I'm Rich - 5
Chapter 5
The entire evening passed without a single moment of interaction between Qi Chengyan and Guan Zhiyi. If anything, everyone present could see that Zhao Zhihui had deliberately arranged for Zheng Yitong to be Qi Chengyan's companion.
So no one expected Qi Chengyan to suddenly call for Guan Zhiyi.
Guan Zhiyi herself was caught off guard. She looked at him in bewilderment... but the moment she met his eyes, she understood. It was exactly the same expression he'd worn when she was little and he'd caught her doing something she shouldn't.
Guan Zhiyi immediately let go of the wineglass in her hand.
Liu Yun glanced between Qi Chengyan and Guan Zhiyi, then reached over and tugged at Guan Zhiyi's clothes. In a low voice, she said, "What are you spacing out for? Go over there."
Guan Zhiyi rose awkwardly, shooting him questioning looks as she shuffled toward him.
Qi Chengyan gave her no response. When Guan Zhiyi reached his side, he merely gave Huang Zhian a faint smile. "Mr. Huang, I've seen some of Miss Guan's work, and a few questions just occurred to me, I'd like to ask her about. I hope you don't mind me interrupting your drinks?"
The sharpness had left his face, but there was still an unmistakable pressure in his tone.
How could Huang Zhian possibly mind? He hurriedly said, "Not at all, not at all. Please, ask away. I didn't realize President Qi had even watched Zhiyi's dramas."
That was what he said, but not a single person there actually believed it. Forget the idea of Qi Chengyan watching Guan Zhiyi's sweet, fluffy idol dramas. Even if he somehow had, what questions could he possibly have for her at a time like this?
It was obviously nothing more than an excuse.
Expressions shifted all around the table. Zhao Zhihui was stunned too. He had never imagined that Qi Chengyan would have no interest in Zheng Yitong, but would instead take an interest in Guan Zhiyi.
"Miss Zheng, would you mind changing seats?" Qi Chengyan turned to the woman beside him.
Zheng Yitong's expression cycled through several shades of displeasure before she finally forced herself to stand. "...Of course."
"Thank you."
Under the astonished and envious gazes of everyone around her, Guan Zhiyi sat down beside Qi Chengyan.
"Come, come, Mr. Huang, let me toast you." To keep the atmosphere from going cold, Zhao Zhihui immediately began stirring things up again. The others, though curious, knew better than to stare at Qi Chengyan and Guan Zhiyi. Soon they were laughing, talking, and drinking with the people beside them again.
"Have you had too much to drink?" Qi Chengyan asked only after everyone's attention had shifted away from them. Perhaps to keep anyone nearby from overhearing, he leaned slightly toward her, his voice very low.
Guan Zhiyi looked at his profile and gave a small shake of her head. "Not really."
Qi Chengyan's expression grew more serious. "Your face is already red. That's 'not really'?"
Guan Zhiyi didn't answer.
"What are you doing at a gathering like this?"
Afraid he had misunderstood, Guan Zhiyi hurriedly explained, "My manager brought me. I just... just wanted to show my face, trying to get an audition down the line."
"You want to get into The Imperial Court?"
"Mm." Guan Zhiyi looked at him curiously. "What about you? My manager said you were thinking about investing?"
"Maybe."
"Oh..."
"Remember next time, there's a difference between showing up for a meal and showing up for... other things."
Guan Zhiyi touched her cheek, understanding exactly what he meant. In truth, she'd already started feeling uncomfortable when Huang Zhian kept pressing her to drink and his hands had begun getting a little too familiar.
Feeling somewhat awkward, Guan Zhiyi secretly tugged at Qi Chengyan's sleeve beneath the table. "Um... don't tell him."
"Yuanbai?" Qi Chengyan gave her a sidelong glance. "Still afraid he'll nag you?"
"Afraid he'll get angry..."
Indeed, it wasn't only Guan Yuanbai who would be angry. Even Qi Chengyan was feeling a flare of anger himself.
Guan Zhiyi had grown up under his watch, and he had always treated her like a younger sister. He could therefore completely understand how Guan Yuanbai would feel if he saw what had happened tonight.
She wasn't someone these assorted men could lay their hands on.
"Sit here and behave. Don't touch another drop," Qi Chengyan said.
Guan Zhiyi nodded.
After seeing her settle down obediently, Qi Chengyan turned back to his conversation.
Half an hour later, Qi Chengyan rose to leave.
Zhao Zhihui stepped forward to offer him one final toast. "President Qi, here's to a future partnership."
"Naturally." Qi Chengyan gave a slight nod to the rest of the table. "Enjoy the evening, everyone. I'll be going now."
"Take care, President Qi."
...
Everyone rose eagerly to see him off. Everyone except one person, who remained firmly seated in her chair.
Qi Chengyan took one step, then looked back. "What are you spacing out for?"
Following his gaze, everyone turned toward Guan Zhiyi.
Flushed and drowsy from the wine, she looked up to find the whole room staring at her. After a moment of confusion, she slowly turned to Qi Chengyan. "You're talking to me?"
Qi Chengyan smiled faintly. "Didn't Miss Guan say earlier that she had somewhere to be? I'm heading out anyway, why don't you come along?"
"..." Silence descended over the room.
Zhiyi cleared her throat and glanced across the table at Liu Yun. Her expression was clearly asking her manager for permission, but Liu Yun seemed to have been so thoroughly shocked that, for a moment, she'd forgotten how to speak.
Liu Yun managed many actors. Guan Zhiyi had never been the one she paid the most attention to. She'd always felt that although the girl seemed soft and yielding, she was far too stubborn underneath. In Liu Yun's opinion, she lacked the willingness to throw everything on the line, nor the courage to burn her bridges and fight to the bitter end.
But now... when had Guan Zhiyi gotten involved with Qi Chengyan?
That was Qi Chengyan. Even Zheng Yitong, with her family backing that could buy her way into any production, had been eagerly trying to get close to him. And somehow Liu Yun's own perpetually lukewarm actress had caught his eye?
"Yun-jie, then I'll head out first?" Seeing that Liu Yun still hadn't said anything, Guan Zhiyi assumed she disapproved and asked just to make sure.
There was no way Liu Yun dared keep her now. She snapped out of it and nodded: "...Yes. Call me when you get home."
Guan Zhiyi's eyes lit up. "Mm!"
Who she would get home with, and whose home she would get to, was perfectly clear to everyone in the room.
Guan Zhiyi, however, hadn't thought that far. She simply didn't want to stay behind and be forced to drink anymore.
Guan Zhiyi followed Qi Chengyan out of the private room. As it closed behind them, the expressions inside the room shifted.
Zhao Zhihui and Liu Yun exchanged a glance, and what they saw in each other's eyes was the unmistakable flow of money and opportunity.
Huang Zhian's expression had turned cold, but he knew better than to voice his displeasure. He had set his sights on Guan Zhiyi tonight, but this particular wrench in the works was not one he could confront.
Zheng Yitong's expression was even worse. She hadn't wanted to attend this dinner in the first place—not until she heard Qi Chengyan would be there, and she'd had Zhao Zhihui arrange her seat. She wasn't here for some role; that role was already hers. She had come solely to establish a connection with Qi Chengyan. She hadn't expected to be upstaged by someone she'd never even considered competition.
**
After leaving the private room, Qi Chengyan's assistant came over. He glanced at Guan Zhiyi before draping an overcoat over Qi Chengyan's shoulders.
"Do you often go out to dinners with your manager?" Qi Chengyan asked.
Guan Zhiyi shook her head. "Once, a while back. Yun-jie stopped taking me after that. She thinks I don't know how to talk to people... Though I don't really want to go either."
"Not entirely stupid, then."
Guan Zhiyi rubbed her nose. "This time was also because... cough, I really wanted this role."
"Which one?"
"Zhaoyang." After saying it, Guan Zhiyi added, "Though I guess you probably don't know about it."
Qi Chengyan raised an eyebrow slightly. "I don't."
"Mm..."
"Xiaowu, want me to help?" Qi Chengyan stopped and turned to look at her.
Guan Zhiyi lifted her eyes to him and answered bluntly, "You wouldn't give it even if I did."
The corner of Qi Chengyan's mouth curved upward. "And how do you know that? After what happened tonight, and now the fact that you're leaving with me, everyone in that room already thinks I'm in your corner."
Thinking about what everyone inside must be imagining, Guan Zhiyi felt a little embarrassed herself. But she knew perfectly well that Qi Chengyan had only stepped in to get her out of an awkward situation. As for pulling strings for her or helping her secure the role through the back door, he wouldn't do that.
Not because he couldn't. Because he didn't want to.
"If you helped me, wouldn't my brother find out? That'd be terrible."
Qi Chengyan nodded in agreement. "True. There are still plenty of things I'll need your brother's help with now that I'm back in the country. Can't afford to offend him."
Bullshit... He was obviously just taking her brother's side.
Guan Zhiyi silently complained about him, but obediently said aloud, "I don't need help anyway. If it's mine, it'll be mine. If it's not, then I guess I'm just not good enough. Besides, I've sworn in front my family that I can make it without anyone else's help. I can't go back on my own word."
Qi Chengyan was silent for a moment. "You really like it that much?"
"I do." Guan Zhiyi answered seriously. "Very much."
The young woman's eyes shone so brightly they were almost dazzling, as though the thing she was talking about truly was the most precious thing in the world to her.
For a brief moment, Qi Chengyan almost felt his heart soften. He didn't know how Guan Yuanbai had managed to harden his heart against her, how he could truly leave her to fend for herself.
Qi Chengyan was silent for a moment and just about to say something more, when Guan Zhiyi's earnest expression suddenly turned panicked.
"My, my brother!"
She immediately ducked behind him.
Qi Chengyan followed her gaze. Sure enough, a group of people emerged from around the corner at the end of the corridor. Guan Yuanbai was at the front, talking to someone beside him, and evidently hadn't noticed them yet.
"Ch, Chengyan-gege! I'm going downstairs first!" Guan Zhiyi immediately reached for the elevator button.
What terrible luck. Guan Yuanbai really was at the hotel tonight!
If he caught her, and followed the trail to figure out what she'd actually come here for, he would drag her home and give her a thorough scolding.
But the elevator seemed determined to work against her. It had been sitting on the first floor for long and showed no sign of coming up.
Seeing that Guan Yuanbai could discover her at any moment, Guan Zhiyi turned and made for the other side of the corridor.
"Don't run." The moment she turned around, an overcoat came down over her head, covering her completely.
Guan Zhiyi instinctively reached up to pull it off, but Qi Chengyan's voice came from above her. "If you don't want to be seen, stay put and don't say a word."
Guan Zhiyi clutched at his clothes and whispered, "Won't this just make it more obvious..."
"Don't you trust me? When have I ever failed to cover for you with Yuanbai whenever you got into trouble as a child?”
There was a teasing note in Qi Chengyan's voice.
Beside him, his assistant's eyes flickered with surprise.
He'd worked for Qi Chengyan overseas and had followed him for a long time. He had seen Qi Chengyan work a room through drinking parties, seen him stir up storms in the business world, and seen him manipulate hearts and minds in the workplace. Friendly, mild-mannered, courteous... He had always known that much of it was an act.
Someone who was truly gentle and soft-hearted could never have carried the enormous weight of the Qi Corporation on his shoulders.
But today, faced with the young woman in front of him, the assistant felt that Qi Chengyan's emotions were genuine.
Rarely, genuinely so.
"Chengyan?" Guan Yuanbai had reached them. He glanced at Qi Chengyan, then at the person beside him who was thoroughly concealed beneath the black overcoat. "And this is…?"
Qi Chengyan calmly gave a casual, "Oh,” and pulled the figure closer by the shoulder. "An actress friend. She had too much to drink, and it's not very convenient for her to be seen right now."
"..."
Caught beneath Qi Chengyan's arm so suddenly, Guan Zhiyi went completely rigid.
Deprived of sight, she felt hyperaware of everything else—the warmth of his body, his scent, so familiar it was almost startling.
Perhaps something had short-circuited in her alcohol-fogged brain. Guan Zhiyi suddenly tipped her head back a little, brought the tip of her nose close to the fabric of his coat, and secretly took a quiet breath.
Mm... He still smelled the same as he had when they were kid. Clean and crisp, pleasant enough to make her feel safe.
Her face inexplicably grew warm.
Guan Zhiyi froze for a moment, then immediately lowered her head. What was she doing? Of all times, she was secretly smelling him...
The world outside the overcoat was an entirely different one.
Looking at the unmistakable shape of a woman beside Qi Chengyan, Guan Yuanbai was somewhat surprised. After all, he knew Qi Chengyan well. A woman he would protect like this had to be someone important, and the way he was holding her was rather intimate. It didn't look like the way one treated a mere friend.
Guan Yuanbai understood immediately. He smiled faintly. "Need any help? I can have someone take you through another exit."
Qi Chengyan had deliberately put his arm around Guan Zhiyi to give Guan Yuanbai the wrong impression. Now that he'd achieved exactly that, he answered directly, "No need. We'll just take the elevator. The car's already waiting."
"All right, then."
Ding.
The elevator arrived just then.
Qi Chengyan led Guan Zhiyi inside and said to Guan Yuanbai, "We'll head out first."
Guan Yuanbai had no reason to suspect otherwise. "See you."
---
Author's Note:
Guan Yuanbai Encyclopedia: He's ridiculously capable, but when it comes to his little sister, let's just say he's been fooled by Qi Chengyan more times than he'd care to count (◕‿◕)
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