After a while, only he and Liu Qingyi remained in the private room.
“Qingyi, is someone picking you up?” Shuai Chang asked, noticing Liu Qingyi was silent and only munching on peanuts.
Liu Qingyi looked up with a silly smile, “Peanuts are tasty.”
Shuai Chang: “……” He miscalculated; she’s also a drunken fool.
He called for a waitress, “Get him a room.”
The waitress nodded, “Okay,” and walked over to assist Liu Qingyi. Suddenly, Liu Qingyi burst into tears, crying loudly and scaring the waitress.
“Sir, I’m going to help you to rest.”
Liu Qingyi was extremely uncooperative, and just as they were about to collapse together, Shuai Chang hurried over and pulled him up. He turned to the startled waitress, “You lead the way; I’ll help him.”
“Alright, thank you,” the waitress wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Sir, please follow me.”
Strangely enough, as Shuai Chang supported him, Liu Qingyi became obedient, stopped crying, and sported a silly grin, saying to go wherever she led with astonishing agility. If only he weren’t swaying so much, Shuai Chang would have suspected he was pretending to be drunk.
They took the elevator to the fifth floor. It was a crowded night at Jin Lanyuan, and Liu Qingyi, being a familiar face as a star, had recently gained fame from promoting “Changan Palace,” where he was a lead actor.
Once in the elevator, three people were inside. Among them, a short man in a leather jacket and glasses brightened at the sight of Liu Qingyi, his eyes flickering with excitement as he leaned against the elevator wall, fiddling with his backpack.
Upon reaching the fifth floor, Liu Qingyi suddenly went weak in the legs. Shuai Chang quickly steadied him, just missing the sound of a “click” nearby.
To outsiders, their position appeared somewhat intimate; however, apart from gripping Liu Qingyi’s shoulder and arm, Shuai Chang didn’t touch him anywhere else.
After a struggle, they finally managed to get Liu Qingyi into the room. The waitress helped Shuai Chang put him on the bed, but unexpectedly, Liu Qingyi clutched Shuai Chang’s arm tightly, causing Shuai Chang to trip and fall on top of him.
A muffled groan escaped Liu Qingyi, and he turned pale.
Shuai Chang was tall and not light; the waitress was stunned and forgot to help him.
Just as Shuai Chang tried to push himself up, the door burst open, and a swarm of paparazzi stormed in with cameras flashing everywhere.
Shuai Chang frowned and stood up, clearly unhappy. Some of the paparazzi waved microphones in front of him, asking, “Sir, could you tell us your relationship with the popular star Liu Qingyi? Why are you both lying on the same bed in the same room?”
“Hello, sir, we are from the Urban Entertainment Evening News; are you here to book a room with Liu Qingyi?”
“Sir, what does it feel like to date a superstar? Could you please share?”
The room was incredibly noisy, and even Shuai Chang’s patience was wearing thin. He coldly replied, “Get out!”
His imposing tone rendered the room silent. The paparazzi exchanged confused glances, unsure of why they should listen to him.
As Shuai Chang stepped out, the paparazzi unconsciously parted to create a path. It wasn’t until his figure disappeared that they realized what had happened and rushed after him, “The elevator stopped on the second floor; he’s not gone yet!”
Given that the elevator couldn’t fit all of them, some turned to take the stairs, actually arriving faster than if they’d taken the lift.
Qisheng came to pick someone up and noticed many people outside the second floor with lecherous stares and cameras slung around their necks. He muttered and went to find someone in Room 501.
He opened the door and spotted Shuai Chang. Some sharp-eyed paparazzi squeezed past Qisheng, rushing in, “Sir, what do you think about what just happened?”
Shuai Chang was genuinely angry. He stood to help Qisheng up, who had just bumped his shoulder on the door frame. “Probably bruised, but nothing broken,” Qisheng said.
Gently seating Qisheng in a chair, Shuai Chang whispered everything that had just happened, leaving Qisheng stunned. “So, did we just catch them in the act?”
“Hey, that paparazzo, get everyone outside in here. We’re going to hold a press conference to explain the situation.”
The paparazzo was shrewd, smiling, “You can just tell me; we don’t need so many people.”
Shuai Chang was too lazy to argue; he stood at the door and commanded, “Everyone come here.” The paparazzi rushed in.
Earlier, in the elevator, there was a famous entertainment editor from Weibo who purposely captured an ambiguous photo of Shuai Chang and Liu Qingyi and posted it online with the title: “Caught Liu Qingyi with his boyfriend, the two were actually in the elevator…”
This raised many speculations, and within ten minutes, it became trending. The paparazzi were already outside Jin Lanyuan waiting to catch celebrities, and now they had explosive news, rushing in to grab headlines.
The Weibo post was crystal clear, and initially, Liu Qingyi’s fans mocked the man in the photo as a toad trying to eat a swan’s meat. Later, someone recognized Shuai Chang as the notorious wealthy real estate mogul Lu Mingshen, shifting the blame immediately to Liu Qingyi.
Netizens were keen observers. Soon, someone pointed out that Liu Qingyi’s film “Changan Palace” had its largest investor as Lu Mingshen, and discussions erupted. Everyone speculated about the relationship between Liu Qingyi and Lu Mingshen. If it was a normal relationship, fine, but if there was any scandalous exchange… “Changan Palace” experienced a surge of attention due to this incident, with #LiuQingyiChanganPalace trending at the top.
Meanwhile, the director, screenwriters, and other key creative members were fast asleep, or they would have been so excited they’d be dancing in the streets.
In the private room, some people had already found out about Shuai Chang’s identity, and their attitude instantly changed. They flattered, “Mr. Lu, how could you be here today? The earlier incident was a misunderstanding; please don’t take it to heart.”
Shuai Chang ignored him and addressed the camera, “Today is a gathering of the key cast and crew of ‘Changan Palace.’ After Director Yu and the team got drunk, they booked a room upstairs. The waitress couldn’t support Liu Qingyi, so I helped him. At that time, there was also a female service worker in the room. You can verify this with her.”
“Mr. Lu, can you tell us your relationship with Liu Qingyi?”
Shuai Chang replied, “An investor and an actor.”
“Are you not dating?”
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