Chapter 10
Lu Xiao lowered his head and ate a few bites. “Enough banter—let’s talk business. This episode’s guest lineup includes Xie Jingfeng and his wife. Do you know them?”
Xie Jingfeng and Mrs. Xie were both in their fifties, from Hong Kong, and the oldest couple among the guests. Rumor had it they’d run with the underworld when they were young, then washed their hands clean and came ashore—becoming members of the wealthy elite.
Chu Hao said, “What—worried Meng Xueyuan will be bullied?”
Lu Xiao replied, “That’s the entertainment industry—stepping on the low and flattering the high.”
In variety shows that included outsiders, artists tended to be more humble in their attitudes, showing friendliness and playing the gracious host for the industry. After all, what artists wanted were screen time and personas.
This episode’s guests included a world champion and his wife, a Best Actress and a director, and a wealthy socialite… In terms of status, he and Meng Xueyuan—a purely artist pairing—vaguely sat at the bottom of the food chain.
If any friction arose in public opinion, they’d be at a disadvantage with casual viewers.
Before, Lu Xiao had only looked at fame levels and thought it was fine; only now did this issue occur to him.
That Mrs. Xie seemed quite “bluntly genuine” on the show—fond of sharply poking at younger people and posturing as a big sister. For instance, she’d straightforwardly ask an idol whether they’d had plastic surgery.
Lu Xiao said, “Chu Hao, help me sound Xie Jingfeng out.”
Lu Xiao moved in entertainment circles, and only a small number of people knew his true identity.
“Sure,” Chu Hao agreed.
Lu Xiao still wasn’t at ease. It was his first time doing a variety show with his wife—essentially their first date—and he wanted to give Meng Xueyuan the best experience.
“Maybe I should just set up a company for my wife and let him be the boss.” It’d be better for people to call Meng Xueyuan “President Meng” than for him to be calling everyone else “senior.”
“I’m done eating—I’m going to see my brother.”
Chu Hao crossed one leg over the other, thinking: say the word and it rains—hundreds of millions in registered capital?
Lu Xiao had planned to go home, but on second thought, at this hour his eldest and second brothers were probably still at the office.
His entering the entertainment industry had been handed by his father to his eldest brother to handle. His father still didn’t know he’d registered his marriage with Meng Xueyuan; if he did, he’d probably scold him for treating relationships too frivolously.
Lu Xiao turned the wheel and drove to the Lu Group building. He called the president’s office to ask and, sure enough, both brothers were still working overtime, busy with the group’s new projects for the second half of the year. The table was covered in documents; the two President Lus and their secretaries were flipping through files.
Lu Xiao sat outside, waiting to go in during their coffee break. Sitting across from Lu Lou and Lu Yushu—both immaculate down to the last shirt button—Third Young Master Lu was far more freewheeling: a denim jacket, a loose white T-shirt with a frayed, irregular neckline, Martin boots cinching dark blue jeans. His legs were long and straight, strikingly handsome.
After dismissing the secretaries, only the three brothers remained. Lu Xiao got straight to the point. “I want to set up a culture and entertainment company for Meng Xueyuan—on a larger scale. I’ll put up two hundred million as registered capital, and you can come in with a second round of investment.”
Some? That word was awfully conservative.
Lu Yushu took off his glasses and glanced at his younger brother from the corner of his eye, his tone full of that inhuman polish of a legal elite. “Oh? You want Meng Xueyuan to be the legal representative?”
“What legal representative?” Lu Xiao said. “I want him to be the largest shareholder and the actual person in control.”
Lu Yushu fell silent, waiting for the eldest brother to speak.
Lu Lou said, “I don’t agree.”
With registered capital alone at two hundred million, one could imagine how much Lu Xiao planned to inject in subsequent financing rounds. Meng Xueyuan could leap from a first-tier artist straight into being one of the top capital players in the entertainment industry.
Lu Xiao’s face fell. Back when he needed money for racing, it hadn’t been this troublesome. “Are you treating my wife like an outsider?”
Lu Yushu said unhurriedly, “We’re not treating him like an outsider—then why don’t you bring him home for a meal?”
Lu Lou said, exasperated, “You married him just for his looks, is that it? As long as you can look at his face, nothing else matters.”
Lu Xiao replied, “Why not? Even when you hire secretaries, you know to pick good-looking ones.”
Lu Yushu said, “The people you see the most every day—shouldn’t they be pleasing to the eye?”
Lu Xiao thought to himself: when he’d come in earlier, he’d noticed both secretaries were dressed head to toe in top-tier luxury brands—far beyond what a secretary needed. The first time he’d met them, they’d dressed very plainly. In their usual work style, too, they kept their heads down, focused on work, indifferent to material things; even the water cups in their hands were from three years ago.
So who had bought those clothes?
He muttered, “You both know to outfit your secretaries—what’s wrong with me outfitting my wife with some assets? It looks good when I take him out.”
Lu Lou frowned. “Is that even a comparison on the same scale? Besides, I didn’t outfit my secretaries.”
Lu Yushu added, “When I take my secretary out, people know she’s my secretary. When you take Meng Xueyuan out, who knows he’s your wife?”
He hadn’t even had a sip of water before being hit with wave after wave of mockery. For the first time, Lu Xiao felt he should go into business himself. If he had management authority like his brother’s, he’d invest in Meng Xueyuan without a second thought—he wouldn’t even ask whether the marriage would last.
This brothers’ meeting ended on bad terms.
A vague thought began to sprout in Lu Xiao’s mind, but he didn’t dwell on it.
…
Meng Xueyuan returned to Nancheng from the film set. Lin Mu picked him up at the airport and drove him straight to Sea Star Tower to countersign variety-show contracts and renew some brand endorsements.
Lin Mu explained the contracts one by one. “This is the renewal for a clothing brand. The endorsement fee stays the same, and they’re gifting you a batch of ready-to-wear.”
Meng Xueyuan nodded, planning to call his worker-bee juniors over to collect the clothes—another wardrobe expense saved. Working at a Fortune 500 company, your work clothes had to look decent.
He was actually quite a good queen bee—he even issued work uniforms.
Lin Mu continued, “Harmony of Marriage is exclusively titled by a home-furnishings brand. Most of the furniture you use will be provided by them, so be careful not to express dissatisfaction in that area. Appropriately show how comfortable it is. You’ll have several spoken ad placements on the show—this is the contract.”
After listening, Meng Xueyuan picked up his pen and signed in the blank. “Okay, I’ll remember.”
Lin Mu flipped through the contract booklet and exclaimed, “Huh? There’s a company stamp missing here. Wait a moment—I’ll go upstairs and get it stamped.”
Meng Xueyuan sat on the sofa and yawned. He’d stayed up late filming over the past couple of days and felt a bit sleepy.
He couldn’t help thinking of worker bees’ constitutions: during the day they went out to collect nectar; at night they came back and fanned their wings to evaporate moisture from the pollen—commonly known as overtime. That was why Lin Xilan and Bai He were both born workaholics, unfazed by overtime and promoted quickly.
As for the queen bee at night… at night she laid eggs.
He’d been slacking on the whole nuptial flight thing for too long. With nothing to do at night, sleeping alone every day, he’d developed the good habit of going to bed early and waking up early.
Someone suddenly sat down across from him and started flipping through his contracts, picking and choosing.
Meng Xueyuan straightened and pressed three fingers onto the pages as a reminder. “Miss Wang, in principle this is confidential.”
Miss Wang said arrogantly, “Do you think I enjoy reading this? It’s all just charity from Lu Xiao to you.”
Meng Xueyuan had heard from his agent that Miss Wang was the daughter of a Sea Star executive—determined to chase her acting dreams. She had some backing and was best not provoked.
He didn’t provoke her, but Miss Wang had long wanted to replace him and stir up a CP with Lu Xiao—not just in the entertainment industry, but all the way to their elders, turning fake into real. Lu Xiao had never paid her any attention; when he saw her at the company, he didn’t even speak. It was said that when Lu Xiao and Meng Xueyuan resumed their public pairing, Miss Wang had thrown a fit in Sea Star Tower.
There were many people who liked Lu Xiao, but those who showed open hostility toward Meng Xueyuan—aside from solo fans—were just Miss Wang.
Miss Wang said smugly, “You don’t really think he likes you and that’s why he gives you all these endorsements, do you? Let me tell you—it’s because his status doesn’t allow him to take endorsements. Lu Xiao isn’t on the same level as you.”
Meng Xueyuan already knew all this; it didn’t provoke him.
He asked, puzzled, “Oh? Then why doesn’t he give them to you?”
Miss Wang’s endorsement resources were worse than his. She was so angry she nearly fainted. “Meng Xueyuan, just you wait!”
Lin Mu hurried back, saw Miss Wang about to start a one-sided argument, and quickly said, “I just saw your agent looking for you.”
Miss Wang shot Lin Mu a glare and walked off on high heels.
Lin Mu asked with concern, “Did she say anything nasty?”
Meng Xueyuan replied, “Nothing nasty.”
Lin Mu let out a sigh of relief and said, “Turn in early tonight. Harmony of Marriage is filming the pilot tomorrow during the day. The content is you and Lu Xiao taking a plane to the show location. There’s no script—keep it casual.”
“Tomorrow morning at eight, the program crew will pick you up first, then you’ll go together to pick up Lu Xiao.”
“Okay,” Meng Xueyuan said.
Lin Mu drove him home. Passing a supermarket, he parked and told Meng Xueyuan to wait in the car while he got out to buy groceries. At home, Meng Xueyuan liked to cook for himself—single-serving meals that were quick and good. His cooking was lightly seasoned; though it looked nice, Lin Mu declined to eat with him.
Through the car window, Meng Xueyuan watched the bustling supermarket, where there were plenty of couples shopping for groceries together after work.
So many people… If there were fewer, he could have picked out the vegetables himself.
Lin Mu moved quickly and came out in ten minutes. Meng Xueyuan was only making breakfast for the next morning—one bunch of greens, one eggplant, and two eggs were enough.
Altogether it was just over ten yuan.
Meng Xueyuan glanced at the receipt and transferred the money to Lin Mu. “Thank you.”
Even if he couldn’t go into the supermarket, stopping outside and taking it in felt the same. It just troubled Lin Mu a bit.
Lin Mu said, “It’s fine. When you go on the variety show, I’ll have it easy.”
As long as Meng Xueyuan was doing activities with Lu Xiao, he could rest easy—he could even turn his phone off. If anything came up, Lu Xiao would handle it; if an agent needed to step in, Lu Xiao’s agent could do it. Oh—and even this new apartment had been recommended by the agent sister.
“The apartment’s all cleaned up, the bed’s made, and all your pots and pans have been moved over. It’s your first night here—do you want me to stay and keep you company?”
Meng Xueyuan replied, “No need.”
A place that had passed unanimously by five “scout bees” was definitely fine.
Lin Mu walked him upstairs and introduced where Meng Xueyuan’s personal belongings were placed. “The layout’s pretty similar. Everything’s basically arranged according to the previous apartment. The things you won’t need for now weren’t taken out—they’re in those boxes.”
He pointed toward the entryway. “If there’s no problem, I’ll head out. If anything’s inconvenient, give me a call.”
“Thank you,” Meng Xueyuan said. “Everything’s great.”
He really was quite satisfied.
The next day.
Meng Xueyuan got up at seven, cooked some congee, stir-fried a plate of greens and a plate of eggplant, and made pumpkin porridge.
He cooked triple his usual amount, thinking that if the program’s cameramen came over without having eaten breakfast, they could have some too.
…
Before setting off, the Harmony of Marriage production team director said smoothly, “Go to Lu Xiao’s place first.”
The cameraman was taken aback. “Weren’t we supposed to go to Meng Xueyuan’s first?”
The director said, “If we follow the order, does that still count as a surprise? How would we get any effect? Come on, look at their addresses.”
He lowered his head and opened WeChat, checking the addresses the two had sent.
Lu Xiao: Crown Apartments, Building 03, Room 701.
Meng Xueyuan: Crown Apartments, Building 03, Room 702.
Wait—aren’t you two living across the hall?!
The cameraman said awkwardly, “Then it doesn’t really make a difference who we go to first.”
If we ring the doorbell on this side, they’ll hear it on the other side anyway. What surprise is there?
The director rubbed his forehead. “…Go to Lu Xiao’s first.”
The cameramen set off in pairs.
…
When Lu Xiao opened the door and saw two cameramen, he glanced behind them. Meng Xueyuan wasn’t there, and the timing was off, so he understood immediately.
“Let me ask one thing first—do guests have the right to delete footage?”
If a surprise shoot caught something that couldn’t be aired…
The cameramen said, “Yes, yes.”
“Alright.”
Lu Xiao seemed to have a bit of morning grumpiness. The cameramen stood quietly to the side, filming as he packed his luggage. He finished quickly.
Lu Xiao rolled his suitcase out the door. The moment the door closed, he changed faces, smiling warmly as he asked the cameramen, “May I ask—where does Teacher Meng live?”
The cameramen: ?
The thinner cameraman pointed to the other end of the corridor. “Your neighbor. Teacher Lu, you didn’t know?”
Lu Xiao’s surprise didn’t seem fake. “So Teacher Meng just moved in yesterday?”
Cameramen: ? A bit fake—let’s keep filming.
