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"Shi Jihan—!" Zhou Jingcheng shoved the door open.

Only to catch a colorful paint bucket flying straight at him.

The photographer, still diligently working, instinctively pressed the shutter and captured the scene.

Rainbow Candy crashes into Black Coffee XD

"President Zhou, you finally came! I missed you so much!" Without another word, Shi Jihan wrapped his arms around Zhou Jingcheng's waist, rubbing his head against Zhou Jingcheng's chest again and again. He forced out a tear. "How was I supposed to live without you?"

"How?" Zhou Jingcheng lifted the evil cow cat out of his arms by the scruff, grinding his back teeth. "Aren't you living just fine?"

Shi Jihan looked bashful. "How shallow of you. You only see that I'm alive on the outside, yet you can't see the pain inside my heart."

Zhou Jingcheng: "? If you really have that need, go get an X-ray at the hospital. They'll see right through you, inside and out. They might even find some skeletal beauty."

And, "...Stop clinging to me and rubbing against me."

He tried to pull him away, but Shi Jihan, afraid Zhou Jingcheng might suddenly retaliate, refused to let go. Even after being pried off, he threw his arms around him again. "No! Every minute and every second away from you has been torment!"

Zhou Jingcheng's hand froze in midair, at a loss. After a long moment, he curled it into a fist and coughed into it, the tips of his ears turning red.

There were people watching.

A staff member quietly interrupted, "You two, this is your s-son, er...?" No matter what, he just couldn't bring himself to call Zhou Jingcheng's son his son.

Shi Jihan had a sudden idea. Letting go of Zhou Jingcheng, he nudged Pizza forward. "It's like this: my dog courageously saved Xiao Zhou, and Xiao Zhou was so moved that he swore brotherhood with him. They became sworn brothers with different fathers and mothers, so I was promoted a generation and became Xiao Zhou's, ah, um, you know."

He didn't dare say it to Zhou Jingcheng's face, either.

But even the part he had said aloud was ridiculous enough.

It was as if the staff member had been injected with wrinkle remover; his cerebral cortex smoothed right out. He instinctively said, "All right, then congratulations on the reunion of father and son."

[Ding, Malice Points +9]

Shi Jihan heard the sound of teeth grinding above his head.

He hunched his shoulders, pitiful, weak, and innocent—

—while becoming a dad.

After the two left the service center, Shi Jihan led Pizza along and followed obediently behind Zhou Jingcheng, step for step.

Zhou Jingcheng walked ahead. After a while, he said something.

Shi Jihan didn't hear clearly. "Huh? What did you say?"

The person ahead abruptly stopped, and Shi Jihan crashed into him before he could react.

Zhou Jingcheng turned to look at him, their shadows stretched long beneath the moonlight. "I said, why were you hugging me the whole time just now and refusing to let go?"

Shi Jihan immediately felt guilty. He looked left and right, anywhere but at Zhou Jingcheng. "Well, um... ah..."

The little person in his heart smashed his head against the ground and cried for help: [It's over, it's over, it's over! He's settling scores after the fact!]

000 wanted to say something in defense of its host, only to realize it had no idea what it could possibly say.

All it could say was: he deserved it.

After waiting for ages and seeing that Shi Jihan couldn't explain himself, Zhou Jingcheng spoke for him. "Shi Jihan, I see you as a younger brother."

Shi Jihan blinked blankly. "Huh? Oh..."

He asked 000 in his mind: [What does that mean? He's not going to settle scores with me?]

000 put its high-dimensional mechanical intelligence to work and pondered: [It means you and Zhou Zeyang hold the same place in his heart.]

Shi Jihan flew into a rage: [What? Isn't that an insult?]

Seeing him lower his head, lost in thought, Zhou Jingcheng paused before finally saying it. "You see me as an older brother, or a friend, too... right?"

Shi Jihan instantly seized the chance to fire back, refusing to take any loss. "What else would I see you as? Father and son?"

Zhou Jingcheng: "..."

Zhou Jingcheng's head started to ache. "Why can't I ever have a serious conversation with you?"

Shi Jihan pressed his advantage. "Do you have some misunderstanding about your own image? You're not that serious either."

Deadly tsundere. Peacock man. Dianjia Bro. Nyah nyah nyah.

Zhou Jingcheng took a deep breath, finally unable to endure it any longer. "...Anyway, that's it. That's all I wanted to say."

Watching him turn and leave, Shi Jihan bragged to 000: [That's it? He wanted to scold me? Haha, didn't I still win?]

Such a tiny Dianjia Bro, utterly no match for him.

He hadn't won the argument. He was probably going to be so mad that he'd wake up in the middle of the night to review it.

Shi Jihan tugged on Pizza's leash. "Come on, Pizza. Let's go pop balloons and win the grand prize!"

They still hadn't finished filming the material. He couldn't forget this side task.

Whether Zhou Jingcheng got up in the middle of the night was unknown, but the photographer definitely stayed up all night, constantly photoshopping and beautifying Pizza.

After sending every retouched photo to his employer, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

Even his dreams were about kissing a dog.

Shi Jihan woke up at noon and happily saw all the photos. Extremely satisfied, he sent the photographer the remaining payment.

"So many?" He swiped at random with his finger, but there was no end to them.

One photo was rather special. The photographer had sent it separately. It was the one from the service center where he had thrown himself at Zhou Jingcheng.

Shi Jihan zoomed in on himself and examined the picture closely, his eyes full of admiration for himself. "This outfit is so fashionable. Look at these legs, so white and straight. Look at this smile, so lovable. Oh my god, I'm even showing a bit of waist. Tsk tsk, so slim."

000 could barely listen anymore. It really wanted to know whether other hosts were this shameless too.

Admiring himself wasn't enough for Shi Jihan; he even sent it to Zhou Jingcheng so they could admire it together.

Zhou Jingcheng was probably busy and didn't reply.

Shi Jihan didn't care. He got down to business, merged all the photos except that one, and anonymously sent them to Shi Zhongye's email: [Why did Shen Qinghuai hide his sexual orientation and marry Shi Bochuan? Click to uncover this earth-shattering secret!]

Shi Jihan waited for ages, but Shi Zhongye didn't reply, nor did he hear the task completion notification.

"Why is nobody checking their phone?" He tapped away irritably.

At that moment, in Universal Company's CEO office.

Zhou Jingcheng was handling the company's crisis public relations.

Shi Zhongye, meanwhile, sat in Zhou Jingcheng's office with his legs crossed like an uncle, watching him bustle about.

Zhou Jingcheng had no time at all to deal with this freeloading old friend who had come begging off him again. Pei Mingxuan had thoroughly annoyed him.

He had thought Pei Mingxuan had been quiet these past few days because the warning had made him behave. Unexpectedly, he had merely been secretly preparing to cause even bigger trouble.

Since last night, scandals about Universal Company had been continuously surfacing online. The timing had been deliberately chosen for the early hours of the morning. Before Universal's PR department could react, the matter had already fermented.

Looking through the trending topics, Shi Zhongye read them aloud one by one to Zhou Jingcheng. "Signing dual contracts with artists to launder money? Shelving uncooperative minor artists and threatening them into attending dinner parties? Manipulating public opinion, using smear PR, and exploiting fans? Signing predatory clauses to bind artists for life? Zhou Jingcheng, your company is really lively."

At that moment, senior management had gathered in the CEO office. Hearing Shi Zhongye's teasing, they all broke out in cold sweat, thinking, Please, sir, say a little less.

The information was naturally all fabricated, but Pei Mingxuan had been entrenched in the entertainment industry for years and knew best how to exploit public opinion. Universal's competitor, Wang Chengbiao, was also pulling strings behind the scenes. He had long since poached Pei Mingxuan, and the two had colluded in secret, catching Universal completely off guard.

The internet was now tearing into them with blood in the water, practically wishing they could carve Universal and Zhou Jingcheng into a thousand pieces.

Zhou Jingcheng, however, remained calm and issued orders one by one.

"Legal Department, immediately pull the breach-of-contract clauses and confidentiality agreements from the artist contracts. Send a lawyer's letter demanding compensation."

"Simultaneously apply for a court injunction. Freeze Pei Mingxuan's bank accounts and restrict his commercial activities. He is not to profit from company resources again."

"Marketing Department, send risk alerts to the brands still working with us, along with evidence of Pei Mingxuan's breach of contract. They won't dare use an artist embroiled in a contractual dispute."

"PR Department, contact trusted media outlets and release word that Pei Mingxuan privately contacted competitor companies and seriously violated the spirit of his contract. Our company will definitely hold him accountable."

"Tax Department, investigate Pei Mingxuan's tax issues. He must have been taking private jobs behind the company's back too, right? Investigate all of it. Send the evidence to Wang Chengbiao and let him see what kind of hot potato he plans to take over."

With every order Zhou Jingcheng gave, the executives hurriedly wrote it down and had already begun contacting their departments to take action.

After receiving so many clear and logically airtight instructions, the executives felt as if they had swallowed reassurance pills. None of them retained the anxiety they had felt upon first hearing the news. Instead, they were fired up and eager to get to work.

This was their President Zhou. This was what a real business war looked like!

Come on, a new storm had arrived—how could they stop moving forward?

"Also, transfer all the luxury endorsements originally arranged for him to other artists." After speaking, Zhou Jingcheng glanced at Shi Zhongye. "Especially Xiao Yuan. He just signed with our company and needs to build trust. Ask him first."

At the mention of that name, Shi Zhongye abruptly sat upright, his expression strange.

Secretary Sun was currently following the latest developments online in real time. He didn't know what he had seen, but a subtle expression appeared on his face. He looked at the webpage, then at Zhou Jingcheng, then at the webpage again, repeating the process.

Zhou Jingcheng noticed. He took a sip of water to moisten his throat and said, "Secretary Sun, do you have something to add? Speak."

Secretary Sun weakly raised his hand. "Boss, does this count as dirt on you? Do we need to contact the video uploader and have it taken down too?"

"If it's a rumor, of course it needs to be deleted. Send a lawyer's letter and hold them accountable too." Zhou Jingcheng couldn't understand how Secretary Sun, after being with him for so many years, could ask such a foolish question. He took the tablet from Secretary Sun's hand to see what video it was.

At first glance, he saw two disheveled figures at the amusement park, one after the other, desperately chasing a Beagle.

Smack!

The tablet was swiftly flipped face-down on the desk. Ignoring the curious looks from the executives, Zhou Jingcheng forced himself to remain calm. "We'll discuss this later. Meeting adjourned."

The executives didn't suspect a thing and quickly left the office.

The entire company's organizational structure began operating efficiently and methodically in response to this PR crisis.