Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Admiration
Mu Qianli eventually got drunk and staggered out after Pei Jinxi.
"You still come to places like this to eat," she said.
"What else can I do? Should I just not go out because paparazzi are always following me? If that's the case, I guess I should've been squatting in prison since I was six."
That's right, he debuted at six, and his mother was a famous actress. She later got married and gradually retired from acting, so he must have grown up under the media's scrutiny, unable to hide anything from them.
"Don't worry, I've had my own ways of escaping the paparazzi for a long time. They can't catch me," he said with an easy smile, hands tucked into his pockets as he shrugged his broad shoulders.
She looked at him and gradually relaxed.
The road was long, the city lights scattering beneath their feet.
She slowly said, "It seems like you wrote all your songs."
"A few years ago, my family was very strict and never let me go out. I wasn't as free as I am now, so my only hobby at home was writing."
She squinted her eyes, "You were under strict control a few years ago?"
"A few years ago there was an incident where I was kidnapped, and the media suppressed the news because it was a relative of my mother's who had kidnapped me. To avoid escalating the situation, the story didn't spread. Since then..."
Mu Qianli seemed to remember, but at the time she was still in school and hadn't entered the entertainment industry, so she only saw it on the news.
A kid at just 20 years old had already been through so much because of his early fame.
Mu Qianli looked up at his profile.
The perfect curve of his jawline, framing his usual slight smiling face, the laugh lines around his mouth naturally deepening, and the dimple that appeared like a crescent moon.
She hadn't intended to have him walk her home, yet he insisted on seeing her to her doorstep.
Upon reaching the door, he glanced at the villa and said to her, "Go inside."
"Mm, thank you. I had a great time tonight."
Mu Qianli waved at him and then headed home.
Once home, she switched to her secondary account and saw that more people on Weibo were following her.
She was surprised until she noticed that someone had asked on her secondary account if they could share the photo she took to the fan forum so more "family members" could see it, promising to credit her.
In the fan forum, some dedicated fans got hold of the photo and posted it, indeed crediting Mu Qianli's Weibo. That's why so many people suddenly started following her.
She quickly logged into her secondary WeChat account and told them, "You can share it. I don't profit from this, and you don't need to credit me next time."
"Wow, sister, you're so kind! Is your family really that strict, so you have to be this careful?"
Yes, if it was found out that she was Mu Qianli, she might get beaten up. How could she not be careful?
"It's not that you can't credit me, but it would be better if only we knew. We like Jinxi not to show off to others, knowing in our hearts is good enough!"
"You're right, sister, I got it. Oh, there's a signing event coming up, I'll give you an address. The tickets are hard to grab; they are distributed by the fan club. I happen to have two, so I'll give one to you as a thanks for taking the photo."
As she spoke, she gave a redemption code to Mo Qianli.
Mo Qianli looked at it, speechless.
She wanted to refuse; could she not accept it?
She should've known better than to boast.
At that moment, a paparazzo sent Mu Qianli a message.
"Sister Qianli, I've got something you might be interested in. Do you want to come and see?"
Mu Qianli's expression fell.
What was expected had still arrived.