Chapter 405: I Swear Eternal Enmity with Gambling and Drugs

As the old saying goes: some people are born in Rome, while others are born as pack mules.

As a traditional aristocrat of Rome, Li Yinxin — who at such a young age already sits on hundreds of millions of dollars in stock assets — was unquestionably the most dazzling presence at tonight's banquet — even though online she is constantly getting savaged by Korea's mule-kneeling clan.

Chances are plenty of people in the room have, behind closed doors, opened alt accounts on Yahoo and other internet battlegrounds to flame her too.

But when this woman actually appeared, she still effortlessly stole the spotlight from everyone — people kept coming up to greet her one after another; even Zhou Yi had never been this popular before.

Although in Zhou Yi's eyes, her looks still had a certain gap compared to tonight's glossy, half-bared-bosom, long-legged female stars and idol performers, she had the advantage of being all-natural, factory-original. Besides, how does that saying go?

When you're sitting on hundreds of millions in assets, it's hard not to look beautiful in other people's eyes — let alone the fact that Li Yinxin also carries the bonus of being a Samsung little princess.

With the precedent of Samsung big princess Li Fuzhen marrying a bodyguard already glittering like a jewel in her crown, the moment Li Yinxin appeared, plenty of men in the room who fancied themselves decent-looking all started preparing to show off, hoping to snag a way to contact her and one day leap to the heavens in a single bound.

After finishing his greetings and returning to his seat, Zhou Yi didn't have that many thoughts on his mind; instead he stood aside, champagne in hand, watching with great interest the practiced social graces of the rich heiresses led by Li Yinxin — he wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling that these women's gazes lingered on him a beat longer.

"Spike, hello."

While he was still mulling it over, a greeting suddenly reached his ears. He turned his head toward the sound, and a woman in a pale-gold strapless mermaid evening gown immediately came into view —

Her jet-black long hair, curled into soft waves, was casually draped over her shoulders, and her exquisite makeup was enough to stir the desire in many men's hearts.

"I'm Li Xiaoli, you can call me Hyo."

Li Xiaoli — who would later be hailed as Korea's sex goddess and national fairy — did not yet possess that sexual tension, but her ambition was already beginning to show. After the girl group. L she led as captain disbanded, she had been planning to debut as a solo artist, and had been putting effort into her album.

Having learned that Zhou Yi was coming to Korea, she had her manager compile a dossier on this man's schedule and had prepared all kinds of conversation topics in advance, including but not limited to Zhou Yi's preferences, past experiences, and so on.

"Hello."

Upon seeing that it was this woman taking the initiative to come chat him up, Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

He didn't know much about Li Xiaoli, but he could be certain of one thing: if the fan-zu-dance-performing Li Jeong-hyeon getting banned in China later could still have her fans claim it was a mistranslation, that the "mountain bandits" she encountered were actually road-blocking thugs;

then Li Xiaoli's future ban was absolutely her own fault —

On a certain Korean variety show in '20, when the host asked what Chinese stage name she'd pick, she immediately quipped that if she were to use a Chinese stage name for the Chinese market, she'd take the surname Mao.

The host's expression froze on the spot, and he hurriedly played it off with a forced laugh and a "well, that's not really appropriate," steering past the topic.

Clearly, she had done it on purpose.

If you act like that, who else would you expect to die?

Li Xiaoli — who had prepared a bellyful of conversation topics to get Zhou Yi's contact info, planning to chat about life with him on day one, ideals on day two, and check out his abs on day three — now deeply felt the difficulty of cracking this man —

This isn't right.

Isn't Zhou Yi supposed to be a romantic playboy?

Is it that I'm not pretty enough, or that my figure isn't alluring enough?

Her advances were this obvious — why was this guy's attitude still so lukewarm?

Could it be because he's seen too many of my type?

Not yet famous or successful, Li Xiaoli was full of question marks, but she still kept doing her best not to let the conversation die on the floor —

It's fine — Zhou Yi is world-famous, the number of well-built women he's seen really could be counted by truckload; if I can't make him do a double-take, that must be my own problem.

Having only exchanged contact info with Zhou Yi, Li Xiaoli silently gave herself a pep talk.

But before long, she — who had been keeping close tabs on Zhou Yi — noticed a problem, a very big problem —

How is it that this Zhou Yi can turn around and chat so much with other women?

When she discovered that even her former teammate Cheng Youli could chat so happily with Zhou Yi, Li Xiaoli somewhat failed to keep her composure.

Wait — why?

If it had been any other woman, she probably wouldn't have felt this strongly — but of all people, the woman chatting up Zhou Yi turned out to be her former teammate…

You fear your sister suffering, but you fear even more your sister driving a Land Rover.

Sister, you've already pivoted to acting — how can you still have the nerve to shove yourself in front of Zhou Yi?

"Then, it's a deal?"

"Of course — having a beauty like Young Lady Cheng Youli willing to be my tour guide is my honor."

Zhou Yi pocketed the business card and smiled, clinking glasses with yet another ambitious woman.

Cheng Youli — also one of the so-called first-generation Korean Wave goddesses — had until recently been in the same girl group as Li Xiaoli.

Zhou Yi's biggest impression of her was that she later nearly turned herself into a legal-case celebrity in Korea, but the company that imploded was in Korea, so playing around with her was no big deal.

Having slaved away doing promo runs in Korea for so long, now that he had some free time, it was time to start enjoying himself.

"You're pretty popular."

Just as Zhou Yi had waved goodbye to Cheng Youli and was about to scan the room for other familiar-looking future female stars, a faintly familiar voice came from behind him —

He turned around and saw Samsung little princess Li Yinxin, champagne in hand, having finished her social rounds, watching him with great interest.

"Young Lady Li?"

Zhou Yi's voice carried a hint of surprise.

He really hadn't expected this Samsung little princess to come find him on her own initiative after that earlier greeting.

"My brother mentioned you to me — Samsung phones are looking for a spokesperson to expand overseas markets, and that's very important for Samsung Electronics."

Li Yinxin, gently swirling her wine glass, smiled politely: "I heard them say the person they're looking for is the type whose personal image is outstanding — someone who can make the phone brand feel likable."

"So, Young Lady Li, you've actually come tonight to give me a heads-up?" Zhou Yi said evenly.

"Of course not — I have nothing to do with the family business, I don't get involved."

Li Yinxin, who never participates in the family business, took a noncommittal sip of champagne: "If I remember correctly, your team should be in talks for an endorsement? I just wanted to remind you — if you want to reach an endorsement deal with my brother and the others, you'd better mind your public personal image."

As she spoke, she glanced toward the distance where Li Xiaoli and Cheng Youli had once again huddled together chatting and laughing like the best of friends, and said playfully: "Best not to stir up any scandals."

After a glance in the direction she was looking, Zhou Yi chuckled lightly, turned back, and teased: "Do you know that, given your status, saying something like that to me could easily lead me to misunderstand?"

"Then let me apologize in advance — perhaps I spoke out of turn."

Seeing this man's completely unbothered attitude, Li Yinxin was slightly taken aback inside, but her face remained composed: "If I absolutely had to give a reason — my friends and I have all heard your songs?"

"I wouldn't have pegged Young Lady Li as my fan."

"Is there? I've just heard your songs."

For this man who immediately categorized himself as a fan, Li Yinxin's face instantly gained a few more layers of fake smiles.

A bit narcissistic and arrogant.

It was a pity she had thought to remind this person that they were at a critical moment of negotiating a contract, and he shouldn't throw away all his previous efforts.

She admitted that after scrolling through Zhou Yi's extremely inspiring resume, she did hold a bit of appreciation for this man's past experiences; he was far superior to someone like her who could find no life goals or future goals at all.

No wonder he could be so popular; this kind of inspiring experience is universally accepted worldwide.

"Have you heard of 'Hate the Dream of the Red Chamber'?"

"I've only read 'The Dream of the Red Chamber', and didn't finish it."

"Then I suggest you buy a copy of the 'Zhou Yi' album to listen to; this song is inside it."

Zhou Yi smiled, lightly clinked his glass against her champagne, then took a small sip: "First, thank you for your reminder. Second, for me, in the category of scandals, the situation you warned about will never occur."

"Why?"

"Because, I am irreconcilable with gambling and drugs."

"?"

Li Yinxin frowned, slowly typing out a question mark. But Zhou Yi did not stay long; after raising his glass in a toast, he chose to leave: "I wish you a good dream tonight, Young Lady Li."

(End of this chapter)