Chapter 241: Can’t Rest Assured Here
Fu Jiu knocked on the door of Pei Ningle’s rental room. As soon as she went in, she noticed that the lighting seemed a bit dim.
The lights were not on inside the house, and all the curtains were drawn, so naturally the light was somewhat insufficient. Pei Ningle, who had opened the door, stood there with disheveled strands of hair, and her eyes seemed somewhat resentful.
Fu Jiu was immediately startled and hurriedly asked, “Sister Xiao Le, what’s wrong with you?”
Pei Ningle: “I’m busy writing songs…”
Fu Jiu: “No, you don’t look right, and why aren’t the curtains opened?”
“Because I don’t know if there are paparazzi outside. Outside, I’ve already been secretly photographed several times, like this one.”
Saying that, Pei Ningle brought Fu Jiu in front of the computer and opened a webpage in a collection folder.
It was a news page, and this title was very eye-catching—【How miserable is Pei Ningle who was eliminated due to backstage deal?】
The picture inside showed a disheveled young girl holding a small plastic bag, staring blankly at the camera.
Fu Jiu asked curiously, “Is this secretly taken by the paparazzi team? Why do they say you’re miserable?”
Pei Ningle: “Probably because I went out without combing my hair, without makeup, and dressed casually… But it was just buying breakfast, who needs to specially dress up before going out? And it’s not just this one; there are several gossip news articles, all saying how miserable I am and how badly the program group has treated me!”
Fu Jiu looked at her and couldn’t help but feel some sympathy: “Does Sister Xiao Le have no privacy anymore? So miserable.”
Pei Ningle: “There are gains and losses. My two songs have gained a lot of playback volume, I have many more fans, and music festivals and such are asking me to perform, with an appearance fee of one hundred thousand each time.”
Fu Jiu immediately felt a bit regretful—she shouldn’t have said “so miserable” earlier; one hundred thousand each time, this is clearly great! Converted into pretty little skirts, how many could she buy?
After reading two more nonsensical news reports, Fu Jiu asked, “So what will Sister Xiao Le do in the future? Not go out at all?”
Pei Ningle looked melancholy: “I don’t know either…”
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Back home, Fu Jiu described Pei Ningle’s situation to Lu Qi. But before she finished listening, Lu Qi’s eyes lit up.
“She’s being targeted by paparazzi? That’s easy to handle. Just move once, then protect personal privacy well, ensure the landlord and other relevant people won’t leak her address, and that’s it, right?”
Fu Jiu thought about it and couldn’t help asking, “Is that enough? Then should I suggest it to Sister Xiao Le?”
Lu Qi smiled and asked, “Where do you suggest she move to? Think clearly. Why is Pei Ningle being targeted by a bunch of paparazzi now? Isn’t it because people around her, like the landlord, boasted about having a star in their house, letting others know? If she moves to a new house and the new landlord can’t resist boasting too, what then?”
Fu Jiu was a bit confused: “Qi Qi Jie, didn’t you say moving once would be fine? So what should she do?”
Lu Qi pointed to her own chest: “Near Telecommunications University, I have a house. It’s an apartment with very good soundproofing.”
Fu Jiu finally understood: “I get it, Qi Qi Jie, you can be her landlord!”
Lu Qi smiled: “Chat with your Sister Xiao Le about it, ask if she’s willing. If she is, I can give her a discount on the rent.”
Of course, there was one thing she wouldn’t tell her younger cousin—if Pei Ningle moved into that apartment, then she could immediately buy the one next door and monitor her at close range. Considering that Wang Heng would often visit Pei Ningle, she could conveniently insert herself.
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After half self-studying and half reviewing to finish a course, Wang Heng opened the computer and glanced at the hot search on Weibo again.
After a few days, that hot search about Pei Ningle’s backstage deal elimination had disappeared. But searching for Pei Ningle’s name still showed many discussion posts. And they were basically one-sidedly denouncing the program group. There were of course some defending the program group, but they wouldn’t attack Pei Ningle; instead, they emphasized reasons like Pei Ningle and Xie Hong’s ‘different work styles’ and ‘stage performance.’
After looking for a while, Wang Heng suddenly felt a bit bored. Then, picking up his mobile phone, he noticed a message from Pei Ningle:
【I’m moving! Near here, Qi Qi Jie has an empty apartment that I can rent. I went to see it with them, it’s really nice, planning to move.】
Wang Heng couldn’t help recalling that evening a few days ago, when he took the drunk Lu Qi to that place… Presumably, the one to rent to Pei Ningle is that one, right?
So, with the renting, is there any scheming from Lu Qi involved?
Wang Heng thought for a long time and summed it up: this matter is probably a mix of good and bad for him. On one hand, introducing Lu Qi into the asura field would share the pressure from Pei Ningle and Han Yixuan; on the other hand, Lu Qi is not to be trifled with. In the first playthrough, how quickly and easily she took him down, what happened that afternoon in the office, he remembered clearly.
Sighing, Wang Heng opened the cage beside him and picked up the hamster.
“Bro, prophesy: is there any risk in the future?”
There was no one else in the dormitory at the moment, but when asking, he still habitually lowered his voice.
The hamster, grabbed by the scruff and dangling in the air, looked at him sideways and retorted, “Is this the attitude for asking a favor?”
Wang Heng casually grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and held them to its mouth.
The hamster hugged a sunflower seed and started gnawing.
After finishing that one, it hugged the second and said, “Rest assured, with me watching, you won’t get the cleaver.”
Wang Heng: “Then, is there a risk of being pushed down?”
Hamster: “If there’s no certainty of victory, with Lu Qi’s personality, she won’t go all-in. You remember the first playthrough; do I need to explain her personality to you? By the way, speaking of which, there’s one thing I can really remind you about.”
Wang Heng: “What?”
Hamster: “It’s that startup company fof; they’ve already burned through all the money in their account. That Wei Kai is looking everywhere for venture capital, but no one thinks well of him. It shouldn’t take two days before he calls you.”
If not for the hamster’s reminder, Wang Heng would have almost forgotten that he had made such a spare move. The one hundred thousand yuan lent to Wei Kai unconditionally was certainly enough to make Wei Kai see him as the last lifesaver when desperate.
However, Wang Heng was somewhat hesitant: “This guy held out even shorter than I expected; it’s not even World Cup yet…”
The hamster said leisurely, “Then you need to make a choice: bet on football with the money, or save fof’s life and point them to a bright path?”
Betting on football has huge profits, but might face butterfly effect risks. Investing in fof is long-term, with even more terrifying profits, but equally might encounter butterfly effect influences and changes midway.
In other words, both choices have risks, and the magnitude of the risks is hard to evaluate—what to do?
After a moment of contemplation, Wang Heng asked, “Can you do risk warnings? Like, for World Cup betting, which matches differ from the first playthrough results, remind me and such…”
The hamster said while cracking sunflower seeds, “That depends on the progress of your relationships with those four girls.”
This was truly an answer that couldn’t put one’s mind at ease.
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