She had helped her curse out Zhou Li before.
Meanwhile, Ji Xiangyi finished dealing with the company's affairs.
Only then did she pick up the information about Fang Ning and Ji Xiangchen filming together that her assistant had placed on her desk early that morning.
Ji Xiangyi lowered her eyes, opened the file, and read it line by line.
This drama was a historical
political intrigue
script, with a plot revolving around imperial power struggles,
officialdom
conflicts, and historical cycles.
Fang Ning and Ji Xiangchen played a sister and brother who depended on each other for survival and traveled to the capital to petition the emperor.
There were no romantic scenes like her assistant had claimed.
There were no steamy scenes either. Tsk, she had thought there really would be romantic scenes. What a waste of her time.
How boring.
After reading it, Ji Xiangyi tossed the file aside, then leaned back in her high-quality chair.
After dealing with a huge pile of documents, Ji Xiangyi felt more exhausted, physically and mentally, than ever before. Zhao Cheng's cheating, the endless overtime, the never-ending documents.
She was just about to lean back in her chair and doze for a while.
But her assistant suddenly appeared. "President Ji, Miss Xia is here to see you."
Ji Xiangyi's expression shifted slightly. Xia Qing
was a woman she had known for quite some time.
She was the daughter of the owner of a company that worked with Ji Xiangnian. They had met at a banquet and stayed in touch ever since.
"Show her in."
A few minutes later, a beautiful woman walked in. She carried a gift box of pastries and wore high heels and a white slip dress, looking sophisticated and elegant.
"Xiangyi, have you been that busy lately? I just asked your assistant where you were, and he said you were still dealing with documents." Xia Qing sat on the sofa beside the small coffee table in the office and helped herself to tea.
Ji Xiangyi also sat at the coffee table and unhurriedly accepted the tea she offered her. "Yes, work's been a little busy lately. Anyway, what brings you here?"
Xia Qing tilted her head slightly and unconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear, pushing the pastry gift box she had brought toward her. "I was coming back from filming and happened to pass that pastry shop you like, so I bought some and stopped by to see what you've been up to lately."
Ji Xiangyi opened the pastry box. The pastries were arranged beautifully and delicately, and gave off a rich aroma. "Thank you."
"They're fresh out of the oven. Try some. Oh, by the way
"Mmm, they're pretty good."
Their personalities were fairly compatible. Ji Xiangyi was both aloof and reserved, while Xia Qing was the sort of girl who was very good at conversation.
Back and forth, they chatted for over ten minutes.
Xia Qing checked the time, set down her teacup, and unconsciously swept her long hair back. "By the way, Xiangyi, I heard your older brother went abroad to discuss a business partnership. Has he still not come back after all this time?"
Ji Xiangyi's hand paused around her teacup. Her rare smile faded, her expression turning cool. "No, not yet."
She had always known Xia Qing was interested in Ji Xiangnian.
But she had thought Xia Qing had come today because of her. It seemed she had been reading too much into it.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Xia Qing's face. "I thought your brother had already come back. My dad went sea fishing today and caught a few fish. He even said he wanted your brother to come over for dinner."
"That really is a bit of a shame."
Ji Xiangyi set down her teacup, her tone suddenly becoming somewhat distant. "Yes, a bit of a shame."
"Well, if there's nothing else, Xiangyi, I'll head back."
"All right. Thank you for the pastries."
After Xia Qing left, Ji Xiangyi called her assistant over and tossed him the box of pastries Xia Qing had brought, saying flatly, "I don't like these Western-style pastries. You can have them."
Compared with pastries, she still preferred barbecue.
Putting on a few more pounds was better than receiving a gift of false affection.
Speaking of barbecue, Ji Xiangyi thought of Fang Ning, who had kept putting barbecue on her plate last night, saying this was delicious and that was delicious, while inwardly wanting her to share a few pounds of flesh with her all along.
The barbecue was very good, spicy and especially satisfying with a glass of cola.
Ji Xiangyi looked up at the time. It was five in the afternoon.
She frowned as she glanced over the pile of documents on her desk, then furrowed her brows and told her assistant, "I'm not working overtime tonight. Organize the documents that need urgent attention. I'll come in and deal with them tomorrow morning."
Her assistant's eyes widened, his expression as though he had seen a ghost. He wondered whether something was wrong with his ears.
Ji Xiangyi, in less than two years after leaving
school,
had climbed up from the bottom-an overtime fanatic, a woman who was hard on others and even harder on herself.
In the short year he had worked under her, he had never seen this woman arrive late or leave early. She was a textbook compulsive case of never putting off today's work until tomorrow.
Ji Xiangyi was actually leaving early. What the hell? This was unbelievable.
Meanwhile, Fang Ning sat in the villa's back garden reading her script, while also discussing work with her agent. Her agency had found an advertisement for her and asked whether she wanted to take it.
Fang Ning really wanted to slack off.
But as the saying went, what your father or mother had was never as good as what you had yourself. Who in this world ever turned their nose up at having too much money?
The millions Ji Xiangnian gave her every month were hers, and the money she earned herself was hers too. Who wouldn't want more money?
So Fang Ning agreed almost immediately.
After finishing the discussion about the advertisement, Fang Ning leaned back in the wicker chair, enjoying the breeze as she memorized her lines. She would be joining the production tomorrow.
She had not been an actress before transmigrating into the book, and she had no idea how good her acting was. In any case, she would memorize her lines first and prepare.
She would do her best not to become the production's conspicuous oddball,
but just as she picked up her script, the sound of a car came from the entrance.
Ji Xiangchen parked his car and entered the living room, but did not see Fang Ning. Just then, the butler came out of the kitchen. He stopped and asked, "Uncle Li, where's Fang Ning?"
"Fang Ning?" The butler did not know Fang Ning's name, so he asked in confusion.