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming – will be a big draw…"

"What do you mean by 'a family of three'?"

"Exactly what I said…" Yang Sen paused for a little then carried on. "I am serious. We will pay!"

Chapter 158 – Do You Think I Can Be A Star? (1)

After having lunch with Yang Sen, the gang headed to race cars.

"It's very easy to learn. Let me teach you," said Yang Sen.

Zhong Yuhuan was always interested in any new things that she never tried before.

She had gotten her driver's license overseas. Even though it wasn't an official one, she still has the foundation. Since she knew how to drive, she was very interested in car racing.

The workers at the club could tell right away that this group were all the wealthy young men and women of City Hai and provided them with the best service. They quickly took Zhong Yuhuan to change her into racing gears and then emptied out the rest of the club with the exception of their group.

The lesson lasted until 7 PM.

Everybody was hungry and they started talking about where to go for dinner. Zhong Yuhuan left the headache of deciding what to eat for dinner to them and went to change out of her racing gear and gathered her personal belongings.

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She fished out her cellphone from her purse as she walked back outside and saw 28 missed calls.

Zhong Yuhuan was startled and clicked to view the details immediately. 13 of them were from Li Jinyuan and 15 from Huo Chengming.

"What's the matter? Why are you standing over there?" The crowd looked back over at Zhong Yuhuan.

"Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming called me. I didn't pick up since my phone was inside the locker. They called me quite a few times. Let me see what they want," said Zhong Yuhuan as she walked over to them.

Yang Sen couldn't help but chuckled. "See what I meant? Just the three of them would be enough for a show… so funny!"

Han Yingying also couldn't help but chuckle. "You are an adult already. Are they worried that you'd get lost? Why do they need to call you so many times?"

"Do they intervene with who you hang out with? Why are they checking on you so much?" Han Yingying couldn't help but add.

"We usually talk on the phone. Probably because they happened to call and I didn't pick up so they worried that something might have happened and kept on calling…" said Zhong Yuhuan as she returned their calls.

Both of them were quite busy, and she had no idea which of them were free right now. Zhong Yuhuan picked the one who called last and returned the call.

After a ringtone, the phone was picked up quickly and immediately came, "Hello, Huanhuan? Where are you? How come you didn't pick up when I called? Were you busy?"

"I had lunch with Yang Sen and then we went to the racing club with the gang. I locked my phone up in the locker, so I didn't hear it when you called," replied Zhong Yuhuan, resigned. "Sorry to have made you worry."

"I am glad you are alright." With a pause, he suddenly thought of something else and asked, "Did Huo Chengming call you too?"

"Yeah. I will call him next."

"…. Then you call him back first."

"Okay."

Zhong Yuhuan hung up the phone.

She quickly called Huo Chengming, but nobody picked up. Zhong Yuhuan texted him instead.

After she had finished texting him, Zhong Yuhuan put her phone away and left for a private mountain villa with Yang Sen.

"It's already winter and hot springs are wonderful!" Han Yingying recommended this location greatly. "Their crab meat there is amazing! Best of all world…"

On the other end of the earlier call.

Li Jinyuan let out a sigh of relief.

"Right? Everything is fine. I told you, Miss Zhong is resourceful and City Hai is her hometown. She is fine," said Wei Jie.

Li Jinyuan smiled gently and said, "Yeah, I know. I am just worried because I missed her a lot."

Hearing that, Wie Jie felt guilty all of a sudden. "Yeah, your schedule was pretty packed lately. I should arrange for some breaks in between."

They had been attending all sorts of activities lately. Never mind Li Jinyuan, even them, as his agent, assistant, etc. had to try and squeeze time out to rest. Sometimes, Li Jinyuan would get to nap for some two minutes in the dressing room before he was needed again. And, somehow, he'd need to memorize the script in between.

It was very tiring.

Yet Wie Jie felt a much stronger sense of accomplishment here than when they were overseas.

The domestic market offered many more opportunities than the overseas ones! There was a lot of job satisfaction!

The nanny van was driving forward smoothly when Li Jinyuan suddenly thought about something else. His color changed and he asked, "Who is Yang Sen?"

Wie Jie: "Huh?"

Yang Sen… ? He didn't know who Yang Sen was either.

Chapter 159 – Do You Think I Can Be A Star? (2)

When Zhong Yuhuan and the gang arrived at the villa, she got another call from Li Jinyuan.

"What's the matter?" asked Zhong Yuhuan as she picked up the phone.

When she looked up again, Zhong Yuhuan noticed that everybody was giving her curious looks. Immediately, Zhong Yuhuan didn't know whether she should laugh or cry.

"Who's Yang Sen?" asked Li Jinyuan from the other end.

"You don't remember him?" Zhong Yuhuan felt even more baffled on what emotion to feel. She said in a low voice, "Our schoolmate from Murphy… I've been keeping in touch with him even when we were studying overseas…"

And that was when an image of the slightly-chubby Yang Sen from junior high school appeared in his mind. "Oh, now I remember. There has been too much going on lately and everything was kind of murky in my head. You have fun then."

"Mmm. Bye bye now."

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After Zhong Yuhuan hung up on her call, Han Yingying asked right away, "Who's calling you now?"

"Oh, it's Li Jinyuan."

Han Yingying shook her head and lamented. "And here I thought he might have changed now that he's so popular online. I guess he is still the same as before."

"What could be different? Still a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth," said Zhong Yuhuan matter-of-factly.

Yang Sen chimed in, "If we are to record this into a show, Li Jinyuan will be your textbook case of [older] sister fan…"

Han Yingying teased as well, "And then there's Huo Chengming, textbook case of [younger] sister fan…"

Zhong Yuhuan rolled her eyes, "You keep teasing me. I am going to pass the contract over to Li Jinyuan."

"Yes, yes, yes. You are the boss. My bad. My bad." Yang Sen lifted up his hand and gestured zipping his mouth shut. Then, he gestured again and said, "This way, please."

Zhong Yuhuan gave him a swift kick before she headed up the stairs.

Walking inside the villa, it was just the perfect time for dinner. Zhong Yuhuan finally got Huo Chengming's call.

"Where are you now?"

"Having dinner with Yang Sen and the lot."

At least Huo Chengming remembered who Yang Sen was. He didn't comment too much on it but just said in a low voice, "Enjoy dinner."

And then he hung up.

That was much more concise than the call she had with Li Jinyuan.

But even so, Han Yingying couldn't help but to ask, "How many times do they call you again? This wasn't like checking in with you; this was beyond just checking in!"

"They don't call me that often normally. Just more today because I didn't pick up earlier," said Zhong Yuhuan as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't you ever grow tired of it?" asked Han Yingying.

"Why should I be tired of it?" asked Zhong Yuhuan while biting down on her chopsticks.

Han Yingying just happened to see Zhong Yuhuan biting down on her chopsticks and looking up at her. The light reflected on her perfectly; her lips were pink and moist and her eyes limpid. Han Yingying couldn't help but cover up her eyes. "Oooooooh, don't look at me like that. I can't resist it…"

She carried on, "We know that they won't grow tired of you, but why won't you get tired of them? They call you throughout the day. Isn't that annoying? You are how old now? Don't you think you should have your privacy and an independent life?"

"Well, you need to take a look at Li Jinyuan's pictures online. Look at how his fans scream 'Oooooooooh, gege is so handsome' all day long. With that look of his, I doubt anyone will find him annoying," said Yang Sen.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but think about Li Jinyuan's appearance, then Huo Chengming's appearance. Then she smiled and nodded. "Yup! He certainly has a very appetizing look. How can I grow tired of it?"

Han Yingying dragged out her tone. "Oooooh, I am so envious of you… Not only is my brother not good looking, he is also frugal. All I did was ask him for money for a purse and he'd first yell at me."

"I can buy it for you," said Zhong Yuhuan with a smile.

"Darn! My lovely Huanhuan! I love you…" Han Yingying dragged her chair closer and leaned up against Zhong Yuhuan. She seemed to have forgotten all about checking in and growing tired.

But Zhong Yuhuan couldn't stop thinking about it.

She had been around Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming for many years, would they grow tired of her?

Perhaps when the female lead showed up.

Hmm.

She felt a little bit of displeasure.

Zhong Yuhuan frowned a little bit but didn't say anything.

After the gathering was over, Zhong Yuhuan brought the contract back to the mansion with her.

Chapter 160 – Do You Think I Can Be A Star? (3)

Before anyone knew it, the talent show was already in its seventh episode.

Li Jinyuan had already returned from overseas. The show that he went over to help out in had already been dug up by some channel owners who knew how to get around the firewalls.

Even though many had already learned through the internet that Li Jinyuan had been a high and mighty model in England, none of them had seen that with their own eyes and that didn't feel real.

When they finally watched the video for themselves, all of them went berserk.

"Oh shooooooootttt! I can't stop licking my screen. He's so attractive! Oh, Li Jinyuan, how could you be so attractive?!"

"He was a tender young man in the show; an elegant prince in the MV; and now he's so domineering on the runway! Oh, my god… how could any entertainer be so multi-talented? So irresistible?"

"Alright, alright. I am now his fan. Please be in more shows. Pretty please!"

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Zhong Yuhuan had her cellphone in one hand and the mansion's phone in the other as she read the comments on the internet to Li Jinyuan.

Li Jinyuan only chuckled when he heard her.

After she was done reading, he smiled and asked her, "Well, what do you think?"

"Me?" Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second and replayed that video clip in her head. "Yeah, it's quite good."

Li Jinyuan sounded a little bit disappointed. "Is that all you have to say?"

Zhong Yuhuan thought to herself, now that you're getting older, you're also getting harder and harder to please. Did you want me to infiltrate your fan group to learn the art of rainbow fart?

"Mmm, what do you want to hear?"

"Do you like it?"

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a bit and said, "Yes, I like it."

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Okay, I will be back tomorrow."

And the two ended the call.

Huo Chengming also called her up not too long afterward.

He, too, had returned from oversea and was on his way home.

Zhong Yuhuan looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "It's pretty late now. Are you tired? Do you not want to just grab a hotel room nearby and get some rest?"

"Not too bad." What was he talking about? Even his voice was hoarse. He smiled a little and said, "Huanhuan, why don't you say something to keep me awake?"

She didn't know what to say when she was asked abruptly.

Zhong Yuhuan wrecked her brain and finally decided on reading to him all the sickening words from Li Jinyuan's fans in the comments. "Did you know that Li Jinyuan went on the runway again overseas? You can even find videos of it domestically. Boy, was it lively… he is even more popular now than ever… He has all these fans commenting under his Weibo everyday and each of them more sincere and more sickening than the last. Hang on, let me read some of them to you… I promise they will give you goosebumps and help you stay awake…"

Zhong Yuhuan read each and every single work earnestly.

There was no response from the other end of the phone.

Did he fall asleep?

Zhong Yuhuan wondered.

On the other end of the cellphone, Huo Chengming, indeed, was wide awake immediately.

He couldn't be more awake.

Tender young man? Elegant prince? Domineering? Irresistible?

Huo Chengming lifted his hand and knocked on his own head. Covering up the mic on his phone, he turned and asked his secretary, "Do you think I can be a star?"

Secretary: ?

Um, whatever happened to you that prompted you to say that, Boss?

As though he was under the influence of alcohol, he quickly changed his tune and said, "Nah, it's no fun being an entertainer."

Secretary: "Yes, that was exactly right?"

"Do you think I can be a star?"

Secretary: ?

Were we still on this subject?

Secretary: "Yes, of course. You've been on the top trending searches previously. It was even said that you are particularly good looking…"

Huo Chengming smiled and said, "Yeah. It's no fun to be a star."

Huo Chengming picked up the phone again and said into it, "Huanhuan, I am almost home."

Secretary: ?

What kind of fake drunkenness did her boss have?