Chapter 35: Family Drama 101

Chapter 35: Family Drama 101

(I wasn't satisfied with the previous chapter, so I rewrote it, darlings. The ending of the previous version might not connect well with this one.)

Jing Yi and Li Wenzhao had just returned from the suburbs when they ran into Li Xu and Li Ting, who had been missing for several days, right at the front door.

Li Xu had lost quite a bit of weight; his cheeks were slightly sunken, and dark stubble had grown on his chin. His mental state was quite poor.

Jing Yi peeked out from behind Li Wenzhao to take a look.

What’s going on here?

This wasn’t in the original!

"Big brother..." Li Xu looked dejected, "She won’t forgive or accept me."

Jing Yi shrank back, "Oh, a broken heart."

Li Wenzhao pushed the inquisitive head back behind him, "Miss Xie?"

Li Ting sighed, "Originally, Miss Xie went to the mountains for inspiration, but Second Brother chased after her across a great distance. As a result, he angered her. Now she wants to stay and teach in the local area and refuses to come back. On the way back, Second Brother was trapped in a landslide for several hours and came out looking like this."

"Second," Li Wenzhao said calmly, "Go home, clean up, and get some rest. We’ll talk after you’ve slept."

Li Xu, with his head hanging low, said nothing. Eventually, Li Ting helped him back to his room.

Li Wenzhao pulled out the person hiding behind him, "Why are you hiding back there?"

"The second young master’s in a foul mood," Jing Yi explained.

Li Wenzhao raised an eyebrow, "So?"

Jing Yi said smoothly, "I’m well-fed and glowing. I was afraid it would upset the second young master."

Li Wenzhao seemed to chuckle softly, "Second Brother isn’t that petty."

Jing Yi nodded in agreement.

Well, right now, he looks completely drained.

·

Having spent the whole day outside, Jing Yi was very worried that Li Wenzhao would move his special bed. He hurried back to his room to find the bed still in place, just as it was when he left.

Relieved, Jing Yi changed into clean clothes and flopped onto the bed, burying himself in it.

He was satisfied.

Dinner was half an hour earlier than usual because the other two young masters had returned. Li Xu was still in a pitiful state, so Aunt Fang specially made a pot of black chicken soup, with the entire meal focused on nourishment.

However, Li Xu had no appetite and ate at a snail’s pace.

Li Wenzhao and Jing Yi had eaten their fill outside. The young butler had a good appetite and found everything delicious. He even ate a little more than he intended and ended up full. He drank some soup and didn’t pick up his chopsticks again.

Li Ting, having dug through the wilderness for hours, was quite hungry. Seeing that Li Wenzhao had stopped eating, he asked curiously, "Big brother, why aren’t you eating? Doesn’t it suit your taste?"

"No," Li Wenzhao said, "Jing Yi and I ate our fill outside."

Li Ting snorted, "Are you sure he came back because he was full?"

？

Li Wenzhao turned his head to look towards the end of the table.

Today's dinner was very lavish. Jing Yi picked up some grilled chicken wings, plum-flavored spare ribs, and clear-braised corn, then scooped a bowl of simmered soft black chicken soup. He sat at the table, eating so engrossed he didn’t look up.

The Li family brothers had received elite education since childhood, with strict requirements for their physique, so even when eating, their backs were straight, their postures graceful, chewing slowly while holding their bowls and chopsticks gracefully.

Unlike the young butler, who was practically shoveling food into his mouth.

Li Mingzhi was still piling more food onto Jing Yi’s plate. "Butler Jing, eat slowly. There's more."

Li Wenzhao: "..."

It seemed like his stomach and the young butler’s were on different planets.

"That's enough, young master." Jing Yi held his bowl and blocked it. "I'm stuffed."

Li Mingzhi was still unsatisfied. "I was afraid you wouldn't be able to compete with Third Brother for food, so I quickly grabbed these for you."

Li Ting: "?"

You're really my good brother.

Jing Yi felt touched. "Next time, young master. I'm full."

Li Ting looked at Jing Yi with interest and chuckled. "Butler Jing, you look more like a refugee than Second Brother."

Jing Yi: "..."

Li Shu raised his head from the dish. "...?"

After the meal, Jing Yi was so full he slumped in his chair to recover.

Li Wenzhao gave him some digestive hawthorn slices. "You never learn. You only think about stopping once you're stuffed."

Jing Yi babbled, "It's like this. Only when you're full can you think about losing weight."

Li Wenzhao: "..."

·

The weekend flew by, and it was Monday again.

As soon as Li Wenzhao and Jing Yi entered the office, Fan Ming burst in, all excited. "Mr. Li, I've figured it out!"

Jing Yi was startled. Wow, what great achievement deserved such volume.

Li Wenzhao lifted his chin and asked, "What did you find out?"

Fan Ming, with a beaming smile, said, "Shen Shubai indeed wanted to set a trap for our Li Corporation, but this time he's going to fail."

Without keeping them in suspense, Fan Ming quickly explained everything he had found out over the past few days.

After listening, Jing Yi understood. "Shen Shubai poached a disgraced artist who hadn't yet terminated his contract with Shengshi?"

Li Wenzhao, in a good mood, raised an eyebrow. He had been worried about not being able to fill the unofficial prison, afraid he'd have to wear the warden's hat forever. But unexpectedly, Shen Shubai was willing to take it over.

Fan Ming, excited, said, "That's right, poached with a high salary and paid three times the compensation to Shengshi according to the contract."

Jing Yi: Wow——

He's such a good guy.

Jing Yi blinked, incredulous: "All of them?!"

Fan Ming nodded vigorously: "Yes, all of them."

The artists being let go by Shengshi had been making a scene at the branch office, refusing to leave. But the newly promoted senior management at Shengshi had done a good job keeping everything under control, with no information leaking out.

For some reason, Shen Shubai decided to target Shengshi, trying to sabotage them from the ground up.

With no future at Shengshi, these artists would jump ship at the first opportunity. Shen Shubai, wanting to annoy Li Wenzhao, took them all in, gathering all these ticking time bombs under his wing.

The situation was so surreal that Jing Yi turned to Li Wenzhao, laughing: "So how much can we earn from this?"

Li Wenzhao did a quick mental calculation: "With over a hundred artists, termination fees times three, a conservative estimate would put it in the tens of millions."

Jing Yi was stunned: "How much?!"

Fan Ming praised: "Mr. Shen is really something, putting others before himself."

Jing Yi silently mourned for Shen Shubai for a second.

After the joke, Li Wenzhao turned serious, confirming the financial report submitted by Shengshi: "Let's not spread the word about this for now. Shen Shubai must have more moves planned after poaching these people."

Fan Ming said: "Understood."

After Fan Ming left, Jing Yi was still in shock, unable to recover: "Is it rude to just accept this money?"

Li Wenzhao turned to him: "How so?"

Jing Yi hesitated: "Should we send him a thank-you banner?"

Otherwise, this money would make us uneasy.

Li Wenzhao: "..."

He chuckled softly, "Alright, you and Secretary Fan prepare for it."

·

But Shen Shubai was impatient, and before they could even finish the banner, the real attack started.

The defected artists launched a smear campaign against Shengshi, accusing the company of corruption and exploitation, of maliciously shelving talent, and engaging in under-the-table deals… making money by forcing artists to pay termination fees, and so on. When the news hit, the internet exploded.

Since it wasn't an isolated case, but dozens of moderately famous artists jointly reporting, netizens were outraged, tearing Shengshi's official Weibo to shreds.

The conflict was about to hit the main office.

Jing Yi stared at his phone, watching the online battle: "Are we just going to watch?"

Fan Ming said: "Of course not, everything on Shengshi's side has been arranged, don't worry."

Sure enough, before long, Shengshi began to fight back, enlisting several major exposé accounts to reveal the dirt on the artists who had jumped ship, with clear, verifiable evidence.

Jing Yi scrolled through the screen: "Where did these come from?"

Fan Ming said: "Mr. Li had people investigate, originally to prepare for the terminations. Who knew Shen Shubai had to go and dig his own grave? We just handed the bombs over to him."

Jing Yi chuckled uncontrollably, "Secretary Fan, you've become quite the comedian lately."

Fan Ming humbly replied, "After spending so much time with Butler Jing, I had to learn something."

Jing Yi's gaze turned sharp in an instant. So, he was aiming to match his talent!

Secretary Fan, you're a great secretary with excellent vision!

With the involvement of the gossip account, the internet became even more lively. Netizens were going wild, even more so than during the previous five-person scandal.

In just a few hours, the jumped-ship artists were all over the internet, with numerous comments flooding in—

[Vocal!]

[I've never seen so many celebrities have a meltdown in my life, is it the end of the world?]

[The meltdown of five people the other day was shocking enough, but now we have a Meltdown 101?]

[Come on, let's see which die-hard fan has cracked.]

[Let's do a livestream of this meltdown; I'd pay to see it!]

[Did the Shen Group go through all that trouble just to poach a bunch of criminals?]

[Shengshi is so lucky; that bomb nearly blew up in their own backyard, hahaha.]

[Mr. Shen, are you awake? Get up and share your thoughts!]

Jing Yi clutched his phone and shuffled over to Li Wenzhao, eager to share the news. "Eldest young master, look! Your former criminals are getting roasted online."

Li Wenzhao sighed, "..."

He corrected sternly, "Butler Jing, they're not my criminals anymore."

Jing Yi responded with an "Oh," and added, "They're Shen Shubai's criminals."

Remembering something, he turned back to Li Wenzhao. "Doesn't this give Officer Shu a lot more work?"

Li Wenzhao replied, "It could also be considered a merit."

After all, the seemingly plausible evidence online couldn't prove anything conclusively. Solid evidence would require the police, and Li Wenzhao had already reported it in advance.

Jing Yi was happily watching the crazy comments online when suddenly, there was a commotion outside the office, with faint sounds of Shen Shubai's frantic shouting.

The employees, having eaten melon all day, couldn't resist and gathered around to watch the drama.

Jing Yi stood on his tiptoes to get a better view from afar. Shen Shubai was furious, seemingly losing his rationality, and two burly security guards could barely hold him down.

"Li Wenzhao! Get out here!"

"You bastard, what's with sending me a congratulatory banner?"

"You're a real psycho!"

Jing Yi was shocked, "?!?"

He turned to look around.

Li Wenzhao steadied his head and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Secretary Fan," said Jing Yi, "When did he send the commemorative banner over?"

"Just now," Li Wenzhao replied.

Shen Shubai, having received the commemorative banner, was so provoked that he ran around the Li Corporation like a rabid dog, hurling insults at him.

Jing Yi asked, "Shouldn't we go over?"

Li Wenzhao, with a half-smile, said, "What for?"

Jing Yi pointed to the chaos. "The security guards can't seem to handle the frenzied Shen Shubai."

Li Wenzhao remained calm. "If that's the case, we need to replace the whole security team."

Not long after he said this, the head of security took matters into his own hands and, using both politeness and force, escorted Shen Shubai out of the company.

Jing Yi, worried, said, "I'm worried the security guards might accidentally get hurt by Shen Shubai."

Li Wenzhao reassured him, "Don't worry, Secretary Fan is on it."

Jing Yi blinked. "Are you saying they might start a fight?"

Li Wenzhao: "..."