DLRAS Chapter 53

Chapter 53: My person doesn’t need to hide in the shadows.

The two of them didn’t continue browsing the mall, taking the direct elevator back down to the underground parking lot.

“Things haven’t been very peaceful lately?” Chen Wengang asked.

“You know how these reporters are, it’s just the usual stuff.” Huo Niansheng brushed it off.

The ‘usual stuff’ he referred to—even if Huo Niansheng continued to say nothing about it, Chen Wengang would find it hard to pretend he didn’t know.

It wasn’t just him; anyone in Jincheng who could read was aware. Ever since Huo Niansheng’s return, rumors had been swirling in the newspapers. His grandfather, Huo Kaishan, the head of the Huo family, had suffered a recurrence of liver cancer and was in critical condition, wasting away day by day on his sickbed.

At first, the chatter wasn’t too intense, just intermittent mentions. But everyone’s time eventually runs out. As Huo Kaishan’s cancer cells spread day after day, the news leaking out grew increasingly frequent; it could no longer be covered up. Any reporter with a bit of sense had started staking out outside the hospital. Every day, newspapers and magazines ran routine features detailing the life of the former shipping magnate.

They also gleefully speculated on how his massive empire would be divided among his descendants—who would get more, who would get less.

Nowadays, anyone connected to the surname “Huo” was being dug up and shaken out for public viewing.

Even the news that the current Mrs. Zheng, Huo Meijie, was expecting a new baby only occupied an inconspicuous corner of the news.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death are common occurrences in the human world, but these reporters were like a flock of vultures, glaring hungrily, waiting to snatch a piece of meat to feed their nests.

So when Huo Niansheng dropped Chen Wengang off, he said, “It’s just a phase. Don’t worry about it, it’ll pass.”

Chen Wengang asked him, “Is there anything I can help with?”

Huo Niansheng countered, “How do you want to help me?”

Chen Wengang stayed silent, listening to his rather frivolous daydreaming: “Of course, there is one way… We could go to a private island, just you and me, live in a secluded paradise for half a year, and come back when everything has calmed down. Oh, I forgot again that I’m not allowed out to sea.”

Chen Wengang ignored that remark too, only sighing, “I wonder when we’ll finally be done dealing with these reporters.”

He looked out the window and suddenly said, “In the future, when I’m about to go into the ground and rest in peace, I’ll find a quiet island… and I won’t let a single reporter in.”

Huo Niansheng smiled. “Silly talk. You’re going to live a long, long life.”

It was a somber thought; when a person is on their deathbed, ten thousand people harbor ten thousand different intentions, and who knows how many are truly grieving.

But regarding Huo Kaishan, Huo Niansheng actually had no real feelings.

Back then, Huo Kaishan had made the decision to formally recognize him and bring him back into the family. In everyone’s eyes, this was a massive favor, turning him into the illustrious Eldest Young Master Huo. Aside from Huo Jingsheng, no other illegitimate child had managed to enjoy such a blessing.

But from that moment on, he never saw his biological mother again; she existed only in his blurry memories from before he was four years old.

To Huo Niansheng, he had never chosen his own life, so he had never really thought about whether it was good or bad.

The so-called “grandfather” was merely a relative in name. With Huo Kaishan’s time running out, all he could think was that life and death are up to fate.

Nothing more, nothing less.

After driving for a while, Chen Wengang received a call. It was Ma Wen, the director of the Houren Foundation.

His voice was booming as always: “Is it a good time to talk?”

“Go ahead.”

“Great. About that public service announcement shoot, the director asked you last week if you wanted to participate. Have you thought it over?”

Chen Wengang cast a subtle glance at Huo Niansheng, hesitated, but declined: “I think it’s still a bit inconvenient for me, sorry.”

Ma Wen found this unexpected. “Is there some resistance from Mr. Zheng? There shouldn’t be, I’ve already spoken with him and he supports it.”

Chen Wengang smiled and said, “I don’t have any experience being on camera, I’ll definitely get stage fright. I’d just end up causing trouble for everyone.”

It was an obviously perfunctory excuse.

Ma Wen tried to persuade him a bit more out of confusion, but they couldn’t reach an agreement, so he hung up somewhat disgruntled.

Huo Niansheng, however, caught a hint of the situation from their conversation. “What kind of ad does he want you to shoot? Print? Or video?”

Chen Wengang replied, “A video PSA for World Charity Day. It’ll be broadcast on local TV stations and promoted online simultaneously.”

Huo Niansheng thought about it, glanced at him, and asked with a smile, “Isn’t this right up your alley? Why didn’t you agree?”

Chen Wengang smiled. “We aren’t important figures anyway. The volunteers just flash by in the background for a second. It doesn’t matter who does it.”

If an ad is broadcast, the people in it will be exposed to the public. Huo Niansheng instantly understood what he was thinking.

This was exactly what Chen Wengang was thinking. It was better for actors in public service announcements to have a clean background.

It was an eventful autumn. Paparazzi like the one today clung on like flies, and they would only grow denser as time went on. Who knows when they might drag him into it too. And they both knew exactly what kind of virtue reporters possessed.

As public opinion developed wildly in the future—he could already imagine how they would spin it—

They would say Chen Wengang put on a facade of being passionate about charity, but behind the scenes, he was a kept man in a homosexual relationship. They’d dig up that the “Young Master Chen” from before was actually him, accepting high-priced gifts, proving he was far from the innocent, pure image he projected. Add to that his background of being adopted by the Zheng family, a love triangle…

There were far too many angles for a melodramatic exposé.

Chen Wengang didn’t care about scandals weighing him down. As Zheng Dongqing had said, if you eat salty fish, you have to endure the thirst. When he chose to be with Huo Niansheng, he was destined to bear this cost. He agreed with that sentiment; he didn’t care.

But under the current circumstances, he felt it was unnecessary to bring trouble to the project all by himself.

The car parked under the shade of a tree, still a distance away from the Zheng residence. Huo Niansheng took his hands off the steering wheel.

This was their time before parting. He leaned over and kissed Chen Wengang.

The sunlight sprinkled brokenly across their faces. Chen Wengang unbuckled his seatbelt, his long, slender fingers resting against Huo Niansheng’s chest. Huo Niansheng cradled the back of his neck with one hand—first demanding, then pulling back to create some distance, changing the tone of the kiss to gently brush his lips against his.

They lingered close, and the final kiss landed on his forehead.

Chen Wengang smiled, pushed the door open, got out of the car, and said goodbye. Huo Niansheng continued watching him, rolled down the window, and reached out a hand.

Chen Wengang walked around the front of the car, bent down, and reached his hand out too. It was caught, and their fingers intertwined tightly.

He smiled brightly at Huo Niansheng, his eyes curving, gentle and harmless, utterly pure.

The corners of Huo Niansheng’s mouth turned up. “I won’t be coming to see you for a while.”

“Is there some trouble?” Chen Wengang paused.

“No trouble, I’m going on a business trip.” Huo Niansheng lowered his head and kissed the back of his hand. “Of course you’ll see me when I get back. But you should go shoot that ad. There’s nothing to worry about. Wengang, my person doesn’t need to sneak around and hide from the light.”

Wang Dongqing, the reporter from New Week Media who had bumped his head on a fire hydrant box, returned to the newspaper office with a bruised and swollen face. He first filled out a form to report his damaged equipment.

The secret affairs of the Huo family were a hot topic recently, causing a storm throughout the city. A family tree of the Huo clan was even plastered on the whiteboard in the conference room. When it came to inheritance and property division, any Huo family member messing around with men or women, dating, or marrying could trigger a series of variables.

And variables, naturally, meant there was material to write about.

His stakeout on the Eldest Young Master Huo wasn’t a secret in the office, but seeing him roll back looking so battered and exhausted was still a rare sight.

Limping toward the editor-in-chief’s office, he ran into a rival colleague head-on. The colleague gloated, “Tripped up, did we?”

Wang Dongqing glared at the other man’s maliciously plump face and cursed, “None of your fucking business.”

But he could only seethe. The other guy was the editor-in-chief’s nephew, regularly covering the beat and monopolizing all the easy, lucrative assignments.

He was picky and shirked hard work, but when there was fame and fortune to be had, he ran the fastest.

This time, Wang Dongqing had held his breath, determined to start with Huo Niansheng and dig up a massive scandal on him. He knew some of Huo Niansheng’s recent movements, and of course, he also knew this second-generation rich kid wasn’t someone to mess with. It was a gamble.

Wang Dongqing inspected his chipped phone and camera.

Although Huo Niansheng had taken his SD card and deleted his photos, technology was highly advanced nowadays. Even after a factory reset, it was still possible to recover a couple of photos. He had spent some money yesterday to find someone to work overnight and scrape two photos from the phone’s memory.

He stayed up all night, writing a detailed, flowing, and eloquent article.

And then he was called into the editor-in-chief’s office: “You wrote this piece quite well.”

A look of joy appeared on Wang Dongqing’s face.

The editor-in-chief followed up with: “However, this won’t be published. I’ve already rejected it in the system.”

Wang Dongqing almost slammed his hands on the desk. “Why? If there’s something wrong with it, I can revise it.”

The editor-in-chief crossed his legs, looking at this subordinate who, despite years in the industry, was still so clueless. He finally showed some mercy and gave him a hint. “Revise what? If you’re doing this to feed your family, you’d be better off just selling the photos directly to him. Be kind to others, and you’ll be kind to yourself. It’s the most hassle-free way.”

He sighed inwardly, thinking himself quite benevolent—this really wasn’t something an editor-in-chief should say, but the guy was too dense to get it.

Yet Wang Dongqing assumed he was just suppressing him: “What’s the big deal? I clearly remember Xie Jin writing about…”

Xie Jin was the editor-in-chief’s nephew.

The editor-in-chief finally couldn’t help but slam the desk: “You idiot, do you think you’re the only one who can dig up dirt? No one else exposes it, only you do—do you think you’re some kind of secret weapon? His Eldest Young Master Huo funds a whole media conglomerate under him, did you not know that? In the past, it didn’t fucking matter; he let you write whatever you wanted about things that had nothing to do with him. Times have changed! Huo Kaishan wasn’t dying back then! Of course he had nothing to bicker with you about! If you go provoke him at a critical juncture like this, do you think he won’t destroy you? Do you still want to work in this industry in the future?”

“Is that it?”

“That’s it.”

Wang Dongqing couldn’t save face. “Heh, the uncrowned kings… Ten or twenty years ago, even mafia bosses got exposed.”

The editor-in-chief smiled at him lazily. “Oh, you also know that ten or twenty years ago there was a mafia on the streets. I remember those times too, but the era is different now. If he wants to bankrupt you, he has plenty of ways. So, do you want to be a smart man who recognizes the times?”

Wang Dongqing finally had nothing to say, though he wasn’t convinced. He pressed his lips together, a flush of angry red spreading from his chin to his neck.

The editor-in-chief suddenly sighed and grabbed a lighter. “Kevin, you’re married, right?”

Wang Dongqing paused. “Yeah… I am.”

The editor-in-chief asked again, “Is your son in kindergarten?”

Wang Dongqing said, “Yes. He started last year.”

With a click, the editor-in-chief sparked the lighter and lit a cigarette. “If you were a lone wolf and wanted to take a massive gamble, I could support you. To tell you the truth, they’ve already given us a heads-up on what can be published and what can’t. I’m not going to pass this for you. You got the photos; you can’t publish them in the paper, but you can post them on your own account.”

The editor-in-chief blew out a smoke ring. “But with a family to feed, do you really have the nerve to gamble? You have a heart and loved ones, do you think they don’t? If you make a move this time, and later your front door gets splashed with red paint, leaving your wife terrified to come home every day? Does your son still want to go to kindergarten? What right do you have to be stubborn?”

Wang Dongqing’s neck turned even redder, but ultimately, he couldn’t say anything. Upon hearing about his son, his shoulders slumped.

Huo Niansheng had been on his business trip for half a month and hadn’t returned.

But he occasionally sent messages to Chen Wengang.

During a break in shooting, Chen Wengang was leaning against the wall replying to him when Director Liu caught him red-handed: “Did you get a girlfriend?”

Chen Wengang smiled: “Not a girlfriend.”

Director Liu didn’t believe him: “You young people, whenever you start staring at your phones like that, there’s definitely something going on. You can’t hide it from me.”

A photography assistant came over: “Director Liu, is that Yaoyao one of your kids? We might need you to go look after her.”

Director Liu hurried off, and the set became busy again.

The volunteers’ shots were easy to film—just smiling at the camera. The director placed this segment at the beginning, so they finished shooting early on. The theme of the public service announcement was “Smiling Angels,” aimed at calling for greater social attention to the welfare and security of disabled children. The children appearing in the ad came from various orphanages; they were a group who suffered from various illnesses but had received relatively good intervention, including autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome.

Therefore, the set required many staff members to take care of them. The noise rose and fell, making it as lively as a temple fair for a while.

Chen Wengang leaned against the wall for a bit longer, put away his phone, and went to help the other staff members.

In the end, he participated in the shoot not only because of Huo Niansheng’s promise but also because of Zheng Bingyi’s underlying intentions. The Houren Foundation had collaborative projects funded by the Zheng Group, and Zheng Bingyi was more than happy to push forward one of his own to establish a philanthropic image, thereby enhancing the corporate reputation.

So, another week later, Zheng Bingyi remembered to follow up: “Has that ad of yours aired yet?”

The whole family was eating dinner.

Chen Wengang answered him: “The final cut is already out. World Charity Day is September 5th, it’ll start airing that day.”

Zheng Bingyi nodded: “Remember to show it to me then.”

Zheng Baoqiu started laughing: “Isn’t it already available online? Dad, your news is lagging, it’s already gone viral.”

Zheng Maoxun, who was battling a piece of fish head with chopped peppers, suddenly looked up, completely out of the loop. “What went viral?”

Saying it “went viral” might not be the most accurate description. The foundation’s official account had uploaded the ad video, but some busybody had captured a single frame of Chen Wengang and posted it in the comments with the caption: “He could clearly get by on his looks, yet he chooses to do charity.”

It was this comment that triggered a surge in reposts, suddenly driving up the popularity.

Zheng Maoxun was even more confused after hearing this. “What’s there to go viral about in this kind of ad?”

Annoyed, Zheng Baoqiu kicked his shoe under the table.

Mu Qing suddenly curled his lips into a slight smile: “But is this appropriate? Turning a public service announcement into a star-making vehicle. It doesn’t seem right.”

Zheng Baoqiu glared at him: “If this counts as making a star, then in your eyes, the barrier to entry for the entertainment industry is pretty low. Why don’t you join?”

“Because I don’t consider myself a star,” Mu Qing smiled at her. “I just think that doing charity should look like doing charity. Simply hyping up a specific individual—even if it gets a hundred thousand reposts—this kind of popularity is meaningless, and certainly nothing to show off.”

Zheng Yucheng put down his chopsticks and was about to speak, but Zheng Bingyi shot him a look first.

Zheng Bingyi then cast a glance at his nephew: “What’s there to show off or not? Do you all think you’re still seven or eight years old? Everyone mind your own business.”

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