He truly had not cared. His entire heart was focused on Xi Yu.
Whether he lost fans or not, he did not really care.
Xi Yu, however, cared very much. The worship from fans could increase Lu Zhixing’s spiritual energy and help him suppress the demonic energy.
Xi Yu picked up his phone from the side and searched Weibo for Lu Zhixing’s trending topics.
He did not even need to search. The number-one trending topic on Weibo was already Lu Zhixing’s name, except the words attached after it were…
“Bootlicker?” Xi Yu looked further down, even more shocked. “A mistress!?”
The trending topics were all about Lu Zhixing.
#Lu Zhixing Bootlicker#
#Lu Zhixing Xi Yu#
#Lu Zhixing Luo Cheng’an#
#The Nation’s Movie Emperor Quits the Industry for Love—Is This a Distortion of Human Nature or the Collapse of Morality?#
#No More Interactions Between Sui Xing Suo Yu After the Variety Show, Countless Xing Fans’ Hearts Shattered Into Pieces#
#Sui Xing Suo Yu Starts Off as a BE#
#Luo Cheng’an Declares His Territory—Is the Movie Emperor the Mistress?#
What was all this supposed to mean?
Xi Yu recognized every individual word, but once they were put together, he could no longer understand what he was reading.
When he saw Luo Cheng’an’s name, Xi Yu clicked on that trending topic. At the top was a video of the two of them riding on the tractor.
Xi Yu remembered that Luo Cheng’an had filmed a video when he was sitting on the tractor.
Luo Cheng’an had rested his head on Xi Yu’s shoulder, holding onto his arm and smiling brilliantly.
Throughout the video, Luo Cheng’an kept asking him to look at the camera. Xi Yu himself had felt that he was being rather perfunctory, but on camera, it looked as though he was doting on him.
The caption read:
“Family without blood ties. ❤️”
In Xi Yu’s eyes, it was a perfectly normal Weibo post.
In fact, everything had still been fine up to that point. The identities of the real and fake heirs were already a sensitive subject, and although netizens were not so beastly as to ship absolutely everything, things went wrong when anti-fans started insulting Luo Cheng’an, saying that he had occupied someone else’s rightful place and would be kicked out sooner or later.
Luo Cheng’an immediately retorted:
“My brother said he would protect me for the rest of my life. I’m afraid your wish is going to fall through. Just be jealous of me, nya nya nya~”
The moment those words were posted, the public opinion changed completely.
There were already some fans who shipped the real and fake young masters, and now they seemed to have been injected with stimulants. They went back through every interaction between him and Luo Cheng’an on the variety show and made videos about them.
Xi Yu imagined the smug little expression Luo Cheng’an must have had while typing those words and could not help laughing. He did not take these self-indulgent fan videos seriously.
After all, they were all fake.
He then clicked on the trending topic about Lu Zhixing quitting the entertainment industry.
At the top was an announcement from Lu Zhixing’s studio stating that Lu Zhixing would not be accepting any work commitments for the time being. If a good script came along in the future, he might still act.
The announcement had been posted an hour earlier, shortly after Luo Cheng’an’s Weibo post. There had been less than ten minutes between the two posts.
It had sparked a massive discussion online.
The Xing fans and the Sui Xing Suo Yu CP fans were the most heartbroken.
Xi Yu was astonished. “You quit the entertainment industry!?”
“I was going to quit anyway. The Lu Corporation’s focus is shifting toward the domestic market, and I’ll be responsible for the subsidiary in A City. I won’t have time to act.”
He had originally entered the entertainment industry simply to make Shizun notice him. If he stood at a high enough place, and Shizun saw the demonic energy covering his body, Shizun would surely come looking for him.
Gods and demons might not necessarily attract Shizun’s attention, but demons certainly would.
Yet he had never expected that even after standing so high, Shizun still would not notice him at all.
Lu Zhixing looked at Xi Yu with a faintly aggrieved expression.
Xi Yu did not notice his gaze and continued scrolling through the comments.
[Luo Cheng’an! I know you’re happy, but stop being happy for a second! You’re breaking up my CP!]
[After the variety show ended, Brother Lu and Yu Bao really haven’t interacted much anymore.]
[Why! Why does he have to quit the industry!]
[This is too cruel. He says he’s quitting and just quits. Did he ever think about his fans? Fine! I know Brother Lu has always been fake-flirting with us!]
[Don’t quit, Brother Lu~ Don’t quit~]
[No way, I just started shipping Sui Xing Suo Yu and Lu Zhixing quits? Am I supposed to survive on this tiny bit of content for the rest of my life?]
[Come join me, person above. The real and fake young masters are pretty good too. Luo Cheng’an and Yu Bao are practically one family. We can live off this content forever!]
[Cold and aloof real young master gong vs. silly sweet fake young master shou.]
[Does everyone in this fandom just assume Luo Cheng’an is the shou? How about taking a bite of loyal-dog gong?]
[It’s hard to tell who’s gong and who’s shou in Sui Xing Suo Yu, but when it comes to the real and fake young masters, I stand firmly on one side at a glance. Luo Cheng’an is definitely the shou!]
[Although Luo Cheng’an is stupid, he really is beautiful.]
[Why do I feel like Luo Cheng’an is declaring his territory? Everyone online is shipping Sui Xing Suo Yu. He’s been in the entertainment industry for so long; surely he knows which things he can say and which things he can’t. ]
[Plus one. I feel the same way. The variety show’s popularity hasn’t even died down yet, and Luo Cheng’an is already breaking up the CP… The more I think about it, the scarier it gets.]
[Luo Cheng’an and Yu Bao are pretty sweet too. Yu Bao has always been protecting Luo Cheng’an. He probably knew about everything Luo Shujing did a long time ago.]
[Could there be a possibility that Xi Yu went on the variety show specifically for Luo Cheng’an? Those people didn’t know there were hidden cameras. On the day Luo Shujing tried to kill Luo Cheng’an, the drone normally shouldn’t have been following them, but Xi Yu seemed to know in advance what Luo Shujing was going to do and deliberately carried the communicator on him to attract the drone.]
[Oh my God, the person above just opened my eyes. That really does seem to be the case. At first, I thought Yu Bao wanted to enter the entertainment industry, but after the variety show ended, there was no movement at all. A friend of mine in the industry said they had a script they wanted to offer Yu Bao, but it was rejected before it even reached him. They said he had no plans to act and did not want to enter the entertainment industry. But then why did he go on the variety show!?]
[Luo Shujing previously wanted to steal Luo Cheng’an’s luck using a method that couldn’t be used to convict him, but after Xi Yu returned and broke the lock, Luo Shujing was driven into a corner and took desperate measures. Isn’t it obvious that Xi Yu knew in advance and went on the variety show to protect Luo Cheng’an? I’m shipping it!]
………………………………..
[I’m not a fan of either side, but I think Lu Zhixing is pretty tea-like. First, before the variety show started, he left a +1 comment on Luo Cheng’an’s Weibo. Then, during the variety show, he kept complaining about headaches, saying this hurt and that hurt. On the first night, Xi Yu was originally supposed to stay with Luo Cheng’an, right? But Lu Zhixing suddenly felt unwell and asked Xi Yu to take care of him.]
[I’m dying. Isn’t that a mistress?]
[Lu Zhixing really does stick close to Xi Yu, and that time he fell into the water was suspicious too. It feels deliberate, like he wanted Xi Yu to worry about him. Luo Cheng’an innocently suffered because of it and even got a wave of abuse.]
[I’m tea myself, so I understand Lu Zhixing very well.]
The public opinion continued to veer further and further off course.
Everyone was saying that Lu Zhixing was pretentious.
Because Luo Cheng’an had been framed by Luo Shujing, he had always maintained his silly-sweet persona. After going through a wave of emotional turmoil with his fans, he had gained a large number of fiercely loyal supporters.
Lu Zhixing had even more fans, but they were now divided into two groups: one group was grieving over his retirement, while the other had entered the battlefield to fight.
[What do you mean, mistress? Are Luo Cheng’an and Xi Yu together? Did he tell you that?]
[Watch your mouth. You can’t see that Yu Bao was the one who took the initiative to hug Brother Lu? Luo Cheng’an is the real mistress here.]
[It’s obvious that Yu Bao cares more about Brother Lu. He only takes care of Luo Cheng’an because they’re family, okay? Anti-fans, don’t try to lead the narrative.]
[Luo Cheng’an is obviously the schemer here. The moment the variety show ended, he broke up the CP, made my Brother Lu quit the industry, and then got him criticized on top of that. I won’t say who the real tea is.]
The discussion surrounding the three of them reached unprecedented levels. Luo Cheng’an’s move had indeed damaged Lu Zhixing’s reputation and caused some fans to leave.
But Luo Cheng’an also lost fans. Some casual fans felt that the Xing fans had a point and began to suspect that Luo Cheng’an was calculating and manipulative.
Overall, Luo Cheng’an’s Weibo post had injured a thousand enemies while costing himself eight hundred.
Xi Yu put down his phone. He endured it, endured it again, but finally could not hold back.
“This idiot!”
What on earth was he posting!?
Xi Yu stood up and was about to go find Luo Cheng’an when Lu Zhixing grabbed him.
“Don’t be angry.”
Lu Zhixing’s eyelashes trembled as he put on an understanding and magnanimous expression.
“Cheng’an is young, and he depends on you so much. He couldn’t resist showing off. He probably didn’t know it would cause so much trouble.”
Xi Yu took a deep breath.
“There’s seriously something wrong with that kid’s head!”
He believed Luo Cheng’an had not done it deliberately. Most importantly, those words really had been something Xi Yu himself said.
And Luo Cheng’an was the sort of person who could not hide anything.
Xi Yu truly did not understand the internet. He had not expected a single video to cause such a massive discussion.
And what were they even talking about? It sounded as though he had already gotten together with someone.
Lu Zhixing pulled Xi Yu back down to sit and laughed.
“How can you blame him? You said you would protect him for the rest of his life. What moving words. If I had a brother like that, I would want to show him off too.”
As Lu Zhixing spoke, a trace of darkness flashed through his eyes.
He had truly underestimated Huai Xi.
The once arrogant Crown Prince of the Divine Clan, now the Lord of Heaven on the Ninth Heaven, could actually lower himself to such an extent.
Imitating the person he had once looked down upon the most.
And now he could even use this real-and-fake-young-master identity to draw out Shizun’s sense of guilt.
He understood Shizun too well. After his soul had been reborn through this current body, he would inevitably bear the karma belonging to this body.
The “Luo Cheng’an” who had been schemed against, the “Luo Cheng’an” whose parents had been wrongfully harmed, the “Luo Cheng’an” who no longer had any family left.
With such an identity, it was not surprising that Shizun would say he would protect him for the rest of his life.
But Lu Zhixing was certain that when Shizun said he would protect him for the rest of his life, he meant it purely in the literal sense.
Lu Zhixing rubbed the back of Xi Yu’s hand, telling him not to be angry, but an endless fury had already begun to burn within him.
An uncontrollable rage burned through his blood.
Even knowing that those words were meant literally, how could he not be angry?
Since Shizun’s rebirth, Shizun had never said anything like that to him.
Huai Xi had admired Shizun for a long time. Lu Zhixing could see it clearly.
Huai Xi could naturally see through his feelings as well, which was why he had warned him time and time again not to covet someone he could never obtain.
Once, he had always carried himself with lofty arrogance and aloofness. Now he was imitating Lu Zhixing, drawing close to Shizun.
Knowing that Shizun was insensitive when it came to matters of love, he was doing everything he could to declare his territory.
But Huai Xi had overlooked one thing.
His Shizun was simply too afraid that the spiritual energy within Lu Zhixing would be suppressed by the demonic energy.
No matter how much Huai Xi tried to seduce him, as long as the demonic energy remained within Lu Zhixing’s body, Shizun’s attention would always remain on him.