"..." Ji Anxi was speechless. She was indeed joking just now. Besides, given how clingy her second brother and Jiang Ye were, Zhou Paihuai was definitely not his type, so there was no question of any unspoken rules. "Yeah, I was just kidding!" After all, he was her brother, and she couldn't let him and her future brother-in-law have any misunderstandings.
Ji Anbo looked at Ji Anxi with satisfaction. His little sister had really grown up and become more and more sensible. He returned the favor and said, "Don't worry, give me a few more days, and I'll definitely help you find out the truth!"
Having received a definite answer, Ji Anxi left satisfied, giving her second brother a wink before leaving.
"What exactly were you two talking about?" Jiang Ye felt that the brother and sister were acting suspiciously.
"I really didn't say anything!" Ji Amber explained, "It's about that thing where she tried to get rid of me, and there's still no resolution. I'm losing face!"
Since it was a matter between the two siblings, Jiang Ye didn't want to get involved. He said, "I didn't mean to press you, you don't need to explain anything."
Ji Anbo was a little unhappy when he heard Jiang Ye's attempt to distance himself from the situation. This guy was really too petty, but he couldn't lose his temper with him. He hooked his hand, rolled up Jiang Ye's clothes, and pressed half of his body against him, saying, "Don't not ask, how about I give you a chance to interrogate me in bed?"
"..." Jiang Ye couldn't stand his appearance the most, and his eyes even turned a little red when he heard this. "You said it yourself!" The two of them stuck together and walked into the bedroom in unison.
... ...
"It's an emergency. You only have one hour to think it over!"
Before three days had even passed, Zhou Paihuai was bombarded with calls from her editor on QQ. After reading many unread messages, Zhou Paihuai discovered that the copyright holder had suddenly changed their mind and was no longer giving her three days; they wanted a response within an hour.
Such a lack of contractual spirit? Zhou Paihuai felt she didn't need to consider it anymore. She wouldn't starve if she didn't sell the copyright, but if she cooperated with such a copyright holder, her identity would be exposed one hundred percent.
"Then forget it," Zhou Huaihuai replied to the editor.
Qingri originally wanted to write a long essay to persuade her, but seeing that she had simply refused, without even asking why the copyright holder had changed their mind, she knew there was no hope this time. She respected her authors, regardless of who they were. However, out of a sense of duty, Qingri felt it was necessary to tell her the reason.
"The copyright holder's message is that an alternative has emerged, and if you hesitate, the opportunity will only be given to someone else."
A substitute? Zhou Paihuai felt very strange when she saw the message from her editor. People can be similar, things can be copied, and if those things had substitutes, that would be one thing, but what substitute could a novel possibly have? The only substitute she could think of besides plagiarism was nothing else. But since the editor hadn't explicitly stated it, it meant that this plagiarism wasn't easy to define. This situation was unavoidable in both her original world and this world, and she didn't want to put her editor in a difficult position.
"I understand, thank you!"
Although Zhou Paihuai seemed calm and didn't seem to care much about the matter, Qingri knew that the novel the copyright holder had taken a liking to was just released yesterday, with tens of thousands of words released at once. Both the beginning and the character settings were very familiar to readers. It was basically a copy of Xunxiang's "Fengluo". However, the plagiarist was very skilled and couldn't be identified as plagiarizing. The copyright holder took a liking to it directly.
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, especially since that author was a top-tier writer under the editor "Bugu." Bugu was the editor in the same office as Qingri—what a coincidence! But Qingri still couldn't understand how Bugu knew which novel was going to sell its rights to, and how she managed to have her authors precisely source the text. All her files and information were encrypted.
Qingri was furious, but she knew she had no evidence. Even if she brought it up with the editor-in-chief, that editor-in-chief who only cared about commissions would definitely try to downplay the matter. She could only swallow her anger.
Bugu had already helped her author snatch the opportunity to sell the copyright from Zhou Paihuai, but she was not a law-abiding person. As soon as her author signed the contract with the copyright holder, she immediately went up to Qingri and began to provoke her.
"Sunny day, I heard you say the other day that one of your authors wanted to sell his copyright. How's it going? Has it been signed yet?"
Sunny's eyes seemed to spit fire as she glared at Bugu, too angry to utter a single word. She had been working as an editor at Huanshi Literature Network since graduation, and had never witnessed such wickedness, much less imagined that such a shameless person existed in the world. "You..."
Just as the two were about to start arguing, Qingri's phone suddenly flashed. She took a moment to check her phone and was surprised to find that it was a message from Zhou Paihuai.
Searching for Hometown: Dear Editor, this story was originally agreed to be without romance. Now, do you mind if I change the genre and outline?
At first, Qingri didn't understand what Zhou Paihuai meant. After thinking for a while, she realized what he was up to. This novel, "Phoenix Fall," had only recently started serialization, with just over a hundred thousand words written. Many plot points hadn't been developed yet, but the outline had already been completed. That pickpocket sold the rights by digging up the beginning, and he would definitely continue to dig up information based on "Phoenix Fall." But if Zhou Paihuai started revising the text now, even changing the sexual orientation, let's see how they can dig up information then.
Sunny Day: Of course, it's your own writing, so you can change it however you want!
Bugu thought Qingri was going to argue with her. She had even planned how to act pitiful in front of the editor-in-chief. But she didn't expect that after seeing just one message, Qingri's expression would change instantly.
"why are you laughing?"
"I'm laughing because I'm happy about something. What, you even want to interfere with this?" Qingri glanced at her. "Excuse me, I need to go eat!"
Seeing Qingri's beaming face, Bugu was almost driven mad. Could this guy be so lucky? He just had one book fail, and now he's immediately sold another one? Why is it so difficult for her authors to sell the copyrights, while Qingri is just so lucky?
… …
While Zhou was busy revising the outline, Ji Anxi came to visit.
Why are you here now?
Ji Anxi put her hands in her pockets and said, "Didn't I come here to apologize to you?"
"What apology?" Zhou Paihuai looked at her blankly. "Come in, would you like something to drink?"
"Besides milk and bitter tea, do you have anything else to drink here?" Ji Anxi said she wasn't interested; compared to those two, she preferred soda.
"If you want milk tea, I can make you a cup using these two things." Zhou Paihuai tossed her a can of cola. "So, what's the result of that matter?"
"Not yet!" When the topic turned to business, Ji Anxi suddenly became serious. "Who exactly have you offended? Although my second brother just started investigating, the lack of results after so long means someone is definitely obstructing things behind the scenes..."
Who exactly did she offend? If Zhou Paihuai knew the answer, she wouldn't need Ji Anbo's help to investigate. The only thing she was certain of was that she hadn't offended anyone. As for whether the original owner of this body had offended anyone, she had no idea. But the original owner was just a small-time actress; she probably wouldn't have really offended anyone!
Seeing Zhou hesitate and remain silent, Ji Anxi was quite surprised: "You haven't really offended someone, have you?"
"I don't know!" Zhou Paihuai shook his head. "As far as I understand it, I haven't offended anyone, but if others have different opinions and think I have offended them, then there's nothing I can do!"
"..." Her words were truly insightful; she realized Zhou Paihuai was quite the talker when it came to rambling. No wonder she typed so fast when they chatted online before. She probably typed so fast because she was afraid of not being able to keep up with his words!
"Forget it, it's not a big deal if we can't find out. It's not like I absolutely need to eat this!" Zhou Paihuai saw Ji Anxi's slightly furrowed brows and, not wanting her to be upset, waved his hand to persuade her to stop investigating. "Since you're here now, why don't you have dinner here tonight? I'll cook your favorite food!"
"good!"
Ji Anxi's answer was so natural and quick that Zhou Paihuai couldn't help but feel that she had come to freeload a meal. However, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that her little hater was willing to come and freeload; at least it proved her excellent cooking skills.
--------------------
Author's Note:
I haven't been home lately, so I don't have a computer on hand, and typing on my phone is slower, which is why I've written so little.
Chapter 67 The Mistakenly Taken Bag
In Zhou Paihuai's kitchen, Ji Anxi stood to the side watching Zhou Paihuai skillfully chop vegetables, feeling great admiration.
"I never knew you had such good knife skills!"
Zhou Paihuai looked down at the unevenly cut potato shreds she had made, then looked up and saw Ji Anxi's starry eyes. Well, she didn't want to explain. The little hater's current "true fan" filter was too thick, and explaining it would be too troublesome.
"Could you get me a bowl and fill it with some water?"
Ji Anxi handed over the bowl of water and started showering her with compliments again: "How come you're such a good cook? You didn't have much time to practice your cooking skills before, did you?"
"Of course there is!" Zhou Paihuai was about to retort, but then she suddenly remembered that the original owner of this body didn't seem to have much time to practice cooking. However, the original owner's cooking skills were indeed quite good, probably no worse than hers. So, she shamelessly said, "Talent!"
"Then why don't you make good use of your talent and become a chef?" Ji Anxi kindly kept her next sentence to herself, which was, "If you have no acting talent, why do you want to be an actor?"
"..." Zhou Heihuai's attempt to show off backfired, and she was at a loss for words. After a long while, she finally said, "You have to understand that the door that God opens for you may not lead to the destination you want to reach. If everyone lived by their talents, wouldn't this world be too unchallenging?"
This sounds like a twisted logic, but upon closer examination, it seems to make some sense. Ji Anxi noticed that Zhou Paihuai had become exceptionally eloquent at some point, and what she said was so fluent that it was impossible to find fault with it. This was completely different from when she first debuted and was known for her "low emotional intelligence" and "speaking without thinking." It was as if she had become a different person.
"What are you thinking about?" A voice suddenly brought Ji Anxi back to reality from her reverie. Only then did she notice a knife in front of her. "Help me wash this knife!"
"Okay!"
Watching Ji Anxi frantically clean up the knives, Zhou Paihuai curled his lips into a smile. "Little haters are really suited for the entertainment industry. Whatever they're thinking, it's always on their faces. When they act, as long as they grasp the character's inner world accurately, they definitely won't break the audience's immersion. She and I seem to be completely opposite personalities."
"All done washing!"
Zhou Paihuai looked at the ingredients she had prepared. She had almost all the vegetables, but no meat. She had recently bought a fish; perhaps she could make sauerkraut fish, a dish she was very good at and almost never made a mistake.
There's a fish in the black bag in the fridge, could you get it for me?
"What kind of fish—ah!" Ji Anxi found the black bag in the refrigerator, opened it, and suddenly screamed, throwing the bag she had just grabbed away. "A snake!"
"What?" Zhou Huaihuai's eyes widened suddenly. "I bought fish, how did it turn into a snake?" she said, reaching out to rummage through the bag.
"Don't move!" Ji Anxi hurriedly stopped her. She was really afraid of these things and didn't want to look directly at the bag. "The snake is still alive!" When she found the bag, she felt that the snake's body was still soft and seemed to be wriggling.
"..." Zhou Paihuai felt like he was suffocating from the still-living snake, not even knowing if it was poisonous or not. "You weren't bitten, were you?"
Ji Anxi shook her head. The snake had probably been frozen in the refrigerator for too long, so it wasn't very agile and didn't bite her.
Hearing her words, Zhou Paihuai breathed a sigh of relief, ran into his room, found a cardboard box, and turned it upside down on the black bag with the snake inside. He said, "It shouldn't be able to escape. I'll go call the police first!"
"Don't go!" Zhou Paihuai had only been gone for two minutes, and Ji Anxi was already pale with fright. This time, she refused to let her leave no matter what.
"Let's go together!" When Zhou Huai pulled her up, he realized that her legs were so weak that she couldn't even stand up. It seemed that the child had been terrified this time.
"No, I can't stand up!" Although Ji Anxi couldn't stand up, she was quick-witted. "I have a cell phone, you can make the call right here!"
"good!"
After making the call, the two huddled together, trembling, terrified that the snake would break through the cardboard box. Putting aside whether it would attack them, if it ran out and couldn't be found, they probably wouldn't be able to live in the house anymore.
It felt like an eternity before Zhou Paihuai and Ji Anxi finally heard the doorbell. They heard each other breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, they were there.
Zhou Huapai tried again to help Ji Anxi up, saying, "Go open the door, I'll stay here and watch."
Aren't you scared?
"Don't be afraid, go quickly!"
Zhou Paihuai was terrified, but seeing Xiao Heifen's appearance, it would be too cruel to let her stay, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and go herself. Fortunately, Xiao Heifen and the police were quick enough to get into the kitchen before Zhou Paihuai scared herself to death.
"Where is the snake? Is it poisonous? Were you bitten?" the police asked as soon as they arrived.
"Besides the snake being trapped under the box, I don't know anything else!" Zhou Paihuai pointed two fingers in the direction of the box, wishing the police would take the snake away as soon as possible.
The police officers, armed with tools, lifted the cardboard box and found the snake underneath. They then used professional snake-catching equipment to capture the snake.
Seeing this, Zhou Paihuai instantly perked up and asked, "Officer, what kind of snake is this? Is it venomous or not?"
"This snake is a pet, but it's highly venomous, and its fangs haven't been removed. How could you keep such a dangerous creature?" The police officer looked at her reproachfully. "Luckily, the snake didn't escape; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"This snake isn't mine!" Zhou Paihuai quickly protested. "I only went to buy a fish today, and I even watched the owner kill it with my own eyes. Who knew it would turn into a live snake when I got back? I'm terrified of these things, there's no way I would keep one!" She must be crazy to even think about keeping snakes, let alone venomous ones.
"Then what's going on?" The police didn't quite believe Zhou's explanation.
"I'll have to ask you to help me check this out! I bought the fish at that private fresh food supermarket nearby today. Shall I take you there to take a look?" Zhou Paihuai didn't care about their attitude; she just wanted to find out the truth as soon as possible.
"Let's go take a look now!"
Give me two minutes!
After saying this, Zhou Paihuai pulled the little black fan aside: "We're not in the mood for food today. You go back first, we'll talk about it next time!"
"good!"
After seeing Ji Anxi off, Zhou Paihuai immediately took the police to the private supermarket near her home. On the way, she even showed the police her payment records, which finally gave her some credibility.
When they arrived at the supermarket, Zhou Huaihuai thought she would have to argue with the owner and maybe even have to check the security footage. But to her surprise, as soon as the owner saw Zhou Huaihuai and the police officers behind her, he immediately ran up to her and said, "Miss, did you come to buy a fish today and accidentally take the wrong one?"
Zhou Paihuai frowned at the shopkeeper and said, "Did you take the wrong one?"
The shop owner explained to Zhou that he had previously asked someone to buy him a pet snake, which was also in a black bag, but he had accidentally taken the wrong one. After hearing the shop owner's explanation, the police ruled it a coincidence, gave the shop owner a serious reprimand, and that was the end of it.
But Zhou hesitated as she looked at the shop owner, feeling that something was wrong. She clearly saw the owner kill the fish and put it in a bag, and there was no other black bag next to it. How could it be that the wrong bag was taken? And since it was a pet snake that she bought at a high price, and it was a venomous snake, why didn't he call the police to look for it after it had been missing for so long?