Chapter 4 Violet "Let me see how you deal with..."
There were still a lot of things to do back home, so she didn't stay in Paris for long and boarded a plane back home the next day. Sister May kept asking her questions the whole way, from how she met Feng Mingqiao to how she won the endorsement deal. Before getting off the plane, she told Ji Jiazhen to apologize to Duan Qiyin first, as there was more to talk about later.
But the word "soft" doesn't exist in Ji Jiazhen's dictionary at all. She's all grown up and has ignored Duan Qiyin's two phone calls until now.
After getting off the plane, Duan Qiyin's driver picked her up. She got in the car and pointed to the road to her long-term rented hotel, lying that she was going back to change her clothes. In reality, she went in and never came out again.
After waiting for an hour, the driver realized he had been scammed. Immediately afterward, Duan Qiyin's assistant called, saying that President Duan was in a meeting and that he needed to see her in his office after the meeting.
Ji Jiazhen replied with four words: "Let him die."
He hung up the phone after saying that.
Duan Qiyin was quick; he knocked on her door forty minutes later.
Ji Jiazhen opened the door without giving him a second glance; his movements of opening the door and turning around were fluid and effortless.
The door slammed shut, and Duan Qiyin's voice was cold and hard: "Have I been too lenient with you?"
Ji Jiazhen relayed the same words to him verbatim, emphasizing the word "you" and raising her voice due to her emotional excitement.
"The premise of me giving you resources is that I need to be aware of all your movements. Shouldn't you explain to me what the spokesperson thing means?"
Ji Jiazhen shoved her phone in his face, "You explain to me what this trending topic means! What the hell do you mean?!"
As the plane was landing and taxiing, she received a screenshot from her best friend, which was of this trending topic.
#JianYiForsumFragranceAmbassador
Jian Yi is the one that Duan Qiyin's company has been promoting in recent years, and she's also the one who uses Duan Qiyin's name to claim that she's "Little Ji Jiazhen".
Ji Jiazhen was furious because this endorsement deal was a surprise, and she had already read the contract; the original endorser should have been her.
In other words, she was tricked by Duan Qiyin.
Duan Qiyin grabbed her wrist that was holding the phone and pressed it down, staring at her. "You can't expect to get rich overnight. You have to give up some things. You've just made your comeback, so you should tone down your ambition. If you're too obvious, you'll become a target. I'm trying to help you."
Ji Jiazhen shook off his hand and glared at him: "If I didn't get this endorsement, it's because I'm not as skilled as you, and I'm not as cunning as you. I deserve it! But out of so many people in the company, I'd give it to anyone but her!"
Duan Qiyin smiled, his displeasure ending with Ji Jiazhen's hysteria.
What Ji Jiazhen hated most was his demeanor; he was always so calm and collected, always so confident of victory. When she was with him, she felt like an emotionally unstable idiot.
Why not?
"She's not as pretty, not as well-built, and not as good at her job as me, yet she's been riding on my coattails for three years! She's gotten all the benefits, so why am I the one getting scolded!"
In recent years, even while living abroad, she has kept a close eye on public opinion. Whenever Ji Jiazhen's name is mentioned, it inevitably attracts a barrage of criticism. Jian Yi, on the other hand, seems to enjoy stirring up trouble, constantly releasing announcements that put Ji Jiazhen down, resulting in Ji Jiazhen being demonized while Jian Yi is portrayed as an innocent victim.
Such a despicable method must have been instigated by that scoundrel Duan Qiyin.
Ji Jiazhen's eyes were blazing with anger. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. The pain from her wrist being gripped was still there, so she slapped him on the shoulder again.
Duan Qiyin took a step closer to her, his hand wearing a wristwatch gripping the back of her head, pressing her forward and forcing her closer to him. Ji Jiazhen stiffened her neck and glared at him, looking defiant and unyielding.
Duan Qiyin lowered his head, only ten centimeters away from me. "This is the rule of this circle. Not everything is about cause and effect. Haven't you learned your lesson after all these years? Who gets resources depends on the mood of capital. I can lift you up, and I can lift someone else up too. Instead of throwing a tantrum, you should think about how to appease me."
Ji Jiazhen was silent for two seconds. Her eyes, which had been vivid with emotion, gradually calmed down. Duan Qiyin's gaze slid from her eyes to the corners of her mouth that had suddenly turned up.
"Duan Qiyin, you have plenty of capital, why should I choose you?"
Who took you in when you ran away from home at seventeen?
"Do you dare say that you were purely kind-hearted and compassionate back then?"
Who paid your breach of contract penalty when you terminated your contract with your former company?
"The money I've made for you over the years is enough for me to terminate my contract a hundred more times!"
"Who smoothed things over for you when you were being attacked online three years ago?"
"Isn't the reason I'm being attacked online because of you? When there was money to be made, you treated me like a god of wealth, but when you lost money, you sent me abroad. When the words 'kept woman' were flying everywhere, why didn't you stand up for me? You, on the other hand, washed your hands of everything clean. Was it to cut your losses in time, or are you psychologically twisted? Or are you resenting me because you saw that I've slept with one person after another over the years but not you?"
Duan Qiyin's cunning lies in this: how sophisticated were his methods? He started planning a year in advance, acquiring an entertainment company for her and, in four years, propelling her from a newcomer to a top star. He handled everything for her behind the scenes, but apart from those close to her, no one knew he was the one behind her. Therefore, no matter how much slander and insults Ji Jiazhen endured, he remained unperturbed. Even when the rumors of her being kept as a mistress were rampant, no one suspected him; to outsiders, she was completely unrelated.
But she knew perfectly well that he had no good intentions from the beginning. There was no such thing as a kind-hearted man or woman. She knew from the first moment she saw him when she was seventeen that he wanted her.
"Zhen, you can't be so unreasonable."
Ji Jiazhen also placed her hand on the back of his head, inserted her five fingers into his hair, and then forcefully pulled his hair to create some distance between them. She didn't hold back at all, and even clapped her hands twice after she finished, as if she had touched something dirty.
"I can't reason with scum like you."
She took two steps back, tidied the hair on the side of her face, and suddenly noticed the coat on the bed, then glanced at Duan Qiyin.
"Where resources end up depends on the whims of capital, right?"
Duan Qiyin raised an eyebrow, waiting for her next words.
“I choose capital based on my mood. It doesn’t matter who I choose. What’s amazing is that I’m not capital. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have failed to produce a second Ji Jiazhen in three years.”
These words are a bit too arrogant, but if they come from Ji Jiazhen, no one can say anything. She certainly has the right to be proud.
"So how are you feeling right now?"
“Now, I have my own capital. After all, in the past three years, I have known more than one Feng Mingqiao.”
Duan Qiyin's mistake was that he exiled her to the United States, overestimating his own abilities and underestimating her ambition. He thought she was living a life of debauchery in the United States, and only she knew how many connections and networks she had built.
If she squandered her youth on a carefree life with rich kids, she wouldn't be Ji Jiazhen.
Waiting for opportunities to fall into your lap is something only a fool would do, while Ji Jiazhen is good at setting one trap after another.
Don't let her get the opportunity, otherwise no one else will. What she needs to do is get that magnet, and opportunities will line up and flock to her like a magnet.
That's what smart people do.
Duan Qiyin is a businesswoman, not a philanthropist. Pursuing fame and fortune is human nature. Ambitiousness is never a derogatory term for her, after all, those she criticizes are all losers who have lost to her.
The man's voice was defiant, ignoring her threat: "Then let's try."
She lit a cigarette in front of Duan Qiyin and blew the nicotine directly at him. The nicotine took hold of his brain, and Duan Qiyin frowned.
Of course she hadn't forgotten that he hated the smell of smoke.
*
It rained in the evening, and the air was damp and cool after nightfall. Ji Jiazhen stood on the 59th-floor terrace again, dressed completely differently from last time. She wore flat shoes and casual clothes, a slanted-neck knit sweater that revealed half of her shoulder, and her long hair was tied up low behind her head, exuding a casual and lazy style.
Tonight was another gathering organized by Fang Chengmu. Everyone was gathered together to play, but she found it noisy, so she sat alone at the bar.
The new bartender was quite young. He sat opposite her, keeping his head down as he mixed drinks, wanting to look at her but not daring to.
People around her called him Ah C, and she followed suit, blushing every time she called him that.
Having seen too many smooth talkers, this is the refreshing kind, like a cucumber. Lately, things haven't been going well for Ji Jiazhen, and this is exactly the kind of thing he likes.
"This kind of arrangement is boring, let's do something more fun."
With just one sentence, they lured people down to the private room.
However, their roles were reversed; she became the bartender, and Ah C drank the drinks, with some added flair.
"You're so good at bartending, can you tell what I put in your drink? Name three and you win, and you can take anything you want from me."
The stakes are too tempting; no one would refuse.
But she added, "You only have three chances."
Ah C's eyes were blindfolded, her hearing was amplified, and she heard ambiguous and tender instrumental music and the crisp sound of Ji Jiazhen adding ice cubes to her cup.
For her first drink, she didn't make it too difficult; she just added one type of alcohol.
She held the wine glass to his lips, but Ah C was so nervous that he forgot to savor it and swallowed it all in one gulp.
Ji Jiazhen laughed at him, "You can only drink one sip."
Ah C blushed again and stammered about what was in the wine.
"Gin, gin."
She looked at him. "Anything else?"
"……litchi."
"two."
He thought about the third one for a long time, and finally hesitated before saying, "Lemon juice..."
Ji Jiazhen shook his head, looking regretful. "It's grapefruit juice."
After saying that, she continued mixing, and not long after, she handed him the glass again, this time directly into his hand. Not being able to guess the answer to the previous glass had already made her lose some of her playfulness.
Being inexperienced is a good thing, but being overly nervous makes things dull.
"This drink is made according to your drink menu, so you can't guess wrong again."
Ah C took a sip, "Vodka..."
Ji Jiazhen remained silent, waiting for him to speak next.
"Peppermint water".
"..."
"Orange juice."
Ji Jiazhen sighed, "Wrong again. The wine list says this is the signature drink, it's called..."
The door was suddenly pushed open, interrupting Ji Jiazhen's words. She turned around and saw that the person at the door was backlit, making the whole person appear dark, while the light behind them seemed somewhat dazzling.
"Let me see how you flirt with people?"
The coldness of the voice and the harshness of the tone immediately told who it was.
"...ice and fire."
After she finished speaking, she looked towards the door, but her words were directed at Ah C: "The game is over. You can leave now."
Ah C instinctively tried to remove the covering in front of her eyes, but Ji Jiazhen stopped her.
"Don't move, I'll help you to the door, and you can take it off after we leave this private room."
She took Ah C's arm and led him toward the door, her eyes fixed on the person at the door with every step.
It seemed that, in the darkness, he was also watching her, and her holding Ah C's hand.
He stepped aside to make way for Ah C, and entered the private room completely. The purple light moved upwards inch by inch, climbing from his chest to his Adam's apple, and then to his eyes.
Turning around, Wen Siyu's face gradually came into focus.
Ji Jiazhen closed the door behind her, then took a step to the side with a clever gesture, trapping him in the corner.
"But you came running with just a word, didn't you?"
Before coming, she sent Wen Siyu a WeChat message, a string of numbers, the private room number, "8883".
Wen Siyu's hand touched the back of her neck; it was a little cool. He applied a little force, and she staggered forward, grabbing his arm for support.
"I'm ashamed to be seen by others?"
She used a perfect excuse: "If someone sees you like this, won't it ruin your image of being aloof from women?"
"Are you afraid of ruining my image, or worried that getting involved with me will make it harder to date other people?"
To be honest, she hadn't thought of that, but what she said made sense.
"I think so."
Wen Siyu pressed his thumb against her earlobe, "If you want to play with me, you have to cut ties with everyone else."
Ji Jiazhen laughed, "Now it's your turn to want to play with me more, so it's my turn to make the requests."
She felt the hand on her arm slide down, down the inside of her forearm to his palm, the fingertips scraping against his palm. He didn't move an inch, letting her play with it, "Fine, you can lift it."
Ji Jiazhen stared at his eyes and narrowed them slightly. The smile on her lips instantly changed, and her wicked thoughts were written all over her face.
"I'll break up with you if you drink a glass of wine."
Wen Siyu released her hand in response, and she turned to go mix drinks, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She met his smiling face, which was just as mischievous as hers.
"Let's go somewhere else."
A note from the author:
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Let Duan Qiyin be arrogant for a while, he'll be kneeling down later. [Oh oh oh]
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