Chapter 318: Chapter 311 Not an Illusion Chapter 318: Chapter 311 Not an Illusion When Young Master Xiao saw the three children at the door, his face showed an expression of surprise. Upon realizing why Fang Mengmeng and the others had come, he invited them into the house. It was too cold outside, and the children hadn’t brought any photos or posters with them. Seeing the persistence in the two little girls’ eyes, even if Young Master Xiao felt impatient inside, he still put on a kindly and approachable demeanor.

However, upon seeing the dog and the two cats that followed them inside, Young Master Xiao paused in his steps, frowning slightly.

“Uh, Young Master Xiao, do you dislike cats and dogs?” Fang Mengmeng asked cautiously.

Young Master Xiao’s frown relaxed and he waved his hand, saying, “Not at all. A friend once brought a dog here, but that dog was too mischievous. In less than an hour, it destroyed a sofa, several props, and a screenplay. But, it’s fine.”

“Uh-huh, my Da Mi is very well-behaved and won’t cause any trouble. I’ll make sure to watch over it and stop it from bothering you,” Fang Mengmeng hurriedly assured.

“My Mao Dou is too!” said Hou Junyi, calling over Mao Dou, who was sniffing around, worried that he might cause trouble accidentally.

Zheng Tan had been closely watching Young Master Xiao, having heard that an actor with superb acting skills often displays a mercurial temperament, needing to adapt to different characters in various plays, and might even constantly be acting and showing off their acting prowess in real life. Out of curiosity, Zheng Tan observed this actor, who was quite beloved by female fans.

Perhaps Young Master Xiao never expected to be so carefully observed by a cat, his well-concealed look that was hidden from the three children was caught by Zheng Tan. From an angle the children couldn’t see, Young Master Xiao had a flash of malevolence in his eyes when he saw Zheng Tan, Da Mi, and Mao Dou, a detail which Zheng Tan, sensitive to such things, did not doubt his perception of. It seemed that Young Master Xiao’s disposition was not as benevolent as he portrayed, just well masked in front of others. Zheng Tan curled his lips in disdain, silently scoffing at the pretense. This man clearly disliked cats and dogs but still made excuses.

It didn’t matter to Zheng Tan; he wasn’t fond of this celebrity anyway. The actor’s lousy character was none of his concern. Nonetheless, he wondered how many female fans would get heartbroken if one day his true temperament got exposed.

“Usually, nobody visits here, so there’s only red tea and boiled water. Of course, there’s also alcohol, but you’re too young for that,” he said.

Young Master Xiao brewed three cups of red tea and handed them to the children.

“This is perfect, thank you,” said Chu Laiya.

“Sorry for disturbing you so late,” Fang Mengmeng said, now calmer and feeling a bit impolite.

“It’s alright. It’s rare to meet three young fans like you; I’m very happy,” Young Master Xiao said with a smile. He then took out three photos from a drawer, signed his name on them, and passed them over.

The two little girls happily accepted the gifts, whereas Hou Junyi, with a serious expression, pushed the photo back and said, “Thank you for your generosity, but I’m sorry, I’m not one of your die-hard fans.”

Fang Mengmeng, Chu Laiya, Young Master Xiao: “…”

The child’s bluntness was so on the nose it made one want to punch him.

Zheng Tan noticed a twitch in the corner of Young Master Xiao’s eye.

A successful celebrity often knows forbearance, which isn’t easy. They have to endure grievances and anger, and always try to present their best side in front of others. Thus, Young Master Xiao didn’t show any sign of embarrassment or anger on his face.

Even with Hou Junyi’s mood-killing presence, it did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the two girls. Learning that Young Master Xiao had been exercising in the room and thus had not heard the doorbell, and that he had come out to drink water when he finally heard it and then immediately went to answer the door, all resentment for having to wait outside in the shivering cold dissipated for the girls.

“So you were exercising? I heard that actors have to keep in shape. Do you really have eight-pack abs?”

“Can you really fly a fighter jet?”

“Do you really not use stunt doubles in action scenes?”

…

To this flurry of questions, Young Master Xiao didn’t show any impatience, still answering all of them with a gentle demeanor.

Fans besieging them brings plenty of trouble for celebrities, but without the mobbing of fans, a star’s fame might not be all that great. So, is this what they call “suffering yet rejoicing”?

Hou Junyi looked at Fang Mengmeng and the others, shaking his head, unable to understand why their IQs seemed to have plummeted to negative numbers—fighter jets, seriously? Believing what they see on TV?

“By the way, Young Master Xiao, I heard your next movie is about urban zombies. I’ve seen the styling for that movie; it’s so cool!” Chu Laiya said, her face flushed with excitement.

While the three over there talked about Young Master Xiao’s new movie, set to premiere during the winter vacation, Hou Junyi coughed to assert his presence.

“Actually, this whole vampire and zombie thing doesn’t exist. It’s all stories made up from the fantasy of porphyria. Drinking blood, eating human flesh, fear of sunlight—didn’t they show that just recently in a movie? A fridge stuffed full of human organs belonging to a porphyria patient.” He said, glancing over at the refrigerator.

Fang Mengmeng, Chu Laiya, Young Master Xiao: “…”

Zheng Tan noticed another twitch in the corner of Young Master Xiao’s eye.

Young Master Xiao was silent for a few seconds, then he laughed, stood up, and walked over to the large double-door refrigerator, opening it, “I don’t have any of those horrible things in here.”

The fridge didn’t have much in it, and the refrigerated section only contained some fruits that still looked fresh.

As Young Master Xiao took out fruit for the three of them and closed the fridge door to turn around, Hou Junyi spoke up again.

“Have you heard of fridge philosophy? A trash bin and a fridge can reflect a person’s attitude towards life, and what they store and how they arrange things can reveal their personality. So, based on my deduction, Young Master Xiao doesn’t cook for himself.”

Chu Laiya immediately defended, “It’s understandable that Young Master Xiao is too busy to cook. Besides, there’s a saying that ‘A gentleman stays away from the kitchen!’”
“It’s ‘A gentleman keeps away from the kitchen’, and it’s not about not cooking. The saying primarily expresses a reluctance to witness the act of killing, hence the aversion to the kitchen. So my dad says that people who talk like that are hypocrites without a sense of responsibility—condemning others as cruel while enjoying the meat in their bowls,” Hou replied.

Fang Mengmeng, Chu Laiya, Young Master Xiao: “…”

Anyone would take that remark as an accusation of Young Master Xiao being hypocritical and irresponsible.

Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya were so annoyed they wanted to kick Hou Junyi, regretting having brought him along and losing face in front of their idol. Their first visit had left a bad impression.

Zheng Tan felt as if he were seeing the troublesome kids from the East District courtyard. If Hou Junyi were to live there, Zheng believed he would get along quite well with Jiao Yuan and Su An.

“Damn science guy!” Chu Laiya muttered.

“You’re wrong, I lean more towards the engineering side; science and engineering are not the same,” Hou Junyi corrected.

Zheng Tan saw Young Master Xiao looking down, his right thumb and forefinger rubbing against each other, pondering something. He reckoned the comment from Hou Junyi had probably irritated Young Master Xiao.

“It seems I’ll have to learn more about cooking,” Young Master Xiao said with a smile, looking up at the three of them. “Little friend Hou knows a lot and has a strong observational ability.”

Zheng Tan wasn’t sure if he was overthinking, but he felt Young Master Xiao’s last statement seemed profoundly meaningful. There was heating in the room, yet Zheng suddenly felt a bit cold.

Little friend Hou was quite pleased with himself and looked around before pointing at the floor-to-ceiling windows not far away, “Is that switchable privacy glass?”

“Yes, little friend Hou, it’s surprising you know about this,” Young Master Xiao replied agreeably.

Zheng Tan felt even colder. Something was off, and though the atmosphere felt wrong, as the three children appeared to be chatting as usual, Zheng wondered if he was being overly suspicious.

Looking around, he saw a display shelf not far away with various fan gifts of different sizes, including figurines, crystal items, commemorative shirts, and so on. Zheng Tan jumped onto the display shelf and saw a toy that looked like Ah Huang. Upon closer inspection, there was a fan message on a little note attached to it.

A photo of this display shelf had been previously shared online, which increased fans’ loyalty to Young Master Xiao, as it also showed the idol’s appreciation of them.

While looking, Zheng Tan heard Young Master Xiao talking to Fang Mengmeng and the others about cats, and he sounded quite knowledgeable.

“I’m rarely home all year round, so I haven’t kept pets like cats or dogs. By the way, yesterday I saw a tabby cat on the wall of my house, but it didn’t eat the food I gave it. Oh, there was also another cat, I saw it last week when I came home, with a white body and a black tail, but it ran away as soon as I approached,” said Young Master Xiao.

Fang Mengmeng frowned, “I haven’t seen such a cat around my place, not sure who it belongs to; it could make friends with Da Mi later on…”

“Crash!”

Before Fang Mengmeng could finish speaking, a sound of something shattering came from the direction of the display shelf. Startled, they looked over to find that a crystal cup had fallen and shattered on the floor, and standing on the display shelf was none other than a black cat.

“That, I’m really sorry, I apologize on behalf of Heitan to you, and I am willing to compensate!” Fang Mengmeng said nervously to Young Master Xiao, fearing that this incident might anger him at Zheng Tan. At the same time, she also signaled Zheng Tan to hurry down from the display shelf.

Ignoring Fang Mengmeng’s words, Zheng Tan felt a chill down his spine. If the tabby cat and the white cat with a black tail mentioned by Young Master Xiao were Lianzi and Gui Yuan, then Young Master Xiao might have a problem!

It wasn’t just a feeling!

Zheng Tan glanced at Young Master Xiao again, and before he could think further, he heard Mao Dou’s cry. The four had been too engrossed in their conversation to notice Mao Dou, who had sneaked away from Hou Junyi’s feet to wander around.

Hearing Mao Dou’s cry, Zheng Tan keenly sensed the sudden murderous intent emanating from Young Master Xiao, and Da Mi, who had been sitting obediently by Fang Mengmeng’s side, puffed up, staring intently at Young Master Xiao.

But the three children noticed nothing amiss. Hou Junyi had risen from the sofa and run towards the source of the noise as soon as Mao Dou started meowing, worried that Mao Dou would cause damage in someone else’s home.

For once, Da Mi didn’t follow Mao Dou’s calls to join in the commotion but instead stayed vigilantly by Fang Mengmeng’s feet.

Zheng Tan watched Young Master Xiao carefully. At the sound of Mao Dou’s cry, Young Master Xiao exhibited a fleeting murderous intent before quickly returning to his usual demeanor. However, his right thumb and forefinger began to rub again, and his movements were not panicked. His eyes remained calm, a calmness that made Zheng Tan’s skin crawl. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep