Cheng Youyou said to Liu Meng, “Keep an eye out for me. If there are any job opportunities, throw them all my way. I’m not picky.”
Liu Meng replied, “Really? You’re not picky at all?”
Hearing this, Cheng Youyou asked, “What? Is there a job offer right now?”
Liu Meng said, “Just a moment.”
Liu Meng turned and went back to the office. When she came back, she was carrying a stack of project introduction materials.
Then she pushed the materials toward Cheng Youyou.
Cheng Youyou glanced at it casually and nearly choked, “What the heck?”
And she was right. The cover really did have a ghost on it. The cover depicted a dark, confined, and terrifying background. In the middle was the back of a woman dressed in fine clothes, her garments stained with blood.
Below the cover, the words “Escape Room” All-Star Edition were sprayed on in a blood-like effect.
Cheng Youyou said, “Escape Room? That reality show where they explore escape rooms?”
Liu Meng replied, “Yes, you must have heard of it.”
Cheng Youyou had not only heard of it, but she had also watched it. “Isn’t it a reality show for amateurs? It’s pretty popular.”
This show has been airing on Orange TV for two seasons now. In the past, the guests who participated were all amateurs. Amateurs would sign up to participate in the game, and the guests for each episode were different.
The amateur guests who signed up were either intelligent academic overachievers or hardcore escape room players. You could say that the amateur guests who were able to sign up and be selected by the program team were all very good at playing escape room games.
Because they played the escape room well, the ratings of this variety show are very high, even exceeding many celebrity variety shows.
For this season, the production team had a sudden idea: they decided to create a celebrity version of the escape room, based on the original game setting.
The program invited Cheng Youyou for the first episode, but Liu Meng didn’t give the proposal to Cheng Youyou.
She considered two main reasons: first, Cheng Youyou had been really busy recently; second, the show’s sets are very realistic and the scenes are scary, she was afraid Cheng Youyou would be frightened.
In fact, Liu Meng’s worries were not unfounded.
The show has aired three episodes this season, and some of the celebrities who participated were pretty scared. Several female celebrities even went to see a counselor for psychological counseling after participating in the show.
Liu Meng asked Cheng Youyou, “This show is very scary, are you sure you really want to participate?”
Cheng Youyou looked down at the “Escape Room” proposal again and asked, “How much do they pay for one episode of this show?”
“1.2 million.”
For the first episode, the program team offered Cheng Youyou 300,000 yuan, but with Cheng Youyou’s popularity skyrocketing, the program team is now offering 1.2 million yuan.
Cheng Youyou didn’t hesitate at all when she heard this. “Okay, I’ll do it,” she said.
1.2 million yuan! Cheng Youyou didn’t expect she was worth so much now.
It’s great to be valuable. Earning your own money is much more comfortable than borrowing.
After filming the show and earning 1.2 million yuan, Cheng Youyou could still save a lot after paying taxes. She could finally find joy in shopping again.
Liu Meng said, “Okay, I hope you don’t get scared.”
Cheng Youyou replied, “Don’t worry about it.”
Cheng Youyou asked again, “Is this the only job offer? There are no others?”
“There’s one more, a TV drama.”
Cheng Youyou perked up. She loved acting so much. “What kind of drama is it?”
Liu Meng replied, “It’s a period drama. The director thinks that since you’ve acted in period dramas before, you have a certain ability to control similar plots.”
Before speaking, Liu Meng handed the script to Cheng Youyou.
Cheng Youyou flipped through the script while listening to Liu Meng’s introduction.
“I’ve had a quick look at the script,” Liu Meng said, “your character needs to be played from youth to old age. The shooting period is very long, and I’m worried that this drama will affect your current collaborations…”
Cheng Youyou slapped the script onto the sofa, her face expressing pure disgust.
“It’s not just about the long shooting period,” she exclaimed, “the plot is full of holes! Is there something wrong with this female lead?”
Cheng Youyou had just finished reading the entire script synopsis and the female lead’s character profile.
Cheng Youyou said, “This female lead is supposed to be a cultured university student from the 1980s, yet she gets tricked by her neighbor and marries a vagrant?”
She flipped another page, “After getting married, she can’t have children and gets beaten by her mother-in-law. Instead of trying to escape this terrible family, she actually quits her job to stay home and recuperate, determined to have a child for her husband?”
“The female lead never has a child, and her husband’s mistress gives birth to a son. She even goes to serve the mistress during her confinement period?”
Cheng Youyou’s face was full of disbelief. “In the end, her husband comes back to her, and after a few peaceful days, her mother-in-law gets uremia1Uremia is a condition caused by kidney failure, where waste products, especially urea, build up in the blood., and she even donates a kidney to her mother-in-law? And then it’s a happy ending?”
Liu Meng replied, “…You’ve summarized it perfectly.”
Cheng Youyou perfectly summarized all the important plot points of the entire script.
Cheng Youyou was right; there must be something seriously wrong with this female lead.
Cheng Youyou couldn’t believe that in 2020, there were still such morally questionable dramas.
“The pay for this drama is 10 million,” Liu Meng said.
“I wouldn’t take it even then,” Cheng Youyou replied. “Even money can’t make this crap palatable. Whoever wants it can have it.”
Ding Yaxin ended up taking the job.
Ding Yaxin took out an online loan, so she had money to buy props from the system store again.
Using the system, she learned in advance about the work projects that Cheng Youyou was negotiating.
She had two choices in front of her.
The first was “Escape Room,” with a fee of 1.2 million. The second was the female lead in the period drama, with a fee of 10 million.
Without hesitation, Ding Yaxin chose the second option. “Escape Room” paid less and was scary; Ding Yaxin didn’t look down on it.
She wanted to make big money.
So she contacted the production team of the period drama again using the contact information provided by the system.
Through her persistent self-recommendation, she successfully secured the role.
Ding Yaxin thought, “This is a sure win. I’ve successfully snatched the resource from Cheng Youyou.”
Worried about any unforeseen changes, Ding Yaxin quickly joined the crew and began filming the period drama.
On the other hand, Cheng Youyou was also waiting for her recent work – the recording of “Escape Room.”
However, before the recording of the show, Cheng Youyou had something else to do.
Cheng Youyou’s studio has now received investment from the He Corporation. As a cooperating company of the He Corporation, she needs to represent the studio at the He Corporation’s annual meeting.
Liu Meng looked at Cheng Youyou with a serious expression. “The He Corporation is now a major shareholder of our studio, essentially one of our bosses. We can’t go empty-handed to this annual meeting.”
Cheng Youyou asked, “Isn’t the annual meeting just about eating, drinking, and then ending with a grand prize draw?”
Liu Meng replied, “If we were employees of the He Corporation, then enjoying the benefits would be appropriate. But now we have a cooperative relationship with He. This time, we’re not going to the annual meeting to win prizes, we’re going to congratulate them.”
Cheng Youyou nodded obediently. “Oh.”
“So we can’t be negligent,” Liu Meng said. “I’ve already prepared a grand gift to be sent to the He Corporation on behalf of our studio.”
“Then I’ll feel at ease,” Cheng Youyou replied.
With the gift taken care of, Cheng Youyou could relax and look forward to winning big prizes at the annual meeting.
“You have to give a gift too,” Liu Meng said.
“Huh?” Cheng Youyou didn’t understand. “Didn’t our studio already send one?”
Liu Meng said, “The He Corporation’s annual meeting is also the third anniversary of He Hongyi taking over the He Corporation. The gift our studio is sending is for the He Corporation, but as the head of Cheng Youyou’s studio, you need to give a personal gift to your partner, He Hongyi.”
Cheng Youyou found it difficult. It wasn’t the gift itself that was hard, but the fact that she was now broke.
Cheng Youyou looked down at her plain pancake. Thinking about her impoverished state and the need to give a gift to the incredibly wealthy He Hongyi, she felt a sense of profound desolation, as if a few withered leaves had fallen on her head.
Liu Meng continued, “He Hongyi has been rich since he was young. He’s seen so many good things that ordinary gifts won’t impress him.”
Cheng Youyou asked, “So what do I do?”
Liu Meng said, “If you’re going to give a gift, make it unexpected.”
Cheng Youyou replied, “…But I’m broke.”
Liu Meng asked, “Have you decided on a gift? Do you need me to lend you some money?'”
Cheng Youyou quickly waved her hands, saying, “No, no, I’ve already prepared a gift. You don’t have to trouble yourself.”
It’s so heartbreaking to think of a poor actor who can’t even afford eggs for her pancakes having to borrow money to give a gift to a tycoon.
Since Liu Meng wanted an unexpected gift, and Cheng Youyou had no money, she came up with the perfect gift: a coupon.
These coupons weren’t ordinary coupons. They were large-denomination coupons that Cheng Youyou had been saving for a long time.
The Taobao shopping platform had released very few of these large-denomination coupons, and only members who were 88VIP288VIP is Taobao’s premium membership program that offers exclusive benefits across its platforms like Alibaba and Tmall. and had met a certain spending threshold could grab them. They could be used on all products on the entire platform and could even be gifted to others.
For the He Corporation’s annual meeting, celebrating the third anniversary of He Hongyi taking over the He Corporation, Cheng Youyou generously gave away ten large-denomination electronic coupons.
On the day of the annual meeting, Cheng Youyou arrived at the He Corporation’s annual meeting venue with her ten electronic coupons ready. After receiving her raffle tickets, she quietly found a corner to hide.
Cheng Youyou carried a plate of small snacks. She had a perfect plan: she was going to watch the performance at the annual meeting, eat her snacks, and browse Taobao at the same time.
Just because she didn’t have money now didn’t mean she wouldn’t in the future. The Double Twelve shopping event on Taobao was coming up soon. Cheng Youyou added all the items she liked to her shopping cart.
As soon as she got her payment for ‘Escape Room,’ she would clear her cart with one click.
Plan successful!√
Just as Cheng Youyou sat down, a staff member came over: “Miss Cheng, this isn’t your seat.”
Following the staff member’s instructions, Cheng Youyou saw a stack of name tags on the first row of tables. One of them read: Cheng Youyou.
“Do I have to sit there?” Cheng Youyou asked.
The staff member replied, “As a partner of our He Corporation, of course you should sit there.”
Cheng Youyou glanced reluctantly at her phone, “Alright, I’ll go sit there.”
She could no longer happily slack off. Sitting at a table in the center of the hall was no different from sitting under the watchful eye of her homeroom teacher back in school days.
Fortunately, Cheng Youyou was quick-thinking. She came up with a plan: “Can I bring my snacks over?”
“Sure,” the staff member replied.
Good! Cheng Youyou felt relieved. She lined up a row of snacks in front of her. With the snacks as a barrier, she was sure no one would notice her little actions.
She could happily continue shopping online!
The seat the organizers had reserved for Cheng Youyou was in the front row, but at the very end.
Cheng Youyou secretly sighed in relief. Luckily, her seat was pretty far from the main seat.
While everyone else in the first row was still absent, Cheng Youyou grabbed a whole bunch of snacks. She lined them up in neat rows, blocking her name tag and herself. They weren’t very tall, but they were just high enough to hide her phone. Now she could sneakily browse Taobao right under everyone’s noses.
Once she had everything set up, she placed her raffle tickets under the snacks.
Soon, the other tables in the hall filled up, and the once quiet hall became noisy.
But that was okay, no matter the environment, Cheng Youyou could still happily browse Taobao.
She was having a great time adding items to her shopping cart when the conference hall suddenly quieted down.
With her full attention on Taobao, Cheng Youyou didn’t notice what was happening around her. She could sense from the corner of her eye that the first row was now full.
When the lights came back on, the host walked onto the stage and announced in an enthusiastic tone that the annual celebration was about to begin.
After a long and formal opening speech, the host directly introduced the evening’s performance.
The lights on the stage flickered on and off, and the music and applause rose and fell.
He Corporation was indeed a big company. The programs at their annual celebration were really something.
“So, you got all these snacks to block your phone, right?” a coworker asked.
Cheng Youyou replied, “Yes, I really love snacks.”
He Hongyi was silent for a few seconds before speaking, “What did you have for your last meal?”
“A pancake without egg,” she replied.
He Hongyi was taken aback and furrowed his brow, but said nothing.
A flurry of thoughts raced through He Hongyi’s mind. Things like Cheng Youyou eating so many snacks at the annual party, how excited she got over a dessert card, and how a celebrity like her could only afford eggless pancakes…
He Hongyi looked at the coupon Cheng Youyou had given him again. He came to a conclusion: Cheng Youyou was too poor. She was so poor that she couldn’t afford to buy a gift and had to rely on snacks to fill her stomach at the annual party.
That night, He Hongyi urgently contacted the finance department. After communicating with Cheng Youyou’s team, he decided to invest another 30 million yuan in her studio. This was triple the amount of his previous investment.
How could He Hongyi let his partner, his good friend, be so poor that she couldn’t even afford to eat?
Moreover, He Hongyi had investigated Cheng Youyou’s studio business and found that she had invested all her assets in Chen Yimin’s movie. This further convinced He Hongyi of Cheng Youyou’s keen eye for talent.
Therefore, after investing 30 million yuan in Cheng Youyou’s studio, He Hongyi also invested another 20 million yuan in Chen Yimin’s movie.
This is how the wealthy express their friendship: simply and directly.
The next day, Cheng Youyou received news that her company had received an additional investment of 30 million yuan. Then she got a call from Chen Yimin.
Chen Yimin said, “Youyou! We have money now, and my movie has been funded again! I’ve decided to increase your pay. Are you satisfied with 3 million?”
Just the day before, Cheng Youyou was worried about money and could only afford to eat eggless pancakes. But overnight, her pay had quadrupled, and she had become the director with 30 million yuan at her disposal.
She had money again! She could go on a shopping spree!
Before she had a chance to buy anything, Cheng Youyou was informed that she would be joining the cast of the celebrity version of ‘Escape Room’.
Cheng Youyou wasn’t worried. If she didn’t have time to shop, she could just browse Taobao during the breaks in filming.
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