The door to the makeup room was suddenly pushed open, and the commotion inside came to an abrupt halt. The aggrieved Fu Le, the flustered young makeup artist, and the assistant sitting nearby playing on her phone all turned to look toward the door in unison.
“Come on in first.” Yu Xi walked in as he pleased, pulled out a chair, and sat directly in front of the makeup mirror closest to the door. He waved for the styling team to enter. His series of actions were swift and decisive, not giving Fu Le even a moment to speak. Moments later, Fu Le’s eyes glistened with moisture as he said softly, “Brother Yu Xi, you’re here.”
Yu Xi turned his head and beckoned to Fu Le. “Time’s tight—I have another schedule later. If you’re not done yet, no rush. Take your time. We’ll share the makeup room, haha.”
Fu Le’s brow furrowed slightly.
He didn’t want anyone interrupting him.
Yu Xi could naturally see the reluctance in Fu Le’s aggrieved expression. Before he could open his mouth, Yu Xi said, “According to the schedule, it’s my time to use this makeup room now. If something held you up and you’re running slow, that’s fine—I get it. You can keep going. I hope you get me too. We’ll just stay out of each other’s way.”
Fu Le’s brow didn’t relax, and his eyes grew even redder, as if Yu Xi had bullied him.
“B-But I’m…”
“Don’t worry.” Yu Xi knew exactly what he wanted to say—something like “I’m an Omega, and sharing a room with an Alpha isn’t great.”
Yu Xi tugged his collar down a bit, revealing the gland patches on his neck—thick stacks, at least six or seven layers. “No way you’ll smell even a hint of my pheromones.”
Fu Le was at a loss for words and could only pout, silently turning back around. Yu Xi also began his makeup and styling.
Yu Xi had that typical Alpha straight-guy attitude toward styling—whatever the clothing stylist or hair stylist said was fine. Instead, it was Guan Zifan who had more requests. He offered suggestions to the team, while Xiao Chen pulled out a little notebook and jotted down notes nearby, learning along the way.
But it wasn’t long before Fu Le’s whiny voice started up again from behind. “Why’d you do my makeup like this again…”
“My eyes look so puffy… And there’s a wrinkle at the corner of my eye you didn’t cover. You always mess it up, that’s why we’re taking so long. Now Brother Yu Xi’s here too—how am I supposed to explain this to him? Hurry up and apologize…”
After he finished speaking, the makeup artist next to him snapped the eyeshadow palette shut forcefully and took deep breaths, struggling to hold back her emotions. She knew blowing up now would cost her the job, so she forced a smile and said to Yu Xi, “Sorry, Teacher Yu Xi.”
Fu Le leaned past the makeup artist to look at Yu Xi, his voice soft and pitiful. “Sorry, Brother Yu Xi. It’s my fault. My family spoils me a lot, and they always get me the best makeup artists. She’s really skilled, so my standards are high. She wasn’t available today, so I had to use the program’s makeup artist, and I’m just not satisfied. Don’t blame her—she didn’t mean to drag things out to mess with you.”
Fu Le lowered his gaze, putting on an exquisitely fragile expression.
Exquisite to the point it seemed calculated by angle.
Yu Xi was already fed up with Fu Le’s overly pitiful act. “If you know it’s your problem, then shut up and stay quiet.”
Fu Le froze, clearly not expecting Yu Xi to respond like that.
Yu Xi continued, “Since you think the makeup artist’s a newbie and not skilled enough, figure out a way to switch her out. You’ve got hands and feet—solve your own problems, right?”
He beckoned to the makeup artist girl. “Come here, do me next. My face is tough—don’t worry about messing it up.”
Fu Le’s eyes widened.
Wasn’t this basically saying it wasn’t the makeup artist’s skill that was the issue, but that he wasn’t good-looking?!
Fu Le reacted quickly, and in the blink of an eye, tears welled up again. “You… you can’t talk to me like that… Even my family hasn’t said such harsh things to me…”
He cried.
He cried again.
He freaking cried again!!!
Yu Xi took a deep breath and said to the makeup artist in front of him, “Sorry, can we pause for a sec?”
Guan Zifan, seeing this, tugged the diligently note-taking Xiao Chen aside.
Xiao Chen: “What’s up, Guan Ge?”
Guan Zifan: “Good show’s about to start.”
Yu Xi stood up and walked over to Fu Le. “My words too harsh? You’ve got hands and feet, but instead of solving problems, you just nitpick and cry like a useless waste, wasting everyone’s time. If you wanna be trash, go lie in a dumpster. ‘Delicate young master’ my ass—what a great persona, ruined into an expired green tea bitch.”
Fu Le was stunned by Yu Xi’s bluntly vicious words, tears streaming nonstop. “Y-You… you’re cursing me out… Brother Yu Xi, even if I have some issues, you can’t say such harsh things and slander me like that…”
“As long as you know you’ve got problems, that’s good.”
Fu Le: “?”
Fu Le had meant to flip the script and accuse Yu Xi of slandering him, but Yu Xi just selectively went deaf.
“Brother Yu Xi, you…”
Yu Xi let out a long breath of stale air and was about to head back to his seat when he caught a glint of reflection.
Instead of turning back, he changed direction and strode straight toward a nearby table piled with photography props.
Fu Le’s body tensed instantly, and his assistant nearby went pale, even reaching out to block Yu Xi.
Yu Xi easily dodged and rummaged through the props, pulling out a tiny working camera.
“Whoa, latest model, upgraded with high-def lens. Nice.” Yu Xi held up the camera, inspecting it closely.
Everyone in the room gasped, especially the makeup artist who’d been working on Fu Le.
Seeing the hidden mini-camera, no one could guess wrong about what Fu Le wanted.
Fu Le’s about-to-fall tears were instantly held back. He subconsciously stood up, nearly snatching for the camera in Yu Xi’s hand before forcing himself to stop.
Yu Xi leaned sideways against the table, quickly scrolling through the camera’s data while commenting, “Good angle choice too. After editing, another wave of great material. Makes your ‘pitiful and delicate’ persona even fuller, huh?”
Yu Xi turned the camera screen toward Fu Le, his gaze sharpening. “But did you give one thought to that little girl’s future career?”
The camera’s angle had been meticulously chosen, capturing Fu Le in beautifully broken frames every shot. But it was brutal for the makeup artist—not just a death angle, but straight-up close-ups to the face. If the video got edited with biased cuts and released—even mosaicked—the uncovered details would let fans dig up this young makeup artist. From then on, she’d be slapped with labels like “poor skills,” “bad attitude,” “ugly and mean,” a fatal blow for a young stylist in the fashion circle.
“I’ll delete the video.” Yu Xi hit delete, then went into the recycle bin and cleared that too.
Fu Le could barely contain his emotions.
He’d spent so much time filming those perfect shots, and now Yu Xi deleted them in a flash?!
“This wasn’t placed by me. Someone must’ve snuck it in to film me!” Fu Le bit his lip hard, feigning innocence. “Thanks for finding it. When did you notice?”
“Notice what?” Yu Xi was checking if the camera had networked or auto-uploaded backups. “Notice you’re a green tea, or notice you were secretly recording?”
Fu Le: “…”
Once he confirmed the damaging footage for the makeup artist girl was gone, Yu Xi handed the camera back to Fu Le. “I was done cursing you out and about to leave, but now I wanna curse you again. What now?”
Light laughter rippled around the room.
The staff had long been fed up with Fu Le’s fake delicateness, but he was an Omega from a good family with backing—a capital darling. They could only endure it.
Fu Le ground his molars, barely keeping his expression from cracking.
What the staff thought of him didn’t matter; he could squash it easily, maybe even get his fans to swarm them. But Yu Xi was different—huge traffic, and they’d be on live stream together later. If he blabbed, neither he nor his sugar daddy could suppress it fast.
Fu Le stubbornly insisted, “Th-This camera isn’t mine… Brother Yu Xi, why are you doing this to me… Never…”
Yu Xi had already sat back down. Before Fu Le finished, he replied matter-of-factly, “Because you’re not cute enough for people to overlook your issues.”
Finally, silence.
After the camera got exposed, Fu Le didn’t say another word or nitpick. It was like sharing air with Yu Xi scraped his throat. No more crying or fussing—he finished makeup quickly and left the room just as fast.
The rest of the styling went smoothly.
Yu Xi stayed chill, Guan Zifan’s suggestions were clear and precise, and they wrapped up quickly. At the photography studio, Guan Zifan had some last-minute ideas for the backdrop setup and went to discuss with staff. Yu Xi waited nearby.
With staff bustling about in the cramped space, Yu Xi inevitably overheard some chatter.
“Did you hear? Lin Qiang got busted today.”
—Lin Qiang, the sound king from a music competition show a few years back, originally slated for Weekend Go Where.
“Busted? For real?”
“Yeah, apparently he…” The staffer lowered their voice. “Gambling, drugs… Neighbors called the cops ’cause it got too loud. Boom, police hauled the whole place away.”
“What?! Can he still come on our show?”
The other shook their head. “Doubt it…”
They walked off, their voices fading. Yu Xi didn’t bother digging further and idly scrolled his phone.
The app’s home page recommended a streamer doing airport pickup live. She chatted casually with viewers—fun style—so Yu Xi left it running in the background for audio and got up to grab water.
Thick set partitions separated the studios. Returning to his set, Yu Xi heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Yu Xi’s got issues. I was just filming, didn’t provoke or mess with him. He airs it publicly, deletes my footage.”
Fu Le seemed to be on the phone. “He cursed me out too. No idea what big-star tantrum he’s throwing. What’s he got? Just got lucky famous—won’t last, gonna crash hard. I hate him so much. You gotta teach him a lesson!!”
Yu Xi: “…”
Couldn’t even whisper properly.
His idiot-phobia was flaring up.
Yu Xi set down his cup, about to speak, when Fu Le’s tone shifted like he’d heard amazing news. “What? For real?! Lin Qiang can’t do the show, so they invited Yi Chen?! He just agreed?!”
Fu Le’s words bounced with excitement. “Yi Chen’s coming too!”
Yu Xi’s movements froze.
Fu Le? Idiot-phobia? Tossed aside instantly.
What?
Who was coming?
Yi Chen to where?!
As if to confirm Yu Xi’s shock and doubt, the background live stream exploded in shrieks. The streamer, mid-chat one second, hit E6 the next: “Yi Chen!!! Yi Chen!!!! Yi Chen! Aaaaaaaah!!!!!”
Fuck, the streamer was picking up Yi Chen!
Pretty close up front, she stretched to shove her device nearer, screeching, “Yi Chen!! Heard you’re doing Weekend Go Where!!”
“Doing the show with Yu Xi—what’re you most worried about aaaaaah!!!!!”
The streamer had just tossed it out casually, not expecting a reply—dropping Yu Xi’s name to grab attention amid the screams.
—After all, Yi Chen and Yu Xi were arch-rivals; he’d react bigger to his nemesis’s name than his own.
But Yi Chen did notice her!!!
He actually stopped in front of her, adjusted the device, and smiled right at the lens.
“Me? Most worried he won’t dare show up.”
