Li Chengyu hadn’t felt this kind of contempt in a long time. Boundless rage shot straight to his heart, leaving only one thought in his mind: beat Tang Qi to death.
But all his fury vanished in the cold tone of Boss Xu’s voice. Boss Xu raised his wine glass: “Tang Qi, whatever you say goes.”
Li Chengyu’s eyes widened. He stared stiffly at Boss Xu, unable to believe what he was hearing. He struggled to stand, but Tang Qi didn’t hesitate to plant her foot squarely on his shoulder.
“Ah!” A sharp pain hit him. He could only let out a dry howl, collapsing onto his hands and knees like a dog. His once-immaculate hairstyle was now a mess, his forehead covered in cold sweat from the agony.
Tang Qi spoke slowly, her voice seeming to drip with icy frost: “After university, you got together with Luoluo. She felt for your poor family situation, knew your parents were in bad health. In just one year, she gave you six hundred and twenty thousand. You took her money to fund your extravagant lifestyle, wanting fine food, good clothes, the best things—playing the savior rich kid in other people’s eyes.”
“Meanwhile, she had no money for food and had to work. Despite all that, you never gave her a single decent gift. Not a piece of candy, not even a pen. What right do you have to call her vain and materialistic? What right do you have to assume she should just let you bleed her dry?”
Tang Qi slowly ground her foot down on Li Chengyu’s shoulder: “After the breakup, Luoluo never said a single bad word about you. She didn’t suppress you or move against you. So what gave you the right to slander her name everywhere? Because you’re shameless? Because you’re incompetent? Or because you’re a moral-less, virtue-less brute?”
The pain was unbearable for Li Chengyu. He didn’t hesitate to beg: “I… I was wrong! Let me go, I won’t do it again. I’ll apologize!”
Boss Xu’s expression darkened further. The others were also stunned; no one expected Li Chengyu to fold so easily.
Sister Zhou laughed mirthlessly: “This Li Chengyu, he really is… something else.” So many peers were here, even if it was just for show, one should act with some backbone.
Tang Qi turned to Boss Xu: “A man so ungrateful, changing his tune every second—Boss Xu, you dare to use him?”
Boss Xu was grinding his teeth in anger: “I’ve made a fool of myself in front of everyone. I’ll terminate his contract when we get back.” He had only signed Li Chengyu because one song went viral, thinking the man’s looks could lead to big things.
But he had no vision, no resolve, no character. Plenty of people were more popular than him. There was no need to offend Tang Qi over such a petty individual.
Boss Xu was very clear on this.
Sister Zhou held her wine glass: “The whole entertainment circle should just ban him.” The others nodded in agreement. Even those who had felt some sympathy for Li Chengyu only said one thing after hearing Tang Qi’s words: “He deserves it.”
Hearing this, Li Chengyu was completely dumbfounded. Feeling Tang Qi lift her foot, he ignored the pain, crawling on his knees a few steps to Boss Xu’s feet: “Boss, what are you saying? Don’t blacklist me. I… I have lots of fans… I can make you money!”
Boss Xu didn’t want to look at him. He kicked him hard: “You haven’t embarrassed yourself enough?”
Li Chengyu was kicked aside. He couldn’t accept it: “How is this possible? How can you…” He didn’t understand how things had turned out this way. In his panic, he turned his head to look at Tang Qi. Compared to his dishevelment, Tang Qi hadn’t a hair out of place. She stood there with a commanding, intimidating presence.
Looking into her eyes, he saw nothing but mockery and disdain.
He didn’t understand. He had only said a few words. Why had it come to this? He was clearly more popular than Tang Qi. He clearly had more fans than Tang Qi.
Why did these people watch her strike him without doing anything?
Tang Qi leaned down and enunciated each word clearly by his ear: “You didn’t think I was just acting these past two years, did you? Li Chengyu, this is only the beginning…”
She had the Book of the World and the System. What would make money in the future, what would become explosively popular—she knew it all clearly. Every time she received payment, she used the capital to invest.
From the moment she stepped into this circle, she never planned to just be a simple star.
“How could it be…” Li Chengyu still refused to believe it.
Tang Qi walked back to her seat. The others acted as if nothing had happened: “Let’s drink and eat, this wine is truly excellent.”
Luo Xue immediately grabbed Tang Qi’s hand when she sat down. Her heart had leaped to her throat seeing Tang Qi make a move earlier, afraid of causing others’ displeasure or that Li Chengyu might harm Tang Qi.
Who knew the tables would turn so dramatically? Tang Qi turned out to be a hidden boss.
“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?” Luo Xue asked quietly.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you. So, how was it? Surprised? Feel particularly vindicated?” Tang Qi asked with a smile.
Luo Xue’s eyes curved into crescents. She nodded forcefully: “Super vindicated, super happy!”
Their voices were low, but the others could still catch the gist. While they kept their expressions neutral, everyone was calculating inwardly, re-evaluating Luo Xue’s value. Several stars secretly envied Luo Xue’s good fortune.
Sister Zhou smiled: “You two really have a great relationship.”
Luo Xue blushed shyly. Tang Qi laughed: “I pursued Luoluo with great difficulty. I’m always afraid I’ll do something wrong and she’ll run away.”
Boss Xu was angry at Li Chengyu, but he wasn’t entirely without opinions about Tang Qi either. He hinted meaningfully: “Our President Tang has a considerable net worth. Don’t be stingy with your little girlfriend.”
Luo Xue could hear the attempt to sow discord in his words. She was about to speak when Tang Qi said: “She didn’t know my worth before, but that was the past. From now on, my assets will gradually be transferred into her hands.”
Now even Sister Zhou felt a bit envious.
Watching these people completely disregard him, Li Chengyu gradually understood his situation. He crawled along the table to Luo Xue’s leg: “Little Xue, Little Xue, please put in a good word for me. You can’t bear to see me like this, right?”
Luo Xue dodged away in disgust: “Don’t touch me, you sicken me.” Even one word to this kind of person was too many.
“Little Xue, I know I did wrong in the past. My brain was waterlogged and cramped. Please, just ask for leniency for me.” Li Chengyu cried, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Tang Qi called security to drag him out. Li Chengyu wailed, refusing to leave, but the guards simply threw him out.
The dinner ended with both host and guests well satisfied. After the meal, Tang Qi drove home. Luoluo was extremely happy the whole way, even singing in the car.
“This happy?”
“Mm!” Luo Xue nodded vigorously. It wasn’t just because Li Chengyu had been dealt with, but even more because Tang Qi had put their relationship out in the open. While waiting for a red light, Tang Qi reached over and pinched her earlobe, laughing: “So easy to please.”
“Am not,” Luo Xue retorted, her face red.
Tang Qi shook her head with a smile. Not easy to please? They had been together the whole time. Although Tang Qi hadn’t deliberately hidden things from Luo Xue, she had indeed secretly earned all this money. Anyone else would have made a huge fuss long ago.
Back home, Tang Qi was true to her word and brought out all her various asset proofs.
“These are the property deeds, and here are my asset statements. Keep them safe. I’ve already had someone draft the contracts to transfer all assets as a gift to you.”
“I don’t want them. You worked hard for all this,” Luo Xue refused.
Having lived for so many years, Tang Qi didn’t care that much about money: “Don’t you want to try the feeling of keeping me?”
Luo Xue tilted her head up to think, finding this temptation truly hard to resist. She still wanted to stubbornly protest, but Tang Qi kissed her, her voice low and husky: “Be good!”
Luo Xue instantly forgot what she was about to say. Tang Qi laughed inwardly: “Girlfriend, the night is long. Why don’t we do something adults are supposed to do?” Tang Qi didn’t think there was anything wrong with doing this kind of thing.
Once you’re together, don’t be coy!
While Tang Qi and Luo Xue were being intimate and affectionate, Li Chengyu was also taken home by his agent.
The agent was anxious: “President Xu called me. He said he won’t terminate your contract for now and told you to watch yourself.”
Li Chengyu’s eyes lit up when he heard the words “won’t terminate.” He grabbed his agent like a drowning man clutching a life-saving straw: “Really?”
The agent nodded: “President Xu seems very angry though.”
Li Chengyu didn’t care anymore: “As long as he’s not terminating it!” He briefly explained the situation to his agent. The agent thought for a moment: “We don’t have their connections or financial resources, but you have fans! We can’t just admit defeat like this.”
…
The next day, a post appeared on a gossip site.
“Everyone, I really have to get this off my chest. I was on the front line of gossip yesterday, and it was absolutely insane. A hugely popular singer used to be a kept man. His girlfriend didn’t want to be bled dry anymore and broke up with him, but he spread nasty rumors about her everywhere.”
“The key thing is, relying on his many fans, he cyber-bullied his first love. Last night, his agent was even brazenly claiming the first love would come to apologize. But guess what? You’d never expect this—the girlfriend’s best friend turned out to be a hidden boss. Oh my god, she directly invited a bunch of big shots, scolded the kept man to pieces, and openly said she’d have him blacklisted in the industry. Watching it made me want to applaud. What a real-life power fantasy.”
The post exploded. Many people were online asking for the details.
“I know him, that male singer who got famous from one song recently. The one who cried on the variety show!”
“The first love is Luo Xue. Her best friend isn’t Tang Qi, is it?”
The original poster was one of the stars from yesterday. She really couldn’t hold it in any longer and replied subtly: “Just quietly saying, I’m stanning the First Love & Bestie CP first. From now on, I’m their die-hard fan.”
The thread climbed higher and higher. At the same time, people noticed Li Chengyu had deleted his previous Weibo post. Someone discovered it and commented in the thread: “Back then, Li Chengyu and his agent were arrogantly informing fans they were going to demand justice. Guess they’ve been slapped in the face now!”
“I also thought it was really overboard to keep talking about his ex on the show. Total turn-off.”
Li Chengyu’s fans didn’t believe he was in the wrong. They all said Li Chengyu was a good man who deleted the Weibo post to protect the other party.
Someone retorted sarcastically: If he wanted to protect her, he should have just not brought her up in the first place. Why play the hypocrite?
Just when everyone was arguing non-stop, the xianxia drama Tang Qi and Shao Xin filmed aired. Because of Tang Qi’s presence, the show garnered immense attention.
It was only then people discovered the second female lead had been replaced by a completely unknown newcomer. The new actress’s acting was decent. The audience quickly forgot about Shao Xin and focused on the story.
Thanks to this drama, Tang Qi once again blew up and broke into wider popularity. Luo Xue, as her agent, was incredibly busy every day. With Tang Qi’s help, she increasingly looked the part of a mature agent. Plus, with Tang Qi paving the way for her, she gradually found her footing in the industry.
Only, Luo Xue never expected she would receive a call from her mother again.
