He Sinian met Qiao Mai’s shining, expectant eyes.
His gaze shifted downward.
On the promotional poster, the male lead wearing a security guard uniform had his mouth twisted into a bizarre arc. Below it were eight characters: The Dragon King smiles, destiny is unpredictable.
“You want me to act in this?”
Qiao Mai, assuming he was interested, nodded rapidly.
“Look, the script is super simple.”
“In the beginning, you’re at your mother-in-law’s house, sweeping the floors and cooking, getting slapped and humiliated by everyone. Later on, you transform into the trillion-dollar Lord of the Dragon Palace, making everyone who looked down on you kneel and call you ‘Daddy’!”
The mere thought of that scene made Qiao Mai excited.
“Just play yourself! Aren’t you a former billionaire CEO anyway?”
“Find that old feeling again. As for getting slapped in the beginning… just treat it as experiencing life and tempering your mental fortitude.”
He Sinian, his face cold, refused. “Not interested.”
“Don’t be like that!” Qiao Mai said anxiously, grabbing his arm. “You’re bankrupt now. With billions in debt hanging over your head, you can’t afford to be picky.”
“This is the era of traffic and clicks. Putting down your ego to earn a living with your face isn’t shameful at all.”
“Once you go viral, we’ll do livestreams to sell things—men’s underwear, anti-hair-loss shampoo. Forget about billions in debt; buying the whole He Group wouldn’t even be an issue!”
He Sinian pulled his arm away from her grasp. “I don’t know how to do that crooked-mouth smirk.”
“You can learn!” Qiao Mai persisted. “What’s so hard about that?”
She demonstrated it herself. She struggled to pull the left corner of her mouth upward, squeezing out a smile that looked like she was suffering from a cramp.
“Look, like this. Three parts mocking, three parts cold, and four parts indifferent. You’ll get it if you practice a bit.”
He Sinian looked at her distorted face and looked away.
He began to reflect on why on earth he was staying behind to keep this crazy woman company.
Seeing that he still wouldn’t budge, Qiao Mai didn’t force it. To each their own—she understood. After all, he was only pretending to be poor, not actually broke. She only said all that to maintain the persona that she was “in the dark.” It was absolutely not to satisfy her own weird sense of humor!
Early the next morning, Qiao Mai, who had been sleeping in the study, was woken up by a ringtone.
With her eyes closed, she accurately grabbed the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Ms. Qiao, I’m a representative from XX Bank. Your twenty-million-yuan mortgage loan has been deposited into your bank account. Please check.”
Qiao Mai sprang up instantly, all sleepiness vanished.
Twenty million, just like that, had actually arrived!
She hurriedly logged into her mobile banking app. Looking at the long string of zeros in her account, she collapsed back down peacefully.
A few seconds later, she couldn’t help but burst into triumphant laughter.
A full twenty million! The wealth the original owner never got to enjoy was now firmly in her control. As long as she invested this money into that guaranteed-profit new energy project, it would triple by the end of the year.
The thought made her mood instantly radiant. Her back, which had been sore from the couch, didn’t even hurt anymore!
Happily, she put on her slippers and went downstairs to make breakfast.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Qiao Mai opened the door.
Jenny stood outside, accompanied by Lisa, the biggest gossip in their socialite group.
When the two saw Qiao Mai, who was bare-faced, they both froze. Her skin was so translucent and delicate that you couldn’t even see her pores. Her thick, long hair hung loosely, and her beautiful brows and eyes were even more captivating than when she wore makeup.
Lisa puffed out her chest, peeked into the villa, and shouted as if looking for a joke: “Qiao Qiao, I heard that for the sake of a bankrupt man, you rented out your big luxury flat and ran here to borrow Jerry’s place to stay?”
“You’re being so pathetic—don’t tell me you actually fell for that bankrupt CEO!”
Qiao Mai leaned against the doorframe, looking at her with a flat gaze. “Does that have anything to do with you?”
Jerry the loudmouth; she really tells everyone everything.
Lisa sneered, “What’s with that attitude? You should know you’re not in the same league as us anymore. Who else would be so poor they can’t even pull out 500 yuan? It’s embarrassing to even say it out loud!”
“Who said I can’t pull out 500 yuan?”
Qiao Mai transferred the money to Jenny directly and then showed it to Lisa. “It’s settled. Did you see clearly?”
Jenny, having received the money, brightened up and smiled, asking, “Qiao Qiao, is what you said yesterday about taking me to get rich real?”
“Get rich?” Lisa looked at them both. “What kind of get-rich business?”
“That’s between me and Jenny, it has nothing to do with you. Sticking your nose into everything will only hurt you.”
Just then, footsteps came from the stairs.
Lisa looked inside, and her eyes lit up.
A young man was walking slowly down the stairs. He wore a white shirt that perfectly outlined his refined and handsome figure. His brow bone was high and sharp, the corners of his eyes slightly upturned—like a cold, artistic face straight out of a painting. His entire person radiated a sense of high-class, aloof dignity.
This man is absolute top-tier! If she had known He Sinian was this handsome, she would have been happy to pay to be with him!
Lisa shoved Qiao Mai aside, changed her voice to a dainty tone, and put on a shy face. “Good morning, Mr. He.”
Qiao Mai rolled her eyes hard and turned to block Lisa’s impudent gaze.
Seeing her thunder stolen, Lisa wasn’t about to give up. She decided to just burn the table down.
She turned to He Sinian and loudly tattled: “Mr. He, you must not be fooled by her!”
“She isn’t some rich socialite at all! This dress she’s wearing? It’s one we all six shared in a group-buy rental!”
Qiao Mai’s heart skipped a beat. The crazy woman actually just burned the table!
“Oh? Is that so?”
He Sinian stopped in his tracks, leaning casually against the hallway cabinet, ready to enjoy the show.
She had less than 500 yuan to her name, and he wanted to see how this woman, who was full of nonsense, was going to talk her way out of this.
Qiao Mai took a deep breath.
Why panic?
She was a woman holding twenty million in cash now.
She pulled up the mobile banking interface and shoved the screen directly in front of Jenny’s face. The glaring, eight-digit balance nearly blinded Jenny.
“You… you actually have twenty… twenty million?!”
“Impossible!” Lisa refused to believe it. But when she leaned in to look, she too was blinded. “You! How could you have so much money?!”
Having successfully bragged, Qiao Mai retracted her phone with satisfaction. She casually tossed her hair back and said arrogantly, “So ignorant.”
“I was only playing a role-play game with you all to experience life at the bottom. You really thought I cared about your tacky bags and clothes?”
Jenny looked at the eight-digit balance and her attitude did a 180-degree turn. She shoved Lisa aside and beamed with a full face of smiles.
“Sister Qiao, it was all Lisa’s idea to provoke me. Don’t worry, I will never doubt you again!”
“Then you may kneel and leave?”
Qiao Mai issued the dismissal directly. Jenny grabbed the still-dazed Lisa and scurried away.
Once they were gone, Qiao Mai turned to meet He Sinian’s probing gaze. Maintaining her “rich daughter” persona, she lifted her chin.
“Now you surely believe I can afford to support you.”
He Sinian looked at her, the corners of his mouth curling into a very faint smile. Using money he gave her to play the big shot.
“Is that so?” he said in a low voice. “Then, many thanks, Sister Qiao.”
Qiao Mai was thrilled by his “Sister Qiao.” With a grand wave of her hand, she declared:
“Come on, go change clothes. I’m taking you to make a fortune!”