Cheng Youyou said indifferently, “Just tell me, which is your most expensive car?”
Leaning back casually on the leather sofa in the 4S shop, she lazily uttered these words with a nonchalant gaze.
Cheng Youyou’s relaxed and leisurely demeanor was simply because she had spent the entire night unpacking packages, which had worn her out.
However, in the eyes of the car sales consultant at the 4S shop, this posture and tone meant something else entirely.
For those who see money as merely numbers, the experience of buying a car in person is vastly different from snatching it up during an online livestream.
A personalized explanation tailored specifically for Cheng Youyou is more engaging and exciting.
While all the top sales representatives in the 4S shop were attending to Cheng Youyou, another distinguished guest arrived: the renowned film director Chen Yimin.
Chen Yimin also bought his car from this 4S shop, and today he happened to be here for a car maintenance.
As an SVIP customer of this brand, Chen Yimin was always greeted by a team led by the store manager whenever he visited.
However, today, Chen Yimin came for car maintenance without making an appointment. He just showed up.
Unlike usual, Chen Yimin stood in the lobby for a full three seconds, and Manager A didn’t rush over as quickly as before.
Chen Yimin felt puzzled and asked the other sales consultant who greeted him, “Where’s A?”1the author really didn’t bother naming the manager
He was so familiar with Manager A that he found it strange not seeing her.
The sales consultant pointed to the VIP room and said, “Manager A is attending to another customer.”
“Oh,” Chen Yimin nodded casually, “Where’s Cindy?”2this was already in english
“Cindy is the sales manager,” the sales consultant replied, pointing to the VIP room again, “She’s with the others attending to a customer.”
Chen Yimin then asked, “And Kevin?”3also in english
The sales consultant pointed to the VIP room once more, “He’s attending to the customer as well.”
Chen Yimin was perplexed. All the people who usually attended to him were busy with this customer. What kind of distinguished guest required the entire team’s elite to attend to them?
Chen Yimin handed the keys to the sales consultant and said, “Give my car a maintenance.”
Then, under the arrangement of the sales consultant, he entered the exclusive SVIP lounge.
This lounge was separated from Cheng Youyou’s lounge only by a wall, and the faint scent of a wealthy woman from Cheng Youyou’s lounge drifted into Chen Yimin’s room.
Sitting in the SVIP lounge, Chen Yimin felt that the treatment he received was very different from that of the VIP next door.
According to the sales consultant, the team next door was pulling out all the stops to entertain a guest, even the room was filled with the scent of a wealthy matron.
In contrast, Chen Yimin’s lounge had nothing but a pot of tea and an iPad. The stark contrast piqued even Chen Yimin’s curiosity. Who was this distinguished guest being treated so lavishly? He got up, opened the door, and silently stood outside Cheng Youyou’s lounge.
Cheng Youyou’s lounge had a large floor-to-ceiling window, with only a sheer curtain for privacy.
Even though the sheer curtain was drawn, Chen Yimin could still see what was happening inside through the gap.
When he looked past the four sales consultants and saw Cheng Youyou, his first thought was: “Whose daughter is she? With such a beautiful bone structure, it’s a shame she doesn’t go into acting.” Then he heard Manager A chattering away to Cheng Youyou about the brand concept.
Cheng Youyou was lounging lazily, seemingly listening politely to the introduction, but her eyes were half-closed, and she looked half-asleep.
Even if Cheng Youyou enjoyed one-on-one product introductions, she was getting tired of hearing irrelevant information.
Plus, she had stayed up really late the night before unpacking packages, and she was starting to feel sleepy. Manager A was still going on and on about the brand’s history.
Leaning on the armrest, Cheng Youyou slowly stood up and interrupted Manager A, saying, “Why don’t you just tell me how spacious the car is?”
The senior sales consultant immediately stepped forward and said, “We have four models here. I’ll introduce the system parameters of each one to you.”
Cheng Youyou interrupted, “Just tell me about the biggest one. No need to introduce the others.”
The senior consultant was momentarily taken aback, but being a professional, he quickly adjusted his demeanor and said, “Alright, Ms. Cheng. Our model with the largest interior space is also the most expensive in our brand. Its body length is…”
Cheng Youyou replied, “Just tell me how much stuff it can fit inside, and how much can fit in the trunk.”
“Who cares how long or wide the car is?” Cheng Youyou thought to herself, “All I care about is whether it can fit all the stuff I bought at the mall.”
The sales consultant was taken aback for a moment, but Manager A, who was more experienced, stepped in. “Ms. Cheng, while we don’t have official guidelines, one of our customers told us she once fit ten coats, ten pairs of shoes, and ten bags she bought at Starlight Plaza into this car. And everything was still in perfect condition when she got home.”
Cheng Youyou’s eyes lit up, and she immediately sat up straight.
She finally caught on to the key point, exclaiming, “Really? Starlight Plaza? Ten coats, ten pairs of shoes, and ten bags, and it still had room? All of them?” Her four keywords hit the nail on the head.
Manager A nodded, confirming, “Yes.”
Cheng Youyou didn’t hesitate, “I’ll take this one. That’s exactly what I need.”
Chen Yimin watched from outside the lounge, amazed at how the young girl perfectly embodied the image of a wealthy heiress, spending money like it was nothing.
Chen Yimin chuckled at himself. “Why am I trying to figure out if she’s putting on an act? Maybe she really is a rich heiress.”
After Cheng Youyou made her decision, Manager A quickly placed the quotation in front of her. “This car is 2.9 million. Here’s the quotation, Ms. Cheng.”
Cheng Youyou didn’t even glance at it. “I’ll take it.”
After spending money recklessly for a while, Cheng Youyou had discovered something: the more expensive something was, the more likely it was to come with a discount. Manager A emphasized, “Ms. Cheng, today is the 16th. There are only 30 days in this month, which means there are only 14 days left until the next month. You could save 100,000 yuan if you just wait.”
“No need to wait,” Cheng Youyou rejected Manager A’s offer once again, her tone filled with extravagance. “The sooner I buy it, the sooner I can enjoy it.”
For Cheng Youyou, it wasn’t a matter of waiting fourteen days.
The high-end department store, Starlight Plaza, was having an anniversary sale on the 20th, and Cheng Youyou couldn’t wait.
She was buying this car specifically to prepare for the sale, and now Manager A was telling her she had to wait until next month to pick it up?
Absolutely not. She couldn’t wait.
Cheng Youyou emphasized once more, “The sooner I buy it, the sooner I can enjoy it.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out a card. “Let’s settle the bill and pick up the car.”
Chen Yimin, who had been watching from outside, was secretly amazed. This was exactly how a rich heiress should behave.
The young girl in the lounge was the perfect image of the wealthy heiress in his upcoming drama, “Those Times.”
Chen Yimin shook his head again, denying his own thoughts. No, this girl wasn’t just like a rich heiress; she was one.
Cheng Youyou paid without a second thought and drove off.
When Cheng Youyou swiped her card to pay the full 2.9 million, she didn’t even blink. In fact, her eyes were filled with anticipation for the future.
After Cheng Youyou left, Chen Yimin remained in the lounge, a stack of paper and a pen now in his hands.
Cheng Youyou’s behavior had given him a lot of inspiration, and while the inspiration was still fresh, he focused on drawing the storyboard for the wealthy heiress’s entrance in “Those Times.”
After respectfully seeing Cheng Youyou off, Manager A and the others were informed that their SVIP client, Chen Yimin, had arrived and had been waiting for a long time.
Manager A hurried over and apologized, “I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting.”
Chen Yimin was deep in concentration on his storyboard when he suddenly got stuck. His inspiration had vanished the moment A entered the room.
Seeming to realize his abruptness, Manager A quickly explained, “I’m so sorry, I was attending to a client and didn’t know you were here.”
“A client?” Chen Yimin’s mind was filled with the image of exactly the kind of client Manager A had just mentioned.
Chen Yimin’s train of thought was interrupted. “What’s her name? Which family’s heiress is she?”
Chen Yimin’s next film is a modern-day Cinderella-like romance. It features a rich heiress character, who is designed to contrast with the Cinderella-like protagonist.
The heiress’s lavish lifestyle will highlight the protagonist’s humble origins. Moreover, the heiress will use her wealth, and status, as well as her childhood friendship with the male lead, to constantly suppress the Cinderella.
The heiress is essentially a stumbling block in the Cinderella’s pursuit of love. Chen Yimin excels at creating Cinderella-like characters, but he’s always been unsure about how to portray the rich heiress.
The moment he saw Cheng Youyou, he suddenly understood.
A wealthy heiress doesn’t need to be overtly evil. A more lazy, casual, and extravagant demeanor is actually more fitting for a rich heiress.
This contrast would highlight her contempt for Cinderella.
Therefore, any subsequent suppression of Cinderella would seem natural and justified.
Because Cinderella and the heiress have such different personalities, it further emphasizes that they come from different worlds. This logically explains why the heiress would suppress and obstruct Cinderella.
This also makes the characters more complex and the plot less formulaic. Chen Yimin was eager to know who had just bought the luxury car for 2.9 million.
Chen Yimin said, “I wonder if you could tell me her name. I’d like to visit her in person and ask her to give me some guidance for my film.”
Chen Yimin was convinced that Cheng Youyou was a wealthy heiress. How could a wealthy heiress possibly act in his film? He didn’t even dare to think about that possibility.
The only thing he could do to benefit his film was to use his extensive network to get to know Cheng Youyou personally and ask her to provide some materials about the lifestyle of a wealthy heiress.
As a car sales manager, protecting her client’s privacy was part of her professional ethics.
Manager A wanted to refuse, but when she heard that Chen Yimin needed the information for his film and his character, and then she thought about Cheng Youyou being an actress, she suddenly wanted to break her professional ethics for once.
Cheng Youyou was so straightforward and didn’t even ask for a discount, so Manager A thought it would be a good deed to help her connect with a big director. If it didn’t work out, she could always apologize later.
So, Chen Yimin learned Cheng Youyou’s name from Manager A and found out that she was a very popular star at the moment.
And then…
Cheng Youyou, who had just bought a luxury car, got the license plate, and was relaxing at home, received a call from Liu Meng.
Liu Meng: “Cheng Youyou, you’re so lucky! Director Chen Yimin has invited you to audition for the female second lead in his new movie, a major role!”
Cheng Youyou sat up straight. “Chen Yimin? The second female lead? I’m going!”
Cheng Youyou loved acting, both before and after her rebirth. She only had one acting opportunity in her previous life, and every time after that, she was cut off.
As long as she could act, she didn’t care if it was the female first or second lead, especially since it was Chen Yimin’s movie. Chen Yimin is a top-notch director in the industry. His films are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
Cheng Youyou asked, “When is it?”
Liu Meng replied, “The 20th, four days from now.”
Cheng Youyou calmed down and checked her phone again to confirm the date. The 20th was also the grand anniversary sale of Starlight Plaza.
Cheng Youyou said, “Can I go a bit later?”
Liu Meng replied, “No rush. The audition starts at 4 pm. You can go at 3:30. The location is the hotel next to Starlight Plaza.
Perfect, after attending the grand opening and shopping, I can go straight to the audition. All the good things are happening at once.
Cheng Youyou still has three days before the audition. She hasn’t been spending any money these past few days.
She just made a big purchase (the car), so she can take a break. Besides, she’ll have another big expense in a few days with the Starlight Plaza grand anniversary sale.
So she doesn’t have the problem of having too much money to spend right now.
Unlike Cheng Youyou, Ding Yaxin is very confused.
She was locked up by her agency for intensive acting training, and her phone was confiscated. Ding Yaxin had no idea what had happened in the outside world during these days of isolation.
She could only be sure of one thing: the system showed that Cheng Youyou’s popularity had increased again.
Ding Yaxin was more than just confused; she was extremely agitated.
In her agitation, she had no heart to learn acting, and the professional teacher that her agency had hired at a high cost was speechless towards her.
The agency repeatedly warned Ding Yaxin to hone her acting skills and make a stunning appearance in Chen Yimin’s drama.
However, Ding Yaxin wasn’t interested in Chen Yimin’s drama at all.
Ding Yaxin admitted that Chen Yimin had a high status and his dramas were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, but the role she was playing was just a supporting character who appeared for only 20 minutes throughout the entire drama. Moreover, she was a spoiled rich girl and a vicious female supporting character. Ding Yaxin believed that this role wouldn’t cause much of a stir or attract much attention.
Moreover, she had looked at the contract that the agency had signed for her. The role had a remuneration of 1 million yuan, but Chen Yimin’s requirements were high. For this role, she needed to stay in the crew for a full two weeks.
The previous closed training was two weeks, and then there were another two weeks of filming on set. In total, it was a whole month. This meant that Ding Yaxin couldn’t snatch resources from Cheng Youyou for a whole month.
For Ding Yaxin, this was a huge loss.
It took Ding Yaxin a whole month of hard work to earn 1 million yuan, which was nowhere near as fast as snatching resources from Cheng Youyou. Cheng Youyou was the lucky one, and her ability to make money was much stronger than her own.
Ding Yaxin’s wealth-absorbing system required binding a target before it could be used for the first time.
Ding Yaxin, using the system’s calculations, determined that Cheng Youyou was the world’s luckiest woman. By binding herself to Cheng Youyou, Ding Yaxin was essentially tying herself to a money-making tree.
According to the system’s initial settings, once Cheng Youyou’s luck ran out, she would inevitably meet an untimely end.
In truth, Ding Yaxin could have chosen not to use the wealth-draining system, thus ensuring Cheng Youyou’s safety.
However, when Ding Yaxin thought about the immense wealth and countless rewards, she resolutely decided to bind herself to Cheng Youyou.
Cheng Youyou would lose only her life, but in return, she would gain endless wealth and the highest status in the entertainment industry.
However, the current situation is that Cheng Youyou’s popularity is skyrocketing, while Ding Yaxin has earned nothing. What’s worse, Ding Yaxin has spent a lot of money on the system’s props. The so-called wealth-draining system has ended up draining Ding Yaxin’s own money.
Ding Yaxin was baffled, but after suffering a disastrous experience from questioning the system, Ding Yaxin chose to believe and always trust the system. In the blink of an eye, it was the 20th. On this day, Ding Yaxin, following her agency’s instructions, arrived early at the hotel above the Starlight Plaza.
She was waiting to meet Chen Yimin, intending to just go through the motions.
Although she knew that her agency had already signed the contract for her, she still hoped to be rejected. That way, she would have more time to focus on Cheng Youyou’s activities.
While waiting in the corridor, several more stars arrived, all with higher status and greater achievements than her.
Among them were the youngest Best Actress, Qian Siying, the talented and popular actor Shen Nanrong, and the veteran actor Zhang Kai. These people were also waiting for their auditions.
When Qian Siying saw Zhang Kai approaching, she quickly stood up to offer him a seat. “Teacher Zhang, please sit here.” The seat Zhang Kai chose happened to be right next to Ding Yaxin.
There were only two consecutive seats in the corridor, and now that Ding Yaxin and Zhang Kai were sitting, Qian Siying and Shen Nanrong were standing nearby. Zhang Kai, a veteran actor with a certain status in the industry, had a way of bringing people together.
After he arrived, Shen Nanrong and Qian Siying, who were not particularly familiar before, also started chatting, and the atmosphere immediately became lively. Zhang Kai said, “Siying, you’re playing the female lead this time, aren’t you? That’s a coincidence. We have quite a few scenes together this time.”
Qian Siying exclaimed in surprise, “You’re playing my boss? That’s such an honor.”
Shen Nanrong interjected, “Have you all signed the contracts?”
Qian Siying and Zhang Kai both nodded. Ding Yaxin finally understood. Everyone who came for the audition today had already signed contracts. It seemed they were all just going through the motions.
Qian Siying asked Shen Nanrong, “You haven’t signed a contract, Nanrong?”
Shen Nanrong said, “Director Chen hasn’t made a final decision yet. I need to try my best today.”
Ding Yaxin still didn’t say anything.
Shen Nanrong added, “Not only is my role undecided, but I heard that they will also make a decision on Cheng Youyou after today’s audition.”
Ding Yaxin’s mind went blank. “Cheng Youyou?”
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