Translator: kirie
Editor: alexie
The signal of the live stream was cut on the spot. When Ji Zhinong, surrounded by reporters who wanted to receive a first hand response with the perfect timing, a person clad in black swept across the stage. Before the bang of the microphone sounded, Qin Xiaohuo had already left the stage with Zhinong and handed him over to Yang Yi and the assistants. He blocked the entrance backstage alone, holding back the menacing stream of reporters.
Ji Zhinong only seemed to recover from his absentmindness when he got back to the dressing room. He raised his head in confusion, seeing some peculiarity in the expressions of those surrounding him. Even Yang Yi was caught unprepared. Her grip on her phone was intensely tight, her hands extremely pale.
The online viewer count for the live stream had reached up to tens of millions. That scene from just now shot up to the second rank of trending searches like a rocket. And the trending search above that was the HD video.
The first time Ji Zhinong shot up to the high ranks of trending searches was his engagement getting broken off on the spot on the day of his marriage with Qin Kaiyu.
Everybody liked to watch the fun, especially with this being a joke about a rich family.
It was the same this time, although it was of a more malicious nature. After the video became trending, it was quickly censored by the platform’s monitoring platform. There were far more people asking for resources in real time than those after gossip.
Yang Yi had previously invested all her efforts in clearing up Ji Zhinong’s relationship to those inappropriate scandals, and it had finally become somewhat effective, making people remember that Ji Zhinong was a serious actor.
Even if her abilities were top-tier, she still couldn’t make an effective response within a short period of time.
When she had followed Wen Che, the biggest public relations crisis they encountered was simply Wen Che admitting publicly to his romantic relationship with Lu Yuankong without informing them beforehand. Back then, the fans had kicked up a fuss, an online butchering1refers to netizens mass posting on a page alone and “butchering the page” by ruining it with their posts craze happening for almost a month. But Wen Che didn’t make a living off of his fans nor was he swayed by the fans. No matter how much of a fuss was made over his relationship, the resources he had all remained, and he won awards until his hand hurt, as usual.
Wen Che had enough of a basis to act willfully. Now, in retrospect, Yang Yi felt that it couldn’t be considered a crisis.
So this current matter involving Ji Zhinong was truly the biggest hurdle in her entire career.
Either it had to be completely whitewashed or it had to be blocked. With the two extremes on a seesaw, the possibility of blocking it was far greater than the possibility of whitewashing.
“Open the door!”
A man was knocking heavily on the door outside. Yang Yi recognized the platform director’s voice and hurriedly opened the door.
As soon as the director walked into the dressing room, he pointed at Ji Zhinong, who was sitting right across from him, scolding, “You screwed us over! Do you know how important this investment meeting is?”
He threw a stack of scripts onto Ji Zhinong’s face. “If you know that you’re filthy, then don’t go out to embarrass yourself! Now you’re dragging the entire platform down to suffer with you! Person who took the back door by getting ******! You lowly thing! Lowly thing!”
Ji Zhinong was being cursed at right to his face, but he didn’t retort, quietly enduring it.
It was no wonder that the director was infuriated. After all, there were employees under him who needed to make a living. But because of him, the superiors could very possibly dismiss him from his job over this huge mistake.
Even if the one sitting there was Wen Che himself, he wouldn’t have retorted either.
The director made several offensive insults again and was out of breath in the end. Other employees urged him out, but everybody’s attitude was clear, overtly and secretly: Make this harmful pest get lost.
A crowd of reporters intercepted and surrounded everywhere around the broadcasting building. Qin Xiaohuo’s clothes were pulled to the point of being deformed before Ji Zhinong was safely sent back to the car of the housekeeper.
In the moment the car doors closed, the world finally returned to a short silence.
Yang Yi had just breathed a sigh of relief when Li Shaoyao’s call came.
There weren’t any angry yells or questioning nor did he coldly order her how to deal with it like before. He only said coldly, “Have Ji Zhinong come find me alone.”
The car stopped in front of the villa.
When Ji Zhinong got out of the car, Ah Jing opened the door for him as usual.
The sky over the villa was overcast with gray clouds. The open door seemed like a gaping mouth.
But Wen Che was more willing to believe that this door led to home.
Even after seeing Zhinong enter the house, Yang Yi didn’t have Qin Xiaohuo drive away. She was a little worried.
When Li Shaoyao originally planned to clean away Ji Zhinong’s scandals, the pre-condition was that Ji Zhinong had to be a helpless, forced victim.
But in the Ji Zhinong shown in the video, one couldn’t see the slightest bit of the pain of being forced. In fact, it seemed like he was relishing the moment.
This was practically the most life-threatening existence for their relationship.
At the door of the villa
Ji Zhinong pushed open the door. In the air conditioned living room, Li Shaoyao sat on the sofa, a cup of coffee next to him. The coffee had completely cooled, but not a single sip had been taken.
Ah Jing had already closed the door from the outside.
In the huge space, only two people remained.
When the man put the phone on the table, he accidentally spilled the coffee, the brown liquid slowly stretching across the table like an endlessly lengthening, rusty knife with its tip directed at Ji Zhinong. When the knife tip approached, Ji Zhinong finally opened his mouth, holding a little hope. “Will you believe… that I’m innocent?”
Just like before. Agree silently that he was forced. Agree silently that he was the victim.
He really needed someone to trust him unconditionally at this time.
But instead, Li Shaoyao asked in response, “Can you even believe what you said?”
No.
With this video, even if day and night were overturned and the heaven and earth turned upside down, the truth that in the past two years, Ji Zhinong had once willingly been treated like that by someone couldn’t be changed.
Li Shaoyao stood up and walked to Zhinong. Today, he was much prettier than how he’d appeared in the livestream camera. The expensive, high tier, custom-made accessories against his skin made him shine with brilliance.
Li Shaoyao lifted his hand and caught Ji Zhinong’s chin, his gaze passing his eyes, which were always filled with affection, his straight nose, and then his moist lips. Since a face like this was to his taste, naturally it could be to other people’s taste as well.
There wasn’t just one rich person in the world.
Since Ji Zhinong could be tactful and considerate in front of him, naturally he could be obedient and sensible in front of others——as long as enough money was given.
As long as he covered that tear mole, Li Shaoyao could become clear-headed.
If it weren’t for the fact that he was a little similar to Wen Che, Ji Zhinong was, in essence, simply a bed partner that could be bought with money.
How could this type of person, who didn’t self-love, be compared to Wen Che?
His treatment of him as Wen Che’s substitute was simply humiliating Wen Che.
His hand, which was clutching onto Ji Zhinong’s chin, suddenly tightened. Then, he flung him away, and Ji Zhinong lost his balance, falling onto the nearby sofa. His phone, which was in his pocket, fell onto the floor and cracked all over.
Li Shaoyao loomed over him and looked at him, his voice like an icy blade. “Our contractual relationship ends here.”
Ji Zhinong got up, supported himself with the sofa cushion, and picked up the cracked phone. When Ji Zhinong stood up, he only needed to raise his head slightly to barely meet Li Shaoyao’s gaze levely. He didn’t beg nor did he become sad. He simply dealt with things in a businesslike manner. “Then pay the contract violation fee. For the past year, I also exerted quite the effort on you. According to the contract, you should pay me three million yuan2About 463,230 usd.”
“Can that three million buy your innocence?” Li Shaoyao caught his wrist and emphasized each word. “You’ll do anything people ask as long as they have money, right?”
To him, three million was a tiny amount. He could give three million in charity to anyone, but he just didn’t want to give it to Ji Zhinong.
“Who was the one who violated the contract exactly? Who was the one who told me that you were forced to do those dirty matters? Ji Zhinong, I didn’t think that you could enjoy it so much under someone else’s body. Then why did you put on an unwilling act when you did it with me initially? Did I not give enough money?!”
“For the past year, I spared no effort in helping you and gave you the best resources. But what about you? How did you repay me? You couldn’t even tell me the truth!”
Ji Zhinong’s head hurt from the noise. Though he didn’t have any justification for it, it wasn’t as if he had wanted to hide it.
Those memories from the original Ji Zhinong were incomplete. He couldn’t even make out the cause and effects; every time he thought deeply about it, he would get a headache. What could he do?
He explained weakly, “No matter whether you believe me or not, I can’t remember the past at all. If I had remembered it all, I definitely wouldn’t have hid it from you.”
“You can’t remember the past, but you remember what your adoptive father looks like?” Li Shaoyao thought he was full of lies and asked in response angrily, “Do you think I’m a three year old?”
Wen Che knew that from the moment the video was released online, he became a criminal who could never reverse his fortune in other people’s eyes.
Since it was like that, he didn’t want to implicate others either.
He avoided Li Shaoyao’s hand and took the initiative to take three steps back.
“Cutting things off with me is good too. I don’t know what other infuriating stuff I did before. I might just be a wicked criminal beyond redemption. If someone exposes it someday, I’m afraid it might implicate you.” He bowed slightly, distant and polite. “Mr. Li, thank you for your support all this time. I wasn’t able to be of value to you, but please accept my thanks. I can’t give you much more.”
Li Shaoyao, seeing this humble attitude of his, frowned, his heart aching suddenly. He didn’t understand why he would feel this way. Clearly, he hadn’t been together with Ji Zhinong for more than half a year and had mostly treated and loved him as Wen Che in his self-deception. But a part of his mind had always been clear-headed, well aware that Ji Zhinong was simply a passable substitute.
But now this substitute had gotten dirty, so naturally he should throw it away. It wasn’t worth taking pity on or being distressed over.
He warned himself in this way and didn’t even turn back to look even when Ji Zhinong pushed open the door and left.
Yang Yi had been waiting for Zhinong to walk out, but she actually hoped that Zhinong wouldn’t come out. The meaning behind Li Shaoyao not staying by his side at this time was clear: He gave up on Ji Zhinong.
Ji Zhinong walked out of the yard of the villa. Soon, heavy clouds would wring out rain, and the air was dreary. Every time he breathed, it was as if a stone were added to his heart, and he had trouble breathing. He looked around blankly, actually not knowing where he should go.
Li Shaoyao treated him very well, so for the past year, he had truly treated this place as home. Now, he was being kicked out of this “home,” and for a while, he actually couldn’t think of a good place to stay at.
He didn’t want to return to the Ji family to suffer the predictable scorn and mocking nor did he have the face to confront Ji Qingshan’s disappointment. After six years, Wen Che’s house probably had gone through several changes. In reality, he actually didn’t even remember his former address. The only thing that could give him shelter slightly was Lu Yuankong’s embrace, but Lu Yuankong was far away in Australia.
“Mr. Ji, don’t give up.” The one talking to him was Yang Yi. “We’ll find a way together.”
“Yang Yi, there’s no way.”
Wen Che knew she was kind, but he also knew better than anyone else that the current situation was unsolvable. That video was as lethal as a sharp sword stabbing into Ji Zhinong’s heart. Doctors had the intention to help but were helpless, so they could only watch helplessly as the patient died from overbleeding. They could say words of comfort, but they couldn’t change the current situation.
This “blood” continued to flow and would bring the production crew’s compensation demands, a blacklist from the industry, and the scorn of the world…
But he didn’t think that the first to arrive would be the police.
“You’re Ji Zhinong, Mr. Ji, right? Someone has reported you for providing illegal sexual services. Please come with us for the investigation.”
Ji Zhinong: “……………………………….”
Ah Jing couldn’t block off the guests.
Yang Yi barged into the living room without any sense of propriety. Li Shaoyao was in a bad mood today, and his tolerance for others fell linearly. He didn’t plan on treating Yang Yi with a nice attitude either, but she interrupted him first. “Zhinong was taken away by the police!”
Li Shaoyao, who was organizing the potted plants, hesitated and accidentally pulled off a freshly bloomed bud. His expression, however, didn’t change. “…He should be responsible for his mistakes.”
Yang Yi threw the bag onto the sofa. “Responsible my ass! Even if that video were real, he was still a minor at the time! There was clearly someone going after him from behind! Since even the police were alerted, they want to finish him before they’ll stop! Li Shaoyao, you were the one who insisted on supporting him. You can’t let him suffer others’ jealousy and framing and just do nothing!”
“I’m not obligated to help him.” Li Shaoyao crushed the bud in his palm. “I won’t worry about him anymore.”
He was as cold as a newly built snowman in the winter months.
Author’s Note:
Wen Che: I @#%¥%@¥%@…#%@%%@ (I’ll just consider it to be going to experience life in the police station @#¥%@&&@&)
Translator’s Note:
T-T
- 1refers to netizens mass posting on a page alone and “butchering the page” by ruining it with their posts
- 2About 463,230 usd
6 thoughts on “Chapter 27 – I might just be a wicked criminal beyond redemption”
Ouch. So cold. Poor Ji Zhinong. I can’t even imagine how he’s gonna get back up from this.
The vengeful part of m doesn’t want the ML anymore either. He’s the same as everyone. But i can’t blame him fully either.
This story is bad for my heart
fck. its almost 1am and I am in bed crying.
he was a minor. sheesh.
thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the update ❤️
What a cruel world.
ah… it hurts… just a little… t-t
thank you for the chapter </3
it took me some time to be brave enough to read this chapter. ZYN is so bad :'((((( there is his nature part of the nature vs nature showing (bad parents, bad progeny)
i seriously do not know how JZN/WC can get back from this.
of course it is very logic for LSY to throw him away bc of this, cant blame him but still…it’s so sad
I’m mad at everyone except Wen Che and minor Zhinong. He was a minor when that happened and anyway is everyone else a virgin? And it’s not like Li Shaoyao wasn’t doing the same thing. So he’s good enough to pay for and still treat nicely but if it’s someone else it’s gross? I get it, he seems easily bought as in he’s not genuine, but come on, ppl who are willing to pay for a human then turn around and find it gross are just hypocrites. But I am stubbornly believing that Zhinong was still an honest hearted person in the past in spite of all this stuff. I don’t believe he was ever evil or devious. ( ≧Д≦)