When they arrived at Athena, Ou Yunchen used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to let Ah Cai go find Wang Ziran first.
Sister Hong was already waiting for him in the office.
Sister Hong: "Why did you bring Young Master Cai here?"
Ou Yunchen: "He's here to see Wang Ziran."
Sister Hong: "But he looked furious, not like he was here to have fun. Could something have happened?"
Ou Yunchen: "I hope he's not too rough."
Sister Hong immediately got up, intending to go check, but Ou Yunchen stopped her.
Ou Yunchen: "Their private matter."
Sister Hong still felt uneasy, but seeing Ou Yunchen's attitude, it seemed he actually wanted them to fight.
Although she couldn't figure out what Ou Yunchen was planning, and knew that whatever he did, he had a purpose, she could only turn a blind eye and let the two young men have a fight in the bar.
Sister Hong: "By the way, that paparazzi Fan Zhijie really does have a daughter in prison."
-- Ou Yunchen's flashback --
That day, the paparazzi had all gone home. The office area outside was dark, and only Fan Zhijie remained in the office, smoking.
Fan Zhijie, watching a video on his phone screen, seemed to hear some movement outside. He called out "Who's there?" a few times without a response, thinking he'd misheard. He returned to his chair to admire videos of beautiful women.
But just as his butt got warm, there was a loud crash from outside, startling him so much he almost dropped his phone.
Fan Zhijie pulled open the door, shouting, "Who! Who's there!"
Suddenly, the window was blown open by the wind, sending countless documents scattering around the room.
As soon as Fan Zhijie closed the window, he felt someone standing behind him.
The timid Fan Zhijie was so scared he couldn't move. Before he could slowly turn his head, a chair flew towards him at high speed, and when it hit his knees, he fell onto it.
Fan Zhijie: "Ah!!! A ghost!!!"
Fan Zhijie tried to get up and run, but he felt someone press down on his shoulders, pinning him to the chair so he couldn't move.
Fan Zhijie: "Amitabha, Virgin Mary, Allah, God bless, Amen..."
Ou Yunchen: "You believe in quite a few deities."
Fan Zhijie quickly opened his eyes and looked up to see Ou Yunchen, smoking a cigarette, staring at his forehead.
Fan Zhijie: "O, O, O, Mr. Ou, it's you. You scared me to death. I thought it was a ghost."
Ou Yunchen: "Did you do something bad? Are you afraid of ghosts knocking at midnight?"
Fan Zhijie: "Heaven and earth as my witness, I'm an upright person."
Ou Yunchen: "Is that so? Were the secret recordings, trailing, and reports filled with baseless accusations, fabricated facts, and sensationalized narratives all born from your upright conscience?"
Fan Zhijie: "Mr. Ou, that's all for work..."
Ou Yunchen leaned his elbow on Fan Zhijie's shoulder, exhaling smoke rings above his head.
Ou Yunchen: "Selling information to Yan Shizong, was that also for work?"
Fan Zhijie trembled in fear. He knew this day would come, but he hadn't expected it so soon!
Fan Zhijie immediately knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.
Fan Zhijie: "Mr. Ou, I wouldn't dare betray you even if you lent me a hundred courage. I was desperate. I know I was wrong. Please spare me!"
Ou Yunchen pulled up a chair and sat down, crossing his legs.
Ou Yunchen: "But you did manage to help Yan Shizong find the child's father, and you exposed me as well."
Fan Zhijie: "Yan Shizong knew the paternity test was sent out from my end, so he found me immediately..."
"Mr. Ou, as you know, I was previously assigned a task by him. I received a lot of money to suppress Bai Mingyu. I couldn't take the money and not do the job..."
Ou Yunchen: "I know that, but you switched sides..."
Fan Zhijie: "That wasn't it. You asked me to switch sides..."
Ou Yunchen: "I mean, you betrayed me."
Fan Zhijie knelt at Ou Yunchen's feet, pleading desperately, looking more sincere than he ever had.
Fan Zhijie: "I had no choice. If I didn't tell Yan Shizong about my friend Ah Ming's situation, he would have killed my child!"
Ou Yunchen: "You have a child?"
Fan Zhijie: "My child with my ex-wife... Mr. Ou, I beg you. You didn't suffer any loss, and Bai Mingyu also performed surgery to save Ah Ming's child. Just pretend you don't know and let me go..."
Ou Yunchen: "I didn't suffer any loss? It seems you don't know how Yan Shizong dealt with me."
Fan Zhijie: "I really don't know. I wasn't involved in anything!"
"Mr. Ou, believe me, when Yan Shizong came to me, he just suspected someone wanted me to help Bai Mingyu clear his name. He injured me, but I didn't reveal your name..."
"It was Yan Shizong who threatened me with my daughter that made me speak..."
Ou Yunchen: "Yan Shizong took ATL shares from me as a condition for saving Ah Ming's child. Tell me, who should I settle this debt with?"
Fan Zhijie kowtowed and begged Ou Yunchen: "I can't die. I want to see my daughter. I want to wait for her to get out. Please spare me, and I'll give you my entire studio."
Perhaps Yan Shizong had truly grasped Fan Zhijie's weak point, or perhaps Fan Zhijie was hiding something from Ou Yunchen, which made Ou Yunchen's sensitive nerves tingle.
Ou Yunchen: "What happened to your daughter?"
Fan Zhijie, trembling, began to tell him about his daughter.
It turned out Fan Zhijie's daughter had gone to prison, but she was not yet eighteen at the time.
After Fan Zhijie and his ex-wife divorced, she took their child and went abroad. One day, his ex-wife called saying their daughter was in trouble, and they reconnected.
Ou Yunchen: "How long was she sentenced?"
Fan Zhijie: "Five years..."
Ou Yunchen: "A cross-border financial fraud case?"
Fan Zhijie: "I don't know the specifics of what happened, but by the time I found out, my daughter had already been arrested."
For some reason, Ou Yunchen immediately thought of Su Ruiyi.
She was also involved in a fraud case, but with the help of the Wang family, Su Ruiyi had cleared her name.
In her own words, she was young when she went abroad and fell in with the wrong crowd.
Fan Zhijie: "At that time, I was solely focused on saving my daughter, so I signed an agreement with Yan Shizong. I whitewashed all the stars in his entertainment company, and I would never release any news unfavorable to Yan Shizong..."
Ou Yunchen: "What did Yan Shizong do for you?"
Fan Zhijie: "He first helped my daughter change her nationality, and with some special connections, her original ten-year sentence was reduced to five years... My daughter will be back in a year."
Ou Yunchen suddenly understood.
The reason Fan Zhijie feared Yan Shizong so much was finally revealed.
It wasn't that they both held compromising information about each other, but rather because Yan Shizong had helped reduce his daughter's sentence.
However, did Yan Shizong truly possess such great power? Was he really Fan Zhijie's protector?
Although Ou Yunchen believed Fan Zhijie's words, his intuition told him there was someone above Yan Shizong!
Even a king of the entertainment industry, no matter how capable, couldn't possibly be fully aware of external forces.
-- End of Ou Yunchen's flashback --
Ou Yunchen: "It seems Fan Zhijie really had his reasons."
Sister Hong: "Are you going to let Fan Zhijie go?"
Ou Yunchen: "The person I'm targeting isn't a paparazzi, but Yan Shizong. As for Fan Zhijie, I still have some use for him."
Sister Hong: "For your Xioo?"
Ou Yunchen: "You could say that. If the head paparazzi stands with Xioo, then the future stars that Xioo brings out will give me less to worry about."
Sister Hong and Ou Yunchen exchanged a smile. They both knew Fan Zhijie's usefulness could be significant or minimal. Used well, smooth sailing; used poorly...
No, they absolutely couldn't let this paparazzi have another chance to bite them back!
With a bang, a waiter rushed in.
Waiter: "Bad news, Sister Hong! Hurry and check, Young Master Wang and Young Master Cai are fighting."
Sister Hong looked at Ou Yunchen first. Seeing that Ou Yunchen made no move, she slowly said, "Let them fight. Young people drink and get into scuffles. They can afford the damages anyway."
Waiter: "But, but Young Master Wang accidentally injured one of our waiters."
Sister Hong: "How was she injured?"
Waiter: "When the mute girl went to serve drinks, Young Master Wang asked her something, and she couldn't answer. Young Master Wang got angry and threw a glass of wine at her."
"It would have been nothing, but I don't know why Young Master Cai suddenly got very angry and punched Wang Ziran."
"When they started fighting, the mute girl went to break them up and was pushed down. The pyramid of glasses stacked up fell, and they crashed down..."
Ou Yunchen: "Mute girl?!"
Sister Hong: "You mean Mo Qingyun."
Ou Yunchen immediately got up and rushed out.
By the time he reached the bar area, the scene was chaotic.
It wasn't just two people wrestling on the floor anymore; a group was fighting. It looked like two factions had tried to break up the fight and ended up joining in.
Ou Yunchen couldn't be bothered with how the rich second-generation heirs were fighting. He saw the mute girl lying amidst broken glass and was heartbroken.
When the mute girl fell, the glasses had fallen from above her head. The area around her and her body were covered in glass shards, even in her hair. Everyone dared not move rashly.
Ou Yunchen pushed through the crowd, shouting for them to clear the way.
At this point, cleaning staff arrived and quickly cleared the glass shards. Ou Yunchen carefully removed the pieces of glass from Mo Qingyun's body.
Fortunately, she had covered her face and wasn't injured on her face. Only the exposed skin on her arms and legs had several cuts from the glass.
Ou Yunchen: "Didn't you see they were fighting? Why did you rush forward! What were you breaking up!"
Mo Qingyun's hand gestures: "Guests were fighting for me, I..."
Ou Yunchen: "For you, for what? They were in a bad mood and took it out on you. Can't you see that!"
As Mo Qingyun was about to gesture again, Ou Yunchen touched her wound, causing her to wince in pain.
Ou Yunchen: "You still know pain! I've told you, quit your job at Athena. You work at some broken foundation during the day and still come to Athena at night. Are you just full of pent-up energy!"
Mo Qingyun's hand gestures: "Not broken, it's the Hong Tian Foundation..."
Ou Yunchen glared at Mo Qingyun, then slowly helped her up and handed her over to Sister Hong.
Ou Yunchen: "Take her to change first, and use a hairdryer to get the glass shards out of her hair..."
Sister Hong: "Don't worry, I know how to handle it."