Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Chi Li's smile finally dropped. He glared icily at Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen for a moment before saying, "My mother is in good health. She doesn't need this."

He pushed the gift back to Ye Weian. "You should keep it for yourself."

Everyone could sense the tension between Ye Weian and Chi Li. Recalling the previous conflicts between Boqing and the Ye family, the guests watched with keen interest.

Ye Weian took the gift box back and glanced at Chi Li indifferently. "Suit yourself. I've got an even bigger gift for you later."

Chi Li stared at him, then suddenly signaled a server for two glasses of wine. "In that case, thank you. Let me propose a toast to you."

Ye Weian took his time accepting the glass of red wine from him.

The system anxiously warned, "Host, that's definitely drugged! Don't drink it!"

Ye Weian replied calmly, "I know."

Chi Li thought he was clever—drugging the wine at the start of the banquet and toasting him in front of everyone. If Ye Weian refused to drink, it would make him look bad.

Ye Weian raised an eyebrow.

But he was never one to be manipulated.

He swirled the glass, then suddenly spilled the wine on his own clothes. "Ah, my apologies. My hand slipped."

Chi Li: "..."

The others: "..."

Only Zhou Huaichen took a handkerchief from his suit pocket and gently wiped Ye Weian’s clothes. "It’s alright. You only spilled it on yourself, not on anyone else."

His tone sounded as though Ye Weian had done something praiseworthy.

Everyone: "..."

This was the first time everyone had seen the two of them in a public display of affection. Not only were they flaunting their relationship, but they were also deliberately rubbing it in everyone's faces. Didn’t they see Chi Li’s face darkening nearby?

Chi Li stared at the stain on Ye Weian’s suit and said, "President Ye, why don’t you go upstairs and change? I’ll have the butler take you up."

Ye Weian glanced at him.

—"It’s happening."

—"Lin Chang must be upstairs."

Earlier, Lin Chang had received an invitation to perform at the banquet and informed Ye Weian in advance. Knowing about the rivalry between the Ye family and Boqing, Lin Chang had wanted to decline. But Ye Weian told him to accept and found time to meet with him.

Ye Weian nodded. "Alright, I’ll go change."

As the Zombie King, as long as he wasn’t drugged, even if the Chi family sent all their bodyguards, they'd be no match for him.

A triumphant smile flickered in Chi Li’s eyes. He immediately called the butler over. "Take President Ye upstairs."

Ye Weian prepared to follow the butler.

But Zhou Huaichen caught his wrist.

Ye Weian met his gaze.

Neither of them spoke.

After a few seconds, Ye Weian gently patted Zhou Huaichen’s hand. "I’ll be right back after changing."

They had discussed the plan beforehand. Zhou Huaichen didn't want him to take the risk alone, but Ye Weian insisted on going through with it. Naturally, Zhou Huaichen was worried.

Chi Li watched with a mocking smile. "President Zhou and President Ye are so close—how touching. But President Zhou, there’s no need to be so worried about President Ye. He’s just changing clothes. Are you afraid some temptress will steal him away?"

Zhou Huaichen shot him a cold look.

Chi Li was intimidated by his sharp gaze and snorted lightly, saying nothing more.

Ye Weian scratched Zhou Huaichen’s palm. "Be good."

Everyone: "..."

What was with President Ye’s tone, as if coaxing a lover? Could it be that President Zhou was the bottom?

The guests were momentarily taken aback, their eyes darting between Zhou Huaichen and Ye Weian.

Zhou Huaichen ignored their curious looks. He simply stroked Ye Weian’s cheek and finally let him go, saying softly, "Go ahead."

Ye Jia, who had been obediently staying by Zhu Hongke’s side, immediately wanted to follow.

He didn’t understand why his gefu wasn't accompanying Ye Weian upstairs. This was the Chi family, and Chi Li had previously framed his brother!

But before he could take a step, Zhu Hongke held his shoulder. "Don’t move."

Ye Jia glared at him unhappily. "I’m going with my brother!"

Zhu Hongke leaned close to his ear and whispered so only he could hear, "Don’t mess up your brother’s plans."

As a laid-back person suddenly brought to such a grand banquet, Ye Jia was naturally nervous, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t clever.

He immediately quieted down.

Watching Ye Weian follow the butler upstairs, Chi Li’s smile reappeared.

He held his mother’s arm and scanned the banquet hall. "The banquet is about to begin. I’ve prepared some performances as an opening act."

With that, he signaled to a servant nearby.

A large screen appeared on the stage behind him, showing an MV of a veteran singer. The singer soon took the stage with backup dancers, ready to perform.

But the moment the microphone was turned on, the screen cut to show Ye Weian pushing open the door of a second-floor lounge.

The guests were first confused, then began murmuring among themselves.

Chi Li didn’t explain or stop the display. Instead, he watched the screen with a cold, sinister smile.

Lin Chang had already taken the bait and was lying on the lounge sofa.

The drug was potent—Lin Chang would pounce on anyone, even a dog.

Chi Li was eagerly anticipating Ye Weian being forced by Lin Chang.

Zhou Huaichen stared at the screen without a word, his expression unreadable.

The butler pushed open the lounge door and said to Ye Weian, "The formal attire is hanging in the wardrobe. Please help yourself to a set. I won’t be going in."

Ye Weian grunted and pushed open the lounge door.

As soon as he stepped into the lounge, the door clicked shut and locked. He pretended not to notice and looked over at the sofa.

Lin Chang was lying there, his face flushed, like he’d been drugged.

But Ye Weian didn’t seem concerned. He walked over and said, "Get up."

Lin Chang bolted up from the sofa, complaining, "What does Chi Li gain by using such sleazy tactics to frame me and you? It’s not like I like you or you like me. He should’ve just framed me with Director Qi instead."

Ye Weian: "?"

Qi Zhangbai, who was in the banquet hall on the first floor: "?"

Qi Zhangbai was the second son of the Qi family and had attended the banquet with his elder brother, Qi Zhangsong.

When he saw Lin Chang appear on the screen, his face flushed and clearly not looking right, his brows furrowed tightly.

He had just breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Lin Chang was fine, but then Lin Chang’s words made him choke.

He felt the familiar guests around him sneaking looks at him.

Even his elder brother looked over at him.

Qi Zhangbai: "..."

Chi Li stared at the screen, disbelief all over his face.

Wasn’t Lin Chang supposed to be out of it? Why was he fine? And Lin Chang even said he wanted to frame Ye Weian...

He wanted to immediately send a servant to check the situation and cut the feed.

But Zhou Huaichen suddenly stopped his hand and said calmly, "President Chi, let’s continue watching."

The guests around them were all watching intently.

Chi Li couldn’t openly shake off Zhou Huaichen in front of everyone, so he could only clench his jaw, staying silent, a bad feeling growing in his heart.

...

Ye Weian looked at Lin Chang and asked, "You didn’t drink anything sketchy, right?"

Lin Chang shook his head, sounding excited, "A servant from the Chi family tried to force me to drink a glass of drugged red wine, but the bodyguards you assigned me are really tough. They took the servant out." He pointed to his face. "It’s makeup. Looks real, right? Like I’ve been drugged?"

Ye Weian: "Hmm."

Lin Chang slumped onto the sofa. "President Ye, didn’t you say Chi Li started a livestream? Should we say hello to the viewers?" He waved at the pinhole camera on the opposite wall. "Can everyone watching see me?"

There were many viewers in the livestream who had been watching since Ye Weian entered the room. After hearing the conversation between him and Lin Chang, they blew up the chat with comments.

"What’s happening?"

"So someone is trying to frame President Ye and Lin Chang? Who? President Chi of Boqing?"

"Lin Chang said his red wine was drugged. Is that true?"

"Wow, the president of Boqing pulling such a shady move to frame someone? That’s so low!"

"Who do you think started this livestream? I just checked—it’s a burner account."

"It’s obvious it must be President Chi! I came here from the trends. President Chi must have paid to trend on purpose to make us watch President Ye and Lin Chang after they were drugged. Guess his plan backfired."

"Am I the only one stuck on Lin Chang’s line about 'framing me with Director Qi'?"

"Hey, up there, even though I think it’s fun to ship, our focus should be on President Chi framing President Ye and Lin Chang."

"Right! If President Chi is really behind this, I hope he gets the punishment he deserves!"

Lin Chang had recently built a fanbase on "Today's EyeOpener" for his humorous personality, and many fans knew that Lemon Entertainment was pushing him early.

Seeing that Lin Chang had almost been drugged, they blew up the chat angrily: "President Chi, explain this to Lin Chang!"

...

Chi Li’s face fell.

He couldn’t see the viewers’ comments, but he knew the jig was up.

The moment Ye Weian pushed open the lounge door, the servant had started the livestream as instructed, and he had arranged for it to trend. Many viewers had poured into the livestream.

He had expected everyone to see Lin Chang ripping Ye Weian’s clothes off, but instead, things didn’t go as planned. Instead, Ye Weian and Lin Chang were calling him out...

He stopped caring about Zhou Huaichen beside him or the strange looks from the guests. He turned and snapped at the servant, "Shut off the livestream!"

The servant immediately tried but messed with it forever, yet the livestream continued.

Chi Li was furious. "It’s just turning off a livestream! Why are you taking so long?!"

The servant, pale-faced, whispered, "...It won’t turn off."

The system scoffed coldly in Ye Weian’s mind: "You think you can start a livestream whenever you want and shut it off whenever you want? Do you take me, the world’s best hacker, for nothing?"

Ye Weian praised the system: "Good job."

System: (*￣︶￣)

Ye Weian looked at the camera and said, "Chi Li, I said I’d give you a big gift. I hope you like it."

He played a recording—Chi Li pinning the blame for two deaths onto his assistant Ding Yiming, and Chi Li plotting with Yan Qing to take down the Ye family—which was broadcast live.

The social media crashed.

The guests in the banquet hall on the first floor were also stunned.

Ye Weian waved a bottle of fast-acting heart medication. "Mrs. Chi, I think you might need this."

Author's Note: Everyone, I added some live chat comments~

Aww, I have something to tell you all. Starting today, I’ll only be able to post about 3,000 words a day, still at 9 a.m.~

Thank you all so much for your support. I’ll keep it up!