Although Xie Guan seemed difficult to approach, his temperament was actually quite good. He was gentle, humble, rarely got angry, and a mostly reasonable person. He wouldn’t easily resort to violence unless absolutely necessary.
The only people who saw his tough side were a few individuals from his previous company, and even then, it was just verbal threats without any substantial action. This often left the impression that his bottom line was low. When faced with disputes, he would be the first to yield, and when he made a mistake, he didn’t need to put in much effort to pacify the situation. A little coaxing was usually enough to gain forgiveness.
So when he became truly resolute, there was absolutely no room for recovery.
Huo Mingjun didn’t take Xie Guan’s reaction into account when making his decision. He thought he could deceive Xie Guan and control the situation without his interference. But when things spiraled out of control, he watched helplessly as Xie Guan left and realized that he entered a completely helpless situation.
In an attempt to “correct” one mistake, he made another.
“Boss, Mr. and Mrs. Cheng have confirmed that Mr. Xie indeed looks very similar to their son, Cheng Sheng,” Zhong Heguang reported cautiously. “The differences they pointed out also match what you said before. It can be reasonably confirmed… our previous assumptions were wrong.”
“I understand,” Huo Mingjun didn’t ask any further questions and didn’t criticize Zhong Heguang for the initial misjudgment. He instructed in an indifferent tone, “Take them back.”
Zhong Heguang stood still in front of the office desk, unmoving.
Huo Mingjun’s complexion didn’t look too good; he appeared rather weary. His past sharpness couldn’t be summoned now, making him look very indifferent and aloof. “Is there anything else?”
“Boss, I’m sorry,” Zhong Heguang lowered his eyes, full of remorse. “It was my misjudgment that caused the plan to be disrupted, causing Mr. Xie to…”
“It’s fine,” Huo Mingjun didn’t want to relive the scene again. He waved his hand, “It’s not your fault. Do what you need to do.”
“But…”
His repeated disobedience finally made Huo Mingjun lose his temper. He shot him a glance as sharp as a knife, “Are you not done yet?”
Zhong Heguang immediately fell silent, not daring to oppose him further. He apologized once more before hastily leaving his office.
Huo Mingjun was indeed in a bad mood.
He couldn’t believe that a mere Xie Guan, an outsider confirmed to have no connection with Cheng Sheng threw him into complete disarray. He still couldn’t completely let it go.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He rarely encountered such twists in “human relationships.” It was his first experience of what it meant to “end a friendship.” He felt guilty but didn’t know whether he should try to salvage the situation. Huo Mingjun wanted to explain himself, but didn’t know where to start. Suddenly, his emotional age regressed, unexpectedly filling in the gaps of his adolescence.
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Most importantly, should he compensate for the harm he caused Xie Guan, and how should he do it?
“Here, boxed lunch.”
Li Yan handed the food container to Xie Guan, who just finished filming. Seeing his hands were so stiff that he couldn’t even hold chopsticks properly, Li Yan couldn’t help but speak up, “What’s going on with your assistant? As soon as the filming starts, he disappears. No food, no water. You’re just sitting here in this freezing weather?”
“Forget it, let it be. I’ll change assistants after we finish shooting,” Xie Guan took a bite of the cold rice, “After so many years in this industry, even extras like him have come and gone. I’m not that precious.”
Li Yan exclaimed in anger, “Only you could tolerate him. If it were my assistant, I would’ve kicked him far away by now. If I didn’t remember to bring you food, you’d be starving to death today.”
Xie Guan didn’t even lift his head, “Thanks, you’re the kindest.”
Li Yan managed to leave him speechless, saying, “Are you frozen?…”
Xie Guan smiled and didn’t say anything.
Having nothing else to do and not wanting to leave, Li Yan sat nearby, watching him eat. He hesitated and asked, “Bro, you seem a bit off lately… Did something happen?”
Xie Guan’s movements with the chopsticks paused for a moment, and he casually replied, “Nothing, why are you suddenly asking?”
Due to their chance meeting during the audition, Li Yan was Xie Guan’s closest friend in the crew. Li Yan was young and had a proud personality. He also had a group of crazy fans who offended people on his behalf every day, making him unpopular among his peers. Xie Guan, on the other hand, felt that Li Yan was quite sincere. He was straightforward and the kind of person who, once he considered someone a friend, wholeheartedly treated them well… even if he did lack a bit in tact.
Xie Guan’s expression darkened. Whenever the word “friend” was mentioned, he couldn’t help but think of Huo Mingjun.
Xie Guan searched his own heart and realized that he might not be as open-hearted as Li Yan, but at least he was sincere. Unfortunately, it seemed like others didn’t appreciate it.
What he said to Huo Mingjun that day wasn’t just to persuade him, but also to console himself—don’t be petty, don’t persist stubbornly, don’t always expect something in return for your efforts.
But emotions and material possessions were different. Material things could always be replaced; if they broke, there was no heartache. Whereas emotions were a unique part of a person’s heart, intimately connected to one’s being. Even when poured into others, there were delicate threads linking them back to the giver. Even a slight movement caused a painful tug. And now, to cut those ties himself… saying it didn’t hurt was just deceiving oneself.
“You see, just look at that expression, all lost in thought. Did you get your heart broken?” Li Yan was rather curious and seemed eager for some gossip.
Xie Guan chuckled, “No. Just had a little disagreement with a friend.”
Li Yan teased, “Oh, how good of a friend must they be to upset you like this? Let me tell you with your current state, it’s either your childhood friend betrayed you, or your secret crush eloped with someone else, am I right?”
“It’s really not,” Xie Guan replied with a helpless smile. “Just a regular friend. Stop guessing, let’s get back to work.”
He packed up the half-eaten lunch box and threw it into the trash, standing up and heading toward the dressing room. Li Yan followed him, still not giving up, asking persistently, “You’re lying. Can a regular friend make you lose your appetite and not care about food and tea? It must be your first love who married someone else and left you behind.”
December passed by in a flash in the midst of shooting, and the end of the year arrived. The crew had a day off on New Year’s Day because most of the actors were busy attending various events. Li Yan also received an invitation for a New Year’s Eve event on a satellite TV station and left a day early. Before leaving, he kept bugging Xie Guan and told him to immediately replace his assistant.
Xie Guan’s assistant was assigned temporarily by the company and his name was Fang Wei, a man in his thirties. Xie Guan just signed with the company and immediately started filming, so he didn’t have time to select an assistant carefully and made do with him.
This assistant could be described as “elusive.” He drove Xie Guan to the filming location every day, left him at the film crew, and then disappeared on his own, only to reappear after the shooting was done for the day. After several days of this routine, whenever Xie Guan asked, he would claim that he was blending in with the crowd, and it was just that Xie Guan’s eyesight wasn’t good enough to notice him.
Xie Guan thought about it and felt that this big bro might be a chameleon in disguise.
One day, while Xie Guan was filming, Li Yan went out and returned. The filming location was quite remote, with few cars passing by. Li Yan waited at the intersection for a long time and only one black car arrived. Considering his public status, he intended to let it pass and continue waiting, but when he glanced down and saw the driver’s face, he was instantly shocked: “Hey, isn’t this the guy with the rare zodiac sign, Xie Guan’s assistant?!”
Since Fang Wei didn’t usually accompany Xie Guan, he didn’t recognize Li Yan. Although Li Yan had a quick temper and could explode over small things, he managed to hold back his anger this time in order to expose Fang Wei’s true identity. He endured the urge to explode and made it to his destination.
Before getting out of the car, he sent a message to Xie Guan, asking him to meet him at the door. Instead of immediately getting out when he arrived, he raised his eyebrows and asked Fang Wei, “I must say, this car of yours is pretty nice.”
Fang Wei suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
This car was originally a company vehicle, approved and provided to Xie Guan by Lin Yao. It wasn’t particularly high-end, just an ordinary family car, making it an ideal tool for running an unregistered taxi business.
Every day after dropping off Xie Guan, Fang Wei used the car to pick up passengers in the city. Since the company reimbursed the fuel and maintenance costs, and the crew needed the car for transportation frequently, it was understandable to charge a bit more for fuel expenses. Fang Wei took advantage of Xie Guan’s recent entry into the company and his lack of understanding of these matters to daringly use the car to earn extra money without his knowledge.
Xie Guan stood at the entrance of the sports stadium, coldly watching Li Yan and Fang Wei get out of the car. He asked, “What’s going on?”
Fang Wei wanted to smile and try to smooth things over, but Li Yan didn’t give him a chance. He immediately exposed the situation in detail. Fang Wei was scolded and insulted so thoroughly by Li Yan that he couldn’t lift his head, lowering it in a gesture of remorse. It was unclear what he was thinking.
Li Yan despised this kind of attitude where someone was utterly indifferent to trouble, and he was about to explode in anger. “Stop talking! Call your company now, right now! Are we really going to keep someone like this and let them enjoy the New Year?”
Fang Wei’s heart skipped a beat. Fearfully, he looked up at Xie Guan, who was standing on the steps. His eyes were filled with pleading: “Mr. Xie… Mr. Xie! I know I was wrong! I will never secretly work outside again, I swear! My whole family depends on me to make a living. You can punish me however you want, but please don’t tell the company… I… I can’t lose this job! I know you’re a great person, can you forgive me just this once…” He became emotional and accidentally moved himself to tears. Surprisingly, he started acting and poured out his emotions dramatically, “I have elderly parents and young children to support. If you fire me, it will cut off our entire family’s livelihood…”
This bastard even dared to threaten Xie Guan. Li Yan was furious and immediately took out his phone to dial 110, but halfway through, Xie Guan reached out and stopped him.
He sighed lightly and said, “Stop crying.”
Li Yan looked at him in surprise, only to see Xie Guan looking pale and absent-minded, staring at the cowering man in front of him. It was like he didn’t even see Li Yan. Xie Guan appeared strangely detached, exuding a despondent aura.
Li Yan was nearly scared out of his wits. He hurriedly stepped forward and held Xie Guan, saying, “Hey, do you really need to get this upset over a driver? Are you okay? Bro, don’t scare me like this…”
The man below was still sobbing, his hoarse and muffled voice reaching Xie Guan’s ears, reminding him of the middle-aged couple who cried bitterly while holding him that noon.
They were the parents of Huo Mingjun’s savior.
It was strange how they found traces of their deceased child in someone else and couldn’t contain their longing, bursting into tears. It should have been such a touching scene. But whenever Xie Guan thought about it, he felt nauseous.
Why was this happening?
Why did two harmless middle-aged people with no connection unknowingly hit his sore spot? Was this dislike because of their incompatible auras, or was it because he subconsciously vented his anger from his falling-out with Huo Mingjun onto others?
He saw middle-aged people crying their hearts out before; it wasn’t anything unusual in the entertainment industry, and he never had such a strong reaction before.
But if it was the latter reason, how was he any different from Huo Mingjun in his actions and behavior?
He clenched his fists tightly, constantly reminding himself to control his temper.
Fang Wei let out a pitiful sob.
“I told you to stop crying!” Xie Guan suddenly exploded and shouted, “Can’t you understand human language?”
Poor xie guan… So disappointed in huo mingjun. Out of all the possible ways he could’ve explained to xie guan, he chose the most hurtful way for both xie guan and the elderly couple. I so hope xie guan gave huo mingjun a piece of his mind before they even make amends
Thank you for the update!
Ooh so his parents are not good people huh. I wonder if they wanna find him alive to mooch off the Huo family more since it looks like they were compensated for his death well considering the mother has a mink coat. Explains Xie Guan’s immediate dislike at their sight.
💖💖💖💖