After Sharing Senses with the Paranoid CEO, the Infamous Starlet was Forced into Pampering Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Of Course We’re Sleeping in the Same Bed
The hotpot meal left Xia Mu thoroughly satisfied. He slumped back in his chair, rubbing his slightly bulging stomach with his hand, a trace of contentment on his lips.
“For the first time, I didn’t have to worry about dieting and could eat this freely. If Zhu Yunhong saw this, he’d definitely give me another severe scolding. But thankfully, I probably won’t ever have to see him again.”
“Mhm, the police are still gathering evidence on his actions. Last time I heard you and Qin Yu talking… he once tried to make you ‘entertain guests’?” Li Yanzhou frowned.
“Yeah. To put it bluntly, he wanted me to sleep with them. Zhu Yunhong said the guy was a director we couldn’t afford to offend, and that I had to do everything to flatter him for a role. Too bad I was young and headstrong at the time; I ran away halfway there. Then Zhu Yunhong cursed me out, saying the director had powerful backing. I was almost blacklisted from the industry. In the end, who knows which willing person he found to go sleep with him instead.”
Xia Mu leaned against the back of his chair, speaking with a touch of melancholy.
“Which director?”
“How should I know? I only met the man once. He was bald, surnamed Jin, I think? He got handsy the moment we met. It was supposed to be a polite handshake, but he just grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. I was only a teenager back then, and I was scared half to death. His grip was strong too; by the time I struggled free, my hand was pinched red.”
Xia Mu felt disgusted just thinking about it. “So later, when Zhu Yunhong told me to go entertain him, of course I turned and ran. If I can’t afford to offend them, I can at least hide.”
“Surnamed Jin…”
Li Yanzhou narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Among the TV series airing at the same time as Xia Mu’s hit drama, there was indeed a director surnamed Jin. Furthermore, his drama shared the same Xianxia genre as Xia Mu’s, yet it had flopped straight through the floorboards.
Back when Qin Yu discovered that the capital behind that Xianxia drama had bought the malicious trending searches about Xia Mu, Li Yanzhou had been slightly puzzled. If their drama simply flopped, there was no need to ruthlessly target Xia Mu like this.
If it was truly as Xia Mu said—that he held a grudge because Xia Mu refused to sleep with him—then it was highly likely he was using this opportunity to take revenge.
“Qin Yu, go investigate who this director surnamed Jin is. Bald—that’s a very easily identifiable trait. You heard what Xia Mu just said. If necessary, send someone to the police station to pry these details out of Zhu Yunhong’s mouth. It would be best to secure evidence.”
“Yes, President Li,” Qin Yu complied.
Actually, both of them were well aware that the director surnamed Jin that Xia Mu mentioned was none other than Jin Chaoyan. However, Xia Mu didn’t know they had already investigated this from the start. What needed to be hidden had to be hidden, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to explain the inconsistencies.
“Ah, you can even help investigate this?”
Xia Mu was both shocked and confused. How was Qin Yu going to investigate? Where would he look?
“Don’t forget, I was the one who called the police to have Zhu Yunhong arrested. My company has a legal department, and our lawyers have been following the case. We’re merely assisting the police in their investigation.”
“So that’s how it is.” Xia Mu abruptly sat up straight. “Actually, I’m taking a dual degree in law at university. Could I tag along and learn a bit?”
Because it was an elective dual degree, Xia Mu couldn’t take the bar exam during his undergraduate years; he had to wait until he graduated and received his diploma to take it. But he was quite interested in law and wanted to learn more.
“It’s possible, but don’t you have your usual schedule? It would be very tiring.” Li Yanzhou was somewhat surprised that Xia Mu would make such a request.
“It’s okay. I really admire lawyers. The way they stand in court defending their clients is incredibly handsome. Even though I know with my abilities I probably won’t ever become a lawyer, if I could just film a TV drama like that, it would fulfill my dream.”
Mentioning this, Xia Mu’s eyes shone, and he secretly held a faint expectation in his heart. What if? Now that Yi-jie was managing him, what if he really managed to land a script like that?
“Alright, I’ll mention it to the company’s legal counsel later. We’ll look at your schedule and let their law firm make the arrangements.”
“Thank you!”
“Don’t celebrate too early. The day after tomorrow is EK’s new product launch. And the educational short film you shot should also be released the day after tomorrow. Couple that with the fact that once Zhu Yunhong’s matters are thoroughly investigated, your subsequent schedule is going to be incredibly busy.”
Watching Xia Mu’s excited demeanor, Li Yanzhou felt a bit reluctant to rain on his parade, but he didn’t expect Xia Mu’s focus to be completely elsewhere.
“Li Yan, how do you know all this so clearly? Were you perhaps a manager partnered with Yi-jie in the past? You know PR inside and out. You really don’t feel like a CEO or a boss.”
“Do CEOs not need to understand these things?”
“Probably… not?” With Li Yan asking like that, Xia Mu also began to doubt himself.
“Read fewer scripts,” Li Yanzhou said with a smile. “If you don’t understand these things, the employees below you could run the company into the ground and you wouldn’t even know. Moreover, CEOs are very busy; they don’t just sit around leisurely drinking coffee and barking orders all day like they do in scripts.”
Xia Mu cast a suspicious glance at Li Yan. Then why does it feel like Li Yan isn’t busy at all? Could it be that he pushed aside his work just to accompany me?
Impossible, absolutely impossible. Xia Mu instantly rejected the thought.
Since they had finished the hotpot and it was almost the early hours of the morning, Qin Yu drove them back. Along the way, Xia Mu checked the navigation and realized they weren’t too far from his company, so he asked:
“Qin-ge, after you drop off your CEO, could you drop me off at the company?”
“What are you going to the company for so late at night?” Li Yanzhou casually propped up his head, looking at Xia Mu.
Rows of streetlights flashed past the car window behind Xia Mu, casting his face in alternating light and shadow. Under the cover of the dark night, Li Yanzhou actually felt there was a hazy, ethereal beauty to Xia Mu’s face.
“To sleep. My dorm is inside the company.”
Only then did Li Yanzhou remember that Xia Mu usually lived in the university dorms during the school year. Now that it was vacation, he stayed in the company dorms when he didn’t have any schedules.
“No need. We’re heading back to the hotel from earlier; it’s closer, so there’s no need to waste time on the road. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll have Qin Yu drop you off at the company.”
Xia Mu thought about it and agreed. It was already the early hours of the morning, and it wasn’t good to keep inconveniencing Qin Yu, who also needed his rest.
Upon returning to the hotel, Xia Mu suddenly grew a bit rigid. Li Yanzhou chuckled, “Relax, I have no intention of sleeping with you today.”
Having his thoughts guessed by Li Yanzhou, Xia Mu smiled in embarrassment and waved his hand in a feigned display of ease:
“I wasn’t worried. I was just wondering where I’m sleeping tonight.”
When Li Yan had brought him over to shower, Xia Mu had noticed that the hotel’s top-floor presidential suite looked like this. It didn’t just have two or three living rooms; it had reception rooms, entertainment rooms, an audio-visual room—everything you could ask for. There were even several bathrooms, not to mention the bedrooms.
“Where else do you want to sleep? Of course we’re sharing a bed.”
“A CEO’s ten-meter-wide bed?” Xia Mu’s brain short-circuited, and he asked as a conditioned reflex.
“The bed is quite large, but it definitely isn’t ten meters.” After spending these past few days with Xia Mu, Li Yanzhou was no longer surprised by the abstract sentences he randomly blurted out.
Translator’s Note Xia Mu mentions Xianxia dramas here! For those unfamiliar, Xianxia (仙侠) is a Chinese fantasy genre featuring immortal cultivation, magic, gods, and demons. Xia Mu is also reading way too many trashy CEO romance novels if he expects a ten-meter-wide bed (霸總 / Ba Zong trope).