All The Villain Wants Is Money - Chapter 9

Kong You had a decent appearance, with a somewhat cold and aloof aura. Back when he was with the RC group, his role was more of a silent, diligent type. Now, sitting in Xie Gu’s office, he appeared particularly nervous, which completely destroyed the previously indifferent, world-weary charm he had.

Xie Gu didn’t get up to greet him, and the smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes. “What brings you here?”

Kong You, sensing his directness, became even more awkward. “Xiao… Xiao Gu, I just came to thank you.”

“Oh?” Xie Gu kept looking at him, his tone seemingly mild. “No need for thanks. If there’s nothing else, you can leave now.”

Surprised by how quickly Xie Gu had dismissed him, Kong You’s expression turned into one of uneasiness. “Well, it’s not exactly that…”

“Then what is it? Speak up,” Xie Gu leaned back in his chair, his eyes slightly lowered, making him appear even more aloof and unreachable than Kong You. It was embarrassing to even compare the two together.

Kong You appeared rather stiff. “Do you remember what happened a month ago?”

A month ago, right when the RC group was facing rumors of disbandment.

Xie Gu, of course, remembered what had happened. Kong You had encountered a family crisis and urgently needed money. The original antagonist had a good relationship with Kong You. At that time, the antagonist, being the fool he was, had lent all his money to help Kong You out, even violating an advertising contract signed by RC group to promote other brands for extra income.

As a result, this incident was leaked, and the advertisers immediately demanded compensation from Banwen Entertainment for breaching the contract. This led to the company being short on funds, which in turn impacted RC group’s resources, pushing them towards disbandment.

Kong You, as the main catalyst, quietly withdrew and hid, using his retirement as an excuse when the original antagonist was being denounced.

The period when Xie Gu took over was the point where the original antagonist was the most desperate as he was being condemned by the public.

In the original world trajectory, the breach of contract was never directly exposed. People only vaguely heard rumors, and after receiving help from Xie Wentang, the original antagonist managed to extricate himself and eventually went solo, relying on his looks to gain some fame.

But later, his breach of contract was exposed. The original antagonist lost control of his emotions and hit the paparazzi surrounding him. The incident was then taken out of context and posted online, leading to him being branded as a “tainted artist” and forcing him to withdraw from the industry.

Throughout all this, Kong You never said a word.

Xie Gu didn’t comment on Kong You’s actions. Strictly speaking, Kong You hadn’t intentionally framed the original antagonist. He simply dragged his good friend into the mud for his own needs and, due to cowardice or other reasons, failed to stand up when his friend was being censured by the public.

He was at most a lowly man, but certainly not a villain.

However, this didn’t mean that Xie Gu would kindly continue the original antagonist’s trajectory and selflessly help Kong You out of the mire, using love and justice to reform him.

First, Buddha did not save id*ots; second, Xie Gu wasn’t Buddha; and lastly, Kong You simply didn’t have the capital to interest Xie Gu.

So, when Kong You asked if Xie Gu remembered what happened a month ago, Xie Gu naturally smiled and said, “What happened a month ago?”

He truly didn’t remember, he just knew about it.

Kong You didn’t expect Xie Gu to respond like this and immediately became anxious. “It’s about when we went to Qinghui Drinks…”

Xie Gu cut him off directly. “Ah, you mean that? I do have a slight impression of it.”

There was a hint of joy on Kong You’s face.

However, the next moment, Xie Gu said, “I know you talked about collaborating with Qinghui Drinks and they privately gave you five hundred thousand. Why are you asking about this?”

Kong You reflexively denied it. “No…”

How did Xie Gu know about his secret deal with Qinghui Drinks to get extra money?

Xie Gu couldn’t be bothered to play around with Kong You anymore. Although Kong You wasn’t exactly a remarkable person, he couldn’t be deceived like the Xie family relatives. It was better to just be straightforward. “Don’t be in a hurry to deny it. We both know what happened. Now that we’re no longer in the entertainment industry, there’s no point dwelling on the past.”

At this point, his gaze turned cold. “I’m not interested in dragging this out with you. From now on, it’s best if we act like we don’t know each other. If there has to be any connection, it can only be where I’m the one to expose your breach of contract.”

Kong You turned deathly pale, but he fully understood that Xie Gu was drawing a clear line between them.

No matter what his intentions were in coming here, Xie Gu’s attitude made sure everything was in vain.

In the end, Kong You left in a daze. Xie Gu sighed in relief, then started complaining to the system. “How did the original antagonist leave me with such a mess?

“The plot has only just begun, how could he ruin everything like this?

“How did he survive until the end of the plot?

“Does he not understand that ‘a thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant’s nest’?”

“No wonder he’s poorer than Xu Yucheng.”

The system no longer spouted gibberish but instead, using its core program, tried to understand how Xie Gu always brought everything back to money.

However, after exhausting the top AI’s computational abilities, the system came up with nothing.

Are humans really this complicated?

It could only slowly respond, “What is the host planning to do next to slap the original protagonist’s face?”

Xie Gu narrowed his eyes and took another sip from his cup. “No hurry.”

The system let out a sound of confusion.

“Just wait until I become the richest person in this world, then I’ll go slap Xu Yucheng’s face.”

The system felt exhausted. “Warning: If the original protagonist reaches the top of the entertainment industry, the mission will fail automatically.”

So if Xie Gu allowed Xu Yucheng to develop on his own, he would be finished once the time came.

What the system implied was that Xie Gu might not become the world’s richest person before Xu Yucheng reached the pinnacle, causing the mission to fail, and Xie Gu to end up dead.

Xie Gu leisurely took another sip of water. “There’s really no rush.”

Seeing that no amount of persuasion worked, the system finally fell silent—maybe it really didn’t understand humans.

At least, people like Xie Gu were definitely beyond its understanding.

In the blink of an eye, six months passed.

Six months seemed like a long time, but for Xie Gu, it felt rather short—his progress toward becoming the richest person was still too slow.

In these six months, he had managed to turn Gu Fei Catering into a profitable business and his chain of restaurants had just started opening across the country. He had also launched a few food production lines, but the sales didn’t even manage to secure the quarterly champion title, making it a truly disappointing performance.

On the other hand, Xie Wentang’s smile had grown even wider.

The relatives who used to cause trouble previously had kept a low profile during these six months. They were especially cautious after finding out that Xie Gu was cooperating with the law firm Yu Qiao opened. Though, in reality, Yu Qiao’s role was just as a legal advisor, and Xie Gu hadn’t yet planned to take action against them.

The plotlines unrelated to Xie Gu were mostly progressing normally. Xu Yucheng and Zhang Shi had both gone solo and made a comeback, but their broker contracts were still under Wu Bo and were struggling to stay relevant.

The system watched this unfold with anxiety, but Xie Gu only had eyes for his ambitions to be a CEO and paid no attention to the system’s urgings.

It wasn’t until May of the following year that Gu Fei Catering began expanding. After a meeting among high-level executives, it was officially decided that the focus of the business would shift to the capital.

As the one who held the position of president but effectively acted as the chairman in the company, Xie Gu did not hesitate and first went to the capital for an inspection.

Upon stepping off the train, Xie Gu went straight to Gu Fei Catering’s flagship restaurant in the capital. The flagship store was located on the most bustling street in the city. To get a sense of the surroundings, Xie Gu didn’t go into the restaurant immediately but instead took a stroll down the street.

The street was lively, but the system kept urging Xie Gu to inquire about Xu Yucheng’s current situation. Xie Gu ignored it completely. Then, the system started sounding a prompt, “Reminder! A key figure in this world is approaching!”

The word “key figure” was very vague, possibly pointing to any character who had a significant role, aside from the original protagonist and antagonist.

Just as Xie Gu was about to ask the system who exactly it was referring to, a beautiful and cold-looking woman walked over from not far away. She seemed somewhat surprised upon seeing Xie Gu but still politely nodded and said, “Long time no see.”

Clearly, it was this person.

Her expression subtly conveyed arrogance, as if she looked down on Xie Gu. The system was about to urgently signal to Xie Gu that this was the female protagonist, Bai Ying. However, before it could, Xie Gu furrowed his brows and spoke first.

He asked, “Who are you?”