0036 42 "What game?"

Yi Chenling called immediately afterward, his voice urgent, "What should we do... I... Will this video have any impact on you? What should we do?"

Zhou Xiye pressed his temples. "You received it too? Don't worry, where are you? I'll come find you."

Yi Chenling gave an address, a villa area outside the Third Ring Road. Zhou Xiye tossed the address aside, and his phone rang again. The caller ID showed Ye Lifeng.

She hesitated for a moment when she answered the phone, "Minister Ye..."

Ye Lifeng spoke urgently, “I just finished a meeting with the higher-ups. The World Cup is definitely going to happen. Some agree, some disagree.”

Before Zhou Xiye could reply, the call was disconnected.

It makes sense. The World Cup is a huge drain on resources, requiring a very high budget. While it does boost the economy, the outcomes after the Olympics were mixed. There are no absolute advantages or disadvantages.

From another perspective, Ye Lifeng probably didn't know about Yi Chenling and his affair, Zhou Xiye sighed.

Knowing it would be troublesome, but not afraid of trouble, Zhou Xiye waited until it was time to leave work before driving to the address Yi Chenling had given her.

The security guard at the gate seemed to know her license plate and didn't stop her. Zhou Xiye drove all the way in and parked the car next to the villa.

The gate opened, and several waiters in white uniforms guided Zhou Xiye into the villa. After walking a few steps, he saw the swimming pool, filled with handsome men and beautiful women, with loud music playing.

The handsome men and beautiful women were dressed very provocatively, a feast for the eyes, with smooth-lined muscles, full breasts, perky buttocks, and large, purplish-black penises that could be seen even when their swim trunks were wet.

Zhou Xiye clicked his tongue twice and shook his head. Dressed like that, she was truly a strange intruder.

"Please follow me," a waiter reminded her when he noticed she was slowing down. Hearing this, Zhou Xiye, contrary to her usual self, stood completely still, arms crossed, on the villa's stairs, watching the beautiful women and handsome men socializing in the pool.

"Hey, which one do you think is the most handsome?"

The waiter blushed. "Young Master Yi is waiting for you."

Zhou Xiye gave a dismissive "hmm," her gaze still fixed on the handsome man's crotch. She raised her chin and said, "Look at that flashy guy in pink swim trunks, his dick is pretty big."

The waiter's face turned even redder.

Zhou Xiye looked left and right for a while before nodding in satisfaction. She then turned to the waiter beside her and said, "Let's go, take me to find Young Master Yi."

Yi Chenling was on the second floor of the villa. In the center of the hall was a huge floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the entire villa area. Behind the window was a sofa. Huge bookshelves surrounded them, making it feel like entering a forest.

Zhou Xiye stood on the stairs looking at Yi Chenling, who was sitting on the sofa with a wine glass in his hand, backlit.

"Why are you so late? Aren't you in a hurry?"

Zhou Xiye shook his head, walked over slowly, took the wine glass from Yi Chenling's hand, and smelled it. "You have to clock out, right? You don't know if you've never worked before. I'm just a small office manager, I have to follow the rules."

Yi Chenling and Zhou Xiye looked at each other, and she saw the helplessness and confusion in his eyes. "What should we do... what should we do about our video?"

His voice trembled slightly, and then he turned around, spread his legs, rested his elbows on his legs, and covered his face with his hands, so his expression was not visible.

Zhou Xiye raised an eyebrow, ignored him, took a clean wine glass from the side, and poured himself a glass of wine.

As soon as he took a sip of wine, Yi Chenling's back began to tremble, and a faint sound came from between his hands.

Zhou Xiye paused for a moment while drinking, then ignored him, leaning back on the sofa with his legs crossed.

Soon, the faint sound, which seemed to be sobbing, gradually grew louder. After a few seconds, the sound became undisguised, and Yi Chenling lowered his hand and laughed loudly.

"Hahahahahaha"—he laughed so hard his face turned red.

The wild laughter grew louder and louder, and Yi Chenling seemed to be unable to breathe. But the next second, a splash of red wine fell from the sky and splashed on his face.

Yi Chenling turned around, and Zhou Xiye was looking at him curiously. "Not acting anymore? Not pretending anymore? Is it fun?"

After saying that, she casually tossed the wine glass aside. The glass landed on the ground with a crisp "crash—". Zhou Xiye ignored it, retreated to his original position, and looked at him defensively.

"Is this your true self?"

Yi Chenling's maniacal laughter suddenly vanished, and he looked at her pitifully, saying, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Zhou Xiye stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly sighed helplessly, "How could a perfectly normal person turn out to be mentally ill?"

Yi Chenling smiled slowly, relaxing as he leaned back on the sofa. "So, how was the game?"

Zhou Xiye seemed not to understand what he meant, "What game?"

"That video."

"What video?"

"A video of you and me having sex."

Zhou Xiye seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. "Young Master Yi, don't talk nonsense. When did I have sex with you? Videos can be tampered with. Who knows if you've been in love with me for a long time and couldn't wait to be with me, but I didn't agree. You got angry and hired someone to stage this play so that everyone would know you like me and that you slept with me, to declare your ownership... After all, you've been pursuing me for a long time, and everyone has seen it."

Upon hearing this, Yi Chenling's expression changed. He glared at her fiercely and gritted his teeth, cursing, "Bitch!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiye smiled calmly. In her heart, Yi Chenling had gone from a noble potato to mashed potatoes.

Lowering his guard, Zhou Xiye leaned back on the sofa, his toes dangling in the air. "Tell me, what do you want to do?"

Yi Chenling watched as she withdrew her aggressive stance, and after a long pause, she finally spoke: "The World Cup is about to be held, and the leaders of the General Administration of Sport have been investigated. I think... Uncle Ye probably doesn't want to host this World Cup either, right?"

Zhou Xiye immediately understood Yi Chenling's intention. The Ministry of Finance and the central bank have always been at odds. With the World Cup, government spending has increased, and the central bank will have to inject liquidity to stimulate the economy. The economy was already slowing down, and trillions of yuan had already been released to stimulate consumption and investment.

Further monetary easing could lead to currency devaluation. Meanwhile, the offshore RMB is appreciating, international relations are complex, inclusion in the SWIFT basket is no small feat, and now with the World Cup underway, maintaining the exchange rate and domestic interest rates remains a challenge.

Zhou Xiye didn't speak, her eyes shifting to Yi Chenling's crotch. What a pity, she quite liked this penis; it was clean and had the feel of youth.

Yi Chenling noticed her gaze and chuckled, "You're really lucky, this is my first time with you."

Zhou Xiye nodded, looked up and met his gaze, and said with a smile, "Another daddy-boy trying to get his father's approval. This game is so boring."

Yi Chenling frowned subconsciously.

"Are all your yandere acting skills this good?" Zhou Xiye stood up, walked to his side, straddled him, and cupped his head in her hands. "I haven't slept with you enough yet. You'd better continue playing my boyfriend obediently, or I won't mind doing some things to you..."

Zhou Xiye gently kissed his forehead, "Some things I don't know either..."

Yi Chenling raised his hand to push Zhou Xiye down, but he was no match for Zhou Xiye's movements. She took a knife and held it to Yi Chenling's neck. "Don't you yanderes all like to die? Have you ever tried it? Or do you want to kill me every night when you sleep next to me?"

This time it was Yi Chenling's turn to laugh. "I don't need to do anything to deal with you myself. You're just a pawn in Ye Lifeng's game."

Zhou Xiye nodded, "That's right, you're just another pawn in Yi Shuyuan's game, aren't I the same?"

Yi Chenling looked at Zhou Xiye with disgust.

"Don't look at me like that. Show me your acting skills. I can't do anything to you right now... but there's always a way, there will be a day," she said, patting his cheek and standing up. "I can't do anything to you, but don't give me a chance, or else..."

Zhou Xiye didn't speak, but just looked down at Yi Chenling with a faint smile on her lips.

Yi Chenling chuckled, and Zhou Xiye patted his head, "Be good, don't sleep with them."

Yi Chenling turned his head and said, "Who wants to sleep with that bunch of idiots?"

Zhou Xiye didn't say anything, just nodded and turned to leave.

Back in the car, Zhou Xiye's relaxed smile vanished. She had been careless; in the face of absolute power, beauty and wit were worthless. But she learned her lesson; she couldn't rely on her charms again. However… she realized that Yi Chenling wanted Ye Lifeng and Yi Shuyuan to cooperate.

But what's the point of attacking her? It would be better to go to Ye Lifeng openly and honestly. Doing so would seem petty and stupid... but it's the kind of thing a mentally ill person would do.

Sure enough, not long after, the director of the General Administration of Sport was arrested for embezzlement and bribery, and at the same time, the national football team's coach was replaced, and the entire football industry began to be reformed.

The speed of the operation caught everyone off guard.

On the other hand, the central bank took the initiative to challenge the Ministry of Finance, and the two sides argued several times during their meeting.

"Your Ministry of Finance played the good guy, and we, the central bank, had to clean up your mess! You let the government issue bonds, local government bonds, and then what? You print money out of our system, not realizing that with more money circulating in the market, it depreciates! If you want economic development, you need to give the central bank independent power. Otherwise, we'll always be cleaning up your Ministry of Finance's messes!"

The Ministry of Finance countered with a self-righteous argument: "The government can't issue bonds if it doesn't have money! The increase in local government debt is for economic development; the demand for money must keep up with the money supply!"

The two sides were arguing fiercely.

The buzz surrounding the change of leadership at the General Administration of Sport was overshadowed by this incident. The State Council established an economic task force to specifically mediate the conflict between the two sides, inviting leading economic experts to provide consultation. Unfortunately, this failed to achieve the desired effect and caused a great uproar.

When Ling Xingzhi heard about this, he came out of the National Development and Reform Commission and heard his colleagues jokingly say that they could even fight over an argument. Luckily, there were no media around, otherwise those photos would have been mentioned in the news.

Is this matter really that simple? Certainly not. This is the central bank using this opportunity to show that it does not agree with hosting the World Cup, while at the same time trying to get some power from the central government. In short, they will only do things if they are given some benefits.

Ling Xingzhi returned to his office, and shortly after, Ling Qingyun called, "Go home tonight."

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We've reached 500 beads!

Bonus chapter on Saturday!!

I'll add another chapter when we reach 800 pearls!!