Knowing that she wouldn’t be sent away anytime soon, and that Yin Kairui was legally required to take care of her, Shan Shan finally let go of the tension that had been coiled up inside her. The moment she relaxed, the weariness that comes so easily to young children washed over her, and she began to feel drowsy.
Wen Yiting came to terms with the fact that Shan Shan would be staying much faster than Yin Kairui did. “If you’re tired, go to sleep,” she said gently.
Shan Shan struggled to keep her heavy eyelids open and made her request clear. “I want to sleep with Narcissus Brother.”
She simply couldn’t stay apart from him if she did, bad luck was sure to befall him.
Seeing the clear look of rejection written all over Yin Kairui’s face, Wen Yiting turned to Shan Shan and asked, “Why do you keep calling him Narcissus Brother? His name is Yin Kairui, you know.”
“But he is Narcissus Brother,” Shan Shan replied simply, speaking as naturally as breathing. “Just like I am Shan Shan.”
Wen Yiting fell silent for a moment.
“You should call him Kairui Brother or just Big Brother from now on,” she corrected her. “That’s how things work in the human world.”
Besides, Shan Shan thought to herself, I’m sure Narcissus Brother had a proper name once, too I just can’t remember what it was anymore. All I recall is that every time Nine-Tailed Sister spoke to him, she would tease him and call him “Narcissus.”
And as for “Big Brother”… well, he isn’t actually the eldest one among us, is he? she wondered. If I start calling him Big Brother now, what am I supposed to do when I meet the real eldest brother later on?
“Can’t I just call him Brother?” Shan Shan asked, her sleepy mind growing even more confused by all these rules. She decided to keep things simple and straightforward.
“That’s fine too,” Wen Yiting agreed. “But you have to stop calling him Narcissus Brother, okay?”
“Okay, I understand,” Shan Shan said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “But I still want to sleep next to Brother. If I don’t… bad things will happen to him. Really, they will.”
Wen Yiting didn’t for a moment believe that a child’s words could actually bring misfortune upon someone. She simply assumed this was Shan Shan’s way of trying to get closer to Yin Kairui. And in truth, since he was going to be her legal guardian for the time being, there was nothing wrong with the child wanting to be near him.
She turned to Yin Kairui. “You’ll have to look after her for now. I’ll arrange for a female assistant who has experience caring for children to join you as soon as possible.”
Yin Kairui looked completely dejected, but he finally gave in. “…Fine. I’ll do it.”
And so Shan Shan lay down beside him. Wen Yiting brought over a fresh blanket and tucked it carefully around her, and within seconds, the little girl was fast asleep. Leaning in and lowering her voice so as not to wake her, Wen Yiting said to Yin Kairui, “Now that you are her temporary guardian, there are some things I need to make sure you understand clearly.”
She then went into detail, explaining Shan Shan’s background and identity, as well as sharing the full results of her medical examination.
“Whether she mistook you for someone else or somehow realized on her own that you are her cousin, the fact remains that her former guardians her uncle and aunt will soon have their custody rights officially terminated. You will remain responsible for her care at least until her parents return from overseas and make their final decision about adoption.”
“Alright, alright, I get it,” Yin Kairui said, clearly annoyed by the whole situation. “It’s not like I’m going to just abandon a little child and leave her to fend for herself. But I’m telling you right now I absolutely do not want my parents to go through with adopting her permanently.”
“And as for actually taking care of her… I’m not sure I’m even capable of it,” he added, pointing to his own neck. “You have to remember, this little girl almost killed me just a short while ago!”
Even now, dark purple bruises and marks left by her tight grip were clearly visible on his skin.
Wen Yiting spread her hands helplessly. “There’s nothing I can do about that, I’m afraid.”
“Come on, Sister Wen, think about it,” Yin Kairui pleaded, trying his best to convince her. “Do I really look like the kind of person who knows how to take care of a child? Besides, my work requires me to be on film sets all the time those places are dangerous, busy, and completely unsuitable for a young child to be running around in!”
“Just get to the point,” Wen Yiting interrupted him, already knowing exactly what he was going to suggest.
“…Why don’t you take her home and look after her temporarily instead?” Yin Kairui asked hopefully.
Wen Yiting stared at him in disbelief. “Are you out of your mind? Is that really what you’re thinking?”
Captain Zhou and his team would surely come back to check on Shan Shan from time to time what would they say if they came looking for her and found that she had been moved somewhere else without any proper explanation?
And besides, it was obvious to everyone that Shan Shan was deeply attached to Yin Kairui and wanted to stay by his side. Wen Yiting also simply didn’t have the time or energy to look after a young child herself. She had only managed to make time to visit him today because her schedule was relatively free, and she would be leaving town again tomorrow to take care of other work matters.
“It’s only going to be for a short while,” Wen Yiting said, trying to reassure him. “And there’s always a chance we might locate other relatives of hers very soon, right? Don’t be so pessimistic. Besides, from what I’ve seen, she doesn’t seem to be one of those noisy, troublesome children who cause problems everywhere they go. Looking after her shouldn’t be too difficult or much of a burden.”
Yin Kairui thought carefully about this.
To be fair, aside from being surprisingly strong strong enough to nearly strangle him and being far too clingy and attached to him, Shan Shan really hadn’t thrown any tantrums or behaved badly at all. But deep down, he had this strange, unsettling feeling that once this little “piece of sticky candy” had latched onto him, it was going to be incredibly hard to shake her off.
After hesitating for what felt like forever, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “Fine. If she has to stay here, then so be it. But I’ll also make sure to ask everyone I know to help us search for her family members as quickly as possible!”
The sooner we find someone to take her off my hands, the better, he thought to himself.
“I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses,” Wen Yiting said, letting out a long breath of relief. Half of her worries had now faded away. “The police department is already helping us sort out the official documents and confirm Shan Shan’s identity, which will help clear your name. But there’s a bigger problem we need to deal with: it seems there are people working behind the scenes who are deliberately trying to ruin your reputation and career.”
“That brings me to my question have you had any conflicts or disagreements with Starlight Entertainment that I don’t know about?”
As Yin Kairui’s agent the woman who had discovered his talent, guided his career, and turned him into the star he was today Wen Yiting had both great influence and a wide network of connections. It hadn’t taken her long to uncover the basic facts of the situation, but one thing still didn’t make sense to her.
Starlight Entertainment and Brightlight Entertainment the company Yin Kairui was signed with were the two largest and most powerful entertainment agencies in the city, holding roughly equal shares of the market. Other than being competitors, they had no other direct connection. While they were always vying for the best artists, projects, and opportunities, there was an unspoken agreement between them that they would not resort to truly malicious or destructive tactics. After all, no company or artist was completely without flaws or secrets, and if either side started a real war, both could easily end up suffering serious damage as their opponents dug up every piece of negative information they could find.
What’s more, Yin Kairui was Brightlight Entertainment’s biggest star and most profitable asset there was no way the company would ever allow anyone to harm him without fighting back.
Although these two companies dominated the industry, there were still many smaller agencies operating in the market. If they were to start a full-scale war, they would only be giving those smaller companies the perfect opportunity to seize power and resources, which neither of them wanted.
But still…
Starlight Entertainment was known for being ruthless and underhanded. If they succeeded in spreading enough damaging rumors and accusations to completely ruin Yin Kairui’s reputation, Brightlight Entertainment might decide that he was no longer worth protecting, and would abandon him rather than risk damaging the company’s own image. If that happened, Yin Kairui’s career would be over, and Brightlight Entertainment would likely choose not to retaliate against Starlight Entertainment at all.
As these thoughts raced through her mind, she heard Yin Kairui speak up. “Starlight Entertainment? What do I have to do with them?”
“Are you absolutely sure you haven’t done anything to offend them or get on their bad side?” Wen Yiting asked, frowning deeply. “This is very strange. Why would they suddenly decide to target you and try to destroy your career out of nowhere?”
“Maybe they’re just jealous of how good-looking I am and how famous I’ve become?” Yin Kairui suggested casually.
Wen Yiting shot him a sharp look. “Just… just stop talking for a moment, please.”
Yin Kairui immediately fell silent, looking completely innocent.
“We’ll deal with the current crisis first, and I’ll look into the reason behind all of this in more detail later,” Wen Yiting said, making up her mind.
But no sooner had she said this than new trouble began to spread across the internet.
A female celebrity posted a message on her social media account claiming that Yin Kairui had asked her to come to his hotel room late at night to practice lines together. Along with her statement, she attached a photograph showing a woman wearing a nightdress standing in front of a door and knocking.
The post spread like wildfire, and social media platforms erupted in chaos.
Fans of Yin Kairui immediately began posting furious responses in his defense.
“Who do you think you are? Are you just trying to ride on his fame and get attention by making up lies?”
“You say he asked you to come do you have any real proof of that? I could just as easily say you went there on purpose to seduce him and cause trouble!”
But at the same time, people who disliked him or wanted to cause trouble began adding fuel to the fire, posting comments designed to make people doubt him.
“Who really knows what happened? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? And you can’t make noise with just one hand if he hadn’t given her some kind of hint or encouragement, why would she go through all this trouble and target only him?”
“That’s exactly right! He must have done something wrong or behaved inappropriately, otherwise why would she be saying all these things about him and no one else?”
Reading all these comments, Yin Kairui could hardly believe what he was seeing. He felt completely bewildered and outraged. “Let me see who this person is! Su Yingying… who is she even?”
“She played the fifth supporting role in the movie you starred in last year,” Wen Yiting replied. While Yin Kairui could barely remember the names or faces of most of the people he worked with, she kept track of every single person involved in their projects. She pulled up Su Yingying’s profile picture and showed it to him.
Yin Kairui glanced at it briefly and shook his head. “Never heard of her, never met her, don’t remember her at all.”
Wen Yiting was well used to the fact that Yin Kairui paid almost no attention to anyone other than himself and his own work. But right now, this was a serious problem. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t remember anything about her? She has posted photographs, and she claims she actually went to your room that night.”
Su Yingying was a little-known actress who had barely made a name for herself in the industry. By posting this statement, she had turned herself into the center of attention, and the comments section of her account was filled with angry arguments and debates.
Some people called Yin Kairui a heartless and untrustworthy man, while others accused Su Yingying of being shameless and desperate for fame.
But whether people praised you or criticized you, attention was attention and in the entertainment industry, being completely ignored was the worst fate of all.
Yin Kairui understood exactly how serious this situation was. He frowned and studied Su Yingying’s photograph carefully, as well as the image she had posted which was clearly taken from a security camera. After looking at them for a long time, a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.
“Now I remember! This is that woman the one who was so incredibly ugly that I couldn’t forget it, the one who came knocking on my door in the middle of the night, wearing almost nothing and trying to scare me half to death by pretending to be a ghost!”