ASFSODS 77

When Wen Chi woke up, he immediately felt that his eyes were sore, as if there was a layer of something sticky on his eyelids, making them impossible to open. Yet before he could force his eyes open, a warm and soft towel was placed over them. After a few seconds, someone gently wiped his eyes with the towel and then his face.

Wen Chi instantly felt much better, his face feeling fresh and clean. His eyelids fluttered and he slowly opened his eyes. It seemed like he had slept too long and his eyes weren’t used to the light. He instinctively closed them again, squinting for a while before slowly opening them again.

“Are you awake?” Jiang Siheng, seeing Wen Chi had woken up, placed the towel on the bedside table, then reached out and carefully lifted Wen Chi into his arms, letting him sit on his lap. He softly asked, “Are you hungry? Or do you want to sleep a bit more?”

“No more sleep,” Wen Chi said and was startled by his own voice, which was hoarse and dry, sounding unpleasant, like a croaky voice.

“Alright, I’ll feed you some honey water,” Jiang Siheng said softly, as though afraid that even the slightest sound might startle Wen Chi.

Wen Chi obediently responded with a soft “Mm,” as the slightly sweet honey water slid down his throat, soothing the dryness that had lasted so long.

Jiang Siheng looked at Wen Chi’s obedient appearance but didn’t feel happy at all. Normally, Wen Chi would have been making noise and acting mischievous on him, not sitting there with red and swollen eyes, head lowered, and not speaking a word.

The door to the room was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and Jin Ge’s voice rang out as he hurriedly walked into the room. “Wen Chi, I heard you’re awake…” His words came to an abrupt halt when he saw Wen Chi sitting in Jiang Siheng’s lap, with both of them embracing each other.

Jin Ge trembled as he extended a finger, pointing at the two of them, his eyes filled with shock. “You… you two…”

Wen Chi leaned his head out from Jiang Siheng’s arms and, seeing Jin Ge standing there, was surprised. “Jin Ge? What are you doing here?”

Jiang Siheng glanced at Wen Chi and after he finished speaking, he gently fed him a sip of honey water.

“I was worried about you.” Jin Ge temporarily suppressed his shock about their relationship and walked to the edge of the bed, looking at Wen Chi, whose face seemed a little more haggard. “Are you alright?”

Wen Chi shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Jin Ge didn’t believe him at all. He scratched his head, trying to ignore the fact that Wen Chi was sitting in Jiang Siheng’s lap while speaking to him. “You’re lying! How could you be fine? But don’t worry now, everything’s fine. Someone has already helped you by providing evidence, and I heard those people have been arrested by the police.”

Wen Chi, still not fully awake, didn’t immediately process Jin Ge’s words and blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, arrested?”

As soon as Jin Ge mentioned this, he became excited, nearly forgetting that there was a third person in the room. He plopped down on the bed and continued, “The old perverted director who had those thoughts about you two years ago, the assistant director who helped him, and the group of people who attacked you at the hotel last time—they’ve all been arrested!”

“…” Wen Chi blinked, his face still blank, “…Huh?”

Jin Ge didn’t care whether Wen Chi understood or not and kept talking. “Teacher Jiang and Mr. Qin are really impressive. They managed to dig up all the dirty deeds those people have been doing behind the scenes in recent years and took them down all at once!”

He kept saying more things, jumping from topic to topic. Wen Chi felt more and more confused as he listened, wondering if he had become mentally slow after just one nap.

“Do you remember what I told you a few days ago?” Jiang Siheng’s voice sounded from above his head. For some reason, Wen Chi felt like whenever Jiang Siheng spoke, he couldn’t focus on anyone else’s words; his mind and eyes were completely filled with Jiang Siheng.

Wen Chi looked up slightly and saw Jiang Siheng. “What did you say?”

“I told you that I already knew about Xu Yuqing. I’ve been collecting evidence along with Qin Xiyu.” Jiang Siheng said, then suddenly sighed, tightening his hold on Wen Chi as if recalling something painful. “Chichi, Xu Yuqing was my obsessive fan two years ago. Because of something he did, I sent him to prison. His target has always been me, but I didn’t expect him to involve you.”

Wen Chi’s eyes widened in shock. He gripped Jiang Siheng’s shirt, his expression one of disbelief, as if wanting confirmation once again. “What did you say? His target was you?”

Jiang Siheng looked directly into Wen Chi’s eyes without avoiding the gaze, his voice hoarse when he spoke again. “…Yes.”

So, all of this—the disaster you went through—was caused by me. I brought this disaster upon you.

Jiang Siheng never wanted to hide the truth from Wen Chi. Now that he had said it, it was as if he was telling Wen Chi the reason for everything, while also giving him a chance to choose whether to stay with him, the person who had brought all this suffering, or to walk away.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!” It was no surprise when Wen Chi’s expression gradually turned to anger, glaring at Jiang Siheng.

The man’s hands, which had just tightened around Wen Chi, loosened, resting gently on his waist as if tacitly acknowledging that Wen Chi would choose the second option.

Jiang Siheng closed his eyes, then opened them again, his voice rough as he whispered, “Xiao Chi, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?! Jiang Siheng, are you crazy? Why didn’t you tell me about any of this? If you had told me sooner, I could’ve helped you!”

Jiang Siheng had already prepared for Wen Chi to be angry and push him away, but unexpectedly, Wen Chi said something else. Looking down at him, Jiang Siheng instinctively responded, “I’m sorry…”

Wen Chi, genuinely angry, suddenly remembered something and shifted closer to Jiang Siheng’s chest, tilting his head back, eyes reddened, asking, “You said Xu Yuqing was your obsessive fan? What horrible thing did he do?”

Now it was Jiang Siheng’s turn to be caught off guard by Wen Chi’s response. As he looked at Wen Chi, he subconsciously answered, “Yes.”

Wen Chi furrowed his brows, a serious look on his face as he thought deeply. “Did he do something to you?”

Jiang Siheng really didn’t want to recall that night. He also didn’t want Wen Chi to know about it, but seeing Wen Chi’s persistent gaze, he reluctantly began to explain what had happened.

As Jiang Siheng’s voice went from audible to barely a whisper, Wen Chi’s eyes widened further, unable to believe what he was hearing. Seeing Wen Chi’s expression, Jiang Siheng sighed helplessly. “I didn’t want to tell you about this. Honestly, it’s a disgusting memory.”

Wen Chi stayed silent for a few seconds, then straightened up and patted Jiang Siheng’s head. “You’ve been wronged.”

Jiang Siheng said, “The one who’s been wronged is you.” After speaking, he pursed his lips. “Will you… still stay with me?”

Wen Chi was stunned, finding it hard to believe that Xu Yuqing, who seemed so pure and innocent on the surface, could be such a person. When he heard Jiang Siheng ask, he was momentarily caught off guard. “What?”

Jiang Siheng thought Wen Chi was pretending not to hear him. His hand, resting on Wen Chi’s waist, slightly curled up in frustration, and he shook his head, avoiding Wen Chi’s gaze. “Nothing.”

Jin Ge, who had been ignored by the two for a while, silently watched them.

Hello? Does anyone remember I’m still here?

Jin Ge cleared his throat to get their attention. “Uh, I still need to talk to Xiao Chi.”

Wen Chi suddenly remembered that Jin Ge was still there. He leaned out of Jiang Siheng’s arms and looked at Jin Ge. “What is it?”

“Your parents and your three friends have all come to Yangyun Island. They’re resting in the room on the third floor.” Jin Ge said.

“My parents are here?” Wen Chi immediately tried to get out of bed, but Jin Ge quickly stopped him.

“They just got off the plane in the middle of the night, came over to check on you for a while, and were persuaded by Teacher Bai and the others to go rest.”

Wen Chi stopped and asked, “What time is it now?”

“It’s a little past six.” Jiang Siheng glanced at his phone.

“In the morning?”

Seeing that Wen Chi was fine now, Jin Ge’s tone was no longer as heavy as before. “Yes, it’s already morning.”

Wen Chi hadn’t realized he had slept until the next day. Jin Ge yawned and said, “I’m going back to rest, too. I haven’t slept all night, so I need to catch up on sleep.”

After Jin Ge left, Wen Chi turned to Jiang Siheng and asked, “Have you been watching over me the whole night?”

“Mm.” Jiang Siheng hadn’t let go of Wen Chi for a moment.

Upon hearing the confirmation, Wen Chi hesitated for a second, then asked, “Did you… meet my parents?”

Jiang Siheng nodded. “Yes, I met them.”

Wen Chi lowered his head, his fingers tugging at Jiang Siheng’s clothes as he asked, “How did you introduce yourself to my parents?”

Jiang Siheng paused for a second and then said, “Your friend.”

“Oh.” Wen Chi quickly glanced at Jiang Siheng and muttered, “Which good person would hold their ‘friend’ like that?”

Jiang Siheng: “…”

Wen Chi looked around. “Teacher Jiang, where’s my phone?”

Jiang Siheng shifted slightly and handed Wen Chi his phone from the nightstand. “Don’t be on it for too long.”

Wen Chi took the phone and said, “Okay,” then glanced back at himself and Jiang Siheng. “Teacher Jiang, can you let me down now?”

Jiang Siheng didn’t agree. “No.”

Wen Chi paused, staring at Jiang Siheng for a few seconds. Seeing that the man was still resolute, he gave up and found a comfortable position in Jiang Siheng’s arms to unlock his phone.

Since last night, he hadn’t checked his phone, so he had no idea how the situation was developing.

The trending topic #Wen Chi Get Out of the Entertainment Industry had completely disappeared. Now the only related topics still trending about him were #Poor Wen Chi and #Wen Chi Xu Yuqing.

Everything Xu Yuqing had done was now fully exposed. Jin Ge had also mentioned earlier that Xu Yuqing had been arrested by the police in the middle of the night. Director Ma looked like he had aged ten years overnight; he never expected that such a vile person would be involved in his program. Tong Xian’en, who had partnered with Xu Yuqing, was also affected, and Tian Yang had been staying with him in his room ever since.

As for Zhou Yunbai and the others, they planned to leave on a flight this morning. It was still uncertain whether the final episode of the program would be filmed.

Wen Chi went through all the relevant Weibo posts, reading through the details of what Xu Yuqing had done. A small account, with an ID and a string of numbers, had exposed everything in four posts, clearly laying out the entire story. The account even mentioned that if people still didn’t understand, they could make a PowerPoint.

Those who had claimed to be “victims” of the Wen Chi incident the previous day had also posted apology messages, saying they had been bribed by Xu Yuqing to defame Wen Chi. In truth, they didn’t even know him.

It seemed like everything had settled down.

Wen Chi pursed his lips and opened his messages. His inbox was still being flooded with new messages, and it was refreshing constantly. Fortunately, Weibo only allowed one message to be sent within 24 hours if the other person hadn’t replied, or else his inbox would be flooded.

However, Wen Chi was puzzled by the new messages that kept appearing.

【I’m not a fan of celebrities, but I want to see what it’s like to be the group’s pet.】

【Wow, so Wen Chi is really just a celebrity?】

【Coming to pay my respects.】

【Oh my god, you’re really this impressive?】

Wen Chi looked at a dozen messages, most of which were saying how impressive he was or calling him the group’s pet. Group pet? What does that even mean? How am I impressive?

Confused, Wen Chi asked Jiang Siheng. After hearing the question, Jiang Siheng paused for a moment before answering, “Our company’s official account reposted your recent Weibo.”

Wen Chi: “?”

“Besides Jiang’s, Qin’s and Zhou’s companies also reposted it.”

The mere fact that Jiang Group had reposted a small celebrity’s Weibo was already a shocking event, but what stunned Wen Chi even more was that not long after, both Qin Xiyu’s Qin Group and Zhou Ruoyao’s Zhou Group also reposted his Weibo. They used this simple act to show everyone that they were supporting Wen Chi.

Wen Chi, stunned, said, “What did I do to deserve all this…”

Jiang Siheng looked at Wen Chi’s expression and found it amusing. Glancing at the time, he noticed it was already past seven. “How about we go downstairs and get something to eat? You haven’t eaten all day.”

Wen Chi blinked. “Okay.”

Before going to breakfast, Wen Chi quickly took a shower, brushed his teeth, and washed his face, and then he and Jiang Siheng went downstairs for breakfast.

The farmhouse was peaceful, but the staff had already started their shift. When a waitress saw Jiang Siheng and Wen Chi, she stopped wiping the tables and greeted them. “Good morning.”

“Would you like breakfast?” the waitress asked politely.

Jiang Siheng replied, “Two breakfasts, and his should be lighter.”

“Okay.”

Wen Chi was led by Jiang Siheng to a table, and after sitting down, he asked, “Don’t we need to tell them what we want for breakfast?”

Jiang Siheng touched the water in the kettle, checked that it was warm, and poured Wen Chi a cup before answering, “The breakfast here is always good.”

Though Jiang Siheng’s answer didn’t really relate to his question, Wen Chi didn’t care. It was just breakfast, no need to think too much about it.

The waitress quickly brought the food over. When Wen Chi saw the tray in front of him, he finally understood why Jiang Siheng had said, “The breakfast here isn’t bad.” Even though Jiang Siheng had requested that Wen Chi’s meal be lighter, it wasn’t a bland meal. There was a small bowl of wontons, a cup of red date soy milk, a small pastry, and a serving of sliced oranges, each portion perfectly sized.

Wen Chi took a bite of the wontons. The skin was thin, the filling was generous, and the soup had seeped into the meat. It was perfectly seasoned.

“Is it good?” Jiang Siheng asked.

Wen Chi, who thought he wouldn’t have much of an appetite, was surprised to find that he was starving. He nodded. “It’s good.”

After breakfast, Jiang Siheng led Wen Chi for a walk to help with digestion. They didn’t seem concerned about whether people would notice their relationship.

At first, Wen Chi felt a little uncomfortable, especially when the staff at the farmhouse noticed them holding hands. He instinctively wanted to pull his hand back, but the man didn’t let go.

Wen Chi glanced up at Jiang Siheng. Seeing him so calm, Wen Chi felt… it didn’t seem like such a big deal after all?

After walking around the farmhouse, Wen Chi felt much lighter, and his smile was no longer the faint one it used to be.

Hand in hand, laughing and talking with Jiang Siheng, they returned to the room, only to run into Wen Chi’s father, Wen Zhengde, and his mother, Lin Huixiu, who had just woken up and come downstairs to look for him.

Wen Zhengde and Lin Huixiu’s gazes fell on the hands they were holding, and Lin Huixiu’s brow gradually furrowed.