Let Me Meet You chapter 8
The New Assistant (1)
Li Xuan was awakened by a knock at the door.
As autumn arrived, the days grew shorter. At this moment, the sky was still covered with a light gray haze.
He had only slept for four or five hours since last night and was too tired to open his eyes as he stumbled to the door.
“Take your time.” Sheng Min, still tied to him at the wrist, was half asleep as he was pulled up from the bed, almost crashing into the door frame.
The knock sounded insistently, and Li Xuan, still cranky from sleep, walked to the door and looked through the peephole, discovering an unfamiliar middle-aged man outside. “Who’s there?”
“Me.” The person outside answered impatiently.
“You? Who are you?” Li Xuan replied more irritably, “A nameless person?”
The man outside paused for a second before raising his voice. “Sheng Min, what’s wrong with you? You’re not answering your calls; open the door quickly.”
“Sheng Min…” Li Xuan suddenly realized this wasn’t his own home. He glanced at the person beside him. “Is that your friend outside?”
“My manager.” Sheng Min also woke up and looked at Li Xuan, “Now it’s yours.”
“Hurry up! What’s taking so long?” Zhang Zhihua pounded on the door forcefully.
Sheng Min furrowed his brows, reaching out to open it, but Li Xuan stopped him with a hand.
“Just wait!” he shouted back at Zhang Zhihua, pointing at the rope binding their hands, signaling to Sheng Min, “Untie it first.”
The rope had been tied too tightly yesterday, and after a night of pulling and tugging, there were several knots. Zhang Zhihua was probably stunned by his shout and stopped urging them; the outside fell momentarily silent. Li Xuan didn’t bother further, and after a while of trying to untie the rope without success, he thought about finding a knife. Suddenly, he heard a click from the door lock, and then the door was pushed open.
“Sheng Min, you… who the hell is this?!”
Sheng Min didn’t expect Zhang Zhihua to barge in directly. He was taken aback and was about to speak when Li Xuan frowned and shook his head. He turned his back to block the view and quickly lowered his head to bite through the rope, letting his sleeves fall to cover the evidence. Then he turned around, maintaining a composed demeanor, and appraised Zhang Zhihua for a few seconds before speaking: “Since you have the key, why knock?”
“This damn door and lock are useless; I had to poke at it several times before I could get it open.” Zhang Zhihua tossed the key in annoyance, almost hitting Li Xuan. Li Xuan sidestepped to avoid it, his expression darkening. Sheng Min thought he was going to explode, but in the next moment, Li Xuan simply bent down to pick up the key and placed it on a nearby table before taking Sheng Min’s phone.
“Who is this guy?” Zhang Zhihua asked, pointing at Sheng Min again.
Li Xuan’s brow furrowed tightly. Sheng Min worried he might say something inappropriate, so he quickly interjected: “I’m his new assistant.”
“Assistant?” Zhang Zhihua was surprised.
Li Xuan remained silent, glancing at Sheng Min without revealing his thoughts. Sheng Min looked at him with pleading eyes. Li Xuan coughed and forced a response, “Yeah, the assistant I hired.”
“What about Yang Xu and Liu Jia? Why do you need another assistant?” Zhang Zhihua shouted, “Do you think you’re so popular now that you can just hire anyone? The company hasn’t budgeted for this expense…”
He rambled on without stopping. Li Xuan didn’t respond, leaning against the dining table and checking something on Sheng Min’s phone. Sheng Min peeked over and saw that it was Zhang Zhihua’s profile.
“Say something.” Sheng Min urged him quietly. Li Xuan ignored him, quickly scanning the profile before looking at the chat history. He read very quickly, almost at a glance. After finishing, he slammed the phone on the table, and Zhang Zhihua was in the middle of saying that if you were going to hire an assistant, you should at least let me know.
“Now you know, right?” Li Xuan pressed his brows together, and Zhang Zhihua seemed to miss it, continuing to shout. Li Xuan had already slept poorly, and with the noise, he felt a headache coming on. He slapped the table: “What’s all this noise?! I’ve said it twice, and you still can’t hear?!”
Zhang Zhihua was momentarily stunned, looking at him with displeasure: “Sheng Min, did you take the wrong medicine?”
“What illness would I need medicine for?” Li Xuan squinted, his voice surprisingly steady, slow and unhurried, “Is it serious? Is it contagious? I’m still an artist under the company, and you’re tarnishing my name just because you’re my manager? Does the company know about this?”
He fired off a long string of questions, and Zhang Zhihua raked a hand through his hair: “What’s going on with you today? And what about this… assistant…” He pointed at Sheng Min, suddenly sounding righteous, “You didn’t inform the company about this.”
“I’m hiring a personal assistant, using my own money, not charging it to the company. What’s there to discuss?”
“Personal assistant?” Zhang Zhihua’s eyes widened, seemingly realizing something. He instinctively stepped forward to scrutinize Sheng Min, then looked at Li Xuan, “He… you can’t be serious…”
“Serious about what?” Li Xuan snapped, pulling Sheng Min behind him to block him.
Zhang Zhihua wore a somewhat disdainful expression, unwilling to voice his thoughts, and became impatient: “You know what I mean.”
“I know what I mean; you don’t.” Li Xuan had no intention of engaging with him. Sheng Min secretly breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Li Xuan say, “Why did you come so early?”
“You have work to do, don’t you know?” Zhang Zhihua glanced at Sheng Min and sat down on the couch.
“Isn’t it at ten?” Li Xuan recalled the content from the chat history. There was indeed an interview scheduled that day. He looked at his watch; it was not yet seven.
“Didn’t you specifically ask Yang Xu to call me? Do you think I wanted to come? I couldn’t reach you on the phone; I was going to ask what’s going on!” Zhang Zhihua shouted again.
“Lower your voice!” Li Xuan covered half his ear with his hand, mouthing to Sheng Min, “Did you tell him to come?”
Sheng Min pressed his lips together
“I really can’t believe you.” Li Xuan scolded him quietly, quickly organizing his thoughts, looking at Zhang Zhihua, “There are two things I need to tell you. First, I’ve hired a new assistant. Second, I’m not going to the interview today.”
“Not going? Why not?” Zhang Zhihua suddenly stood up, “No way!”
“Whether you like it or not, no one asked you.” Sheng Min was also startled, tugging at Li Xuan’s clothes, but Li Xuan swatted his hand away, “You be quiet too.”
“If you don’t go for the interview, how am I supposed to explain it?” Zhang Zhihua was very unhappy.
“That’s your problem.” Zhang Zhihua’s voice was too loud, and as Li Xuan spoke, he raised his own volume too, making his throat dry. He picked up a cup and poured himself half a glass of water, “You’re my manager, so how to handle these matters is your responsibility; do I need to teach you? If you want to reschedule or cancel, that’s up to you… Is it my job to do your job? You just take the money and don’t do any work? Do you think I wouldn’t do it myself if it were that easy?”
Zhang Zhihua was left speechless by his rant, stammering: “You must have a reason to suddenly not go?”
“I’m sick, didn’t you just say that several times? I’m both crazy and sick; how can I go?” Li Xuan said seriously as he pulled out a chair to sit down.
“You don’t usually have such a big temper, latching onto one thing and won’t let go.” Zhang Zhihua’s tone softened a bit, “Change your clothes; the driver is downstairs…”
“Are you sure?” Li Xuan interrupted him, smiling slightly, his tone even taking on a hint of mockery, “I can go, but I can’t guarantee I won’t have a breakdown on-site.”
Zhang Zhihua was taken aback and was actually stumped by the question. Sheng Min had signed with the company at fifteen, and it was Zhang Zhihua who brought him in. From being unknown to gaining popularity, he had always been easy to manage; no matter how much he yelled or scolded, Sheng Min never had much of a temper. If it had been yesterday, or even before he walked in, if Sheng Min had asked him this question, he wouldn’t have hesitated at all…
No, that’s not right. Zhang Zhihua thought. In the past, he would never have imagined Sheng Min saying such a thing. He couldn’t help but look at “Sheng Min” again, and perhaps it was just in his mind, but he felt that something was different. For a moment, he almost felt that this was not Sheng Min, but if it wasn’t him, who could it be?
“Look, have you thought it over?” Li Xuan propped his head with one hand. “If I were you, I would take advantage of this time to negotiate with the TV station. If you keep dragging it out, the result will be the same. Or if you insist that I go today, then…”
He pretended to get up.
“Fine, if you’re not going today, let it be.” Zhang Zhihua momentarily couldn’t get a read on him, and reluctantly said, “It’s really hard to please someone who’s suddenly famous… But you must go for the ad shoot in a few days.”
“We’ll talk about it later.” Li Xuan casually sat back down. “If you have nothing else, you can leave. I still want to sleep for a while.”
“And him?” Zhang Zhihua pointed at Sheng Min.
“Can’t you understand the term ‘personal assistant’? Why do you care about him? He is staying here.”
Zhang Zhihua’s expression grew increasingly strange: “Here?”
“Where else?” Li Xuan knocked on the table. “What? Does the company need to arrange accommodation for him? You might as well pay his salary too, I could save some money.”
As he spoke, he shifted aside and made a gesture for him to leave. “You can take him away.”
“Your own hired assistant, where should I take him?” Zhang Zhihua was startled and stared at him as if he had seen a ghost. Li Xuan smiled nonchalantly, and Zhang Zhihua let out a heavy sigh, moving forward to take the keys and leave. Just as he touched them, Li Xuan snatched the keys back.
“Don’t take them if you’re going to throw them away. I don’t like it when people just come in.” He maintained that smirk, his tone still polite. “And also.” Li Xuan recalled the chat records he had just reviewed; Sheng Min’s usual work was usually communicated one or two days in advance, “Get me a schedule.”
“I just told you that we’re filming an ad on Thursday, didn’t I?”
“I want a month’s schedule, including times, locations, and what we’re doing. Why are you staring at me with such dissatisfaction?” Li Xuan looked at him with a puzzled expression. “You said it yourself; I’m famous now. How come I can’t even get a schedule? Where’s my fame then? In your mouth?”
“Sheng Min, are you possessed or something?!” Zhang Zhihua looked at him, every wrinkle on his face revealing disbelief.
“It’s a normal request for any artist. You think I’m possessed? Then you should seriously reflect on yourself.” Li Xuan twirled the keys around his finger. “I want it by today; no problem, right?.”
Zhang Zhihua was left speechless, trembling as he pointed at him, feeling like he had been dreaming since entering the apartment. He glanced at Sheng Min beside Li Xuan and slammed the door heavily.