Chapter 56

Zhou Qiaoqiao couldn’t continue speaking, she just lowered her head, blushing, and muttered softly, “It’s just a small matter.”

Yan Wei smiled and pinched her cheek, still resolutely saying, “No, it’s not.”

Zhou Qiaoqiao ignored him, so Yan Wei had to ask her, “Qiaoqiao, how about going to Yuyao with me tomorrow?”

Zhou Qiaoqiao was taken aback, a sense of desolation on her face, “No, I don’t want to go. I shouldn’t have gone from the beginning. It’s my greed’s fault.”

Seeing her like this, Yan Wei felt even more heartache. How could he possibly blame her!

With this thought in mind, Yan Wei was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter. Beauty brings disaster? No wonder they say that beauty brings disaster. Just because Zhou Qiaoqiao frowned, he wanted to dismiss Yuyao. If he didn’t clearly know that his dear Qiaoqiao was just an innocent and cute girl, he might have thought she was saying this on purpose!

Seeing Yan Wei laugh, Zhou Qiaoqiao thought he was laughing at her and turned her head unhappily.

Yan Wei used both hands to turn Zhou Qiaoqiao’s head back and said, “Qiaoqiao, don’t be mad. It’s my fault.”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

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What did he mean? It was self-evident.

Zhou Qiaoqiao was utterly dumbfounded, as if an entire suite had fallen from the sky and landed on her head. Although it was just a small single apartment, Zhou Qiaoqiao was still stunned.

They had a place of their own? Suddenly, they belonged to the “homeowners” category?

That was Zhou Qiaoqiao’s only thought at the time – she had her own home!

Yan Wei pulled Zhou Qiaoqiao inside, and he sat by the foyer, bending down to untie the laces of her sneakers. He naturally said, “I really like this apartment. I like this small space. No matter what time of day, wherever you are… I can know instantly. And wherever I am, you can always find me. It’s very good this way!”

Zhou Qiaoqiao looked at the top of Yan Wei’s head and nodded, saying, “Yes, it’s very good.”

---

Fei Yufei really didn’t want to see Yan Wei again. He was practically a demon. In the past two days, there had been a continuous stream of news online about Shi Suoya.

Shi Suoya was now in advertisements, TV shows, movies, variety shows – any contract related to her was landing on his desk like snowflakes.

Fei Yufei was utterly overwhelmed. The company had invested so much effort into nurturing Shi Suoya, the current top-flowing young actress. And yet, she was being discarded just like that?

With just one phone call from Yan Wei, she was cast aside!

Fei Yufei felt like his heart and lungs were being squeezed. And before he could even fully process that discomfort, he received a call from his secretary informing him that President Yan wanted to see him.

“President Yan? Which President Yan?”

The secretary sounded puzzled, “The President Yan who came yesterday, of course!”

Fei Yufei nearly jumped out of his chair, saying, “I, I know. Keep him entertained. I’ll be right there.”

With that, Fei Yufei immediately rushed towards Yan Ye’s office. If your brother is here, how could you let me handle this alone?

As Fei Yufei hurried towards Yan Ye’s office, he also cursed the Yan family for producing such a devil. He had once entertained the fantasy of what might have happened if Yan Wei hadn’t left the company all those years ago. Where would he have led Yuyao Entertainment?

It was truly unimaginable!

Yan Ye was currently discussing matters with Yan Yifei. The main topic was the investment that had fallen through with Chunyi Entertainment.

However, Chunyi Entertainment had been Fei Yufei’s target from the start. Yan Ye’s main interest was the investment from Linhua Technology, the largest domestic tech giant.

Just a month ago, Yan Ye had managed to obtain contact information for Linhua. After Linhua heard about his proposal, they had expressed their willingness to meet.

Yan Ye went to great lengths to find red wine, as he heard that the CEO of Linhua Technology had a fondness for it. There was no choice; Yuyao Entertainment was entering a critical turning point year, and whoever could secure a major investment would be a hero for the company.

As a result, the argument between Yan Ye and Fei Yufei at the annual meeting escalated so intensely.

While Yan Ye and Yan Yifei were in the middle of a discussion, Fei Yufei suddenly burst into the office, saying, “Yan Wei is here.”

Yan Yifei rolled up his sleeves, not entirely confident, but pretended to be confidently assertive, “Let’s go see what this little troublemaker wants.”

And so, the three lifelong rivals, who had fought against each other for years, suddenly formed an unexpectedly united front and headed purposefully to the reception room.

After being pampered like a little pig by Yan Wei for two days at home, Zhou Qiaoqiao was yawning as she was pulled out of the house by Yan Wei early in the morning. He had said they were coming to seek justice, but she wasn’t sure if it would work out. Regardless of the outcome, she planned to pretend to be very happy and not let Yan Wei feel upset!

Then, Zhou Qiaoqiao’s eyes widened in shock as she saw the three people enter…

Oh my God, are we going to settle accounts here? Do we really need the supervision of the three big bosses of the company?

However, what Zhou Qiaoqiao didn’t expect was that Fei Yufei rubbed his hands together and ingratiatingly smiled, saying, “President Yan, what wind brought you here? If you had just made a phone call, we could have gone down to greet you.”

Yan Wei caught Zhou Qiaoqiao, who was about to stand up, and signaled with his eyes for her to “stay put.” Zhou Qiaoqiao immediately plopped back down.

When Zhou Qiaoqiao regained her senses, she saw that the legendary and formidable General Manager Fei was sitting right across from her, wearing a very friendly smile and saying, “Young Madam, you’re here. I feel regretful for the unjustified suffering you’ve endured due to the incomplete investigation in this recent case. My heart hasn’t been at peace since then.”

As he spoke, he lightly slapped himself on the cheek and continued with a smile, “Sigh, it’s my fault. Allowing such a lapse in the company’s performance, Young Madam, please don’t dwell on it with a commoner like me.”

Zhou Qiaoqiao felt a bit like a queen facing a fawning eunuch grand steward.

Zhou Qiaoqiao: “…”

Throughout this, Yan Wei remained silent, completely ignoring Fei Yufei’s show of submission, and instead, he held Zhou Qiaoqiao’s hand and toyed with it.

But among those present, it was Yan Yifei who was most shocked. To think that Fei Yufei, who had been his rival since their youth, would speak with such self-deprecation.

Keep in mind, they’ve been rivals for decades. They even fought for a while during their youth over the title “Brother Fei” in the company due to their similar names.

This Fei Yufei, who used to be like this in front of Yan Wei, is now as obedient as a rabbit?

Yan Yifei glanced at his eldest son, feeling somewhat unsure whether he should be pleased or not.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Fei Yufei spoke a string of kind words, but Zhou Qiaoqiao didn’t react. Fei Yufei was getting frustrated. He had even lowered his head, yet Zhou Qiaoqiao still wasn’t speaking. Did she expect him to kneel down and beg her? Why was she being so disrespectful?

Fei Yufei looked towards Yan Yifei, thinking, “Come on! You’re his father, after all! Damn it, how is this old man so lucky to have such an amazing son? If this were my son, I’d have to pamper him.”

Yan Yifei noticed the quietness in the office and Fei Yufei’s annoyed and resentful gaze, immediately regaining his composure.

Then, according to their agreement, he slammed the table, stood up, and scolded, “Do you really think our company needs your small investment? Let me tell you, we’ve established contact with the CEO of Linhua Technology Co., Ltd. They are willing to invest in us.”

Yan Wei chuckled softly, took out his phone, and dialed a number. Yan Yifei caught a glimpse of the phone number on his big brother’s phone and felt a shock ripple through his body.

This number was… the private number of the CEO of Linhua Technology. If it wasn’t for his efforts last month to obtain it by all means, they wouldn’t have known this number. But how did his big brother know about it?

While Yan Yifei was still shocked, he saw Yan Wei put the phone on speaker and within 10 seconds, the call was answered on the other end.

“Hello, are you President Yan?” The voice of the CEO of Linhua Technology came through the phone, and it could even be said that his voice sounded somewhat excited.

“Yes.” In contrast, Yan Wei’s response was quite indifferent.

“You finally contacted me. I had heard that you’ve been recovering in the country recently. I’ve been wanting to visit, but Mr. Tong said you were busy, so I couldn’t get in touch. My apologies for that.”

Yan Ye was on the verge of losing track of his emotions. He had put in a lot of effort to secure a meeting with the CEO of a major company, and yet even such a CEO couldn’t get a meeting with his big brother?

Yan Wei exchanged a few words with the CEO of Linhua Technology and then ended the call. For a moment, the office was even quieter than before. Only Yan Wei’s slightly puzzled voice broke the silence, “Father, is that the Linhua uou were talking about?”

Yan Yifei: “…”

Zhou Qiaoqiao: “…”

Seeing Yan Wei slap his own father’s face with such a resounding sound, Fei Yufei became even more compliant.

In the spacious office, everyone remained silent. Fine then! If you’re so capable, what do you intend to do?

Yan Wei turned his head and glanced at Zhou Qiaoqiao, saying, “My wife says she can retrieve the missing receipts from her memory. What I mean is, my wife is here to clear her name.”

Fei Yufei immediately groveled, “Why should the lady personally investigate? I’ll have someone look into it for her.”

Zhou Qiaoqiao shook her head and quickly added, “No need, I handled the accounts myself. The cash expenses for the month were not many, and I can calculate them. Sending someone to investigate on my behalf is just using connections and pulling strings. In reality, whether I’m wronged or not, others can’t really determine.”

But she was different; she could clearly reconcile the accounts, the evidence, and the people, thereby proving her innocence.

Zhou Qiaoqiao’s statement left Fei Yufei with no room to object. He could only nod and say, “Of course, I’ll have the account book brought over.”

“And the computer records and such,” Zhou Qiaoqiao added.

Fei Yufei immediately nodded, saying, “Certainly, certainly.”

And then, on that day, Zhou Qiaoqiao spent a morning meticulously cross-referencing the confiscated invoices and quickly managed to recover several missing original invoices from memory. This required the reimbursement claimants to come in to verify and sign the receipts.

Fei Yufei was very cooperative, bringing in the individuals and matching them one by one. Of course, they soon sorted out the accounts.

No physical evidence, but testimonies!

No receipts, but the Deputy General Manager’s recognition!

Using an approach she hadn’t even considered, Zhou Qiaoqiao finally managed to clarify the situation.

It could be described as – easy as pie!

What had been incredibly difficult before now seemed so simple, as if resolving it were as easy as snapping one’s fingers.

Even Zhou Qiaoqiao, who knew little about the matter, understood that this was largely thanks to Yan Wei.

Yan Wei seemed to be more than just the CEO of a small company. He was far more capable than she had imagined…

Zhou Qiaoqiao turned her head and saw Yan Wei smiling at her. He asked, “Are you satisfied with the outcome of this resolution?”

Zhou Qiaoqiao turned back and looked at the recovered receipts and the signatures of the reimbursement claimants for the missing ones. The discrepancies from last month were reconciled. She was no longer the Zhou Qiaoqiao accused of misappropriating funds. There didn’t seem to be any remaining issues.

So, Zhou Qiaoqiao nodded and said, “Yes, I’m satisfied.”

Yan Wei nodded with a smile, then turned to look at Fei Yufei. His expression, once mild, turned icy cold.

Fei Yufei: “…@#￥%?”

Now that the matter was resolved and he didn’t want to face Yan Wei, Fei Yufei felt a bit toothache-inducing. He said, “I’ll explain this to the finance department on the lady’s behalf, and I’ll take these pieces of evidence with me.”

Yan Wei nodded, and Fei Yufei once again felt the toothache coming on. He felt Yan Wei was simply too unattainable, making him feel like a mere employee. But when he thought about it, he realized he was the one who initiated everything, whether it was with Zhou Qiaoqiao or his application for investment from Chunyi. It felt like he had been played by Chunyi to some extent.

Fei Yufei sighed, took the documents, and left.

With the outsiders gone, only Yan Yifei, Yan Yifei, Zhou Qiaoqiao, and Yan Wei remained in the office.

Without anyone else around, Yan Yifei’s demeanor softened a bit, and he asked Yan Wei somewhat awkwardly, “Are you the owner of Chunyi?”

Yan Wei looked at him, and Zhou Qiaoqiao was momentarily puzzled by the pronunciation of “Chunyi.” It sounded oddly familiar.

Yan Yifei clenched his fist, lowered his head without speaking.

Yan Yifei continued, “Since you’re the owner of Chunyi, why have you never mentioned it?”

Yan Wei chuckled and asked, “Why have you never asked?”

Yan Yifei was taken aback, and Yan Wei sighed, “I wasn’t trying to hide it. If you had asked, I would have told you.”

This statement… Yan Yifei lowered his head. In other words, Yan Wei’s comment could be interpreted as, “You didn’t know, which proves that you aren’t concerned enough, right?”

Yan Wei stood up and said to them, “I’ll head back for now. If you need anything, you can contact my secretary.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Yifei’s temper flared, and he questioned him angrily, “I’m your father, and you want me to go through your secretary to see you?”

Yan Wei turned back to look at him, his expression cold. He said something Yan Yifei had taught him years ago, “You once taught me, ‘Close kin should settle accounts clearly.’ I’ve always kept that in mind.”

With that, Yan Wei left with Zhou Qiaoqiao.

Zhou Qiaoqiao remained quiet throughout the journey, until they reached the ground floor. As the elevator doors opened, she exclaimed, “I remember now! Is it Chunyi? Is it Chunyi?”

Yan Wei stood by the elevator door, watching Zhou Qiaoqiao’s excited expression. He knew she was excited because she had recalled something, and at this moment, Zhou Qiaoqiao probably hadn’t realized the significance of “Chunyi”!

As Zhou Qiaoqiao stepped out of the elevator, she grabbed Yan Wei’s arm. Yan Wei was a head taller than Zhou Qiaoqiao, so he always had to lower his head when looking at her. He extended his hand and gently stroked her head. Zhou Qiaoqiao’s hair was fine and tender; touching it was addictive.

Yan Wei nodded and said, “Yes, Chunyi International Investment Company.”

The smile on Zhou Qiaoqiao’s face froze as Yan Wei pronounced each word in standard American English. She asked, “Is it the one from the United States?”

Yan Wei nodded, and Zhou Qiaoqiao continued, “Are you its founder?”

Yan Wei nodded again, and Zhou Qiaoqiao went on, “What’s your net worth?”

Yan Wei chuckled and said, “I’ve given it all to you…”

Zhou Qiaoqiao remembered the card Yan Wei had given her. She exclaimed in a somewhat disjointed manner, “Inside… Isn’t it money… just handed over to me like this?”

Zhou Qiaoqiao was speaking somewhat incoherently and wasn’t even sure what she wanted to express. Yan Wei found her exceptionally adorable and raised his head, bursting into laughter as he hugged Zhou Qiaoqiao tightly.

You see, he had this capability, and weren’t all his efforts, in the end, meant to ensure that the woman in his arms lived carefree and content?

Standing outside the door, Shang Qiwen watched the two embracing inside, envy gnawing at her. Didn’t he leave? How did he have the audacity to show up at the company?

The crew of “Deep Palace” had notified her to come today, and what she saw as soon as she arrived was the scene before her.

Shang Qiwen felt that fate was truly unfair.

After Yan Wei left with Zhou Qiaoqiao, Zhou Qiaoqiao noticed Shang Qiwen standing by the door.

Shang Qiwen’s expression wasn’t pleasant; she gazed at them with a gloomy look. Zhou Qiaoqiao found her gaze terrifying and quickly grabbed Yan Wei’s coat corner, following him out.

Once Yan Wei and Zhou Qiaoqiao had left, Shang Qiwen watched them head to the bus stop. She then, wearing her red high heels, walked toward the temporary office of “Deep Palace.”

Director Zhang was already inside, and when he saw Shang Qiwen enter, he couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.

As Shang Qiwen opened the door, she saw two individuals seated in the spacious office. One was Director Zhang, wearing a long black woolen coat, and beside him sat Shan Lingtong, wearing an off-white sweater and a black knee-length skirt.

When Shang Qiwen saw Shan Lingtong beside Director Zhang, she was momentarily stunned but managed to keep her composure.

She elegantly took a seat opposite Director Zhang and asked, “May I inquire about the purpose of Director Zhang inviting me here?”

Director Zhang smiled and said, “Well, here’s the thing. ‘Deep Palace’ has decided to change the female lead.”

Shang Qiwen was taken aback, not hearing clearly. She asked, “What did you just say?”

Director Zhang still wore a smile and repeated, “‘Deep Palace’ has decided to change the female lead.”

As he spoke, Director Zhang pointed to Shan Lingtong beside him and said, “This is Miss Shan, the new female lead. I’ve called Miss Shang here to inform her. Oh, what a coincidence, both your surnames are Shan!”

Shang Qiwen finally understood what was going on. She had recently suffered a miscarriage, and she had heard that the director of “Deep Palace” wanted to see her. She had even come before completing her postpartum confinement.

And now, they were telling her they were changing the female lead? Who gave them the audacity?

Shang Qiwen slapped the table with a loud “smack” and questioned, “Director Zhang, did you forget who invested in ‘Deep Palace’? Mr. Yan never mentioned changing me. What right do you have to replace me?”

Director Zhang sneered inwardly but still managed to put on a puzzled expression. He said, “Miss Shang, aren’t you aware? ‘Deep Palace’ secured an additional 200 million in investment, fully funded by Chunyi Investment Company. The initiative for this show now lies with them.”

Speaking of this, Director Zhang laughed heartily and said, “Back when Yuyao invested more heavily, Mr. Yan requested you to be the female lead, so I went along with it. Now that there’s even more investment from the other side, Chunyi wants this Miss Shan to be the female lead, so I can only go along with it!”

Shang Qiwen murmured, “Chunyi? What’s Chunyi? I have no idea.”

Director Zhang found it amusing, though in reality, he didn’t know about Chunyi before either.

It was someone from Chunyi who personally approached their production team for funding, with one condition: the female lead had to be Shan Lingtong.

Director Zhang had been hesitant at the time. Changing the female lead repeatedly wouldn’t look good externally, after all.

But the person had smiled and pushed a check in front of Director Zhang. He glanced at it and was immediately dazzled.

This, this…

“If you are willing to cast Miss Shan Lingtong, this is an additional 200 million investment from my company. Director Zhang, you can take your time to think about it. I just want to remind you, this investment is optional for you. And it will soon be offered to another production if you decline. So, Director Zhang, what do you think?”

Director Zhang still remembered those words. Once the person had left, he checked on his phone and exclaimed, “Wow! Chunyi is truly extraordinary!”

Chunyi International Investment Company.

A publicly listed investment company in the United States, one of the top 10 investment firms internationally.

In recent years, it had gradually entered the Chinese market. Rumors even said that the company had been in the Chinese market for a while, supported by evidence such as the visits of tech industry tycoons and real estate moguls to Chunyi’s Chinese branch.

Although Director Zhang didn’t fully understand, he realized that after this long explanation, one thing was clear: Chunyi was a remarkable company.

200 million! To invest just like that…

Director Zhang agreed. The conditions were too generous.

Chunyi! Clearly an outstanding company, yet it seemed not many people were aware of it.

For instance, across from him, Shang Qiwen was now staring at Shan Lingtong and accusing, “Is it you?”

Shan Lingtong’s face remained cold as she said, “I was also invited.”

Shang Qiwen shot Shan Lingtong a crazed look. She had lost her child! Now she was losing the drama too!

She glared at the two of them and said, “Don’t you dare leave. Wait here for me. I’ll get Mr. Yan.”

As Shang Qiwen hurried off, Shan Lingtong thought of her impending meeting with Yan Ye and felt a bit anxious. She turned to Director Zhang and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Director Zhang waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry. Mr. Yan instructed us to personally inform her. We just need to play our part.”

Shan Lingtong nodded. A while later, Shang Qiwen returned with Yan Ye in tow.

Shang Qiwen pulled Yan Ye and said, “Yan Ye, quickly talk to the director! You can’t let them replace me.”

But the moment Yan Ye entered, his gaze fell entirely on Shan Lingtong. He only saw her black, straight, waist-length hair, her black retro-style dress, and her slender waist.

Why… is she here?

“Yan Ye!!! What are you looking at?” Shang Qiwen screamed.

Yan Ye turned to Shang Qiwen. He saw her frenziedly reprimanding Director Zhang and cursing at Shan Lingtong. Yan Ye lowered his eyes; he no longer had the right to win her back.

“Why did Director Zhang suddenly switch actresses?” Yan Ye was hearing about this for the first time too. Even if not for Shang Qiwen, he needed to find out.

Director Zhang got up with a smile and said, “Mr. Yan (Wei) instructed me to inform you, he has invested in the ‘Deep Palace’ production team, and let Miss Shang Qiwen should think about why she’s being replaced.”

With that, Director Zhang left with Shan Lingtong.

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Sansukini: Shang Qiwen is one of the stuuuupidest supposed FL in a novel. Now she knows, what goes around comes around. No more baby and no more career. And I don’t feel sorry for Yan Ye missing out on Shan Lingtong. He’s so confused.

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