Useless. Stand down. I'll do it myself

"You have no idea how many calls I made for you, how many investors I'd worked with before I took out to dinner, shamelessly begging them to help me get an introduction."

Director Ji patted his chest as he recounted his efforts, then added rather helplessly:

"Unfortunately, everyone wanted to help but couldn't."

"I even went straight to that person's company to ask for a meeting, but they said the appointments were booked six months out. I..." Director Ji had only gone to try his luck, and sure enough, the result had been exactly what he expected.

He couldn't get an appointment. He simply couldn't.

"I even begged my father-in-law to help introduce me."

He had been scolded, and still hadn't gotten it done. Director Ji looked utterly done with life. "That failed too."

[The more he says, the more curious I get. Who exactly does Ye Yizhou like? Is he that mysterious and that hard to meet?]

[Is this even real?! Could they be working together to generate publicity and clean up Ye Yizhou's image?]

[Everyone knows Ye Yizhou likes Song Jincheng and kept throwing himself at him. Now they say he likes someone else, and we're just supposed to believe it?]

[Surely everyone knows Director Ji's father-in-law is Director Liu Jiangzhou!]

[Surely everyone knows Director Liu has a fiery temper and speaks his mind!]

[Surely everyone knows Director Liu can't stand the son-in-law who stole his daughter away. Even if they were making things up, they couldn't make up gossip involving Director Liu. He'd slap them down hard.]

[True. Director Liu wouldn't give Director Ji any way to save face.]

[So who exactly is this mystery man?! Now I'm curious.]

Ye Yizhou continued cracking melon seeds, unmoved by what he heard.

"For you, I tapped practically every connection I had. I worked so hard, put in so much effort, and you don't have any reaction at all?" Director Ji said.

"For me?" Ye Yizhou chuckled. "You know perfectly well what you really did all this for!"

After finishing the handful of melon seeds, Ye Yizhou brushed the crumbs off his hands and slowly raised his eyes to Director Ji. "We were both getting something out of it. Spare me the guilt trip."

"Heh, heh."

Director Ji gave two dry chuckles and continued playing the victim for the camera. "You have no idea how badly I got scolded. Let me show you my chat history with His Highness here."

Director Ji took his phone out of his pocket.

Ye Yizhou was completely unaffected. Instead, he posed a question from the depths of his soul. "Did I insult you?"

Director Ji's hand paused as he searched through their chat history, and he stared at Ye Yizhou in disbelief. "You did it, and now you won't admit it?"

"Let me hear it." Ye Yizhou raised a hand in an inviting gesture.

"Everyone, please listen."

The WeChat conversation consisted mostly of voice messages, so there was no need to switch to a high-definition shot. As long as everyone could hear the audio clearly, that was enough.

"I really did my best. I used all my connections and called in every favor. Forget inviting him onto the show-I couldn't even meet him. The bar is just too high. Aren't you deliberately making things difficult for me, Fat Tiger?"

That was Director Ji's miserable voice.

"If I can't invite him, will you still take part in the show?" Director Ji cautiously followed up.

"If he's not coming, why the hell would I?"

Ye Yizhou's voice came through the voice message, cold and heartless, with a hint of disdain. "Useless. Stand down. I'll do it myself."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Which part of that was an insult?" Ye Yizhou looked bewildered.

Director Ji protested indignantly, "You called me useless, and you're still trying to deny it?"

"That was an insult? I thought you'd earned the title." Ye Yizhou tilted his head at Director Ji, his tone innocent and sincere.

Director Ji: ...

Was he really not going to let him save any face?

[So this is why Ye Yizhou wasn't on the show's officially announced guest list.]

[So Ye Yizhou was the one who didn't want to come?]

[Then what was that paparazzi footage of Ye Yizhou taking Director Ji to dinner and begging to get on the show about?]

[Judging by the way they spoke in those WeChat messages, Director Ji begging Ye Yizhou sounds more believable!]

[Director Ji, please explain!]

"A lot of people in the comments are asking about the paparazzi footage of Director Ji and Mr. Ye having dinner. Do you have anything to say about that?"

The staff member monitoring the live comments couldn't help prompting them after seeing the same question appear over and over.

"Start with a photo and a video, then make up everything else. My advice is to quit being paparazzi and become screenwriters in the entertainment industry instead. They came up with quite an exciting plot."

Ye Yizhou was all smiles as he brought it up, and his smile widened when he looked at Director Ji. "I just feel bad that Director Ji got so much abuse."

[???]

The live comments filled with question marks. Were they remembering it wrong?

Hadn't Ye Yizhou been the one getting abused?

"Oh, right. Let me briefly explain that. I needed Yizhou's help with something, so I was the one who paid for dinner that day. I even specifically ordered two expensive bottles of fine wine, but Yizhou didn't drink any, so of course I took them home myself. They were so expensive, and my money doesn't grow on trees. Was there anything wrong with taking them home? No, right? I never expected to end up with a reputation for eating and drinking on someone else's dime, taking things home, and then not doing anything in return. I've really been wronged."

When Director Ji had seen the trending topic and what everyone was saying about him, he had laughed in anger. "Snow in June! I've been wronged even more than Dou E."

Even Ye Yizhou's manager had misunderstood.

Wei Zhao had been about to pay the bill when Ye Yizhou told him it had already been paid.

Ye Yizhou had meant Director Ji had paid, but Wei Zhao thought Ye Yizhou had picked up the bill.

"Then why didn't either of you come forward to explain when it was trending?"

The staff member continued asking the hottest, most-discussed questions from the live comments.

"I wasn't the one getting abused. What did I have to explain?" Ye Yizhou shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned.

Director Ji scratched his head and said, looking a little embarrassed:

"With everyone so focused on this, naturally the topic was getting plenty of traffic and attention. How could I let all that buzz go to waste? Of course I had to save it for my show. Ratings and buzz are both important when you're making a show these days! I have my own KPI to meet too!"

Ye Yizhou's and Director Ji's explanations left the netizens stunned enough to last a whole year.

They had never expected this to be the truth!

"You really won him over? You're not pulling my leg, are you? If he were that easy to win over, you wouldn't have needed to come to me and take the roundabout route of joining a dating show!"

Director Ji was still very nosy and desperately wanted to know whether this bit of gossip was true.

"All I can say is, the timing, the circumstances, and the people all lined up. He was destined to be mine."

At the mention of Yan Qingdu, Ye Yizhou couldn't hide the sweet smile on his lips. He pressed his left hand to his cheek. "Besides, I've put it right out in the open. Has not a single person noticed?"

The ring on Ye Yizhou's left ring finger was sparkling, beautiful, and eye-catching.

"I did see it, but..."

Director Ji nodded thoughtfully, still holding a somewhat different view.