Chapter 333: The Actors Are in Position

The man never expected that this unassuming man following his lady would be a Seventh Rank.

Seventh Rank!

What kind of level was that?

Right now, the strongest publicly known combat power in the Peace Heavenly Kingdom was only at the Eighth Tier!

And those were the kingdom's heavy weapons; they would never be deployed unless the nation was on the brink of destruction!

A Seventh Rank? He swallowed hard, feeling his legs go weak.

"I said scram."

Yan Jing spoke again. The man finally broke under the overwhelming pressure and sprinted away.

With the man no longer blocking the way, Yan Jing switched from the immortal state to the stone state, slammed his foot on the gas, and sped away.

An unknown amount of time passed before Zeng Qing slowly woke up. She saw Yan Jing sitting beside her.

"Where is this?"

She looked around in panic, but quickly realized she was in her own car and let out a sigh of relief.

Then she remembered what had happened in the banquet hall. Her face turned icy, and a chilling aura radiated from her body.

She hadn't expected Song Haozhe to actually dare to drug her.

And what surprised her even more...

She had actually drunk it! And she had passed out!

She stole a glance at Yan Jing in the driver's seat, feeling so embarrassed that she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"You're awake?"

Yan Jing asked.

"Yeah."

She took a deep breath, trying her best to maintain her usual cold tone to mask her inner embarrassment.

"Then let's get to work."

Yan Jing said.

Get to work? What work?

Only then did it dawn on her. She had passed out. Even if this man beside her hadn't taken her to a hospital or back home, shouldn't he have at least found a hotel for her to sleep it off? Where were they right now?

She stared out the car window at the unfamiliar surroundings in confusion. They were currently parked next to a hotel.

"We're here to negotiate a deal."

Yan Jing said.

"Another deal?!"

Zeng Qing blew up, staring at him in sheer disbelief.

She had been drugged unconscious! He hadn't taken her to a hospital, hadn't taken her home, but had brought her straight to a workplace?!

"If it weren't for this negotiation, I would have tossed you to your bodyguard when I saw him earlier."

Yan Jing's expression remained perfectly calm as he opened his car door.

"Get out."

"My bodyguard? You saw An Kexin?"

She looked at Yan Jing in shock.

She knew her bodyguard's personality very well. He was fanatically devoted to her. If he had seen Yan Jing with her unconscious body, he never would have allowed Yan Jing to take her away.

...

Yan Jing let out a helpless sigh.

"Just how many questions do you have?"

"Get out of the car and get to work. Am I not making myself clear?"

"It's only the afternoon. We have the whole afternoon and evening to work."

"If you have other concerns, go ask your bodyguard yourself after work is done."

With that, Yan Jing stepped out of the car.

Left with no choice, Zeng Qing had to follow him.

Just like that, her head full of questions, she numbly followed Yan Jing to meet their negotiation target, and the talks began.

Their target was a director who was preparing to shoot an influential public service commercial. Yan Jing had used his current connections to get in touch yesterday, hoping to slot some actors into it.

It wasn't until the negotiation was halfway through and they took a break that Zeng Qing sobered up a little. Massaging her temples, she looked at Yan Jing.

"Weren't the terms you just proposed a bit too steep?"

"They're shooting a public service commercial; it doesn't have much funding to begin with. If you want to insert your own actors, you can't demand such high terms."

"This commercial will be broadcast on the highest electronic screen in Muke District for ten minutes. That's a significant spotlight."

She assumed Yan Jing wanted to put Tianwei in it.

"It's fine, they will agree to it. Later, you just need to use your status to drive the price down."

Yan Jing said.

"Looking at the time, the actors should be arriving soon."

"Who? Who is arriving soon?"

Zeng Qing was confused again.

She suspected that the only reason she had been able to keep up with this man's rhythm and train of thought before was entirely because he hadn't formally established a foothold in Muke District yet. Now that he was picking up speed, she was finding it incredibly difficult to keep pace.

"You'll know when you see them."

The two excused themselves to the other party, then headed down to the first-floor lobby.

"Come, over here!"

Yan Jing waved toward the entrance.

Zeng Qing looked in that direction, only to see a group of faces—both unfamiliar yet recognizable—walking through the doors.

They ranged from young to old. Upon entering and seeing the "luxurious" interior of the lobby, they all let out gasps of awe.

"Wow! What a beautiful place! Doctor Li, we didn't go to the wrong place, did we?"

"We're going to film here?"

"Wow, a fountain! Look! And a crystal chandelier..."

Zeng Qing stared and stared, finally recognizing the crowd.

Weren't these the victims from Chen Xiaojing's hospital?! Why were they here?

Could it be... they were the actors he wanted to insert?

She looked at Yan Jing, her confusion practically written across her face.

But Yan Jing didn't answer. Instead, he walked over to Li Zhiyuan at the front of the group and extended his hand.

"Hello, Doctor Li. My surname is Luo. I'm the boss of the Tianque Sanatorium."

"Hello, Mr. Luo."

Li Zhiyuan reached out and shook Yan Jing's hand.

"Thank you for helping these patients, and thank you for offering me this job opportunity."

"It isn't really help, just a normal transaction. In a bit, you'll need to meet a client with me. If there are no major issues, we might start working tonight. I hope you're all prepared."

Yan Jing said.

Li Zhiyuan nodded.

"No problem. I've already discussed it with everyone beforehand."

"That's good. Wait in the lobby for now. I'll call you over later."

With that, Yan Jing led Zeng Qing back upstairs.

At this point, Zeng Qing finally realized what was happening.

"You... you opened a sanatorium and took in Chen Xiaojing's patients?!"

She looked at Yan Jing as if she had just seen a ghost.

Was this something a human mind could concoct?

His partner was sent to prison, so he opened a hospital to take in his partner's victims, and then used them to run promotional ads for himself?!

"You really are despicably rotten..."

She muttered.

But she also had to admit that with a group like this, securing today's public service commercial was a total lock.

The other party would never refuse the chance to ride on such a massive trending topic.

Normally, it would be difficult for the victims to even accept an interview, let alone act in a commercial, but now...

She didn't know what to say.

"It's not that despicable," Yan Jing replied, his face completely calm. "Compared to drugging someone's cup, this is as normal as it gets."

...

Knowing she had no ground to argue on, Zeng Qing fell silent.

Soon, the negotiations resumed.

Just as Zeng Qing had predicted, once Yan Jing played his trump card, the other party immediately changed their tune.

The two sides agreed to start filming that very night. The original script was completely scrapped and replaced by a mockumentary format focusing on documenting everyone's life at the Tianque Sanatorium.

At the same time, the theme would conveniently shift to discussing whether the judicial system lacked consideration for the compensation and subsequent placement of victims.

Hearing this theme, Zeng Qing instinctively knew this commercial was going to blow up.

Many citizens nowadays loved this kind of discussion topic; they would definitely promote it on their own.

"Our first time working together, Mr. Luo. Here's to everything going smoothly."

The director across from them was a semi-crocodile-like bionic species—a human body with a crocodile's head—known in the industry as Crocodile.

As the dinner concluded, he proactively approached Yan Jing for a chat.

"With you here, I am very reassured."

Yan Jing shook his hand.

"As I mentioned earlier, there can be no hitting or scolding of the actors during the shoot. I hope you'll pay extra attention to that."

As he spoke, he looked toward the crowd eating in the other small hall.

"Understood, understood. They are your cash cows, after all." Crocodile chuckled, showing that he totally got it.

"Mhm."

Yan Jing didn't bother explaining.

It didn't matter what others thought, as long as the other party followed his instructions.

"See you later, then."

After chatting a little longer, Yan Jing gave Crocodile a slight bow.

Once Yan Jing left with Zeng Qing...

Crocodile spoke to the assistant director beside him.

"Look at his aura and how he speaks. This man is far from simple. Word is he hasn't even been in Muke District for a month, yet his influence is already on par with the Four Masters Society."

"I was a bit skeptical at first, but seeing Zeng Qing following right behind him today, I realize I was the one underestimating him."

The assistant director was a red-crowned crane animal species. Hearing Crocodile say this, he nodded.

"He's truly impressive. Managing to get his hands on a group like this right now—our chances of success this time have skyrocketed."

"It's a guaranteed success!" Crocodile corrected him, then laughed heartily.

"We might actually be able to consider aiming for the Golden Zebra Award this time."

On the other side, Yan Jing said to Zeng Qing, "Once this commercial blows up, toss a hook to Councilor Wen and Councilor Li Chengxi, the ones we met last time."

"You want to help them run their campaigns?"

Zeng Qing was a little confused.

Tossing a hook meant subtly hinting that they could help secure ballots for the other party.

"Yes. Ask them about their recent schedules."

Yan Jing smiled.

"I have high hopes for those two."

"How much money do we currently have on the books?"

Zeng Qing calculated it.

"Counting only our joint accounts, we should have around four hundred thousand eerie points. A seventy-thirty split between you and me."

"We promised them fifty thousand each last time, right?" Yan Jing thought for a moment.

"Add another fifty thousand for each of them."

"Get a clear picture of their itineraries. If possible, I want to arrange as many dinners with them as we can."

Zeng Qing was puzzled. "You think that highly of those two? You're going to bet on them?"

"They are both Zhou Mo's people. No matter how much money you spend, you probably won't be able to control them completely."

"Let's just settle on this." Yan Jing wasn't negotiating with her.

Zeng Qing sighed. At this point, what more could she say? It was already very late.

After dropping Yan Jing back at his hotel, Zeng Qing sat in the driver's seat and sent a message.

Soon, a balding man walked up to her car window.

"Tell me exactly what happened, from start to finish."

Zeng Qing's face was icy cold, completely different from how she acted in front of Yan Jing.

At this moment, she had seemingly reverted back into that untouchable flower on the high peak, the Nightfall Queen of Muke District's political arena.

An Kexin shuddered, then quickly suppressed the fanaticism and adoration in his eyes as he recounted exactly what had happened when he ran into Yan Jing earlier.

After listening, Zeng Qing didn't say a word. She simply got out of the car, moved to the passenger seat, and closed her eyes.

"When we get back, strip, bind yourself, and kneel for the entire night."

"U... Understood."

An Kexin subconsciously shivered—not out of fear, but from intense thrill and excitement.

Little did he know, Zeng Qing's heart was also pounding wildly in shock at this very moment.

Seventh Rank!

That man was a Seventh Rank!!