Not particularly having a soft spot for old people, Xuemei did not really know what to do. In her past life, her parents drilled the concept of respect for elders into her. This was why she could not just stand aside and watch the scene before. She was surprised that there were people like that man before even in China where respect was such an important concept. Once she was in the ambulance, she really questioned why she did such an unnecessary act of goodwill. In the end, it was probably because it really looked too pitiful for the sick old man to be sent to a hospital by himself in his disoriented and panicked state.

Sighing to herself, she grabbed the elder’s hand and stayed with him through the ride to the hospital and through the diagnostic and treatment process. Watching the blood tests, CT scan, MRI, and the additional drugs administered, Xuemei knew that this would not be a cheap hospital bill. Wondering if she should help the elder pay for it or not, she could not be certain that she even had enough money on hand. Before she could consider this thought, however, another person came bulldozing through the hospital to the elder’s bed. Scanning this man’s face, Xuemei’s mouth dropped in shock. What was this coincidence? The man who just showed up was definitely the same teacher she went to go find! Was this elder somehow related to this famous actor? If so, why was this grandfather dressed so shabbily without even a phone or wallet on hand?

“You’re… the veteran actor, Mo Chen?” Finding her voice, Xuemei finally asked.

When she spoke up, the middle-aged man finally looked in her direction with a slight frown.

“Who are you? Why are you here? Are you some kind of reporter? How did you even find this place before me?” Laced with deep suspicion, Mo Chen interrogated her and even looked disgusted at the sight of her. Expression icing over, Xuemei looked back with equal disdain while feeling her earlier respect had been misplaced. Disappointment clear in her voice, Xuemei did not bother to correct him.

“Just think whatever you like. Since you are here now, then you should be related to this elder. You should pay better attention. He was obviously suffering from a stroke all by his lonesome. I almost assumed he was homeless with no family.”

Directly walking away, Xuemei was almost tempted to pay the hospital bill just to spite the man for doubting her like so. But such a wasteful action did not sit well with her conscience. It was not her money after all. She could not spend thousands of dollars willfully. A bad taste in her mouth, she walked out to the main entrance of the hospital. Pulling out her phone from her pocket, she wanted to call Tao Qiao to come pick her up, only to realize that they never exchanged number. Deeply sighing in frustration, Xuemei grit her teeth and decided to call her brother. At least… he would freak out less than her parents, right? After just the first ring, the phone clicked and Xueliang’s voice answered on the other side.

“Hello? A Mei? Is something the matter? Did the meeting not go well? Did he reject you? Just let big brother handle it.” Before she could get a word out, Xueliang bombarded her with his own questions. Lips twitching, Xuemei rolled her eyes at his antics. In her mind, she was older and stronger than this so-called “older brother” of hers, so his overprotective notions were quite tiring.

“No, big brother*, that’s not it. Can you send someone to pick me up at the hospital? Or just call Tao Qiao? I don’t have her number yet.”

(Weird Author plug: I might start using ge or gege just because constantly writing big brother sounds weird. These ways of calling people do not flow as well in English.)

“Huh? Pick-up? Sure, I’ll… Wait, wait, wait… Hospital?! Why are you in the hospital?! Are you injured?! Did something happen? Is it a side effect from the fall? Are you still feeling weak from the coma? I thought you had completely recovered!” Bursting onto his feet, Xueliang knocked his desk chair over. The secretary helping him also jumped in surprise.

Massaging her temples, Xuemei realized that her brother was just as bad as her parents. It seems she was naïve.

“No, I am fine. I came to the hospital helping someone. An old man was having a stroke and fell onto the open road. He almost got hit by a car. I had Tao Qiao stop the car and I helped the old man by calling 119 and riding in the ambulance with him. Actually, Tao Qiao could be here, she probably followed along. I will look around.” Coming to this point, Xuemei realized that Tao Qiao would not have been so irresponsible as to just drive back home after this incident and would most likely have followed after the ambulance. She also told a white lie because she could only imagine the consequences if she came right out and said that there was a minor car accident. What if they never let her out of the house or something? The car itself was not too damaged actually, since Tao Qiao had tried to break and swerve out of the way. Xuemei felt she could just get the minor damaged fixed without her parents finding out. They should be able to buff out the slight dent and repaint the scratches fairly easily. It was not like her parents would constantly check out the car, either.

“Really? You’re really fine?”

“Yes, I am really 100% intact and healthy.”

“Why did you help that old man, anyways? So out of character for you…” Not that he was complaining, but Xueliang could not really wrap his head around the scene of his self-centered sister going out of her way to help a stranger.

“I don’t know. Maybe I just felt pity for him, since he was old and all alone. Plus, the stroke probably made him feel confused…” Not really sure how to respond, Xuemei just made up an excuse mixed with partial truths.

“…” Complete radio silence ensued on the other side. Hearing no response, Xuemei’s stomach sunk with a bad premonition.

“Did we make you feel lonely as well, Xuemei? Did we not empathize with your situation enough?” As she expected, Xueliang had taken her words with a different tone. That she somehow saw herself in this old man. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Xuemei really felt that this was absurd. Why was he putting so much deep meaning behind her words?

“Brother, that’s completely not what I meant. Can’t I just have some pity on people? Are you trying to say I don’t have a heart? Why must there be some underlying reason? Just think of it as charity! Whatever, I’m going to go look for Tao Qiao. I’m hanging up!” And with those parting words, Xuemei tapped the hang up icon and put it on silent. Sliding the phone back into her pocket, Xuemei walked around the large lobby area to see if she could spot her driver.

Xuemei’s thoughts were not too far from reality. Of course, Tao Qiao could not leave just like that. However, she did not get a good look at the ambulance or hear what hospital it was going to. Only after making multiple calls, was she able to filter down the choices to two big hospitals. The first one she drove to was incorrect as it was not the same old man from before. Around the time Xuemei began looking, Tao Qiao finally arrived at the second hospital. Parking the car in the pick-up zone with the hazard warning lights flashing, she quickly alighted to go to the front desk. On her way over, she spotted the Young Miss almost right away. Although it seemed the young girl herself was unaware, a lot of people were trying to steal glances at her. No matter how plainly she dressed, Xuemei still stood out rather significantly with her good looks and nice body.

“Young Miss! Here you are! Were they able to contact the old man’s family?”

“Yes, and can you guess who came?” Recovered from her earlier bad mood already, Xuemei was feeling a little playful as she asked Tao Qiao.

“Who? Was it someone you know, Young Miss?”

“It was Mo Chen.”

“Ah, Mo Chen… Ah? Mo Chen?! Young Miss, was that not the person you were going to see earlier? What a great coincidence, it feels like a scene from a movie! So, were you able to get him to accept you as a student on behalf of you being that elder’s savior?” Taking a moment to recognize the name, Tao Qiao soon shouted out in surprise. Reminded of the earlier scene, Xuemei scowled a little before scoffing.

“A savior? If only he saw me as such… Never mind, I don’t wish to talk on this subject anymore. Let’s just head home. I’m already exhausted. My brother knows what happened today, but I did not tell him about the accident. I will give you money, so I want you to quietly get the car fixed. You get what I’m saying, right? My parents cannot find out, otherwise you’ll be fired and I will be under house arrest. They are that overprotective.

“Young Miss, rest assured, I know how to handle this properly.”

“Mm. I thought you would. Let’s head out now.” Nodding her head, Xuemei patted Tao Qiao’s shoulder.

“Yes.” Bowing slightly, Tao Qiao began leading the way to where she left the car earlier. The two ladies quickly walked towards the doors leading out. However, before she could step outside the hospital, Xuemei was held back by a sharp pull on her arm.

“Wait!” A deep voice commanded.

Furrowing her brows, Xuemei recognized the voice before she even turned around. Gripping onto the man’s wrist, she suddenly twisted him arm around and held it behind his back. Kicking out the back of his knee, Xuemei knocked him into a kneeling position without letting go of her arm hold.

“Oh. Sorry, it’s a reflex.” She apologized emotionlessly. Yes, she was being childish, but it’s not like she actually hurt him. It was just a little payback. Shoving him a little as she let go of his wrist, Xuemei brushed her hair off her shoulder and continued walking away.

“Wait, I just want to apologize!” Gritting his teeth from the pain, Mo Chen still called out after the girl. His words grabbing her attention, the girl turned toe and walked back towards him.

“So?” Raising an eyebrow, the girl watched him expectantly.

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding you and accusing you of being some reporter. I am really thankful that you helped my father by contacting the ambulance and even riding with him.” Holding his temper, Mo Chen still apologized as best as he could.

“Oh? You found out rather quick.” Not impressed, Xuemei lukewarmly responded.

“The nurses asked if you were my daughter and my father’s granddaughter and told me generally what they heard had happened from the EMTs.” Touching his nose in embarrassment, Mo Chen did not really know how to stand in front of this girl. It truly was bad of him to kick his father’s savior in the teeth and return benevolence with malevolence. He just was not used to people giving him no face. At his current position and altitude in the acting and entertainment industry, most people were always trying to suck up to him. As he was not only a successful and award-winning veteran actor, but also a rich major shareholder in one of the largest entertainment companies, Blue Ocean Entertainment. This was because his twin brother, Mo Yu, was the owner of the company. Back when they were starting out and Mo Chen was getting popular, Mo Yu wanted to switch from being his brother’s manager to a company owner. The brothers were always of one heart and one mind with each other, so Mo Chen fully supported his brother’s company in the beginning. Almost all his salary from his younger breakout roles were inserted into the start-up company. Their enviable relationship is still talked about all the time in the entertainment world since so many people commonly see even family betray each other.

“Well, no matter. It was no skin off my back to help your father. I just truly felt that he was too pitiful. You should also know that the owner of the car that got damaged trying avoid your father is expecting compensation. I have his contact number if you want it. It would not look good later if some gossip reporter catches a story about the famous actor, Mo Chen’s, father avoiding responsibility like so. It’s not as if you do not have the money to help with that little bit of damage. Oh, you also owe me some money for my car’s damages.” Gesturing with her head towards Tao Qiao, the driver quickly caught on and wrote the both her and the other driver’s contact information on a piece of note paper before handing it to Mo Chen. Slightly hesitating at first, Mo Chen still received the slip.

“Well, then…” Dipping her head in a slight bow, Xuemei began to leave.

“Hey, can you just hold on a moment.” Exasperated, Mo Chen went to grab onto her once again. However, he pulled his hand back at the last moment when remembering the pain from earlier. “Uh, hey, you!” Failing to stop her physically, Mo Chen continued to follow Xuemei out and called out to her.

“Do you want anything in return? I can help you if it’s something to do with the entertainment world. Looking at your appearance, you might have had such thoughts before. I could promise to support you and introduce you to some Blue Ocean Entertainment talent scouts so you can audition. That could be me returning the favor. I’m not saying I’ll help you forever, though. I’ll just give your career a kickstart. The rest depends on you. Even if you do not get accepted, I won’t say anything. Otherwise, I can just give you a monetary compensation or reward.” As someone who got to his standing through genuine skill, Mo Chen was fiercely against using nepotism. When he was a poor newbie, there were many times he was suppressed by such people.

 “I am interested in your offer. I just hope you don’t assume I saved your father due to ulterior motives. I had no idea who that old man was until you showed up. You know better than I do that your parents’ identities are well maintained secrets. Let alone me, even the powerful people in the industry might not recognize this old man from a crowd. This just happened to be a rather happy coincidence in my case. Plus, I feel a little offended that you thought I wanted to be ‘famous’ just because of my appearance. Pursuing acting is something I genuinely want to try. And I take my goals very seriously and put plenty of thought into it.” Looking the picture of sincerity, Xuemei still smirked victoriously a little on the inside. Of course, she could not let such an easy opportunity just pass her by.

“You want to act?”

“Yes. The reason I even came across your father even though I live in the B District is because I was driving over to your studio to ask for lessons. After all, you are famous and recognized for your personal acting skills and the talents that you were able to teach. Anyone who wants to be an actor wishes to learn under you.” Giving a sweet date after her harsh treatment, Xuemei cleverly controlled the conversation.