Chapter 15

Everyone thought he was riding the wave of publicity to gain followers. Ji Yang didn’t care. If he could benefit from the attention, why not?

He hadn’t originally intended to do anything with the account. But when he saw his follower count skyrocketing—and realized that most of them were simply curious spectators looking for a laugh—he immediately turned around and used the opportunity to advertise Ji Mingyue’s café.

The café was located on a commercial street along Fan Prefecture’s Second Ring Road.

The surrounding area was full of white-collar professionals heading to and from work.

Ji Yang had a stereotypical impression of wealthy young masters and mistresses who tried to start their own businesses.

“How much money have you lost so far?”

It was mid-afternoon. Ji Yang sat beneath the sunshade on the café’s second-floor terrace, a glass of fresh orange juice in front of him.

Ji Mingyue sat across from him, scrolling through her phone. At his words, she shot him a glare. “Can you at least wish me well for once?”

As she continued, she couldn’t help complaining. “Your account is an absolute mess. You’ve even posted photos of yourself, and people still don’t believe it’s really you.”

“Just tell me whether it worked.” Ji Yang glanced around. “Looks like you’ve had pretty good business today.”

Ji Mingyue brushed back her hair. “It’s all right. About three times the usual amount.”

“Then shouldn’t you pay me an advertising fee?”

“You’re not short of a little advertising money, are you?” Ji Mingyue asked skeptically.

Ji Yang nodded. “Of course I am. Who ever thinks they have too much money?”

After Nie Xu had agreed to let the New Media Department operate under Jianyuan, Ji Yang had given Peng Jiaying a rough idea of the arrangement, though he hadn’t revealed everything. Peng only knew that the department would be affiliated with Jianyuan. He had no idea what Jianyuan actually did, let alone who was behind it.

Everything was still in the early stages of preparation, which meant money was being poured into it.

In a family like the Jis, each child in every branch received a fixed allowance. Two million yuan sounded like a lot, but that was only because Ji Yang did nothing all day except eat, wait to die, and generally waste his life. Hand that same amount to Ji Chengyi or Ji Mingyue, and it would disappear in no time with just a few small investments.

And that was without even mentioning that the Ji family was doomed sooner or later.

He had no intention of warning Ji Mingyue. After all, saying something like that would sound practically unforgivable.

Who could have imagined that the Ji family, so deeply rooted in Fan Prefecture, would completely disappear from the city’s commercial history in the not-too-distant future?

For now, everything was still peaceful.

Even an attack on the eldest branch’s illegitimate son could stir up an enormous online frenzy.

Ji Yang hadn’t even been sitting here for an hour, yet he had already overheard at least five separate groups discussing the incident.

Fortunately, their seats were tucked into a corner and partially screened from view. No one seemed to realize that the notorious, vicious Fourth Young Master of the Ji family they were talking about was sitting less than five meters away.

Ji Mingyue seemed more concerned about it than he was. Her conscience apparently wasn’t entirely dead, and she worried that someone might recognize him and gang up on him. She asked, “Why did your driver bring you today? Didn’t you bring any bodyguards?”

“They probably went to report for duty,” Ji Yang replied.

Ji Mingyue looked puzzled. “Report for duty? What do you mean?”

Ji Yang picked up his glass and took a sip. The drink was a little too sweet for his liking, and he licked his lips before answering. “Report for work at the company. I only have one bodyguard now, and he’s also my assistant. Weren’t you there when it happened?”

The Human Resources Department at Haicheng had called to notify him about the reporting arrangements.

The more Ji Yang thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.

He had heard that two years ago, Nie Xu had parachuted into the Lan Hai Bay project and become deeply involved in it. Yet the HR system had never contained a record of his employment. Now, with this assistant title, which was originally nothing more than an insignificant formality, HR was making such a big production out of it, as though they were afraid the young master might get a whim and forget to show up.

It was probably at Ji Yansong’s instruction.

Nie Xu must have received the notification too. When Ji Yang had asked him that morning, he had already been at the group headquarters.

Ji Mingyue was speechless. “When you said you were going back to work, I thought you genuinely wanted to turn your life around. But instead, you went and found yourself a helper. And with all the miscellaneous nonsense that comes with your position, don’t you think that’s a waste of his talents?”

Of course, Ji Yang wasn’t going to tell her that the assistant title was merely a formality. Instead, he said, “I don’t think so. He’s my assistant. I can use him however I want.”

Ji Mingyue laughed in exasperation. “I think you’re deliberately trying to piss Ji Chengyi off. The projects under his supervision are worth hundreds of millions, and you’re making the man he has his eye on do this kind of work? Right there in the company, too. Tsk.” She assessed him. “You’ve really learned how to get under people’s skin.”

Ji Yang: “…”

He genuinely hadn’t thought of it that way.

Even so, after leaving Ji Mingyue’s café, Ji Yang still had the driver take him to the Haicheng Group headquarters.

The New Media Department was much livelier than it had been during Ji Yang’s previous visit.

In the brief time since he had arrived, several employees from other departments had already come and gone. The office had also undergone a complete transformation. Gone was the previous atmosphere of laziness and dejection. People were making phone calls, typing away at their keyboards, and generally looking busy.

“What’s going on?” Ji Yang called out to Qian Yitian, the chatterbox who happened to be passing by.

Qian Yitian was carrying a stack of documents. When he saw Ji Yang, he looked surprised. “Fourth Young Master? What brings you here?”

“Am I not allowed to come?” Ji Yang was even more confused than he was.

Qian Yitian hurriedly replied, “Oh, no, no! That’s not what I meant.” He scratched his head and stammered out an explanation. “I just saw how ruthlessly Assistant Nie has been handling the work, and you also told the director to give us his full cooperation. I thought you wouldn’t be coming in person anymore.”

What Qian Yitian had actually wanted to say was that early that morning, the company had been analyzing the potential changes in the group’s power structure following the attack on the Third Young Master.

Some people even thought that their department’s Fourth Young Master might be the first one to suffer, perhaps even before the entire department went down with him. They assumed the department manager’s position would be the first casualty.

Then, as soon as everyone arrived at work, news spread throughout the company about the assistant who had suddenly appeared at Fourth Young Master Ji’s side.

Apparently, during the morning meeting, CEO Ji Zhonglin had personally asked about the matter.

Ji Chengyi, the acting deputy general manager, had also been making inquiries.

Only then did everyone belatedly realize that this so-called assistant probably had a rather extraordinary background.

Sure enough, when Assistant Nie arrived early that morning, the department staff had initially been full of astonishment and curiosity. But after a meeting that lasted barely two hours, everyone was left sitting on pins and needles.

From consolidating the department’s work over the past two years to checking the progress of every employee’s current assignments, Assistant Nie seemed to have thoroughly investigated everyone in advance. His questions struck directly at the heart of every issue.

It had been a long time since they had experienced such an oppressive atmosphere at work.

Ji Yang thought to himself that perhaps this man would become their actual boss one day.

He understood why Qian Yitian was acting this way. After looking around, he asked, “Where is he?”

Qian Yitian pointed toward the manager’s office. “Director Peng said there wasn’t a suitable workstation available yet. And since all the documents that had piled up were already in that office, he let Assistant Nie use it temporarily.”

Ji Yang nodded. “I’ll go take a look.”

The last time Ji Yang had visited this office, he had merely wandered around without paying much attention to anything. Now, looking through the glass wall, he saw that all the blinds had been drawn. Standing outside the door, he almost felt as though he had accidentally wandered onto someone else’s territory.

The whole situation was completely upside down.

He knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a voice answered from inside.

Ji Yang pushed the door open and immediately locked eyes with the man sitting behind the desk.

For a moment, Ji Yang thought the sunlight outside was simply too glaring, causing a brief spell of visual dizziness.

It was perfectly normal for the Ji family’s bodyguards to wear suits while on duty.

Ji Yang had seen plenty of them.

But this was the first time he had ever seen Nie Xu in one.

Perhaps it was because of the setting, but Ji Yang felt that Nie Xu had completely suppressed everything associated with his identity as a bodyguard. The suit itself was an ordinary dark-colored one, yet from the width of his shoulders to the cuffs of his sleeves, every detail fitted him perfectly. It even lent him an air of aristocratic elegance. When he stood up, the proportions of his long legs looked particularly striking.

An assistant with this kind of appearance and background was probably impossible to find a second time in all of Fan Prefecture.

As expected of the male lead ranked number one in popularity. He really was in a league of his own.

Nie Xu glanced at his wheelchair and asked, “Why are you here?”

“To inspect the troops. Is that not allowed?” Ji Yang recovered and maneuvered his wheelchair over. Noticing several expense approval forms and contracts awaiting signatures on the desk, he picked them up and flipped through them. “You didn’t tell me you were actually going to work as an assistant.”

Nie Xu turned around and pulled a new document from the filing cabinet behind him. As he flipped through it, he replied, “I’ve already discussed it with the old master. This is part of my job.”

Ji Yang paused, then clarified, “It’s just the two of us here.”

“So?” Nie Xu looked up from the document.

“So if you have other things to do, you can absolutely go and take care of them.”

Nie Xu returned the document to its place and replied coolly, “What I’m doing right now is the most important thing at hand.”

Ji Yang glanced at the computer on the desk and looked at the screen.

“Employee onboarding records?”

Nie Xu turned back toward him, glanced at the computer as well, and then looked at Ji Yang.

“I need to find out whether Peng Jiaying is valuable enough, and whether there are any problems with the people he wants to protect.” His words were exceptionally cold and merciless. “Jianyuan isn’t a charity.”

Ji Yang had no doubt that if those people proved useless, Nie Xu would have no qualms about abandoning them once they had served their purpose.

Ji Yang indicated that he understood and immediately moved away from the desk.

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window on the right, he looked down at the bustling traffic below. The roads stretched out in every direction.

He had no idea when Nie Xu had come to stand behind him. Looking out at the city as well, Nie Xu said, “Haicheng is an important landmark in the center of Fan Prefecture. From the top floor of this building, you can take in most of the city. At night, it’s also one of the best places to view Starfall Harbor, a famous tourist attraction.”

Ji Yang felt that this didn’t sound like casual conversation. He turned around. “Is the night view beautiful?”

“Mm.” Nie Xu glanced at him. “It’s most beautiful when the fireworks are set off every Saturday night. Do you know how that tradition began?”

Caught completely off guard, Ji Yang asked, “How?”

“To celebrate the first anniversary of the completion of Fan Prefecture’s largest transportation and trade port.”

A chill began creeping up from the soles of Ji Yang’s feet, little by little.

He frantically questioned himself: Why are you suddenly bringing this up?!

He didn’t know the specific details behind the transportation and trade port, nor had he read far enough into the novel to know whether the matter was explained later. But he knew perfectly well that this was one of Nie Xu’s biggest secrets—and one of his most sensitive subjects.

Was this a test to find out how much Ji Yang knew?

He’s insane.

Nie Xu’s attitude toward him had been fairly decent lately, and Ji Yang had almost forgotten that their relationship was built on a fragile foundation. Their old grudges hadn’t disappeared. They had merely been put on hold because of their temporary alliance of convenience.

Ji Yang decided to play dumb to the very end, pretending to know nothing. “Really? That does sound pretty meaningful.”

“It seems Fourth Young Master’s medication really has been tampered with.” Nie Xu’s oppressive presence faded, and he remarked ambiguously, “You were born and raised in Fan Prefecture, yet when it comes to the fireworks at Starfall Harbor, you sound as though you’ve never heard of them.”

Ji Yang replied sincerely, “I’ve already had someone send the medication for testing. I’ll tell you first as soon as the results come back.”

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

A female colleague from the marketing team entered, carrying two cups of coffee.

“Fourth… Manager Ji, Assistant Nie, your coffee.”

Ji Yang breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a smile.