Chapter 28

Chi Zhihan felt uneasy about the winter video set to be released next week. She hadn’t participated in selecting the theme or menu, and with the release date approaching, she still had two dishes left to record.

Her contract with the company required her to film fifteen seasonal recipes per quarter. The company would release one video weekly and handle all operations, while she received only nine percent of the advertising revenue.

Since taking on Qi Cheng’s job, her visits to the company had become increasingly rare. Although working as the Qi family’s private chef had boosted both her market value and Weibo followers, she knew the company had gradually shifted its operational focus to another private chef, Ren Junyou.

She had only met him once at the annual meeting. At 32, he was relatively new to the field. Unlike her, he showed his face in videos, told stand-up comedy, and occasionally livestreamed making bizarre “dark cuisine.” His follower count had soared in the past six months.

Compared to Chi Zhihan’s nostalgic, artistic style of food blogging, Ren Junyou’s simple and direct approach was also gaining fans.

Lin Jingwu had been calling her four or five times a day lately to discuss this matter.

She had to admit—what she once dismissed as unimportant had now become a genuine source of anxiety.

Although she currently had powerful backing, whether Qi Cheng would fully recover, or how long it would take, remained uncertain.

Most importantly, her primary job was still being a private chef. After Qi Cheng recovered, she would need to return to her position.

“Faceless videos like yours are the easiest to be pushed out. If you don’t pay attention now, there won’t be a place for you when you return,” Lin Jingwu advised earnestly.

She couldn’t complain about these worries to Qi Cheng. With twenty-four-hour care duties, she could only text Xi Qing to vent, but after two or three exchanges, she would lose interest.

Finally, when his blood and urine tests stabilized and he could start eating semi-liquid food, she gathered the courage to ask for three afternoons off.

Chi Zhihan felt confused about where her priorities truly lay.

Before leaving, she confirmed with the nurse four or five times, until the head nurse, who smiled like Maitreya Buddha, pushed her out of the room, half-joking and half-impatient. “You’re like a mother leaving her child to go to work.”

…

After leaving Qi Cheng, Chi Zhihan found herself not just nagging…

Even between recording sessions, she couldn’t stop calling him: “Only drink 200 milliliters, I’ll make you vegetarian noodles when I come back after finishing recording.”

Her strange tone made Lin Jingwu rub his arms and ask suspiciously, “Did you secretly have a baby behind my back?”

…

Being called a mother again, Chi Zhihan felt self-loathing for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered Cheng Yi’s matter that she had completely forgotten after being interrupted yesterday.

“Oh right, I have two paintings here. They said we can post them on Weibo for promotion, and they’ll give us ten professionally edited photos of our signature dishes afterward.” She opened the painting tube Qi Cheng had reminded her to bring this morning and handed the carefully rolled paintings to Lin Jingwu.

This time she finally remembered to take out her phone and search for Cheng Yi.

It turned out to be someone with a Baidu Encyclopedia entry…

Chi Zhihan clicked on it, but before the page even finished loading, Lin Jingwu shrieked in her ear.

“…What are you doing?” Chi Zhihan frowned, her ears ringing, her arm hurting from Lin Jingwu’s grip.

“Shit, how do you know Cheng Yi? How much did he charge?” Then shaking his head, “No, never mind, we couldn’t afford his rates anyway. Are you two close? Could you maybe get us a discount?”

Shaking his head again: “No, even with a discount we couldn’t afford it.”

“My god, how could you just casually bring his paintings in a tube without saying anything, and only remember to show me after finishing the video? What were you thinking?” By the end, his voice was almost breaking into a sob. “His agent is super fierce. If there’s even a single crease, I’m not helping you pay compensation.”

“…It’s free,” Chi Zhihan stared in bewilderment as Lin Jingwu carefully rolled the paintings back into the tube, clearly trying to distance himself from any responsibility. “If it gets damaged, he can just draw another one.”

Qi Cheng seemed to have drawn it quickly before giving it to her, it shouldn’t be too difficult…

“…” Lin Jingwu took a breath, then another, first carefully stored the paintings, then grabbed a magazine, rolled it up, and hit Chi Zhihan’s head, “Just draw another one from someone whose single manga can sell for 700,000 yuan? Has being with the Qi family made you lose your mind? Wait, what did you just say?”

“…Seven hundred… thousand?” Chi Zhihan swallowed, looked down at the loaded Baidu Encyclopedia page, and swallowed again, “Uh…”

The country’s youngest mysterious manga artist, two-time International Comics Excellence Award winner, youngest inductee into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame…

Qi Cheng?!

Not only did he look like that, but he could casually draw something worth two years of her salary?!

Qi Cheng?!

That man who hadn’t left his room for ten years? The one who complained this morning that the lotus root starch wasn’t sweet enough and looked at her with wet eyes asking for another spoon of sugar?

The culprit who made her worry all afternoon and got her called a mother twice?!

No wonder he said that day that he also had money…

She had internally scoffed then, thinking which member of the Qi family didn’t have money…

But that money was actually his own?!

“Did you just say it was free?” Lin Jingwu looked at Chi Zhihan in shock.

…Chi Zhihan nodded.

“And ten more professionally edited photos?” Lin Jingwu quickly remembered the other benefit.

Chi Zhihan maintained her expression of ‘why is the world like this’ and nodded again.

“…But why?” This kind of enormous stroke of luck didn’t seem like something that would happen to an unlucky child like Chi Zhihan.

…She wanted to know too…

Why? Why would someone with both talent and good looks, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, still see himself as a monster, hiding away in the dark, too afraid to meet anyone?

It was such an absurd thing, yet why did it weigh so heavily on her heart that she could barely breathe?

If he hadn’t gotten sick, how brilliant would Qi Cheng have been…

“If you can really get this, your seasonal videos will definitely be the main feature.” Lin Jingwu’s face was red with excitement, “Damn, I’ve been so sick of that Ren Junyou lately, finally I can get some revenge.”

…Why?

Chi Zhihan tried very hard to share Lin Jingwu’s joy, but why were her eyes stinging?

“It really is true that having powerful backing means better resources no matter what.” Lin Jingwu sighed, hugging the ordinary-looking tube like a treasure, “I’ll go brag to the boss first and get you the promotional resources you deserve. You can finish up here and leave early.”

“…Okay.” Chi Zhihan nodded.

“By the way, is Cheng Yi male or female?” Lin Jingwu bounced back, wiggling his eyebrows, “Some people say Cheng Yi is actually a team? How is it? Have you met them?”

…

“No, Qi Ning handled everything.” Chi Zhihan lied instinctively.

She finally understood why Qi Ning said if Qi Cheng’s identity as Cheng Yi was exposed, he would be forcibly sent to America.

The second young master of the Qi family being the great manga artist Cheng Yi was already big news, but if you added that he had severe social anxiety and depression, the news would be explosive.

And for Qi Cheng, who feared attention most, it would be a devastating blow, a death warrant.

Why did he… choose to tell her this?

With her limited knowledge of manga, she would never have guessed in her lifetime that Qi Cheng was Cheng Yi.

This was practically his Achilles’ heel…

No wonder Qi Ning’s voice on the phone was tired and desperate.

Qi Cheng… this fool…

The emotions she had suppressed earlier began to boil, because of this fool who would only smile slightly at her, pretending all was well with the world.

“Speaking of which, Qi Ning is really being considerate.” Lin Jingwu, overexcited, completely missed Chi Zhihan’s pale face, “Remember when you asked me to help find your mother, those people we contacted?”

Chi Zhihan nodded mechanically.

“Qi Ning seems to have been contacting them all this time, I’ve received several calls.” Lin Jingwu lowered his voice, “Money really makes a difference. I feel like the leads we couldn’t find after years of searching might finally have some breakthrough.”

…

She might be able to find her mother?

Who exactly… was saving whom?

…

The unfamiliar emotions surging in her heart felt like they could spiral out of control at any moment. Chi Zhihan instinctively chose to avoid them, sending Qi Cheng a message that she’d be back two hours late, refusing the company car, and taking a taxi to find Xi Qing.

After graduating from university, Xi Qing had tried several unsatisfactory jobs before finally opening her own Taobao store selling handmade desserts. It turned out to be quite profitable, and last year she finally bought a 40-square-meter future property, paying the down payment and establishing roots in the expensive city of S.

Though for now, she still shared a 70-square-meter rental with another Taobao seller, their apartment crammed with merchandise like a warehouse.

“You can stay at my place first.” Chi Zhihan stood at the door, too lazy to enter, “I probably won’t be going back for a while.”

“…Did they really imprison you?” Xi Qing was half a head taller than Chi Zhihan and particularly loved high heels, able to see the top of the short Chi Zhihan’s head when standing.

..And the eye-roll Chi Zihan aimed upward.

“That person has already been locked up, my place is quite safe.” After rolling her eyes, she lowered her head and followed Xi Qing to their usual coffee shop downstairs.

“What’s wrong?” Xi Qing got straight to the point, “You look like you’ve suffered some great injustice.”

She had received a great favor…

But, really… she felt wronged on his behalf.

“Xi Qing, is it normal for women to feel sympathy towards pitiful people or things, and then develop some kind of maternal feelings?” After asking, she felt her question was a bit strange and gave an awkward laugh.

“Have you been spending too much time with psychologists?” Xi Qing, who was getting accounts from the shop owner for her consigned cookies, looked up at her with a wry smile.

“Because what I’m about to ask is even stranger.” Chi Zhihan took a sip of hot chocolate, squinting her eyes, “If after developing maternal-like feelings, you then become aware of gender differences… what does that mean?”

“…” Xi Qing put down the account book, expressionless, “Sweet Home Alabama?”

…

Chi Zhihan resisted the urge to pour the hot chocolate on her own head, sighing as she rested her forehead on the table.

“What’s really going on with you?” Xi Qing knocked on the table in front of Chi Zhihan, “Really Beauty and the Beast?”

Chi Zhihan hesitated for a moment, nodded almost tragically, then shook her head. “I feel like I’m wavering a bit, I need to be scolded back to reality.”

“I’ll just ask you one thing.” Xi Qing didn’t beat around the bush, her expression serious, “What if he commits suicide?”

“Or taking a step back, what if he self-harms?” Seeing Chi Zhihan’s face turn pale, Xi Qing added.

The hot chocolate suddenly lost its appeal, Chi Zhihan still had her head on the table, her voice muffled: “Okay, I’m awake now.”

In this lifetime, she never wanted to see anyone around her leave before she did.