Chapter 023

By the time the staff came to inform them they could head down the mountain, Lu Jianxing had finally seen Qiao Man returning with the Luo Pan.

The child’s steps were light, as if he had encountered something wonderful. Deep dimples appeared on his cheeks as he spotted Lu Jianxing from a distance, skipping over to grab his hand.

“Did you get it back?”

“Mhm!”

Lu Jianxing picked up the luggage and took the boy’s hand with his other. “Then let’s go home.”

“Okay!”

After waving his little hand to say goodbye to Zhan Yue and Pei Xiwang, Qiao Man climbed into the car heading down the mountain. The show’s staff gave him plenty of snacks, and his tablet had been fully recharged. He leaned against Lu Jianxing, happily watching cartoons the entire way.

This trip down the mountain was much easier than Qiao Man’s last one. He sat comfortably in the car, enjoying the air conditioning and snacks. By the time they cleared the mountains, the sun hadn’t even set.

The filming location for the Wilderness Challenge was deep within the wilderness, incredibly remote and several hours’ drive from the nearest town. They couldn’t go home immediately and had to spend the night in the closest town first.

Maomao was waiting for them in the nearby town. When he saw the car stop, he ran over excitedly. “Baby, Brother Lu!”

Qiao Man’s eyes lit up when he saw him, and he waved happily. “Maomao!”

“I’ve been watching your livestream every day this week. Baby, you’re so amazing! How do you know how to do everything?” Maomao’s praise was non-stop. “I was still watching the stream while waiting for you down here. You guys won the championship!”

Qiao Man replied, “That’s right!”

Maomao asked, “Where’s the trophy? Let me see… Wow, it’s huge!”

Qiao Man said proudly, “Xingxing and I got it together.”

“You and Brother Lu are just too incredible!” Maomao gushed.

Lu Jianxing listened to the two of them going back and forth. Having not seen him for a few days, it seemed Maomao’s cutesy, high-pitched voice had become even more pronounced.

He picked up their luggage and headed toward the hotel where they would be staying for the night.

Conditions in the small town were limited, and the hotel environment was simple, but it was fortunately clean. Qiao Man, wearing his Little Yellow Duck Backpack, rushed straight into Lu Jianxing’s room. He tried to pounce onto the snow-white sheets, but Lu Jianxing caught him with quick reflexes. His little feet kicked in the air twice before he was hauled into the bathroom.

When he emerged, the child was refreshed from head to toe, dressed in clean, tidy pajamas and smelling like fragrant body wash. His chubby face was flushed pink from the steam. He flopped onto the bed and rolled around a couple of times, making his freshly dried hair messy again.

Lu Jianxing walked out of the bathroom drying his hair just as the doorbell rang. Maomao had returned with the dinner he just bought.

“You two suffered this week on the mountain. I bought lots of food. Come, eat up.” Maomao took the containers out of the bag and arranged them one by one. The aroma of food filled the room, making both their stomachs growl. As he opened the lids, Maomao said, “I ran into Pei Xiwang downstairs just now. It looked like his family came to pick him up.”

“Oh, right.” Maomao remembered something and asked Qiao Man, “Baby, he asked me to ask you if he can come play with you after we get back?”

Qiao Man didn’t even look up from his food. “Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll let him know.” Maomao pulled out his phone to send a message.

Lu Jianxing’s eyelid twitched. He glanced at his own phone; his chat history with Pei Xiwang was still stuck at the initial greeting when they added each other.

Lu Jianxing asked, “…When did you get his contact info?”

“Just now, downstairs.”

After sending the message, Maomao glanced at Qiao Man, who was focused on his meal. He moved his chair closer to Lu Jianxing and whispered, “Brother Lu, Sister Yun told me to tell you not to worry about the livestream. She’s already cleared things up for you.”

Lu Jianxing hadn’t opened any social media apps since getting his phone back. Hearing this, he only lowered his gaze and gave a soft, “Mhm.”

The “livestream situation” was, of course, Qiao Man’s claim that they were family.

Children speak without filter, and no one would think a child was lying. Of course, Qiao Man had been sincere when he said it. But while the child had happily admitted they were family, the netizens who heard him were not nearly as happy.

After the livestream ended, Qiao Man’s statement was quickly shared across other platforms by the viewers who had been in the room.

During this period, the Wilderness Challenge had been extremely popular. Because of various viral moments, even casual observers had heard Qiao Man’s name. Before the hype could die down, people heard there was news about Qiao Man and clicked in excitedly, thinking the kid had done something new. Instead, they saw… what?

They weren’t just temporary teammates; they were father and son?!

The netizens were shocked at first, but that shock immediately turned into a wave of condemnation.

Not long ago, Lu Jianxing had been the target of an Internet-wide Smear Campaign. Although the false rumors had eventually been cleared, he still had a massive number of haters. The Wilderness Challenge had brought him a surge of popularity and a small wave of new fans, but most of those fans were there for Qiao Man. Even if casual observers liked the child, it didn’t mean they liked the child’s father.

Furthermore, what Lu Jianxing had done seemed incredibly scummy!

Qiao Man was already five years old, and Lu Jianxing was only twenty-five. Doing the math, didn’t that mean he had fathered a child shortly after becoming an adult? For a celebrity to have such a messy private life was seen as a total moral failure!

Most of Lu Jianxing’s fans were women who held beautiful fantasies about their favorite idol. They never expected his reputation to collapse so close to home. In an instant, fans turned on him, passersby cursed him, and paid internet trolls from other factions took the opportunity to stir the pot. The scene was chaotic, and for a moment, it felt like the vicious media storm from before had returned.

As soon as the livestream ended, Sister Yun had helped Lu Jianxing release a paternity test to prove the two had no blood relation. The test had been done previously, and now it had come in handy.

The paternity test results were posted, but many people still didn’t believe them.

After all, in the entertainment industry, people issued lawyer letters¹ like they were nothing. Who knew if this paternity test was just another forgery?

If it wasn’t that, then why did Qiao Man say those things?

Among the passersby attacking Lu Jianxing, many were actually paid shills from Xie Yunqian’s team. Xie Yunqian had intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the relationship between Lu Jianxing and Qiao Man several times during the livestream. He didn’t need to be explicit; his team understood his intentions perfectly. They had been building momentum beforehand and were now actively steering public opinion.

More than half a day had passed since the livestream ended, and the situation had only continued to ferment. Despite some rational bystanders trying to mediate, the internet was filled with one-sided vitriol. The hashtag #LuJianxingGetOutOfShowbiz had already begun to trend again.

Maomao scrolled through social media for a while before logging off, his face pale.

“Brother Lu, do you need anything else? I’ll go out and buy it for you while it’s still early,” Maomao asked. “And the baby?”

Lu Jianxing shook his head. Qiao Man thought for a moment and also shook his head.

“Don’t we have to get up early for the flight back tomorrow?” Lu Jianxing said. “You should get some rest too.”

“Um…” Maomao didn’t dare look him in the eye, whispering, “Do you want me to keep your phone for you?”

“No need,” Lu Jianxing refused. “Xiao Man won’t go to sleep unless he watches his cartoons tonight.”

“I see…”

What if he saw those comments while playing on his phone?

As an assistant, no one knew better than Maomao how poor Lu Jianxing’s mental state had been recently.

He looked at his boss apprehensively. The man at the center of the storm seemed perfectly stable, currently focused on carefully picking the bones out of a piece of fish for the child.

Maomao then looked at Qiao Man, who was eagerly waiting for the fish, and thought tearfully: Wasn’t the Luck Borrowing issue resolved?

Why does Brother Lu still seem so unlucky?

Is his career, which just started to turn around, going to go down the drain again?

Sigh, I don’t know when Brother Lu offended Xie Yunqian. If the top star hadn’t asked that casual question on the livestream, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.

Before, there was dirt that couldn’t be cleared up. This time, clearing it up is useless. What should we do? Would a ritual help? Does Master Xiao Man’s business include performing rituals?

A notification chimed on his phone as an app pushed a new trending news story.

Maomao glanced at it casually, catching the keywords in the headline. He tapped in, thinking that big data was truly terrifying nowadays. He’d only just thought of it, and big data² had already caught on…

“Holy shit!”

Maomao suddenly shouted, startling both of them. They turned to see Maomao holding his phone in disbelief, his eyes wide as he stared at the content.

“Xie Yunqian’s secret marriage and children?!”

“And he has three?!”

“Each with a different mother?!”

“Wait… there’s… there’s another one!”

Translator’s Notes