Pretending Not to Love You [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Zhao Zhixian spent three hours investigating and confirmed the situation: it was indeed the rival company, Lingqu Entertainment, behind it. It turned out that Lingqu had secretly prepared a three-member boy group for two years and planned to announce their debut soon, but Z.X beat them to the punch. What was even more frustrating for them was that both groups planned to follow the same career path.

Tang Lingqu, the boss of Lingqu, was furious. He was the one who bought the trending topic for Zuo Qiu and Xiao Baijun. It was rumored that they had plans for a second and third step, with the goal of killing Z.X in the cradle. This old geezer most likely wanted their new group to debut by stepping on Z.X.

Zhao Zhixian felt angry just thinking about it. Pah, dream on!

The domestic market for boy groups was currently a vast blank space. A twelve-member group had debuted a few years ago, enjoying unparalleled popularity for a time, but they disbanded in less than a year, their glory nothing but a flash in the pan. Later, many boy groups came out, but none gained much popularity and slowly disappeared from the public eye. Therefore, the number of famous and influential boy groups in the industry right now was zero. It seemed Tang Lingqu was also eyeing this profitable segment!

Regarding Lingqu’s move against Z.X, Xiao Bailin’s advice to Zhao Zhixian was to create a diversion. That very night, they should return the favor by exposing the dirt on Lingqu’s currently most popular female celebrity and give them a headache.

If the opponent still didn’t back off and continued targeting Z.X, they would continue to drop their scandals, rolling out their Best Actors and Actresses one by one. After all, Lingqu, a company involved in “pimping,” had an endless supply of dirt. It was just a matter of who could last longer!

Therefore, when Zuo Qiu woke up early and scrolled through Weibo, he did not see his and Xiao Baijun’s trending topic. After a slight sigh of relief, he came across a huge piece of gossip.

A certain female celebrity with the surname S slept with five men in one night! It turned out that this sex-appeal-oriented young star was just as promiscuous in private. No, calling her “promiscuous” was an insult to the word itself; in the words of netizens, she was downright licentious!

Fortunately, the person had no family or boyfriend, so after the news broke, netizens only lamented the female star’s chaotic private life and didn’t escalate it to a moral issue.

Having feasted on a big piece of gossip early in the morning, Zuo Qiu forgot his minor sadness from the night before and was humming a tune while making breakfast in the kitchen.

Xiao Baijun walked into the kitchen, leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, and asked Zuo Qiu, “What’s making you so happy?”

Zuo Qiu’s eyes lit up when he saw Xiao Baijun. He immediately shared the gossip he had read. “Let me tell you, I just saw a female celebrity from Lingqu trending. Wow, the photos are sensational!”

“You’re that happy seeing sensational photos?” What about being gay? He actually enjoys looking at indecent photos of girls? Can’t he be a more dedicated gay man?

“Of course not! I’m happy because someone else grabbed the trending spot, so our attention level will drop, and the other person is from Lingqu’s company.” Zuo Qiu was aware of the ongoing feud between Lingqu and Bogle. Therefore, with someone from the rival company having bad luck and diverting attention, Zuo Qiu was naturally pleased.

Xiao Baijun frowned, however. This incident broke out right after they trended for the second time, and it involved the rival company. He couldn’t help but suspect foul play. Xiao Baijun left the kitchen and went to the balcony to call Zhao Zhixian.

During breakfast, Xiao Baijun told Zuo Qiu, “Our second trending topic was bought by Lingqu.”

Zuo Qiu, whose mouth was full of eggs, quickly swallowed and asked in confusion, “Why would they spend money on us?” After two seconds, he figured it out. “They did it on purpose, planning to attack us next time? Then was this big exposé done by Brother Zhao?”

Xiao Baijun’s eyes showed admiration. As expected of a straight-A student! He only said one sentence, and Zuo Qiu had guessed the situation nine times out of ten.

“Brother Zhao wants us to keep a low profile lately and not give anyone an opportunity to attack.”

Zuo Qiu nodded. So, they needed to be extra careful when they traveled on Monday.

Having finished discussing business, Xiao Baijun’s mind returned to the question from the previous day. He looked at the lean meat congee in front of him, then at the mixed noodles in Zuo Qiu’s bowl, and said, “Your noodles look better. I want to try them.”

Before Zuo Qiu could utter, “There’s more in the pot, I’ll get you a bowl,” Xiao Baijun had already pulled Zuo Qiu’s bowl toward him and tasted a large mouthful.

Xiao Baijun had always disliked eating noodles and vermicelli, but now, eating Zuo Qiu’s custom-made mixed noodles, he completely changed his mind about noodles. He thought, Delicious, truly delicious, and proceeded to finish the remaining two-thirds of Zuo Qiu’s bowl.

Zuo Qiu had no choice but to go back to the kitchen and get himself another bowl.

After finishing his meal and wiping his mouth, Xiao Baijun realized he had gone off-topic. He cleared his throat and asked Zuo Qiu, “You don’t mind me eating your saliva, do you?”

Zuo Qiu looked at Xiao Baijun as if he were an idiot. “You should be asking yourself that.” Shouldn’t the person eating someone else’s saliva be the one who cares more? But since it wasn’t him, why was Xiao Baijun asking him?

Xiao Baijun thought, Of course I don’t mind, but I want to know if you mind. He then pushed the lean meat congee, which he had eaten a third of, in front of Zuo Qiu and said, “You eat this.”

Zuo Qiu looked at the congee Xiao Baijun had leftover and was very surprised. “Why?” He didn’t want to eat congee at all. Why was he forcing him?

“I ate your saliva, so you should return the favor and eat mine,” Xiao Baijun stated righteously.

Zuo Qiu laughed angrily. “Wouldn’t kissing be more direct?”

There is truly such a shameless person in the world who would force someone to eat his saliva! Zuo Qiu felt he had learned a new trick.

Though Zuo Qiu’s words were unintentional, Xiao Baijun took them seriously. “Good idea!” he said, then stood up, walked to Zuo Qiu, and immediately sealed his mouth with a kiss.

Zuo Qiu stared foolishly as Xiao Baijun walked up to him, leaned down, and pressed his lips against his. He was frozen. His comment was clearly a joke. When did Xiao Baijun start taking things so literally?

This, this, this… is something wrong here?

Fortunately, it was just a light, fleeting kiss. Their lips touched, and they separated after two seconds.

Xiao Baijun smacked his lips, savoring the moment for two seconds. Then he said, “Finally, it’s fair.”

That one sentence jolted Zuo Qiu out of his fantasy. “Little Xiao, you big child!”

The moment he kissed Zuo Qiu, Xiao Baijun noticed that although Zuo Qiu was stiff, his body didn’t reject the intimacy. So… Zuo Qiu must like him too!

Xiao Baijun had gained an advantage and was feeling happy. He didn’t care what Zuo Qiu called him now and accepted it all.

Zuo Qiu, who had been suddenly kissed by Xiao Baijun, felt a little happy, yet vaguely confused. A straight man kissing a gay man without any pressure… Is this straight man really straight?