Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhou Xufang wasn’t planning on setting up her little screen-protector stall today. Instead, she was out delivering food near the headquarters of the local TV station.
There was still 15 minutes before it was air-time, and all backstage staff members were running here and there, completing their final preparations. Having finished putting on makeup, Tang Ying moved away from her assistant.
“Sir, do we really need to do this?”
Zhou Qingrang’s eyes remained fixated on the script he was holding. “Yeah”
“But the director ha–”
He lowered the script, and with his pale, slender fingers, he slowly buttoned up his suit. “You just need to cooperate with me for now. I promise I’ll deal with your problems afterward.”
She had never seen this stubborn side of him before.
Tang Ying remained silent.
Then, his assistant, Xiao Xing came knocking on his door. “Master Zhou, a young lady named Miss Luo is looking for you.”
Before Zhou Qingrang had been allowed to work with the TV station, he had spent half a year as a consultant in the broadcasting department, which was why most of the staff here referred to him as “Master Zhou”.
Tang Ying glanced at the time. “There’s still 15 minutes before we go live.”
“Go prepare yourself.”
Zhou Qingrang exited his resting lounge in his wheelchair.
Soon to enter his view was the eldest grandchild of the Luo family, Luo Qinghe.
“Uncle, long time no see.” She placed her teacup on the table before standing up to greet the man.
‘Uncle?’
The assistant standing near the doorway doubted his own hearing for a second.
‘Master Zhou was a relative to the Luos?’
Click.
Zhou Qingrang made sure the door was shut. Raising his head, a pair of cold, almost hostile eyes were revealed. “You’ve called me worse things back then.”
Luo Qinghe’s lips curled into a slight smile. She stepped forward in the manner of a junior toward her elder. “I was still young, I didn’t know how the world worked. Forgive my ignorance, uncle.”
“You are very much like your father.” Zhou Qingrang placed his arms over the armrest of the wheelchair. “Just as deceitful, I mean.” He quickly added.
The smile on Luo Qinghe’s face disappeared in an instant.
“Zhou Qingrang.” She sat down. Slightly raising her eyelids, she threatened the man. “I have shown my respects to you. Why do you still choose to do things the hard way?”
Zhou Qingrang pretended as if he hadn’t heard what the woman had said, and lifting his hand, he looked at his watch. “There’s still 10 minutes before 7 o’clock.”
The news program would go live at 7:00 pm sharp.
His attitude remained unchanging, and Zhou Qingrang was, for sure, not going to play in her game of good cop-bad cop.
Realizing this, Luo Qinghe smiled. With a cigarette hanging between her red lips, she produced a lighter from her pocket. Calmly, she said, “If I were you, I’d back off by now. It’s futile, you know? Trying to smash a rock with an egg.”
Zhou Qingrang lowered his head. He smoothed out the thin blanket that was placed over his knees. These crippled legs of his felt cold, hard, and numb. Slowly, without a single hint of panic, he replied. “If smashing a rock with an egg is indeed futile, then you shouldn’t even be here today.”
Unsurprised by his smart retort, Luo Qinghe lifted her chin arrogantly. “So you’re going against the Luo family till the bitter end, huh?”
He couldn’t deny that.
Luo Qinghe put out the mild cigarette that was produced specifically for female smokers in an ashtray after merely taking two puffs out of it. “Fine. We’ll see just how long this Zhou Qingrang can hold out.”
She rose from her seat. As she walked past him, she stole a glance at his legs.
Zhou Qingrang raised his head and looked straight into her eyes. “Do you know why the Luo family has run out of heirs?”
As if a switch had been flipped, her expression changed in a split-second.
The leader of the Luo family, Luo Qinghe’s grandfather, had two sons and a daughter. The second son had died young, leaving behind a single daughter. The eldest son, Luo Changde, was polyamorous. Despite this, all his children had turned out to be daughters, whether legitimate or illegitimate.
Slowly, he uttered each word clearly. “It’s because you Luo people have committed too many sins. Sins that are far worse than the actions of animals. And so, this is divine retribution for those sins.”
Grandpa Luo had a sister named Zhi Ning who married into another family at a young age.
24 years ago, Luo Zhi Ning and her husband had met unexpected deaths, leaving behind a boy and a girl. The girl’s name was Qingmeng, and the boy, Qingrang. Back then, they were still under the age of 18, and without a home to return to, they had arrived at the doorsteps of the Luo family in the imperial capital, where they were welcomed in. At that time, the elder sister, Zhou Chingmeng, hadn’t even reached the age of 16, and Zhou Qingrang’s 14th birthday had just passed.
It hadn’t even been a year after being accepted into the Luo family that Zhou Qingmeng passed away due to sickness. The cause of death was unknown, but there were rumors that she had borne the son of another man in secrecy and had died in the process.
In the same year, Zhou Qingrang met with a car accident where he would lose control of both his legs. It was after that incident that he remained bed-ridden in the hospital for many years to come.
As for the child that Zhou Qingmeng had borne, no one truly knew whether it was real or just another baseless rumor. Even if it was real, only God knows where the child was right now…It was taboo to speak of this matter in the Luo family, and so, it faded away from their memories over time.
“Secretary Han.”
Luo Qinghe walked slowly down the corridor. “Are the preparations complete?”
On the other side of the line, Han Feng replied. “It’s complete.”
“Then you can start now.”
“Understood.”
Luo Qinghe hung up the phone. Turning a corner, she unexpectedly bumped into another person face-on. Massaging her shoulder, she staggered back two steps from the impact. She was met with a pair of pitch-black eyes staring into her soul as she looked up at the other person.
The person was looking back at her.
Those eyes. While they were definitely that of a stranger’s, why did it seem so familiar? Luo Qinghe couldn’t help but stare at those eyes for a few seconds more before leaving the place.
Stunned, Zhou Xufang remained rooted on the spot. However, her senses quickly returned as her hyper-sensitive ears picked up a chaotic noise coming from afar, drowning out everything else in her surroundings.
It was the tender voice of a child.
“Go away! You’ve soiled up the floor sitting here.”
“My mommy said that your mommy is a wh*re. Fool! You are a wh*re’s child.”
“Stupid mute, piss off!”
“I don’t want to share my food with you!”
“Filthy beggar! You and your uncle are both stinky beggars!”
“They’ve all said it! You’re a retard.”
“Don’t play with him anymore. He’s a retard!”
“…”
Who did these voices belong to?
Zhou Xufang stumbled backward as a painful headache suddenly set in.
Then, a hand came into her field of vision, holding her arm to support her. “Careful.”
Her body went stiff, and in slow-motion, she turned around. She was met with a pair of crystal-clear eyes.
“It’s you.”
It was him. The man who somehow, was connected to her by fate.
“Thank you.”
Zhou Qingrang was not a man who liked smiling. Slightly loosening up his tightly-shut lips, his cold gaze warmed up ever so slightly as he replied, “Welcome.”
At 7:15 pm, Tian Xing Entertainment issued an official apology and revealed the results of their investigation. Apparently, their side of the story was that the senior executives under their company had been abusing their rights and had coerced a number of artists into providing them with sexual favors in exchange for certain benefits. They had even provided voice recordings as evidence to back this up. As the incident involved the higher-ups of the company, a round of firing was to be done immediately, and for the victims, Tian Xing Entertainment assured that they would be taking responsibility till the end, vowing that they would never shove the guilt to anyone else. The company then promised full cooperation with the police in their investigation.
At 7:30 pm, the news broadcast went live. The host, Zhou Qingrang, proceeded to expose all the illegalities which Tian Xing Entertainment itself had been involved in. All evidence regarding this matter was also revealed to the public’s eyes.
One after the other, the timing seemed impeccable. Was it a sheer coincidence or was there an ulterior motive for this? Many opinions were circulating in the masses. Some suggested that the Luo family was shifting its guilt onto the higher-ups of Tian Xing Entertainment, who were currently being purged left and right. There were other voices that defended the company—no one was perfect, they said—Tian Xing Entertainment’s actions after the incident should be followed as a model for other companies in the entertainment industry.
Model?!
Nonsense!
Xue Baoyi flung his phone onto the table. “I gotta say, this Luo Qinghe’s got some guts. I don’t know how, but there are still people praising her despite screwing up so badly. That old geezer’s words were true after all. For her to be able to take the Luo family’s reins, she’s filled to the brim with evil tricks.”
On the opposite side of the table, Jiang Zhi occupied the entire leather sofa. He had made sure that a clean blanket was laid across the sofa before making any form of contact with the sofa. There, he lay lazily like a French girl waiting to be painted. Who was he trying to induce?
While he had originally come here to talk about his new film, this fella was too preoccupied with complaining about how dirty the sofa was. This darned man had refused to even touch the thing unless something clean was in between him and the supposedly filthy seat. Acting as though he hadn’t heard what Xue Baoyi had said, Jiang Zhi kicked his leg.
“Smells like cigarettes. Go let some air in.”
Xue Baoyi had indeed smoked a single cigarette before Jiang Zhi arrived at his office, but what the h*ll? How could one’s nose be so sensitive? Speechless, he had no other choice but to open up the window. “I don’t want to hear you complaining about the cold after the window’s open.”
Pushing the window of his office open, Xue Baoyi returned to his seat.
Once more, Jiang Zhi kicked his calf. “Get me another blanket.”
“…”
‘Sh*t! Not even my grandparents order me around like that!’
Fine. He’s a weak man after all. Not to mention that Jiang Zhi had once saved his ass a long time ago…Grabbing a blanket, Xue Baoyi tossed it over to Jiang Zhi.
“Seems like you aren’t surprised with Tian Xing’s incident. Were you expecting things to turn out this way?”
Jiang Zhi, who disliked the cold, wrapped the blanket tightly around him. “It’s no easy task, bringing down the Luo family.”
That was correct.
The Luo family held significant power in the imperial capital.
Still, it did not stop Xue Baoyi from feeling a delightful schadenfreude1. “All is not lost, brother! While it isn’t enough to stop the beast’s heart from beating, we still managed to take off its skin, revealing just how unruly those b*stards are.”
In a matter of hours, the Luo family’s share prices went into a free fall. Tian Xing Entertainment suffered an even worse fate. All artists under the company received as much flak as its owners, and Xue Baoyi felt that perhaps it was time to dig around for more things to bring down his rival. There had to be something out there that could make the Luo family bleed.
“What’s up with Zhou Qingrang and the Luo family, anyway? He’s pretty much signing his death warrant at this point. I’m pretty sure his days are numbered when things start dying down.”
Jiang Zhi kept silent.
Xue Baoyi rapped his knuckles on the tabletop. “Talking to you, man. Why are you ignoring me?”
Jiang Zhi looked up at his friend. “C’mere.”
‘What?’
Looking at Jiang Zhi, an uncomfortable feeling crept up Xue Baoyi’s back. “What’s up?”
Jiang Zhi was still in a reclined position with his hand supporting his chin. His lashes fluttered up and down like the wings of a butterfly as he repeated, “Come here.”
‘What the f*ck!? This is downright seduction!’
The cherry blossom petal-like eyes of Jiang Zhi blinked, and somehow, that charmed the sh*t out of Xue Baoyi. This man must be a living succubus or something.
With a straight face, Xue Baoyi stated clearly. “Jiang Zhi, I am a straight man down to the core. Please don’t drag me into trouble. I still need to pass on my family’s lineage y’know?”
Jiang Zhi leaned back into the sofa. Somehow, his anger had been roused. He started breathing heavily and with the fury of a thousand suns, he cursed at Xue Baoyi. “The f*ck are you talking about!? Get your ass over here right now!”
Tsk, beautiful people lose their grace when they cuss.
Still full of hesitation, Xue Baoyi shuffled over to Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi lifted the blanket he was holding with his right hand up to Xue Baoyi’s nose. “Smell this.”
‘D*mn!’
Xue Baoyi made a horrified expression. “I didn’t know you were so perverted!”
‘God d*mn, this buffoon!’ Jiang Zhi held back the words he was about to fling at Xue Baoyi. “Are you gonna smell it or what?”
‘Fine. I’d only do this for you.’
Xue Baoyi bent down and took a whiff from the blanket.
“Did you catch the scent of milk?”
He sniffed one more time to make sure. “Yeah.”
Jiang Zhi retracted his hand back underneath the blanket. “Remember this smell. Person Z also has this smell.”
“Why should I remember this smell?”
Jiang Zhi’s body also had this smell. Xue Baoyi deduced that Jiang Zhi must’ve wanted him to remember his smell. Two grown men doing such things…a chill shot up his spine.
“This brand of milk isn’t available locally due to its price as well as the country of origin. The platforms hosting sellers for this product are also limited. I want you to investigate this matter. Dig that person out.”
So, half a day was wasted just for Jiang Zhi to order him to go on a wild goose chase?
Dissatisfied, Xue Baoyi complained. “You want me to go digging for a needle in a haystack?”
“Are you gonna dig or not?”
Xue Baoyi stretched out both arms and leaned back into his couch. Then, he launched his offensive. “Brother Zhi, you’re such a spoiled brat.”
Jiang Zhi ignored the jab and continued napping on the sofa.