It was tiring to be a teacher, even if your student was extremely smart and fully trusted you. This was especially so when the topic was something as elusive and subjective as the human mind. Imparting such knowledge was bound to be time-consuming.
After explaining the important steps and the logic behind them, Ji Fanyin proceeded to have a rehearsal with him.
Ah, I nearly forgot. My stand-in service counts as an additional service, so he'll have to top up on the sum.
It took nearly three hours before their rehearsal dinner finally ended. By then, it was already close to 9 P.M..
Knowing that it was about time for her to get off work, Ji Fanyin took out her phone in preparation to turn off her alarm. Unexpectedly, her phone started ringing instead. She glanced at the caller id reflected on the screen and rejected the call right away.
The alarm rang right afterward.
Ji Fanyin switched off the alarm and smiled at Li Xiaoxing. "My apologies, it was a call from another client. I have work tomorrow, so I'll be returning to the hotel now."
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Li Xiaoxing, who was still in the midst of organizing his thoughts, raised his head to look at her. "I'll offer the highest price. Stay for another day."
"That person also offered the highest price," Ji Fanyin rejected Li Xiaoxing's proposal without any hesitation.
Credibility was important when it came to running a business. She had set the rules herself, and she intended to follow them.
"We haven't sorted out all the details yet." Li Xiaoxing shook his head. "There are still some parts I'm unsure of."
"You're doing great. Ji Xinxin will be moved by your sincerity," assured Ji Fanyin as she rose to her feet.
Li Xiaoxing's frown persisted. He wasn't going to be appeased with casual reassurances.
So, Ji Fanyin added, "Do you still doubt my capability after all the lessons we have been through?"
Li Xiaoxing fell silent for a moment before giving a slight nod and had seemingly accepted her reassurances. "I'll contact you if I have any issues."
Ji Fanyin hitched a ride on Li Xiaoxing's car to the 5-star hotel Secretary Fan had booked before parting ways with him at the hotel lobby. She was intending to stay the night, and that was why she had brought her suitcase with her.
She figured that it would be exhausting to rush back on a night flight. Not only would she arrive at an ungodly hour, she would also have to endure a lengthy car ride back to her apartment after that. After all the hassle, she still wouldn't have much time to catch some sleep.
Since that was the case, she would rather have some good sleep here and enjoy a 5-star hotel's continental breakfast before heading to the airport.
It was of paramount importance that she rested well so that she would have the energy to deal with the buffoon who was thinking of three-timing her.
Returning to her room, she was just about to return the call from Song Shiyu to see what he was up to when she received an urgent international call from Zhang Ning instead.
"Darling, tell me honestly. Did you sell yourself to the Bai Family as their daughter-in-law?" asked Zhang Ning grimly. "Did Madam Meng hand you a briefcase loaded with money to poach you from our studio?"
"I met her today, but I have no intention of selling myself." The amused Ji Fanyin casually kicked off her high heels by her hotel room's foyer. "Did she wave a cheque at you?"
The agitated Zhang Ning began rambling about a whole lot of stuff. Ji Fanyin went to the washroom and started brushing her teeth while listening to her story. To summarize the lengthy story: Mrs. Bai had indeed waved a cheque at her.
That's probably her way of expressing her sincerity, similar to how that mistress offered to compensate me two-fold of my fees.
Fortunately, Ji Fanyin was confident in accomplishing what Mrs. Bai requested of her.
What Mrs. Bai really wants is for her son to stop stumbling over women. That can be easily achieved without anyone duping Bai Zhou.
Bai Zhou simply has to mature into a rational adult and learn the correct values when it comes to romantic relationships. With those, he won't recklessly leap into a relationship without carefully thinking it over, regardless of whether it was true love or just a scam.
All I have to do is to teach him how to respect others and how he ought to be respected by others. As long as he understands where he went wrong, this problem will resolve by itself.
A child who has gone astray only needs to be guided back to the right path. There's no need to turn him into another dysfunctional 'cold domineering CEO' who has zero interest in women.
It doesn't really take that much effort anyway. I just need to make some minor modifications to my original plan. So easy~~~
There were two parts to Ji Fanyin's exchange with Mrs. Bai.
Her primary job was to correct Bai Zhou's twisted values in romantic relationships while serving as a double agent during the soon unfolding war over inheritance.
Mrs. Bai was very generous with her offer. Not only did she allow Ji Fanyin to keep the apartment from the mistress, but she also grandly expressed 'I'll match any amount he pays you'.
That meant that all earnings Ji Fanyin made from Bai Zhou would be tripled.
Back then, Ji Fanyin did consider humbly turning it down, but Mrs. Bai's pompous 'this is small money' attitude dissuaded her. For a business mogul like Mrs. Bai, such money was indeed not worth mentioning.
By the time Zhang Ning was done with her ramblings, Ji Fanyin was already lying on her sofa, flipping through a magazine. She calmly assured Zhang Ning, "Don't worry, I didn't sell myself out. We had a pleasant conversation, that's why she decided to invest in us. This is good news."
"... Ji Fanyin, do you hear your own words?" Zhang Ning scoffed. "Putting aside how it's impossible for you two to have shared a pleasant conversation, why did you even meet her today?"
Ji Fanyin gave the question some thought before answering cryptically, "It's the mysterious machinations of fate."
That mistress probably hasn't realized she has been betrayed yet, Ji Fanyin thought as she casually flipped through the magazine in her hand.
"I know that you're a smart person, but there's no need to play with fire," said Zhang Ning worriedly. "We still have many days ahead of us to rake in the big bucks. It's not as if you're facing a dire lack of money."
Ji Fanyin chatted with Zhang Ning for a while longer before hanging up.
The first thing she did afterward was to check her progress on the 'Temptation of Home' app. Just as she had expected, there was a considerable advancement in the progress bar.
The studio was co-owned by her with Zhang Ning and He Shen, so only 100 million of the recent investment was attributed to her. She was curious to know the principles applied by the app in processing such financial calculations.
All in all, factoring in the apartment she had received from the mistress, she had earned 300 million dollars from the transactions with the Bai Family. Thanks to that, her progress shot up to 1.2 billion.
It was quite decent considering how none of the films their studio had invested in had reached the silver screen yet. Their studio had put its money into six films this year, of which, they were the main producers of three of them.
Looks like therell be a huge harvest next year. I can take things slowly for the time being.
After looking through the app, Ji Fanyin leaped onto the bed and prepared to head to sleep. It was then that she recalled that she hadn't returned the call from Song Shiyu yet.
But now that she was already lying on her bed in her pajamas, her laziness got the better of her.
It must be nothing important since Song Shiyu didn't call back. Alright, I'll ignore it for now.
Ji Fanyin calmly switched off the bed lights and closed her eyes. The last thought on her mind before she drifted off to sleep was the hotel's famous continental breakfast.
Song Shiyu attended a wedding banquet with his parents, where the groom was the son of one of the friends of his parents.
Be it in terms of career or appearance, Song Shiyu was usually dubbed as 'other people's children', but he found himself outdone by others on a single aspect in this gathering.
He was still unmarried and without a girlfriend.
Wedding banquets were a networking session too. After a few drinks, the guests started moving around the room to chat with one another. Song Shiyu greeted a few of the elders and toasted them. It didn't take him long to get tipsy.
He wasn't a strong drinker. His father refrained from alcohol and his mother only drank red wine. With such genes, he could only reach the level of an average person no matter how he trained his tolerance for alcohol.
To make things worse, the alcohol served in this wedding banquet was the potent Five Lake White Wine.
It took only a few cups for his face to redden and his head to spin.
Mrs. Song excitedly nudged him and asked, "Why is your face reddening? Are you interested in that lady from earlier on?"
Song Shiyu waved his hand, feigning that he was succumbing to the alcohol and couldn't hear her properly.
Mrs. Song made use of this opportunity to call some of Song Shiyu's peers over. She told them to drag him over to the table where those from the younger generation were gathered.
Song Shiyu thought that both sides were equally terrible, but he decided to go with the side where he wouldn't have to face constant pressure for marriage. He did command some influence amongst his peers, thus he wouldn't face as much pressure from them.
So, his cousins lifted him up and dragged him away from the elders' side. Barely a few tables later, one of them secretly whispered, "Is Song Shiyu really drunk? I want to play a prank on him..."
Song Shiyu retracted his hand from that person's shoulder and directed a graceful smile at him.
The cousins glanced at one another before bursting into hearty laughter. Under the influence of alcohol, they boldly pushed Song Shiyu toward the table where those of their age group were gathered.
This bunch of people were bored out of their minds, but they couldn't leave the wedding banquet without their parents' approval. So, they decided to entertain themselves with a game of 'Truth and Dare'.
The slightly tipsy Song Shiyu was pushed into one of the seats.
Someone shouted, "I've dragged Song Shiyu over! Let's start a new round!"
Song Shiyu: "..."
A guy beside him quickly explained the rules, "There are forty dice in the ashtray. You have to choose a number, shake the ashtray, and pick out all the dice with your number on it before passing it to the next person. If there aren't any reflecting the number you chose, you'll have to pick between 'Truth' or 'Dare'."
After quickly going through the rules, the guy made a sly attempt to pass the ashtray to the person left of Song Shiyu, only for it to be intercepted by Song Shiyu.
There were sixteen people sitting on the table, and those who went later had a higher chance of getting punished. It was obvious that the guy was trying to make him go last so as to increase his chances of invoking the penalty.
Song Shiyu loosened his tie and spoke with a gentle smile, "Allow me go first. It's my first time playing. If I get the rules wrong, you'll be able to correct me right away."
He declared his number to be '3' before shaking the irregularly shaped ashtray. Of the forty dice, there were eight of them that showed '3'. He took out those eight dice before passing the ashtray to the next person.
"Is that how you play the game?" he asked.
The others reluctantly nodded their heads before continuing the game.
Sometimes, even the sharpest of minds couldn't triumph over sheer bad luck. The other fifteen players safely overcame the trial posed by the Die Goddess, including the guy who explained the rules to Song Shiyu.
"The Goddess of Luck is shining on me!" shouted the guy in relief.
He took out one of the two remaining dice that reflected a '6' before merrily passing the ashtray to Song Shiyu.
Song Shiyu looked at the single die left on the ashtray.
A one-sixth chance, huh?
"1," Song Shiyu declared. He shook the ashtray with a beautiful flick of his wrist before placing it down on the table.
One of the curious spectators craned his neck over and loudly announced the result, "It's a 2!"
A wave of excitement rippled across the table.
"Truth or Dare!"
"It has to be a dare! We wouldn't really know if he lies after picking Truth!"
Someone shoved a pile of penalty cards toward Song Shiyu and said, "Pick one!"
"Pick one! Pick one!" the crowd started chanting.
Song Shiyu had no intention of being a sore loser in front of so many people. It was just that his head was growing heavier with each passing moment. He rested his heavy head on his arm and casually picked out a card from the pile. He examined its contents with narrowed eyes.
"Oooh, he has to confess to the person he likes through the phone! ... Eesh, that isn't fun at all. Don't we all already know who she is?"
"Doesn't make a difference. He still has to make the call. It's the rule!"
"Call her, call her! You aren't a man if you don't call her!"
Song Shiyu was forced by the crowd to whip out his phone. He scrolled down his list of contacts to the 'J' section. Without any hesitation, he tapped on a name and made the call.
A person beside him immediately shouted, "You called the wrong person! Ji Xinxin's name is the next one!"
Those words jolted Song Shiyu awake from his mildly intoxicated state. He quickly tried to hang up the call, only to realize that the person on the other end had already rejected his call.
"It doesn't count, we need to do it again! Brother Shiyu tapped onto the wrong name, right?"
Song Shiyu quietly lowered his gaze for a while before finally tapping down on Ji Xinxin's name.