Chapter 71
When Zong Mo woke up in the morning, he was once again entangled like an octopus by a certain someone. It was still early, so he lay in bed for a little longer and scrolled through Weibo.
Trending Topic #1: #ZongMo
The trending topic was just his own name, but he hadn’t worked for a while. He didn’t know where the popularity came from.
Zong Mo clicked on the trending topic to check. The first thing that caught his eye was a long article.
Most netizens naturally didn’t have the patience to read a long article, but the title of this article was extremely eye-catching: “The History of a Popular Little Fresh Meat Sleeping His Way to the Top.”
Zong Mo: …
Although it didn’t directly name names, the trending topic was his name, that’s right.
This article, like a list of crimes, sorted out the resources he had obtained since his debut, one by one. And it repeatedly questioned how he, an orphan, could have his own studio and obtain these resources right after his debut, and on what grounds he could surpass veteran actors in status with his terrible acting skills.
These were all things that had happened before Zong Mo had transmigrated.
The words were also filled with vague speculations about his behind-the-scenes sponsor. What kind of tycoon was he? What kind of shameful “price” had he paid? He could even invite the dignified film emperor to be his supporting actor.
Zong Mo: …
Compared to the anger of being wronged, he was more speechless. Lu Bo being his supporting actor had nothing to do with Ruan Chi. It was because of the unbreakable fate between the main gong and shou!
Exposing the ugliness and evil behind the beauty was always the most eye-catching. This article was published in the middle of the night. In just a few hours, in the early morning when the traffic was not high, the trending topic had exploded.
Zong Mo casually scanned the trending topic square. It was full of filthy and unbearable speculations. But his heart was calm, and he was even in a daze, his mind blank.
Why did the plot of the sponsorship being exposed still come?
But it was a little different from the novel. It wasn’t actually that the sponsorship was exposed, but that he was rumored to be sponsored.
Zong Mo hadn’t asked Ruan Chi in detail what kind of contract he had signed with the main shou, to avoid bringing up the unpleasant memory by the lake. But, this was clearly a work contract, and it had already expired.
In the novel, the main shou‘s sudden rise to fame had blocked the path of many people. It was expected that his sponsorship would be exposed. In the end, with the help of the main gong, he had successfully clarified the situation, but he had not been able to prove that he had not been sponsored, and Ruan Chi had not helped him explain either.
He had only stated that he had been sponsored against his will. Because he had to pay a large amount of contract termination fees to a shell company, he had to drop out of school and work. He had no choice but to accept Ruan Chi’s help. Although it was nominally a sponsorship relationship, there had been no intimate contact between the two.
He was cleared just like that, and Ruan Chi was scolded in his place.
Being sponsored could be said to be against one’s will, but sponsoring others was unacceptable in both reason and sentiment.
However, Ruan Chi didn’t care at all whether he was scolded or not. This point was the same as in reality.
The current Ruan Chi was also an artist like Zong Mo, with his own fans, and the two of them also had a large number of CP fans. Zong Mo thought to himself, even if such a scandal of sponsoring others was exposed, Ruan Chi wouldn’t be scolded too badly. Besides, he didn’t care about the outside world’s opinions to begin with.
But Ruan Chi was bankrupt.
With such a scandal, he would most likely not be able to get any more acting jobs.
Zong Mo couldn’t think of a suitable solution no matter what. He was in a bad mood. Just as he sat up, Ruan Chi was woken up by him.
Ruan Chi was awake but still closed his eyes and wanted to hug him again. Only after finding that there was only a pair of legs beside him did he open his eyes and look up at the person sitting there. He immediately noticed that his expression was not right.
“What’s wrong?”
Zong Mo pursed his lips. Although he wanted to bear this unfounded rumor alone, Ruan Chi would find out sooner or later as long as he wasn’t blind. And, he also felt that with their current relationship, they should not hide anything from each other.
So Zong Mo said directly, “CEO Ruan, I’m on the trending list. Someone said I’m being sponsored…”
Ruan Chi’s brows furrowed. He quickly sat up and took out his phone to check.
His face grew darker and darker, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
This matter had come a bit suddenly, or rather, abnormally.
“You should stop looking for now,” Ruan Chi said.
“Why?” Zong Mo subconsciously asked first, then guessed that Ruan Chi probably thought he would be upset by the dirty words. He thought for a moment and said, “But isn’t this matter related to me? Then shall I watch it with you?”
Ruan Chi let out a “mm” and let him lean his head over.
The content was still the same. It didn’t feel like much when he looked at it from someone else’s phone. Zong Mo turned his head to look at Ruan Chi again, forcing himself to resist the urge to rub his brow. He accidentally glanced at a WeChat message that popped up at the top of the phone screen.
Lu Bo: [How do you do things?]
Zong Mo: …
Although he felt he shouldn’t be prying into Ruan Chi’s privacy, the sender was Lu Bo. It was hard for him not to be curious!
Ruan Chi didn’t avoid him. He clicked on the message and replied with “scram,” then opened Lu Bo’s personal profile in the top right corner, clicked delete friend, and confirmed.
Zong Mo: ?
Ruan Chi switched back to Weibo, looked for a while, and said, “There are many marketing accounts pushing the boat along.”
Zong Mo had read the novel and had accumulated a lot of experience after being a celebrity for so long. So he guessed, “Is someone deliberately trying to blacken my name? Did I block someone’s path?”
“Anyone with eyes can guess that you have someone behind you. They wouldn’t have the guts.”
“But you’re bankrupt now…”
“These marketing accounts seem to be blackening your name,” Ruan Chi said. “But they’re actually guiding the netizens to guess who your sponsor is.”
Zong Mo was stunned.
Ruan Chi continued, “This is aimed at me.”
Zong Mo said anxiously, “But you’re bankrupt. What should we do? Why is it at this time… was it done by your old competitors?”
The Ruan Chi in the novel was not bankrupt, but after being exposed for sponsoring others, his company had also suffered a great loss, and the stock price had dropped by who knows how much.
And for the bankrupt Ruan Chi, the consequences might be even more serious.
Ruan Chi looked over and called out, “Zong Mo.”
Zong Mo met his gaze and understood, “Are you angry?”
Ruan Chi: “Mm.”
“Is it because I’m being rumored about?”
Ruan Chi looked at him quietly, “Mm, they shouldn’t have dragged you into this.”
Zong Mo tried to comfort him, “I don’t really care what these people say. As long as my conscience is clear. But if they continue to spread rumors that you’re sponsoring others, can you still develop in the entertainment industry in the future?”
Ruan Chi looked at him deeply, trying hard to suppress the anger that was almost rising to his throat, and said in a gentle voice, “Baby.”
Zong Mo’s cheeks heated up, “Hmm?”
“I have to go out,” Ruan Chi said. “You wait for me at home.”
“Mm,” Zong Mo nodded. He wasn’t very concerned about where Ruan Chi was going or what he was going to do. He only cared, “Then when will you be back?”
“Tomorrow at the latest,” Ruan Chi said.
A branch of the Qinghai Group.
Ruan Ming was a capable person. He was already over fifty, and his experience in managing a company was much richer than those who had parachuted in. Even if it was just a small branch, he managed it very well.
But this was just a small branch.
Ruan Ming’s eyes lifted, a dark and sinister light flashing in them.
Ruan Qin, on the other hand, was cheerful and said to him, “Second brother, the funds are ready, right? When the scandal of him sponsoring others breaks out, the stock prices of Ruan Chi’s several companies will definitely plummet. After we acquire them, let’s see how he can still be so proud.”
“Mm, maybe we don’t even have to do anything. Ruan Chi will admit it himself to clear that kid’s name,” Ruan Ming said coolly. “You should also go and do something productive. This is not a place for idle chat.”
Being squeezed by his younger brother like this, Ruan Qin’s face immediately became ugly, but he could only endure it and said sullenly, “Yes, then I’ll go back first.”
Ruan Qin took the elevator downstairs, and on the way, he couldn’t help but take out his phone and scroll, smiling from ear to ear. It wasn’t until the elevator reached the first floor and the doors opened that he looked up to go out, just in time to meet a pair of eyes that were a hundred times colder than his second brother’s.
Ruan Qin was shocked and immediately wanted to hide back in the elevator, but the person who came grabbed him by the collar and slapped him so hard that he stumbled.
Ruan Qin was dizzy and his mind was blank from the sudden blow. He fell heavily to the ground, his phone flying several meters away and shattering.
“Idiot.”
Ruan Chi completely ignored the stunned person on the ground, spat out two words from a high position, and then entered the elevator in his place.
It was a long while before Ruan Qin reacted. In the horrified or pitying gazes of the surrounding company employees, he cursed angrily as an afterthought, “Holy shit!”
Ruan Chi went all the way unimpeded and directly broke into the CEO’s office.
The employees of the branch could not, and dared not, stop the real owner of the group.
Ruan Ming had thought it was a secretary who had forgotten to knock and was reporting an urgent matter. He glanced over unhappily, only to see an unexpected person.
Ruan Ming stood up abruptly.
Ruan Chi, on the other hand, walked forward slowly and calmly, his steps rhythmic. But Ruan Ming was inexplicably terrified, his heart trembling with each step.
He secretly swallowed, “Ruan Chi… what do you want to do?”
Ruan Chi had often gone crazy at the old residence and at gatherings, but he would not be so outrageous when Old Master Ruan was present. At most, he would say a few sarcastic and cutting words.
And the others would not argue with a junior in front of the old man. They would all endure it for a moment, and it would be enough after he finished cursing. It wouldn’t come to a fight on the spot.
But the old man was gone.
To be honest, when the old man was alive, Ruan Chi hadn’t been very restrained either.
Now it seemed that the reason they hadn’t fought was more because they had never really touched Ruan Chi’s bottom line.
Ruan Ming swallowed again, his trembling voice revealing his nervousness, “Don’t go crazy. There are surveillance cameras here… fuck!”
The moment he finished speaking, he was suddenly kicked in the vulnerable waist by Ruan Chi. He squatted down in pain. Ruan Chi was merciless, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him up, then slamming him hard against the wall.
“Surveillance cameras. Of course, there have to be surveillance cameras,” Ruan Chi said coldly. “I’ll have to enjoy it again, and also leave a memento for your good sons and grandsons.”
Ruan Ming had not yet recovered and was leaning against the wall to ease his concussion. Just as his eyes regained focus, he saw that Ruan Chi had already walked a few steps away and was coming back with a ceramic vase.
Ruan Ming was too scared to dodge and could only curse in a desperate struggle, “Holy shit! Are you crazy?!”
He had no doubt that Ruan Chi really wanted to kill him.
But he had no time to dodge. He only heard a loud crack explode above his head. Sharp ceramic fragments fell like a heavy rain. His exposed facial skin first felt a coolness, followed by a dense, stinging pain.
It hurt, but the vase had not hit his head directly. He was not a soft persimmon that could be kneaded at will. He immediately cursed again, “I f***ing…”
But Ruan Chi was not done yet. He kicked him in the knee, forcing him to kneel down in the ceramic fragments.
His knees and legs, bearing the weight of his whole body, slammed into the fragments on the floor. Ruan Ming sucked in a breath of cold air, but the words that came out of his mouth were still foul.
Ruan Chi turned a deaf ear, squatted down, and leisurely picked out a sharp, knife-shaped fragment from the broken porcelain.
“There’s a game… I think it’s called ‘fast knife between the fingers’? Have you heard of it?”
Ruan Ming suppressed his fear and pain, constantly sucking in low breaths, but he refused to answer the person before him again.
He was almost certain that Ruan Chi was crazy.
But behind him was a wall. He had nowhere to retreat, nowhere to hide.
“It’s said that you have to close your eyes when you play this game. I’ll try it first.”
The moment Ruan Chi finished speaking, his hand rose and fell. Before Ruan Ming could recover, he had fiercely stabbed the ceramic fragment between his fingers, making a harsh noise on the ceramic floor.
“Unfortunately, I missed.”
“Unfortunately, I missed again.”
Ruan Ming knew he should pull his hand back and dodge, but he was so stiff he didn’t dare to move. He was only afraid that if he dodged, Ruan Chi would “accidentally” hit him.
“I should close my eyes next time,” Ruan Chi said regretfully, then used the ceramic fragment to pick at the thin skin on the back of his hand.
“Don’t touch things you shouldn’t touch with your dirty hands again, understand?”
Ruan Chi stood up slowly, looked down at him with cold eyes, and finally dropped a sentence, “I will definitely kill you, trash.”
After speaking, he did not rush to leave but walked around the office unhurriedly, picked up a photo frame on the desk, walked back to Ruan Ming, squatted down, and showed him the photo frame in his hand.
On his own desk were, of course, photos of his family and loved ones. Ruan Ming looked at the family photo of his smiling son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, but he felt no joy, only a chill all over his body.
Only then did Ruan Chi leisurely finish his sentence, “And your little trashes.”
Ruan Ming gritted his teeth, his voice lowering, “Damn it, you madman…”
No matter how indifferent a person was in terms of feelings, even if they couldn’t empathize, as long as they were smart enough, they could easily find others’ soft spots.
Ruan Chi was returning the favor in kind… no, he was returning it in double.
Ruan Ming suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, full of regret.
Ruan Chi held the photo frame, stood up with a blank expression, and after walking a few slow steps, he suddenly turned around.
With a wave of his long arm, he threw the photo frame with great force, directly at the head of the person by the wall.
The glass photo frame suddenly shattered by his ear. Ruan Ming, filled with fear and dread, tightly closed his eyes.
