The hot search topics about Su Zhiyi and the three men, Pei Yan, Jiang Yuanheng, and Gu Yu, only lasted half a day with extremely high heat. Later, for some reason, these hot searches were all removed, and related news was suppressed.
It was convenient that Su Zhiyi and Jiang Yuanheng lived together. The next day, she directly took Jiang Yuanheng's Bentley, and the two went to the MV shooting location together.
Jiang Yuanheng's new song was a sweet little love song, but she was worried all day. Even when Jiang Yuanheng sang to her in person, she couldn't be happy. Her mind wandered without focus, and she could only mechanically interact with Jiang Yuanheng according to his instructions. Her acting was very stiff. Fortunately, the MV did not require reciting lines, so filming was relatively easy.
Her mind kept replaying Xie Mengran's last words from yesterday: "Chen Gaoxuan, he's out."
"System, is he really out?" Su Zhiyi asked, seemingly calm, her expression unchanged.
System 030 knew what Chen Gaoxuan's release meant. Its voice also turned heavy. "Mm," it said firmly. "He's out."
Chen Gaoxuan was the person Su Zhiyi feared most. The reason was simple: Chen Gaoxuan was the damn agent who had tricked her, a naive college student, into signing a predatory contract to enter the entertainment industry. Later, due to debt disputes with the company, he was sent to prison.
"I really didn't expect this guy to be out so soon." A crack appeared in Su Zhiyi's calm expression, filled with deep resentment. "Why didn't he die in prison?"
This guy had initially colluded with the unscrupulous company, specializing in deceiving naive college students into signing with their company, then ruthlessly exploiting them alongside the company. Their main source of income was either exploiting artists under predatory contracts or taking sky-high breach-of-contract fees from slightly wealthier artists who wanted to escape their clutches. Later, this guy had a dispute with the company over profit-sharing, was set up by the company, sued, and sentenced to prison.
Her hatred for her former agent was at its peak.
Most importantly, the former agent knew about her persona fabrication, so she always had a handle on him. It would be fine if the former agent were still in prison—he couldn't stir up trouble—but he was out. This was an ineradicable隐患...
"What is he doing now?" Su Zhiyi asked.
"Same as before, not peaceful at all. As soon as he got out, he went to cause trouble for your unscrupulous company. He's been lurking outside your company building every day, getting into several conflicts with your unscrupulous boss, almost coming to blows."
"Tch..." Su Zhiyi clicked her tongue. "Let them fight, but don't let the fire spread to me."
The former agent and the unscrupulous company were just fighting over money. She didn't want the two sides to draw her into their fight.
"Sister, spacing out again?"
Jiang Yuanheng stopped the car and turned sideways to ask Su Zhiyi, who had been zoning out and silent.
"Ah."
Su Zhiyi turned her head to look at Jiang Yuanheng and slowly blinked. "Was thinking about something. It's nothing, not important." She replied perfunctorily. "Are we here?"
"Mm." Jiang Yuanheng lowered his eyes and considerately unbuckled Su Zhiyi's seatbelt. "Sister has been absent-minded all day. Must be tired, right? Then go home and rest first. I'll go to the supermarket to buy groceries and come back to make you dinner."
Su Zhiyi hummed flatly, opened the car door, and got out. Jiang Yuanheng drove off to the nearest supermarket for groceries.
Su Zhiyi watched Jiang Yuanheng's car disappear into the distance before turning to walk toward the residential building.
Just as she reached the building, a man who had been hiding in the shadows of the stairwell stepped out, pushing open the heavy iron door.
The man was not tall, his body slightly hunched, shorter than Su Zhiyi. He was very thin, with prominent cheekbones, an ugly bulbous nose, and narrow, slanted eyes; the whites of his eyes were more visible than the irises, which were like two beans, giving him a shifty-eyed appearance.
"Oh, if it isn't our big star, Su Zhiyi?"
His voice was sharp, like a piece of iron scraping across a railing, very grating.
Su Zhiyi had been wearing a calm expression, but upon seeing the man, her pupils constricted, her body trembled almost imperceptibly, and she instinctively stepped back, her heart skipping a beat. Her fingers unconsciously tightened, her palms sweating coldly, and her fingertips nearly dug into her palms.
Fear and dread spread through her heart.
Chen Gaoxuan... What did he want from her?
Su Zhiyi forced herself to stay calm and asked coldly, "What do you want from me?"
"What do I want from you?" Chen Gaoxuan chuckled a few times. "Hehe, guess what I want from you?"
Su Zhiyi quickly pulled out her phone and brought up the dial screen. "Come any closer, and I'll call the police."
"Calm down." Chen Gaoxuan was not intimidated by the words "call the police." Instead, he smiled slyly at Su Zhiyi, his smile malicious. "You're a big star now, successful and powerful. Of course, I won't do anything to you."
"You've been all over the hot search recently, with Pei Yan, Jiang Yuanheng, Gu Yu... I never expected that. Weren't you just a rural-born country girl? With these people backing you, the company must be fawning over you now, not daring to touch you, right?"
"What are you rambling about?"
Su Zhiyi had a bad feeling, especially when Chen Gaoxuan named the three men one by one. Her heart sank, and her delicate brows furrowed into a tight knot. She gripped her phone even tighter. If Chen Gaoxuan made any move to threaten her, she would immediately call the police.
"Relax. Why so nervous? I won't do anything illegal. Being in prison isn't pleasant, and I don't want to go back in again."
Chen Gaoxuan smiled like an ugly fox, with cunning and treachery written all over his face. He meant no good.
"You really want to leave Qianyue Entertainment, right? That Wang Zhiqiang is inhuman, always exploiting you. All the money you earn goes into his pocket. You hate him too, don't you?"
Su Zhiyi not only hated Qianyue Entertainment, but also its boss, Wang Zhiqiang, and even more, Chen Gaoxuan. She had been worn down to the point where only pure hatred remained.
"What's your point?" Su Zhiyi put on an impatient, disgusted expression. "Speak plainly. Don't beat around the bush."
Chen Gaoxuan said, "Do you want to make Wang Zhiqiang repay your money?"
Su Zhiyi: "..."
Seeing that Su Zhiyi didn't answer, Chen Gaoxuan laughed to himself, his gaze turning ruthless. "Let's cooperate and teach Wang Zhiqiang a lesson. How about it?"
"You know I'm just an ordinary person from the countryside. How can I cooperate with you?" Su Zhiyi openly mocked him. "I won't do anything illegal to ruin my future."
Chen Gaoxuan shook his head. "I know that by yourself, you're no use to me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to you."
"Don't you have three backers? They love you so much. For them, as long as you ask, they'll agree to anything. Bringing down just one Qianyue Entertainment would be easy for them, right?"
"Especially that Gu Yu. Isn't he the president of Xinghui Entertainment? Just go and ask him."
He looked at Su Zhiyi's earlobe, his mocking gaze impossible to hide. The earring on Su Zhiyi's earlobe was an outrageously expensive brand-name piece she had bought last time when Gu Yu took her to the commercial street and she swiped his card.
"Your mind is as dirty as you are!"
She covered her earlobe, her voice rising, and fiercely shouted at Chen Gaoxuan. "If you have a grudge with the company, go after the company! What good does coming to me do? Move aside!"
As if avoiding a biting vicious dog, she quickly brushed past Chen Gaoxuan, who was blocking the entrance of the residential building, darted into the building, and then rushed up the stairs. At the second-floor landing, she still turned around to threaten him back.
"I can't do what you ask, and I won't work for a sick freak like you. Instead of coming to me, you might as well go block Wang Zhiqiang at the company building and punch him. That would be more practical."
"Don't bother me anymore! If I see you again, I'll definitely call the police!"
Chen Gaoxuan didn't say a word or make a move. The rich expressions on his face vanished, and his small, round, black eyes stared at Su Zhiyi, his expression terrifying.
Su Zhiyi's heart pounded. She shook her head, refusing to look at Chen Gaoxuan anymore, and quickly went upstairs.
She had never climbed the stairs so fast before. Her breathing couldn't keep up, and she gasped heavily for air. It didn't feel like climbing stairs; it felt like fleeing for her life.
When she reached her doorstep, she fumbled in her pocket for the key, her fingertips trembling. Several times, the key missed the keyhole due to her shaking hands, colliding with it and making a harrowing sound. On the sixth try, she finally inserted the key into the keyhole. She quickly twisted it, opened the door, then slammed it shut, leaning her back against the door. Like a deflated ball, she slid down the door and collapsed in the entryway.
The cold floor touching her skin finally brought her rationality back a little.
Su Zhiyi took a few breaths, swallowing the metallic taste of blood that rose in her throat from the intense exertion. Her voice was utterly exhausted: "System, is he still downstairs?"
System 030 had been so frightened by the scene, which was like a horror movie, that it didn't dare to speak. It stammered, "No, no, he's gone... He left..."
"Gone..." Su Zhiyi repeated, and closed her eyes in relief.
After a long silence, System 030 spoke.
"Host, won't he cause trouble for you?"
"Not sure. The chance of him bothering me is low," Su Zhiyi said. "His main conflict is with the company. Although I hate him to death, his hostility toward me isn't that strong."
"His conflict with the company probably won't spill over onto me."
Chen Gaoxuan loved money like crazy; otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up in prison due to a debt dispute with the company. He probably wanted to get revenge on the company this time and make some money on the side.
She was very poor, and Chen Gaoxuan looked down on her paltry money.
As for cooperating with Chen Gaoxuan? Of course not. She just needed to play dead and watch these two mad dogs bite each other.
After figuring this out, her weak limbs gradually regained strength. She got up from the floor, walked over to the sofa, and sat down, waiting for Jiang Yuanheng to return.