Chapter 10: "You should stay away from him"
Wen Jia did have some unpleasant thoughts, but she knew all too well that she couldn't go against Zhou Jingcheng's wishes.
Finally, she opened the car door and turned to instruct Yu Kaiqing: "Find a dry cleaner first and take Mr. Xu's suit to be cleaned. I'll give you his contact information later. Arrange a time to return it to him as soon as possible, so that he doesn't feel embarrassed waiting."
After saying that, she got out of the car without looking back. Her high heels made a crisp sound on the asphalt road. She steadied herself, picked up her handbag, and walked slowly to Zhou Jingcheng's passenger seat. She opened the door and got in.
With a 'bang' as the car door slammed shut, Wen Jia completely took herself into Zhou Jingcheng's territory.
Zhou Jingcheng didn't say anything, but started the engine and drove Wen Jia away from the front yard of the villa.
"Where to, Mr. Zhou?"
"Just browsing around." Zhou Jingcheng said expressionlessly, unusually not glancing at her, and simply looking straight ahead at the road.
Wen Jia didn't speak, but gripped her handbag tightly, almost squeezing the leather into wrinkles.
Zhou Jingcheng then glanced at her, saw through her, and exposed her: "Why are you uncomfortable?"
Her relationship with Zhou Jingcheng was neither romantic nor a proper superior-subordinate one; in fact, the only thing binding them together was Zhou Jingcheng's one-sided affection. Yet, Wen Jia couldn't understand why she felt ashamed, as if she were nailed to a pillar of shame.
"I don't feel uncomfortable," she dryly retorted.
"Wen Jia, you've always been too arrogant."
Wen Jia smiled faintly, "Being in this circle isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Her arrogance made him uncomfortable. He wanted to possess her, he always had, and he wanted to exclude her from everything else. But clearly, her arrogance did not allow him to manipulate her at will.
In the afternoon, before the evening rush hour, there were few cars on Helin Avenue, making it quiet and empty. Zhou Jingcheng eased off the accelerator and slowed down. He finally turned his head and stared at Wen Jia for two long seconds.
"I'm asking you, what is your relationship with Xu Shaoting?" Zhou Jingcheng didn't directly point it out to her, but indirectly told her that he had seen the trending topic and knew he had been deceived.
Hearing his words, Wen Jia felt like laughing for no reason. Xu Shaoting and Zhou Jingcheng, one after another, were asking her what her relationship was with the other person.
Xu Shaoting dismissed Wen Jia with a casual "I'm curious," but she was curious to see how Zhou Jingcheng would respond.
"Why does Mr. Zhou ask that?"
“Answer me.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, lowering her eyes and loosening her grip on her bag. “He just gave me a ride home that day because he was going that way.”
Seeing how readily she admitted it now, Zhou Jingcheng nodded slightly, a self-deprecating smile appearing on his lips. "You're admitting it so quickly now, why did you lie to me back then?"
"You should know better than I why I lied to you."
Wen Jia said this while clenching her fists tightly.
Zhou Jingcheng frowned, clearly displeased. "What did you say?"
Wen Jia turned her head away from him, her lips pressed tightly into a straight line, deliberately remaining silent.
Zhou Jingcheng looked at her, but ignored her stubbornness, and only said, "Do you understand a person like him?"
"What kind of person?"
Zhou Jingcheng snorted coldly: "With money, power, and influence, playing around in the entertainment industry is as easy as playing around with a dog."
These words were harsh, and Wen Jia retorted, "Isn't President Zhou that kind of person?"
Zhou Jingcheng's eyes twitched, but he didn't answer her immediately, probably trying to swallow his pride.
"Maybe I am, but I can't compare to him."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Zhou Jingcheng turned the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched against the pavement, and the car came to a stop on the side of the road. Trees lined both sides of the road, and the shadows cast by the trees were reflected on the windshield. He looked up for a moment before saying:
"You should stay away from him."
"Why?"
Zhou Jingcheng turned to look at her. "Do you know what kind of people they are?"
He rested one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the back of the seat, looking intently at the person next to him. Without waiting for her reply, he continued, "I have a friend, who's even considered a senior to Zhuang Yansong, around forty years old. He used to work in the film industry, but later became a capitalist. In his early years, he relied on his wife's support to finish university. She loved him wholeheartedly, and after he graduated, she invested in his films, which led to his breakthrough role. You know, he always talks about his wife in front of everyone, but only we know how many mistresses he has outside."
Wen Jia's tone was neither strong nor weak; she simply asked, "So?"
Zhou Jingcheng continued, "His first girlfriend was a student who had just graduated from film school. Do you know what he saw in her?"
He answered his own question: "Simple," he glanced at Wen Jia and continued, "Later, this girl got pregnant by him. He wanted to have an abortion, but the girl insisted on giving birth. If she didn't, he would make a big fuss about it. He got annoyed and tired of it, so he made the girl give birth to the child. But when the child was a month old, he blacklisted her," Zhou Jingcheng repeated, "When the girl was just out of confinement and could return to work, he completely blacklisted her. No one in the industry dared to let her film anymore."
"She studied acting, but after being blacklisted, she faced setbacks everywhere in the industry. Nobody knows where she is now. Maybe she's back to a normal life, or maybe she's found a sugar daddy. After all, having experienced that kind of life, it's hard for her to accept mediocrity again."
Wen Jia understood the sarcasm in Zhou Jingcheng's words, and she twitched the corners of her mouth.
“What exactly does President Zhou mean? If you just want to use these things to educate me or mock me, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed,” Wen Jia said, enunciating each word clearly. “I’ve already said that Xu Shaoting and I are just acquaintances.”
Zhou Jingcheng ignored her and continued talking to himself, "His second mistress, Zhong Lan."
After Zhou Jingcheng finished speaking, he observed Wen Jia's expression and, sure enough, saw a hint of disbelief on her face.
Zhong Lan debuted a few years earlier than Wen Jia, rising from obscurity to stardom. Although she hasn't reached the top tier yet, her achievements are still considerable. Wen Jia and Zhong Lan collaborated on one movie and one TV series, respectively. After filming her last series, she retired from the entertainment industry and never appeared in public again. People in the industry were saying that she was being kept by a sugar daddy, but Wen Jia didn't believe it. Unexpectedly, she heard the truth from Zhou Jingcheng.
"What, are you shocked?"
Wen Jia composed herself: "I'd heard of it, but I didn't expect it to be true."
Zhou Jingcheng smiled sarcastically: "A couple of years ago, this director kept Zhong Lan by his side, giving her any resources she wanted, and paying her a million a month. Naturally, Zhong Lan was doing very well. Not long ago, this director took Zhong Lan to a dinner party. I guess he got tired of her, and someone else happened to take a fancy to Zhong Lan, so this director just sent her away."
"Zhou Jingcheng!" Wen Jia, impatient to wait for him to finish, spoke with a hint of displeasure in her tone, no longer pretending, and addressed him by his full name. "What exactly do you mean?"
After the words were spoken, both men fell silent. An undercurrent of tension simmered beneath the surface, a silent yet turbulent undercurrent that no one knew the turbulent currents raging beneath the frozen lake. One wore a mocking expression, the other refused to back down; they remained locked in a stalemate.
Zhou Jingcheng stared at Wen Jia's face: "Xu Shaoting and he are essentially the same kind of people, aren't they?"
Wen Jia's heart suddenly clenched as if by an invisible hand. How strange! She had only met Xu Shaoting a few times, and they were just casual acquaintances. She didn't know where this strange feeling of heartache came from. Was it because she had heard from others that Xu Shaoting was not as upright as he seemed on the surface? Was it because Zhou Jingcheng had already analyzed things so clearly, yet she still refused to believe it? She herself couldn't understand why Zhou Jingcheng's words could hurt her so much.
"Are you so sure?" she asked, concealing her emotions.
Zhou Jingcheng smirked and said in a nonchalant tone, "Men understand men best."
"Really? Aren't you afraid I'll tell him what you said?"
Zhou Jingcheng glanced at her out of the corner of his eye: "You're not that stupid."
"What if I said Xu Shaoting isn't that kind of person?"
"Then why are you so sure?" Zhou Jingcheng's usually tense face showed an extremely displeased expression.
Wen Jia brushed a stray hair from her forehead, her tone perfectly calm: "I don't understand the point of your long-winded explanation. I've already said that Xu Shaoting and I are just acquaintances. You're making a mountain out of a molehill. If you're worried that I'll end up like those two girls you mentioned," Wen Jia smiled faintly at him, whether it was a genuine smile or a sarcastic one, "then I can only say that you're overthinking it."
"Wen Jia, I don't know what's going on between you and Xu Shaoting, or maybe I'm just overthinking it."
Zhou Jingcheng knew he wasn't a person with poor self-control, but when he heard the fact that the two people in front of him already knew each other in the banquet hall, saw Xu Shaoting casually help her out of a predicament, saw the two walking side by side outside the banquet hall, saw Wen Jia wearing Xu Shaoting's clothes, saw Wen Jia get into Xu Shaoting's car, and saw Wen Jia deceiving him.
Embarrassment, resentment, and a stinging sensation seeped from his pupils, his heart, and his limbs.
"If I'm really overthinking it, I still have to warn you to be careful of people like Xu Shaoting, no matter what your relationship is with him."
"Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Zhou."
*
After Wen Jia got out of the car, Yu Kaiqing asked the driver to turn around and find a dry cleaner. She was holding Xu Shaoting's coat in her hand, wondering which dry cleaner could accommodate this big guy in her hand.
Xu Shaoting is an extremely picky person when it comes to food, clothing, and daily necessities. There are no ready-made suits in his villa's walk-in closet. From overcoats and shirts to ties and bow ties, everything is custom-made. He even personally flies abroad every six months to have new suits made to his measurements.
In the summer, he would fly to Jermyn Street in London to have custom-made vests and coats for autumn and winter, and in the winter, he would fly to Rue de la Paix in Paris to have custom-made shirts and jackets for spring and summer, never tiring of the process. Even though most of the suits in his wardrobe could only be favored by him once before being relegated to the back of the closet, his closet full of suits was still meticulously ironed and dusted by his nanny every day.
This suit happened to be the first one Xu Shaoting wore. Wen Jia was lucky enough to wear it, but also unlucky enough to get it splashed on her.
Yu Kaiqing had the driver take her to the city center. Holding his expensive suit in her hand, she asked several stores, but none of them dared to take her order. One was afraid of damaging the fabric of the suit, and another was afraid of damaging the shape of the suit.
Yu Kaiqing had no other choice but to walk into a luxury high-end laundry and personal care store. When the store manager saw the suit in Yu Kaiqing's hand, he laughed. Yu Kaiqing breathed a sigh of relief, but after paying, she was stunned when she saw the bill in her hand.
The luxury laundry store was filled with sneakers, knitwear, and jackets from various luxury brands, making Xu Shaoting's suit stand out awkwardly among them.
The shop assistant told Yu Kaiqing that she would have to come back the next afternoon to pick up the suit. Yu Kaiqing nodded, glanced at the suit jacket, and then took out her phone without hesitation to ask Wen Jia for reimbursement.
When Yu Kaiqing returned to the villa, Wen Jia was still not back. Instead, she sent Xu Shaoting's contact information. She was very thoughtful, probably afraid of bothering him, and only sent Yu Kaiqing Xu Shaoting's WeChat contact card.
"Add Chairman Xu on WeChat and schedule a time with him."
Yu Kaiqing clicked on Xu Shaoting's business card and added him as a friend. It took only five minutes for the other party to accept the request.
Yu Kaiqing greeted him respectfully, "Hello, Mr. Xu, I'm Wen Jia's assistant. My sister asked me to schedule a time to return your suit jacket. When would be a convenient time for you?"
After sending that message, she thoughtfully offered a second option: "Or should I just put it at your company's front desk?"
At this moment, Xu Shaoting sat at his desk, his brows slightly furrowed as he looked at his phone screen.
He found it strange that Wen Jia had his contact information, so why did she go to all the trouble of having her assistant contact her?
Lin Youzhe stood in front of the table with his hands clasped together, carefully observing Xu Shaoting's expression. "...What's wrong?"
Xu Shaoting seemed to be in a daze. After hearing Lin Youzhe's voice, he raised his eyes, came back to his senses, and did not answer him. Instead, he typed a few words for Yu Kaiqing.
"Ms. Yu, is this a convenient time to talk?"
Over here, Yu Kaiqing saw the message and immediately stopped what she was doing. She naturally didn't know why Xu Shaoting was calling, but she had to make it convenient for him, so she didn't keep him waiting and made a voice call to him directly.
The call was connected in less than two seconds.
"Miss Yu." Xu Shaoting spoke first. He stood up with his phone in hand, waved to Lin Youzhe, and sent him away.
She got straight to the point, "Mr. Xu, the suit can only be picked up the day after tomorrow. When would be a convenient time for you?"
But unexpectedly, Xu Shaoting's focus was not on that at all.
He asked casually, "Is it you who is returning it, or is it Wenjia who is returning it?"
Yu Kaiqing wrung her hands, unsure how to answer, but finally told the truth: "I'll pay it back; she probably doesn't have much free time."
Xu Shaoting followed up by asking her, "So what is she busy with now?"
"Now? He was picked up by President Zhou and hasn't come back yet." Yu Kaiqing didn't hide anything and told Xu Shaoting the truth.
Upon hearing this, Xu Shaoting's eyes, which had been lowered, finally moved. "President Zhou? Zhou Jingcheng?"
"Yes, Mr. Xu, do you know President Zhou?"
“Not familiar with him,” Xu Shaoting paused for two seconds, then pressed on, “Did he say what he was going to do?”
Yu Kaiqing seemed to detect a hint of restlessness in his tone that seemed out of character.
She laughed awkwardly twice: "I don't know what she went to do, and I was too embarrassed to ask..."
Yu Kaiqing didn't get a response from the other person. She stood by the window and saw Zhou Jingcheng's white sports car gliding through the shadows of the trees past the villa's front yard.
"Mr. Xu, it seems she's back. I'll hang up now," he said, almost forgetting his purpose, and added, "I'll schedule a time with you again once I get the suit."
Xu Shaoting gave a curt "hmm" without any emotion, and only after Kaiqing hung up the phone did he take it away from his ear.
He lowered his eyes, crossed his arms, and paced a few steps in the large office with a hint of impatience.
He looked thoughtful, but no one knew what he was thinking.
About ten minutes later, he swiped his phone again, tapped on a number without a contact name, and dialed it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
