Chapter 176 Still Feeling Fear
During daylight saving time, the sun sets later.
After watching the movie, I went to visit a photography exhibition that had opened the day before yesterday.
Lu Yanhe was quite surprised and asked, "You're actually interested in this kind of exhibition?"
Chen Siqi immediately squinted her eyes and said, "What, is that not allowed?"
"Of course not, I'm just a little surprised."
"I never thought I was interested in art! Do you think I have absolutely no artistic sense?"
Lu Yanhe: "..."
He silently shook his head. "I really didn't mean that."
Lu Yanhe turned and looked around, then asked, "Is there anything you'd like to eat tonight?"
"I have to go back tonight, otherwise Liu Wei'an will try to sow discord again," Chen Siqi said. "Let's make an appointment another time."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
He said, "Then I'll take you back."
Chen Siqi: "No need, I'll just call the driver to pick me up. You can wait here with me for a bit."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
The two went to a nearby coffee shop and sat down.
At this hour, he didn't dare drink coffee. Lu Yanhe bought a small cake, took two small forks, and shared it.
Summer sunsets are especially magnificent.
That vast expanse of orange-red, as if it had fallen from the sky and shattered, covered everyone's face.
Floor-to-ceiling windows do not block its invasion; on the contrary, they amplify it.
The two sat by the window, eating cake and chatting.
When Chen Siqi's car arrived, she said, "Then I'll be going now."
"Bye-Bye."
Seeing that Lu Yanhe was about to get up, Chen Siqi immediately said, "You don't need to come out with me."
Lu Yanhe sat back down.
"I'm leaving." Chen Siqi left, carrying the earphones that Lu Yanhe had given her.
The moment she pushed open the glass door and stepped out, the girl's graceful figure was bathed in the fiery sunset, like a goddess who had vanished and been reborn.
Lu Yanhe was momentarily stunned by what he saw.
-
Lu Yanhe returned to the Hong residence, took out his key and entered the door, only to find Zhou Ping'an there as well.
He sat on the sofa, earnestly trying to persuade Li Zhibai, who looked completely unconvinced, his eyes practically drooping to the sky.
Zhou Pingan glanced at Lu Yanhe with some surprise.
"Why are you still living here?" Zhou Ping'an asked this question as his first reaction.
Lu Yanhe changed his shoes and was about to speak when Li Zhibai suddenly asked, "I let him stay, so what?"
The arrogant guy looked at Zhou Ping'an with an expression that said, "What are you going to do to me?"
Zhou Pingan sighed and said, "It's nothing, whatever. Did you understand everything I said?"
“No, I’m the one who’s losing out, while Ma Zhiyuan and the company are the ones who are benefiting. I won’t do a losing deal,” Li Zhibai said directly.
Zhou Ping'an: "You're also an artist in the company. If the company really suffers losses, what good will it do you?"
“If I go to appease my fans, it will benefit you, but what benefit will it bring me?” Li Zhibai retorted directly.
Zhou Ping'an: "I said, as long as you agree—"
"I won't agree." Li Zhibai's attitude was very firm. "I won't agree no matter what. You say this wasn't instigated by Ma Zhiyuan, that he was just an innocent victim, and I admit that. But what about the innocent victim I suffered? Are you my agent or his agent? You haven't even officially taken over his role yet, and you're already willing to sacrifice my interests to protect his. What will happen when you officially take over? Won't I be exiled to the frontier? Will I have to find a different agent?"
Lu Yanhe didn't go to the living room; he went straight back to his room.
He couldn't listen in on Li Zhibai's conversation with Zhou Ping'an about these matters.
But he chose to eavesdrop.
As soon as he got back to his room, he leaned against the door.
Zhou Pingan said with a stern face, "Don't talk nonsense. I've been mentoring you since your debut. Even if I take over Ma Zhiyuan in the future, I didn't build him up from scratch."
"Give me a break. Lu Yanhe and Tu Song were both mentored by you from the very beginning, and I haven't seen you pay much attention to them. I don't believe it," Li Zhibai said bluntly.
Li Zhibai's words always manage to infuriate Zhou Ping'an to the point of near death.
But Zhou Ping'an still couldn't do anything about Li Zhibai.
I really don't know what to say.
Because no matter what he said, Li Zhibai did not believe him.
"Then what do you want me to do to appease your fans?" Zhou Ping'an asked with a dark face.
Li Zhibai looked at him in disbelief. "No matter what you do, I won't appease my fans. Why should I appease them? They're standing up for me, why would I appease them? Am I out of my mind?"
Zhou Ping'an: "If you continue to act this way, what will the higher-ups in the company think of you? Have you thought about that? Do you think I'm the one protecting Ma Zhiyuan? He's one of the company's most popular idols, bringing in tens of millions in revenue for the company every year. Think about it, if he's affected, do you think the company will remain indifferent? Today, the matter about you two has been circulating online for a day, and his public image has been impacted. If this continues, he'll lose his endorsements and business deals. Even if you are the victim, they will still think you are the perpetrator who caused the company's interests to be damaged."
Li Zhibai sneered, "Look at all you've said to me, it all boils down to Ma Zhiyuan being more important than me, right? I'm just curious, why don't you all go and make a statement to Ma Zhiyuan about this? Is he dead or unconscious? Doesn't he have a Weibo account to appease his fans? After something like this happened, why hasn't he made a single statement? I didn't ask him to apologize or make him beg for forgiveness, but his fans did something like this, shouldn't he restrain them?"
Although Li Zhibai was angry and seemed unyielding, he knew exactly what was going on.
“I don’t want to talk to you. Do you think I’m just angry?” Li Zhibai continued to sneer. “A whole day has passed, and no one has reacted or taken any action. Yet you’re here forcing me to give a conciliatory response. Zhou Ping’an, I used to think you were biased and vulgar, but now I realize that you really don’t treat us like human beings. You might as well just commission a few AI robots to be your artists. That way, whatever you say, they will do.”
Zhou Ping'an finally fell silent and stopped speaking.
“I’m going to have dinner now, you can leave,” Li Zhibai said. “If you’re not satisfied, then you’re not satisfied. You can stop my work if you want, but in short, it’s impossible for me to appease my fans right now. I won’t do that.”
After saying that, Li Zhibai picked up his phone, looking like he didn't want to say another word to Zhou Ping'an.
-
After a while, the sound of the door opening and closing could be heard outside.
Zhou Pingan is gone.
After a moment, Li Zhibai's lazy voice came: "You two come out."
Lu Yanhe opened the door and found that Yan Liang from next door was also opening his door and coming out of his room.
At this speed, Yan Liang was probably eavesdropping behind the door just like him.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang exchanged a helpless smile and walked over.
Li Zhibai put his phone aside.
"You all heard that?"
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "I heard that. You're very domineering."
"I'm so angry!" Li Zhibai said. "What kind of thing is this?"
Li Zhi was so angry that Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang could understand it.
If it were them, they might not have had the courage to go against Zhou Ping'an like this, refusing to give him any face.
"What did you do today? I haven't seen you since early this morning." Li Zhibai suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Lu Yanhe, and asked.
Lu Yanhe said, "I made plans with my classmates."
"Which classmate? We've been talking about it all day." Li Zhibai immediately replied, "Oh, I see."
Lu Yanhe was genuinely afraid of Li Zhibai. Sometimes, this guy's intuition was too sharp. "What do you care who I made an appointment with? You still have the mind to care about my affairs? You should think about what you should do."
“What can I do? Whatever,” Li Zhibai said. “At worst, I’ll just change agents and agencies. After all this trouble, do you expect me to back down? Keep dreaming.”
"Do you want to tell your family about this?" Yan Liang asked.
Li Zhibai said, "I've said it before, my parents have said they support me in making a fuss about this, and I will absolutely not compromise."
"That's good," Yan Liang said. "If your parents knew about this, they wouldn't allow Zhou Ping'an and his group to act recklessly."
"Hmm," Li Zhibai said, "Actually, something interesting happened today."
"What's up?"
Li Zhibai took out his phone and opened a text message from an anonymous number.
"Someone sent me a text message with an address."
"Hmm?" Lu Yanhe asked, somewhat surprised. "What address?"
"This person said that I should go to this address at 2 PM tomorrow to get some information about Ma Zhiyuan."
"Something about Ma Zhiyuan?" Lu Yanhe was even more surprised. "What is it?"
"I don't know, but thinking about it, it can't be anything good." Li Zhibai's face revealed a malicious smile. "Everyone knows that my relationship with Ma Zhiyuan is bad now, so what good could this message be?"
Lu Yanhe hesitated and asked, "Are you going?"
"Why not go?" Li Zhibai asked, puzzled.
"If there is really something bad about Ma Zhiyuan, the reason this person came to you is simply to have you expose it."
"uh-huh."
"Do you want to be the gunman?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Li Zhibai: "Whether I become a ghostwriter or not is another matter, but if I can see Ma Zhiyuan make a fool of himself, why not?"
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "If you decide to go, then go ahead. I'll go with you and see what's there."
“Then I’ll go with you,” Yan Liang said.
"Don't you have a shoot tomorrow?" Li Zhibai asked Yan Liang. "Zhou Ping'an just told you that."
"We'll be filming at 5 p.m., there's enough time," Yan Liang said. "It'll be right here in Yuming."
"Why do you all insist on coming with me?" Li Zhibai said helplessly.
Lu Yanhe bluntly stated, "I'm not at ease."
Li Zhibai: "What's there to worry about?"
Lu Yanhe: "You're too impulsive."
Li Zhibai: "..."
"If you get agitated and start a fight with someone on the spot, we can break it up."
-
The next day, at 1:30 pm, Li Zhibai and the other two went out.
Li Zhibai not only wore a pair of sunglasses, but also prepared a pair for Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang.
"If a fight really breaks out, I absolutely cannot let my sunglasses fall off. Otherwise, if someone takes a picture or video of it and posts it online, I'll be in big trouble."
"Couldn't you just refrain from doing it?" Lu Yanhe said speechlessly.
Li Zhibai: "You're making me go against my nature."
He readily admitted his impulsiveness and irritability.
The three of them drove to Houshili.
Houshili was one of the most prosperous and bustling areas in Yuming in the last century, but with economic development, it eventually became an old town that only retained its former prosperity.
The scene here is completely different.
It also has tall buildings and bustling crowds, but lacks modern and technological decor.
Li Zhibai spent a long time looking for a place to park.
After finally finding the Yunfeng Building and getting into the elevator, Li Zhibai couldn't help but complain as he looked at the walls plastered with all sorts of small advertisements: "Is this guy trying to trick me into coming here to kill and rob me?"
Upon arriving at the thirteenth floor and stepping out of the elevator, I noticed several large characters hanging on the wall in front of me: "21st Century Storage".
There's even a receptionist here.
A woman who looked to be around forty years old was sitting at the front desk. She was a bit plump and wore heavy makeup. Her eyes lit up instantly when she saw Lu Yanhe and the other two come out.
"Are you three handsome young men here to store or retrieve something?" she asked proactively.
Lu Yanhe and the others were completely bewildered, having no idea what was going on, and looked at her with suspicion.
"What is this place for?" Lu Yanhe asked.
The woman at the front desk stared at the three of them with undisguised glare, her eyes seemingly hooked.
"What do you think this place is for?" she asked in a suggestive tone.
The three of them were completely baffled by what they saw.
Li Zhibai's phone finally rang again.
He quickly took out his phone.
"Get...get the items." Li Zhibai's voice was a little stammering. "Pickup code 3627."
Upon hearing this, the woman at the front desk was immediately disappointed.
"oh."
She bent down, opened the drawer, and took out a key from a long bunch; she took one from the top.
"Wait for me." She walked into the corridor.
After a while, she came out carrying a file folder.
"Are you really just here to pick up something?" The receptionist looked at them, especially at Li Zhibai. "You have no other needs."
Her gaze gradually moved downwards.
Li Zhibai's face turned as red as a cooked crab.
"No, no!" Li Zhibai quickly denied.
The woman at the front desk immediately looked rather displeased.
"This," she said, handing the file folder to Li Zhibai, "you can take it."
The three men grabbed the file bag and fled in panic.
-
The three of them ran downstairs in one breath and left the Yunfeng Building before they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Zhibai looked hesitant, glanced at the building behind him, and then looked at Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang.
"Was I overthinking things just now?"
I don't think so.
"That must have been what she meant just now, right?"
Several people stood on the roadside in front of the Yunfeng Building, all covered in sweat.
I felt a lingering fear for some reason, and it took me a while to come to my senses.
"It turns out he just wanted to pick something up. I thought he would hand it over to me in person." Li Zhibai looked at the file bag in his hand and pursed his lips.
I fell asleep yesterday and forgot to update...
(End of this chapter)
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