Chapter 94

Too Many Words

Luo Yixuan stopped, staring at the man who had appeared.

Was this a friend of Mr. Chao's? A relative?

Curly Hair saw him standing there blankly and made a discreet beckoning gesture. Come on, stop standing there — get over here.

Noticing her signal, Luo Yixuan hesitated, then quietly moved to her side. He watched Chao Musheng smile at the man, watched the man smooth down his hair, watched Chao Musheng not move away.

"Ms. Wang." He dropped his gaze and asked quietly. "Is this gentleman a friend of Mr. Chao's?"

"He's—"

"Mr. Xu!" Several entertainment company heads came down the steps in their suits, and the moment they recognized who was standing beside Chao Musheng, broke into something close to a run.

What could possibly have brought someone of Xu Chenzhu's standing to a fashion charity event?

Nobody could work it out, but their feet were faster than their thoughts. Within seconds they were clustered in front of Xu Chenzhu, offering greetings with a depth of deference that drew stares from artists and staff members alike.

What new arrival of power could possibly reduce these industry heavyweights to such prostration?

"Gentlemen — today is Mr. Xu's private schedule." Secretary Liu stepped in to intercept the flattery. "Business matters can wait for another occasion."

Disappointed, but unwilling to push, everyone exchanged polite words with Secretary Liu before drifting off reluctantly.

Getting even a moment of Xu Chenzhu's time on an ordinary day was an achievement.

One person couldn't help looking back. He saw Xu Chenzhu lower his head to adjust Chao Musheng's collar, and on a face that habitually carried no expression at all — unmistakable tenderness.

"Old Li — what are you looking at?" A friend nudged his elbow with a self-deprecating laugh. "Stop staring. Someone like Xu Chenzhu is not a ladder any of us can climb."

"I just think..." Old Li looked away. "Xu Chenzhu seems to regard this assistant Chao Musheng very highly."

"Do you know who this young Mr. Chao is?" His friend lowered his voice. "His name is on the national list of priority-cultivated talent. He's reportedly been involved in government flagship projects. A technical problem that had Kunlun's whole team stuck for months — he solved it in under two weeks on the job. Which employer wouldn't treat someone like that as precious?"

And he was still young. The value he could create in future was enormous.

"I understand all that." Old Li frowned. There was still something that struck him as off — he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what.

*

"Shall we go now?" Xu Chenzhu's fingers brushed Chao Musheng's collar, then, as Chao Musheng looked up, he curled his fingers and put his hand behind his back.

"You've been on a plane for hours. Go rest first." Chao Musheng said. "The evening scenery in Linhai is just as beautiful — there's no rush."

"Secretary Liu." Chao Musheng called out. "Come on then."

Xu Chenzhu.

Luo Yixuan looked at the man standing side by side with Mr. Chao. So this was the legendary head of Kunlun.

Composed, enigmatic, formidable.

From start to finish, Xu Chenzhu had looked at him exactly once.

That single glance had made him feel inadequate to the bone — had almost cost him the nerve to stand here at all.

"You must be Mr. Luo Yixuan?" Secretary Liu fell back to walk beside him, smiling. "Your management contract arrived at Kunlun's entertainment division this afternoon. Do you have any sense of what you'd like your future to look like?"

A brief silence. "I love acting."

Secretary Liu was slightly surprised. This Luo Yixuan was braver than he'd expected. More direct, too.

"Kunlun's entertainment division has some new plans for the second half of the year. If Mr. Luo were to stay with Kunlun, there may be some pleasant surprises." He sighed. "With your popularity, I'm rather puzzled why your company would be willing to part with your contract."

Luo Yixuan slowed slightly. Of course he knew why.

"This morning someone was making things difficult for me, and Mr. Chao stepped in." He offered the explanation. "Mr. Chao is a good person."

When the murky becomes normal, no one believes in clean water anymore.

So nobody would believe that Mr. Chao had simply helped him out of kindness.

"I'm sorry." Luo Yixuan stopped walking and looked at the ornate white building ahead. "I've damaged Mr. Chao's reputation."

If he continued into the white building, the gossip outside would only get worse.

"Secretary Liu, Mr. Luo — what are you standing out here for?" Chao Musheng looked back and saw the two of them hadn't followed. "Come in, quickly. We'll go to dinner together later."

The dinner wasn't strictly necessary either, Secretary Liu thought privately.

*

The white building's interior leaned toward Western styling. Chao Musheng settled everyone on the sofas; the bodyguards brought steaming tea. Chao Musheng picked up the first cup and placed it in front of Xu Chenzhu. "Mr. Xu — it's over two hours flying from the capital to Linhai. When we spoke at noon — were you already on your way?"

The surface of Xu Chenzhu's tea trembled slightly. "Yes."

"Ah." Chao Musheng stretched out the syllable with a smile. "So you and Secretary Liu staged a deliberate surprise arrival."

"That's right." Secretary Liu helped himself to a cup before Chao Musheng could pour for him. "Seeing Liu-ge and the boss descend from the sky — were you pleasantly surprised?"

Well...

He had to admit his mood had been rather good the moment Xu Chenzhu appeared.

"Very surprised." Chao Musheng turned to Xu Chenzhu. "Mr. Xu — after the branch anniversary tomorrow noon, will you be heading straight back?"

"The schedule is flexible this time." Xu Chenzhu's eyes were lowered. "I can wait and go back with you."

Luo Yixuan glanced at Chao Musheng.

"Have some tea." Curly Hair pressed a cup into his hands.

"Thank you." Luo Yixuan's hand jerked; tea sloshed onto his skin. The scalding heat jolted him back to himself.

He was only a traveler who had lost his way in the dark. He had been fortunate enough to have the moonlight show him the road ahead.

"You've been sitting on a plane for so long — shall we rest first?" Chao Musheng had noticed what seemed to be a heaviness in Xu Chenzhu's expression and assumed he was tired. "Linhai will be just as good tomorrow."

"I'm not tired." Xu Chenzhu set down his cup and gave Chao Musheng a quiet smile. "We can go now."

Secretary Liu's phone rang. He stepped outside to take the call, and came back two or three minutes later. "Xiao Chao — something's come up, I can't come out with you tonight."

"Xiao Chao — I've got a work thing too." Curly Hair glanced at Luo Yixuan. "The organizers have a livestream for some of the artists tonight. I'm on as an assistant."

Luo Yixuan opened his mouth and closed it again. The artists scheduled for tonight's livestream were only those with long-term relationships with Nangua Video — he wasn't among them. But his instinct told him to stay quiet.

"Right." He nodded. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chao — I can't come out with you tonight either."

"That's fine — work comes first." Chao Musheng didn't press. "Do whatever you need to. Mr. Xu and I will manage."

He stood, glanced down at the carefully pressed shirts and trousers both he and Xu Chenzhu were wearing. "Mr. Xu — we can't really go walking around in these. Follow me."

Xu Chenzhu set down his tea and went upstairs with him.

Fifteen minutes later, Secretary Liu looked up at his boss in short sleeves and shorts and nearly had his eyes fall out.

The chain had been taken off his glasses. His precisely set hair had been fluffed loose and light. He looked five or six years younger — this was—

And when he saw Chao Musheng wearing exactly the same casual ensemble, he drew a careful breath. He'd never seen the boss dressed like this before, but standing together, there was a certain undeniable... rightness to them.

And the boss, in this outfit, showed not a trace of discomfort — his brow was tinged with something that looked, unmistakably, like happiness.

Secretary Liu's eye caught the small cat paw print on the upper left chest of both their short-sleeved T-shirts.

Round it off and call it... a couple set?

No wonder the boss looked happy down to the corners of his eyes.

He understood everything now.

*

The sun at five in the afternoon had lost its noon ferocity. Chao Musheng produced a pair of sunglasses — oversized to the point of comedy — put them on with great flair, and declared: "Mr. Xu — let's go!"

He didn't get five triumphant minutes before he ran directly into Chao Yin in the path ahead.

"Mom." He took the sunglasses off immediately and put his hands behind his back.

Xu Chenzhu felt something brush his fingers — and then something was pressed into his palm.

The sunglasses.

He closed his hand around them, glanced sideways at Chao Musheng's expression of pure innocence, and felt the corner of his mouth lift.

"Sheng-sheng." Chao Yin came to stand in front of her son and handed him a folder. "Look through this tonight when you get back."

As Chao Musheng took it, her gaze moved to the man beside him.

He looked no older than twenty-seven or twenty-eight, dressed in the same style as Sheng-sheng but in a different color. They seemed on very easy terms.

She had a faint sense she'd seen this young man somewhere before — but couldn't place it.

"Hello, Auntie Chao." Xu Chenzhu spoke first. "I'm Zhaozhao's friend. I arrived in Linhai this afternoon and came to see him."

"Hello." Chao Yin smiled. "Thank you for keeping him company. Have a good time out there."

"Mom — I'll definitely be back by midnight." Chao Musheng, worried that knowing Xu Chenzhu's actual identity might put her in an awkward position, gave her a quick wave, grabbed Xu Chenzhu's wrist, and pulled him toward the gate at a jog.

Xu Chenzhu looked at the wrist Chao Musheng had hold of and let himself be dragged, all his usual composure gone.

By the time the two of them — and their bodyguards — had disappeared around a bend, Chao Yin still hadn't worked out where she'd seen Sheng-sheng's friend before.

A classmate from school, perhaps? A colleague?

Her Sheng-sheng had the widest circle of acquaintances of anyone she knew. He'd been friends with the old scrap-iron dealer on the corner for years.

"Editor-in-chief." A male assistant hurried over. "I just heard from the director's assistant at Nangua Video that Xu Chenzhu came to the compound this afternoon."

"Xu Chenzhu?" She couldn't understand it. "Kunlun's already sent a representative. Why would someone of his standing waste time on a small event like ours? Where is he now?"

"He apparently came for Mr. Chao. He didn't make an official appearance. He's probably already left."

Came for Sheng-sheng?

The memory of the young man walking beside her son surfaced — and she dismissed it almost immediately.

Xu Chenzhu surely wasn't that young. And he absolutely wouldn't dress like that.

*

"Nearly caught by my mother." Chao Musheng settled into the car and looked at Xu Chenzhu. "If she knew I was wearing sunglasses on an evening outing, she'd mock me for three days straight."

He was twenty — just the age for wanting to look cool — but that impulse in front of parents always carried an inexplicable sense of embarrassment.

Xu Chenzhu reached over, put the sunglasses back on Chao Musheng's face, and studied him with genuine attention for a long moment. "Very handsome."

"Heh." Chao Musheng pushed them up onto the top of his head. "Much appreciated."

"Not appreciation." Xu Chenzhu laughed softly. "Just stating facts."

"I'm not actually that handsome." Chao Musheng pulled out the folder Chao Yin had given him and opened it in front of Xu Chenzhu.

After reading it, he went quiet.

An offhand intervention — and somehow it had become: Chao Musheng has designs on Luo Yixuan's looks.

The file contained a detailed account of the interpersonal web behind the entire gift incident. And threaded through it — traces of the Chen family.

While he had been in hospital, the eldest Chen son had cooperated with the investigation into the Chen patriarch's case, and the Chen third daughter had seized family control in the opening it created.

"Why does the failure of Chen's eldest son's power grab have anything to do with me? Why am I the particular target of his resentment?" He read through the whole file and couldn't make sense of it. The Chen patriarch's case had implicated dozens of people. Why was he the one the eldest son hated most?

The man who'd called him Mr. Chao, Mr. Chao when inviting them to Chen Garden — now treating him like a splinter he couldn't pull out.

"The easiest target gets picked on." Chao Musheng put the file down. "You and Secretary Liu were both there that night. He didn't dare come at either of you."

"It's not your fault." Xu Chenzhu gathered the pages together to return them to the folder — one slipped out. It landed face-up.

A photo of Luo Yixuan. Below it, a line of text.

[Chao Musheng and Luo Yixuan in intimate conduct — walking side by side to view the scenery, Mr. Chao praising Luo Yixuan's on-screen role.]

He stared at those words for a long moment. Then he tucked the page back in with the rest.

"If you like him, let him stay in Kunlun's entertainment division." Xu Chenzhu turned to look out the window. "The entertainment side needs some young actors who can actually act. He could be arranged into a production next week."

"I only met him this morning." Chao Musheng, realizing there might have been a misunderstanding, explained patiently. "I was out for a walk with the bodyguards. I saw an older man harassing him, and he clearly wasn't willing, so I stepped in."

"Don't you like the character Lu Yu he played, Zhaozhao?"

"Who's Lu Yu?"

Xu Chenzhu laughed — and the tight grip he'd had on the folder eased. "The second male lead in the campus drama. The devoted romantic one."

"Oh." Chao Musheng nodded, then shook his head. "I've never seen any of his dramas. I don't know whether they're good or not. To attract that many fans, he must be decent."

"Our Kunlun entertainment division is lacking young actors who can carry a role." He looked at it from the perspective of long-term development. "Signing him would be genuinely beneficial."

"Only that?" Xu Chenzhu asked. "You're not worried about the rumors?"

"What rumors — that I used my position to coerce Luo Yixuan? That kind?" Chao Musheng laughed despite himself. "Rumors like that, as long as I don't engage with them, disappear quickly."

For Chen's eldest son to try to manipulate him with something like this was really quite futile. Xu Chenzhu would never doubt his character over something so baseless.

The thought struck him — and his eyes flickered. He turned to look at Xu Chenzhu.

He had somehow never even considered the possibility that Xu Chenzhu might suspect him.

"What is it?" Xu Chenzhu caught the look and handed the folder back. "Don't worry. Neither I nor anyone else at the company believes you would do something like that."

"Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng took the folder and set it aside. "I feel like you're particularly good to me."

"You deserve it." Xu Chenzhu looked at him, gentle. "Zhaozhao — there are many people in your life who are good to you. I'm only one of them."

The evening light came through the car window and stained Chao Musheng's cheek red.

"Ahem." He touched his face and changed the subject. "Tomorrow noon's anniversary — do I still need to attend?"

"Of course." Xu Chenzhu looked at the warm orange of the young man's throat in the last light. "You're my — capable right hand. How could you not be there?"

*

"Wang Xiaojuan — didn't expect you to still be here." The man in a security uniform blocked Curly Hair's path outside the white building.

"There are a lot of things you don't expect." She had no particular recollection of this player. "You sold out a string of players to earn an NPC's trust. The thing you should be thinking about is your own outcome."

"Shut your mouth — I don't need you telling me what to do." His expression was cold. "What right do you have to say anything to me?"

"If you're going to lose your mind, do it away from me. I don't have time for your drama." She frowned.

"Wang Xiaojuan." His face twisted. "A hundred percent instance failure rate — how are you still alive from that corporate exploration instance?"

"You were the one who got me into the corporate exploration instance?" It clicked. That was why she'd been pulled in ahead of her usual schedule — it had been manipulated.

"You killed my sister. How are you still alive?" The hatred in his eyes was absolute. "If not for you, she wouldn't have died."

"Your sister?" Curly Hair looked at him carefully, for a long time. A faint impression surfaced. "You're Xiaoxiao's brother?"

At the name, his face contorted further. "You don't have the right to say her name."

"When the anomaly came hunting all the players, you were the first to run." She was merciless. "The one who killed Xiaoxiao was you. It was the anomaly. It was the instance. It was absolutely not me."

"That's a lie!" His voice broke into a shout. "You could have saved her. Why didn't you?"

"Why would you think I could?" she shot back. "Were you hiding nearby when the anomaly killed her?"

He shook. "I just couldn't—"

"You were afraid to die." She cut through it coldly. "The anomaly mimicked your voice. It made Xiaoxiao lose focus. That's why she died."

She had been barely holding herself together at the time, punctured with wounds, running on nothing but a system-issued tool just to escape. Saving Xiaoxiao had been unthinkable.

"It's always easier to hate someone else than to hate yourself." She refused every accusation. "Now you're using players as chips to buy NPC trust. What's the difference between you and the anomalies that hunt players?"

"I just want to live." He turned it back on her. "You sold yourself to an NPC to survive. How is that any less degrading?"

Curly Hair's expression finally changed. "Sold myself to whom?"

"Who else?" He sneered. "The mysterious Mr. Chao in the white building, obviously."

"You filthy — how dare you slander my pure and wholesome friendship with Xiao Chao." She launched herself at him and drove him into the ground, hitting him repeatedly. "You want to die — I want to live!"

If Boss Xu misunderstood, everything would be finished.

The player hadn't expected the sudden assault. He took several hits before he could respond, scrambled up to retaliate — and discovered her strength was extraordinary. He was almost entirely on the receiving end.

"No fighting on compound grounds!" The security team leader came past on patrol, saw one of his team getting beaten, and immediately separated them.

When he saw who the beaten team member was, he frowned. This particular recruit had proved useful in catching paparazzi over the past few days, and the leader had come to rely on him. First instinct: paparazzi retaliation.

"Team leader — she attacked me out of spite after I exposed her as a paparazzo." The player straightened his battered uniform. "We need to dismiss her immediately."

The team leader looked at him. Then at Curly Hair, who was half a head shorter.

You're security personnel. Getting beaten like this by a girl half a head shorter than you — aren't you embarrassed?

Curly Hair, clothes slightly rumpled and hair slightly disordered, gave a short laugh. "I was hired by Mr. Chao as cleaning staff. What authority do you have to dismiss me?"

At the words Mr. Chao, the team leader immediately remembered exactly who the young woman was. His expression warmed. "You're Mr. Chao's cleaner — of course there's no problem. It's all a misunderstanding."

"Team leader!"

Seeing the team leader shift position the moment Mr. Chao's name came up, the player summoned his consciousness-alteration tool. Even with only one use left, he would use it to get Wang Xiaojuan eliminated from this instance.

The tool activated.

"Team leader — think about it carefully." The player's voice turned persuasive. "We know Wang Xiaojuan is a paparazzo, and we've left her right beside Mr. Chao. What if she exposes his private information? Do you think Mr. Chao will let any of us off?"

"She's just a cleaner — hardly irreplaceable." He pressed harder. "Dismiss her. Get a younger, better-looking cleaner in with Mr. Chao instead. Mr. Chao won't hold it against us."

"You're right." The team leader's eyes went unfocused.

Triumph ignited in the player's chest. Got it.

"Dismiss her right—"

"Xiao Juan?" Chao Yin had noticed a cluster of security personnel around a young woman some distance away and felt uneasy enough to go and check. She hadn't expected the person surrounded to be Sheng-sheng's intern colleague.

"Editor-in-chief Chao." The security team stood to immediate attention.

The team leader's eyes cleared slightly. "Editor-in-chief — you know Xiao Wang?"

Curly Hair stared hard at her own shoe tips, too mortified to meet Chao Yin's eyes, and quietly smoothed down the hem she'd scrunched up fighting.

"Of course I know her." Chao Yin smiled, walked to Curly Hair's side, and drew her out of the circle of security personnel by the hand. "She's my son's friend."

Curly Hair's face was thoroughly scarlet. The hands she'd been hitting someone with hadn't been washed.

The son of Editor-in-chief Chao's friend?

The team leader looked at Curly Hair standing quietly at Chao Yin's side. Someone who could be friends with the editor-in-chief's son — a paparazzo? Impossible.

"A misunderstanding. All a misunderstanding." He felt a bitterness in his chest. He'd been saying misunderstanding all day.

The player watched Wang Xiaojuan escape catastrophe once more — while his S-class tool charges hit zero. He cracked. He stared at her with undisguised hatred.

Why was her luck this good?

"Xiao Juan — did you come to find Sheng-sheng?" Chao Yin asked, puzzled. "Why didn't you go out with him?"

"Editor-in-chief Chao." The player didn't know who Sheng-sheng referred to, but he wasn't willing to miss a chance to make trouble for Curly Hair. "She works here as cleaning staff. How would she go out?"

Players couldn't leave the instance boundaries.

Curly Hair: "..."

Was this idiot not satisfied with how much she'd already been humiliated?

You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you.