Is Your Family Loaded?

Ye Yizhou stood up and glanced toward the door, making sure Yan Qingdu had left the room.

Only then did Ye Yizhou turn off speakerphone and hold the phone to his ear, slowly saying:

"From now on, don't bother with any negative trending topics about me. You don't need to deal with them anymore. I've already achieved what I came into showbiz for anyway. I'm not fucking indulging them like I used to."

"Huh? You've already achieved what you came into showbiz for? What was it? And you've achieved it already?"

After managing Ye Yizhou for two years, Wei Zhao realized he really seemed to know nothing about him. He was utterly bewildered.

Was he a manager in name only?

Had something happened that he didn't know about?

"You think I can tell you that?"

Ye Yizhou smiled as slyly as a little fox. "You'll find out someday."

"Right, I'm just a weak, helpless little manager who knows absolutely nothing," Wei Zhao couldn't help lamenting.

"Don't take on any more work for me either. We can talk if something interests me. You've got other artists. Just focus on managing them."

Wei Zhao had never been able to control what Ye Yizhou did, and he still couldn't. He was merely curious. "Then what are you planning to do?"

Standing by the window, Ye Yizhou drew back the curtains. Brilliant sunlight fell across his delicate, porcelain-white face. He narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. "Go home and live off my dad!"

"What do you mean? Is your family loaded?" Even Wei Zhao's voice grew brighter.

Ye Yizhou was a little baffled. "Huh? Is the bar for living off your parents that high these days? Your family has to be loaded just to qualify?"

"Not really, but there have been plenty of news stories in recent years about people forcing their parents to support them."

Wei Zhao thought back carefully and warned Ye Yizhou while he was at it. "You'd better not land yourself in the crime and society news, or I'll hang myself outside your front door."

"Um... that wouldn't be great!" Ye Yizhou hemmed and hawed.

"As long as you know to be scared..." Wei Zhao felt rather pleased that he had intimidated Ye Yizhou, but before he could finish, Ye Yizhou's next words infuriated him.

"Could you hang yourself somewhere else? Doing it outside our front door wouldn't be good. It'd ruin the feng shui, and my dad's pretty superstitious about that stuff."

Ye Yizhou negotiated with Wei Zhao in all seriousness, his tone earnest and sincere. "Then we'd have to spend a lot of money hiring a master to perform rituals for days. It'd be such a hassle."

It was clear that Ye Yizhou genuinely thought it would be a hassle.

Besides, was whether he could do it really the issue here?

Could he please focus on the point?

Wei Zhao was exhausted. Even several lives wouldn't be enough to withstand Ye Yizhou's antics!

Wei Zhao heaved a deep sigh. He would let him be. He still had to get back to the matter at hand:

"Yizhou, seriously. I'm going to be blunt, so don't take this the wrong way."

"Take my advice. You can date, but you should find someone respectable. It's not that I'm prejudiced against male escorts, but do you think he actually likes you? He's obviously after your money. Just have your fun and leave it at that. You've only earned that little bit in your two years in showbiz. Don't end up being conned out of both your body and your money. It'd break my heart!"

"Huh?"

Wei Zhao's words left Ye Yizhou a little confused. He muttered, "What male escort?"

"Does he have a health certificate? Did you use protection? Maybe I should go with you to the hospital for a full checkup. After all, in their line of work... you really need to be careful..."

Wei Zhao couldn't help rambling anxiously, worried sick.

"By male escort, you mean..."

Ye Yizhou's eyes darted around a few times before realization dawned. He chuckled softly. "Hahaha, don't worry. He's very healthy."

"And... I'm not planning to replace him for now. His face and his... I'm quite satisfied with all of it."

"Ye Yizhou, you're done for. I can practically see your lust-addled face through the phone. Screwing anything that moves will be the death of you!"

Heartbroken, Wei Zhao wailed, "You used to be such an innocent, pure little flower! How did you turn out like this?"

"Is it possible I was pretending before?"

Ye Yizhou smiled calmly.

"I still have to remind you: if you like him, there's nothing I can do. But be smart about this thing between you and that male escort of yours. Keep it under wraps."

In a serious tone, Wei Zhao laid out the stakes for Ye Yizhou:

"Your career might be going nowhere, but you're still a minor celebrity, and topics about you always get plenty of attention. So many people are watching you. I don't want to see 'Actor Ye: one out of ten for professional skills, ten out of ten for a colorful private life' trending later."

Wei Zhao had even come up with the trending headline. It would be absolutely explosive. Just thinking about it gave him a terrible headache.

Ye Yizhou declared confidently, "We signed an agreement. He's not the kind of person who'd go blabbing. You can trust me to handle things."

Wei Zhao was unmoved, even a little cold. "Put your hand on your heart and tell me: have you ever done a single thing I could trust you to handle?"

"Well, now I have."

"You'd better!"

Wei Zhao hung up and stared at his now-dark phone screen, dazed for a few seconds.

Wait, why had he called Ye Yizhou in the first place?

Whatever it was, it probably wasn't as shocking as finding out Ye Yizhou had gotten himself a male escort.

In that case, it wasn't anything important.

Forget it. As long as Ye Yizhou kept a low profile and stayed out of trouble, everything would be more or less fine.

Wei Zhao scrolled through Weibo on his phone. When he saw the latest hot post, his vision went dark.

Good news really did stay at home while bad news traveled far and wide.

Industry Insider Real Melon Field V: Huge scoop about that just-announced dating show. Apparently, a certain pretty airhead in the industry was groveling to Director Ji a while ago, falling over himself to please him, treating him to dinner and giving him expensive liquor. He was licking boots like crazy for a spot on the show, but guess who wasn't on the guest list they just announced? You've got to hand it to Director Ji. He pocketed every perk and stuck to his guns in the end. Sure, going back on his word makes him a lousy person, but I love this outcome. Hahaha, I'm dying.

There were also several photos and a short video secretly filmed from a distance, all from the day he and Ye Yizhou had treated Director Ji to dinner. There were shots of them eating at the same table, chatting, seeing Director Ji out, and Director Ji getting into a car with two bottles of liquor in his arms.

This time, there were photos and video. The evidence was ironclad.

It was the truth. There was absolutely nothing they could clarify or refute.

Needless to say, Ye Yizhou was about to face another round of ridicule from his haters.

"Yizhou, don't take that new trending topic too much to heart. Give it some time and the buzz will die down on its own. It'll blow over."

Wei Zhao sent Ye Yizhou a voice message, trying to talk him through it so all the ridicule and abuse in the trending topic wouldn't leave him too angry to eat or sleep properly.

But as it turned out, worrying about Ye Yizhou was a complete waste of his concern and feelings.

Ye Yizhou's voice reply left Wei Zhao marveling that nobody could be more unbothered than this guy.