Chapter 437: Legally Taxed, No Quirks, Upright and Honest

Hearing this, Fan Bingbing not only didn't leave, but instead wrapped herself around him even more boldly.

She looped her arms around Chen Nuo’s neck, her long legs clad in black silk rubbing lightly against him, her voice carrying a hint of provocation: "You’ve been gone for so long, and now you’re chasing me away? Aren't you afraid I won't be able to hold back... hmm?"

Chen Nuo sneered, "Hmm what? What does that mean?"

Fan Bingbing giggled, her eyes darting with a touch of cunning: "It doesn't mean anything. By the way, didn't I go to the premiere of *No Man's Land* earlier?"

"Oh, and then?"

"And then, your girlfriend came too."

"And then what?"

Fan Bingbing’s beautiful eyes shifted: "And then I realized that Feifei is truly getting prettier and prettier; her features have fully blossomed, she’s not that little girl she used to be at all. So many people were fawning over her, one, two, three of them—I was worried for you. Tell me, what if something happened while you weren't in China... what would you do then?"

Once these words were out, Chen Nuo had originally wanted to keep up his act, but Fan Bingbing’s words were clearly meant to sow discord; what else could he do?

If you don't discipline a woman for three days, she'll climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles; this woman was clearly asking for a beating, so how could he not satisfy her "wish"?

Before long, two crisp "slap" sounds echoed in the bedroom.

"Are you wrong or not? Speak!"

"Woo~ I had good intentions, passing on information for you, and you actually hit me—you heartless, ungrateful wretch!"

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Three more times, heavy ones.

"Do you admit you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong!"

"Fine, you just wait, I'm going to go get my belt..."

What a grand drama, it’s just a pity the only potential audience member was on vacation visiting relatives in Xinjiang; without the participation of a third party, it was inevitably a bit of a regret.

After about an hour, all movement in the room calmed down.

On the bed lay two people drenched in sweat.

Fan Bingbing seemed completely drained, her sweat-dampened hair strands draped across her face. Her towering chest was still heaving violently, marked with several red imprints, as if someone who didn't know their own strength had handled her roughly not long ago.

After resting for a moment, she rolled over, leaning half her body against Chen Nuo, and asked in a soft, nasal tone: "Why didn't you... just now? Are you afraid that..."

Chen Nuo frowned and said, "What are you talking about?"

"Stop pretending." Fan Bingbing curled her lip and said, "You're guarding against me now, aren't you?"

Chen Nuo shook his head and said, "I don't even understand what you're saying."

"I'm talking about..."

"Alright, alright, stop talking. Next time, how about that?"

"...You promise?"

"Damn, don't you think you're getting more and more perverted, Fan Bingbing?"

"Who's fault is that? It's all you! It was back in Cannes when... you led me down this path of no return!"

"I only led you onto the road, I didn't tell you to run this far, hey!"

"Did I run very far? But whatever I talk about, you can keep up? I’m getting more and more curious, just how many little girls did you ruin back in high school?"

"...Stop spouting nonsense. Didn't you see the news? Teacher Wang Aiping from Anxiang Vocational School said that student Chen Nuo was diligent and studious while in school, and was named a 'Three-Good Student' every year."

"Hahahaha, was it 'good at lust, good at eating, and good at doing'?"

"No, it was 'good at hitting, good at beating, and good at using violence to solve problems,' especially hitting women!"

The two, who hadn't seen each other in a long time, finally shook hands and made peace after two rounds of "combat," and went to the bathroom to shower together.

"Why did you come back so early?" Fan Bingbing asked lazily while soaking in the water, "Didn't you say you wouldn't arrive until the 7th?"

"Had nothing to do, so I came back early."

"Then when are you leaving?"

"Same as always, wait until Ruoruo’s birthday is over."

"Ah?" Fan Bingbing was startled, her large eyes wide, "You mean... you're going to stay until the 15th?"

"Yeah, why else?"

Fan Bingbing was stunned for a second, then giggled, "If I had known you were coming back so early, I wouldn't have been in such a rush~"

Time passes quickly, especially when there is a child around.

The last time he saw Chen Ruoruo, she was just a little ball of flesh that could only hum. This time, walking into that pink and tender room, the little one could already stand up by holding onto the crib, her pair of dark, round eyes staring at him curiously.

"She can stand already?" Chen Nuo turned his head in surprise and asked, "When did this happen?"

"Last month."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Wanted to give you a surprise."

Chen Nuo walked over slowly; the tiny person before him made him involuntarily tread lightly. He looked down at Ruoruo in the crib and suddenly made a funny face.

The little one immediately grinned and let out a giggle.

He laughed too.

"Sigh, still can't hold her, what's going on with that?"

Watching little Ruoruo cry herself tired in Fan Bingbing’s arms and then close her eyes to sleep, Chen Nuo couldn't help but complain, "Didn't you say she wasn't afraid of strangers?"

Fan Bingbing said with a calm expression: "I lied to you. She hasn't seen many people since she was small, so of course she isn't afraid of strangers, because there aren't many strangers to begin with."

Chen Nuo was instantly choked up.

Fan Bingbing glanced at him and let out a snort of laughter, "What, heart-broken? Actually, it's nothing. I've already figured it out; there are gains and losses. Ruoruo is your daughter, she's already blessed enough, what more could you want? If she had all the good things in the world, that might not necessarily be a good thing."

Chen Nuo was stunned when he heard this. He vaguely remembered how this woman used to act like she couldn't live without him...

Had she been replaced?

However, although Fan Bingbing wasn't wrong, he still wanted to accumulate some blessings for the girl.

"...A charity foundation?"

Fan Bingbing was shocked the moment he started the topic, her eyes widening in disbelief: "You want to start a charity foundation for Ruoruo?"

"Not just her, also Qi Da’s daughter, in both of their names."

Fan Bingbing stared at him blankly for a long, long time without speaking, and finally said in a complex, inexplicable tone: "Aren't you afraid of it getting out and people finding out?"

"Not afraid, who would care about this?"

Chen Nuo laid out his plans: "...Coming back this time, Qi Da and I are prepared to get this done together. It just so happens that the company is distributing dividends in a few days, so there's money."

Fan Bingbing straightened her back and asked: "Dividends? What dividends?"

Chen Nuo said nonchalantly: "The money from *Inception* has arrived, and I'm planning to take it out and distribute it. Your share, converted to RMB, is about 100 million; after taxes, it'll be around 60 million... Hello? Hey!? Damn, you aren't really fainting, are you?"

"I'm not, I just..." Fan Bingbing stared at him blankly, her throat moving, clearly swallowing hard, "I just think it's a bit much."

"Much?" Chen Nuo said with amusement: "Complaining about too much money?"

"No, it's the tax, the tax is so high."

"Too much?" Chen Nuo asked with a laugh, "You think there's too much money?"

"No, it's the taxes, the taxes paid are too much."

It is quite a lot; calculating it, the tax is about 35-40%.

But no matter how much it is, no matter how much it hurts, you still have to pay it, right?

Not only does he have to pay taxes, but Chen Nuo’s intention to start a charity foundation is definitely not to avoid taxes or play some game of moving money from his right hand to his left; he’s doing it for real.

Actually, setting up a personal charity foundation in the country is a very complicated matter; the entire process takes about six months to a year, but he had already prepared a candidate for it.

But when Chen Nuo met him, he almost didn't recognize who the person was.

In fact, wanting to establish a personal charitable foundation domestically is a very complicated matter; the entire process takes about half a year to a year to complete, though he had already prepared a candidate for this.

"Brother Nuo, can you blame me, Brother Nuo?" Wang Zhihan felt like tears were about to fall, "Because your dad is simply not... phew, Mr. Chen’s construction site is truly too bitter."

Chen Nuo looked up and down at the dark and thin boy in front of him and nodded: "It’s not easy to stick with it; it looks like it really was hard work."

"I didn't want to stick with it either." Wang Zhihan said with a mournful face, "I’d run, get caught, and later he just sent people to watch me twenty-four hours a day..."

Chen Nuo said with a sympathetic face: "So pitiful?"

Wang Zhihan said with tears in his eyes: "Brother Nuo, why did you call me to Shanghai this time? I’ll do anything. Really. Is there a place in Shanghai to sell my ass? As long as you don't make me go back to move bricks, I’ll volunteer for the job, Brother Nuo."

"Hahahaha." Chen Nuo couldn't help but laugh.

More than a year ago, after he found Wang Zhihan, he prevented that tragedy from happening and pulled him back from the edge of life. Afterward, he threw him onto his father’s construction site to be tempered and instructed a few people to watch him, making sure he wouldn't run away. Now it seems it was indeed effective.

His consideration for bringing Wang Zhihan here was simple: this person is trustworthy. If he runs errands in the early stages and doesn't turn out to be a failure, then putting him in the foundation as an informant later is something that would put his mind at ease.

There’s no help for it, because the foundation isn't about making money, but spending it. Regarding matters of spending money, Chen Nuo’s concepts are deeply influenced by Chen Bi: use the old, not the new; use family, not outsiders.

Of course, this is different from modern corporate management philosophy. However, forgive the country bumpkin real estate boss, that’s all the insight he has.

Finally, Chen Nuo asked a few key questions.

"That girlfriend of yours, are you still in contact?"

Wang Zhihan was startled, a trace of hatred flashing in his eyes, and he shook his head: "No."

"Still hate her?"

Wang Zhihan was stunned for a moment, a trace of hatred flashed in his eyes, and he shook his head, saying, "No."

"Want revenge?"

"Hmm."

"Want to take revenge?"

"I want to."

"How do you want to take revenge?"

"I..." Wang Jia clenched his fists, then finally let go. With tears in his eyes, he looked at Chen Nuo with a blank expression, "I don't know."

Chen Nuo patted him on the shoulder and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't know now; you will later. First, go rent a place in Shanghai and start working tomorrow. Your future boss is—her!"

Wang Jia glanced to the side, his entire face turning a dark, flushed red. "Beautiful lady, h-hello."

Lin Meiru crossed her arms and let out a faint snort through her nose. "Xiao Mei, he’s from the countryside in Xichuan. You’re a Shanghai local and know the area well, so take him to rent a suitable place first. You’ll be taking him under your wing from now on."

"Yes, Chen Zong. You, come with me." Lin Meiru said this without even looking at Wang Jia, then turned and walked toward the car.

Wang Jia watched Lin Meiru’s retreating figure, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and then, without even looking at Chen Nuo, followed after her.

Damn it.

Still the same old loser.

Well, fine then.

After returning, Chen Nuo told Fan Bingbing about the meeting between the two. Fan Bingbing said with some concern, "Should I have a word with Xiao Mei and tell her to temper her temper?"

Chen Nuo smiled and said, "No need."

Fan Bingbing hesitated, "Are you sure?"

Chen Nuo said, "Of course, I'm sure."

"Then... alright. I'll listen to you."

Ever since she heard she was about to receive a dividend of 100 million, Fan Bingbing was no longer arrogant, pretending to be a submissive little bird in front of Chen Nuo every day.

But Chen Nuo also knew that once the money was transferred and the novelty wore off, she would likely revert to her old ways, but how should he put it?

Might as well enjoy it one day at a time.

"Come here, pound my legs for me." Chen Nuo turned his body and took the opportunity to lie down on the sofa.

"Okay."

Fan Bingbing answered in a soft, gentle voice, and very obediently placed his thigh onto her lap. While pounding with her hands, she said softly, "One of your people, one of my people—the pairing is not bad, but do you think they can manage things well? Actually, I'm quite worried."

"Let's wait until the paperwork is finished. If it doesn't work out, we'll hire people from the outside."

"Mm, that's what I was thinking too. By the way, I was bored at home earlier and saw some news online... tell me the truth, okay?"

Chen Nuo heard her tone was a bit strange, as if she were suppressing a laugh, but he didn't pay much attention and asked lazily, "What truth?"

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Fan Bingbing suddenly lifted her leg and brought her foot, which was wearing black silk, right up to his face, giggling, "Do you also like to lick this?"

Chen Nuo was stunned for a moment. He originally wanted to get angry, but suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, and he sat up abruptly.

"Also? Damn! Why did you say that?"

When Chen Nuo saw the video Fan Bingbing mentioned on Twitter, the related trending topics were no longer what they had been over an hour ago.

His name had also prominently joined today's trending search list.

Just clicking on his name could achieve the same effect as "Quentin."

"Do you guys think Chen is the same kind of person as Quentin?"

This poll had been up for less than half an hour, and Chen Nuo saw that over 30,000 people had already participated, with 12,000 saying yes and 24,000 saying no.

Chen Nuo didn't know why so many people were doing this when it wasn't even dawn yet on the other side of the Pacific. Were they on too many drugs? Or did they catch some terrible disease?

Or was it that the whole world was joining in on this spectacle?

Clicking on the video attached to the poll tweet, Chen Nuo didn't look at the footage first, but noticed that a timestamp was attached below the video: October 23, 2011, 22:30:28.

In other words, this incident actually happened nearly two weeks ago.

Then why did it only explode today?

And with such rapid speed; it felt like it had spread across the entire global internet overnight.

To be honest, looking at the content of the video objectively, there wasn't anything too excessive about it.

It was nothing more than Quentin Tarantino, who could be said to be a well-known foot fetishist in Hollywood...

Ugh!

Truth be told, Chen Nuo really couldn't watch it after halfway through.

As an actor, he would bet that the person who filmed this was definitely an expert.

Foot fetishism exists everywhere in the world; it's not rare and is considered a relatively common sexual preference.

In fact, some foot fetish footage is filmed quite aesthetically.

But placed here, the angle of the camera and the woman's positioning were definitely designed. The goal was to make Quentin Tarantino's already unattractive face look even uglier and to make the act look extremely disgusting.

Fan Bingbing could laugh because she knew he wasn't one, and as gossip, she did find it quite funny.

However, Chen Nuo felt something was amiss.

He took out his phone, thought for a moment, changed the number, and dialed out.

It was 8:00 PM Beijing time, which was 7:00 AM in Eastern Canada.

Allison was clearly still asleep; her voice had a nasal tone when she answered: "Hello... Chen?"

But once Chen Nuo finished explaining the whole situation, the voice on the other end became calm and clear: "OK, give me half an hour. I'll check who is behind this. Wait for me."

After hanging up, Fan Bingbing looked at him, her previous smile frozen.

She asked hesitantly, "Do you think someone is stirring up trouble behind the scenes?"

Chen Nuo sighed, his tone flat: "Don't you know I'm planning to collaborate with Quentin on a film?"

"Of course I know, the whole world knows. Otherwise, why would those people insist on dragging you into this? ...Ah? You mean, this is aimed at both of you? That's impossible, right?"

She paused and said suspiciously, "That's America, after all. Are there fewer dirty dealings over there? What does this even count as?"

Chen Nuo glanced at her and said calmly, "Sometimes it counts, sometimes it doesn't. Whether it counts depends on who is saying what."

"Who?"

"The media."

Less than half an hour later, Allison called back.

The voice on the other end was exceptionally grave: "You guessed right, it's 100% man-made. The technical team I contacted traced the earliest source of this public opinion wave to an anonymous Twitter account."

"On the surface, it's a personal account, but based on its behavioral patterns over the last six months, I'm 80% sure it's a puppet account for Fox."

"Fox?"

"Yes. Chen, I have a guess..."

Chen Nuo listened quietly, hearing Allison arrive at the same name he had thought of within that half hour.

"...It's very likely Murdoch."

"Tell me about it."

Allison said, "Murdoch was recently forced to sell the *News of the World* because of the phone-hacking scandal in the UK. Many of his media outlets are under investigation, and his influence in Hollywood has plummeted."

"So, he wanted to use the investment in your film to recover from this, hoping to turn things around through your movie, but... do you remember that party last month? At your house. His wife, Deng Wendi, was humiliated. Although I haven't dealt with Murdoch, in every version of the rumors, he definitely doesn't count as a broad-minded person."

"So you think this is his revenge?"

"Yes, that's right."

Chen Nuo was silent for a moment and said, "Then what do you think we should do now?"

Allison said, "You don't need to do anything. Although there are people on the internet trying to link you to this, very few people believe it. I am 95% sure you will be fine."

"And Quentin?"

"...I don't know, we need to observe. However," Allison sighed, "he really has been caught with his pants down. His affairs, while not a secret in the industry, are undoubtedly crossing the line for the public, especially for the hundreds of millions of Christians in America. Plus his appearance... I have to be honest, people are animals who judge by appearances."

Having said this, Allison paused and added, "Perhaps that is also why Murdoch chose him instead of you to attack. Quentin is really in big trouble."

Subsequently, the development of events undoubtedly verified Allison's judgment.

It was indeed News Corporation, it was indeed Murdoch, and Quentin's trouble was indeed big.

Before Chen Nuo went to sleep, at 10:00 AM US time, he saw the *New York Post* publish an article titled "Quentin's 'Fetish' Finally Exposed, Will Hollywood Continue to Tolerate Him?" The accompanying image was a screenshot from that "foot fetish" video, deliberately selecting moments with strange lighting and unflattering angles, while the text description was extremely sarcastic, portraying Quentin as a sanctimonious freak.

By the time he woke up, the situation on Twitter was even more incredible.

News Corporation was truly holding nothing back; almost all of its English-language media outlets had mobilized collectively.

*The Sun*, *The Daily Telegraph*, *Sky News*, and even the Twitter account for *The Australian* were all reporting on this, with headlines more biting than the last.

And Fox News, on the noon program *The Five*, specifically discussed this video, saying things like, "We aren't here to attack personal hobbies, but when a person has the opportunity to influence the professional fate of actresses, such 'fetishes' are no longer a private matter; we must be vigilant against the improper use of power."

They said it as if it were actually true.

Then on YouTube, video clips edited like music videos began to spread virally.

The background music was mostly intentionally eerie, and the titles were very sensational: "The Other Side of the Violent Director," "Hollywood's Darkest Footprints," "Quentin's Foot World"... The titles were a mess, and the video content was varied, but it really made people want to click and take a look.

This entire media offensive kept "Freak Quentin" at the top of the Twitter trending list for the hours he was asleep, and another entry—"hollywoodsicko"—also climbed to the second position on Twitter's global trends.

After catching up on the news, Chen Nuo couldn't help but sigh.

At this time, there were several missed calls on his phone from early yesterday morning, but they weren't from the person he was thinking of.

He called back; the person on the other end wasn't asleep yet, and they chatted for a while.

After hanging up, he was met with Fan Bingbing's worried gaze.

"Leonardo's call?"

"Mm."

"What did he say?"

Chen Nuo’s expression was grave as he shook his head and said, "It’s nothing, he was just asking if Quentin had contacted me."

What Li Er meant on the phone was, in fact, the very thing he himself was most worried about at this moment.

If Quentin Tarantino did not step forward at this time to fight back or clarify the matter, then their film...

It wasn't just Li Er’s talent agency that wouldn't agree to let him act in it.

Chen Nuo could guarantee that Allison would absolutely not agree to him continuing to work with Quentin either. The problem was that things had blown up to this point, yet there was zero reaction from Quentin’s side—no statement, no phone call, no appearance; it was as if he had completely vanished.

And he simply couldn't ask about it personally.

Because it wouldn't be appropriate.

In the social etiquette of Hollywood, America, friends can joke around, but during the sensitive period when a scandal erupts, proactively prying into someone else’s private affairs—especially issues involving sexual preferences and public opinion storms—is considered extremely rude. It not only appears indecent but could also be misunderstood by the other party as pressing for answers or even drawing a line in the sand.

Therefore, at this very moment, Chen Nuo just wanted to say:

Is it really that hard to be a man like him who pays taxes legally, has no weird quirks, and is upright and honest?

(End of chapter)