The man in charge was trembling faintly. He clenched his teeth, feeling as though the contempt and disdain in Ji Shileng’s eyes had all but ground him into the dirt.
Before returning to the Ji family, Ji Shileng had been a stain on the news, someone anyone could ridicule.
After a single transformation, their positions had completely reversed.
Shang Jianli reminded him, “Mr. Ji has offered another solution. You should consider it”
One hundred million star credits in compensation per person was an outrageous demand.
Never mind Imperial Capital News—even the Ji family probably could not produce that much money at short notice.
Ji Shileng was doing this deliberately. He was making things difficult on purpose.
“Have you reached a decision?”
The man drew a ragged breath. “General Shang, if you and the publicity department want to support a new media outlet to eliminate us, we have no objection”
Hearing this, Minister Zhou reflected that young people knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing.
Whatever happened, Imperial Capital News being dismantled was only a matter of time.
The man turned toward Ji Shileng, his eyes filling with resentment. “At this point, I believe this is no discussion at all. You simply have no respect for Imperial Capital News!”
“How could we possibly fail to respect you?” Ji Shileng raised his teacup in a toast across most of the table. “I remember Imperial Capital News enjoying unparalleled glory during your time in charge”
One of the man’s employees had spoken sarcastically to him. Given the opportunity, Ji Shileng returned the favor immediately.
An unsettling atmosphere hung over the conference room. Everyone harbored their own motives, opinions, and calculations.
Who did not know that Imperial Capital News had achieved its former glory by feeding on the “general’s spouse,” fattening itself into something polished and impressive?
Now the very person they had exploited was telling their director outright: I know every dirty thing you did.
He had not wanted to pursue it before. Things were different now.
The man took two deep breaths, telling himself that openly falling out with the Ji family would be unwise.
Although his current behavior was already close enough.
A twisted, insincere smile spread across his face. “Mr. Ji, compensation is negotiable, but you cannot deny us any chance of survival”
This time, Ji Shileng turned to Shang Jianli, looking thoroughly “confused.” “General Shang, has any of the options I offered threatened his life?”
He knew perfectly well what the man meant.
The “life” in question was not his literal life.
There was little more to say about the first option: an apology from every employee.
The second meant meeting in the Interstellar Court. Even if Imperial Capital News’s legal department could hold its own, the Ji family’s legal team would never let them off.
They would undoubtedly bring up all the previous reports and settle every account at once.
It was true that, in the beginning, they had only dared publish those stories because of instructions from above.
But after tasting the rewards of profiting from another person’s suffering, their greed had grown.
Eventually, they had begun making things up without even waiting for instructions.
The reports about the Interstellar Military Competition had been entirely their own decision.
The final option was compensation. The two men made it sound simple, but Ji Shileng was asking for far too much.
Even if Imperial Capital News immediately declared bankruptcy and liquidated its assets, it could not produce that sum.
Every option pushed them toward ruin.
Forget making way for them—Ji Shileng had no intention of leaving Imperial Capital News a way out.
His question drew everyone’s attention to Shang Jianli.
“Perhaps he is approaching this from a different perspective,” Shang Jianli said with considerable tact. “But regardless, wrongdoing must have consequences”
Minister Zhou spoke up. “Let’s stop wasting everyone’s time. The Ji family has already been generous enough to offer a private settlement”
He added pointedly, “It is only an apology. A man should know when to stand tall and when to bend. What is there to fear?”
Ji Shileng said nothing. Lowering his head to drink his tea, he gave a cold little smile.
What was there to fear?
Losing the chance to profit from someone else’s blood, of course.
The man stared at Minister Zhou. He knew he had no choice this time.
If the matter reached the Interstellar Court and dragged in the publicity department and Shang Jianli, his fate would be even worse.
With nowhere left to turn, he forced out each word. “In that case, we thank the Ji family. We choose the first option. Every employee will apologize”
Ji Shileng no longer needed to speak. The rest was his sister’s territory.
Ji Shiyun set down her teacup. “You should have said so earlier. Then we would not have wasted so much time going back and forth”
With a clear objective and the pros and cons established, the two sides moved quickly through the discussion.
Ji Shileng propped up his proposal booklet again. This time, it was so he could whisper with Su Ke.
They were still at the conference table. Being too blatant would be impolite. With a little concealment, the others could at least convince themselves they had not seen anything.
“Shileng, did some beast injure Shang Jianli’s brain on Z06? Has he still not recovered?”
“Hmm?”
Su Ke considered Shang Jianli a thoroughly scheming bastard. “It’s like the sun rising in the west. Why does he keep speaking up for you today?”
“Because the first option really does have the least impact on their government”
Ji Shileng was not going to flatter himself by assuming Shang Jianli kept supporting their position because of him.
Shang Jianli was no lovesick fool. He had always known how to weigh costs and benefits.
“True” Su Ke nodded. “So we’re letting Imperial Capital News off that easily?”
He still remembered everything. He remembered how fresh blood had seemed to seep from between the black letters on those newspaper pages.
“Ever played cat and mouse?”
“What does a game have to do with this?”
“We’re the cat now. Imperial Capital News is the mouse”
Ji Shileng explained patiently, “When a cat catches a mouse, it doesn’t eat it immediately. It plays for a while, then lets the mouse go. It repeats that several times, until the mouse has completely lost the strength to keep playing. Only then does the cat eat it”
Let them off?
He was hardly a saint reborn.
Bringing Imperial Capital News down in one blow would be far too merciful.
He wanted to force it into a dead end little by little, until it could never recover.
Watching the towering monument to one’s glory collapse piece by piece was a punishment that struck at the heart.
Su Ke peeked over the booklet at the director of Imperial Capital News and slowly smiled.
Neither of them had ever been particularly kindhearted.
The meeting ended not long afterward. Ji Shileng got up and went to the restroom.
He had slept too late the previous night. After his verbal sparring with the director, the fading rush of emotion left him feeling mentally drained.
He needed to wash his face and wake himself up.
Shang Jianli followed close behind.
Shaking the water from his hands, Ji Shileng could not imagine what the man wanted this time.
“Is there something we haven’t finished discussing?”
Leave a Reply