I Just Want to be a Throwaway Character - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Two years later.

In a dim, little room, Ji Wan was wrapped in a blanket, huddled in a corner of the sofa, typing away. Suddenly, her phone rang. Ji Wan fumbled around and answered it without looking away from her computer screen.

“Ji Wan!” a loud voice yelled.

Ji Wan frowned and held the phone away from her ear. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice tired.

“Good news! Your novel is going to be published! You’re going to make a fortune!” Her editor said excitedly on the phone.

“Really?” Ji Wan’s tone was flat, without much emotion. She was still focused on her work.

“Hurry up and get ready. Go to JW Group tomorrow to meet with the person in charge.”

“Wait, JW Group is…”

Click. The call was disconnected.

“What…” Ji Wan looked at her phone’s black screen helplessly. Her editor was enthusiastic and thoughtful, just too busy.

Ji Wan stared at the black screen, a little dazed. What did her editor just say? Ji Wan’s thoughts were blank for a moment. Then she suddenly remembered something.

Making money!!!

Ji Wan sat up abruptly, and the blanket slid off. She closed her laptop and pinched her cheek. It hurt! She was going to get published, she was going to have money!

After her moment of excitement, Ji Wan quickly went to Baidu to search for JW Group.

JW Group, founded two years ago, was a newly established Fortune 500 company with abundant resources and talent. It was an entertainment, film, and publishing company. Its founder was a mystery.

…

Ji Wan wore a simple, sleeveless, floral long dress with a loose jacket. She looked simple yet stylish. In her hands, she held a large kraft paper bag filled with her novel manuscripts. She stood in front of the JW building. Looking at the new skyscraper, which was much taller than the surrounding buildings, Ji Wan truly felt the meaning of money and power. She gulped as she looked at JW’s front door, feeling a little nervous.

Finally, she mustered up the courage to walk inside. “Um, hello. I’m an author with a publishing appointment today. My last name is Ji,” Ji Wan said to the two receptionists, approaching the one who seemed more approachable.

But before she could finish, she was interrupted by the other one. “Who made an appointment with you?” Shabi looked at Ji Wan’s clothes and then at her beautiful face, and her eyes showed hostility. Her tone was a little impatient. Just a little author. Who knows what she’s here for, dressed so nicely? Shabi thought disdainfully, with a look of contempt in her eyes.

“It was Secretary Lin. She said she told you about it,” Ji Wan replied politely. Whether it was her imagination or not, Ji Wan felt a strange hostility from the receptionist.

“Heh, there’s no such person. You have the wrong place,” Shabi’s disdain deepened. She replied perfunctorily. Secretary Lin is the CEO’s assistant. Why would she care about a woman like this? She’s clearly a woman who would do anything to get rich. Thinking of the CEO’s stunning beauty, Shabi’s hostility toward Ji Wan deepened. She’s probably here to try and get with the CEO again.

“I really did make an appointment with her. Can you check again?” Ji Wan felt a little baffled. Why was this person looking at her so strangely? Had she offended her before?

“No means no. Get out of here. If you block the way, I’ll call security,” the receptionist became impatient, her tone aggressive.

“You…” Ji Wan held back her anger. She finally turned and decided to leave. She didn’t want to make a scene.

“Heh, see? She’s just a woman who wants to climb the ladder. Relying on her good looks to come here and try to seduce people, not even looking at where this is,” Shabi said to the other person beside her with disdain. Her voice wasn’t too loud or too soft, and it reached Ji Wan’s ears.

Ji Wan took a deep breath. Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. It’s not worth it to be angry at an idiot. Ji Wan didn’t look back and walked straight out.

“Sister Sha, what if she really did have an appointment? And with Secretary Lin, no less,” the other receptionist, who was clearly new, asked with a little fear.

“What’s there to be afraid of? Look at the clothes she’s wearing. It’s not even as expensive as one of my bags,” Shabi rolled her eyes at the new person, her tone smug.

But her smile quickly disappeared.

“Shabi, you don’t have to come in tomorrow,” Secretary Lin walked over quickly, giving her a cold look.

“Secretary… Secretary Lin, what did I do wrong? Why are you firing me?” Shabi asked nervously. She couldn’t find such a high-paying and easy job as the one at JW anywhere else.

“You’ve offended someone you shouldn’t have. Get out of here, or I don’t know what will happen to you,” Secretary Lin gave her a cold look. She then hurried to chase after Ji Wan. She didn’t care about the woman’s desperate look behind her. Did this woman even know who she had offended? That was the person the CEO had been looking for for two years!

Thinking of how much the CEO cared about Ji Wan, Secretary Lin’s forehead broke into a cold sweat. This woman had a death wish.

Jiang Zhili looked at the familiar face of the young woman on the monitor. Her hand clenched into a fist. “I’ve finally found you,” Jiang Zhili said, her voice icy, her eyes filled with a hint of madness and darkness.

Jiang Zhili had been looking for Ji Wan for two whole years. Her hope was slowly being shattered. Despair and loneliness had enveloped her for two whole years. But now Ji Wan had appeared again. If it weren’t for her information appearing again at her company, she might have continued looking. This time, she would not let her go so easily.

“Since this is the consequence of waiting for you to respond to me, I’ll just trap you by my side. You won’t be able to go anywhere.” Looking at the picture of Ji Wan that was secretly taken on her computer, Jiang Zhili said coldly.

Ji Wan had no idea what was about to happen to her. She walked away angrily. “What’s the big deal about being JW? Are they just going to bully people like this?” But there was nothing she could do. She was just a common citizen who barely made a living writing novels. And now she had lost such a big opportunity. But when someone bullied her like this, she really couldn’t bring herself to beg that receptionist for help.

“So what? I… I’ll just keep writing novels. If it doesn’t get published, then it doesn’t get published,” Ji Wan said, huffing. But it was so much money! It just flew away… She felt depressed and helpless. Ji Wan’s mood couldn’t help but fall.

“Miss Ji, wait!” Secretary Lin walked out quickly, her eight-centimeter heels making her look like she was walking eight hundred meters.

Ji Wan turned to look at her. There was no one around except for the two of them. Ji Wan pointed to herself strangely. “Um, are you calling me?”

“Please, you must come with me,” Secretary Lin quickly grabbed Ji Wan’s arm, breathing heavily. She was so anxious and flustered, as if she was afraid Ji Wan would run away.

When Ji Wan walked into JW Group again, the bad woman who had bullied her was gone. Ji Wan followed Secretary Lin into the elevator.

“Um, where are we going?” Ji Wan asked, looking at Secretary Lin as she pressed the button for a high floor. Her editor said she only had to go to the fourth floor for publishing, so why were they going to the 70th floor? It seemed that the higher the floor at JW, the higher the status. If Ji Wan wasn’t mistaken, that was where the mysterious founder of JW stayed.

“It’s like this. Our CEO read your novel and was very impressed. She hopes to meet with you to discuss publishing and future TV and movie adaptations,” Secretary Lin replied seriously.

“Um, does your CEO like novels about a domineering CEO falling in love with me?” Ji Wan looked at Secretary Lin strangely.

Ji Wan really couldn’t imagine a real CEO reading the various ridiculous plot devices she wrote with great interest. The novels she wrote were either about getting pregnant after one night and running away with the baby or amnesia, car crashes, and stand-in tropes. And a real CEO actually appreciated them?

Secretary Lin felt a little embarrassed. She looked at Ji Wan’s fresh, pure, and beautiful appearance. She thought Ji Wan wrote high-brow literature, or at the very least, painful youth literature. She never expected it to be a dramatic web novel…

“Yes, she does,” Secretary Lin said, forcing a response.

“Oh,” Ji Wan didn’t ask any more questions. She felt that it was better not to delve into personal preferences. Maybe they just liked it.

Soon, Ji Wan was led to the door of the CEO’s office. Ji Wan looked at Secretary Lin strangely. “Is there no one on this floor? Why haven’t I seen anyone along the way?”

“They… they’re on vacation today,” Secretary Lin felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead. She was really not good at lying. Their CEO had suddenly moved everyone downstairs and told them that no one was allowed to come up here.

Ji Wan felt it was strange. Wasn’t today Monday? But she didn’t think much of it. Big companies always had weird rules, right?

“Miss Ji, the CEO is waiting for you inside. Please go in.” Secretary Lin, afraid that Ji Wan would ask more questions, said this and quickly left.

“Am I that scary?” Ji Wan looked at Secretary Lin’s fleeing back and pinched her cheek strangely. Then Ji Wan looked at the closed doorknob of the CEO’s office and gulped.

Ji Wan gently knocked on the door. The door suddenly opened by itself. Ji Wan looked inside, which was dark and without light. She asked nervously, “Um, can I come in?”

There was no response for a long time. Just as Ji Wan was about to leave, thinking no one was there, a faint voice entered her ears. Ji Wan mustered up her courage, pushed the door open a little, and walked in. The lights were off. The only light was a little bit of light from the giant French window. She could barely see the outline of the office.

Ji Wan looked at the person sitting at the luxurious desk. But only the back of a black chair was facing her. She couldn’t see what the mysterious person looked like.

“Hello, I’m Ji Wan. I’m here to discuss publishing,” Ji Wan said, her expression a little nervous.

There was no reply. The only thing that responded to Ji Wan was the sound of the automatic curtains on the French window being drawn. The office slowly lit up.

“Come here,” a cold, indifferent, and hoarse voice said.

Ji Wan felt that the voice was a little familiar. But she still obediently walked toward the desk. When she got a little closer to the back of the chair, Ji Wan stopped.

“Um, the publishing is…” Ji Wan’s words got stuck in her throat when she saw the indifferent and ethereal face of the person in the chair, which was slowly turning around.

When her eyes met Jiang Zhili’s cold and gloomy ones, Ji Wan’s body froze instantly, and her expression was one of disbelief. When Ji Wan finally came to her senses, she took a step back, turned, and tried to run. But her wrist was suddenly grabbed and pulled.

The next second, Ji Wan was sitting on Jiang Zhili’s lap, facing her. The office chair was big enough for two people. Jiang Zhili held Ji Wan by the waist, not letting her go anywhere. Her expression turned dangerous, and her voice carried a slight threat. “Why are you running? Weren’t you going to talk to me about publishing?”

The soft whisper was like a devil’s curse, leading her to eternal damnation.