23 Chapter 54: Top Trending Part 2

A beauty with natural immortal aura × a scheming, doting big shot.

Lin Qinghe was born with elegant, refined features, as warm and polished as jade, exuding an air of scholarly grace. His future should have been limitless, but an accident transported him abruptly into a new world.

Penniless and unwilling to spend a single cent, he had no choice but to go to work.

Pipa? Child's play. Guzheng? A breeze. Calligraphy and ink paintings? Sorry, if you'd like to bid on a piece for your collection, please queue up over there, dear customer.

A video clip of a young man in snow-white robes plucking a pipa suddenly exploded across the internet, drawing countless gazes. People signed petitions in virtual blood, begging for a livestream.

Later, in that livestream, Lin Qinghe cradled his pipa, a dot of cinnabar between his brows, a few stray locks of hair beside his temples, his skin porcelain-white. When he lowered his eyes, he seemed to hold a mournful compassion for the human world.

A: AAAAAH, does Brother need a servant boy?! I volunteer!!! B: Help! Which deity has descended to the mortal world to endure tribulation this time!!! C: The beauty of a golden age is no more than this!

~~~

*Dream of the Blue Moon Night*, helmed by Director Li Ran with a powerhouse lineup, was set to star a hugely popular young actor alongside a universally acclaimed Best Actor. Even before filming began, buzz was already sky-high.

Then, just before joining the production, an accident struck. The popular young actor, cast as the male lead, was replaced after seriously injuring someone in a drunk-driving incident.

The replacement who fell from the sky was Lin Qinghe — no previous works, no accolades, no formal training, only a face that could carry anything.

The internet erupted with abuse: rubberneckers, kickers of the downtrodden, the envious, all tearing into him in a storm of blood and gore. Fans of the ousted young star loathed him to the bone. Fans of the Best Actor sneered that he'd risen by his looks alone, unworthy to act opposite their idol.

Then someone posted a moving image: Lin Qinghe draped over a glass water tank, long black hair cascading over his front, delicate silver bells circling his wrist, a pale blue floral pattern imprinted between his brows.

As pure as a snow lotus on an alpine peak, as aloof and untouchable as a god who emerges from filth yet remains unstained.

Passersby: M-Mom?! The Deity Beauty finally has a real-life prototype. Fans: Yet another day of worshipping Little He's looks, I'm dead!! Original fans of the story: I didn't want this either, but he seems to have brought *our* Celine straight to life! Antis: How are we supposed to do our jobs now?!

That film launched Lin Qinghe to overnight stardom.

~~~

"Rising too fast isn't normal." "Someone must be backing him." "Rumor says it's some filthy-rich perverted middle-aged man."

With his career progressing so smoothly, speculations ran wild. He *had* to have some Sugar Daddy lurking in the background.

One day, Lin Qinghe was performing during a livestream when he inadvertently revealed some red marks on his body.

Within a dozen seconds, the livestream crashed, and the Weibo exploded.

A blurry video spread across the Weibo: an expensive black car parked before a flower bed, a tall man closing in, his hand lazily reaching toward Lin Qinghe's ear. Lin Qinghe's back was pressed against the car door; he turned his head, briefly exposing the curve of his neck. The image was unmistakably intimate.

#LinQingheSugarDaddy #LinQingheHickeyOnCollarbone

These rocketed to the number one and number two trending spots.

Fans were in disbelief. Fellow entertainers gleefully watched the show while fanning the flames. Passersby decided it was time to turn anti.

The entire internet hadn't even boiled for eighteen hours before Fengrui's official account made an announcement: "Thank you all for your continued attention to our Young Master @Lin Qinghe. A bit of horseplay between brothers, we never imagined it would cause such a misunderstanding."

Fans: ! Passersby & fellow entertainers: ? What... Our He He is actually the younger brother of Fengrui CEO Cen Han?! And Cen Han is a figure of unattainable power among the elite clans of Western Capital!

Only Cen Han's close friends and family knew the full truth: that was no "Young Master" officially acknowledged by the Cen Residence — that was Cen Han's serious, legitimate partner in every sense.

~~~

Cen Han happened upon an uncut piece of jade, a treasure that grew ever more luminous and radiant under his carving. He could not bear the thought of this jade being coveted by others. So, he decided to claim it for himself.

Sweet, sweet, sweet. Pamper, pamper, pamper. Just like that~