54 Chapter 54 – Doomed To Live A Lonely Life

The look on Li Bufan's agent's face after reading the blog post was somewhat complicated. She turned to examine Hao Ritian's expression and paused before asking, "That poster, is she your meimei?"

Who told the poster to say that her older brother was Li Bufan's assistant? Even she knew a thing or two about how well Li Bufan treated Xia Luo, though she never gave an opinion since it was Li Bufan's own choice. While she had once heard that Xia Luo had a younger sister, she'd never seen her.

Now, she was coming across Xia Luo's younger sister for the first time and at such an occasion. Although Xia Luo's sister was a bit difficult to describe, she had – much to her delight – inadvertently added a point of discussion for Li Bufan, which was evident by him making it into the headlines. Being Li Bufan's agent, it was natural for her to stand by her artist's side.

The company called to inform her that the Public Relations team was seeing to the matter and that they should use this chance to keep Li Bufan in the limelight for a while. The television drama which he starred in would soon air. If they handled this well, they could bring Li Bufan to new heights.

The main objective of this phone call was to ask her to appease Xia Luo and, if possible, have him make an appearance and indicate that he stood on Li Bufan's side. Nevertheless, the company was aware that this moron was still Xia Luo's sister. Thus, whether he was willing or not was a separate matter. In any case, they hoped the agent would try her best.

Hao Ritian's expression was a bit gloomy as he answered, "Yes."

He really didn't want to acknowledge that this moron was his sister. Even though she was simply his sister in name, he was still disgusted.

The agent assumed his awkward expression was because his sister was too disgraceful and had leaked private affairs onto the Internet. In his shoes, she might've felt upset as well.

Still, work had to be done. At the end of the day, Xia Luo was Li Bufan's assistant. She couldn't keep silent when there was an opportunity to take Li Bufan's career to another level right in front of her eyes.

—This was the result of different levels of closeness in relationships; between one's artist and assistant, it was obvious which one she'd choose over the other.

"Xia Luo, I believe you know the whole story. This incident is a disaster for Li Bufan. Although the netizens with brains won't spray him because of this, he has a portion of black fans that will use this chance to blacken him. It would be good to avoid this result if we can, don't you think?" The agent's tone was earnest and persuasive.

Hao Ritian could naturally guess what she wanted to say. In fact, he planned to do the same, but because he couldn't behave as though this was a matter of course, he needed to purposely hesitate for a while. It was during this pause of hesitation that Li Bufan's programme finished recording.

The agent had no choice but to put a stop to this subject for the time being. She went forward to greet the programme group and filming crew, then took Li Bufan and Xia Luo away from the TV station.

Immediately after getting in the car, the agent instructed the driver, "Return to the company."

Li Bufan could sense that the atmosphere was a little strange. However, just as he was about to ask, a phone was thrust into his face. While he was feeling perplexed, Hao Ritian smiled and maintained the pose of handing him the phone. "Take a look."

Despite his confusion, Li Bufan complied and was completely enraged after he finished reading. "Is Xia Xin sick!?"

He didn't care much about being implicated, but he found it hard to accept Xia Xin's behaviour of putting Xia Luo onto the Internet since he, more than anyone, knew how good of a person Xia Luo was. A white-eyed wolf like Xia Xin made him want to beat her to death.

It was only after he finished cursing Xia Xin out that he remembered that Xia Luo was sitting beside him. He was so infuriated as an outsider—there was no telling how disappointed Xia Luo must be as a person involved. He turned his head to see Hao Ritian smiling bitterly with a look of helplessness and disappointment.

His expression stiffened, and then, at a loss for what to do, he comforted him. "Don't take this to heart, Xia Luo, but you should see what kind of person Xia Xin is by now, right? She isn't worth your kindness, not to mention your sadness over her. You saw it, the netizens don't support her at all, which proves that what she wants to do is wrong. None of this is your fault, there's no need to be sad."

Hao Ritian faced Li Bufan's worried expression and sighed. He smiled warmly, "I know. You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine."

This smile was automatically transformed into 'forced and sorrowful' by Li Bufan's eyes. His heart felt desperately uncomfortable and he wished he could drag Xia Xin over for a beating.

Hearing this, the agent finally cut in to bring up the previous matter and repeat her suggestion. She then finished it off by saying, "This incident is quite hot. By making a statement, you would be removing yourselves from the picture, then when the heat dies down, no one will pay any more attention to this topic. If you two lag behind and stay silent, the netizens' curiosity over this matter could extend indefinitely and this incident might be unearthed again in the future. If it's dug out one too many times, it won't be good for Bufan's development."

Li Bufan was the first to refuse. "No."

"I agree." Hao Ritian's voice and his refusal were heard at the same time.

Startled, Li Bufan asked, "Xia Luo?"

As Li Bufan saw it, Xia Luo was an innocent party who'd gotten caught in the crossfire. He was surely sad to see, for the first time, who the younger sister he'd spoiled for so long really was. Xia Luo didn't need to go along and get caught up in this matter for his sake. It was best to simply put the matter behind them.

Hao Ritian looked earnestly at him. "No need to worry about me, I'm fine. But I can't allow Xia Xin to maliciously defame you. This is a matter of principle. Rest assured, I'll just tell the matter as it is."

This child cared for him from the bottom of his soul—how could he not feel aggrieved on his behalf? While they hadn't gotten along for long, this child had given him a good impression. That was why he was doing this. What was one Xia Xin?!

Li Bufan, "You… Do as you want. I won't bother with you."

He turned his head away but his ears were flushed red. Hao Ritian's declaration gave him the impression that he held greater importance than that little sister in Xia Luo's heart; though he knew this might simply be his imagination, his heart was soaring.

Hao Ritian had the urge to pinch his ears, but he held back and merely said "mn".

The agent was pleased with his decision.

And so, the three of them reached a consensus. Upon reaching the company, they saw the Public Relations team in the middle of handling the event. While the agent led Li Bufan to see the president, Hao Ritian didn't follow along and instead borrowed a computer from the company to compile the contents of his clarification.

He had thought of the content a long time ago, so he needed no more than ten minutes to draft a voluminous one thousand word explanation. Hao Ritian then applied for a Weibo account with the name 'Li Bufan's assistant' and copied the prepared content before posting it.

As he'd only just applied for a new account, it obviously didn't garner much heat. This was when the Public Relations team came into play.

The company had its own marketing account. The marketing account first forwarded Hao Ritian's post and then had the artists within the company with a large number of fans forward it again before @-ing Li Bufan. They didn't say anything unnecessary and simply wrote one word: Sorry!

The matter was currently at its hottest period and it had been three or four hours since Xia Xin had sent her Weibo post. The number of netizens who had their eyes on the situation had increased. Now that one of the parties concerned had given a response, the netizens who smelled gossip flocked over in droves.

Hao Ritian's new account gained fans faster than a recently-debuted star. After reading his published content, the mass of netizens felt incredibly distressed. This gege really hadn't had it easy.

Hao Ritian's message wasn't overly exaggerated. He just truthfully narrated how Xia Luo had lived after the passing of his parents and the process of raising his younger sister. He also wrote about how Li Bufan had helped him after work. Afterwards, he expressed that his younger sister had become an adult a long time ago. She had to make her own decisions and be responsible for her own affairs from now on. He wouldn't interfere.

Despite not deliberately adding drama during this time, the imaginative netizens added a sense of sadness onto these words, feeling that the gege had drawn a clear line with his meimei out of disappointment. Immediately, they felt that this gege was all too deserving of sympathy.

"Gege, you didn't do anything wrong! We support you!"

"You are you, meimei is meimei. We won't judge you one-sidedly. I support you!"

"What the gege did was right, this meimei is a white-eyed wolf. There isn't anything wrong with making her self-reliant. You aren't obligated to always take care of her."

"This is practically the 'other family's older brother'. If my older brother didn't steal my snacks or games, I would be thanking the heavens. A good older brother like this one has to be supported. Give that ungrateful little sister a kick!"

"A good boss like Li Bufan was reduced to an insidious villain who wanted to influence her brother in the meimei's eyes. I feel bad for him."

"Agreed. I believe in the gege's words. I want to carry Li Bufan away and comfort him with rubs and pats."

After one took the lead, the following replies went along with the tide in calling him 'gege'. Against all expectations, Hao Ritian suddenly rose to become the nation's gege.

However, seeing the growing number of fans, a good idea promptly hit him: if he continued to operate this account, it would be a great help when he became Li Bufan's agent.

A newly-registered Weibo account like his could rapidly gain fans, not to mention Li Bufan's. They didn't need too many passerby fans. Because he'd been unfairly involved in the matter, and also because of Hao Ritian's post, Li Bufan was written with a positive image. An artist like this was one that soothed fans.

The situation had developed nicely. Borrowing this opportunity, Li Bufan's Weibo made a name for itself and corresponded with Hao Ritian's Weibo for a while. Following this, he expressed to the multitude of fans to not pay attention to this matter as his assistant wasn't a public figure and didn't like his private affairs being spread around. He hoped everyone would take notice of his works, such as the soon-to-be-released idol drama.

While this unexpected promotion caught them off guard, the netizens currently felt a sense of sympathy towards Li Bufan so they weren't too put off by it. Rather, the replies below were filled with laughter, saying that Li Bufan was too opportunistic and tolerant. Many passersby became fans.

Of course, it wasn't possible for every netizen to be supportive. After Hao Ritian released his Weibo post, there was still a small group of netizens who insisted he had gone too far. At the end of the day, Xia Xin was his biological little sister. If she made a mistake, she should be given the opportunity to change, and yet he as an older brother was using her as a stepping stone for the sake of his career. The way he sang Li Bufan's praises was unsightly.

As soon as this type of comment appeared, it would be sprayed by a host of netizens until even their moms wouldn't recognise them. Nothing was easier than fault-finding. The opportunity to change? Needless to say, the brain circuits of a brain-damaged person ran differently from a normal person's. The proper course of action would be to keep one's distance.

At the same time, Xia Xin's schoolmates and classmates discovered this event. Ultimately, she hadn't covered up the matter in the slightest and had completely entered the field.

Xia Xin's roommates were especially flabbergasted when they learned of this incident since Xia Xin often bragged about her brother. Now they realised her outlook was actually so terrible.

They were all aware of what a spendthrift Xia Xin normally was. Classmates not in the know were even under the impression that she came from a well-to-do family. It was only after this matter came out that they learned Xia Xin only had an older brother, and that all the money she wasted came from her brother's pockets. How in the world did she feel so justified and at ease with spending so much money? Her face was rather thick.

In fact, an older brother bringing up his little sister was nothing to make such a big fuss about, nor was it worth so many people feeling outraged on behalf of the brother. It was, after all, another family's private business and outsiders didn't have grounds to butt in. However, the little sister was too ungrateful and was even sick in the head. People couldn't help but put themselves in the older brother's shoes and feel dissatisfied for him.

Among Xia Xin's roommates was a girl who was the best at fighting injustice. After spectating the whole matter, she immediately used a side account to write a comment underneath the contents of Hao Ritian's Weibo: I'm afraid the people scolding Gege don't know how much of a spendthrift the meimei usually is. The quality of her food and drinks is no worse than a child from a wealthy family—it may even be better. I once inadvertently heard from the meimei that her brother has asthma, but the meimei never showed concern for her brother over this and wasn't the slightest bit guilty about asking him for money. She's practically a leech who only knows how to suck her brother's blood. Please don't dig for my background. I know the meimei in real life, which is how I realised what an ungrateful, white-eyed wolf she is. I don't want her to find out my real identity and then have to deal with the aftermath.

Soon after this comment came out, it was upvoted to the top by sharp-eyed netizens so that more and more people would see it. Those who had been scolding the older brother stopped clamoring because of this comment and dejectedly retreated while the number of people scolding Xia Xin increased even more.

The matter had fermented too quickly and even students from the School of Film felt ashamed of this schoolmate who was such a disgrace to their alma mater.

When Xia Xin was called in for a talk by the School Head on Monday, many speculated that Xia Xin may be expelled and applauded in celebration. One rotten apple spoiled the whole barrel. They didn't want one Xia Xin to cause others to feel that the students of their alma mater were all immoral people like her.

Of course, this was all unrelated to Hao Ritian, nor did he care about it. After seeing to this matter with Li Bufan, they left the company.

There were quite a few artists in the company who felt jealous of Li Bufan for gaining popularity due to this inexplicable bad luck. Secretly, however, they also thought of this as a small incident. Once the netizens' heat died down, no one would be concerned about him. Still, no matter how sour they were, they couldn't change the fact that Li Bufan's fan base was growing.

Despite rubbing a wave of heat, Li Bufan's primary concern was Xia Luo's feelings. People like him who had no family didn't understand the value of family affection. But ever since he'd met Xia Luo, he'd gradually experienced it. Looking at it from another point of view, if Xia Luo had harmed him like Xia Xin, he would undoubtedly feel hurt and disappointed. Xia Xin was Xia Luo's blood related little sister, so his feelings were surely even deeper.

He cursed Xia Xin in his heart innumerable times. Why didn't she know how to cherish? She'd taken such a good older brother for granted and had unexpectedly created a situation to this degree.

Hao Ritian could naturally see Li Bufan's worry, but he couldn't explain that he didn't care about Xia Xin since that would arouse suspicion in Li Bufan. Hence, he had no choice but to keep silent and allow Li Bufan to believe that he would heal with time.

That was exactly what Li Bufan was thinking. Although he was worried, he didn't intend to bring up Xia Xin in front of Hao Ritian again as the more he did so, the less he would be able to forget. Hao Ritian had to be given time. Besides, after getting rid of Xia Xin, Xia Luo's life later on would only get better.

Like that, both sides reached a tacit understanding. In any case, it was easy to handle.

The next afternoon, Li Bufan participated in recording a relatively popular talk show Hao Ritian knew of. He'd already agreed to visit Mu Shaohua's home yesterday. As an assistant, one rarely had free time when their own artist was busy, but that also depended on the circumstances.

At noon, Hao Ritian asked Li Bufan, "I want to ask for leave for the afternoon. Are you okay with the programme recording?"

As Li Bufan was a hot topic at the moment, there was an influx of reporters wanting to interview him. Li Bufan's agent would be tagging along for today's afternoon programme with the help of two other assistants, which was why Hao Ritian felt confident enough to ask for leave. After all, everyone had their responsibilities. He wouldn't deliberately add trouble just because Li Bufan treated him well.

Li Bufan thought he was still feeling down because of the matter with Xia Xin, so he replied straight away after his request with, "No problem! Zhang-jie will be following along in the afternoon so take a good rest!"

He originally wanted to offer more consolation, but, after a few beats of hesitation, he ultimately didn't say anything. If he consoled Hao Ritian, he would definitely have to bring up Xia Xin. He'd decided yesterday not to let Xia Luo hear the name 'Xia Xin' and he naturally had to be as good as his word.

The two reached a consensus, and after lunch, Li Bufan left for the TV station. When he got into the car, he mentioned the issue of Xia Luo leaving for the afternoon. Due to Xia Luo's good performance yesterday, the agent and Zhang-jie were more tolerant towards him and expressed that it was fine if he was feeling tired and took a break. Even the way they spoke was pleasant to the ears.

Once Li Bufan left, Hao Ritian gave Mu Shaohua a call to tell him he could pick him up. Afterwards, he watched some TV as he waited. These days, he'd been watching Li Bufan's works, looking over any and every television drama he'd taken part in to get a better understanding of him and prepare for future jobs.

Mu Shaohua was quite quick and arrived within an hour.

Once Hao Ritian walked out, he saw a black car parked in a spot so conspicuous he could see it at a glance. He smiled, walked over to the front passenger seat door and sat inside. After sitting down and strapping on the safety belt, he looked at Mu Shaohua. "I've troubled Chairman Mu to pick me up. I'll be intruding on you this afternoon."

"Mu Shaohua."

"Hm?"

"You don't have to call me Chairman Mu. Just call me by name."

As he spoke, his car smoothly slid out. Hao Ritian's expression stirred and he didn't refuse. Instead, he said, "Calling your name directly is too rude. How about I call you Mu-dage from now on?"

Suddenly, it was a little different from how he'd imagined it. Based on their ages, it wasn't too much for him to call Mu Shaohua 'Dage'. As long as the other party didn't feel that he was social climbing or felt offended, it was acceptable.

But truth be told, this was the first time he'd ever called someone 'Dage'. Once he said it, he felt a very subtle feeling.

"Mm." Mu Shaohua's expression remained unchanged as he responded.

Nevertheless, if one looked closely, they would find his ears trembling slightly. That 'Dage' had caused his heart to soften up and become heated at the same time. His hands on the steering wheel clenched and his mind couldn't help but recall what his grandma had said to him.

Ever since they'd parted ways with Xia Luo that day at the hospital, his grandma would often talk about him at home and would occasionally ask whether Xia Luo had contacted him. When she learned that he hadn't, she would look disappointed and urge him to actively contact Xia Luo. She had never been so persistent.

Even Mu Shaohua was annoyed to no end by his grandmother. At the same time, he felt puzzled as to why his grandma thought so highly of a passing stranger. He investigated the matter, but his grandma had never had any contact with Xia Luo before then. Their meeting at the hospital was their first encounter.

Due to the doubts in his heart, he voiced his question and indicated that if his grandmother didn't want to speak the truth, he wouldn't have any contact with Xia Luo in the future, disregarding the prickle of pain he felt in his heart when he said that. Soon, however, he was rendered unable to know whether to laugh or cry because of his grandmother's response.

Obviously, the old lady was well aware of how loyal to his word her eldest grandson was. So, after her eldest grandson said that he wouldn't contact Xia Luo if she didn't tell the truth, she relented.

Mu Shaohua still remembered the reason his grandmother gave him. She said she knew physiognomy and that his facial features were very good; he was destined to live a noble life. Except, in the year of his parents' deaths, she'd noticed his physiognomy had changed. While his nobility and wealth remained unchanged, his fate had become a solitary one.

This meant her grandson wouldn't have anyone to keep him company and was a person destined to live alone. How could this do? After an old lady like herself died, wouldn't her grandson be left by himself?

For a long time, the old lady had been unable to lift her spirits because of this. Then when she'd found enough energy, she'd devoted herself to finding a match for her grandson. Even so, seeing that Mu Shaohua was still alone at the age of 32, the old lady knew that she had failed.

But to her surprise, when she'd encountered Hao Ritian at the hospital, the old lady discovered that his physiognomy was extremely similar yet complimentary to her grandson's. When combined together, they would be doubly rich in fortune and wealth, each the other's noble one. In other words, they were made for each other.

The old lady's surprise at the time was imaginable. She didn't even care that Hao Ritian had the same gender as her grandson, as the older one grew, the more matters they could accept. Even having a same-sex partner was better than being alone for life.

This was the reason for the old lady's enthusiasm towards Hao Ritian. In her eyes, this was her grandson's future partner and also her grandson. She couldn't be more enthusiastic.

After learning everything, Mu Shaohua didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But he had to admit that his grandmother's words had left a mark in his heart. Whenever he was free, his mind would start to picture Hao Ritian's face and, after many times of that happening, his heart had also begun to feel somewhat unsettled.

On account of his grandmother's repeated persuasion, together with the unsettled feelings in his own mind, Mu Shaohua no longer resisted, which was why he'd made the move to invite Hao Ritian over to his house.

The two people in the car didn't make conversation. By the time Mu Shaohua finished reminiscing, they'd arrived at the Mu House.

Following Mu Shaohua into the house, Hao Ritian was greeted with the old lady's smiling face. "Luoluo, you're finally here! Grandma missed you to death!"