After Sharing Senses with the Paranoid CEO, the Infamous Starlet was Forced into Pampering Chapter 13

Chapter 13: What Is Our Relationship Now?

Li Yanzhou was sitting right beside Xia Mu’s bed. Zhu Yunhong’s condescending tone caused Li Yanzhou’s eyes to turn cold, as if he were interrogating a criminal.

Xia Mu heard him too, but he didn’t want to speak. He held his water glass and feigned weakness. Li Yanzhou glanced at him, finding it somewhat amusing.

“You’re Xia Mu’s manager?”

Li Yanzhou stood up lazily, lightly flicking away non-existent dust from his fingertips as he squinted at Zhu Yunhong.

“And who are you? What’s your relationship with Xia Mu? What business is it of yours when I’m lecturing my own artist? Shut your mouth and get to the side,” Zhu Yunhong said impatiently.

After Xia Mu’s little scene, the impression he left on EK would definitely worsen. Word would spread through the circle, and fewer brands would dare use him. This cash cow for the company couldn’t be allowed to collapse.

“Xia Mu, your manager is asking what our relationship is. Why don’t you tell him?” Li Yanzhou turned back, his gaze toward Xia Mu full of mischief.

Xia Mu, who had been silent, was suddenly dragged into it. He gave Li Yan a small glare, pretending not to see the man’s deliberate, seductive lip-lick, and spoke reluctantly:

“A life-saving relationship.” After speaking, Xia Mu added two more sentences, “Hong-ge, this is Li Yan. If not for him, I would have drowned in the sea long ago.”

“Drowned? Xia Mu, what kind of joke is that? How could someone drown in the shallows? Don’t tell me you’re using this as an excuse because the shoot was tiring? Don’t forget you still owe 800,000 in breach of contract fees. I’m telling you, Xia Mu, the company worked hard to get this modeling shoot for you, and you go and leave such a bad impression on EK. If it affects your future resources, you can just pack up and go home!”

Li Yanzhou’s expression grew uglier and uglier. He had heard the assistant’s report that Xia Mu’s manager treated him poorly, but he hadn’t expected it to be this severe.

Li Yanzhou saw that Xia Mu kept his eyes lowered. Having just cheated death, his face was still pale. Because of the shared senses, Li Yanzhou knew Xia Mu was still physically uncomfortable.

What he didn’t know was that Xia Mu hadn’t heard a single word of Zhu Yunhong’s. Xia Mu gripped the glass so hard his fingertips turned white. His mind was entirely filled with the way Li Yan had just leaned in.

Although the man looked a bit fierce when he wasn’t smiling, it was precisely that “unapproachable” face that made Xia Mu’s heart flutter. He couldn’t help but wonder what Li Yan’s face would look like when he was moved by passion.

In Li Yanzhou’s eyes, the way Xia Mu sat there with his head down made his heart ache with pity. He looked at the forehead covered by his hair, where the spot hit by the ashtray had originally been less obvious due to the makeup. Now, blood was faintly seeping out.

Zhu Yunhong was still barking nearby. Li Yanzhou finally lost his temper and shouted toward the door:

“Qin Yu.”

The assistant, who was listening outside, was fuming with rage. He had wanted to burst in and slap Zhu Yunhong several times already, but without Li Yanzhou’s word, he didn’t dare act on his own. Now hearing Li Yanzhou finally call for him, he immediately walked in.

“President Li.”

“Where are the hospital security personnel? Have them all come in and throw him out.” The veins on Li Yanzhou’s temple throbbed. If he hadn’t wanted to maintain his image in front of Xia Mu, he would have done it himself.

“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t f*cking touch me, I’m his manager, you can’t make me leave!” Zhu Yunhong cursed loudly as he was seized by the shoulders and forcibly escorted out by the security guards.

Xia Mu stared blankly at the farce that Li Yanzhou had ended with such heavy-handed tactics. Now only Li Yan and the man he called Qin Yu were left in the room. He pointed toward the open door and asked:

“You’re just letting him leave like that?”

“What, you haven’t heard enough?” Li Yanzhou glanced at Xia Mu, gesturing for Assistant Qin Yu to leave first.

“No, I mean, this isn’t a solution to the problem either. He really is my manager.” Xia Mu suddenly felt a headache coming on. Even if Li Yanzhou kicked Zhu Yunhong out, what did it matter? Once he returned to the company, he would still have to face him.

“Manager? I have never seen a manager who shouts and screams at his artist like that,” Li Yanzhou said with a disdainful, cold laugh. “He thinks just because he has a few resources and connections he can act so bossy.”

Hearing these words, Xia Mu thought for a long while and then asked tentatively:

“Are you also an actor?”

“No.”

“Then you’re a boss?” Xia Mu remembered the man Li Yan called Qin Yu referred to him as ‘President Li’.

“Something like that.”

“Oh, no wonder you said you wanted to keep me.” Xia Mu had just finished marveling when he heard a knock at the door. It was Qin Yu leading several people in, looking at Li Yanzhou with an apologetic expression:

“President Li, the EK team heard that Xia Mu is in this hospital and they want to see him. I couldn’t stop them.”

“Understood,” Li Yanzhou nodded flatly.

“President Li, we are truly sorry, it was due to our oversight that Xia Mu encountered danger…”

Seeing the creative director of the shoot constantly apologizing to Li Yan, Xia Mu’s mind was a bit muddled. He couldn’t help but interject with a question:

“Um, are you the owner of EK? The Chairman?”

Hearing Xia Mu ask this, the expression on the director’s face became strange. Li Yanzhou turned back and gave Xia Mu a smile: “No.”

“You rest first, a doctor will be over in a bit to do an exam. Qin Yu will be right outside the door, call him if you need anything.”

After Li Yanzhou and the director’s group went out, they had a brief conversation. Then he headed to the room outside the hospital where Zhu Yunhong was currently being held.

Several bodyguards stood outside the door. When Zhu Yunhong saw Li Yanzhou enter, he still spoke with an arrogant air:

“Who exactly are you? Do you know we live in a society governed by law? Our company’s legal department isn’t to be trifled with. If you dare do anything to me, I won’t let you off the hook.”

“Is that so?”

Li Yanzhou let out a cold laugh, his eyes flashing with a chill. He slowly stepped toward Zhu Yunhong:

“You also know we live in a society governed by law. The wound on Xia Mu’s head was caused by you hitting him with an ashtray, right? Intentional injury?”

“And you’re the one who’s bossy toward Xia Mu every day, right?”

“Xia Mu is an artist from your company. Is there any manager who belittles and gaslights their artist like you?”

“I’m asking you, where were you when Xia Mu was shooting? Speak up, where exactly were you?”

Li Yanzhou’s words one by one made Zhu Yunhong exceptionally guilty. Who exactly was this man? Why did Xia Mu tell him everything?

Zhu Yunhong knew every person Xia Mu had come into contact with, but he had never heard of such a figure? He swallowed hard, still stubbornly insisting: “Didn’t I say I went to the restroom? How was I supposed to know he could have an accident in the shallows?”

“Zhu Yunhong, you seem to have underestimated my capabilities.” Li Yanzhou looked at him and spoke this sentence calmly.

The lighting in the room was a sickly white. Li Yanzhou suddenly closed in on Zhu Yunhong, his movements swift and silent. His fist tore through the air, accurately slamming into Zhu Yunhong’s ribs with a dull thud.

“This one is for Xia Mu.”

The muscles on Li Yanzhou’s arms were bunched like a taut bowstring, their lines sharp and distinct under the light.