Chapter 95

Chapter 95

The general director of The Opposite Sex Friends later thought that year must have been an unlucky one for Huàn Zhòu, and that their time had finally come — their fate already sealed

An Ye's decision to publicly announce her relationship and health condition during the live broadcast was a form of self-preservation and also a way to completely close the chapter on her past. Qi Wei, who had been with her in making this decision, had never anticipated that it would escalate to this point.

In fact, the night before, Qi Wei had shared the current direction of online commentary in their work group. Everyone thought Huàn zhòu's PR had done more harm than good. Qi Wei sighed about it, and they all wished each other goodnight.

Around 3 AM.

An Ye’s former manager, Yan Wan, created a secondary account on Weibo and reported Huàn zhòu for disrupting the film market, falsifying box office numbers, unfair competition, hidden contracts, financing bribes, and several other issues.

All his evidence was posted without redaction. In the long string of criminal records, there were mentions of An Ye's mother, Wang Shanshan, as well as Huàn zhòu’s recent invested variety show Friend of the opposite sex (The Opposite Sex Friends).

Wang Shanshan was implicated in private lending.

The Friend of the opposite sex show, from its planning phase, was also accused of unfair competition and hidden contracts with advertisers.

Fans who had been investigating Huàn zhòu's management issues after An Ye's live broadcast were all stunned.

Qi Wei's phone was bombarded with calls in the middle of the night. When she went upstairs to pull An Ye out of bed, she was surprised to find that Chí Tuō wasn't asleep.

He was sitting on the lazy sofa in the living room, holding a laptop, wearing plain glasses, his face devoid of any expression.

Qi Wei paused for a moment, exchanged a glance with Chí Tuō, and directly entered the bedroom.

"Wasn't Yan Wan supposed to be in court next week?" An Ye, still in a groggy state, looked confused.

How did it suddenly come to this?

She knew Yan Wan well and couldn’t believe he would do something like this. Didn’t his brother get arrested for drunk driving and fleeing the scene, with his parents being sent abroad?

"I don’t know." Qi Wei initially didn’t know, but after seeing Chí Tuō’s expression upstairs, she hesitated as she spoke, "But the timing is too perfect. We just did the live broadcast, and now Yan Wan reports it in his real name."

Without An Ye’s live broadcast and Qi Wei’s follow-up revelations about Huàn zhòu's internal management chaos, Yan Wan’s real-name report wouldn’t have instantly risen to the trending topics.

Qi Wei glanced at Chí Tuō.

Chí Tuō spoke: "I need to talk to Jiǔ Jiǔ alone for a moment."

An Ye, who had been quietly watching a video on her phone about Yan Wan, paused it upon hearing this, then looked at Chí Tuō.

Before Qi Wei went downstairs, she overheard Chí Tuō telling An Ye, "I did it."

Qi Wei: "..."

She knew it. Recently, Lawyer Chí had been unusually quiet.

She had wondered why, after the contract termination, there hadn’t been a peep from Wang Shanshan’s side. She sometimes wondered what Chí Tuō had said to Wang Shanshan to make her so obedient.

She had been wondering why Chí Tuō was so passive about the official announcement of their relationship!

An Ye remained silent, still looking at Chí Tuō.

"I had someone intercept Yan Wan’s parents at the airport." Chí Tuō’s voice was calm as always in the quiet of the night. "At first, I didn’t want Yan Wan to admit everything in court. The things Huàn zhòu did to you over the years, Yan Wan can’t be the only one to bear the punishment."

Not to mention, Huàn zhòu wasn’t planning to let An Ye off the hook either."Last month, during the investigation, we discovered your mother's issue." Chí Tuō paused for a second. "She was involved in lending with Yan Wan, and there's even evidence of bribery. If we don't stop it, the actions she'll take next may involve illegal fundraising."

"I have to make her stop," Chí Tuō said, closing his laptop and looking at An Ye. "Sorry, I should have told you earlier."

An Ye remained silent.

Chí Tuō didn't speak further.

This matter was personal for him. While An Ye was still on set, after discovering the problem, he had privately spoken to Wang Shanshan twice. She was definitely not the mastermind, and the amount involved wasn’t large. In the big case against Huàn zhòu (Huàn Zhòu), this was just a side issue. The punishment would probably just be a fine.

However, he had made things seem much worse to Wang Shanshan.

He made her live in fear for several weeks, and he didn't tell An Ye a word about it.

He hoped that because of this incident, Wang Shanshan would be completely removed from An Ye's life, just like how he had distanced himself from Zhang Rou. Through distance, he believed they could regain their family bond.

If he had told An Ye in advance, seeing her mother go through this would have been too much for her. He feared that Wang Shanshan would emotionally manipulate An Ye again.

What he had done was morally wrong, so he believed it was something he had to do alone.

"You..." An Ye lowered her head, finishing watching Yan Wan's video and the materials, before asking, "Is it true that you used to be a bit of a troublemaker?"

Chí Tuō: "… Huh?"

"I've noticed that your way of doing things is a bit off," An Ye finally stepped closer to Chí Tuō, crossing her arms and looking down at him. "Who taught you to intercept someone else's parents at the airport?"

Chí Tuō: "… Huh?"

An Ye just stared at him.

"I..." Chí Tuō's voice lowered. "I wasn’t exactly a good person."

He liked to fight, found pleasure in hurting those who bullied the weak, and he didn’t really care for solving problems in the usual ways.

At his core, he wasn’t exactly a good person.

An Ye crouched down.

"You didn't tell me about my mom’s situation because you wanted to teach her a lesson. If I had known, my position would’ve become awkward."

"As for Yan Wan, you kept it from me because from the beginning, you didn’t plan on telling me. After all, the case hasn’t gone to trial yet, and as a lawyer, you can’t reveal too much."

"You chose tonight to have Yan Wan make a real-name report because I made it clear during the live broadcast and while recording the show that my relationship with my mom was bad. It makes PR easier to manage, and now, with this heat, having Yan Wan step up is a perfect way to take down Huàn zhòu."

She looked him in the eye, her gaze reflecting his face: "Is there anything else I missed?"

"There's also Guan Shengyu," Chí Tuō said. "In the evidence from Yan Wan, besides Best Actor Zhang Shenggeng, almost all of Huàn zhòu's top brass have been wiped out."

An Ye nodded.

Chí Tuō closed his eyes briefly, then said, "When Guan Shengyu spoke to you, he kept staring at your neck and your chest."

If he couldn’t take him down legally, he might just kidnap Guan Shengyu one night and gouge out his eyeballs.

To avoid committing a crime, he chose the legal route.

An Ye nodded again.

Lost in thought, she sat down on the lazy sofa opposite him.Chí Tuō didn't dare to move closer, and could only continue sitting there.

An Ye's reaction was beyond his expectations. He had initially thought that the biggest issue in keeping this from her was Wang Shanshan, but he could explain it. He had his reasons.

He had even prepared a written public relations statement to prove that these things had nothing to do with An Ye, and that An Ye was the victim in this situation.

He thought An Ye should be angry, after all, he had kept this from her for almost a month.

But An Ye wasn't the type to stop communicating when angry. He thought he could convince her.

However, An Ye didn’t need him to explain; she had figured out his intentions completely, and didn’t appear angry—she was simply very calm.

Chí Tuō, on the other hand, was filled with uncertainty.

"This variety show... is it canceled too?" An Ye stayed silent for a few minutes before asking another question.

"I don’t know." Chí Tuō was honest this time. "But I really didn’t want you to participate. This show has Guan Shengyu as a guest, and there are contract issues with the sponsors. If it airs, it’ll probably just be the live stream's popularity. The show itself won’t go far."

The live stream's popularity had already been enough for the past two days.

The investors were Huàn zhòu (Huàn Zhòu), and he had no idea how the final edit would turn out. He knew Qí Wéi had tried her best, but he still wanted to end it all with one blow.

An Ye fell silent again.

After a while, she asked, "Is there anything else you’ve been hiding from me?"

Chí Tuō was about to say "no," but then thought for a moment and changed his response. "Originally, if you had followed the initial version of the live stream announcement, Yan Wan would have created a fake account to make a real-name report during your broadcast..."

An Ye rubbed her forehead.

The version they had originally discussed for the live stream was to admit their relationship and announce that An Ye had terminated her contract, but they wouldn’t mention her medical condition. So, she and Qí Wéi felt it wasn’t strong enough.

At that time, Chí Tuō hadn't said anything.

It turned out that he knew it wasn’t enough, so he planned to use Yan Wan’s real-name report to disrupt the black PR of Huàn zhòu.

"So, I just publicly revealed my medical history for nothing..." An Ye murmured.

Chí Tuō: "…"

An Ye finally found the point that made her want to explode: "If you had told me earlier, we could have coordinated and avoided saying all those embarrassing things in front of so many people!"

Chí Tuō: "…"

Her previously calm expression finally changed, her eyes wide in disbelief: "Are you crazy? What was there to hide?!"

Chí Tuō: "…"

He belatedly realized that An Ye’s series of actions earlier was just to find a reason to get angry.

The earlier things could be explained, but this one couldn’t.

When An Ye said that during the live broadcast, he was frozen in place, unable to think of anything else.

"I’ll call Qí Wéi upstairs. You stay here and sit quietly." An Ye, now with a newfound fiery energy, stood up and stormed downstairs.

She made quite a scene.

Chí Tuō sat there, stunned for a while, covering his face, unsure whether to feel heartbroken or bitterly smile.She... even has to find a valid reason to get angry.

The fuse that Yan Wan lit spread in all directions that night.

"Can we reschedule everything for next week, except for the interview?" An Ye looked at Qi Wei.

Qi Wei: "Sure, but what are you planning to do?"

"I'm going back to Wangcheng tomorrow," An Ye said, "Help me buy a ticket for the flight to Singapore the day after tomorrow."

Qi Wei: "…What?"

An Ye smiled lightly, and before entering the chaotic work lobby, she quietly said, "Hmm."

If she and Shi Tuo were only childhood friends, then his explanation just now would have been enough. Every decision had its reason, and if she were in his shoes, she would have made the same choice.

But this was the first time An Ye truly felt the difference between a childhood friend and Shi Tuo.

She was still angry.

Very angry.

Not because Shi Tuo had hidden things from her, making her say so many embarrassing self-reflections during the live broadcast, but because this person had carried such heavy pressure and kept it hidden for so long, and she hadn’t noticed a single clue.

Not a single sign.

The baseball bat hidden in the master bedroom for years, the skill with which it struck when someone invaded, the restless sleep, and the way he acted with such lethal decisiveness.

What exactly had Shi Tuo gone through during the ten years she wasn’t there?

What had made him treat his panic disorder so indifferently, and allowed him to hide everything from her so completely?

She wanted to see.