Chapter 22 Firsthand Experience

Just as Meilin was finishing up her conversation with one of the magazine producers, she heard the crowd around her start fussing about something. She sarcastically wondered to herself on who could be causing such a ruckus.

While she was spot on who they were fussing about, it was actually for a somewhat good reason. Apparently Li Tian had sat down in the middle of the set and was tuning a guitar handed by one of the staff.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴... 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨? She thought skeptically.

The little cousin she knew would never do anything he didn't want to, and singing without being required to was one of those things. But she was a smart woman, and could somehow deduce the reason he was doing such a thing. Being his manager since the beginning of his career, she knew the many things that could persuade him. What she understood even more were the things that chipped his pride.

They were currently in the North, thus someone must have mentioned Yingxue to him. He absolutely hated being compared to her. Especially when he was always put in the inferior light. There was no other explanation for him to go out of his way to suddenly sing something!

The crew stopped what they were doing and gathered around him naturally. She noticed how they filed together in a cohesive way with no overreacting involved. Somehow it felt like such an occurrence was normal to them...

From outside the set, she could see a few outside staff were also peeking in, with quite a few models among them. She would recognize the look on their faces anywhere.

Meilin snorted to herself. 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴.

She had nothing against them, but most didn't have a clue when it came to Li Tian. She knew what they wanted.

It was fine. Such occurrences happened so often, she would deem them unnecessary to lift a hand. Li Tian could handle himself.

It was also a good way to see how the company they were working with handled such situations. It showed if they were professional and worth working with again.

The young singer began gently stroking the guitar as he let out a low melodious hum. He obviously had great rhythm, as he expertly controlled the fine tones in his humming.

After getting into the groove of things, he parted his lips and let out the meaningful lyrics to his song. His deep and sultry voice immediately charmed his viewers, the passion-infused singing causing even Meilin to let out a small smile.

It was an acoustic version of one of his upbeat songs. She didn't think he had ever sung it like this in front of others before. It was something his songwriter, Azure Knight, had rearranged for him but he had refused to ever actually sing it live. To suddenly sing it now, he was without a shred of doubt trying to impress his new audience.

As the song went on, more and more onlookers started to secretly appear to watch him, their reactions easily entering Meilin's peripheral. Most were appreciative sighs and some were giggly squeals. The biggest reaction made was when Li Tian pushed his voice further to hit the low growl in his throat. The sudden huskiness to his sultry voice was a definite surge of pleasure to the ears.

The crowd swooned at his voice and his skillful guitar playing. The acoustic version was simple, but it sounded amazing when live and raw.

He finished up the song on a high note, with a big applause from his audience. He gave a cocky smile at the end, killing many models with his handsome looks, and passed the guitar back to one of the staff.

Meilin was a bit further in the back and couldn't hear what the people closer were saying to him, but she could hear the conversations of the people in the back with her.

"He's pretty good," one person commented.

"Yeah, I'm pretty surprised. I figured he was just a rich boy with a pretty face," another replied.

"How do you think he compares to Yingxue though?"

"Is that even a question?"

"Yeah, he's 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 but not Yingxue good."

"Yingxue is from a different plane of existence. It's a blessing just to hear her sing every time she comes around here."

Meilin raised an eyebrow at where the conversation was going but kept her eyes straight on Li Tian.

While the young singer was being surrounded by people with enthusiastic smiles, she could see his left eye twitch and his lips slowly becoming thinner and thinner. Although the people around him were most definitely praising him, they must also be mentioning things that were getting on his nerves. His eye only twitched when he was holding back his emotion.

With the conversations entering her ears, she knew exactly what the problem was.

Her face flashed a solemn look before going back to its usual calm demeanor.

This is what it meant to be in the North. To be on the Northern Goddess's territory.

.....

Li Tian devoured his food in a sulking fit, disregarding the grease soaking his fingers. He was too much in a bad mood to care about such things.

Meilin had brought them to an uptown burger joint with private rooms so that they could eat in peace. He had worn a face mask, sunglasses, and a hat to temporarily hide his identity and got away with it easily. But such an obvious disguise would have never worked in the South. He bitterly had to admit he probably wasn't going to be caught with his minor fame here.

"What's the point of disguising as Xiaolang then..." he muttered indignantly while chewing his food. He finished the sentence in his mind to keep his sanity. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺.

Regrettably, the woman in front of him knew exactly what he didn't say and curled the side of her lips upwards cynically. She worked in the same industry, how could she not understand what he was feeling. While he felt a sense of dread and rivalry towards the opposing singer, Meilin started to wonder who managed said singer.

She would find out in due time.

"Any plans for dinner?" she changed the subject. They had another photoshoot before Li Tian was free to go back.

The gluttonous young man thought for a while before answering, "I want to go check out the street market. I'll find an atm around there."

It was something he would never be caught saying before.

Impressed by his initiative, she readily complimented him. "Hoooh? That's some quick progress. I'm impressed. I half expected you to be more cooped inside with your games. I was even worried I'd have to bring a personal trainer over from your lack of exercise."

He clicked his tongue and glared at her. "I'm not neglecting my body."

"For a big eater, you were always so picky though. It's a nice change..."

Li Tian refrained from continuing the conversation. Changing his eating habits was a good thing but he didn't like getting into the past him and what made him this way. It wasn't something he liked to think about.

With respect to that, Meilin changed the subject again to lift up his mood. She smiled at him and teased, "You sure handled those models pretty harshly today, by the way. Odds are something similar will happen in the next photoshoot."

Rolling his eyes, the singer swallowed his last bit of food and wiped his hand on the napkin. "I don't doubt it. They're just going to keep coming if I'm not vicious enough. Just knowing it's going to happen already pisses me off."

"If you push them away so coarsely, you'll start having a reputation in the modeling industry. You could have just pretended to go along with it at first."

"Who do you think I am? Levi? I've got no patience for that shit."

"Hmmmm..." Usually, she would berate him for his brashness. Acting in such a way would harm his reputation, especially as he had just arrived here. But she let it go this time. It was an improvement from the time he would just let people take advantage of him just because he liked the praises.

Well the models weren't exactly being subtle either. The management handled it well afterward so it wasn't much of a hassle but hopefully the next shoot goes smoothly.

.....

𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" someone whispered.

"Of course it is! Men always want to be the knight in shining armor. What man can resist a woman in distress? Just pretending to bump into him would be too cliche!" the other replied in hushed tones.

It was Trish and Ari.

They had watched the performance earlier and absolutely adored the charming singer. They knew this was the only chance they had to make an impression thus they made the quick decision of setting up a small skitz for his eyes.

"He's still young and inexperienced. It should be simple to trick him!" Trish giggled from the corner leading up to his dressing room.

"But why do I have to be the bad guy?" Ari complained.

Trish just waved her hand to shrug it off and assured her, "When I get him in my pocket, I'll make it up to you okay? Oh! He's coming! Get ready!"

As if on cue, a handsome young man with messy chocolate brown hair and a deep contemplating look came through the long hallway headed towards his dressing room. He was surprisingly alone at the moment, making him free to express the extreme irritation on his face.

Today just wasn't his day.

Just as he reached the knob to his room, he heard a shrill scream.

Out from a corner, a woman stumbled out wearing a bruised face and a ripped skirt. She looked haggard and fearful as she met his deep eyes. As if seeing him as her salvation, she scrambled to get up and get to his side.

"P-please!" she called to him desperately. She grabbed his shirt and looked at him pleadingly. "Hide me!"

She motioned for his dressing room, indicating where she wanted to be taken. With her exposed body and vulnerable expression, any knight would leap to her rescue. Her body continued to shake as she waited for his reply.

Unfortunately, the young man didn't move and just stared at her bruised face indifferently.

Moments later, they heard footsteps coming from the same corner.

"Oh no!"

"Come back here you bitch!" a woman's angry voice screamed from the same corner. "How dare you steal my limelight and think you can get away!"

The haggard woman jerked violently and immediately hid behind the young man for protection. "I- I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Flaunting that innocent face. No one would be deceived by it!" the newcomer glared at her in disgust. "And is this another one of your boy toys? How shameless, you slut!"

"N-no!" the shaking woman stuttered while peeking from the side of his broad shoulders. "I don't have boy toys! I just met him by chance! We have no association with each other!"

The antagonistic woman narrowed her eyes at the man before her. There was a slight hesitation in her conduct, coupled with a subtle nervousness, but she opened her mouth anyway, "You! Are you protecting this woman?"

Frightened, the woman behind him trembled nonstop. With her hands grabbing the clothes on his back, he could feel every move she made and the emotion that came with it, whether it be fear, hesitation, and even anticipation.

"Hmmm..." an annoyed groan escaped his lips.

The young man was not so easily deceived and he had had about enough of the charade before him. Letting out a loud and fed up sigh, he grabbed the arm on his back, and almost threw the woman behind him onto the floor in front of him.

"Aah!" she screamed in pain.

Even the supposedly angry woman jumped in shock, almost coming to her aid. She quickly stopped herself, narrowed her eyes, and pursed her lips to hold herself back from reacting out of character.

"T-that hurt..." the fallen woman was nearly in tears. If any other man was here, they might have run to her rescue, speaking up against the injustice.

But this young man was nonother than Li Tian. And he had grown immune to such tomfoolery.

His piercing glare directed at them was infused with such pent up anger, they could feel the air around them heat up from his rage. "𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩."

"W-what?"

"Excuse me?"

The jig was up, no matter how Trish, still on the floor, tried to play like it wasn't.

"Chen! Come out!" Li Tian barked through gritted teeth.

As though by total coincidence, the short-haired escort walked out from a corner while pushing her glasses higher onto her face. Unlike her usual nervousness around the young man, her demeanor was full of steadiness and competence. She reached the scene and started interrogating the models. "Trish! Ari! What the hell is going on here? If Mr. Li Tian does not get a satisfactory explanation, you both will be held accountable and be banished from this industry!"

"What!?" both of them shrieked at once. This was supposed to get one of them a backer and the other some secret help.

Trish grit her teeth and they exchanged a look. They would have to go through with their lie till the end. It was either one ship survived or they both capsized.

"Ms. Chen! Help me, please! Ari attacked me! I- I tried asking this mister for help..." Trish struggled to get up and flashed her bruised and pitiable face to both of the onlookers.

"She 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 you?" Chen raised an eyebrow at the two questioningly. She was a little late to the scene to understand the whole story but she 𝘸𝘢𝘴 somewhat aware that the two had a good relationship. However, if they really did have a big fight, it wasn't too unbelievable. Fights between models were sometimes ruthless.

Nonetheless, it wasn't her decision this time. She shushed Trish who was trying to elaborate further and glanced at the silent Ari before addressing the clearly provoked young man before them. This was one of the highest grade clients they had! Not to mention his temperament didn't look too good at the moment even with the model's explanation.

"Mr. Li Tian, if you plan on helping Ms. Trish, I will apprehend Ms. Ari immediately. Unless you have a different opinion on the matter?"

Trish looked at him with tears in her eyes, while Ari had a scowl on. The tearful woman was obviously begging for his help, making herself seem small and vulnerable.

Li Tian finally crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He was still agitated over the crowd's reaction to his singing to be bothered about a few demented clowns. "Take out these two trash and never let me see such 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙝 ever again."

The two models' eyes widened at the verdict and shivered at his disgust. What had they done wrong?

"Security to room A5," Chen didn't waste any time and immediately spoke into her earpiece.

"B-but! I'm injured!" Trish pointed to her face and gestured a few blue spots in other areas.

"Then just wash the fucking thing off!!" the young singer yelled out of nowhere before opening the door to his dressing room and slamming it shut.

"I-I... I..."

"Enough, Trish..." Ari whispered defeatedly. "It's no use. He knew from the beginning..."

"B-but how! He's supposed to be a rich inexperienced boy!"

How could he have known her bruises were fake??

A few security guards arrived and took them into custody. Ari complied obediently, while Trish still tried to struggle against it.

"After the stunt you two did, don't ever think of getting your way into this industry ever again," the escort, Chen, declared calmly. She also wondered how the two were found out and how he knew the bruises were makeup when even she was almost fooled by it. Unfortunately it wasn't something she could try to pry into. All she had to think about now was the damage control and how to make it up to their client and his manager.

It was impossible for anyone to conceive that the 'inexperienced' rich young man was not only no longer swimming in money, he had also experienced black eyes and bruises firsthand to know exactly what they actually looked like.

.....