“I’ll appreciate it by myself and won’t give it to anyone else.” The woman carefully saved the photo.
Qin Yuan walked over to sit by the bed, his tone carrying a warning undertone: “Though I like people with character, if someone is too self-centered, it might be difficult to part ways amicably. Come to think of it, there used to be people with some other ideas, like wanting to carry my child so they could easily move in here and become the lady of the house.”
“Even if she doesn’t move in, if a gene like yours isn’t passed down, it would be a huge loss.”
“What passing down or not, I’ve already had a vasectomy.”
Qin Yuan’s sudden, out-of-the-blue remark left the woman frozen in place.
“What did you just say?”
“I got a vasectomy.”
“No one is having my child.”
“What about your family?”
Qin Yuan seemed to be the only child left in his family. If he didn’t want children, what would happen to the billions of assets in his hands later on?
“I’m already dead anyway. What happens after death has nothing to do with me.”
Qin Yuan’s voice paused briefly, as he remembered that he had died and been reborn. In a sense, it didn’t entirely have nothing to do with him after all.
The woman pulled Qin Yuan’s body down and kissed his lips.
“To be honest, I’ve never thought about wanting children either. I was even wondering when I’d find an opportunity to have the useless organs removed from my belly.”
“But if it’s you, Qin Yuan, having your child suddenly feels quite appealing.”
If it were Qin Yuan’s child, just think how interesting that would be.
“You won’t be able to carry my child. How about I recommend someone else to you instead?” Qin Yuan thought of a particularly interesting person.
“Who? Anyone worse than you, and I won’t even look at them.”
“Xie Fengbei. Though he’s a bit inferior to me, he’s more than enough to match you.”
“If you can get him to lie down, I dare sleep with him!”
Of course the woman knew who Xie Fengbei was; she had accidentally crossed paths with him during the day. Just the brief exchange of glances made her feel deeply wary, but if it came to sleeping with him, the woman still had a bit of an urge. Men weren’t the only ones with a desire for conquest; she had it too.
“Him lying down?” Qin Yuan chuckled. Just imagining the scene made it seem impossible.
“You’d better banish that thought from your mind.”
Qin Yuan was just joking. He wasn’t going to provoke Xie Fengbei over a woman.
“Hey, what a pity!”
“Hahaha.” Qin Yuan laughed endlessly.
“It looks like you’re even crazier than I am.”
Qin Yuan summed it up.
“Is being crazy a bad thing?”
“You only live for a few decades. With natural disasters and man-made miseries, who knows when you might just be gone.”
“Seizing the day and enjoying the moment is much more important.”
The woman always held this kind of philosophy.
Qin Yuan suddenly stared at her in silence.
The woman stroked Qin Yuan’s handsome face.
“Let’s not talk about other men. Qin Yuan, I’ll make you feel good.”
“Isn’t that line supposed to be the other way around?”
Looking at the woman before him, the more Qin Yuan looked, the more it felt like their roles had been reversed.
“I should be older than you. Call me older sister.”
The woman certainly knew how to push her luck.
Just as she was about to kiss Qin Yuan again, the weight on top of him suddenly vanished.
Qin Yuan stood up and walked to the side of the bed.
“I’m not really in the mood today. Let’s do it another time. Get some sleep early.”
“Goodnight.”
Qin Yuan turned on his heel and walked straight to the door. The woman’s pupils dilated in the room.
Before she could make any response, the bedroom door opened and closed.
Qin Yuan went to the guest bedroom next door and locked it from the inside. Faint, hurried footsteps could be heard approaching from behind the door.
Qin Yuan laughed. This little interlude actually lifted his gloomy mood quite a bit.
That night, Qin Yuan fell asleep without experiencing any nightmares.
The next morning, Qin Yuan woke up and went next door to change his clothes.
The woman had just woken up too, sitting up completely naked.
As Qin Yuan walked in and caught sight of the woman’s naked body, his gaze flickered, and he prepared to step back out.
Instead, the woman turned her head and walked right toward him.
Qin Yuan’s gaze dropped momentarily before quickly lifting back to look at the woman’s face.
The woman’s body was practically pressed against Qin Yuan.
Unmoved, Qin Yuan simply gazed at her with a calm expression.
“It looks like you really have no interest in women.”
“What a pity.”
“You said just yesterday that I liked men, and that it was pretty good.”
“Did I? I don’t remember.”
The woman deliberately feigned amnesia.
“There are clothes in the second room on the left. Go find something to wear.”
“You keep women’s clothes in your house?”
Looking seemingly surprised, the woman then turned around with a knowing look on her face.
Since she was able to come here, who knows how many other women might have stayed at this place in the past.
Without putting on any clothes, the woman walked out completely bare.
The hallway was empty, save for her. Showing not a shred of shyness, she found the second room and walked in. Pushing open the wardrobe, she found it packed entirely with women’s apparel.
She pulled out a few options, liking all of them, but ultimately chose the set she liked best.
Qin Yuan had already changed his clothes and gone downstairs.
Hearing footsteps from the stairs, he glanced over with a faint smile hanging on the corner of his lips.
As the woman came downstairs, she caught the scent of breakfast and looked toward the kitchen, spotting a middle-aged woman cooking inside.
With the meal mostly prepared, the housekeeper brought the dishes out and didn’t bat an eye upon seeing a strange woman in the house.
She greeted the two of them to come over and eat.
Qin Yuan gentlemanly pulled out a chair for the woman, whose gaze lingered and hovered on his face for quite a while.
“Qin Yuan, can we date?”
Qin Yuan picked up his chopsticks to eat a steamed pork bun, acting as though he hadn’t heard the woman’s words.
“Qin Yuan, I want to be your girlfriend.”
The woman dropped her chopsticks, giving up on eating altogether. She grabbed Qin Yuan’s hand, prompting him to finally raise his head and look her straight in the eyes.
“Are you always this greedy?”
She wanted to be his girlfriend, yet he had never kept any romantic partners around him.
“A fake one is fine too. Don’t you think this would be a lot of fun?”
“Just imagine how everyone around us would react.”
“Right, aren’t you secretly in love with someone? But you refuse to pursue him. Judging by your attitude, you probably just watch him quietly from afar because you like him too much and don’t want to hurt him?”
“Since that’s how it is, I’ll be your girlfriend, and I’ll help you forget him as soon as possible.”
The woman wore an expression of absolute sincerity and concern.
Her words were so earnest that she almost sounded like she had truly fallen for Qin Yuan and was willing to do anything for him.
Yet how could Qin Yuan fail to notice that this person was, to a certain extent, very much like him?
Much like his past self.
“Alright.”
Qin Yuan nodded in agreement.
A fake girlfriend, huh?
He hadn’t had one in his previous life, but now that he had been reborn, many things could indeed be changed around.
He could no longer casually approach Lin Xi, yet deep down he couldn’t let go; just as the woman said, he couldn’t bear to hurt that person.
If someone was willing to come help him, even if it was mostly for her own benefit, a fact Qin Yuan was crystal clear about, then so be it.
Since that was the case, they would just mutually use each other.
To a certain degree, human value was simply the value of being useful.
“Aunt Lin, give her the spare key later.”
Qin Yuan raised his eyes to speak to the housekeeper.
Having overheard the conversation between the two, the housekeeper could only conclude that young people really knew how to play when it came to fake romances.
As for their appearance and temperament, they actually made a remarkably matching pair.
“Alright.”
Holding the only spare key she had, the housekeeper went out the door to get a duplicate made at a shop outside the residential complex.
After finishing breakfast, Qin Yuan left to attend to some matters.
Having transformed into his fake girlfriend overnight, the woman gained free reign of the house.
She stayed indoors waiting for the housekeeper to return with the key. Holding the newly minted key, though it carried almost no weight, as she gripped it in her palm, it felt as though a solid anchor had settled deep into her heart.
Even if she couldn’t have a physical relationship with Qin Yuan, living under the same roof every day already felt like hitting the jackpot to her.
How could someone be so handsome, wealthy, and adorable?
She was lucky she had crossed paths with him first; if someone else had met him and beaten her to the punch, it wouldn’t be her turn now.
In high spirits, the woman hadn’t felt this happy in a long time.
After getting the key, she didn’t linger much longer. She still had some work of her own to attend to, so she hailed a cab to the shopping mall after heading out.
She ran her own jewelry store.
It didn’t actually make much money, but she simply loved jewelry so much that running her own shop allowed her to get wholesale prices on stock.
Arriving at the shop, she immediately pulled out a few pairs of matching rings. Since she was Qin Yuan’s girlfriend now, even if it was fake, outsiders wouldn’t know; gifting Qin Yuan a ring would let others know he was already taken.
The woman examined the rings closely, the smile on her lips impossible to suppress.
Qin Yuan drove to an entertainment company, the one he had gotten his hands on just the past two days.
The company spanned several floors, and Qin Yuan rode the elevator upstairs.
Along the way, he ran into a few employees who didn’t recognize him. Seeing Qin Yuan approach, they simply assumed he was an artist coming in for an interview.
The company was on the verge of going under, yet artists were still showing up.
Even if they came, there was no work for them anyway.
Many of the employees were already preparing to resign and interview at other companies.
Among them, one employee happened to be kind-hearted. Seeing Qin Yuan walk in, and noting just how handsome he was, if a talent scout saw him on the street, they’d probably rush up to hand him a name card, she felt a bit sympathetic.
Who knew what was going on, but he had probably been duped into coming to their failing company.
Thus, the employee took the initiative to walk up to Qin Yuan.
“Are you here for an interview?”
Qin Yuan turned his head: “Interview?”
“You’ve been scammed. This company has been running at a loss for years, the boss has skipped town, and everyone is running for the hills now. You should go find a different entertainment company instead.”
“This one is fine. They’ve pushed several big stars to fame recently.”
The employee pulled out her phone and searched for the name of an entertainment company.
Qin Yuan lowered his head to look, and what a coincidence that turned out to be.
It was Xie Fengbei’s company.
“You plan to go to that company?”
“I sent in a resume, but I got rejected.”
“Their standards are high. You should look for a small studio instead. The pay might be a bit lower, but at least there aren’t so many rigid rules and requirements.”
“Are there a lot of rules here?”
The elevator reached the top floor, and as the doors slid open, someone was already standing outside waiting for Qin Yuan.
“Qin…”
The subordinate was about to speak when Qin Yuan cast a cold glance his way. Instantly catching on, the subordinate clamped his mouth shut.
Qin Yuan stepped out alongside the employee.
The employee noticed the person waiting outside and found their weird expression and half-spoken “Qin, please?” rather strange.
She didn’t think much of it, though.
Qin Yuan walked toward the office area.
The interview venue happened to be nearby.
“The rules and regulations here are actually alright, but there’s just way too much nepotism and cronyism. I’m only telling you this because you’re an outsider.”
“Half the reason this company is collapsing is because of them.”
“All day long they pull off useless stunts. They hold meetings every other day; meetings my ass, completely useless.”
“They make a tiny bit of cash and spend it all keeping little mistresses on the side, while our salaries are constantly delayed.”
“They still haven’t paid us three months’ worth of wages.”
Qin Yuan furrowed his brow. They weren’t paying salaries?
When people worked, they expected to get paid. A company where even the staff didn’t care anymore was a place that truly deserved to go under long ago.
As the two passed by the interview room, the employee impulsively grabbed Qin Yuan’s hand.
“Don’t go in for the interview. It’s a waste of time. Go find another place; anywhere is better than this dump.”
“With your looks and temperament, have you ever studied acting?”
“No.”
Qin Yuan shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t. Aren’t there plenty of singers turning into actors these days?”
“They sing terribly and look crooked-faced, but as long as someone backs them, they can get famous overnight.”
“Even if you have no acting skills, you’re so much better-looking than those plastic surgery faces. You should go interview at the company I mentioned earlier.”
“That company? I can’t go there.”
“Why?”
“If I went, their boss wouldn’t want me.”
“How could that be? Is there anyone who doesn’t like handsome guys?”
“I just lost tens of millions to their boss in a gambling game yesterday. He probably doesn’t want to see me, and frankly, neither do I.”
“Tens of millions?”
“What?”
The employee stood completely dumbfounded, her small eyes trying hard to widen in disbelief.
“Young Master Qin, the meeting room is ready. When shall we start the meeting?”
“Ten minutes. Notify the whole company to attend the meeting. Oh, and you… you haven’t resigned yet, right? Make sure you come to the meeting later.”
Under the employee’s shocked gaze, Qin Yuan walked straight into the office rather than the interview room diagonally across from it.
While Qin Yuan was getting ready for his meeting, over at Xie Fengbei’s entertainment company, the boardroom was already packed with people.
Everyone held their breath in silence. For a moment, the only sound filling the spacious boardroom was the rustling of the person seated at the head of the table flipping through documents.
Xie Fengbei reviewed the company’s revenue for the latest quarter. Compared to other firms, it might be considered decent, but it still fell short of Xie Fengbei’s initial expectations.
Laying the documents down, Xie Fengbei raised his eyelids. Everyone lowered their heads, terrified of being called out by name, as doing so might cost them their livelihoods.
Unexpectedly, however, Xie Fengbei was remarkably genial today, at least far more mellow than in past meetings.
Xie Fengbei’s phone buzzed with a few incoming photos. Though there was no face in the pictures, just looking at the silhouette seemed to instantly put him in a good mood.
“There’s a variety show in preparation. Handle it properly and don’t let any messes happen that require me to clean up after you.”
A while back, an artist under the company had messed up during a variety show. Their drug use was exposed, and Xie Fengbei had spent time suppressing the scandal. The artist was terminated immediately, and to avoid implicating the company, Xie Fengbei had no choice but to downplay the severity of the issue.
“Yes, President Xie, rest assured. The artists arranged for this project are the absolute best.”
Xie Fengbei maintained a poker face, but the fact that he wasn’t speaking made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
The meeting proceeded to touch on a few other matters before Xie Fengbei stood up and left. As he walked toward his office, a senior executive approached him to bring up a matter concerning the terminated artist.
“Xu Tian?” Xie Fengbei didn’t quite remember the person.
After a brief introduction from the executive, Xie Fengbei recalled who he was. Though they had only met once, that guy seemed to have a pretty good relationship with Qin Yuan.
Qin Yuan’s taste must have gone wrong; he let all sorts of people become his friends.
“He tricked an artist into going over there, and that artist ended up in the hospital, barely clinging to life.”
Some media outlets were preparing to run a story on it, seeing as the individual had just been terminated from Xie Fengbei’s company. Upon learning of this, the executive had suppressed the news first and immediately came to consult Xie Fengbei’s stance. Xu Tian’s background was ordinary, but he seemed to run in the same circles as Qin Yuan recently and even appeared to be gifting people to Qin Yuan.
“Since they’re no longer with the company, don’t worry about it.” Xie Fengbei didn’t have enough charity in his heart to help just anyone; conversely, for those who held no value to him, he could discard them just as easily.
“Understood.” The executive caught Xie Fengbei’s meaning.
He turned to leave, but just as he reached the door, Xie Fengbei suddenly called out to him.
“Look into what Xu Tian has been up to lately. Don’t let things go too smoothly for him.” Though Xie Fengbei left the details unsaid, the executive instantly caught on.
“I’ll arrange it right away.”
The executive hurried out, while Xie Fengbei tapped his fingers on his desk. It was just a whim on his part; he didn’t care what Xu Tian had done, but Xu Tian had some connection to Qin Yuan, and Xie Fengbei simply disliked the way Qin Yuan always smiled with such carefree abandon. That single reason was enough.
Xu Tian had just happened to cross his path, so he could only blame his own bad luck.