Chapter 80: I Advise You to Be Willful!

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After the incident, today’s activities weren’t postponed; everything wrapped up around ten o’clock. Many customers didn’t get to taste the dishes made by the celebrities. Zhang Ya had already been escorted out of the inn, and now the production team was on guard against her. Tonight’s events quickly spread, given that the female lead was involved.

Lin Ze posted a lengthy essay, helping everyone analyze the situation. For example, Zhang Ya’s company, the timing of Zhang Yang’s new song release, and the fact that both share the surname Zhang—raising questions about Zhang Ya’s relationship to a certain Chairman Zhang. Combined with other leaked videos, in which Zhang Ya kept shouting Lin Ze’s name in the hallway...

“Could she be Chairman Zhang’s illegitimate daughter?”
“Zhang Yang’s sister?”
“If so, Chairman Zhang really favors his son. He gives Zhang Yang all the resources, but look at Zhang Ya—she’s got the looks and figure, yet after all this time, she’s still a minor celebrity.”
“Chairman Zhang’s college classmates spill the tea—check it out!”

Finally, rival camps made their move, and several groups of paid commenters began attacking each other online. Usually, they target each other’s artists, but this time the attacks were directed straight at Chairman Zhang himself.

Director Li, for one, couldn’t stop grinning. This time, the target was Chairman Zhang personally—a satisfying blow!

Meanwhile, Chairman Zhang sat in his office, staring at his computer screen, which now displayed a spiderweb of cracks.

What on earth are these people doing?

Li Xiangyu, a useless failure who only makes things worse.
Zhang Ya, who nearly broke me—how could she be as incompetent as that other waste?
Is there really no one under my command I can rely on!?

...

As soon as the event ended, staff came to help clean up. Lin Chunshui walked past Ji Chen without either of them glancing at the other. Su Zitan, following Lin Chunshui, gave Lin Ze a meaningful look. The other two female celebrities trailed behind Lin Chunshui. The male celebrities gathered around Ji Chen, while Zhao Funing was busy outside at the barbecue cart.

“What are you guys doing?” Ji Chen looked around, puzzled. “I’m fine, really. If you need to rest, rest. Why are you all sitting here with me?”

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He said he was fine, but he clearly wasn’t.

“We’ve been busy all night; let’s eat and drink a bit,” Lin Ze said, bringing out some beer from the restaurant. By now, Zhao Funing had grilled some skewers, which they took upstairs to the room, sitting on the balcony overlooking the Erhai Lake.

After eating two skewers, Ji Chen, feeling gloomy, grabbed a bottle of beer and drained it in one gulp. He exhaled deeply after finishing it all.

“I always thought the only issue between us was the child.” He finally spoke—what mattered wasn’t that he wouldn’t open up, but that he’d stay silent in this state, unwilling to say anything.

Hearing him speak, Lin Ze handed him a skewer from the table.

Chen Weiguo bit into a skewer and took a sip of beer. At his age, he couldn’t drink as boldly as Ji Chen.

“What’s wrong? I feel like something’s really off with you this time. Neither of you said much, but now you’re ignoring each other?”

Ji Chen took another swig, then said, “I never understood why people say there’s a relationship crisis in middle age. Now I get it.”

While Ji Chen spoke, Lin Ze chatted with Su Zitan about what had happened.

...

“Zitan, be honest—if Lin Ze were upstairs, hugged and embraced in a bath towel by that person, wouldn’t you feel jealous and angry?”

Lin Chunshui sat on the bed, her lips pursed, eyes red. Despite singing bold prairie songs, she was still a girl who needed comforting.

Su Zitan considered it and nodded, “Of course I’d be jealous, probably a bit angry too. But I wouldn’t be mad at Lin Ze—I’d be upset with Zhang Ya instead.”

“Right, I’m not angry at Ji Chen either. I just feel jealous and a little angry. But look at Ji Chen—he didn’t say a word, just turned and left, leaving me here alone…”

Lin Chunshui wiped away her tears with her hand.

“You feel like he doesn’t care about you?” Pei Xue cut straight to the heart of the matter.

“Mm…” Lin Chunshui thought for a moment. “Pretty much.”

“But your tone was really cold. I was standing nearby and heard it clearly—I barely dared to speak. Ji Chen was so cautious, yet you spoke like that?”

“Do you often get angry with him like this?” Bai Qiong, who’d been listening, finally understood.

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Lin Chunshui nodded shyly.

Bai Qiong, having been through this herself, handed her a tissue. “You’re in your forties, but you’re still acting like a child, throwing tantrums.”

Su Zitan glanced at her phone; Lin Ze had already sent the reason for Ji Chen’s anger.

“Sis, think about it—when Ji Chen’s upset, the first thing he does isn’t anything else; he comes to you, nervous and worried, but you respond like that.”

Su Zitan and Pei Xue were rational, not the kind to stir up drama like some so-called best friends who spout all sorts of nonsense. In terms of time spent together, Su Zitan and Lin Ze had been together as much as anyone else.

Wrong is wrong, and Pei Xue was encouraging Su Zitan to see that.

...

“I’m tired. I feel exhausted,” Ji Chen said, like a camel finally broken by the last straw, lying flat on the floor, unwilling to get up.

“She even gets mad at me for leaving the charger on the bed. Every time she’s angry, I have to coax her for an hour or two. All I did was go from the living room to the bedroom, toss the charger on the bed, then go to the bathroom.”

Ji Chen picked up a cooled skewer from the table and chewed it mechanically.

Lin Ze could see the struggle in his eyes.

“Ji, honestly, relationships require tolerance,” Lin Ze said, clinking glasses with Ji Chen.

“This time, we have to make sure Sister Lin realizes her mistake. Whatever happens, happens—life demands mutual understanding.”

On one side, they encouraged tolerance; on the other, they urged the one who’d always tolerated to be selfish for once.

Mutual understanding and mutual tolerance—this is the essence of life and love.

“Alright! This time, I’m going to make her coax me for an hour. If she doesn’t…”

“Then we’ll divorce!”