Yan Molun tilted his head and thought seriously for a while before replying, “Somewhat, especially at the swimming pool or by the beach. There are always many women who come up to me to say hello when they see my body.”
Duoyao felt indignant. When she went out on holiday with Changqing and the rest in their university days, when she saw good-looking men or men with good bodies, she would resist the urge to pick them up. Then, she only thought of doing it but never dared to. “Impressive. Then it seems like you welcome all pretty women with open arms.”
“No. Maybe it’s because I had an indistinct feeling that a little vixen with the surname Jiang would capture my heart in the future. Besides, she’s very petty and gets jealous easily, so I always told myself to love myself,” Yan Molun said with a soft laugh as he twirled the hair by her ear with his finger gently.
Duoyao tried very hard to steady her heartbeat so that she wouldn’t be smitten by Yan Molun, this male vixen. This man could sound so sweet when he started sweet-talking. It didn’t suit his cold and silent image in the past. She snorted. “You’re pretty good at sweet-talk. How many women have you tricked before?”
“Don’t you know that in front of the woman he likes, a man becomes a self-taught master of sweet-talking?” Yan Molun pinched her chin gently with his large hand. His dark eyes slowly turned dim.
His gaze had always been very bold. Duoyao’s heart skipped a beat. She turned away but he chased her with his lips, kissing her face, ear…
Her pink toes that were exposed in the air curled tightly.
In the end, Mr. Yan didn’t break his promise and it was the first time Duoyao ever felt that kind of loss and pleasure.
This time, she had slightly more experience than the previous time. She would sometimes pluck up the courage and open her eyes for a while as she blushed. She finally understood how Mr. Yan gave her misconceptions about what happened the last time.
Now that she thought about it, she was too young and too naive indeed.
———————-
The next day, in the minivan, the person who accompanied Duoyao to work wasn’t Xiling but another assistant who had been with her for not very long, Cao Qin. She looked young and was at a tender age younger than 23 years old. She used to run around with Xiling, doing some odd jobs, but she was a complete newbie when it came to handling administrative matters.
Cao Qin looked at Duoyao’s rather unhappy face and explained, “Sister Shuang transferred Xiling to Liu Ruoni’s side. I’ll be in charge of your work from now on.”
Duoyao wasn’t a fool. Changing her assistant to a completely inexperienced one was all meant to do her in. If an assistant couldn’t get things done properly, she would offend people and this matter would be blown up by the media. “Didn’t Liu Ruoni have a very good assistant?”
“Mm…” Cao Qin replied softly.
Duoyao sighed inside. The greatest fear of an assistant would be changing artistes. If you got a bad artiste, you could only go with the flow according to the company’s arrangements.
Luckily, Xiling didn’t arrange much work for her previously. She only rejected very low-class events. In less than two days, the media published an article on how she put on airs and refused to follow the company’s arrangements.
Duoyao had already expected that. She couldn’t be bothered with it and continued to appear at the events she was supposed to appear at, ignoring all the chaos outside and doing whatever she wanted.
However, the next day, there was a 180-degree change in the media reports. They accused the Kang Corporation of making her, a first-rate celebrity, go to a cruise ship event to perform and even giving away all her drama serials, commercials and film contracts, which were previously agreed upon, to other artistes in the company. The report listed the various directors, drama serials, and commercials that were involved and the reporter even asked each one of them about the matter. The person-in-charge of the famous online game, Heroes Battle, personally said that they had come to an agreement with Duoyao previously but for some reason, her manager said Duoyao rejected the commercial because she didn’t like cosplay. However, Jiang Duoyao was actually kept in the dark about this matter and it was her manager who rejected all these good opportunities behind her back. She even arranged some low-class events for her on purpose.
After the article was published, Duoyao’s fans started to sweep the internet with angry rebukes. They even went to the social media accounts of the other artistes under the Kang corporation to scold them. Ge Shuang’s Weibo even had tens of thousands of hate comments, some asking her to leave the entertainment industry and to stop being Duoyao’s manager. At the same time, those who thought the Kang Corporation treated Jiang Duoyao unfairly wanted her to terminate her contract immediately.
When Duoyao snuck a peek at the article, she felt great. That night, she booked a plane ticket to see Yan Molun. However, he said he had something to do and would come over later.
Duoyao prepared dinner for once and when she was cooking, Guan Ying called. “You hired internet ghostwriters?”
Duoyao was stunned. “Were they internet ghostwriters? Weren’t they just my fans?”
Guan Ying sighed speechlessly. This person had been in the entertainment industry for so long yet she couldn’t tell when internet ghostwriters were involved. “You do have a lot of fans but it’s very difficult to have such a huge impact with just the efforts of fans. Don’t tell me you didn’t know about it.”
“I really didn’t.” Duoyao was bewildered. “Maybe it was Yan Molun.”
“Fortune really favors fools like you and Changqing. You’re always dirt lucky,” Guan Ying said enviously. However, she was no longer jealous now. Although she wasn’t as popular as Duoyao, she was occasionally able to take on leading female roles.
“Don’t think I don’t know that you and James are dating now. He’s a foreigner who dabbles with stocks and he’s handsome, rich, interesting and funny.” Duoyao pouted. “You might even end up with a mixed-blood baby in the future. You’ve snatched away my dream. It’s always been my dream to have a mixed-blood baby.”
“We’re not even at that stage yet,” Guan Ying said. “Alright, if I have a mixed-blood baby in the future, you can be its godmother.”
“Great! Then you’ll have to give birth sooner.”
“I can’t be bothered to talk to you.” Guan Ying hung up the phone.
…
It was 8 pm when Yan Molun came over. The food Duoyao made was already cold. She was a little unhappy, but upon thinking about what Yan Molun did in the past two days, she went over with a grin and hugged his arm. “Why are you back so late?”
“Something cropped up at the casino.” Yan Molun lowered her head to look at his arm. Mm. His woman had taken the initiative. He hadn’t done all that in vain.
“Casino?” Duoyao was stunned.
“Mm. Shaobin took over a casino last year and I had some shares in it, so I’m usually the one managing it,” Yan Molun explained calmly.
Duoyao was dumbfounded. “F*ck, Li Shaobin has such a huge business.”
Yan Molun pinched her mouth. “As a woman, how can you curse as much as Li Shaobin?”
Duoyao quickly covered her little mouth. She couldn’t let Yan Molun think she was too manly. “I heard the casino always play dirty. Why don’t you bring me over to play a few games? Tell the people there to lose a few rounds to me. Haha.”
Yan Molun swept her a scornful glance. “With your skills, I think you’ll only be able to win if they go a lot easier on you.”
Duoyao pouted. Yan Molun said, “If you want to gamble, you should go to Macau. What’s so fun about winning the money of the people you know? If you want to win, you should win other people’s money.”
“But I’ll lose,” Duoyao said pitifully. “I lost before. A thousand dollars.”
A thousand dollars…
Yan Molun facepalmed. “Is a thousand dollars a lot? A thousand dollars to people at the casino is just pennies. Besides, it’s not like you have no money.”
“I don’t like to gamble so my heart aches even if I lose a hundred dollars,” Duoyao said. “I can buy several lipsticks with a thousand dollars.”
Yan Changqing shook his head. He already didn’t want to talk about how useless she was. She was just as useless as Yan Changqing but at least she earned more than Yan Changqing.
They ended the topic on the casino. Duoyao helped him scoop up a bowl of rice eagerly. “The media suddenly changed its stance. Was it because of you?”
“Mm.” Yan Molun accepted the bowl. He would only be able to enjoy this treatment at a time like this.
Duoyao’s little heart raced with adoration. “You even hired internet ghostwriters?”
“Who doesn’t do that nowadays?” Yan Molun said calmly, “Your fans are still too young. They can only post hate comments and nothing else.”
Duoyao revealed the face of adoration. “You’re so impressive. The people on the Heroes Battle side should be quite familiar with the Kang Corporation—they shouldn’t have spoken up for me. How did you do that?”
Yan Molun explained, “In order for an online game to operate, it must receive approval from the officials. Following this thought, you should be able to find something against them. I happened to have some acquaintances in both the government and the underworld.”
Duoyao suddenly understood. “What about the media? They must’ve been bought over by the Kang Corporation initially.”
“That was even simpler.” Yan Molun smiled. “Someone from so many trades like Shaobin is the type of person the media hates the most. Besides, he… can actually dig up anything, no matter how dirty it is. The media would rather offend the Kang Corporation than him.”
Duoyao finally understood. “I didn’t realize Li Shaobin was so powerful. In that case… isn’t he more powerful than you?”
After she finished saying that, she saw Yan Molun’s brows rising up high. She shuddered inside. Oh no, oh no. This is a sign that Yan Molun isn’t happy.
Yan Molun looked at her deeply. “I know mostly all the people he knows. I just can’t be bothered to do things like this. He’s a busy body and usually has nothing much to do, so I got him to help me out. Besides, when we go overseas, I’m the one in charge.”
Duoyao quickly nodded her head vigorously. She hugged his arm as though to curry his favor. “Yes, yes, you’re invincible. Finding you was like finding my Doraemon. Can you not be so childish? That was just a casual statement.”
“Childish.” Yan Molun frowned. It was the first time a woman dared to call him childish.