Chapter 4

Chi Jing wasn’t in a hurry at all. He sat in the back seat of the car, holding a cat carrier with three cats inside.

Once he was settled, Mu Jingshan also got into the driver’s seat. However, he didn’t start the car right away. Instead, he kept turning his head to look at Chi Jing, waiting for a response from him.

Chi Jing thought for a moment and then replied, “Oh, and then?”

Compared to Chi Jing’s calm demeanor, Mu Jingshan seemed more like the person involved in the situation. He was anxious, unable to sit still. If it weren’t for the seatback, he might have grabbed Chi Jing’s hand to explain everything in detail.

“You’ve just entered the entertainment circle, and you only got a bit of attention because of a video that went viral on a video app. How could someone buy a trending topic to slander you?”

Chi Jing leaned lazily against the car window. “How did they slander me?”

Mu Jingshan said, “They revealed your identity.”

“That’s not really slander; it’s just stating a fact.”

Chi Jing looked down at the cats in the carrier. The mother cat seemed to have been hungry for a long time. When they were at the hospital, the doctor gave it a can of food. Now that it was full, it was lying in the carrier, feeding the two kittens that were still nursing. The blue membrane on the kittens hadn’t completely peeled off, occasionally reflecting a ghostly blue light.

Mu Jingshan continued, “But people are using this to lead the narrative! They’re saying you stole things when you were a child.”

“Hmm. That’s not true.”

In reality, someone had tried to frame the original owner out of dislike, but a righteous teacher had exposed the truth and made them apologize to him.

Mu Jingshan added, “They’re also saying you were always unlikable and naturally bad.”

Chi Jing responded, “Hmm. I didn’t like to talk or play with others when I was a child. Strictly speaking, I wasn’t likable.”

Especially Wen Zhentian and his relatives, who would always mock him, calling him a mute or a coward whenever they met.

Mu Jingshan asked, “And what about them saying you got jealous when Wen Yubai returned and tried to push him down the stairs?”

“Wen Zhentian’s old eyes saw wrong; it was just a misaligned photo. We were just greeting each other on the stairs.”

He yawned, feeling a bit sleepy from waking up too early.

With his explanation, Mu Jingshan felt less anxious and energetically wanted to request funds from the company to buy a clarification on the trending topic. Chi Jing reminded him, “Don’t worry, the company won’t approve the money.”

Sure enough, Mu Jingshan hung up the phone a bit dejectedly after a while. Chi Jing wasn’t surprised at all.

He urged, “Weren’t we going to the company to sign the contract? The sooner we go, the sooner we can return.”

Only then did Mu Jingshan slowly start the car and drive toward Longhuang Entertainment. On the way, he was puzzled about how Chi Jing knew the company wouldn’t buy the clarification trending topic.

Looking out at the bustling traffic, Chi Jing’s ink-black eyes flickered with a hint of curiosity. Supporting his arm, he answered Mu Jingshan’s question, “First, the boss of Longhuang Entertainment is very stingy.”

Mu Jingshan thought about his boss’s personality and nodded in agreement.

“Second, the travel show director is interested in my controversy. If you resolve these issues beforehand, would he still sign the contract with us?”

Mu Jingshan slapped his forehead, realizing he hadn’t thought of this.

“Third, clarifying won’t help. People only believe what they want to believe.”

Looking at the current situation, Wen Yubai had perfectly established the image of a pitiable, weak person, while Chi Jing was seen as a jealous fake young master. The netizens clearly believed Wen Yubai more.

Mu Jingshan gritted his teeth, “Then who bought the trending topic to slander you? Wen Yubai?”

“No.”

“Then who?”

“Wen Zhentian.”

“Wen—” Mu Jingshan gasped, “Your father?”

“My father, thank you.” He corrected Mu Jingshan’s wording unkindly.

Mu Jingshan was incredulous, “But… why? You’ve been a family for twenty-two years.”

He didn’t say the rest. What kind of father would be so ruthless to a child he had raised for over twenty years?

“Family?” Chi Jing scoffed.

“Forget it, don’t insult the word.”

Mu Jingshan fell silent. He didn’t know what Chi Jing had gone through. But from his tone, it seemed Wen Zhentian had treated him poorly before.

However…

“Why wouldn’t it be Wen Yubai?”

“Didn’t they say online that he’s kind? Do you think that’s a fake persona?”

“Isn’t it?”

“No.”

To be precise, this wasn’t Wen Yubai’s persona in the entertainment circle, but the character setting given by the original author of this novel world. He was indeed a kind person, or rather, a saint. He had no bad intentions, just weak, much like the former Chi Jing.

Mu Jingshan couldn’t believe it; he thought there couldn’t be genuinely kind people in the entertainment industry.

The word “kind” could be used anywhere but not in the entertainment circle.

“Alright, just drive.”

For the rest of the journey, he remained as quiet as a chicken. Occasionally, he would observe Chi Jing’s expression through the rearview mirror, but he couldn’t see clearly.

In the mirror, Chi Jing had his head down. Today, he was wearing a casual white shirt, his soft hair falling over his forehead, partially covering his eyes. But that tear mole was clearly visible to Mu Jingshan.

Looking at him like this, he couldn’t help but feel his heart soften. Anyone would be sad after going through something like this.

To distract him, Mu Jingshan brought up a random topic, “By the way, what do you plan to name the cats? The mother cat will need to be sprayed after weaning; otherwise, you’ll be very busy.”

Chi Jing, who was merely looking down at the cats, didn’t know he had been labeled as fragile and sad by Mu Jingshan. He pinched the soft paw of the white kitten and said, “Little Black, Little White, and Flower.”

“…” Mu Jingshan knew the three cats were a black cat, a white cat, and a calico. In a sense, Chi Jing’s names weren’t wrong.

“Uh, those are good nicknames. How about giving them more formal names?”

“Aren’t those formal? I think they’re quite formal.”

He smiled, his eyes narrowing as he gently called, “Little White?”

The white kitten meowed softly.

He then lifted the black kitten’s paw, “Little Black?”

“Meow”

He did the same with the calico, and the calico meowed too, though more maturely than the two kittens.

Mu Jingshan: …

He was genuinely speechless but fortunately, they arrived at the Longhuang Entertainment company.

As a small company with limited funds, Longhuang Entertainment couldn’t afford an office in the city center. The founder had rented a floor in a building in Haishi Development Zone and made some simple renovations for the headquarters.

Unable to bring the cats in to sign the contract, Chi Jing left them in the car, placing a can of food in the carrier.

When he entered the conference room, Lu Tao had already had three cups of tea with the chairman of Longhuang Entertainment. Seeing him, Lu Tao immediately stood up, a trace of amazement flashing in his somewhat cloudy eyes.

Not only him, but even the chairman of Longhuang Entertainment was stunned, unable to believe Chi Jing’s transformation.

Chi Jing casually pulled up a chair and sat down behind Mu Jingshan. Lu Tao regained his composure, looking at Chi Jing excitedly. His years of directing experience assured him that this stunning and controversial young man in front of him was destined to be a hit! And his variety show would follow suit!!!

He tried to control his excitement, “Shall we sign the contract now?”

Mu Jingshan, as Chi Jing’s manager, was responsible for this. He took the contract from him and carefully reviewed it.

Lu Tao was sincere. The price he offered Chi Jing wasn’t high in the entertainment industry, but for a newcomer, it wasn’t low either.

Just as Mu Jingshan was about to nod, the contract was suddenly snatched from his hand. He turned to see Chi Jing, who took the contract without a word.

He skimmed through the contract rapidly. Sitting across from him, Lu Tao tapped the table, “For a newcomer, this contract is already very favorable.”

Chi Jing chuckled, not believing there were any good people in the entertainment industry. But the contract indeed had no issues, or rather, the contract Lu Tao provided had no issues. The real problem was the contract with Longhuang Entertainment. But that’s okay, that contract had many loopholes for exploiting artists. With a reliable lawyer, anything could be resolved.

He flipped to the last page and signed his name. Lu Tao smiled in satisfaction and extended his hand, “Happy cooperation.”

Mu Jingshan, dumbfounded, thought he was talking to him. Typically, such deals were discussed with the manager, but he was more interested in Chi Jing himself, temporarily ignoring him. So when he shook hands with him, it was a bit awkward, but he maintained his composure.

After Lu Tao left, the chairman of Longhuang Entertainment approached Chi Jing with a smile, intending to pat his shoulder and offer some motivational words. But he didn’t give him the chance. As soon as he stood up, Chi Jing followed LuTao out.

Mu Jingshan, needing to take him home, quickly bid farewell to the chairman and ran out. Inside the conference room, the chairman, with his greasy belly, angrily slammed his teacup on the table.

Back at the apartment, the road repair team outside happened to be on lunch break. After releasing the cats, Chi Jing went to the bathroom to shower and  then take a nap. However, just as he finished showering, the drilling noise resumed.

He took a deep breath, more determined than ever to earn money and move out. Unable to sleep due to the noise, he lay on the couch playing with his phone. He remembered Mu Jingshan mentioning the trending topic and decided to check how people were criticizing him.

Due to Wen Yubai’s popularity, the hashtag #HandsomeGuyWithBadCharacterFakeYoungMaster# had already climbed to the top ten trending topics, stopping at eighth place. The first to bring up the video was a marketing account. When Wen Yubai returned to the Wen family, the matter between Chi Jing and him had already been a hot topic. At that time, it coincided with his debut, his peak popularity, and Chi Jing was scolded online for over a week.

Now, this marketing account reignited the topic, and netizens quickly recalled the event.