Cheng Yaowen smiled meaningfully as he looked at the blunt busy tone from the other end of the phone. The usually irresistible President Cheng had been rejected by Zhong Ruanxing several times, but the more he was rejected, the stronger his desire to conquer her became.
This time, Wen Shuyi's sixtieth birthday party was definitely an occasion Cheng Yaowen had deliberately arranged in order to see Zhong Ruanxing. By nature, Wen Shuyi preferred to keep a low profile and would not have wanted to hold any birthday banquet according to her own wishes.
But Cheng Yaowen was her only closed-door disciple, and they had a deep relationship for many years. He had to show his filial respect, so Wen Shuyi could not disappoint his sincere intentions. She told him not to make a big fuss, just make simple arrangements.
She really did not expect that after five years, this closed-door disciple still had his mind set on Zhong Ruanxing, whom he had only met a few times back then.
Cheng Yaowen always found it very easy to get any woman he wanted. In terms of family background and looks and education, he was definitely a top contender. Usually he only needed to show a little interest in a woman, and she would naturally take the initiative.
Zhong Ruanxing was the only exception.
Pursuing a woman... he had never tried that before. But he was very intrigued - how much effort would it take to successfully pursue such an independent woman? A woman he had schemed so hard to win over must feel even better to sleep with.
So he was genuinely unaffected by being rejected and given the cold shoulder. The greater the difficulty, the more accomplished he would feel afterwards sleeping with her.
With these thoughts in mind, Cheng Yaowen searched for Zhong Ruanxing on WeChat with a smile, and sent her a friend request.
After half an hour passed with no acceptance, he sent another request, leaving a note: "Little junior sister, accept me so I can send you the birthday banquet address."
Song Jinxing, who was just about to go to bed, looked at the two consecutive friend requests expressionlessly and deleted the message prompts.
Cheng Yaowen waited all night without getting an acceptance, and when he woke up the next morning and checked his phone again, there was still nothing. Although he couldn't say he felt furious, his mood was definitely less than cheerful.
The housekeeper had prepared breakfast and saw Young Master Cheng coming downstairs looking gloomy. She couldn't help but shiver.
But as soon as Cheng's father and mother appeared, the chill emanating from him disappeared. He became the nonchalant playboy son in everyone's eyes again.
Cheng's mother doted on this son to no end. As she sat down, she asked with concern, "Son, did you not sleep well last night? You don't look so good."
Cheng Yaowen lazily replied, "I'm fine. Some bird kept crying all night and it was annoying."
Cheng's mother immediately glared at the servant beside her, "If you don't get rid of that bird tonight, none of you get to sleep!"
Cheng Yaowen smiled. "Mom, that's unreasonable. The birds fly wherever they want, how can you get rid of them?"
Cheng's mother humphed coldly, "I don't care. They're kept and fed every day, how can they accept their high salaries in good conscience if they don't do their jobs properly? If there's a single bird left in the manor tonight, no one gets to sleep!"
Cheng's father couldn't bear to listen anymore. "That's enough! No need to be so petty!" He changed the topic, "Tomorrow is your master's birthday. Have you booked a hotel?"
Cheng Yaowen wiped his mouth, "Booked already."
Cheng's father nodded, "This is your master's sixtieth birthday. You're her only disciple, so you must host it well and host it grandly! Give your master face, which gives our Cheng family face. Your mother will go with you tomorrow. Make sure to take care of all the important arrangements."
Cheng Yaowen nodded, "I know."
After breakfast, Cheng's father left for the company and Cheng Yaowen also went to confirm the final details at the birthday hotel. After both father and son were out the door, Cheng's mother began ordering the servants to drive away the birds. There were many birds' nests in the trees throughout the large, lush manor.
Cheng's mother had them all poked out without leaving one. Still unsatisfied, she had the servants figure out a way to use electric fencing to enclose those trees, preventing those damned birds from nesting there and disturbing her precious son again.
As Cheng Yaowen's car pulled away, he saw through the window a large flock of birds passing over the manor.
His assistant respectfully said, "President Cheng, Qu Yanshan's side contacted us saying she wants to personally apologize to you."
"Qu Yanshan?"
Cheng Yaowen clearly no longer remembered this name.
The assistant reminded him, "The actress who spread online rumors about Miss Zhong."
Cheng Yaowen turned his head to look at the assistant, expression ambiguous between a smile and not a smile. The assistant's face turned pale. Only then did Cheng Yaowen slowly say, "If you bring something like this to me again in the future, you're fired."
The assistant trembled in fear, "I understand, President Cheng."
Cheng Yaowen looked at his phone again. Still no friend acceptance prompt.
As the car drove towards the hotel, the assistant keenly sensed his boss' mood turning increasingly foul. Before he could think of how to handle it, he suddenly heard his boss irritably say, "Make that Qu Yanshan disappear. Don't let me hear that name again."
The assistant immediately responded, "Yes!"
It was just Qu Yanshan's misfortune to run into her moody boss when he was in a bad mood. The assistant mourned for her for a second.
Half an hour later, Qu Yanshan's agent, who had pulled who knows how many connections trying to finally contact the rumored backer behind Zhong Ruanxing, received a bolt from the blue.
Not only were all future collaborations with Qu Yanshan severed, even current partners were rushing to terminate their contracts with her, willing to pay penalties as long as they could terminate the contract. Soon, online news related to Qu Yanshan began disappearing quietly.
In the capital-driven entertainment industry, it was all too easy to erase the existence of a not-so-famous star.
Qu Yanshan could do nothing as her popularity steadily dropped until it was completely gone. Her name became a banned term - no matter which platform it was posted on, it had to go through round after round of review. Even her company gave up on her, her team completely disbanded, and no one would work for her again in the future.
Only then did Qu Yanshan finally realize what kind of entity she had provoked that she should never have provoked. She hurriedly called her agent, and her agent could only tell her helplessly, "Rest for a while first. After the other party's anger subsides, we'll figure something out. Whatever you do, don't stir up trouble again right now."
"I'll go find Zhong Ruanxing! I'm willing to kneel and apologize to her. Brother, please, please help me!"
"Yanshan, listen to me. Just consider this a vacation for yourself. Don't do anything extra to further upset the other party. This is more than just being blacklisted. If not for yourself, think of your parents. Listen to me. Don't think of anything. Rest well for a period, then we'll figure something out in the future."
Qu Yanshan understood the threat in his words. Breaking out in cold sweat, she collapsed on the ground.
Finally, she buried her head in her hands and broke down bawling.
