Cen Ya was initially reluctant. To this day, no one from the Ye family had apologized for driving her away from the Ye family and for their indifference towards her. She didn't want to initiate contact with anyone from the Ye family.
However, Ou Minghan repeatedly advised her, and she finally agreed.
***
The next day, Ye Zhi arrived at her office and opened her computer, only to be bombarded with press releases from Feilong Live.
Ye Zhi skimmed through them. The press releases stated that the viewership for "Beauty Showdown" had reached a new high, with the rest being nothing but flattery.
Ye Zhi wasn't surprised by the explosive increase in Feilong Live's users. After all, Feilong Live's main focus was on borderline content, which would indeed attract a large number of new users in a short period.
However, the frequency of these press releases and the excessive praise felt rather much. Ou Minghan was fond of releasing press releases to praise himself, but it was only a few days after the show aired that he suddenly resorted to such a viral method of distributing press releases across the entire internet. It felt like popping champagne mid-celebration.
As Ye Zhi was pondering this, her phone suddenly rang.
The call was from Zhan Ruoqing. Ye Zhi directly answered it.
"Ye Zhi, is it true that Qi Xuan is going to attend the Cen family's banquet?!" Zhan Ruoqing asked, shocked.
Ye Zhi was bewildered. Qi Xuan and the Cen family? That sounded like a completely unrelated combination!
She asked doubtfully, "I don't know. Where did you hear that?"
Zhan Ruoqing replied, "The Duchess of the Cen family is hosting a banquet, and she called my mother directly. My mother declined on my behalf, but she insisted that Qi Xuan would also be attending and that I absolutely shouldn't miss it. I asked a few of my girlfriends, and they all received invitations too, and the Duchess said the same thing to them..."
"Wait," Ye Zhi interrupted her, sounding somewhat surprised, "Are you saying that the Cen family is hosting a banquet, but they're using Qi Xuan's name as the draw? This sounds like the Cen family is arranging a blind date for Qi Xuan!"
"Yes!" Zhan Ruoqing said, feeling quite exasperated. "I also find it bizarre. If Qi Xuan were to go on blind dates, the Qi family should be the ones arranging it. What does this have to do with the Cen family? Even if they're overstepping their bounds, it's not like this, is it?"
"Let me think..." Ye Zhi frowned, tapping her desk rapidly with her index finger.
Zhan Ruoqing paused for a moment, a hint of surprise in her heart.
What was Ye Zhi thinking? Could it be that this blockhead finally felt a sense of crisis in her romantic life?
"I get it," Ye Zhi exhaled.
"Get what?" Zhan Ruoqing asked curiously.
"It seems Cen Ya has finally convinced her own mother," Ye Zhi stated confidently.
"Convinced her of what?" Zhan Ruoqing was even more bewildered. "You need to explain it clearly! This is so abrupt..."
"I was just about to tell you," Ye Zhi chuckled and recounted her previous encounter with Cen Ya to Zhan Ruoqing.
Ye Zhi analyzed, "I now understand why Ou Minghan is suddenly releasing so many press releases. He's not releasing them for himself to feel good; he's releasing them for the Duchess to see.
Only if the show is a hit can Cen Ya prove that her private misuse of the Cen family's money was a successful investment. This way, the Duchess will stop investigating and might even help her conceal it from Cen Xiucheng.
Because the Duchess has been persuaded, she is proactively organizing this banquet. This banquet isn't for Qi Xuan; it's actually for me.
Ou Minghan and Cen Ya already know that Qi Xuan is an investor in Taoxun. They naturally understand that Qi Xuan and I are a community of interest. If they want to defeat Taoxun, they must first drive a wedge between Qi Xuan and me, and then win Qi Xuan over to their side. This logic isn't entirely flawed, but..."
Ye Zhi paused, then continued with a rather speechless tone, "I truly didn't expect their method to divide Qi Xuan and me would be to arrange a blind date for Qi Xuan? However, Ou Minghan is probably the one who came up with this idea. Thinking about it that way, it suddenly makes sense..."
Zhan Ruoqing: ...
As expected of a woman whose mind was entirely occupied with business. Just a banquet allowed Ye Zhi to analyze so much.
"So what do we do now?" Zhan Ruoqing snapped back to attention, saying with some excitement, "Why don't I attend the banquet and mess up Qi Xuan's blind date for you?"
"What are you going for?" Ye Zhi said with amusement. "Be careful you don't get caught up in Cen Ya and their drama again. Besides, Qi Xuan isn't going..."
"Wait, didn't the Cen family say Qi Xuan would be attending?" Zhan Ruoqing asked doubtfully.
"Although I don't know why they would say that..." Ye Zhi stated with absolute certainty, "Qi Xuan definitely won't attend this kind of banquet. I feel like he's solely focused on his career and doesn't have those worldly desires."
Zhan Ruoqing: ...
Who said he didn't? The one who is solely focused on her career and doesn't have those worldly desires is Ye Zhi herself, isn't it? Why is she projecting herself onto others?
"Aren't you afraid he might actually attend?" Zhan Ruoqing asked, not giving up.
"There's absolutely no possibility of that," Ye Zhi said confidently, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Instead of thinking about such an unreliable assumption, why don't you consider how the Cen family's banquet will end if Qi Xuan doesn't show up?"
Zhan Ruoqing's eyes lit up. She actually felt that Qi Xuan wouldn't attend this banquet, which meant the Cen family was deliberately using Qi Xuan's name to trick the noble ladies of the capital into attending!
When Qi Xuan doesn't show up, what will be the reaction of those wealthy young ladies who went specifically for Qi Xuan, only to find out they've been tricked?
"You saying that makes me want to go see it," Zhan Ruoqing said eagerly.
"Be cautious, sister!" Ye Zhi warned. "Watch out for rotten melons when you're looking for gossip!"
"You're right. If it involves Cen Ya, I should probably stay away," Zhan Ruoqing said, shrinking her neck and agreeing wholeheartedly.
The phone call ended, and Ye Zhi slowly exhaled.
It seemed the Cen family's calamity was unavoidable. With Cen Ya having persuaded the Duchess, the Cen family would soon become Ou Minghan's most steadfast shield. How thick that shield would be depended on how much money the Cen family was willing to spend for Cen Ya.
In the evening, Ye Zhi arrived at Qi Xuan's home and saw him frowning, looking helplessly at his phone as he talked.
"Qi Xuan, listen to me. You are absolutely forbidden to go! Did you hear me?! If you dare to go, I'll sever our mother-son relationship!"
Through the phone receiver, Cheng Yi's voice was almost deafening.
Qi Xuan said helplessly, "Mom, don't worry. I wasn't planning on going in the first place... I have to go now, Ye Zhi is here. I'll hang up."
After saying that, Qi Xuan hung up the phone.
"Miss Ye," the butler smiled and stepped forward, handing her an envelope. "There was a letter for you sent to your home today. I've kept it for you."