Chapter 437

Hearing this, Fan Fan Binbing not only didn't leave, but instead clung to him even more boldly.

She wrapped her arms around Chen Nuo's neck, her long legs clad in black silk lightly rubbing 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 do you mean?"

Fan Fan Binbing giggled, her eyes darting with a hint 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 Fan Binbing's beautiful eyes shifted: "And then I discovered that Feifei is truly getting more and more beautiful; her features have fully blossomed, she's completely not that little girl from before. So many people are fawning over her, one, two, three of them, I'm worried for you. You tell me, what if something happens while you're not in China... what would you do then?"

Once these words were out, Chen Nuo had originally wanted to keep up his act, but Fan Fan Binbing's words were clearly meant to stir up trouble; what else could he do?

If you don't discipline them for three days, they'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 came from 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 wretch!"

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Three more times, heavy ones.

"Do you admit you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong!"

"Fine, you wait, I'm going to get the belt..."

It was truly a great drama, it's just a pity that the only potential audience member was on vacation visiting relatives in Xinjiang; without the participation and interaction of a third party, it was inevitably a bit of a regret.

About an hour later, all movement in the room calmed down.

On the bed were two people drenched in sweat.

Fan Fan Binbing looked as if she had completely lost her strength, her sweat-dampened hair strands draped across her face. Her towering chest was still heaving violently, with several red marks on it, as if someone who didn't know their own strength had just been heavy-handed with her.

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

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

"Stop pretending." Fan Fan Binbing pouted and said: "You're guarding against me now, aren't you?"

Chen Nuo shook his head and said: "I don't understand what you're saying at all."

"I'm talking about..."

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

"... You said it?"

"Damn, don't you think you're getting more and more perverted, Fan Fan Binbing."

"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 path, I didn't tell you to run so far, hey!"

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

"... Stop talking 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 rated a 'Three-Good Student' every year."

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

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

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

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

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

"Then when are you leaving?"

"Same as always, wait until Ruoruo finishes her birthday."

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

"Yeah, why else?"

Fan Fan Binbing 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 very quickly, especially when there's a child around.

The last time he saw Chen Ruoruo, she was just a little meatball who 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, liquid eyes staring at him curiously.

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

"Last month."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to give you a surprise."

Chen Nuo walked over slowly; the tiny person before him made him involuntarily move with light steps. He lowered his head to look at Ruoruo in the crib and suddenly made a funny face.

The little one immediately grinned and giggled.

He laughed too.

"Sigh, still can't hold her, you say, what's going on with this?"

Watching little Ruoruo cry until she was tired in Fan Fan Binbing's arms, and then close her eyes and fall asleep, Chen Nuo couldn't help but complain, "Didn't you say she wasn't afraid of strangers?"

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

Chen Nuo was instantly choked up.

Fan Fan Binbing glanced at him and chuckled, "What, feeling heartbroken? Actually, it's nothing. I've already come to terms with it; there are gains and losses. Ruoruo is your daughter, she's already blessed enough, what more could you want? If she occupied 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 had been acting like she wanted to die in front of him back then...

Could it be that she's been replaced?

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

"... A charity foundation?"

As soon as Fan Fan Binbing heard him start, she was greatly startled, her eyes wide, and she said incredulously: "You want to start a charity foundation for Ruoruo?"

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

Fan Fan Binbing stared at him blankly for a long, long time without speaking, and finally said in a complex and 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: "... This time when I came back, Qi Da and I were prepared to handle this together. It just so happens that the company is distributing dividends in a few days, so there's money."

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

Chen Nuo said nonchalantly: "The money from 'Inception' has arrived, I'm planning to take it out and distribute it."

"Ah?"

"Right, it's about 600 million USD. I decided to keep a little, and take the rest out to distribute. Your share in RMB is about 100 million, after taxes, it's about 60 million or so... Hello? Hey!? Damn, you're not serious, are you? You really fainted?"

"I didn't, I just..." Fan Fan Binbing stared at him blankly, her throat moved, clearly having swallowed her saliva, "I just think it's a bit much."

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

Guli Nazha was a bit dazed. Only then did she realize that this conversation didn't seem to be what she had imagined.

It is quite a lot; if you calculate it, the taxes are about 35-40%.

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

Not only does he have to pay taxes, but Chen Nuo's charity foundation is definitely not for tax avoidance or playing games of moving money from the right hand to the left; it's for real.

Actually, setting up a personal charity foundation in the country is a very complex matter; running through the entire process takes about half a year to a year, but he had already prepared a candidate for this.

But Chen Nuo almost didn't recognize who this person was when they met.

"Damn, why are you so tanned?"

"Brother Nuo, can you blame me, Brother Nuo." Wang Zhihan felt like his tears were about to fall, "Because your dad is simply not... phew, Chen Zong's construction site is really too bitter."

Chen Nuo looked up and down at the dark and thin kid in front of him and nodded: "It's not easy to persist; it certainly looks like it was hard work."

"I didn't want to persist either." Wang Zhihan said with a mournful face, "I ran once, got caught once, and later they directly sent people to watch me twenty-four hours a day..."

Chen Nuo said with a sympathetic expression: "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. Afterwards, he threw this person onto his dad'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 very simple: this person is trustworthy. Running errands in the early stages, and if he turns out to be capable, then placing him in the foundation as an ear and eye later on is something that would put his mind at ease.

There's no way around it, because the foundation isn't about making money, but spending it. When it comes to spending money, Chen Nuo's concepts are deeply influenced by Chen Bicheng: use the old, not the new; use the familiar, not the outsider.

Of course, this is different from modern corporate management concepts. However, forgive the bumpkin real estate boss; he only has this much insight.

Finally, Chen Nuo also asked a few key questions.

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

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

"Still hate her?"

"Hmm."

"Want revenge?"

"Yes."

"How do you want revenge?"

"I..." Wang Zhihan clenched his fists, finally let go, and looked at Chen Nuo with tears and 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'll know later. You go rent a place in Shanghai first, and start work tomorrow. Your future boss is—her!"

Wang Zhihan glanced to the side, his whole face turning dark red, "Beauty, h-hello."

Lin Meiru crossed her arms and let out a faint snort from her nose. "Xiao Mei, he's from the countryside in Xichuan, you're a Shanghai native, you know the place well, accompany him to rent a suitable place first. From now on, you'll take him around."

"Yes, Chen Zong. You, come with me." Lin Meiru said, not even looking at Wang Zhihan, and turned to walk toward the car.

Wang Zhihan looked at Lin Meiru's back, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and then, without even looking at Chen Nuo, followed her.

Damn it.

Still the same old hanging look.

Well, that's fine.

After returning, Chen Nuo told Fan Fan Binbing about the situation of the two meeting, and Fan Fan Binbing said with some concern: "Should I tell Xiao Mei to temper her temper?"

Chen Nuo laughed: "No need."

Fan Fan Binbing hesitated: "Are you sure?"

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

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

Ever since she heard that she was about to receive a dividend of 100 million, Fan Fan Binbing was no longer arrogant, and every day she pretended to be a delicate little bird in front of Chen Nuo.

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 what can you say?

Might as well enjoy it for a day while you can.

"Come, pound my legs for me." Chen Nuo turned his body and lay down on the sofa.

"Okay."

Fan Fan Binbing answered in a soft voice, very obediently placing his thigh on her lap, and while pounding with her hands, she said gently: "One person of yours, one person of mine, the pairing is not bad, but do you think they can manage it well? Actually, I'm quite worried."

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

"Hmm, that's what I thought too. By the way, I was bored at home earlier and saw a news story on the internet... tell me the truth, okay?"

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

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Fan Fan Binbing suddenly lifted her leg and brought her black-silk-clad foot right up to his face, giggling: "Do you also like to lick this?"

Chen Nuo was stunned; he originally wanted to get angry, but suddenly a flash of inspiration struck his mind, and he sat up abruptly.

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

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

His name had also prominently joined today's search trends.

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

"You tell me, is Chen also 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, 12,000 saying yes, 24,000 saying no.

Chen Nuo didn't know, at this time, even though it wasn't dawn yet on the other side of the Pacific, so many people were doing this. Did they take too many drugs? Or did they catch some major disease?

Or is it that the whole world is joining in on this excitement?

Clicking on the video attached to the poll tweet, Chen Nuo didn't look at the footage at first, but noticed that a time 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 explode today?

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

The content of the video, to be honest, objectively speaking, wasn't anything excessive.

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

Ugh!

To be fair, Chen Nuo couldn't watch it halfway through.

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

Foot fetishism is everywhere in the world, it's not strange, it's considered a relatively common sexual fetish.

Actually, some foot fetish footage is filmed quite aesthetically.

But, placed here, the angle of this camera, the movement of this woman, were all definitely designed. The goal was to make Quentin Tarantino's already unattractive face look even uglier, and to make this behavior look very disgusting.

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

However, Chen Nuo felt a bit ominous in his heart.

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

This time was 8:00 PM Beijing time, and 7:00 AM in Eastern Canada.

Allison was clearly still in her dreams, her voice carrying a nasal tone when she answered: "Hello... Chen?"

But once Chen Nuo finished explaining the whole thing, the voice on the other end had become calm and clear: "OK, give me half an hour, I'll check who is playing tricks, wait for me."

After hanging up, Fan Fan Binbing looked at him, her original smile frozen.

She asked hesitantly: "Do you think someone is behind this?"

Chen Nuo sighed, his tone indifferent: "Don't you know I'm preparing 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 it too?... Ah? You mean, this matter is aimed at both of you? That's impossible, right?"

She paused and said suspiciously: "That's America, are there few dirty things over there? What kind of matter is this?"

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

"Who?"

"The media."

In less than half an hour, Allison called back.

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

"On the surface, it's a personal account, but based on its behavioral patterns over the past 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 'News of the World' due to the phone-hacking scandal in the UK, many of his media outlets are under investigation, and his influence here in Hollywood has plummeted."

"So, he wanted to use investing in your film a while ago to urgently recover from this, hoping to turn things around through your film, but... do you remember that party last month? At your house. His wife, Wendi Deng, 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'm 95% sure you'll be fine."

"What about Quentin?"

"... I don't know, we need to observe. However," Allison sighed, "he really has been caught by his Achilles' heel. His affairs, although not a secret in the circle, are undoubtedly crossing the line for the public, especially for the hundreds of millions of Christians in America. Add to that his appearance... I have to be honest, people are animals who judge by appearance."

Speaking of this, Allison paused and said: "Perhaps, this is also the reason why Murdoch chose him instead of you to attack. Quentin is really in big trouble."

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

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

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

When he woke up and saw the situation on Twitter, it was even more incredible.

News Corp really had no scruples; almost all of its English-language media outlets were mobilized collectively.

The 'Sun', the 'Daily Telegraph', 'Sky News', and the Twitter account of 'The Australian', all reported on this incident, with headlines more biting than the last.

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

Saying it as if it were actually true.

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

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

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

After Chen Nuo finished following the news, he 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.

Then, after hanging up, he was met with Fan Fan Binbing's worried gaze.

"Leonardo's call?"

"Hmm."

"What did he say?"

Chen Nuo's expression was solemn, and he shook his head: "Nothing, just asking if Quentin had contacted me."

What Leo meant on the phone was actually exactly what he himself was most worried about at this moment.

If Quentin Tarantino didn't stand up to fight back or clarify this matter at this time, then, their film...

It wasn't just Leo's agency that wouldn't agree to him acting in it.

Chen Nuo could guarantee that Allison would definitely not agree to him continuing to collaborate with Quentin. The problem is, things have escalated to this point, yet Quentin's side has had no reaction at all—no statement, no phone call, no appearance, as if he had completely disappeared.

And he couldn't easily ask anything personally.

Because that wouldn't be appropriate.

In the social etiquette of Hollywood, America, friends can joke around, but during the sensitive period of a scandal, actively questioning someone else's private affairs, especially issues involving sexual preferences and media storms, would be considered extremely rude. It would not only appear undignified, but could also be misinterpreted by the other party as pressuring them or even drawing a line.

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

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

(End of chapter)