Yesterday’s two dreams were strange and utterly illogical. They also left Shu Yao unable to get up the next day, until her close friend and little assistant, Yan Yan, finally blasted her awake with several calls in a row.
“Yaoyao, most of the goods sent by the brands have arrived. Are you coming to the studio to select the products?”
“Yes, I’m on my way!”
Shu Yao was indeed a little rich lady. While still in university, she entered the livestreaming industry thanks to her beautiful appearance.
At first, she did food livestreams and earned commissions by promoting products through Little Yellow, then began filming short videos as well. After making a name for herself, brands gradually came to her to seek cooperation.
Most of them were food, clothing, cosmetics, and skincare products. With 6.18 coming up, she also accepted some daily necessities and agricultural products sold to support farmers.
After three or four years, she had saved quite a lot of money. She had bought this large flat during her third year of university.
After graduation, she officially established a studio and rented an entire floor of an office building. Together with her girlfriends, she continued working in the internet industry. Her plan was to earn enough money by the age of thirty, retire, and enjoy the good life.
“Sister Yao, the samples from our longtime partners have all been set aside separately. These are from the new brands that have approached us.”
“Mm, okay. I’ll take a look.”
“Didn’t this brand have a scandal before? Why is someone still sending it to me?”
Shu Yao picked up a box of facial mask and furrowed her brows.
“Sister Yao, this brand is offering a very high commission split—35%. They also paid the highest possible placement fee.”
A male staff member in his thirties stepped forward.
Shu Yao looked him up and down, then casually tossed the facial mask aside.
“Heh, did they give you some benefits? Why are you speaking up for them so much?”
“Their preservatives and fluorescent agents exceed the limits. You’re not the one using it, and you’re not the one whose reputation will be damaged after recommending it, so none of that matters to you, right?”
“That company even publicly liked misogynistic posts on its official account. Do they think the internet has no memory? After lying low for two years, they changed their name and want to make a comeback?”
“With products like this, they still want to make money from women? They’re dreaming!”
“Take everything away!”
The man’s face twitched. He lowered his head to conceal the displeasure in his eyes and removed the samples from the brand.
“Sister Yao, well done. Liu Sheng relies on being somewhat related to you and gives orders blindly around here every day.”
The girl beside her gave her a thumbs-up.
“Him? My relative?”
“Huh? Isn’t he from Sister Yao’s mother’s side? He’s supposedly your cousin, and your aunt brought him here personally.”
The moment she heard that he was from Gao Xiu’s side, Shu Yao felt sick.
“What cousin? Tell human resources to get rid of him immediately. Pay whatever compensation is required and do it as soon as possible.”
Shu Yao had few family ties. When she was six, her parents divorced, and Gao Xiu quickly found another man. Shu Yao went with Father Shu. Father Shu never remarried and had always treated her well, but unfortunately, he died in the line of duty when she was fifteen.
Her only son had died, and grandfather and grandmother forced themselves to hold on long enough to send her to university before passing away as well.
Gao Xiu had actually treated her well before the divorce, but the first blow this mother dealt Shu Yao was voluntarily giving up custody of her during the divorce.
Father Shu was a police officer and was usually too busy to care for the family. She had been young at the time, and after considering the circumstances and her wishes, the court had intended to award custody to Gao Xiu.
But the expression on Gao Xiu’s face at the time, as though she were discarding trash, remained etched in her memory.
The second blow came after Father Shu’s death, when Gao Xiu tried to deceive her into handing over her father’s two-million death benefit so that the son she had later could attend an elite school.
After nearly ten years of ignoring her, Gao Xiu’s first act of concern had come with another motive. After crying bitterly, Shu Yao had completely given up hope.
Her father’s colleagues stepped in and resolved the matter, and Gao Xiu disappeared from her life once again.
Later, she happened to learn that Shu Yao had made money through the internet and wanted to repair her relationship with this daughter.
Shu Yao was still in school at the time. Gao Xiu came looking for her several times, and a counselor happened to see them arguing. Since Shu Yao was a moderately famous internet celebrity, the counselor hinted that she should handle her family relationships properly.
Thus, Shu Yao changed her attitude toward Gao Xiu and endured her disgust to placate her, allowing her to get through university without incident.
Recently, however, Gao Xiu had grown increasingly anxious—or rather, The Liu Household behind her had begun to panic.
It was understandable. Watching her earn money hand over fist while being unable to get even half a share would make anyone frantic.
But what did Shu Yao’s money have to do with them?
Now that she had graduated, she was not afraid of breaking with them. She did not fear exposing everything Gao Xiu had done online. It might even earn her a wave of sympathy.
Looking at the balance in her bank account, Shu Yao transferred money as usual to several charitable accounts.
She would rather give it to people who genuinely needed help than to these leeches trying to cling to her and suck her dry.
Perhaps she was simply cold-hearted by nature and entirely self-serving. She did not want to care about her mother, Younger brother, or any of them.
Shu Yao tossed aside her phone and gave a self-mocking smile.
“Hey, Xiao Jin, come here for a moment.”
Shu Yao raised her hand and beckoned someone over.
“As for Liu Sheng, don’t fire him yet. We’ll deal with it after the event.”
If Liu Sheng had been sent by Gao Xiu, kicking him out now would bring her charging over that afternoon. Shu Yao had no time to argue with them—making money was the most important thing!
“For now, have him handle some unimportant tasks. Don’t let him affect the big promotion.”
“Got it, Sister Yao!”
Xiao Jin made an OK gesture and ran into the human resources office.
“Sister Yao, this is the product-promotion list we selected. Take a look.”
“Sister Yao, this is the warm-up schedule for the first three days, and this is the product-promotion order for 6.18 itself. See if anything needs adjusting.”
The staff members came over one after another with documents, and Shu Yao devoted herself completely to work.
Product selection, arranging the order, memorizing her sales lines—for this entire month, everyone at the studio had been working nonstop. Finally, closing day arrived. After Shu Yao ended the livestream, she instantly collapsed into her chair.
“Sister Yao, the data is out! We did fifteen livestreams in total. The highest single-session sales reached 170 million, and the cumulative transaction volume exceeded 600 million!”
“Sister Yao, you’re awesome!”
Everyone in the livestreaming room cheered.
“Everyone, you’ve worked hard. For these past two months, your Salaries will be paid according to double performance bonuses.”
Shu Yao waved her hand grandly, scattering money.
“Ah, thank you, Sister Yao!”
“Long live Sister Yao!”
“All right, that’s enough. Time to get off work.”
“Yan Yan, save my life!”
Only after everyone had cleaned up and left the livestreaming room did Shu Yao weakly support herself against the desk and climb to her feet. She collapsed against Yan Yan.
“I can’t do this anymore. I really can’t. I’m going to die.”
The nonstop livestreams during this period had exhausted her, and she kept dreaming about that Old Madam whenever she slept. If money had not been supporting her, she would have collapsed long ago.
Yan Yan was nearly knocked off balance by her weight and teased her.
“Even money can’t save you? Six hundred million in transaction volume—how much of that do you get?”
“Yan Yan, you don’t understand. Once you have too much money, it’s just a number.”
Shu Yao raised one finger and wagged it, pretending to be profound.
“Do you actually believe that yourself? Shu the Miser?”
“Hehe, having lots of money is great. Now, money is all I have left.”
Shu Yao sighed lightly, half joking and half sincere.