TLN: About the title, it says ‘xiè xiè’, it sounds like ‘Thank you’, but the characters used were 蟹蟹, which means crab crab.
Ye Zhou thought he might have misheard, but after being stunned for a few seconds, he heard Cheng Ran’s impatient voice coming from the other end of the phone.
“Don’t worry. Although this money is dirty in my hands, it will definitely be clean by the time it reaches yours. Not only will Jiang Yu not find out, but even if he does, it doesn’t matter. I have plenty of ways to deal with him.”
Ye Zhou: “…Huh?”
Has the world gone mad? When he last saw Cheng Ran, he was still a brainless fool blinded by love, loving Jiang Yu to death, pure and unaffected. How did he suddenly turn dark while running around?
“No, no need.” After some thought, Ye Zhou still kindly reminded him, “Be careful when using that money. Jiang Yu and Yu Qiuze are searching for you all over the world. If they’re really pushed to the edge, they might report it to the police, and then things will get troublesome.”
Cheng Ran sneered, “Let them report it. Organ trafficking, intentional homicide – go ahead and report it. They’ll have longer prison terms than me if we accompany each other in jail. Great.”
The amount of information in his words was so overwhelming that Ye Zhou opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say to dissuade him.
Theoretically speaking, the protagonists gong, shou, and white moonlight engaging in a three-way battle would make Ye Zhou, a minor cannon fodder, wake up from a dream with joy. It would absolutely be all advantages and no harm to him. However, ever since Cheng Ran made this phone call, Ye Zhou’s mood had become a bit subtle.
After pondering for a moment, he tactfully advised, “Although you have no problem hating Jiang Yu and wanting revenge, isn’t it a bit unworthy to harm the enemy at the cost of hurting yourself?”
Hearing Ye Zhou’s words, Cheng Ran fell silent on the phone. The howling wind could be heard from the other end of the receiver. When he spoke again, Ye Zhou inexplicably felt a hint of dampness in his voice.
“Mind your own business. I don’t need your pity. Send me the card number and hang up.” After saying that, Cheng Ran decisively ended the call.
Ye Zhou looked at the disconnected phone and let out an imperceptible sigh, but he didn’t call back.
He wasn’t some kind of saint. Some words only needed to be spoken to a certain extent. He had already said what needed to be said. The rest depended on how Cheng Ran chose for himself.
As for the card number, Ye Zhou naturally didn’t give it. After all, in terms of both feelings and reason, he wouldn’t accept this money. In Cheng Ran’s words, this money was something he had scammed with his own abilities, so how could Ye Zhou want it?
Moreover, Ye Zhou was not short of money now. Although the few projects he had on hand were not enough to make him incredibly wealthy, they were almost there when added together. Just the endorsement fees and various competition prizes for Xu Cheng’s e-sports team amounted to tens of millions each year.
Xu Wei’s talent show had already concluded its first season, and the second season was in preparation. Every day, all kinds of big-name merchants were crying, shouting, and waving banknotes, wanting to sponsor the show. As for the few outstanding contestants from the first season, although they were nominally under Jingzhe, they were actually in Ye Zhou’s studio under Jingzhe.
Speaking of this studio, it was Xu Wei’s suggestion. Ye Zhou thought about it and felt there was no problem, so he readily agreed. Of course, the money for establishing the studio was all provided by Ye Zhou himself.
However, the studio was currently managed by Xu Wei. Before producing “Starlight Youth,” she had been in the industry for a long time and had accumulated many connections. As soon as the studio was established, she helped Ye Zhou poach two well-known agents in the industry.
Now, the studio was not big, but due to the popularity and discussion brought by the “Starlight Youth” program, it was thriving. The current popularity of these few contestants was also extremely high, with endorsements and program invitations pouring in.
Speaking of this, one cannot help but mention that the young man Chi Yu, who performed the stunt of breaking a stone with his chest on the show and left Ye Zhou stunned, not only successfully won third place but also had extremely high popularity among all the contestants, even rivaling the first place.
In addition, he was also highly sought after by capital. As soon as the talent show ended, many businesses specifically wanted him as their endorser. Even more incredible, he was also favored by a well-known director in the industry, who invited him to play the third male lead in his movie.
Ye Zhou had also heard of that director, who was an enthusiastic fan of fantasy dramas. Every fantasy drama he directed never had a problem with ratings, and he was particularly friendly to actors. Although he didn’t quite make them instant stars, it was almost the same.
Although the other contestants were not as lucky as him, they still had far more options than ordinary newcomers and even bottom-level small artists.
The studio now hardly needed Ye Zhou to invest much money and had already started to make profits, becoming self-sufficient and even helping Ye Zhou with some small investments.
He Feiyang and Liu Zhao’s “Tears Behind Bars” had great success at the box office and with word of mouth. They were no longer as neglected as in the past, and their value had risen. Striking while the iron was hot, a new film was already in the preparation stage and was expected to be released within two years.
Of course, the most profitable venture was the Zhaixing livestreaming platform that Ye Zhou had purchased for “Starlight Youth.” He took a risk by employing livestreamers who had suffered from cyberbullying, successfully bringing unimaginable traffic to the platform.
Many people in the industry had mocked that it was just a gimmick, and once users lost enthusiasm for these livestreamers and the hype died down, Zhaixing would be dead in no time.
However, to their great disappointment, users’ enthusiasm for these anchors not only did not disappear but became increasingly intense as the broadcast time increased.
Ye Zhou had excellent insight. Any livestreamer he could take a fancy to had an extremely strong personal charm. Previously, they were unwilling to continue due to disillusionment. Now, persuaded by Ye Zhou, they were reinvigorated and started anew. Now, there were far beyond what ordinary livestreamers could compare to.
Their comeback even attracted many old fans who had quit watching livestreams along with them. These old fans, who had previously failed to protect their favorite livestreamers, now spontaneously formed teams to manage the livestream rooms of their favorite streamers at specific times every day, maintaining order.
After clarifying the facts of the past incidents one by one, these livestreamers, who had to give up their careers at their peak and return to an ordinary life due to various reasons, finally regained their brilliance on Zhaixing after many years.
Many platforms in the industry, seeing Zhaixing’s move, followed suit one after another. But how could Zhaixing’s operations be easily imitated?
At that time, Ye Zhou had been busy for several months to find these livestreamers, and even used Mr. Jiang’s connections to screen out these pitiful few. There were many livestreamers with scandals or banned due to scandals, but which of these scandals were true and which were slander? It was not easy to distinguish.
The consequence of doing this was that several platforms quickly attracted a large number of haters due to employing artists with extremely poor reputations. These platforms did not have Zhaixing’s whitewashing ability, and the livestreamers’ scandals were all real and not fabricated out of thin air. The speed of whitewashing simply couldn’t keep up with the influx of haters.
For a time, the well-functioning platforms were turned into a mess, and even many innocent livestreamers were affected, which was quite frightening. Many livestreamers could not bear the harassment. Those whose contracts had expired jumped ship one after another, and those whose contracts had not yet expired had already decided in private not to renew their contracts after expiration.
Among these livestreamers who jumped ship, quite a few were attracted by Zhaixing, which was rich, generous, and in its heyday. As a result, Zhaixing’s livestreamer system was further improved.
Originally, Zhaixing only had the top-tier big livestreamers and new livestreamers attracted by the dream nurturing program, but there was a gap in the middle. Now, the shenanigans of various major livestreaming platforms successfully helped Zhaixing fill this gap.
In response to this, Ye Zhou’s reaction was: =口= Can this really work?
After this series of events, Ye Zhou figured out that even if his initial intention was to lose money, the final result was always unsatisfactory. Since that was the case, Ye Zhou also had a change of heart. Just let it be.
In any case, no matter what, Ye Zhou was not short of money now and did not need or could not take the tens of millions from Cheng Ran.
Although he himself felt that he was not short of money, since the last time he quarreled with Mr. Jiang and went alone to South Africa to film lions, his project leaders all felt that he was very poor. They waved banknotes and tried to stuff money into Ye Zhou’s hands every time they saw him, stuffing him until he had no temper left.
The 700 million yuan in compensation money given to Mr. Jiang was eventually forcibly returned by Mr. Jiang in the name of “hardship compensation” after the incident.
Ye Zhou was indignant about this. It was a matter of a man’s dignity. How could he tolerate this? However, the other party was too strong. After several attempts to refuse, he had no way and even felt a bit of back pain. Ye Zhou gave up.
Dignity? What dignity? Is dignity more important than my waist?
Did he lack money? He really did not lack money! Please stop stuffing him with money!
After Cheng Ran’s phone call ended, Ye Zhou didn’t take it seriously. Anyway, without giving the card number, even if Cheng Ran had money, he had nowhere to send it. As for how he would live later and what he would do with the money, Ye Zhou couldn’t control that.
After greeting Assistant Director Meng, Ye Zhou took the elevator to Mr. Jiang’s office and happily sat in Mr. Jiang’s boss chair, finishing a whole portion of spicy crab.
With more than half an hour left before the afternoon audition, Ye Zhou sprawled in the boss chair and let out an unsightly burp. He jokingly said to Mr. Jiang, “Xiao Tingzi1The suffix -zi (子) is added to the end of names in Chinese as a familiar or condescending form of address, fill it up.”
Mr. Jiang, who had inexplicably gained an unpleasant nickname: …
Jiang Tingyuan raised his eyebrows, walked over to Ye Zhou in a few steps, picked up the water kettle beside the table, and actually poured a small cup of tea for Ye Zhou. “Drink it.”
Ye Zhou contentedly picked up the teacup, happily enjoying Mr. Jiang’s attentive service. Just as he was about to drink, Jiang Tingyuan leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Xiao Tingzi during the day, Xiao Yuan-ge at night, not bad.”
Startled, Ye Zhou choked on a mouthful of tea, covering his mouth and coughing violently. His originally fair face quickly flushed red from the choking cough.
It was unclear whether he was choking or blushing from Mr. Jiang’s sudden flirtatious words.
Ye Zhou, who had arrived in high spirits and with a triumphant air, left with a red face and in a hurry.
Seeing Ye Zhou’s face as red as a monkey’s butt, Assistant Director Meng asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you have a fever?”
As he spoke, he even reached out to touch Ye Zhou’s forehead to check his temperature.
Ye Zhou nimbly dodged Assistant Director Meng’s attack and awkwardly coughed a few times, making up an excuse to cover it up. “I had spicy crab for lunch. It’s spicy, spicy.”
Hearing this, Assistant Director Meng immediately launched into a lecture on health.
“Young people should eat less spicy food. Your face is already so red from the spiciness. Can your stomach handle it? Your sister-in-law has been messing around with health recipes at home recently. She said something about barley and red bean porridge being good for the stomach. Next time you come over for dinner, let your sister-in-law cook it for you.”
Ye Zhou nodded like a pecking chicken. “Okay, okay, thank you, Meng-ge. Thank my sister-in-law too. I will definitely come when I have time.”
Why eat spicy crab? What’s so good about spicy crab? I’ll never eat it again!
Spicy crab: ??? Why am I being blamed?
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