Anchor Effect - Chapter 27.1: Responsibility of benefactor

Milk has a sleep-inducing effect, but not much.

After returning to his room, he tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep. However, it was just dawn when he was awakened by the seagulls' cries.

The seagulls were making loud noises; either there was strong wind or heavy rain.

Ye Yuchen opened the smart curtains, went to the sliding glass door on the balcony, and looked outside. He saw dark clouds looming, and the white windmills were spinning vigorously.

Before long, a drizzle began to fall from the sky. The lawn turned a deep shade of green, and the roads became soaked with a dark gray hue. The outside scenery resembled a cold-toned painting.

Thanks to the broad view from the mountaintop, Ye Yuchen could still see several kilometers away where the sun was shining brightly, creating a sharp contrast with the rain-covered islands.

Such a scene was a rare sight in the city.

Ye Yuchen stood by the door for a while, and then he suddenly heard the sound of the sliding glass door next door being opened.

The balcony had no sealed windows, only the eaves provided partial shelter from the rain, so Ye Yuchen didn't go to the balcony when it rained.

But the person next door was different. He seemed to rarely encounter such a scene and deliberately immersed himself in it to experience it.

From Ye Yuchen's viewpoint, he could see Yu Xiu extending his hand under the eaves, letting the raindrops fall into his palm. After silently savoring this moment for a while, he stepped out from under the eaves, faced the light rain, and took a deep breath while looking up.

Seeing Yu Xiu so relaxed like that, there was a moment when Ye Yuchen also wanted to step onto the balcony and experience the air washed by the rain.

But he thought better of it.

Indeed, the rain outside wasn't heavy, but deliberately getting wet in the rain didn't seem like something Ye Yuchen would do at his age.

At this moment, whether it was due to sensing the gaze of an "observer" or not, Yu Xiu suddenly turned his head without warning and looked toward Ye Yuchen's room.

Although separated by a glass door, Ye Yuchen's location was still quite dim, yet their gazes still met.

Yu Xiu returned under the eaves, leaned his hands on the balcony railing, and said something to Ye Yuchen. Ye Yuchen inside the room couldn't hear his voice, but judging by Yu Xiu's lip movements, he seemed to be saying: "Come out."

Ye Yuchen hesitated for a moment but eventually opened the door and stepped outside.

He didn't venture far, and with the eaves providing shelter, only a few raindrops fell on him, causing no discomfort. The air was indeed refreshing, as if it had been washed with the scent of nature.

"Did you wake up this early?" Yu Xiu asked.

"I'm used to it," Ye Yuchen replied with a slow pace, bearing the laziness of early mornings. "Aren't you the same?"

"Uncle Gang just gave me a relentless wake-up call. It's hard not to wake up," Yu Xiu said.

"Uncle Gang?" Ye Yuchen hadn't heard that term in many years. In the news, Yu Xiu's assistant was referred to as Dong You.

"Do you still remember?" Yu Xiu inquired.

"I do," Ye Yuchen replied. "What did he want from you?"

"It's nothing major," Yu Xiu said. "Someone has leaked that I'm gay again, and they're saying it very convincingly."

"What?" Ye Yuchen furrowed his brow and went back inside to grab his phone and open Weibo. He saw that "Yu Xiu gay" was already trending as the top search.

"Isn't this a big deal?" He returned to the eaves and his speech rate increased involuntarily.

Yu Xiu shrugged nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter. I'm already blacklisted."

The emperor may not be in a hurry, but his eunuch is.

Ye Yuchen simply didn't want to deal with Yu Xiu and began browsing the content under the trending topic.

A promotional account revealed that Yu Xiu hadn't been seen in public recently and was on an island meeting with a benefactor. The benefactor was male, owned a high-end villa, and had potentially been supporting Yu Xiu for years.

Ye Yuchen's expression turned icy.

In the past, most rumors about Yu Xiu were baseless, but this time it was different. Someone had even openly revealed the identity of the "benefactor."

He suddenly understood why Yu Xiu wasn't in a hurry.

Because the problem was clearly arising from Ye Yuchen's side, even if Yu Xiu didn't take action, Ye Yuchen would certainly resolve it.

"Aren't you being too confident?" Ye Yuchen put away his phone and said, "When you return to the public eye, this will become a stain on your reputation."

"Will it?" Yu Xiu remained nonchalant. "I can always change careers if necessary."

His tone was very casual, as if destroying his years of hard work meant nothing to him.

Clearly, he had the kind of life that Ye Yuchen desired, yet he didn't seem to cherish it. This inexplicably irritated Ye Yuchen.

"So, is this your way of getting back at me?" Ye Yuchen furrowed his brows. "I'm no longer an actor, and now you're ruining me."

"Revenge?" Yu Xiu raised an almost imperceptible eyebrow, looking somewhat surprised. "Why would you think I'm trying to get back at you?"

Ye Yuchen immediately realized that his previous words had been inappropriate.