Chapter 175: Lingering Fear

The sunset arrives late now that daylight saving time has begun.

After finishing the movie, they went to visit a photography exhibition that had opened the day before.

Lu Yan He was quite surprised and asked, "You're actually interested in this kind of exhibition?"

Chen Siqi immediately slanted her eyes at him. "What, is that not allowed?"

"Of course it's allowed, I'm just a bit surprised."

"You didn't think I'd be interested in something like art? Do you think I'm a person completely devoid of artistic sense?"

Lu Yan He: "..."

He silently shook his head. "I really didn't mean that."

Lu Yan He turned to look around and asked, "Is there anything you want to eat tonight?"

"I have to go back tonight, otherwise Liu Weian will start sowing discord again," Chen Siqi said. "Let's meet up again next time."

Lu Yan He nodded.

He said, "Then I'll see you back."

Chen Siqi: "No need, I'll just call my driver to pick me up. You can keep me company here while I wait for a bit."

Lu Yan He nodded.

The two of them went to a nearby café and sat down.

It was too late to drink coffee, so Lu Yan He bought a small cake, took two small forks, and they shared it.

The summer sunset was exceptionally magnificent.

That vast, orange-red glow, as if it had fallen from the sky and shattered, cast its light over everyone's faces.

The floor-to-ceiling windows didn't block its intrusion; instead, they magnified it.

The two of them sat by the window, eating cake and chatting.

Until the car from Chen Siqi's family arrived, she said, "I'm leaving now."

"Bye-bye."

Seeing Lu Yan He about to get up, Chen Siqi immediately said, "Don't bother coming out with me."

Lu Yan He sat back down.

"I'm off." Chen Siqi left, carrying the headphones Lu Yan He had given her.

The moment she pushed open the glass door and stepped out, the young girl's graceful figure was bathed in the fiery sunset, like a young goddess vanishing and being reborn.

For a split second, Lu Yan He was dazzled.

Lu Yan He returned to the Hong residence, took out his keys, and entered, only to be surprised to find Zhou Ping'an there as well.

He was sitting on the sofa, earnestly trying to persuade Li Zhibai of something, while Li Zhibai clearly wasn't having any of it, his eyes practically rolled up to the ceiling.

Zhou Ping'an glanced at Lu Yan He with some surprise.

"Why are you still living here?" Zhou Ping'an asked as his first reaction.

Lu Yan He changed his shoes and was about to speak when Li Zhibai suddenly interjected: "I told him to stay here, so what?"

The arrogant guy looked at Zhou Ping'an with an expression that said, "What are you going to do about it?"

Zhou Ping'an sighed and said, "Nothing, suit yourself. I've told you so much, did you understand any of it?"

"No. I'm the one suffering the loss, while Ma Zhiyuan and the company benefit. I'm not doing this losing business," Li Zhibai said bluntly.

Zhou Ping'an: "You are also an artist for the company. If the company really suffers, what good does that do you?"

"I go to appease my fans, which benefits you guys, but what good does it do me?" Li Zhibai retorted directly.

Zhou Ping'an: "I said, as long as you agree—"

"I don't agree." Li Zhibai's attitude was extremely firm. "I won't agree no matter what. You say this matter wasn't instigated by Ma Zhiyuan, that he just suffered an unprovoked disaster. I admit that, but what about the unprovoked disaster I suffered? Are you my agent or his? You haven't even officially taken him on yet, and you're already sacrificing my interests to protect his. Once you officially take him on, am I going to be exiled to the frontier? Do I need to find a new agent?"

Lu Yan He didn't go to the living room and went straight back to his room.

It wasn't appropriate for him to eavesdrop on Li Zhibai and Zhou Ping'an discussing these matters.

But he chose to eavesdrop anyway.

As soon as he entered his room, he leaned against the door.

Zhou Ping'an's face darkened as he said, "Don't talk nonsense. I've been managing you since you debuted. Even if Ma Zhiyuan is taken over by me in the future, he wasn't someone I brought up from the start."

"Give me a break. Lu Yan He and Tu Song were both managed by you from the start, and I never saw you care much about them either. I don't believe it," Li Zhibai said unceremoniously.

Li Zhibai could always drive Zhou Ping'an half-mad with his words.

Yet, Zhou Ping'an had no way to deal with Li Zhibai.

He really didn't know what else to say.

Because no matter what he said, Li Zhibai's attitude remained one of disbelief.

"Then what do you want me to do before you'll agree to appease your fans?" Zhou Ping'an asked with a dark face.

Li Zhibai looked at him in disbelief. "No matter what you do, I won't appease my fans. Why should I appease them? They are standing up for me, and I'm going to appease them? Am I sick in the head?"

Zhou Ping'an: "If you continue to be so headstrong, it's not me, but the top management of the company who will see you in a certain way. Have you thought about that? Do you think I'm the one who wants to protect Ma Zhiyuan? He is one of the company's most popular idols, bringing in tens of millions in revenue every year. Think about it: if he is affected, will the company remain indifferent? The matter about you two has been fermenting online all day, and his public image has been hit. If it continues to ferment like this, he will lose endorsements and business. By then, even if you are the victim, they will consider you the perpetrator who caused the company to lose money."

Li Zhibai sneered. "Look, you've said so much to me, and it all boils down to Ma Zhiyuan being more important than me, right? I find it strange, why don't you go find Ma Zhiyuan to make a statement? Is he dead or in a coma? Does he not have Weibo to appease his fans? After something like this happened, how come he hasn't shown any attitude? I didn't ask him to apologize or beg for forgiveness, but since his fans did this, shouldn't he properly restrain them?"

Although Li Zhibai was furious and seemingly impervious to reason, he was crystal clear in his heart.

"I don't want to deal with you. Do you think I'm just purely angry?" Li Zhibai continued to sneer. "A day has passed, and no one has reacted or shown an attitude, yet you are here forcing me to show an appeasing attitude. Zhou Ping'an, I used to think you were just biased and vulgar, but now I realize you really don't treat us as human beings. You should just go and customize some AI robots to be your artists; that way, whatever you say, they will do."

Zhou Ping'an finally fell silent and stopped talking.

"I'm going to have dinner, you can go now," Li Zhibai said. "If you guys are dissatisfied, then be dissatisfied. If you want to stop my work, you can do that too. In short, asking me to appease my fans now is impossible. I won't do it."

After saying this, Li Zhibai picked up his phone, looking as if he didn't want to say another word to Zhou Ping'an.

After a while, the sound of a door opening and closing echoed from outside.

Zhou Ping'an had left.

A moment later, Li Zhibai's lazy voice drifted over: "You two can come out now."

Lu Yan He opened his door and found that Yan Liang, in the room next door, was also opening his door and stepping out.

At this speed, Yan Liang was likely just like him, hiding behind the door eavesdropping just now.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang exchanged a helpless smile and walked over.

Li Zhibai put his phone aside.

"You both heard it?"

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "I heard it. You were very imposing."

"It pissed me off," Li Zhibai said. "Tell me, what kind of thing is he doing?"

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang could both understand why Li Zhibai was so angry.

If it were them, they might not have had Li Zhibai's courage to stand up to Zhou Ping'an like that, not buying his act at all.

"What did you do today? You were nowhere to be found early in the morning," Li Zhibai suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Lu Yan He, and asked.

Lu Yan He said, "I had plans with a classmate."

"Which classmate? You were out all day," Li Zhibai immediately said. "Oh, I know."

Lu Yan He was truly a bit afraid of Li Zhibai; this guy's intuition was sometimes too sharp. "Mind your own business about who I was with. You still have the heart to care about my affairs? You should think about what you're going to do yourself."

"What's there for me to do? Whatever," Li Zhibai said. "At worst, I'll change agents or change agencies. After causing such a thing, do they still expect me to bow my head? Let them dream."

"Do you want to tell your family about this?" Yan Liang asked.

Li Zhibai said, "I already told them. My parents both said that they support me in making a scene over this kind of thing and absolutely not to compromise."

"That's good," Yan Liang said. "If your parents know about this, they won't allow Zhou Ping'an and the others to mess around."

"Uh-huh," Li Zhibai said. "Actually, something interesting happened today too."

"What happened?"

Li Zhibai took out his phone and opened a text message from an anonymous number.

"Someone sent me a text message telling me an address."

"Hmm?" Lu Yan He was a bit surprised upon hearing this. "What address?"

"This person said that if I go to this address tomorrow at two in the afternoon, I can get some things about Ma Zhiyuan."

"Things about Ma Zhiyuan?" Lu Yan He was even more surprised. "What kind of things?"

"I don't know, but thinking about it, it probably isn't anything good," Li Zhibai said with a malicious smile. "Everyone knows that my relationship with Ma Zhiyuan is bad. Sending me this message at this time, could it be anything good?"

Lu Yan He, however, had some concerns and said, "Are you going to go?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Li Zhibai asked, puzzled.

"If there really is something bad about Ma Zhiyuan, this person finding you is nothing more than wanting to use you to leak it."

"Uh-huh."

"Do you want to be this gunman?" Lu Yan He asked.

Li Zhibai: "Whether I'm a gunman or not is one thing, but if I can watch Ma Zhiyuan make a fool of himself, why wouldn't I?"

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "If you've decided to go, then go. I'll go with you to see what's actually there."

"Then I'll go with you guys too," Yan Liang said.

"Don't you have a shoot tomorrow?" Li Zhibai asked Yan Liang. "Zhou Ping'an just told you that earlier."

"It's not until five in the afternoon, there's enough time," Yan Liang said. "It's right here in Yuming."

"Why do you guys insist on following me?" Li Zhibai said, feeling a bit helpless.

Lu Yan He said bluntly, "I'm worried."

Li Zhibai: "What's there to be worried about?"

Lu Yan He: "You're too prone to acting on impulse."

Li Zhibai: "..."

"In case you get provoked and get into a conflict on the spot, we can at least break up the fight."

The next day, at 1:30 PM, the three of them headed out.

Not only did Li Zhibai wear a pair of sunglasses, but he also prepared a pair for both Lu Yan He and Yan Liang.

"In case a fight really breaks out, you must not let your sunglasses fall off. Otherwise, if someone takes photos or records a video and posts it online, we'll be in big trouble."

"Can't you just refrain from acting?" Lu Yan He said, speechless.

Li Zhibai: "You're asking me to go against my nature."

He generously admitted to his impulsiveness and short temper.

The three of them drove to Houshili.

Houshili was one of the most prosperous and bustling areas in Yuming in the last century, but with economic development, it had finally been relegated to an old city district that only retained its former prosperity.

The scene here was completely different.

There were still high-rise buildings and bustling crowds, but there was no overly modern or high-tech decor.

Li Zhibai spent a long time just looking for a place to park.

After finally finding the Yunfeng Building and getting into the elevator, looking at the inner walls covered with various small advertisements, Li Zhibai couldn't help but complain: "Is this person trying to trick me here to kill me and steal my belongings?"

As soon as they reached the thirteenth floor and stepped out of the elevator, they found a few large characters hanging on the wall in front: 21st Century Storage.

There was actually a front desk here.

A woman who looked to be about forty years old was sitting at the front desk, a bit plump, wearing heavy makeup. When she saw the three of them come out, her eyes instantly lit up.

"Are the three handsome young men here to store something or pick something up?" she asked proactively.

Lu Yan He and the others were confused, having no idea what was going on, and looked at her with suspicion.

"What is this place for?" Lu Yan He asked.

The woman at the front desk didn't restrain her gaze as she looked at the three of them; she was almost nakedly sizing them up, her eyes seemingly hooked.

"What did you think this place was for?" she asked with an ambiguous tone.

Seeing this scene, the three of them felt their heads swell.

Li Zhibai's phone finally rang again.

He hurriedly took out his phone.

"Pick, pick something up," Li Zhibai said, his voice stuttering slightly. "Pickup code 3627."

Upon hearing this, the woman at the front desk was suddenly a bit disappointed.

"Oh."

She bent down to open a drawer, took out a long string of keys, and removed one from it.

"Wait for me a moment." She walked into the corridor.

After a while, she came out holding a file bag.

"Are you really just here to pick something up?" The woman at the front desk looked at them, especially focusing on Li Zhibai. "No other needs?"

Her gaze gradually shifted downward.

Li Zhibai's face turned the color of a cooked crab.

"No, none!" Li Zhibai hurriedly denied it.

The woman at the front desk's expression suddenly turned ugly.

"This." She handed the file bag to Li Zhibai. "Take it and go."

The three of them took the file bag and fled in a panic.

The three of them ran downstairs in one breath, left the Yunfeng Building, and only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Zhibai had a look of wanting to say something but stopping, turned to look at the building behind him, and then looked at Lu Yan He and Yan Liang.

"Just now... was I overthinking it?"

"I don't think so."

"She definitely meant that, right?"

Several people stood on the side of the road in front of the Yunfeng Building, all covered in sweat.

They felt a lingering fear for no reason and only came to their senses after a while.

"So it was just to pick something up. I thought this person would give me the things in person," Li Zhibai said, curling his lip as he looked at the file bag in his hand.

I fell asleep yesterday and forgot to update... ===== CHAPTER 176 =====