Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 72: Advise You to Not Come Find Your Own Hate

The moment Chen Yi said that, it was as if the reporters were just given steroids and they fought with their lives to be the one to have their microphones spoken into. Zhou Ming was fuming in anger and immediately shot forward to the front like an arrow to push them all back. He used his body to block Chen Yi from the reporters and said, 

“There is no effect on the law with his words, and they do not represent Global Entertainment. All of what he just stated are lies, just rubbish falling out of his mouth. We will give everyone a reasonable explanation for this situation. Please do not believe the rumors roaming on the internet!”

The reporters immediately turned their cameras on him and the light show that ensued could blind someone’s eyes. They started yelling over each other, but each question they asked was as if they were sticking a spear to Zhou Ming’s throat:

“Mr Zhou, as the manager for Chen Yi, besides following the orders of the executives of Global Ent, did you participate in forcing the creation of his persona?”

“Mr Zhou, you have been working for Global Ent. for more than ten years, and you have managed idols such as Tao Yan, Cheng Xi and many others. Each and every one of them, with no exceptions were first famous and then infamous and after that cycle, they all disappeared from the entertainment industry. Are there some background secrets to this?”

“Mr Zhou……”

“Mr Zhou……”

Seeing this, the corners of Chen Yi’s mouth started to hook upwards, showing off the gleeful expression of someone who just caused trouble and relished in the ensuing chaos. He was actually only feeling that these people were like dogs biting dogs. Today he’ll bite him, tomorrow he’ll bite him back, turning around in a circle, in a never ending cycle.

Chen Yi left then, leaving them in the dust to fight each other, but he would have never expected that the moment he left the company doors, he would see a very familiar car parked by the road, with the same license plate as a certain someone. He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes……

Fu Xiu Nian’s head was lowered, looking at his phone to deal with some things when there was someone knocking right next to the window by him. He automatically looked over and found Chen Yi standing there just outside the window. His hands shook at the sight, almost dropping his phone.

“I didn’t know being part of the paparazzi was your part time job.”

Chen Yi pulled the door open and sat on the passenger side with his jawline tight and lips pursed. Fu Xiu Nian wasn’t sure if he was joking or really angry and so he only awkwardly coughed, 

“I was just nearby doing some things that I needed to get done, and I decided to stop by as it was on the way here.”

Chen Yi turned his head slightly, with his eyes full of suspicion, 

“Are you done then?”

Fu Xiu Nian quickly nodded his head, 

“I’m done.”

Chen Yi: “Then do you think I believe it?”

Fu Xiu Nian: “……”

This reasoning was a bit far-fetched, but just as he thought Chen Yi would chase after him for an answer, the other only leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes and resting. His breathing had quieted and he looked like he was deep asleep.

Seeing him like this, Fu Xiu Nian internally sighed a breath of relief and started to silently drive the car away from Global Entertainment.

It was the hottest time of the year and the sun was burning bright. The bugs were chirping nonstop to the point of annoyance but the car was driven very comfortably and stably. The shadows of the trees were slowly sliding across the car as they passed by, with tiny smatterings of golden light peeking through the uncovered areas, creating columns and columns of rays of light.

On the road back, there was no end to the cars passing by, no end to the crowd of humans passing by, all working hard to live. Like the millions of ancestors before them, their heads were covered by the heavens, their feet walking on the dirt of this earth and their sweat dripping onto the ground. Splattering and disturbing the dust of the earth numerous times: this was the normal lowly life of almost everyone on this earth.

Some live in fabulous, lavishly decorated lives, wishing for normality, and some live in normal, mundane lives who wish for flourishing and overly lavish wealth.

Chen Yi took a small nap and when he woke up again, the car had already stopped underneath Fu Xiu Nian’s home. He used his arm to hold up his head by the window and looked at Fu Xiu Nian. With his voice hazy and lazy, he asked, 

“Why did you bring me to your house.”

The sunlight was falling through the window, shining a colourful shadow. Fu Xiu Nian had been scrolling on his phone with his eyes lowered, avoiding Chen Yi’s contemplative eyes, 

“I don’t know where your house is.”

Chen Yi: “Didn’t you come pick me up at my house yesterday?”

Fu Xiu Nian paused in his movements, 

“…… I forgot.”

Fu Xiu Nian’s hands were sweating and he was almost unable to keep a hold of his phone. He was looking left and right, trying to find a napkin or something to wipe it when he heard Chen Yi suddenly ask beside him, 

“Fu Xiu Nian, do you like me?”

Fu Xiu Nian,

Do you like me?

Such a simple phrase was so easily asked out loud. With such a sudden heaviness, a pressure stacked onto his shoulders, Fu Xiu Nian stopped his movements and froze up.

At this moment, the atmosphere became frozen.

There was a sudden silence in the car, with the air conditioning blowing as the only sound. Chen Yi didn’t continue to chase for an answer and just sat there silently looking at him. After perhaps ten seconds or ten minutes, Fu Xiu Nian finally moved.

He first grabbed a tissue from the storage drawer slowly, and then he wiped his eyes and his phone. Repeating a few times before finally turning towards Chen Yi and smiling as he said, 

“I like you. What kind of fan would not like their own idol?”

“Really?”

Chen Yi raised his eyebrows, and his expression turned unrecognizable. He only beckoned Fu Xiu Nian to come closer with his hand and the latter hesitated before doing so.

“Fu Xiu Nian,”

Chen Yi said in a low voice right next to his ear, 

“They say if I tell you to do whatever, you will do whatever. Is that true or is that a lie?”

Fu Xiu Nian didn’t know why he was asking that and only kept his lips tightly pursed to keep his silence. Chen Yi’s hot puffs of air reached his neck, burning him all the way into his heart. His fingertips were unconsciously increasing its strength while gripping the genuine leather chair, leaving some shallow indents from his fingernails.

Seeing him not reply, Chen Yi switched to a different question, 

“Then why do you like me?”

Why do I like……

Fu Xiu Nian couldn’t explain why very clearly.

He only felt that there was a wildness, a freedom paired with a bit of arrogance and confidence in Chen Yi and it was brighter than the sun in the sky. The moment the other appeared, he was not able to keep his eyes away. So many others despised Chen Yi, but for some reason he could not muster any feelings of hate towards him.

How good Chen Yi was…… there were a million, billion reasons that he could not condense into words.

His eyes were like the wild, devilish type that could hook his soul away and so even when he was scolded or bullied by Chen Yi, Fu Xiu Nian could not be angry.

Chen Yi could say he was dumb, but he would go into the water to catch fish for him. Chen Yi could say his cooking was terrible, but each time he would finish the meal and clean off the plates, leaving nothing behind. Chen Yi could say his personality was too weak and too meek, but everytime Li Su Li tried to cause trouble for him, he would protect him.

Humans were too used to thinking about feelings too deeply, but really there was no need to have a reason for liking someone, and there was no need to have the other live or die for you.

Just like the youthful days in school, the obedient studious girls would always seem to secretly like the bad boy of the class. The other would have done nothing, but with just a glance, the girl will fall into a hopeless love that no medicine could save.

Fu Xiu Nian moved his lips, 

“I…… also don’t know……”

Chen Yi silently looked at him, like a wolf staring at his prey. He suddenly asked,

“Am I handsome?”

“Yes.”

“Am I cool?”

“Yes.”

“Am I good?”

“Yes.”

“Want to be my partner?”

“Yes.”

The moment this came out, it took Fu Xiu Nian a few seconds to process what he just said. His pupils dilated and he unconsciously wanted to take a look at Chen Yi but his head was held tight by the other’s hand on the back of his head.

“Ok.”

And in a place where Fu Xiu Nian could not see, the corners of Chen Yi’s mouth twitched up, but his voice still held its usual annoyance and impatience, 

“I don’t really have a high bar for my partner to reach, don’t really have anything much to wish for. Just someone who can be hardworking and diligent for the family. Although your cooking is pretty bad, considering how you have been doing better lately, I will lower my expectations a bit.”

The feelings that Fu Xiu Nian had right now were comparable to a poor man who suddenly won a million dollar lottery ticket prize. These feelings were so displaced that he felt like he was dreaming. It made the air feel like it was low on oxygen and he moved his neck, wanting to escape Chen Yi’s hold, but in the end, the other only slightly used his strength to pull him into his embrace fully.

Fu Xiu Nian was being pressed onto the car window by Chen Yi and his cheeks were slowly reddening, to the point where the tips of his pale ears could be bleeding. It was as if he was a rabbit that could be so easily bullied.

But Chen Yi was naturally the devilish type, loving the most to bully someone.

Both of his hands fell onto the thin waist of Fu Xiu Nian and his fingers squeezed, bringing along a random ticklish feeling. The other was made unable to push him back and Chen Yi raised his eyebrow up, with his mouth pushing upwards into a terrible devilish smile that made Fu Xiu Nian burn red again, with his pulse flying up to the moon. 

“You don’t agree? If you don’t want to, then just say it. I would never force someone.”

And then he prepared as if he was going to let go which made Fu Xiu Nian freak out and hurry to hold onto the hands by his waist. He stuttered out, 

“I…… I didn’t say I don’t want to……”

The other was Chen Yi, how could he……

How could he not be willing……

Hearing this, Chen Yi leaned back closer to him. His handsome face, he was so hot that it could make others faint, and Fu Xiu Nian seemed to sense what was coming. His eyelashes started shaking nonstop and then a hot burning sensation on his lips stopped every movement.

There was no logic or structure to Chen Yi’s kiss, but it was as dominant and conquering as his personality. The slight moans that would occasionally leak out from their exchange of tongues rang out quietly and Fu Xiu Nian felt like he was being swallowed up. He couldn’t help but want even more, being led to accept everything, letting Chen Yi do whatever he wanted.

Chen Yi was bold and was not scared of any possible paparazzi taking photos. He pressed Fu Xiu Nian against the car window, flipping him around and around with his kisses, and only stopped until his tongue was aching in pain slightly.

“Chen Yi……”

Fu Xiu Nian held onto his neck, out of breath and his eyes were tearing up from the excitement that had just been brought on to him. His eyes tinged a little red, and he started to bump his head against Chen Yi lightly like a little cat.

Chen Yi held him by the chin and slightly turned to kiss him. Fu Xiu Nian’s lips were bruised red, as if they were dripping blood. He could only hear Chen Yi say by his ear,

 “I have something to tell you.”

Hearing this Fu Xiu Nian clenched his hands tighter around Chen Yi’s neck, 

“What?”

Chen Yi: “I could be done for in the future.”

He had said such honest words in front of so many reporters, it would be weird if Zhou Ming did not stamp his career to death.

Fu Xiu Nian paused, 

“…… Weren’t you already done for in the beginning?”

Chen Yi’s hands swirled around and around on his waist, 

“Even if I was, I still had enough for a meal. Right now I’m just going to be put on the backburner and so air will be the only thing I can eat.”

Fu Xiu Nian had become so sensitive because of him, and his body felt like it was falling apart. He held onto Chen Yi with reddened ears, 

“No…… no problem. I can support you……”

The system rang out with perfect timing: 

[ Ding! ]

Chen Yi coldly said in his heart, 

“Fuck off.”

[ …… ]

Li Su Li had already started the court case with GE and for the past few days, had been publishing non stop on weibo all the evidence for the scripted personas. Who knew what she was thinking as she even leaked out Chen Yi’s script that Zhou Ming gave to him before.

There were quite a few people that had chased << I Came From Far Away >> since its filming and hearing this, most, if not all of them, immediately went on weibo to watch the drama go down. But this one look made them all jump in shock. GE was not only terrible, they were absolutely definitely rotten to the core!

The script for the program was perfectly written down to the last detail. Clearly and visibly stating that Chen Yi will slack off when the others were working and pretend to be sick when it came to his turn to cook. The more he could pull antis, the more he acted even worse. Many of these netizens living for the drama watched the program on one hand, and with the other, held onto the script, following it line by line. The most shocking was that the script and the events happened almost perfectly.

The only difference was the last two days of Chen Yi’s actions, as it said very clearly that he needed to slack off in the fishing competition, but everyone with eyes could see that he went down into the water himself to help out Fu Xiu Nian.

All netizens have an eye for such underlying potential relationships. Before they had their own bias against Chen Yi, so no matter which way they looked, they would hate him. But when it was known that he was being forced to uphold the persona, they had a different mentality when watching the program. They watched one episode, and then they couldn’t stop until all seven episodes were binge watched. And with this, quite a few people were falling unexpectedly for his charm.

>> Mommy! How could it feel so good when this man roasts someone else with that kind of attitude! My head’s going to fall off from all this laughing hahahaha! Fu Xiu Nian’s so pitiful for being roasted so hard everyday!

>> That cool and handsome man is called Chen Yi? The Yi from memory?

>> No, it’s the Yi from billions of millions…… HAHAHA Sorry I really can’t hold it in anymore, I’m going to pee my pants from laughing. He and Fu Xiu Nian have such a good CP feeling.

>> I was more focused on how he could use a tiny piece of rock to kill…… oh no, make a chicken faint.

Following the popularity of this event, the more it reached the general population. A few days later, there was a verified fan with magic editing skills that uploaded into the Edited Sketches section, a video called << Let’s talk about those that have been roasted by Chen Yi in all those years >>, and successfully created a perfect template for those antsy and impulsive netizens who wanted to do the same. Numerous videos then started to be uploaded like buds sprouting after rain.

<< Those Years Chen Yi Roasted Fu Xiu Nian >> — This was the CP section.

<< A Master in the Making: Chen Yi >> — This was the Martial Arts section.

<< How To Anger Your Manager To Death >> — This was the General Science section.

That day when Zhou Ming had quietly muttered to Chen Yi at the doors of GE, it had all been recorded by the reporters. Those netizens with many talents under their belts could quickly type up what Zhou Ming said through the movements of his lips.

Zhou Ming: “You should know what you should say.”

Chen Yi: “Crystal clear.”

Reporters: “Is it true?”

Chen Yi: “It’s true.”

Everyone naturally was laughing their ass off, but there were still a few antis that piped up with their suspicions.

>> I personally think that there’s not much to consider whether GE had the persona created for him or not, because as far as I know, Chen Yi privately has a terrible personality. There’s not much of a difference between that so-called scripted persona vs his real self.

Half an hour later, Chen Yi came online himself to reply.

[ There is. The difference between me taking the initiative to roast someone and you yourself finding the need for a scolding. ]