As Yukito and Yang Tian made their way towards the interview hall, they suddenly bumped into Huang Minzhe.
Huang Minzhe was the second most popular model in China just a few spots away from Yukito. But before Yukito came into the picture, nobody could ever rival his position.
Huang Minzhe smiled.
“Ah, Yukito. I am so glad you accepted this interview. I thought I wouldn’t see you here.”
Yukito smiled in amusement. “Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“Well, the media and our fans are already speculating God knows what. But you know, everybody is really hyped about this as if there is a competition going on to see who gets down,” as he said the last thing, he smiled slyly.
Yang Tian slightly squinted his gaze.
Well, you are the one who is provoking the fans, he inwardly snorted.
Yukito knew what he was insinuating, but he remained calm. “It is just a friendly interview between the two models. I will answer some questions. You will answer some questions. That’s all. We may be rivals, but we don’t have to compete in everything, nor do people should always compare between us.”
Huang Minzhe’s mouth twitched slightly, but he maintained his smile.
“I guess it’s time. See you later.”
In the interview hall, Yukito and Huang Minzhe took their seats. The interviewer, a young woman in her twenties, welcomed them with a smile.
The camera started rolling, and the interview began to go live. All the fans were excitedly watching the show from their homes.
“Mr. Yukito. Mr. Huang Minzhe. Thank you for joining us for this interview. We appreciate you two for taking your time out of your busy schedules.”
Yukito said, “My pleasure.”
Huang Minzhe smiled. “How could I have missed an interview with a model whom I admire the most?”
The interviewer immediately got the cue.
“This is a surprise, Huang Minzhe. The entire population in China is almost divided into either your fans or Yukito’s. They even fiercely idolize you two on every social media platform. The fans themselves have become rivals, and you say you admire Yukito?”
“Why not? He is capable and outstanding. Even though he is Mr. Liu Jinhai’s brother-in-law, I am always amazed to see how his popularity grew in such a short amount of time without any influence. After all, it’s so hard to make a mark in such a fierce industry.”
Yang Tian’s brow twitched.
Even though Huang Minzhe was praising Yukito that he reached his position by his own mettle without any inside help from his family, his statement could also raise doubts in the minds of the people that perhaps Jinhai’s influence was indeed the key in his success.
He slyly inserted Jinhai’s name in his answer to make that fact crystal clear.
Even though it wasn’t an unknown fact that since Nana was Jinhai’s wife, it was obvious that the twins, Yukito and Yukira, were also related to him, but pointing it so blank out could make people wonder if there was some funny business going on in the background.
The interviewer looked at Yukito. She was waiting to see how he will come out of this trap that Huang Minzhe’s words laid for him.
He was praising him for his capabilities yet subtly blaming him for nepotism at the same time.
“What do you have to say to Huang Minzhe’s praise?”
Yukito didn’t seem to be much affected. “Well, Huang Minzhe isn’t completely right. He is giving me more credit than necessary. Actually, I have a confession to make. Indeed, I wouldn’t have come this far without my brother-in-law’s support.”
Silence.
Yang Tian just silently kept on watching.
The interviewer was taken aback, and so was Huang Minzhe with his manager, who was also watching from the sidelines.
Did Yukito actually say that? Was he publicly announcing that Liu Jinhai pulled some strings?
Yukito continued, “It was my brother-in-law who motivated me to pursue modeling. Everybody knows that I was scouted, but I was never sure about taking it as my career. I never thought of performing in front of millions of people on stage. He was the greatest source of my strength who built that confidence in me. He would train me for hours on how to carry myself in public, how to speak confidently, and how to face such a huge crowd with no fear.”
He chuckled. “In fact, sometimes I wondered if he was training me to be a model or a CEO like him?”
The staff recording the interview burst into laughter.
“And he would just say that honestly for him, modeling wasn’t anything different from being a CEO. In both cases, everybody’s eyes were always on you and your performance. Even if a CEO didn’t walk on the stage like a model, the part of facing millions of people as they watch you being the leader of such a huge company was similar to modeling. No matter what the profession was, you simply had to face people.”
Everybody couldn’t help but agree with his or Jinhai’s words.
“I even jokingly asked once, what if I needed his help more than this?”
More than this clearly meant his influence.
Yukito smiled. “And he told me that he just needed to instill a little confidence in me, and then he won’t have to do anything else. The rest will automatically happen with my own capabilities. He trusted me, so I trusted myself. Not like my sister would have let him help me that way anyway.”
Once again, everybody laughed.
The only ones who weren’t laughing were Huang Minzhe and his manager.
He thought they could shake him off by suddenly mentioning Jinhai and their relationship, but they had no idea that Yukito would answer as if he was really prepared for this.
Anybody else would have gotten startled, but he calmly answered the twisted question, and more so, that wasn’t flattery. At one glance, everybody knew that what he said had really happened and he was telling the truth.
Huang Minzhe smiled and nodded, even though inwardly he was feeling announced. “That is awesome, indeed. I envy that you got such supportive family members.”
