Chapter 8
Director Hong had already thought of a hundred ways to ruin Shen Wu’s career in the entertainment industry.
But despite his previous warnings, not only was Shen Wu not intimidated, he seemed to be acting with brazen confidence. Director Hong couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
After much thought, he came to a conclusion.
Shen Wu was just bluffing. He didn’t care if he could continue in the industry, which was why he was being so arrogant.
His lackey came up and whispered a few words. Director Hong nodded, then sneered at Shen Wu. “You used to play at racing, right?”
Shen Wu frowned at his words. He didn’t like the word “play” being used before “racing.”
Director Hong continued, “The sports world and the entertainment industry probably aren’t as separate as you think. To make it in either circle, you not only need ability, but more importantly, you need to know how to behave.”
Shen Wu lowered his eyelashes, thinking.
Got it. Director Hong is threatening me.
It’s the first time in my life I’ve been threatened. It feels kind of novel.
Shen Wu lowered his head and fumbled in his pockets. Everyone was waiting for him to pull out some evidence of his wrongdoing to beg for Director Hong’s forgiveness, but they only saw him flick his wrist. After a rustling sound, a round lollipop was popped into his mouth.
This act was like pouring a bucket of oil on a raging fire. Director Hong couldn’t take it anymore and shot to his feet.
At the same time, the unnoticed door to the private room opened.
But it wasn’t Tu Qianqian, who had gone to change, who came in. It was a man dressed in all black.
He was tall and well-proportioned, a focal point in any crowd.
The people in the room looked over at the sound. He took off his mask, and his handsome, cold face was one that no one could fail to recognize.
It was Meng Huaizhi.
Recognizing who it was, they were even more incredulous.
Meng Huaizhi casually glanced at the corner of the room, his voice carrying an icy aura as he spoke. “…What’s this?”
Director Hong patted his pants and stood up, his harsh expression from before replaced with a smile. “A small gathering for the drama’s main creative team. What about you, Teacher Meng?”
He wanted to invite Meng Huaizhi to join them, but unfortunately, not only was there a “troublemaker” like Shen Wu in the room, but the group of them had been smoking and drinking, and the smell in the room was truly unpleasant, something Shen Wu had just “complained” about.
And everyone in the industry knew that Meng Huaizhi detested smoke and alcohol.
“Just something,” Meng Huaizhi said vaguely.
Xiang Zixu popped his head out from behind Meng Huaizhi and shouted, “Wu-ge!”
Shen Wu no longer held back and walked towards them.
Director Hong was confused, still waiting for Meng Huaizhi to continue. When he didn’t, he had to ask, “What’s wrong?”
Shen Wu walked past Meng Huaizhi and out the door. Director Hong watched him leave, unable to stop him. After a long wait, Meng Huaizhi finally said, “Nothing, wrong room.”
After Shen Wu left the private room, he was surprised to find that the lights in all the other rooms in the corridor were off. It was only a little past eight at night, which should have been the busiest time for a KTV.
Before leaving, Fang Ci had suddenly been asked by Meng Huaizhi to pay the KTV manager to clear the area. After he was done, he came over. “There are no outsiders here now. I’ll have them take care of the surveillance footage in the corridor later. What happened?”
Meng Huaizhi didn’t know the specifics, so he looked at Shen Wu.
Shen Wu rubbed his nose. “I’ll tell you later.”
Meng Huaizhi then posed a question to Fang Ci. “Did you drive?”
Fang Ci stole a glance at Shen Wu, but his words were for Meng Huaizhi. “Nope. My place isn’t far from here. I rode a shared bike for exercise.”
After speaking, he glanced at Shen Wu again, furtively and cautiously.
His mind was in turmoil, replaying the variety show invitation that Meng Huaizhi had just rejected. It seemed he had found some room for maneuver.
“Then you…” Meng Huaizhi said to the even more confused Xiang Zixu, “See Professor Fang home.”
Xiang Zixu: “?”
Seeing Shen Wu nod, he inexplicably followed his idol’s command.
With no one else around, Shen Wu finally told Meng Huaizhi the whole story.
Meng Huaizhi asked, “How were you originally planning to handle it?”
“Just… a stalemate. I can’t do anything to him, and he’s not going to commit murder or arson. I would have been able to leave eventually,” Shen Wu’s expression darkened slightly. “I just didn’t expect that my brother really wouldn’t do anything.”
As the older brother, Shen Ping did nothing. On the other hand, he, who knew the plot of the novel, wanted to do everything he could to save his brother, even knowing he was destined to die.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a joke, and the more disappointed he became.
“Shen Ping?”
“Mm.”
But Shen Wu didn’t say much about Shen Ping.
The two of them went downstairs and out of the KTV. On the street, they ran into the very person they had been talking about.
Shen Ping hurriedly strode over. He was taken aback for a moment when he saw Meng Huaizhi, then said to Shen Wu, “Xiao Wu, I just heard that the manager arranged for you to attend Director Hong’s dinner.”
He looked anxious and deeply sorrowful, his lips pale from the cold autumn wind. Who knew how long he had been standing in the night, his heart burning with anxiety.
But why hadn’t he stepped into the KTV until now?
Shen Wu stared at him quietly.
After a long moment, he nodded. “It’s nothing. It’s been resolved.”
“Then are you coming home tonight?”
“I’m going back to the team dorms.”
“…Alright.”
As long as one didn’t think too deeply, Shen Ping was still that gentle, considerate, and caring older brother.
Shen Ping opened his mouth, as if to say something more.
Meng Huaizhi spoke first. “I’ll take you back to your dorm.”
Shen Wu turned his gaze to Meng Huaizhi and nodded. “Okay.”
Luo Jinyi was left alone in the driver’s seat, occasionally glancing out the window. As she waited, two people came back.
It was Meng Huaizhi’s “spouse in the legal sense.”
Luo Jinyi: “…”
She gripped the steering wheel and drove in silence.
Shen Wu quickly composed himself and asked about Meng Huaizhi’s nightlife with great interest. “What were you doing here?”
As a singer, Meng Huaizhi didn’t actually like noisy places like KTVs. To him, music was a noble pursuit, not entertainment to be shared with friends and colleagues.
“Professor Fang asked me out to invite me on his variety show,” Meng Huaizhi answered simply, then turned the topic back to Shen Wu. “You saw for yourself. The entertainment industry is far from being as simple as competitive sports.”
“Compared to racing, at least being an artist isn’t life-threatening,” Shen Wu relaxed, pillowing his head with his hands. He turned his face slightly, his voice weary. “Telling me to switch to a safer profession, isn’t that what you said?”
“Your dad definitely won’t agree,” Meng Huaizhi paused, then continued, “And Shen Ping, it seems he doesn’t really want you to enter the industry either.”
“He’s always respected my choices. Even if he doesn’t agree—”
Shen Wu said nonchalantly, deliberately drawing out the last syllable.
When Meng Huaizhi turned his head, his full attention focused on his face, a smile bloomed on his lips, as bright as the stars in the night sky.
“I’ll listen to you, Huaizhi-ge.”
That strange yet familiar feeling and smile left Meng Huaizhi stunned for a long while.
Since he was sixteen, Shen Wu hadn’t used that form of address for a full seven years.
After a seven-year absence, the familiar memory was instantly dredged up, leaping out of the water and transforming into a vivid image before Meng Huaizhi’s eyes.
The first time they had formally met, Shen Wu had just turned six.
Perhaps because he was the youngest son, Shen Wu had a much livelier personality than his older brother. He wasn’t as precocious or independent as his brother either. In contrast, Shen Wu was more likely to rely on others and get close to them.
Even the cold and aloof Meng Huaizhi.
Shen Wu wasn’t shy with strangers. Without any prompting from the elders, he had come up on his own and called out in a childish voice, “Huaizhi-gege.”
When he started high school at sixteen, his attitude towards his family friend, older brother Meng Huaizhi, suddenly cooled. The respect and admiration from before were gone, replaced by a casual and disrespectful use of his full name, “Meng Huaizhi.”
For the next seven years, let alone “listening to his brother,” what he hated most was others acting like elders and dictating his life. He was determined to carry out his image as a rebellious and arrogant young master to the end, so stingy that he wouldn’t even call him “ge.”
The car reached its first destination. After Shen Wu got out, his lingering voice seemed to still echo in the quiet car.
Besides “Huaizhi-ge,” there was also “I’ll listen to you.”
If Shen Wu could listen to anyone, the pampered young master wouldn’t have run away from home to live in a cramped team dorm.
In the back seat, their conversation had been completely proper, a purely “brotherly” relationship, open and without any attempt to avoid the driver, Luo Jinyi.
However, this was the first time Luo Jinyi had heard the address “Huaizhi-ge.”
Meng Huaizhi’s personality was too cold, so cold that even calling him “Teacher Meng” respectfully would make one feel apprehensive and deeply afraid of offending him.
Meng Huaizhi’s cool and indifferent expression, like frost that never melted, only reinforced this.
Luo Jinyi turned the car around to take Meng Huaizhi back to his residence. Her gaze accidentally fell on the rearview mirror, and she froze.
In the rearview mirror, Meng Huaizhi was resting his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
His features were still the same cold and detached features that could make countless fans scream and fall into endless obsession with just a faint glance.
But on that unchanging face, his dark eyes held a hint of faint moonlight, and the corners of his lips were lifted in an almost imperceptible curve.
Like the first thaw of accumulated snow, revealing a trace of softness beneath the hard surface.
Luo Jinyi was silent. A few seconds later, she stiffly averted her gaze.
She told herself in her heart:
A spouse in the legal sense is just that, legal.
The brotherly affection is also proper, without a doubt.
…But what kind of proper person would marry their brother!?
On the other side.
As soon as Shen Wu returned to the dorm, he was caught by an unbearably excited Xiang Zixu. The latter stood with his hands on his hips, an aggressive posture that suggested he was about to get to the bottom of things.
“Wu-ge, do you know Meng Huaizhi!?”
“Yeah.”
Xiang Zixu was indignant. “And you never told me!!”
“Why would I tell you?” Shen Wu lazily lifted an eyelid. “You’re always reporting his scandals to me. If I told you, wouldn’t you be pestering me with questions? Do I need to train or not? Are you the boss or am I the boss?”
“…” Xiang Zixu was silent for a moment, then scratched his head. “Then, then how do you know him?”
“We were classmates.”
“He’s four years older than you. When you were in university, he would have already graduated, right?”
“When I was in kindergarten, he was in the elementary school next door. When I was in middle school, he was in high school. Classmates.”
Now Xiang Zixu didn’t believe him. “You’re just lying to me. Forget it, you’d better not tell me. I’m afraid I’ll let it slip at home and Xiang Ziyi will never leave me alone.”
Suddenly, the topic changed.
“Ge, let’s be frank. I just want to know about your ‘wife’…”
Before he could finish, Shen Wu walked away without a word.
“Hey, Ge! Wu-ge! Wait for me…”
Shen Wu: “”
You see me paying any attention to you?
