The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

“Thank you for bringing Xiaozhi back,” Li Heng politely expressed his gratitude but hesitated slightly before his next sentence.

He realized he wasn’t sure how to thank the movie star who lived in the same neighborhood. The missing cat notice mentioned a reward of thirty thousand yuan for any useful information, but if he directly asked for the other party’s bank account, it would somewhat equate to asking for their contact information, which would feel a bit awkward.

Moreover, he instinctively didn’t want to get involved with Bai Ruan in any way— even if this movie star had only appeared a few times at the banquets in his dreams, and they had never spoken to each other.

Yet, just expressing verbal gratitude without any further acknowledgment would seem impolite— the aviation box for Xiaozhi was even brand new, with the price tag still attached.

Li Heng blinked rapidly, biting his lip, almost instinctively turning to look at Xie Duzhi, who was sitting on the sofa.

“It seems you know who I am,” the person at the door said casually, blinking slowly, his eyes holding a hint of a smile.

He was mixed-race, with deep-set features, a high and prominent nose, and a handsome face resembling a standard marble sculpture. His pupils had a faint blue hue, making them appear lighter than usual.

“You’re very famous,” Li Heng replied seriously, turning his head back to face him.

He met the young man’s gaze for a few seconds and suddenly remembered why he had a particularly strong impression of this movie star among Bai Ruan’s many friends— when he looked at others, it was easy to feel valued, and his earnestness had always earned him a good reputation.

So, when the other party once again won the Best Actor award, standing under the lights with a trophy, he apologized to the audience and fans who had supported him, admitting that out of selfishness, he wanted to give the award he had won to another nominee. This had caused such a stir that even someone on the fringes like him had heard about it.

The other nominee was Bai Ruan.

This movie star admired, or to be more precise—.

He had a crush on Bai Ruan.

But after his confession, Bai Ruan’s studio quickly released a statement to distance themselves from him, and Bai Ruan himself had blocked him on all social media platforms, turning his heartfelt declaration into a joke.

Li Heng wasn’t sure if they knew each other in real life or if they had become friends. Humans instinctively tend to avoid harm; his natural fondness for this movie star, influenced by the roles he had played, was not enough to outweigh his concerns about getting entangled in a scandal and his vague aversion.

So he was unsure how to continue the conversation, aiming to express his thanks politely and concisely without dragging it out, then close the door and have no further interaction— 

If it weren’t for Xiaozhi running away and happening to be taken in by him, that would have been the case.

“Thank you for returning him; I am truly grateful. I will have my assistant transfer the reward to your studio’s account,” Xie Duzhi said, setting down the newspaper.

He stood up from the sofa and walked to the door, taking a subtle step forward to shield Li Heng behind him, adopting a formal demeanor. “I look forward to working together again, Actor Ji.”

He took the aviation box from his hands.

“I also want to thank Mr. Xie for his previous willingness to invest,” Ji Qi also exchanged polite words, “I need to take Jiao Jiao out, so I won’t disturb you and your…”

He hesitated slightly.

“Your younger brother,” the young man supplied blandly.

“Then I won’t disturb you and your younger brother. If no one is home next time, remember to lock the doors and windows,” Ji Qi smiled and nodded, continuing, “I live next door, so if I have time, I’ll come over for a proper visit.”

Until the door in front of him closed, he turned around while carrying the other aviation box, putting on his sunglasses again, and his expression gradually froze, returning to an impassive demeanor.

Ji Qi knew that the person living next door was Xie Duzhi. Previously, he had collaborated with the businessman, who was rumored to be cold and stern, a few times, but they hadn’t interacted deeply.

When he saw a clearly young boy open the door, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that he had a momentary thought that wasn’t very pleasant.

Even though Xie Duzhi’s evident protective and caring attitude towards Li Heng, and Li Heng’s pure admiration and trust when looking at him, proved they indeed had a perfectly normal brotherly relationship, Ji Qi still felt a hint of confusion.

Not only did he casually bring back the cat as a personal favor, but despite the stack of papers in the entranceway detailing the thirty thousand yuan reward, Xie Duzhi had specifically mentioned that the payment would be made to his studio account.

Looking at it, Xie Duzhi wouldn’t contact his studio just for a few tens of thousands of yuan.

Even though Ji Qi had very limited knowledge about him, it was enough to conclude that the reward he mentioned must be a considerable sum.

It was hard to imagine that the cold and indifferent Xie Duzhi in public was privately a brother complex; the two images were even completely severed, making them unlikely to be associated with one another.

As an actor, he had to admit that Xie Duzhi had successfully and even perfectly achieved this aspect.

After all, a good actor should be hard to connect with themselves and their roles. If every role an actor played could only remind the audience of the actor themselves, then no matter how many honors they received, they could never be deemed successful.

But what was the real Xie Duzhi like? Did he only appear in front of his brother or was he the same as the almost universally consistent impression everyone had?

Ji Qi suddenly became very interested.

And then there was Xie Duzhi’s younger brother.

As someone who always observed details and had unique interpretations of characters, the great actor felt that he probably wouldn’t encounter anyone more interesting than him in the near future.

He recognized him, and upon seeing his appearance, realized who was standing in front of him.

Conversely, a person’s attitude toward celebrities can be categorized into two main types: liking and disliking. Although “anti-fans” technically fall in between, Ji Qi could always easily distinguish whether those people loved and then hated or simply hated.

Li Heng didn’t belong to either category.

He gave him the impression of encountering something hot and troublesome, wanting to distance himself quickly while still feeling compelled by politeness to take on this trouble and find a suitable place to put it down again.

But he didn’t do this out of dislike; Ji Qi could tell that he didn’t harbor any animosity toward him. Rather, it stemmed from a mindset of avoidance that simply wanted to avoid entanglement.

Ji Qi had a good relationship with people and had never been treated as a bother in his many years in the industry. Encountering such a situation suddenly made him instinctively feel a bit displeased.

However, he wasn’t genuinely angry either.

He just couldn’t help but care, wanting to explore the reason behind it.

While waiting for the doctor to spay his precious daughter, the popular movie star couldn’t help but post a few selfies on his social media. After receiving a flood of compliments and likes, the subtle annoyance he felt earlier dissipated.

Look, he’s still quite popular.

Ji Qi gave a heads-up to the head of his studio, warning them not to suspect him of being involved in any illegal transactions just because a large sum might suddenly appear in his account. As a routine, he shared a picture of his beautiful cat in a small group chat with friends, also sharing the amusing anecdote about how his cat had charmed the neighbor’s cat into running away.

Amidst the laughter, the movie star suddenly felt that this situation wasn’t so bad after all.

Many of his friends hadn’t particularly liked him before truly getting to know him.

But now, they had a good relationship and often went out to sneakily eat hot pot together, avoiding paparazzi, or formed teams to play games at internet cafes.

Perhaps if they encountered each other a few more times in the neighborhood and discussed cats a bit more, Li Heng could become his friend.

While he was thinking this, he sent a message in the group.

As they chatted, a friend who had just asked him about choosing a cat suddenly sent him a direct message, inquiring whether he was free in the next few days.

**[Bai Ruan: Ji brother, I have a last-minute gig to rush to, and my manager didn’t arrange a place for me. Can I crash at your place for a night?]**

**[Bai Ruan: I’ll also get to see Jiao Jiao~]**

This small matter Ji Qi naturally wouldn’t refuse.

He sent an “okay” gesture, telling Bai Ruan to come directly to his studio. It just so happened that they could go back together. He then remembered his relative connection with Xie Duzhi and casually shared the morning’s events as gossip.

**[Ji Qi: The contrast is too great; if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would definitely have asked the gossipers if they were awake.]**

**[Ji Qi: But his younger brother is indeed very cute, gives off a good boy vibe~]**

Of course, Li Heng who angrily shook the cat awake from the aviation box after closing the door was completely unaware of this little interlude.

With no work matters to handle at the moment, Xie Duzhi was in charge of maintaining order, seriously reprimanding the cat while also educating it.

“Xiaozhi, you can’t bring happiness to other female cats anymore.”

Li Heng had a serious expression, holding the missing cat notice in one hand while pressing down on the Siamese cat’s paw, which looked as if it had just emerged from a coal mine, reading the words on the notice word by word. “Do you know how worried we were when you sneaked out? I didn’t even finish my homework.”

“You’re no longer a stray cat; you can’t run around the neighborhood anymore.”

Of course, given that this incident was primarily due to the owner’s negligence, he refrained from saying overly harsh things.

For example, he didn’t say, “She’s so pretty; you’re not good enough for her,” or “As a coal miner, you need to recognize your identity; when it gets cold, you’ll become even darker and look even funnier.”

After all, saying those things might hurt the cat’s pride.

Unaware that it had made a mistake, the cat kept shaking its head, trying to rub its face against Li Heng’s arm, making a sweet, high-pitched sound that seemed to beg for affection, subtly revealing an attitude of “I won’t change my ways.”

“… It doesn’t matter how much you plead; you won’t get any food today,” he said resolutely, pointing to Xie Duzhi beside him. “If you sneak out again, I’ll have to leave you with him.”

Caught off guard by being singled out, Xie Duzhi, who had been checking window sealing precautions and pet GPS locator reviews, froze for a moment and then naturally displayed the expression he only had when completing mergers or reviewing company financial reports.

Commonly referred to as a low-pressure state.

“See? This person here,” Li Heng said, adjusting the direction of the cat’s paw, blurting out without thinking, “This person loves disobedient kittens like you. Aren’t you scared?”