Xie Yang put down the teacup and picked up the teapot to refill Qiu Xing’s tea, gently comforting him.
Qiu Xing barely suppressed his anger. “Do you need me to help you regarding the rumours…?”
“No, I have already clarified the rumours with the help of a senior in the entertainment industry.”
Xie Yang put down the teapot and looked at Qiu Xing. “I’m not saying this to make you angry. It is to remind you that even if you trust Feng Qinglin, Feng Qinglin definitely doesn’t trust you. Even if Feng Qinglin does trust you, he also trusts Mu Zhouyi. Therefore, I hope you can be a bit more defensive against Feng Qinglin in the future. Not all the information you tell him is completely safe.”
In the original plot of the book, Feng Qinglin repeatedly used Qiu Xing’s lack of defense against relatives to extract information from him. It didn’t matter if Qiu Xing in the original book knew about it or not or deliberately told Feng Qinglin the information. Xie Yang would never allow Qiu Xing to be totally defenseless against Feng Qinglin like it was in the original novel.
Qiu Xing’s expression slightly cleared up. “I’m not unguarded against him.”
“Then you just want to spoil him.”
“……”
Qiu Xing suddenly leaned back with an ‘I don’t care, I’m just asking casually’ attitude and crossed his legs. Then he asked indifferently, “Are you jealous of Qinglin?”
Xie Yang paused and looked Qiu Xing up and down. Qiu Xing picked up the cup of tea and drank it, as steady as a mountain. There seemed to be something strange. However, Xie Yang hated this type of testing the most.
Xie Yang also crossed his legs and retorted, “I am a healthy person. Why should I be jealous of a brain-dead person? Or do you want me to be jealous of Feng Qinglin?”
Qiu Xing put down his teacup and sneered. “How can that be?”
Xie Yang nodded, full of firepower. “In fact, it isn’t impossible to be jealous of Qinglin. If you are willing to divorce me and let me recognize you as my uncle then I will be willing to be jealous of Feng Qinglin for the sake of Rongding.”
Qiu Xing took a deep breath and put down his teacup. He couldn’t hold back and stood up while glaring at Xie Yang. “Stop thinking about it. Go take a bath and sleep!” Then he left.
Xie Yang followed one step later.
Qiu Xing stepped on the landing of the second floor and Xie Yang habitually reached out to grab Qiu Xing and do his daily bedtime ability infusion. As a result, the moment he raised his hand, Qiu Xing abruptly stopped and turned around.
Qiu Xing stared at Xie Yang’s raised hand in a burning manner but pretended to be indifferent. “What are you doing?”
“……”
Xie Yang shifted his hand to grab the railing of the stairs. “Auntie made the floor too slippery. I almost fell and wanted to grab the railing.”
Qiu Xing’s expression froze. “Don’t wrong her.”
“Then I can only blame you. You walked in front of me and blocked my sight. I couldn’t see the way so it is easy to fall.”
Qiu Xing frowned. “I didn’t tell you to walk behind me.” “You waited up so late for me. I was too sorry to walk in front of you.”
“Me? Wait for you? Ridiculous.”
“So you really are keeping the power on behind my back on the weekdays?”
“……”
Qiu Xing turned and left angrily. Xie Yang stood there and watched Qiu Xing.
One step, two steps, three steps… Qiu Xing stopped and turned back. He used big strides to reach Xie Yang and stretched out his hand to rub Xie Yang’s head vigorously, messing up Xie Yang’s hairstyle. “A kid still does his hair like this. Go to sleep!” Then he turned to leave.
Xie Yang grabbed Qiu Xing’s hand. Qiu Xing stopped abruptly. The corners of his mouth curled up before quickly flattening. He turned around slowly to look at Xie Yang, eyebrows faintly proud while his face was noble and elegant. “Xie Yang, you really—”
“Qiu Xing, a man’s head can’t be touched. I’ve endured it for a long time.” Xie Yang held Qiu Xing’s hand for a few seconds before also raising his hands to mess up Qiu Xing’s hair. After that, he passed Qiu Xing and went to the third floor in a good mood.
Qiu Xing had lived for so many years and no one besides his stylist had dared to touch his hair. Qiu Xing stayed there for three seconds, looking at the third floor in disbelief. After a long time, he exclaimed, “Lawless… he is really lawless!”
***
The next day, Qiu Xing slept late again.
Xie Yang guessed that Qiu Xing was sleeping longer partly due to the influence of the supernatural ability and partly because the body needed to recover after the heart surgery. He went upstairs again into Qiu Xing’s room. Qiu Xing was asleep with his back to the door. Xie Yang walked over and reached out to Qiu Xing’s brow.
Qiu Xing suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Xie Yang. He asked in a slightly hoarse morning voice. “Xie Yang, do you want to hold onto the railing when reaching out this time?”
“……”
Xie Yang straightened, retracted his hand and didn’t answer the question. “Were you pretending to be sleeping?”
Qiu Xing closed his eyes and let out a muffled hum. Then he turned over and lay on his back. It was obvious that he was still very sleepy. “I was awakened by a lying mouse. Xie Yang, it is useless for you to cover it up. You just—”
“The housekeeper aunt asked me to come up and call you to have breakfast.” Xie Yang interrupted Qiu Xing, bending over to help Qiu Xing pull up the quilt. He took the opportunity to pour his ability into Qiu Xing’s body through the quilt and then took back his hand. “However, since you are still sleepy, continue to sleep.” Then he turned and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, Qiu Xing poked his arm out of the quilt and grasped Xie Yang’s arm. Xie Yang stared back at Qiu Xing.
“You are the most cunning one. You did many things and then deliberately pretended to be stupid.” The ability had already played a role. Sleepiness was revived and Qiu Xing’s voice gradually became lower. “This time, don’t think about it…”
Qiu Xing’s breathing became stable and the hand holding Xie Yang’s arms slowly loosened and was about to slip off.
Xie Yang caught Qiu Xing’s hand and placed it back in the quilt. Then he pulled the quilt over Qiu Xing and patted Qiu Xing’s forehead lightly. “You are the one who shouldn’t wish.” This person’s probing stopped half-way and he relied on others to take the initiative. Qiu Xing was thinking too beautifully.
***
Xie Yang finally chose B City TV’s New Year’s party invitation on the grounds that it was close to home and didn’t need to travel. Qin Cheng glanced at the Rongding Building opposite them and said, “In fact, the Fruit party is more worthy of attention. This party has a high rating.”
Xie Yang just smiled and didn’t answer.
Qin Cheng smartly changed the topic. “Several performance videos from yesterday’s dinner party have been posted on Weibo by the V Group. Your performance with Ji Zehui and Shen Yan is currently the hottest. Fang Chengnan really didn’t dare to publish the articles about his piano accompaniment but he asked a marketing account to fire up the topic of the gentlemanly Fang Chengnan. I’ve arranged for someone to talk about you as a passerby. The response is good but I won’t arrange a hot search for you. You received a lot of exposure and it is time to keep a low profile. Otherwise, your constant appearance will easily cause passersby to feel disgust.”“You can arrange it. Is my work for the remaining part of the year only the audition and the party recording?”
Qin Cheng nodded. “That’s all. By the way, I’ve already made an appointment with Master Long, The production of the new album will start as soon as the holiday ends after the new year. Is this okay?”
Xie Yang said it was no problem.
Qin Cheng finished discussing business and was about to leave. Then Xie Yang called out to him. “By the way, help me look at Fang Chengnan and Mu Zhouyi and see if they have cooperated recently.”
Qin Cheng had to ask. “Do you care that much about Mu Zhouyi?”
Xie Yang told Qin Cheng the story about the powerful woman and brainless relative that he had previously told Hu Biao.
Qin Cheng, “……”
He seriously said, “You should’ve told me about this earlier. The entertainment industry is complicated. I need to pay special attention to anything that isn’t good for you.”
“I was negligent this time.”
“Do you have any other artists you are at odds with?”
Xie Yang thought about it before reporting Xue Xian’s name. He explained, “He wanted to pit me so I stole his job.”
“Competing over resources is normal, unlike the personal grievances with Mu Zhouyi. Yes, I’ll keep an eye on Mu Zhouyi.”
***
Qin Cheng was very efficient. He received the task from Xie Yang to investigate Fang Chengnan and Mu Zhouyi in the morning. Then in the afternoon, he handed the answer paper to Xie Yang.
“Fang Chengnan really does have a cooperation with Mu Zhouyi. The hot variety show ‘Extreme Combat’ that Fang Chengnan is a permanent guest of has invited Mu Zhouyi to be the guest for the New Year’s special. They will go abroad to shoot for two consecutive episodes. After the last hot search about Mu Zhouyi’s touching addiction, her popularity plummeted and his image has been worn down. She lost several endorsements and words in succession. Her status isn’t as good as before. I can’t think of why the program group of Extreme Combat would invite her.”
There really was cooperation.
Xie Yang was thoughtful.
“By the way, I’ve also inquired about something else. Mu Zhouyi has accepted the New Year’s Eve party invitation from Z City Satellite TV. The performance is a solo and the repertoire is the difficult old song, Remembering our Homeland. I heard that Z City Satellite TV is planning to use the topic of Mu Zhouyi’s first singing performance as a gimmick to warm up the party.”
Solo?
Xie Yang sat upright and asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m basically sure. All the New Year Eve parties being recorded and broadcasted by the major TV stations have basically finalized their program list and it is very easy to find out these things. What’s wrong?”
Nothing. A troublesome virus source was about to spread the virus again.
Xie Yang leaned back in his chair. The idea of finding a way to get rid of Mu Zhouyi’s performance flashed in his mind but he quickly rejected it.
Forget the fact that he wasn’t sure he had the capital to stop Mu Zhouyi’s performance. Just suppose that he managed to block Mu Zhouyi this time. What about next time? As long as Mu Zhouyi had the golden finger, he would never be able to stop Mu Zhouyi from appearing.
There was no one who could guard against a thief for a thousand days. It was useless to keep staring at Mu Zhouyi. He needed to do a good job installing the antivirus for his belongings.
***
Xie Yang and Qiu Xing weren’t busy on this day. They went home after getting off work on time and had dinner together. Xie Yang took advantage of when he was giving Qiu Xing his tableware to pour his ability into Qiu Xing in advance.
After the meal, the two people went upstairs together. This time, it was Qiu Xing walking in front. Once he reached the second floor, Qiu Xing stopped slightly and deliberately turned his hand sideways in Xie Yang’s direction. Xie Yang pretended not to see it and walked straight up the stairs past Qiu Xing.
“……”