“Sorry, Brother Xiang.
I’ve got something to do. Let’s talk next time.”
Li Lu no longer felt like talking. They clearly had nothing in common.
“Wait.”
Sun Xiang called out to him again.
“I heard from your former assistant that you sold both of your sports cars.”
“Yes.”
Li Lu saw no reason to deny it. Selling the cars was a little embarrassing, but his finances had really been tight for the past half year.
He had already spent all his savings. Selling them was better than letting them sit in the garage and rust.
“How much mortgage do you still owe? You’re really short on money now, aren’t you?”
Sun Xiang snorted coldly. Back when this kid was hot, he had bought a property worth over a hundred million yuan — Green Willow Villa in Jinghai.
Back then, making money was as easy as playing a game. One endorsement brought in ten million.
Now he still had tens of millions in loans, and it had become a huge burden on him.
“It’s fine. It’s not a big problem.”
Li Lu still needed to save face. How could a man admit he was poor in public?
The truth was, he really was struggling to hold on. He couldn’t even keep up with the mortgage.
But the company couldn’t land him any good jobs, and if he went solo, he probably wouldn’t even get any cameo work.
That was why he was so eager to come renew the contract, hoping to get a signing bonus too.
“Little Lu, don’t say your brother never looked after you.
Do exactly as I say now, and use them to ride a wave of popularity.
Then we’ll start live streaming, and the traffic will definitely hit the billions.
A few times might be enough to make back what you spent.
What are you hesitating for? Are you waiting for the court to come seize your house?”
Sun Xiang didn’t want to expose him. His former assistant knew his financial situation best, and had already reported everything in full.
“Brother Xiang, are you finished?”
“Then I wish you luck. Goodbye.”
Li Lu walked out without looking back. Some things just couldn’t be done.
A man still had to have principles.
“Damn, what an idiot.”
Sun Xiang cursed under his breath. The guy had really been made into a fool by others.
Goodbye meant they would never see each other again.
You brat, one day you’ll come crawling back to me.
“I think he’s pretty good. He seems manly.”
Ma Rui was tidying up the contract from earlier, still savoring the encounter.
“Marry, don’t be fooled by his looks.”
When Sun Xiang saw the light in his assistant’s eyes, his heart tightened.
“I’ve been managing him since his debut. He’s stupid, foolish, and only thinks about women.
A classic brainless pretty boy.”
“When he first joined the group, I checked his family background. He said his parents worked in farming.
Later, the team set his image as a rich young master, and the idiot believed it himself first.
In his second year, as soon as he made some money, he took out a loan and bought a villa worth over a hundred million. He really thought moving into Green Willow Villa made him a young master.
He bought two sports cars at once and spent money like crazy.
He never took stock of his own caliber. A traffic star can stay hot for at most five years.
And sure enough, now he’s so poor he’s almost bankrupt. Just how stupid can he be?”
“From the day he entered the industry until now, women have been all that’s in his head.
If he had put even a little attention into his career, he wouldn’t be this miserable now.
You know why he sold the cars?
Remember that singing variety show Su Nuan was on? The one where fans had to vote?
This guy personally spent five million yuan. When it comes to chasing women, he never holds back.
Now that girl has finally blown up, she’s immediately posting online to cut ties with him.”
“You think he’s devoted? Bullshit.
Our company’s Lin Lin, Tianyu’s Zhang Xinyao, plus that Li Shihan, Liu Mian… there are plenty more.
During all the years he was hot, he never stopped.”
“I remember when he first broke up with Liu Mian, his assistant said he was in terrible shape, drinking every day.
Then just a few days later, the assistant said he had gotten together with that Su Nuan.
He’s a veteran scumbag. In this circle, there are no good people.”
Sun Xiang vented bitterly. The key point was that this kid was really strange… he always went for top-tier targets and never missed.
Marry was such a rare catch, and so innocent.
She hadn’t been at the company long, and he hadn’t even made a move yet. He couldn’t let someone else get there first.
After saying so much, he saw that the other side still wasn’t reacting, and a sense of urgency shot up all at once.
“Um, Marry, I know a steakhouse. How about we go try it tonight?”
“Let’s talk about it later. I need to work.”
…
Li Lu drifted along the street, thinking about what to do next.
He hadn’t listened to his parents and had gone out to work early, saying he was going to make something of himself.
He wasn’t good at studying, and his musical talent was only average.
He just didn’t want to hear them nagging anymore, so he ran out on his own.
He hadn’t expected everything to go so smoothly. It went so smoothly that he couldn’t even believe it himself.
Signing a contract, debuting, blowing up overnight.
A luxury house, a pool, sports cars… he had everything again.
But good times never lasted. Before he knew it, just a few years later, he had become a useless wreck again.
Forget it. Time to go home.
He was already 26 and had accomplished nothing. Going back to live off his parents was a little hard to justify.
But he couldn’t really sell the house, could he? He had already paid so much interest.
At worst, they’d mock him for a while. They were his own parents, so it wasn’t that embarrassing.
He really didn’t have much ability. He might as well be honest and do what he was supposed to do.
“Ring, ring, ring…”
His phone rang. Li Lu looked at it. Xiao Nuan.
Just as he was about to answer, his heart suddenly jolted. He thought of what Sun Xiang had just said.
Was she coming to break up with him?
Thinking back to his previous relationships, he had also been notified by phone that it was over.
“Hello, Xiao Nuan. Miss me?”
“Mm, I always miss you. I always miss you.”
“What are you doing?”
Li Lu felt a lot more relaxed. Thank goodness. Good, good.
“I just arrived in Jinghai. Let’s meet tonight.”
“Okay, I’ll go to your place tonight.”
“Let’s go to the Han River Bridge instead. That’s where we usually take our walks.”
“Where?
Oh, okay, okay. I know.”
…
“Okay, I’ll hang up.”
Li Lu started having doubts again. It probably wasn’t what he was thinking.
Not letting him come to her home probably meant things were too tense lately, and it would be easy for paparazzi to stake out the place.
In his previous relationships, he had basically always been told about the breakup over the phone.
If they were breaking up, what was the point of meeting?
His first relationship: the two of them were still very inexperienced, and under pressure from the company, they both gave up.
The second relationship was with Zhang Xinyao. They had filmed an idol drama together and fallen in love while acting.
In the end, her agent gave him a harsh warning, and she only left him one text message:
『We are both professional actors. The story is over, and so is fate.』
The third relationship was with Li Shihan, his co-star while filming the movie Space, which ended in a massive flop.
When the whole internet was mocking him as box office poison, her acting was marketed as the movie’s only saving grace.
In fact, they had already been together. She apologized to him privately and said she couldn’t help him.
He understood. An artist’s words were tightly controlled by their agents.
But there was still a crack between them… one side was going downhill, the other was rising.
One side said “I love you,” while the other deliberately kept their distance.
Their private contact became fewer and fewer, until she had a new drama and a new scandal partner.
She didn’t even say the words “break up.” He was simply pushed out on his own.