"Lina, the money"s already in the account," the a.s.sistant whispered in her ear.

Lina nodded slightly and handed over the two contracts. "Take care of the contracts."

Li Yu smiled as he pa.s.sed the cancellation contract and business contract to his secretary before saying, "Would the two of you do me the honour of joining me for lunch?"

"With President Li being so humble, we wouldn"t be giving you any face if we didn"t," Lina said.

They left the banquet. Sheng Jiaoyang sat in Lina"s car while Li Yu drove his own, leading the way.

Lina"s a.s.sistant drove the car, while Sheng Jiaoyang and Lina sat together in the back, intently discussing the contract.

"I didn"t expect that Li Yu would actually agree to your conditions, and even be willing to bear a six million dollar contract cancellation fee. Moreover, he clearly noticed that the speed we signed a contract was unnaturally fast, but he didn"t say anything about it. What"s he plotting?" Lina said.

Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly said, "Mei Niu, while we were talking with Li Yu last night, I suddenly remembered where I"ve seen him before. It was two years ago, when I was with Demon King Shen."

Lina widened her eyes in astonishment. "So, what you mean is, he"s doing this because Demon King Shen wants him to? But, why would Demon King Shen pay so much attention to you? Did you tell him your ident.i.ty?"

"No," Sheng Jiaoyang replied. "He already thinks that I"m purposely trying to get close to him. If I told him my ident.i.ty, would he believe me? He"ll probably think I"m pretending to be Sheng Jiaoyang."

"Then, why would you still sign on with Entertainment International? Isn"t that sending yourself straight to him?" Lina couldn"t understand Sheng Jiaoyang"s thoughts.

"Last night, you said that my grandfather and the rest were in Germany. The only family friend we have there is Grandfather Shen."

"So, you want to get closer to Demon King Shen? Aren"t you afraid of him?" Lina took a closer look at Sheng Jiaoyang, as if she was trying to recognise her.

"Who"s afraid of him?!"

Sheng Jiaoyang looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "I"m just, just…"

Lina giggled, but quickly stopped under Sheng Jiaoyang"s glare. "Since you want to approach Demon King Shen, then why would you still make him bear the contract cancellation fee? Aren"t you afraid that he"ll come to find trouble with you later?"

"Well, he basically came right up for me to screw him over. It would"ve been a waste if I didn"t." Sheng Jiaoyang raised her chin stubbornly.

If Sheng Jiaoyang"s Chinese literature was better, she would know that there was an idiom to perfectly describe her feelings: Settling accounts after autumn, settling scores at a later, better time.

"Adding together yesterday"s one million dollar prize, you now have 7 million dollars. What are you planning to do with it all?"

"I"ll just leave it for now."

They soon arrived at their destination. Sheng Jiaoyang looked at the familiar alleyway. Wasn"t this the Jiao Family"s private restaurant?

"Aren"t we going to eat?" Lina was confused.

"There"s a privately owned restaurant at the end of the alley."

Lina glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang, who seemed rather familiar with the alley, and didn"t say anymore.

They left the car and followed Li Yu, who led the way. "You don"t have to worry about being robbed or anything there, and the restaurant"s food is really quite good. Since Miss Lina grew up abroad, you"ve probably never had traditional Chinese food, right? Now"s a great time to try."

They continued to walk when they suddenly heard a girl"s angry voice.

"Weren"t you taking me to eat a great feast? Why did we come to this sort of place? And, you even want to enter this alley! Are you sure you aren"t bringing me to some poor, trashy place?"

The group turned to see two people; one fas.h.i.+onable young woman, and a middle-aged man in a suit. The young woman was tugging at the man"s hand, throwing a tantrum.

"Darling, Daddy said that he would take you to have a great feast, so of course I wouldn"t fool you. You"ll know in a moment," the middle-aged man said.

Sheng Jiaoyang narrowed her eyes. Why did the man"s back seem a little familiar?…

At this moment, the two in front heard their footsteps and turned around, allowing Sheng Jiaoyang to see the man"s face.

What a coincidence! They"d actually run into Xu Jiaojiao"s cheap father while trying to eat a meal.

"President Li?" Pan Zihui said.

"Lina!" the young woman saw Lina and shouted with astonishment.

Lina glanced at her and nodded slightly.

Pan Zihui followed his daughter"s gaze and noticed a familiar looking face.

"You…"

Pan Zihui"s face changed and thought of the time she"d thrown him to the ground. His expression became ugly, but when he thought that she might be his daughter, he felt that maybe she could be pardoned.

Lina turned to look at Sheng Jiaoyang, using her gaze to convey: Is this man your body"s cheap father?

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked, and Lina understood.

"I see President Pan brought your honourable daughter to eat. What happened to Madame?" Li Yu said.

Pan Zihui"s gaze moved away as he replied, "My wife went to take a walk with her siblings." After speaking, he turned to look at his daughter. "Mingyue, this is President Li from Entertainment International, give him a greeting."

"h.e.l.lo, President Li. My name is Pan Mingyue," Pan Mingyue cheerfully greeted him.

"h.e.l.lo." Li Yu smiled slightly.

Since they all recognised each other, they decided to go to the restaurant together. As they entered, Pan Zihui gave Sheng Jiaoyang a complicated gaze.

"President Li, if you don"t mind, shall we eat together?" Pan Zihui offered.

"I"m accompanying these two ladies today, so you"ll have to ask them." Li Yu didn"t immediately agree.

Lina"s eyes turned in thought. "We don"t mind."

Sheng Jiaoyang noticed her glance and knew that she wanted to see what this cheap father was like.

They sat around the table and Pan Mingyue, who"d constantly been sneaking glances at Lina, took out her phone and presented it to Lina with a face filled full of excitement. "Lina, can we take a picture together?"

"Of course."

Sheng Jiaoyang sat beside Lina and watched the two take a picture. She suddenly sensed someone staring at her and raised her eyes to meet Pan Zihui"s gaze. She gave him a mocking smile.

Pan Zihui felt a burst of anger. Even if this brat was his daughter, he wouldn"t acknowledge her!

Meanwhile, his own daughter was now dancing around somebody else. "Lina, I saw the movie you acted in at the cinema, it was amazing! You looked so cool and elegant! I also use the perfume you developed…"

"Mingyue, won"t you introduce her to me?" Pan Zihui couldn"t help but ask.

"She"s Lina, an international superstar! She even opened her own company; she"s really awesome. As for the other…" Pan Mingyue turned to Sheng Jiaoyang and hesitated. "I don"t recognise her."

Sheng Jiaoyang was silent, as if she didn"t hear anything.

Lina also didn"t say anything.

The remaining one, Li Yu…was currently texting busily.

The table suddenly became awkward.

Pan Mingyue blinked. Did she say something wrong? Why was there an awkward silence?

The silence hovering around the table was rather uncomfortable, and the food still hadn"t come, so Pan Mingyue pulled out her cell phone. She"d just posted the selfie with Lina, and there were already people replying.

When Pan Mingyue saw the comments, she exploded.

"How could Lina possibly be gay?!"

The table was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Pan Mingyue realised that she"d accidentally shouted her thoughts aloud.