Gu Ting swallowed her first sip of milk tea since returning from time travel, squinting her eyes in sheer bliss. She chimed in along with him, saying, “Yes, yes, yes. You truly helped a ton with borrowing that money earlier. If it weren’t for you, given my circumstances, it would have been impossible to secure that 5 million. Plus, you were the one who helped connect me with Wang Mingxiao. I hold your ‘hard work and great merit’ close to my heart!”
Luo Yuan’s temper, however, did not flare down. “Since you know all that, why did you still lie to me? You clearly didn’t have a terminal illness, yet you lied saying your days were numbered. To think I was actually worried about you! You have disappointed me too deeply!”
Gu Ting sneered in her heart. She had finally figured out that the 5 million loan was indeed tied to Luo Yuan, and adding the matter with Wang Mingxiao into the mix, this man structurally appeared to care for the fake Gu Ting on the surface, while in reality doing absolutely nothing good and laying traps everywhere. What on earth was he planning?
Furthermore, regarding the fact that she didn’t have a terminal illness—it had only been a few days, so how did Luo Yuan find out?
Gu Ting felt a surge of vigilance in her heart, but she maintained an innocent facade. “Brother Luo, if I weren’t truly feeling unwell, would I go to the hospital for a checkup for no good reason? Who jokes about being sick? I still have the checkup sheets. If you don’t believe me, I’ll bring them to show you tomorrow! I didn’t tell you because I was planning to give you a massive surprise today.”
“But do you know what I’ve been through from last night until now? I was kidnapped by a gang of fugitive murderers and almost lost my life! Do you know how many hardships I endured and how many tears I shed to escape? You don’t know either! All you know how to do is accuse me and scold me! To think I regarded you, Brother Luo, as my closest person, yet you break my heart like this. Waaah…”
With a barrage of counter-accusations, the tables turned, shifting the blame entirely onto Luo Yuan. He fell silent, processing it for quite a while before softly asking, “I didn’t expect such a horrific thing as a kidnapping to happen. Tingting, you… are you alright?”
Gu Ting truly didn’t know what he had been busy with as her manager to remain oblivious to her kidnapping until now. She sneered internally and countered, “What could have happened to me?”
Luo Yuan adopted the demeanor of a caring older sister. “It’s just… Sigh, I understand. Sometimes being beautiful is a burden. If you were truly… forced by someone, you must tell me. I’ll take you to the hospital for a checkup! Rest assured, I swear I won’t tell a soul.”
Gu Ting couldn’t help but recall a famous quote by a certain Master Yu: Men love making vows the most; their vows are no different from dogs barking, do not believe them.
Gu Ting said, “Of course I trust you, Brother Luo. But I am genuinely fine. There was another person kidnapped with me at the time, and he helped me escape. Not only that, but we also subdued that gang of kidnappers. Their leader even had an eye blinded directly, and they’ve all been caught! Now I finally believe that good and evil have their rewards, it’s just a matter of time. Heaven eventually punishes the wicked. Brother Luo, what do you think?”
Luo Yuan: “…” What do I think? I’ll fucking close my eyes and not look!
“Hehe… As long as you’re fine, Tingting, I can rest easy. It’s getting late today. You must come to the company early tomorrow.” For the first time, Luo Yuan beat Gu Ting to the punch and hung up the phone first.
Looking at the disconnected call, Gu Ting took a sip of her milk tea, her face grinning widely. Seeing you so unhappy makes me happy!
Luo Yuan had been somewhat overwhelmed with anxiety over the past two days. Two loans he had extended had mysteriously turned into bad debts, as the borrowers fled and the money couldn’t be recovered, which was why he hadn’t paid attention to the internet.
He didn’t quite believe what Gu Ting said, so he immediately browsed today’s news. Opening his Green Messenger, he discovered the main work group had exploded, flooded with unread messages. Luo Yuan had been @-ed countless times. He hurriedly clicked in to check, only to find several news videos. Some were filmed at the welfare station, others inside the police station. Even though the filming angles were highly creative, they couldn’t hide the main subject’s clear, beautiful face, which looked like a lotus flower emerging from water.
Who else could it be but Gu Ting?
The more Luo Yuan watched, the more surprised and astonished he became. He drafted a reply to his superiors while his expression turned rather unsightly. Once he finally caught a break, he swiftly dialed a number.
Gu Ting rode the elevator back to her newly rented apartment. Just as she stepped up to the door, Yan Xiu sent a voice message: Keep the money safe for me for now. I’ll ask you for it when I need to use it.
Gu Ting couldn’t help but mutter to herself, How do you know my conscience can withstand the temptation of 10 million yuan?
When she returned to the residence, Lin Mengmeng was already back. She was sitting on the sofa watching a variety show, laughing up a storm. Hearing the noise, she turned her head and scanned Gu Ting up and down to confirm she was safe. “Tingting, you’re genuinely perfectly fine. That’s wonderful.”
Having said that, she didn’t linger for a single second, turning her head back to continue watching her television and letting out burst after burst of “honk honk honk honk honk honk.”
Gu Ting: “…” Great, I can experience the joy of poultry right at home.
Gu Ting returned to her room. Just as she set down her bag and sat down, her phone suddenly began broadcasting voice alerts at a high volume.
“Alipay payment received: 666 yuan…”
“Alipay payment received: 888 yuan…”
“…”
Until the final alert: “Alipay payment received: 5,000 yuan…”
The money she had won from the prize draws across the six livestream rooms two nights ago had completely cleared.
Gu Ting’s mood felt as though she were riding a sailboat, enjoying wave after wave of ascending excitement and thrill at sea. Her joyous state reached its peak when the final text message arrived.
Your savings card ending in XXXX received a transfer deposit of 2,720,000.00 yuan on October 04 at 18:01. Current balance: 23,920,0xx.xx yuan. [XX Bank]
Adding the 2 million in cash and the 400,000 bank remittance slip, and subtracting the 10 million belonging to Yan Xiu, Gu Ting’s total current assets amounted to 13.92 million yuan, period.
Secured safely in her pocket, with over ten million yuan in hand, Gu Ting’s mood felt unprecedentedly relaxed, joyful, and satisfied. Her entire body felt warm all over, as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring; that feeling was simply exquisite beyond words. A minute after the deposit cleared, Xu Zixin sent a message: Sister Tingting, I’ve transferred the money to you. Did you receive it?
While Gu Ting was replying to the message, Lin Mengmeng suddenly poked her head out and asked with absolute sincerity, “What was that string of sounds just now? A new phone ringtone? Set one up for me too.”
Gu Ting: “…”
Standing up from the bed, she said, “Today is my first day moving in. Come on, let’s go out and grab a big meal.”
Lin Mengmeng looked nostalgic. “Yesterday’s squid was quite delicious. Let’s go grab two more skewers.”
Gu Ting: “= =!” What kind of life did this kid lead before?
While the two were walking on the street, people actually took candid photos of her, and some openly greeted Gu Ting, shook her hand, or requested photos together. Gu Ting was in a great mood and agreed to every single one.
Lin Mengmeng, however, blinked innocently, looking completely bewildered about life. “Could it be that people don’t like my type of looks anymore? Why is no one asking me for a photo?”
Seeing that Lin Mengmeng was genuinely mystified, Gu Ting explained in a low voice, “I made the news. First, it was about me delivering the kidnappers to the police station. On top of that, I won a prize from scratch-offs this morning. They probably all want to rub off some of my wealth luck.”
Lin Mengmeng let out a massive sigh of relief. “So it’s not because I’m not pretty. I can rest easy then.” Having said that, she turned her head with a relaxed expression and entered a flower shop to browse the fresh blossoms.
Gu Ting: “…” Aren’t you even going to ask me how much money I won? Why is this person’s first reaction completely different from everyone else’s?
Midway through dinner, Luo Yuan suddenly sent her a message stating that her livestream room had been unbanned, instructing her that she must stream on time tonight, and telling her to stream from the company tonight, where management and professional staff would provide on-site guidance.
Gu Ting wasn’t surprised. The news about her was currently trending heavily online, drawing significant discussion, which could be considered a minor viral explosion. The platform naturally wouldn’t want to miss out on this wave of traffic, hence unbanning her ahead of schedule. In the face of absolute traffic, all regulations could take a detour.
The only thing that rankled her was having to go to the company to stream late at night with management presiding over the session. What difference was there between going to work like that and being tortured? She had no idea until what hour of the night she would have to labor away.
Gu Ting had no choice but to hastily finish her meal. Under Lin Mengmeng’s sympathetic gaze, she hailed a taxi to the Orange Success office.
Sitting in the ride-hailing car, she felt somewhat gratified; she finally didn’t have to toss and turn over the pain of taxi fares anymore.
In just over twenty minutes, Gu Ting arrived at Orange Success Entertainment. Luo Yuan led her to the artist dressing room to get her makeup done first, and even picked out a highly revealing short skirt for her. Gu Ting simply acted as though she didn’t see it, found a well-fitting outfit of her own choice to change into, and turned around to head to the streaming studio, entirely failing to notice that Luo Yuan’s gaze behind her was exceptionally deep.
Orange Success Entertainment had dedicated streaming studios prepared for their streamers and artists. Each studio was independent of the others, offering excellent privacy. Gu Ting entered her designated studio, turned on the computer, and prepared to start streaming.
Upon logging into her account, Gu Ting discovered that her streamer bio had been modified at some point to include over twenty tags, such as: Scratch-Off Young Lady, Deity of Prize Draws, Three-Good Citizen Ms. Gu, High-Quality Peerless Beauty Streamer…
The title of the livestream room had been meticulously edited by someone as well: Three-Good Citizen Ms. Gu explains for you the thrilling night of accidentally entering a thieves’ den and capturing three people back-to-back last night…
Gu Ting: “= =!”
Gu Ting decided right then: if anyone in the livestream room used these to mock her later, she would shift the blame entirely to the super moderator. If no one talked trash, that could only mean one thing—she truly was that excellent.
Less than thirty seconds after going live, the vanguard army of internet wealth-seekers arrived in the livestream room with rapid speed.
“Ms. Gu, I have a thousand words I want to say to you, but there’s no time… rub rub rub~~~”
“Receive receive receive, receive financial luck into my house, receive financial aura to flood my body, receive the demise of evil spirits…”
“Form a neat line downstairs, rub one by one, rub rub rub rub rub rub rub.”
“Miss Gu, my last name is Fang, 27 years old this year, graduated from Caltech. My family owns three factories and seven properties, with substantial savings. I currently require a marriage partner. If interested, we can chat privately…”
“Those matchmaking can kindly step aside for me first. Whoever blocks me from absorbing financial aura, watch out or I’ll draw a knife (restrained version).”
…
This was the most harmonious comment section Gu Ting had seen since she started streaming. It was a uniform wall of people seeking wealth; not a single person praised her beauty or her fine makeup, nor were there any underhanded comments harassing her. This proved conclusively: between money and beauties, money was far more favored by people.
While Gu Ting was acting as a humanoid wishing well, a massive human face suddenly crowded into the screen. Gu Ting was nearly startled, and looking to the left, she saw President Wan’s dry, wrinkled visage.
“Xiao Gu, you’re already streaming? Young people who are diligent and willing to work—I like that! Hehehe…” President Wan squeezed a smile from his wrinkled face, leaning his face closer to the screen to greet the fans in the livestream room. In the next second, his face turned green.
“Holy crap, my first reaction was thinking I saw a ghost!”
“The ugliness content in this stream exceeds the limit, retreat! Retreat! Retreat!”
Some netizens were even more savage: “Evil spirits disperse!!!”
Following that, those two words floated across the entire screen. Anyone passing by would assume they had mistakenly stumbled into an exorcism site.
Gu Ting kept her head down and remained silent, working hard to suppress the upward curve of her lips.
At President Wan’s age, he lacked other merits, but the skin on his face gifted by time was relatively thick. He quickly adjusted his expression, shifting his eyes away from the screen as if nothing had happened, and silently stepped out of the camera’s frame.
“Xiao Gu, today I specifically invited Manager Wang over for you. He has ten years of experience in livestream operations. You must learn well from him, improve yourself, and bring a better experience to the fans in the livestream room. For example, right now, your sitting posture isn’t ladylike enough; also, your attire today is too conservative. Listen to my arrangements, go change right now…”
Before he could finish speaking, Manager Wang beside him showed President Wan the live broadcast feed on his phone. President Wan took a glance, and it was to the extent that his vision turned black once more.
“I listen to the boss ramble at work, and after work I still have to listen to the streamer’s boss ramble. I can’t say it at work, but after work I want to say it loudly: can you beat it?”
“To the extent that the God of Wealth would immediately turn around and leave upon stepping into the house.”
“Annoying boss beat it, beat it, beat it! Wealth God Lord receive, receive, receive!”
“Looking abstract isn’t your fault, but having a suffocating patriarchal attitude is definitely your fault.”
The louder the sound of President Wan slamming the door as he stormed out, the higher the emotions of the fans in the livestream room soared. After all, the identity of a boss these days was practically an existence loathed by everyone.
“May I ask the Deity of Prize Draws, what do you plan to draw tonight? How many times will you draw? Can we invest together to draw, and make a fortune together?”