Ch 26: The Scumbag’s Daily Wife-Doting Life [QT]

The system jumped out and asked viciously, 【What now?】

Xie Li tapped the so-called “scandal photo” of Su Qingyu on his phone screen, his gaze darkening.

“Is there anything that can completely erase this photo?”

The system paused, sounding as though it had gone off to search for something. Only after a long moment did it reply:

【There are two options in the shop. Direct black-tech erasure for 50 points, or learn hacking skills for 1000 points.】

“I want the fifty-point one.”

The scandal had only just exploded. Most people still hadn’t seen the photo yet, so directly erasing it was enough. If he waited to learn hacking skills and then spent time practicing before becoming proficient enough to use them, by then the entire world would already have seen the picture, and deleting it would no longer mean much.

The system cheerfully deducted the points.

【50 points deducted from player. Remaining points: 2550.】

Xie Li nodded and waved dismissively for it to leave. He no longer needed it.

The system cursed under its breath:

【Burning the bridge after crossing the river!】

Too lazy to bother with it, Xie Li opened his phone and checked online. He discovered that after negotiations with the company, money had already been spent to remove the trending topic, while the widely circulated “scandal photos” had all turned into unreadable gibberish.

Whether they had been posted on Weibo, downloaded onto phones, or even deliberately stored on USB drives by malicious people…

From this moment onward, nowhere in the world would that photo exist anymore.

Xie Li curled his lips into a satisfied smile.

In the previous world, he had perfectly completed the mission and earned 1000 points. Because he was a beginner player, he had received double points, making it 2000 total. On top of that, he had completed several hidden achievements, such as the 【Powerful and Distinguished Official】 achievement, the 【Blessed with Both Sons and Daughters】 achievement, and the 【Remembered Through the Ages】 achievement earned through his medical skills…

Each one granted him an additional 200 points, totaling another 600. Together with the main mission reward, Xie Li had earned a full 2600 points in his first world.

Spending fifty points barely registered to him.

And the effect was excellent. Black technology really did deserve the name, immediate and unbelievably effective.

This way, the crisis surrounding the “scandal photo” incident could be reduced to the absolute minimum…

After sitting in the living room for a while and estimating that enough time had passed, Xie Li stood up and poured a cup of hot water onto the coffee table, waiting for Su Qingyu to come out.

Then his phone began ringing like a death warrant.

Xie Li glanced at the caller ID, answered lazily, and asked casually:

“What?”

On the other end, Han Ming sounded nearly insane, on the verge of collapse.

“Young master, why did you suddenly announce your relationship?! Do you even know you’re trending right now?!”

“Trending?” Xie Li played with the cup in his hand, unconcerned. “Isn’t trending good? Aren’t you always hoping I trend?”

Han Ming choked.

“Yeah, but I never expected you to trend like this!”

“Well, it’s already up there. If you’re unhappy about it, spend money and remove it yourself.”

“W-Wait! That’s not the point! I’m talking about you and Su Qingyu from Tianchen Entertainment. Young master, haven’t you two already been secretly dating for two years? Why suddenly go public out of nowhere? The company was even planning to arrange scandal marketing between you and our top actress!”

“That’s exactly because I don’t want anything to do with your bullshit marketing strategies, understand? I, Xie Li, survive in the entertainment industry with talent, not by relying on women!”

Han Ming rolled his eyes.

Young master, since when have you ever possessed something called talent… Haven’t you always relied entirely on your face and family background?

“Even if you didn’t want to fake a scandal, if you were going to reveal your relationship, you should’ve at least warned us in advance.” Han Ming changed the subject. “Right now tons of your fans are threatening to leave the fandom under your Weibo post, and the company wasn’t prepared at all. If you’d told us earlier, we could’ve at least bought some internet trolls to steer public opinion and minimize the impact.”

Xie Li laughed so hard he almost couldn’t speak.

“Han Ming, since when have you ever seen me be considerate toward anyone?”

Han Ming: “……”

That really had never happened.

“I’ll announce my relationship whenever I want. As for minimizing the impact, that’s your responsibility. Figure it out yourself!” Suddenly, Xie Li’s laughter vanished, his voice turning cold and merciless. “If you can’t handle it, pack your things and get lost!”

“That’s it.” Catching sight of Su Qingyu stepping out of the bathroom, Xie Li swiftly hung up the phone. “I’ve got something to do. I’ll talk to you later.”

Han Ming panicked.

“Wait, wait a sec…”

Listening to the disconnected beeping tone, Han Ming stared blankly at his phone, realizing he’d really been hung up on. He was so furious he could barely speak.

“You brat! Damn brat! Damn brat…”

……

Xie Li sneezed, rubbed his nose, and somehow felt like someone was cursing him.

At that moment, Su Qingyu approached in a bathrobe, her face pale and her steps unsteady.

The moment Xie Li saw her, he immediately forgot about everything else. He wanted to show concern for her, but he still had to maintain the original owner’s personality. To put himself in a morally superior position when breaking up with Su Qingyu, the original Xie Li secretly found a chance to take candid photos of her and hand them over to Song Wufu.Raising his chin slightly, he pointed toward the coffee table and instructed:

“Drink some hot water. Don’t get sick.”

Su Qingyu froze for a second, then obediently walked over, picked up the cup, and drank from it in small sips.

Xie Li shifted into a relaxed pose with his legs crossed, leaning back against the sofa as he declared arrogantly:

“Don’t worry. The trending topic’s already been removed, and the photo issue’s handled too.”

“What?” Su Qingyu looked confused.

Xie Li’s heart softened slightly. Suddenly, he had the strange feeling of raising a small animal. He coughed awkwardly before softening his voice.

“I mean, I contacted a hacker I know. That photo doesn’t exist online anymore.”

Suspicion flickered across Su Qingyu’s face until Xie Li opened his phone and repeatedly searched keywords in front of her without finding the photo anywhere. Only then did she finally believe him in shock.

“There’s actually a way to do something like that?!” Su Qingyu widened her eyes at the phone screen, looking at him with open admiration. “That’s amazing.”

Xie Li cupped her face in his hands and leaned closer with dissatisfaction.

“I’m the one who pulled connections to find the person. Just admire me, alright? Don’t use that expression while thinking about someone else.”

Su Qingyu: “……”

The reason Xie Li could attract endless fans with his face was because his appearance truly left nothing to criticize. Not only were his features flawless, but his eyes, clear and bright like cold stars, were especially famous among fans. When he focused intently on someone, it felt as though he could pull their soul straight out.

The tips of Su Qingyu’s ears quietly turned red. She broke free from his hands and nodded.

“This whole thing only happened because you were careless!”

“Yeah, my fault…” Xie Li looked sheepish for once, lacking his earlier overbearing arrogance. He gently stroked her damp, soft hair and unusually lowered his head in embarrassment. “I won’t secretly take photos of you again.”

It would’ve been better if he hadn’t said anything at all. The moment he brought it up, Su Qingyu immediately remembered the source of all this chaos.

“Why were you taking photos of me in the first place?”

Xie Li curled his lips into a smile, looking both smug and perfectly justified.

“You wouldn’t move in with me, so wasn’t it normal for me to keep a few photos for myself?”

Su Qingyu’s expression turned strange. Her cheeks instantly flushed crimson as she stammered:

“Y-You’re shameless!”

“……Are you misunderstanding something?” Xie Li looked utterly innocent. “I just thought you looked beautiful while sleeping. Besides the bathroom photo, I also kept pictures of you dozing off on the sofa. But I guess whoever found the phone thought those photos were useless, so they didn’t upload them.”

“What?” Su Qingyu blanked out before suddenly realizing what he meant. Her face exploded red with embarrassment, leaving her too ashamed to speak.

Xie Li didn’t tease her any further. Smiling faintly, he picked up a hairdryer and began drying her hair while speaking softly:

“Alright, stop being mad at me. No matter how you look at it, this was all my fault. How about I work as your assistant for a while and let you order me around however you want?”

“……Okay.” Su Qingyu pretended to think about it before agreeing readily.

There was always too much work in the entertainment industry. Even though they had been together for two years, various circumstances had kept them from truly spending much time together. It had already been four months since their last meeting. If Xie Li could stay by her side for a few days and use the chance to repair the growing distance between them, that would be ideal.

Hearing her answer, Xie Li smiled slightly and continued drying her hair gently.

Meanwhile, Su Qingyu sat on the sofa replying to the flood of messages on her phone.

Xie Li’s sudden relationship announcement had exploded onto the trending searches. His manager had called immediately. As the other party involved, there was no way Su Qingyu could remain peaceful either, especially not after her scandal photo incident.

As Su Qingyu replied to a few messages, the tension between her brows gradually eased, as though she had received good news.

“What is it?” Xie Li asked. “What did your company say?”

A smile spread across Su Qingyu’s lips.

“The company said the situation was handled really well. The relationship announcement trending topic completely buried the negative news, and netizens will probably forget about the earlier incident soon… Ah Li, thank you.”

Xie Li simply smiled without speaking, his movements becoming even gentler.

Even though she had suffered entirely because of undeserved misfortune, she didn’t blame him at all. Instead, she was thanking him…

What a foolish girl.

……

After drying her hair, Su Qingyu went to rest in the guest room.

Xie Li returned to his own bedroom and checked the comments beneath his Weibo post.

Fifty percent were congratulatory messages. Thirty percent were crying about leaving the fandom. The rest were hateful comments from antis insulting him.

The original owner had never possessed any real talent. He had forced his way through the entertainment industry purely on his looks. His fans were loyal, but he had also attracted countless haters. Every time something happened, antis would swarm into the comments celebrating wildly, acting smug and wishing he’d quit the industry the very next day.

Now that Xie Li had offended his enormous girlfriend-fanbase, how could the antis not jump out immediately to make themselves known?

Things like “his fans are turning against him,” “Xie Li’s finished,” “Xie Li’s shameless,” “dating a scandal-ridden actress,” “CCTV will blacklist him sooner or later”…

The antis threw every insult imaginable at him.

Xie Li skipped over all of it without reading closely. Instead, he replied to and liked a few comments from fans offering their blessings.

When he looked up again, the trending topic #XieLi_SuQingyu# had already climbed to ninth place on the hot search rankings and was still rising rapidly.

Within a few more hours, it would probably become the number one trending topic.

Xie Li stroked his chin, completely unconcerned. He searched Su Qingyu’s Weibo and discovered that two minutes earlier she had reposted his post, officially confirming their relationship. A smile appeared in his eyes, and he tapped the like button.

Su Qingyu V: My boyfriend //@XieLi V: My girlfriend. [Photo]

The netizens immediately caught it with lightning-fast reflexes and exploded with excitement.

【He liked it! He liked it! Hurry and screenshot it!】

【Is this public relationship announcement immediately followed by sugar?!】

【At first I thought the relationship reveal was just crisis PR, but now I’m not so sure…】

【Go, Xiaoyu! Everyone, trust Xiaoyu’s innocence!】

【Thank you @XieLi. Thank you for standing beside Xiaoyu at a time like this. Wishing you both happiness.】

Xie Li read through several comments and liked them one by one. Especially the fans who were still supporting Su Qingyu despite the “scandal photo” incident. Almost every supportive comment he saw, he liked.

By the time his fingers were getting numb from tapping, an entire hour had already passed.

Checking the time, Xie Li realized it was already very late into the night. He yawned, set down his phone, and went to bed.

After he fell asleep, the trending topic #XieLiLikesPosts# shot upward at astonishing speed, quickly surpassing #XieLi_SuQingyu# and charging straight toward the top three rankings.

After all, celebrities announcing relationships was common.

But liking comments this frantically? That definitely wasn’t common.

This was true love! the netizens sighed emotionally.

……

The next morning, when Xie Li woke up and discovered what had happened, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He had only been trying to express his sincerity and reassure Su Qingyu, yet somehow he had ended up on another trending search.

This was probably the definition of “flowers planted intentionally refuse to bloom, while willows flourish where branches are casually stuck.” So many celebrities fought desperately for trending searches and headlines, yet they still couldn’t compare to one random action from Xie Li.

After getting up, Xie Li changed clothes and went out for a run.

This had also been one of the original owner’s long-standing habits. As a celebrity who lived off his looks, maintaining his physique was naturally important. The original owner even had an entire cabinet full of skincare products, no less extensive than those of female celebrities.

By the time he returned from running, Su Qingyu was already awake and preparing breakfast.

To maintain their figures, both of them were used to Western-style breakfasts: sandwiches, milk, salad, maybe an extra fried egg at most.

Xie Li didn’t particularly like it, but he still finished everything politely. Setting down his knife and fork, he asked:

“What’s your schedule for today?”

“Originally, the company planned to hold a celebration banquet for me, but now…” Su Qingyu looked troubled. “Even though the photos were deleted, millions of people already saw them. I’ll probably need to stay home for a few days and avoid the spotlight.”

Xie Li stroked his chin thoughtfully before nodding.

“That’s fine too. We haven’t seen each other in forever anyway. Stay with me these next few days. Seriously, how long has it been since we last met?”

Su Qingyu puffed out her cheeks like a goldfish and complained pitifully:

“You’re the one who refused to come see me or answer my calls.”

Xie Li turned his face away.

“Why I refused to go? Maybe you should reflect on that yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Su Qingyu asked in confusion.

“Heh.” Xie Li revealed a bored expression and laughed mockingly. “In my own company, I’m still somebody important. Everywhere I go, people flatter me and give me face. But the moment I stand in front of your manager, I become some disgusting stain nobody can wash off…”

He paused before continuing:

“I’m not some masochist. Why would I go to your company just to be looked down on?”

Su Qingyu opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but after a long while nothing came out. In the end, she lowered her head again and apologized softly.

“I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t as though she had never noticed those things before. But Sister Lan had been managing her ever since she entered the entertainment industry and had sacrificed countless things to protect her career. Su Qingyu truly didn’t know how to resist her.

Xie Li froze briefly, then waved his hand magnanimously.

“Forget it. I’m generous enough not to argue with your manager.”

Resting his chin on one hand, he hesitated for a moment. His gaze landed on the oil painting hanging on the wall, and seemingly thinking of something, he suddenly turned around and declared in a tone that allowed no refusal:

“Let’s go traveling for the next few days. We’ll stay out of her sight.”

“Traveling?” Curiosity appeared in Su Qingyu’s eyes. “Where to?”

Xie Li thought for a moment, then got up and fetched a world travel handbook from the study. He casually flipped open a page and tapped a spot with his finger.

“Here.”

— Santorini Island.

╰───♡───╯