The lunch portions were huge, and it took the combined efforts of Yan Xiu, Gu Ting, and Du Kaifeng to barely polish off everything. Yan Xiu acted completely normal, but Gu Ting inexplicably felt that his spirits were a bit low today.
Gu Ting herself was dealing with a mind full of chaos. There were too many tags for her in the company group chat: some managers were endlessly lamenting that Gu Ting had failed to ride the wave of traffic to skyrocket; some were busy sucking up, praising Gu Ting’s “God of Lucky Draws” persona as unique and brilliant; and others were furiously cursing out their rivals for suppressing her trending status, calling it a filthy tactic—even though management hadn’t even figured out who exactly the rival company was.
Gu Ting skimmed through all of this at lightning speed, forgetting it as fast as she read it. It wasn’t worth dwelling on. The thing giving her a headache was a piece of disastrous news: her livestream room had been banned again!
This time, the situation was much more severe than the first ban. The notification stated that her room was suspected of violating laws and regulations under serious circumstances, and it didn’t even provide an unbanning date. The company had negotiated with the XX platform multiple times to no avail; it seemed they could only wait.
What gave Gu Ting a headache wasn’t the ban itself, but the fact that the tips gifted by fans last night—including Emperor Chang—totaled over 250,000 yuan. Didn’t this mean she temporarily couldn’t withdraw the money?
At this thought, Gu Ting felt as if her heart were being pricked a thousand times over by Nanny Rong, causing her immense misery.
After finishing the meal, Gu Ting emerged from the ward. While waiting for the elevator, two people walked past her, suddenly slowing their steps to look her over curiously. Gu Ting was already feeling a bit disgruntled when a young girl suddenly rushed up and affectionately linked arms with her. “Sister Gu Ting!”
Gu Ting looked at the young girl. “And you are?” Could it be an old acquaintance the original Gu Ting knew?
“The person you saved yesterday was my grandmother. My name is Fang Zhuyu, and this is my young uncle, Fang Yibai,” the young girl introduced enthusiastically.
The man wearing glasses smiled and reached out his hand. “Hello. I am extremely grateful to Miss Gu for sending my mother to the hospital yesterday. The doctor said that if she hadn’t been delivered in time, my mother’s life would likely have been in danger.”
This pair of uncle and niece—the uncle possessed an elegant, refined temperament, while the niece was cute and lively—were both the type of people who easily elicited goodwill. Gu Ting was no exception. In the blink of an eye, she switched to a face full of smiles and said, “It’s a small matter. I just did what any normal person would do.”
Just then, the elevator doors opened. Gu Ting walked in and prepared to wave goodbye, but unexpectedly, Fang Yibai and his niece followed her into the elevator, seemingly still having more to say.
Fang Yibai said in all sincerity, “Miss Gu, you saved my mother, and our Fang family has no way to fully repay this debt. If you ever need help with anything in the future, whether it’s money or something else, we are more than willing to offer what little assistance we can.”
Gu Ting: “Ah? Thank you, but I’m not lacking money.” After saying this, Gu Ting herself froze for a moment, never expecting that the day would come when she could say the words “I’m not lacking money”!
Fang Zhuyu affectionately linked arms with her once more, saying excitedly, “Sister Gu Ting, my grandmother keeps nagging that she wants to see you, and I really like you too. I watched your livestream last night, it was so interesting! Let’s arrange a time for you to come over to my house for dinner, alright?”
The way Gu Ting rejected her made her look like a heartless scumbag: “Ah? Next time, maybe?”
From childhood to adulthood, she had almost never experienced being a guest at someone else’s house. The last time she faced a massive crowd of people alone was back in high school during a gang fight.
Fang Yibai offered a bitter smile and could only settle for the next best thing: “Miss Gu, our family would like to pay a visit to your father and mother. I wonder when it would be convenient?”
If money wasn’t wanted, dinner wasn’t eaten, and the guest refused to come, then the only option was for me to go see the guest.
Gu Ting’s expression instantly turned lighter than ever before. “Sure. On the day I finally find my parents, I’ll inform you immediately.”
The Fang uncle and niece: “…” Excuse me, what kind of deadpan joke is this?
Gu Ting was highly satisfied with this effect. Waving her sleeve, she said bye-bye to the uncle and niece.
When afternoon came, the dance teacher in the dance studio put even more effort into being suggestive. Only Gu Ting danced until her face turned completely pale. With great difficulty, the dance finally came to an end. Gu Ting breathed a massive sigh of relief and was just preparing to head back when she was personally invited to the conference room for a meeting by Assistant Zhang.
In the conference room, facing a crowd of managers and employees, Gu Ting felt for a moment as if she were looking at dozens of sunflowers. The entire room was flooded with a radiant, sunny atmosphere.
“Tingting, dancing must have been exhausting, right? Quick, sit down and rest…”
“Little Liu, hurry up and pour a glass of water for Little Gu.”
“Little Gu, we haven’t seen each other for just a few days, how did you get even prettier?”
“Tingting, I heard your financial luck has been exceptionally good lately. Let Sister rub off some of it later. If I win at mahjong tonight, I’ll split half the winnings with you!”
“…”
Gu Ting was left completely uncomfortable by this sudden wave of enthusiasm. Fortunately, if there was one thing she excelled at, it was having a mindset as steady as an old dog. Waving her hand twice to a crowd of people she had absolutely never met, she sat down with a perfectly clear conscience.
The meeting officially began. Without a doubt, this was a personal meeting regarding Gu Ting. The theme of the meeting was aimed at planning Gu Ting’s celebrity-making strategy.
The words “celebrity-making” drifted into her ears, causing the corners of Gu Ting’s mouth to twitch violently just as she was about to drink water. No, was confidence sold by the pound these days? As a newcomer streamer who had absolutely no acting skills, singing skills, dancing skills, emotional intelligence, connections, company resources, or financial backers—essentially completely empty-handed—she could actually fantasize about becoming a big star?
Even if her Wealth God buff possessed terrifying power, it could only manufacture money, not stars.
Managers truly lived up to being managers. Not only was their pie-drawing technique powerful, but even their dream-weaving capacity was incredibly formidable.
Naturally, Gu Ting had never thought about using the money obtained through the Wealth God buff to fund herself and turn herself into a big star. After all, people became stars just to make money. Since she had ways to earn money, why take an unnecessary detour to become a star? Wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?
Gu Ting had a realistic grasp of the situation in her heart, but unfortunately, the crowd of people in the company didn’t see it that way. Although their company was considered third-rate with poor resources, chaotic management, and low salaries, they never admitted defeat when it came to dreaming.
The grand spectacle of Gu Ting’s livestream last night had already spread throughout the company. Although her traffic last night was like a flash in the pan and quickly passed, Gu Ting’s livestream data sat right there: her follower count exploded by 250,000 overnight, and her tips exceeded 250,000 yuan. The most terrifying part was that Gu Ting’s total livestreaming career spanned only three to four days, and her total broadcast duration hadn’t even exceeded twelve hours.
To summarize it simply: terrifyingly formidable!
The absolute most important thing was that Gu Ting’s persona was unprecedented and unique—a female Wealth God with sky-high financial luck, whose financial fortune was astonishing, who won every single time money was involved, and who could even grant a financial luck buff to others, bringing them windfalls.
A figure akin to the Wealth God himself was someone no human being could possibly dislike, right? Far from just liking her, they practically wished they could enshrine her at home, alright?
Although science couldn’t explain it, that wasn’t important. Metaphysics was also a field of study; as long as everyone could find psychological reliance, it was fine.
At this very moment, Gu Ting in the eyes of the ChengGong management was no longer Gu Ting, that ordinary, completely unmemorable beautiful girl, but the future shining star of the company—the company’s cornucopia!
However, no matter how beautiful the blueprint of the dream was constructed, reality remained completely underwhelming. When a company manager finished discussing the celebrity-making plan formulated for Gu Ting, she almost burst out laughing.
The entire plan was divided into a three-step process. One: negotiate with the XX platform to strive for an early recovery of her livestreaming status. Two: QianYan endorsement, and supervising the filming of Celebrity Survival Log. Three: search for resources. As for how to look for resources and whether they could be found, don’t you worry about it; anyway, I am looking.
Gu Ting: “…” There’s a sense of ‘I’ve worked hard, but the working hard feels incredibly pitiful.’
Saddled with such a signed company, why worry about talent not being buried?
Gu Ting entered completely bewildered and emerged looking thoroughly disgruntled. This meeting felt like it was held for nothing; only her hand, which had gone numb from shaking hands, proved that a meeting had truly taken place today.
Gu Ting didn’t just shake hands with the ChengGong management layer; once the meeting concluded, she was surrounded by a crowd of company employees begging to rub off some luck. After this and that, Gu Ting’s other hand also went numb from shaking.
Before today, Gu Ting never knew that shaking hands could actually become a form of physical injury.
Gu Ting was rather unhappy. When she found Lin Yi standing opposite her with a cool and handsome expression on his face, her desire to transform into Nanny Rong reached its peak at that moment, truly wishing she could take a needle and prick this dog-bastard to death.
“Don’t get too smug, thinking you can truly break into the entertainment industry and become a female star,” Lin Yi sneered coldly. “Every year the company picks a few newcomers to attempt breaking into the entertainment industry. The ones who fail end up staying in the company to be streamers.”
Gu Ting: “!!!” So that’s how the sixty-plus streamers of ChengGong Entertainment came to be!
When it came to how to fail, ChengGong Entertainment truly possessed abundant experience.
Light waves rippled in Gu Ting’s eyes, and her expression was sincere. “The company unearths and trains so many newcomers every year, yet Brother Yi, you are the only one who became a star. It seems Brother Yi must possess extraordinary qualities…”
Lin Yi had originally wanted to act smug, but when he saw the unvarnished sarcasm in Gu Ting’s eyes, his face shifted through multiple colors, looking increasingly hideous with each shift.
“Just you wait and see, Gu Ting.” Lin Yi pointed his index finger at her. “One day, you will come begging me in tears!”
Leaving those harsh words behind, he turned around and departed.
Gu Ting sneered. The story of how Lin Yi climbed his way up could be turned into a dozens-of-episodes television drama. Originally, how loose his conduct was and how he lacked boundaries had nothing to do with her, but since he was completely haunting her and pestering her repeatedly, then don’t blame her for piercing straight into his heart.
Gu Ting hadn’t anticipated today’s schedule being so packed. During the meeting, she had informed Yan Xiu in advance. Yan Xiu told her she didn’t need to make an extra trip to the hospital and could handle dinner herself. But Gu Ting didn’t want to break her promise on the very first day, and at the thought of Yan Xiu appearing to have something on his mind during lunch, she decided to make the trip anyway.
Gu Ting hailed a taxi once more and headed straight for the hospital. Seeing the 20-yuan bill upon getting out of the car, Gu Ting felt she couldn’t keep wasting money like this. 20 after 20, how many 20s were there? Paying 20 every day, you would miss out on countless 20s!
Therefore, she decided she was going to buy a car!
With her mind set on buying a car, she lifted her head, and directly across the road happened to be a car 4S dealership.
Gu Ting: “…” Since when does money truly fall from the sky the moment I say it will? Wait, that matter seems to have actually happened before.
Ever since she herself turned into a living embodiment of metaphysics, she found it increasingly impossible to ignore the power of metaphysics.
Gu Ting headed straight into the car 4S dealership. Pointing at a car, she said to a salesperson with immense grandeur, “This car, I want it! Right here, right now!”
For a moment, the salesperson’s expression was both joyful and astonished. The joy came from someone buying a car, while the astonishment came from her generating the excitement of buying a Maybach when she was merely purchasing a Wuling Bingo.
It could only be said that spending this 70,000-plus yuan was truly worth it!
Signing, paying, drawing a prize, sitting down to drink water… Gu Ting’s actions had never been this smooth and seamless before, as if every breath was beautiful in just the right way.
It turned out that spending money completely at whim felt incredibly amazing!
When the salesperson returned, the layers of his expression were even richer—joyful, astonished, and envious.
“Congratulations, Miss Gu. You won ‘Another Car Free’.”
Gu Ting: “Pfft…” A mouthful of water sprayed straight out.
The author has something to say:
Revisions to the text have been frequent recently, those who find it disjointed should flip back one chapter.
The lucky draw in this chapter is purely fictional. [laugh-cry] [laugh-cry]