Ming Weiting pushed open the door and strode over.

He walked into Luo Chi’s line of sight, one hand supporting the edge of the bed, and directly half-squatted down to meet Luo Chi’s eyes.

This time, Ming Weiting finally managed to be in time.

Luo Chi hadn’t yet been able to figure out that there was actually nothing in front of him. The shadow and the shadow overlapped, suddenly becoming tangible. He was so startled that his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he sat there stunned for a long while.

…

A warm temperature covered his hand. After he had adjusted for a while, it slowly held his fingers.

Luo Chi’s eyes were wide with bewilderment.

He was not familiar with this kind of touch. His body instinctively trembled at this unpredictable unfamiliarity, but he really had no strength to move.

He was in a dense fog that he couldn’t walk out of. There was nothing in that fog; it just slowly enveloped him, making him a part of it.

Mr. Shadow was in his fog, holding his hand.

Ming Weiting held Luo Chi’s hand.

He watched Luo Chi’s expression relax bit by bit from its daze. Although it was still tinged with the confusion of not knowing where he was, the fine tremors lurking in his body had slowly calmed down, and his cold fingers finally gained a bit of warmth.

Luo Chi’s fingers curled in his palm, no longer struggling, no longer searching for something to defend himself with.

Although it was only for this one night of relaxed trust, there was no guarantee that Luo Chi would still remember these things tomorrow. But as long as a change had begun, it wouldn’t be completely hopeless.

Ming Weiting felt a little relieved. He got up and sat on the bed, reaching out to pull Luo Chi’s body, which was leaning against the wall, over.

That half of his body was as cold as the wall, even colder.

Ming Weiting helped him lie down and rearranged the bed.

This time, he tried to touch Luo Chi’s hair again. After confirming that Luo Chi indeed did not feel uncomfortable, he slowly pressed his palm firmly onto the soft, short hair.

Luo Chi curled up in the blanket, his eyes half-closed, letting him stroke his hair.

Luo Chi’s eyelashes trembled a few times, as if trying to force them open a little more, but he was dragged down by drowsiness.

Perhaps it was because such a scene was too ordinary, so ordinary that it made one can’t help but think, if those things hadn’t happened, if the people he had met at any of the crossroads had been slightly less terrible… Luo Chi would probably be like this.

Having stayed up all night writing a super nice song, painting a super beautiful picture.

Having had too much fun at a bonfire party, collapsing on the warm, sun-baked sand, not wanting to talk or move.

Accidentally walking too far and for too long outside, until the moon came out before getting home, taking a hot shower, and lying down with open arms, comfortable and carefree…

“Sleep. It will get better.”

Ming Weiting said softly, “It will get better. Don’t rush.”

He reached out to cover Luo Chi’s eyes. When he removed his hand, the person beside him was breathing lightly, already fast asleep.

…

Ren Chenbai was turned away at the Ming family’s cruise company once again.

The Ming family’s new cruise ship was docked at the port. The current Mr. Ming was on the ship and would only leave after all the follow-up matters of the cruise ship accident were completed.

…If that’s the case, why not tell him where on earth Luo Zhi had been taken?

He had been missing for so long. They should have found him by now, right?

He just wanted to get on the ship to meet that Mr. Ming and ask things clearly, but he was sternly driven away without any mercy. That steward was very rude to people and even ordered people to throw him off the pier.

The water under the pier was not deep, but there were many ships coming and going, and the seawater was also stained with a lot of oil, so dark that it couldn’t even reflect light.

Ren Chenbai still had to rely on them to find Luo Zhi, so he could only grit his teeth and swallow this misfortune. He stumbled onto the beach and saw Li Weiming’s car. He frowned and stopped.

Li Weiming didn’t bring his assistant. He had driven over himself. As soon as he saw his figure, he went up to him.

“Mr. Ren.” Li Weiming was startled by his dirty and disheveled state. He instinctively hesitated for a moment before reaching out to support him. “Did you run into some trouble?”

Ren Chenbai disgustedly slapped his hand away. “What are you doing here?”

Li Weiming was slighted, but he didn’t show any displeasure. He just withdrew his hand, his attitude still very respectful.

“Regarding the arrangements for the next few days, I couldn’t contact CEO Jian all day today,” Li Weiming said. “I could only come to ask you.”

He sensed that the atmosphere was a bit stiff and worried that his hesitation just now had displeased Ren Chenbai. He lowered his posture even more. “No matter what, I’m still your man…”

Ren Chenbai’s gaze at him was strange. “You’re my man?”

“When Luo Zhi was the general manager, you were the one who recommended me to Huaisheng Entertainment.”

Li Weiming let out a laugh. He was no longer the unknown, eighteenth-tier actor he used to be. Although his rise to fame had been too fast and he had been completely unprepared, he had gained some confidence.

Li Weiming composed himself, looked at Ren Chenbai’s face, and tried to make a joke that would please him. “You’re not going to abandon me just after getting rid of Luo Zhi, are you?”

Ren Chenbai looked at him for a while, his expression gradually returning to its usual gentle and amiable state. He lowered his head and adjusted his cuffs.

In fact, there was nothing to adjust at all—he had just been thrown into that large pool of dirty, pungent oil slick, had choked on several mouthfuls without any warning, and had struggled for a long time before crawling out. He could imagine how disheveled he looked right now.

But Ren Chenbai seemed completely unaware, just standing by the roadside. He thought for a moment before slowly nodding. “Yes, I recommended you to Huaisheng Entertainment.”

Those things back then, what they had done in the dark, they both knew pretty well.

Jian Huaiyi wanted to use Huaisheng Entertainment to gain a firm foothold. He had schemed and plotted a grand show, finally killing two birds with one stone. He had not only driven away Luo Zhi, but also let Li Weiming step on Luo Zhi to rise to a higher level, becoming the current leading young actor of Huaisheng Entertainment.

When they were laying out the plan back then, the reason Jian Huaiyi had chosen the then-obscure Li Weiming was because Li Weiming was someone Ren Chenbai had recommended to Luo Zhi.

Because he was someone Ren Chenbai had recommended, Luo Zhi would definitely take care of him to some extent.

Because he was someone Ren Chenbai had recommended, it was possible to stab Luo Zhi in the back with the most vicious blow when he was unguarded, in a scheme like this.

Did Ren Chenbai know about this?

…Of course, he knew.

He had known from the very beginning.

Ren Chenbai had watched Jian Huaiyi painstakingly lay out his plans, watched Jian Huaiyi manage to lure Luo Zhi to the hotel, set up the cameras, and also send Li Weiming over.

That night, Ren Chenbai had actually been sitting in the car opposite the hotel. He had watched coldly as Li Weiming entered the hotel, and then watched Luo Zhi see Li Weiming out and personally call a car for him.

Ren Chenbai sneered in his heart. He had even thought of asking Jian Huaiyi for a copy of the video to show his mother at her grave, to show her what the true face of that monster who was best at pretending looked like.

Ren Chenbai also mocked himself—look, this is the person you once wanted to spend your whole life with.

So everything was an act. Gratitude was an act, being good was an act, and being clean was also an act.

Ren Chenbai had let this poisonous weed take root and sprout in his heart. He had even once maliciously and deliberately mentioned Li Weiming to Luo Zhi, watching Luo Zhi’s face change at the name, watching Luo Zhi’s body at the desk stiffen as he had expected.

…Thinking of these things, his body, which had almost lost its weight due to that inexplicable shipwreck, felt as if it had managed to stand on the ground again.

Ren Chenbai took off his oil-stained jacket, rolled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can. “Go on, what arrangements.”

Li Weiming was now the pillar of Huaisheng Entertainment. His general work arrangements had long been planned by a team, and he didn’t need to come to him.

Since he had come specifically to find Ren Chenbai, it meant there was some shady business again.

“It’s like this.” Li Weiming breathed a sigh of relief. “Luo Zhi’s funeral is next week. I hear it’s going to be a grand affair.”

Although he had already confirmed that there were no outsiders nearby, and it was too dark to see anything, Li Weiming still lowered his voice. “He’s gone, but his reputation has recently shown signs of recovering. A few of my fans want to collaborate with marketing accounts to do some ‘popular science’ on the day of the funeral…”

They had planned these things quite a few times before. Although it was mostly him and CEO Jian discussing, with Ren Chenbai listening distractedly on the side, Ren Chenbai was always aware of these matters.

Li Weiming had defaulted to thinking that he could also discuss these things with CEO Ren. He was halfway through his sentence when he felt the atmosphere was a bit strange. He stopped talking and was suddenly startled by Ren Chenbai’s gaze.

“Funeral?” Ren Chenbai asked. “Who said they were going to hold a funeral for Luo Zhi?”

Li Weiming hadn’t expected him to ask this. He was stunned for a moment and answered instinctively, “The person is dead, there has to be a…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Ren Chenbai raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face.

Li Weiming was completely unprepared. He grunted and staggered a few steps. Before he could straighten up, Ren Chenbai had already walked over and kicked him to the ground.

Ren Chenbai squatted down, staring at him. “Who did you say is dead?”

Li Weiming had never seen him like this. Looking at the faint bloodshot in Ren Chenbai’s eyes, he opened his mouth but, for a moment, didn’t dare to say anything more.

“Luo Zhi is not dead. He’s just missing. I came to find him today, but unfortunately, it didn’t go well. I couldn’t find him.”

Ren Chenbai’s voice was very low, his tone so gentle and soft it was almost eerie. “Who is holding a funeral for him?”

This time, Li Weiming was truly scared. He unconsciously swallowed.

He had been having it so easy lately. When had he ever been this wretched? His whole body was stiff, and cold sweat had unknowingly broken out.

“I’m asking you a question,” Ren Chenbai said. “The Luo family? Luo Jun or Luo Chengxiu? Luo Cheng?”

How would Li Weiming know this? He just instinctively realized that if he didn’t answer, something even more terrible would be waiting for him. Without thinking, he randomly said a name. As Ren Chenbai was lost in thought, he flipped over and tried to run.

Unfortunately, Ren Chenbai was faster than him. He rushed to the car door, but his hand on the handle was already pressed down by Ren Chenbai. “Speaking of which.”

Li Weiming stared at him in terror.

“Speaking of which, I’ve always been curious.”

Ren Chenbai did not continue the previous topic, but changed the subject again. “When you climbed into his bed back then, you guys must have recorded it, right?”

Ren Chenbai grabbed Li Weiming’s wrist and twisted it down forcefully. Li Weiming couldn’t help but scream.

“You went to great lengths to slander him, even to the point of his funeral, you still won’t let him go.” Ren Chenbai slowly chewed on these two words until his mouth was filled with the taste of blood. “Such good material, why not use it?”

Li Weiming’s face was deathly pale. He felt as if his wrist was about to break, and the pain made him break out in a cold sweat. “Mr. Ren, Mr. Ren…”

“Can’t use it? It can’t be that there’s nothing usable at all. Did he fall for you as soon as you went in? His taste shouldn’t be that bad, to take in trash like you without question.”

Ren Chenbai was still talking to himself. “What method did you use to move him? I really don’t know what his type is…”

Listening to his tone, although Li Weiming was still in so much pain that he was seeing stars, he gradually sensed that something was not right.

He suddenly remembered some baseless, shadowy gossip.

There were always all sorts of gossip in business circles. Most of them were heard and then forgotten, as they were mostly rumors or exaggerations and didn’t need to be taken too seriously.

During that time, Li Weiming had always been by Jian Huaiyi’s side, and he could be considered to have mixed in that circle for a while. He had heard some very outrageous tidbits.

For example… Ren Chenbai actually had some special feelings for Luo Zhi.

Admittedly, those feelings were far from reaching the level of liking—otherwise, Ren Chenbai wouldn’t have let them do that kind of thing to Luo Zhi.

A more appropriate description would be a particularly paranoid, almost pathologically strange possessiveness.

Ren Chenbai was unwilling to let Luo Zhi take over Huaisheng Entertainment for this reason as well.

That’s why Ren Chenbai had cooperated with Jian Huaiyi. Because he wanted Luo Zhi to retreat in the face of difficulties, to bring Luo Zhi back to the Ren family. He wanted to make Luo Zhi his alone, and didn’t want Luo Zhi to interact with anyone else.

Li Weiming didn’t know if these things were true or not, but driven by fear, he blurted out the admission, “Mr. Ren, there was nothing of that sort…”

Ren Chenbai’s self-muttering voice suddenly stopped.

He seemed unable to understand this sentence. After pausing for a few seconds, his gaze fell on Li Weiming. “What did you say?”

“There was, there was nothing of that sort,” Li Weiming trembled. “I was sent there with that intention. But as soon as CEO Luo saw me, he told me to shut up and swallow whatever I was going to say forever. He, he even gave me money…”

Out of lingering fear of Luo Zhi, Li Weiming unconsciously used his former title.

He was actually scared to death of Luo Zhi.

He had been standing in the hotel room that day, so embarrassed that he wished he could die on the spot. He had watched Luo Zhi sit on the sofa with his back to him, a half-ruined birthday cake in front of him.

The birthday cake was a gift from Luo Cheng to Luo Zhi.

That day, Luo Cheng had suddenly said she wanted to celebrate Luo Zhi’s birthday, to give him a surprise, which was why Luo Zhi had gone to the hotel.

He hadn’t expected that Luo Zhi knew their plan. He was almost scared silly and quickly chewed up all his words and swallowed them down.

Luo Zhi then asked him if Luo Cheng knew about this.

Luo Cheng had only agreed to do Jian Huaiyi a favor. Of course, she didn’t know the specific details. After all, Jian Huaiyi still had to be a good brother and couldn’t possibly tell Luo Cheng about such a dirty thing.

…He had answered truthfully, and then saw Luo Zhi quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

He had thought he was off the hook, but then Luo Zhi suddenly turned around and walked up to him.

Luo Zhi walked up to him and threw his resume and information on top of that pile of messy things that were supposedly for “entertainment.”

…

After admitting this, Li Weiming seemed to have been briefly pardoned.

As per Ren Chenbai’s request, he found the video from that night and sent it to Ren Chenbai, then obediently got into the car and drove Ren Chenbai to Sea-view Villa.

Ren Chenbai leaned back in the back seat, watching the video with the sound on.

Li Weiming listened to his own voice, his face flushed with embarrassment, but he didn’t dare to say a word. He could only turn his gaze back to the red light at the intersection ahead.

This road seemed to be full of red lights, but Ren Chenbai wasn’t in a hurry.

He sat in the stop-and-go car. The glaring red light shone through the car window, as if staining the edge of his vision with a faint bloody color.

He watched the video.

Luo Zhi walked up to Li Weiming and threw down his resume.

“You are a student sponsored by the Ren family,” Luo Zhi asked him. “Why are you doing this kind of thing?”

Li Weiming stood there motionless, utterly ashamed.

“For two years, I will not give you any more resources.”

Luo Zhi said, “Clear your heart. Pour out the dirty things you’ve learned.”

At this sentence, Li Weiming’s face instantly turned ashen. He stared at Luo Zhi in despair, pleading in a low voice, “CEO Luo…”

“It’s only for two years. You don’t have a single basic skill that is solid right now. It’s a good opportunity to go back and relearn.” Luo Zhi returned to the sofa and cut himself a piece of cake. “If I’m still here in two years, I will continue to give you resources according to the regular procedure.”

Li Weiming’s pleading voice was already tinged with tears. “CEO Luo, I know I was wrong. I beg you to give me another chance…”

Luo Zhi had his back to him and slowly finished that small piece of cake.

Li Weiming’s pleas gradually ran out of words. He probably also guessed that Luo Zhi would not change his mind. He gradually stopped talking, his expression only becoming more gloomy and dejected.

In the lavish hotel suite, the air was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“This matter,” Luo Zhi suddenly spoke, “and—”

He seemed to want to ask a question, but abruptly stopped as the words were on the tip of his tongue.

Li Weiming looked up in a daze.

In the end, Luo Zhi still did not ask the question. He just walked out of the video frame. That position was probably by the hotel’s floor-to-ceiling window.

Luo Zhi stood there, looking at something across the street in a daze.

After a long while, Luo Zhi suddenly smiled. “I’ll give you two years of basic salary. Say happy birthday.”

Li Weiming was a little stunned. “What?”

“Happy birthday, to me.” Luo Zhi looked up at the wall clock. The day was almost over. The second hand had only two large increments left before the day would officially end.

“Xiao Cheng originally said she wanted to celebrate my birthday. I didn’t agree to her entering the entertainment industry so early.”

Luo Zhi seemed to smile. It was unclear whether he was speaking to Li Weiming or just making a simple summary of the day. “I messed it up.”

…

For the person himself to listen to this kind of recording, even without seeing the picture, it was an immense torment.

Li Weiming drove, his face flushed as he turned the last corner.

At that time, his mind was entirely on the two years of basic salary. He had already started to calculate what private jobs he could take on and hadn’t listened carefully to Luo Zhi’s words.

But he had still said that sentence.

Li Weiming heard himself woodenly saying happy birthday. The word “happy” was completely drowned out by the chiming of the clock at midnight. The camera was not far from the clock, and the sound was a deafening roar.

“If you just leave like this, the person who sent you here probably won’t let you off.”

Luo Zhi’s voice sounded calmly in the video. “Let’s go. I’ll see you downstairs.”

“Mr…. Mr. Ren.” Li Weiming swallowed dryly and said hoarsely, “Please don’t spread this video…”

To be on the safe side, he should have found a way to delete this thing a long time ago—especially after he had posted that backstabbing Weibo post about Luo Zhi.

This video was a sword hanging over his head. It could fall at any time and directly destroy everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

But since he had posted that Weibo, Luo Zhi’s private email would send him this damn thing at a fixed time every day.

No matter how many times he deleted it, it was never enough. Even if he deleted it, it would still be there the next day.

Even after Luo Zhi died… it was still there.

Li Weiming was quite scared. He had secretly hired an expert to look into it. It seemed to be some kind of self-written script that automatically monitored and captured keywords, and then linked to the email to send it at a fixed time. Unless he got Luo Zhi’s own computer, there was no way to solve it.

The video he had just forwarded to Ren Chenbai was the one his email had just received.

Just now, Ren Chenbai’s state had been too strange. Li Weiming was so scared he had lost his wits and had instinctively forwarded the video to him. Only now did he vaguely feel the apprehension of having his handle seized by someone.

“No wonder,” Ren Chenbai couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “It’s really something he would do.”

Luo Zhi had let Li Weiming go once out of consideration for the Ren family. If he had relentlessly exposed the matter, Ren Chenbai, plus a student sponsored by the Ren family—it would have brought endless shame to the Ren family.

But Luo Zhi was not a pushover either. To be able to get this video despite Jian Huaiyi’s layers of defense, Luo Zhi was trying to protect himself.

Luo Zhi had always been trying to protect himself.

It was just because they had completely destroyed Luo Zhi, so many things that had been arranged couldn’t be used.

Ren Chenbai nodded. “You’re lucky. Luo Zhi was immediately tormented by me and the Luo family until he became ill. His mind wasn’t very clear, and he couldn’t remember many things… Otherwise, he would have punished you in his own way.”

Li Weiming had breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the first few words, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He stammered, “…Mr. Ren, are you kidding? What, what torment…”

Ren Chenbai suddenly asked, “If there’s an unresolved grudge, will a person come back as a ghost to take revenge after they die?”

Li Weiming had been made suspicious by the emails these past few days and was afraid of this very thing. He shivered unnaturally. “Probably not…”

Before he could finish, he was so startled by the sudden cold, fierce look in Ren Chenbai’s eyes that his heart trembled. He hurriedly changed his words, “Yes, they definitely will!”

The car had arrived at Sea-view Villa. Li Weiming parked the car tremblingly and looked at the figure in the rearview mirror.

He didn’t dare to say another word. He just deeply regretted why he had come to court disaster today and was wholeheartedly hoping that this king of hell would get out of the car and leave as soon as possible.

“Then he’ll probably be very busy.” But Ren Chenbai was in no hurry to leave. He leaned back in the back seat and fiddled with his phone. “Help him save some effort.”

An exceptionally absurd thought inexplicably popped into Li Weiming’s mind. A wave of cold fear instantly swept through his entire body.

“Mr. Ren, you… I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

Li Weiming stammered, “I beg you, please delete that video…”

“Oh,” Ren Chenbai put away his phone. “Can’t be deleted.”

Li Weiming was swallowed by the coldness. “Why can’t it be deleted?”

“Forwarded too many times, I guess,” Ren Chenbai stood up and opened the car door. “You can delete it slowly. It’s all over the internet now.”