After that, whenever Ding Jie tried to contact Xu Ziyan, he found himself blocked, which irritated him immensely. It wasn’t until he noticed that Xu Ziyan had swiped his card again, buying many expensive pieces of jewelry and bags, that he finally relaxed. He figured Xu Ziyan was just throwing a tantrum and would be fine after a few days of sweet-talking.
That was precisely Xu Ziyan’s intention—to keep him on the hook. The plot wasn’t finished yet, so it wasn’t a good time to completely burn bridges.
She no longer felt any aversion to following the plot. By finding loopholes, she could complete many plot points. Even though how things developed might be different, as long as the plot was completed, she should be able to survive. How wonderful! She could then enjoy a lifetime as a wealthy heiress!
Especially with this card in her hand. If you had money and didn’t use it, it would expire. Xu Ziyan specifically instructed Yang Anni, “If you encounter promising talent, just poach them. Pay their breach of contract penalties if you have to. Money is no object. Find good-looking ones; I’m shallow, I care about looks.”
Yang Anni laughed. “I realized long ago that you were shallow. Otherwise, would you have taken a liking to me at first sight? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure our company is full of handsome men and beautiful women.”
Yang Anni worked with great efficiency. Before long, she had assembled a crew to film a new drama. On the day of the commencement ceremony, she specifically invited Xu Ziyan, the investor, to attend and have a meal with the main cast.
With a handsome guy on her left and a beautiful woman on her right, just looking at them was enough to make the meal enjoyable. Best of all, she was spending Ding Jie’s money. Xu Ziyan felt completely content, both physically and mentally.
Ding Jie’s days, however, were much more troublesome. Because his two sons had fought and embarrassed him, Father Ding was in a foul mood. With Ding Yao and Song Jie not around, Ding Jie, the only son he could see, became the punching bag. Every meeting was filled with cutting remarks, never a good expression.
On the surface, the company shareholders and employees showed no change, but occasionally Ding Jie would catch them looking at him with strange glances, as if they had seen through his true nature. Even the team preparing for the upcoming game competition was much quieter than usual. Gone were the heated discussions; now, they only spoke when necessary, not a single extra word uttered.
This made the atmosphere oppressive for Ding Jie, both at the company and at home.
Bai Qingqing was unemployed and staying home. After waiting for two days without any concerned inquiry from Ding Jie, she couldn’t hold back any longer and video-called him. Putting on a strained smile, she asked with concern, “Is your injury better? I’m sorry, I’ve had some things going on these past couple of days, so I didn’t contact you.”
If this were before, Ding Jie would have immediately asked her anxiously what had happened, and would have thought her expression meant she’d been wronged, wanting to stand up for her. But this time, Ding Jie had already questioned Xu Ziyan and seen the surveillance footage. Knowing the detailed situation, looking at Bai Qingqing now planted seeds of doubt. He was inherently suspicious by nature. Once the seed of suspicion was sown, it was nearly impossible to return to the former state of complete trust.
Moreover, he had been having a exhausting couple of days. With the game competition at a critical juncture, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with Bai Qingqing’s affairs either. He just casually replied, “The doctor saw me, I’m much better now. Just focus on handling your own matters, don’t worry about me.”
Bai Qingqing had many things she wanted to say, but they were all blocked. Her expression turned stunned. Had Xu Ziyan said something to Ding Jie when she went back last time? Why was Ding Jie reacting like this? Did this mean he wasn’t going to take care of her?
Someone came to discuss game-related matters with Ding Jie. Ding Jie said, “I have things to attend to. I’ll look for you when I’m free.”
Seeing the call disconnected, Bai Qingqing’s face was filled with disbelief. That was it? He didn’t even ask her one more question? She had originally wanted to mention being fired by Xu Ziyan, to test whether Ding Jie would arrange a job for her. Based on her previous understanding of Ding Jie, she had even speculated that he might buy the flower shop and give it to her.
But what was the situation now? Had Xu Ziyan discovered her existence, so Ding Jie had gone back to properly be with Xu Ziyan? What about her? Was she just a rich second-generation’s momentary plaything? And one who hadn’t even gained anything from it?
Bai Qingqing felt she had never had any intention of climbing the social ladder by attaching herself to the rich and powerful. She was just a little vain, hoping to present her best side to be liked and praised. It was Ding Jie who had actively approached her and been good to her, which made her develop feelings. Now she felt as if she had been played. Did Ding Jie treat her like a stray cat or dog he could casually tease by the roadside?
No matter what Bai Qingqing thought, Ding Jie currently had not a single thought for romance. His entire focus was on the game competition, hoping to use it to turn his situation around and make Father Ding and the shareholders value him again.
Soon, the game creation competition arrived. Both Ding Jie and Fu Qiming were participants, emerging as two dark horses who fought their way into the finals.
Ding Jie was anxious. He contacted Li Dong privately: “Didn’t you say Fu Qiming had no new game and wasn’t a threat? What’s going on?”
Li Dong was also frantic. “I really don’t know. He’s been absent from the studio a lot recently, seemed dejected. I, I…”
“Clearly he was guarding against you. You’ve been exposed, you idiot!” Ding Jie irritably hung up the phone, instructing his team under no circumstances to make any mistakes. They absolutely had to win this competition.
Fu Qiming’s newly made game was excellent, with very strong creativity. But after all, the development time was short, and it couldn’t compare to the meticulously crafted game that had been stolen by Ding Jie. Therefore, the final result was that he took second place, and Ding Jie won the championship.
Only when he was on stage waiting for the award ceremony did Ding Jie truly relax, revealing a victorious smile.
Ding Yao was now in close contact with the Fu family and knew there would be an incident today. He deliberately used taunts to provoke Father Ding into coming to the venue to watch the competition.
After discovering that Fu Qiming’s game was also very strong, Father Ding had been frowning the whole time. Only after the results were announced did he finally smile, leisurely saying to Ding Yao, “You said your younger brother was all show, but I think he’s quite remarkable. So young and already so capable. I can rely on him more at the company.”
Ding Yao gave a cold laugh but didn’t reply.
【Congratulations, Host, for completing the plot: Help Ding Jie win the game competition championship; Help Ding Jie gain his father’s appreciation!】
Xu Ziyan got up and left, drinking her milk tea. She had specifically asked Fu Qiming to wait precisely to finish walking through this plot point.
It was at that moment that Fu Qiming suddenly spoke up. “Ding Jie, did you ask for my permission before entering this game in the competition? This is a game I made.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue erupted in an uproar. Even the host and the award presenter froze, unsure whether to proceed.
Ding Jie’s face turned cold. “The game is in my possession. Don’t spout useless nonsense to disrupt the order here. In the end, you’ll only be the one losing face.”
“Is that so?” Fu Qiming projected something onto the screen. “This game was made by me and my team. The evidence is conclusive. Are you going to say I sold the game? Wrong. The game was because my second sister wanted it, so I gave it to her. But then it was stolen by you. Just because you and my second sister are good friends, just because my second sister doesn’t hold it against you, doesn’t mean you can treat the game as your own, right?”
The screen displayed the footage of Ding Jie taking the hard drive from Xu Ziyan’s bag, and Xu Ziyan returning, checking her bag, and anxiously looking around for it. Another clip showed Fu Qiming personally saving the game onto the hard drive. That hard drive had special letters on it: FQM—the initials of his name.
Ding Jie felt things were slipping out of his control, but he didn’t panic. Calmly, he said, “I don’t know what you and Ziyan have discussed. I only know that Ziyan gave this to me.” He looked towards Xu Ziyan, wanting her to confirm, but discovered that Xu Ziyan had already left the venue.
Fu Qiming said, “The transfer agreement? You don’t have one, right? How could there be any paperwork for something that was stolen? Since it was stolen, you also couldn’t possibly know its flaws. This game is unfinished and has major hidden dangers. I planned to help my second sister fix it when I had time. I never expected you to steal it.”
Fu Qiming operated on the computer for a moment. The projection screen switched to show Ding Jie’s competition game. Everyone saw Fu Qiming trigger a specific part of the game, causing the entire game to crash and become unplayable, with all game files automatically deleting themselves.
Ding Jie immediately turned to look at his team, only to find them also wearing expressions of shock. They genuinely hadn’t discovered this; it was too well-hidden. Only the game’s original creator, Fu Qiming, could have created such a covert flaw. They didn’t know where Fu Qiming had planted the mine. Even if they knew a flaw existed, locating it would take a long time. In any case, a game with serious flaws did not meet the competition’s standards and should be directly disqualified.
In other words, the championship would pass down to Fu Qiming!
Ding Jie understood everything now. It had been a trap from the very beginning, a setup designed for him. That’s why he had been able to obtain the game so smoothly. Fu Qiming had been waiting for today to deliver a heavy blow and saddle him with the reputation of a thief, despised within the industry.
He took a deep breath and had a quick wit in a crisis, saying, “Ziyan is my girlfriend. We don’t need an agreement between us. Even my card is in Ziyan’s hands. I think you’ve misunderstood. I, on the other hand, suspect you deliberately planted a mine in the game to screw me over.”
Fu Qiming expressed surprise. “That statement makes it hard for me to believe you’re a businessman. In business, agreements are essential. My sister and I have an agreement. See, I gave the game to my sister, but she authorized me to act as the game’s sole agent for all matters.”
Fu Qiming produced a notarized authorization document. Indeed, he was now the one who held all rights to the game. Ding Jie’s face instantly turned ugly.
Fu Qiming smiled. “Not having time to help my sister with the game is a matter between us siblings. That you stole it and didn’t discover the problem is your own affair. If you want to say the money from the card was you buying the game, you need to specify an amount, right? How about we fill out the agreement today? Otherwise, legally speaking, you taking my sister’s game, modifying it, entering it in a competition, promoting it, and planning to operate it… none of that holds up.”
As he spoke, he handed over an agreement, already signed by him, selling the game to Ding Jie at a high price. Ding Jie was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he didn’t sign, the game wasn’t his, which would mean he had just lied, and this whole incident would become a scandal. But if he did sign, barely passing it off as retroactively signing an agreement, then he would have to pay a high purchase price to buy back a problematic, difficult-to-fix game with a tarnished reputation, making it hard to turn a profit later.
Father Ding watched this son of his being played like a fool by the Fu family. Seeing Ding Yao’s mocking expression of enjoying the show beside him, he snorted coldly, turned, and left in a huff.
Seeing this, Ding Jie had no better option. He could only grit his teeth and sign the agreement, bringing this farce to an end. At least now the game was completely his, and he could claim it was just a matter of not finalizing the paperwork properly with Xu Ziyan. No one could definitively say he stole it.
However, because the game had major flaws and lost its qualification, he was still asked to leave the stage. The original fourth-place winner became the third-place winner, happily running onto the stage. Passing by Ding Jie, they even smiled and said “Thanks,” making Ding Jie feel even more humiliated.
Fu Qiming got the championship trophy and very happily ran to the parking lot to find Xu Ziyan, clamoring to go home and celebrate.
Xu Ziyan said, “Just now, it seems someone called me ‘Jie’ (elder sister). Sounded pretty good. Say it a couple more times, let me hear it.”
Fu Qiming’s face felt a little warm. “Do you have the bearing of an elder sister? I think you should call me ‘Ge’ (elder brother) instead.”
Xu Ziyan pursed her lips and swiped through her phone. Looking at her, Fu Qiming knew she was complaining in her heart. But he suddenly realized—he could no longer hear her inner thoughts!