Chapter 23.1
Editor: Jodi
After Bai Wenyan left, Mu Nan stood rooted in place, unable to move for a long time, his clenched fists trembling slightly.
“Nan Ge, what’s going on?” Xiao Jin asked him.
“Call…” Mu Nan took a deep breath. “Call Cheng Han’s private number.”
Xiao Jin dialed the number, but all they got was a busy signal. The repeated beeping only made Mu Nan more irritable.
“Call his agent instead.” Mu Nan instructed.
This time, the call connected. However even over the phone, Mu Nan could sense the urgency and frustration in the agent’s tone.
“Is Cheng Han available to take a call right now?” He asked.
The agent hesitated then said: “Cheng Ge is in a meeting. I’ll pass on the message.”
“Wait!” Just as the agent was about to hang up, Mu Nan stopped him. “I already know about what’s happening. If necessary, I can cooperate.”
The agent was silent for a moment before replying, “He won’t.”
“Won’t what…” Mu Nan was about to ask further, but the agent had already hung up.
“Like father, like son.” He muttered angrily to the phone. “Saying two more words would’ve killed him, right?”
Wilder, after hearing about the situation, also came to the set. Then the three of them sat together, brainstorming a solution.
Although Mu Nan had long disliked Cheng Han, he also understood him well. He knew Cheng Han was the kind of person who valued his pride over everything, even if it meant suffering in silence. Just look at how he’d rather stay sick than go to a hospital—it was obvious. Someone like him would never bring up divorce right away.
“But he will eventually.” Mu Nan analyzed. “After all, his career is too important to him. He won’t let go of something he’s worked so hard for over the years.”
“What’s your plan, then?”
This time, Mu Nan didn’t hesitate. “Of course, I’ll agree. After all, he got dragged into this mess because of me. The more I think about it, the more I feel bad for him…”
Mu Nan ruffled his hair, a little annoyed. Bai Wenyan had targeted Cheng Han because he wanted to pursue him, so Cheng Han was collateral damage in the whole ordeal.
“I’ve made up my mind.” Mu Nan finally stood up and said firmly. “I’ll bring it up first, because knowing Cheng Han’s personality, he wouldn’t say anything unless he absolutely couldn’t handle it anymore.”
It didn’t take long for Mu Nan to make this decision.
This marriage was originally chaotic and absurd from the start. It was a union of two enemies forced to share the same fate, so of course it was bound to be unstable.
What he didn’t expect, however, was that this paper-thin fortress wouldn’t crumble from within but that it would instead be breached from the outside.
However since this whole mess had started because of him, it was naturally up to him to fix it.
Once his mind was made up, Mu Nan immediately went to look for Cheng Han.
But Cheng Han disappeared completely. His entire team cut off all contact with Mu Nan. What’s more Cheng Han hadn’t returned home, his phone was unreachable, and he hadn’t logged into Weibo—it was as if he’d vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, Cheng Han’s fans didn’t sense that anything was wrong. After all, this wasn’t the first time he’d pulled a stunt like this. In the beginning, his fans would call for him to return to work, but by now, they’d adopted a more laid-back attitude.
However the truth couldn’t stay hidden forever, because soon, speculation began to surface online.
Some people claiming to be “industry insiders” analyzed Cheng Han’s current predicament, and Mu Nan, who was reading their posts, found their accuracy unnervingly precise.
However ironically, because the situation was so bizarre, these analyses, which were close to the truth, were dismissed as unbelievable.
Since the last time they saw each other, Bai Wenyan had called Mu Nan a few more times, only to be cursed out each time.
Mu Nan had been doing his own research, learning about the requirements for a company to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so he now understood terms like the VIE (Variable Interest Entity) structure and the red-chip structure.
In simple terms, Cheng Han was attempting something unprecedented in the entertainment industry. If he succeeded this time, he would set the record for the fastest listing of an artist’s studio. And he was aiming to do it through a VIE structure, which would give him stronger control over the listed company.
If he pulled it off, his business acumen and value would gain permanent recognition in the financial world and he would no longer just be a “celebrity boss” but a true business leader.
He couldn’t afford to fail.
**
By the third day of Cheng Han avoiding Mu Nan, the discussions online had intensified so much that it gained significant attention.
Mu Nan, despite wanting to help, couldn’t do anything but worry. Finally, he said out of desperation, “Just transfer some money to him.”
“What?” Wilder’s mouth fell open in shock. “What did you just say?”
“Transfer money to his company account, through my investment account.”
“How much…. how much should I transfer?”
Mu Nan bit his lip, thinking for a moment. “Transfer fifty million first. If it’s not enough, we’ll add more.”
However the moment he finished saying this, he couldn’t help but feel the irony. This amount of money, be it for him or Cheng Han, was pitiful.
But shortly after the money was transferred—so quickly that Mu Nan hadn’t even had time to confirm it—the buzz around Cheng Han’s crisis was suddenly overshadowed by another trending hot search topic.
—The scandalous story of Mu Nan and his mysterious backer.
Mu Nan’s first reaction was confusion. Wasn’t he his own biggest “backer”?