Chapter 66: The Hypocritical Senior 08 Part 2

He tried to rally his spirits, but his performance was lackluster, leaving the stream flat.

Fans who had come back after his last one were disappointed by his half-hearted effort.

[Already too big for your boots as a newbie?]

[Streamer, what’s on your mind?]

[Bad mood?]

Some comments scolded, others showed concern.

Li Xia glanced at the barrage. “Sorry, everyone.”

[Got something weighing on you, streamer? You can share with us.]

“Um… I… I have a friend,” Li Xia said gravely. “He’s going through some emotional trouble.”

[Classic opener.]

[The ‘friend’ is you, right?]

[What kind? Dumped?]

“There wasn’t even a relationship to begin with.” Li Xia looked dejected.

[Oh? Other person taken? Or did they turn you down?]

“I…” Li Xia spotted that comment and nearly spilled it, but company rules flashed in his mind.

“It was just me getting ahead of myself.” He gave a bitter quirk of his lips. “How about I sing for you all?”

He queued up some background music, clutched his water bottle like it was liquor, and belted out a gut-wrenching ballad.

[What a massive heartbreak.]

[Brother Sui?]

[Liking Yu Sui makes total sense.]

[Brother Sui’s straight as an arrow.]

[Iron straight male, but crushing on him’s normal.]

[This… sigh…]

Li Xia ignored the comments, one heartbroken love song bleeding into the next.

His feelings poured out raw and intense, his eyes turning red as he sang.

[Runaway Sui Sui not on the invite list.]

[Way too over the top, smells like clout-chasing.]

[Company drags Top Star into debuting a newbie, now leeching off him like this? Gross.]

[Everyone knows Sui Sui’s inbox is flooded with creepy DMs—he hates this stuff. Polite professionalism is him giving face. You think you can just ride that?]

[Eating like a pig.]

[Act in one gay drama and start believing your own hype?]

[Marketing’s working wonders—so devoted.]

[Already folks cursing the heartbreaker under Sui Sui’s vids. Newbie’s got skills.]

[Worth the heavy push for their Crown Prince, huh? Tsk tsk.]

A wave of haters flooded the stream, piling curses on Li Xia.

“Li Xia.”

A staff member shoved the door open, face stern. “You… stop the stream for now.”

“What’s wrong?” Li Xia asked, puzzled.

“Check the barrage.” Seeing he didn’t grasp how bad it was, the staffer frowned.

He had his own suspicions about this newbie’s motives.

Today’s spiel lined up too perfectly with his antics over the past couple days.

Lovesick faint-out, pity-party stream—straight-up using Yu Sui as a stepping stone to the stars.

Li Xia turned to his phone and saw the vitriol.

He didn’t care about the insults.

But accusations of scheming, clout-chasing, trampling Yu Sui for a boost?

His expression hardened.

“I don’t have any intentions like that.”

He was explaining to the staffer—and to the stream audience.

“End it for now,” the staffer said.

Li Xia had no choice but to log off.

Online, though, the chatter about the stream raged on.

An anonymous alt account claiming to be a company insider posted about Li Xia’s recent off-kilter vibe—and how distant he’d grown from Yu Sui.

It all clicked into place.

Plenty pitied him: such deep affections, so cruelly wasted.

Others swarmed Yu Sui’s videos, begging the pair to get together.

Li Xia got summoned to the manager’s office.

Yu Sui hadn’t returned yet, so it was just the two of them.

“About this matter…” The manager fixed him with a piercing stare, eyes full of scrutiny.

He was clearly wondering if this had been Li Xia’s goal all along.

“I… I…” Li Xia started to say he liked Yu Sui, but the man didn’t return his feelings.

Confessing would only burden Yu Sui—no upside for him.

Clenching his fists, Li Xia bowed his head. “I… I messed up.”

“I… I shouldn’t have…” His voice trailed off smaller and smaller. “The senior’s just too nice to everyone, so I thought I could use him…”

The manager’s brows knitted tight. “You… you…”

“What do we do now?” Li Xia put on a panicked look, like his scheme had been exposed.

“Don’t panic. Don’t post anything—let the company handle it.” The manager sighed. “Go rest for now.”

Li Xia kept his head down as he left the office.

The manager rubbed his temples and dialed Yu Sui.

“Hey, you back yet?”

“What’s up?” Yu Sui asked, confused.

“Bit of a mess. Check online.” The manager paused. “Don’t respond to anything. Wait for company instructions.”

“Got it,” Yu Sui said, then hung up. He scanned the discussions on his tablet and arched a brow.

Ding dong—

A message popped up on his phone.

Yu Sui tapped it open.

[Brother Sui, everything’s lined up nice and neat. What a snake—using you to build hype.]

The assistant was fuming.

Perks came with being Top Star’s assistant; if his artist soared, so did he. Last thing he wanted was Yu Sui getting sidelined.

Suspicious of Li Xia’s scheming from the start, he’d kept tabs on the guy’s stream.

And there it was: peak second-lead simp mode, dropping hints that the “heartless cad” was none other than Yu Sui.

He’d dealt with clout-chasers trying to latch onto or trample Yu Sui before.

This time, he’d straight-up hired paid shills to rile up the fans.

Word had spread through the company by now.

They watched Li Xia slink away, faces a mix of emotions.

“He’s got that innocent smile—didn’t peg him for this…”

“Parachuted in to act opposite Brother Sui? No way he’s simple.”

“Brother Sui’s too classy for his own good.”

“Looking back, all that clinging was just faking a crush—to set up the ‘dumped’ angle later.”

“Yu Sui’s got the worst luck.”

The chatter stirred no waves in Li Xia. He only cared about one thing: what would Yu Sui think?

Would he find it easier to believe Li Xia was using him to climb than actually liking him?

Su Shan caught wind of the swirling rumors and lifted a brow.

Someone was clearly stirring the pot behind the scenes.

But seeing Li Xia turn into public enemy number one? Strangely satisfying.

Yu Sui arrived at the company, where several people rushed up to console him.

He gave them a grateful smile. “I’ll head to the manager’s office first.”

[The protagonist right now…] The System hesitated. [His reputation…]

“Once my actions get exposed later, everyone will pity him,” Yu Sui said. “That’s the twist.”

[But can he even stick around at the company like this?]

“The company will handle it,” Yu Sui replied.

[They won’t boot the protagonist, right?]

“Black-red is still red.”

He reached the manager’s office.

Before he could knock, the door swung open.

“Perfect timing,” the manager said, looking conflicted.

“Just spit it out,” Yu Sui said.

“Li Xia came clean to me. He admitted wanting to ride your coattails, build a ‘devoted lover’ persona to gain fans.” The manager’s face was complicated. “I really thought he was…”

Yu Sui paused, surprised that Li Xia had framed it that way.

“I checked with the higher-ups,” the manager said, avoiding his gaze. “Helping each other out in the same company is normal. He didn’t smear you or anything—just went with the ‘unrequited love’ angle.”

“His persona takes off, and our names get linked forever,” Yu Sui said with a frown.

“That shows how shortsighted he is,” the manager replied. “If he ever turns on you later—trashes you or steals resources—the deeper the ‘devotion’ now, the worse the backlash.”

“Pulling a smear from ‘unrequited love’ would tank his public goodwill,” the manager added. “But you…”

“You come off magnanimous, nurturing a newbie—scooping up a wave of sympathy. The second he shows ingratitude, fans flip to your side.”

“So you don’t lose out.”

“And before, you thought he was… whatever. Now it’s clear he’s not, so you can relax, right?”

On paper, this whole mess didn’t hurt Yu Sui at all.

[You planned this?]

“It’s not me,” Yu Sui said. “The assistant is smart.”

“So how do you want me to play along?” he asked.

“The higher-ups wanted to just let things play out naturally, but now the online backlash has blown up…” The manager sighed.

Yu Sui raised an eyebrow. All those words from above had just been meant to placate him and tell him to drop it.

The manager averted his gaze. “The company’s plan is for you to cooperate and say this is a plot point from another short drama in our collaboration.”

“In this drama, you love but can’t have him, so in the next one, he loves but can’t have you.”

“Do whatever you think is best,” Yu Sui said, his face expressionless.

The manager patted his shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t make things hard for me.”

“I have something to take care of first. I’m heading out.” Yu Sui brushed his hand away.

After leaving the company, he hailed a cab and went home.

At the entrance to the residential complex, he spotted Li Xia, who had clearly been waiting for who knew how long.

“Senior,” Li Xia said, looking at him.

Yu Sui got out of the car, his expression dark. “What do you want with me?”

“I… I want to explain…” Li Xia gazed at him pleadingly.

Seeing people nearby glancing over, Yu Sui pinched the bridge of his nose. “Come inside with me.”

The two walked into the complex, one behind the other.

“Senior, have you seen what’s going on online?” Li Xia asked.

Yu Sui halted. “You’ve really got some nerve.”

He let out a cold sneer.

Li Xia froze for a moment—it was the first time he’d seen the senior wear such an expression. “I…”

“What did you come here to say?” Yu Sui asked.

“I didn’t say those things on the livestream on purpose. I never meant to step on you to get ahead. My feelings for you… I know you won’t return them, and I know I’m not worthy.”

He lowered his head. “But I really didn’t use you. I don’t care if no one else believes me—even if you don’t, Senior, that’s fine.”

“Heh.” Yu Sui scoffed. “The company’s already cleaned up your mess, and I’ll cooperate. What more do you want?”

“Do you really think I’m some pushover you can manipulate at will?”

“I didn’t,” Li Xia said, shaking his head.

“Oh.” Yu Sui clearly didn’t buy it. “I don’t want to hear these excuses from you, and I don’t want to see you.”

Li Xia’s thoughts flashed back to those text messages, that letter.

His body went rigid, his face draining of all color in an instant. “Senior, you’ve always hated me, haven’t you?”

“What do you think?” Yu Sui shot back.

“I’m sorry.” Li Xia bowed deeply. “For all the trouble I’ve caused you, Senior, I’ll take care of it all.”

He had always succeeded at everything he did, yet now he’d brought massive headaches to Yu Sui. He felt unworthy even of confessing his love to the man.

He truly wasn’t worthy—after all, he wasn’t a good person.

“I’ll resign,” Li Xia said.

“Resign? If you quit now, everyone will just think I’m bullying the newbie,” Yu Sui said skeptically.

“I harassed my senior, pined for you hopelessly, and even tried to slander you…” Li Xia bit the tip of his tongue. “I’m sorry, Yu Sui. I’m sorry.”

With that, he turned and hurried away.