The incident of Zhou Kai napping during the runway show blew up quite a bit.
The media was naturally the type to sensationalise.
Many media outlets called this conference “a show so boring that it made even the owner of the modelling agency fall asleep”. On social media, everyone joined in on the mocking. The suppliers, brand and designers especially had a lot to say.
Sam spent more than an hour making apologetic phone calls until he was utterly overwrought. It took him a long time to get the situation to settle down and report back to Zhou Kai.
Zhou Kai threw down his iPad, which was currently displaying one of the news articles on the matter. He flew into a rage, “How are these people so free?! Don’t these people have better things to do?”
Sam said, “The media and the public all love this kind of negative news. Public opinion will soon calm down. As long as you lie low for a while and keep from getting into more scandals, they’ll naturally forget about this.”
“What did the brand say?”
This time, Sam fell silent for a moment, “……Sir, it would still be best if you contacted them personally.”
Zhou Kai’s expression was so heavy it could start dripping.
Quite a while later, he s.n.a.t.c.hed up the office phone with an ashen face.
The brand representative spoke with an African American accent, his att.i.tude extremely polite.
……But it was too polite.
Zhou Kai’s impressive feat of falling asleep during the runway show could even be said to be a rare, once in a decade incident.
Thanks to him, users on all kinds of social media platforms online were talking about Zhou Kai. The brand’s seasonal collection had been reduced to a mere prop, so much so that it was labelled as “dull”, and “tedious”. The heart’s blood of the designers was pulled out one by one and mocked.
Obviously, if they were to collaborate with a modelling agency in the future, Zhou Kai’s company would no longer be one of their first considerations.
This half-hour nap could be said to be incredibly costly, directly leading to Zhou Kai’s company’s stock prices dropping into the green the next day for a good half a day. Even though it recovered somewhat before the market closed, it resulted in a loss of more than ten million.
Chi Xiaochi, who had been observing the stock market trends tried to discuss with 061 if the colour of their current stocks would match the green of Zhou Kai’s face.
But 061 was worried about something else, “He won’t come and cause you any trouble because of this, will he?”
After all, this personality of Zhou Kai’s meant that he could easily flare up at any trivial matter. 061 was afraid that he would, because of this, take his anger out on Chi Xiaochi.
However, Chi Xiaochi was very calm, “It’ll be the mid-year gathering in a week. At least before the mid-year gathering, he’ll control himself when it comes to Shen Changqing.”
Since entering this world, Chi Xiaochi had had a lot of free time. He spent all his time looking through news stories and researching the functions of the skill cards in the shop, having very little contact with Zhou Kai.
Up until now, Zhou Kai’s regret level was still at 0.
With this kind of slow progress, 061 couldn’t help but become a little worried.
061 asked, “Then after the mid-year gathering? What are your plans?”
Chi Xiaochi, “Guess.”
061 thought for a moment. “You’re planning on making him ‘sick’? Give up his position to Sam?”
At present, all Chi Xiaochi had done pointed in this direction.
Chi Xiaochi also admitted it, “Yup.”
“But……” 061 expressed his doubts, “Zhou Kai’s desire for power is too great. Would he willingly give it up? Also, the skill cards’ effects on the human body are considerably limited, with how he is now, if he went to the hospital, they won’t be able to find any serious enough illness.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “I don’t need a serious illness. What I need is an opportunity.”
“En?”
Chi Xiaochi didn’t directly divulge what kind of opportunity it was.
As he scrolled through a webpage, he said, “Now that so many things have happened one after the other, he must be in a really bad mood.”
Thinking about it, 061 found that it was indeed true.
Zhou Kai was late for an important business meeting, then during the business meeting, he suddenly fainted. After returning to the country, he forgot to attend the meeting he himself had arranged, forgot to go into the house, and spent an entire night sleeping in the car. Then during the runway show, he took a half-hour nap, was photographed by the media, and had the news of this incident spread far and wide……
These all seemed to be unrelated little incidents, because after all, Zhou Kai was already at that age where forgetfulness, a weak body, and getting tired easily wasn’t anything inconceivable.
But clearly, Zhou Kai couldn’t accept this.
Since yesterday, he’d been incredibly irritable. When Yi Song sent over dinner, because there was water on the spoon, he’d immediately smashed a fist onto the tray, raged at Yi Song for a spell, and even ferociously kicked the leg of the dining table.
Even now, he was still limping as he walked.
Chi Xiaochi’s response to that was, “Ha, when people get old, all they have left are their .”
061, “……” Really don’t want to understand.
After joking around, Chi Xiaochi then said, “After having someone as irascible as him endure a stomach full of anger (basically hold back his temper), he definitely needs to find an outlet to vent now. Right now, Shen Changqing’s dog isn’t here, and he can’t touch Shen Changqing either. I don’t even have to think about it to know that he must be feeling utterly stifled right now.”
061 asked, “So you want me to keep an eye on his lover?”
Chi Xiaochi asked in reply, “Does he have anyone else he can look for?”
061 connected to Zhou Kai’s phone, and couldn’t help but admire Chi Xiaochi’s ability to judge a situation. “He’s ordered two high-quality red wines and asked for them to be sent to his lover’s house in two days.”
Chi Xiaochi wasn’t at all surprised.
He closed his tab, opened up his card game, and went about with his daily tasks.
While his head was lowered, controlling the in-game heroes, Chi Xiaochi suddenly spoke, “……You just said, I want to make him ‘sick’?”
061, “Yes.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “That’s not quite right.”
He then said, “To be precise, I want to make him willingly admit that he is ‘sick’.”
Two nights later, sure enough, Zhou Kai didn’t return home.
He drove over to the comfort haven he had set up on the outside, where his lover had already tidied herself up, and was there to welcome Zhou Kai upon his arrival.
Upon meeting, the two’s hearts were as if as one, skipping over any greetings. Zhou Kai expertly pushed her into the bedroom, and tore apart her clothes.
His lover naturally knew that his hurry was him venting his emotions. She had also long since gotten used to this kind of treatment, and, with the tolerance of a mother dealing with her son, she stroked the old man’s hair.
Her lingerie was a matching set and the incense in the room was also Zhou Kai’s favourite scent of pomelo. Zhou Kai had a beautiful woman in his arms and a gla.s.s of red wine worth over ten thousand dollars in his hand. At long last, using his desire to let loose, he was somewhat able to vent out the gloominess in his heart.
After it was over, he lay on the bed, smoking, his tense expression having relaxed somewhat.
His lover lay next to him, and also lit up a long, slender cigarette, smoking together with him.
Zhou Kai wrapped an arm around her shoulders and laughed, “You’re so much better than Shen Changqing. Every time I play around with him, he always cries afterwards. Someone who doesn’t know the situation might even think he’s suffered some huge wrong.”
061, listening in on Zhou Kai as per his instructions, frowned at his words.
From what he knew, although Zhou Kai didn’t like Shen Changqing, he refused to give up on torturing and humiliating him.
In 061’s database, there was an incident where Zhou Kai shoved a lychee into Shen Changqing’s body as a vile precedent.
061 thought, after the mid-year gathering was over and Shen Changqing’s wounds healed, he didn’t know how the haphephobic Chi Xiaochi was going to deal with this kind of insult.
Could it be he still wanted to use hypnosis cards?
But unlike Yang Baihua from the last world, Zhou Kai’s initial goodwill level towards Shen Changqing wasn’t high, and wanting to grind it higher would be incredibly difficult.
In turn, if Chi Xiaochi wanted to grind up on goodwill points, he would have to hang around Zhou Kai, and Zhou Kai was a temperamental person, with an unpredictable, volatile mood. A single word could amuse him into bursting out in laughter, but it could also make him go crazy. This wasn’t a problem that could be solved just with one’s mind, after all, no one could perfectly predict the thoughts of a violent, racist madman.
So far, the few times Chi Xiaochi had used skill cards, they were only as effective as childish pranks. Although they had caused Zhou Kai to lose face a few times, they had no way of truly dampening his drive.
If things were left to continue to develop like this, would their task still be able to go as smoothly?
In light of all these signs, 061 felt more and more like there was something wrong.
In the previous world, Cheng Yuan had his musical talent to support himself, while Shen Changqing was a canary who’d pa.s.sed the golden age for a model and had been crippled by his cage.
Cheng Yuan had the support of his family, while Shen Changqing’s family had no way whatsoever to contend against Zhou Kai.
No matter how shameless Yang Baihua was, he was just a cowardly free-range chicken and a mama’s boy. He wouldn’t easily resort to violence, but Zhou Kai was very likely to use force against Chi Xiaochi.
……This world was too strange, as if every aspect of it was aimed against Chi Xiaochi.
On the other end.
His lover went along with Zhou Kai in a soft, gentle voice, “He and I are of different dispositions. He might just be more reserved.”
Zhou Kai stroked his lover’s face, saying, “Nonsense, I take good care of him, he wants for nothing, just like how I take care of you. Why can’t he just learn from you?”
At the same time, Chi Xiaochi was watching a literary film on 061’s display screen, in which the male and female leads were currently achieving the great harmony of life.
Chi Xiaochi distractedly listened to Zhou Kai express his opinions as he held a bag of chips he’d exchanged from the shop in his arms. As he nibbled on a chip, he disdainfully remarked, “Other people have spare parts, you also have spare parts, why can’t you learn from them?”
061 thought, fortunately Zhou Kai didn’t hear this a.n.a.logy, or else he might have been angered into a stroke.
His lover said gently, “Your mood lately seems to not have been very good. If there’s anything troubling you, if you don’t mind, you could tell me about it.”
Zhou Kai curled his lips, “Even if I tell you, will you be able to understand?”
His lover said, “Why not just say it and see?”
Zhou Kai asked, “Do you watch the news?”
His lover of course did, and knew about Zhou Kai’s incident, but she knew what should be said, and what shouldn’t be said, so she just cleverly shook her head, pretending to be unaware.
Zhou Kai briefly described what had happened over the past few days, then sneered, “That brand representative, the moment I heard his voice I just knew he was a n*****. He even dared to get uppity with me, he really f.u.c.king doesn’t know his own standing.”
As he spoke, Zhou Kai spat loudly, “Speaking of which, I’ve practically been running into n*****s everywhere lately. When I went to France to sign a contract, I ran into two n*****s. They thought that because they’ve stayed in Germany for two years they’ve become Germans, and even tried to have a logical discussion on their views on timeliness with me. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.”
“Last week too, I didn’t at all remember that there was some meeting I needed to attend, and a black joker ran over to me and tried to put on airs, even saying some ‘I have a recording here, you can check it if you need to’.”
He mockingly mimicked the way the secretary had spoken, then gave his evaluation, “He spoke so patronizsingly, who does he even think he is?”
His lover was amused into loud laughter.
Zhou Kai made his concluding statement, “Those n*****s, they’re like crows, each one more calamitous than the other.”
Following him, his lover began to tell her own story, “Nowadays, there are black people in all walks of life, especially in the modelling industry. Do you still remember Fiona? She’s the most popular female model right now, and likes to advocate for women’s rights on Instagram. She’s another black person. She’s being praised up to the heavens, but in reality……”
She scrolled through her phone and found a photograph of Fiona, “Look, she looks like an ape.”
Zhou Kai was as pleased as punch, “Right, I’ve seen her before. She was also partic.i.p.ating in that runway show two days ago. She walked right up to me, and even greeted me. Do you know what I was thinking? I was particularly scared she would steal my wallet.”
The two of them laughed loudly together.
From the moment Zhou Kai started to share his opinions on “n*****s”, in a flash, 061, several blocks away from him, suddenly understood what the “opportunity” Chi Xiaochi had been waiting for was.
For every skill card Chi Xiaochi had used, he had picked the perfect time to use it, and had specially picked a target.
Over the past few days, every trouble Zhou Kai had experienced had involved black people.
Just as his lover had said, nowadays, black people now accounted for a large proportion of the elite, so wanting to plant this mental suggestion into Zhou Kai wasn’t at all hard.
Chi Xiaochi had simply let black people appear more often in his life. As for what Zhou Kai thought about that and how he viewed that, that was Zhou Kai’s own business.
Chi Xiaochi, still watching his literary film, had a humourless smile on his face as he asked, “Have you recorded it?”
061 had already understood everything. “It’s recorded.”
“Have you also saved the video of his affair?”
“It’s saved.”
Chi Xiaochi laughed, “……Then it’s time to send him off on his journey.”