"No, no, really, there's nothing to worry about." Huang Bo ended the call. A woman of considerable influence had phoned, asking about Chu Zhi's condition.
Well, she called it asking, but the tone carried more blame than concern. If Huang Bo had any backbone, he might have hung up in protest. Was she trying to throw her weight around?
But Huang Bo didn't dare. If that woman got angry, she might not be able to destroy Taiyang Chuanhe outright, but she could certainly wound it severely.
"What is even going on here?" Huang Bo muttered, halfway through dialing Niu Jiangxue's number when another call came in.
He inhaled deeply. This time, it was a "Mom Fan" whose background eclipsed even the last caller's.
This one didn't waste time.
"If your company can't take care of Chu Zhi properly," she said, "then let him go. I'll find someone who will. Ah Jiu is kind and doesn't fuss about things, but kindness isn't the same as being a pushover. As long as I'm around, I won't let him be mistreated in this country. I hope you'll treat him well, Mr. Huang."
Beeep. Beeep. Beeep.
She hung up before he could say a word.
"Dear Grandpa Chu, you better not be seriously ill," Huang Bo muttered in panic. From those two powerful fans, he had already pieced together what had happened.
He felt a chill. If something really happened to Chu Zhi, the company might not survive it either.
In all his twenty-plus years navigating the entertainment industry, Huang Bo had seen powerful investors and influential figures, but he had never encountered mom fans with this kind of clout. He immediately called Niu Jiangxue.
Inside the company van, Niu Jiangxue felt like an ant on a hot pan. She had just ended a call with Lin Xia when another one came through.
She could hardly believe it. When did her artist get so close to Lin Feifei? They had only appeared on one variety show together. Clearly, the woman couldn't reach Chu Zhi directly, so someone had passed her Niu's number. She clicked her tongue in irritation.
Who now?
[Incoming call: Mr. Huang]
"Ugh…" Niu Jiangxue forced herself to answer calmly.
Huang Bo first confirmed that the artist was in good health. Once Niu reassured him, he let out a long sigh of relief.
"Make sure he gets checked at the hospital, alright? Don't let the fans get too worried. Really, make it quick," he repeated two or three times.
Since when did the boss care this much about fan anxiety? Niu Jiangxue didn't have time to dwell on the thought before Fei-ge from the company messaged her.
Fans had shown up at the office, wanting to know how Chu Zhi was doing. According to Fei-ge, they weren't protesting or anything. Just groups of polite young girls, their eyes red, asking quietly but insistently. He didn't know how to handle it.
"It's only been an hour. Are these fans out of their minds?" Niu Jiangxue thought. Of course, she couldn't say that out loud.
"Tell them not to worry. Chu Zhi is in good health. We'll release an official update around 6 p.m.," she told Fei-ge.
"Don't the fan leaders know how to control the group?" she added. She wanted to reach out to a few high-ranking fans.
"It won't help," Wang Yuan said. "Even if I weren't by Ah Jiu's side, I'd be heading to the company too. The fan club admins from Orange Orchard are die-hard Little Fruits fans themselves. That's why they're so emotionally involved."
"Ugh…" Niu Jiangxue recalled the barrage of WeChat messages from Orange Orchard moderators. Even Wei Tongzi nearly blew her cover from the excitement, forgetting she was using a burner account.
These days, you didn't need library access or inside sources to find info. Most things could be found online — like the location of Chu Zhi's branch company.
Over thirty fans sat in the company's reception area. At the moment, Fei-ge held the highest position available at the studio. After a quick briefing with Niu Jiangxue, he went to address the crowd.
They were all teenage girls, dressed neatly and fashionably, most with puffy eyes from crying.
"Ahem… everyone, please try not to worry," Fei-ge said. "Chu Zhi is fine. I promise. So please don't be upset."
"Then why did he cough blood? It was clear as day in the video."
The one who spoke up was a slightly older girl in a single ponytail named Xiaoyu. She worked a regular office job and had recently gone through a breakup. She discovered Chu Zhi during that low point, and his healing words — "We are all children of a beautiful world" — had pulled her out of despair.
What hooked her wasn't just the music. It was that warmth. That gentleness.
So she started following him and discovered just how talented, handsome, and kind he was. She became a die-hard fan. She didn't have a specific goal in life, but to support her idol, she even wrote on Orange Home that she wanted to become a team leader in his fan group.
"Um…" Fei-ge wasn't good at talking to girls. That's why, whenever he spoke to Wang Yuan, he would look everywhere but at her.
Now, with thirty young women staring him down, he adjusted his anti-blue-light glasses awkwardly.
"It's really nothing serious," he said. "Even I had some gum bleeding this morning. Honestly, we just don't want to give an answer until we have an accurate hospital diagnosis."
Xiaoyu's expression softened a little, but the girls still looked unconvinced.
Seeing that they weren't planning to leave, Fei-ge had an idea. "Thank you all so much for supporting Chu Zhi. As a token of appreciation, we'll be giving each of you a signed notebook from his merchandise line."
Now that was something. Chu Zhi's merch was notoriously limited, and many fans hadn't managed to buy the notebooks — let alone ones with his autograph.
Perfect plan. Fei-ge saw their mood lift and rushed to grab 38 signed notebooks from the company stash.
They had orange leather covers with a textured finish, stamped with a chibi version of Chu Zhi's face. Inside, the opening page featured one of his lyrics. It was the same as the online version, except for one detail — an authentic signature in the bottom right corner.
Any fan could tell you: a real signature wasn't the same as a printed one.
With gifts in hand, the girls finally left. But by then, more fans had already arrived at the company gates — those who lived nearby.
Fortunately, Fei-ge didn't have to talk them all down again. Xiaoyu and the others passed along the message: "Chu Zhi is definitely okay."
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Fei-ge muttered, "Don't these girls have jobs? It's one thing to worry online, but showing up in person, in groups…"
"I just used over thirty notebooks. Chu Zhi probably won't mind, right?" he reassured himself.
Those notebooks — three hundred in total — had been prepared as gifts for the fan festival.
If you've never been a fan, it's hard to understand what it means to see a celebrity as your source of strength. Like Xiaoyu, who considered Chu Zhi her little coat of warmth, wrapping her up through the coldest part of heartbreak. So when she saw netizens wildly speculating about terminal illnesses and worsening depression, how could she not panic?