Chapter 9

Yan Zhao was awakened by a call from his manager.

He groggily reached out from under the covers, fumbling around until he finally found the incessantly ringing phone.

Initially mistaking it for his alarm clock, he swiped it away without a second thought. When the persistent caller rang again, he fully woke up, propped himself up in bed, checked the time, and realized there was still half an hour before the set alarm.

“Hello, Song—”

“Why didn’t you report to me if you caused trouble?” The woman’s voice was cold, tinged with anger.

“Ah…” Yan Zhao rubbed his eyelids; they felt dry. His mind was in a haze. “I forgot.”

And it was true. After going through the ordeal and only getting to bed in the early morning, how could he remember to report to his manager?

Moreover, he wasn’t familiar with his manager, Song Jing. Although they chatted every day these past few days, it was always in the format of “Don’t forget to go to the XX building at 9 a.m. tomorrow for the advertisement shoot.”

His manager was like a precise robot, timely reminding him of his daily schedule, while he, in return, was an AI that responded only with variations of [OK], [1], [Got it], and [Received].

The robot was angry, and he could clearly hear her take a deep breath on the other end, causing him to feel a tinge of guilt.

Dealing with an unruly artist was annoying enough, but managing one who stirred up trouble, it’s so irritating that you’d want to give them a good scolding.

There’s no need for Song Jing to explain. Just the fact that she called him, Yan Zhao had already guessed that the incident from last night didn’t end with his provocation, but instead caused even more trouble.

Otherwise, who wouldn’t want to sleep a little longer in the morning instead of being woken up to deal with unexpected events? Your brain doesn’t want it, and your hair doesn’t want it either.

“I’ve already contacted the PR team for you, and they are discussing countermeasures,” Song Jing, a capable manager, knew that there was no point in talking too much with artists. It was better to get things done first and then teach him a lesson. “Why did you have to provoke Cao Zhicheng? Do you know that this will ruin your future?”

Yan Zhao replied, “I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.”

“I’ve never seen you so enthusiastic before,” Song Jing exhaled smoke at the computer screen. Cao Zhicheng had a terrible reputation in the industry, having played around with many celebrities. Just by watching the video, Song Jing could piece together most of the story. Either he was interested in Yan Zhao or he was interested in Ying Hongyu. And when combined with Yan Zhao, this despicable man wanted to have her cake and eat it too.

Song Jing continued, “I’ve postponed the schedule for the advertisement. You wait for my message these days. Don’t turn off your phone, and don’t go out, understand?”

Yan Zhao scratched his hair and said, “Sister Song, I recorded it, and I have the video from the dashcam.”

When did this guy become so meticulous? Song Jing was momentarily stunned and urged, “Send it over.”

After sending the evidence, Yan Zhao went back to sleep.

Being on edge was not his style, unless it was the end of the world, no one could stop him from catching up on sleep.

After a good rest, he felt particularly energetic.

Since it was a holiday, he didn’t bother to tidy himself up. After washing up, he casually put on a comfortable outfit and went downstairs.

Breakfast was already prepared on the table: toast, egg and vegetable salad, black coffee, and a bowl of peeled and deveined freshwater shrimp, with only the pink and white shrimp meat remaining.

The only downside is that they’re all cold.

After all, it’s almost lunchtime.

Yan Zhao scratched his hair and moved the breakfast to the living room, turning on the TV.

“Meow—” a soft and tender cat meow floated from the corner. Wang Zai rushed out of its nest, jumped onto the sofa, and raced on the back of the sofa like an agile little leopard. Then the little leopard slipped, rolled off the back of the sofa, and its claws hooked onto the sofa cushion, teetering.

Yan Zhao picked it up and rubbed its cat face. “Little one, I’m going to be unemployed. We’ll have to rely on you to support the family from now on.”

“Meow meow meow???” Wang Zai stared at him in confusion, its eyes widened, its ears twitched, and its body twisted like a twist, jumping out of Yan Zhao’s hands and meowing at Shen Yuanting, who appeared out of nowhere.

Wang Zai: “Meow meow meow meow meow!” We’ll have to rely on you to support the family from now on!

—Is it the weekend today? Why didn’t Shen Yuanting go out?

This question flashed through Yan Zhao’s mind, and then he remembered that Shen Yuanting seemed to have been suspended from work.

Hiring someone takes months, while laying off employees often only requires a single stamp from the company. Even if you’re the CEO, you’re not exempt from the heartlessness of those damn capitalists towards both ordinary and senior employees.

Shen Yuanting seemed to explain why he appeared here, saying, “There’s nothing important, so I didn’t go to the company.”

Yan Zhao: “Hmm, okay.”

He understood that after losing his job, it was a matter of pride for most men to pretend that nothing had happened in front of their wives, let alone the fact that Shen Yuanting used to be a CEO.

Even without knowing the plot, Yan Zhao was not worried about Shen Yuanting’s future at all. With his skills and connections, wouldn’t it be easy for him to find another job? Not to mention that in the book, Shen Yuanting was almost invincible in his methods.

Shen Yuanting glanced at the coffee table and said to him, “Eat less, we’ll have lunch later.”

Yan Zhao responded with a “Hmm” and only slightly padded his stomach.

He was waiting for the newly hired chef to come and cook at home, but he saw Shen Yuanting heading to the open kitchen, putting on a gray apron.

Yan Zhao: “…”

Was he hallucinating from hunger? Who is that person in the kitchen chopping vegetables so fast that there are afterimages???

Shen Yuanting, please wake up. How can a white moonlight figure who is detached from the world cook? Not eating the first drop of morning dew every day is already a deduction. You’ve already lost at the starting line of white moonlight figures!

Well, although it’s said that a male god’s fart smells like high-end cologne, we all know the truth.

After taking a few glances, Yan Zhao first exclaimed, “Wow, impressive!” but then lost interest and went back to the sofa to play games, like a lazy princess with an incurable laziness.

After finishing in the kitchen, Shen Yuanting washed his hands and looked towards the living room. The young man’s upper body was leaning on the armrest of the sofa, one arm resting under his head, and the other holding a mobile phone. His posture was not proper, but his expression was serious.

The young man only revealed a side profile, his long eyelashes forming a curved arc like a half-moon. The eyes beneath the lashes were like black jade submerged in water. Yan Zhao lowered his gaze, sighed, and the reflection in the water was shattered.

One hour ago, Sheng Xin had expressed his anger, “Cao Zhicheng, that idiot, harassed others and pretended to be the victim. Damn, is he scared to impotence or did his balls get crushed? He even dared to mess with Hongyu; I’ll chop off his bird…”

Meanwhile, Shen Yuanting was reviewing documents submitted by his subordinates. He paused, searched for the video mentioned by his friend, and scrolled down the webpage. All the articles were press releases sent out around three or four in the morning today.

He randomly clicked on one. In the video, Cao Zhicheng and Ying Hongyu were very close, seemingly intimate. While they were conversing, a white SUV suddenly rushed from the edge of the frame and quickly reached Cao Zhicheng and Ying Hongyu. The owner of the car arrogantly got out, kicked Cao Zhicheng away, and forcibly took the frightened Ying Hongyu into the car with rough movements. Cao Zhicheng, in an attempt to protect Ying Hongyu, jumped on the car to block it. However, the car owner ignored his safety and drove, narrowly avoiding injuring Cao Zhicheng. It didn’t end there; the car circled back and left after intimidating Cao Zhicheng.

It matched what Yan Zhao mentioned last night, but the meaning conveyed was drastically different due to deliberate editing.

The car owner wore sunglasses, but his appearance was outstanding. Combining the incident’s location, netizens quickly speculated that the person was the popular male idol Yan Zhao.

Shen Yuanting rarely used social media. He opened the RedEyeBall app(Weibo), which he checked once every ten days or so, and followed Yan Zhao. His last post was from a week ago, a mundane Weibo post about a promotional program. The comments section was already in chaos, with many condemning his low character and poor acting skills. Some fans expressed their intention to wait for his statement before judging, but they were soon drowned in a sea of negativity.

Shen Yuanting knew that Yan Zhao’s main account was managed by his agent, but he had a secondary account. Shen Yuanting had occasionally seen Yan Zhao praising himself on that account, so there was a high probability that he would see gossip about himself and encounter those malicious comments.

Shen Yuanting didn’t deny that his actions were inappropriate, especially the final provocation, which was so childish that it deserved a spanking with pants down. However, from his perspective at that moment, perhaps there was no better solution.

Moreover, human hearts are always biased. If someone sees others saying that your cat is ugly, how can he not get angry?

Wang Zai “meowed” and he returned to reality. Shen Yuanting instructed it not to climb on the table, and he wiped his hands with a soft towel, and placed the dishes on the dining table.

Seeing that dinner was ready, Yan Zhao quickly dismissed the notification of [“You have been reported by teammates for AFK, banned for five hours”] from the sofa. He rolled off the couch, rushed to the kitchen in three steps, and helped him to scoop the rice.

After taking a bite, he was sure that Shen Yuanting had been preparing his breakfast for these days.

CEOs are also human. There are CEOs who are stingy, CEOs who like fishing, and there are also CEOs who cook really delicious food.

He felt sorry for his bias in the past few days. Ramen!

Halfway through the meal, Shen Yuanting suddenly asked, “Your ‘heroic rescue’ has caused trouble. How do you plan to resolve it?”

Yan Zhao looked up, momentarily stunned. Was this an assessment from CEO Shen? Having been a CEO for a long time, does he always want to test his subordinates when he sees a problem?

“I kept some evidence, but it’s deep waters^[1]The meaning of “the water is very deep” in “this industry is very deep” means: every industry has its unspoken rules. If it is said that the water is very deep, it means that … Continue reading on Cao Zhicheng’s side… So, I’ll leave it to fate,” he joked, laughing at himself. “If I get banned, I’ll go sing on a bridge.”

“No ambition at all,” Shen Yuanting smiled, shaking his head. Then he added with a meaningful tone, “But…”

Fate and luck have always been on his side. Whether Yan Zhao can go sing or not depends on whether he’s willing.