"I'm very satisfied with today's partnership proposal, Mr. Bai. Your ideas and approach really coincide with mine. I've thoroughly enjoyed our discussion today."
President Zhang, their business partner, was a little drunk. He held Bai Qianhua back and talked at length, refusing to leave, constantly praising his excellence and wanting to introduce both his brother's daughter and his sister's daughter to him.
"There aren't many young men as accomplished as you these days. Is there anyone you have your eye on?"
"I know quite a few outstanding women. Would you like me to introduce you to one? I really couldn't be more pleased with you."
"My nieces are both beautiful, and either would be a good match for you. You could choose one and spend some time getting to know her..."
President Zhang's fervent enthusiasm left Bai Qianhua a little helpless. Many of the people he worked with would pull him aside toward the end of a business dinner and offer to set him up with someone. He really found it both exasperating and amusing.
"I'm really sorry, President Zhang, but my son is already in his teens. It wouldn't be right to introduce me to them."
Bai Qianhua had never concealed the fact that he had a son, either. It was just that, in front of his son, he could never bring himself to reveal their true identities.
If he told Bai Xiaoze the truth, and he asked about his mother, how was I supposed to explain it clearly to him?
Tell him honestly that his mother didn't want him and had abandoned him long ago? Of course not. That would be too cruel to him.
Besides, he had always believed that it wasn't that Qianqian didn't love Xiaoze. Otherwise, she couldn't possibly have endured the pain of childbirth to give birth to the child for him.
She had simply had enough of his parents, and of him. He couldn't deprive her of her freedom and her right to pursue happiness just because Xiaoze existed, keeping her trapped by his side.
"What? You're already married?" Bai Qianhua's words shocked President Zhang mostly sober. His eyes widened into circles as he spoke, full of regret. "Oh dear, it's true after all. Young, outstanding men always get married tragically early."
After successfully signing the contract with President Zhang, Bai Qianhua saw him off to his car. Standing outside the hotel in the cold night breeze, he wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.
As he turned to ask his assistant to take him back, his gaze happened to sweep over a large screen nearby. Seeing the livestream on it, he suddenly realized that the show Bai Xiaoze was participating in was being streamed live tonight.
"Xiao Lin, bring the car around and take me back to the hotel. My laptop and everything are at the hotel, right?"
Bai Qianhua sent a voice message asking his assistant to pick him up and, while he was at it, asked where his laptop and other work items were. Only then did he look up at the big screen as he waited.
"I wonder if I can still catch it if I head back now. Xiaoze has been looking thinner and thinner lately. The training in there must be exhausting..."
Thinking of Bai Xiaoze, Bai Qianhua couldn't help frowning and sighing. Since their falling-out last time, he hadn't contacted him in nearly a month. He wouldn't see him or accept his money...
It wasn't Bai Qianhua's first time looking after Bai Xiaoze, but it was the first time things had turned so unpleasant between them. Still, under those circumstances, if he hadn't destroyed those things, the consequences really would have been unimaginable...
"Ding-dong~"
His phone suddenly chimed, interrupting Bai Qianhua's thoughts and pulling his wandering mind back. He sighed softly again. Thinking it was a message from his assistant, he tapped it, only to discover that the chat wasn't with his assistant.
It was his chat with Bai Xiaoze. Bai Xiaoze hadn't sent any messages there, but he had accepted the transfer Bai Qianhua sent him every day, which had always, without fail, been returned.
Bai Qianhua: !!!
Bai Qianhua's pupils trembled, and his heart filled with surprise and joy. This was Xiaoze signaling that he wanted to make up. Holding his phone in both hands, he carefully sent a message.
[Bai Qianhua]: Xiaoze, are you tired from recording the show? I happen to be on a business trip near your filming location today. Do you want to come out for a meal after your livestream ends? My treat.
Not long after Bai Qianhua sent his message, he saw "The other person is typing..." appear at the top of the chat. His heart pounded nonstop, afraid that Xiaoze was still angry and would ignore him again.
[Bai Xiaoze]: Recording this show is exhausting ꒦ິ^꒦ິ My singing sounds awful, and I can't learn the dances either. I've lost all my confidence. After thinking it over, I really am not cut out to be an idol.
[Bai Xiaoze]: Bro, it's no fun here at all. I want to go back and repeat my final year of school. I'm so, so, so tired. I never get enough to eat, and I miss your cooking.
[Bai Xiaoze]: I talked to the director. He said that since I'd thought it through, I should go back to school. They haven't invested anything in me, so I don't have to pay a penalty for breaking the contract. They even signed an agreement with me to terminate it.
[Bai Xiaoze]: Bro~ Come pick me up. I want to go home. I'm going to the dorm to pack now. Wait for me at the main gate when you get here. I'll bring my things over.
[Bai Xiaoze]: Sharing location...
Bai Qianhua hadn't expected Bai Xiaoze to suddenly send so many messages all at once. Before he had even finished reading the first, the second appeared on the screen, leaving him momentarily stunned.
"Supervisor Bai, I'm here. Sorry, when I went to get the car from the parking lot, there seemed to have been a traffic accident at the intersection over there. Traffic was backed up, and they only just cleared it."
Xiao Lin pulled up in front of Bai Qianhua just then. Seeing his slightly pale face as he stood under the streetlight with his briefcase, exposed to the wind for who knew how long, he felt terribly guilty.
He got out of the car and apologetically explained why he had taken so long, hoping Bai Qianhua wouldn't be angry.
When he had worked as an assistant for other people, he would definitely have been chewed out in a situation like this. But Bai Qianhua was different. He was friendly and approachable, mature, steady, and charming.
Every time they attended a business banquet or drinking party together, whenever someone tried to make him drink as the assistant, Bai Qianhua would step in for him, and he always managed to do it without offending the other person.
"It's all right. Thanks for your hard work today, too. We're not going to the hotel now. Head straight to the Jingsheng Recording Center."
Bai Qianhua got into the car without dwelling on Xiao Lin's lateness. Leaning back against the rear seat, he messaged Bai Xiaoze.
"Are you going over there to see your younger brother again, Supervisor Bai?"
Xiao Lin knew that Bai Qianhua had a younger brother participating in a variety show. He had even watched the livestream.
Unfortunately, Bai Xiaoze hadn't appeared on camera at all during the first livestream. Instead, Shang Shujue, who was now being vilified all over the internet, had gotten quite a lot of screen time.
He didn't follow entertainment industry affairs and was just a casual viewer. From his perspective, it was a battle between immortals.
But however handsome those young men were, each one outdoing the next, none of them could surpass Shang Shujue.
If Shang Shujue hadn't been so notorious, this talent competition show, or whatever it was, would probably have been his stage alone.
As for his supervisor's younger brother, Bai Xiaoze, he had seen his photo. He was an energetic kid with handsome, delicate features, the sort whose looks grew on you, but among all those handsome men, he was just a little nobody.
At first glance, he had felt that this kid was probably a study god, unsuited to the entertainment industry and better suited to high-IQ circles, building rockets, planes, satellites, and the like. His intuition had never been wrong.
But Supervisor Bai seemed to have had a falling-out with his younger brother. His brother was going through a rebellious phase and refused to speak to him, yet he still went over almost every day to take a look. Although he couldn't see anything most of the time, he basically always went.
He had even memorized the route there. He had only asked because he noticed that Supervisor Bai seemed to be in a somewhat good mood, so he was tentatively checking.
"No, I'm going to pick him up so he can come back and study..."