#Jiang Sheli Follows Zhu Huai# [Boiling]
#Jiang Sheli Likes Zhu Huai’s Weibo Post# [Boiling]
#Jiang Sheli Zhu Huai# [New]
By the time Zhu Huai logged back into Weibo, there were already three tags carrying his and Jiang Sheli’s names. The first and second positions were firmly held. The Liu Qi-Jiang Sheli hot search had dropped to seventh.
Sure enough, the melon of Zhu Huai and Jiang Sheli was still tastier.
Zhu Huai’s latest post was from a few days ago. Its comments had grown from the original two hundred-plus to over eight thousand, still climbing.
Zhu Huai V:
Met a really wonderful senior on set. Thank you for the ginger soup, senior.
[Thermos.jpg]
Jiang Sheli V liked this post.
Jiang Sheli V: You’re welcome.
[Wow, the high-quality fakes are this good now? They can even get V verified.]
[Bro? Brother?! If you’re being kidnapped, blink!]
[I’ve returned after tapping into the blogger’s homepage N times. Confirmed. Not a fake. The real deal.]
[[gobsmacked.jpg]]
[…Truly. Live long enough and you’ll see everything.]
[This world is crazy. Movie emperor and Zhu Huai actually appearing in the same orbit?]
[??? Are we already kicking off the year’s surreal news?]
[Sending ginger soup—the movie emperor treats Zhu Huai specially! There’s something going on~]
[I remember that day, several actors from 《The Disloyal Minister》 showed the things the movie emperor sent them. Stop being so ky up there, okay?]
[No problem. That day both Liu Qi and Lou Lixiao showed off Jiang Sheli’s heat patches!]
[Heat patches for the leads, ginger soup for Zhu Huai?… Why do I feel like that’s even more suspicious?]
[Liu Qi’s fans are so pathetic. Over a dozen minutes ago they were beating drums everywhere because their gege got followed by the movie emperor. The face-slap came way too fast [suddenly excited.jpg]]
[If fireworks weren’t banned, I’d really be afraid they’d buy ten boxes and set them off right there. Liu Qi’s fans genuinely kill me.]
[What’s even funnier is the person Jiang Sheli followed right after was Zhu Huai hahahahahaha]
[I want an interview with Liu Qi’s fans. How are you feeling?]
[Hello? Why drag Liu Qi into this? Liu Qi is not available, and neither are his fans!]
[Heh, really underestimated this washed-up brat. The moment he gets a chance, he latches onto JSL’s thigh.]
[Holding Li in My Arms: I believe in love again!]
In the hotel lobby, Little Nan sat on the sofa scrolling Weibo, laughing. “Brother, you’re getting popular again?”
Zhu Huai’s phone screen was stopped on Jiang Sheli’s Weibo homepage. The words “Following” from over a dozen minutes ago had already changed to “Mutual Follow,” along with that comment.
It wasn’t strange for Jiang Sheli to comment on Weibo. But commenting on HIS Weibo was very strange. Their “fire and water” relationship was known to everyone. And his post hadn’t named anyone at all—Jiang Sheli directly admitted it. He couldn’t not know what that move would do.
Little Nan said, “That’s a slick move by the movie emperor. I’m starting to suspect he’s your anti-fan.”
Zhu Huai looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
Little Nan analyzed for him. “He followed Liu Qi first, then followed you, liked, and commented. That’s openly slapping Liu Qi’s face. And after SYA disbanded, everyone knows you and Liu Qi are at odds. Isn’t this explicitly making Liu Qi’s fans hate you even more?”
That made so much sense he almost believed it.
Zhu Huai opened WeChat and tapped into his chat with Jiang Sheli. He typed and deleted, typed and deleted. He truly didn’t know what to say.
Thanks? For what? He’d already thanked him for the ginger soup on Weibo, and the man himself had replied. Saying it again on WeChat was too redundant.
After much deliberation, Zhu Huai finally opened Weibo again.
Zhu Huai V: [heart]//Jiang Sheli V: You’re welcome.
–
The next day, on set.
Zhu Huai felt people’s gazes on him were especially different, carrying something extra. He didn’t mind, walking steadily toward the green room to wait. As he passed a certain dressing room, the door happened to open from the inside, and he ran into Liu Qi, who had just finished his makeup.
Liu Qi was startled to see him, then blocked his way with an ambiguous smile.
“Nice going, Zhu Huai. I underestimated you.”
Zhu Huai looked at him coldly. “Excuse me.”
“What’s the hurry.” Liu Qi stepped forward, leaning in close. The distance between them shrank sharply, noses only a finger apart. He stared at the excessively handsome face before him, a flicker of jealousy in his pupils. “Let’s talk?”
Zhu Huai frowned and stepped back, putting distance between them.
“I have nothing to talk about with you.”
Liu Qi lowered his voice. “That face of yours is really something. Seduced investors before, now seducing Jiang Sheli. Quite the skill. Last time, the investor didn’t get to lie with you. This time, with Jiang Sheli, you should be willingly dropping your pants, right? Let me guess—after you’re done sleeping with him, it’s off to Phantom? Or into Jiang Sheli’s movie?” By the end, a hint of resentment crept into Liu Qi’s tone. “Jiang Sheli clearly only followed me at first. Why did he have to follow you too? Don’t tell me you’ve already…?”
Before the sentence finished, Zhu Huai grabbed his collar and shoved him hard, pinning him against the wall. Deep repulsion burst from Zhu Huai’s eyes as his chest heaved slightly. He called out slowly, word by word, “Liu Qi.”
“Don’t project your filthy mind onto others. Do you really think I wouldn’t hit you?”
“What really happened two years ago, you and Wei Feng know best of all. Whether it was me seducing investors or you two scheming to deliver me to someone’s room—if you can’t remember, I don’t mind slowly helping you remember!”
Liu Qi gave a fearless smile, a hint of confusion in his eyes. “What are you talking about? You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want. Everything needs evidence. Otherwise, it’s defamation. For the sake of our past bond, I won’t send you a lawyer’s letter.”
Zhu Huai took a deep breath, the disgust in his eyes deepening, but he pulled a smile. “If you’ve got the nerve, send it. If you don’t, you’re my grandson.”
Liu Qi’s face turned ugly.
Zhu Huai said, “I’ll be waiting.” Then he added, “Grandson!”
Without sparing another glance at Liu Qi’s liver-colored face, he turned crisply and left.
Back in his own green room, Little Nan was playing on her phone. She looked up at the sound and was startled by Zhu Huai’s expression. “What’s wrong? Who upset you?”
Zhu Huai sat down in the rest chair, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
Little Nan assumed he’d heard another round of harsh words and patted his shoulder in comfort. “Don’t take it to heart. You’ve been hearing nasty things for years. One or two more won’t make a difference.”
Please, just shut up.
Zhu Huai had no more hope for Little Nan’s emotional intelligence. He simply took out his phone, planning to play a few games to soothe his mood.
He hadn’t been online in a long time. With some new event or other in Sword Shadow, the game updated for a while before he could log in. Just as he came online, he received a party invitation.
It was the Beggars he’d met in the arena last time. After that match, he, the Beggars, and the Hundred Flowers girl had all added each other as friends.
Zhu Huai accepted the invitation. The Hundred Flowers girl was in the party too.
[Party] Little Beggar: Bro!! You’re finally online! Hua and I have been waiting so long for you!
[Party] Hua Rouya: Handsome guy QAQ if you didn’t come online we’d be dead!
[Party] Zhi Huai: ? What’s going on?
[Party] Little Beggar: Didn’t you read the latest announcement? The second Hero Cup in 《Sword Shadow: Martial World (Mobile Game)》 is starting! This year the prize pool is five hundred thousand!
[Party] Hua Rouya: Me, Little Beggar, and a friend are planning to register for 5v5, but we’re missing two strong teammates. Interested? OVO
《Sword Shadow: Martial World (Mobile Game)》 was wildly popular. To promote interaction among players—or to put it bluntly, to stir up trouble—the developers had imitated esports games and created this genius event, preparing rich rewards of cash and limited-edition costumes that were very attractive. When it first ran last year, the player registration traffic had crashed the official website.
But the first event’s prize pool was only one hundred thousand. The second jumped to five hundred thousand. What a leap. As the developer, Feiyang Games was truly rich and generous.
[Party] Zhi Huai: Sorry, I don’t plan to participate.
[Party] Little Beggar: ??? Are you serious? Five hundred thousand, bro! Champion gets two hundred fifty thousand cash, runner-up one hundred fifty thousand, even third place gets one hundred thousand!
[Party] Hua Rouya: We’re not hoping for high ranks. Decent title once past the open qualifiers, let alone the limited costumes from Top 32 to Top 4. So nice~ Handsome guy, aren’t you tempted? QAQ
[Party] Zhi Huai: Sorry, find someone else.
[Party] Hua Rouya: Great god!! Why?! TAT
The reason was simple: after reaching Top 16, the matches were held offline and fully livestreamed. Zhu Huai didn’t want to show his face.
[Party] Zhi Huai: Busy with work.
[Party] Little Beggar: Ah, what a pity… Let’s just find some random team and grab a title. I wonder who’ll take champion this year. Money, costume, and an endorsement.
Zhu Huai paused, typing: Endorsement?
[Party] Little Beggar: Yeah. Meng Xingyu only signed a one-year deal with the game, and it’s about to expire. For the new endorsement, the officials decided to do a dev-player interaction. The champion team gets to participate in the endorsement.
[Party] Hua Rouya: So jealous o(╥﹏╥)o
Zhu Huai felt his heart quicken uncontrollably. He opened the announcement, skimmed it quickly, and went straight to the rewards section. Sure enough, under the champion benefits were the words “mobile game endorsement.”
Then he scrolled back to the tournament schedule page. After reading it, he turned to ask Little Nan, “Do I have any gigs in June?”
Little Nan didn’t look up. “No. After this drama, you’ve got a small variety show scheduled next month. If you can manage to get popular again, maybe June will have something.”
Zhu Huai was at a loss for words.
To be honest, he really wanted the 《Sword Shadow: Martial World (Mobile Game)》 endorsement. What player wouldn’t be tempted by the endorsement of their favorite game? Besides, he’d been longing for this endorsement for a long time.
He sat there and thought seriously for a while. In his current circumstances, being the official spokesperson was hopeless. But this tournament opportunity was worth fighting for.
[Party] Zhi Huai: I want the championship.
[Party] Hua Rouya: …
[Party] Little Beggar: …
【Little Beggar initiated a party voice call. Accept?】
The moment Zhu Huai accepted, Little Beggar’s hoarse voice wailed, “Bro! Don’t abandon us! Bro! You’re the only one in our whole team on the expert leaderboard! Don’t leave!”
Zhu Huai said helplessly, “I didn’t say I was leaving you guys.”
A soft female voice came through. “But we can’t win the championship. If you want to win, you have to join a stronger team!”
Zhu Huai said, “I’d like to, but the open qualifiers have been running for a week already. The players on the server’s expert leaderboard have long formed teams and registered on the official site. Where am I supposed to find a leftover? I’m stuck making do with you two.”
The party went quiet for two seconds, clearly stunned by this teammate’s unvarnished disdain.
Zhu Huai continued, “The way we are now, we truly have zero hope for the championship. To get further, both our gear and our technique need strengthening. Of course, forget about orange weapons. But purple gear definitely needs to be upgraded to max. It’ll cost a little money. I just don’t know if you two are okay with that?”
The party remained silent. After a moment, Hua Rouya spoke up. “Um, actually, my friend’s technique is pretty good. He’s on the expert leaderboard on another server too. He just transferred here without any gear. Let’s run a dungeon one of these days and see if anything good drops.”
This meant she’d conceded.
Little Beggar sighed and said, “You two, drink less and eat more. As long as you have one peanut, you wouldn’t be this drunk, would you?”
Zhu Huai couldn’t help laughing. He really did want the championship, but he had to be realistic. With a team thrown together on the spot, who knew how far they could even go.
After thinking it over, he relented. “The championship is the primary goal. If we truly can’t win, there’s nothing to be done. Participation matters.”
Hua Rouya and Little Beggar both sighed in relief. “You scared us to death. We were just thinking, if you really wanted the championship, where on earth would we find one for you.”
Zhu Huai said, “I’m going to play a couple arena matches. You two coming?”
The two naturally had no objections. Consider it early team practice. Zhu Huai took the leader role and queued for 3v3.
There were plenty of players at this hour, and matchmaking was quick. The loading screen stuttered for a moment. Before he even got in, he heard Hua Rouya let out a small gasp, followed by Little Beggar blurting out a “sht.”
The loading screen ended. Zhu Huai entered the battlefield, and the first thing he did was check the enemy’s information.
Enemy: Hundred Flowers Valley healer, Shu Sect melee, longsword ranged.
Zhu Huai stared at the longsword’s ID, and his pupils violently constricted—
Li River!
