AAMIBBSBY 19

While having dinner, Xia Zhi was absent-minded. Even for his favorite fermented glutinous rice balls¹Also known as Jiuniang Tangyuan. It is a traditional sweet, soup-like Chinese dessert made of fermented sweet rice wine and chewy glutinous rice balls (often filled with sesame or peanut)., he was in no mood to eat a few more bites. Shen Shixiao thought he was still worrying about the internet matters and softly comforted him, “Tomorrow I will arrange for people to expose Xia Mingxuan’s identity. You don’t need to worry.”

Xia Zhi raised his eyes, looking at him blankly. “Do you have evidence over there?”

Shen Shixiao: “I do. The private detective I dispatched yesterday has good efficiency. Moreover, Xia Mingxuan is the biggest evidence—they cannot deny it.”

Mentioning this, Xia Zhi dug out the birth certificate  from his pocket. “I secretly returned today to the Xia family for a trip, and found it in my mother’s cabinet.”

Shen Shixiao furrowed his brows. “How did you secretly go back?”

“Just… climbed through the window to get in.” Xia Zhi took a bite of a spare rib, and casually said, “Anyway, the evidence is here—when to expose it is up to you.”

Shen Shixiao’s focus was obviously no longer on the birth certificate, pursing his lips and continuing to ask, “What floor is your mother’s bedroom on?”

Xia Zhi: “…Third floor.”

Hearing this sentence, Shen Shixiao’s brows carried a bit of seriousness. “How dangerous is scaling a wall? Didn’t I tell you that I can help you solve it?”

Xia Zhi froze for a moment, his fingers gripping the chopsticks tightening a bit.

Shen Shixiao seemed to be a little angry.

“Your mother’s bedroom is on the third floor. What if you fell down? Have you thought about the consequences?”

While speaking, even though Shen Shixiao tried his best to maintain a calm tone, it was still mixed with some worry and lingering fear.

The servants in the room exchanged glances with each other and quietly left.

Xia Zhi’s fingers curled slightly, guiltily raising his eyes to size him up. After a long time, he muttered softly, “Aren’t I fine now?”

Shen Shixiao, with a livid face: “If you had an accident, our conversation would not be here but in the hospital.”

“Hehe, I am blessed and fated to live longA common four-character idiom. Literally “great fortune, great destiny/life.” It’s said when someone survives a very dangerous situation or is just remarkably lucky..” Xia Zhi tried to banter to divert Shen Shixiao’s attention, rolling up the cuffs of his sweater and saying, “Let’s talk about tomorrow’s plan, I’m a little impatient to wait.”

Shen Shixiao gave him a look, and replied in a deep voice, “You have already signed with Shen’s Entertainment, just hand it over to the company.”

“Mm, let’s eat.” Xia Zhi pursed his lips. He picked up a piece of spare rib into Shen Shixiao’s bowl as a show of goodwill, and finally said to himself, “The auntie’s cooking is really fragrant.”

Throughout the whole meal, it was basically Xia Zhi talking and Shen Shixiao occasionally nodding in agreement—the atmosphere was somewhat dull.

Arriving at the corner of the second floor, Xia Zhi drooped his head, secretly paying attention to Shen Shixiao’s expression, his observing appearance like a kitten that made a mistake.

Shen Shixiao gave him a look. After saying a sentence of goodnight, he walked straight away.

Xia Zhi retracted his head.

Wuwu, is he worrying about me? 

However, there’s no need to be so angry, right?

After returning to his room, Shen Shixiao sat alone in the study for a long time. His mood right now was very bad, a familiar anxiety spreading from the bottom of his heart.

Holding a fountain pen in his hand, forcing an order to himself to open the documents, the phone rang at this time.

It was Xia Huaishan’s phone call.

“President Shen, I am Xia Huaishan.”

Shen Shixiao tiredly massaged his temples: “Is there something the matter?”

Xia Huaishan on the other side smiled. “Recently, the matter with Zhizhi and Mingxuan has stirred up quite fiercely. The palms and backs of my hands are all flesh²A very famous proverb. Since both the palm and the back of the hand are made of your own flesh, you can’t pinch either without it hurting you. It’s used to describe a parent who loves their children equally and finds it impossible to favor one over the other., in case reporters interview me, how do you think it would be better for me to say it?”

Shen Shixiao: “Are you threatening me?”

Xia Huaishan: “I wouldn’t dare. It’s just that our Xia family has always wanted to participate in the Shen Group’s transnational transportation business. I wonder if this matter can facilitate our cooperation?”

Shen Shixiao gave a low chuckle. “Do you think I am very useless? Or do you think getting some documentary proof is very difficult for me?”

Xia Huaishan obviously realized this point, and sneered. “Of course not, getting the materials to prove Mingxuan is the illegitimate child is not difficult for you, but I am the party involved. In front of the testimony of the party involved, written evidence is all powerless.”

“Let’s see then, whether it has any weight or not in the end.”

Hanging up the phone, Shen Shixiao smiled contemptuously.

A piece of trash who abandoned his wife and child actually dares to negotiate terms with him?

Disturbed by Xia Huaishan like this, Shen Shixiao’s mood calmed down quite a bit. Looking in the direction of Xia Zhi’s bedroom, he wondered if he had lost his composure just now? 

Or was he a little too fierce?

The next day, after Xia Zhi woke up, Shen Shixiao had already gone to work. An unfamiliar number claiming to be his manager contacted him, telling him he needed to make some preparations today.

At 10 AM, the media marketing account with the widest fan appeal on Weibo published a long Weibo post, titled【So cruel as to abandon wife and child? Taking you on a deep dive to skin Xia Huaishan of the Xiashan Group.】

As soon as this Weibo came out, it instantly detonated traffic. Dozens of media and marketing accounts tacitly reposted it, and the trending keyword slowly climbed to the top.

In the long Weibo, there were many video screenshots from when Xia Huaishan was interviewed. What left netizens the most speechless was, there were surprisingly also some private celebrity cocktail party photos inside. 

It was not hard to see in the photos that it was a young Xia Zhi playing the piano, with Xia Huaishan hypocritically bringing a group of people to watch.

Many interviews were listed. An interview from 20 years ago featuring Xia Huaishan and Xia Zhi’s mother surprisingly appeared inside. In the video, Xia Huaishan publicly stated Xia Zhi’s mother was his first love.

Moreover, the age on Xia Zhi’s birth certificate was two years earlier than Xia Mingxuan’s publicly disclosed age.

Who the illegitimate child was became abundantly clear.

[If Xia Zhi is an illegitimate child, how would Xia Huaishan dare to parade him around so openly?]

[Even a video from 20 years ago can be dug up? Xia Zhi’s move here is awesome.]

[Xia Zhi is so pitiful. His biological father actually abandoned him for a mistress and an illegitimate child—how chilling must that be.]

[So everything Xia Mingxuan has was snatched from Xia Zhi and his mother by him and his mistress mother? Moreover, this Water Emperor Xia still dares to swagger through the streets?]

The storm of public opinion grew bigger and bigger. The foul atmosphere under Xia Zhi’s Weibo comments immediately disappeared, replaced by a bunch of heartaches and hugs.

Xia Zhi pouted, surfing online at 5G speed, wanting to see how Xia Mingxuan would respond.

Xia Huaishan, who was currently browsing the long Weibo, was also dealt a head-on blow. He didn’t expect Shen Shixiao to actually dig three feet into the ground to dig up his interview from twenty years ago. 

At this time, Qin Wanru, crying to the heavens and wiping tears, sent him a WeChat message, telling him to quickly think of a way to clear Xia Mingxuan’s name.

Xia Huaishan irritably replied with a couple of sentences. He was just worrying about how to do PR when his assistant suddenly came to report, telling him the company’s stock price had plummeted, falling below its historical lowest record.

After hearing this, Xia Huaishan’s eyes widened, his blood pressure soaring, clutching his chest and slowly collapsing.

The Xiashan Group fell into total chaos from top to bottom.

Not long after, Xia Mingxuan’s team quickly issued a statement, claiming that Xia Mingxuan’s mother, Qin Wanru, was also deceived by Xia Huaishan back then. She only found out the other party was married after giving birth to the child, and she was equally a victim.

Xia Zhi became directly infuriated upon seeing this statement. One must know that his mother once told him Qin Wanru’s family conditions were not good, and she once served as Xia Huaishan’s secretary. At that time, his mother was the chairman’s wife—how could Qin Wanru, as a secretary, not know Xia Huaishan was married?

Xia Zhi was puffed up with anger like a pufferfish, wanting to call Shen Shixiao, but cowardly retracted his little paws. 

He had no choice but to curse under his breath in his heart! 

This family of three, shameless!

However, all of this was within Shen Shixiao’s expectations. All the information regarding Qin Wanru, his good friend Fang Tingyu had already secretly collected for him, because Qin Wanru had once worked at the Fang Group for five years.

As soon as Xia Mingxuan’s statement came out, netizens became hesitant and conflicted. After all, according to this, Xia Mingxuan was also a victim. 

There were even quite a few fans who started spamming the trending keyword “Heartache for Mingxuan,” and there were even people using fallacious arguments to guide public opinion.

Xia Mingxuan’s fans said that even if Xia Zhi isn’t an illegitimate child, his jealousy and hatred towards Xia Mingxuan is not without reason. The set accident from a few days ago is enough to prove his viciousness.

Xia Zhi laughed in anger in front of the screen, holding a plate of fruit and melon seeds, waiting for movements from Shen Shixiao’s side.

The trending keyword【Heartache for Mingxuan】had only climbed to tenth place on the hot search, when the marketing account dropped another piece of explosive news.

A photo of Xia Zhi’s mother and Xia Huaishan being interviewed back in the year was published in a newspaper, and the corner of the photo surprisingly featured Qin Wanru!

[Today I’m like a badger jumping up and down in a melon field³A hilarious, hyper-specific meme. It references a famous story by classic Chinese author Lu Xun, where a character guards a melon field at night and stabs at a badger-like creature (the cha) trying to eat the melons. Since “eating melons” means gossiping, netizens overwhelmed by too many juicy plot twists call themselves “the cha jumping up and down in the melon field.”!]

[This plot twist… I’d better close my mic⁴Slang meaning to shut up, stay silent, or stop commenting (usually after realizing you were wrong)..]

[I’m very curious how Xia Zhi found these pieces of evidence?]

[Xia Mingxuan is a liar, solid hammer⁵Internet slang meaning irrefutable, undeniable proof. When a celebrity is “hammered,” it means they’ve been exposed with concrete evidence.!]

This ironclad evidence caught Xia Mingxuan’s team off guard. The PR director directly said dejectedly, “The team opposite us is more formidable, and has foresight. Boss Ming, what do we do next?”

“You ask me, who do I ask!” Xia Mingxuan was so anxious he completely lost his mind. There were even quite a few advertisers calling in, overtly and covertly inquiring whether he was actually an illegitimate child, wanting to terminate their contracts with him.

Just when Xia Mingxuan was sitting and standing restlessly, his assistant said in a panic, “Boss Ming, the full-body video from the day of the variety show recording has been exposed online!”

Xia Mingxuan’s whole body stiffened, his back had long been soaked with cold sweat.

Under Weibo, it was already a chorus of scolding.

[Xia Mingxuan’s character is too trash, right? It was clearly him who stepped on Xia Zhi’s robe first but when Xia Zhi was being scolded by netizens, he didn’t utter a single sound!]

[Friend upstairs, I boldly guess that the Water Emperor intentionally stepped on Xia Zhi’s robe. In his heart, he definitely wasn’t brewing any good ideas.]

[This melon is truly one wave following another wave, starting from today I turn black on Xia Mingxuan.]

[Xia Mingxuan roll out of the entertainment circle. Illegitimate child, liar, bullying newcomers—he can be blacklisted.]

Looking at the comments one by one, Xia Mingxuan’s face was like white paper, tightly gripping his phone.

One wave has not yet subsided, and another wave rises. 

Many industry insiders on Weibo stood out at this moment, accusing Xia Mingxuan of having despicable conduct, no professional ethics, and taking his acting fee without being dedicated to his work, acting like a big shot.

Bad deeds one by one, piece by piece were exposed. Xia Mingxuan happily won a spot on the hot search.

Xia Zhi, having eaten his fill of melons, was completely satisfied. This rhythm of releasing evidence and this control of public opinion was truly too amazing!

Lying on the soft large bed, Xia Zhi felt grateful, thinking that the collection of these pieces of evidence was extremely not easy. Thinking it over and over, he sent a WeChat message to Shen Shixiao:

Thank you ya (finger heart).⁶“鸭” (Duck) sounds like “呀” (Ya), a cute sentence particle. “笔芯” (Pen refill) sounds exactly like “比心” (Bǐ xīn), which means making a finger heart shape to show love/appreciation.

Originally wanting to personally cook a meal in the evening to thank Shen Shixiao, the Best Actor program team unexpectedly made an emergency call, asking him to immediately head to the film and television city to reshoot the previous scenes.

Xia Zhi guessed. The situation has already developed to this point. Could it be that Xia Mingxuan will reshoot with him?

Upon arriving at the program team he then found out that Xia Mingxuan’s mentor position had been temporarily removed, replaced by the previous term’s TV Emperor Yin Qingyu.

Wu! In the future, he won’t need to see Xia Mingxuan again! 

Truly great!

It was only noon when he arrived at the crew. After everyone finished their makeup, they prepared to reshoot the remaining scenes. Since the live broadcast was paused last episode due to the accident, they could only use the method of recording and broadcasting online to remedy it.

At 6 PM, only one segment of night scenes was left needing to continue to be reshot. The program team called everyone to rest, preparing to eat.

During the break, many trainees gathered around Xia Zhi, inquiring with him about Xia Mingxuan’s matters. Human nature is curious—many staff members and mentors were carefully paying attention to the movements on this side.

“Zhizhi, is your husband a big shot? Otherwise, your PR this time is too awesome, right? I ate this melon super refreshingly!”

“Yeah, Zhizhi’s husband must be especially rich.”

Being surrounded by so many people, Xia Zhi said vaguely, “…Not really, my husband is actually… average.”

“Really or fake?” The trainees generally did not believe it.

Liang Siyue was constantly paying attention to Xia Zhi’s side, nodding thoughtfully.

“Of course it’s true, you all know how poor I was when I just came to participate in the program.” Xia Zhi was speaking half-truthfully when a luxury commercial vehicle suddenly stopped right in front of the program team.

A polite man in a suit got out of the car, coming to Xia Zhi’s side under the watchful eyes of the crowd, bowing his head. “Mr. Xia, knowing the program team has worked hard and hasn’t finished eating, and it happens to coincide with a joyous occasion, your husband specially arranged for us to bring some dinner for the program team.”

Gently clapping his hands, employees wearing restaurant uniforms quickly unloaded the exquisite meal boxes from the car, separately delivering them into everyone’s hands. 

Desserts, fruits, ice cream were exquisitely plated—this restaurant is a local three-star Michelin, very famous.

The most important thing is, an exclusively customized “Xi⁷The character for joy/happiness. It is most famously used doubled up (囍) for weddings, but sending food with a single “喜” character to a film set is a cheeky way to declare a public celebration (in this case, celebrating Xia Mingxuan getting fired).” character was on top.

“Why is it the Xi character?”

“Idiot, celebrating Xia Mingxuan’s departure of course.”

Yan Wenqing naturally knew who sent it, saying towards Xia Zhi, “Zhizhi, thank your husband on our behalf, it cost him a lot.”

Xia Zhi’s cheeks burned slightly. Facing everyone’s probing and curious gazes, he buried his head. “You’re welcome.”

However, the man in front of him did not leave, but instead had someone bring over a bouquet of white roses.

“Your husband wrote a card for you inside. He asked me to bring you a message.”

“I shouldn’t have been fierce to you last night, sorry.”

Feeling the scorching heat of the surrounding gazes, Xia Zhi held the white roses gently, lowering his eyelids. “Mm, tell him that I am not angry.”

After the people delivering the food left, he hugged the white roses sitting alone in the corner with a grinning mouth.

Wuwu, why suddenly give him white roses? 

However, he really likes it! 

He likes Shen Shixiao a little bit more again. 

Wuwu, no way, must hold it in! 

Wuwu, but what to do if he can’t hold it in? 

Then… then just go for it ba!⁸“上” literally means “up” or “go/advance.” Combined with the cute particle “叭” (ba), Xia Zhi is basically pumping himself up to take action and pursue Shen Shixiao romantically!

• 1
  Also known as Jiuniang Tangyuan. It is a traditional sweet, soup-like Chinese dessert made of fermented sweet rice wine and chewy glutinous rice balls (often filled with sesame or peanut).
• 2
  A very famous proverb. Since both the palm and the back of the hand are made of your own flesh, you can’t pinch either without it hurting you. It’s used to describe a parent who loves their children equally and finds it impossible to favor one over the other.
• 3
  A hilarious, hyper-specific meme. It references a famous story by classic Chinese author Lu Xun, where a character guards a melon field at night and stabs at a badger-like creature (the cha) trying to eat the melons. Since “eating melons” means gossiping, netizens overwhelmed by too many juicy plot twists call themselves “the cha jumping up and down in the melon field.”
• 4
  Slang meaning to shut up, stay silent, or stop commenting (usually after realizing you were wrong).
• 5
  Internet slang meaning irrefutable, undeniable proof. When a celebrity is “hammered,” it means they’ve been exposed with concrete evidence.
• 6
  “鸭” (Duck) sounds like “呀” (Ya), a cute sentence particle. “笔芯” (Pen refill) sounds exactly like “比心” (Bǐ xīn), which means making a finger heart shape to show love/appreciation.
• 7
  The character for joy/happiness. It is most famously used doubled up (囍) for weddings, but sending food with a single “喜” character to a film set is a cheeky way to declare a public celebration (in this case, celebrating Xia Mingxuan getting fired).
• 8
  “上” literally means “up” or “go/advance.” Combined with the cute particle “叭” (ba), Xia Zhi is basically pumping himself up to take action and pursue Shen Shixiao romantically!