Translator: Viv
Editor: thomas
Guest Zu Jing gave tasks to every host except Zhou Zike. Xiao Yang was responsible for mixing the minced meat, Yi Xuesong was in charge of beating the eggs and kneading the dough, and he asked Tang Zhen to dice the carrots. “Let Tang Zhen experience the work of a beginner,” he said with a smile. Tang Zhen lowered his head and laughed. He wrinkled his brow, gripped the knife, and his hand trembled slightly as he held the carrot. While chatting and joking with the others, he managed to complete the task with some effort.
Zhou Zike stood by Zu Jing’s side, holding a microphone. Zu Jing was invited to “Roman Online” today and prepared a dish he created himself: Zu’s Lamb Pie. Xiao Yang watched his cooking process attentively, and Tang Zhen was also quite focused. Only Yi Xuesong stood with his hands behind his back, lacking interest in the kitchen affairs, looking bored. When Zu Jing took the lamb pie out of the oven, there were five people present—four hosts and one guest. The production staff handed five plates to Tang Zhen. Zu Jing arranged the plates, each containing two juicy pieces of lamb pie. “This is Zu Jing Laoshi’s signature dish. Let’s first take a look at its presentation,” Tang Zhen said, lowering his head to examine the steaming lamb pie on the plates. He playfully remarked to the audience, “It seems that he has really done his best.”
The studio was filled with the aroma, and the audience below laughed while stretching their necks to get a glimpse. Some looked but couldn’t taste, their mouths watering. Xiao Yang was the first to try it. He picked up a piece with a fork, took a bite, and his expression instantly became vivid. Tang Zhen said, “Burned your tongue, huh?” Xiao Yang nodded quickly, then gave a thumbs up, indicating it was delicious. He enthusiastically encouraged Tang Zhen and the others to try it.
Zu Jing was very pleased with Xiao Yang’s reaction, praising him for being a teachable student and much better than Tang Zhen. The audience below wailed in response, but after a moment, there was a burst of cheers. When Zu Jing turned around, he saw the young man named Zhou Zike taking his plate with the food intact and handing it to the fans in the audience.
The camera mainly focused on the three young people of KAIser, with Tang Zhen hiding behind, holding his own plate to eat. Then Zhou Zike walked over, his tall figure standing beside Tang Zhen, completely blocking any glimpse of Tang Zhen on camera.
When Zhou Zike turned around, he lowered his head, with something in his mouth, and walked back to the front of the stage. Zu Jing asked him if it was good, and he nodded. Zu Jing then asked Tang Zhen for his opinion. Xiao Yang stepped aside, allowing the camera to capture Tang Zhen’s face. Tang Zhen, with a fork in his mouth, looked at the camera in a daze and took a while before responding with a simple “Mmm.”
Zu Jing complained, “What do you mean by ‘Mmm’? I’ve worked on it for half a day.”
Tang Zhen also gave his plate to the fans in the audience who kept asking for it, with a piece of lamb pie untouched in the plate. Tang Zhen picked up the microphone and earnestly commented, “Zu Jing Laoshi has reached sixty percent of my peak performance.”
Immediately, the old man gave him a merciless beating.
“Tang Zhen knows how to cook, why isn’t he cooking for himself?” The young man walked over, glanced at the screen, and asked.
Zhou Ziyuan held a tablet and took the black tea handed to her by the man. “He seems to have been sick for a while back then.”
“He looks fine.”
“Stars on stage always appear normal. Even if he has been sick for so many years, it’s only in the past year that he hasn’t been quite normal on stage,” Zhou Ziyuan said.
The young man smiled. “You seem to know a lot about him now.”
Zhou Ziyuan looked up at the young man and said, “I can’t match your keen insight. Can’t I make up for it with diligence?”
“What have you found out?”
“I’m not telling you.” Zhou Ziyuan shook her head, flicking the ponytail tied behind her head.
“What?” the young man asked.
“I’ll talk to Zike first,” Zhou Ziyuan said.
The young man laughed upon hearing that.
“If Zike asks me how I found out, I’ll have no choice but to expose you,” Zhou Ziyuan said.
“Is he home now?” the young man asked.
Zhou Ziyuan nodded, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Wentao just went to see him.”
The young man nodded and patted Zhou Ziyuan’s head. “He’s a grown man. He left and came back by himself. He’s not clueless, so you don’t have to worry all the time.”
Guo Xiaoli exploded in anger at the security office of the apartment building. With a grim face, she took the elevator straight to Tang Zhen’s floor. Qi Lu was waiting for her in the corridor, while Tang Zhen struggled to fall asleep. They could only have their conversation outside.
“What happened yesterday?” Guo Xiaoli lowered her voice and interrogated as soon as she arrived.
Qi Lu shook his head.
“When did Zhou Zike come, why did he come, and what did he say?” Guo Xiaoli’s anger was becoming difficult to contain. If they weren’t in the hallway, and if there was somewhere else to talk, Guo Xiaoli wouldn’t have let Qi Lu off the hook. “Didn’t I tell you to keep a close eye on A-zhen? Even if you were separated by a door, you should been able to hear everything. Now that I ask you, you know nothing. How have you even been doing your job?”
Qi Lu kept his head down, appearing helpless, innocent, and lost.
Guo Xiaoli glared at Qi Lu, then pointed at Tang Zhen’s door lock, speaking even more quietly, pressing against Qi Lu’s ear. “Security told me that Zhou Zike’s fingerprints have been stored here for six years.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Lu looked up, locking eyes with Guo Xiaoli, his gaze so sharp that it could kill.
“Six years. Level One access. You’re telling me you had no idea,” Guo Xiaoli said to him.
Qi Lu’s surprise was no less than Guo Xiaoli’s, but because he couldn’t speak, his attempts to defend himself were limited to urgent “ah-ah” sounds, accompanied by gestures that only Tang Zhen himself could understand.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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She descended to the underground parking lot, wearing earphones, and called Zhou Zike while driving. It was now ten in the morning, and she had made several consecutive calls, but no one answered on Zhou Zike’s end. Just as Guo Xiaoli was about to reach the company building, Zhou Zike finally answered the phone.
Guo Xiaoli wasted no time and said, “I’ve already changed A-Zhen’s door lock.”
There was silence on Zhou Zike’s end.
Guo Xiaoli parked the car and looked out the window at the entrance of the Asia Star Entertainment building, where many trainees had already gathered. Guo Xiaoli asked, “Are you after A-Zhen?”
A soft laughter came from the other end of the line.
It was the first time Guo Xiaoli felt her scalp tingle from his laughter. She sternly asked, “What are you laughing at?”
“I know my place,” Zhou Zike replied.
As Guo Xiaoli listened to Zhou Zike’s hoarse and sluggish voice, she thought he might still be hungover. Anger surged within her, and she said, “Come to my office at noon. You must—”
Beep beep beep, the call ended.
On her way back to the office, Guo Xiaoli made a deliberate stop at Wen Xin’s desk and noticed that Wen Xin hadn’t arrived yet.
She stood by the staircase next to the pantry, where no one was around, and dialed Wen Xin’s phone number.
“What’s going on? Didn’t I tell you to come early today?” Guo Xiaoli asked.
Wen Xin replied, “Guo-jie, the signal is bad here. I’ll call you back later.”
Guo Xiaoli noticed that Wen Xin had a heavy nasal tone and thought she might have a cold. She interrupted her and asked, “What are you doing?”
Wen Xin sniffled and coughed. “I-I’m packing things.”
“Packing what?”
Amidst a buzzing electromagnetic interference sound, Wen Xin gasped and said, “I’m packing Tang Zhen Laoshi’s things at home.”
Guo Xiaoli didn’t understand. “Why do you have A-Zhen’s things at your home?”
Wen Xin mumbled, “It’s… it’s things that Zike bought for Tang Zhen Laoshi in Japan.”
Upon hearing this, Guo Xiaoli was stunned.
Wen Xin didn’t know what had come over her today. Facing Guo Xiaoli, she forgot about her usual nervousness and fear. She also forgot to be cautious. She mumbled, “It’s nothing, Guo-jie, you don’t need to worry. I’ll be going to work soon.”
However, Guo Xiaoli wasn’t foolish. “Why did Zhou Zike buy things for Tang Zhen and keep them at your home?”
When Wen Xin didn’t respond, Guo Xiaoli asked again.
Wen Xin said, “How would I know…”
Guo Xiaoli fell silent for a few seconds, then heard Wen Xin on the other end of the phone suddenly gasping for breath while speaking, panting and quickly sniffing at the same time.
The young girl was crying. Guo Xiaoli remained silent for a moment, then abruptly said, “What’s so good about Zhou Zike?”
Wen Xin continued crying. Guo Xiaoli said, “Only naive young girls like you who don’t see the world would fall for a man like Zhou Zike, who only looks good.”
Wen Xin tried to defend herself while crying, saying she never said she liked Zike.
Guo Xiaoli asked, “I don’t understand, what does he have? Handsome? Rich? Drives a fancy car?”
Wen Xin said that many people like Zike.
Guo Xiaoli said, “But does he have any sense of responsibility? Look at him, look at how he usually is, does he seem like a reliable person to you?”
Wen Xin, listening to Guo Xiaoli constantly criticizing Zhou Zike, couldn’t help but argue, “Zike has indeed helped me a lot—”
“Everything he does is just for fun, do you really think he wants to help you?”
“I didn’t think he wanted to help me,” Wen Xin said, starting to sniffle again, feeling wronged, “he wanted to help Tang Zhen Laoshi…”
Guo Xiaoli wished she could poke Wen Xin’s forehead in person, “Is there a difference with Tang Zhen?”
“Tang Zhen Laoshi and I are definitely different.”
“What difference is there? Let me tell you, there’s no difference,” Guo Xiaoli suddenly raised her voice, “Zhou Zike has the means to play around for a lifetime, to live a carefree life, means that you don’t have, and Tang Zhen Laoshi even less.”
Wen Xin hesitated, unable to understand what Guo Xiaoli was saying. She weakly retorted, “Guo-jie, how can you say that?”
Guo Xiaoli countered, “Did I say something wrong?”
Wen Xin felt that Guo Xiaoli was in a particularly bad mood today. She was being harsh and critical towards Zhou Zike, even when mentioning Tang Zhen Laoshi. In just a short while, Guo Xiaoli had repeatedly criticized and condemned Zhou Zike from head to toe. Finally, Wen Xin sniffled and asked, “Then what kind of man is good?”
Guo Xiaoli, feeling irritated and with a dry mouth, exclaimed, “No man is good!”
She added, “Hurry up and come to work!”
Wen Xin said, “I’ll finish packing soon, and then I’ll come to work. Uh, Guo-jie, can you do me a favor…”
Guo Xiaoli listened to her muttering softly and reluctantly asked her what favor she needed. Wen Xin said it was about those gifts. She wanted Guo-jie to help her deliver the packed gifts to Tang Zhen’s home.
“Why don’t you go yourself?” Guo Xiaoli asked. “Are you thinking of quitting?”
Wen Xin cried, “I’m scared Tang Zhen Laoshi will make fun of me!”
Guo Xiaoli suddenly laughed and coughed, “Why would he make fun of you?”
“I’ve told him so much about Zike,” Wen Xin deflated like a balloon, “And I even thought the gifts Zike gave him were meant for me…”
Guo Xiaoli said, “So you think he’ll laugh at you because of that.”
“Yes.”
“What kind of person do you think Tang Zhen is?”
“I…”
“A-Zhen has seen plenty of this sort of thing,” Guo Xiaoli said. “Many people give him gifts, many people try to curry favor with those around him. I was the same back then.”
Wen Xin was stunned and asked, “Is that true?”
“You’re feeling this way now because you’re still young.”
Wen Xin cried, “I’m not young anymore…”
Guo Xiaoli said, “Tang Zhen Laoshi treats you like a daughter. What can he laugh at?”
She continued, “So, just because you can’t stand being the butt of a joke, you’re not coming in to work anymore? You don’t want to be Tang Zhen’s assistant anymore? Fine, I’ll hire someone new—”
Wen Xin hurriedly said, “I’ve thought it through, I’ve thought it through. I’ll go to work right away.”
After hanging up the phone, Guo Xiaoli glanced at the clock and walked quickly to her own office. She had made an appointment with Liang Qiuyun’s assistant, Xiao Meng, to meet at 8:40 in the morning. When she arrived, she was surprised to find someone unexpected waiting there instead of Xiao Meng.
The woman was sitting on Guo Xiaoli’s desk, completely at ease and without any sense of courtesy. Her short hair was even shorter than the last time Guo Xiaoli saw her. As soon as she saw Guo Xiaoli, she jumped off the desk and opened her arms, ready to embrace her. “Xiaoli-jie!”
Guo Xiaoli bypassed her directly. “Did Wanbang pay you a salary for you to come and work at ASE?”
The woman laughed heartily, tossed the documents in her hand onto Guo Xiaoli’s desk, and then hopped back onto the desk herself.
“I happened to be in the area and came to deliver a document to Xiao Yun-ge for Xiaoli-jie,” she said.
Guo Xiaoli sat in her own chair and reached out to take the Mattias 10th Anniversary Event Proposal lying on the table, filled with Liang Qiuyun’s comments and revisions.
“Xiao Yun-ge,” Guo Xiaoli spoke without looking at the woman, “I never knew you and Liang Qiuyun were so close.”
Ke Wei smiled, her feet dangling off the edge of the desk, swinging back and forth. “Xiao Yun-ge and I have a deep bond.”
Guo Xiaoli said, “When you two get together, I’m sure the depth of your bond must be unfathomable.”
“Xiaoli-jie, how can you tell dirty jokes like this?”
Guo Xiaoli replied, “Just trying to make you happy.”
“I didn’t know you had such a cheap sense of humor these days.”
Guo Xiaoli responded nonchalantly, “The items have been delivered, so I won’t keep you.”
Ke Wei said, “How can you say that, Xiao Li-jie? I came all this way just to see you. I just helped Xiao Yun-ge on the way.”
“I don’t have time to waste on you,” Guo Xiaoli said, not even looking up. “If you have something to say, say it quickly.”
Ke Wei looked disappointed, but seeing Guo Xiaoli’s unwavering attitude today, she had no choice but to get straight to the point. “Xiaoli-jie, you know my cousin Fan Xiao, right? I have something to ask on her behalf, and please don’t hide anything from me.”
Guo Xiaoli knew exactly what matter she was referring to. As soon as Ke Wei mentioned the name “Fan Xiao,” she responded directly, “Tang Zhen and her husband haven’t been in contact for four or five years, they’re not even friends. Tell her to think about something else if she has time.”
Ke Wei moved closer to Guo Xiaoli, leaning on the desk, and smiled. “Xiaoli-jie, I haven’t even said what I wanted to ask yet.”
Guo Xiaoli said, “Apart from Tang Zhen, I haven’t heard Fan Xiao show concern about anything else.”
Ke Wei hesitated for a moment and said, “This time, it’s indeed related to your A-Zhen…”
She glanced at the locked office door and decided to ask directly, “Before Tang Zhen’s suicide, did he make a phone call to Qiao He? Xiaoli-jie, please don’t hide it from me. This information was specifically leaked to my cousin by a journalist.”
Guo Xiaoli lifted her head, leaned back in her office chair, crossed her arms, and looked at Ke Wei expressionlessly.
“The journalist said that they entered Tang Zhen’s room immediately after his suicide. Tang Zhen wasn’t wearing any clothes, one hand was hanging off the bed, and there was a cellphone perfectly placed on the carpet below, displaying Qiao He’s phone number.”
Guo Xiaoli said, “Tell me the contact information of that journalist.”
Ke Wei was taken aback and smiled, “Xiaoli-jie, those aren’t the rules of the game.”
“Then tell me how we should play.”
“If it’s a misunderstanding, you can just explain it.”
“We’ve explained it countless times,” Guo Xiaoli looked at Ke Wei. “Isn’t Fan Xiao always ‘misunderstanding’ everything?”
Ke Wei said, “No matter what was said before, this time, Xiaoli-jie, you still need to give me an explanation. Otherwise, my cousin won’t let me off the hook.”
Guo Xiaoli said, “It’s her business whether she lets anyone off the hook or not. What does it have to do with me?”
Ke Wei said, “Xiaoli-jie, you know my cousin’s temperament. I don’t know what she might do if she becomes desperate.”
After saying that, Ke Wei added, “I heard your A-Zhen just got discharged from the hospital. Is he still on the mend?”
Guo Xiaoli looked at her with irritation.
“Ke Wei,” Guo Xiaoli said, “this will be the last time I say it.”
“After Tang Zhen fell ill, he could only remember two phone numbers. One was your Xiao Yun-ge’s, and the other was Tang Zhen’s mother’s,” Guo Xiaoli paused for a moment. “He couldn’t even remember my number, let alone Qiao He’s. It’s impossible for him to think of calling Qiao He after attempting suicide. Go back and tell Mrs. Qiao exactly what I said and tell her to put her mind at ease.”
Ke Wei sensed Guo Xiaoli’s suppressed anger and chuckled, “Really? Tang Zhen was so sick, but he could still remember Xiao Yun-ge’s phone number?”
Guo Xiaoli glared at her.
Ke Wei smiled and said, “That’s what I thought. If someone has already committed suicide, why would they even make a phone call? My cousin sister is just an overthinker. I’ll talk to her when I go back. Thank you, Xiaoli-jie.”
Once Ke Wei left the room, Guo Xiaoli angrily slammed the rolled-up documents she was holding onto the desk.
The door opened again, and this time it was Manager Lin nervously peeking in. He saw Guo Xiaoli with a sour expression and glanced back at the departing Ke Wei. Anxiously, he whispered, “Did they make you an offer?”
“What offer?” Guo Xiaoli was so furious that her head was spinning, and she didn’t catch what Manager Lin had asked.
Manager Lin quickly made an excuse, closed the door, and left.
Ty for translating 🙏