TCFMSCBF 10: Pay Back!

Huating is a five-star hotel in Rongcheng. 

The hotel’s attached KTV is called Blue Note.

The lights in the private room were somewhat dim. In the gloom, five or six young men sat idly on the sofas, either smoking or playing on their phones. Accompaniment tracks played through the speakers, but they were too lazy to actually sing. 

A man wearing a suit and tie sat at the very end of the sofa, sitting stiffly and upright as if he were keeping watch over them.

“Don’t drink.” He said, “If you get drunk later and act like a fool then get caught by the paparazzi, the company will have to wipe your butts for you all over again.”

A few of them gave a half-hearted response, daring only to complain in hushed whispers.

“What’s the point of singing without drinking? We already sing enough on stage as it is.”

“We can’t even order hostesses. How about we order some guys then? They must have male hosts here, right? Guys should be fine, surely?”

Suddenly, someone bolted upright and loudly said, “Hey, Xiao Mingxing, why don’t you call that guy over? We’re just sitting around doing nothing anyway.”

The man sitting on the armchair looked up. “Who?”

The other guy grinned mischievously. “You know, that one—the guy who sends you money every month and has been dying to keep you.”

Xiao Mingxing realized who they were talking about. “Oh, you mean Chi Chi?”

“Yeah, bring him over for some entertainment, and he can foot the bill while he’s at it.” The guy turned to look at the manager. “Uncle, it’s fine to call him, right? He listens to whatever Xiao Mingxing says; there definitely won’t be any trouble.”

The manager considered it for a moment and finally nodded. “Do what you want, but he has to come alone.”

Xiao Mingxing opened his phone and said nonchalantly, “Fine, then I’ll send him a message.”

He lowered his head and opened the chat window.

His last conversation with Chi Chi had ended on a money transfer.

Two weeks ago, Xiao Mingxing sent him a link for autographed sneakers and Chi Chi immediately transferred the money to him—enough for six pairs, one for every member of their idol group.

Chi Chi really liked him and was responsive to his every whim. 

Once, when he mentioned in front of Chi Chi that he wanted to act, Chi Chi took him to a talent agency the very next day to get him a role. After all, Chi Chi had been with President Huo for a time and knew a few people.

Sometimes, when he asked for too much money, Chi Chi would, at most, be angry for a single night. By the next morning, he would be back to normal, greeting him with a “good morning” as if nothing had happened. 

Six pairs of sneakers were indeed a bit pricey; that was probably why Chi Chi hadn’t come looking for him in two weeks.

Actually, he had seen Chi Chi at the mall last week. The man had been shopping with the young master of the Huo family. At the time, Xiao Mingxing was sitting in his commuter van and deliberately ignored Chi Chi. However, to his surprise, Chi Chi didn’t pay him any mind either and just walked right past.

To punish Chi Chi, he intentionally gave him the cold shoulder for another week. Now, having mostly cooled off, he deigned to send a message telling Chi Chi to come over; there was no way Chi Chi wouldn’t show up.

With that thought in mind, Xiao Mingxing sent the message.

【Blue Note, Room 15】

After sending it, he simply turned off his phone.

He couldn’t help but recall the sight of Chi Chi at the mall entrance a few days ago. 

To be fair, when Chi Chi wasn’t wearing those gaudy, flashy clothes or heavy makeup, he looked clean and refreshing—he was actually quite good-looking.

Xiao Mingxing pursed his lips. Heh, it was probably just some new ‘playing hard to get’ style.

After the group waited for ten minutes, Xiao Mingxing finally sensed something was off and checked his phone again. 

Chi Chi hadn’t replied.

His groupmates nearby began to jeer, “Xiao Mingxing, has he finally lost interest in you?” 

Irritated, Xiao Mingxing “shushed” them before dialing the number.

“Chi Chi, come pay the bill. We’re at Huating, hurry up.”

As a punishment for Chi Chi, he hung up the phone before he could even get a word in. 

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Chi Chi sent him a message.

【Refund!!!】

Before Xiao Mingxing even had a chance to lock his screen, his teammates had already crowded around to take a look. 

Fair-weather friends^[1] like these are always the first to gloat and the fastest to huddle up when there’s drama to be seen.

“Holy crap. Xiao Mingxing, you’re screwed. No matter what, the guy is still part of the inner circle—he’s President Huo’s ex-husband and the young master’s father. He even knows our CEO and the crown prince. You’ve really ticked him off; you’re dead.”

Xiao Mingxing panicked for a moment, but he still put on a brave face. “What’s there to be afraid of?”

*

Chi Chi was nearly fuming to death at the original owner, so angry that tears were actually welling up in his eyes.

What kind of person behaves like this? 

Feeding the kid instant noodles while buying luxury goods and gaudy clothes for himself, spending every last cent every single month, and even leaving behind a mountain of debt for him to repay.

On top of that, he was still out there spending money on other people? Dropping over a hundred thousand in one go?

He finally realized who the original owner’s large monthly transfers were going to. 

Did the original owner know all along that he would be the one taking over his mess, and did this on purpose? 

Chi Chi was nearly driven to tears with rage. How could he do this? How could he be like this?

The next second, following a few “dings,” a string of messages from Xiao Mingxing popped up.

【What do you think you’re doing? Do you have any idea how much face I just lost in front of them?】

【I told you I’m at Blue Note. My teammates are all right here beside me; they all saw everything.】

【Are you trying to back out now? If you can’t afford to play the game, you shouldn’t have started in the first place. Do you really think I’m so short on cash that I need your pocket change for the bill?】

Chi Chi was absolutely fuming. He pulled up the chat box and typed out a long string of censored profanities in response.

However, he then calmed down and thought for a moment. No, he can’t be this impulsive. 

A war of words is pointless and getting angry is just bad for your health. The most important thing right now is to claw back the money the original owner squandered.

Chi Chi wiped his face and sniffled. Enduring a literal heartache, he scrolled through the chat history between the original owner and this Xiao Mingxing again, trying to parse their relationship.

Good, very good. It was a completely one-sided affair of the original owner chasing after him to throw money. Xiao Mingxing only ever replied with an “mm” or a product link.

As Chi Chi scrolled further back, he suddenly noticed something off. 

One night two years ago, the original owner had sent Xiao Mingxing several photos of a stage performance with the message: “I’m here at the venue, you look very handsome.”

Chi Chi’s realization was instant. He went straight to his computer and typed Xiao Mingxing into the search bar.

Good grief. He really is a minor celebrity.

The lead singer of a boy band who debuted just two years ago. 

He had even just posted on Weibo—a group photo of the six band members taken right there at the KTV, captioned with the word “Gathering.”

Heh. On the surface, he’s acting like life is beautiful, but in reality, he’s calling to have Chi Chi come and foot the bill.

Chi Chi finally figured out the relationship between the original owner and this guy.

The original owner was a fan and Xiao Mingxing somehow got in touch with him. The original owner was, after all, a big shot from a wealthy family so Xiao Mingxing gave both clear and subtle hints for the original owner to spend money on him.

Chi Chi couldn’t help but curse. One of them couldn’t think straight, the other was selfish and disgusting; they were truly a match made in heaven.

Once he had figured everything out, Chi Chi put down his phone and immediately searched— 

Legal consultation!

Chi Chi entered three lawyer websites all at once. Generally speaking, the first consultation on each website is usually free.

He tried his best to describe the situation objectively and then sent it to the lawyers who answer questions online.

While waiting for a reply, Chi Chi let out a long sigh of relief. He leaned back against the chair. 

It was only then that he realized Huo Xiao Cha was standing right beside him.

“Daddy, is something wrong?”

Chi Chi minimized the consultation interface, calmed his emotions, and smiled at him. “It’s nothing. Are you going to take a bath now? I’ll run the water for you.”

Huo Xiao Cha nodded. “Mm, I want to take a bath now.”

Chi Chi stood up, led him into the bathroom, and dragged the children’s bathtub out. 

He squatted on the ground, one hand holding the shower head and the other hand propping up his head.

Thinking about it calmly now, that money was actually all given voluntarily by the original owner; now that he wants to get it back, he’s afraid it might not be that easy.

Chi Chi was very distressed. Just at this moment, Huo Xiao Cha pressed close and gave him a gentle hug. 

“Daddy?”

Chi Chi turned his head and also hugged him. “Wuwuwu, Xiao Cha.”

Huo Xiao Cha pressed against his cheek. “Did Daddy run into some trouble?”

“It’s nothing.” Chi Chi lifted his head and sniffled. “Daddy is fine, don’t worry.”

After taking a ‘hit’ of his cub, Chi Chi immediately perked up and walked back to the front of the computer to look at the replies from the three lawyers. As a result, the three lawyers gave a unified reply—

【Sir, are you consulting lawyers from other websites at the same time?】

Chi Chi:【???】

【Everyone you asked is a colleague at our workstations】

Chi Chi was stunned. He exited and took a look, they were clearly lawyers from different websites. 

Chi Chi sent “I’m sorry” three times. In the end, the three lawyers collectively told Chi Chi that money and goods given voluntarily are indeed very hard to get back.

However, one lawyer kindly reminded him:【Generally speaking, celebrities care a lot about their reputations; this is one line of thought. However, if the other party agrees to return the money and goods, you had better also bring a lawyer and a contract to prevent the other party from going back on their word. You can contact me again if you need to】

Chi Chi thanked him, then began to organize the chat records and transfer records between the original owner and Xiao Mingxing. 

These are all useful evidence.

Chi Chi exported and saved all the various records, organized them into a compressed package, and—just in case—saved them to several cloud drives. 

After finishing these things, Huo Xiao Cha had also finished his bath.

“You go to sleep first, Daddy will be there in a moment.” Chi Chi watched him enter the room.

In the time that he ignored Xiao Mingxing, he had already flown into a rage out of embarrassment and sent him several new messages.

【What are you doing? Are you still angry?】

【Fine, I’ll return the money for the sneakers I bought last time to you, will that do?】

【Transfer】

Chi Chi did not click to receive the payment because he wanted to get all the money back all at once.

Xiao Mingxing on the other end, seeing that he hadn’t responded for a long time, was already a bit panicked. 

After all, an ATM worth over a hundred thousand a month, who wouldn’t want that?

He hesitated, then sent another message to Chi Chi.

【I’m back in the room, the very room you booked for me at Huating last time. Do you want to come over? I’m going to take a shower first, waiting for your reply】

Didn’t Chi Chi always want to be in a romantic relationship with him? It was just that he had never agreed; he felt the money Chi Chi gave was too little, and also felt that President Huo loathed Chi Chi. Well, he himself couldn’t have any involvement with Chi Chi which is why he kept him hanging.

However, he has agreed now. He has already said so much, surely Chi Chi won’t have no reaction again, right?

On the other end, Chi Chi looked at his phone with a face full of confusion.

So how on earth did this person become a celebrity and even become somewhat popular?

That sentence made Chi Chi feel nauseous, but Chi Chi still caught the most useful piece of information—The room you booked for me at Huating last time. 

Chi Chi found the phone number for the Huating Hotel as quickly as possible and walked over to the window to make a call.

“Hello, my name is Chi Chi. It seems I have booked a room at your hotel. Could I trouble you to check it for me? Check my bank card number or ID number, I will provide them to you.”

“Okay, please wait a moment.” After a moment, a gentle voice came from the other end of the phone. “Hello, Mr. Chi. You have indeed booked a top-floor presidential suite here with two months remaining before it expires. May I ask if you have encountered any trouble? We will do our best to resolve it for you.”

“I want to check out, preferably tonight.”

Chi Chi’s fingers pressed against the window glass, his tone as cold as ‘It’s getting cold, it’s time for the Wang family to go bankrupt.^[2]’

“Alright, we will process the checkout for you immediately. The price difference for the suite will be refunded to your account via the original payment method.”

After finishing this thing, Chi Chi hung up the phone and sent the compressed package he had prepared to Xiao Mingxing.

【I’ll give you three days to return my money】

As he finished sending this, he immediately exited the page. 

He was afraid he would see something even more eye-searing. 

Just as he finished this matter, he put down his phone and went to take a shower, letting the phone notification sound “ding-dong, ding-dong” ring incessantly. 

After Chi Chi finished his shower, he opened his phone and took a look.

【Chi Chi? Are you still there? Do you want to come over?】

【Chi Chi, what do you mean? Why did the hotel notify me to check out tomorrow?】

【What on earth do you mean? You want me to return the money? You’re going to send out those chat records? The money was given to me voluntarily by you and I didn’t force you.】

【Do you know how much money it is in total? It’s just a small matter, do you really have to act so ruthlessly?】

If Xiao Mingxing really had reason on his side, how could he have flown into a rage out of embarrassment?

Chi Chi couldn’t help but curl up the corners of his lips. If Xiao Mingxing returns the money, then he won’t have to live his life so frugally, and he could have a bit more breathing room financially.

It could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Chi Chi ignored him, just scrolled up, bringing down his sentence【I’ll give you three days to return my money】, to remind him once more. 

He then set “Do Not Disturb” for the messages. Chi Chi put down his phone then hugged the soft and squishy Huo Xiao Cha.

“It’s okay, don’t worry, Daddy has solved everything. Go to sleep now.”

Huo Xiao Cha looked up at him. He blinked his eyes and finally buried his face in Chi Chi’s chest.

He knew who his daddy was chatting with; he had just seen it. It was that celebrity his daddy liked very much.

Daddy shouldn’t be leaving tonight, right? He was going to hold his daddy tight.