Chapter Fifty-One

  "Xiao Jin!" Hong Fei reached out to stop him.

  "I'm not going, can't you go?" Li Jin glared at him fiercely, "Just stay put honestly, it's your turn to go on stage soon, don't cause trouble. Let's hurry up and finish the show so we can leave quickly, don't linger here."

  "Little Jin..." Rong Fei still didn't give up, using gentle means after the tough ones didn't work.

  "Lu Fei, listen to me, don't make a big deal out of this." Li Jin took a deep breath and lowered his voice to warn him, "He's right, everyone is here to see Shu Mu, not us. If things really get out of hand, the organizers won't take our side, they'll blame us for causing trouble. Who knows, if word gets out, we might not even be able to participate in events like this in the future. We're not yet influential enough to have people beg us to attend, so let's just bear with it for now. Fortunately, he's being difficult with me, not you guys."

  Li Jin smiled and pushed away Hong Fei, walking alone towards the door.

  "Sorry, Lei Ge." The girl who had just misspoken apologized with her head lowered by the door.

  Li Jin smiled and shook his head, turning around to coldly glance at the agent's wallet that had been emptied by half.

  "Consider the money settled, this meal is on me." He looked at the agent with disdain, "However, if you have so much money that you can't spend it all, I suggest you buy a few more toothbrushes and brush your teeth often."

  It was approaching dusk, and the outside gradually darkened. The winter weather was such that once it got dark, the north wind mixed with a piercing chill that seemed to freeze people from head to toe into an ice stick.

  Li Jin came back from outside with sweat on his forehead.

  He ran all the way there and back to save time.

  To get to Shu Mu's private dressing room, you have to go through the large rest area where the Star Voice Academy students are. Luo Fei was worried about Li Jin and kept opening the door to look out, while others were also thinking of their own thoughts, all paying attention to the entrance. So when Li Jin came back, everyone knew immediately.

  Perhaps because of his frequent driving, Li Jin didn't wear much, and in the cold winter weather, he only wore a woolen coat. Standing in the north wind for five minutes would make him freeze to the bone. But when he returned, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his pale face had turned rosy from running quickly. He walked straight through the long corridor without looking around, heading directly to Shu Mu's dressing room. After a while, a slightly lazy inquiry came from inside the dressing room.

  "Doesn't Heheji's braised pork rice usually come with a free cup of iced doufu fa? Why isn't there any?"

  "It's winter now, and ice bean milk is no longer available." Li Jin's voice was calm and unruffled.

  "What a pity." Shu Mu seemed somewhat resigned. "Then trouble you, help me buy a cup of hot soy milk, okay?"

  Before long, Li Jin wrapped her coat tightly and hurriedly walked through the long corridor, turning back.

  In this way, no matter how considerate Ran Li Jin was, Shu Mu could always come up with new demands using similar reasons and tone, making it clear that he was being difficult but leaving no room for rebuttal. As a result, Luo Fei watched as Ran Li Jin went back and forth between the cold wind and makeup rooms like a cheap laborer. The hot sweat on Ran Li Jin's forehead had disappeared at some point, and his originally rosy cheeks had turned pale, and even when he brought back two extra braised eggs according to Shu Mu's request, he was breathing rapidly, and as he walked up the stairs, he stumbled and staggered once.

  "Xiao Jin!" Hong Fei could no longer hold back his temper, clenched his fists and ran over to help up the person who looked like he had reached his limit.

  "What are you doing here?" Probably facing Lu Fei, Li Jin's voice no longer sounded so calm and collected, even revealing a hint of weakness. "You're on stage?"

  "I've had enough, now it's also time for you to wait in the wings." Luo Fei snatched the bag from Li Jin's hand and swung his arm, wanting to throw it far away. "Little Jin, why are you listening to him like this? Look at yourself, you...you're trembling!"

  Yes, Li Jin was trembling.

  He was not only trembling but also had a floating gait, blurred vision, and his entire body felt as if even the blood vessels were frozen. When he lifted his hand, all four limbs and joints ached.

  But he still steadily retrieved the bag from Lu Fei's hand.

  "Lu Fei, I won't be bullied by him for no reason." Li Jin stood up straight again with his help, "I have my reasons for doing this."

  "What's your purpose? Even if you have a purpose, but you've already..." Luo Fei couldn't continue.

  He tightly grasped Lei Jin's clothes, as if only by doing so could he control his emotions and not pull the trembling body in front of him into his arms.

  Many years later, when Luo Fei held the Best Actor award in his hand and looked down under the spotlight that was focused on him, he suddenly felt as if he saw again, at this moment, a pair of eyes staring at him.

  Firm and full of encouragement.

  "Don't cry and look so gloomy, if you don't want to see me like this again, hurry up and turn red already." Li Jin smiled and raised an eyebrow at him, "This way, next time we'll be the ones bullying others instead."

  As he spoke, he clutched his bag tightly and walked back into Sumo's dressing room.

  "You look terrible." In front of the dresser, Shu Mu held a soy milk cup in one hand and adjusted her newly styled hair with the other.

  The bag he had just brought back was casually thrown into the corner of the dresser, without even a glance.

  Li Jin did not answer.

  He looked terrible, his face was pale and his lips were blue, but even so, when standing in front of Shu Mu, he still stood up straight, looking like an invincible iron man.

  He would rather die than show weakness in front of Shu Mu.

  "Hmm." Shu Mu Bai listlessly sucked on the straw in his soy milk cup, finishing it off with a gurgling sound. He leaned forward to put the cup on the table, turned around, and looked at Li Jin with a hint of gentleness.

  Then he carefully and meticulously, with an expression of appreciating a work of art, savored the wretched appearance of Li Jin at this moment, before slowly opening his mouth.

  "Trouble you, help me get this receipt back. Handwritten ones are also okay." Shu Mu had an innocent face, "This is a work meal, the company should reimburse me for it."

  "I said I'd treat this time," replied Li Jinping calmly.

  "This meal doesn't need you to treat," Shu Mu suggested with a pleasant smile, "If you really want to treat me to something, we can pick a better restaurant, sit down together and chat while eating..."

  Li Jing's eyes turned cold and he turned around and walked out of the door.

  The agent next to him leaned against the door and shouted, "Hurry up, there are only fifteen minutes left before the ribbon-cutting ceremony begins."

  The door, which had been ajar, was kicked open with one foot as soon as he finished speaking.

  "Ah!" The broker jumped in fright, his body jumping back like a flea, narrowly avoiding the impact of the door panel. "Scared to death! What's going on here?!"

  Outside the door, Kou Fei stormed in with a furious expression.

  "Who do you think you are?!" He stood right in the middle of the dressing room, his tall stature making him look like a giant with a full rage meter, accumulating a terrifying destructive power. "What makes you order my agent around? What qualifies you to have my agent running back and forth for you?"

  Shu Mu ignored him and picked up his phone to find a game to play.

  "Hey, how did you sneak into someone else's dressing room? Get out..." The agent rushed over to grab his arm and even called for an assistant to help, trying to drag him away.

  "Get lost!" Ruo Fei shook off the two of them and rushed to Shu Mu's front, "If you have any dissatisfaction, come at me! What right do you have to make things difficult for Xiao Jin?"

  Shu Mu ignored him.

  Until Lu Fei roared a few times, Shu Mu seemed to have come back to his senses and raised his head, staring at him with a complex gaze as if looking at a mentally challenged person causing trouble.

  "What's the big deal?" The broker, unable to drag him away, stood with his hands on his hips and argued back, "I've already said it, we're all here to see Shu Mu! Our family's Ah Shu is an international superstar, how many people are eager to fawn over us, but we can't even be bothered to glance at them. Letting you help buy some food, what's wrong with that? I'm telling you, even if it's the organizer, they have to think of ways to make us comfortable, otherwise Ah Shu won't be in a good mood and won't be able to perform his best on stage. What are we going to do about today's show?"

  "Is it because you're a big star?" Luo Fei hung his head, staring unwaveringly at Shu Mu, "So just because you're a big star, you can do whatever you want, huh?"

  "How can you talk like that, you..." The broker was about to argue, but the person sitting in front of him suddenly stood up.

  "Right, because I'm a big star," Shu Mu's stature was not as tall as Luo Fei's, but the two stood face to face like this, Shu Mu's momentum completely suppressed the newcomer Luo Fei.

  His voice was not loud, but every word was like a cold iron nail, fiercely piercing into Lu Fei's heart.

  "Just because I'm a big star, so I can do whatever I want." he said.

  "So," Kong Fei said in a deep voice, "I will surpass you."