Chapter 34: Craziness
Su Jinli allowed An Zhihan to help dress him, layer after layer, until only his eyes were visible.
Afterward, he followed An Zhihan out of the training camp and got into a car which An Zhihan had ordered by phone.
The driver seemed to know An Zhihan well, even going so far as to engage in catching up with Zhihan once he had stepped into the car, addressing him as "Second Master An".
"I'm feeling a bit warm, Zhihan," Su Jinli murmured.
An Zhihan turned to look at Su Jinli and pulled off his mask, "You can take it off in the car."
"Oh, alright," Su Jinli immediately did as told, taking off all his protective gear and letting out a sigh, "Do we have to do this every time we go out?"
"Yeah, more or less. You can't leave out the mask and hat, or else it will be problematic."
Slightly disheartened, Su Jinli sighed heavily. This was indeed troublesome.
An Zhihan had long gotten used to the precaution and, busy chatting on his phone, had no mind to pay attention to the inconvenience.
They'd been driving for more than an hour and still hadn't arrived at their destination. Su Jinli was even starting to suspect that this place was more remote than his studio.
Looking around, he noticed that the car was still on the highway and immediately asked An Zhihan, "How much longer until we get there?"
The driver was the first to respond, "About twenty minutes."
"I feel a bit carsick..." Su Jinli, who was not used to frequent car rides, usually felt fine traveling in Hou Yong's van, but this air-conditioned car was making him gradually uncomfortable.
"We can't stop on the highway. Let's pull over at the rest station," An Zhihan replied. He took a bottle of mineral water from the car and handed it to Su Jinli.
They parked at the rest station, deliberately choosing a spot with few cars. Su Jinli got out and recovered a bit before feeling much better.
The driver bought Su Jinli an ice cream cone, and he sat down by the roadside to eat it.
At this point, a driver from a nearby car came over and looked at Su Jinli, giving him several glances.
Su Jinli had no idea that he was already well-known, leisurely enjoying his snack until he saw someone aiming a phone towards him to record. He got up and quickly jumped back into the car.
The onlookers stuck around until they saw the car drive off.
Su Jinli peered out the car window, nudged An Zhihan's shoulder, and asked, "There won't be any problems, right?"
"Wow, you got your ice cream on my clothes." An Zhihan replied.
"I'm asking you a question."
"It's fine. As soon as the person took out their phone, you came back. I was observing the surroundings, and there was no one else. Now you know, right? Be more careful in the future."
Su Jinli nodded quickly, "So this is what being famous is like?"
"I really don't understand how your secluded place had nothing. How do you not know anything?"
Su Jinli couldn't answer too much, just brushing it aside with a casual response, "Well... there's no internet."
An Zhihan was not in a good mood and didn't say anything more.
Su Jinli held his phone, wondering whether he should post something on Weibo.
He had been warned by Hou Yong, so he was cautious about everything he did. Before posting on Weibo, he checked An Zhihan's Weibo profile. After scrolling through, he felt that there was nothing to learn from.
He then visited Fan Qianting's, Wu Yu's, and Chang Siyin's Weibo pages, following them and studying the way they posted.
Wu Yu's Weibo was filled with landscape photos, and his writing was formal and ambiguous. Su Jinli couldn't quite understand it but admired how impressive it seemed.
Fan Qianting, on the other hand, posted various humorous jokes and numerous selfies.
Chang Siyin's Weibo was mostly filled with everyday life.
An Zhihan's Weibo, on the other hand, was full of selfies, scenic photos from his travels, and subtweets poking fun at An Zhiyan.
It seemed like each of them had their own style. After a moment of thought, Su Jinli asked An Zhihan, "Could you take a photo of me?"
An Zhihan nodded, taking Su Jinli's phone, and tried to find a good angle to capture Su Jinli's image, eventually settling on a side profile shot.
Since they were in the car, the light from the car window illuminated Su Jinli's countenance, accentuating his side profile. The backlight made his facial lines clearer and highlighted his long eyelashes.
"You weird eyelashed mutant..." An Zhihan zoomed in on the photo, commenting, "No need for photo retouch, take it."
Su Jinli took back his phone and posted the photo on Weibo.
Su Jinli: Today's little koi is here. I heard that kind people will have good luck ~ [photo]
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When they arrived at their destination, Su Jinli finally understood why An Zhihan said that it was safe.
It was a very remote villa area located sub-urban, and the car passed a security check before entering the villa district, driving for a while until they reached the gathering place. If anyone tried to tail them, they wouldn't be able to get into the estate.
Upon entering, everyone's communication devices would be confiscated — they would even get scanned for any other hidden devices. Only after passing these checks could they go in.
Many people greeted them after they went in. An Zhihan replied casually and asked a nanny: "Where are the ones I arranged?"
The nanny pointed upstairs: "They are waiting for you in the room."
After contemplating for a while, An Zhihan told Su Jinli, "Choose what you like to eat from that table later, tell her, and they will send it up to you."
"Okay," Su Jinli said, his eyes already on food-laden long table.
"The room 207 upstairs is our regular room, there's a password lock at the door. The password is 739128. Go to that room to eat and rest while I handle some things," An Zhihan said, before promptly going upstairs.
Su Jinli went to the long table with the nanny. Seeing the food on the table, he ordered quite a few items.
The nanny wrote down the names of the food, indicating to him, "You can wait upstairs. Once the food is ready, we'll bring it to you."
Su Jinli thanked her and then cheerfully went upstairs, unlocking the door with the password.
The room was already tidied up and extremely neat.
Rather than a room, it felt more like a home. The first area was the living room, furnished with a large couch and a home theater setup, and adjacent to that was the dining area. There wasn't any kitchen, likely because no one would come here to cook their meals.
A curtain separated the living room from the bedroom.
Entering the bathroom, Su Jinli was shocked... such a big bathroom! Such a huge bathtub! It was big enough for swimming! It'd been a long time since he last went swimming.
After gaping in surprise for a while, someone rang the doorbell. He immediately opened the door to see waitstaff wheeling in a food trolley. They delivered the food to the dining area and promptly exited.
Su Jinli sat in the dining area, hungrily enjoying the meal. The food was so delicious it almost brought tears to his eyes. He finally felt this trip was worth it.
After finishing his meal, he was so full that he paced around the room a few times. Then, feeling drowsy, he pulled the curtain to go sleep in the bedroom.
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Hou Yong hadn't anticipated that when he came to Sejia Legend, the person he was going to negotiate a contract with was An Zhiyan himself.
This was absolutely top-tier treatment.
An Zhiyan was the eldest son of the president of Sejia Legend and was also the most popular artist within the company. Two years ago, he had started handling some of the company affairs.
However, An Zhiyan was extremely busy with his own work and had little time to deal with these matters. Hou Yong was surprised and impressed that An Zhiyan would meet him in person.
Then, An Zhiyan handed Hou Yong a contract. It listed the terms they would offer Su Jinli if he joined their company. For instance, the contract guaranteed specific resources per year and promised a minimum number of endorsements. The split of earnings was also quite considerable.
Moreover...
"Should he join our company, you will still be his agent. You won't have to do everything all by yourself anymore. We will provide him with a personal stylist, bodyguard, driver, and between one to four assistants, two to five publicity staff varying. Everyone we hire is always the best in the business."
Hou Yong flipped through the contract and read the commitments written. Each clause, each word, was immensely enticing.
Upon realizing the strong team support An Zhiyan was offering, his heart pounded in excitement.
At his previous company, Senhua, he'd also been in charge of newcomers. The promotional activities had to go through the company's centralized team, and sometimes he had to step in personally. The stylist and bodyguard were hired temporarily, and there was no fixed personnel.
"Also, the first three years after he joins our company will likely be the busiest. Therefore, in the first three years, you will only be responsible for him, a one-on-one basis. As for his resources, everything will go through my hands."
Hou Yong nodded and asked An Zhiyan, "So, after Su Jinli signs the contract and comes onboard, he will be one of your artists?"
After An Zhiyan moved to Sejia Legend, he wasn't the absolute authority, he needed to show some results to gain recognition.
And those results entailed nurturing a popular artist.
Over the past two years, An Zhiyan has also nurtured several strongly trending artists. Although they belong to An Zhiyan's camp, there is still a gap between them and the superstar-level artists nurtured by previous seniors.
"That's correct. You must know how much I want to cultivate excellent artists, right? My position in Sejia Legend is unstable, and there are many shareholders in this company. In the future, I need good results to reach a higher position." An Zhiyan told the truth.
Hou Yong, having understood, looked over the contract repeatedly.
It could be said that Sejia Legend was indeed quite sincere.
"If you think it's possible, I can send someone to talk to the leadership of your studio. After that, your studio will belong to Sejia Legend." An Zhiyan adjusted his posture and looked at Hou Yong seriously.
Hou Yong looked up, felt something was off the moment he made eye contact with An Zhiyan, and immediately looked away. He had heard rumors in the industry, so he had been wary of An Zhiyan and hadn't made eye contact with him since he came in.
"Can I consider it?" Hou Yong asked.
"Of course." An Zhiyan was confident. He believed he had presented the best terms, something other companies could not offer.
Later in the conversation, An Zhiyan received a phone call.
He didn't like being interrupted by phone calls while discussing matters, so he rejected the call the first time around.
However, the other party was very persistent, repeatedly making calls, so he had to excuse himself, let Jiang Ping Qiu continue to talk, and stepped out to answer the phone: "Hello, what's up?"
"Zhiyan…" The voice of his childhood friend, choked with sobs, was on the other side of the phone.
An Zhiyan slightly frowned and asked, "Why are you crying? Did Ouyang bully you? When we met yesterday, everything was fine, wasn't it?"
"Can we not talk about him, please?"
"What happened?"
"Zhiyan, I love you! I really, really love you."
An Zhiyan felt especially baffled. The person on the phone was his childhood friend, Chen Tianxiao.
Chen Tianxiao had gotten engaged earlier this year. Her fiance and An Zhiyan were quite familiar, as he was a young master from a well-known family in their circle.
At the time, An Zhiyan even attended their engagement ceremony, and they had just met yesterday.
"Are you... playing a betting game?" An Zhiyan asked.
"I've loved you since I first understood what love was, but you've always ignored me. I don't actually like Ouyang. Being with him is just a marriage of interest. I really don't want to be with him. Can you save me?"
An Zhiyan rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling the situation was particularly tricky. He responded, "In this matter, I'm only an outsider and shouldn't interfere. What I can say for certain is, even if you didn't end up with Ouyang, I wouldn't be with you either, I don't have those feelings for you."
This was the truth from An Zhiyan's part. He never harbored any feelings toward the people around him, and has always viewed Chen Tianxiao as a friend.
But his rejection pushed Chen Tianxiao to the edge of insanity: "But I love you! I have no idea what I can do to forget you. I'm going crazy. I don't want it to be this way, I don't want to continue like this. Could you see me one more time? I beg you."
"Sorry, I'm very busy lately."
"I'm waiting for you at Xingyue Villa. If I can't see you tonight, can you attend my funeral in a few days?"
"What do you mean?" An Zhiyan was prepared to hang up the phone when he suddenly paused.
"Instead of marrying Ouyang and living a life I don't want to, it's better to end it all. At least it'll be quick."
After saying these words, Chen Tianxiao hung up.
An Zhiyan called Chen Tianxiao back several times, but she did not answer.
He could only phone Xingyue Villa, and the information he received was that Chen Tianxiao was indeed there. They had tried to approach under the guise of room service, but Chen Tian Xiao didn't open her door. However, she did respond and it was estimated that she was safe for now.
He then called Ouyang, but didn't dare to tell the truth directly. Instead, he said: "Chen Tianxiao called me, and her condition doesn't seem to be quite right. Can you go check on her?"
It was noisy on Ouyang's end. He laughed and replied: "Oh, it should be nothing serious. She's always a bit on edge, just likes to attract people's attention. Don't worry too much about it."
With this tone, Ouyang clearly didn't care about Chen Tianxiao.
An Zhiyan could only hang up the phone, sat quietly in his office for a while, and eventually left his company, driving to Xingyue Villa.
Upon arriving at Xingyue Villa, he brought a maid with him to the door of Chen Tianxiao's room, and once again let the maid ask if she needed any service.
Chen Tianxiao's hysterical voice came from the room: "I've told you I don't need anything!"
An Zhiyan gestured at the maid, and then left for room 207, entering the password and stepping inside.
After entering, he first went to the living room and took off his coat. Turning around, he saw empty plates in the dining room.
Usually, when someone enters a room, they would turn on an indicator light, such as "Do Not Disturb" or "Clean Immediately."
When their people came, they would turn on the "Do Not Disturb" indicator light so that nobody outside could enter, they could only ring the doorbell. However, there were no indicators when he entered the room.
He then walked towards the bedroom, pulled open the curtains, and saw Su Jinli lying on the bed, rubbing his eyes drowsily, and looking at him.
Both of them were stunned.
Before they could speak, someone opened the door of the room. An Zhiyan instinctively pulled the curtains closed again and turned to see Chen Tianxiao walking in.
"You know the password?" An Zhiyan asked, surprised.
"I've been here so many times with you and I've seen you enter the password. How could I not remember?"
"Do you need something?"
"I know you care about me, right?" Chen Tianxiao closed the door as she said that, making An Zhiyan feel uneasy.
"Have you been drinking?" An Zhiyan tried to stay as calm as possible and walked towards the door, "Let's talk outside."
"Do you really not want to share a space with me that much?" Chen Tianxiao blocked the door before he could exit.
"I'm a celebrity. This isn't very convenient."
"There's no one here who can secretly record anything!"
With a hint of helplessness, An Zhiyan pursed his lips and looked at Chen Tianxiao.
Tears welled up in Chen Tianxiao's eyes as she expressed her deep love for him. She narrated tales from their youth, recounting every event with intricate detail, her voice a steady stream of nostalgia.
An Zhiyan listened intently, then replied, "So what? I don't love you."
Taken aback, Chen Tianxiao protested, "How can you be so selfish and only consider your feelings? Can't you think about me? I love you so much, can't you at least try to save me?"
"What do you mean by 'save'?" An Zhiyan's voice was frosty. He could see there was something amiss with Chen Tianxiao’s state.
"Love me, okay? Or, let me hug you. Can you stay with me today, just for one night? I will never pester you in the future."
"What you do makes me disgusted, and your magical theory... reveals your stupidity."
"You came here to see me, don't you care about me?"
"Your parents are friends with my parents. If you die, I will be in trouble, so I came here just to make sure you're not dead. I only interacted with you before because I wanted to maintain a good relationship with your family, but you are annoying me now. You'd better get out now, otherwise don't blame me for being rude."
An Zhiyan is not a kind-hearted person. After dealing with various situations, his methods turned ruthless.
He's an expert at using callous words. He acts cold-hearted, which seems to discourage others which in turn, seems to make others leave him alone.
However, in this instance, An Zhiyan was wrong.
Chen Tianxiao suddenly took out a knife from his pocket, held it with both hands, and then said to him with a ferocious expression: "I always feel that since I can't get you, it's better to destroy you, otherwise I'll see you with someone else in the future. We will be so sad together. No... we must not let such a thing happen."
An Zhiyan immediately said nervously: "Can you put the knife down and calm down?"
However, Chen Tianxiao continued talking incessantly, saying, "No, I can't let you be with someone else… No, absolutely not."
Subconsciously, An Zhiyan shifted his position, seeking a chance to snatch away the knife from Chen Tianxiao's hand.
Alert, Chen Tianxiao moved along with him. At that moment, there was a slight flutter of the bedroom curtain that made An Zhiyan's heart jump in fear. He was afraid that Su Jinli might foolishly come over to help and get himself injured.
Before he could prevent it, Su Jinli suddenly drew back the curtain, strode out, and abruptly held Chen Tianxiao’s body from behind. He grasped her arms, forcefully pushing them to one side.
Chen Tianxiao, being a girl, didn't dodge in time. Her arm hit the cabinet and the knife in her hand dropped onto the floor.
At this moment, Chen Tianxiao started to struggle desperately, screaming with all her might.
Su Jinli didn't release her. He kept murmuring as if reciting a sutra under his breath, until the last word was pronounced, and then he uttered softly, "Subdue!"
An Zhiyan wasn't able to see life energy, thus, he naturally couldn't see a wisp of black energy emerging from Chen Tianxiao's body. It swiftly moved from her body towards Su Jinli, entering his body through his pulse.
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