LOI Chapter 56 — Already Divorced

It was late at night. It was not suitable to talk about work.

Fatigue was the best sleeping pill. Just as Rong Ke closed his eyes, with one foot already stepping into dreamland, a disruptive phone ring suddenly sounded in the bedroom.

His phone was on Do Not Disturb mode, so without thinking, he knew it was Yan Zhi. He rolled over, slightly furrowing his brow to express his displeasure at being woken.

Yan Zhi pressed the answer button without turning on the speaker, but in the quiet night, Rong Ke could still clearly hear Luo Fei’s voice from the other end.

“Boss, it’s bad. You’re trending.”

Yan Zhi sat up and turned on the bedside lamp.

He opened Weibo first. Rong Ke leaned over to look, seeing the hashtag #Yan Zhi Suppresses Domestic Brands# prominently placed high on the trending list.

“Did you offend some local brand?” Rong Ke asked.

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Yan Zhi quickly scanned the page and handed the phone to Rong Ke. “Looks like your ex-boyfriend’s doing.”

A flood of marketing accounts had exposed Yan Zhi’s true identity – the hidden heir of the Fashion Group.

But this alone wasn’t enough to incite public outrage.

[Yan Zhi’s mother, Yan Fei, has married Bruce, the chairman of the Fashion Group. Yan Zhi came to China to salvage the group’s declining market share.]

[Since becoming MQ’s consultant, Yan Zhi has strongly promoted foreign brands while suppressing domestic ones. Would you still contribute to his sales?]

[His body is in Cao’s camp but his heart is with Han¹, Yan Zhi handed in a satisfactory report card. Wonder if he’ll win Bruce’s favor?]

Rong Ke vaguely sensed the gravity of the situation. He took his own phone and checked the comment section of the marketing accounts. Yan Zhi had already been labeled a “traitor.”

[So external forces are infiltrating every aspect, huh?]

[Boycott luxury brands, starting with me]

[The reason domestic brands struggle to develop is because some people worship foreign things. Even foreign shit smells good to them]

[Yan Zhi is just a traitor, no objections, right?]

For a marketing account with only a few dozen comments to trend, someone must be pulling strings behind the scenes.

If it were really domestic brands uniting to boycott Yan Zhi, the momentum would be far greater, not this amateurish display that felt like all thunder and no rain.

So overall, this indeed seemed like Jiang Si’s “last-ditch struggle.”

“Have you ever suppressed domestic brands?” Rong Ke asked.

“No,” Yan Zhi said. “But I haven’t supported them either.”

Switching back to the call screen, he arranged for Luo Fei to handle public relations while wrapping himself in a robe and heading to the balcony.

Rong Ke followed and saw Yan Zhi silently smoking. He also lit one, reassuring, “It’s fine. The team can handle this kind of smear campaign.”

They’d been smeared so many times, dealing with it had become second nature.

“I’m not the main concern,” Yan Zhi frowned slightly. “Fei-jie doesn’t like her privacy being discussed.”

Rong Ke knew Yan Zhi’s biological father was unknown. Yan Fei, a single mother, had struggled in the fashion industry with her son. It wasn’t hard to imagine the criticism she’d faced.

“This might not spread to foreign media,” Rong Ke said.

Yan Zhi shook his head, exhaling smoke. “Jiang Si must’ve asked people abroad, meaning it’s already circulating in small circles.”

Rong Ke thought for a while. After choosing his words carefully, he said, “It doesn’t seem so bad if people know?”

After all, the other party was the Fashion Group’s CEO. Their marriage shouldn’t invite criticism.

“It’s not that simple,” Yan Zhi said. “The Fashion Group is publicly traded. Any move by top management affects stock prices. Fei-jie has her own career and doesn’t want to stay at home. But if she works outside, it could easily affect the Fashion Group. Being married to Bruce means more attention on her. That’s why she doesn’t want this public.”

Rong Ke understood. Privately, Yan Fei hated her privacy being discussed; publicly, she didn’t want her career tied to the Fashion Group.

So publicizing this wasn’t good for her.

“Remember when she attended the RBW event?” Yan Zhi continued.

Rong Ke nodded. “I do.”

“She came to support Chinese domestic brands, but with the title of Bruce’s wife, she couldn’t act so freely.”

“Then why,” Rong Ke paused, “did she marry Bruce in the first place?”

It sounded like marrying such an executive meant restricting her freedom, unlike something Yan Fei would do.

“Because they’re in love,” Yan Zhi said. “Love makes people sacrifice everything.”

Hearing this, Rong Ke couldn’t help but chuckle and took a drag of his cigarette. “Who was it that said love was just a supplement?”

“That was my youthful ignorance,” Yan Zhi said earnestly. “Love is a necessity, and so are you.”

“Alright, let’s focus on the current issue,” Rong Ke cut off Yan Zhi’s sappy words. “Should you notify Fei-jie?”

Yan Zhi glanced at his WeChat dialog box and said, “I’ve already told her. I asked her and Bruce to prepare to announce this.”

“But your work will be affected,” Rong Ke thought of another issue. “Nationalist sentiment is easily stirred. Even if we handle this today, any future move of yours could be magnified or maliciously interpreted.”

“I can quit this job,” Yan Zhi tilted his head to look at Rong Ke, as if suddenly realizing something. “You don’t think I’m doing all this to inherit the Fashion Group, do you?”

From Rong Ke’s limited understanding of wealthy families, he thought the same as Jiang Si – that Yan Zhi was devoted to promoting the Fashion Group’s brands to impress Bruce.

“Isn’t it?” he asked.

“No,” Yan Zhi said. “Bruce is a great uncle. I’m just helping him out. This isn’t my own career.”

Rong Ke didn’t react immediately, asking, “Don’t you have to help with family business?”

“Baby,” Yan Zhi extinguished his cigarette, saying resignedly, “Fei-jie is Fei-jie, Bruce is Bruce, and I am me. We’re a big family, but we’re also independent individuals. You know I don’t stick to one job for long. So what I’ve been busy with lately is just friendly assistance.”

Rong Ke suddenly realized his thought process differed from Yan Zhi’s.

Obviously, Yan Zhi had a strong sense of individuality. In his eyes, Yan Fei was also a respected individual, so he was reluctant to share her private matters with Rong Ke.

Likewise, he didn’t see himself as Bruce’s dependent. His work was just part of his life, even lower priority than life itself. So he hadn’t told Rong Ke the main purpose of his work, partly due to Yan Fei’s privacy, and partly because he deemed it unimportant, rather than intentional deception.

“So,” Rong Ke finished his last drag, asking, “you won’t be my manager for long either?”

“No,” Yan Zhi raised his left hand, showing Rong Ke the back with the ring, wiggling his finger. “This is my lifelong career.”

After catching up with Yan Zhi’s train of thought, the earlier tension completely dissipated.

Rong Ke felt as if he saw a small ball, previously rolling forward by inertia, had suddenly been equipped with a motor, chugging along steadily.

He exhaled deeply, following Yan Zhi’s words, “This is my lifelong career too.”

One was acting, and the other was… Yan Zhi.

Just as the mood was perfect, Yan Zhi’s phone rang again. He glanced at the caller ID and told Rong Ke, “It’s Wen Cheng.”

He answered, putting it on speaker. “Director Wen.”

“Mr. Yan,” Wen Cheng greeted politely, getting straight to the point. “The Tempest seems to have gotten into some controversy. Have you noticed?”

Controversy about The Tempest?

Rong Ke was puzzled. He opened Weibo to check and found that the backlash against Yan Zhi had extended to criticism of the film.

[So Wen Cheng is just a lackey for traitors? Taking money from the Fashion Group, helping external forces infiltrate]

[He’s always been someone who only cares about money. Is this news to anyone?]

[Disgusting. When will we stop being fed crap by capitalists?]

Usually, a film’s investors don’t attract much attention unless someone deliberately brings up the topic.

Rong Ke immediately realized that Jiang Si had targeted Wen Cheng too. Wasn’t this clearly an attempt to bury the film?

“I accepted investment from the Fashion Group based on business considerations,” Wen Cheng continued. “If the film’s reputation tanks before we even start shooting, it’s bad for both of us.”

Wen Cheng didn’t know about Jiang Si approaching Rong Ke, so he obviously hadn’t guessed it was Jiang Si stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

“I understand,” Yan Zhi said.

“I hope you can resolve this controversy properly on your end,” Wen Cheng’s tone remained polite. “Because if I have to solve it, the easiest way would be to simply change the investment lineup.”

Wen Cheng’s films never lacked investment, which explained his assertiveness.

“Alright,” Yan Zhi agreed. “Don’t worry, I’m handling it.”

After Yan Zhi hung up, Rong Ke massaged his neck, feeling a headache coming on. “Things seem to have gotten more complicated.”

Originally, changing the lead actor was perfectly normal and wouldn’t have affected their cooperation. But with Jiang Si stirring things up, it seemed even the investment might need renegotiation.

“It’s manageable,” Yan Zhi considered. “If it’s really not suitable to invest, we just won’t cooperate.”

“But the negative impact still exists,” Rong Ke said. “Including Fei-jie’s side. We don’t know how they’ll handle it yet.”

Just then, Yan Zhi’s phone chimed with a WeChat notification. He glanced at it and said, “She says she responded to this on Weibo.”

“Did she directly announce that she’s married?” Rong Ke asked casually, opening Weibo.

However, the next second, he fell silent.

[Yan Fei: Was married, already divorced, don’t mention it]

Rong Ke: “…”
Yan Zhi: “…”

Rong Ke’s first thought was that for PR reasons, Yan Fei didn’t tell the truth.

But judging from this statement, it didn’t seem like something carefully prepared by a PR team.

He looked at Yan Zhi, who was equally silent beside him, and asked, “Did you know about this?”

Beneath Yan Zhi’s composed expression was barely concealed confusion. “You might not believe this, but my mom just told me through her Weibo post.”