His account was usually managed by his studio, but they hardly ever posted a photo. The latest post was still the official announcement for his previous movie.
[I told you Chu Xinghui was clout-chasing... huh?]
[No, boss, you post once in a blue moon, and now all you say is "hmm"?]
[Hot pics, hot pics, hot pics! Give us a photo, bro!]
[Mo, are you really letting him latch onto you for clout?]
[Did the studio post this? Mo doesn't usually manage the account himself. Is there a mole in the studio?]
In the private room at the barbecue restaurant, Chu Xinghui ordered a few drinks and dug into the barbecue.
"Xinghui, don't you usually say you don't drink?
I remember you saying you couldn't hold your liquor."
Gu Kai took the beer bottle from Chu Xinghui's hand. He didn't dare drink, afraid something might happen if they both got drunk.
He had no idea what had gotten into him today to make him drink so much.
In the two years Gu Kai had worked with Chu Xinghui, he had never seen him drink.
He shook the bottle. The alcohol content listed on it wasn't very high, so Chu Xinghui probably wouldn't get drunk enough to lose his senses.
After quite a while, Chu Xinghui finally noticed that the bottle in his hand was gone and reached toward Gu Kai for it. "My beer..."
"Stop drinking, Xinghui."
Gu Kai set the bottle aside and shoved the phone on the table into Chu Xinghui's hand.
"Play on your phone for a bit. I'll book a hotel."
Chu Xinghui's place wasn't close to the restaurant. Rather than drag him all the way home, it would be better to take him to a hotel first and let him get some proper rest.
Chu Xinghui wasn't so notorious that everyone recognized him yet.
Just as Gu Kai was about to book a hotel, the company called.
He glanced back at Chu Xinghui, who was obediently playing on his phone and didn't look likely to come out.
Reassured, he turned and went outside to take the company's call.
"Huh?" Chu Xinghui widened his eyes at the post Pei Hanmo had tagged him in and muttered, "Why'd he tag me? To have porridge?"
Pei Hanmo had a huge fan base, and his comments section was almost entirely controlled by fans, with praise making up all the top comments.
Although Chu Xinghui had no idea what Pei Hanmo was doing, he still left a comment.
[Chu Xinghui: Huh?]
Then he casually snapped a photo and posted it on Weibo.
[Chu Xinghui: Barbecue tastes so good to drink. [Image]]
The picture showed several half-eaten barbecue skewers with a few bottles of beer beside them. Chu Xinghui's fox paw made a peace sign right in the middle.
His phone rang as soon as he posted. Chu Xinghui answered without even looking.
"Hello? Who's this? I don't want a membership... or classes. My kid... kid's already in college."
His head muddled by alcohol, he mumbled with a thick tongue.
Aside from Gu Kai and advertisers, hardly anyone ever called Chu Xinghui.
"Where are you?" A familiar voice came over the phone. Chu Xinghui glanced at the private room number and rattled off the address.
"Are you coming to see me... hehe, the water here's really good... it's sweet!"
The other person hung up immediately.
"Tch..." Chu Xinghui watched the screen gradually dim, tossed his phone aside, and gestured at the air. "Keep... drinking!"
"What did you say?" Gu Kai exclaimed outside the private room. When other people looked over, he immediately lowered his voice. "You're saying you want Chu Xinghui on a variety show? With Pei Hanmo?"
With the company's limited resources, were they planning to sell everything they owned to get Chu Xinghui onto it?
He was about to ask more when someone suddenly poked his back a few times. Gu Kai turned around to find Gu Chupei wearing a shit-eating grin, with a thoroughly bundled-up Pei Hanmo behind him.
"Pei... Pei Han-mmph!"
Before he could call out, Gu Chupei clapped a hand over his mouth and gestured for silence.
Gu Kai nodded repeatedly.
A voice came from the other end of the line.
"Yes, with Pei Hanmo, but we're certainly not trying to promote Chu Xinghui. Look at all the hate he's getting now. The company doesn't have the money to handle his PR.
Send that young guy who's good at both singing and dancing along too, to provide a contrast. Once people see the difference, the buzz will come!
Then you can switch to managing someone else."
Gu Kai didn't catch what was being said over the phone. He watched Pei Hanmo knock on the private room door and go inside.
What was he doing?
Was he here for a fight?
Could Pei Hanmo have gotten angrier after they left and followed them here to beat him up?
Gu Kai stepped forward to enter the room, but Gu Chupei blocked him outside.
"What are you doing... here?" Seeing that it was Pei Hanmo, Chu Xinghui moved to close the door.
To his surprise, Pei Hanmo squeezed straight in.
"How much did you drink?" Looking at the bottles lying scattered across the floor, he knew Chu Xinghui was definitely too drunk to think straight.
He didn't even remember giving out the address himself.
"Huh?" Chu Xinghui shook his head guiltily. "No... I didn't drink. I only had two bottles of Sprite."
His face was slightly flushed from the alcohol. His skin was so fair that even his neck and fingertips were tinged a faint pink, and he gazed at Pei Hanmo through unfocused eyes.
Already unsteady on his feet, he swayed and pitched forward after speaking.
Pei Hanmo caught him and pulled him into his arms.
Instantly, a familiar scent washed over him. The corners of Chu Xinghui's alluring eyes lifted slightly as he looked at Pei Hanmo with a smile in his eyes.
"Little Mo... hehe..."
He reached up with both hands and hooked them behind Pei Hanmo's neck, letting his ears show. Rising onto his toes, he nuzzled Pei Hanmo's neck, then looked up and reached over Pei Hanmo's head, gesturing back and forth as he muttered in dissatisfaction:
"It hasn't even been that long, and you're already a whole head taller than me. What did you eat to grow so tall?"
Pei Hanmo lowered his eyes slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing. He lifted him into his arms so their eyes were level, his voice husky:
"Now you're as tall as I am."
Pei Hanmo released soothing pheromones. Chu Xinghui rested his chin on his shoulder, unconsciously searching for his gland as he kept babbling quietly:
"Didn't you say not to tarnish your reputation... yet you still tagged me.
You didn't come looking for me for two whole years, you damn snake. You must've found someone.
Don't even think about getting off my block list!"
Chu Xinghui was like this. Once he drank, he became a different person and liked seeking out Pei Hanmo's soothing pheromones.
But the next day, he couldn't remember and shamelessly refused to admit it. Whenever he drank, he blacked out.
He sighed and draped his overcoat around Chu Xinghui. At some point, Chu Xinghui's tail had emerged too, swishing back and forth behind him.
"That happy?" Pei Hanmo pressed down the ears beside his face and tucked him completely inside the coat, then pushed open the door and left the room, speaking softly into his ear:
"I know why you won't sing, but you even deliberately do a bad job acting.
And you're so damn proud, thinking you're tarnishing my reputation.
Do you think I didn't want to come find you?
You're the one who wouldn't let me, and you even blocked me."
Outside, Gu Kai was tussling with Gu Chupei, trying to get inside, when the door unexpectedly opened on its own.
Pei Hanmo came out carrying Chu Xinghui.
"Gu..." Chu Xinghui poked his head out of the coat, wanting to speak to Gu Kai.
He had barely gotten out one word before his head was pushed back inside. Pei Hanmo turned, a warning in his cold eyes.
"Wait, Xinghui's address..."
"All right, all right. If my boss is taking him home, he obviously knows where he lives."
Gu Chupei held Gu Kai back.
"The passcode..."
"He knows the passcode too. You don't need to worry."
Gu Kai looked at Chu Xinghui nestled against Pei Hanmo's shoulder, his brows drawing together slightly:
Wait, you're telling me this is his freaking hater?!
Before you continue