Sometime after two in the afternoon, Xie Zhuzhou woke up on the sofa. Seeing that the rain outside had eased, he hugged his arms and huddled up a little. It was a bit cold.
He thought of that poor guy. Fine, he would get him something to wear.
Xie Zhuzhou went back to his room and fetched a loose sheepskin jacket for him.
"Put this on for now. I'll drive you home."
Chu Yanzhang had also rested in the room for a while, and his phone had charged quite a bit.
Xie Zhuzhou realized that the blind guy had been out for so long without anyone looking for him. That was pretty sad, too.
"Let's go."
"Thank you for the jacket. I'll return it when we get to my place..."
"Mm."
When they reached the garage, Xie Zhuzhou had no time to admire the original owner's luxury cars. He simply picked a low-key SUV and set off.
Wutong Residential Complex really was far away. Had that guy come all the way to their area to jump into the river? Plenty of people jumped into the river there, one every few days.
"We're here. Where's your place? Is your family..." After speaking, Xie Zhuzhou realized he was being too nosy.
"Building 11. I'll call my eldest brother to come down and get me."
Wutong Residential Complex was small, a garden residential complex steeped in autumn, with peaceful surroundings and an elegant atmosphere.
"Your eldest brother's home?"
"Yes."
Xie Zhuzhou wanted to ask whether his eldest brother stayed home from work to look after him. In the end, he held back. After all, it was none of his business.
Still, it was rare for him to have the patience to look after a little blind guy today.
Once Chu Yanzhang finished his call, Xie Zhuzhou dropped him off and left.
Chu Yanzhang had yet to thank Xie Zhuzhou. He had meant to save it for the end, only for the other man to drive off in a cloud of dust.
It was his first time meeting someone like Xie Zhuzhou. He spoke rather bluntly and was rather cold, but the things he did were warm.
He touched the sheepskin jacket he was wearing and stood there blankly, his thoughts unknown.
The assistant had just come downstairs. Seeing that his boss was warmly dressed and his face was clean, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Please don't go out without a word again! Do you know there are people looking for you everywhere? You can't see now. What if someone with bad intentions takes advantage of you?! What if you get hurt again?"
"I didn't manage to die today, either. What a shame." He had finally managed to sneak out, only to get lost and fail to find the bridge. Now the special assistants had put away everything dangerous. He couldn't even find a rope to hang himself with. He really was a useless blind man.
Meanwhile, it was soon three o'clock. Traffic on the way had delayed him a little. After some thought, he switched on the camera strapped to his arm anyway.
He really had no idea what to do for fun that afternoon. Fishing was out.
"What is there to do on a rainy day?"
[La la la la, first!]
[My gaming-addicted boyfriend started out as my sugar daddy, and now he's someone way out of my league. Isn't that a new luxury car from a few months ago?]
[I'll fight you rich people!]
[Bro, aah, I saw his eyes!]
[His eyes are so pretty. He must be really handsome!]
[There's plenty to do on rainy days. Indoor sports centers! Pant, pant!]
The viewers had no idea what Xie Zhuzhou intended to do. They only saw him drive onto the highway, heading farther and farther out until he finally followed the navigation to a bamboo restaurant.
[Okay, okay, an eating stream, huh? All eating and no streaming.]
[Hubby's life is my dream!]
[Hubby brought me somewhere so atmospheric, but all I can think about is food.]
[Please, show your face.]
[Bro, why do I feel like you're padding your streaming hours?!]
An hour driving, ten-odd minutes waiting for food, an hour eating slowly, and another hour driving back.
Some of the viewers had guessed right. Xie Zhuzhou was openly padding his streaming hours.
Xie Zhuzhou couldn't see the comments, so he had no idea what the viewers were protesting or what wild thoughts they were having.
He even assumed there wouldn't be many people in his livestream, so he went about his business freely.
"Hello, sir. Do you have a reservation?"
Xie Zhuzhou nodded and handed over the membership card from his wallet.
Xie Zhuzhou said nothing. It was entirely the everyday life of a young master, and the less he spoke, the easier it was for viewers to imagine his aura.
In truth, Xie Zhuzhou was thinking about something else, wondering whether Chu Yanzhang would fret after getting home because he had forgotten to return his jacket.
With Xie Zhuzhou off-camera, people were instead even more immersed and engaged. Watching the steady viewer numbers from the control room in the dating-show villa, the director suddenly couldn't understand the world anymore.
Even Zhang Yin showing his face hadn't generated this much buzz!
Yet Xie Zhuzhou had blown up right from the start. He was clearly slacking off, but somehow he had attracted even more attention?
Could anything be more ridiculous?
Still, it did seem reasonable.
First, there was something worth watching. That morning, Xie Zhuzhou had made the bottom of the trending searches when his identity as a major TNT-koyu fan was exposed. That afternoon, he had gone for a drive in a heart-stopping luxury car. Never mind the viewers-even the director thought Xie Zhuzhou's life was far too carefree.
It felt like Xie Zhuzhou was better off not showing his face. Director Wang rubbed his head and finally decided to keep Xie Zhuzhou's true appearance hidden to the very end!
The more they did that, the more curious the viewers would become!
Their Love 5 really was going to hit it big!
Who would have thought a million would get them a hidden gem! And a single car of his cost several million at the very least!
What was he even on the show for?
Director Wang took a deep breath. Thank goodness he hadn't offended Xie Zhuzhou over Wen Ruohuai that morning!
The other guests on the dating show were watching the livestream, too.
"Holy shit." Wang Zhengxiao suddenly understood why Xie Zhuzhou ignored them. Someone like that really was aloof.
Besides, rich young masters all had odd tempers and didn't cater to anyone.
No wonder he had spoken so bluntly to Wen Nan.
Zhang Yin was filming on set that day. When heavy rain suddenly fell that afternoon, he could only return to the lounge and watch the livestream. He had thought Xie Zhuzhou's stream would be boring, but when he checked the viewer count, he thought he had misread it...
There were actually tens of thousands more viewers than at his own peak yesterday.
Did young people these days all like Xie Zhuzhou's type? No face on camera, just the occasional few words, eating and taking walks, and that satisfied them?
There was nothing worth watching here! What was everyone after?
Just then, a comment floated past, and Zhang Yin finally understood something. The viewers had turned Love 5 into a first-person otome-game boyfriend experience.
In contrast to Zhang Yin's sudden enlightenment, Wen Ruohuai was so angry he wanted to die. After finding someone he hated even more than Wen Nan, he discovered that this person didn't care about him at all and seemed quite powerful-not someone he could trample on at will.
But so what...
The more Wen Ruohuai thought about it, the more unfair the world seemed. He was like a sheep thrown into a sealed cage, unable to escape even if he battered his head bloody, as though trapped in a world called hatred.
Even after returning to his biological parents' home, receiving compensation, and gaining the boundless love of both sets of parents, he still couldn't be satisfied.
Who could repay him for the youth he could never get back?
He had to find a point of balance, or he would never quell that fire in his heart for as long as he lived.
The day finally ended.
When Xie Zhuzhou tossed the GoPro back to Director Wang, his expression was as cold as ever, but Director Wang kept feeling that Xie Zhuzhou was in a good mood today.
Director Wang was right. He really was in a good mood.
As for why, he didn't know either.
"Xie Zhuzhou, you're back!"
Wen Nan spotted him from the stairs, eyes lighting up, and came thumping down the steps before running over.
Xie Zhuzhou: ...
Wait, huh?
Hadn't he put this guy off? Judging by his personality, he should have hated him.
"Mm."
"I watched your livestream today! You're so good at gaming!"
Zhuang Xingye looked over from the sofa, too.
"I'm okay."
Xie Zhuzhou had no idea what was up with these people, suddenly taking an interest in him. They weren't close anyway, so after giving a couple of casual, perfunctory replies, he went upstairs.
It seemed he no longer felt quite so awkward around strangers!