Chapter 16

"Hello, Miss Li Jun." Yamaguchi Momoe nodded at Deng Lijun with her usual demeanor, as if her presence here was perfectly normal, and then bowed to Li Xu, "Young Master."

"I remember, you've been shooting a movie recently, Momoe?" Despite feeling somewhat awkward inside, Li Xu maintained a calm and composed appearance.

"Yes, Young Master," Yamaguchi Momoe bowed slightly, "Kawaguchi's 'The Ancient Capital,' as my retirement film. In a few months, I will be able to stay by your side all the time."

After a pause, before Li Xu could ask, she quickly added, "Earlier, Mr. Hattori informed me that Young Master would be returning to Japan today, so I specially took leave from the production."

"I see." Li Xu wanted to say something but ended up just nodding.

Yamaguchi Momoe bowed again, then turned and walked out of the pavilion with small, quick steps. At this point, the dazed Deng Lijun finally came to her senses.

"This... Edward... Yamaguchi Momoe... how could she..." Even in her shock, she couldn't form a complete sentence, just staring at him helplessly.

"Ah, well, after my 16th birthday, my mother asked me what kind of gift I wanted. I said, 'Momoe is great, I hope she can be my maid,' so she came," Li Xu said in a nonchalant tone.

"Is that... it?" After a long while, Deng Lijun asked with difficulty.

"That's it." Li Xu shrugged, very certain—though not really!

He, Li Xu, was not a pervert, and he certainly didn't go out of his way to bring Yamaguchi Momoe in as a maid just because he was bored!

Of course, having a well-known woman serve him, warm his bed, and do both non-restricted and restricted things for him was indeed very enjoyable. But Yamaguchi Momoe wasn't a top beauty; she was a national idol, but overall, she was just quite pure and lovely. If he wanted to find a female celebrity to be his maid, wouldn't Natsuki Masako be more suitable?

However, the issue was that he had just mentioned it in passing, but his mother insisted on using this opportunity to teach him a lesson.

To explain the whole situation would be quite complicated. On the surface, it was simple: after his 16th birthday and his coming-of-age ceremony, he had half-jokingly said he wanted to marry Yamaguchi Momoe. At the time, Mieko had only teased, "Ryoji has grown up, he already wants to get married." Two days later, Yamaguchi Momoe was sent to his home to warm his bed.

As mentioned before, Li Xu's mother, Kujō Mieko, was a very strong-willed woman. To control a large company and enterprise in Japan, she had to establish absolute authority.

His father, Edward Li, due to various reasons, often seemed unreliable, so Li Xu's childhood in Japan was not very pleasant.

Mieko rarely made hard demands on him, but if he didn't follow her wishes, he would suffer, and those methods could vary for a whole month without repeating. True to the nature of Japanese or East Asian women, even when punishing someone, they would do it indirectly, leaving no trace.

However, Li Xu's soul was mature enough, having experienced far worse things in his previous life—his mother had run off with someone after giving birth to him, and his honest, uneducated father only knew how to discipline him with a stick, eventually falling to his death from a construction site when Li Xu was 15. He grew up under the care of his uncle and neighbors.

Strangely, despite the coldness and warmth of human relationships he experienced in his previous life, he did not become reclusive or strange, nor did he develop a misanthropic personality. Instead, he became a carefree optimist, which was truly remarkable.

Getting off track, the point is, because of this experience, he could laugh off his mother's various "lessons" and "teasing." If he had grown up as a blank slate, he would either have become a rebellious and defiant son or a meek and obedient one.

The words he had said to Deng Lijun earlier, that only he could tolerate such a mother, were not an exaggeration.

However, this did not mean that Li Xu would accept all of his mother's demands. From his previous life, he knew how important independence and having a voice, or at least some voice, was. So, from a young age, he had engaged in many battles of wits with his mother.

After his 16th birthday, according to his original plan, he should have gained more independence to carry out certain activities. But his mother clearly felt he needed more training and convinced his unreliable father, so the opportunity that was right in front of him slipped away.

This made Li Xu very unhappy. Therefore, after completing his coming-of-age ceremony, when his mother, seemingly comforting him but actually teasing him as usual, asked, "Oh, I forgot to prepare a coming-of-age gift. What kind of gift does Ryoji want?"

"Since that's the case, I recently rewatched 'Blood of the Condor.' Yamaguchi Momoe is very beautiful, and she has a good character, making her a good choice for a wife," Li Xu replied in a half-joking tone.

He was actually expressing his dissatisfaction. As mentioned before, for a child born into a prestigious family, marriage was not a matter of personal choice. At most, he could choose from a certain circle, with even less freedom than some royal families.

Furthermore, even in prestigious families, there were often wayward sons. The most famous wayward son of the Kujō family was Empress Teimei's brother, Kujō Ryoji, who was known for his debauchery and misconduct, evading military service, and secretly marrying a geisha, leading to his expulsion from the family.

So, Li Xu was implying that if things continued this way, without sufficient reason, and if his mother kept changing their previous agreements, he might end up like Kujō Ryoji, secretly marrying a woman from the entertainment industry and running away from home.

For a true prestigious family, a child marrying someone from the entertainment industry was considered a grave act of defiance. Even if they were childhood sweethearts, if they dared to flaunt themselves on screen, it was still unacceptable.

Such marriages into prestigious families only happened in the early decades of Hollywood and the 1960s and 1970s in Hong Kong. Once the wealthy had broader horizons, they no longer considered these women worth marrying; they could be enjoyed with money or other means.

Moreover, look at the top executives of media groups and major film studios—how many of them married women from the entertainment industry? Of course, pseudo-prestigious families were not included.

"Ryoji has grown up, he already wants to get married," Mieko had only teased at the time, and Li Xu had forgotten about it.

So, when Yamaguchi Momoe appeared in his home three days later, dressed in a kimono, kneeling and calling him "Young Master," he was stunned for a while before recovering.

Mieko's actions were not just to make up for the gift, as mentioned before, but to teach him a lesson, showing him what a woman from the entertainment industry meant for their family.

"I remember... I remember that Momoe... seemed to be... engaged to Miura Yūji?" Deng Lijun finally asked, controlling her emotions, but her voice was still stammering, and the last sentence was filled with uncertainty.

"Yes, she is engaged," Li Xu nodded, then added, "I arranged it."

"You... you arranged it?!" Deng Lijun's mind was clearly overwhelmed.

"In principle, once she became my maid, she could no longer act in movies or TV shows," Li Xu continued, "But I think she is great, so I decided to give her a legendary farewell."

"A legendary... farewell?" Deng Lijun blinked, becoming even more confused.

"Yes," Li Xu nodded again, "There was already a notion that she and Miura Yūji were a golden couple. So, I had them get engaged. Then, Momoe would retire at the peak of her career, shooting a memorial film and holding a farewell concert. This way, as long as she never appears in the media again, the public will always remember her and keep her image at her peak, turning her into a symbol."

"But... but..." Deng Lijun couldn't understand, so she quickly gave up on this and asked another question, her eyes wide, "Did... did Miura Yūji agree?"

"Why not?" Li Xu shrugged, "The benefits I offered him were far greater than marrying Momoe, and he wasn't forbidden from finding other women. The only trouble is keeping it secret from the public for at least ten years, but I believe a smart person can do it."

Deng Lijun fell silent, her gaze unfocused, and a clear sense of helplessness appeared on her face, clearly shaken.

Li Xu sighed lightly in his heart, "Don't tell anyone, Teresa, or the consequences will be severe."

"How severe?" Deng Lijun asked in a low voice, lowering her head, "Will I be put back in prison?"

This was partly out of frustration, but it also showed that she was afraid, and Li Xu's background had once again exceeded her imagination.

"Don't be silly." Li Xu gently tapped her forehead, "Let's eat, the food is getting cold."

Deng Lijun silently picked up her chopsticks and didn't speak again, clearly distracted.

Li Xu shrugged again. He didn't plan to explain further. The reason he handled Yamaguchi Momoe and Miura Yūji this way was that he felt that since Momoe was already his maid, he couldn't just cut off her legendary career.

After all, Mieko's intention was to have Yamaguchi Momoe retire immediately and join the Kujō family.

However, a Yamaguchi Momoe who didn't retire at the peak of her career would be incomplete. From both a collection and a compensation perspective, Li Xu didn't want to do that, so he proposed the above plan.

Perhaps his previous expression of dissatisfaction had an effect, and his mother finally agreed to his arrangement, though Yamaguchi Momoe, who could have been a concubine, was demoted to a maid.