Xie Li stood up a little straighter, having finally vented some of the pressure he'd been carrying. He tilted his head back and looked at the sky.
Blue and cloudless. Sun blazing. Air clean, full of oxygen.
He took a sip of lemon water and strolled down to the courtyard below.
So this is what it feels like to have quietly saved the day without anyone knowing.
Besides the flood of viewers coming to condemn Liu Yuheng, a smaller group had started saying Xie Li seemed refreshingly straightforward.
[Xie Li seems like a pretty good person. He says what he thinks. I genuinely don't understand why he was getting so much hate]
[I feel like Xie Li has more stories to tell — can we hear all of them?]
[Ge, next time you're about to drop gossip can you give us some emotional preparation? My heart can't take it]
[Our little crab really is something. I feel like he's changed a lot. Is he thinking about leaving the industry… please don't]
[To the haters: please go easy. I actually want to keep hearing Xie Li break stories]
Someone asked: [Liu Yuheng is out — does that mean they're bringing in a replacement regular cast member?]
Shortly after, "Stars Have Arrived" posted an official statement: Artist Liu has been temporarily detained by Yunnan Province police. Further updates to follow…
With that handled, Qiao Ming posted a three-day itinerary to the production group chat.
Xie Li went off to pick up the special guest, a livestream camera following him the whole way.
The special guest, Zhou Moyao, was at a hotel in Xiaguan, Yunnan. En route, Xie Li was chatting in the Melon-Melon group: [@everyone good work this time, couldn't be more satisfying — adding year-end bonuses :)]
[AAA Photography/Commercial-Teacher: Digging up new material already (puppy with wagging tail)]
……
Zhou Moyao, the special guest, was a newly rising film actress with a string of recent strong reviews. Xie Li looked up her profile in the car. Latest work: "The Mute." He vaguely remembered that film — a summer blockbuster, the first one of the season, campus and education themes. Nothing else to do, he opened his audiobook app, searched, couldn't find anything he wanted, and pulled up "The Mute" to watch while he waited. Just then, Xiaoxiao called.
"Hey, what is it?"
Xiaoxiao, frantic: "Xie-ge, check the trending searches!"
Xie Li switched to the social media app. #LiChengmingCallsOutFengSiyanFairCompetitionForQiaoMing #XieLiLiChengmingEngagementDissolved #DoubleMinMoreSuitable
Xie Li scrolled through the topics, let out a slow breath, and said evenly: "Well, that tracks. What was it they said in that audiobook earlier — 'a villain and a dog deserve each other.' Seems about right for those two."
He looked entirely unbothered, his voice relaxed and almost light. Xiaoxiao was at a loss.
Fiancé's betrayal, brother's manipulations — and Xie Li didn't seem even slightly angry.
He could face death with calm. He'd just grown harder, with a kind of steel inside him — you could chip away at it, but it wouldn't crack.
He must be in pain, Xiaoxiao thought with a pang.
The call ended. Xie Li opened Li Chengming's social media. [Xie Li and I parted ways long ago. From the beginning, our engagement was only arranged because of family pressure. I never fell in love with Xie Li — he was the one who kept pursuing me obsessively. @QiaoMing I like you. How about we compete fairly? @FengSiyan]
The background photo on Li Chengming's profile was still the fireworks from the night the engagement had been formally announced. Using that photo as a backdrop while declaring his heart to someone else was particularly grotesque.
Good thing, Xie Li thought. Good thing he'd never developed romantic feelings for Li Chengming. Their relationship had only ever been friendship — and even that last thread had long since dissolved.
That these statements could generate a wall of fan praise and support was genuinely beyond him.
[@XieLi: Li Chengming, you're old enough to know you should draft your lies before you tell them. Try harder.]
Xie Li going online was immediately noticed by rival fans hoping to watch him break down — and instead they got this.
The comment section reeled:
[Xie Li — how can someone actually be this bold?!]
[Sweat. He typed that under my eyes]
[Key phrase: Li Chengming is lying — there IS more]
[I can't even tell what show I'm watching anymore]
Having had two rounds of gossip already, the audience didn't bother doubting him. They just waited.
Sure enough, Xie Li replied directly under Li Chengming's post: [What century is this and you're still performing a grand romantic tragedy? Years ago I was in a minor car accident. My grandfather had people consult a fortune teller who said our pairing was auspicious, and so you were brought over to "bring good luck" at grandfather's insistence. Without that arrangement, do you think your family's company would have made it to its IPO? When I came to my senses and refused to go along with it, who was kneeling on the ground making declarations of undying devotion? The recording is still in my possession — shall I share it with everyone? @LiChengming]
[Or was the whole thing engineered — was your family behind my grandfather's car accident, the fortune teller, everything — calculated to latch onto the Xie family? Answer me if you dare. @LiChengming]
[Before my grandfather died, the promises you made, kneeling in front of him — he praised you as the only man worthy of his grandson's future. He was sharp his whole life and still fell for it. Li Chengming. A small man, nothing more.]
The audience, already camped out waiting: !
He just — he actually just said all that. Reading it once doesn't compute — how could anyone be this daring?
[Holy — Xie Li just aired everything. The words make sense individually but I can't process them together…]
[@LiChengming say something. I'm not even a Xie Li fan — I'm a neutral — but he sounds specific enough to be credible]
[His offense is at a level I didn't know existed (wiping forehead)]
[Honestly? I'm not here for the entertainment. I feel bad for Xie Li's grandfather who died thinking his grandson would be taken care of, and it was all a lie]
[Grandpa's-girl energy activated — I'm furious! Xie Li, you have my support for this one!]
Li Chengming had assumed the wave of online negativity surrounding Xie Li would wear him down and make him doubt himself — drive him back into dependence on Li Chengming. He had not expected Xie Li to detonate his own history in public.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
The narrative wasn't fully against him yet.
But within minutes his private messages had been swamped with comments and warnings from people he'd never met.
Li Chengming sat in furious helplessness. Xie Li held actual recordings. How had he been this stupid not to think of that?
But nothing he could say now would help. Every attempt at a response would only dig him deeper, and the public wasn't buying any of it.
[Li Chengming is online and not answering — coward]
[Pretty obvious it's all true, let me go leave some reviews for Li family brands]
In moments, Li family stocks dropped nearly fifty percent, and a torrent of criticism hit their brand accounts: Li family schemes their way to wealth!
Li Chengming's phone was blown up by the Li family demanding to know what he'd done on the internet. "It's because everyone pushed me to go after Qiao Ming," Li Chengming snapped, furious and impotent. "Feng Siyan already went all the way to the filming location. I had to make a move, had to say something. How else was he going to see I was serious?"
His mother, beside herself: "You — of all the— if those past events actually get dug up publicly, the Xie family will never let us get away with it! Go after Qiao Ming now, before it gets worse. Once you're married in and Qiao Ming has no head for business, the Xie family's operations will all fall to you anyway."
Li Chengming ground his teeth and nodded. Xie Li still had leverage over him. Making a spectacle of himself this way had ruined his image in Qiao Ming's eyes. Easier said than done.
And on top of that — Xie Li was behaving like this toward him now, even after losing his false-heir status. You couldn't afford to make an enemy even of a false heir. Li Chengming used his secretary's phone to text Xie Li.
[A-Li, you know how much I truly care about you — all of this was my parents pressuring me, I had no choice. I love only you. A-Li, if I've done anything wrong, just tell me and I promise to change, I'll never repeat it. I've been devoted to you from the moment our engagement was set — that hasn't changed. A-Li, I'm caught between my parents and Uncle Xie and Auntie Xie, it's been impossible. You have to understand. Pursuing Aming is only a strategy — it's all to secure the Li family inheritance. Once I've formally taken over the company, I can give you everything you want. For our future — can you endure just a little longer?]
Xie Li received this text just as he was finishing picking up special guest Zhou Moyao. She had brought six large suitcases for the trip; the production's van nearly couldn't fit them all, and Xie Li and the driver spent a long time rearranging seats and luggage before finally getting everything in.
By then the car was cramped and tight. Zhou Moyao also suffered from motion sickness and flatly refused to get in.
"What if I throw up in the car?" Zhou Moyao stood with her arms crossed, sunglasses on, expression unreadable.
Xie Li sighed. The production had only arranged this one vehicle, and when Zhou Moyao had added him on messaging earlier she had only photographed three suitcases. Where had the extra three come from?
Apparently she'd gone shopping in Xiaguan the previous night and bought more clothes.
"I have motion sickness medication and patches. If you sit in the front you'll have a better view — less likely to feel sick. I'll squeeze in the back with the luggage. One car is completely manageable. And our budget is tight — renting another vehicle will eat into what we have for the actual sightseeing."
"Think of it this way: all that money saved means more good experiences at the places we visit." Xie Li kept his tone measured, not wanting to sour Zhou Moyao's excitement about the trip. Besides, renting a car from Xiaguan to Dali wasn't cheap. As team leader, he had to think about the whole group.
Zhou Moyao sighed and clicked her tongue. "Fine."
Finally got her in. This job wasn't easy, Xie Li thought.
[Xie Li as team leader didn't even confirm the guest's luggage count in advance? This is how he handles it? Our Qiao baby already has the full three-day travel plan sorted]
[In this situation with limited budget, spending money on a second car when you can just sit in the front is the wrong call. Team player awareness matters]
[Why does Xie Li's comment section always attract argumentative people? You think you could do better, go ahead]
[Zhou Moyao gets motion sickness and Xie Li didn't coordinate with her in advance — that IS a team leader problem. I'm neutral, just watching]
[Motion sickness people really suffer]
Amid the heated discussions in the comment section, Xie Li and Zhou Moyao made it back to the courtyard inn.
Yu Miao and Xia Fangxing met them at the door and helped unload — then stopped dead when they saw the contents of the trunk.
Was this a travel shoot or a house move…
Yu Miao thought her own luggage was already excessive. She'd met her match.
"Thank you for helping — I'll just go grab some water, I haven't had any the whole way." Zhou Moyao left that single sentence hanging in the air and followed Wang Shaoyue into the courtyard, leaving Xie Li and the two women exchanging looks.
Yu Miao glanced at the camera and only said: "Xie-ge, you and the driver loaded all of this into the car on your own?"
