LOI Chapter 11 — Do You Want to Be Famous?

The magazine office was incredibly busy at the end of the year, but during Christmas week, Yan Zhi still made time to return to Paris for Yan Fei and Bruce’s wedding.

Their wedding was extremely low-key and was not announced publicly, with only family and close friends invited.

Originally, “Legendary Supermodel Ends Single Life” and “Fashion Conglomerate Tycoon Marries Goddess” would have been explosive news, but on the wedding day, the outside world remained calm, showing how seriously the couple took their privacy.

After all, if they hadn’t, it might have affected Bruce’s company stock price.

“How are you adjusting over there?” Bruce chatted with Yan Zhi at the post-wedding party while Yan Fei and Bruce’s daughter were dancing. “I heard you grew up in China.”

“Yes.” Yan Zhi was raised by his grandmother until he was ten, then moved in with Yan Fei, often returning to China for vacations. So living there wasn’t unfamiliar at all.

“In recent years, Chinese purchasing power has grown stronger, but our market share keeps shrinking,” Bruce sighed. “Even hiring celebrities as spokespeople hasn’t helped much.”

The celebrities he referred to were the likes of Jiang Si.

Many luxury brands, including CVV, were subsidiaries of the fashion conglomerate. To expand in the Chinese market, the group hired numerous celebrities as spokespeople, but with little effect.

Combined with the rise of domestic Chinese brands, many luxury brands had taken quite a hit.

“That’s because your designs are getting uglier. It’s normal for people not to buy them,” Yan Zhi said.

Bruce was momentarily speechless.

“But we still need to change people’s attitudes toward fashion,” Yan Zhi continued. “I’m working on that.”

“Yes, I believe in you. You excel at whatever you set your mind to,” Bruce patted Yan Zhi’s shoulder. “All the group’s resources are at your disposal. Go ahead and do what you need to do.”

With a backlog of work at MQ, Yan Zhi returned to China after Christmas.

Still jet-lagged, he had planned to rest for half a day, but with an important product selection meeting that morning, Yan Zhi dragged himself to the office building, irritated by lack of sleep.

The elevator rose slowly from the underground parking garage, stopping as usual on the first floor. Unlike the typical influx of office workers, today a group of burly men squeezed in, along with one person wearing a blue jacket.

The men all wore earpieces and looked serious. If Yan Zhi wasn’t mistaken, they were plainclothes police officers.

As for the person in the blue jacket, he stood by the door with his back to Yan Zhi in the corner. No matter how Yan Zhi looked at him, his build seemed incredibly familiar, but—

Yongquan Water Delivery?

Yan Zhi doubted for a moment if his Chinese had deteriorated after his trip to Europe, but after looking again and again, it really was Rong Ke, wearing the water delivery uniform.

The elevator stopped on the tenth floor. Rong Ke and the plainclothes officers exited, then spoke about something in the spacious elevator lobby.

As the elevator doors were about to close, Yan Zhi found it too strange to ignore. Setting aside thoughts of the product selection meeting, he pressed the door open button at the last second.

By now, all the plainclothes officers had turned into the hallway, leaving only Rong Ke at the corner, peering out with half his head to watch their actions.

Not knowing why Rong Ke was hiding behind the wall, Yan Zhi quietly walked up beside him, then mimicked his posture, sticking out half his head to ask, “What are you doing?”

Already on edge, Rong Ke was startled. Turning to see it was Yan Zhi, he sighed in relief. “Aren’t you going to work?”

Rong Ke had been delivering water in the building for some time, coming and going, meeting many company employees, but he hadn’t yet run into anyone from MQ.

He didn’t expect his first encounter to be with Yan Zhi himself.

“Whether I work or not isn’t important,” Yan Zhi said. “The point is, what are you doing?”

Rong Ke had no time to explain to Yan Zhi and continued to peer down the hallway. “I’ll tell you later.”

This floor housed several small companies. A few plainclothes officers guarded the doors of these companies to prevent onlookers, while most gathered in front of one door. What followed was a series of commands, door-breaking, and arrests. The hallway instantly became chaotic, filled with shouts from the officers and cries of surprise from bystanders.

Someone brandishing a small knife broke through and ran toward the elevator lobby. Though police were stationed downstairs and he wouldn’t get far, as he drew closer, Rong Ke still pushed Yan Zhi behind him and discreetly stuck out his foot.

The man tripped over Rong Ke’s foot, flying several meters before being quickly pinned down by pursuing officers.

As the commotion gradually subsided and onlookers in the building were still processing what had happened, the police had already loaded over a dozen criminals into police vehicles.

A man who appeared to be a senior officer shook hands with Rong Ke: “Thank you for your hard work these past two weeks.”

Rong Ke replied, “It was my duty.”

The man added, “You should consider applying to be our auxiliary officer.”

Rong Ke smiled, “We’ll see.”

After the police cars drove away, Rong Ke took out his cigarette pack and pulled one out. But before he could raise his hand, Yan Zhi had already taken the cigarette, biting it between his teeth as he asked, “Are you filming a movie?”

Rong Ke hadn’t intended to offer a cigarette, but seeing Yan Zhi ready to smoke, he still took out his lighter to light it for him, then lit one for himself, saying, “Which eye of yours saw a director?”

Yan Zhi’s confusion hadn’t lessened. He pointed at Rong Ke’s clothes and asked, “So what exactly are you doing?”

Rong Ke didn’t intend to hide anything. Exhaling a puff of smoke, he said, “Delivering water.”

Recalling the scene he’d witnessed in the elevator earlier, Yan Zhi furrowed his brow deeply: “You’d go to such lengths just to chase someone?”

Rong Ke: “?”

“So did you catch him?” Yan Zhi asked again.

“Who?”

“That water delivery guy.”

“…”

Rong Ke desperately wanted to crack open Yan Zhi’s skull to see how his mind worked.

He had to patiently explain, “I’m just working a job, not chasing anyone.”

Yan Zhi was clearly unconvinced. “Why are you working here?”

“Experiencing life,” Rong Ke said.

Yan Zhi fell silent, studying Rong Ke’s expression as he smoked, seemingly judging the truth of his words.

After a moment, he appeared to have figured something out and asked, “When you’re not filming, you’re always experiencing life?”

“Mm-hmm,” Rong Ke said. “Most of the year.”

Yan Zhi nodded, glancing in the direction the police cars had gone, then asked, “So what was that all about just now?”

“There was a drug manufacturing den upstairs,” Rong Ke said. “I discovered it after delivering water twice.”

This answer was completely beyond Yan Zhi’s expectations. He had thought it would be counterfeiting or pyramid schemes at most, never imagining it would be something this serious.

“So the person who came at us with a knife was a drug dealer?” he asked.

“Yes, didn’t you notice how many police officers came?” Rong Ke said. “I actually reported it a while ago, but they waited until they had solid evidence before making arrests.”

Yan Zhi could hardly believe it: “That man said you’ve worked hard these past two weeks. You’ve been cooperating with the police this whole time?”

“Just delivering water normally,” Rong Ke said. “Those people were quite vigilant.”

Watching Rong Ke speak so casually about these matters, Yan Zhi suddenly realized that regarding Rong Ke, perhaps the soul hidden beneath the surface was more worth understanding. “Weren’t you afraid?”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Rong Ke shrugged. “I’m just a water delivery guy.”

No matter who the other party was, as long as he fully embraced the role of a water delivery person, he wouldn’t reveal any flaws.

The cigarette in Yan Zhi’s hand had burned out without him noticing. He extinguished it on the trash can and asked, “How did you discover they were manufacturing drugs? They surely didn’t do it in front of you.”

“Of course not,” Rong Ke said. “I once played a drug addict, so I know what they’re like. Plus, these days drug manufacturers don’t like residential areas anymore—too many nosy neighbors. They prefer office buildings like this that look legitimate but are actually a mixed bag.”

Yan Zhi was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s a real shame you’re not filming.”

“I am acting, just not much,” Rong Ke took a final drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out. “Are you really this free? I have things to do, so I’ll leave first.”

Rong Ke still had to quit his job at the water delivery service. After all, having just reported them, he didn’t dare continue working there.

But just as he was about to turn away, Yan Zhi suddenly called out to him, “Rong Ke.”

He stopped and looked back at Yan Zhi.

“Do you want to be famous?” Yan Zhi’s expression was unusually serious. “I can make you a star.”

For a moment, Rong Ke almost believed Yan Zhi was a prince on a white horse, ready to rescue him from the demon castle of his management company.

But the contract termination clause loomed like a mountain. Was Yan Zhi going to pay the millions in penalties for him?

Even if Yan Zhi offered, Rong Ke wouldn’t agree.

They weren’t family or friends—what was Yan Zhi after?

Rong Ke wasn’t so naive as to believe good things could fall from the sky.

Moreover, he believed Yan Zhi had the resources to make him a popular celebrity, but did he want to become the next Jiang Si?

Rong Ke wasn’t sure.

“Make me a star where, in the palm of your hand?” Rong Ke joked, brushing it off. “Don’t worry about it. Just focus on your magazine.”

–

The product selection meeting was delayed by nearly an hour, and the tardy consultant seemed distracted.

Chen Wen spread out the product catalog on the conference table and said to Yan Zhi, “We’ve selected these outfits from the sample clothes sent by the brands. Do you think any adjustments are needed?”

On the other side, Yan Zhi was reading movie reviews on his phone. Rong Ke had indeed played a drug addict, and viewers’ comments were along the lines of “Check him out, doesn’t look like he’s acting.”

So why would someone like that have no roles to play?

“Ahem.” Chen Wen cleared her throat to get Yan Zhi’s attention. “What do you think…”

Yan Zhi finally put down his phone, glanced at the pictures on the table, and said concisely: “No florals, no lace. The rest is up to you.”

The people in the meeting room exchanged glances, reaching a consensus: Today, King Yan was in a bad mood, not suitable for meetings.

“Oh, right,” Yan Zhi added. “Have the new media department release the New Year’s issue cover in advance.”