Chapter 50

Zhou Jingcheng smiled. Not important, not important, not important, not important, not important...

On his main WeChat account, Zhou Zeyang sent over a video screenshot: [Brother, is that you crouching down in a clown mask while Xiaohan was singing "The Lion King"?]

Zhou Jingcheng stared at that clown mask, his smile frozen in place. [It was me. So what?]

Yes, not only was he a clown, he was also a self-important clown who had actually said something like "Let's be brothers, let's be friends" to Shi Jihan.

Haha, he was going to swear brotherhood with Pizza. What did that have to do with him?

Shi Jihan stared at the remaining payment that still hadn't arrived. Then, seeing his second brother ask whether there was anyone else, he pondered for a long while before suddenly realizing, "Could Second Brother want to watch a threesome?!"

Good heavens, how could someone have such heavy tastes? Pointing fingers. Whispering loudly.

000 interrupted his slander of Shi Zhongye's reputation. [Host, the remaining payment has arrived.]

Shi Jihan immediately tossed the threesome out of his mind. [Great, let's get out of here!]

Zhou Jingcheng had just transferred the money one second ago, and the next, he wanted an explanation.

[This Is a Small Account: Explain yourself. Who isn't important?]

A system notification popped up:

[Message sent, but rejected by the recipient.]

Zhou Jingcheng stared at the red exclamation mark in front of him in disbelief.

Shi Jihan had just blocked him like that? Deleted his account and run away?

The very second after he paid the remaining balance?

How was that any different from a scumbag who pulled up his pants and left after a hookup?!

Zhou Jingcheng: Clown Plus.

At that moment, Secretary Sun pushed open the door. "Boss, Pei Mingxuan is here. He said he knows he was wrong and is willing to wear that gaudy floral padded jacket again and dance ten more times."

He had arrived right in Zhou Jingcheng's line of fire. "Why apologize? I wasn't planning to forgive him."

He still dared to come looking for him? Zhou Jingcheng sneered. Had that face of his been run over by a bulldozer? What nerve.

"Tell him this isn't over."

Meanwhile, Pei Mingxuan was anxiously waiting outside. He had no resources left now. Zhou Jingcheng had been too ruthless, directly blacklisting him across every platform. He had thought steering public opinion would be no problem, but then some people had appeared from nowhere, shouting, "He's just mentally ill, he's not a bad person," and spontaneously started clearing Zhou Jingcheng's and Universe's names.

And now, every piece of gossip had been debunked. Some people had even dug up just how devoted Zhou Jingcheng had been when promoting Pei Mingxuan, as well as how skilled Pei Mingxuan was at stirring up trouble and exploiting his fans—pretending he was being sidelined by the company and inciting his fans to fight for resources on his behalf.

Now, Zhou Jingcheng's comment section was full of people pitying him.

[President Zhou, if you're sick, go get treated. I know a hospital that's great at treating brain disorders. I sent it to you in a private message. [Heart]]

[With his brain messed up this badly, there's definitely something wrong with him. No wonder your mental state is so beautiful, President Zhou. Pitying you.]

There were also people who were unhappy.

[You can't let him get treatment! If he gets better, my Wu Bai CP will really be reduced to just 250!]

[Don't let Xiaohan be left alone. President Zhou, you have to stay sick for a long, long time. [Praying Hands] [Sincere Prayer]]

Pei Mingxuan scrolled through Zhou Jingcheng's comment section, then looked at his own. He couldn't hold it together anymore.

It was over. Those were the only two words in his mind. Ever since he had dissed Shi Corporation's new clothes—no, ever since he had met Shi Jihan on that reality show—everything had spiraled out of his control.

When Secretary Sun came out, he saw Pei Mingxuan curled up in a corner and thought, Where was all that arrogance from when you came looking for trouble? When Pei Mingxuan looked over, Secretary Sun spread his hands, unable to help.

"President Zhou doesn't believe your apology is sincere. We'll continue pursuing legal means to terminate your contract."

Tears streamed down Pei Mingxuan's face as he grabbed Secretary Sun and shook him hard. "How is that possible? Impossible! Did you tell President Zhou that I'm willing to wear that gaudy floral padded jacket and dance 'Drunken Butterfly' another ten times?"

If he listened to "Clock Running Backward" ten thousand times, could he avoid ever meeting Shi Jihan?

In the distance, a young man in a hat stood in the shadows of a corner, watching Pei Mingxuan struggle with Secretary Sun.

The agent guiding him said, "Sorry you had to see that. He's an artist our company is about to terminate. Xiao Yuan, come this way. We're going to President Zhou's office to discuss the new project."

As he spoke, he started walking toward Pei Mingxuan.

Xiao Yuan remained where he was. He merely raised a hand to lower the brim of his hat. His brows and eyes were gloomy, and his voice carried the rough hoarseness of someone who had not spoken in a long time. "Can we go around that hairtail fish that looks like it got run over?"

He disliked things that flopped around too much.

The agent blinked. "Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing." Xiao Yuan was usually sparing with words, but today he said a few extra. "There's no one else in President Zhou's office, right?"

"There is. His friend, Director Shi, is inside."

Upon hearing that, Xiao Yuan turned and left.

The agent called after him, "Hey? Hey! Where are you going?"

Xiao Yuan's tone was flat. "To stay alive."

He said seriously, "Believe it or not, the moment we enter that office, we'll immediately be thrown out the window to free-fall and die beyond saving."

He had no desire to become another hairtail fish.

Over here, 000 was checking their daily missions when it suddenly made a puzzled sound. [Host, come look. This is so strange.]

Shi Jihan asked what was wrong, and 000 displayed the screen for him.

It clearly read: [Randomly Ruin Zhou Jingcheng 8/1, completed.]

000 was utterly baffled. [Is the system bugging out? We obviously didn't even meet Dianjia Bro today. Could he be savoring the meal you personally made last night? Or that amusement park day trip from a few days ago?]

Shi Jihan gave it high praise. [Long-lasting endurance!]

It had to be Dianjia Bro.

Thinking that, he sent Zhou Jingcheng a message to check in on his little treasury. [What are you doing? [Peeking Cat]]

[Remember to come to my brother's wedding in a few days.]

Zhou Jingcheng replied almost instantly.

[Z: I'm coming, definitely. [Smile]]

[Z: I have to come for you. [Smile]]

Shi Jihan stared at the sarcastic yellow-bean smiley at the end and told 000, [Dianjia Bro is getting on in years. He doesn't even know what a smiling face means.]

It was fine. He was generous and wouldn't hold it against him.

000 watched the Malice Points continue rising in the backend and felt that something was off.

Shi Jihan looked at Zhou Jingcheng on the other side of the chat and felt something was wrong. He stared at that profile picture for a long while.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Huh? You changed your profile picture?]

Zhou Jingcheng's profile picture had changed from a dog resting its paws up to a side-profile photo of himself.

In the picture, he stood before a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city at night. The backlighting obscured his features, leaving only the silhouette of his side profile, like a calligraphy stroke drawn in a single sweep, with the graceful beauty of well-defined bones.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Where's Pizza?]

[Z: Banished to the cold palace. [Smile]]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Is your smile permanently fixed or something?]

[Z: [Smile]]

Shi Jihan pointed at the screen. "How did it become fully automated, too?"

000 cackled at that, but halfway through its laughter, it could no longer laugh. It began trembling. [Host, the Main System is looking for me again.]

Shi Jihan was surprised by the Main System's persistence. [So determined. Even after the main plot got wrecked like this, it's still trying to save it. No wonder it's someone who does big things.]

[No, something's not right,] 000 said as it looked at the newly issued mission. [The Main System seems to have given up.]

[Beep. Mission issued: Cooperate with your awful relatives. Reward: Malice Points +10.]

The overwhelming sense of giving up practically spilled off the screen.

"My relatives?" Shi Jihan finally remembered this matter.

As two people of vastly unequal status who had initially entered into a contract marriage to inherit Father Shi's will, they naturally received no goodwill from the Shi Family relatives. They all believed Shen Qinghuai was cunning enough to seduce Shi Bochuan, all to climb the social ladder and scheme for the Shi Family's assets.

In the original novel, the two held a family dinner before the wedding and invited the Shi Family members. Their original intention was to make everyone acknowledge Shen Qinghuai's identity, but instead, Shen Qinghuai endured endless sarcasm and ridicule, creating another round of angst-filled scenes.

But why else would one say the Main System was utterly collapsing? Because Shi Bochuan had skipped this plotline too and directly sent wedding invitations to all the aunts and uncles.

Shi Jihan asked, "But the awful relatives' plan to make things difficult should be the same, right?"

000 replied, [The same. They want Shen Qinghuai to sign a prenuptial property agreement so that even in a normal divorce, he won't receive a single cent.]

Then that settled it.

Shi Jihan pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing furiously.

000 said, [By the way, the wedding venue needs to be arranged. Your eldest brother hired a professional curator to plan it, and the fee is really high.]

What?

Shi Jihan said, [Instead of letting someone else earn that money, our own brother might as well earn it. I'll plan it for him!]

At the same time, Shi Zhongye, who had received the same news, recalled his own welcome party and gritted his teeth. "What could Shi Jihan possibly plan? Stop embarrassing the Shi Family already!"

When Zhou Jingcheng saw him turn to leave, he asked, "Where are you going?"

Without looking back, Shi Zhongye replied, "Curating!"

On the day of the wedding.

A Shi Family relative, Shi Geren, and his family made a grand entrance.

As the second uncle of the three Shi brothers and a shareholder of Shi Corporation, Shi Geren naturally had seniority. Today, he wore a proper Tang-style suit and held a string of prayer beads as he rolled them in his hand. Putting on the airs of an elder, he asked Shi Bochuan's secretary, "Secretary Wu, Xiaochuan may be busy enough to forget things, but couldn't you remind him? Who holds a wedding ceremony again after getting married once? Isn't this just making a joke of yourselves?"

Secretary Wu smiled and agreed aloud, all the while thinking about kicking this old fool.

Shi Geren said, "Fine. Who planned this wedding? They didn't go over budget and pocket the excess, did they?"

Secretary Wu said, "The Third Young Master planned it, and the Second Young Master also participated."

"The two of them?" Shi Geren nodded. "Not bad. The brothers are getting along well."

Secretary Wu thought, If you saw President Shi's despairing expression after arriving at the venue, you wouldn't be saying that.

Shi Geren knew nothing of the pair's destructive power and gestured for the secretary to lead the way.

Shi Bochuan had gone all out, booking an entire manor hotel modeled after medieval Europe. The entrance was already packed with flowers and luxury cars.

The first thing Shi Geren saw upon entering was the large promotional standee carefully made by the Shi Family brothers for the married couple.