Chapter 96 – A Great Blunder

With Chen Xiaoyi’s startled cry, the tumultuous “battle” in the room came to an abrupt halt.

Her eyes ablaze with fury, Chen Xiaoyi stormed toward the bedroom.

“Who are you?”

A man stood before her, bare-chested and loosely wrapped in a bath towel. His chest rose and fell, beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead.

Chen Xiaoyi craned her neck, her bright almond-shaped eyes wide with disbelief—the man before her was not her boyfriend, Chen Xiang!

Yet, she had unmistakably heard Chen Xiang’s voice moments ago.

She glanced toward the large lump under the covers on the bed.

There was certainly someone under those covers.

A terrifying suspicion began to form in her mind, but she couldn’t be sure.

Instinctively, she turned to look for Mu Ran.

But Mu Ran hadn’t entered the bedroom.

Chen Xiaoyi’s face fell.

She shuffled forward, trying to approach the bed.

“What are you doing? Miss, what gives you the right to barge into my room? How did you get in here?” the man blocked her path, stopping her from moving closer.

“I walked in! Move aside! Is there a man under your covers?”

Chen Xiaoyi clawed at the man’s arm, and if not for her disgust at his sweaty odor, she would have bitten him right then.

A wave of revulsion and loathing surged within her.

“Who’s under the covers is none of your business!” The man before her stiffened, his lips twitching, anger flashing on his face.

“Get out!” He grabbed the petite Chen Xiaoyi and began dragging her away.

“Chen Xiang!” Chen Xiaoyi shouted toward the person under the covers, her voice laced with disappointment and rage.

“Damn you, let go of me, you filthy man! You’re disgusting!” Chen Xiaoyi’s glare seemed to slice the man’s face a thousand times.

He was handsome, with a decent temperament—why did he have to be gay?

“You really are disgusting!!”

The thought of her longtime boyfriend fooling around in bed with another man made Chen Xiaoyi nauseous, more sickened than swallowing a dead fly.

“Disgusting?” The man sneered, his handsome face dark as night.

He gripped her slender wrist and flung her away with force.

“Ah!” Chen Xiaoyi was thrown onto the bed.

Her whole body sank into the soft mattress.

She instinctively reached for the bulging covers, the fresh scent of men’s cologne filling her nose.

“No one’s here?”

Seeing the shift from fury to terror on her face, the man laughed.

“Who’s here? Who’s this Chen Xiang you mentioned?”

“Ah! I—I don’t know!” Chen Xiaoyi propped herself up, ready to get up and find Mu Ran, only to be pinned down by the man who suddenly moved in front of her.

Contrary to her expectations, his body carried no trace of sweat, only a clean and pleasant fragrance.

What a colossal misunderstanding.

“Hm? Trying to leave? Do you think you can?”

Chen Xiaoyi’s eyes sparkled like bells; her lips parted slightly, her cheeks flushed, “I—I definitely heard Chen Xiang’s voice just now, and your room was filled with… indescribable…”

The man found her flustered expression utterly adorable. He rolled over, lying on his side next to her, his long arm resting across her stomach, palm gripping her slender waist.

With his other hand supporting his head, a wicked smile curled at his lips.

“Watching TV.”

Chen Xiaoyi’s face burned; she turned to look at the TV screen where his finger pointed.

“Screen casting?!”

“Mu Ran, you tricked me!”

A surge of energy flooded Chen Xiaoyi’s body; she broke free from the man’s embrace, leapt up, and dashed out.

The man on the bed made no move to stop her, letting this quick-witted, fiery girl flee in panic.

“Mu Ran?” he murmured, watching her retreat, his smile widening, a glint of cunning in his brown eyes.

He picked up the phone on the bedside table. “Beicheng, give me your girlfriend Mu Ran’s contact information.”

Outside the man’s room.

The two women stared each other down.

“Mu Ran, you played me!” Chen Xiaoyi was so angry that several stray hairs stood upright; she jabbed her finger at Mu Ran’s composed, coldly beautiful face and shouted.

“I…” A flicker of embarrassment crossed Mu Ran’s expressionless face.

Her lips twitched. “I got the room number wrong.”

Chen Xiaoyi took a deep breath, grabbed Mu Ran’s wrist, her tone gradually calming but tinged with threat. “Come on, I know which room it is.”

Just now, on the man’s TV screen, Chen Xiaoyi had seen an eye-searing video.

A video of Chen Xiang and another person “struggling” together.

Someone from another room had mistakenly cast the video onto the TV in the handsome man’s room.

Chen Xiaoyi dragged Mu Ran to the door of the adjacent room.

“Do you have a key card for this room?” She glanced at the cards in Mu Ran’s hand and whispered.

Mu Ran nodded, checked the room number, and handed her the appropriate card.

“Shh!” Chen Xiaoyi pressed her finger to her lips, tiptoeing as she opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, a wave of lustful, unpleasant, nauseating air hit them.

Both women instinctively stepped back.

The next moment, a man’s wild moans echoed from within.

Chen Xiaoyi’s face darkened, her expression thunderous and furious.

Her gaze cut like knives over the shoes at the door and the clothes scattered on the floor.

They belonged to Chen Xiang!

Chen Xiaoyi and Chen Xiang had been classmates in high school.

They started dating last year.

But lately, Chen Xiaoyi hadn’t been able to reach him.

Every time she called, she heard a man’s voice on the line.

She naively assumed Chen Xiang was just hanging out with his buddies.

But she never imagined Chen Xiang would actually be—gay!

Did that make her a “beard”?

The thought sent her simmering with rage as she reached the bedroom. “Chen Xiang! You bastard, you’re asking for it!”

Inside, on the bed, two sweating men froze mid-motion.

“Xiaoyi!” Chen Xiang was pinned beneath another man.

His pupils widened as he looked at her, standing by the bed, face ashen.

He scrambled out from under the other man and, stark naked, rushed to her side, dropping to his knees with a thud.

“Xiaoyi, no, let me explain!”

Chen Xiaoyi cast a disgusted glance at the man who’d been on top of Chen Xiang.

That man lounged against the bed, his lower body covered by the duvet, meeting her gaze with a provocatively indifferent expression.

Chen Xiaoyi turned her eyes, a mocking, contemptuous smile curling her lips; she lifted Chen Xiang’s chin with her finger. “Explain.”

“I have pimples on my back! He was popping them for me!”

Chen Xiaoyi snorted with laughter, her eyes overflowing with disdain.

She had liked Chen Xiang because he seemed honest—his family wasn’t well-off, but he treated her kindly.

She was precocious; though only eighteen, she didn’t seek dramatic romance.

But she hadn’t expected Chen Xiang to be gentle and attentive to her in public, while secretly galloping wild in bed with another man!

“I’ll show you popping pimples!”

Chen Xiaoyi slapped Chen Xiang’s innocent, submissive face—left, right, left, right.

She landed seven or eight slaps in succession.

The man on the bed finally couldn’t sit still. “Enough!”

He cast a lazy glance at the cowering Chen Xiang on the floor, snorted coldly, “He’s mine.”

“Whose?” A cold, commanding female voice rang out.

The previously domineering man instantly wilted, hurriedly dressed, and jumped out of bed.

“President Mu?” he stammered.

The man’s name was Li Yanjun, a recent signee at SY Studios.

He was personally signed by Mu Ran.

Li Yanjun had solid acting skills and rugged good looks; Mu Ran saw great potential in him.

She also knew his orientation. She didn’t discriminate or object to bisexuality among her artists, as long as it didn’t affect the company’s image.

“President Mu?” Chen Xiaoyi looked suspiciously at Mu Ran, whose cool demeanor exuded authority.

Mu Ran approached Li Yanjun. Though she was a head shorter, her aura made him tremble.

“I’ve told you before, your personal affairs are none of my concern. But today is SY’s banquet—isn’t this behavior too outrageous? I’ll contact your agent shortly and terminate your contract.”

Li Yanjun instantly lost all pride and arrogance; he dropped to his knees before Mu Ran, trying to embrace her legs.

She kicked him aside.

Mu Ran’s lips curled. “Don’t forget the ten million penalty. Otherwise, I’ll personally leak today’s incident to the media. You’ll never survive in the entertainment industry.”

Li Yanjun stiffened, slumped to the floor, then turned and began beating Li Xiang.

“You seduced me!”

Mu Ran ignored the two revolting men, pulling the dazed Chen Xiaoyi out of the room.

“See that? His name is Li Yanjun—good actor, second-tier star, promising future. I terminated him for your sake.”

Mu Ran leaned down, whispering in Chen Xiaoyi’s ear.

Chen Xiaoyi rubbed her ear in annoyance, secretly cursing the cunning businesswoman—Li Yanjun was clearly just a pawn.

“What do you want me to do?”

Mu Ran raised an eyebrow. “Sign with SY.”

Chen Xiaoyi was astounded, bouncing in place. “Me, sign with SY? With my qualifications, how is that possible?”

SY was a new film studio, but stronger and more capable than Chengxing and Chaoyang.

How could she, Chen Xiaoyi, deserve such a chance?

“I’m the boss. If I say you’re good enough, you are.”

Standing in the corridor, Chen Xiaoyi’s eyes sparkled with excitement and disbelief. Her hands trembled, her lips involuntarily curving upward. “Can I really?”

Everyone in the industry knew—if you signed with SY Studios, your future would shine.

She had never imagined herself so accomplished.

“The daughter of Director Chen is surely no less. You must believe in yourself.”

Chen Xiaoyi was still just a child, her emotions written plainly across her face.

She spread her arms and hugged Mu Ran’s slender waist, tears falling from her eyes.

“Wah, Mu Ran, you’re amazing! I insulted you just now, yet you aren’t angry, you helped me catch a cheater, and let me join SY. You’re too good to me!”

“There, there.” A hint of affectionate smile appeared on Mu Ran’s cool face.

“You’re only eighteen—I can forgive childish words. But in future, you mustn’t be so reckless; not everyone will spoil you like I do.”

Chen Xiaoyi wiped her tears and nodded vigorously at Mu Ran.

“Are you not upset about your boyfriend?” Mu Ran teased, gazing at her cute, delicate face, untouched by makeup.

Chen Xiaoyi laughed breezily. “Compared to my career, love is nothing. Besides, Chen Xiang turned out to be a total bottom! And I always thought he was masculine!”

Mu Ran poked her cheek, smiling. “You need to get your eyes checked.”

“Oh, Mu Ran, don’t tease me! I’m really sorry for what I said to you earlier.”