Chapter 55: Fifty-Five Fires

Yan Duo was doing this for the first time and had no experience. She followed the methods netizens on Baidu recommended to please Ji Ran, and Ji Ran’s Her reaction also surprised her — even through the quilt she could clearly hear the heavy, muffled groan that escaped his throat.

Because Ji Ran was unusually excited, Yan Duo, who had been a bit “reluctant,” couldn’t worry about much else and worked harder, following the online advice. She didn’t know how long it had been when Ji Ran suddenly pushed her away and wrapped himself in a large roll of paper.

Yan Duo regained her vision and stood there dazedly watching Ji Ran for a long time without moving; the corner of her mouth couldn’t help twitching again and again. Didn’t this seem to have happened once this afternoon?

After tossing the tissue away, Ji Ran didn’t offer any explanation; he grabbed Yan Duo and began kissing her. Yan Duo, not one to be polite, promptly returned the strange taste from her mouth to Ji Ran.

The next afternoon, Ji Ran drove Yan Duo to the Fan residence, and along the way he kept worryingly reminding her to be careful in everything.

After they made their relationship public, Ji Ran no longer held back at all; he wasn’t even afraid of the media photographing them, and became much more casual in his words and actions.

“Keep the talisman I gave you last night with you, and make sure you follow the precautions I told you about.”

As she was getting out of the car, Ji Ran kept babbling, which Yan Duo found quite amusing. She turned the jade pendant hanging around her neck out to show him and said, “Don’t worry, I remember.”

Ji Ran wasn’t the superstitious type, but for some reason last night he had remembered a friend from years ago who went mad after attending a funeral. He’d spent half an hour online, handed her a jade pendant, and told her over and over never to speak certain words, looking especially anxious. Yan Duo could only go along with him to put him at ease.

When they reached the base of the company building, Yan Duo waved goodbye to Ji Ran and went upstairs alone.

Ji Ran watched Yan Duo’s back until it disappeared completely, then turned the car around and drove off.

When Yan Duo arrived at Qi Sixian’s office, Qi Sixian was already waiting for her.

Qi Sixian appraised Yan Duo’s makeup and outfit. She was wearing a black coat and matching high heels, her face almost bare of makeup, her lips a pale pink close to her natural color; there wasn’t a single bright color on her. Qi Sixian nodded inwardly.

“You’re sticking with me the whole time. Don’t wander off.”

Yan Duo gave a helpless, amused smile—this wasn’t a playground; how was she supposed to wander off?

She thought a moment more—Sister Qi was especially superstitious about feng shui, and she was probably worried—so she nodded seriously. “Mm, I understand.”

After speaking, the two set off. The funeral home wasn’t far from the company; it took less than half an hour to get there.

Yan Duo got out of the car with Qi Sixian and they walked toward the funeral hall. When they found the Fan family’s memorial hall, she bowed to the portrait and was then led aside to sit by the family.

Looking around, Yan Duo noticed that many people were present, but few had come from the company. She glanced again at Fan Xian—she hadn’t seen him in nearly two months, and he looked much thinner than before; he must have had a hard time recently.

Yan Duo didn’t look any longer, but as she was about to withdraw her gaze, she realized someone was staring at her. When she turned, she met a rather unfriendly look—the eyes belonged to the woman she had seen linking arms with Fan Xian in the company elevator earlier, presumably his wife. Yan Duo casually averted her eyes and did not meet hers.

After sitting for a while, just as Yan Duo felt her whole body shiver with cold, Fan Xian came over with the woman who had just exchanged a look with Yan Duo to offer his thanks. hongteowd.com

Fan Xian said a few polite words to the two of them; after Yan Duo murmured “my condolences,” she followed Qi Sixian away.

Stepping out of the mourning hall, Qi Sixian felt Yan Duo’s icy hand and said, “Go home and take a hot bath and you’ll be fine.”

Yan Duo nodded, not thinking much of it; it was already chilly, and sitting still would naturally make one cold.

After the two got into the car, Qi Sixian said to Yan Duo, “Once the funeral is over, Fan Xian will officially take over the Fan Corporation.”

Yan Duo felt a twinge of doubt — Fan Xian’s father wasn’t that old, so why would he retire?

Qi Sixian saw what she meant and smiled, “Officially they say Mr. Fan was deeply devoted to his late wife; after she passed away he became inconsolable and fell ill from grief, so he took early retirement.”

Yan Duo heard this and sensed there was more to it, and responded, “So what’s the inside story?”

Qi Sixian sneered, “The inside story is that Fan Xian’s mother hadn’t died yet, but Boss Fan brought his mistress—who he kept on the side—into the house, which directly caused Fan Xian’s mother to vomit blood and worsened her condition.”

Yan Duo couldn’t help curling her lip when she heard that. The entertainment industry is full of chaos, and the thing Yan Duo despises most is people like that.

“So Fan Xian wrested power for himself?”

Qi Sixian answered, “Sort of — he also relied on his wife’s family’s influence.”

Yan Duo nodded, not thinking much of it.

Qi Sixian turned to look at her, “His wife is close friends with Chu Tian, and she doesn’t like you either.”

Many people knew that Fan Xian liked Yan Duo; as long as someone was magnanimous, they wouldn’t do anything to her. But his current wife was petty — unless she threw a fit, she didn’t feel like herself. A few days ago, Qi Sixian nearly came to blows with her over something involving Yan Duo.

Yan Duo thought of those eyes at the funeral hall and said, “I saw it.”

Qi Sixian sighed, “His wife will also be taking a position at Fan’s.”

Yan Duo was stunned for a few seconds, then understood what Qi Sixian meant.

When the car stopped again beneath the Fan building, Qi Sixian said, “Over the next year or so, I’ll do everything I can to help you get more jobs. When the term is up, don’t renew your contract.”

Fortunately, Yan Duo’s original contract with the Fan family wasn’t long, so once she stepped out of that small temple, she would have much more room to grow.

Yan Duo sat in the car with her head bowed, motionless and silent, a faint sadness showing in her expression.

Qi Sixian teased her with a smile, “What, you don’t want to leave the Fan family?”

She believed Yan Duo didn’t love Fan Xian, but after all they had known each other for years, and Fan Xian had indeed treated her well. It was understandable that Yan Duo would be reluctant to leave—she might never find such a good boss again.

Yan Duo looked at Qi Sixian with reddened eyes: “Sister, I can’t bear to let you go.”

Qi Sixian looked at Yan Duo, feeling a pang in his heart — how could she ever truly be willing to let her go.

“There are no banquets that don’t come to an end; if you keep in touch with me often from now on, I’ll be perfectly content.”

After getting out of Qi Sixian’s car, Yan Duo got into Ji Ran’s car.

Ji Ran looked at Yan Duo’s sullen expression and asked her, “What’s wrong?”

But inwardly she felt a sting of bitterness and thought: Is this sympathy because he saw that Fan Xian had lost his mother?

Yan Duo sighed, “I feel a bit reluctant to part with Sister Qi.”

Yan Duo felt there was no need to keep this from Ji Ran, so she told him, verbatim, what Qi Sixian had said to her.

After Ji Ran finished listening, his eyes brightened, but he said, “Qi Sixian is indeed pretty good to you.”

Yan Duo sighed again, “She really is my biological older sister.”

Find the best, most suitable roles for her, never do anything against her wishes, even if it meant offending the Fan family to help her—he considered her in everything, always thinking ahead. Yan Duo felt that if her brother were her manager, he would probably be no different.

After a while, Ji Ran asked her, “Are you really planning not to renew the contract?”

Yan Duo didn’t speak. She wouldn’t take the final step; she didn’t want to tear things apart with Fan Xian, but since Sister Qi had directly suggested that she leave, Yan Duo felt that the Fan family probably truly had no place for her anymore.

Ji Ran saw that she remained silent; his expression showed no hint of difficulty, which meant she had likely already decided to leave. His mind immediately brightened. He had been in the industry for ten years, and the various resources and connections at his disposal were no less than the ones the Fan family had given Yan Duo. Even without Fan Xian and Qi Sixian, Yan Duo’s career would still shine brilliantly—perhaps even more smoothly.

With the two rivals—a man and a woman—”removed,” Ji Ran felt Yan Duo’s project could very well get underway ahead of schedule.

Back home, Ji Ran pushed Yan Duo into the bathroom, then soaked all the clothes she had taken off in water with pomelo leaves and washed them.

After showering and changing into another set of clean clothes, Yan Duo finally felt her whole body warm again. Coming downstairs for a drink, she unexpectedly saw Ji Size, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Ouch, Yan Xue…” Before the words were finished, she received Ji Ran’s displeased

At the sight, Ji Size hurriedly corrected himself, “Auntie, hello.”

Yan Duo smiled and asked him, “Long time no see, what brings you here?”

Ji Size chuckled twice, turned to look at Ji Ran, and said, “Isn’t this wanting to debut? Hoping little uncle can help out.”

Yan Duo understood—Ji Size was hoping Ji Ran would introduce him to some resources!

“Aren’t you going to sign with an agency?”

If he signed with an agency, of course the company would fight for roles for him and provide every favorable condition for his debut.

Ji Size replied naturally, “My uncle already has a studio that’s as good as an agency. Why would I go out of my way to sell myself to one?”

Yan Duo was momentarily speechless; there was some truth to that. Although Ji Ran’s studio couldn’t match the scale of an agency, it had its share of talented people, and in a sense it was hardly any worse than an agency.

Ji Sizé didn’t stay long at Ji Ran’s house; after having dinner and getting Ji Ran’s promise, he left immediately.

After the meal, while Yan Duo sipped rose tea to aid digestion, Ji Ran glanced at her and asked, “About helping Ji Sizé, do you have anything you want to say?”

They’re family; helping each other is what they should do. What would she possibly want to say?

Yan Duo didn’t understand why he would ask that, but she thought for a moment and replied, “You’re pretty good to this nephew of yours.”

Ji Ran took a sip of tea and coaxed gently, “Anything else?”

Yan Duo tilted her head and looked at him, “Why don’t you give me a hint?”

Ji Ran was taken aback—how could he possibly be the one to remind his own wife that she could stay at her own company from now on and didn’t have to work herself to the bone for anyone else?

“It’s okay.”

Yan Duo heard this and didn’t think any more about it.

That night, as the two were getting ready for bed, Ji Ran wanted to do something and suddenly remembered last night’s matter, so he asked Yan Duo, “About last night, who did you learn that from?”

Yan Duo’s eyes darted about; she turned away to face her back to Ji Ran and said, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Ji Ran: “You really don’t understand?”

Yan Duo held her ground and wouldn’t budge, “I don’t understand.”

“Do you want me to keep reminding you?”

Yan Duo was driven to the edge by Ji Ran, spun around and quickly covered Ji Ran’s mouth, “Can you not talk, okay?”

Ji Ran kissed her palm once then let go of her hand, “Then tell me.”

By this point, Yan Duo couldn’t keep pretending any longer and spoke frankly: “I didn’t ask anyone — there’s plenty on Baidu.”

Ji Ran couldn’t help but laugh, “Your learning skills are impressive.”

Yan Duo’s face flushed in an instant, and she turned to question him: “Then how did you learn it? By watching pornos?”

Ji Ran looked straight at her: “Looking at you, I learned it without a teacher.”

Yan Duo’s heart thudded wildly under Ji Ran’s gaze. She reached out and covered his eyes with her hand, saying, “Don’t look.”

Ji Ran pinned her beneath him. “Impossible — I haven’t had my fill yet.”

Yan Duo: ……