Brother Mian, You're Going to Be Famous

Xia Qinghe woke with a fright. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and, finding his pajamas still neatly on him, let out a heavy breath.

Fuck, that scared the hell out of him.

But it really had felt good.

And it really had been terrifying.

Mianmian was right. He couldn't indulge himself. Things could easily go wrong.

His instincts told him that outside, he would at most get a black eye. Inside, he would be beaten to death.

If he dared, he would definitely lose his best buddy.

With a dark expression, Xia Qinghe climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. Without even taking off his clothes, he turned on the shower, letting cold water pour over his still-burning body.

He kept forcing his mind to go blank, but it backfired. The harder he tried not to think, the more certain images burrowed into his head. Cold water struck his face and slid down along the texture of his skin.

Xia Qinghe pushed both hands into his hair, constantly feeling as though Lin Fengmian was right beside him, lips brushing along his cheek, traveling all the way to his ear, breath spilling against it.

Xia Qinghe's eyelids fluttered. Burning with heat, he tore off his clothes and let the icy water pound him. After a long while, his hand rose beyond his control, then quickly froze in midair.

He closed his eyes, restraining himself with every ounce of strength. His hand abruptly clenched, his throat bobbed, and his mouth only felt drier.

When everything was over, he stood before the sink and punched the mirror. With several cracks, fissures spread across it, splitting Xia Qinghe's face into several pieces.

He was done for.

His body wanted Lin Fengmian. Wanted him desperately.

Xia Qinghe was a little panicked, but he hadn't completely lost his head. He knew this might be because he had brought it on himself a few days ago. It had been too stimulating, leaving the brain's erectile tissue unable to forget that sensation, which was why this was happening.

Perhaps if he stayed in Lanhai for a while and didn't see Lin Fengmian, once that erectile tissue forgot the stimulating sensation, he could go back to the way he had been.

Once Li Yang learned Lin Fengmian wasn't in Lanhai, he stopped going to the top floor altogether. He wouldn't get any of Xia Qinghe's cooking anyway, so he might as well eat boxed meals beside the Wetland.

For several days straight, he had been wading through dirty water in the Wetland, dealing with all kinds of microorganisms.

When Xia Qinghe suddenly appeared, he looked astonished. "Why are you still in Lanhai?"

With Feng Chuyue imprisoned, the finance staff at Xia Corporation's Lanhai branch arrested, and the computers sealed, matters here had more or less come to an end.

The remaining odds and ends could be left to the people below. There was no need to trouble a big-shot CEO like Xia Qinghe to supervise.

"Is Xia Corporation going under?"

Xia Qinghe hadn't slept well for several days. It felt like an addiction. Aside from when he sat in the office and didn't think about that business, his imagination could run wild even when he returned to the hotel and sat on the sofa.

He really had to hand it to himself.

"You'll go under before I do." Xia Qinghe gazed out at the endless Wetland, overgrown with all manner of oddly shaped mangroves. Breathing the foul-smelling air finally settled the filth in his head. "This Wetland is mine. I can come whenever I want."

Li Yang couldn't be bothered with him and went about his own work with his team.

Xia Qinghe looked haggard. He felt that if this went on, he really wouldn't be able to face Lin Fengmian.

Meanwhile, back in Shengjing, Lin Fengmian's cold had only just improved a little when Chen Mu alerted him, "Brother Mian, you're going to be on fire."

Chen Mu's excited voice came through the phone. Lin Fengmian had slept so deeply he had lost all sense of time. Bleary-eyed, he only caught the word "fire." "There's a fire?"

He sprang out of bed and dashed outside barefoot. "Mom! Mom!"

Song Su was arranging flowers in the garden. Her youngest son's howling startled her so badly that one snip cut the prettiest rose in half. She paid it no mind, dropped the flowers and scissors, and rushed inside.

"Mianmian, what's wrong?"

"Fire..." Lin Fengmian stopped after that one word. Looking at the house, where there wasn't so much as a spark, he curled his tongue. "...I had a nightmare."

Song Su sighed in relief and came over to stroke his hair. "There, a little pat and everything's fine. Lin, get Mianmian a pair of slippers. Honestly, child, why did you run downstairs barefoot? Your cold has barely improved, and you're already putting yourself through this."

Butler Lin took a pair of cotton house slippers from Lin Fengmian's personal shoe cabinet and set them at his feet.

"Thank you, Uncle Lin." Balancing on one leg, Lin Fengmian rubbed the soles of his feet against his pants before putting on the slippers. "I'll head upstairs, then."

Song Su watched him go upstairs. The moment he disappeared, her brows drew together in worry. "Why hasn't Qinghe come to see Mianmian for so many days? Lin, go... Never mind. I'll ask myself."

She had never seen the two boys stay at odds for this long before.

Song Su didn't seek out Xia Qinghe. Even if she asked him, he would only spout nonsense without a serious word. She contacted her close friend Qian Yulan instead.

The call was answered quickly. "Su, what brings you to call me? Didn't you say Mianmian had a cold recently?"

Everyone knew the Lin Family's fourth son was Song Su's most precious darling. Back then, she had insisted on going into the mountains for reshoots and ended up giving birth prematurely, leaving Lin Fengmian with a weak constitution. She had always felt she owed him.

That was why she cherished and protected Lin Fengmian as dearly as her own eyes.

Whenever Lin Fengmian caught a cold, Song Su stayed by his side to care for him. A few days earlier, when Qian Yulan had called to invite her over for a get-together, Song Su had mentioned it.

There was no need for Song Su to hide anything from Qian Yulan. "What has Qinghe been doing lately? I haven't seen him at all."

"Mianmian's sick, and he hasn't even called?" Qian Yulan frowned. The Lin Family had been a tremendous help in Xia Qinghe's takeover of Xia Corporation. Qian Yulan knew perfectly well that they had only helped Xia Qinghe for Lin Fengmian's sake.

Now their son was ill. Even she had brought supplements over to visit him. As a close friend, no matter how busy Xia Qinghe was or how impossible it was for him to get away, he should at least call to ask after him.

Qian Yulan sounded apologetic. "Su, Qinghe went to Lanhai. There was a problem with a project there, so he might be too busy to get away. Please tell Mianmian for me that he isn't doing it on purpose."

Seeing that she couldn't learn the reason behind their falling-out from Qian Yulan either, Song Su exchanged a few pleasantries and left it at that.

After hanging up, she called Lin Sui.

Lin Sui told Song Su every detail of the fight the two had had at the hotel in Lanhai.

"You're saying they fought, and Mianmian beat Xia Qinghe within an inch of his life?!" Song Su knew her own child. He was so ridiculously lazy that unless someone truly provoked him, he wouldn't lift a hand to hit them.

"Yes. I'm not quite sure exactly what the conflict between them was, either."

"All right, I understand."

Lin Sui opened his mouth. "The episode of 'Empire Singer' that Fourth Young Master recorded has aired. It's quite popular online now. Should we suppress the buzz?"

Song Su opened her tablet and immediately saw the headline, "'Empire Singer' features a mysterious guest with a heavenly voice," already blazing red with popularity.

All kinds of edits had appeared on short-video platforms.

[Oh my god, it sounds amazing no matter how you edit it.]

[That lazy, impatient, yet utterly provocative vibe-he's practically the B-King of my dreams.]

[How can the production team be so cruel? How could they make someone sing a guest duet in the dark? Show him to us! Don't make me get on my knees and beg.]

[Judging by his build, he's tall and slim; judging by the hand holding the mic, his fingers are long and pale. Slurp. God-tier specimen, assessment complete.]

Song Su played other people's edits on an endless loop. Whenever she saw someone praising her son, she gave them a like, thinking these people really knew quality when they saw it.

Less than two minutes later, she got a call from her studio's PR manager. "Su, I'm begging you, stop liking posts. You're on your main account!"

Song Su had been enjoying herself so much that she had forgotten to switch to her alternate account. Seeing that she had handed out several thousand likes in a few minutes, she blinked and asked innocently, "Then what should I do?"

The PR manager wiped his face and said helplessly, "What do you think?"

"People are already digging into your relationship with the guest singer."

"What relationship could it be? He's my son."

"Heh. He'd better be." The PR manager felt that Song Su was vastly underestimating the imaginations of people online.