A sentence like this, coming after driving across half of B City in the dead of night, going through hell and high water to bring a drunkard home, and after the argument and comforting in the hallway, could simply be called an indefensible backhanded stab.

Huo Mingjun was completely shut down by this bloodless assassination, the expression on his face for a moment looking as if he’d been stabbed straight through.

Xie Guan closed his eyes, no longer looking at him, and turned his head in the opposite direction, silently expressing, "You can go now."

Of course, he knew Huo Mingjun was indulging him, tolerating him, and yielding to him. This was perhaps the first time in President Huo’s life that he had condescended to lower himself to take care of someone. He should have been moved, should have welcomed it with a smile, but a voice in his heart kept questioning him: "Is Huo Mingjun really being good to you?"

When Huo Mingjun looked at Xie Guan, who did he see?

His indulgence, tolerance, and concessions, all his gentleness and comfort—was it for the person Xie Guan, or for Xie Guan’s face?

The moment those words left his mouth, an irrepressible wave of sadness washed over Xie Guan's heart. He had repeatedly tried to push Huo Mingjun away in the hallway, but he was blocked every time. Huo Mingjun had been kind to him, and he didn't want to hurt the man too much, yet in the end, he had delivered a blow that wounded them both.

Perhaps from this moment on, he and Huo Mingjun would be completely cut off from each other.

Xie Guan closed his eyes and thought, "Will it hurt a lot? That's fine, too. Pain will teach me to be afraid."

He waited for Huo Mingjun to fly into a rage and storm off, but he was simply too tired. Xie Guan only vaguely heard the sound of receding footsteps before he passed out and fell fast asleep.

Huo Mingjun walked into the bedroom silently, carrying a glass of water. Seeing Xie Guan asleep, he wanted to put the glass down but found after a look around that the room didn't even have a nightstand. He had no choice but to place it on the windowsill, then walked silently back to the bed and properly covered him with the quilt he hadn't had a chance to earlier.

A trace of weariness still lingered on Xie Guan's brow. His face was buried in the pillow, and his brows, under his messy hair, were knitted, making him look a little wronged.

Huo Mingjun went to turn off the overhead light but didn't leave right away. Instead, he returned to the bedside and sat down. The loose, old wooden bed struggled under the weight, letting out a piercing "creak."

Although Xie Guan's words had indeed hit his sore spot accurately and ruthlessly, Huo Mingjun had, after all, weathered a few more years of storms than Xie Guan and was more composed in his dealings with the world. He was past the age of a rash young man and wouldn't be so easily clouded by a couple of harsh words and act on impulse.

"Usually, he's like a little lamb. How come he's more stubborn than anyone when it comes to me..." Huo Mingjun said to himself, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh.

With no outsiders present, the intimidating aura around him receded, leaving only pure handsomeness. In the hazy, silver-gauze-like light, Huo Mingjun lowered his eyes to gaze at the sleeping Xie Guan, his expression so serene it was almost gentle.

"I know you're not Cheng Sheng. You two do look alike, but I never actually confused you. I just... was reluctant to give up... that's all."

The moonlight shone through the window lattice, illuminating a side profile worthy of a painting. His silhouette was softened by the thick night into a peaceful and steady shadow. His face showed none of the anger or disappointment Xie Guan had expected; instead, a faint, ethereal smile rippled in the depths of his eyes.

He said in a low voice, "I've already lost once. I won't make the same mistake this time."

After he said this, the weight that had been pressing on his heart for many years strangely loosened a bit, as if a tiny crack had been pried open in the giant rock that had been blocking the sky above his head, and a wisp of fresh air suddenly rushed into the stuffy underground.

Unfortunately, Xie Guan was still sound asleep and naturally had no reaction to his words.

The next day, sober, Xie Guan climbed out of bed with a splitting headache. Just as he was about to turn into the bathroom to wash up, his peripheral vision caught several white plastic bags on the living room dining table, and he paused in confusion.

His mind was a complete muddle. He had to rack his brains to remember being brought back by Huo Mingjun after blacking out from drinking last night. Those chaotic and blurry fragments rampaged through his mind, and Xie Guan only managed to grasp a few key images... It seemed he had given Huo Mingjun the cold shoulder?

Liquid courage, as the saying goes, is very true. When Xie Guan was dead drunk, he was simply tyrannical, cold, and ruthless. Now that he was sober, he immediately reverted to his cowardly self. He rubbed his nose sheepishly, thinking, "It's over. This time I've really, thoroughly offended the big boss."

He smelled the faint aroma of food, and his feet involuntarily took a detour towards the dining table.

On the table were two bags of long-cold breakfast, and a paper bag from a pharmacy containing a box of hangover medicine... and a box of antihistamine.

Xie Guan looked up at the wall clock. One-thirty in the afternoon.

He recognized the breakfast from the stalls downstairs; the earliest one usually opened at five-thirty in the morning.

In other words, Huo Mingjun had watched over him the entire night, hadn't slept at all, and had even prepared breakfast and medicine for him before leaving.

Xie Guan stood dazedly in front of the table, staring at the pile of bags. He thought about his great deeds from last night, and for a moment, his heart was in a turmoil, so choked by that subtle, heartwarming feeling that he couldn't speak for a long time.

"Really..."

A thousand words melted into a single "Fuck." Xie Guan wiped his face hard, turned, and strode into the bathroom, splashing several handfuls of cold water on his face.

That day happened to be a weekend. Huo Mingjun left Xie Guan's place at seven in the morning and drove back to his own residence. He had only gone three hundred meters before he was caught squarely in the morning rush hour traffic.

He had been afraid that Xie Guan was truly allergic to alcohol and hadn't dared to leave all night. After daylight, once he confirmed the man was fine, he went downstairs to buy medicine and breakfast.

For someone his age, staying up all night was quite a burden on the body; it would take a day or two to recover. Yet, as Huo Mingjun was gridlocked with no way forward or back, watching an electric scooter that had left the complex at the same time as him overtake and vanish into the distance, he felt no impatience at all, aside from some mental fatigue.

The anxiety and hesitation that had plagued his heart since meeting Xie Guan seemed to be slowly blowing away on a gentle breeze. Huo Mingjun was gradually regaining his familiar calmness and sense of rhythm. Once he shattered the illusion and reset his own mentality and Xie Guan's position, things began to fall into place.

That night, by the hazy moonlight and the sight of Xie Guan's sleeping face, Huo Mingjun had single-mindedly, with his own hands, unveiled the past that had been covered for ten years. He soberly recalled that night washed by a torrential downpour, the heart-stopping escape and the unforgettable pain, remembering that fall forever frozen in his memory, and the decade-long stubbornness and delusion that refused to subside.

Then, the figure in his memory gradually blurred and faded out, while memories related to Xie Guan emerged as clearly as stones revealed by a receding tide, replaying distinctly before his eyes. At first, Xie Guan still carried another person's shadow, but gradually, he drew closer and closer to Huo Mingjun, his features becoming clearer and clearer. Until the moment Xie Guan said, "let's not see each other again," he and Cheng Sheng finally appeared as two distinctly different images in Huo Mingjun's mind at the same time.

The decade-long obsession would finally be dusted off by him, to be cherished and sealed deep in his heart. The one who had passed was gone with the wind and rain, but the person before him...

Huo Mingjun glanced at the peacefully sleeping Xie Guan on the pillow.

—The person before him was still here.

After arriving home, Huo Mingjun washed up and got into bed, but he didn't rush to catch up on sleep. First, he made a call to Xie Guan's direct supervisor, President Ye.

The tone rang for a long time before the other end picked up. Ye Zheng had probably been woken up; he asked in a lazy drawl, "Calling this early in the morning, I can tell you have no nightlife... Chairman Huo, what can I do for you?"

Huo Mingjun couldn't be bothered to trade barbs with this kind of smack-talker and got straight to the point, "I need you to do something for me. Are you up?"

Ye Zheng said, "Hold on," and whispered something to someone beside him. Huo Mingjun vaguely heard something that sounded like, "It's fine, you go back to sleep," followed by the sound of very soft footsteps and a door closing. A moment later, Ye Zheng picked up the phone again and said, "Alright, go ahead."

"Sorry to bother you," Huo Mingjun said. "Two things, please help me ask your company's people. First is about Xie Guan's assistant. Since Xie Guan started filming, I've seen him a total of twice, and every time an assistant is needed, the person is nowhere to be found. Last night, Xie Guan got wasted, and there wasn't even anyone around to take him home. What is this assistant being paid for?"

The moment Ye Zheng heard the name "Xie Guan," his head began to ache. "Chairman Huo, I'm the boss of an entertainment company—do you know what a boss is? It's someone who specifically squeezes the surplus value out of little artists like Xie Guan—I'm not running a nursery, you know!"

Huo Mingjun feigned selective deafness. "His current assistant is unreliable. If your company doesn't have a suitable candidate, I'll pick one from my side and send them over."

Ye Zheng let out a sarcastic "Oh," and mocked, "It's not that I'm criticizing you, Chairman Huo, but do you know what this behavior of yours is like? It's like those foolish fathers who immediately pressure the school to change teachers the moment their child's test scores drop. Aren't you being childish?"

"Cut the crap," Huo Mingjun said. "Just change him. The next time I see something like this, you can stop being the director of this nursery and retire home to live out your days."

"A chairman of such a large group is actually threatening me," Ye Zheng said without a hint of sincerity. "You're scaring me to death. What's the other thing?"

Huo Mingjun: "Xie Guan should have had a dinner party last night, at the Lanyue Club. Find out for me who attended and what was discussed."

Ye Zheng said, puzzled, "Out of the blue, why are you asking about this?"

"'Out of the blue'?"

Huo Mingjun sneered, "The man almost got alcohol poisoning. How is that 'out of the blue'?"

While Ye Zheng was marveling to himself that Huo Mingjun, who seemed so aloof, unexpectedly had the potential to be a doting, foolish ruler, he agreed, "Alright, I got it. I'll ask the manager and give you a reply on Monday."

On the day of the Little New Year, the `Jingwu Youth` film crew wrapped up shooting and began their New Year holiday. Xie Guan was called back to the company by Lin Yao. The senior manager first sincerely apologized to him for her mistake in choosing an assistant, stating that she would definitely hold Fang Wei responsible. Then, she introduced him to a newly found male assistant, Huang Cheng.

Xie Guan was still wondering how the company had found out about this so quickly. He had told Fang Wei that he could pack his bags and get lost after `Jingwu Youth` finished filming, but unexpectedly, Lin Yao had beaten him to it.

"Hello, Teacher Xie. I'm Huang Cheng."

"Hello." Xie Guan extended his hand to shake his, feeling the hard, rough calluses on the man's knuckles and palm. He was slightly surprised and asked casually, "Are you from the military? Or have you practiced martial arts?"

Huang Cheng had slightly dark skin and showed a mouth full of white teeth when he smiled. "Yes, I was a soldier for two years. I'm looking for a job after being discharged."

Lin Yao asked Huang Cheng a few more questions, which he answered one by one. He was twenty-nine this year, six years older than Xie Guan, steady and mature, and very suitable for taking care of people. Lin Yao was basically satisfied and turned to ask for Xie Guan's opinion. "Little Xie, what do you think?"

"He's great, I'm very satisfied." Xie Guan wasn't picky about this sort of thing to begin with and had an inexplicable good feeling about people with a military background. He agreed readily, "Let's settle on him."

Like a well-trained large police dog, Huang Cheng immediately recognized his master the moment Xie Guan nodded, moving to stand directly behind him. Lin Yao watched this and was secretly dumbfounded, thinking to herself that it was no wonder the higher-ups were unwilling to use the assistant she had chosen and had insisted on sending someone down directly. A talent like this was probably qualified enough to be a private bodyguard; having him be an assistant for an artist of Xie Guan's caliber was a huge waste of his skills.

She recalled the questions President Ye had asked when she was called to his office today, and her gaze on Xie Guan couldn't help but become deeper and sharper.

This low-key, unassuming little artist who was still struggling on the 18th-tier, what exactly were his origins?