Not in Keeping with My Vile, Freakish Image

The next day, ten o'clock.

The sunlight was brilliantly dazzling.

Xie Chen drove into the Xie Family villa in high spirits.

Without taking off his shoes, he stepped onto the imported handmade carpet and walked straight inside, where he saw Father Xie and Mother Xie sitting on the living room sofa.

Both wore stern expressions. They had probably already heard about what happened at the hospital and were working themselves up to settle the score with him.

Xie Chen sneered, ignored them, and headed straight for the second floor.

"Stop!" Father Xie rose aggressively. "Don't you know to greet your elders when you come home?!"

"Greet my ass. I have no manners and no morals." Xie Chen did not even slow down as he lifted his foot onto the stairs.

Hearing that, Mother Xie could no longer contain her anger. She rushed over and grabbed Xie Chen. "If you have grievances, take them out on us. Don't vent them on your younger brother! You even dared to hit him?! We raised you all these years for nothing? Don't you have even a shred of gratitude?!"

Xie Chen turned at those words, a mocking smile on his face. "Gratitude?"

It was because of those two words that, in his previous life, he had kept enduring it all, letting Xie Ran, that black-hearted white lotus, frame and bully him. In the end, Xie Ran had even viciously pretended to be ill and insisted on cutting out Xie Chen's kidney for a transplant.

When he refused, Father Xie, Mother Xie, and his several scumbag brothers had taken turns persuading him. They had even used underhanded means to imprison him in the basement and force-feed him addictive drugs, turning him into neither man nor ghost...

The painful scenes in his mind remained vivid. Xie Chen ground his teeth in hatred, violently shook off Mother Xie's hand, and said coldly, "I'm an ungrateful wretch. I've never believed in gratitude. If you can't stand it, feel free to call the police and sue me anytime. If you can send me to prison, I'll admit you've got the skills!"

After saying that, he hurried upstairs, entered the single room where he had always lived, packed lightly, gathered his documents, and dragged his suitcase back into the living room.

Father Xie and Mother Xie had not yet recovered from their adopted son's rebellion when they saw Xie Chen hauling a suitcase toward the door.

"Where are you going?! You think you can run after causing trouble?!" Father Xie roared. "Stay home obediently and wait for your brothers to come back. Let's see how they deal with you!"

Xie Chen laughed at the stupidity of that. "Am I a masochist? Wait for them to come back and deal with me? Sorry, I'm cutting ties with you. I'm never coming back."

The Xie Family was one of the capital's foremost elite families, with immense power and influence.

His scumbag brothers had suffered losses and gotten beaten up at the hospital only because they had been caught off guard. After all, they could hardly have expected their always obedient younger brother to suddenly resist... So, before they could react, he had to leave the Xie Family as quickly as possible.

The moment Father Xie heard that he wanted to sever ties, he became even more furious and threatened, "If you dare leave, don't ever come back! And don't even think about seeking the Xie Family's protection!"

"Nothing could suit me better!"

You should be thinking about who will protect you in the future!

A mocking curve formed at Xie Chen's lips as he dragged his suitcase away from the Xie Family without looking back.

Father Xie remained where he was, his chest heaving with rage. "His wings have hardened, and now he refuses to be controlled. I'd like to see what he can make of himself after leaving the Xie Family!"

"Sooner or later, he'll learn that without the Xie Family, he's not even worth as much as a rat crossing the street!"

Mother Xie came over to comfort him. "He's only an adopted son, with no blood relation to us. There's no need to get angry with him. Let's go see Ranran instead. I wonder how well he's recovered."

"You're right! Hurry and call the driver to take us to the hospital!" Father Xie said anxiously.

--

It had to be said that Transform, Freaks! was a rather vicious variety show.

Not only did it ruthlessly rip away the masks of certain celebrities in the entertainment industry, it also brazenly labeled the voting reasons in glaringly large print on its promotional video.

For example,

Best Actress Li Jingfei—queen of tardiness, venom-tongued diva. Every time she joined a production, she effortlessly offended everyone on set. If not for her superb acting and wealthy family, directors in the industry would have jointly driven her out of showbiz.

Host Wei Mingqi—famously brain-dead, with no filter on his mouth. He blurted out gossip and exposés without fact-checking. The reality show he hosted had been forced to end because it could not book any guests. Not only was his online reputation abysmal, but people in the industry despised him to the extreme.

Singer Luo Mingyu—hot-tempered rich kid. Drank, fought, street-raced, clubbed, and was a veteran lip-syncer and professional diva. Every recent report about him had been negative news, to the point where even throwing money at it could not suppress the public backlash.

Rapper Li Sifan—walked around with his hands in his pockets like he was the greatest thing alive, chuunibyou and withdrawn. When judges and senior artists questioned him on the stage of a singing competition, he did not say a word. His self-absorbed attitude made people want to climb through the screen and beat him up.

The last one,

Minor nobody Xie Chen—the freakish dark horse. With just one sentence, he charged from more than thirtieth place into the top five, prompting countless netizens to shout, "You're the one with anorectal problems and kidney deficiency who needs to restrain himself!" His remark was even included among the year's most influential internet phrases.

In short, this show had pushed variety-show traffic to an unprecedented new peak through an entirely new format.

On the day of the livestream, several million people were already waiting before their screens, eagerly anticipating it as they continuously spammed the comments.

[Li Jingfei really came to join? Does she have no shame? Could it be she has no roles to film and can only come out to make some extra cash?!]

[No, no, the one who needs work most is definitely Wei Mingqi. How long has it been since we saw him hosting anything? I heard he paid a huge sum last time for spreading rumors! If he doesn't go on variety shows soon, he might not even have food to eat!]

[I doubt Luo Mingyu can even film normally. Paparazzi caught him picking up girls at a bar last night. He was drunk out of his mind, collapsed on the ground, and nobody could even pull him up!]

[Hahaha, the livestream hasn't even started yet, and I can already picture Li Sifan wearing a sour expression without saying anything, only striking those chuunibyou poses!]

[How much money did they give the director? He actually made a variety show specifically for them. This has to be the biggest stain in history, right?!]

[The most disgusting one is still Xie Chen! He actually tried to piggyback off Brother Ye? Does he really think he's a traditional Chinese doctor?! He's tarnished traditional culture!]

[+1 to the comment above. He has absolutely no bottom line just to get famous. I'm waiting in the livestream to see how the director transforms him! But I figure he's beyond saving already. Hurry up and leave the industry!]

[Xie Chen, get the hell out here! I'm going to roast you into the ground!]

[...]

The director, sitting in the car, saw the comments bustling as if it were a festival and could not help beaming. He turned and tipped his chin at his assistant. "Is everyone here? Start filming at ten sharp."

The assistant glanced down at the time, looking somewhat troubled. "There are still five minutes left, but currently... not a single one has arrived."

The director: "!!!!"

"We're about to start filming, and nobody is here?! Why aren't you calling them immediately?!"

The assistant looked like he was about to cry. "I called them. They all said they had something to do and would arrive later. Even the earliest one won't be here for another half hour."

The director felt the veins in his forehead bulge. He suppressed his anger and said, "Fine, fine. They're the ones who'll get cursed for delaying the schedule anyway."

Thus, when Xie Chen arrived at the meeting point in a taxi, the livestream camera crew eagerly rushed over.

Just as the staff member was about to complain to the camera about the guests being late, he saw Xie Chen's lips part slowly as he drawled lazily, "Oh, I'm still early."

"That doesn't fit my vile, freakish image."

The livestream viewers were still stunned by his suddenly appearing, breathtakingly beautiful face. The instant they heard that, they were fired up as if injected with adrenaline.

[That face was the only thing you had going for you, and now you've thrown even that shame away?!]