Xiao Jiashu walked into the house with a gloomy face and discovered that his mother had already been waiting for him in the living room for a long time, eyes pinned on the iPad in her hand.
“You’re back? Quickly change your clothes. Your father and brother are in the study discussing work. I told them that you went to a concert with friends.” She shooed him off with her hand, not even bothering to lift up her head.
“Mum, what are you looking at?” Xiao Jiashu squeezed down next to Xue Miao. He discovered that she was in the middle of refreshing the “SUPER New Voice Generation’s” website. The main page was a photo of when Li Jiaer was crowned victor.
“The contestants were very strong this year, but I thought highly of Li Jiaer from the very beginning. Her looks are sweet, has a likable personality, voice is unique, and is currently very popular. If she releases good works consecutively, she’ll be a big sure-fire hit. I told your Aunty Su to go discuss with her about signing a contract with us, but she doesn’t seem to be too interested in Lucky Water[1], and has instead been in contact with Fang Kun many times. It’s such a shame,” Xue Miao said, shaking her head in regret. It was obvious that that she held Li Jiaer in really high esteem.
The already heavily disgusted Xiao Jiashu was angered even further. He coldly snorted, “Did you know, Mum? It’s possible that she’s that high school girl I’ve been searching for the past few years. If it really is her, don’t sign her. I won’t let Royal Crown and Crown Age sign her either.”
Xue Miao looked at her son with shock. “She’s the person you’ve been looking for?”
“It’s possible, but I need to investigate first.” Xiao Jiashu’s face was extremely dark. He carried out his words, going upstairs to contact an old classmate. This classmate was an amazing hacker, and had also pursued his studies overseas in America. After returning to China, he had opened a detective agency. As long as it wasn’t a person of a particularly high status or identity, through the internet, he could dig up absolutely everything about that person within a few hours.
Xiao Jiashu had paid a big sum of money, so naturally the other party speed up their pace. In less than an hour, all of Li Jiaer’s data was sent to Xiao Jiashu’s mailbox. Her original name was Wang Shiqi. She was from Beijing, and had studied at Shidafu High School in the past. Later on, she was involved in a lawsuit, and dropped out of school. Following that, she had plastic surgery, and started working, and had gone through a great deal of experience in the past few years.
Xiao Jiashu had never seen Wang Shiqi in real life, and had only seen a photo of her. However, due to the angle the photo was taken, it wasn’t possible to recognise her in person at a glance. Nevertheless, he knew her voice all too well, so well that it even frequently appeared in his dreams. Those people, that incident, that chaotic and cruel entanglement, had never once retreated in his memories. He had never been a hedonistic rich kid who would use power and authority to crush people, but he wanted to make an exception this time, and sever the other party’s bright future with his very own hands.
Xiao Jiashu had a sleepless night. He went to work the next day with eyes like a panda, and ran into Fang Kun and Ji Mian at the elevator.
“Good morning, Ji-ge, Kun-ge,” he politely greeted.
“Good morning.” Ji Mian gave him a light smile, as if yesterday night’s unpleasantness never happened.
Fang Kun looked at him up and down several times, and then mockingly said, “Xiao Shu, did you go out again and play all night after we sent you back home? I’m not specially picking on you or anything like that but, young people shouldn’t rely on their health and youth and forget how to exercise restraint. You’ll end up paying for it in the future when you get old.” Fang Kun wasn’t a nameless-nobody. There was no need for him to wait upon this big tempered, poisoned-mouthed little young master like he would wait upon an ancestor. When he should dislike someone, he would dislike them, lest he stifled himself.
Xiao Jiashu returned earnestly, “Kun-Ge, I didn’t go out to play, I had insomnia.”
“Heh heh.” Fang Kun laughed and didn’t reply.
Ji Mian, on the other hand, walked out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Although he was mild-tempered, it didn’t mean that he was easy to get along with; it still depended on the other person.
Seeing that their BOSS had arrived, an assistant immediately went up to them. “Ji-ge, Miss Li Jiaer has already arrived. She’s currently in the waiting room. The contract is ready, do you need it now?”
“Go print it out. We should be able to settle the contract today. While you’re at it, call the Training Department’s Chief Shen to come up.” Ji Mian said while removing his suit jacket, his movements both graceful and at ease.
“Yes sir,” the assistant replied, and seeing Young Master Xiao follow closely behind their BOSS like a shadow, not needing to do even the tiniest amount of work, his eyes couldn’t help but reveal a look of envy.
Hearing voices, Li Jiaer promptly walked out of the waiting room. Her expression was extremely taut but her smile hadn’t lost any of its sweetness. She very politely greeted Ji Mian and Fang Kun. When she saw Xiao Jiashu, her neck shrank back slightly, as if she was a bit scared. Xiao Jiashu shot her a glance, and then said indifferently, “I saw a before plastic surgery photo of you yesterday. It was very ugly, but you’re even uglier now.”
Li Jiaer: “…”
Ji Mian pushed open the office door, and said without turning his head around, “Assistant Xiao, could I trouble you to go to the chairman’s office to help me deliver a file.”
Xiao Jiashu unconsciously straightened his back, and solemnly answered, “Okay. Which file is it?” As soon as he finished talking, he turned to look at the row of files with blazing eyes.
Ji Mian signalled to Fang Kun with his chin. “Pass him the programme plan of [Super Partner].”
[Super Partner] was a reality show that Royal Crown Studios was preparing to invest and shoot. Some artists from Crown Age were also going to participate, and every item in the programme had already been discussed and finalised with Xiu Changyu a long time ago. There was no need to deliver the plans to him. From this, you could see how annoying of a character Young Master Xiao was. Even a goody-goody like Ji Mian couldn’t stand him, and needed to find an excuse to send him away.
Fang Kun was well aware of his intentions and immediately passed to the file to Young Master Xiao.
Xiao Jiashu looked at Li Jiaer, and then looked at the file, eyes conflicted. He had originally wanted to stay behind to test out what the girl would say, but this was the first task that had been appointed to him since he entered this office, how could he refuse? In the end, Xiao Jiashu’s dedication to work prevailed over his soul for vengeance and he carefully accepted the file, and promised, “I’ll go right away.”
After he left, Fang Kun explained with a laugh, “He’s here through connections, hanging around here for fun. You don’t need to pay any attention to him.”
“I was a little afraid at first, but both Ji-ge and Kun-ge are here, so my fear slowly disappeared. I think I’ll eventually get used to it.” Li Jiaer hugged herself tightly; her face was deathly pale. Ever since that incident happened, she had developed a certain fear towards men, and was especially scared of men pursuing her or showing interest or attention to her.
“There’s no need for you to get used to this kind of thing. If he dares to harass you, tell me immediately, and I’ll deal with it.” Ji Mian’s voice was gentle but his attitude was firm and powerful.
A blush surfaced on Li Jiaer’s pale cheeks. She said gratefully, “Thank you Ji-ge, I really have been bothering you too much these days. Last time, you helped introduce a drama to me, but I, I rejected it…” Extremely ashamed, her head bowed down as her voice trailed off. Ji Mian supported her so much, but she didn’t know what was good for her and rejected that drama, any normal person would be displeased, right?
However, Ji Mian was as gentle as always. “Why did you reject it? Was there something that didn’t suit you?”
“There was indeed something that didn’t suit me. That drama will be shot in a confined area. Once you enter, you can’t leave the set, and you must stay in the mountains for over two months. Ji-ge, you already know, these past few years, I’ll done every type of job you can think of, it’s not that I can’t handle the hardship, I’m just worried about my mother’s illness. If I’m not by her side, then she will truly be on her own. I want to first earn a bit of money, and help nurse her body back to health, and when she can move about again, I want to take her around with me everywhere, take her with me when I’m filming, concerts…” As Li Jiaer talked, a cheerful smile appeared on her face, and the haze in her eyes had dispersed quite a bit.
They could see that she was extremely filial and was brimming with expectations for the future.
Her experiences deeply touched Ji Mian. Not only did Ji Mian not feel that she didn’t know what was good for her, his good impression of her doubled. The drama he had introduced to her was a big production, had a famous director, and was a respectable period drama. Even before they began shooting, it was already decided that it would be broadcasted at prime-time on CCTV. There was no shortage of people fighting for even a supporting character, let alone the third female lead who had plenty of screen-time. Li Jiaer declined the role for the sake of her mother, and that was equivalent to throwing away the chance to instantly propel herself into fame. The inner turmoil she would have gone through to come to this decision must have been extremely painful.
Between familial love and fame, which is more important? Many would say familial love on the surface, but would always put fame first. At such a young age, Li Jiaer could already do what most people in the world couldn’t do, and that truly wasn’t an easy feat. Her nature, willpower, emotional quotient, potential, far exceeded that of an ordinary person’s. If she was nurtured well, she would definitely be able to become big.
Ji Mian really admired people like her and his attitude naturally grew even warmer. He consoled her, “No problem, what’s done is done. I’ll help find you another suitable opportunity again. Your outer appearance is really good, and you also have an innate talent in acting, you can go down the path of being both a singer and actress.
“Thank you, Ji-ge,” Li Jiaer bowed in deep gratitude.
While they were talking, an assistant delivered the contract. When Ji Mian was about to pass it to Li Jiaer to let her have a closer look, he received Xiu Changyu’s phone call. It was unknown what the person on the other side was saying, but his relaxed expression turned serious, and from serious to grim.
“Why?” He asked in a low voice.
“She offended a person she shouldn’t have. Both Crown Age and Lucky Water have no place for her. Xiao Mian, seeing that I once saved you in the past, give up on her.” Xiu Changyu had never once brought up what had happened in the past before, and even less was he a narrow-minded person who would seek repayment of favours; this was the first time he had ever mentioned it on his own accord.
What was there that Ji Mian could say? He genuinely respected Xiu Changyu. However, after he put down the phone, he didn’t immediately discard the contract. He needed to find a way out for Li Jiaer; he couldn’t let her be ruined just like this. There were certain people who thought they could toy with a person’s fate as they wished, like a god, watching and criticizing from above, and even go as far as unreasonably meddling with others’ lives, and that was absolutely disgusting.
“Jiaer, I cannot sign you.” Instead of finding a random excuse to send her away, and let her wait while filled with endless hopes, he informed her bluntly.
“Wh-why?” Li Jiaer was dumbfounded.
“Someone wants to suppress you.” Ji Mian muttered, “Could it be that those people from before have come back and found you?”
“That’s impossible!” Li Jiaer refuted immediately. She then seemed to realise something and promptly explained, “His entire family immigrated to Australia, and they sold off all their property, there’s no way they’ll come back to find me. Ji-ge, can you help me ask and clearly find out what exactly is going on? I haven’t offended anyone, who wants to suppress me? How can they do that?” She was so upset her eyes were very red, but she still stubbornly wouldn’t let the tears fall.
“I’ll go check it out.” Fang Kun was also really shocked, and immediately pushed open the door and went out. Crown Age was the top entertainment agency in the country and Lucky Water was one of the top three manager companies. If the two decided to work together to shut out an artist, it would be really difficult for that person to have any chance of standing up in the entertainment world ever again. Only if a heavyweight superstar like Ji Mian expended everything to help, would she perhaps have some chance.
[1] Previously Rui Shui, not sure why I left it untranslated in the first place…