Chapter 42 - Gift
Lu Renyi’s composition filled with praise undoubtedly poured ice water on the heads of the Lu fans. Some big fans who knew inside secrets were directly stunned. Previously, they heard his work team show some dissatisfaction with Li Zhao. How was it that Lulu’s tone changed before the party was over?
Look at this Weibo post that was praising Li Zhao again. It was so flattering that it was almost boot-licking. No, it must be their illusion. Their Lulu was a super first-tier strength idol who was a popular artist. It was impossible for him to brag about an 18th tier artist.
Maybe… perhaps Li Zhao used white lotus means to persuade Lulu that he was a good man so that Lulu praised him. Yes, it must be. Li Zhao was using the heat to suck their Lulu’s blood! The Lu fans were dissatisfied, wronged and angry but they put up with it.
Once the Lu fans died down, the topic of Cang Huan’s annual meeting was much more peaceful. Various fans and businesses boasted about each other and wished each other a happy new year ahead of time.
However, Li Zhao’s local tyrant friend left a deep imprint in the minds of many netizens. The more amazing thing was that perhaps due to Li Zhao’s frank attitude towards his friend, few people felt that Li Zhao and his friend had improper relations. They were just full of envy, jealousy and hatred.
There was a small number of fans who showed a mysterious aunt’s smile. What Liyu CP? It couldn’t compare to the Haoli (Grand and Li) CP. They could make up 100 love stories between the local tyrant and 18th tier star.
Let’s turn off the hustle and bustle of the Internet and return to the cold of reality.
“Sir.” The housekeeper brought hot food to Yan Ting. “It’s time for dinner.”
The hour hand pointed to 10 o’clock and Yan Ting waved to the house to put the food down. “Bring the medicine.”
The air was still and eventually turned into the housekeeper’s silent compromise. The water was shaking gently in the transparent cup. Yan Ting picked up the medicine and didn’t hesitate to drink it.
The housekeeper paused. In the past, the boss always refused to take medicine. However, since the day before yesterday, the boss would always take the initiative to drink the medicine without the housekeeper’s reminder.
Once Yan Ting finished the medicine, the housekeeper picked up the water cup and exited through the door.
“Oh.” It was only after leaving the depressing room that the housekeeper dared sighed. Over the years, he had personally watched the boss grow from a child to a silent man, gradually losing the joy of life.
Those who lost any pleasure in life would eventually turn into a twisted abyss, devouring all the past. Li Zhao’s appearance was an accident. For his sake, the boss took medicine that he didn’t want to take. This empty house that was like a grave was finally alive.
The second hand didn’t stop for a moment. The hour hand moved slowly and crossed 11.
Cang Huan’s annual meeting was lively and grand. There were many people looking forward to the lottery draw. Li Zhao glanced at the number plate in his hand and hoped that he could win a prize, although it had been many years since he won a prize.
The third place prize was the latest high-performance laptop, which was expensive and had an excellent performance. Many office workers wanted to own such a computer. Li Zhao thought of Yan Ting. If he won this award, he would take it back to Yan Ting.
“Mr Li likes this computer?” Special Assistant Qin noticed Li Zhao’s gaze.
“No no, I’m just looking out of curiosity.” In the presence of Yan Ting’s colleagues, Li Zhao certainly couldn’t admit to wanting the laptop.
Special Assistant Qin smiled and nodded. “I also like this laptop.” After that, he briefly introduced the performance of this laptop.
Li Zhao thought that even if he didn’t win, he should buy one for Yan Ting. It turned out that many white-collar workers wanted a laptop and his Ting Ting couldn’t be lacking. In a corner where Li Zhao didn’t know, one more third place prize was awarded than originally planned. Then Li Zhao won it.
“Yeah!” After hearing that he won, Li Zhao held his number without any pretenses and jumped onto the stage.
“Congratulations to the four lucky winners.” The host smiled at Li Zhao and put the microphone in front of him. “Mr Li, this is the first time you’ve attended our annual meeting and you won a prize. Can I ask what you’re thinking?”
“I’m very happy!” Li Zhao took the heavy computer bag given to the winning guests. “This is the first time in 20 years that I have won such an expensive prize. Thank you Cang Huan. I also want to thank Cangshi Watch.” He raised his hand to reveal the watch on his wrist. “I’m lucky to wear it tonight.”
Applause filled the venue. At the annual meeting, the spokesman boasted of wearing their own product. There would be good luck and who wouldn’t be happy?
“Special Assistant Qin, your friend’s child is very interesting.” The senior management at Qin Xiao’s table said while clapping. “He is so happy about a third place prize. No wonder why you are so distressed.”
Special Assistant Qin smiled. “No, early this morning, the boss gave me a message that the child’s character is simple and to not let him be wronged.”
The senior executive who smiled at Special Assistant Qin froze. “What?”
Did he just have a hallucination? The other high level management weren’t much better than him. They looked at Qin Xiao, the smile on his face stiff.
“The child has been living next door to the boss recently.” Qin Xiao knew what these people were thinking and his smile was unchanged. “You know that the boss usually doesn’t care about other people’s affairs but he attaches great importance to this child.”
“No wonder why I felt the child was so good-looking at first sight. He is originally the child living next to the boss.”
“This temperament was different from anyone else.”
The applause on the table was even more enthusiastic.
Once Li Zhao returned to his seat holding the laptop, he found that the uncles at the table were looking at him with eyes dripping with kindness. The expressions on their faces seemed to say that this young man was so awesome.
The ideological realm of the elite was beyond the reach of the average person.
The annual meeting was about to end and the entertainers who dealt with human communication had been exhausted to the extreme. However, they still needed to maintain a perfect smile in front of Cang Huan’s higher ups. Even Liu Fen, who just won the best actress award, had to be careful with her smile.
The moment the party was over, the artists were relieved and Liu Fen secretly loosened her tight belly. Then she turned around to see several high-level executives she couldn’t even talk to laughing and chatting with Li Zhao. Some of the elderly people even gave Li Zhao red envelopes.
Li Zhao refused to accept them but these high-level officials persuaded him for a while before accepting it with embarrassment. The seniors talked and laughed, escorting Li Zhao to the door of his car and ordering him to come and play when he could.
Liu Fen stepped back but she was secretly surprised. The company’s internal materials stated that Li Zhao was from a welfare home. Yet according to the attitude from Cang Huan’s senior officials, he was treated as the boss’ own son.
She had heard many rumours about the boss of Cang Huan. She had never seen him herself but from the various rumours, it was inferred that the boss of Cang Huan definitely wasn’t over 35 years old. How could he give birth to such an old son?
Was Li Zhao’s true identity an illegitimate son of a giant family? In this way, Strawberry Entertainment’s preferential treatment of him made sense. After understanding this, Liu Fen was secretly glad. Fortunately, she had been polite enough to him when Li Zhao was in the crew.
The moment she walked out the door, Liu Fen was blocked by several reporters who rushed out from somewhere.
“Fen Fen, did you have any communication with Li Zhao tonight and did you notice the brooch on him?” A reporter familiar with Liu Fen joked. “It is stated online that the brooch is worth a few suites. Is this true?”
“Zhao Zhao is a very good and pragmatic young man.” According to past habits, Liu Fen would usually make an excuse to leave. However, tonight she spoke a few words. “He wouldn’t wear something false for the sake of creating talk.”
“Then his brooch is really a nobleman’s favourite brooch?” The reporters were boiling.
Liu Fen was afraid that the wrong information would cause trouble for Li Zhao and added a few words. “Sorry, Zhao Zhao has never said anything about this but it should definitely be worth a few suites.”
Whether it was the case or not, she would first paste gold on Li Zhao.
Liu Fen had an extraordinary status in the circle and although her diehard fans weren’t as much as the traffic artists, the audience’s good feelings towards her were very high. Even elderly women who usually didn’t go online could call out her name. (Traffic artists = artists with a huge traffic or following on the Internet)
Thus, as long as she said it, there was almost no doubt.
The online debate about Li Zhao’s brooch completely ceased after this interview video was released. Big names such as Liu Fen didn’t need to lie for a small actor like Li Zhao. If she said it was worth several suites then it must be true.
Li Zhao didn’t know that Liu Fen, who didn’t have much friendship with him, had taken the initiative to put gold on his face in front of the media. He jumped out of the car with the laptop and rushed to the door.
The moment he stepped on the steps, the door opened and the spacious living room was lit up like daylight. Hearing footsteps, the man sitting on the sofa and reading a book looked up. “Are you back?”
The orange lamp shone on his face and gave him a different type of gentleness. Li Zhao stood at the door, looking at the living room and stopped.
“What are you doing standing there?” Yan Ting put down the book. “Take a bath and change clothes. Then come down to eat.”
Only then did Li Zhao’s senses return. He stepped into the bright living room and ran to Yan Ting’s side to sit down. “It is early in the morning. Why haven’t you slept yet?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Are you waiting for me to come back?”
Yan Ting didn’t care about him, white fingers picking up the book and continuing to look.
“Don’t look. Reading at night isn’t good for your eyes.” Li Zhao took the book from Yan Ting’s hands and put the laptop bag in his hands. “The first prize in my life, I’ll give it to you.”
Yan Ting opened the bag and saw the latest laptop from Cang Huan. It had a price in the tens of thousands and was considered a valuable laptop.
“I saw the prize and thought you could use it when working. It would be good if I could win the prize.” Li Zhao’s mood was particularly good due to winning. “I didn’t think I would actually win. Don’t you think it’s amazing?”
“It’s amazing.” Yan Ting put down the laptop. He could smell the faint scent of wine and perfume from Li Zhao.
Whoever touched his body left the smell of perfume.
“Today is particularly coincidental. I didn’t expect your colleague to be there to take care of me.” He had been used to Yan Ting’s reticence for a long time. Li Zhao could speak happily even if the other person was silent. “Your colleague is very strong and has a good relationship with others. I thought about sending him a New Year’s gift and letting him take care of you in the company.
Yan Ting wasn’t good at dealing with people. There was his colleague surnamed Qin to take care of business and deal with people.
“It’s fine.” Yan Ting interrupted Li Zhao’s words. “I am the core of the technical staff and no one will dare criticize me.”
“You can’t be proud.” Li Zhao spoke earnestly. “No matter how capable, you must be afraid of meeting villains, right?”
Seeing that Yan Ting didn’t speak, Li Zhao raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
“Yes.” In Li Zhao’s gaze, Yan Ting raised his noble head. “I will call him tomorrow to see which day he is free.”
“That’s right.” Li Zhao nodded in a pleased manner. “We can’t be villains in a gang but we can’t let others bully him.”
Yan Ting… Yan Ting still nodded.
Li Zhao had only eaten until he was 50% full. He took a bath and ate a large bowl of noodles. Seeing him eat so well, Yan Ting was influenced by him and also ate a small bowl. Once Li Zhao slept, Yan Ting placed the laptop that Li Zhao had given him on the table.
The laptop was stylish with a thin body. It was brand new and unopened. Touching the cold shell, Yan Ting took out his phone and took a photo of it. For the first time ever, he posted his first photo to his circle of friends in WeChat.
Yan Ting: A gift.
After attending the annual meeting, the executives of Cang Huan were exhausted to death and received the WeChat business card push sent by Special Assistant Qin. They saw this was actually the big boss’ WeChat and sent non-stop friends application.
After adding friends, everyone had the mentality to look at their boss’ moments in his circle of friends. Well, there was only one in the circle of friends. Wasn’t this the latest laptop developed by their company? Which fool gave Cang Huan’s laptop as a gift to Cang Huan’s boss?
The executives hadn’t reacted when they saw Special Assistant Qin giving praise for the first time as well as leaving a message.
Special Assistant Qin: Tonight, Mr Li was particularly happy winning the prize and was reluctant to give up the laptop. It turns out it was originally for the boss. This heart is really rare.
All the higher ups suddenly understood and instantly transformed into dutiful praise machines, constantly praising this laptop. Was this a laptop? No, it was a heart that was more precious than a diamond!
Boast, boast to death!
Yan Ting looked at the new comments and replied to Special Assistant Qin with a hum.
Qin Xiao came out after taking a bath. He opened his mobile phone to see that the boss had actually replied to him and he quickly clicked on it.
There might be only one word and a full stop but in Qin Xiao’s view, this was progress. Once a person who lost interest in life suddenly had the idea of showing off, it meant that there was something in the world that attracted him and made him nostalgic.
Well, it was good. Qin Xiao smiled and clicked on the photo of the laptop.
After sleeping, Li Zhao woke up, washed his face and brushed his teeth. Li Zhao wore furry slippers and his hair was still messy as he went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast. He didn’t find Yan Ting.
“Uncle, where is Ting Ting?”
“The boss went to the company to work overtime and he’ll be back at noon.” The housekeeper seemed to be used to LI Zhao’s name for Yan Ting. The expression on his face didn’t change at all. He smiled more kindly, “You slept late last night so we didn’t wake you up for breakfast.”
“I haven’t really slept well in the last few days.” Li Zhao stretched lazily. “It is good that I’m home since I can sleep better.”
“Mr Li, you can live here all the time if you prefer.” The housekeeper looked expectantly at Li Zhao. “The boss will be very happy.”
“How can I do that?” Li Zhao shook his head. “If I live here then it will affect Ting Ting finding a girlfriend.”
The housekeeper didn’t dare speak casually about Yan Ting’s emotional issues and had to keep smiling.
After eating, Li Zhao’s fuzzy brain finally woke up. He went to his room to change clothes and ran to the yard to breathe fresh air. As he reached the gate, he saw a car stopped in front of the gate and a young man in a suit came down from the car.
Li Zhao looked at the young man whose pants exposed his ankles and couldn’t help feeling a chill. He wrapped his down jacket more tightly around his body.
The young man looked up like he felt Li Zhao’s gaze. He didn’t know if it was an illusion but Li Zhao felt that this young man’s eyes toward him were very strange, like he was seeing a monster that shouldn’t appear.
“Who are you?” The young man walked to the closed iron gate and stared at Li Zhao. Li Zhao took a step back. Two men in suits came out from the side and dragged the young man back into the car.
“What do you want to do. Go and tell Xu… wu wu wu…”
The door closed heavily and the car soon drove away.
“This person?” Li Zhao saw this scene and asked the housekeeper who came over. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Alas.” The housekeeper shook his head. “This man’s brain isn’t good. He was stimulated at a young age and likes to speak messy nonsense.”
“His family was also in business. His father was responsible for stealing materials from a project and nearly killed people. He also committed tax evasion and was jailed a few months ago.” The housekeeper looked at the car and put his hands behind his back. “This house was where he lived as a child. It was bought by the boss some time ago. The young man’s head isn’t clear and he often comes here to make trouble.”
“That’s the way it is.” Li Zhao suddenly realized and didn’t know what to say for a while.
“Mr Li, you don’t have to take these little things to heart.” The housekeeper retracted his gaze and smiled at Li Zhao. “The kitchen has fried fish balls. Do you want to taste it?”
“Yes.” Li Zhao turned and ran to the kitchen.
The housekeeper looked at his back with a smile and slowly followed. After lunch with Yan Ting, Li Zhao hurried to Green Pepper Video to rehearse before the live broadcast.
The makeup stations backstage were busy but not disorderly. Li Zhao got makeup applied and went to the stage for the last rehearsal. His program’s sequence was quite early and Zhang Xiaoyuan and Da Ke were with him, dealing with some artists who came to greet him.
These artists had almost no relationship with Li Zhao but their warm attitude made Li Zhao feel slightly confused. He was walking down from the stage where he heard a middle-aged man scolded two dancers. The dancers wanted to cry but didn’t dare, their eyes red.
Most of the artists who came to participate in the Spring Festive’s live broadcast were artists who just became hot or were second-tier or below artists. The real first-tier big artists would be rehearsing for major TV stations or even the national TV station. They wouldn’t degrade themselves to participate in the online Spring Festival gala that started one day in advance.
“You don’t know the rules yet you want to be popular?” The middle-aged man’s tone was serious. You are young and too impetuous. How long can you remain popular if you just rely on the Internet?!”
The author has something to say:
Small baby class monitor Ting Ting pulled out a lollipop from his schoolbag: Everyone, come and see this lollipop. It is hot, round, sweet and spicy. It is a gift from Zhao Zhao!