Chapter 12: Stop Sticking So Close to Bad Pear

After the company’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Morning Star Entertainment also hosted a social banquet. All the industry’s elite had come, and the atmosphere was warm and pleasant.

Solaron-X’s music show performance was around six o’clock. Sister Chen calculated the time, then called the four over, smiling as she led them to make appearances in front of the industry bigwigs.

Watching the four boys bow humbly and clink glasses, the renowned director naturally knew that this boy group was Morning Star’s main bet. He clinked glasses with Wen Zheng and offered an obligatory compliment: “These four kids are clearly the cream of the crop, with a bright future ahead.”

“Far from the cream of the crop—just kids playing around.” Wen Zheng smiled and murmured a few words to a passing server.

Half a minute later, that server returned with a tray, escorting Sister Chen and Solaron-X over.

A faint smile hung at the corner of Wen Zheng’s mouth as he introduced them: “This is Director Sun Zhi. The films he’s directed have won numerous awards both domestically and internationally. He’s a truly great director.”

Wen Zheng’s tone was gentle and casual, like a parent introducing an elder to a child, expecting them to greet him properly.

Sun Zhi smiled, his eyes squinting as he clinked glasses with the Solaron-X members, laughing: “Far from a great director. I just love and dedicate myself to my craft.”

Wen Zheng smiled. “Then you should learn from Director Sun about this kind of mi—”

But before Wen Zheng could finish his sentence, someone collided with him from behind. The impact of a full-grown man made Wen Zheng involuntarily lurch forward.

He quickly steadied himself, but the champagne in his hand had splashed out, staining his and Yu Huaili’s clothes.

Yu Huaili blankly looked at the deep, wet stain left on his outfit.

Wait… Huh?

He was already standing farther away from the others than all three of his teammates. How had Wen Zheng’s glass managed to splash precisely onto him?

And this was the autumn haute couture the team had borrowed for him. He was currently a broke trainee earning a trainee’s salary—completely unable to afford to pay for this.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry! I tripped just now, I didn’t mean it!” The server who collided with Wen Zheng was a fair-skinned boy, so anxious that his eyes were turning red. He grabbed a napkin and frantically dabbed at Wen Zheng, but only made it worse.

Wen Zheng casually set the empty glass aside and lightly flicked away the boy’s groping hand, generously comforting him in a gentle tone: “It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.”

Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes, and he stammered out: “I’m really sorry, I’ll pay you back, I swear I didn’t mean it.”

Wen Zheng’s patience was nearly exhausted. The smile at his lips grew fainter. The manager who rushed over upon hearing the commotion felt like the sky was falling.

The manager grabbed the boy’s wrist and yanked him behind his back, bowing and apologizing repeatedly.

“It’s fine.” Wen Zheng was unbothered by this minor incident. He said mildly, “Just handle it according to the rules.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” The manager bowed and apologized as he backed away out of sight.

After a pause, Wen Zheng looked at the other victim of this little accident. He handed Yu Huaili a handkerchief and said, “I apologize, Little Li. In a moment, I’ll have my assistant contact you or Sister Chen to resolve this. Don’t worry about the clothes.”

Hiss—on the surface, Wen Zheng actually seemed like a decent person.

…Well, to be fair, Wen Zheng in the plot seemed like an okay person too.

Yu Huaili took the handkerchief. “Thank you, Boss.”

Wen Zheng nodded, smiled, said “excuse me” to those present, and left.

When Yu Huaili got on the van, there was already a set of haute couture suits placed on the back seat.

Sister Chen glanced at her phone and said, “The Chairman’s executive assistant has already contacted me. Both the suit you’re wearing and the set the assistant brought over have been purchased by the Chairman. Don’t worry about it.”

Yu Huaili took off the sticky suit jacket and nodded. “Got it, Sister.”

Duan Qiong lowered his eyes and folded the suit jacket Yu Huaili had taken off, placing it into a bag. He asked in a low voice, “…Bad Pear, what do you think of Wen Zheng?”

Yu Huaili’s gaze landed on Duan Qiong’s faintly gloomy brow. He raised an eyebrow. “As a leader, he’s not bad?”

“But I feel—” Duan Qiong moved closer to Yu Huaili, as if feeling insecure, and grabbed Yu Huaili’s fingertip. “Wen Zheng isn’t good.”

“Bro?” Yu Huaili looked at their intertwined fingers and laughed. “Since when did you learn to talk bad about people behind their backs?”

“Is this talking bad behind someone’s back? I think I’m being very objective.”

When Wen Zheng had handed Yu Huaili the handkerchief and touched his hand just now, Duan Qiong had inexplicably felt very uncomfortable. Now that he heard Yu Huaili unconsciously defending Wen Zheng, he grew even more irritable.

Since Wen Zheng had the audacity to exploit Yu Huaili, it meant that before Yu Huaili, he’d definitely done this kind of thing—keeping young boys—who knows how many times.

What was so good about this morally bankrupt old smoothie?

“Anyway—” As he spoke, Duan Qiong subconsciously tightened his grip on Yu Huaili’s hand. “Wen Zheng will affect your wealth luck and career luck.”

“Bro, you can read fortunes too?” Yu Huaili curved his eyes in amusement.

“…I’m not joking.”

The moment Duan Qiong’s words fell, the furious clacking of Sister Chen’s typing stopped. She turned to the people in the back with a smile and said, “I didn’t expect the Chairman—someone who handles a thousand things a day—to be able to match your faces to your names. Duan Qiong? What are you holding Yu Huaili’s hand for?”

Duan Qiong froze. He looked down at their clasped hands and let go like he’d been shocked, explaining flatly: “…I didn’t notice.”

“Mm.” Xi Xingheng let out a snort of laughter, teasing lazily: “I think so too. Duan Qiong must not have noticed, the way he was gripping so tightly. Look, Bad Pear doesn’t even want to talk anymore.”

Sister Chen: …

Her gaze swept back and forth between Duan Qiong, Xi Xingheng, and Yu Huaili before she knit her brows and said, “Xingheng, the team just released your first piece of promotional content. The response is pretty good.”

None of them had time to check their phones this whole time. Hearing this, Xi Xingheng raised an eyebrow. “Really? Let me see—Sister Chen, why did you post THAT video as the first piece of content? The one of me blow-drying Bad Pear’s hair.”

The comment section was basically all “shipping them so hard I’m dying.”

[So domestic, so full of love… I feel like I’m watching my fluffy cat parents.]

[The two babies get along so well]

[Doesn’t anyone get that second where Bad Pear looks at Xingheng with that hint of a smile? Damn, this pear won’t even wear his clothes properly—he’s completely seducing Brother Xingheng, that’s what this is.]

[How did you hold back, Brother Xingheng? If it were me, I’d have dragged Bad Pear into the bathroom and gone bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.]

[Husband’s hair is so soft looking. I want to blow-dry Bad Pear’s hair too TvT.]

[Brother Xingheng, I’ll soul-transmigrate into you for one second.]

[Who still says our Brother Xingheng is a parachute? He obviously gets along great with the members even before debut.]

[Two really good people.]

[I feel like blow-drying someone’s hair is such an intimate gesture… Since I was a kid, besides my parents, only my boyfriend has blow-dried my hair.]

[Brother Xingheng is so good.]

[Whatever it is—friendship or love—let’s just take a bite first.]

[These two really aren’t forcing this CP. Their eyes are full of love when they look at each other.]

[Pure passerby here. Is Yu Huaili Solaron-X’s shared husband?]

[Damn it @Morning Star Entertainment can the thief and the thief’s fans leave Yu Huaili alone? Learn to walk independently.]

[Interesting—most of the Huai Xing fans in the comments are actually Xi Xingheng’s fans. Oh, that’s such a hard riddle.]

[No way… I feel like a lot of people like both, and most CP fans lean toward the pear…]

[Anyone who likes Yu Huaili doesn’t ship him with anyone, FYI. My bro flies solo, okay?]

[Yes. I only ship Yu Huaili x solo fan sisters.]

[Can’t criticize that. That’s true mutual devotion.]

[Two pairs of crooked, biased CPs. Yu Huaili’s just out here transfusing blood and traffic to the other side. Other side, start running, okay?]

[I knew this company favorite would bind himself to Yu Huaili to wash his fanbase. Didn’t think it’d start this early. Damn it, does anyone care about Bad Pear and his fans?]

[@Morning Star Entertainment 666, you truly don’t even bother pretending anymore.]

[Why does my bro have to get the sacrifice-to-heaven script? Morning Star, treating Solaron-X’s biggest TOP like this means you’ll never make money.]

[Bad Pear’s this popular and still gets stepped on to lift others up. Who wouldn’t say his fate is bitter.]

[Rotten pear fans, who are you performing for? Nobody wants to leech off your bro’s ice-cold popularity, okay?]

[Exactly. I’d like to say the same—leave Xi Xingheng alone.]

[Solo fans, really… this is the Huai Xing event. The ones who should get out are you CP fans, okay?]

“It looks pretty controversial.” Xi Xingheng laughed lightly.

Sister Chen said, “It’s not really controversy, just a small scuffle. The Huai Xing CP’s super topic has already surpassed Yu-Duan and reached number one.”

After a pause, Sister Chen said, “After the music show performance, the company has decided that you’ll open your personal Weibo accounts tonight.”

Yu Huaili nodded. “I promised my fans I’d post a nine-grid photo set once my Weibo is open.”

“Sure, but if you want to post, run the photos past the team for review.” After saying that, Sister Chen glanced at the silent Duan Qiong. “Duan Qiong, try to stick less close to Yu Huaili from now on.”

Duan Qiong looked up, his eyes so dark they seemed to drip ink. His tone sounded genuinely confused: “Why?”

With so many people around, Sister Chen didn’t want to spell it out. And looking at Duan Qiong, who was clearly still tangled up and oblivious, she didn’t want to accidentally give him a wake-up call with a few careless words.

She just said, “Right now, Solaron-X’s main push is the Huai Xing CP. Obviously, Little Li and Xingheng have no less chemistry than you and Little Li.”

“But—” Duan Qiong furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to argue.

Yu Huaili quietly pinched Duan Qiong’s arm, curving his eyes. “Actually, I’m a universal fit. Having CP chemistry with Brother Duan is totally normal too.”

Hearing Yu Huaili’s teasing attempt at comfort, Duan Qiong couldn’t cheer up. The gloom in his brows deepened. He turned his head away and said, “I understand. In front of the cameras, I’ll do my best.”

Sister Chen nodded. “I’ll be watching your performance.”

At the music show, the team had clearly greased the wheels with the production team in every aspect. Through the entire program, whether it was the duet segment or the games, Yu Huaili and Xi Xingheng’s interactions were indeed frequent.

As for Duan Qiong and Jiang Qing’s interactions—they were somewhat sparse. But then again, Duan Qiong was naturally the quiet, unsmiling type, so it didn’t look too obvious on camera.

After the music show recording ended, it was evening again. Yu Huaili knew that many fans were still waiting to see them off work.

Once outside, Yu Huaili signed the postcards fans handed him while smiling and asking, “How long have you all been waiting here?”

The fans’ voices rose one after another: “About two hours.”

“Wow, that long?” Yu Huaili accepted the letters fans offered and said, “You’ve worked hard. Have you all eaten dinner… Ah, and you came from out of town just to see me off work?”

Yu Huaili kept accepting letters as he walked out, extracting questions from the noise: “Mm, definitely take some time to explore the Imperial Capital. There are quite a few scenic spots here… Food recommendations? I don’t have any… I mostly eat at the company cafeteria, honestly.”

A fan nearby said, “I know! Husband, do you keep getting scolded for eating too much?”

“Do you have to bring that up?” Exposed in front of so many people, Yu Huaili’s ears burned red. “Hey, honestly, I don’t think I really ate all that much… But how do you guys even know about that?”

“When are you opening your personal Weibo? Can you say?” Yu Huaili glanced at Sister Chen walking ahead: “Just… tonight.”

Amid the rising cheers, Yu Huaili took the thick stack of letters, waved, and only then got into the car: “Bye! See you next time, see you next time.”

Duan Qiong watched Yu Huaili start reading the fans’ letters as soon as he boarded the car. Thinking about how they’d barely spoken since the show, he pursed his lips in irritation.

“Bad Pear…” Duan Qiong started, about to say something when he was interrupted by the notification sound of Yu Huaili’s phone.

Yu Huaili let out a confused “Hm?” and glanced at his phone.

It was actually a friend request from Wen Zheng.

[victory: Little Li, did the assistant handle the little accident this afternoon properly?]