So someone spoke up for him.
"There's a chef here anyway. Everyone only started grilling skewers because they thought it would be fun. The young master wouldn't exploit people to that extent, would he?"
The speaker was clearly just teasing, without any malice. Yan Xianjue was not someone who fussed over such trivial matters.
But neither was he someone who would not talk back.
He raised an eyebrow. "Can't be helped. Ji Xi signed a twenty-year indenture with me. How is that any different from selling himself to me?"
The classmates looked at Ji Xi in shock and sympathy.
Zhou Ye patted Ji Xi on the shoulder with a complicated expression and said something Ji Xi had heard more than once since starting work for Yan Xianjue. "Well, um... anyway, hang in there."
Ji Xi: "..."
Ji Xi rolled his eyes speechlessly. "Wow, thanks so much, everyone."
As soon as he said that, the sense of distance between him and the others eased considerably.
At least he could feel that today, he was no longer merely an accessory Yan Xianjue had brought along, but had appeared as an actual person. Though that sounded like there was something wrong with it.
Forget it. Ji Xi decided not to think too deeply about such things.
Yan Xianjue did not pick up on the strange atmosphere between them, but among this group, he was clearly not someone who needed to read the room.
He merely thought about what projects might need investment lately.
If nothing else, these people did not lack money.
"Ji Xi, are there any projects short on funds recently?"
Ji Xi: "... No. You just recovered 750 million, did you forget?"
After taxes, charitable donations, and some fixed assets used to settle the debt were deducted, the remaining cash was