Li Baixi caught his flight.

It was rare for him to land an international gig, and this time it was because a certain female star wanted to add some traditional Chinese ink painting elements to her forest elf look. After flying for more than ten hours and landing, he had to get to work immediately, leaving Li Baixi to work continuously without a break.

Cheng Ping went to the platform party alone.

At the Halloween-themed event, it was a literal scene of chaos. There were mermaids, centaurs, cat demons, and rabbit demons, making it seem as if Li Baixi’s list of options had come to life, parading before a sea of cameras.

Cheng Ping, dressed in a dark suit, was soon submerged in the colorful and lively crowd as soon as he entered the venue. He didn’t mind and quietly made his way through the crowd looking for food.

As he walked, the scene before him looked like the parting of the Red Sea.

The chatter around him died down, and the sound of cameras clicking became more intense.

Cheng Ping, who joined the industry late and had a reputation for being temperamental, had no industry acquaintances to approach him. He enjoyed the peace, unaware that the people around him were all silently wondering: Was Cheng Ping always this good-looking?

The dark vampire makeup did nothing to soften his features, instead sharpening and intensifying his cold demeanor. His every step was like a sword cutting through the opulent crowd.

Everyone’s gazes, overt or covert, followed him, afraid to be cut by his edge.

Then they saw this vampire walk to the buffet table and seriously take a bite out of a donut.

The crowd: “…”

Cheng Ping’s eyes were uncomfortable. No matter how much he blinked, he couldn’t get rid of the foreign sensation of the contact lenses, causing his eyes to water.

As he moved his eyes around, he inadvertently scanned the entire venue.

Aside from him, there was another focal point in the room tonight. It was a young actress who had just turned eighteen, dressed as a blue peacock, with feathers on her head and a blue smoky eye makeup with glitter.

This makeup could easily look tawdry, but on her youthful face, it appeared vibrant and lively.

Cheng Ping noticed the crowd taking pictures of her and looked a few times, thinking her makeup artist was quite skilled.

The next second, he saw the person next to her touching up her makeup.

Cheng Ping: “…”

He quickly looked away, pretending not to see. But the person was relentless, walking straight towards him.

“Mr. Cheng, alone? Where’s my senior?”

Cheng Ping stiffly replied, “He had something to do and didn’t come.”

The junior: “Are you uncomfortable with the contact lenses? Your tears have ruined your eye makeup. Luckily, I brought tools to help fix it?”

Facing Cheng Ping’s stare, he added with a smile, “Purely out of kindness. With so many people watching, I wouldn’t dare do anything to you, right?”

Am I afraid of you? Cheng Ping felt challenged.

The junior took Cheng Ping aside, used tweezers to remove the contact lenses, and then redid the base around his eyes.

“Mr. Cheng,” he chatted while working, “I think you might have misunderstood me before.”

Cheng Ping: “I don’t think there’s any misunderstanding.”

The junior smiled, “About that incident with the young actor, I really didn’t know. If I had known, I would have stopped him. It was too demeaning.”

Cheng Ping was skeptical.

The junior was in a good mood. He had been the biggest winner of the previous scandal. After serving Movie King Zhang’s little lover for so long, he had finally hitched a ride with Movie King Zhang on a big project. Thinking about how Movie King Zhang originally wanted to bind himself to Li Baixi, the junior felt even more pleased.

He won a round and came to provoke Cheng Ping for some post-victory amusement. He noticed Cheng Ping had a good impression of Li Baixi, and he was willing to try anything that could annoy Li Baixi.

The junior: “Mr. Cheng, I have nothing against you, and I believe my senior doesn’t either.”

Cheng Ping: “What do you mean?”

The junior: “My senior and I have always been in a rivalry.” He apologized with a smile, “It’s unfortunate to involve others. We feel bad about it.”

He emphasized “others” and “we.”

Cheng Ping found it grating and was about to retort when he vaguely remembered Li Baixi once eagerly saying, “This is a competition between my junior and me.”

Being passive-aggressive was the junior’s specialty. He subtly implied that Li Baixi was using Cheng Ping as a pawn, hoping to see Cheng Ping’s reaction.

However, this time he was disappointed. Cheng Ping merely gave a cold laugh, “No need to take it to heart.”

The junior found it boring. Actors grew up so fast, they were no longer fun.

In no time, the junior had finished redoing the eyeshadow and eyeliner, inadvertently using different colors from what Li Baixi had chosen.

He snapped back to reality, saying, “All done.” Since Cheng Ping wasn’t providing any amusement, he packed up and left.

Cheng Ping stayed put for a moment.

The manager had searched the crowd for Cheng Ping, only to find him hiding in a corner with a drink, playing with his phone.

He approached him, frustrated, wanting to encourage him to socialize, and accidentally saw he was messaging Li Baixi.

Manager: “…”

Cheng Ping, with a serious expression, was complaining: “The contact lenses ruined my makeup.”

Li Baixi was still on the plane and naturally didn’t respond.

Cheng Ping suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see the manager.

“Cheng,” he said, sitting next to him, “I need to talk to you.”

This tone usually meant something important.

The manager seemed hesitant: “Li Baixi…”

Cheng Ping remembered how the manager had walked into the room that afternoon when he was wearing contact lenses. He wasn’t sure if he had seen the most embarrassing detail and felt on edge, gritting his teeth, waiting for her to speak.

Manager: “…Is he pursuing you?”

Cheng Ping: “…”

Cheng Ping: “???”

It took Cheng Ping a while to react: “No, no, you misunderstood.”

The manager, however, seemed to understand: “It’s okay, this isn’t uncommon in the industry. The key is how we handle it…”

“You really misunderstood.” Cheng Ping felt a headache coming on.

The manager was skeptical: “But I thought about it for a long time this afternoon. An outsider can see things clearly. He’s always been so good to you. What other reason could there be?”

Cheng Ping: “He clarified before. He said he’s a fan of my esports.”

The manager snorted.

Cheng Ping: “…”

Cheng Ping fell into deep thought: Could I be too dense?