Ji Yanzhi

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Ji Yanzhi (季砚执)
Alias(es)	President Ji; Mr. Ji; “Tasmanian Devil,” Ji Ting’s private nickname for him 4 20
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Ji family; Shili Technology Group, also referred to as the Ji Corporation 2 23
Occupation/Role	President of Shili Group; the third “backup top” in the original novel, Out of Control, Lost in Love 1 48
Family	Ji Ting’s older half-brother; Ji Shize’s son; Ji Zhenting’s grandson 1 24 31 34
First Appearance	Interrogates Ji Ting about his visit to Sea City 1

Background / History

Ji Yanzhi’s hostility toward his stepmother, Lin Qing, stems from childhood abuse. When she entered the family, Ji Shize demanded that he call her “Mom.” His refusal resulted in confinement in the stables for half a month during July. He nearly died from vomiting and dehydration before the punishment ended 31.

As an adult, he becomes president of Shili and remains at odds with his father. His investigation into R&D director Dai Xiangqiang reveals that Dai had worked for Ji Shize before joining the company, exposing a scheme directed against Ji Yanzhi 13 32.

His leadership breaks with the corporation’s history of legally dubious dealings. No further illegal activity occurs within the Ji Corporation after he becomes president, and he supplies patented technologies free of charge to several government collaboration projects, displeasing members of the board 23 42.

Appearance

• Eyes: Deep-set, dark eyes, repeatedly described as cold and blade-sharp 1 9 12.
• Features: Thin lips and long fingers 4 41.
• Bearing: Xu Ren finds his appearance exceptionally commanding, contrasting his sharp-edged presence with Lu Yanchu’s elegant beauty 42.

Personality

Ji Yanzhi is domineering, distrustful, and habitually cutting in his speech. He uses guards, surveillance, financial pressure, and restrictions on movement to control Ji Ting. Even attempts at reconciliation can become retaliatory: he promises to investigate Ji Ting’s claims, then loses his temper when Ji Ting admits giving Ling Xi’s address to Lu Yanchu 4 5 13.

He recognizes that his treatment of Ji Ting is often unfair but struggles to apologize directly. After wrongly dismissing Ji Ting’s explanation about Xu Ren, he returns his phone and car keys and gives him a bank card containing three million yuan. Ji Ting correctly interprets the gift as compensation, which Ji Yanzhi refuses to acknowledge plainly 6 7 8.

His protectiveness coexists with coercion. He retrieves Ji Ting from Crane Garden, tends his injury, and permits him to report Ji Shilei’s assault, yet continues to express concern through insults and force. He eventually recognizes that some of his revulsion toward Ji Ting is displaced hatred of Lin Qing, whom Ji Ting resembles 24 25 31.

In business, he can separate personal dislike from serious responsibilities. He refuses to shield criminal relatives and demands evidence before allowing Shili’s technology to be used for an intrusive investigation. Nevertheless, his pursuit of valuable research leads him to propose exploiting Xu Ren’s feelings and later to use Xu as bait to draw out an unidentified developer 3 20 42 50.

Abilities & Skills

Hearing Ji Ting’s Thoughts

Ji Yanzhi can hear Ji Ting’s unspoken inner monologue, giving him information that Ji Ting deliberately withholds aloud 2 3 33.

• Hidden information: Learns about Ji Rui’s drug trafficking and Dai Xiangqiang’s fabricated research through Ji Ting’s thoughts 3 12.
• Testing answers: Asks Ji Ting to think through an answer before speaking and later hears the discrepancy between his claimed six months of financial study and the actual two hours 10 33.
• Distance: Hears Ji Ting thinking from another floor of the residence; the passages establish no precise maximum range 30.
• Limits: Cannot obtain an answer merely by waiting when Ji Ting’s inner voice falls silent. He considers indirect questioning to provoke useful thoughts but worries that repeated probing will expose him 35.
• Shared ability: Suspects Lu Yanchu has the same ability when Lu responds to Ji Ting’s silent hunger, then observes that both men hear thoughts Xu Ren apparently cannot 42 43.

The ability improves his access to facts, not necessarily his understanding of Ji Ting. He repeatedly hears truthful information while continuing to interpret Ji Ting through older assumptions about his laziness and character 10 13 33.

Corporate Leadership

Ji Yanzhi oversees Shili’s research funding, technology acquisition, and legal response to threats 11 20 48.

• Prioritizes the AI laboratory while offering a separate allocation for Dai Xiangqiang’s project 11.
• Uses a patent application requirement to subject Dai’s research claims to substantive examination 12.
• Negotiates for Unit One’s chip technology and seeks direct contact with its actual developer 20 26.
• Mobilizes engineers, communications researchers, secretaries, and legal counsel to assess technology and protect company interests 22 47 48 50.

Investigation and Negotiation

He combines background checks, surveillance, legal pressure, and incentives to uncover concealed motives 20 48.

• Questions Xu Ren’s claim to Unit One after reviewing his financial circumstances and the technology’s apparent value 20.
• Suspects Xu Ren was drugged during the incident at Wang Jianming’s home and requests a drug test 48.
• Stages a conversation with Attorney Liu about valuable project data and trade-secret charges to unsettle Wang Jianming and his wife 48.
• Escalates Xu Ren’s case partly to force the hidden developer to intervene, only to discover that the developer has anticipated his strategy 50.

Relationships

• Ji Ting — Younger half-brother. Their relationship moves from intimidation and disbelief toward intermittent teamwork and concealed care, but Ji Yanzhi continues to restrict his independence and underestimate his expertise 1 6 12 24 33.
• Ji Shize — Father. Abused Ji Yanzhi as a child and later employed Dai Xiangqiang before Dai joined Shili; their relationship remains antagonistic 13 31 32.
• Lin Qing — Stepmother and Ji Ting’s mother. Her entry into the household is associated with Ji Yanzhi’s traumatic punishment; Ji Ting’s resemblance to her triggers his resentment 31.
• Ji Zhenting — Grandfather and family patriarch. Ji Yanzhi defies the guards at Crane Garden to take Ji Ting home from his custody 24.
• Ji Liping and Ji Rui — Uncle and cousin. Rejects their appeals for protection and submits evidence of their smuggling and drug trafficking to the police, despite subsequent board pressure 3 21.
• Ling Xi — Romantic interest. Cared deeply for him when they were young; Ji Ting suspects his feelings may have begun before his own. Ji Yanzhi later uses Ling Xi as leverage in an argument with Lu Yanchu 43 44.
• Lu Yanchu — Romantic rival over Ling Xi. Their antagonism increasingly centers on access to Ji Ting and their shared ability to hear his thoughts 29 42 43.
• Xu Ren — Ji Ting’s tutor and later a Shili employee. Initially treats him with suspicion and pressure, then provides legal assistance when his advisor frames him 20 41 47 48.
• Fu Cheng — Friend who investigates Ji Ting’s medical examination and warns Ji Yanzhi against trusting him 8 9.
• Fang Jie — Secretary and intermediary with Ji Ting; the most trusted of Ji Yanzhi’s three secretaries 4 31 50.
• Liao Kai — Long-serving subordinate who handles security reports and watches over Ji Ting after his injury; has served Ji Yanzhi for seven or eight years 22 25.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Interrogation and the Smuggling Case

• Introduced while coercively questioning Ji Ting about Sea City and searching for Ling Xi’s whereabouts 1.
• Initially suggests that Ji Liping take responsibility as the ringleader to reduce Ji Rui’s sentence. After hearing about the drug trafficking, he instead orders Ji Liping taken to the police and commits the company to cooperation 3.
• Informs Ji Ting that the new evidence could bring both relatives life sentences. Their subsequent lunch is the brothers’ first meal at the same table 4.

Confinement and Academic Demands

• Confines Ji Ting at home, confiscates his phone and car keys, and imposes tutoring after Ji Ting chooses to entrust Ling Xi’s address to Lu Yanchu 5.
• Sets admission-level grades for a second-tier university as the condition for leaving, then learns that his accusation about Xu Ren’s departure was wrong 6.
• Restores Ji Ting’s possessions and temporarily permits him to leave. Later medical evidence challenges his belief that Ji Ting is intellectually unremarkable 7 8 9.
• After discovering Ji Ting’s rapid mastery of options trading, raises his requirement to a Project 985 university and threatens to dock Xu Ren’s pay if Ji Ting enters the game room 33.

Dai Xiangqiang and Unit One

• Works with Ji Ting to pressure Dai into preparing a patent application, exposing fabricated chip-research data months earlier than in the original novel 12 13.
• Investigates the modified robot vacuum named Tasmanian Devil No. 1 and attempts to acquire its chip technology through Xu Ren 18 20.
• Ruins the initial deal by asking Ji Ting to exploit Xu Ren’s attachment to discover the developer’s identity. Ji Ting withdraws the technology from sale, while Ji Yanzhi subsequently pursues Xu’s materials research directly 20 21 22.

Crane Garden Rescue

• Rushes to Crane Garden after learning that the chairman’s men have taken Ji Ting there, then insists on taking him home 22 24.
• Treats the wound behind Ji Ting’s ear and becomes alarmed when he appears to fall asleep. Hospital treatment includes stitches and a transfusion 24 25.
• Allows Ji Ting to pursue an assault complaint against Ji Shilei despite concerns about their grandfather’s reaction 25.

Lu Yanchu and the Film Investigation

• Reacts jealously to Ji Ting’s meetings with Lu Yanchu. Ambiguous instructions to pack Ji Ting’s belongings are interpreted by the staff as an eviction, which Ji Yanzhi reverses when he sees Ji Ting leaving 29 38 39 40.
• Attends a meeting about suspected interference with Edge of the Wind, insisting on evidence before using technology that could unlawfully access communications 41 42.
• Discovers Lu Yanchu’s apparent thought-hearing ability. Their business discussion deteriorates into an argument over Ling Xi, prompting Ji Ting to leave with Xu Ren 42 43 44.

Xu Ren’s Framing and the Hidden Developer

• Arranges legal representation for Xu Ren, suspects research theft, and personally confronts Wang Jianming’s household at the police station 47 48.
• Learns that the surveillance program was written in forty-three minutes using computing resources apparently beyond Shili’s own supercomputer 47 48.
• Receives anonymous documentary and video evidence reconstructing the framing. Realizing that the sender has outmaneuvered him, he abandons his earlier schemes and decides the hidden figure must not become an enemy 50.
• Keeps the released Xu Ren from immediately returning to campus and suggests that Ji Ting is the person who resolved the case 50.

Notable Quotes

“Whether what you say is true or false, I'll at least send someone to investigate.” 4

“He's my brother. Who are you to tell me how to treat him?” 44

Trivia

• Ji Ting uses photographs taken by Tasmanian Devil Unit One to practice identifying Ji Yanzhi’s emotions; the collection portrays him as almost constantly angry 16.
• Ji Yanzhi nicknames Ji Ting “Ji Ears,” which Ji Ting accepts as fair 47.
• Despite the title “Ji Yanzhi’s schizophrenia,” no diagnosis is established. Ji Ting explicitly recognizes that he is not qualified to diagnose him, while Lu Yanchu mistakes the overheard suspicion for fact 35 43.