Chapter 18
Everyone: “…”
A pen came flying in from the distance, barely grazing the fluffy, soft little curls on top of Lin Zhiqiao’s head.
Lin Zhiqiao: Eek!!!
He shrank his neck and looked over in terror at Ji Ran, who had appeared at the corner at some unknown time.
“Sorry, my hand slipped.” Ji Ran gave a fake smile that did not reach his eyes. “You’re fine, right, Lin. Xiao. Qiao?”
Lin Zhiqiao hesitated. “I-I’m fine?”
Ji Ran let out an “oh,” and somehow, his tone sounded rather regretful.
Having just found their real young master, the four members of the Ji family obviously still had things to deal with. After sending Lin Zhiqiao and the others back to the training base, they took Ji Ran and Cheng Xia with them and left.
Ji Ran rolled down the window and waved to them. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”
Cheng Xia still looked a little hesitant, as if he wanted to say something else. “I wa—mmph—”
Ji Ran noticed his expression and covered Cheng Xia’s mouth with one hand. “No. You don’t want to say anything.”
Then he swiftly rolled the window back up. The extended luxury car sped off into the distance and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lin Zhiqiao: [Ah, Cheng Xia got kidnapped away.]
Everyone found themselves caught between laughter and tears.
888 announced: [Gossip rating: A+. Bonus: 880,000. Live on-site gossip bonus doubled. Little treasury credited with 1.76 million!]
Lin Zhiqiao staggered.
Tang Zhou hurriedly caught him and asked worriedly, “Zhiqiao, are you okay?”
Two happy blushes floated onto the chestnut-haired young man’s pale cheeks, and his voice turned dreamy. “I’m in trouble—ah no, I’m fine.”
Lin Zhiqiao steadied himself. He held it in and held it in, but in the end he still could not help it: “Ehehehe.”
[What a great kidnapping, what a wonderful kidnapping! Do it a few more times!]
Cheng Li came walking over head-on, his steps hurried. “Where’s Cheng Brother Xia? Didn’t he come back with you guys?”
Lin Zhiqiao was busy counting the money in his little treasury. [Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands, millions… if I eat a few more pieces of gossip, then I can have…]
Tang Zhou said, “Cheng Xia, he…”
Lin Zhiqiao: “Ten million!”
Everyone: “?”
Cheng Li frowned. “What do you mean?”
Lin Zhiqiao did not speak. That mysterious, dreamy smile was still hanging on his face.
Tang Zhou froze slightly, seeming to realize something. His eyes instantly turned vigilant, and he declared in a clear, powerful voice, “Zhiqiao is right. Without ten million, we’re not telling you where he is!”
Cheng Li: “???”
The group left in grand procession, leaving Cheng Li standing there alone, his expression shifting unpredictably.
After they had walked far away, Tang Zhou muttered in a low voice, “Zhiqiao, you really are smart.”
Lin Zhiqiao came back to himself. “Hm? What?”
Jiang Qianqian chimed in, “Yeah, yeah! That Cheng Li was obviously up to no good! We can’t let him ruin Xiao Xia’s good thing!”
Lin Zhiqiao blinked.
What had he missed?
Had everyone already realized that Cheng Li was green tea?
Pei Ning and Wen Li exchanged a glance.
Somehow, something felt slightly off.
But somehow, everything still seemed… pretty reasonable?
*
Early the next morning, the trending searches exploded just as expected.
#TheRealYoungMasterOfTheJiFamilyIsActuallyHim#
#FakeAndRealYoungMasterFictionHasEnteredReality#
#Ji Group Announces Three Days Of Paid Leave For All Staff#
#PresidentJiIsHandingOutRedPackets#
…
Several topics exploded on the trending list one after another. At a glance, all of them were about the Ji family finding their real young master.
To celebrate, Father Ji gave the entire company three days off and handed out huge red packets to all employees.
Even Lin Zhiqiao and the others far away at the training base received grand, lavish red packets from Father Ji.
The president of Ji Group updated his Weibo. There was only one obviously newly taken family photo, along with one very simple line—
“Family of four, reunited.”
Countless people across the internet congratulated the Ji family on the return of their real young master. But at the same time, mixed in among the many comments were some rather less harmonious voices.
“So now that the real young master is back, will there still be room for the fake one in the Ji family? [watching-the-show.jpg]”
“Taking bets on how long Ji Ran can still stay in the Ji family.”
“I actually think better of Ji Ran. After all, they raised him by their side for so many years. The feelings should be deeper, right?”
“Cheng Xia’s previous living environment wasn’t exactly great, was it? After living in that kind of family for so many years… suddenly returning to a wealthy household might not actually be a good thing. [shakes-head.jpg]”
There were quite a lot of comments like that. But what nobody expected was that Father Ji and Mother Ji did not choose to ignore them. Instead, they handpicked several of those comments and pinned them, clearly pricing them out: “One red packet per clapback. No time limit, no quantity limit. First come, first served. [friendly-smile.jpg]”
For a while, countless people enthusiastically went to war in the comments, roasting those people so hard they deleted their comments, deactivated their accounts, and ran away.
Separated by nothing more than a screen, Lin Zhiqiao ate the gossip with endless delight. He did not forget to switch to his alt account to clap back at people too, and even collected a round of the promised clapback red packets from Father Ji.
At the same time, Mother Ji also posted a Weibo. It was a lawyer’s letter, with the charges including long-term suspected abuse of a minor, forcing a minor into labor, and so on.
And the targets of the lawsuit were Cheng Qiang and his wife, and… Mingguang Entertainment.
The moment that lawyer’s letter was posted, the entire internet exploded again.
“I can understand suing Cheng Xia’s uncle and aunt. Cheng Qiang’s domestic violence is no longer exactly a secret. But what’s going on with Mingguang Entertainment? And what does forced labor mean?”
“I have a bold guess. Doesn’t everyone know Cheng Xia signed a thirty-year contract with Mingguang Entertainment? That thirty-year contract… could it be that Cheng Xia never signed it willingly in the first place?”
“A friend told me that while Mingguang trainees’ contracts are active, they’re not allowed to have part-time jobs or look for other work, and the basic subsidy is pitifully low…”
“And if they want to terminate the contract early, no matter which side proposes it and no matter which side is at fault, the trainee who signed still has to pay a huge penalty…”
For a while, all kinds of rumors spread about Mingguang Entertainment’s tyrannical contract terms, and the heat continued to rise.
[Thirty years?! Isn’t that basically a slave contract?!] Lin Zhiqiao was so shocked that the sunflower seeds in his hand fell to the ground.
But once he thought about how the president of Mingguang Entertainment was his so-called “big brother,” Lin Zhiqiao suddenly felt that the existence of a “slave contract” was not all that shocking anymore.
It was absolutely the kind of thing the Lin family would do.
*
Less than a week later, Mingguang Entertainment’s stock price fell yet again.
After receiving the news, Lin Chen had one head and two headaches. “Did you get the trending topic taken down?”
Assistant: “We tried, but it didn’t work. Someone—”
Lin Chen smoothly finished the sentence for him. “Boosted the trend?”
Assistant: “Yes, President Lin.”
Rubbing his temples, Lin Chen had already guessed who was behind it this time—
Obviously, it was the Ji family.
And maybe that person from the Song family had also jumped in and casually stirred the waters.
Lin Chen felt deeply powerless.
To this day, he still did not know exactly how he had offended Song Fengshi enough for the other man to keep targeting him over and over again.
The assistant asked softly, “President Lin, next…?”
“Stabilize public opinion first.” Lin Chen waved a hand wearily. “Tell everyone to come to the meeting.”
*
That very afternoon, Cheng Xia and Ji Ran returned to the base.
Lin Zhiqiao and the others were training in the classroom. Hearing the two voices, everyone almost simultaneously looked up.
Ji Ran dragged Cheng Xia along, his face full of smug show-off energy. “Let me introduce him—Cheng Xia, my biological brother in everything except shared parents!”
Cheng Xia pressed his lips together. He looked a little embarrassed, but the old hesitation and retreat were gone.
It looked like Father Ji and Mother Ji’s straightforward offensive had been extremely effective.
The classroom was full of warmth and joy, but an unwelcome guest suddenly showed up and shattered the peace.
Someone pushed open the classroom door, their gaze landing on Cheng Xia. “Cheng Xia, my ancestor, you finally came back!”
The newcomer was Jiang Cheng, the person who had been in charge of Cheng Xia all this time.
“You ran off outside without even telling me. I waited for you for two whole days! Do you know how I survived these past two days?!”
Jiang Cheng’s voice carried anger, but the moment his gaze swept over the camera nearby, he barely managed to control his expression.
[Only two days! Just a mere two days! Back when my good son was wronged and went looking for you, you made him eat shut-out after shut-out for several whole months!]
Lin Zhiqiao secretly curled his lip. [At a moment like this, someone should just slam the door right in his face! Then curse him hard too!]
Cheng Xia’s heart stirred, and his hands itched a little, as if he were eager to try it.
But someone moved faster than him.
Ji Ran strode forward in two steps. “Sorry. No time.”
Then, with a bang, he slammed the door shut.
And locked it too.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded.
Inside his heart, Lin Zhiqiao clapped enthusiastically and even added his own sound effects: [Pah! You damn bastard!]
