TLSOTMTKOGAYWHTDI Chapter 23
by VolareToday was Monday. Zhuo Huaimo had just finished a morning of meetings and was slumped in his office chair, wearily rubbing his brow.
“Director Zhuo, something happened on the set of ‘Dark Surge’!”
The secretary pushed the door open and entered. “The scaffolding collapsed during the opening ceremony!”
Zhuo Huaimo abruptly stood up, grabbed his coat from the chair, and rushed out, not even hearing the rest of the secretary’s sentence.
Yu Fengran was on his way to find him when he saw Zhuo Huaimo rushing out of the office in a frenzy. He turned to the secretary beside him.
“What’s wrong with him?”
The secretary looked bewildered. “I don’t know. He’s probably going to the film crew. There was a problem at the ‘Dark Surge’ opening ceremony!”
Yu Fengran frowned. “Did something happen to our artist?”
The secretary shook her head. “No!”
“No?”
Yu Fengran raised an eyebrow, his confusion deepening. “Is he going to express our company’s condolences? Has he changed his personality? Is he learning to socialize?”
Before he finished speaking, Zhuo Huaimo’s car was already speeding down several blocks, but Qi Yanwang still wasn’t answering his phone.
“Answer the phone! Answer the damn phone!”
He gripped the steering wheel with one hand and held the phone with the other, his voice a furious roar.
“Qi Yanwang, you absolutely can’t be hurt. I haven’t S-ed you yet! If you dare to be hurt, I won’t let you off even as a ghost!”
He floored the accelerator, and the car flew to the film set.
When he arrived and saw Qi Yanwang’s white shirt covered in blood, Zhuo Huaimo’s heart sank. He rushed over and hugged him tightly.
“How are you? Where are you hurt?”
Qi Yanwang was stunned. Faced with Zhuo Huaimo’s anxious and flustered expression, he had never seen him like this before.
“Talk! I’m asking you where you’re hurt!”
Zhuo Huaimo’s voice turned violent.
“It wasn’t me!”
Qi Yanwang snapped out of it and said dully, “It was Che Ye. When the scaffolding fell, Che Ye pushed me away. His right hand has a long cut and he’s inside getting stitches.”
Hearing this, Zhuo Huaimo released his collar, and the anxiety and anger in his eyes quickly cooled.
He slumped onto a bench in the corridor, gasping for breath.
Qi Yanwang tentatively spoke, “Che Ye was injured saving me. He mentioned that the nightclub matter might have to be postponed, which means I might…”
“I’ll go see him!”
Zhuo Huaimo raised his hand to interrupt him, a cold glint in his eyes.
He walked into the ward, signaled for the others to leave, and locked the door behind him.
“Director Zhuo, you’re here?”
Che Ye looked at him calmly, a faint smile always on his lips.
The terrifying thing about this man was that no matter how much you insulted him or exposed him, he could always maintain a calm demeanor, re-strategize, and launch a new round of attacks.
Zhuo Huaimo slowly approached. The harsh scraping sound of the chair he pulled over made the ward suffocatingly silent.
He looked at Che Ye with a deep gaze, his eyes like sharp blades, cutting straight to the point.
“Speak, what do you want?”
The smile on Che Ye’s lips deepened, and he chuckled in response,
“What do you mean, Director Zhuo? I just saved your company’s artist.”
He paused, his eyes shifting slightly, his tone casual but every word precise.
“No, it’s not just an artist. It’s your… sweetheart!”
Zhuo Huaimo frowned at him. “State your demands while I’m still willing to talk to you nicely!”
Che Ye slowly reached out, intending to undo the belt around his waist.
However, Zhuo Huaimo suddenly dodged.
Far from being discouraged, he laughed even more, saying bluntly,
“I want you to sign me and give me the same resources as Qi Yanwang!”
A cold smile appeared on Zhuo Huaimo’s lips, and his fingers clamped onto Che Ye’s newly bandaged arm like iron tongs.
The mottled bloodstains on that hand gradually seeped out, crimson and glaring.
The pain made Che Ye grimace and bite his lower lip hard, but he didn’t make a sound.
Zhuo Huaimo’s tone was low and chilling. “What makes you think you can compare to Qi Yanwang? Are you more valuable?”
As he spoke, he increased the pressure in his hand, and a sickening crackle of bones came from Che Ye’s arm.
“Want to play the morality card with me?”
Zhuo Huaimo sneered, his thin lips parting slightly. “Unfortunately, you forgot that only people with morals can be blackmailed! And I don’t have that stuff. So, you can’t blackmail me!”
With that, Zhuo Huaimo turned to leave. As he reached the door, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
He casually pulled it out and saw a blurry but familiar old video on the screen.
The scene was a dilapidated warehouse. In the corner, a young boy was huddled up like a frightened animal.
He glanced at Che Ye, who was wearing his usual eerie smile and looking at him.
Zhuo Huaimo tapped the video, his eyes gradually sharpening, the unease churning in his heart hard to hide.
Sure enough, the boy in the video had features very similar to Qi Yanwang’s, clearly his younger self.
In the video, a fat middle-aged woman waved a thin stick and said a few cold words to the boy.
The boy choked with fear, but had to start unbuttoning his clothes, trembling.
Zhuo Huaimo felt a surge of anger, unable to watch any longer. He quickly closed the video, his gaze instantly returning to Che Ye’s face with its eerie smile.
Che Ye approached step by step, a cruel arc on his lips.
“How is it, handsome? Director Zhuo? Your rising star’s former ‘tragic childhood’. Don’t say I didn’t help you, I’ve even thought of a title—’Qi Yanwang and the Secret of a Real-Life “Lolita Island”!”
Zhuo Huaimo’s fists clenched, his knuckles cracking. He forcibly suppressed the raging anger in his heart, and just sneered coldly.
“What? Threatening me? I think we can use this to create a tragic and inspiring persona for him. I think…it’ll definitely gain him countless fans!”
Che Ye stroked the blood seeping through the white gauze and smiled grimly.
“Of course Director Zhuo has the ability to do that, but…I bet you can’t bring yourself to do it!”
Zhuo Huaimo stood silently, his eyes as dark as night, staring intently at Che Ye’s arrogant and unrestrained face.
He knew that this man was insidious and cunning, calculating every step, and had to be eliminated.
Qi Yanwang was never his opponent.
Sometimes, it’s better to let him see things for himself, rather than telling him directly.
Zhuo Huaimo took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it. The smoke filled the ward, blurring their vision.
The smile on Che Ye’s face, who was sitting on the sofa, was slightly stiff, and his fingers tapped lightly on his knees, as if to calm his anxiety.
Although he was confident that he could win by using Zhuo Huaimo’s feelings for Qi Yanwang as a bargaining chip, he couldn’t help but wonder – what kind of backlash would be caused by pushing a madman to the limit?
In the tense atmosphere, Zhuo Huaimo finished his last puff of cigarette and stubbed it out hard on the ground before slowly speaking,
“Signing you is impossible! My company won’t want someone who’s worked as a ‘male prostitute’!”
“You…”
Che Ye’s face stiffened, his heart sinking as if falling into an abyss, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists. Just as he was about to retort, he heard Zhuo Huaimo speak again, his words cold and sharp, etched into his bones.
“Director Wang Yi Ding’s new movie will be casting next month. I’ll recommend you.”
He hooked his thin lips and said cruelly,
“Take out those tricks you used in the nightclub and see if you can climb into someone’s bed – your ability is all you have.”
Every word was like a poisonous needle, piercing Che Ye’s heart, and like a shackle, tightly locking his breath.
To Che Ye, his words were vicious and contemptuous, but carried a fatal temptation.
He had a very clear understanding of his own knowledge and positioning. His body was the advantage and capital he thought he had, so why shouldn’t he use it?
Qi Yanwang could change his situation by hooking up with Zhuo Huaimo, so he could do the same.
Che Ye gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words, “It’s a deal!”
The moment Zhuo Huaimo opened the ward door, Qi Yanwang practically threw himself over, his face pressed against the door frame, peering anxiously into the ward.
“What are you doing?” Zhuo Huaimo frowned.
Qi Yanwang immediately stood up straight, scratching his head to hide his embarrassment. “I should be asking you what you’re doing? You’ve been in there for so long, what were you talking about?”
Zhuo Huaimo leaned against the door frame, raising an eyebrow. “Want to know?”
Qi Yanwang’s eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly, like a puppy seeing a bone.
“Call out something nice for me to hear, and I’ll tell you!” Zhuo Huaimo’s tone was teasing.
Qi Yanwang “tsk”ed in disdain.
“If you don’t want to tell me, then forget it. I’ll go ask myself!”
Before he finished speaking, he had already lifted his foot to rush into the ward.
Zhuo Huaimo was quick to stop him, blocking him outside with a large step.
“Don’t go!”
“What’s wrong?” Qi Yanwang was full of doubts.
“It’s poisonous!”
Qi Yanwang kept clamoring to stay and accompany his “savior,” but was directly stuffed into the car by Zhuo Huaimo.
Thinking back to the content of the video just now, to be honest, he admired Qi Yanwang. In such a dark corner, he had actually grown into a sunflower!
Zhuo Huaimo finally understood why he had felt such fear and rejection of Ning Xin at the film set.
Was he rejecting Ning Xin, or all intimate behavior?
A thought flashed through his mind, and he turned to look at Qi Yanwang beside him, his gaze scorching, and asked the question that made the air suddenly tense,
“Have you done it?”