Chapter 163

“If you want to break free from me, fine. Help me complete one last task. Say what I tell you to say next, and you’re done.”

“Okay, Master. But I feel like I don’t want to leave you. Without you, I wouldn’t be who I am now.”

“I hate Ye Aotian, so I want Ye Aotian and Ling Xiaoyun to fight each other. You can make that happen, right?”

“I … But what about Ling Xiaoyun? Will he …?”

“He won’t. Because of you … Don’t worry, with you there, even if he gets hurt, his strength will still improve.”

Xiao Li nodded silently and said, “Then what else do I need to do?”

“Zheng Shaoyang needs to be involved too. It’s part of a deal I made with someone. I don’t fully understand why, but I think it’ll be interesting this way.”

Xiao Li didn’t get it, but she still went along with it. However, Ye Zimei didn’t specify how far she needed to take it—just told her to play it by ear. Whether she sold herself out or made others misunderstand that something happened to her, that would be enough.

How she chose to handle it was up to Xiao Li. So Xiao Li chose to use ancient martial arts.

This set of ancient martial arts worked on people weaker than her—especially men. A simple pat on the shoulder could make a man lose his senses entirely.

Lose himself completely, that is. But if it were an ordinary person, they’d probably need three or four days, maybe even a week, to recover. That was the unique aspect of this technique.

The pros and cons always came together. The biggest downside was what was happening to Zheng Shaoyang right now—he’d think he’d touched Xiao Li, but in reality, he hadn’t.

But that didn’t matter, because people chose to believe Zheng Shaoyang had done it rather than believe she’d protected herself.

Just as Ye Zimei had told her: no matter what you do, you can’t change others’ prejudices against you. In the end, you can only do what makes you happy.

By now, the fight between Ye Aotian and Ling Xiaoyun had reached a life-or-death point. Both were covered in blood, collapsed on the ground.

Even after falling, they kept throwing punches at each other. One after another.

At this moment, Xiao Li gently supported Ling Xiaoyun and said, “Stop fighting.”

Ling Xiaoyun said, “This guy deserves a beating. Doesn’t he know what kind of person he is? What, does the whole world have to revolve around him? What I hate most is that mindset of his.”

“Thinking every woman he likes belongs to him—shameless.”

Damn it.

At this moment, everyone present who owned a diary mentally gave Ling Xiaoyun a thumbs-up. He nailed it. Holy crap, suddenly Ling Xiaoyun doesn’t seem so annoying anymore.

Ye Aotian laughed wildly and said, “Hahaha … That felt good.”

Ling Xiaoyun said, “Idiot. Help me up. Let’s go back.”

Xiao Li said, “Okay, sure.”

After getting up, Ling Xiaoyun said, “Aren’t you getting up? Take Zheng Shaoyang with you. Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?”

This time, Ye Aotian chose silence. He quietly hoisted Zheng Shaoyang onto his shoulder and looked at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan was stunned by the stare. Big brother, this really has nothing to do with me. Looking at me won’t help. I couldn’t come up with a scheme this convoluted.

At this point, Ye Aotian turned his gaze to Cao Zijin. Cao Zijin said, “Why are you looking at me? I’d never like you. My man is Chen Fan. I’m my husband’s wife.”

“You guys … this was your doing, wasn’t it?”

When he checked earlier, Ye Aotian had noticed something off. There was something wrong with Zheng Shaoyang’s body. Being skilled in traditional Chinese medicine, Ye Aotian naturally picked up on it.

Cao Zijin said, “What are you talking about?”

At that moment, Chen Fan stepped in front of Cao Zijin and proudly declared, “I did it.”

This part of the plot did indeed need him to tie up loose ends. Ye Zifeng’s goal was to pin all of this on him, stoking hatred and pushing him and Ye Aotian into an irreconcilable feud. And as the villain, he naturally had to take the fall.

If you didn’t get pinned down, how would this plot move forward?

The falling out would lead to a brawl, and in the midst of the punches and kicks, the two brothers would recall their past moments together, eventually reconciling.

You see, the original story had a pretty idiotic setup. In the original, Ling Xiaoyun liked Xiao Li, and Xiao Li liked Ye Aotian.

That fight happened because something minor occurred between Xiao Li and Ye Aotian—not much—but Ling Xiaoyun found out, couldn’t take it, and lashed out. And the resolution in the original story genuinely disgusted Chen Fan when he read it. In the end, Ye Aotian arrogantly ignored Xiao Li.

Xiao Li, because she liked Ye Aotian, chose to be with Ling Xiaoyun so she could stay close to the man she loved.

What the hell kind of brain-dead logic was that? Even an idiot couldn’t dream that up.

But that was indeed the original plot setup—and now, it seemed to be coming true.

Ye Aotian clearly liked Xiao Li.

Could it be that Ye Aotian was okay with this just so he could, in the future, see the woman he loved by his side? Goddamn it, what part of this went wrong?

Damn it, this has to be Ye Zimei’s doing. Anything twisted or bizarre always ties back to Ye Zimei.

Ugh.

A few people left.

Chen Fan looked at Cao Zijin beside him and said, “Give me the contact info.”

This time, Chen Fan didn’t bother hiding anything. The plot was over anyway, and he could improvise. Chen Fan needed to know what exactly had happened.

In the hallway, Chen Fan picked up the phone, hesitated for a long time, and finally dialed.

“Hello … Ye Zimei.”

“Hello, handsome Chen Fan.”

Damn it, this woman—does she know the plot? Chen Fan was starting to suspect something. This was clearly off.

“Was all of this your doing?”

“Yes … What’s wrong? Can’t I do it?”

Goddamn it.

Chen Fan said, “Give me a reason. I hate this feeling of being controlled.”

“Not necessarily. It depends on how you’re being controlled, right, handsome?”

Damn it, I’m trying to talk serious business with you, and you’re flirting?

“Speak. I don’t want to waste time with you.”

Ye Zimei said, “What do you think of our Ye family? Isn’t it grand? Isn’t it luxurious? Isn’t it wealthy?”

Obviously. The Ye family, one of the top ten families, naturally ranks high. Of course, the Chen family had already been removed from the top ten.

As for why there are ten great families, Chen Fan didn’t know. In the novel he finished reading, only a few families were mentioned, and it wasn’t fully fleshed out.

Probably to stretch the plot. But halfway through, when no one was reading anymore, the author got lazy, threw in some excuse, killed off a few people, and ended the story.

“Get to the point. I don’t want to waste words with you.”

“I think we can cooperate.”

The plot’s moving ahead? Hmm, how to put it—Chen Fan could accept the plot advancing early because, well, it had happened before.

The first time was with Anna. Chen Fan didn’t know how to handle it, so he chose to take it slow for the time being.

Kept contact minimal.

The second time was with the twin sisters. In the end, he had no choice but to keep them around temporarily and tell them not to wander off.

This was the third time, but this time, Chen Fan could accept it. The core of this entertainment circle arc was Ye Zifeng being ruined, the movie becoming a hit, and then the Ye family officially entering the game.

The usual tripod standoff mode. Only this time, Chen Fan had his own ally—Ye Zimei.