Chapter 50: Fiftieth Day as a Salted Fish
Qin Jiaojiao hurriedly took a sip with her spoon and almost spit it out. How could a soup taste both sweet and salty at the same time? She had clearly followed the exact sequence from the video tutorial!
Seeing Qin Jiaojiao’s crestfallen expression, Yang Yutong put down her spoon and said, “Jiaojiao, you just don’t have any culinary talent. Spare yourself—and spare me too.”
Qin Jiaojiao rinsed her mouth with water and resigned herself to fate. “We’re ordering takeout.”
Lunch was settled with takeout, but thinking about the pile of groceries in the kitchen, Qin Jiaojiao felt they couldn’t go to waste. She picked up her phone and sent a message to Zhou Shaoli.
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Can I borrow the family’s private chef?】
Zhou Shaoli: 【Mention it to the housekeeper, she will arrange it for you.】
Qin Jiaojiao sent back a thank-you emoji and complained: 【I’m really not cut out for cooking. I originally wanted to make some soup for Tongtong, but it was a total failure. [crying.jpg]】
Zhou Shaoli recalled the egg fried rice she had cooked for him in Nancheng—it had been hard to swallow, but because she had made it with her own hands, he had eaten every single grain without leaving any behind.
His wife truly possessed no talent in the kitchen. Those hands of hers weren’t meant for cooking in the first place. Since they had a private chef at home, and he could cook whenever they went out to record the show without a chef or takeout, there was no need for her to cook.
Zhou Shaoli lowered his eyelids, his fingers slowly rubbing the phone screen, pondering how to comfort Qin Jiaojiao while gently steering her away from the idea of becoming a chef.
Before he could reply, Qin Jiaojiao sent another message.
【I’m never cooking again in the future.】 A sad cat emoji was attached.
Zhou Shaoli let out a quiet chuckle and texted back: 【Your hands aren’t meant for cooking.】
Feeling a faint trace of melancholy, Qin Jiaojiao asked him: 【Then what are they meant for?】
Zhou Shaoli thought about it for a moment and replied: 【Swiping cards, playing video games.】
Seeing those words, Qin Jiaojiao laughed out loud for no reason, replying resentfully: 【President Zhou, are you sure you’re not mocking me?】
Zhou Shaoli couldn’t tell if she was actually angry: 【No.】
Zhou Shaoli: 【I’m responsible for earning money to support the family, and you’re responsible for being as beautiful as a flower.】
Seeing this last sentence, Qin Jiaojiao nearly dropped her phone in shock. She wondered if Zhou Shaoli’s phone had been stolen, but reading those words made her heart feel sweet and cozy.
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Are you really Zhou Shaoli?】
The other side didn’t reply. Qin Jiaojiao put her phone down and continued watching the TV variety show. A few minutes later, the phone on the coffee table suddenly rang.
Yang Yutong glanced at it and teased, “Jiaojiao, your Golden Nugget is calling.”
Qin Jiaojiao hurriedly set down her fruit, wiped her hands, and went to the balcony to answer. “Hello?”
Zhou Shaoli’s deep, magnetic voice came through: “It’s me.”
“Mm.” Qin Jiaojiao held onto the railing, gazing into the distance. “Why did you call me? Is something wrong?”
Zhou Shaoli stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, looking down at the city’s concrete jungle, his voice soft and warm: “I sent that sentence.”
“Oh…” Qin Jiaojiao glanced back at the living room. Yang Yutong gave her a cheeky wink. Thinking of that sweet phrase, her heart uselessly skipped a beat.
A few days ago, she had still been making wild guesses and overthinking, but now she was truly certain that Zhou Shaoli liked her. However, he hadn’t explicitly confessed to her out loud.
Even though she was his wife right now, it was only a marriage in name. If he didn’t tell her directly, how could she be sure of his feelings? What if it was just a delusion she made up in her head?
Silence fell between the two, their breathing audible through the receiver.
Unable to handle the intense atmosphere, Qin Jiaojiao cleared her throat and said, “Aren’t you busy with work?”
“It’s lunch break right now,” Zhou Shaoli said flatly.
Qin Jiaojiao joked, “I thought you were so swamped with work that you didn’t take lunch breaks.”
Zhou Shaoli: “What kind of person do you take me for?”
Qin Jiaojiao thought about it. “Someone who does nothing except eat, sleep, and work?”
Zhou Shaoli had no counterargument. Zhuxing Group was overwhelmed with affairs, though recently his father had taken over some of the workload to free up time for him to record the variety show.
In the past, aside from his three daily meals, he had indeed spent basically all his time busy with work.
Only recently, while recording the variety show, had he done his best to wrap up work before clocking off, returning home to have dinner with her, and then heading to his study to handle whatever was left over afterward.
With a tinge of apology in his tone, Zhou Shaoli said, “Sorry, I’ve been too busy with work and haven’t had much time to keep you company.”
Why was this conversation sounding more and more like a wife interrogation over her husband’s work schedule, blaming him for not spending time with her?
Qin Jiaojiao quickly said, “Aiya, it’s only natural for you to be busy with work.” She caught sight of Yang Yutong’s downcast mood in the living room and added, “You get back to work. I’m going to chat with Tongtong.”
With that, she hung up, rubbed her warm face, and returned to the living room.
Seeing her come back in, Yang Yutong said, “You and Zhou Shaoli are getting closer and closer. My parents used to nag me all the time at home, telling me to marry a good husband like you…”
“Tongtong,” Qin Jiaojiao interrupted her, saying, “Don’t take what your parents say to heart. Your life doesn’t need to be compared to anyone else’s, and you shouldn’t measure your life’s value by marriage.”
Yang Yutong leaned against her shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, I’m just really lost. My acting career is lukewarm, and I don’t seem to succeed at anything I do. I’m such a failure.”
Qin Jiaojiao stroked her head and comforted her softly: “Don’t invalidate yourself just because of your parents’ critical words, okay? Tongtong, you are the one and only Yang Yutong, and you are amazing.”
She knew that no matter how much she said, it wouldn’t magically pull Yang Yutong out of her slump. Yang Yutong had to find her own ray of light and fumble through her own path to step out of the darkness.
In truth, the original host’s life had seemed just as helpless. Raised in luxury since childhood, she reached adulthood only to be paired off with wealthy young masters, picking a marriage candidate to bring business benefits to her family.
For the first time, Qin Jiaojiao pondered deeply: as a villainous female supporting character whose existence revolved around the dating variety show plotline, did the original host have her own thoughts, her own hobbies, her own dreams?
Did she ever have a choice in her life?
Sugar-coated bullets eroded a person’s willpower. If she lost all of these one day, how was she supposed to keep living?
That was why, when the original host served as the comparison group on the dating show and brought negative publicity to Zhuxing Group, she was divorced, stripped of financial support, and left with zero ability to survive in this world.
As her best friend, Yang Yutong seemed to play the role of a villainous female supporting character in someone else’s story too—unloved by her parents, used as a tool for a business marriage, living a miserable married life with no one to help her, and ultimately driven to extreme ends.
Qin Jiaojiao secretly swore in her heart that she would change all of this. She wanted to protect her family and friends, and live her own life.
Yang Yutong wallowed in self-pity. “Jiaojiao, I don’t feel like doing anything now. Anyway, I still have a ten percent stake in the Yang family’s enterprise. The annual company dividends are enough to feed me for a lifetime.”
Qin Jiaojiao looked at her with utmost seriousness. “What if your shares are gone one day?”
Yang Yutong immediately retorted, “How is that possible? The shares are under my name. As long as I don’t agree to transfer them, they’ll stay with me forever.”
“You don’t realize how ruthless business players can be,” Qin Jiaojiao cautioned her. “Do you know the most famous financial street abroad? Every day people jump off buildings, and the bankruptcy rate is as high as ninety percent. Nothing in this world stays unchanged forever—you have to hold your destiny in your own hands.”
“You’re right…” Yang Yutong murmured.
Qin Jiaojiao’s thoughts became clearer and clearer. “First, you need to pull yourself together as soon as possible and figure out how to take back the shares you gave away. Even if you can’t get them back, you must use your existing shares to secure a foothold in the Yang enterprise.”
Qin Jiaojiao asked, “Who gains the most from seeing you kicked out of the Yang family?”
Yang Yutong answered, “Yang Yuyan.”
Qin Jiaojiao nodded. “Exactly. You hole up in your apartment every day living in self-pity, and she would love nothing more than for you to stay this pathetic forever. People in a fragile mental state are the easiest to PUA. When the time comes, if your parents throw you a tiny bone, you’ll be tricked into running in circles again.”
“You’re right…” Yang Yutong gradually sat up straight and said, “I can’t keep wallowing. They all want to watch me make a fool of myself and see me kicked out to live a miserable life—well, I won’t give them the satisfaction!”
Yang Yutong pondered, “My family operates in two industries: beauty services and hotel chains. Back in school, I minored in drama. Now if I suddenly jump into the corporate world, I have zero clue how to do anything.”
Qin Jiaojiao said, “If the emperor had to do everything himself, what would be the point of having ministers?”
Yang Yutong’s mind snapped into place. “Hey, you’re right! I don’t know how, but I can spend money to hire a top-tier special assistant!”
Qin Jiaojiao nodded. “Exactly. You find a highly capable special assistant to handle things for you, guide your growth, and slowly take control of the company.”
Yang Yutong felt a bit anxious and conflicted. “But where do I find someone trustworthy and capable? I don’t understand anything—what if I get scammed?”
Qin Jiaojiao considered it calmly for a moment. “That makes sense. So we need to think carefully about where to find an executive who is both capable and reliable.”
In truth, as long as the salary was high enough, finding an exceptionally talented candidate among corporate elites wasn’t hard, but finding a fiercely loyal subordinate was indeed a challenge.
Qin Jiaojiao suddenly thought of Zhou Shaoli. Even a high-society heiress like Xu Xueqing had persistently sought Zhou Shaoli’s help; Zhuxing Group definitely possessed top-tier corporate elites like that.
Corporate elites were frequently dispatched to other companies to assist business partners—commonly known as seconded talent. Once their tenure at the partner company ended, they would return to their original corporate positions at the group.
Qin Jiaojiao’s mind branched out further. If she asked Zhou Shaoli for help, he would likely agree. However, actually entering the company meant working tirelessly every single day from then on.
“Tongtong, I can ask Zhou Shaoli to help second some talent to you, but you need to think this through carefully: do you really want to work at the Yang family’s enterprise and fight your father for control of the company?”
Yang Yutong said, “Do you know why my dad calls all the shots in our house and no one dares to disobey him? It’s because he holds the money and power, and the entire family relies on him to survive.”
“That’s why my mom and I have to walk on eggshells around him. If it weren’t for the shares my grandmother left under my name, he would have brought his outside love children home ages ago.”
After giving birth to her second child, Mother Yang’s health had deteriorated. The couple had tried multiple times for a third child without success.
Qin Jiaojiao said, “If you go to work at the company, you’ll be working 9-to-6 every day, likely traveling constantly on business trips to negotiate deals, and dealing with all kinds of corporate partners. It will be extremely exhausting and tough…”
Yang Yutong recalled her past: “As a minor celebrity like me, acting is exhausting too. The lead actors show up at six or seven, but we have to arrive one or two hours early. We have to queue up just to get our hair and makeup done on set. Small roles don’t get stunt doubles—I’ve bathed in filthy, smelly ponds in the dead of winter. If it weren’t for my passion, I would never have pushed through.”
Seeing her resolute attitude, Qin Jiaojiao held her uninjured hand and said, “Since you’ve made up your mind, I’ll go talk it over with Zhou Shaoli.”
Yang Yutong gritted her teeth fiercely. “I’m going to climb up step by step, take back the shares I lost, and kick them all out of the Yang family enterprise!”
Qin Jiaojiao clapped her hands. “Then from now on, I should call you Eldest Miss Yang—or President Yang Jr.!”
Yang Yutong laughed. “Hey beauty, give Little President Yang a smile!”
Qin Jiaojiao smiled at her, though a thought crossed her mind: Yang Yutong was pulling herself together to achieve big things, so what about her?
With Yang Yutong’s arm injured, the two nestled in the apartment without going anywhere until the third day. Feeling like she was about to go moldy inside the house, Yang Yutong received non-stop messages from a friend whose nightclub was having a grand opening, inviting her over to liven up the atmosphere. Yang Yutong agreed.
Qin Jiaojiao looked at her hand. “Are you sure you want to go to a nightclub looking like this?”
Yang Yutong had full makeup on her face, and her arm was wrapped in bandages, but it didn’t lessen her beauty in the slightest. “Yep! I’m going to hype up the crowd. Don’t worry, I won’t drink.”
“Jiaojiao, you’ve been nesting at home all this time. How long has it been since you went out to have fun? Come out with me tonight to unwind.”
After hurriedly leaving the nightclub that night, Qin Jiaojiao had never set foot in one again.
Beijing’s nightlife was colorful and vibrant; young people loved going out to party after dark. Previously, whenever her acquaintances invited her out, she had always declined.
Since Yang Yutong wanted to go out and blow off some steam, she decided to tag along to have fun and keep an eye on her best friend at the same time.
Inside the nightclub, green and red neon lights flashed wildly while deafening music thundered through the speakers. On the dance floor, sexy men and women swayed their bodies, and the bar area and private booths were packed with people.
“Eldest Miss Yang, you’ve finally arrived!” the nightclub owner rushed up to greet her.
Yang Yutong said, “I came to support your grand opening even with an injured arm—that’s plenty of face, right?”
“Thank you so much! And who is this lady beside you?” the owner asked.
Yang Yutong: “My friend, Qin Jiaojiao.”
The owner greeted them warmly with a smile: “Having both of you young misses grace us with your presence makes my humble shop shine with splendor! I’ve arranged a booth for you, follow me.”
Since they were needed to liven up the atmosphere, honored guests were placed in the VIP booth area, where everyone below could see who was sitting in the high-end booths.
Yang Yutong and Qin Jiaojiao sat down in the booth.
Yang Yutong said, “I won’t be drinking, bring me a glass of juice. Just get her a fruit cocktail…”
“OK, no problem,” the owner said with a grin. “I’ll have a server bring them over right away.”
Yang Yutong leaned toward Qin Jiaojiao’s ear and said, “The decor here is pretty good, not inferior to Meise at all.”
Meise was the nightclub Qin Jiaojiao used to frequent. Qin Jiaojiao nodded. “It really is nice.”
Sitting in the VIP area watching the men and women on the dance floor sway and dance to the music gave a satisfying, high-above feeling of enjoying a wild chaos.
From the neighboring booth, a voice suddenly drifted over: “Young Master Wu, isn’t that Yang Yutong next to us? What a coincidence, she’s here too.”
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