"Huh?" Gu Kai froze for a second.
"Yes, yes, I'm Chu Xinghui's manager."
"Ahem." Beside them, Gu Chupei, whose report had been interrupted, coughed, lips pressed into a thin line and face flushed red from holding back laughter.
Pei Hanmo ignored Gu Chupei and put down his pen. Seeing that Gu Kai hadn't understood what he meant, he changed the subject.
"You came here just to apologize on Chu Xinghui's behalf?
"Was there anything else?"
If not, he'd have him shown out.
Gu Chupei understood what Pei Hanmo wanted to do.
When word had come from the company that Chu Xinghui would be visiting, Pei Hanmo had told Gu Chupei to clear his schedule for tonight. He had even been in a good enough mood to change into a nice outfit and put on those refined little gold-rimmed glasses of his.
In the end, not only had he not seen the man, he had also heard his manager call Chu Xinghui one of theirs. Anyone would have been unhappy about that.
Gu Kai nodded.
"Yes, I came specifically to apologize. Xinghui always works very hard, and he really wasn't trying to leech off your popularity."
The implication was that he wanted Pei Hanmo to help clear things up.
Pei Hanmo said nothing. He got up, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked at the parking area below.
They weren't on a high floor, but snakes didn't have very good eyesight. He could only make out a few blurry shapes of cars.
For his manager to have arrived here so quickly, Chu Xinghui had to still be in the car.
In that case, could he be looking at him too?
He reached out and gently rested his hand against the window.
When Pei Hanmo said nothing, Gu Kai didn't dare speak either. Not understanding why Pei Hanmo had suddenly gone over to the window, he looked up at the grinning assistant beside him, his eyes full of pleas for help.
Gu Chupei whistled a tune and let his gaze drift to the corner.
There was nothing he could do to help with this.
His phone vibrated, and Pei Hanmo took it out of his pocket.
There was only one pinned chat on his private WeChat account. He didn't need to think to know who had messaged him.
A pleased smile curved his lips as he tapped open the chat.
[Silly Fox: You damn snake, standing by the window looking and looking. What are you looking at with that lousy eyesight? You haven't been bullying my manager, have you?]
[Silly Fox: He's just an innocent bear. Hurry up and give him back!]
[Silly Fox: Also, Weibo's a complete mess. If you don't want me ruining your reputation, hurry up and do some PR.]
As soon as Gu Kai had gotten out of the car, Chu Xinghui had picked up the phone he'd left facedown on the seat.
He opened Weibo and scrolled through the trending topics.
The #Chu Xinghui Pei Hanmo# post had already climbed to number one on the trending list, and people kept visiting his profile to leave comments.
A large portion of them were Pei Hanmo's fans.
[Get lost, clout chaser!]
[Haven't seen any clout in eight hundred lifetimes?]
[Leaving a comment for the photo op. Hope I can get some clout too.]
Of course, quite a few fans spoke up for him too, but the sheer number of people hurling abuse, coupled with Chu Xinghui's genuine lack of any notable work, meant those clarifications were quickly buried.
Seeing that they couldn't outargue the opposing fans, his fans apparently discussed something among themselves and actually began collectively trying to gross the other side out.
[Our boy's already rubbed up against Pei Hanmo's popularity. Who knows which part of Pei Hanmo he'll be rubbing up against next~]
[Oh, yes, yes, yes. Xinghui's a fox. Maybe Pei Hanmo just happens to like foxes~]
[Wonder if their baby will be a little fox or a little snake~]
It would have been fine if they hadn't said that, but once they did, they suddenly piqued the interest of quite a few fandom creators.
The creators who had come to watch the drama all rolled up their sleeves, ready to make fanworks.
[Wait, do you guys seriously not feel it? Those two lines have such a vibe! Like they're divorced.]
[Seriously, I can see it! Getting ready to write through the night!]
[It fits! It all fits!]
These were even highly upvoted comments, pushing down the comments from Pei Hanmo's fans above them.
As a result, the ordinary onlookers who came later to watch the actual drama found gossip strewn everywhere and had no idea where to begin.
They asked around about what fit, what divorce, and what babies.
Someone who enjoyed stirring up trouble tagged Chu Xinghui, who had been silently lurking.
[@Chu Xinghui Your comment section's turned into a pot of porridge. Hurry up and drink it while it's hot.]
Chu Xinghui gazed helplessly at the sky, beginning to question his fans' mental state, and questioning the mental state of today's internet users even more.
Was it too late to quit the entertainment industry?
If I'd known this would happen, I never would have set foot on that variety show today!
His neck grew sore from looking up, so he tilted his head, intending to give himself a massage.
Only to meet a certain snake's eyes.
Although he knew the snake's eyesight was poor and he couldn't see him, Chu Xinghui still jumped the moment their gazes met.
Foxes naturally had good eyesight. Chu Xinghui could clearly see Pei Hanmo's unfocused yet deep gaze, though he had no idea what he was looking at.
Was he practicing an emotional scene from a distance?
But Gu Kai still hadn't come down. Was he being bullied?
Thinking that his innocent manager might be suffering at Pei Hanmo's hands, Chu Xinghui took out his phone to send a message.
Although he'd said he would never take him off his blocklist, the host had been the one to unblock him, so it didn't count.
After he sent the messages, no reply came, but Pei Hanmo's figure disappeared from the window.
Chu Xinghui relaxed. Gu Kai would probably be back soon.
Before long, Gu Kai emerged from the main entrance, the big, guileless bear bounding back to the car.
The moment he got in, he started chattering to Chu Xinghui about Pei Hanmo.
"Xinghui, I know you're a Pei Hanmo anti-fan, but he's seriously handsome!"
He gestured in the air.
"Holy shit! You have no idea. The second he puts those little glasses on, the appeal just shoots right up."
No shit! How could I not know?
Chu Xinghui watched Gu Kai gesticulate, thinking speechlessly.
Chu Xinghui had bought Pei Hanmo his first pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Of course he knew what looked good on him.
Once his excitement subsided, Gu Kai turned around and saw Chu Xinghui staring at him broodingly. He gave a couple of sheepish chuckles.
"Of course, you're still the most handsome.
"Pei Hanmo said he doesn't mind, so everything's been perfectly resolved!
"Let's go out for a nice dinner tonight to celebrate."
Chu Xinghui wasn't fat to begin with, so the company hadn't imposed any dietary restrictions on him.
He gave the driver an address, and the two of them planned to feast that evening.
"Hey, have you looked enough yet?" Holding his report, Gu Chupei addressed Pei Hanmo by the window. "He's already left. What are you looking at with those cloudy snake eyes of yours? You're like a sulking little husband."
Pei Hanmo turned around, silently took off his glasses, and placed them in the case on the desk. He rubbed his tightly furrowed brow. "Have you had a lot of free time lately?"
"Tch." Gu Chupei rolled his eyes.
"I haven't had any free time. I'm run off my feet every single day.
"You really do work me like a beast of burden.
"Anyway, what are you going to do about this thing with Chu Xinghui?"
A glance online just now had shown that things were developing in an unmentionable direction.
Pei Hanmo had so few romantic rumors that all the gossip accounts had sprung into action as soon as this happened. Had Gu Chupei not actually seen Pei Hanmo frantically checking Chu Xinghui's recent schedule after the voice call was hung up on, he might really have believed Chu Xinghui was trying to leech off his popularity.
"I'll handle this myself."
Pei Hanmo took out his phone, opened Weibo, and tapped the screen a few times.
[Pei Hanmo: Hmm? @Chu Xinghui]
Before you continue