Teahouse, VIP Box.

“…These are all our expectations for Shaozhuo.”

“Shaozhuo is a smart kid, just too disappointing himself. My wife and I heard about the miracle of reform you performed in the Qi family. That child Xiu Yi is growing up very well now.”

“Actually, we don’t have overly high demands. We don’t ask him to stand out and take over the family business right now. He’s only a freshman in college; taking over after graduation is completely fine.”

The Wen parents were very talkative. Upon initial contact, they gave an impression of being very polite.

However, when the topic landed on the young master of the Wen family, the image of the Wen parents gradually corresponded with that of last night.

The two of them, one sentence after another, listed the faults of the Wen family’s young master, and one sentence after another, spoke of their expectations for him.

Hoping he could learn to socialize actively, just like the young master of the Fang family; hoping he could master etiquette in dealing with people, just like the young master of the Yu family; hoping his business capabilities could be raised to the level of a certain young master of the Cheng family; hoping his enthusiasm for outdoor activities could be raised to the level of the young master of the Li family…

The system was rendered speechless.

System: “No, Host, they actually want you to use just one short year to turn a reclusive, depressed little mushroom from the art department into a cheerful, outgoing, diligent, hardworking business genius tiger with strong competitiveness?”

The system whispered: “With so many requirements, they might as well go hire a godson outside based on these requirements!”

Lin Chen sneered: “And they’d have to hire more than one. Count them, how many young masters’ merits do they want combined into one?”

System: “System guesses they would probably have a lot of common topics with Old Man Cheng!”

Lin Chen didn’t think so: “Old Man Cheng is much easier to satisfy than them—his evaluation criteria have been unified from beginning to end, only looking at business results and nothing else. He wouldn’t look at one thing and want another.”

The system said very dissatisfiedly: “This is too hard to satisfy. Host, they are simply making things difficult for you! Let’s not take their order!”

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow: “Who was the soft-hearted one urging me to take the order yesterday?”

The system squirmed, guilty, and dared not speak.

Lin Chen said calmly: “Taking it isn’t impossible. But the contract goals have to be according to my terms.”

After waiting patiently for the Wen parents to finish stating their demands, Lin Chen spoke up: “Let me confirm your requirements first.”

Following the list of requirements shorthand by the system in his mind, Lin Chen read them out one by one from beginning to end, totaling twenty-three items.

Lin Chen asked politely: “Do you confirm that all twenty-three requirements are to be written into the contract? I need to clarify something with you in advance. Our studio’s pricing is based on client requirements. The basic price for each requirement is 30 million, and complex requirements double the price.”

“Among the requirements you proposed, resolving Young Master Wen’s suicidal tendencies and resolving his depressive state are both complex requirements. Therefore, if it is confirmed that all the above requirements are to be written into the contract, the total contract price will be 21 * 30 million + 2 * 60 million = 750 million yuan.”

Wen Dad, Wen Mom: “?”

Wen Dad laughed upon hearing this price.

Wen Dad, Wen Yifeng, leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, staring at Lin Chen, and smiled: “That’s not right, Mr. Lin? Calculated this way, wouldn’t the bill for that kid from the Qi family back then also be calculated in the hundreds of millions? …Jingming isn’t that generous a person.”

Wen Yifeng’s character was like his name (“Yi” meaning sharp/resolute, “Feng” meaning sharp point/edge), a somewhat sharp man. With his business achievements, at his age, not concealing his sharpness inevitably made him prickly.

So much so that often in business negotiations, Wen Yifeng could suppress the opponent directly just by his imposing manner.

But the young man in front of him didn’t seem like an ordinary twenty-something reckless kid.

He seemed completely unaware of the pressure from Wen Yifeng’s imposing manner, legs crossed, gently swirling the teacup in his hand, and spoke unhurriedly: “You are right, Mr. Wen.”

“Actually, as the world’s top substitute acting studio, our [Professional True Young Master Substitute Actor] Studio has never been about taking one payment for only one job.”

“While guiding the transformation target to achieve the contract goals, our professional substitute actors will also conveniently seek positive development for them outside the contract goals. And these convenient growths and reforms are not charged extra.”

Lin Chen smiled and said: “So experienced bosses like Mr. Qi would only leave the most core few items in the requirements to be written into the contract.”

He paused slightly, then continued: “After all, Mr. Qi himself is also someone with a unique set of educational methods. Some minor expectations, he didn’t need to hand over to us to achieve.”

Wen Dad and Wen Mom considered themselves no worse than Qi Jingming. In matters of education, they felt even more capable than him.

So as soon as these words came out, Wen Mom said to Wen Dad: “Exactly. Look at requirements 1, 2, 3, 4 you just mentioned; there’s simply no need for them to do those.”

Wen Dad raised his eyebrows high: “Don’t just talk about me. Requirements 1, 2, 3, 4 you just proposed don’t actually have to be kept either.”

With one word from you and one from me, the 23 requirements were quickly cut down to only 7.

Lin Chen continued: “To be honest with you, among the many orders our studio has received in the past, very few bosses would take specific business goals as contract goals.”

He said frankly: “After all, when it comes to business ability, bosses like you are the master level. Leaving business matters to us to teach really suspects of teaching fish to swim (showing off skill before an expert).”

“Our value lies in paving the road of education for you. After all, the trickiest problem now is that Young Master Wen is unwilling to communicate with you and even has thoughts of suicide. Under these circumstances, no matter how strong your educational abilities are, where can you display them?”

Wen Yifeng looked at Lin Chen unexpectedly, finding him much more pleasing to the eye.

His originally tough attitude softened slightly: “Eh? Quite self-aware. I was wondering why Jingming would find outsiders to teach his child. Now that you explain it, I understand. It makes sense.”

Wen Mom’s attitude also improved slightly.

Wen Mom’s name was Wen Qingcai, but her “Wen” and Wen Dad’s “Wen” were not from the same clan. One came from the Wen family in Central China, and one from the Wen family in South China. They just happened to meet and fall in love in the Imperial Capital, then formed the Wen family of the Imperial Capital.

Wen Qingcai: “You make a good point. Actually, these business goals, academic goals, they are the simplest things.”

“He has our genes; this shouldn’t be difficult for him at all. He’s just too disobedient, too stubborn, putting all his heart into those lousy paintings of his. If he could just use the energy spent on painting on his studies and business, why would we be so worried?”

Wen Dad and Wen Mom whispered to each other and smoothly reduced the requirements to four:

First, resolve Wen Shaozhuo’s suicidal tendencies; second, resolve Wen Shaozhuo’s autistic tendencies; third, resolve the problem of Wen Shaozhuo loving painting too much; fourth, resolve Wen Shaozhuo’s rebellion problem and teach him to listen to them.

If aiming to make money, working hard on these four requirements could possibly be completed within the one-year deadline.

However, Lin Chen had just received a final contract payment of 100 million USD from Li Zhengshen not long ago. Calculating the exchange rate, that was over 700 million yuan.

Did he lack this mere one or two hundred million?

So Lin Chen continued: “The fourth requirement is difficult to quantify and hard to evaluate for effectiveness. This poses a certain risk to us. Pardon me, but I cannot accept it.”

“The remaining three requirements are no problem, however—”

Lin Chen showed a confused and sincere expression: “Under the premise that we can resolve the first two requirements, do you really still need us to complete the third requirement?”

Wen Dad and Wen Mom observed carefully and saw a hint of “Can’t you two even solve this?” in Lin Chen’s hesitant expression.

What kind of people were Wen Dad and Wen Mom?

They were people very confident in their abilities, including their educational abilities!

When Lin Chen asked, they frowned and whispered to each other.

In the past, they couldn’t make Wen Shaozhuo shift his energy from painting to serious matters, mainly because their son was too withdrawn and unwilling to communicate.

If their son’s autism problem could be solved, did they really still need to rely on others to solve this problem?

Wen Dad and Wen Mom quickly reached a consensus again.

Wen Mom: “Delete!”

But for the fourth requirement, Wen Dad and Wen Mom insisted on keeping it.

Lin Chen didn’t say no. He patiently discussed with Wen Dad and Wen Mom how to judge the completion effectiveness if the fourth requirement were written into the contract.

However, an hour and a half passed, and the three couldn’t find a judgment method satisfactory to both parties.

Wen Dad and Wen Mom had to give up with regret.

The most important issue of contract goals was finally settled, and the contract amount was determined at 120 million.

But before signing the contract, they each picked up a copy of the contract, read every clause carefully, and raised doubts one after another.

Wen Dad questioned: “Plan confidentiality, won’t discuss with us?”

Lin Chen explained sincerely: “Our contract terms have always been like this. Unless family circumstances are special, the plan is never leaked to the bosses. This clause is absolutely not targeting you; Mr. Wen, please rest assured.”

Wen Mom questioned: “There is a possibility of the child’s condition relapsing after the contract period ends, and you are not responsible for this?”

Lin Chen explained patiently: “Contract terms have always been like this. After all, once the contract ends, Young Master Wen’s living environment is beyond our control. If you are worried, we can also provide paid part-time companionship after-sales service in the future to strictly prevent Young Master Wen’s problems from relapsing.”

Wen Dad and Wen Mom were skeptical, continued reading the contract, and raised many questions.

For example, the contract amount must be held in escrow by a third party to prevent them from delaying payment; for example, during the contract period, Party A cannot have physical conflicts with Party B; for example, once Party A exposes Party B’s work nature and identity in front of the work target, the contract ends immediately, and the full contract amount should be paid to Party B…

Rules and regulations everywhere. Wen Dad and Wen Mom always felt they read some invisible targeting between the lines.

But Lin Chen explained very reasonably: “Substitute actors may pretend to have conflicts with Party A for reform purposes when necessary. But some bosses aren’t calm enough and always forget the substitute actor’s work goal, thus really getting angered by our staff and doing some irrational behaviors.”

“To avoid these behaviors, we added these restrictions to the contract. Please rest assured, this is absolutely not targeting you either.”

The contract was flipped through again and again.

Lin Chen explained one clause after another.

Finally, at twelve noon, the Wen parents signed this contract with some inexplicably uncomfortable feelings.

Lin Chen put away the contract with satisfaction, finally showing a genuine smile.

Before leaving, he kindly said to the two: “Mr. Wen, Ms. Wen, if our professional substitute actor has a conflict with you for work purposes, please trust the substitute actor’s professional ethics and be more tolerant for the sake of the contract effect.”

“If you really can’t get over your anger, you can come to me then, and I will help you deduct his performance pay.”