Ji Xiangnian

Biodata

Background / History

Taking Responsibility for the Ji Family

Ji Xiangnian lost his parents in a car accident shortly after turning eighteen and completing his college entrance examinations. With three younger siblings to support and relatives seeking control of the family business, he had little time to grieve before taking responsibility for both the household and the company 9 121.

His uncles and cousins initially deprived him of effective authority. While still a university student, he repeatedly rescued the business from crises caused by its shareholders. Over the following years, he gradually wrested control back from his relatives and restored the Ji family’s wealth 1 53.

The demands of this struggle left him largely absent from his siblings’ emotional lives. He provided generous allowances and material security, but relied on strict discipline rather than patient guidance. His siblings grew distant from him and from one another, eventually preferring to communicate with him through his assistant 9 54 83.

Marriage to Fang Ning

The Fang and Ji elders had once discussed a marriage alliance, but Fang Ning’s father abandoned it after the Ji parents died. Once Ji Xiangnian restored the family’s prosperity, her father arranged for her to marry him 1.

Their marriage began as a contractual arrangement with clearly defined boundaries, including an agreement not to interfere in each other’s affairs. Fang Ning could receive additional payment for helping with family matters or accompanying him socially. There was no wedding banquet, wedding photography, or honeymoon 41 43 44.

Before marrying, Ji Xiangnian gathered his siblings to seek their opinions and, ideally, their blessings. Their silence and indifference made him question whether he had failed as an older brother 13.

Appearance

• Face: Handsome, with long brows, deep-set eyes, and features often described as cold or stern 13 77.
• Build: Tall and muscular, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long, straight legs 76 87.
• Clothing: Usually wears restrained suits and ties; his casual clothes give him a more relaxed appearance 87 101.
• Accessories: Wears gold-rimmed glasses and a ring on his ring finger 78 89.
• Voice: Deep and steady; Fang Ning finds his sincere tone reassuring when he offers to listen to her troubles 54 97.

Personality

Ji Xiangnian is composed, calculating, and decisive in business. His assistant admires his ability to identify the interests and likely profitability behind complicated decisions within minutes. He also recognizes attempts to manipulate him, whether Gu Ming’s investigation of office gossip or an executive’s attempt to obtain favors through an actress 53 77 106.

As an older brother, his desire to protect and provide often becomes controlling behavior. He interferes with Ji Xiangyi’s relationships and career, pressures Ji Xiangchen to abandon acting, and uses physical punishment when raising his younger brothers. Although he longs for their affection and respect, he struggles to understand the resentment his methods have produced 25 59 82 83 87.

His relationship with Fang Ning reveals a more considerate side. He supports her freedom to pursue her own life, asks permission to court her, and accepts her insistence that romance must remain separate from their financial arrangements. Once their relationship becomes secure, he willingly steps away from daily business management to accompany her on filming assignments 97 115 125.

Abilities & Skills

Hearing Fang Ning’s Thoughts

Ji Xiangnian can hear Fang Ning’s unspoken thoughts, including her private exchanges with the system 14 48.

• First experiences the phenomenon during a telephone conversation and summons Doctor William because he suspects a problem with his brain 14.
• Later notices that Fang Ning’s spoken replies differ from what he hears internally and begins identifying the phenomenon as mind-reading 48.
• Hears her insistence that she only likes his money during Xia Qing’s confession, leaving him visibly hurt 103.

Business Strategy and Management

He rebuilds Ji Group through financial judgment, patience, and forceful consolidation of authority 53 54.

• Corporate recovery: Repeatedly saves the family business before regaining full control from his relatives 53.
• Investment judgment: Acquires resource companies during a coup in an African country while other investors withdraw; those holdings subsequently grow stronger 53 54.
• Rapid decision-making: Resolves matters that Gu Ming has struggled to decide by quickly assessing interests and potential returns 53.
• Delegation: Entrusts part of the family business to Ji Xiangyi after her graduation, enabling her to establish herself as the group’s second-in-command 11.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Overseas Work and Changes at Home

• While abroad, asks Fang Ning to look after Ji Xiangchen during their shared production and offers to honor an earlier request concerning her father in exchange 14.
• Has his assistant ask Fang Ning to handle an urgent matter at Ji Xiangzhou’s school, then increases her living allowance as compensation 38 43.
• Is surprised to learn that Ji Xiangyi has secured Fang Ning and Ji Xiangchen’s release from the police station, since the twins normally refuse to help one another 44.
• Becomes visibly hopeful when Ji Xiangyi calls him directly and addresses him as “Brother,” only to receive criticism for neglecting Fang Ning 54.

Returning Home and Developing Feelings

• Accepts Fang Ning’s offer to collect him from the airport after finishing his overseas work 79 83.
• Experiences unexpected attraction during a close encounter with her in the walk-in closet, then privately struggles to understand his feelings 89 90.
• Arranges his schedule to attend Ji Xiangzhou’s parent-teacher meeting, departing from his previous habit of sending assistants or the butler 40 89 92.
• Introduces Fang Ning as his wife to business acquaintances and charity-reception guests 95 101.
• Finds his attempts to spend time alone with her repeatedly interrupted by his siblings, who increasingly seek out her company 94 99 124 125.

Courtship and the Actress Rumor

• Rejects Xia Qing’s confession, explaining that he already likes someone else and that she should improve herself for her own sake rather than his 103.
• Refuses an executive’s attempt to use actress Xiao Guo to obtain a favor for a relative 106.
• Takes subsequent rumors linking him to an actress seriously because he fears they will damage Fang Ning’s trust 114.
• Obtains banquet surveillance footage and brings in the people involved to explain the misleading photographs. Fang Ning accepts his explanation 115 116.
• Receives permission to pursue Fang Ning after agreeing to respect her financial boundaries and handle matters calmly if their relationship does not work out 115.

Life Together

• Shares the circumstances of his parents’ deaths and the burden of raising his siblings during a riverside outing with Fang Ning 121 122.
• Becomes a hands-off boss and follows her to filming locations, leaving Ji Xiangyi with his workload; she recruits Ji Xiangchen to help 125.
• After more than two years together, arranges a romantic dinner and proposes while Fang Ning is eating steak 125.
• Ultimately watches his siblings gather affectionately around Fang Ning, smiling despite being left behind by the group 126.

Relationships

• Fang Ning — His contractual wife and eventual romantic partner. Their paid exchanges develop into mutual attraction, explicit courtship, and a lasting relationship in which he accompanies her acting career 43 115 125.
• Ji Xiangyi — Younger sister and a principal manager of Ji Group. He trusts her business abilities but has controlled her career and interfered in her relationships. She resents both his interference and the work he leaves to her 11 82 83 125.
• Ji Xiangchen — Younger brother. Ji Xiangnian’s physical discipline, criticism, and pressure on his agency contribute to their hostility. Despite this, Ji Xiangnian hopes to earn his respect and asks Fang Ning to watch over him 14 25 83 87.
• Ji Xiangzhou — Youngest brother. His memories of being punished without being heard, along with his guardians’ repeated absence from school meetings, underpin his distrust. Ji Xiangnian later begins attending to his school life personally 40 59 89 92.
• Old Madam Ji — Grandmother. She resents his removal of her sons from power and opposes his decision to entrust family businesses to Ji Xiangyi rather than her male cousins 79 81.
• Gu Ming — Subordinate and friend. Visits him in the United States to test a rumor about his sexual health, then reacts with astonishment upon learning that he is married 77 79.
• Xia Qing — Daughter of a business partner who falls for him at first sight. She approaches his siblings to gain access to him, but he ultimately rejects her confession 28 87 103 105.
• Assistant Zheng — Trusted assistant who handles scheduling, family requests, and medical arrangements. His assistant also serves as an intermediary between Ji Xiangnian and his estranged siblings 14 38 54.

Notable Quotes

“You should work hard to improve and become a better version of yourself because you want to do better, not because of someone else.” 103

“Perhaps you need someone to listen.” 97

Trivia

• Regularly runs in the morning and swims; his United States villa has a sprawling lawn and a large pool 77.
• Remembers his mother telling him stories in the greenhouse garden his father built for her. Although he has forgotten the stories, he still remembers her voice 110.
• His lack of a visible dating life leads senior executives to circulate an unverified rumor that he is impotent. Gu Ming’s attempt to investigate it instead reveals his marriage 77 78 79.