Chapter 22

Huang Lixin's reaction left Chen Mo completely bewildered. Only when he heard that Huang Lixin was going to the hospital to find him did he come to his senses and say, "No need to come over. I'm fine. I just scraped my hand a little when I got into a fight. My boss's boss insisted on taking me to the hospital..."

As he spoke, Chen Mo subconsciously glanced at Boss Mu beside him. The mottled night was dim and shifting, and Boss Mu's sharply defined, handsome features were hidden in the darkness, still carrying that unreadable calm.

Noticing Chen Mo's gaze, Boss Mu quietly looked over. His dark, profound eyes stared at Chen Mo through the night, and that focused attention made Chen Mo unconsciously look away. Then he heard Huang Lixin say with relief over the phone, "That's good." Chen Mo came back to himself and said, "I was supposed to treat you today..."

Before Chen Mo could finish, Huang Lixin laughed and took over. "You didn't want things to turn out like this. It's fine, I'll explain it for you later. You should contact your agent as soon as possible and have him figure out how to handle the PR immediately. You've only just become famous, and now a scandal about fighting at a nightclub has broken out. It'll be terrible for your image."

With Huang Lixin putting it that way, Chen Mo could only thank him. They chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up. Chen Mo pulled up Yang Qindong's number and called him. Before Yang Qindong could speak, he got straight to the point and told him about the fight at the nightclub.

Yang Qindong was sitting in front of his computer watching a video. When he received Chen Mo's call, he immediately sneered. "You only remembered me now? Too late!"

"Huh?" Chen Mo immediately said, "No way. I called you as soon as I got out of the nightclub. Even if those paparazzi are well-informed, they can't be that fast, can they?"

Yang Qindong said, "The gossip paparazzi naturally aren't that fast. Besides, your Dong has some standing in the industry. Unless they want to offend me and the company, scandals involving our artists won't be casually exposed. But the people uploading videos online right now are netizens who were there. The videos were uploaded to Weibo and WeChat Moments from their phones. Congratulations, after just a few days, you're trending again! You're really something! With your talent for grabbing headlines, the company doesn't even need to handle your PR!"

Listening to Yang Qindong's string of heavily emphasized scolding, Chen Mo said unconcernedly, "You can't blame me for that, can you? In that situation, no man could swallow that kind of anger, right? I was acting in self-defense. At worst, I'll pay some medical expenses. You can't expect me to just endure it and let that pig take advantage of me, can you?"

"I'm not saying you were wrong. I'm just reminding you that you should have told me when you started hitting people, instead of making me find out directly from the trending searches that my own artist had made headlines for fighting." Yang Qindong sounded exasperated. When he signed Chen Mo, he had known that Chen Mo was unruly and difficult to manage, and he had prepared himself for the possibility that Chen Mo would be hard to handle. But he had never expected Chen Mo's talent for causing trouble to be even more outstanding than his own abilities. It had only been a few days! He had gone trending because of a fight!

"By the way, where are you now? If there's nothing wrong, don't go back to the apartment yet. Those paparazzi reporters have probably all gone to the company to wait for you."

Chen Mo replied directly, "I didn't go back to the apartment. I'm on my way to the hospital!"

"You're hurt?" Yang Qindong was startled and couldn't help watching the video again. In it, Chen Mo's movements were crisp and clean, like he was filming an action movie. There was no sign at all of where he might have been injured. On the contrary, the unlucky boss and bodyguards he had beaten were all lying on the ground, unable to get back up.

Yang Qindong carefully watched the video from beginning to end and still couldn't help marveling. Chen Mo's fighting skills were truly impressive. Just look at the flair of those raised arms and sweeping kicks. Maybe he could take the action-drama route in the future.

Chen Mo had no idea that Yang Qindong was studying the video and planning out his acting path. When he heard Yang Qindong ask whether he was hurt, he immediately explained, "No. I'm not hurt. I just scraped my hand a little while hitting someone, and my boss's boss dragged me to the hospital for a checkup."

"Your boss's boss?" Yang Qindong was utterly confused and couldn't quite sort out the relationship.

Chen Mo said, "Yeah! Young Master Gu said he's the president of Mu Group, and that Mu Group has invested in our company..."

"You're with Boss Mu?" Yang Qindong asked in shock.

Chen Mo nodded, then realized Yang Qindong couldn't see him over the phone and added, "Yes."

Yang Qindong fell into an odd silence for a while before saying, "Which hospital are you going to? Give me the address."

Chen Mo obediently gave him the address. On the other end of the line, Yang Qindong solemnly instructed Chen Mo to behave himself and not offend Boss Mu. Only after receiving Chen Mo's assurance did he hang up.

Boss Mu looked at Chen Mo's thoughtful expression and suddenly said, "Let's go."

"Huh?" Chen Mo was bewildered again.

Boss Mu motioned for Chen Mo to look outside the car window. "We're here."

With that, he opened the door and got out.

Chen Mo turned to look outside, only then realizing that the car had unknowingly arrived at Huajing First People's Hospital. Boss Mu had probably noticed Chen Mo was busy on the phone and hadn't interrupted him.

With an embarrassed sigh, Chen Mo was just about to open the door and get out when he found it had already been opened. The tall Boss Mu stood in the night, one hand braced against the door, and said, "Get out."

Chen Mo looked up at the hands shielding him from hitting his head on the roof of the car, and that faint, subtle sense of incongruity rose in his heart again.

Yet when he got out of the car, Boss Mu lowered his arm with an indifferent expression and walked ahead. By the time they entered the hospital lobby, Boss Mu's driver had already registered at the counter. Perhaps because it was nighttime, there weren't many people in line. Boss Mu's driver returned with the registration booklet.

Boss Mu took the booklet before Chen Mo could and led him to orthopedics.

"...Why are we going to orthopedics?" Chen Mo looked at Boss Mu in utter confusion.

Boss Mu said calmly, "Anyone who studied middle school physics should know that force works both ways. Your fist hit someone else's body. Your fist may be hard, but their bones are hard too. When hard meets hard, there's no guarantee you won't be injured. You play the piano. If the bones in your hand are hurt, it'll be troublesome."

...That actually sounded pretty reasonable!

Chen Mo blinked, unable to find an argument for a moment.

So the bewildered Chen Mo was dragged off by Boss Mu for X-rays and all kinds of examinations. After more than an hour of fussing around, a gentle, pretty nurse in a white uniform finally put a Band-Aid on him in the examination room.

Chen Mo stared speechlessly at the flesh-colored Band-Aid on the back of his fair hand. Just as he was about to speak, the sudden ring of his phone interrupted him.

It was Yang Qindong, asking Chen Mo directly where he was. Chen Mo gave him his location over the phone, and less than five minutes later, the top agent arrived in a hurry. He first quietly swept his gaze over Chen Mo before politely introducing himself to Boss Mu. "Hello, Boss Mu. I'm Yang Qindong, Xiao Mo's agent."

Boss Mu glanced at Yang Qindong, gave a slight nod without expression, and said, "Hello."

Yang Qindong continued by thanking Boss Mu for stepping in to save Chen Mo, then tactfully mentioned that it was late and that he wanted to take Chen Mo home to rest. Naturally, Boss Mu did not object. But before saying goodbye, he looked deeply at Chen Mo and said, "Take care of yourself. Don't worry about what happened tonight."

Chen Mo had not taken tonight's matter to heart in the first place. But remembering what Yang Qindong had just told him, he could only nod. When Boss Mu continued to look at him without reacting, he thought for a moment and added, "I understand. Thank you, Boss Mu."

Seeing Chen Mo behaving so obediently, the corners of Boss Mu's lips curved almost imperceptibly. The four of them entered the elevator in silence and left the hospital. Boss Mu's driver brought the car over. Yang Qindong said directly, "I drove here too. I'll take Xiao Mo home tonight, so we won't trouble you, Boss Mu."

Boss Mu nodded and said nothing more. He simply left.

Only after Boss Mu had gone did Yang Qindong grab Chen Mo's arm and ask in a low voice, "How did you end up with Boss Mu?"

"We ran into each other during the fight." Chen Mo followed Yang Qindong into the car, fastening his seat belt as he spoke. "There wasn't even anything seriously wrong with me. Boss Mu insisted on taking me to the hospital. I went through a whole pile of tests. In the end... look, it was just a Band-Aid."

As Chen Mo spoke, he showed Yang Qindong the back of his hand. "Are all the bosses at our company this jumpy?"

Yang Qindong blinked without changing expression. After thinking for a long time, he could only say, "Boss Mu... doesn't actually have much contact with our company."

Chen Mo: "?"

Yang Qindong continued, "Although Mu Group does indeed own shares in our company, Mu Group is so enormous and has invested in so many industries. A little entertainment agency is merely one screw in Mu Group's entire industrial chain... To put it this way, before you, Boss Mu had almost never interacted privately with any artists under the company."

Chen Mo: "..."

Yang Qindong continued dropping revelations. "There's no definite information, but people who know Boss Mu have probably heard that piece of gossip. Supposedly, when Boss Mu was eighteen, he told his family that he didn't like women. Although over the years, Boss Mu hasn't dated any men either. But..."

At this point, Yang Qindong glanced at Chen Mo. "You're a newcomer who has just debuted, and you became famous overnight. At a time like this, I don't want you to have too much involvement with Boss Mu. After all..."

"I'm serious about making you famous. I want to push you to the position of a top-tier superstar, even an international superstar. If the two of us can't reach an understanding on this, how are we supposed to arrange future work and publicity? That would put me in a very difficult position too."

Chapter 22

Worried that reporters might be waiting outside Chen Mo's apartment, Yang Qindong simply took Chen Mo back to his own home.

Yang Qindong's home was outside Huajing's East Third Ring Road, in an upscale residential complex built only a few years ago. It was a gated community with an elegant environment and good landscaping. The three-bedroom, two-living-room, two-bath apartment had lavish European-style decor. Standing before the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, one could take in the entire night view of the capital.

Chen Mo stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows and quietly watched the night for a while. In a daze, he actually felt as if he had returned to old Beijing. Unfortunately, no matter how similar the night scenes of the two places were, this would never be the place where he had lived for over twenty years. Nor would it have the family he knew so well.

Looking at his reflection in the glass, Chen Mo took out his phone and called his parents. He did not mention getting into a fight at the nightclub. He only said that everyone was having a great time and planned to go somewhere else, so he might stay out all night. He told them to sleep early and not wait up for him.

His father sounded worried over the phone, hesitating and stammering for a long time. In the end, all he said was to tell Chen Mo not to stay out too late and to rest as early as possible. The polite tone carried a cautious distance that made Chen Mo think of how, in his previous life, whenever he went clubbing and did not come home, the old man would roar over the phone that he was going to whip him with a belt.

After hanging up, Chen Mo sat on the sofa with nothing to do. To handle the scandal of Chen Mo fighting at the nightclub, Yang Qindong had left Chen Mo at home and driven off. He had not said where he was going.

Chen Mo stretched his long legs onto the coffee table and leaned back on the sofa, searching his own name on his phone. Sure enough, after topics such as "Lighting Cigarettes with a Piano," "Yuan Haobin Concert," and "Emperor Wu of Han: The Young Emperor," he found news about "Chen Mo Assaults Someone."