Chapters (45)
Liu Xingyu looked a little baffled. “You should.”
Truthfully, Xiaokai did care quite a bit about his reputation, otherwise he wouldn’t have put so much effort into maintaining it. But he knew there was no saving it at this point. “And if I don’t?”
Xingyu frowned. “Then you should try. If your reputation isn’t good, there won’t be any use in trying to make a life for yourself afterward. Even if it isn’t good, we should at least make sure that it isn’t bad at the end of all of this. Indifference is better than disdain.”
It was seeming more and more like there was no point to arguing with him. Bringing up his own points would only alarm Xingyu, so Xiaokai decided quickly to just go along with it for now. “Who’s to say the interviewer won’t just use the opportunity to drag your reputation down as well? You’re already considered to have abandoned your family.”
“They’ll see when more information gets out that I was in the right to leave,” said Xingyu, and then winced at Xiaokai’s expression—he hadn’t considered how Xiaokai would react to these words until they’d already come out of his mouth. Luckily he held back the second part of his reasoning: I would be able to handle anything that comes my way, but I don’t think that you would. “I was trained to handle these things. I’m confident that I can turn any ill-intentioned questions to our advantage.”
Xiaokai pretended to consider it a minute longer, pretended to turn it over in his head. “Fine, then. If you really think it’s best.”
Xingyu hadn’t expected this admission.
“If there’s nothing else.” Xiaokai moved his gaze to Weiran, who had for some reason come along for this conversation but hadn’t deigned to join at any point. He was avoiding Xiaokai’s eyes—avoiding looking at Xiaokai altogether. “I’d like to finish getting dressed. Weiran, mark the email and I’ll send a reply confirming the interview.”
“Ah—yes, okay.”
Xiaokai shut the door in their faces and went back to the bathroom.