Chapter 19: The Playboy

As soon as the words were spoken, the thugs unleashed another frenzied assault on Chen Wei.

"Genesis Media?" Zhou Zheng murmured to himself; the name sounded oddly familiar. Suddenly, he recalled that several female streamers from his company who had recently switched jobs had gone to another firm—Genesis Media! He had looked into it, and the owner of Genesis Media was named Gu Qingcheng.

"You just said Genesis Media belongs to Lin Fan?" Zhou Zheng asked, both surprised and dubious.

"Yes, the streamers there all call Lin Fan 'President Lin.' I didn't think of it before, so I wrote 'Joyous Entertainment' in my message, which ended up causing this huge misunderstanding." Chen Wei pleaded for mercy, his face twisted in despair.

Zhou Zheng frowned, growing more uneasy as he listened. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed his uncle, Wang Dezhi.

As soon as the call connected, Zhou Zheng interrogated him: "Uncle, is the network administrator you hired named Lin Fan, and is his fiancée called Chen Yanzi?"

"How did you know? I was just about to tell you—I've just found out that the Genesis Media, whose name is so similar to ours, is indeed run by Lin Fan. He's the real boss; Gu Qingcheng is just his woman."

"Damn!" Zhou Zheng cursed under his breath, his brows tightly knit.

"So he wasn't exaggerating—he really wants to challenge us?" Wang Dezhi paused, sensing Zhou Zheng's overwhelming rage and quickly lowered his voice.

"Sorry, I truly didn't know Lin Fan was so capable. I thought he was bluffing at first. Only after you got cyberbullied did I realize something was off."

Zhou Zheng spat out another curse, inwardly berating Wang Dezhi several times. If it weren't for his stingy uncle provoking Lin Fan, would all this trouble have happened?

"Check immediately where that guy is!" Zhou Zheng ordered. After hanging up, he interrogated the family of three before finally uncovering the whole story.

"It seems Lin Fan must have latched onto a wealthy woman. Overnight, he transformed from a penniless nobody into a rich man. How amusing!" Zhou Zheng cast a mocking glance at the trio.

He never expected this bizarre family would actually drive away a tycoon. He couldn't tell if their minds were muddled or their eyes blind.

After a while, Chen Yanzi returned from outside. Zhou Zheng ordered her to publish a clarifying video in person.

Though issuing a clarification now was like locking the barn after the horse had bolted, at least it could restore their reputation. The recent online attacks had left him restless.

After Zhou Zheng left, Chen's parents wasted no time, leaping up and beating Chen Yanzi mercilessly.

"You unfilial girl, today I'm venting my anger! Look at your brother—he's been beaten to a pulp, and you still have the nerve to go out on dates?" Chen Yanzi slumped to the floor, clutching her face, crying out in grievance.

"Mama, why are you hitting me? He brought it on himself—how is it my fault?"

"If you hadn't looked down on Lin Fan and driven him away, we wouldn't still be living in this shabby courtyard! And Xiao Wei—his marriage fell through, and Lin Fan even snatched Zhu Ruoxue from him..."

Chen's mother was so furious she nearly fainted.

Now that winning Lin Fan back was impossible, they could only continue down this dark path.

In their eyes, even if Lin Fan became wealthy, he was nothing more than a tool.

Now that they'd defamed and ruined Lin Fan's reputation, as long as the public's interest remained, Chen Yanzi could keep earning money.

Recently, Chen Yanzi had gotten involved with a supermarket owner, thanks to Chen He’s recommendation. His name was Su Daqiang. Though a bit older, he was loaded and worth hundreds of millions. At first, their relationship was only business—Chen Yanzi sold his merchandise through the Doujin app.

When she learned Su Daqiang was single, Chen’s parents insisted she get closer to him.

Little by little, Chen Yanzi really managed to hook up with this millionaire.

Friday, evening.

After dinner, Lin Fan planned to visit the company. Genesis Media now had more than forty signed female streamers, but not all were required to broadcast from the office.

Some streamed from home.

Popular hosts like Xinzi, who often performed talents—dancing, playing instruments, and so forth—created a lot of noise and needed space for vigorous activity, so they chose to stream at the company.

Most broadcasts happened at night, and although Lin Fan had professional network managers and operators overseeing everything, he, as the boss behind the scenes, liked to visit in person.

Of course, he enjoyed watching the beautiful women sing and dance—life was delightful, much like that of an emperor.

He had just arrived when Qiao Xinxin greeted him.

"President Lin, I have a favor to ask."

"I’ve told you so many times—don’t call me President Lin, it sounds so formal..." Lin Fan flicked her nose and glanced at her personal info.

[Name: Qiao Xinxin]

[Age: 20]

[Purity: 100]

[Intimacy (Affection): 50]

"Sigh, her affection is still at fifty, hasn’t increased at all. Seems she still doesn’t want to get too close to me—maybe she thinks I have ulterior motives for signing so many female streamers, thinks I’m a playboy..." Lin Fan sighed inwardly.

When he first signed Qiao Xinxin, her intimacy (affection) toward him had reached seventy.

But once Gu Qingcheng appeared, her affection didn’t rise but fell, dropping to fifty.

Gu Qingcheng always acted as the boss’s wife, making Qiao Xinxin wary, not daring to get too close to Lin Fan.

"It’s like this," Qiao Xinxin said. "Tonight, a classmate of mine is having a birthday party and invited me. She asked me to bring my boyfriend along—I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend and go with me..."

She fiddled with her fingers, blushing shyly.

Lin Fan caught the implication in her words.

"Is someone pursuing you, but you don’t like him? You want me to play the shield so that guy will give up?"

"Yes, that’s about right. Will you do it?" Qiao Xinxin’s cheeks were rosy, her eyes full of hope as she looked at him.

Lin Fan noticed her affection had risen from fifty to seventy.

Seventy points meant they were almost lovers, just a confession away.

The system categorized affection scores.

Scores from zero to ten meant they were mere acquaintances, strangers.

Ten to thirty allowed for friendship.

Thirty to fifty meant close friends—confidants, male best friends.

Fifty meant the woman was attracted and fond—confessing at this stage had a fifty percent chance of forming a couple.

At seventy, they were intimate lovers.

Ninety was akin to marriage—a bond as close as family.

According to the system, if affection reached a hundred, the woman would become utterly devoted.

Gu Qingcheng was the only woman whose affection for him had reached a hundred—now, she was the one who doted on him and obeyed his every word.

The system had another strange rule.

Each time he won over a woman with more than ninety affection points, he would receive five attribute points as a reward.