“If this continues,” Sister Yu began, “Yingchuan will gradually lose market share and bargaining power. When his exposure approaches zero, he’ll probably even lose his fans. I suspect Yunfeng Video wants to sign him to a cheap, exploitative contract while he’s at his weakest.”

Bai Yue froze, a chill running through her at that moment.

“I have to save myself.” Bai Yingchuan’s gaze was firm, each word powerful and resonant. “If Qilin and Yunfeng don’t want to give me a market, then I’ll create my own. Eighty percent of Little Sweet Fruit’s users are young people, with hobbies like anime, gaming, and cosplay that overlap with my fans’ interests.”

Bai Yue’s throat moved; this time, she didn’t voice any rebuttal.

Bai Yingchuan continued to analyze: “I heard that Gao Cheng has already organized a team to research Little Sweet Fruit’s own recommendation algorithm. Once successful, it means that my fans, including casual fans, as long as they become Sweet Fruit users, will constantly and automatically see my latest news—the target is clear, and we won’t have to waste money on ineffective marketing anymore.”

Seeing Bai Yue’s softening stance, Sister Yu immediately added fuel to the fire: “If Yingchuan collaborates with Little Sweet Fruit, and Little Sweet Fruit’s user numbers rise, it will prove its commercial value. I’d like to see if Qilin and Yunfeng can still sit idly by then.”

Bai Yue, after all, was in her forties. Her daily life mostly involved cosmetic procedures, shopping, filming, and walking red carpets to maintain her presence. She didn’t know much about the preferences of young people in this era. Now, not only was Bai Yingchuan speaking articulately, but even Sister Yu clearly favored the collaboration with Little Sweet Fruit.

Bai Yue initially wanted to discuss this with Lin Chengdong, but thinking about what had happened before… she developed deep suspicions about Lin Chengdong.

The mobile battery project she invested in with him exploded at the exhibition and remained unsellable. The gaming company had to pay compensation due to infringement and promptly went out of business.

The fish pond in Chengtai offended Geng Zhaotan, lost its provincial government connections, and couldn’t find any buyers. She acted in a movie invested by Yunfeng Video, but the box office was dismal, causing her to be ridiculed by the industry, and Bai Yue’s acting fees became increasingly low. Coupled with what Lin Lu instigated his fans to do, Bai Yue realized she had to keep her guard up against Lin Chengdong.

“Your collaboration with Sweet Fruit can be considered. But I suggest we wait and see. Let’s talk about it after Sweet Fruit’s development stabilizes. We’ll see what long-term plans CEO Gao Cheng has.”

Bai Yue finally sided with Bai Yingchuan. Sister Yu patted Bai Yingchuan’s shoulder, giving him a look of affirmation. Bai Yingchuan walked Sister Yu to the entrance. It was clear that Sister Yu was now on Bai Yingchuan’s side.

“During this time, I’ll keep an eye on Sweet Fruit’s development and also conduct fan surveys to see what their impression of the platform is.”

“Thank you, Sister Yu.”

“Actually, what you said to your mother made me quite happy,” Sister Yu smiled. Bai Yingchuan understood that for all these years, Sister Yu had been dissatisfied with Bai Yue and Lin Chengdong’s entanglement of interests. Bai Yue was once in her prime, and deep down, she felt no one was worthy of guiding her, so even if Sister Yu advised her, she wouldn’t listen.

---

On the other side, since Zhao Yunshu had agreed to help Jiang Ruotang expand his investor base, she actively sought resources, and several friends agreed to invest in Sweet Fruit. Xie Liang’s mother, who worked at Shengshi Development Bank, even approved a large loan for Sweet Fruit, giving it a significant boost in funds. Just like that, Zhao Yunshu and Xie Liang’s mother also became friends, and her social circle immediately expanded.

Precisely at 10 AM on Sweet Fruit’s eighth anniversary, a large number of classic and popular animated shows suddenly went online. It was truly “like spring breeze came overnight, pear blossoms bloomed on thousands of trees.” Sweet Fruit’s community exploded with discussions. And for just a few tens of yuan annually, users could watch these animations, averaging the cost of half a cup of milk tea per month for membership.

Not only that, members could also send bullet comments to discuss the plot and freely send firework effects. If over ten thousand viewers clicked on the effect within one minute, the firework display would appear to all users watching that specific show at that moment. This was the legendary “crowdfunded firework effect.” Different designs were available based on the number of clicks. This bullet comment concept and technology came from a Sweet Fruit user, and after Jiang Ruotang stumbled upon it during his first browse, his heart leaped to his throat.

He immediately contacted Mr. Zheng, preemptively bought the bullet comment technology, and applied for a patent for this display method.

The technical staff pulled all-nighters, fueled by countless cups of coffee, to implement it across the entire site on the anniversary day. This was an interactive feature that would later become popular on major video websites for years to come! How could they not seize it firmly?

Besides bullet comments, there were also votes for the most beloved anime character of the month, best anime CP, and most epic opening or ending theme songs. The voting results were updated in real-time, keeping anime fans busy voting for their favorite characters.

The anime characters that topped the charts each month would form electronic badges stored in the users’ backend who voted for them, opening up a new daily activity for users with collecting hobbies. And at the end of the year, users would receive a package from Sweet Fruit containing a year’s worth of physical badges.

Apart from these member-exclusive interactive services, other benefits included discount coupons for anime exhibitions, an original artist’s blessing as the login account prompt sound, and each anime having its own interactive community where users could chat with like-minded individuals, eliminating the need to join too many groups to find companions.

Sweet Fruit burst with vitality overnight. Its activity and discussion levels rapidly soared, instantly topping the headlines on Weibo. Dai Ming also immediately issued a rights protection announcement, giving a one-month grace period. After a month, unauthorized dissemination of resources would be prosecuted, but at the same time, it offered experienced subtitle groups a legitimate way to earn money.

Some entertainment bloggers and even financial bloggers on the internet started a new wave of sarcasm.

[People who like watching anime and playing games are just kids. How much pocket money can kids have? Sweet Fruit is destined to lose money until it drills through the Earth’s core!]

[Anime? Just download it online, why pay for it? Isn’t free better! No matter how many tricks they have, it’s still a niche market!]

[There was such a big commotion before, a lot of the initial users probably ran away!]

…

Among those who predicted its downfall was Lin Chengdong. Lin Lu was chatting with his mother, Wu Ning, about the most discussed topics among his classmates. Lin Lu specifically reminded his father, “Jiang Ruotang seems to really like Sweet Fruit. Those he’s good friends with… like Jian Sha and Cai Ji, have all subscribed to Sweet Fruit. Cai Ji… is the classmate who designed Bubble Dream.”

Lin Lu felt his message was very clear and hoped his father would take it seriously. Instead of making unreliable investments, it would be better to find connections and become a shareholder of Sweet Fruit. However, Lin Chengdong didn’t pay any attention to Sweet Fruit and scoffed, “What a joke. That Zheng Huasheng doesn’t understand video website operations at all. And that Qi Yanzhe and Chen Dan, they’re well-known playboys in the entertainment industry, second-generation rich kids who just burn money and ruin everything they touch!”

Wu Ning, however, took Lin Lu’s words to heart: “What about Gao Cheng? He’s a capable person, isn’t he?”

Lin Chengdong and Gao Cheng were at odds. When Gao Cheng was forced out of Qilin Video, Lin Chengdong even opened a bottle of red wine to celebrate. “Gao Cheng is capable? He’s a stray dog! He can only go to Little Sweet Fruit to put his remaining energy to use.”

Wu Ning sighed, shook her head at Lin Lu, and whispered, “Your dad is always right.”

Lin Lu, however, felt uneasy. If Lin Chengdong was truly right, then why couldn’t the methods he taught him control Jiang Ruotang, and why was Bai Yingchuan growing to dislike him more and more?

After dinner, he opened Weibo on his phone, and the top news headlines severely slapped Lin Chengdong’s face.

#TrafficNewbieSweetFruit#

#SweetFruitHasAllYourFavoriteFlavors#

#BubbleDreamxLittleSweetFruitJointProfilePictures#

#XiaolanReleasesFirstAdOnSweetFruit#

Lin Chengdong watched the new hot topics constantly popping up on his phone, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. “How is this possible?” He couldn’t understand why a popular game like Bubble Dream would drive traffic to Little Sweet Fruit, nor why Xiaolan, the rising star of domestic mobile phones, would choose Sweet Fruit over Qilin or Yunfeng Video for its new phone advertisement. Even Flying Tech was providing cloud support for Sweet Fruit. Even FAIRY had released Little Sweet Fruit co-branded milk tea cups. Overnight, it seemed like having a Sweet Fruit account was the fashionable thing to do.

Even users unwilling to pay the annual fee could still watch videos from their favorite bloggers for free, such as fashion styling, skincare reviews, anime character makeup, game commentaries, etc., and could also preview the first few episodes of imported animations to experience the interactive services offered by the website. As user activity increased, Little Sweet Fruit’s business development department also became busy. Previously, major brands didn’t see Little Sweet Fruit’s user stickiness and activity, but now, on the first day alone, VIP users reached 300,000, and this number was still rising. In three days, it broke through 800,000 paying users, a very high conversion rate. Some brands frequently used by young people, such as fashion accessories, snacks, personal care products, pet supplies, etc., all extended olive branches to Sweet Fruit.

Jiang Ruotang knew that young people didn’t like watching ads, and if ads didn’t get clicks, they wouldn’t make money. Mr. Zheng, on behalf of Jiang Ruotang, brought this question up at the shareholders’ meeting. Don’t let Qi Yanzhe’s daily routine of clubbing, playing billiards, and racing cars fool you; whenever Little Sweet Fruit held a meeting, he was never late, arriving earlier than everyone else. After all, this was the only serious thing in his life.

How could Little Sweet Fruit’s users accept advertisements? Mr. Zheng and Gao Cheng weren’t very familiar with young people’s preferences, but Qi Yanzhe’s mind worked faster. “Then make animated shorts, like a few dozen seconds long. You don’t even need to hire people to shoot ads. The characters can be beautiful and distinctive. Make a little skit, like a humorous sketch with a fun plot, and you can sell the ads.”

Qi Yanzhe’s suggestion was not only acceptable to Jiang Ruotang but also to other employees in the company, who felt it was worth a try. But for short animations, to attract viewers, they needed animated characters that fit young people’s aesthetics. Users on Little Sweet Fruit were full of hidden talents; some users’ self-made animated shorts were even more aesthetically pleasing than those made by large companies. Cai Ji’s Shan Hai Jing series was noticed by Little Sweet Fruit’s copyright team, and Little Sweet Fruit decided to buy the popular character designs.

When Cai Ji received a call from the copyright manager, he was at a fast-food restaurant, eating hamburgers with Jiang Ruotang and Jian Sha. He thought the person was a scammer. Cai Ji said very confidently, “You’re Little Sweet Fruit’s official copyright manager? Well, I’m a bank president! Do you need me to lend you money?”

Jiang Ruotang, who was about to bite into his burger, froze. Hearing Cai Ji say, “I’m going to report you for telecom fraud,” nearly made Jiang Ruotang choke. He was about to spray food on Jian Sha’s face when Lu Guifan reacted quickly, grabbing a napkin and covering Jiang Ruotang’s mouth. Jian Sha still felt a lingering fear, “Thank you, Class Monitor, for saving my life from the storm.”

Lu Guifan patted Jiang Ruotang’s back and said, “Don’t rush, speak slowly.”

“Well… what’s that, I heard that Little Sweet Fruit buying copyrights is real… Cai Cai, isn’t your Shan Hai Jing series very popular on Little Sweet Fruit?”

“Is it?”

“Yes, it is.”

Cai Ji tentatively redialed the number, but it was constantly busy. Three consecutive calls failed to connect. “It’s fake, they must be busy scamming others now!” Cai Ji was extremely indignant about someone using his beloved Little Sweet Fruit to scam people.

Jiang Ruotang was feeling embarrassed when Lu Guifan said, “There’s another possibility: the other party has been trying to call you, and they’re also getting a busy signal.” Just as Lu Guifan predicted, when Cai Ji stopped calling, the other party called him instead. To gain his trust, they almost gave him their birth characters (an extreme measure to prove identity in Chinese culture).

Cai Ji had many aesthetically pleasing Shan Hai Jing character designs, but there were a few he absolutely refused to sell because they were projections of important people in his heart, such as Di Jun, inspired by Jiang Ruotang, and Qiong Qi, based on Zhao Changfeng. The image of Di Jun was so popular that the copyright manager offered a very high price, but Cai Ji still didn’t sell it. He just said that Di Jun was his original aspiration, and selling him would leave his heart empty.

Jiang Ruotang felt warm inside after hearing that. He felt his life this time was truly worth it. Whether with family or friends, it was all sincere, mutual effort.

Cai Ji was very happy after selling the usage rights for these character designs, because he had earned money on his own again. “My aesthetic is great, right? When I make RPG games in the future, I’ll make the character designs ten thousand times more beautiful than now!”

“I believe you!” Jiang Ruotang nodded with a smile.

Cai Ji generously treated Jiang Ruotang and the others to hot pot. The remaining money, on Jiang Ruotang’s advice, was invested in some low-risk financial products. Jiang Ruotang half-jokingly said, “You should keep this money safe. Maybe it’ll be the startup capital for your future gaming company.”

Jian Sha looked up and said, “You all earned money on your own… What about me… When will I become a modern literary giant in the novel world!”

Jiang Ruotang blossomed into a smile, “Literary giant, you still have to send us your novel to read.”

“Wait, I guarantee you’ll read it and not want to sleep at night,” Jian Sha said with a laugh.

---

Gao Cheng’s efficiency was lightning fast. Little Sweet Fruit immediately launched animated advertisements. The first animated short was a test, to see if users would accept it; no one wanted ads to affect user sentiment.

—The mythical beast Taotie transformed into a young boy, still in his teething phase. His image alone was so adorable it made people roll on the floor. He complained to other mythical beasts that he only consumed and never excreted, and his belly was about to burst. His greatest wish in life… no, in mythical beast life, was to be able to poop freely. Baize transformed into an elegant young man, handing Taotie a cup of yogurt and slowly saying, “Probiotics activate the intestines, in and out is not a dream.” So, after the bloated Taotie drank the yogurt, his stomach actually started to rumble, and a hurricane blew from under his tail, almost blowing Baize several meters away.

Although it was only ten seconds long and appeared as a small picture-in-picture in the bottom right corner, the characters were so beautifully designed that many people couldn’t help but click to watch. They found it humorous and interesting, and adorably hilarious, with countless comments wishing for second and third installments. This yogurt also became a frequently mentioned element in bullet comments, with phrases like “Drink this super probiotic, and let’s all praise each other as friends.”

The first advertisement was a success. Other brands became more active in seeking cooperation. Gao Cheng didn’t even need to personally negotiate advertising fees; brands actively bid against each other, all eager to have their advertisements appear as soon as possible. By the end of the month, Little Sweet Fruit’s paying users exceeded 2.8 million. Initially, surveys showed that only half had a willingness to pay, and even Jiang Ruotang was prepared for actual paying users to be only one-third of the total, but it far exceeded expectations. This was also something that industry professionals had not anticipated.

The bloggers who had been badmouthing Little Sweet Fruit online suddenly fell silent. To piggyback on the traffic, another wave of “Little Sweet Fruit cheerleaders” emerged, releasing various tutorials, such as how to make firework effects appear, how to obtain electronic badges of their favorite anime characters, how to pick their favorite manga author’s login welcome audio, and so on… Even some older anime fans who had been in the workforce for many years would log in during their leisure time to see what Little Sweet Fruit was like now.

---

During break, Cai Ji excitedly leaned over to Jiang Ruotang. “Ruotang, do you know? My beloved Little Sweet Fruit’s paying users have exceeded three million! Before, I had to search everywhere for resources, but now it has all the animations I like! And there are so many new interactive features. Users can even go to Jingwei to offer suggestions and new ideas for Little Sweet Fruit!”

Jiang Ruotang looked at him and smiled, “Jingwei? Is that the Shan Hai Jing character you designed?”

“Yes! He’s now the official opinion collection center’s mascot. Users love chatting with him because his answers are always so much fun, making people want to test how many different replies he has. For example, I just told Jingwei I miss him, and Jingwei replied, ‘I miss myself too,’ isn’t that a bit cheeky?”

Jiang Ruotang smiled and nodded, saying, “As long as you like it.”

Watching the two of them chat enthusiastically, Lu Guifan propped his chin on his hand, looking at Jiang Ruotang’s profile. He realized that, unknowingly, Jiang Ruotang’s preferences were shaping his world. For example, when Jiang Ruotang chatted with Cai Ji about big data recommendations, Lu Guifan silently kept it in mind, researching and learning about it.

“Guifan! Look, look at this…” Jiang Ruotang leaned his head in front of Lu Guifan, his eyes sparkling with stars, momentarily distracting Lu Guifan.

“Hmm?”

“This is our joint account, remember? I edited and uploaded those short videos of you explaining things… We already have 100,000 followers! And many people have given us donations, saying thank you for your lectures!”

The phrase “our joint account” made Lu Guifan’s heart flutter, followed by a surge of warmth, making him want to pull Jiang Ruotang’s head into his embrace and hug him tightly. This was the first time he and Jiang Ruotang shared something in common. Looking at the account name again, Lu Guifan couldn’t help but smile.

“Look here, someone said you predicted the question type for their final exam with this problem!”

“And this one, it’s actually a teacher. He said your lecture approach goes from shallow to deep and is especially suitable for students with weak foundations… What does that mean, is my foundation very weak?”

“Wow, another one praising your beautiful hands and pleasant voice! These guys, can’t they focus on studying?”

More than just praising his pleasant voice, some even said Lu Guifan’s voice was sexy and that the length of his fingers indicated he was “very capable.” Jiang Ruotang automatically filtered those out. What capable or not capable? Such dirty minds! This was an educational video! Where had their heads gone?

Jiang Ruotang found all the comments praising Lu Guifan and read them aloud to him, as if the praise wasn’t for Lu Guifan, but for himself. However, Lu Guifan quickly scrolled through the comments, found one, and read it out: “I want to have monkeys with you.”

Jiang Ruotang almost choked on his own saliva. “You… you want to have with whom?” Jiang Ruotang’s eyes widened as he looked at Lu Guifan.

“There were several comments like that just now,” Lu Guifan said, looking at his phone screen.

Jiang Ruotang exhaled. Lu Guifan’s serious delivery of that sentence was simply too impactful! His heart couldn’t take it.

“It… it just means they think you’re very charming, and they’re jokingly saying they want to have children with you.”

“Oh, that’s impossible.”

Jiang Ruotang thought Lu Guifan was implying that humans couldn’t give birth to monkeys, but in reality, Lu Guifan was thinking that he wanted to be with Jiang Ruotang forever, and those little angels with little stars would have to find other parents. Then Lu Guifan felt he was going crazy; he hadn’t even confessed yet, and he was already fantasizing about the future.

---

Meanwhile, Bai Yue was at a dinner party organized by Lin Chengdong. He wanted to make a movie and needed a big production to recoup his previous losses. He was looking for investments everywhere, and Bai Yue was the designated female lead. The people at the dinner party all looked wealthy, but they weren’t very interested in movies. They were boasting about stocks, mining, and comparing their children. Besides Bai Yue, the other actors present were minor figures, unable to chime in amidst the bosses’ self-congratulatory chatter.

Somehow, these bigwigs suddenly started talking about Little Sweet Fruit.

“If we had known such a shabby website could become so successful, we should have bought it!”

“Mr. Lin, if you hadn’t made us cooperate with Yunfeng Video, we wouldn’t have missed out on this goose that lays golden eggs!”

“Yes, I heard that advertising revenue alone has already reached nine figures! Isn’t this more profitable than making some ridiculous movie?”

Lin Chengdong’s expression turned awkward. He kept signaling Bai Yue with his eyes to toast the bigwigs and change the subject. But Bai Yue didn’t want to step forward. If she got drunk, Lin Chengdong would perfectly disappear.

“Gao Cheng’s operations this time were a complete victory. Qilin Pictures’ shareholders are all questioning management about why Gao Cheng was driven away!”

“This Gao Cheng is lucky; he ran into Little Sweet Fruit as soon as he left!”

“Don’t you guys understand yet? The owner of Bubble Dream is Mu Xianqing, and Xiaolan is also invested by Dayi Tianxia! These two are bringing traffic to Little Sweet Fruit and firing the first shot for its advertising and investment! It’s clear that Little Sweet Fruit’s backer is the Mu family!”

Hearing this, Lin Chengdong paused. Was that really the case? Had he missed another chance to get rich? Bai Yue immediately caught Lin Chengdong’s expression and instantly understood what he was thinking. She thought that even if Lin Chengdong bought Little Sweet Fruit, he wouldn’t have the brains or the courage to develop it. It might just end up like the investment in Chengtai, stuck in his hands with no way out.

Someone else then asked, “Why didn’t you invite Bai Yingchuan? He’s the truly popular one!”

“Right, right, the girls in my son’s class are obsessed with Bai Yingchuan!”

“Yeah, with you two, mother and son, working together, the buzz would be even higher! Would you still worry about box office?”

Lin Chengdong immediately chuckled ingratiatingly, “Yes, yes, yes, you bosses are right! How about we call Xiaobai over too, and we all have a meal together and get to know each other.”

Bai Yue still had a smile on her face, but she felt an inexplicable chill in her heart. Thinking back to what Bai Yingchuan said earlier, that Lin Chengdong wanted to drain his commercial value, it was probably not just to get Yunfeng Video to sign Bai Yingchuan at a low price. Few of these bigwigs were genuinely interested in movies. They might just be using the movie investment budget and box office to launder money, or Lin Chengdong had found some patsies. Seven times out of ten, Lin Chengdong would use the movie’s production expenses to siphon money from these people’s investments to cover his own losses.

Regardless of whether Bai Yue was overthinking it, or whether she, as a mother, could still control Bai Yingchuan, she had a premonition that she absolutely could not let Bai Yingchuan get involved.

“Yingchuan is currently fully focused on the college entrance exam. At this time, the school’s evening self-study has already started, and his phone is probably muted,” Bai Yue said with a smile.

“Oh, what’s so important about the college entrance exam? With his conditions, he’s naturally meant for the entertainment industry! After college, he’d just be working for others!”

“Just look at us here, who among us went to college?”

“Exactly, in ancient times, only poor families thought about becoming officials to change their fate! Xiaobai was born in Rome already!”

Bai Yue dared not to be angry but could only smile ingratiatingly and say, “That’s only because he has established a ‘top student’ image among his fans. If his college entrance exam scores aren’t good, he’ll definitely be ridiculed by anti-fans. This child has strong self-esteem; he has to fight those anti-fans for a win.”

What was this? The college entrance exam isn’t important? Just now, these bosses were each comparing the tutors they hired for their children, loudly proclaiming they would break their children’s legs if they didn’t get into college. How did it become “the college entrance exam isn’t important” when it came to Yingchuan?

Seeing that Bai Yue had no intention of calling Bai Yingchuan, Lin Chengdong immediately pulled out his phone and searched for Bai Yingchuan’s name in his contacts. Bai Yue froze. That was her son; she hadn’t even called him, and Lin Chengdong was overstepping his bounds? What were his true intentions?

---

Bai Yingchuan, who was in evening self-study at school, felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out, glanced at it, and saw “Lin Chengdong”‘s name. He ruthlessly rejected the call.

Lin Chengdong paused, “Why did he hang up on me?”

“Hahaha, it seems Xiaobai is just like the rumors say, he’s got a big attitude!”

“You’re disturbing his class, be careful his fans complain about you!”

“I think Xiaobai knows you’re too stingy and don’t pay well, so he won’t talk to you!”

This was once again using the fans’ clash with Qilin Video to belittle Bai Yingchuan. Bai Yue had to smooth things over: “The teacher must be nearby. If Yingchuan answered the phone, his phone might even be confiscated.”

Lin Chengdong tried calling Bai Yingchuan’s number again. This time, it directly showed “The number you dialed is currently switched off.”

“How about it, Mr. Lin, can you get this top-tier idol to come, or not?” The bigwig across the table was speaking in a joking tone, but Lin Chengdong could tell that the other party was already annoyed.

“Just a moment, just a moment.” Lin Chengdong smiled apologetically while sending a text message to Lin Lu.

[Where’s Bai Yingchuan? I need to talk to him. Tell him to call me back quickly, there’s a very important resource!]

Lin Lu pulled out his phone, immediately nudged Bai Yingchuan beside him, and eagerly said, “My dad wants you to call him back, he has a resource to introduce to you!” Bai Yingchuan’s face remained expressionless, as if he hadn’t heard. Lin Lu was about to pull him again, but just as he raised his hand, the physics teacher spotted him trying to whisper to his deskmate and called Lin Lu up to answer a question directly.

After finally answering the question, Lin Lu looked at Bai Yingchuan’s handsome profile, which was like a cold sculpture, giving Lin Lu no response whatsoever. The physics teacher finally walked to the other side of the classroom. Lin Lu thought for a moment and decided to cover for Bai Yingchuan: [He was called away by the teacher, probably won’t be back so soon.] This message also gave Lin Chengdong a way out.

He showed the text message from his son to the bigwigs: “No choice, my film company manager definitely can’t contend with high school teachers. Those guys are like deep-sea Godzillas; when I go to parent-teacher conferences, I can only keep my head down.” Everyone present laughed, and the atmosphere finally eased considerably.

---

After the dinner, Lin Chengdong saw off the big bosses, and his face immediately changed. “What’s wrong with you? I gave you so many hints, couldn’t you understand? You barely drank any alcohol throughout the entire meal, how can the bosses be satisfied?”

Bai Yue sighed, “I’m already past my prime. The bosses think I can’t carry a film at the box office. Even if I drank myself to death, they wouldn’t be satisfied.”

“You… are you still mad about the Chengtai investment? Originally, you only needed to put in five or six million, but you got greedy and put in over eight million. Now you’re stuck, and you blame me?”

“Investments inherently don’t have a 100% return. You could rent out that fish pond to make money, or wait until Chengtai’s plans are clear. Even if they don’t build office buildings, there will be real estate developers who will buy it. What’s there for me to rush about?” Bai Yue looked at Lin Chengdong.

“It’s good that you think that way. Also, since a few bigwigs have spoken, talk to Yingchuan properly. As long as Yingchuan is willing to cooperate, the contract can be manipulated; he won’t lose out.” Lin Chengdong leaned close to Bai Yue, just about to say something, when the elevator door opened and someone entered. Lin Chengdong had to close his mouth.

Before, Bai Yue thought Lin Chengdong was clever, but now she suddenly felt he was like a sieve, full of holes, and she had been associating with him for so long, getting herself into trouble. More importantly, she had to be polite and couldn’t offend him, otherwise, who knew how he would scheme against her behind her back. When they reached the parking lot, Lin Chengdong clearly still wanted to say something to her. Bai Yue pretended to be on her phone, got directly into her car, and told the driver to drive off, leaving under Lin Chengdong’s gaze.

From this moment on, Bai Yue silently recalled all her collaborations with Lin Chengdong. She seemed to gain resources, but in reality, Lin Chengdong was the one who profited in the end. Back home, Bai Yue still couldn’t help but settle accounts with Lin Chengdong in her mind. Suddenly, she realized that she was merely an “Actress of the Year” in name only, and Lin Chengdong had been exploiting her popularity and box office appeal. Indeed… this couldn’t continue.

---

At 9:30 PM, Bai Yingchuan returned from school. Bai Yue had already called his agent, Sister Yu, over. “Are you sober now?” Bai Yingchuan sat opposite Bai Yue, his tone calm but direct. Bai Yue knew her son was dissatisfied with her, so she didn’t mind his attitude now.

“I agree to your collaboration with Little Sweet Fruit. Sweet Fruit’s performance has been impressive, and its industry reputation has turned around against all odds.”

“But now it’s not about me wanting to collaborate with Little Sweet Fruit; it’s about whether Sweet Fruit is willing to extend an olive branch to me,” Bai Yingchuan said.

Sister Yu thought for a moment: “Then let’s follow Lin Lu’s previous method and have fans contact Little Sweet Fruit’s customer service…”

“Don’t do that again. We’ll just get a backlash from the traffic. I need to protect my reputation.”

“Then what do we do? If you want a market, you can’t be too aloof,” Bai Yue was even more anxious than Bai Yingchuan now. If Bai Yingchuan and Little Sweet Fruit could quickly tie themselves together, then Bai Yue could find excuses to politely decline any more ideas from Lin Chengdong.

“I know a shareholder of Little Sweet Fruit. I don’t know if he has much say, but he should be able to put in a good word for me.”

Bai Yue frowned, “A small shareholder? Knowing a small shareholder is useless now. You need to find their CEO, Gao Cheng. Anyway, you and Gao Cheng are in a similar situation, both were ostracized by Qilin Video. Maybe if you approach him, he’ll agree.”