Backer

Watching the scene before her, Jiang Xiao grew more alarmed as she stared at the impeccably dressed man beside her. “Have you gone mad? Why hit him so hard?”

This impulsive and reckless behavior was completely unlike Zhou Qishen’s usual style. She couldn’t understand his sudden motive for acting like this, but with the scene that had unfolded before her eyes, she had to accept this fact.

Seeing Zhou Wenting being hit, her immediate reaction wasn’t relief. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the consequences of Zhou Qishen’s impulsive act of violence. Leaving aside whether Zhou Wenting would report it, just the predatory look on Zhou Qishen’s face suggested he might not let this go easily.

Zhou Qishen paused in adjusting his collar, masking the complex emotions in his eyes as he lowered his gaze slightly. “Just average.”

Seeing him still in the mood to joke at this moment, Jiang Xiao was both amused and irritated by his indifferent attitude. She couldn’t count on him to apologize on his own. Her only hope now rested on Zhou Wenting.

“Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

She tried to soften her voice as much as possible, thinking that if they could resolve this privately, they should. It was best not to escalate things unnecessarily.

Just as Jiang Xiao pondered how to handle the awkward and tense situation before her, Lin Qianyu’s sudden appearance made things even more complicated.

“Wenting, are you okay?” Lin Qianyu hurried over in a few quick steps, supporting Zhou Wenting’s arm, her face full of concern as she looked at the sudden injuries on his face.

Unable to wait for Zhou Wenting’s return, Lin Qianyu sensed that something was amiss and followed the direction Zhou Wenting had left in. From the staff, she confirmed it led to Jiang Xiao’s dressing room, further solidifying her thoughts.

To her surprise, as soon as she reached the end of the corridor, she witnessed the entire fight.

Her boyfriend had been beaten. Lin Qianyu first felt heartache, then anger. From her perspective, it was Zhou Qishen who had unexpectedly resorted to violence. Compared to Jiang Xiao and the unfamiliar man before her, she naturally sided with and defended Zhou Wenting.

After confirming Zhou Wenting was okay, Lin Qianyu immediately raised her delicate eyes and stared at the unfamiliar man beside him. However, upon seeing his face clearly, she was momentarily stunned.

His appearance bore some resemblance to Zhou Wenting.

This realization shocked Lin Qianyu, leaving her momentarily speechless. After a brief hesitation, she still managed to ask, “How could you just hit someone?”

With that said, Lin Qianyu gently touched the injured area on Zhou Wenting’s face, her eyes turning red with concern, carefully wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with her fingers.

“Qianyu, I’m fine.” Zhou Wenting reassured Lin Qianyu, who was emotionally stirred. He casually wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth. Luckily, he had blocked in time, taking only four punches, but he couldn’t avoid bleeding from the capillaries inside his mouth, leaving a metallic taste.

Accustomed to rough-and-tumble situations in the past, he wasn’t bothered by this minor injury. What concerned him was…

Zhou Wenting narrowed his eyes, glanced at Jiang Xiao with concern on her face. However, that concern was not for him, who had inexplicably taken a beating, but for his unscathed younger uncle, Zhou Qishen.

What dumbfounded him even more was that his usually calm and restrained younger uncle had lost his composure and sense of proportion, suddenly resorting to violence. Frankly, he was curious about the reasons his younger uncle had for striking him.

Both sides confronted each other, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

The current situation was too bizarre, and Jiang Xiao was simply overwhelmed. She secretly exchanged a glance with Zhou Qishen: How am I supposed to handle this?

Seemingly successful in receiving her signal, Zhou Qishen’s expressionless face finally showed a hint of loosening. He then shifted his gaze away, landing on Zhou Wenting and Lin Qianyu. His thin lips slightly parted, as if he was about to say something.

Initially, Jiang Xiao thought he was about to explain the reason for the assault, but the first words out of his mouth nearly made her spit blood: “She is the one you cheated with? The one named Qianyu?”

With that sentence, the faces of the three people darkened, especially Lin Qianyu, whose complexion turned ashen.

Zhou Qishen’s words undoubtedly pinned her to the pillar of “mistress” in shame. Unfortunately, Jiang Xiao was still beside her. The slap and warning from the banquet were still vivid in her memory, making it impossible for her to utter a word of rebuttal.

She was a person who valued her reputation, and she didn’t want to break up with Jiang Xiao unless it was absolutely necessary. If the evidence got out, it would not be good for her.

“You’ve gone too far, little uncle.” Naturally, Zhou Wenting was the first to speak up to defend his woman being humiliated.

“Too far?” Zhou Qishen looked down at Zhou Wenting, his eyes cold and his tone bone-chillingly icy. “Are you referring to me teaching you a lesson, or stating a fact?”

Zhou Qishen had already straightened out his suit, his waist was tight, and his whole person looked imposing. With a sneer at him, he had already shown a hint of ridicule, making it impossible for anyone to look directly at him.

At that, Zhou Wenting’s back tightened straight, also understanding Zhou Qishen’s relationship with Jiang Xiao. The hand on the side of the body unconsciously clenched into a fist, biting his teeth, “Even if it’s true, little uncle, you have no right to intervene.”

When Lin Qianyu heard Zhou Wenting’s address to Zhou Qishen, she instantly realized Zhou Qishen’s identity. Her heart trembled, and a trace of helplessness flashed across her beautiful eyes. She looked at Zhou Qishen and Jiang Xiao for two seconds, and a bold idea came to her mind.

Is Zhou Qishen Jiang Xiao’s backer?

After Zhou Wenting finished speaking, the atmosphere became even more tense.

“Mr. Zhou, what happened?” 

Paul, who had originally arranged to have dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Zhou came to check in person when he saw that they had not returned. Unexpectedly, he saw the confrontation between the two sides. As experienced as he was, he could tell at a glance that there was something unusual between them.

He didn’t want to interfere originally, but Zhou Qishen was his personally invited guest. If something happened on his turf, it would cause irreparable loss, and so this muddy water he must come to stir and stir.

Zhou Qishen was the first to calm down, smiling and answering Paul’s well-intentioned words: “Nothing, I remembered that there’s something in the evening, I may not be able to have dinner with Mr. Paul.” 

　”It’s okay, we can make an appointment another day.” Paul glanced at Zhou Wenting’s bloody and broken mouth, his eyes dimmed, but he couldn’t figure out what had happened for a while, so he could only pretend that he didn’t notice anything and chatted and laughed with Zhou Qishen.

Zhou Wenting looked at the cheerful scene before him, there was no need to entangle further, so he spoke up: “Mr. Paul, the shooting is over, I’ll leave first.” 

“Go ahead.” Paul smiled and said, then watched Zhou Wenting and Lin Qianyu turn and leave.

He seemed to have heard some rumors. Zhou Wenting appears to be the eldest illegitimate son of the Zhou family. He only recently acknowledged his ancestry, so in the selection of this spokesperson, he paid extra attention to this up-and-coming movie star.

One reason was to please and win over the Zhou family, and the other was to value the other party’s commercial value. But he didn’t expect this illegitimate son to actually have a personal grievance with Zhou Qishen, the leader of the Zhou family? Wouldn’t that be a case of overplaying his hand?

Thinking of this, Paul furrowed his brow slightly, then composed himself and put on an official smile again. He turned to Jiang Xiao who was beside him and said,”Mrs. Zhou, nice to see you again. Last time we met, I didn’t know your identity. I apologize for any negligence.” 

Jiang Xiao followed with a forced smile, “Mr. Paul, you’re too kind.”

After the two exchanged pleasantries, Zhou Qishen finally said, “Then we shall take our leave.”

After saying goodbye to Paul, Jiang Xiao sent a message to Liang Cheng, asking her to leave first since she still needed to handle things here.

On the way to the parking garage outside the Omega Company building, Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but complain, “Really, how old are you this year? At your age, you act like a young hothead. You just start throwing punches. Luckily Zhou Wenting didn’t call the police, otherwise…”

When Zhou Qishen heard Jiang Xiao mention his age, he raised an eyebrow at first, then chuckled helplessly, “I restrained myself. His injuries weren’t as severe as you imagined.”

Implicitly, even if the other party had called the police, it wouldn’t have amounted to much.

“’Was I worried about his injury? I was worried about…” Jiang Xiao’s habit of speaking her mind impulsively surfaced again. She stopped herself halfway, realizing her unsaid words were too ambiguous, so she quickly added, “Okay, okay, I’m just worrying for no reason.”

“So you were worried about me?” Zhou Qishen grinned broadly, unable to hide the smile on his face. “Don’t worry, I have a reason to take action.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiao knew he would explain further, so she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling confident enough to tease him, “What reasons? You don’t look like someone who would hit anyone.”

Violence like that doesn’t suit his refined demeanor at all.

Zhou Qishen lowered his eyes, taking in the change in her expression. His voice deepened, “Didn’t they bully you before? I just remembered it today and decided to resolve it. After all, if a nephew bullies his aunt, how can this uncle stand idly by?”

His gaze was too sincere, and for a moment, Jiang Xiao couldn’t tell if he was deeply engrossed in the role or teasing her.

Jiang Xiao’s thoughts drifted, surrounded by a faint woody fragrance from Zhou Qishen, she fell silent for a moment before laughing, “So, just because of this reason, you beat him up?”

“Not entirely.”

After a while, Zhou Qishen continued calmly, “I plan to delegate power to the people below me so that I can live a more relaxed life.”

At first listen, this statement seemed unrelated to why he beat up Zhou Wenting. But upon a moment’s thought, one could understand his intention—to create a conflict point so that people in the Zhou family would harbor dissatisfaction towards him, thereby finding an excuse to reduce his power.

But to whom would this reduced power flow?

Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but frown, “So… you want to hand over the company to Zhou Wenting?”

Beating up Zhou Wenting, then handing over the Zhou Group? Was Zhou Qishen crazy, or was she crazy?

“Ha, how could I possibly hand over the company to someone who hurt you?” Zhou Qishen sneered.

At his words, Jiang Xiao pursed her lips, feeling dumbfounded by her own foolish remarks. Yeah, how could Zhou Qishen be so crazy as to give power to someone he disliked?

Just as Jiang Xiao was feeling regretful, Zhou Qishen continued, “Recently, I’ve realized I have too little free time to maintain a normal married life. Whether you’re out doing promotions or like recently, filming, it means you’re in Beijing only for a short time…”

Jiang Xiao couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of his words. Who complains about having too much power? Besides, what’s wrong with their marriage? Wasn’t everything normal and good? What’s the problem?

“Of course, I’m not complaining about your job nature. What I mean is, with one of us in Beijing and the other away, our time together will be scarce. Over time, problems will arise, and that’s not something I want to see.”

“So rather than letting things escalate, it’s better to make changes now.”

With that, Zhou Qishen paused for a moment, then turned to look at the person beside him, his eyes warm and sincere. Every word he spoke was like a blazing fire igniting Jiang Xiao’s heart, causing her heart to beat wildly.

Unconsciously, Jiang Xiao stopped in her tracks, her eyelashes twitching nervously, silently waiting for him to continue.

“In simple terms, I want to spend more time with you.” Zhou Qishen’s lips were pale, each contour seemingly sharp yet harboring a softness, and his words carried a warmth, “It would be best if there were no accidents in this life.”