Chapter 59: Is Su Chen Born in the Year of the Dog?

Since Xu Fangyuan spoke with Zheng Huayu on the phone two days ago, she had completely shed her previous anxiety and fear. In fact, she was in such good spirits that she sneaked away early in the morning to visit her usual host club for a massage.

“With Zheng Huayu’s ties to Hunan Provincial TV, eliminating a contestant is a trivial matter... Ah, don’t rush~” she murmured, luxuriating in the sensation of strong, youthful hands applying essential oil to her body. “But just in case, I’ve hired a team of paparazzi who’ve worked with Starlight before to keep constant watch on that Su Chen.”

“Men are full of flaws. If he slips up even once, I can crush him without effort. Isn’t that right, my naughty darling?” Xu Fangyuan lay prone on the bed, letting out soft moans of pleasure as she enjoyed the massage. Meanwhile, the host working on her back, out of her sight, wore a look of utter disgust. To him, touching her was profoundly repulsive.

Damn it! Her breasts droop to her navel, yet she still acts like some urban beauty—doesn’t she realize how old she is? Still, he could only think these things; he’d never dare say them aloud. Every time this old woman visited, she spent tens of thousands, and his tip alone would start at ten thousand! No matter how sickened he felt, he had to serve her well; as long as the money came through, steel wool was steel wool.

Xu Fangyuan, flushed and excited, turned over with a face full of desire, about to take action, when her phone suddenly rang. She intended to hang up immediately but saw it was the paparazzi she’d hired, so she answered impatiently.

“Hello! Have you caught any dirt on Su Chen?”

“Ha ha... not yet,” the paparazzo replied humbly. “We’ve spotted Su Chen leaving the hotel and are following him. I’m sure we’ll have good news soon!”

“Follow him if you want, but why call me? Do you have nothing better to do than call me for every little thing? Do you want me dead?” Xu Fangyuan roared into the phone.

“Ahem, actually, we’re calling because the team’s payment from yesterday hasn’t been settled... Our agreement was daily pay, and the guys have stayed up all night watching. Could you...”

“Money, money, money—no good news, just demands for money!” Xu Fangyuan’s temper flared, showing no mercy to the paparazzi. After listening to their groveling for a while, she finally relented a bit.

“I’ll transfer the money when I have a moment. Keep watching him!”

“You paparazzi eat the leftovers we scrape from the bottom. If you mess this up, you might not get Starlight’s scraps at all.” After threatening them, she hung up.

“All right, good boy~ Now nobody’s going to interrupt us~” she purred. “Come, let me see if your magical staff is truly invincible.” With a wicked smile, Xu Fangyuan picked up a candle prop from the table and moved toward the host, whose smile was barely maintained.

Meanwhile, in the black car parked beside Su Chen’s hotel, the paparazzo stared at his phone, now disconnected, face sour as he slammed a fist into the car door.

“Damn it!”

He hadn’t received a cent, and instead was thoroughly berated by Xu Fangyuan! The income of paparazzi was unstable, no better than migrant workers, with most companies paying daily, and sometimes earning even less! They were lucky to have a long-term partnership with an entertainment company; those at the very bottom were barely above the so-called “Sanhe gods.” Worse still, he had a daughter at home gravely ill...

So, no matter how badly Xu Fangyuan cursed him, he had no choice but to obey and keep stalking Su Chen.

“Hey, look! Su Chen’s coming out!”

The words from another paparazzo snapped him back to attention. He grabbed his camera, aiming it at Su Chen, who was rushing out of the hotel.

“No time, no time... Why are these earplugs stuck so firmly today? Just a few days ago, they’d fall out while I slept!” Su Chen muttered as he jogged out the hotel’s main entrance, followed by a baffled cameraman.

It was just past eight, nearly nine. Although Wang Bingling’s flight would arrive in Shashi at ten, it would take about an hour to reach the airport from Su Chen’s hotel. If he could catch a ride immediately, he’d barely make it; any delay, and he’d miss her.

“No, can’t let that happen... Bingling called me last night—if I don’t pick her up, she’ll overthink everything with her sensitive nature...”

“And Bingling is so innocent; if she’s stuck at the airport and something goes wrong, I’d be unforgivably at fault!” Su Chen’s anxiety grew as he spoke. Reaching the hotel entrance, he quickly opened his ride-hailing app, but since it was a business district, he found there were fifteen people ahead of him, with nearly half an hour’s wait!

He couldn’t afford to wait. Turning to the cameraman, he asked, “Did you drive here? Or do you have a way to get a car right now? My sister’s flight is at ten, and I need to pick her up.”

The cameraman shook his head. He’d arrived by car, but the production team was under heavy pressure today, and their vehicles weren’t waiting outside.

Seeing him shake his head, Su Chen was at a loss. He couldn’t just flag down a car on the street.

He scanned the area around the hotel, hoping to spot an empty taxi. In most cities, taking a metered taxi meant being gouged, but Su Chen didn’t care—as long as he could pick up his sister, a bit of money was nothing.

As seconds ticked by and his anxiety mounted, Su Chen suddenly noticed a camera poking out from a black car parked nearby, snapping photos of him.

Paparazzi!

Su Chen’s eyes lit up and he rushed toward the black sedan.

Inside, the two paparazzi saw Su Chen heading straight for them and hurriedly packed up their cameras, preparing to flee.

“Damn, is Su Chen part bloodhound? How did he spot us?”

“Go, go, go! If he catches us, getting beaten is the least of it—if our equipment gets smashed, we’re screwed!”

Just as they were about to drive off, Su Chen stepped in front of the car, blocking it.

He approached the driver’s window with a broad smile and knocked.

Seeing this, the pair had no choice but to roll down the window and face him.