Chapter 118: “I’m Going to Visit the Prison.”
Lin Huaizhi wasn’t as excited as one might expect. He simply furrowed his brows and said, “It’s the middle of the New Year; why bring up such an ominous topic?”
Huo Chen kissed him on the temple.
“Then we won’t speak of it.”
After finishing their fireworks, the two walked back to the cinema to retrieve their car and headed home to prepare dinner.
Lingyue was expanding and growing stronger, and Huaimeng was doing the same. Both chairmen were usually so busy their feet barely touched the ground; only during major holidays like this could they carve out time to truly enjoy each other’s company.
In this limited time, Lin Huaizhi was unwilling to waste a single precious second on Chu Xiaoran.
From the moment Chu Xiaoran had sought him out, belittled Fang Mo, and said he wanted to return to Huaimeng, Lin Huaizhi knew that the relationship between Chu Xiaoran and Fang Mo could never progress further.
And reality unfolded exactly as Lin Huaizhi had expected.
Huo Chen had kept Chu Xiaoran under surveillance.
Huo Chen held no favorable feelings toward the man; he felt a surge of loathing just hearing the name. Considering the history between Chu Xiaoran and Lin Huaizhi, he had instructed Liu Fei to pay a bit more attention to him.
That phone call had been from Liu Fei.
The content was simple.
It said that over the past year or so, Chu Xiaoran hadn’t managed to secure any resources. Because of the messy relationship with Fang Mo, Yun Ziliao had grown tired of Fang Mo before long and had discarded him as well.
Fang Mo, however, wasn’t sad about it at all.
Yun Ziliao was always generous with his lovers and preferred clean breaks. Although he had dumped Fang Mo, he had given him both money and resources.
Fang Mo was stubborn.
He didn’t take the money, but he couldn’t resist the allure of the resources.
However, he didn’t want them for himself; he wanted them for Chu Xiaoran.
If one were to describe Fang Mo’s family background, they were a middle-class family—slightly better off than Chu Xiaoran’s. The family atmosphere was decent, and his parents were affectionate; otherwise, they wouldn’t have raised someone with such a “true love above all else” moronic personality.
Chu Xiaoran, naturally, took the resources.
He had constantly claimed he didn’t want people to think he was “eating soft rice,” which was why he had been so bossy toward Lin Huaizhi back then. Now that he was truly abandoned by capital, he no longer maintained his “aloof and pure” persona. Instead, he became aggressively proactive, desperate to regain the favor of the investors.
Unfortunately, he had offended Lin Huaizhi.
Today’s Huaimeng Entertainment was a behemoth. Having been blacklisted by Huaimeng, even with the resources given by Yunling Entertainment, he couldn’t escape the fallout.
Furthermore, the resource he had taken was originally given by Yun Ziliao to Fang Mo.
Of course, for Yun Ziliao, once something was given away, it was gone. How the recipient disposed of it was their business and had nothing to do with him.
But that didn’t stop him from looking down on Chu Xiaoran.
So, he had sent word to Huo Chen.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to contact Lin Huaizhi; it was mainly because that man surnamed Huo was like a dog guarding its food. If anyone looked at Lin Huaizhi a few times too many, Huo Chen would track them from beginning to end as if monitoring a criminal.
If it were just monitoring, it would be fine.
The problem was, this was a mad dog.
That wasn’t just monitoring a criminal; that was direct sanctioning of the criminal.
While he might not have much respect for him, Yun Ziliao still held a high opinion of Huo Chen. After all, being able to completely break away from the Huo family and still make a name for himself again required a level of courage and ability that was not common.
He did want to sleep with Lin Huaizhi.
But the prerequisite was that it didn’t cause problems for his family.
So, since Lin Huaizhi couldn’t be reached, contacting Huo Chen directly was the same. He believed Huo Chen was just as displeased with Chu Xiaoran as he was.
As for Huo Chen, after learning of the situation… he put in just a tiny bit of effort.
In short, the resources Chu Xiaoran had taken from Fang Mo didn’t even have time to get warm before they were snatched away by a “resource-backed” actor who had been air-dropped in. Chu Xiaoran was, quite naturally, kicked out of the production.
After that, nothing extraordinary happened.
He simply had no more job offers and dwindled into one of the many eighteenth-tier nobodies.
But Fang Mo truly loved Chu Xiaoran.
While Chu Xiaoran was blacklisted, Fang Mo wasn’t. The person who had once strongly rejected the “hidden rules” of the industry began to slowly navigate the grey areas, using his body to obtain rewards.
He also knew that Chu Xiaoran had no way of making a comeback as long as Lin Huaizhi didn’t fall.
His thoughts were simple.
He would climb up first. Once he reached a level where he could look Lin Huaizhi and the others in the eye, he would be able to rescue Chu Xiaoran.
However, the human heart is the most unpredictable thing.
Fang Mo’s efforts brought him some rewards; he began to gain some fame within the circle, and his fan base gradually grew.
Chu Xiaoran didn’t return to the small town. Instead, he made his relationship with Fang Mo official and moved into his place.
Every time he finished filming and returned home, Fang Mo was especially happy. He would bring back things Chu Xiaoran liked, whether it was food or things Chu Xiaoran had hinted at wanting.
He thought they could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
However, the trivialities of life, combined with his own growing brilliance and Chu Xiaoran’s increasing obscurity, created a stark and silent contrast.
Such a contrast easily corrodes the heart, magnifying jealousy a thousand or ten thousand times over.
Lin Huaizhi had promoted him so much and lowered his status just to be friends with him, yet he could still return kindness with treachery. How much worse would it be now, eating and living with Fang Mo while watching him rise step by step?
Arguments began to occur frequently.
Ultimately, they ended with Fang Mo’s compromise.
Of course, Fang Mo didn’t give up—until Chu Xiaoran began to stalk him. Seeing him get close to anyone, Chu Xiaoran would hallucinate that the person was his lover.
He even subjected Fang Mo to cold mockery and biting sarcasm.
He attacked him with all sorts of nasty language.
The conflict exploded during a dinner meeting between Fang Mo and an investor. When Chu Xiaoran saw the two sitting extremely close, and Fang Mo allowing the investor to be handsy, he stepped out in an uncontrollable rage.
He didn’t scold the investor.
He only scolded Fang Mo.
Under the investor’s mocking gaze, Fang Mo felt humiliated for the first time and got into a heated argument with Chu Xiaoran.
Arguments were a small matter.
But for Chu Xiaoran, who had fallen from the peak and was reduced to being supported by Fang Mo, resentment had been building in his chest. Fang Mo’s usual submissiveness suddenly turning into resistance successfully ignited the fuse of Chu Xiaoran’s rationality.
Chu Xiaoran made a move.
He vented all his rage on Fang Mo, completely unwilling to rein in his runaway sanity.
The result of this indulgence was that two of Fang Mo’s ribs were broken, and both his hands and feet were fractured. The investor called the police midway, and Chu Xiaoran was successfully taken into criminal detention.
Why criminal detention?
Because this beating had woken Fang Mo up. After waking up from emergency surgery, he didn’t choose to settle the matter quietly. Instead, he pursued Chu Xiaoran’s legal liability.
Fang Mo had two fractured ribs and significantly weakened hearing, which reached the standard for a minor injury.
Combined with their past arguments and minor friction, the police determined that Chu Xiaoran had intentionally caused bodily harm to Fang Mo. Since Fang Mo refused mediation, Chu Xiaoran was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison.
This so-called “true love” pair thus walked toward total disintegration.
When Lin Huaizhi finally heard this news accurately, it was already the eighth day of the Lunar New Year—the day work resumed.
He let out a smile and said to Zhou Ning, “Clear my schedule for tomorrow. I’m going to visit the prison.”
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