My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 75 - 73: Stories and Wine

"I’m in Wuzhen right now."

"..."

"Hmm, let’s get in touch when I’m back."

"..."

"Goodbye, Director Ding."

After Li Peifeng hung up the phone, he looked at Huang Tianxuan who seemed expectant and said with a smile, "The director who bought the script of ’Evil Boss’ called me, saying he wanted to discuss a bit."

Huang Tianxuan seemed pleasantly surprised, "That’s pretty good. If that’s the case, he should somewhat respect your opinion, and the film adaptation shouldn’t stray too far from the original."

"Based on the attitude in his call just now, probably."

Li Peifeng also wasn’t sure, "My book isn’t quite popular, Director Ding is definitely not coming for fame, but for the story in the book. If he wants to make major changes, there’s no need to buy the rights, he could just re-skin it as an original."

"Yes, if they can film it according to the original, that would be great!"

Huang Tianxuan seemed genuinely pleased, "When chatting online, I mentioned why I like your book, right? Do you remember?"

"I remember."

To remember all that crap, with so many female fans chatting privately with me about the plot, how can I keep track...

Li Peifeng stared at her, "But I want to hear you praise it again in person."

"Alright."

Huang Tianxuan gave a small smile, "I think each female protagonist in your works has a unique charm. They’re not petty, not calculating, not weak, and not passive. They live freely, and no one can tell them what to do!"

"It’s a distinctive spirit of freedom, which completely breaks free from the societal shackles placed on women. Perhaps because you’re a man, this temperament is something female authors can’t write out..."

"In short, I really admire each heroine you write!"

Li Peifeng mused, "Life is a wilderness, not a track. Everyone, regardless of gender, has the right to refuse a life they don’t desire. I feel that maybe you envy them because you’ve been repressed for too long."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Li Peifeng nodded, "After spending a few days interacting with you in reality, I honestly doubt if the Old Huang in the group is actually you, the difference is huge. Isn’t it tiring wearing a mask?"

It’s common for Old Huang next door to speed in the chat group, where all sorts of vulgarities flow naturally and become a habit. But this is a stark contrast from the real-life Huang Tianxuan; so far, Li Peifeng has only heard her curse in dialect once while speeding, otherwise she’s very polite, even could be described as gentle and poised.

Huang Tianxuan forced a smile, wanting to say something but unable to, instead she turned to gaze at the night scene outside in Wuzhen and absent-mindedly said, "Let’s go drink."

Drink? That’s not a good thing!

The root of all evil is lust, and alcohol is the matchmaker of vice!

Li Peifeng glanced at the desserts they had only half-eaten, hesitated a bit, but ultimately agreed, "Let’s go."

...

Old Banyan Tree is the only livehouse-style bar in the small town, its performance space and sound effects are excellent, and an unknown female singer on stage is singing, and her level is quite good.

"In whose embrace will I have a feeling~ In a deep night I am missing~ Obviously changing for you~ Yet I can’t turn back to the past..."

Li Peifeng and Huang Tianxuan sat at the bar stool, each having consumed six or seven cocktails, the latter finally began to tell a story.

It could be roughly summed up as "The bad experiences of a beauty in a sexist, wealthy family and the negative impacts of a toxic original family relationship on my personality."

Aye, Li Peifeng loved listening to this.

Not to hear about the crappy stuff of the rich, seeking psychological balance...

Nor out of gossip.

Solely for collecting material for creation, for art.

"Yes, indeed, uncle went too far!"

"You think so too?" Huang Tianxuan sighed, "My brother is three years older than me, barely scored to enter a tier three college, my dad paid for him to go to the University of Sydney in Kangaroo country, learned some medical management and came back, now he’s the vice president. The younger brother is twenty-six, also a 62, mind is a pile of shit, no better than his brother, just knows fooling around while studying abroad."

"But just because they are sons, are men, my dad began planning and nurturing them since childhood, reserved positions in the company, planned their promotion routes, let them practice when in college, and laid out support staff in advance."

"But what about me, the daughter?"

Huang Tianxuan self-mockingly laughed, "My dad told outsiders that for the girl, I don’t want her to be too tired, just learn a bit of art. The subtext of this probably is ’will marry eventually,’ and even scarier is that even my mom thinks this way. So, since young, they’ve educated me in the manner of a lady from a noble family, arranging teachers for piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, but never bothering about my grades..."

"That’s invisible discrimination."

Li Peifeng agreed, "Caring about sons’ careers but neglecting daughters’ futures, that’s irresponsible."

"So I need to prove it to them!"

After Huang Tianxuan said firmly, she seemed to remember something amusing and said with some humor, "I still remember when I told him I only applied to East Medical University, his surprised expression. Well, that’s also his alma mater."

"Nation’s second in pharmacy, amazing!"

Li Peifeng lightly applauded, partly for the female singer who just finished a song on stage.

"It’s of no use, instead it gives him an excuse to assign me to a technical position."

Huang Tianxuan took a sip of wine, disenchanted, "Today the project finished, he just called me over for a consoling chat, with no substantial gesture. If I were his son and achieved this, he would have happily moved me to another position, promoted me, the heir of course needs comprehensive training, just knowing technology wouldn’t suffice!"

Li Peifeng pondered, "Have you tried talking candidly with your uncle?"

"It’s pointless."

Huang Tianxuan shook her head without hope, "He doesn’t say it out loud, but he’s particularly sexist in his heart, the entrepreneurs of this generation in Zhejiang hold this mindset. They’re obsessed with lineage continuation, as if everyone has a throne to inherit."

"No matter what I do in the future, the company will be controlled by my brother, at most he’ll give me some insignificant shares, um, probably similar to my 62 younger brother..."

Li Peifeng felt genuinely regretful, "That’s indeed quite little."

Littleness my foot, tell me directly how many billions you can split?

Li Peifeng’s heart was saddened, he was quite struggling too, he, a person with no house, no car, no property, was there comforting a white rich beauty born with a silver spoon.

Deserving? Deserve my ass?

No matter what she does, even if her father is sexist, she was born standing in Rome, cruising on a Mercedes G-Class with license plate numbers of five 7s, wearing sunglasses and loving nobody, flipping hair and ignoring everyone.

How does he compare to her?

A mule! A big mule!

Don’t want to speak, too tired!

"Enough said, drink!"

Li Peifeng’s throat dried up from chiming in, combined with the melancholy emotions inside, for the first time he proactively raised his glass to clink with Huang Tianxuan and then downed it.

"Lend me a shoulder."

"Feel free."

After this drink, Huang Tianxuan might have really drunk quite a bit, dizzily wanting to lean on Li Peifeng’s shoulder, but the direction was a bit off, directly lying in his arms.

"Uh, sorry."

Huang Tianxuan instinctively extended her arms, wanting to prop herself up on his leg to sit back, instead... she suddenly sobered up, her once flushed cheeks turning even redder, her blurry eyes widening in a huff, she angrily said, "You got cancer?"

Li Peifeng embarrassedly scratched his head, "Should I check into the hospital?"