Rebirth of the Fashion King

Liu Xiaoli sat on the sofa, the laptop screen in front of her lit up, making the wrinkles on her brows appear even deeper.

My phone is on the coffee table, and the screen shows a link that a friend in China just sent me.

The headline in bold reads: "Liu Yifei secretly meets with a mysterious man in Paris; Chanel shopping bag sparks speculation about being kept by a sugar daddy."

There are already over 10,000 comments below.

She clicked on the photo.

The daughter was wearing a white dress and carrying a Chanel paper bag. A tall young man with a well-defined profile stood next to her.

The two came out through the glass doors of the Chanel flagship store in Paris. Sissi turned her head slightly to speak to him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

Liu Xiaoli enlarged the photo.

She stared at the face of the man next to her daughter for a long time.

She had just arrived in Paris when, to her surprise, Liu Xiaoli received such a large "gift" as soon as she got off the plane.

Sisi's room door opened.

Liu Yifei came out wearing pajamas, her hair was casually tied up, she wasn't wearing makeup, and her eyes were a little swollen.

She chatted with her mother until very late last night before going to sleep. Her mother flew in from China to visit her, and the two hadn't seen each other for a while.

"Xixi," Liu Xiaoli said seriously.

"Um?"

"Come here."

Liu Yifei sensed something was wrong in her mother's voice, paused for a moment, and then walked over to the sofa and sat down.

She turned the laptop around.

When Liu Yifei saw the photo on the screen, her pupils suddenly contracted.

She scrolled down, and the titles of the trending posts got increasingly offensive: "Suspected sugar daddy accompanies her," "Confirmed to be a resource-backed celebrity," "Even transgender people can be kept"—

Liu Xiaoli stared at her.

  

Who is this man?

Liu Yifei took a deep breath and slowly began to speak. "Li Xun, his Chanel designer..."

"Designer?" Liu Xiaoli's voice rose slightly at the end, a sign that she was angry.

"What's your relationship with him?"

"I've only seen it once or twice; it was when I came out of the store and got photographed."

"Once or twice?" Liu Xiaoli repeated, tapping her fingers twice on the table.

"What kind of person do you need to carry their shopping bags out of the Chanel flagship store? What kind of person can you be photographed smiling at by netizens?"

Liu Yifei remained silent.

"Sisi, how many years have you been in the industry?"

"Six or seven years."

"Seven years," Liu Xiaoli nodded.

"After seven years, you still haven't learned what it means to avoid suspicion? Don't you know your situation in China? The rumors have never stopped, and now there's another one—do you know what people call this online? It's called solid evidence."

People don't care what the truth is; they only see the photos. The photos show you carrying luxury bags with a man, and that's enough.

"Mommy, I really don't know Li Xun well..." Liu Yifei said in a low voice.

"He was valued by Karl Lagerfeld and held a position in the Parisian fashion scene; the things he had in his hand were gifts he bought for you..."

Liu Xiaoli looked at her: "I believe what you're saying, but who outside will believe it?"

Liu Yifei remained silent.

"You're so careless." She stood up, took a few steps around the room, and then stopped.

Are you close to this person? How close are you? Does this person understand your situation?

"He knows I'm a celebrity, and he knows my situation."

"If you knew, you should have avoided people." Liu Xiaoli raised her voice by half an octave, then lowered it again.

"If he were thoughtful, he should have thought of this. If he were experienced, he should have told you not to swagger around on the street with him. He didn't, which means he didn't know any better. You didn't remind him, which means you were careless. Neither of you were on guard, and that's how you got photographed."

Liu Yifei lowered her eyes and pouted.

Liu Xiaoli didn't say anything more.

The room was quiet for almost a minute.

Liu Xiaoli saw her daughter's hand resting on her knees, her fingers tightly gripping the hem of her pajamas, her knuckles turning slightly white.

Liu Xiaoli had seen this move many times.

The first time Sisi was cyberbullied, she was accused of bringing her own investment to the production and stealing roles from others. She sat on the sofa clutching the hem of her clothes in the same way.

After "The Return of the Condor Heroes" finished airing, Xiaolongnu became famous, and rumors about transgender people flooded in like a tidal wave. She was also clutching the hem of her clothes while looking at the computer.

She was not yet twenty years old at that time.

Liu Xiaoli sat down next to her daughter.

"Sissi".

Liu Yifei did not move.

"Mom was a bit harsh just now." Liu Xiaoli gently placed her hand on the back of her daughter's hand.

"It's true that you were careless, but the people outside are criticizing you not because you did anything wrong. Fame brings trouble, and they just want to criticize you now. No matter how carefully you hide, they will find other reasons. I know that."

Liu Yifei's lips moved, but she didn't speak.

Liu Xiaoli paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"It's a fact that the person in the photo is you, and it's also a fact that you were with a strange man. If the statement isn't written well enough, it will only make things worse. Many people in China would love for you to lose your composure."

"I know," Liu Yifei said, her voice a little hoarse.

"So the most important thing now isn't what you say to others," Liu Xiaoli said, looking at her daughter.

"Whether you know the nature of this matter or not is up to you. What exactly happened between you and that guy, whether there was any other possibility of being photographed, and whether more photos will be leaked later. It doesn't matter if your team knows these things, but you have to let me know."

Liu Yifei raised her head and met her mother's gaze.

"Mom, I just met Li Xun... He's Chinese, almost 23 years old. I was checking out at the front desk when we bumped into each other, just as he was getting off work..."

Liu Xiaoli looked at her daughter's face and suddenly smiled. The smile was faint and fleeting.

"You and him," she paused, "nothing else?"

Liu Yifei did not dodge the question and firmly stated, "Not at the moment."

Currently?

Liu Xiaoli noticed the word, but didn't ask any further questions.

"Alright, you only have one responsibility for this: you weren't careful enough. Paris isn't like China. You were a target just standing on Rue Cambon. From now on, be careful not to walk with any members of the opposite sex when you're out."

"Oh~".

"But you didn't cause this; someone else threw dirty water on you," Liu Xiaoli said seriously.

"If outsiders want to criticize you, it has nothing to do with what you did or didn't do. Don't take the blame upon yourself."

Liu Yifei pursed her lips.

"Contact that boy now."

"Now? Ah... that's not a good idea." It's true that she has Li Xun's phone number, but...

"If he has already seen these photos and headlines online and you did not contact him immediately, how would he feel? As the person involved, you have an even greater obligation to let him know what happened as soon as possible."

This kind of thing can't be hidden. The sooner you tell the other party, the more professional you appear. You dragged him into this mess with your rumors, and you owe him an apology.

Upon hearing this, Liu Yifei quickly picked up her phone and walked to the window.

She found the name Li Xun in her contacts, paused for two seconds, and then pressed the call button.