For several days, Chen Jiazhi had been discreetly gathering information about Shen Yanzhi. She discovered that everyone’s assessment of him was overwhelmingly positive—filled with praise, admiration, envy, and various other compliments. However, there was one common, unspoken consensus: maintain a respectful distance.
No one dared to provoke Shen Yanzhi lightly.
While collecting this information, Chen Jiazhi also searched online for details about Shen Yanzhi.
She found that he was remarkably low-key; information about him online was scarce. The only image she managed to dig up was from a financial news article published two years ago, covering an industry summit.
It was a domestic Top 100 Enterprises Summit hosted by official organizations. One could imagine how high the entry barrier was.
Two years ago, Shen Yanzhi was only twenty-five or twenty-six. Not only was he the sole attendee in his twenties, but he had also delivered a keynote speech as a representative!
The journalist, likely captivated by Shen Yanzhi’s presence, chose his onstage speaking photo from among numerous event images as the cover.
In the picture, the Shen Yanzhi of two years ago had features that hovered between youthful and mature composure. Yet, hints of his current steady and dignified demeanor were already discernible.
Chen Jiazhi couldn’t help but save the picture to her phone.
She reaffirmed once again that Shen Yanzhi was the quality man she had been waiting for all along.
Chen Jiazhi believed her rebirth gave her an advantage over everyone else around her.
She wasn’t foolish enough to pursue Shen Yanzhi immediately. Doing so would make her no different from those ordinary women who had pursued him before.
Chen Jiazhi decided to first build her online influencer career. Someone as devoted to work as Shen Yanzhi would surely view her, equally passionate about her career, in a new light!
Amidst these delightful fantasies about the future, Chen Jiazhi quickly drafted a flawless plan.
She began investing money to assemble a team, vowing to build a top-tier public relations team to safeguard her path as an influencer.
Chen Jiazhi thought herself clever enough, unaware that most of these Young Misses, meticulously groomed by wealthy families from childhood, were like honeycomb briquettes in human form—their entire beings full of schemes. Only a rare few were naive, rich, and easily fooled.
Chen Jiazhi’s little schemes were simply no match for these sophisticated, deeply calculating young ladies.
While they didn’t expose her to her face, behind her back, they were far less polite.
Unbeknownst to Chen Jiazhi, gossip soon began to circulate, even reaching Jiang Chang’s ears.
Upon hearing it, Jiang Chang immediately called Shen Yanzhi, hoping to relish the spectacle from afar. “Brother Shen, impressive! Just a few days ago, you refused to attend the Su family banquet quite decisively, and now you’ve turned around and captured the heart of the Su family’s young mistress. If Aunt Jiang finds out, won’t she immediately rush over with a betrothal gift?”
Chi Yu, who had been somewhat bored in the phone, instantly perked up upon hearing Chen Jiazhi’s name mentioned.
She pricked up her ears to eavesdrop, her gaze also falling on the name displayed on the screen.
Jiang Chang?
She seemed to have some recollection of him.
Since transmigrating into Shen Yanzhi’s phone, she’d noticed that ninety-nine percent of the calls he received were work-related. This was the only person who called Shen Yanzhi just to chat.
On the day she transmigrated, Jiang Chang had also called Shen Yanzhi, gossiping about the Su family finding their biological daughter. However, Chi Yu hadn’t realized at the time that the biological daughter Jiang Chang mentioned was Chen Jiazhi, so she hadn’t paid attention.
Now that she knew Chen Jiazhi was the Su family’s daughter, she immediately became alert.
Shen Yanzhi’s face turned cold: “What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t lump me together with irrelevant people.”
His pristine reputation, maintained with utmost care for twenty-eight years, couldn’t withstand even a hint of jest.
“Huh?” Jiang Chang held the phone, a big question mark popping up in his mind: “…Irrelevant?”
Shen Yanzhi’s tone was indifferent: “I don’t know her.”
“What?” Jiang Chang was shocked. He absolutely trusted what kind of person his Brother Shen was.
If Shen Yanzhi said something didn’t exist, then it absolutely didn’t.
After a brief moment of shock, Jiang Chang seemed to figure something out and chuckled: “Oh no, Brother Shen, you’ve gained another admirer.”
Just as Shen Yanzhi was about to issue a patient warning, Jiang Chang proactively shared the gossip he’d just heard with the person involved: “You know the Young Miss the Su family found a few days back, right? These past few days, she’s been inviting quite a few people from our circle out, asking about you everywhere.”
Shen Yanzhi: …
Chi Yu: …Ah, what is Chen Jiazhi trying to do?
“And she thinks she’s hiding her little schemes well. She should go out and ask around—which of the young ladies from the Qiao family, Zhou family, or Qin family… is naive and easily fooled?”
At this point, Jiang Chang seemed to recall something and added vehemently: “Especially that one from the Qiao family. She looks gentle and soft like a pushover, but she’s full of dirty tricks!”
Chi Yu: …Oh, I see. So you like the Young Miss from the Qiao family?
Fortunately, Jiang Chang couldn’t hear Chi Yu’s inner musings, or he’d surely be jumping up and down in agitation.
He continued: “Anyway, with the Su family’s daughter asking around like this, everyone now knows she’s got a thing for you. There are even people placing bets on when she’ll show up in front of you to pursue you. I casually bet on three days.”
Jiang Chang’s tone carried playful amusement at watching a good show: “Brother Shen, when exactly did you make an appearance in front of the Su family’s daughter?”
Shen Yanzhi listened expressionlessly: “I don’t know.”
Then, ignoring Jiang Chang’s obviously mischievous, gossip-hungry tone, he hung up directly.
“Were you really unaware, or were you just saying that to brush him off?” Chi Yu asked curiously.
Shen Yanzhi looked at the words on the phone screen, knowing the phone spirit must have overheard the entire call, so he said: “Truly unaware.”
In his memory, he and that Su family Young Miss had never met.
Chi Yu hadn’t expected that answer, so she typed to remind him: “…I know. That day you went to Jinhuang Entertainment, among the group of people who entered the private room later, the Su family’s daughter was there.”
Hearing this, Shen Yanzhi seemed to recall something.
He had been sitting in the corner and indeed saw a group of people enter the room later.
“How do you remember so clearly?” Shen Yanzhi lowered his gaze to look at the phone spirit before him: “Did you use hacking techniques to investigate?”
“No.” Chi Yu puffed out her cheeks. Heaven knew how shocked she’d been that day upon suddenly hearing Chen Jiazhi’s voice, and how furious she felt upon seeing Chen Jiazhi.
She typed deliberately, stroke by stroke: “She introduced herself that day, and I heard it.”
Shen Yanzhi recalled the dim lighting and noisy atmosphere in the private room that day. He had paid no attention to his surroundings at all, much less imagined that the phone in his pocket would have its own consciousness, meticulously treasuring every detail around them like precious memories.
An image involuntarily surfaced in his mind: the phone spirit, eyes full of curiosity yet helplessly forced to hide in his pocket, enveloped in darkness and solitude.
Shen Yanzhi reached out and touched the phone’s cold, hard body, quickly making a decision: “This weekend, I’ll take you out to play.”
He remembered that during university, Jiang Chang had kept a pet turtle, and every weekend he would take it to the grass or park for walks. This weekend, he’d have Jiang Chang bring his pet turtle along too, so it could play with the phone spirit.