Chapter Eighty-Eight: Their Family of Two Reckless Fools

She said, “Move back a little. If you sit so far forward, you’re going to topple right off.”

Only then, after hearing her, did Chen Nan scoot back a little.

Li Xiyan got onto the scooter and gently wrapped her arms around Chen Nan’s waist.

It was just the right degree of closeness, not so intimate as to seem improper.

By contrast, Su Zitan and Lin Ze looked entirely different. Her arms were locked around Lin Ze’s waist so tightly it was as if she meant to squeeze the life out of him on the bike seat.

When Li Xiyan turned her head and saw the two of them staring at her side, her cheeks flushed red.

“Let’s go…”

“Sure. We’ll ride a little slower and take in the scenery.”

Two electric scooters, four people, traveled along the road beside Erhai Lake.

This time, apart from their own wishes, the company behind them naturally had a hand in it as well.

Once the song Lin Ze had sold to Chen Nan was released, the companies behind them found out.

It could never hurt to get on good terms with Lin Ze.

...

A long time had passed since Wu Qian’s last humiliation. During that period, he had also gone on plenty of dates with obscure starlets and small-time influencers.

And yet he still could not let go of that woman.

All this time, this relentless bombardment ought to have made you yield to me by now. Heh.

If not, then it simply means it wasn’t enough.

Wu Qian opened the livestream, wanting to see what his target was doing now.

The moment he did, he saw Li Xiyan riding on Chen Nan’s scooter, her arms wrapped around Chen Nan’s waist.

Watching it made his blood surge. He slammed a heavy fist into the sofa beneath him, scraping his hand against the surface and tearing a patch of skin off. It stung sharply.

That Chen Nan! That Li Xiyan!

A shameless pair of dogs. Li Xiyan should be mine!

Grinding his teeth, Wu Qian racked his brain for a way to take revenge.

Hadn’t Zhang Yang crossed paths with them before?

He should call Zhang Yang and see what he had to say.

“Hello? Zhang Yang, what are you doing?”

“I...” Zhang Yang stirred groggily, and a sleepy murmur drifted through the phone.

“I just got up. You... oh, little toothpick, what is it?”

“You damn...” Wu Qian swallowed the urge to curse at him. “Didn’t that Chen Nan overtake you? What are you planning to do next?”

“I... my dad said he’s gotten me another song. I’m going to rehearse it today. For this period of time, don’t go spouting nonsense online. Just crush him with talent.”

“A song? Another one by Master Shi? Your family really has strong connections. Too bad Master Shi doesn’t write rap, or I’d buy one too.”

“Not bad, not bad.” Zhang Yang laughed. “Why? You’ve got a grudge against Chen Nan too?”

“Yes.” Wu Qian ground out, “He dared to touch my woman. I’m going to make sure he can’t survive in this industry!”

“That’s not hard. Chen Nan doesn’t have any background behind him. He just debuted through a talent show. To have climbed this far already is no small feat. Your family is rich enough—just throw some money around and suppress him. By then he won’t have even a scrap of resources. Let’s see how he stays in this line of work.”

Listening to that plain, unadorned solution, Wu Qian sneered inwardly. Zhang Yang really was the most brainless of them all.

When something comes up, all you can think of is throwing money at it. Then what do you need a brain for?

He had such excellent media resources at his disposal, yet he used them with all the sophistication of a blunt club. How stupid.

Still, my father’s money was supposed to be mine in the first place. Asking him for a little to invest in a program isn’t too much, is it?

As Wu Qian kept thinking, a great many notions gathered in his mind, and a program slowly began to take shape within him.

“Hello? Dad?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“What are you up to?” Wu Qian asked with a grin.

“Say what you need to say. If not, I’m hanging up.”

“I do, I do. Dad, I’ve come up with a great variety show. Give me... a hundred million?”

“Idiot.”

The call ended there.

Wu Qian froze, then clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the phone until the screen turned white beneath his hand.

A few seconds later, he received a message. When he opened it, it was from his own father.

“At most five million.”

Damn it. Five million?

What could five million even hire?

Hire a bunch of obscure starlets and who would watch?

What a trash father.

After muttering a few complaints, Wu Qian began to calculate carefully.

Zhang Yang’s whole family were complete fools. The show he was planning absolutely could not be allowed to end up at their level.

He was on the hip-hop side of things, so naturally the program had to involve hip-hop. Fortunately, that area was not developing smoothly in the country right now; the circle was small.

This could work.

...

After a day’s ride along the shore of Erhai Lake, Li Xiyan felt much better.

At noon, her appetite surged, and she ate two or three bowls of rice.

“Is it really that delicious?”

“I’m craving it too. I want the dry pot. I want the spicy squid-and-shrimp, the kind with fries in it.”

“It really is delicious! It’s absolutely no worse than the big restaurants outside! I just got back from Maple Leaf Inn, and a few days ago I even took part in a Gomoku tournament.”

After their hearty meal, the four washed the bowls, returned to their rooms to rest for a while, then slathered themselves in sunscreen and went back out.

In the afternoon they were headed for the ancient city, so the two pairs rode their electric scooters with navigation turned on and made straight for it.

These days the ancient city was filled with shops, making it hard to feel that old, timeless atmosphere anymore.

Near where everyone parked, there was a Han-style clothing experience shop. On a whim, Su Zitan said, “Why don’t we change into some clothes and then stroll around?”

“Sure, no problem.” Lin Ze took Su Zitan’s hand and went inside.

“Huh?” Chen Nan looked a little hesitant.

Social anxiety made it hard for him to let himself go.

“Come on, come on. We finally made the trip, and there’s even a professional photographer nearby,” Li Xiyan said, tugging him inside as well.

Inside the shop were all kinds of costumes—roguish wanderers, imperial guards, generals, and more.

At the back, there were even dragon robes.

“Hey? You guys are... holy crap! Lin Ze!”

The shop owner sprang to his feet. “A big star! A big star, and Su Zitan, Li Xiyan, Chen... Nan?”

“No way! Real live celebrities! Wow, you’ve really honored my humble place. Could you sign an autograph for me?”

“Ahem, sure, sure. Boss, we mainly want to put together four outfits.”

“Put them together!” The owner came around from behind the counter and walked over to the racks of clothing, introducing them to the group.

“Do any of you have anything in mind? A lot of young guys who come here want to wear a dragon robe, but once they put it on, it just doesn’t have the right effect.”

“Still...” The boss stroked the stubble on his chin. “Lin Ze, you should be fine. You even played an old lady so convincingly before...”

“Could you stop bringing that up...” Lin Ze said helplessly.

“All right, all right. But I just happen to have a treasured set of dragon and phoenix robes here. I wonder whether the two of you might be interested...”