“Um, Ms. Xia, I’m sorry. At this point, there’s no reason to keep it from you. The truth is, our male companion is in a rather special situation.”
“Special?”
The moment Xia Feifei asked, the voice on the other end of the phone pressed on.
“Normally, this kind of information is private, since it concerns one of our employees, so we shouldn’t disclose it.”
“But Ji Yanli, this employee of ours, he… he… he…”
“What’s wrong with him?” Xia Feifei prompted.
“He’s had such a hard life!”
The man on the phone seemed to have some kind of problem. After a long pause, he started sighing over and over again.
“Ms. Xia, you don’t know—Ji Yanli has elders to care for and children to raise. His elders are constantly taking medicine and going in and out of the hospital, and his younger sister is frail and sickly.”
Xia Feifei’s brows drew together at that. Before she could sort through her complicated feelings, the voice on the other end came again.
“Ah, Ms. Xia, you know that in our line of work, customer feedback is what matters most.”
“If you insist on switching male companions today, Ji Yanli will be fined at the very least, and at worst, he’ll face double compensation.”
“Double compensation? You mean…” Xia Feifei understood, but couldn’t bring herself to finish.
“That’s right. You understand exactly what I mean, Ms. Xia. Our company has very high standards for screening and evaluating male companions.”
“So, to ensure the quality of our service, every employee signs a thick contract when they join the company.”
“Of course, I don’t know what Ji Yanli did to displease you. He’s new to the company, after all—a novice, and this is his first time. It’s understandable that he wasn’t very experienced. I’d like to offer you my sincere apology on his behalf.”
“I hope you won’t hold it against him. Could you give him another chance?”
“Well…”
Honestly, Xia Feifei’s resolve to switch companions had begun to waver.
She still didn’t quite approve of someone earning money by meeting certain special conditions, especially when the burden and responsibility were so great. But she couldn’t deny that she understood.
“How about this, Ms. Xia? To show how sorry we are, if you don’t insist on switching male companions, we’ll waive all the service fees for this time. What do you think?”
“Waive all of them? All of them?”
To be honest, something like this—like money falling from the sky—didn’t make Xia Feifei happy at all. Instead, it filled her with suspicion.
The old saying that came to mind was: “You get what you pay for.”
“What do you think of the offer, Ms. Xia? If you agree, I’ll submit the request right away. The full amount will be credited to you today.”
After hesitating for quite a while, Xia Feifei finally relented. “All right. Let’s leave things as they are for now.”
What changed her mind wasn’t that mere two hundred thousand, but the other party’s repeated, persistent attempts—three or four times—to talk her into it, refusing to give up until they got what they wanted.
If Xia Feifei still couldn’t sense what was going on after all that circling around, she’d have to be pretty stupid.
So she’d let them have their way for now and see what he was really after.
“Phew, that’s done!”
As soon as the call ended, the young woman waiting beside Chen Yanci hurried to ask, “Chairman Chen, what’s the story with Ms. Xia?”
“How come there’s a fine, and a full refund? And if a customer isn’t satisfied with one of our male companions, can’t we switch him at any time? Why—”
“No, no, no… She’s different.”
Chen Yanci couldn’t hide his delight at having dealt with a major headache. “She’s a real lucky star for me.”
That only left the young woman more confused. “A lucky star? Didn’t you just say we’d give her a full refund?”
“I’m making a sacrifice to catch the bigger fish.”
Chen Yanci was eager to go claim credit. Before the young woman could ask anything else, he urged her, “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained. Just stick to the usual rule: if Ms. Xia calls again, put her through to me. That’s all—you can go now.”
“All right, Boss. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”
The moment the office door closed, Chen Yanci eagerly dialed someone.
He had no idea that the person on the other end was already furious.
The rest room on the film set.
The air was so heavy that, apart from the recording playing on the screen, the whole room was as silent as the grave.
Director Zhao, bent forward, was sweating profusely and didn’t dare utter a word.
“Director Zhao, I gave you top-of-the-line equipment and a great location, and this is what you come back with?”
“I’m… I’m… I’m sorry, Young Master Ji. I didn’t do my job properly. Give me three more days. In three days, I’ll deliver a finished product you’ll be satisfied with.”
“Three days?”
Ji Yanli raised his cold eyes and refused outright. “I don’t have that much time to waste here with you. I warned you on the phone last night. You can go settle your accounts with Finance now and look for another job.”
“No, no, no…”
Fear made Director Zhao’s knees buckle, and he dropped to the floor in a kneel. “Young Master Ji, please give me one more chance. Could you please give me another chance? This time, I’ll do everything I can to make a finished product you’ll be happy with.”
Ji Corporation was the biggest film and television company in Hua Nation. Director Zhao couldn’t even imagine how difficult his career would be if he were fired by them.
“Yu Fei.”
At Ji Yanli’s words, Yu Fei, who had been waiting by the door for some time, pushed it open and entered.
Without needing Ji Yanli to say anything more, Yu Fei understood and raised a hand toward Director Zhao, who was still pleading on the floor. “Director Zhao, this way, please.”
Director Zhao glanced at Ji Yanli, who had already returned to work, then at Yu Fei beside him. His pleas gradually died away.
At last, helpless and despairing, he slowly got to his feet and, accompanied by Yu Fei, left the room unwillingly.
Only after taking care of business did Ji Yanli look at the phone that had been vibrating over and over.
He picked it up and saw more than a dozen missed calls from Chen Yanci. He was still wondering whether to call back when Chen Yanci rang again.
“Speak. What is it?”
“Ooh, brother, what’s going on? Looks like I called at a bad time.”
Chen Yanci could hear the irritation in Ji Yanli’s voice, but after finally getting through, he had no intention of hanging up just like that.
“Cut the nonsense, Chen Yanci. You’d better have a good reason for bombarding me with all these calls.”
“A good reason, definitely. It’s important.”
With “Xia Feifei” as his trump card, Chen Yanci was full of confidence. “Brother, I’ve got good news and bad news for you. Which one do you want to hear first?”
“While I’m overseas, I wonder if Sister Yan Ying has changed her number…”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t! Young Master Ji, let’s talk this through. There’s no need to bring up my tigress of a sister!”
Chen Yanci had been hoping to tease Ji Yanli, but the moment he heard his own sister’s name, he immediately backed down and got to the point.