Chapter Ninety-Seven: Take a Look at Women’s Equity—Zero Risk, High Return

As long as Lin kept in line, Cheng’s money would keep coming without end, and her own share of the benefits would naturally be assured.

In the future, she would never be short of money.

It was nothing more than the fact that Lin’s smile caught his eye, and he wanted to keep her all to himself. There was no other reason.

As for money, wasn’t it the same whether he gave it to Lu or to someone else?

Promoting her and making her a star was meant to keep her tied to him, and, while he was at it, to rake in cash...

Lin said nothing more, taking his silence for consent. “What should we eat?”

“Lobster or barbecue. You choose.”

“Barbecue, then. I know a pretty good place.”

“Use the navigation.”

She naturally took his phone and set the route, not even bothering to look through his messages. After all, trust between people was necessary.

But the pop-up that sprang up on its own was an unavoidable force.

“What does this mean?”

“What?”

“The one asking you for a video.”

Cheng’s expression turned odd. “Ignore him.”

“Oh.”

Lin thought it over. From the sleazy emoji the other party had sent, it was probably not a clean video.

The area around Three Rivers Academy was nowhere near as lively as the small-goods market in Yiwu, and Longmian was not much better either; if they were going to eat, this was definitely the place.

The car was parked in a roadside space, drawing frequent glances from passersby.

It had to be said, this car’s looks and ability to turn heads were unquestionable, just like Lin herself.

Following behind Lin, he arrived at a barbecue restaurant with a fair number of customers, where the aroma hit them at once.

Spicy heat filled the air, tugging at the taste buds.

Cheng’s mouth was practically watering as he sat down with the menu. Lin said, “Their grilled chicken gizzards and gluten are really good. Get more squid. I’ll go buy two cups of milk tea. What do you want?”

“Lemon Yakult, or mango Yakult is fine too.”

Lin slung her bag over her shoulder and ran across the street to buy fruit tea. Cheng ordered two hundred yuan’s worth of food. Today’s exercise had been genuinely exhausting, and there was still a hard battle waiting for him tonight.

Lin said she didn’t want it, but in truth she was very proactive.

Once one had tasted something good, that was how it was.

He took a few photos and posted them in the group chat. Chen Xingyan and the others were already having fun at Qin Haoran’s lounge bar, and Lin Sujiao even asked why he hadn’t gone.

Chen Xingyan probably hadn’t told them about her relationship with him, Cheng thought.

Just like that, inexplicably, it had become a master-disciple relationship.

Of course, in the modern twenty-first century, such a thing carried no real restraint. At a critical moment, the one who would likely still act rebelliously would remain rebelliously so.

Among the girls he knew, Chen Xingyan ranked fourth.

Zhang Ya was first, Liu Hanyue second, Zheng Yuechan third, Chen Xingyan fourth, Lu Mengyao fifth, Lin sixth, Wang Churuo seventh...

Each had her own charm: elegant, cute, sexy, cool, coy in a tea-like way yet innocent, sweet when she smiled, or delightfully silly.

The will of the world used these to test him, and he truly could not hold out.

“Here.”

Lin set down the lemon Yakult, smiling, and the whole world seemed to brighten. Many people in the barbecue restaurant glanced her way; she had long since grown used to such looks.

Cheng lowered his voice. “See? I told you you had potential for the screen.”

Lin gave a shy smile, and it was devastatingly alluring.

He took a sip, and suddenly thought of Lu Mengyao. If it were her, she would first help him arrange the straw before handing it over.

Ah.

People really were different.

It must be temperament, Cheng thought. He did not ask for too much.

As they ate barbecue and chatted, Lin also asked a few questions.

“You mean...”

“Understand the public’s psychology, especially those who eat instant noodles while tipping streamers. That’s a huge portion of the audience. As long as you have a team and a script, you can become a goddess for shut-ins in no time. Believe it or not?”

“You don’t go to school? How do you manage a company?”

Cheng smiled. “That’s not something you need to worry about. I’m planning to hire a headhunting firm, and sign more streamers. Once the numbers are up, there will always be some quality among them.”

Lin did not really understand all this, so she simply listened.

“And privacy...?”

“I know. If it’s you, I’ll personally do the filming.” A faint smile rose at the corner of Cheng’s mouth.

With his advanced photography skills, he could open a website and qualify as a proper gentleman of the night market scene, if only conditions allowed him to run wild.

Besides, quite a few people had already been taken away by the police. Illegal things could not be done. Think about it: even translating pirated content could land someone in trouble. Wouldn’t this kind of thing be worth at least seven years?

Ever since he had all sorts of skills, life seemed to be getting more and more punishable.

Take racing skills, for example. It was fine to go to a track and let off some pressure, but actually street racing would make you a complete idiot.

Not only Lin, but Lu Mengyao and Liu Hanyue and the others would all be handled by him personally. As for other streamers and the like, he would have the headhunting company package them up, give them some resources, and let luck decide.

Before long, time slipped by little by little.

Lin scrolled through the trending topics. “Something happened at New Street Crossing...”

“What happened?”

“See for yourself.”

Cheng watched the video and frowned. “This is a madman. He’s insane...”

Sure enough, learning mixed martial arts was the right choice.

Just look at it: madmen were everywhere. They might be right beside you, and if you really ran into one, all you could do was cry to hell itself.

So self-defense was necessary.

With his physical condition and a bit of self-defense, dealing with such a person would be more than enough. Better to prevent trouble before it arose.

Because one never knew whether death or tomorrow would arrive first.

In the blink of an eye, it was already nine.

They had finished the barbecue, and their stomachs could take no more. Yiwu was still very lively at this hour.

When they returned to the roadside parking space, Cheng glanced at the elderly man sweeping the street.

The old man looked back at him, grinning to reveal two rows of yellow teeth. “Young man, your car is beautiful. I’ve never seen such a beautiful car in my life...”

“You’re still sweeping this late at night...”

“Yes. It’s too hot during the day, so I sweep at night.”

Seeing the old man looking around, apparently quite interested, Cheng opened the scissor door and said, “How about you sit in it and try it out?”

“No, no, I can’t. My clothes will get dirty.”

“It’s fine. Just give it a try. My shoes have stepped in mud before and they’re about the same. Come on, it’s okay to try it...”

The street sweeper hesitated for a moment, then gathered enough courage to give it a try.

After leaving Yiwu, Cheng drove straight to the hotel.

“Do you want me to buy you an apartment nearby? Your place is still a bit out of the way.”

“For me?”

“Of course.”

Cheng was not stingy at all. To him, this was not spending money; it was leveraged investment with a hundred percent return. In the future, he could even tell others that he was a master of the stock market.

Tut.

What stock?

Woman stock.

High returns, zero risk.

Lin was a little incredulous. This was too good. Was he going to scam her into bed and sweet-talk her into happiness?

First a car.

Then a house.

If she had not already received five hundred thousand, Lin would really have thought he was dangling carrots in front of her and taking her for a fool.

“Where would you buy it?”

“Polaris Spring?”

As for Half-Hill Cloud Manor, forget it. Cheng did not want to be like the big shot in the news, who arranged all of his more than a hundred mistresses in a single upscale neighborhood and even had them all gather for mahjong.

Life was truly full of color, and at times absurd beyond belief.

...

...

P.S. Since this is the kind of slice-of-life material that brushes past in a sentence, I’ll leave it at that. Also, don’t pay too much attention to the timeline here. It’s basically a daily-life gag story, so naturally I won’t be writing much about business.