Chapter 31 Didn't you sleep well last night?
Of course, in the shadows, some people don't have it so easy either.
Huang Zhicheng waited at the Haotian Hotel for several days before Lin Hao finally showed up.
The man who used to frequent hotels every few days has been acting like he's cultivating his character these past few months, and he's rarely seen in such places.
Seizing the opportunity, Huang Zhicheng quickly stepped forward, his belly protruding, and said, "Mr. Lin, it's been a long time."
After saying that, he realized that the face that was always smiling was now as black as ink. His heart tightened, and he dared not look at Lin Hao any longer. He bowed deeply to Lin Hao at a ninety-degree angle and said, "Please, please let me go."
Lin Hao was already irritable, and being blocked in his way for no reason naturally made him look bad.
Huang Zhicheng lowered his head and waited for a few seconds, then slowly straightened up, observing Lin Hao's expression out of the corner of his eye.
With shifty eyes and a bloated appearance, Lin Hao had absolutely no recollection of this person.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Huang Zhicheng gritted his teeth and knelt down on the ground with a thud. "President Lin, you can't just leave me to die! I didn't mean to mess with Teacher Wen. Please, I beg you, spare my life."
Lin Hao paused in his leg-lifting motion. "Teacher Wen?"
Huang Zhicheng nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes."
Lin Hao glanced ahead meaningfully, then slowly squatted down. "Oh? How did you offend him?"
When Huang Zhicheng saw that he had finally shown some interest, he almost burst into tears. Sure enough, he had made the right bet.
That guy who got ahead by relying on Xiao Lin has gotten himself into a bad way over time. He's all talk and no action, but he's just a prostitute. What right does he have to compete with him for women? Pah!
He did want to cheat, but when things got out of hand, he only dared to deny it outright, while Sheng Yi, that blind fool, thought he was some kind of real man.
He suppressed his excitement and looked at the young CEO Lin in front of him as if he had found a life-saving treasure. "It's all that bitch Sheng Yi's fault!"
He was deeply moved. In a flash, Lin Hao suddenly remembered where he had seen this person before. "I don't know, tell me."
Driven by his survival instinct, Huang Zhicheng only said what Kobayashi wanted to hear, "That bitch..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, he felt a cold gaze fixed on him. He wanted to look up, but he didn't dare.
He shrank his neck and continued, "Sheng Yi was originally with me, but it's all my fault for being too indulgent with her. I let her grow up and she started to have designs on Teacher Wen, like a toad trying to eat swan meat."
Lin Hao was surprised by the man's humor, and with a slight smile, he didn't interrupt.
He continued, "Everyone knows that Teacher Wen is someone you cherish deeply. I'm fine, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to explain it to you, so I taught her a small lesson on your behalf. Who knew..."
"how?"
"Who knew... Teacher Wen seems to have misunderstood, thinking I have a problem with him. Honestly, I've only ever thought of you."
"Oh, I see." Lin Hao clapped his hands and stood up. "How do you usually discipline people?"
Although Huang Zhicheng wasn't very bright, he knew that some things were better left unsaid.
Lin Hao didn't press the issue, saying, "Tell me when you've thought it through next time."
"There's no time to wait for next time!" Huang Zhicheng quickly stopped him. "I... I just asked a few friends to spread the word to her a little."
"for example?"
Huang Zhicheng mumbled something, but he had no idea how exactly it was done.
He forgot, but Cao Jun remembered it clearly: "Were you involved in the concert cover-up incident?"
Huang Zhicheng rubbed his hands together, looked at Xiao Lin, then at the angry man who had appeared out of nowhere, and hesitated, unsure how to answer.
"Our friends had a private dinner, and you even got someone to put it on the trending topics list?" No wonder Lao Qian said he just added fuel to the fire.
Pressed for answers like this, Huang Zhicheng wiped the sweat from his face and looked at Lin Hao pleadingly, "Mr. Lin, I did all this for you..."
Cao Jun continued to list them for him one by one, "And who gave you the recordings from the film crew?"
"You must have been involved in all these recent scandals, right?"
The more he spoke, the paler Huang Zhicheng's face became.
Cao Jun was too lazy to argue with him. "I think you brought this on yourself."
After saying that, she didn't forget to add a sentence for Sheng Yi, "Besides, even if she were blind, she wouldn't look at someone like you."
How dare this brat dare to be so presumptuous in front of him? Huang Zhicheng was so angry that his whole body trembled. But because Lin Hao was present, he didn't dare to lash out. He could only keep saying, "Mr. Lin, I really am thinking of you."
"I'm afraid that Teacher Wen will be deceived by her."
"Alright, I understand. You can go back now." Lin Hao suddenly lost interest upon hearing this, waved Huang Zhicheng away, and then turned back to point at Cao Jun, "You certainly know how to stand up for her."
Cao Jun chuckled, "I'm just afraid you'll be misled."
Lin Hao was too lazy to argue with him. He glared at the person in the shadows. Like general, like soldiers.
-
Sheng Yi had just left the base when she received a call from Yan Shen, asking if she was free today so they could make up for the meal they owed her.
She quickly apologized, saying she'd been incredibly busy lately, and asked, "Where are you now?"
It's only 5:30 now, if we hurry, we can still make it to dinner.
People finishing work passed by in groups, chatting and laughing. Sheng Yi heard a soft voice on the other end of the phone say, "Look up."
She subconsciously followed his movements and saw a well-dressed man standing not far ahead, exuding an air of sophistication. He seemed to have just escaped from a meeting and hadn't yet shed his air of authority.
Seeing her looking over, he waved to her.
After their last parting, the two kept in touch intermittently via WeChat and phone. Perhaps due to the change in background and environment, they seemed quite unfamiliar at first glance.
Those who can attend a charity gala are naturally not ordinary people. The gap that Sheng Yi had been deliberately ignoring suddenly loomed between the two of them at this moment.
Yan Shen approached. "What, don't you recognize me?"
The familiar tone instantly brought back a sense of security, and Sheng Yi smiled, "How could this be? What would you like to eat?"
She shot dozens of outfits in one afternoon, and now she's so hungry she could eat a whole cow.
However, it was lunchtime, and the nearby restaurants had queues of at least half an hour. She asked Yan Shen for his opinion, "Is there any restaurant you'd like to eat at?"
Ten minutes later, Yan Shen pulled out a chair and invited her to sit down, saying, "I heard the food here is pretty good."
He took off his suit jacket and casually draped it over his lap. Sheng Yi took out a few tissues and carefully wiped the greasy tabletop.
The cramped noodle shop and the man with his hair meticulously styled looked utterly incongruous. Sheng Yi secretly asked him, "Should we go somewhere else?"
"No need, this place is fine."
Since he said that, Sheng Yi didn't stand on ceremony anymore.
After ordering, the owner asked what spiciness level they wanted, and Sheng Yi casually replied, "Give me the spiciest."
The other person glanced at her and reminded her, "Our chili peppers are quite spicy."
S City has its own set of standards for judging spiciness, and Sheng Yi has been fooled many times before, so she didn't take it to heart. "Hmm, it's okay."
The next moment, he was slapped hard across the face.
"Boss, do you have any more tissues?" Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her nose was bright red. Yan Shen took the tissue box from the shopkeeper, pulled out a few, and gave them to her. "Is it really that spicy?"
Sheng Yi blew her nose and glared at him resentfully, "You'll see once you try."
After the meal, Yan Shen paid the bill. For the rest of the meal, he kept handing her tissues, and Sheng Yi felt embarrassed, saying, "This doesn't count, I'll treat you to a meal next time."
The person who had just looked listless now had a lively expression again. Yan Shen gently hummed in agreement, "I have to go to City B in the next couple of days. I'll make it up to you when I get back."
-
"Uncle, you were looking for me?"
Huang Bei carried her things into the house, casually took a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and put them on, then handed the bags to the nanny, Aunt Fang.
"No need to be so polite," Aunt Fang said with a smile, glancing discreetly at the things she was handed over. They looked presentable, but they were just for show and worthless.
She pouted, thinking, "After all this time, you're still so petty."
Huang Bei pretended not to see her expression, and peeked inside. Huang Zhicheng was sitting on the sofa, and his face didn't look good.
"Who upset Uncle this time?"
Aunt Fang shook her head. "Who knows?" She had been cursing and swearing all morning, and she didn't want to go looking for trouble.
"Come sit down, your uncle has been waiting for you for a long time."
Huang Bei glanced at Huang Zhicheng's face, smiled and walked over, "Uncle, what's wrong? Tell Bei Bei what's bothering you, and I'll help you get revenge."
"Uncle, that Sheng Yi is really too rude. I'll go and teach her a lesson for you." That's what she said back then.
Thinking of this, Huang Zhicheng's anger, which had finally subsided, surged up again, and he grabbed whatever he was holding and threw it.
Just as Huang Bei was about to sit down, she saw something flying straight towards her. The fear hidden in her heart made her subconsciously turn to the side.
"Bang--"
It was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.
Huang Bei looked down and saw an ashtray lying on the ground, still spinning slowly due to inertia. Slower and slower…
"What have I ever done to you? Why are you trying to harm me like this?" Huang Zhicheng shouted, slamming his fist on the table after his attack missed.
Huang Bei was very close to him and her ears hurt from the shout. In recent years, Huang Zhicheng had always considered himself an upper-class person and hadn't acted so violently in a long time. It seemed this was no small matter.
She hesitated for two seconds, forced out a few tears, moved closer to him, hugged his arm and said coquettishly, "What did Beibei do wrong that made you so angry?"
She had tidied herself up before leaving, and her tone was very soft. At first glance, she looked like a delicate young girl, sitting there with tears welling up in her eyes, her gaze filled with adoration, as if you were her everything.
Normally, Huang Zhicheng would calm down even the most furious person when he saw her like this, but now he only felt more irritated.
It was because he trusted her words that he couldn't help but play some tricks on Sheng Yi and Wen Shili.
He shoved Huang Bei's hand away and shouted angrily, "Is this how you offend people for me? Huh?!"
Huang Bei thought for a long time but couldn't figure out where she went wrong. However, this didn't stop her tears from falling. "Uncle, what are you talking about? I'm definitely on your side."
She choked up, as if she had suffered a great injustice, "Is someone misunderstanding something? Tell me, and I'll go and talk to them."
No matter what, Mr. Lin always said to go back and wait for news, but he waited day after day without seeing any change. He went to the door to beg and even knelt down, but the security guards simply blocked the door and wouldn't let him in. He spent a lot of money to inquire, but all he heard was "follow orders."
Seeing his grief-stricken expression, Huang Bei figured he might have really encountered something serious.
She wanted to say, "You did something wrong, why are you using me as a pretext?" If it weren't for him, her aunt wouldn't have passed away so young. And this culprit, putting on a show of deep remorse in front of everyone, made everyone who saw him shake their heads and sigh, "She was just unlucky."
If you repeat a lie a few times, you might even start to believe it yourself. With bloodshot eyes, he stayed up for two days and two nights straight.
Then, in less than a month, he got together with the family's nanny.
Looking at her own niece, her eyes never seemed innocent. If it weren't for the barrier of blood ties, perhaps she wouldn't be standing here alive today.
Unfortunately, I still have to rely on him for a living.
Huang Zhicheng's head throbbed with pain from her crying. He was already heavy, and after venting his emotions, he was exhausted. He pointed to the door and said, "Get out of here."
Huang Bei hiccuped as she cried, "Uncle, please don't do this. Bei Bei will stay with you. Bei Bei won't leave."
"Get out!" Huang Zhicheng's temper flared up again, and he roared at her.
Huang Bei glanced worriedly at the furious Huang Zhicheng, and finally hesitated before getting up. "Then... then please take care."
Reason told her she should stay and wait for him to calm down before asking him questions, and then they could think of a solution together, since they would share both the good and the bad. But her repeated forbearance had long since festered a festering wound in her heart.
Perhaps, she has been waiting for this day for a long time.
-
There's a brand event tomorrow. It's an endorsement deal that Wen Shili signed with when he entered the entertainment industry. They're also opening a new branch in S City tomorrow.
Before going to bed, Cao Jun sent Wen Shili a WeChat message: "Brother, I'll come over at nine o'clock tomorrow."
Wen Shili finished washing up and saw his message: "Yeah, you've worked hard. Go to sleep early."
His finger slid down and he saw the image of someone making a peace sign with both hands again. Carefree, as if they knew nothing of sorrow.
Clicking in, the chat history was still from a week ago.
In a very polite tone, I congratulated the concert on its successful conclusion.
Cao Jun had been keeping his phone that night, and he didn't see it until almost dawn the next day. In the end, it was just left there, unresolved.
Clicking into her WeChat Moments, I saw the same photos she posted when filming wrapped up; her hair was a mess, as if she hadn't washed it in days. She tilted her head and gave a peace sign to the camera.
Xiao You and Yan Shen both left comments below, one saying it looked good, and the other saying they would make plans to meet again when she got back. Her reply was familiar and friendly.
I exited the app and saw Yan Shen's post again. The picture showed two bowls of noodles in the center, with a bright red and tempting broth, topped with large chunks of beef. The caption read: "Late-night food porn."
Lin Hao commented below: "Get lost, can't you do something decent?"
Yan Shen replied, "It's not my fault if nobody wants me."
Xiao You followed up on Yan Shen's words with a string of "hahaha".
Wen Shili glanced at it and then went back to see that there were several more comments from mutual friends under the headline post.
Click to enlarge the image, and in the upper corner of the screen, half of a familiar phone case is revealed.
The next day, Cao Jun arrived on time. "Brother, didn't you sleep well last night?"
Wen Shili unconsciously touched his face. "No, what's wrong?"
Cao Jun looked at the dark circles under his eyes and said, "It's okay, I'll have the makeup artist cover them up later."
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