Chapter 34.1

◎ Wait Until I’m Rich ◎

Chen Zhiqian’s eyes were like daggers, as if he were ready to stab Wang Shaoyang on the spot. He said coldly, “You just happened to run into my wife in the elevator yesterday, and that same evening, her agent calls her to terminate her contract and tells her to come into the office? Isn’t that a little too much of a coincidence?”

Wang Shaoyang gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Fang Qi had embarrassed him in front of Boss Lin, and there was no way he was going to let her off easy. The only reason he hadn’t acted sooner was because she’d left for a brokerage firm—he hadn’t gotten the chance.

Just yesterday, while visiting Boss Xu at Changxing, he’d heard that Boss Liu had zero interest in Fang Qi and even looked down on her for once starring in a risqué film.

As for her husband—he was just there to pave the way, waiting to ride Boss Liu’s coattails into the elite circle of Fanyuan. Would a man aiming to move in those upper circles really keep a wife with that kind of past? Probably not. Chen Zhiqian was just too young to make that kind of hard decision yet.

Boss Xu had hinted clearly—just take a few compromising photos and let the woman realize on her own it was better to divorce and leave.

To Wang Shaoyang, getting a female celebrity to “accompany” clients was as routine as eating or drinking in this industry.

A female artist wanting to stay afloat in showbiz—so what if she really went and something happened? Who would dare make it public? To protect their career, most women would just swallow the humiliation.

In his mind, it was Fang Qi who had agreed but failed to follow through—her fault, not his. Teaching her a lesson was just a matter of course. That’s why he agreed to Boss Xu’s request without hesitation.

He thought he was prepared for today. What he hadn’t expected was for Chen Zhiqian to show up with Fang Qi—and walk straight into Boss Yuan’s office.

Not long after, a call summoned him upstairs. The moment he stepped into the boss’s office, this was the scene that greeted him.

Boss Yuan asked, “Shaoyang, what did you say to her?”

In the tight-knit entertainment scene of Port City, someone like Boss Yuan had the power to change destinies with a word. Wang Shaoyang’s voice trembled as he tried to plead, “Boss… even if I did unintentionally offend Miss Fang, she’s someone I personally discovered and brought here to act. Whether she stays or not, doesn’t that count for something?”

Boss Yuan’s voice grew stern: “You asked her to go drink with clients. After she refused, what exactly did you say to her?”

In this era, the Port City entertainment industry was filthier than it would be decades later. Many film company bosses had deep underworld connections.

Some companies would outright hand over catalogs of their actresses for rich men to choose from. Though Boss Yuan had publicly declared many times that Yongyu and Yongxin would never engage in such unethical behavior, that was just the surface.

The industry culture made it hard to uphold such ideals. If you didn’t do it, others would. Wang Shaoyang had never taken that statement seriously—this kind of thing was just business as usual.

Sweat rolled down his face, dripped past his jowls, gathered on his chin, and splashed onto the floor.

Boss Yuan leaned forward and tapped the ash from his cigar into the tray. “Why so quiet? What did you say to her?”

Faced with this direct question, Wang Shaoyang hesitated for a long while before mumbling, “I told her, ‘Wait until you’re stripped bare and begging on your knees.’”

“Hmph!” Boss Yuan let out a cold snort.

The hairs on Wang Shaoyang’s back practically stood on end. “Boss…”

By the time his sweat had pooled into a visible puddle on the floor, Boss Yuan turned to Chen Zhiqian and said, “By rights, he should get a taste of his own medicine. But with all that flab on him, I’d worry about offending your eyes. Since Xiao Qi got out of this unscathed, maybe we let him apologize to you?”

Fang Qi could go with her girlfriends to Vegas to watch Aussie hunks strip or watch male escorts flirt at a yacht party—but that didn’t mean she wanted to see Pigsy do a striptease. Still, she didn’t feel a simple apology should wipe the slate clean either.

She was about to say she could accept it, treating him like a pig in a pen—pigs didn’t wear clothes anyway—when Chen Zhiqian quietly placed his hand over hers. His grip tightened, clearly signaling her to hold her peace.

Then he smiled at Boss Yuan and said, “Grandpa Yuan, what Mr. Wang said to Xiao Qi was absolutely vile. If he can say something like that, I can’t let him get away with just doing it.”

Fang Qi looked at him. How could he make a decision for her like that?

But his grip on her hand only tightened, and she realized he was asking her to trust him.

Chen Zhiqian continued, “However, in ancient times, there was General Lian Po, who stripped to the waist and carried thorned branches on his back to beg forgiveness in public.”

Fang Qi’s eyes lit up. This was genius. Forcing Wang Shaoyang to strip would just disgust everyone. But this? He’d spared them the eyesore and still made him kneel publicly with branches on his back—while coming off principled and noble.

Boss Yuan paused slightly, then said, “As expected of a Chen family man. Fair, clear-headed, and just. Let’s go with that.”

He looked at Wang Shaoyang. “Shaoyang, you heard that?”

“…I heard.”

Boss Yuan raised his hand. “Go get ready. We’ll wait here.”

Half an hour later, Wang Shaoyang returned carrying two “dog-beating sticks” borrowed from the props department. Under the puzzled and curious stares of colleagues, he ascended to Boss Yuan’s office.

Inside, aside from the Yuan family father and son, several senior executives were present.

Boss Yuan addressed them: “Everyone, the Yuan family’s principles are simple—we will never sell out our country for profit, and we will never coerce women into disgrace. Miss Fang refused to attend a client’s drinking party, and Wang Shaoyang retaliated because of it. What if she hadn’t been a distant relative of mine? What would’ve happened then? Let me say this again: Yongyu and Yongxin will never engage in such dishonorable behavior.”

After that speech, Wang Shaoyang didn’t drag his feet. He took off his shirt, placed the two dog-beating rods on his back, and knelt upright.

“Miss Fang, I apologize to you.”

Boss Yuan turned to Fang Qi. “Xiao Qi, Zhiqian?”

Chen Zhiqian looked down at the kneeling Wang Shaoyang. “I hope this serves as a lesson. As Liao Fan’s Four Teachings said: ‘Shame is vital to a man. With it, he becomes a sage; without it, he becomes a beast.’”

Fan Qi couldn’t help but be impressed—
Even calling someone a beast, he managed to sound cultured.

After delivering his lines, Chen Zhiqian stood up and said to Old Mr. Yuan, “Grandpa Yuan, thank you for your help. We’ll take our leave now and not disturb you further.”

Old Mr. Yuan stood as well and patted Chen Zhiqian on the shoulder. “Don’t forget, you promised to accompany me for a round of golf with my old buddies this Saturday.”

Chen Zhiqian smiled modestly. “As long as you don’t mind how terrible I play, Grandpa Yuan.”

“You’ll get better with time. I’m sure you’ll be great at it eventually.”

The Yuan father and son escorted them out of the company building. Before getting in the car, Chen Zhiqian leaned in and spoke quietly to Old Mr. Yuan, “Grandpa Yuan, if it hadn’t been for the Fan family, I might not be alive today. And if I hadn’t shown up today…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but he believed Grandpa Yuan understood exactly what he meant.

Old Mr. Yuan patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”

As the two watched the car drive off, curious employees in the building whispered among themselves. With dog-beating sticks, high-level management involved, and the big bosses personally seeing them off—what on earth had just happened?

After the couple had left, Yuan Zai-de said to his son, “Deal with Wang Shaoyang and that agent.”

“But didn’t we already—”

“That was just Zhiqian trying to show his wife the dark side of the world without letting her feel disgusted.”

Yuan Hai frowned. “Dad, didn’t you have a falling out with Liu Xiangnian? Why are you treating his grandson so well?”

Yuan Zai-de looked up at the building. “He’s a descendant of the Chen family. He’s also the grandson of your Aunt Wanyin.”

Meanwhile, in the car, Fan Qi sighed. If he hadn’t come with her today, she might not have suffered any real harm, given her personality. But whether the termination could’ve gone through smoothly? That was another story—she’d definitely have had a stressful and frustrating time.

Sitting in the passenger seat, she kept glancing at Chen Zhiqian.

Chen Zhiqian, while driving, asked, “Why do you keep looking at me?”

“What was Wang Shaoyang trying to pull, pulling a stunt like that at the company? What did he think he could accomplish?”

“What else? Just wanted to humiliate you in public,” Chen Zhiqian replied lightly.

“How did you know he’d try something like that? And how did you come up with that ‘bearing the rod and pleading guilty’ idea? You even quoted Liao Fan’s Four Lessons?”

Chen Zhiqian couldn’t tell her the truth—that after experiencing life’s harshest ups and downs, and seeing the worst of human nature, you begin to anticipate these things.

When he was lost in depression and failure, the only solace came from reading. Not only Liao Fan’s Four Lessons, but even the Diamond Sutra—he could recite by heart.

“I grew up getting scolded and called a mutt. It made me more sensitive to things. You were spoiled at home—there’s still a bit of innocence in you,” he said vaguely.

Fan Qi nodded in agreement. She had only worked in investment banking for three years before trading stocks full time. She really hadn’t seen the darker side of society, and had no guard up.

“Chen Zhiqian, your family and the Yuan family are connected. I signed with the Yuan family’s film company when I came to Hong Kong. Why…?” Fan Qi ask this on behalf of the original host—why didn’t you use those connections earlier?

“I didn’t know before that our families had a connection. And even if we did, we hadn’t visited them in three years—how close could we really be? We’re just businessmen from Shanghai. The older generation knew each other, sure, but it’s been over thirty years since they met. They’re tycoons. Our family, well… we weren’t exactly dirt-poor, but we weren’t much better either. How could I just show up and ask for help?”

It made sense. Fan Qi nodded, then asked, “So how did you reconnect with Grandpa Yuan?”

“He saw the necklace you were wearing and took the initiative to call me. Just like Rong Yuan’s grandmother, he was also an old friend of my grandmother’s.”
In his past life, he had relied on Grandpa Yuan’s help many times to get back on his feet.

“I remember Sister Xiang mentioning that Yongyu once made a film based on your grandmother—Beauty in the Flames. And your grandmother even helped design their office building? Just now when we were gossiping—” Fan Qi’s eyes went wide, “You don’t think… Grandpa Yuan sees your grandmother as his white moonlight? His one that got away?”

“What nonsense are you imagining? Grandpa Yuan has three wives and a whole string of girlfriends. He got married three years before my grandma. To him, she was just a little sister.”

Fan Qi leaned against the headrest. “True… it’s just like us. Grew up together—it’s more of a familial bond. Sometimes those relationships are stronger than romantic ones.”

Chen Zhiqian glanced sideways at her. Her eyes were clear and sincere. He paused, then turned back to focus on the road. “Something like that.”

Fan Qi suddenly remembered—Old Mr. Yuan, with three wives. Her own father in her past life changed girlfriends every few days. She never even remembered their faces because there was always a new “auntie” coming through the door.

She clicked her tongue. “Men really are a disaster. So few decent ones out there.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? My dad, your dad—five-star husbands, thank you very much.” Chen Zhiqian immediately protested.

Thinking it over, Fan Qi realized it was true. Both their dads really were good guys. Must be a different circle, she guessed.