Chapter 16: Appearances

Sheng Mingzhi took less than a minute to explain to Shen Ling.

Before Shen Ling could reply to him, he was scolded in a low voice: "Xiao Ling, behave yourself, you didn't come here to play with your phone. Don't you usually like to attend these receptions? Why do you keep looking down at your phone today?"

YunJing A financial cocktail party is a mixture of clothes and people.

Shen Ling, who is under the watchful eye of her second uncle, can't help but roll her eyes at these words.

Of course she likes to go to cocktail parties, but those are young people's parties, okay? I don't even go out with my skirt slit up to my thighs OK, who wears a tightly wrapped cheongsam like this?

She couldn't say what she was suffering and muttered, "Erb. Mingzhi is a bit unwell and I'm talking to him."

After all, MingChen Bank's reputation is well known in capitalist circles, and the young man is Lu Jiayan's pillow man. The Shen family has always encouraged Shen Ling to befriend Sheng Mingzhi.

Shen Ling quickly trolled Sheng Mingzhi on WeChat, but remembered that Sheng Mingzhi was now live streaming and could not be disturbed too much, so she had to put her phone down unhappily.

As she looked up, she saw her second uncle talking to Lu Jiayan, who had been invited to this occasion as a matter of course.

When Uncle Er had finished talking with Lu Jiayan, Shen Ling suddenly greeted him, "Brother Lu."

Lu Jiayan's footsteps are halted and he turns his head to see Shen Ling with a puzzled look on his face.

Shen Ling rubbed her cheek and, to be honest, she was a little afraid of Lu Jiayan.

After waiting for a few seconds, she spoke awkwardly, "That. Mingzhi told me just now that he was a bit sick, and he seems to be the only one at home. Do you want to go home and take a look?"

-

Sheng Mingzhi puts down his phone and looks up with a flourish.

The pop-ups have all changed.

"So red in the face? Watching a film on air?"

"Obscene. Obscene pornography, reported."

......

......

Sheng Mingzhi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and looked at his face at the screen.

Very white, where red?

What are the rumours?

Sheng Mingzhi gave a laugh and sneered as he blacked out all those anti-fans who said they would report him.

After ten minutes of jumping around, Sheng Mingzhi's anti-fans finally gave up and gradually left, but some of them remained in his live stream to fight with him.

So, a third of the way through the live broadcast, the pop-ups were already getting harmonious.

Little Wang led a few assistants into the pop-up, and under his deliberate guidance, Sheng Mingzhi followed a memorised script and answered a few anecdotes about the filming of the Tipping Point crew.

Only as time went on, the long periods of intense concentration added to the already uncomfortable heaviness of Sheng Mingzhi's body sitting at the table, and on several occasions, his expression went into a brief trance, and his hands went from being flat on the table to propped up on his chin.

The eyelids fought up and down as if they could fall asleep in the next second.

The state is so off that even the pop-ups can see it.

"Little Mr. Sheng is he not feeling well?"

"Looks like you're falling asleep, sleepy?"

"The temperature in YunJing has cooled down a lot in the past few days, so don't get a cold."

"Take care of yourself."

The rest of the anti-fans in the broadcast room were not left idle.

"Did I pay to see your Sima face? How old are you and you don't even know how to take your medication? Do you want me to order you a takeaway?"

"Don't you die on air... if you're sick, go cure it."

"Fuck, what's the point of making yourself look so pathetic, I'm embarrassed to call people out."

"I mean, what's your agent doing, letting you come on air when you're like this?"

Sheng Mingzhi was in bad shape and didn't have the heart to dislike them.

A quick scan of the live stream shows that the curses are all the same cartwheels.

In his mind, he thought to himself, "This young master is in a poor state today, I am too lazy to bother with you.

Looking at the time, there were still forty minutes to go.

Sheng Mingzhi had to brace himself, stare at the gift list and speak mechanically, "Thank you to netizen 12323 for the confession balloon ......"

As he speaks, he picks up his phone and Shen Ling's message vibrates halfway through the day.

One article after another.

[Baby, there's something I forgot to tell you].

[I met Lu Jiayan at the reception with my uncle].

Sheng Mingzhi: [?

Shen Ling typed quickly.

[Then I told him you were a bit under the weather and probably had a cold, and he left the reception early and I think came back for you].

[We are not far from One XiShan, so I guess your husband should be home by now].

[I think you can turn off the live stream for a while]

[It's not good to reveal his identity otherwise (vain.jpg)]

Just after reading this sentence, an abrupt locking sound came from the study, where the only sound had been the live special effects.

Sheng Mingzhi froze, before he could turn off the live broadcast.

The door to the study had been opened and Lu Jiayan appeared in the doorway, and Sheng Mingzhi subconsciously blurted out, "You're back?"

Lu Jiayan paused and raised an eyebrow, "I can't come back?"

He looked up and down, " Shen Ling told me you weren't feeling well, have you got a cold?"

Sheng Mingzhi's mind went blank, and it was the netizens' pop-ups that reacted faster than he did.

"?"

"???"

"Holy shit, why are there other men's voices in your room?"

"Doesn't sound much like an agent, who is it??"

"It's not your husband, is it?"

Sheng Mingzhi's marriage is not a secret in the entertainment industry, as it can be found on Baidu.

Again, it was live at home and it seemed normal for his lover to appear.

The pop-up kept prompting and Sheng Mingzhi only realised as an afterthought that the live stream was open and the question on the screen had caused him to panic a little.

"No-"

"Not what?"

Lu Jiayan looks over suspiciously and makes a move to come forward.

Half of his body is almost in the live mirror.

Sheng Mingzhi stood up with a jolt and pushed Lu Jiayan to the door, "You wait outside."

Then he went back and forth to the screen, and the live stream pop-ups brushed up three times faster than they had just been.

"? It's really your husband?"

"Why don't you show me your face, is it uglier than your ex-husband Huo Yuzhe?"

"Laugh it up, they're all charged up consumers, what can't we see?"

......

Sheng Mingzhi let out a breath, his already muddled brain becoming even more confused.

But as soon as Lu Jiayan is not there, he calms down again.

Sheng Mingzhi frowned: "I say, are you guys sick all day long, why are you so concerned about my love life? If you're bored, go find a factory to work in."

[Laughs. You're not afraid of the house collapsing, are you?

[Don't worry. No one will be hurt even if your house collapses.

Sheng Mingzhi :?

-

Five minutes later, Sheng Mingzhi closes the study door and meets Lu Jiayan in the corridor.

For some reason, he instinctively felt that Lu Jiayan was not in a good mood.

Sheng Mingzhi was inexplicably weak from the look on his face, and after half a day of thinking about what he had done to offend him, the only thing he had done was to rudely push him out of the room just now.

So I had to speak stiffly, "I didn't mean to push you out."

"I was on the air earlier and I'm not comfortable talking in the study."

Sort of explains his perverse behaviour.

Lu Jiayan stares at Sheng Mingzhi, whose face is visible to the naked eye.

More than that, even his lips are bloodless, and he stands like Little Bai Yang ready to be blown over by the wind, fragile enough to break with the slightest break.

It's already so serious and he's just learning about it.

Lu Jiayan was almost speechless with anger at Sheng Mingzhi, especially the subtle anger that had lingered since he had heard from Shen Ling today that Sheng Mingzhi was ill.

He is the husband of Sheng Mingzhi, not some stranger, right?

When he fell ill, the first person he called was Shen Ling. If Shen Ling hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have known about it until tomorrow.

Lu Jiayan's voice was calm, with a hint of reproach: "You're sick and you're still broadcasting? If I don't come back, are you going to continue broadcasting."

He then used a declarative sentence, as if he didn't have to negotiate with Sheng Mingzhi and decided for him directly: "Stop the broadcast for now and call a doctor to take a look."

"No." Unexpectedly, Sheng Mingzhi disagreed, retorting outright: "The broadcast is a relay, and when I stop it will affect the artists behind me."

In fact, he said it without expecting Lu Jiayan to understand him.

In Lu Jiayan's eyes, he probably grew up as a young master who only caused trouble and then did everything half-assed, rich, arrogant and rude.

So if he had told Lu Jiayan that he was still serious about his work, he would probably have been ridiculed.

But it does.

Sheng Mingzhi was silent for a few seconds, "Why do you care so much, I'm such a big guy, I know what's important ......"

Lu Jiayan just looked at him and turned around and went downstairs without waiting for Sheng Mingzhi to finish his sentence.

It looked like he didn't want to hear a word more and didn't bother to care.

Sheng Mingzhi was stunned for a moment, seeing only Lu Jiayan's back.

Yes, having seen his softer side a few times a while ago, Sheng Mingzhi had forgotten Lu Jiayan's original character.

He has always been so dictatorial and my own way.

It seemed that whoever disobeyed his orders was against him.

Sheng Mingzhi stood still for a moment.

It was about being sick, and the back that he normally looked at without feeling much was a little overwhelming at the moment.

Not just leave him alone.

It's not like he died without someone to take care of him! It's not like he had to be in his charge!

Sheng Mingzhi pursed his lips and reentered the study.

The live stream was still open and fans were asking where he had just been, but Sheng Mingzhi was in no mood to join them.

The heart felt like it had been soaked in some kind of acid.

It was stuffy and uncomfortable and a little hard to breathe when being squeezed hard by someone's hand.

The difficulty in breathing didn't seem to be his fault, Sheng Mingzhi's consciousness was drifting and he was able to mentally curse the dog man twice -

As a result, Sheng Mingzhi slowly became unable to support himself as his vision blurred, and little by little he slumped onto the table before falling quietly asleep.

The pop-ups are already full of questions.

"Holy shit? Sleeping?"

"I cursed him so badly and he actually gave me sleep? I was humiliated."

"Little loser is really having a bit of a hard time today, isn't he, I can't even bear to scold."

"Look at him like that, lost in thought when he came back, people who didn't know thought he'd been seduced by a vixen in those few minutes he'd just been out."

......

......

"Why haven't you quit the live stream yet?"

"Grass? Ask me? You didn't fucking back out either!"

"...... I was afraid he was really dead and was going to call 120."

"."

"I'm happy to have nothing to do and watch stupid people sleep anyway."

It's amazing how the pop-ups just chat themselves up.

100,000 people and not one has quit the live stream, it's outrageous.

A sleeping Sheng Mingzhi is unaware that his mobile phone has already been called by Little Wang.

After a while, there was movement again from the study.

Lu Jiayan had just poured hot water and brought it up when she saw Sheng Mingzhi asleep on the table.

At that moment before going to bed, I'm afraid I was still working in earnest, my hand still on the brace.

Unfortunately, the stand is now tilted and only Sheng Mingzhi's face can be seen in the screen.

Lu Jiayan, even when he walks over, is only photographed from the shoulders down.

So he didn't see that the pop-ups were already going crazy: "I don't know, I don't know.

"Who is this?"

"It's not Sheng Mingzhi, is it?"

"I go, curious to know who is handsome between him and Huo Yuzhe!"

" Huo Yuzhe, right? Sheng Mingzhi's husband is a vegetarian, how can he compete with the stars?"

"Damn, this loser must have lied about his height, if he's really 180, how can I not see his husband's face! The phone screen is held so low!"

......

Lu Jiayan, who knew nothing about it, was a bit stunned, as if he hadn't expected Sheng Mingzhi to be quite so dedicated to his work.

It shattered Lu Jiayan's perception of him and made him take a fresh look at Sheng Mingzhi as a person.

He seemed different from what he thought he would be.

Lu Jiayan was looking down when he realised that the broadcast was still going on.

The original intention of helping Sheng Mingzhi upstairs was scuppered, so he simply picked him up off the table and let Sheng Mingzhi fall into his arms.

The intimate gesture is so obvious that an outsider can see their relationship without having to say a word.

The platinum rings on their ring fingers are intertwined and paired.

Lu Jiayan glanced at the content of the pop-ups and slowly asked, "What time does he get off the air?"

The pop-ups first stiffened, wondering why Lu Jiayan's words inexplicably carried an irresistible aura.

The straightforward militarisation forced the pop-ups to reflexively answer 8:30 in unison.

Half an hour to go until the next broadcast.

Lu Jiayan seemed determined to just sit there with his arm around him for half an hour, until 8:30, when he finished Sheng Mingzhi's live workload.

There is zero interaction and communication with fans throughout.

Only Sheng Mingzhi's sleeping face and half of Lu Jiayan's body appear in the scene.

And the four letter acronym that pops up like no money.

"KSWL."