NOVEL WEB Chapter 159-166
Chapter 159: Want to Negotiate Terms with Me? Are You Worthy? (9)
Qian Ge paused for a moment to ensure she hadn’t missed anything before she gave her manager a nod as if to tell her to proceed with the call.
With her signal, the manager immediately walked off to a quiet corner and tapped the button to make the call.
Maybe someone in the private room spent a huge sum to request another song, since music started playing again on the big stage.
Qian Ge, who never listened to Beijing opera, shut her eyes and tapped her fingertips every so often to the beat on the table, which let out a weak sound.
After some time, her manager returned. She saw Qian Ge resting with her eyes shut, so she said in a particularly soft voice, “Qian Jie1, it’s done.”
Qian Ge didn’t say anything but gave a slight nod to indicate she heard her.
From start to finish, she never opened her eyes, yet a smile appeared like she was in an excellent mood.
–
When He Jichen’s phone rang, he, Han Zhifan, and two of Han Zhifan’s business partners were playing cards in room 1001 of the Golden Lounge.
As he drew his cards, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen to find that it was his secretary calling.
After He Jichen threw his cards out, he swiped his phone screen and asked in a particularly cold voice, “What?”
“Mr. He, do you remember the supporting actress for ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’?”
Wasn’t the supporting actress for “Three Thousand Lunatics” Ji Yi? How could I forget the person I cast myself?
He Jichen’s fingers slid the cards in front of him and he slowly replied, “Yeah, what’s wrong?”
“It’s like this, Mr. He. I saw a video of her in our company’s internal WeChat group…”
He Jichen glanced emotionlessly at the card Han Zhifan threw out and realized he was careless since he casually laid all his cards out.
“Our project ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’—didn’t it end because Lin Zhengyi pulled his investment? Yet, it looks like that actress is kind of close to Lin Zhengyi…”
From start to finish, He Jichen hadn’t really shown any reaction to the secretary’s report, but when he heard this, his brows started to tighten.
Ji Yi and Lin Zhengyi were kind of close? How could that be?
“… She’s even having dinner with Lin Zhengyi, and it seems like she’s at the dinner party with the production team for Lin Zhengyi’s newly invested series ‘Dust’…”
When He Jichen heard this, he looked up at Han Zhifan and shot him a look as if to say “Please wait.” Then he kicked his chair back, got up and walked out of the party room.
Coincidentally, he bumped into a waiter in the corridors who softly asked him if he was in need of assistance.
He Jichen shook his head, brushed past him and headed for the window at the end of the corridor.
He pushed the window open, inviting in the night’s breeze from the dead of winter, which helped to clear his mind.
He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, and lit up as he asked the secretary over the phone, “More specifically, tell me what’s going on?”
- [Honorific] Big sister
Chapter 160: Want to Negotiate Terms with Me? Are You Worthy? (10)
“Someone said she’s clinging onto Lin Zhengyi…”
The secretary only said a few words, but He Jichen’s brows furrowed as he interrupted menacingly, “Who’s spouting nonsense and making sh*t up?”
The secretary remained quiet for a bit when he heard He Jichen’s tone of voice. Then he said weakly, “Mr. He, no one’s making up anything. There’s video evidence. Someone in the company said that since Ji Yi saw Lin Zhengyi pull his investment for ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’, she followed Lin Zhengyi to join the production team of ‘Dust’…”
The secretary probably sensed He Jichen’s bleak mood since his voice got quieter. In the end, he completely lost his voice, and since he was afraid to bring trouble upon himself, he swiftly thought of something and hurriedly added, “Mr. He, if you don’t believe me, give our company’s WeChat group-”
Before the secretary could finish his sentence off with “a look,” He Jichen hung up.
He bit the cigarette as his fingers swiftly opened WeChat. He ignored a string of unread messages, found the company’s WeChat group and opened it.
The chat from company staff members came into view.
“I never imagined that the supporting actress for ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’ was actually that kind of person!”
“Yeah, when I saw her photo, I thought she was pretty innocent, but I never imagined that she would use such tactics to get to the top!”
“Look at the video—she drank herself into that kind of state. What’s the difference between her and those hostesses in nightclubs?”
He Jichen furrowed his brows as his eyes revealed a sliver of annoyance. He held it together and didn’t erupt in rage as he swiftly scrolled through the messages.
After scrolling for quite some time, He Jichen finally saw the video they mentioned.
It was posted by someone called “Meow meow meow,” and there were about five to six videos altogether. He Jichen randomly clicked one open.
He Jichen grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and flicked the ashes into the trash can beside him. Then he turned back to this phone screen.
He hadn’t taken a close look before he easily recognized the updo and the exposed curve of the woman with a slender long neck dressed in the red in the video. It was Ji Yi.
She sat around a table full of alcohol, and sitting on her right was Lin Zhengyi—the same man he violently beat up a while back.
In her hand was a glass of wine. She smiled wholeheartedly at the middle-aged man in front of her and drank to him.
The person who secretly filmed this was quite far away, so they couldn’t record what they were saying and he didn’t know what she said. However, from the video, he saw her clink glasses with the slightly chubby middle-aged man. Then she put the glass to her mouth, tossed her head back and downed the entire glass.
He Jichen’s fingers clutching the cigarette suddenly paused and stopped by the corner of his mouth.
His expression instantly turned cold as he stared at the phone screen.
The video wasn’t long. It ended quickly.
He Jichen paused for about two seconds before he chose another video and clicked it open.
Chapter 161: Isn’t This How You Like it? (1)
This time, the video he opened showed Ji Yi whispering something into Lin Zhengyi’s ear.
After Lin Zhengyi finished listening to what she had to say, he pointed at each person around the table and started to talk to her.
With Lin Zhengyi’s words, Ji Yi smiled and nodded at each one.
Even though He Jichen couldn’t hear what they said, he could tell from the video that Lin Zhengyi was introducing her to the surrounding people.
After the introductions, Lin Zhengyi picked up a glass of wine and whispered something into Ji Yi’s ear.
Then, Lin Zhengyi smiled at everyone around the table and said something. Ji Yi took the glass from his hand, got up, and raised it towards the person next to him.
When the video finished, He Jichen didn’t hesistate to continue on to the third.
In this video, Lin Zhengyi was pouring Ji Yi some wine, and from the pale expression on Ji Yi’s face, you could tell she had drank quite a lot of wine.
But when Lin Zhengyi handed her a glass of wine, she didn’t hesitate to take it. Like the previous videos, she toasted another person and downed the glass.
He Jichen’s fingertips around his phone turned white from the force of his grip.
He tightly pursed his lips and opened the fourth video.
The video was of Lin Zhengyi pouring wine for Ji Yi, but Lin Zhengyi was so close to Ji Yi that his hand touched her waist.
He wasn’t sure if it was voluntary or if she was numb from drinking too much, but she didn’t squirm out of Lin Zhengyi’s grasp nor did she stop him.
The cigarette in He Jichen’s hand was bent out of shape from the force of his clutches.
His gaze on his phone was frighteningly solemn.
As he watched the table full of people reveal flirtatious and sinister looks after Ji Yi drank several glasses in the video, He Jichen abruptly raised his hand and hurled his phone.
The phone crashed into the wall with a “bang!”, alarming a nearby waitress.
The waitress came running in, bent to pick the phone up, and was about to hand it to He Jichen when she realized that the man had a terrifyingly cold expression on his face. She was so scared that she took a step back and timidly said, “Sir, your phone.”
It seemed like He Jichen didn’t hear her at all as he stood unflinchingly on the spot. He stared intensely at the space in front of him.
His pupils contracted non-stop as though he was in a rage over something, and his body started to tremble slightly.
The waitress didn’t dare linger for too long, so she put the phone on the window sill and hurriedly turned around with the words, “Sir, I’ve put your phone here for you.”
Just as she was about to raise her feet, she detected the burning smell of flesh.
She furrowed her brows and instinctively looked down to find the cigarette butt burning He Jichen’s palm.
The waitress reached her hand out reflexively and grabbed He Jichen’s arm, “Sir, sir, your hand…”
He Jichen turned his head and swept her an extremely intense look, then drew away from her touch. He chucked the burning cigarette into the trash can then silently grabbed the phone from the window sill and strode over to the elevator.
Chapter 162: Isn’t This How You Like it? (2)
He Jichen stepped into the elevator. With no regard to whether there were other people behind him, he pressed the button to close the doors.
The elevators stopped at the underground parking lot, and just as the doors opened halfway, he stepped out.
He figured his mind must’ve burst with rage by the videos from the WeChat group as he circled the parking lot several times around but couldn’t remember where he parked his car. Eventually, he pulled out his car keys and clicked the button to unlock it. In the distance, he saw his car lights blink, which was when he realized that his car was parked right in front of the elevators.
He Jichen got into the car, and without even strapping on his seatbelt, he immediately stepped on the gas and raced out of the underground parking lot of the Golden Lounge.
He realized the background in the video looked very familiar – it was the Yue Yuan he had been to a few times.
As soon as He Jichen drove onto the main road, he immediately turned the car around and headed straight for Yue Yuan.
–
After toasting every last person in the room, Ji Yi’s resilient heart finally relaxed slightly.
She fought the turbulent feeling in her stomach that made her want to vomit, and with trembling fingers, she slowly put the glass back down on the table.
Her tolerance to alcohol was neither good or bad. Not only did the alcohol Lin Zhengyi forced her to drink tonight make her feel completely drunk, if she stayed there, she’d inevitably end up muddled. By then, she would undoubtedly be fish meat on a chopping board for Lin Zhengyi to pick at will.
At that thought, Ji Yi glanced back to look at Lin Zhengyi, who was clinking glasses with the producer. When he finally put the glass down, she went over to him and whispered, “Mr. Lin, I drank the wine as you wanted. Can you give me some of your time now?”
Lin Zhengyi’s seemed stunned as he turned to shoot a glance at Ji Yi. Then he continued to casually pour the wine.
Ji Yi clearly caught a flash of astonishment across Lin Zhengyi’s face just now.
She furrowed her brows, but before she could react to his astonishment, he raised the wine bottle and started to pour wine into her glass when he saw she’d finished her glass. “Come, Xiao Yi. You just drank to everyone here but me. Now, let’s both drink a glass.”
When Ji Yi heard this, she sluggishly turned around.
As it turned out, Lin Zhengyi’s real objective was not only to put her in a difficult position but to get her completely drunk to make things easier for him.
So, if I’m not completely drunk on the table tonight, Lin Zhengyi won’t give me a chance to talk to him alone…
Ji Yi looked down and stared at the glass before she picked it up and drank all of it with Lin Zhengyi.
The moment she put the glass down, Ji Yi deliberately loosened her grip and pretended to have had one too many to drink. Since she didn’t hold onto the glass properly, it smashed to the ground.
She copied how drunk people looked on TV then slurred the words “Sorry,” as she sneakily glanced at Lin Zhengyi. She realized the man had a malevolent smile at the corner of his mouth. That was when Ji Yi knew Lin Zhengyi’s true objective.
Wine, she couldn’t drink any longer.
But she had to keep up her drunken act.
Ji Yi quietly schemed for a moment before she said, a little tongue-tied, “Mr. Lin, I-I’m going to the restroom.”
With that, Ji Yi got up swaying and walked towards the opposite direction of the restroom.
The waitress standing nearby heard what she just said and kindly reminded her, “Miss, the restroom is over there.”
Chapter 163: Isn’t This How You Like it? (3)
“Oh,” responded Ji Yi as she pretended to look drunk and stumbled forward two steps. She sluggishly turned around and headed in the direction the waitress pointed to.
As she brushed past the waitress, she pretended to not be able to stand up steadily as she purposefully leaned over to the waitress a little.
With fast reflexes, she saw the waitress support her up before she boldly leaned over onto her body.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Ji Yi heard the waitress’s concerned tone, but she didn’t say a word and pretended to be suffering while still groggily conscious as she leaned on her shoulder.
“Miss.. Miss?” asked the waitress again.
She asked a few times, but seeing as Ji Yi had no reaction, she looked over at the head of tonight’s dinner party, Lin Zhengyi, “Mr. Lin, miss looks like she’s drank a lot, should I take her to the lounge area…?”
Lin Zhengyi who had seen everything and heard the waitress’s words, immediately got up. He walked over to the waitress, reached over and dragged Ji Yi over to his side. “You don’t have to interfere. I’ll take her to the lounge.”
To pretend that she was drunk, Ji Yi didn’t avoid Lin Zhengyi’s arms around her waist. She suppressed the repulsive feeling inside and tried hard to put on a hazy expression. She mumbled to herself, “So dizzy…”
When Lin Zhengyi heard her voice, he immediately pulled her out of the room. As they walked, he said flirtatiously, “You won’t be dizzy in a moment. I guarantee you’ll feel good.”
His words roused a room full of people to giggle.
At their sneering glares, Ji Yi almost vomited all the wine from her stomach. She tried hard to stabilize herself and forced herself not to expose her true state, so she let Lin Zhengyi carry her. The waitress followed behind one step at a time as they left the room.
Down the vintage, elegant corridors of Yue Yuan, the waitress walked about five minutes then pushed the double doors open, “Mr. Lin, may I ask – should I get her a drink to sober her up?”
“That’s okay,” replied Lin Zhengyi. He hurriedly brought Ji Yi into the room. “Shut the door.”
“Yes, Mr. Lin,” replied the waitress. She immediately closed the door.
As the lounge doors closed shut, Lin Zhengyi impatiently held Ji Yi in his embrace. While he lowered his head to bite at her exposed neck, he reached his hand out and let it trace her waist and up her back.
Ji Yi’s heart panicked for a second before she instinctively struggled out of Lin Zhengyi’s embrace. She retreated a few steps and put some distance between them.
The woman was already a drunken mess, so how could she suddenly have the strength to pull away now?
Lin Zhengyi was stunned for a moment before he looked up at Ji Yi.
With just the two of them in the room, Ji Yi put away her drunken facade and calmly answered Lin Zhengyi’s bewildered look. “Mr. Lin, I’m terribly sorry that I had to use such a method to trick you into speaking to me one-on-one.”
“I’m here to personally apologize to you. I hope you can accept my apology, and I hope you can reconsider investing in ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’…”
Lin Zhengyi realized he’d been tricked by this women, so he didn’t even let her finish and said, “Alright, I can forgive you, but a verbal apology means nothing. If you want apologize, you have to take action.”
Chapter 164: Isn’t This How You Like it? (4)
When he finished speaking, Lin Zhengyi tilted his head in thought for a while. As though he just thought of a great idea, he slapped his hand and continued by saying, “It’s like this, apologize in bed for me until I’m satisfied, then I’ll reconsider investing in ‘Three Thousand Lunatics.'”
Ji Yi tightly furrowed her brows and a flash of disgust crossed her eyes.
Having clearly seen the repulsion in her eyes, Lin Zhengyi didn’t get angry but instead, he scanned her up and down with perverted eyes. He didn’t wait for her to speak and walked closer to her as he said, “There’s no other way.”
“Of course, as you are right now, it’s useless for you to decline anyway!”
As Lin Zhengyi stood in front of Ji Yi, he reached his hand out to grab Ji Yi’s waist. He forcefully pulled her body to his. “This time, it’s not like how it was at China World Hotel Beijing. There’s no He Jichen here, and in my hands, you have no choice but to listen!”
“I suggest you know your place. Play obediently with me. Make me happy, and I’ll not only invest in ‘Three Thousand Lunatics,’ I can also recommend you for other roles!”
“If I force myself on you, my body may feel good, but my heart won’t. You may as well give up on trying to get any special benefits from me. By then, you’ll just end up with a bigger loss!”
As he finished, Lin Zhengyi reach his hand out and cupped Ji Yi’s chin. He raised her face up slightly and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips.
Ji Yi wanted to struggle out of it so hard, but because she was intoxicated, she couldn’t quite push him away.
She could feel Lin Zhengyi’s lips draw closer to hers. He was so close that she smelled the stench of his breath.
She tried to force down the urge to vomit, and without even thinking about it, she tilted her head to avoid his lips.
As Lin Zhengyi’s lips kissed the empty space, he squinted his eyes and he looked clearly annoyed.
He didn’t want to bother wasting his breath on Ji Yi, so he pushed her hard into the wall. He lowered his head and bit her neck.
After struggling hard a few times, Ji Yi saw there was no way for her to escape, so she started to pull something out from her pocket with her free hand.
Seeing as Ji Yi didn’t fight back, he was excited at the prospect of her accepting him now. As he undid Ji Yi’s clothes, he rubbed his body onto hers.
When the first button of Ji Yi’s top was undone, Lin Zhengyi immediately dug his head into her fair chest, but before his lips could touch her skin, he suddenly heard his own voice. “If I hadn’t caught you, I would’ve almost forgotten. Now that I see you, I remember. Xiao Yi, do you have some time now? I want to speak to you privately about ‘Three Thousand Lunatics.'”
Lin Zhengyi completely froze. He didn’t react until some time had passed after Ji Yi played the recording pen to his ear.
What he said previously continued to play: “Xiao Yi, I’ve read your profile. It says you’re currently studying at B-Film University?”
“I also hear many of you girls from B-Film want to become escorts? Is that right?”
“…I encourage you to behave well and let me play with…” “You wanted some face, but you didn’t take it! Seeing as you refuse to take it easy, I won’t be polite about it!”
When the recording finished playing, Lin Zhengyi hadn’t completely snapped out of his daze as Ji Yi said, “Mr. Lin, does the recording sound familiar to you? I just want to ask you a question: if this recording gets out, what do you think people will say?”
Chapter 165: Isn’t This How You Like it? (5)
As she finished speaking, Ji Yi watched Lin Zhengyi’s gaze upon her chest ascend to her eyes.
She didn’t struggle, nor was she worried. Instead, she spoke calmly as usual. She continued to speak.
“I hear you recently invested in a new project, and it’s almost ready to be released at the beginning of next year. If you get into some kind of some bad publicity, I’m afraid the new project would be affected, wouldn’t it?”
“Also, what did you say in the recording just now? There are many girls at B-film who want to be escorts…?”
“Ninety percent of the celebrities in the entire entertainment industry are from B-film. What you said would offend a lot of big stars, wouldn’t it?”
“What’s more, what you said was really deep. A lot of people online would definitely say that you’re…”
When Lin Zhengyi heard this, his face turned unbelievably stern. He didn’t wait for Ji Yi to finish speaking as he said, “Say it. What do you want?”
Ji Yi wasn’t in a hurry to reply, so she looked down at Lin Zhengyi pressed against her body. “Mr. Lin, it’s probably not comfortable to talk like this, right?”
Lin Zhengyi discreetly gritted his teeth, but in the end, he let go of Ji Yi to save face. Then he stepped back a distance before saying, “Now we can talk, right?”
Ji Yi took her time with Lin Zhengyi’s impatience as she casually buttoned up her top and settled into a comfortable position leaning against the wall. Then she slowly looked at Lin Zhengyi before getting straight to the point. “My objective is simple. I just want you to reconsider investing in ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’ again. As long as you’re willing to invest, I’ll give you all the recordings I have. If you don’t and you want to continue making things difficult, then Mr. Lin, I’m sorry, but all I can do is ruin it for everybody!”
“Last time at the China World Hotel Beijing, Mr. Lin, you were disrespectful to me first. Though Mr. He was wrong to hit you, he did so with good reason. If you truly can’t take what he did to you, Mr. Lin, then I solemnly apologize to you on his behalf!”
“Mr. Lin, I didn’t talk to you about it during the dinner party today because I didn’t want to make you lose face. I really hope that everyone can just get along.”
“What’s more, you should know that whoever invests in ‘Three Thousand Lunatics’ will profit. As a business person, there’s no reason for you not to make money.”
“You’re a smart person; you can weigh the options. I’m sure you know better than I.”
Having spoken for so long with the same tone, Ji Yi clearly saw Lin Zhengyi’s eyes shift. She knew Lin Zhengyi would definitely agree to her proposed terms.
In actuality, before she even arrived, she was certain Lin Zhengyi would agree.
No matter how perverted a man was, they’d never jeopardize a huge sum of money and their bright future to mess around with a beautiful woman.
Ji Yi sensed the alcohol affecting her, so seeing as she’d accomplished what she wanted to do, she slowly straightened up. Without wanting to talk any more nonsense with Lin Zhengyi, she started to wrap things up. “I’ve finished what I wanted to say, Mr. Lin. I’ll give you one night to consider it. You have my contact details, so when you have an answer, please contact me at any time. Mr. Lin, I have some business, so I’ll be leaving first. I won’t keep you from your dinner party any longer, so goodbye.”
As Ji Yi finished speaking, she shot Lin Zhengyi a polite and courteous smile. Then she sauntered out of the lounge in her high heels.
Chapter 166: Isn’t This How You Like it? (6)
Just as she walked up to the door, before she could even reach her hand out to open the door, it suddenly swung open with a hard kick from the outside.
Ji Yi was so frightened that she took two abrupt steps back to just avoid getting smacked in the face by the wooden doors.
She let out a cold breath of air in a panic before she looked up, slightly angry. She was about to ask the person who kicked the door “What are you doing?”, but the words never came. Instead, she stared at the arrogant person in an all-black ensemble at the door for a long while.
The expression on the man’s face was as distant and cold as usual. His fine facial features were breathtaking and he was frighteningly handsome under the lights from the corridors.
He stared deeply into her eyes with a killer charisma, but all that Ji Yi was focused on was a trace of sternness which gave her an immense trembling fear.
An air of danger silently crept into Ji Yi’s heart and she instinctively lowered her head to avoid his gaze. From the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the man’s red string on his wrist, and that was when she woke up a little.
It was He Jichen. Why… is he here?
The thought hadn’t settled in Ji Yi’s mind when she felt He Jichen, who was standing at the door, finally move.
She instinctively looked down and saw his transfixed gaze upon her as he drew closer, one step at a time.
As he drew closer, Ji Yi clearly felt a threateningly cold air coming from his body.
Ji Yi’s fingertips trembled and she was about to take two steps back to keep some distance between her and He Jichen, when he suddenly reached his arm out and pointed at Lin Zhengyi behind her.
His actions were simple, yet there was a dangerous air pouring out from his body.
Ji Yi thought he was immediately going to start cursing, but to her surprise, he didn’t say anything. He merely pointed at Lin Zhengyi up and down. The next second, his hand moved over to Ji Yi’s side. Without giving any time for Ji Yi to react, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out.
He Jichen brushed past someone who knew him at Yue Yuan and greeted him politely.
With a cold expression on his face, he ignored everyone around him and blindly dragged Ji Yi down the long and winding corridors, then out the doors.
His strides were long and fast, so Ji Yi, who stumbled behind him in her heels, almost tripped several times.
He grabbed her frighteningly tightly on her wrists, and it felt as though her bones were being crushed. It hurt so much that Ji Yi’s teeth were left chattering.
The doorman at the entrance of Yue Yuan saw He Jichen come out and immediately handed him his car keys. “Mr. He, your car is…”
Before the doorman could finish, He Jichen snatched his keys and headed right for the parking lot nearby while taking large strides and dragging Ji Yi along with him.
As he reached his car, He Jichen pulled the car door open and forcefully shoved Ji Yi in. The door slammed shut.
He used such force that the car door created a loud slamming sound. Having been shoved into the car seat, Ji Yi still hadn’t snapped back to reality when she heard the sound of a door in the front open.
Ji Yi raised her head and saw He Jichen get into the driver’s seat.
Before she even saw him start up the car, the car sped off at an alarming speed.
Without a seatbelt on, she toppled forward.