Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Chapter 41 Jinjiang Literature City First Release

Bai Li buried his head in Xie Chen’s neck, sniffing the familiar scent, slowly regaining a sense of security.

Xie Chen freed one hand, gently patting the kitten’s back, his movements full of soothing intent.

“Meow meow.”

Bai Li still didn’t lift his head, rubbing against Xie Chen’s neck, plaintively meowing to complain.

He had fainted, and when he woke up, someone had picked him up; after being picked up, this bad person tried to snatch him away again.

This person wanted to sell him and even had a history of hitting cats.

Every time Bai Li meowed, Xie Chen’s heart tightened a little more. Especially knowing that the man in front of him nearly abused the kitten in his arms, Xie Chen’s eyes turned cold.

“You, what do you want to do? This cat wasn’t stolen by me, stop scaring people like that.”

Er Gang saw how intimate they were and knew clearly in his heart that this kitten was being found by its owner.

He was just confused; on his way back he hadn’t met anyone, and there was no surveillance in this area. So...

How exactly did they find him?

“Li Li, stay at the door for a while, okay?”

Xie Chen originally planned to put the kitten away and go inside to reason with this scumbag who dared to touch his cat, but the kitten was too clingy, clinging to his neck and refusing to let go.

With no other choice, he could only leave with the cat.

But once outside, Xie Chen got into the car, took out his phone, but didn’t know who to send a message to.

He didn’t call; some things are better not spoken in front of the kitten’s ears.

The car drove off.

Er Gang, who had lost the cat he had gotten, was angrily cursing in his room.

“Damn it, if I had known earlier I should have just killed that kitten!”

“So pissed off, I really let that person off too easy.”

“Little bastard... no, I have to go out and find another little bastard, either maim it or sell it.”

Er Gang muttered to himself, pulled out a chair, preparing to go out and find a stray cat to vent on.

But just as the door opened, someone blocked it again.

It was a group of burly men, led by a man with a terrifying scar on his face.“Tonight, did you bring back a cat or not?”

Er Gang felt uneasy seeing this group of people, knowing it wasn’t good. He took a few steps back: “What do you want? Believe it or not, I’ll call the police?!”

“What do we want...”

The scar-faced man smiled: “Nothing much, just heard you abuse cats.”

“Tonight, we’ll let you taste what it feels like to be abused.”

The methods this scumbag used on cats, now he himself would try them—consider it an eye for an eye.

That night, Er Gang endured endless torment but couldn’t even scream.

His mouth was stuffed, and his body was broken in countless places.

Finally, dawn came, but the scar-faced man still wouldn’t leave.

“Watch him. When he recovers, check all the crimes he’s committed and send him to the police station.”

“Yes, sir.”

Er Gang was so terrified he wished he could kowtow in begging for mercy. He had no idea, he had just taken a kitten back with him, so why were these people so cruel?

Destroying his body wasn’t enough, they also wanted to find fault with him and send him to jail.

“Please spare me, I beg you, spare me. I’ll never abuse cats again, I beg you…”

Crying and begging echoed throughout the room but did not soften the heart of the person behind the scenes.

At this moment.

In the hotel room, the frightened little kitten had fallen asleep in the car and kept sleeping until now.

Tan Yi had also returned.

The atmosphere between the two people in the hotel room was tense and hard to describe.

“I thought I could take care of him.”

Tan Yi had already returned to human form, his eyes still red, hair messy, and he looked somewhat dispirited: “It’s my fault.”

He was still not strong enough.

If, if he could be like Xie Chen, how would he have been schemed against during filming and even seen by Li Li, which caused Li Li to go avenge him?

Xie Chen said nothing in response to him.

Tan Yi was Li Li’s third older brother, but to Tan Yi, Xie Chen had no extra emotions to spare for him.

Perhaps his nature was always cold and distant, or maybe those past experiences made him rarely get close to or trust anyone.

When Li Li was in danger this time, he didn’t even consider that Tan Yi was here.

He was the first to rush over and personally take out the frightened little one.Ultimately, he only trusted himself.

“President Xie.”

Tan Yi’s gaze fell on the still sleeping pure white little kitten, his voice hoarse: “From now on, I won’t bring Li Li when I go out.”

“Li Li… I hope you can take good care of him.”

“I’ll pay you; I won’t let Li Li eat and drink for free.”

Xie Chen didn’t care much about the money Tan Yi gave.

He looked up, glanced at the still distressed Tan Yi, and said coldly, “Given your current situation, it really isn’t suitable for you to take care of Li Li. What I said to Li Li last time still stands.”

“If you want to switch companies or have other needs, you can still come to me.”

Xie Chen’s words were not subtle, after all, Tan Yi was in front of him, not Li Li.

He could fool Bai Li by calling an eighty million watch just thirty yuan to make him happy, but he wouldn’t go through such silent coaxing just to please Tan Yi.

Tan Yi clearly knew Xie Chen was no saint.

“No need.”

He refused: “As long as you can take care of Li Li when I can’t, that’s enough.”

He didn’t want to owe any other favors.

While they were talking, someone knocked on the hotel room door.

Tan Yi got up to open it and saw the obviously exhausted manager who had clearly not slept all night.

“Brother Tan.”

The manager entered the room and asked, “Have you been online?”

“No.”

He and Xie Chen were busy watching over Li Li; there was no time to use the phone.

“You and your cat are trending online—”

The manager paused, looking at Xie Chen who appeared in the room, a bit stunned.

“P-President Xie.”

The manager was confused: “Why are you here?”

Showing up at this time seemed a little suggestive.

The manager quickly turned his head, eyes flickering as he looked at Tan Yi, as if asking about their relationship.

“No misunderstandings, I have no relationship with President Xie,” Tan Yi explained. “He’s here to see Li Li.”Hearing Tan Yi say this, the manager finally noticed that one of Xie Chen’s fingers was still held in the little kitten’s paws on the bed, and Xie Chen’s gaze at the kitten was much gentler than when he looked at him or Tan Yi.

“Li Li and President Xie have a good relationship?” The manager boldly asked.

Tan Yi pressed his lips and still nodded: “Yes.”

Although he didn’t want to admit it in his heart, in fact, Li Li was very clingy to Xie Chen, and Xie Chen cared about his Li Li even more than he imagined.

“What did you mean by trending just now?”

As an artist, Tan Yi was quite sensitive to this.

The manager had originally been annoyed at the company’s attitude; this kind of negative trending topic, he didn’t understand why the company hadn’t done everything to suppress it.

If the negative trending topic continued to spread unchecked, even if clarified later, it would be hard to reverse the bad impression most people had already formed about Tan Yi.

But now...

The manager looked at Xie Chen, who was still looking down and petting the cat, and his heart was certain.

“The incident at the set during the day was deliberately edited and distorted, then spread online.”

“Right now, the internet is flooded with negative trending posts about you and Li Li, with a large number of paid commenters stirring up trouble, claiming you bullied extras, and saying Li Li maliciously hurt someone and should be euthanized.”

When the last sentence was said, Xie Chen, who was stroking Bai Li’s head, froze.

“Euthanized?”

He looked up, his deep cold eyes staring at the manager, making the manager feel a strange chill under his feet.

“Yes, yes.”

The manager clenched his fists to keep calm under this pressure.

“Apart from calls for Li Li to be euthanized, there are other remarks too. In short, Brother Tan and Li Li are being severely defamed right now.”

“What about the company?!”

Tan Yi asked irritably. He could tolerate being defamed himself but absolutely could not let Li Li be dragged into it.

“The company hasn’t reacted much yet,” the manager said, not daring to meet Tan Yi’s eyes.

“No reaction?”

Tan Yi was stunned: “Impossible. If I’m being maliciously defamed, the company would suffer losses too.”

The manager remained silent, lowering his head and not clarifying the company’s intentions.

But even without him saying it, Tan Yi understood.

“Damn.”

He cursed softly: “This shitty company is heartless.”

The noise in the room finally disturbed Bai Li, who was still sleeping.Xie Chen was about to pull his finger free from the little kitten’s grip and check the online situation when suddenly, a sleepy meow reached his ears.

Bai Li, who had been sleeping for several hours, slowly opened his eyes.

Just after waking, he was prone to hysteria; Xie Chen knew this habit well, so he didn’t pull his finger away but instead took the opportunity to lift the whole kitten into his arms.

“Awake?”

“Meow.”

Bai Li responded and instinctively rubbed his warm sleepy face against Xie Chen.

Xie Chen let him rub against him.

After rubbing him, Bai Li fully woke up and looked up for his third older brother.

“Meow, meow meow!”

Third brother, I’m back.

Coming to his senses, Bai Li saw that his third brother looked unhappy and thought it was because he ran off and scared him like that.

He jumped out of Xie Chen’s arms and spread his paws, wanting to be held by Tan Yi.

After Tan Yi picked him up, Bai Li took the initiative to apologize and reflect on himself.

“I won’t run off again next time.”

Bai Li learned his lesson and decided to behave properly on unfamiliar ground where he didn’t know the way.

Even if he wanted revenge, he’d have to use his brain and come up with a way that wouldn’t make either Xie Chen or Tan Yi worry.

Tan Yi lowered his head and touched foreheads with his little brother. After a while, he softly said, “Third brother doesn’t blame Li Li.”

“But third brother is in a bad mood.”

Bai Li could still tell from Tan Yi’s mood. He wanted to comfort his third brother but didn’t know how.

While the two brothers were talking, Xie Chen came over and rubbed Bai Li’s head: “Li Li, I’m going out for a bit, will be back soon.”

“Meow.”

Okay.

Just as Xie Chen left, the manager quietly followed him out.

Sure enough, at the corner, the manager saw Xie Chen making a phone call.

He didn’t get close to listen because he already knew without hearing that Xie Chen was dealing with matters concerning Li Li.

As long as Xie Chen was willing to take action, the manager thought Tan Yi should be safe this time.

In the empty area not far away.“Brother.”

Xie Chen called out to the person on the other end of the phone: “I have something to tell you.”

His cousin was several years older than him, and they had a good relationship. Since they were truly related by blood, Xie Chen was willing to call him brother.

The call lasted a long time.

Xie Chen arranged matters with Starlight Entertainment, then called Anna.

“Have the PR department and the legal team focus entirely on handling this matter now.”

“Check the reach of all insulting remarks; have the lawyers sue to the fullest extent.”

He wouldn’t let any of those who insulted Li Li get away.

Anna didn’t object at all but obediently took the orders and began instructing her team to deal with the situation.

Besides handling it, Anna knew she also had to investigate who was behind this negative trending topic and report all findings to Xie Chen.

Once the Xie family acted, combined with Starlight Entertainment, their thunderous tactics stunned everyone.

Xie Chen had been out of the spotlight for a long time; except for releasing an album now and then, he only appeared at events reported by Starlight Entertainment and was occasionally invited to make appearances.

Everyone knew about his relationship with Starlight.

In recent years, Xie Chen had never spoken out about entertainment industry scandals or trending topics, but this time, he completely broke that pattern.

On Weibo.

Before returning to the hotel room, Xie Chen posted two consecutive updates.

The first:

【Xie Chen V: My cat.】

No picture attached.

He didn’t want Li Li to be exposed online and attract unnecessary risks.

The second:

【Xie Chen V: Legal action has been taken against malicious rumors.】

With multiple pictures of legal letters attached.