After Sharing Senses with the Paranoid CEO, the Infamous Starlet was Forced into Pampering Chapter 33

Chapter 33: It’s a Boyfriend!

Li Yanzhou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As long as he could eat, he would recover faster.

After finishing his meal, Xia Mu lay back down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling:

“Yi-jie didn’t tell me if I need to control my weight. If I just eat and sleep like this, won’t my weight skyrocket? Plus, I have no energy at all, so I can’t even go work out.”

“No need to control it.” Li Yanzhou shot Xia Mu a glance.

“But I’ll look fat on camera.”

“You aren’t joining a film crew right now, so what are you worrying about?” Li Yanzhou said casually, but immediately realized it was inappropriate.

Sure enough, Xia Mu’s expression fell: “True, no one is offering me scripts right now. I might as well take a break. It’s winter vacation anyway; maybe I can finally go home for the New Year this year.”

Xia Mu forced a smile, comforting himself.

“With Xu Wenyi here, you’re afraid you won’t get scripts? I reckon she has no less than five scripts sitting on her desk right now.”

“Really? You aren’t just saying that to comfort me, are you?”

No one had ever questioned Li Yanzhou’s words before. Hearing Xia Mu say this, he wasn’t angry, continuing patiently: “None of the artists she has managed have ever flopped.”

“What if I’m the first?”

“Then that means Xu Wenyi is incompetent.”

“…?” What kind of nonsense is Li Yan spouting? With her title as a gold-medal manager, how could she possibly be incompetent?

Around noon, Xia Mu coordinated with the company account to post his selfie and medical records. At the same time, Xia Mu saw that more than half the trending searches were related to him. Yi-jie must have begun a massive clarification campaign:

[#Xia Mu Sues Anti-fans#]

[#Xia Mu Splashed with Ice Water by Anti-fan#]

[#Cold Urticaria#]

[#Xia Mu’s Professionalism#]

[#Xia Mu Has Preserved Evidence#]

[#Xia Mu’s Comment Section#]

[#…#]

Li Yanzhou naturally saw it too. Xu Wenyi had sent him the clarification plan earlier, and he had approved it.

“This is just the warm-up. Starting today, your name will stay on the trending searches regardless of the time slot. We’ll make the anti-fans pipe down and let the casual onlookers learn the truth first.”

“Stay on there continuously? Won’t people get annoyed?”

Xia Mu was shocked. Never mind anything else, was Shengyi really willing to spend this much money buying trending searches for him?

“Don’t worry, Xu Wenyi knows the limits.”

“Buying all these trending searches… did you do this?” Xia Mu couldn’t help but ask.

“No. Shengyi has squeezed a lot of fat off you over the years; they have to spit it all back out.”

Li Yanzhou leaned casually against the back of his chair, picking up the coffee Qin Yu had brought and taking a sip, exuding an air of effortless control.

“Regardless, thank you.” Xia Mu knew that without Li Yan, Xu Wenyi wouldn’t be his manager, and Shengyi Entertainment wouldn’t spend a massive amount of money on him—after all, to them, he was already an abandoned pawn.

“Then heal up quickly.”

Li Yanzhou said flatly. But to Xia Mu’s ears, it sounded like Li Yan wanted to hurry up and sleep with him. He pursed his lips and nodded.

“I have a meeting this afternoon, so I can’t stay with you. Qin Yu will remain here. Contact him anytime if you need something.”

“No need, Qin-ge is your assistant, how could you…?”

Hearing Xia Mu’s anxiety, Li Yanzhou chuckled: “He’s not my only assistant. I’ll just swap in another one.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Xia Mu sat back properly on the bed. Seeing him looking so well-behaved, Li Yanzhou stood up and couldn’t resist ruffling his hair.

“Wait for me like a good boy. I’ll pick you up to leave the hospital tonight.”

For some reason, hearing those words sent a surge of warmth through Xia Mu’s heart. It had been a very long time since someone cared for him like this. Back when he was at home, his mother used to say things like that to him.

Since he had nothing to do in the hospital anyway, Xia Mu took out his phone to video call his mom. He walked over to the window, using the blue curtains as a backdrop. He adjusted the beauty filter before dialing out.

It was picked up quickly. Seeing his mother’s familiar face, a smile blossomed on Xia Mu’s lips:

“Mom! Have you eaten lunch?”

“Just finished. What about you? Why do you look like you’ve lost weight again?” His mother’s worried voice came through the phone.

“I haven’t, my face still has plenty of meat.” Xia Mu smiled. It was a good thing he turned on the beauty filter, making his complexion look decent. Otherwise, with his original state, his mom would definitely tell he was sick.

“You child, I know you too well, only reporting the good news and hiding the bad. Besides school, you’re always acting. It’s already winter vacation and you’re still busy on set every day. You aren’t coming home for New Year’s again this year, are you?”

“Not necessarily. I might not be that busy this year, so I might come home for New Year’s.”

Although Xia Mu’s mom didn’t understand much about filming, hearing Xia Mu say he wasn’t busy led her to accurately guess that her son was getting fewer roles.

Truthfully, with Xia Mu alone in Beijing without family or connections, struggling to build a career while studying, her heart ached for him. She worried that he would exhaust himself from being too busy, but she also worried that if he wasn’t busy, it meant no directors were looking for him.

“You must take good care of yourself. If you’re bullied out there, just come home. Mom is making big money now; let alone one of you, I can afford to raise ten of you.”

“Okay~”

Xia Mu smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. Ever since he left for university, his mom loved saying this phrase. But Xia Mu knew that they only raised a few sheep at home; where would this “big money” come from?

However, having his mother say such protective things always made Xia Mu feel like all his grievances were dissipating into thin air. What did those insults matter? Having the love of his family was enough.

“By the way, Mom, I also made a new friend, he’s a pretty good person…”

Before Xia Mu could finish, he suddenly heard a loud shout from the other end as the phone was snatched away by his dad:

“Son! Did you get a girlfriend?! Am I going to have a daughter-in-law?!”

He sounded extremely excited.

“Oh my, is the girl with you? Don’t scare her, you old fool.”

Xia Mu’s mom was overjoyed. Growing up, Xia Mu had never brought a friend home, nor had they ever heard of him having friends; he had always been a loner, and she had scolded him plenty of times because of it.

Plus, hearing that actors weren’t allowed to date had made her even more anxious. Now that he finally had a girlfriend, she was happy from the bottom of her heart.

Seeing that both of them had gotten the completely wrong idea, Xia Mu looked shocked and frantically waved his hands to explain:

“No, Mom, Dad, I just said friend, I never said girlfriend!”

“Then is it a boyfriend?” Xia Mu’s mom grew even more confused, looking at Xia Mu on the screen and then glancing at his dad beside her.

“What?!” Xia Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Mom, what wild thoughts are you having? It’s a guy, but we’re just regular friends.”

“Alright then. Regardless, I’m just relieved you made a friend so you can look out for each other. I’m always worried that you get bullied being all alone in Beijing.”

“Mom! With a personality like mine, how could anyone bully me? If one comes, I’ll slap one; if a group comes, I’ll slap the group. Isn’t that what you always taught me?” Xia Mu said with a beaming smile.

Translator’s Note: Xia Mu’s parents basically predicting the entire plot in one video call is incredible. “Did you get a girlfriend? No? Then is it a boyfriend?” We love supportive parents! Also, Xia Mu quoting his mom’s advice (“If one comes, I’ll slap one”) is perfectly on brand for our feisty MC.