Qiao Mai scooped the money straight into her arms and shot right back, righteous and unyielding: “Your money is my money, and my money is still my money! We’ve been together for this long, how come you haven’t cultivated the good habit of ‘consciously handing over your salary to your girlfriend’ yet?”
He Sinian glanced at her, neither warm nor cold, and drawled, “You sure know how to do the math.”
Hearing the sarcasm, Qiao Mai thought for a few seconds before painfully biting the bullet and saying, “Fine, a big guy shouldn’t be so petty. This young lady will treat you to grilled cold noodles.”
After all, she needed him to work; not tossing him a sweet treat wouldn’t look right.
Before He Sinian could even agree to eat, she was already walking over to a roadside street stall, shouting loudly, “Boss, two portions of grilled cold noodles, add an egg, add a sausage, and add bacon! Make sure it’s Shuanghui brand!”
No sooner had Qiao Mai finished shouting than He Sinian’s slightly playful voice came from behind her.
“A socialite daughter eats street food too? And she even knows how to order extra toppings.”
Qiao Mai froze for a second, wishing she could slap herself on the spot.
She offered a dry laugh and explained, “I lived by myself when I was studying, and my classmates taught me a lot of skills. I just learned them all while experiencing life.”
“Don’t feel inferior, though. I’ll teach you all of this.”
She was getting cocky.
He Sinian pressed the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth, suppressing a cold laugh in his throat. “I don’t need to learn.”
Qiao Mai curled her lips. Fine, don’t learn then.
Anyway, he wasn’t genuinely poor; if he really wanted to eat gourmet delicacies, there were plenty of people waiting to place an order for him. She wasn’t going to fuss over it.
He Sinian had thought she would refute him, never expecting her to drop the subject so quickly this time.
Could it be that what he said just now was too cold?
“You two, your grilled cold noodles are ready.”
The landlady set the bowls on the table and called them over to eat.
Without a second word, Qiao Mai sat right down.
He Sinian didn’t move.
Layers of aged grime caked the greasy folding table. The matching blue plastic stools were even cheaper; the label on the leg hadn’t even been cleanly torn off, and a crack split across the corner.
Seeing the look on his face, Qiao Mai knew he was disgusted, and muttered under her breath, “Such a picky diva.”
Even so, she reached out, pulled out a few sheets of tissue paper, and helped him wipe down the stool. “Is this okay now? Hurry up and eat!”
Enduring his revulsion, He Sinian pulled out more tissue and wiped the stool two more times before reluctantly sitting down.
He had never eaten this kind of food before, but the presentation looked decent. Golden-brown noodles wrapped around yellowish bits of scrambled egg, deep brown sauce congealed with bright red chili paste, and emerald green cilantro tangled around pink grilled sausage and charred, fragrant bacon.
Seeing Qiao Mai dive in and dig happily into her half of the box, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and popped a bite into his mouth.
The texture was sweet and spicy; the flavor wasn’t bad.
Compared to those few meals he had eaten previously, this could be considered quite lavish.
Qiao Mai wolfed down half her box in a flash and asked him, “Chu Jiaojiao drove us to this point—can you really swallow this anger?”
Cutting off someone’s financial road was like killing their parents!
She didn’t believe that a trillion-dollar CEO could genuinely be generous enough not to care.
He Sinian glanced at her, swallowing deliberately and leisurely. “Otherwise what?”
Qiao Mai looked at him in disbelief. He… he actually doesn’t care!
He Sinian shrugged. “I’m just a penniless vagrant now, I can’t afford to offend anyone. But Sister Qiao, you…”
He lifted his gaze to look at Qiao Mai, his dark eyes as thick and heavy as black ink. “…you can help me vent my anger.”
Qiao Mai sneered. Setting a trap for me, are you?!
“Let’s forget about that. I’m a person who loves peace.”
On the way home, Qiao Mai was still harboring resentment over being kicked off the set today.
With micro-dramas booming right now, since Chu Jiaojiao wouldn’t let He Sinian join a crew, she could just scrape together a crew of her own.
Thinking of it, she did it.
Her first thought turned to the Socialite Group-Buying Chat.
Though these women were all fake socialites, the social circles backing them were the real deal. What’s more, she had just flaunted her formidable financial strength of “twenty million” in front of Jenny and Lisa this morning.
Free networking resources—it would be a waste not to use them!
Back at the southern suburb villa.
Without even taking a shower, Qiao Mai sat cross-legged on the sofa, her fingers tapping rapidly on her phone keyboard.
He Sinian poured a glass of water, walked over to the other end of the sofa to sit, crossed his long legs, and let his gaze fall on her screen.
Qiao Mai was editing a WeChat Moments post and simultaneously broadcasting it to the socialite group-buying chat.
【The latest closed-loop trend! Immersive sinking-market film and television projects, breaking through traditional entertainment industry barriers.】
【Following Red Peak Capital’s lead investment in the ‘Star Ocean Project,’ this is my personal attempt at yet another empowerment. Clear underlying logic, with an estimated investment return rate of 300%.】
【Three internal partner slots are now open, with a threshold starting at 100k. Freeloaders need not apply, those who understand can DM me privately.】
He Sinian was currently reading the background check report Lin Chuan had just sent over.
It contained all of Qiao Mai’s life experiences from birth to the present, yet failed to turn up any suspicious evidence whatsoever.
Was she genuinely innocent?
Or was she just hiding it deeply?
He exited the chat window, preparing to put his phone down.
Instead, his hand slipped, opening up WeChat Moments.
He caught sight of Qiao Mai’s post and nearly choked on a mouthful of water.
Closed-loop? Empowerment? Underlying logic?
She played internet buzzwords with masterful perfection, even hitching a ride on Red Peak Capital’s coattails to wave a giant banner.
Was this the kind of business awareness a gold digger could possibly possess?
Unaware of his abnormality, Qiao Mai was wholeheartedly wrestling with the fake sisters in the group chat.
Lisa was the first to jump out and bubble up.
[Sister Qiao, is this project really that profitable?]
Qiao Mai replied swiftly: 【Why would I lie to you? There are only three slots, if you want in, hurry up and grab one, otherwise don’t blame me later for not taking you along to get rich!】
Absolute silence fell over the group.
Qiao Mai grew anxious. That won’t do.
So she sent another message.
[Awareness determines wealth. President Wang of Red Peak Capital just signed an agreement with me today, go ask around if you don’t believe it. I’m kindly bringing you along to get rich, if you don’t appreciate it, fine then.]
After sending that, she set her phone aside.
Yet her gaze sneaked back again and again, monitoring the group’s dynamics like a sneaky little dog.
Unable to watch any longer, He Sinian said in a deep voice, “You want to make a micro-drama?”
Qiao Mai snapped her head toward him. “Yeah, don’t you also think my idea is insanely awesome?”
Just as He Sinian was about to speak, Zhou Xingluo’s voice message popped up.
“I’m going to take this call.”
“Go, go.”
Qiao Mai kept her eyes glued to her phone screen.
Unwilling to look at her, He Sinian picked up his phone and walked outside.
“Bro! I heard that Qiao Mai went to Red Peak Capital this afternoon and even threw down twenty million to buy a 5% stake in the ‘Star Ocean Project’! Is that true?”
“Mn.”
“Holy crap!” Zhou Xingluo was utterly shocked. “Twenty million, bro! Don’t tell me you’re the one who funded it again—you aren’t seriously planning to act as an ATM for a gold digger, are you?!”
Standing outside, He Sinian looked at Qiao Mai through the glass.
She was picking up her phone one second and putting it down the next, looking for all the world like a cat that had just stolen a fish.
“Mind your own business.”
He hung up the phone.
Inside the living room.
Qiao Mai was hugging her phone and giggling foolishly.
It was a private message from Jenny.
[Sister Qiao! I’m super interested in the micro-drama project you mentioned, but I don’t have that much cash on hand.]
[However, I have a friend who is very interested in film and television investment, and he’s super wealthy. If it works, we can schedule an afternoon tea to meet and talk tomorrow afternoon.]
Thrilled, Qiao Mai saw He Sinian walk back inside.
She eagerly showed off to him, “A big spender wants to invest in our micro-drama! Tomorrow afternoon, you’re coming with me to meet the investor—struggle your hardest and use that face of yours to charm a million-dollar sponsorship out of them!”