Chapter 13 Standing Up for Him
For the next few days, I didn’t dare contact Ji Chengzhou.
He hadn’t messaged me either. I figured he was angry.
Ji Xinglan, how much fake alcohol did you drink that night?
Every time I remembered what happened, I wanted to punch myself.
The manual thing from before could still be explained away somehow. But this?
Even without blood ties, he was still the little brother I’d grown up with.
Just as I was tearing my hair out, some trash media outlet reported that Ji Chengzhou wasn’t the real Ji family son.
I was already irritated and went to the pantry for cold water to calm down, only to hear people inside gossiping about it.
“Have you heard? President Ji isn’t actually the Ji family’s child. They got the wrong baby back then.”
“No wonder President Ji hasn’t come to the company lately, and now there’s this Ji family eldest son. I really feel bad for President Ji—kicked out just because he’s not blood-related.”
Then a young man’s voice snorted disdainfully, dripping with glee.
“Just a sparrow that flew onto a high branch, acting all high and mighty every day with that cold face. So many girls in the company liked him only because he had money. Now he’s fallen back into the mud.
Let’s see how he keeps acting superior.”
“Zhang Qiang, don’t forget—Ji Group is what it is today because of President Ji’s ability, everyone knows that. Just because you like Xia Han from admin and she had a crush on President Ji, you’re taking it out on him? That’s too much.”
The guy named Zhang Qiang grew even more scornful. “If he didn’t have a better background than me, a spoiled second-gen like Ji Chengzhou wouldn’t even be worthy of shining my shoes. If I were the Ji family prince, I’d do hundreds of times better—”
BANG.
I kicked the door open.
Everyone inside jumped.
My eyes locked on Zhang Qiang. I looked down at him from above.
“You want to be the Ji family prince? Your face is big enough to fry a pancake on it. Even jumping, you couldn’t reach Ji Chengzhou’s knee.
My parents could never produce something as ugly as you.
And Ji Chengzhou shining your shoes? You’ve lived too many ugly days and started dreaming, huh? ”
“Even if Ji Chengzhou isn’t my parents’ biological son, he still carries the Ji name and holds shares in Ji Group. You’ll still call him President Ji respectfully when you see him.”
Ji Chengzhou had wanted to return the shares to Mom and Dad, but they refused.
They planned to keep that half for him. The shares I held, plus the family cash and properties, would be split evenly between me and Ji Zhishu.
Ji Zhishu and I both thought that was fine. If it hadn’t been for Ji Chengzhou back then, the Ji family shares would’ve been worthless paper long ago.
After cursing him out to my satisfaction, I ignored how his face kept switching between green and white and slammed the door on my way out.
By noon, I heard Zhang Qiang had resigned.
But I was still furious.
People could curse me all they wanted and I wouldn’t care this much.
But no one was allowed to badmouth Ji Chengzhou.
Why couldn’t I stand hearing a single person say anything bad about him?
My heart sank. I didn’t dare think deeper.
No matter what, Ji Chengzhou and I grew up as brothers. That had to be the reason.
After work, I hesitated outside Ji Chengzhou’s door.
Before, I’d always used my fingerprint to enter directly. Today it suddenly felt rude, so I carefully rang the doorbell.
Ji Chengzhou opened the door. His eyes lit up when he saw me. “You’re back.”
He pulled me inside.
“I didn’t know you were coming. What do you want for dinner?” Ji Chengzhou asked while heading to the kitchen.
I sat on the sofa, uneasy. “Ji Chengzhou, come sit. I have something to say.”
“What do you want to tell me?” He obediently sat down, looking at me expectantly.
I stared at him on the sofa, took a deep breath, stood up, and bowed ninety degrees. “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
The smile vanished from his face. He looked serious. “You came today just to apologize?”
“Not exactly. I also want to convince you to come back to the company. Let you manage it. Don’t worry, Older Brother won’t let you lose out—I’ll split my shares with you fifty-fifty. Haha…”
I forced a stupid laugh to ease the awkwardness.
These past days, I’d realized I really wasn’t cut out for business. Better to hand the company straight back to Ji Chengzhou.
“Giving me half your shares—is that to get me back to the company, or to make me forget what happened that night?”
I stopped laughing instantly.
How did he see through me so fast?
“Do you think I need your shares?”
He really didn’t. His tech company made so much money—even without Ji Group shares, he was still the richest in our family.
“That day I drank fake alcohol. Can we just not bring it up again?”
Besides, it wasn’t me who started it.
“Oh~” Ji Chengzhou said in a strange tone. “So half the shares are to buy my silence?”
“You… why are you making me sound like a scumbag?” I snapped, embarrassed at losing face in front of him.
“Aren’t you?”
I…
I was instantly speechless. My eyes landed on the bandage on his forehead, and guilt hit harder.
I blustered to change the subject. “Just tell me—are you coming back to run the company or not?”
Ji Chengzhou refused outright. “The day I went home, I got the household register from Mom and Dad. I’ve already moved my residency out of the Ji family. I’m no longer a Ji. It wouldn’t be legitimate.”
How did he move so fast?
“What do you mean not legitimate? Half the shares are still in your hands. What can the board say?”
They relied on him to make money. They’d beg him to come back.
“I already transferred all those shares to you.”
“When did you do that? I never signed—”
Damn it. I remembered him handing me files to sign while I was busy gaming. I’d signed everything without looking. If he slipped in a share transfer, I wouldn’t have noticed.
“There is one way you could convince me to go back and manage the company.”
I asked urgently, “What way?”
Ji Chengzhou looked straight into my eyes, perfectly calm. “If we’re together, then I’d be your sister-in-law. Naturally, I could keep helping you run the company.”
What? He wanted to be his own sister-in-law!
I jumped off the sofa in shock. “Wait—you want to date me?”
“I’m your Older Brother!”
Had he gone crazy? Or drunk the same fake alcohol I did?
Ji Chengzhou looked up at me. His dark eyes were intense, filled with stubbornness.
“The thing I hate most is you only seeing me as a little brother. That’s why I never wanted you to call me that. Even now, you still think we’re just brothers.”
“Then tell me, Older Brother—which brothers do things like this?”
He pushed me down onto the sofa. His hands wandered shamelessly over me.
I curled up, shaking. I tried to keep my Older Brother dignity. “Don’t come closer—I’m your Older Brother. Don’t forget your place.”
Ji Chengzhou gave a cold laugh. “Still trying to act like the Older Brother now? You really don’t get it, Ji Xinglan.”
Then he pinned me down and started tearing at my clothes.
I struggled hard, but he smacked my ass.
I froze completely. “I’m your Older Brother and you spank me?” Utter humiliation.
“This is just the beginning. You love being the Older Brother so much? Fine, I’ll indulge you.”
After stripping me, he stripped himself bare, knelt between my spread legs.
“Older Brother… like this? Or here?”
No—I had sworn to make him kneel and call me Older Brother, but not like this. What was he doing?
Ji Chengzhou seemed to enjoy calling me that now. He said “Older Brother” with every move.
“So Older Brother loves when I call you that—shaking so much? Hm?”
For the next hour, his constant “Older Brother” nearly gave me PTSD.
I never wanted to hear Ji Chengzhou call me Older Brother again.
By the end, I passed out.