Chapter 41: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (41)
Pei Zhuo frowned and looked at the photos for a while. It was as if he had realized something, but in the very next second, he relaxed a bit—
To protect privacy, the area for private hot spring baths naturally didn’t have any cameras.
He didn’t doubt that Sang Qianshan would find out these moves were the work of his team. After all, when teams in the industry dragged down rival stars, such tricks weren’t uncommon. Resources were limited; if you got them, others lost them.
He was merely worried that if Sang Qianshan found out and this person happened to join the reality show, what if he talked about this incident on air?
After all, for an issue like “a non-celebrity approaching the hot spring had his phone seized and was allegedly beaten by a bodyguard,” even if he claimed he acted out of extreme anxiety caused by being harassed by a sasaeng stalker recently, he could easily imagine what the hot search headlines would look like.
Not to mention the inevitable wave of internet-wide condemnation against him.
The only saving grace was probably that there were no cameras here, meaning there was no hard evidence. If his team deliberately led the narrative later to suggest he only said that because he was close with Sang Qianshan, it wasn’t impossible to brush it off.
Thinking up to this point, Pei Zhuo recalled the resources the Lou family had secretly directed toward him during this period.
He felt even more strongly that this matter must not go wrong.
With that in mind, he resolved to take advantage of the fact that the other party hadn’t left the villa yet to test the waters and gauge his attitude…
Cen Yu was still lingering at Lou Baichuan’s place, reluctant to leave and avoiding the reality of going back, when he noticed Yu Xinyu calling him.
He stared at his phone for a few seconds.
“Not picking up?” Lou Baichuan asked nonchalantly.
He could naturally tell that Cen Yu was intentionally stalling in his room, touching this and fidgeting with that, simply unwilling to leave as if there were some man-eating monster waiting at his villa.
He had initially assumed the two had gotten into a fight, but after probing a bit, he realized Cen Yu still had a hundred-layer filter over Yu Xinyu in his heart. Thus, he guessed it wasn’t a fight, but rather that Cen Yu simply didn’t want to go back.
“Why should I pick up!” Just as Cen Yu was about to answer it, he remembered he still needed to act like a villain in front of Lou Baichuan, so he hurriedly changed his tune.
“Can’t he see I’m busy with work? So untactful.” Saying that, he shoved his phone into his pocket.
He simply waited for the call to hang up automatically.
A moment later, the call ended, but in the very next second, the phone rang again.
“?” Cen Yu was bewildered. So persistent!
He continued to ignore it, and another call from Yu Xinyu immediately followed.
He called seven times in a row… Cen Yu knit his brows. Just as Lou Baichuan thought the man would grow impatient with Yu Xinyu’s excessive clinginess and terrifying persistence, he saw Cen Yu turn to him with a wry, helpless smile—
“…Being too charming just comes with these troubles.”
Cen Yu uttered the greasy line, “The moment I’m out of his sight for a bit, he starts missing me.”
With that, ignoring the subtle look in Lou Baichuan’s eyes, he answered the call right away.
He had originally thought that upon answering, Yu Xinyu would probably be hysterical on the other end or demand to know why he hadn’t been picking up the phone. Yet unexpectedly, what he heard was Yu Xinyu’s gentle sobbing—
“…Hubby… are you… ignoring me now?”
The other’s voice came through in breaks, sounding as if he were in a confined space.
Seemingly because he had been crying so hard, his voice carried slight gasps as he asked Cen Yu pitifully, “Did you go back by yourself? Why have you been ignoring me this whole time?”
Cen Yu instantly felt like an absolute monster!
Clearing his throat, he said, “I’m busy with work at Brother Chuan’s place.”
“…Then let me see you,” Yu Xinyu said on the other end of the line.
With that, he hung up the phone directly, and a video call request came through in the very next second.
Cen Yu felt a headache coming on, but he hardened his heart and accepted the video call anyway.
Through the swaying camera lens, Cen Yu realized that Yu Xinyu seemed to still be in the private hot spring inside the bedroom. No wonder his voice had sounded like it was coming from a narrow space earlier over the phone.
“You finished your bath?” Cen Yu noticed Yu Xinyu was wearing a bathrobe.
His hair was somewhat damp, and his whole demeanor carried a sense of lethargy, seemingly tired out from soaking in the hot spring for so long.
Because he was extremely close to the lens, Cen Yu could only see his face up close. Facing Cen Yu’s question, Yu Xinyu merely gave a slight nod.
Traces of his recent tears lingered at the corners of his eyes, as if he had genuinely cried for a long time over the imaginary scenario of Cen Yu abandoning and ignoring him. “…Hubby, are you really working?”
He asked with a touch of disbelief.
Hearing this, Cen Yu immediately held the phone a bit farther away, just enough to let Lou Baichuan briefly appear in the frame, before pulling the phone close to himself again.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
He had genuinely wanted to keep dragging things out, but seeing Yu Xinyu so heartbroken, he indeed felt that doing this might be somewhat wrong.
Thus, he adjusted his decision slightly.
After tossing out a few casual words to coax Yu Xinyu, Cen Yu hung up the video call, then turned to face the expressionless Lou Baichuan behind him—
“An ordinary roommate?” Lou Baichuan asked.
“…” Cen Yu let out a dry chuckle.
Lou Baichuan nodded, walking over to pat Cen Yu’s shoulder—
“The company supports every sexual orientation and freedom of love.”
Upon returning to their villa, Cen Yu found that Yu Xinyu was already lying on the bed, seemingly looking at his phone.
Seeing him come back, Yu Xinyu set his phone down, then stretched out both arms toward him—a gesture asking for a hug.
Seeing this, Cen Yu pretended not to understand, casually grabbing a bottle of mineral water to hand to him—
“Got thirsty after soaking in the hot spring, right? Perfect timing to drink some water.”
With that, he stopped looking at Yu Xinyu, preparing to go soak in the private bath for a bit.
Yu Xinyu stared at his movements. He unscrewed the mineral water in his hand, drinking it while watching Cen Yu’s retreating back.
A moment later, he heard Cen Yu ask from across the sliding door—
“How come all the clothes in the hamper are soaked?!”
Yu Xinyu set down the mineral water bottle in his hand. Leaving it aside, he stepped off the bed in his bathrobe, then leaned against one side of the sliding door to speak to Cen Yu inside.
“Oh, I accidentally splashed hot spring water all over earlier, and it happened to land right in the hamper.”
“I brought plenty of extra sets of clothes anyway. You can just wear mine.”
