Chapter 71: Chu Xiaoran Suspends All Work
The plane began its ascent, bumping along for a moment before leveling out into a smooth cruise.
Since they were in first class, the flight attendants came by in waves, serving fruits and drinks, followed by a full meal, and then asking if they needed any post-meal fruit once the dining was done.
The flight time was approximately two hours.
Lin Huaizhi was on the verge of falling asleep when he suddenly heard a sentence from beside him.
“You’re certainly willing to part with it.”
“Willing to part with what?” Lin Huaizhi replied subconsciously, but immediately realized what was being said. He opened his eyes, turning to look at the man beside him, his tone a mix of amusement and exasperation. “Baby, are we still on this topic?”
Huo Chen didn’t make a sound.
Of course, even in his silence, Lin Huaizhi knew he cared. After all, Huo Chen had previously stated that if they blacklisted Chu Xiaoran, he could give Lin Huaizhi money to make up for the financial loss.
When it came down to it, it was an issue of security.
Huo Chen looked like he had everything and could easily obtain anything, but aside from money, the things he truly possessed were few and far between.
Affection, in particular, was something he had never truly received.
Even if Lin Huaizhi said he liked him ten thousand times, as long as Chu Xiaoran was still around and Lin Huaizhi still had lingering ties with him, that ‘like’ could never be one hundred percent.
Lin Huaizhi lacked security too.
He had never had it, not since he was a child. back then, he had to sleep with one eye open just to be on guard against a fist that might land from nowhere.
What he feared was physical beatings.
What Huo Chen feared was falsehood.
They were both people who easily lacked a sense of security.
Before meeting Huo Chen, Lin Huaizhi had never liked or loved anyone. So, since he wanted to give Huo Chen his love, his love had to be something presentable and undeniable.
“Do you know why I got angry just now when I saw the news about Dai Keqing and El officially announcing their relationship?”
Lin Huaizhi touched the man’s hand, tracing patterns on his palm with his fingertips.
“During the filming of this episode, the matter between Chu Xiaoran and me definitely made it onto the trending topics. We just needed to add a little more fuel to the fire, and Chu Xiaoran being blacklisted would be seen as his own doing, something that couldn’t be blamed on me. But the moment Dai Keqing and El’s news came out, Chu Xiaoran’s messy business got completely buried.”
Huo Chen withdrew his hand.
“Businessmen prioritize profit. It’s not strange.”
Lin Huaizhi: “…”
Lin Huaizhi wanted to laugh. His mouth said it wasn’t strange for businessmen to value profit, but his hands were stopping Lin Huaizhi’s intimate advances.
He really was something!
But it didn’t matter. Lin Huaizhi knew exactly how to handle a cold-faced, soft-hearted person like Huo Chen.
“I do prioritize profit, it’s true. After all, only with money can you have a full stomach and live a good life. I never want to go back to the days of not knowing where my next meal is coming from.”
Sure enough, as soon as the words left his mouth, Huo Chen’s body visibly stiffened for a second.
Lin Huaizhi curled his lips and continued, “But everyone has something they value more. Compared to not going hungry, the thing I want to do most right now is to make you happy.”
Huo Chen wasn’t a fool.
He knew Lin Huaizhi’s first sentence was playing the victim, and the second sentence was to curry favor with him.
But problems aren’t always solved just by knowing the truth.
Just as a doctor cannot heal himself.
He knew Lin Huaizhi’s purpose in saying these things was to coax him, and he was indeed coaxed.
Probably not wanting to seem too easy, Huo Chen remained silent for a moment before asking along the lines of the conversation, “So, to blacklist or not to blacklist?”
“Blacklist! Of course, we blacklist him!”
Faced with this step down—which wasn’t much of a step—that Huo Chen offered, Lin Huaizhi stepped onto it without hesitation.
“Don’t worry. regarding Chu Xiaoran, I will absolutely give you a satisfactory answer!”
Lin Huaizhi kept his word.
Three days after the third episode of the dating variety show ended, Huameng Entertainment released a statement. The content was essentially that their artist, Chu Xiaoran, would be temporarily withdrawing from all work except for This Is Love due to personal reasons.
Why wasn’t he pulled from the variety show?
Mainly because Lin Huaizhi wanted him and Fang Mo to develop further. If they could really develop a romantic relationship, the subsequent blow could be delivered on more fronts and levels.
Of course, Lin Huaizhi also hoped that Chu Xiaoran would continue to display his arrogance and selfishness on the show as always, completely ruining his likability with the audience.
That way, even if his contract expired and Chu Xiaoran managed to find a new agency, he wouldn’t be able to make any waves.
[Holy crap! Lin Huaizhi is for real??]
[What does this mean? A real blacklist? What about those movies and TV shows Chu Xiaoran is about to release? They don’t want the money? Just throwing it all away?]
[How much money could Chu Xiaoran’s resources possibly cost? Huameng could easily afford to throw away ten times that amount!]
[What the hell! Lin Huaizhi is crazy! Just because my Xiao wasn’t willing to be slept with by him, he’s now using a ban to threaten him?!]
[Banning my Xiao! Huameng, just wait to go bankrupt!!]
[Finally banned! Good riddance! I’ve long been sick of Chu Xiaoran’s behavior of biting the hand that feeds him! It’s so refreshing to have one less idiot jumping around in front of us!]
Chu Xiaoran wasn’t exactly unknown.
Not long after the statement was released, the internet was full of trending topics about him, big and small. They were digging up everything, almost down to his ancestors.
As the saying goes, when a wall is about to fall, everyone gives it a push.
If Chu Xiaoran had worked earnestly all these years, acted properly, hadn’t played the diva, and had treated small actors with respect, he wouldn’t have ended up with no one speaking up for him at a time like this.
Of course, the person most anxious about this situation was Chu Xiaoran himself.
He truly hadn’t expected Huameng to issue such a notice. At first, he even thought Zhou Ning was acting behind Lin Huaizhi’s back, so he went to confront Zhou Ning with a barrage of curses.
“Don’t think just because you help Lin Huaizhi manage the company that you can go over his head and make decisions!”
“Zhou Ning, let me tell you, you used Huameng’s official account to post this information privately. You won’t be able to bear the losses caused! Lin Huaizhi won’t forgive you either!!”
Zhou Ning: “?”
Zhou Ning sneered repeatedly and spat directly on the ground.
“Don’t come here shouting and screaming with that thick face of yours. ‘Lin Huaizhi won’t forgive me’? The boss personally authorized that decision! Do you really think you’re some kind of hot commodity that everyone has to fight over and worship?”
“I beg you to take a piss and look at your reflection! With your looks and acting skills, if the boss hadn’t insisted on promoting you back then, you wouldn’t even be as good as Fang Mo right now! You certainly don’t have the qualification to stand in front of me and yell!”
Chu Xiaoran couldn’t out-curse Zhou Ning.
How could he possibly win a verbal war against Zhou Ning? After all, Zhou Ning appeared to be Lin Huaizhi’s assistant, but in reality, he was practically Lin Huaizhi’s apprentice.
Having accompanied Lin Huaizhi to countless dinners and negotiations, his eloquence could crush ten Chu Xiaorans. He used to endure it because of Lin Huaizhi. Now that Lin Huaizhi no longer cared for Chu Xiaoran, he naturally didn’t need to act like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (ninja/endure silently) anymore.
Chu Xiaoran was scolded until he was gasping for air.
“I… I won’t argue with you! Where is Lin Huaizhi? Call Lin Huaizhi out. I’ll speak to him directly!”
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