CH 21

Xia Xingchi was stunned by this discovery, and turned his head to look around, thinking, Li Chengyuan might be looking at me from somewhere, right?

At a glance, there were still only celebrities and big names in the waiting area.

Those at the end of the sequence were obviously very high-ranking, and everyone was surrounded by stylists, making careful preparations. But Xia Xingchi was not favored by the management company, so he sat there and waited a little pitifully.

Fortunately, his foundation was good, and he looked excellent in his natural state without makeup.

He looked around again, but Li Chengyuan was nowhere to be seen in the crowd.

Xia Xingchi tilted his head in doubt. Maybe the other person was just asking casually, or maybe this business legend also had the ability to predict things in this commercial competition like a god?

After some thought, he bowed his head and replied:

[Of course it’s not cold, I’m getting heated up (dog with rose in its mouth.jpg)]

When Li Chengyuan received the news, he had already stood up with a thick coat over his arm, and was about to go out.

Seeing Xia Xingchi’s ears turn red from the cold on the screen in the lounge, yet insisting he was not cold, he couldn’t help but find it a little laughable.

After Xia Xingchi put down his phone, he looked around vigilantly, trying to find someone, but suddenly found that Xia Yu had been looking at him obliquely through a mirror for an unknown length of time.

The moment the two locked gazes, Xia Yu didn’t look away, but smiled strangely with malicious intentions.

Anyone who suddenly saw this rat-like gaze coming from the gutter would be stunned.

Xia Xingchi was taken aback, then could help but frown. He had a very bad feeling in his heart. Could it be that Xia Yu was trying to cause trouble here?

The moment this intuition flashed by, the door of the waiting area suddenly opened, and the cold wind rushed in as if it had found a flaw in the defenses. 

A middle-aged man walked in, wearing a metal name tag on his chest instead of an ordinary work badge. He seemed to be the leader of the organization, and was followed by two security guards.

The person in charge of the waiting area was holding a walkie-talkie to arrange and adjust the time for the artists to appear on the red carpet. Seeing him, he came over to greet: “Manager Zhang.”

The other party just nodded his head with an air of greatness.

At this moment, Xia Xingchi didn’t care about who the hell this was. He just wanted to know, who is going to close the door?

Although no one expected that the heater in the waiting area would be broken and it would be so cold, the big names all had down jackets sent urgently by their assistants, but he could only shiver and endure it.

If the door was kept open like this, he would definitely be the first to freeze to death.

But that person seemed to be taking a tour and didn’t intend to leave. Xia Xingchi’s teeth were chattering as he debated whether to abandon the finally warmed up chair and close the door.

Then a figure came rushing in at once, and as if a savior had come, the first thing they did was to quickly close the door.

— Lin Meng held two cups of hot cocoa. Striding forward, she quickly stuffed them into Xia Xingchi’s reddened hands.

“Hurry and warm your hands.” Lin Meng felt very distressed when she saw him cowering like a little quail. “I really couldn’t find any warm clothes, so you’ll have to make do with this.”

Xia Xingchi was stunned for a moment, then automatically accepted the hot cocoa, uncharacteristically embarrassed.

The little cabbage who had never been loved by anyone had long been used to starving and freezing alone, and had never thought of asking anyone for help, let alone that Lin Meng would suddenly appear to offer him warmth.

“Could it be that he’s really been frozen stupid?” Lin Meng asked jokingly, seeing his wide eyes.

Only then did Xia Xingchi regain his senses and laugh with a burst of satisfaction.

He was opening his mouth to thank Sister Mengmeng, when he saw Manager Zhang stride up quite aggressively.

Xia Xingchi’s eyelid twitched, and the bad premonition from when Xia Yu looked at him just now reappeared.

The other party already had a bad complexion as he said: 

“Which low-tier internet celebrity is this coming in to freeload on the red carpet?”

“Xiao Li, what’s the matter with you? You just let anyone in? Isn’t this the person who lost our sponsor?”

“What are you looking at, ah? Get out by yourself!”

All of these ugly words carried targeted malice, which was particularly harsh in the quiet waiting area.

It was very sudden and inexplicable, as if this person had appeared in order to find fault.

Xia Xingchi frowned, then a kind and foolish look quickly appeared in his eyes.

The person in charge named “Xiao Li” heard the commotion and came over: “No, this is……”

Zhang Hai didn’t want to hear an explanation, so he waved his hand and said: “Security, remove this person quickly!”

It was not uncommon for this kind of person to sneak into the crowd while taking advantage of the chaos, and some even successfully walked the red carpet. 

Xia Xingchi was especially unknown, so he was out of place among the crowd.

An assistant whispered: “I wanted to say something just now! That person has never been seen before, so how could he be arranged at the end?”

Another whisper followed: “And as for his clothes, Xia Yu wanted to rent them but was rejected. Those must be fakes.”

“I know him, he seems to be called Xia Xingchi, right? An obscure low-tier artist, is he this crazy about becoming popular?”

Xia Yu suppressed his triumphant smile, and just sat aside to watch the flames.

After living under the same roof for a year, he knew that with “Xia Xingchi’s” cowardly and fragile character, all the maliciousness and suspicion, as well as everyone’s scorn and ridicule, would easily break this trash.

But to his disappointment, Xia Xingchi was such a prickly person that he couldn’t tolerate these fault-finding remarks. He immediately responded without suffering a loss:

“What is this Zhang thing, don’t you know something called a roster? If you don’t need your brain, don’t donate it. It’s all water and nobody wants it.”

“The way you recognize people now, if you saw a dog tied up at the door, would you think it was your relative?”

His tone was sincere and cordial, and the more it was like this, the more ridicule it conveyed. Lin Meng, who had been about to speak up, couldn’t help laughing.

Zhang Hai never thought that he would dare to talk back, and asked angrily: “What did you just say?!”

The person in charge, Xiao Li, was jolted into action by Xia Xingchi, and quickly said: “Yes, there is a list. Manager Zhang, please look.”

Written in black and white, Xia Xingchi’s name was shockingly listed. Obviously there had been a mistake in identifying the person.

Zhang Hai was unmoved, and instead ordered security: “You still haven’t driven him out? Are you really going to let him walk on the red carpet?”

Lin Meng immediately stood in front of Xia Xingchi, refusing to give in: “What are you doing? Can’t you see our family’s name clearly written on it?”

She also knew that someone was deliberately finding fault. In fact, she didn’t know who Xia Xingchi had offended since his debut, but someone had been deliberately targeting and smearing him, and he had even been suppressed for no reason.

Unexpectedly, after finally receiving a red carpet invitation with big exposure, the black hand behind the scenes dared to disrupt the situation so blatantly.

Zhang Hai just sneered when he heard these words, and arrogantly handed his phone to Xiao Li: “Looking at him myself, he is not a guest who was invited tonight at all.”

What he had in his hand was a guest invitation list. Unlike the red carpet list, it was included with the original invitation.

But the “Xia Xingchi” of two months ago was not Xia Xingchi. As a party with relationship connections that had just appeared out of thin air two weeks in advance, he was indeed not on the initial invitation.

Li Chengyuan had so much prestige that he just casually ordered, “Protect the identity of my fiance,” but the organizer inadvertently used excessive force and kept it too private.

Except for a few high-level executives, no one knew Xia Xingchi’s background.

The entertainment industry loved to catch rumors and spread gossip. In order to avoid making people suspicious, his appearing out of nowhere method was very low-key, and he had been added to the list without any fanfare.

“This……?”

Xiao Li searched for a long time, and finally cast over a suspicious look.

There had never been a sudden appearance after the invitation time had passed, so at every soiree, the two lists were only different in order of appearance.

Seeing this, Lin Meng, who was full of confidence at first, couldn’t help but inwardly weaken a little.

After all, she didn’t understand why the organizers suddenly arranged to invite Xia Xingchi, and now that this matter was suddenly being questioned, she felt a little guilty.

Although she took his patron into consideration, it stood to reason that no one should be able to command the well-known organizers in the circle to forcibly stuff someone in. Otherwise, what level of person must this patron be?

Xia Xingchi turned his head just in time to meet Xia Yu’s triumphant eyes – sure enough, it was the green tea spirit who must be punished.

The moment they locked gazes, Xia Yu’s assistant said just at the right time:

“Our management company received three places, namely Brother Yu, Brother Jiang, and Sister Bai. There was no one else, right?”

The implication was clear. Xia Xingchi was also in this company, but how could there be a place for him, an unpopular low-tier artist?

As a green tea spirit, he always stayed out of the way, so Xia Yu reprimanded hypocritically: “Be quiet! It’s none of your business!”

He did not deny the claim.

Xia Xingchi’s frown tightened. That bastard Xia Yu obviously knew that he didn’t want to reveal his relationship with Li Chengyuan at all, and even if he said something, no one would believe him. It was as likely as the sun rising in the west.

After Xia Yu spoke, the tables turned even more, and the crowd began to discuss more unscrupulously:

“He’s so crazy about becoming famous? He could do anything for fame, what method did he use to change the roster?”

“I’m laughing to death, he had the cheek to arrange for himself to be in the finale at the end.”

“This is the self-confidence of a low-tier artist. What advantages does he have other than a good-looking face?”

“There are countless anti-fans and black materials.”

“It’s a pity that there are still loopholes. He must not have thought that there was still evidence of the original list, right?”

Xia Xingchi didn’t say a word, and all kinds of malicious accusations had already filled in a multitude of complex crimes for him.

Everything was under Xia Yu’s control, and he was just waiting for his state of mind to collapse, delaying his red carpet walk.

Fortunately, in his previous life, Xia Xingchi had been used to receiving all kinds of malice and faces full of disgust and contempt towards him. If he was capable of collapsing under this drizzle, he would have long since taken his own life.

At this time, the two tall and burly security guards had already forcefully greeted him, planning to throw him out of the waiting area without a word.

Lin Meng became anxious immediately: “Wait! There are only two lists, how can you be sure that the previous version is not wrong? Can you afford to take responsibility if you’ve made a mistake?”

Zhang Hai squinted at her, and said with contemptuous indifference: “Since there are doubts, let’s check you out first, ah, and talk about it after we are sure that people like you are qualified.”

At this moment, the walkie-talkie in Xiao Li’s hand rang, and there was a message from the red carpet that they were ready for Xia Yu to go out.

This meant that the timing was now very tight, because the person going behind him was Xia Xingchi.

The so-called “check out” was very clearly a play for time to prevent him from going onto the red carpet.

Xia Yu managed to leave with a smile. Of course a bastard like Xia Xingchi was not worthy to be on stage with him.

Don’t even think about wearing the same brand as him and the new season’s styles, making people compare the two and see that his resources were not as good as those of a low-tier joke.

Xia Xingchi saw that wretched smile on his face and felt that his prickly temper had reached the limit of his patience, so he took a deep breath.

At this time, Zhang Hai, that bastard, actually stepped forward in public and viciously shoved Lin Meng!

The little firecracker absolutely couldn’t endure this. Xia Xingchi swiftly stepped forward and grabbed his wrist with one hand, and twisted with a clever and vicious kacha!

The first one to provoke a fight was always in the wrong, so since this idiot started it, he would be the one to end it.

Zhang Hai was caught off guard and screamed in pain. He wanted to pull his wrist away, but was in too much pain to move. He suspected that his hand had been broken.

Xia Xingchi ignored his painful struggle, and only continued to increase his strength while asking expressionlessly: “Do you know who my fiance is?”

The sincere tone was still the same, filled to the brim with ridicule.

Hearing these words, Zhang Hai roared angrily: “Let go! Don’t you fucking try to bluff me! Who do you think you are?!”

In fact, Xia Xingchi had been asking seriously this time.

He was very suspicious about this idiot Zhang not even knowing who he was. He really had no clue how Xia Xingchi came to be here, so he rushed to be used as a weapon by Xia Yu.

It seemed that this was indeed the case.

At this moment, Zhang Hai was so furious that he didn’t care about his public image, and opened his mouth to roar: “Let go of laozi! Fuck your fiance, let your shitty fiance beat me up if they have the guts!”

The door of the venue opened as if in response to these words to reveal a handsome man with an indifferent expression, standing there with a thick jacket draped over his arm.

Just standing there motionless, the man had a condescending and powerful aura. For a moment, the entire audience subconsciously went silent, instinctively sensing danger.

Li Chengyuan had obviously heard what was said, and turned to look at Zhang Hai expressionlessly.

Following behind were the brightly smiling executives of the organization, who naturally knew who Xia Xingchi was. Upon witnessing this scene, their smiles froze instantly, and everything fell into dead silence.