Chapter 76
Zhou Ming froze on the spot.
Once he snapped out of it, he instinctively lunged forward, trying to snatch the phone from Zhou Zili’s hand, but obviously, he did not succeed.
Zhou Yu also rushed up to help, but she still failed.
In the middle of the three struggling with each other, the door—which Zhou Ming had already pulled open a crack—was somehow bumped by someone and swung open with a creak, revealing a huge crowd of gossip-loving onlookers outside.
At the front were Lin Zhiqiao, Ji Ran, and the others: “……”
Inside the room, Zhou Zili held his phone up high, refusing to let anyone touch it, while Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu clung to him, standing on tiptoe and still unable to reach their target.
The three tangled figures seemed as if someone had hit pause on them. The whole scene looked ridiculous and weirdly funny.
Zhou Zili accidentally met eyes with Lin Zhiqiao and the others: “……”
Why did it not even feel surprising?
As for Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu, after that brief moment of shock, they quickly came back to themselves. Zhou Ming jumped in place, seemingly trying to take advantage of Zhou Zili’s distraction and grab the phone in one go.
Zhou Zili’s arm shifted, and he effortlessly dodged him again.
At the doorway, Ji Ran gave a light cough and said in a low voice, “Zili, even if they do manage to snatch your phone away, it doesn’t matter. None of us turned our livestreams off. All of us—and all the viewers across the internet—can testify for you.”
Lin Zhiqiao added from the side, “And even if that’s not enough, there’s still the replay. It recorded everything clearly.”
Zhou Zili paused slightly, but said nothing.
He had already turned off his own livestream. Originally, he had thought that no matter how awful his younger siblings were, it was still a family matter, and there was no need to make it widely known.
But now that things had already reached this point, there was no point dwelling on it anymore.
He was not afraid of this matter being exposed to the public. As for what Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu thought…
Zhou Zili glanced at the two of them. Seeing their faces turn a mix of green and white, he let out a cold laugh deep in his heart.
They had no relationship anymore, so there was even less reason for him to care about their feelings.
Zhou Zili withdrew his gaze.
Although the argument between the three had taken place in an empty room, it had still alarmed quite a few people.
At that moment, a large crowd had gathered outside the room, looking at Zhou Zili with concern. Some of them were people who usually got along well with him—like Ji Ran—who even shouted into the room, “Nicely done!”
Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu chose avoidance. They wanted to leave before the police arrived, but the crowd outside was not cooperating at all. The doorway remained tightly blocked, and the two of them could not get even half a step out of the room.
Not long after, the police arrived.
Zhou Zili explained the situation, and with so many people present to testify, the police quickly took Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu away. Zhou Zili also had to go along to the station to make a statement.
The crowd made way for them, and among the sea of people, two heads of hair—one blue, one red—were especially eye-catching.
If it had been the old Zhou Zili, the moment he saw those iconic blue-and-red colors, his first instinct would have been to avoid them.
But the current Zhou Zili was different.
After seeing Heng Yang and Heng Xing, not only did he not avoid them, he actually met their eyes head-on. Then, with a slight turn of his steps, he walked straight toward them.
That caught Heng Yang and Heng Xing by surprise.
One of the policemen walking with Zhou Zili called out to him, “Hey, where are you going?”
“I have a bit of personal business to take care of,” Zhou Zili said. “Sorry, could you give me a few minutes?”
The policeman waved a hand, being quite understanding. “Go on, go on.”
So Zhou Zili successfully stopped in front of the twins. “Since things have already come to this, then let’s settle your matter too while we’re at it.”
Heng Yang and Heng Xing raised their brows, waiting with great interest for what Zhou Zili would say next.
Zhou Zili was just as direct. “I know the two of you have had a problem with me ever since I first entered the Heng family.”
Heng Yang and Heng Xing both froze for a moment, as if they had not expected Zhou Zili to drag this matter out into the open in public.
“I never asked you before why,” Zhou Zili said softly. “But I don’t think there’s any need to ask. In the end, it’s nothing more than a matter of money.”
Heng Xing gave a cold snort. “So you do know. After taking so much money from the Heng family—”
Zhou Zili cut him off. “In your eyes, how much money counts as ‘so much money’?”
Heng Xing’s gaze turned cold. “Doesn’t more than ten million count as ‘so much money’?”
Although Heng Yang said nothing, the look he cast at Zhou Zili was full of ridicule. In some ways, that silent mockery was even more hurtful than Heng Xing’s words.
But this time, before Zhou Zili could speak, Ji Ran suddenly let out a scoff and beat him to it. “Oh, so you actually do know the market rate is over ten million a year.”
The twins frowned at the same time, clearly displeased by Ji Ran’s sudden interruption.
“Oh wait, no. With the condition your brother was in back then, the normal market rate should’ve been at least triple that.” Ji Ran let out a cold snort. “Why don’t you ask Zhou Zili how much your father actually offered at the time?”
Heng Xing did not catch the implication in Ji Ran’s words. “What do you mean?”
Heng Yang, however, seemed to realize something. He turned to Zhou Zili and asked, “How much?”
Zhou Zili answered calmly, “One million.”
Heng Xing shot him a glance. “One million a month. Isn’t that right?”
Zhou Zili said, “A year.”
The twins instantly fell silent.
Ji Ran laughed out loud.
No matter how many times he heard that number, he still found it utterly ridiculous.
“One million is indeed not a small amount for an ordinary family, but for the Heng family, it shouldn’t count as ‘so much money,’ right?” Ji Ran clicked his tongue a couple of times, sounding full of mock sympathy. “Or has the Heng family already fallen this low?”
Papa Ji, who had stayed silent until now, added smoothly from the side, “If that’s really the case, then our Ji family may need to seriously reconsider future cooperation.”
Heng Yang and Heng Xing immediately looked as if they had just been punched in public, their expressions turning awful.
Zhou Zili did not interrupt Ji Ran.
Although this was his personal matter and should have been handled by himself, Zhou Zili knew Ji Ran was trying to back him up.
The Heng brothers were different from his younger siblings. Behind them stood the entire Heng family, and Heng Group was powerful and well-established—far beyond what an ordinary person like him could take on alone.
Words like these, when spoken by a young master of the Ji family, carried far more weight than if they came from him.
Zhou Zili looked gratefully at Ji Ran’s family. But when his gaze returned to the Heng twins, his expression once again turned as cold as before.
“Back then, it was your father who came to me first. Every condition in that contract was also set by your father.” His tone was light and calm, giving away no anger or joy. “Even if what was written there had not been one million a year, but ten million or even thirty million, that still would have been what I deserved.”
“Heng Yang. Heng Xing.” It was the first time Zhou Zili had called them by name like this. “You need to understand this clearly. I never owed anything to your Heng family, and I certainly don’t owe anything to either of you.”
“If you think I took too much money, then you should go question the person who made the rules, instead of targeting me—the one who could only accept them.”
He suddenly let out a soft laugh, and his voice grew even lighter. “Or is it that you don’t dare face the person who made the rules, so you can only vent your dissatisfaction on me instead?”
In other words, he was saying they only knew how to bully the weak and fear the strong.
As if stabbed right in the sore spot, Heng Xing suddenly took a step forward. “You—”
Zhou Zili had already prepared himself for the possibility of fighting them right then and there, but unexpectedly, someone’s voice came from behind him: “What ‘you’? You’re about to lash out because you got embarrassed, huh?”
Ji Ran stepped forward and stood beside Zhou Zili, glaring viciously at the Heng twins.
Mama Ji did not step forward, but she spoke in a mild tone anyway. “The Heng family really does get worse with every generation. I used to think Heng Yu himself was already bad enough, but who would’ve thought his sons would be even more—tsk.”
Her tone was calm, but every word dripped with sarcasm.
Burning with anger, Heng Xing still wanted to say something, but Heng Yang grabbed his wrist and shook his head at him.
The Ji family was not someone they could afford to provoke.
What was more, standing here were not just the Ji family’s two young masters, but also the head of the Ji family.
During this segment where contestants could invite family and friends, the Heng twins’ family had not come.
If their father had come, then maybe…
That thought surfaced in Heng Xing’s mind, but disappeared just as quickly.
He knew very well that even if their father Heng Yu were here, it still would not change anything.
Zhou Zili said, “Heng Yuan is gone. The contract became invalid the moment he died. So I no longer have any relationship with the Heng family, or with either of you.”
“If you come bothering me again in the future…” Zhou Zili originally wanted to say I won’t go easy on you, but then he remembered the police were standing nearby, so he changed his words. “I will choose to call the police.”
One of the policemen had watched the whole thing unfold. With the people around him quietly filling him in on the general situation—and adding extra details about the twins’ awful behavior—he already more or less understood what had happened.
Hearing Zhou Zili say that, the policeman gave the twins a warning look. “If anything happens, come to us. We’ll be there right away.”
The Heng twins’ expressions became even uglier.
