CH 47

The three hours were almost over. Charlie wasn’t slow. The clothes on Gu Qingchi’s body had started to take shape.

The theme of Charlie’s design was Apollo. The style was rather simple. However, since the details were very complicated, it lived up to its theme. 

A white half-length robe was fixed directly to the body.

The edges of the robe were wrapped in gold trimming. The folds in the fabric were very natural. Gu Qingchi was also wearing a decorative head ornament. However, it wasn’t made of laurel. Rather, it was made of metal. It was similar in nature to an ancient Chinese headdress, but there were some differences.

His neck, hands, and feet were all the same. Gu Qingchi seemed to have been decorated entirely with ancient Greece in mind.

Charlie was still working on the details. 

“If your skin were a bit tanner, maybe it would match better…”

Charlie’s voice became smaller and smaller. Gu Qingchi’s skin was a little pale. However, no amount of accessories could take away even half of his radiance. The effect was truly beautiful.

He really couldn’t say whether tan skin would be better or not.

Meanwhile, the queen, who had been patrolling from room to room, arrived at their studio.

Vano had already seen two studios.

“As expected, they did not disappoint. The designs are as crude as always.”

Once she opened the door, Vano stopped talking so as not to disturb the designers. No matter how arrogant she was, she would at least maintain some basic decency.

Her critical gaze swept across each of the models and designers in the room one by one. 

When she saw Gu Qingchi, she stopped.

Vano walked a little further away and whispered to the person in charge.

“Do you think I could stay and watch as the results are announced?”

“Of course you can. If you’d like, you can participate in the judging panel.” 

Vano didn’t have any intention of declining.

“It would be my pleasure.”

Vano’s assistant couldn’t help but give her a reminder.

“Ma’am, you have a meeting this afternoon.” 

“It’s alright. I don’t have to go. They’ll take care of it. Now, let me have some peace and quiet.”

By the time Vano arrived, the three hours were almost over. The designers soon started finishing up, and the judges began assessing their work one by one.

Vano didn’t say a single word the entire time. Once it was Gu Qingchi’s turn, she adjusted the microphone in front of her.

“Charlie, I’d like to take a closer look at your work.” 

“Yes, ma’am.”

Charlie brought Gu Qingchi a few steps forward.

“The clothes aren’t bad. Both the details and accessories are eye-catching. Beautiful model.”

Vano leaned back in her chair, her words full of meaning. 

“God is always playing favorites.”

Xie Luyu had the cat’s butt in the palm of his hand. He wasn’t the slightest bit nervous at all. After all, he was single. This was an undeniable fact.

Let’s say he was together with Xiao Gu. With Gu Qingchi’s personality, he probably wouldn’t want to make it public. It was super likely they would have to date secretly.

“If you’re done talking, can you get out of my way? I’m walking my cat here.” 

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It looked very vibrant.

Xie Luyu glanced at it and silently gave it a rating. It was a pretty good shot. Then, he started righteously shooting off at the mouth.

“I’m having dinner with a friend. Is there a problem?”

Xie Luyu turned around and stood there, staring at the man. 

“No way. Don’t tell me you’re going to start rumors over a photo? So everyone who’s within a ten-meter radius of me is my lover? I already told you that we’re friends. If you don’t want to believe me, that’s up to you.”

“Hey, hey, don’t go. Alright, you’re friends. Friends are fine.”

The man quickly stopped him and started speaking before Xie Luyu could say anything.

“Then, your friend, he might be a problem.” 

Xie Luyu stopped and stared at him, an unfriendly look in his eyes.

“Let’s see what you have to say.”

The man handed over a stack of documents. As he handed them over, he cautiously looked around to see if anyone was watching.

He hadn’t believed a word Xie Luyu said. They probably weren’t normal friends. 

“See? We have all the information gathered here. It probably wouldn’t be very good for an actor who just entered the industry to make such big news.”

Xie Luyu didn’t speak. He looked down and skimmed through the documents.

The first page was full of chat records from a group chat.

A couple of words were circled. 

[Back when he got married, there had to be at least half of us who went completely nuts. Can you believe he got divorced just like that?]

[Is this for real? They were only married for a couple of years.]

[If that’s the case, does this mean that I have a chance?]

[Forget about it. You’re like nothing in front of my male god.] 

[Don’t remind me. He’s still my ideal type!]

[I’m going to be straight up with you guys! That is a male god! Even if he’s been divorced eight times, we still won’t be a match for him. We’re from different worlds.]

[I’m tagging Cheng Ke.]

[Damn, isn’t that a little too cruel?] 

[I agree. Besides, is Cheng Ke even in this group chat?]

[Probably not. I’ve never seen him speak here. If he did, I definitely would’ve taken a screenshot to remember it by.]

There were tons of conversations and small talk going on.

In the end, someone ended the small talk by sending a short message. 

[I’m here.]

His profile picture was a silhouette of a boy. His handle was his name—Cheng Ke.

After he sent this message, the group chat fell completely silent. There were no more messages after that.

The documents that the man gave him were in reverse order. The first page showed the end of the conversation. Xie Luyu still hadn’t figured out what this was all about. 

That was until he turned to the second page and read the first sentence.

[Have you guys heard? Gu Qingchi got divorced!]

Xie Luyu paused for a few seconds.

He flipped through a couple more pages. It was all pretty much the same stuff. 

“We came with good intentions. Mr. Gu is very talented, that’s true, but it probably won’t be good if something like this comes out.”

If this was true, it would be far from good. Even if the public was more tolerant towards actors’ love lives, they weren’t this tolerant. Gu Qingchi’s acting career would very likely come to a stop here.

Xie Luyu threw the documents back into the man’s arms.

“Don’t try to fool me. You don’t have any proof. Even if you release this, who’s going to believe you? It’ll only cause some trouble for a day or two. If you just leave it there, people will eventually forget about it.” 

Xie Luyu’s tone of voice wasn’t too good.

When the man saw that Xie Luyu couldn’t be fooled, he smiled apologetically.

“Whether it’s true or false, I’m sure you know in your heart. I didn’t plan on releasing it. What would be the point of that? However, you didn’t know about this either, right?”

Xie Luyu looked at him and said nothing. 

The man kept going.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable for the person sleeping next to you to hide this from you? If he can hide it from you once, he can hide it from you again. Who knows, maybe he’s still in contact with his ex. Are you okay with being cheated on? Just leave it to us. I promise that we can investigate all of this for you.”

The corner of Xie Luyu’s mouth twitched. He stuffed the cat into one hand and shifted it to his side. Then, he stepped forward, grabbed the man by the collar, and slammed him against a nearby wall.

“Number one, I already said that he’s just a friend. Number two, so what if he’s divorced? It already happened. What are you holding onto it for? Are you the one he cheated on or something?” 

The man had been slammed against the wall so suddenly. He was speechless for a while.

Xie Luyu grabbed his collar and pulled him forward, whispering each word into his ear.

“I suggest you stop while you’re ahead. You better not mention a single word about any of this in front of him.”

The man gulped, but he still would not relent. 

“W-well, that depends on you. H-how about this? I’ll name a price. If you pay me, I’ll hand over all the information. We’ll also forget about everything we saw. Not a bad deal, right?”

The man held up a number.

Xie Luyu let him go.

“Your bank details.” 

The man smiled and rattled off a string of numbers.

Xie Luyu fiddled with his phone for a bit.

“There.”

He looked up and showed the man the transfer confirmation. 

The man looked down at his phone in order to see if the money had arrived.

Xie Luyu suddenly spoke.

“Did you know that I was recording?”

The man was rushing to check his bank account, so he responded subconsciously. 

“What?”

Xie Luyu flashed him the transfer confirmation and continued.

“Do you know what the two of these are when you put them together?”

Without waiting for an answer, he continued to speak. 

“It’s evidence, the kind that can send you to jail for more than ten years.”

Xie Luyu put his phone back in his pocket and ignored the stunned man.

“I’m the one in charge now. I don’t want to see or hear any of this from now on. If I happen to come across even the slightest hint of it, I’m going to send this information to my lawyer regardless of whether it was your fault.”

The man was truly anxious now. 

“Aren’t you just making things difficult for me? In that case, we’ll have to—”

Xie Luyu impatiently cut him off.

“I don’t care. You guys were the ones causing trouble for me. Don’t ever show up in front of me again. Otherwise, I’ll be reminded to sue you for extortion.”

He turned around and left. 

Xie Luyu had encountered a lot of things like this over the years. Even if Pan Xiaocheng said it was normal, Xie Luyu never once bowed his head. Sometimes, Pan Xiaocheng would go behind his back and pay the money in order to smooth things over. If Xie Luyu were to find out about it, he would immediately blow his top off.

Xie Luyu went through as many high points as he did low points. However, no matter how difficult things were, he would still grit his teeth and pull himself through it.

This was the first he had ever given in.

He hadn’t even been worried about whether it was real or not. He was just worried about the tiny possibility that it might affect Gu Qingchi’s mood. 

The cat poked its head out from his arms. Xie Luyu gave it a pat.

“How can a person be so awful? He just has to go and make your dad sad, stabbing him where it hurts.”

After a while, he mumbled again.

“Hey, do you think your dad’s been hurt by someone before? Is that why he’s kind of cold, kind of melancholy?” 

Xie Luyu hesitatingly tried to describe Gu Qingchi. Of course he noticed that something was wrong with Gu Qingchi. He spent the past couple of days consulting professionals. He even made an appointment with a psychologist. He had wanted to take Gu Qingchi to see them several times now.

However, as the situation gradually improved, Xie Luyu didn’t want to act rashly for fear that it would stimulate Gu Qingchi. Then, they would end up back where they started.

To him, Gu Qingchi felt like a beautiful glass handicraft. It felt like he would break at the slightest touch.

The cat kept kicking its feet, trying to get down. 

So, Xie Luyu put it down.

“Let’s stop talking about this. We should talk about happy things. It’s a good thing your dad got divorced. The guy must’ve been a scumbag.”

After a while, Xie Luyu suddenly added another sentence.

“What was it? Cheng Ke? It’s obvious that there was nothing between them. He’s got second male lead written all over him.” 

He looked down and locked eyes with the cat.

“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing with me.”

The cat tilted its head and meowed.

Translator’s Corner: 

Hahaha, the cat won’t let him have his moment.