The Rise of the White Lotus

The next morning…

"Urgh…" Waking up at the loud ringing of the alarm clock on their bedside table, Lexi lowly grunted as her hand crawled to where the device was. Normally, Lexi wouldn't need to be welcomed by the annoying sound of the alarm clock same as Ethan Lu because they wake up even before it rings.

However, due to their intense night time workout last night, both of them were a bit groggy as their body aches everywhere. It was worse than the first day of working out after a long hiatus. Hence, Lexi unintentionally smacked at the poor alarm clock whose only fault was to alarm because it was set by her.

"I want to skip work…" Hoarse and dry, Ethan Lu murmured as he gently pulled Lexi back in his embrace which he didn't need to use much effort to do so as Lexi was like a dead log being pulled back.

"Five minutes…" Squeezing herself closer to her husband, Lexi lowly commented as she closed her eyes once again— sacrificing everything just for a minute of sleep. Little did the two know, their 'five more minutes' passed by faster than the blink of an eye. Hence, when they woke up, two hours had passed since then.

From sleeping like cold palm oil in a bottle, Lexi just snapped from her serene dream as she suddenly opened her eyes followed by her body sitting up. She instinctively looked around and her eyes gradually widened upon seeing the bright ray of light peeking through the slight gap of the huge windows.

"Ethan!" Panicking for a reason, Lexi slapped her husband's shoulder who showed no sign of getting out of bed. With the force she used, Ethan Lu was immediately knitting his brows as he languidly opened his eyes to be welcomed by his wife jumping out of bed then sprinting to wherever she needed to go.

"Love, let's slee—" As lax as he was, Ethan Lu sluggishly sat up as he ran his fingers through his hair, before raising his head to see Lexi walking around their spacious bedroom carrying things she needed before she entered the walk-in closet— leaving the door wide open. Thus, Lexi was able to hear his request which she instantly rejected even before he could finish it.

"It's nine already, love!" Going through her set of working clothes, Lexi just grabbed anything she could grab first as she has a meeting in two hours. She then brought her clothes back to the bedroom which left her in dismay seeing that he was just sitting on the bed with his back resting against the bed's headboard.

"What are you doing? Don't you have work? Both of us are late— get up there, mister!" Tossing her set of clothes to the bed, Lexi then placed both her knuckles on her waist as she tilted her head to the side.

"Love, I don't feel well today, can I just call in sick leave today?" Frowning, Ethan Lu lowly reasoned out. Well, it was not like he was entirely finding an excuse not to work today but, due to their intense overtime last night, his sleep felt too short.

Arching her brows, Lexi slowly crossed her arms under her chest. In retrospect, no matter how late Ethan Lu slept, he would still diligently get up early in the morning for work. Moreover, he never once slacked off because he does his duty as the Lu's family head while being a good, caring husband to her and adorable father to the twins.

"You don't feel well? Are you sure?" Showing him a slight genuine concern, Lexi unhurriedly strode towards the bed and sat at the edge of the mattress.

"Mhmm… but, whatever, I remembered I have an important meeting after lunch." Ethan Lu helplessly nodded his head before a heavy sigh escaped from his mouth.

"Can't you move it to another day? You can just rest today if you really don't feel good." Creasing her brows, Lexi advised as she thought her husband needed a day off from time to time.

"Nah, it's fine my love. I am just probably getting older and getting the life sucked out of me is now taking a toll on me— it's a remarkable experience though." Ethan Lu lightly shook his head sideways as he humored Lexi while referring to last night's occurrence. His urge not to work today was just a fleeting desire he had as he wanted to spend the rest of the day cuddling with her.

However, after his mind was completely sober, he was reminded that even if he didn't go to the office, Lexi was unavailable for the day as her schedule was packed. Well, unlike Lexi who was just skimming at his schedule and taking a look at it whenever she wanted to know what he was possibly doing for the day, Ethan Lu, on the other hand, automatically memorized Lexi's schedule.

It was still unclear how he could remember her schedule for a whole week as Ethan Lu seemed as if he was also unsure about it. Perhaps, it was the power of his love that he unconsciously picked it up as a habit.

"Just don't force yourself, okay?" Slipping out a sigh, Lexi stared at his dashing morning look who was the epitome of a dreamlike adonis. It sometimes made her a bit envious as he still looked good early in the morning while Lexi perceived that her morning look wasn't the best time for her.

With that said note, both of them prepared themselves to work as fast as they could. They finished and left their house after an hour— both not eating any breakfast and only grabbed some coffee and bread on the way to Beauty DR.

****

[Beauty DR main headquarters]

"Rick, Madam had already sent me an email and they were on the way here." Glancing up from his desk, Nico Zhuang informed Lyrick Jiang who couldn't sit still as he constantly walked back and forth in front of his desk.

"What?! Master didn't say a word to me!" Shocked upon hearing Nico Zhuang's news, Lyrick Jiang's face distorted. Why was Lexi always so considerate while his master would only inform him whenever he feels like it?

"Is that news to you?" Jarred Guo, who got tired waiting in the parking space has decided to follow Nico Zhuang's post and chill while waiting for their bosses to arrive. Following the unsettled Lyrick Jiang, he lowly chimed in as their master has always been like that since day one.

Granted that Ethan Lu was their master and he was with them most of the time, still, there were days that he would just say a single word or sometimes, nothing at all just like today. Perhaps to Ethan Lu, in Jarred Guo's perspective, he thinks that since he already told them where to meet last night, he didn't have to say it again.

"Nico, can we switch places even just for a day? The stress is real." In an aghast tone, Lyrick Jiang massaged his temples in distress as what his master was doing to him, delaying his schedule for the day was too much of a stressful situation.

Of course, since those people would willingly wait and say they understood, Lyrick Jiang was still stressing about it since he would be the one who would tell them not Ethan Lu himself. Hence, imagine his stress whenever he heard the restrained rage from their voices.

"No way." Short and precise, Nico Zhuang refused without blinking an eye before he averted his gaze from the whimsical Lyrick Jiang that has an 8D personality in him. He then continued to check the recent important emails of Beauty DR's affairs.

But, for some reason, Nico Zhuang minimized the tab as he was reminded about last night's encounter with Cherry. Also, it should be today that the articles were out. Hence, sparing his little time, Nico Zhuang somehow bothered to search for the recent scandal. 

To his surprise, although he had expected the outcome to be a huge one since the involvement of HG Holdings's CEO— the reality surpassed his expectations. There were new articles, written under the big media outlets about the evidence that Abigail Fan's team initially posted. 

Now, there's a live stream of a broadcast about the controversial video, and reporters were all flocking in front of HG Holding's building seeking for the statement of the man involved. Not just that, but also, Hannah Gan's name had been cleared and there was a forum thread where fans apologized to their idol. 

Meanwhile, Cherry's other photos, aside from the initial photos they released, some people who seemed like they had no life to live stalked her inactive social media to get more photos of her to spread on the internet. There was also a picture of her, revealing the same tattoo inked in between her fingers. 

Overall, it was all chaotic especially for HG Holdings which resulted in their brewing crisis in the company and Cherry who was receiving all of the hate from Hannah Gan's fans. Still, it all magically diverted the attention of alleged prostitution that was being accused to AL entertainment as Abigail Fan released a statement about filing a complaint to the person who posted the slanderous article while boosting the agency that they took natural talents and protected their artists. 

"This…" Rendered speechless, Nico Zhuang was hit by a sudden realization. Of course, his rare expression was caught by Lyrick Jiang's keen eyes. Narrowing them, he slowly strode over to the side to see why he had such an expression. 

"What are you reading? Woah, porn?!" Drawing closer to the monitor screen, while placing himself beside Nico Zhuang, Lyrick Jiang caught a glimpse of the screenshot photo of the video that mislead him as he failed to read the whole content. 

"What?! Nico, you're watching porn in broad daylight?!" Shocked as well, Jarred Guo's insensitivity was triggered. Thus, his voice unintentionally raised as his eyes widened in disbelief. 

"What? No!" Nico Zhuang's brows twitched upon hearing their remarks. Fortunately, there wasn't a single person aside from them on this floor as it was Lexi's 'empty' floor. It was built like this so no one could disturb her whenever she wanted to think and only Nico Zhuang had a post in this area which worked well to his advantage as he preferred to be alone. 

"Oh ho!" Touched with humor, Lyrick Jiang found a way to vent his stress by teasing his 'former' colleague. He sounded unconvinced as the side of his lips stretched from ear to ear.

"Whatever you think but Madam is really hard to offend." Shaking his head, Nico Zhuang, as usual didn't let Lyrick Jiang get on his nerves as he muttered and returned his gaze back to the monitor screen. His remarks instantly piqued Lyrick Jiang's interest as he slightly creased his brows and shifted his eyes to the article that Nico Zhuang was reading.

Since he could not properly get the gist of the article and the connection of it to his friend's statement, Lyrick Jiang decided to continue reading on his phone and searched the keywords about Hannah Gan's name and recent scandal. Alas, to his bewilderment, HG Holdings were glued to the scandal and a woman named Cherry.

Lyrick Jiang immediately just skimmed through an article which gives the vital details of the matter. Seeing that Hannah Gan, the innocent celebrity that was being accused of a scandal which turned out to be her look-alike having illicit affairs with HG Holdings CEO— Lyrick Jiang was more shaken that AL Entertainment was where Hannah Gan was signed under.

Therefore, knowing that Lexi has the biggest share in AL entertainment— the same percentage as Abigail Fan who was managing the agency— he finally understood what Nico Zhuang meant. Lexi's ways were too extreme as she unhesitatingly dragged everyone involved, whether they took big participation or not, Lexi didn't care whatever backlash HG Holdings would receive and the same goes for Cherry.

Not to mention, Mr. Che's daughter named Che Diayu who was also a celebrity was also dragged into it. Plus, the case that AL entertainment had filed to the anonymous person that published the slanderous article about the agency. Overall, it was chaotic as some media outlets were now being questioned for not investigating before reporting it to the public.

Now, AL entertainment's name bloomed sweeter and Hannah Gan's popularity skyrocketed even more; the complete opposite of HG Holding's dark days and Cherry with all the hate she was receiving now.

She literally ruined them in a very innovative 'Lu' way.

"Master must see this…" Aghast, Lyrick Jiang murmured as he tried to absorb as much information as he could to tattle it to his master.