Chapter 69 Video: "Don't associate with stingy people."...

Chapter 69 Video: "Don't associate with stingy people."...

Ye Hantao let her phone ring for about ten seconds before sitting down on the edge of the bed. Before answering, she smoothed the stray hairs from her cheek.

The scene changes, and a handsome, unruly face bursts onto the screen.

There were still water droplets on his face, as if he had just washed.

Cheng Zhao had indeed just washed his face.

He was thinking of tidying up properly before making the video, but unfortunately, his fingers had their own ideas.

Ye Hantao looked down from the black headband on his forehead, her gaze lingered, and she suddenly realized that Cheng Zhao also had a very high nose bridge.

Even more striking than her high nose bridge were her eyes, which had a distinctly mixed-race look.

Unlike the bright royal blue sapphire, it has a grayish tint and a deep, deep blue, like an glacier that has never melted.

At this moment, a smile lingered in his eyes.

Cheng Zhao's voice was slightly hoarse from exercising, "Just got home?"

"Yeah, I just got back."

Ye Hantao forced herself to look him in the eye, her ears burning slightly.

"How strange," she thought to herself. "We can get along naturally when we live under the same roof and film a show, but I feel inexplicably uncomfortable when we video chat."

Ye Hantao let out a soft breath, just about to bring up the sapphire, when Cheng Zhao asked, "Your bedroom is a bit dark, don't you turn on the lights?"

"I didn't have time." Ye Hantao turned her head and leaned her upper body towards the head of the bed to turn on the light.

The camera pans along with the movement, capturing images of beige bedding and plush pillows.

Cheng Zhao instinctively looked away and happened to see a Monstera deliciosa plant in the gym.

He reached out and pinched the leaves of the Monstera deliciosa.

Caught a glimpse of light out of the corner of his eye, Cheng Zhao looked back at the screen.

Ye Hantao looked at him and asked, "Where do you live? I'll return that sapphire jewelry to you."

The question asked for Cheng Zhao's address in Yuncheng. From the video, Ye Hantao could guess that Cheng Zhao was in the gym.

The entire floor-to-ceiling window overlooks the courtyard at dusk, with gray tiles, white walls, artificial hills, and flowing water.

Cheng Zhao disagreed, saying, "You can buy it just because you say it's not expensive."

Ye Hantao was speechless. "This isn't expensive? You spent almost 30 million to buy it."

She was terrified watching Cheng Zhao and bidder number 67 at the auction.

“My monthly dividends alone amount to more than this,” Cheng Zhao said logically. “I don’t think it’s expensive to buy you a gift with a fraction of my monthly dividends.”

Ye Hantao opened her mouth.

That little bit.

A tiny fraction of the dividends.

In that instant, Ye Hantao thought of the gold mine, oil mine, and diamond mine that Cheng Zhao had mentioned when he confessed that he was Shan Feng without any nonsense.

From then on, he was named.

Mining King :)

Ye Hantao still didn't want to accept it. "I can accept gifts worth thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, but this sapphire set is too expensive. No way."

"You kept all the Shoushan ornaments."

"Those are two different things."

Where were the two times?

"it……"

Ye Hantao paused for a few seconds, then looked up at the Shoushan ornament on the desk.

Since the program crew returned, the Shoushan ornament has been covered with a transparent box to prevent it from being bumped or knocked over.

"It is an apology for breaking off an arranged marriage."

Cheng Zhao fell silent on the other end of the video call. Just when Ye Hantao thought he was about to reveal the address, Cheng Zhao spoke up.

"That's perfect, the sapphire is also an apology."

"What apology?"

"An apology from the betrothed child."

Ye Hantao: "?"

With a snap, Ye Hantao slammed her phone screen face down onto the bed.

A marriage arranged when they were children?

Who are the children who are betrothed to whom?

Cheng Zhao looked at the blacked-out screen and added, "Our childhood betrothal."

a long time.

Ye Hantao pushed open the bedroom door.

The family returned home near dusk, and now it was even darker.

The neighborhood was very quiet, with only the occasional chirping of cicadas.

The lights in the living room were on, and they shone on my face along with the lights in the bedroom.

Ye Hantao was still wearing the striped T-shirt and shorts she had worn when she went out, and a pair of geometric clip-on earrings.

While waiting for Tao Tao to call, Ye Weizheng brewed a pot of tea, and the fragrant aroma filled the air.

He seemed to be waiting for the tea to be brewed, his eyes constantly glancing towards the bedroom. He looked up the moment Tao Tao opened the door.

Suddenly, Ye Weizheng completely forgot about the pot of tea on the table.

"Tao Tao, are you done making the call?"

"It's over."

Ye Hantao called out to everyone first before saying, "Mom and Dad, there's something I'd like to ask you about."

Ye Weizheng beckoned Tao Tao to sit on the sofa. "What is it?"

Ye Hantao hesitated.

This was something that had never happened before. For more than ten years, Tao Tao had always asked them directly about everything.

Ye Weizheng's sense of crisis kicked in. "You're not planning to ask anything related to Cheng Zhao, are you?"

Ye Hantao nodded.

Ye Weizheng's expression changed drastically.

He hates it.

Did that guy confess his love with just a set of sapphire jewelry and a bunch of pearls?

Who doesn't own a couple of diamond mines?

Under the watchful eyes of Ye Weizheng and Zhou Ti, Ye Hantao braced herself and asked, "How many arranged marriages have you made for me as a child?"

"..."

"..."

The entire living room fell silent.

Ye Weizheng and Zhou Ti never expected Cheng Zhao to self-destruct.

Did he really recognize him?

He probably never even saw Tao Tao when he was a child.

Ye Weizheng was cutting fruit in the kitchen, while Zhou Ti explained to Tao Tao, "Your grandfather liked to play chess when he was young and made some friends there."

Zhou Ti carefully chose her words, "He saw that you were often sick when you were young, and he thought he could find a tough fiancé to help you keep it up."

When Ye Hantao first heard the word "fiancé," she was recording a TV show and didn't have time to ask too many questions.

Then the news broke that the older brother was Maze, so I didn't have time to pay attention to it anymore.

Ye Hantao only knew that her grandfather had arranged a marriage between him and a friend when they were children, but the engagement was broken off after the friend became successful.

I never imagined it would be related to having a tough life.

In her memory, her grandfather often listened to the radio and watched the news to keep up with national affairs.

When I come across short articles on public WeChat accounts, my grandfather always says they're just superstition.

"...So how many exactly did you find?"

"One was the one who compensated for the loss of the Shoushan ornament, and the other was Cheng Zhao."

Zhou Ti quickly distanced herself, saying, "Your father and I have never met him, and we didn't even recognize him on the show."

Ye Weizheng, while bringing over the fruit, chimed in, "Yes, yes, your mother and I watched the live stream for so long, but we still didn't recognize him."

After saying that, Ye Weizheng feigned surprise, "So Cheng Zhao is another ex-fiancé with a tough life?"

Ye Hantao didn't speak, but nodded in response.

Meeting my ex-fiancé on the show must have been fate, right? But I didn't feel very happy.

"What were the reasons for our two families breaking off the betrothal?"

"Didn't Cheng Zhao say?"

“He said he was too mischievous when he was a child…” Ye Hantao swallowed Cheng Zhao’s words about being too mischievous, “too naughty.”

She stole glances at Zhou Ti, hoping to glean something from her mother's expression.

"Because of this, our family didn't approve of him, and the arranged marriage was called off halfway through."

Zhou Ti breathed a sigh of relief imperceptibly, thinking that the Cheng family boy knew how to talk.

"It's not his fault. After all, neither your dad nor I have ever met him, so how would we know if he's naughty or not?"

Zhou Ti forked a bright red strawberry and fed it to Tao Tao, saying, "The main thing is that you recovered later, so you don't need to look for a fiancé with a tough life anymore."

So Cheng Zhao also became her ex-fiancé?

Ye Hantao lowered her head and took a bite of the strawberry her mother had fed her.

Juicy and sweet and sour.

Ye Weizheng leaned closer and asked, "Did he say how he recognized you? And why did he suddenly tell you about this?"

“Cheng Zhao said he recognized me by my name,” Ye Hantao replied while eating strawberries. “He brought this up to persuade me to accept the sapphire jewelry set he gave me.”

Ye Weizheng and Zhou Ti exchanged a glance.

"Tao Tao, would you like to accept it?"

Including those Australian white pearls, the gift is estimated to be worth around 30 million.

Although it seemed ordinary to them, Tao Tao had never received a gift that was openly worth millions of dollars since she was a child.

If the price is too high, Tao Tao will definitely have some reservations.

Ye Hantao swallowed the strawberry in her mouth. "I won't accept it. He's my ex-fiancé."

Watching Tao Tao return to her bedroom, Ye Weizheng lowered his voice and said, "It seems Tao Tao hasn't thought about dating Cheng Zhao yet."

Zhou Ti remained noncommittal.

Tao Tao's attitude towards her two ex-fiancés already reveals the problem.

The bedroom was brightly lit, and a watch that had been taken out of the suitcase last night was on the table.

On the show, they only remembered to show off their high-quality replica bags and forgot to show off their original ones.

Ye Hantao looked away, threw herself onto the bed, picked up her phone, and saw the message Cheng Zhao had sent a few minutes ago. This was the second time he had asked after confirming it.

[Cheng Zhao: Please try them on before returning them (cat begging.jpg).]

The emojis are so cute, I'm stealing them.

Ye Hantao clicked to add to favorites.

[Cheng Zhao: I'll pick you up on Friday to go see Professor Zhou Shumiao. You can give it to me then.]

Ye Hantao didn't have high hopes for the consultation, otherwise she wouldn't have refrained from even checking Zhou Shumiao's areas of expertise online.

Returning the sapphire for trial was Cheng Zhao's condition for taking it back.

He said that if the gifts he sent were returned, he would definitely be ridiculed by Chen Xiaofeng and his gang of cronies.

Ye Hantao didn't think he was the type to be afraid of being ridiculed, but she still decided to agree to his conditions.

Ye Hantao picked up a pillow and covered her face.

When she learned that the Shoushan ornament her ex-fiancé had given her as an apology was worth 12 million yuan, all she could think about was how much money she had made. She even thought that it wouldn't be bad to have a few more ex-fiancés like that.

Now that she knows Cheng Zhao is also one of her ex-fiancés, she is surprisingly determined to refuse the 26.1 million yuan sapphire.

After a while, Ye Hantao moved the pillow off her face, lay flat on the bed, and stared at the chandelier on the ceiling: "They're all his ex-fiancés..."

As Cheng Zhao stared at the unanswered chat box, he unconsciously increased the pressure on the leaf.

He thought that by using his ex-fiancé as an excuse, he could persuade Tao Tao to accept his gift.

They were all ex-fiancés, and neither of them was more noble than the other, but Tao Tao's attitude was clear: she was determined to get her revenge.

He was casually pinching a Monstera deliciosa plant next to him when he suddenly couldn't pinch any leaves anymore.

He turned his head to look.

A once lush Monstera deliciosa plant has somehow become nothing more than bare, thin stems.

The flowerpot was surrounded by scattered leaves.

"..."

[Buzz]

Cheng Zhao suddenly gripped his phone tightly.

He lowered his eyes and saw a reply in the chat box.

[TaoTao: I already promised you in the video, why are you saying it again?]

"Can't we really keep the gift?" Cheng Zhao typed. "It wasn't expensive."

Ye Hantao replied quickly this time: [My condition for keeping the Shoushan ornament is that I will no longer have any involvement with that ex-fiancé.]

As expected, Ye Hantao saw Cheng Zhao's reply.

[Cheng Zhao: Is now a convenient time? I'll come pick up the package.]

Ye Hantao suddenly smiled.

She didn't reply to Cheng Zhao's obviously joking words, and turned around to lie on the bed.

I picked and chose from those recently taken photos, selected a nine-grid layout, and posted a new thread.

Ye Hantao v: Too many houses, can't live in them all (shy.jpg).

The house hasn't been contracted yet and doesn't belong to her family, but out of vanity, Ye Hantao decided to learn from fake bloggers and lie that she owns more than one house.

To everyone's surprise, ten minutes had passed since the post was published.

There has been absolutely no response regarding the character's portrayal.

Ye Hantao scrolled through the comments section, not believing it. Surely not all netizens would believe that she owned many houses?

No wonder I haven't been able to find Maze these past few days, you guys moved to a different location!

[Was this purchased by Maze before?]

I suspect that Maze also bought that Maybach with his racing prize money.

Ye Hantao never expected that the feedback on her character would backfire on her older brother.

Because of Maze's identity, netizens would believe even her vain lies, so when a fan asked in the comments section, "You're so beautiful! How many houses do you own?!"

Ye Hantao shamelessly typed on her phone keyboard: "Ten sets."

Just before sending it out, Ye Hantao thought of her older brother's annual salary of tens of millions. No, no, no, the imagination of a ten million annual salary is not enough. Netizens will not think she is lying.

The current benchmark is Cheng Zhao, who owns oil, gold, and diamond mines and earns tens of millions in dividends every month.

So Ye Hantao typed out the answer again: "100 sets."

Thankfully, it's just typing; I'm not afraid of my mouth fighting when I lie.

[Hahaha, my little sister is very safety-conscious!]

[Yes, yes, be careful. Don't reveal where your house is, or someone will stake it out for you.]

I've already seen at least three groups of fans waiting at the entrance of Zhulin Residential Area (shrug).

[Maze probably didn't go public before because she didn't want her peaceful life to be disrupted.]

Ye Hantao scrolled through the comments and realized that she had seriously underestimated the enthusiasm of her brother's fans, but she was also glad that her family would be moving to a new house tomorrow.

This realization made Ye Hantao stop worrying about not getting feedback on her character design.

She also sent a message reminding her brother to be careful when he went home, saying that it would be fine if he encountered enthusiastic fans, but it would be troublesome if he encountered trolls who smashed things.

[Manufacturer: The community has strict security, don't worry (pats head.jpg).]

Ye Hantao woke up at seven o'clock the next morning.

She mailed out some of the signed items that she had packed up last night in batches, one of which was a signature she had promised to Shao Rong.

"Mom, I kind of regret putting 1,000 orders on the shelves." Ye Hantao sat cross-legged on the floor, her cheeks scrunched up as if she had drunk three large buckets of bitter melon juice. "My fingers are starting to go numb from packing them."

Zhou Ti knelt down and massaged her fingers, "Tell your brother not to bring autographed cards when he comes back?"

Ye Hantao thought of some fan accounts she had seen last night.

Even though the eldest brother has been retired for six years, he still has tens of thousands of fans who answered the treasure chest questions correctly.

Ye Hantao buried herself in her work, saying, "Pack up another thirty portions, and pack the rest tomorrow."

There's no time today; I have to leave at 10 o'clock to discuss the contract with Ruihuaxiang. The person accompanying me is naturally Zhou Mingsheng, who will be home soon.

At ten o'clock, Ye Hantao and Zhou Mingsheng left home and took a car to Ruihuaxiang's office building.

Zhou Ti sat on the sofa reviewing emails, glancing down at the stacks of autographed cards on the floor.

Zhou Mingsheng received a message from Zhou Tifa while in the car.

[Sponsor Mom: You place the order, and find a few people to come to the door to pack and sign the package.]

Since the son has already passed the test, there's no harm in not using him.

Zhou Mingsheng sent a message to the base manager, asking him to send a few staff members to come and pack the items.

Piece-rate pay: 100 yuan per package.

The base manager also only woke up at noon.

Upon seeing the price, he immediately decided, "No need to hire anyone else, I can do it all by myself!"

Zhou Mingsheng: "I hope to get it done within two hours."

"..." The base manager said regretfully, "I'll find someone right away."

After informing Zhou Ti of the arrival time, Zhou Mingsheng looked up at Tao Tao and Song Manhui, the contact person from Ruihua Xiang, who were walking ahead.

The afternoon sun streamed in, spreading throughout the entire studio.

Ye Hantao saw the artificial scenery set up in the very center.

Bamboo shadows sway in the woods, surrounded by a gradually changing light green veil.

A light veil adorned with silver bells swept across the tea table, beneath which lay scattered white pebbles.

The script involves brewing tea at a tea table, with the filming highlighting silver earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet.

Ye Hantao touched her empty earlobe.

I still haven't done the trial I promised Cheng Zhao last night. That sapphire set is so sparkly, it must look amazing on me.

The staff setting up the set quickly glanced at the people and then immediately got back to work.

But the murmurs increased.

"Did you see that? Ye Hantao is even prettier than she appears on the show."

Her face was like a peach blossom, and her beauty was as striking as peaches and plums.

It looks just like a juicy peach.

"When I watched the live stream, I felt that Ye Hantao was a bit chubby, but in real life she is perfectly proportioned!"

"This girl's face is so fair and delicate, how does she take care of it?"

“I know! She used her great-aunt’s medicated soap.”

"You're talking nonsense. I got a rash after using that medicated soap."

Song Manhui led Ye Hantao into the shed and said with a smile, "After seeing you making tea, our designer immediately said that he must invite you to shoot this series of advertisements."

Some of their company's advertising ideas are created based on the celebrity's temperament, but the designer of this series is unique and requires the celebrity to match the accessories and the creative concept.

The designer is the chairman's youngest daughter, and everyone in the company has to treat her with respect and deference.

Based on the designer's requirements, they selected nearly twenty artists over almost two months, but none of them possessed qualities that perfectly matched the theme.

Even the few that barely met the requirements were rejected by the designer.

Until they saw Ye Hantao making tea in the live stream.

The process from selecting a candidate to conducting an evaluation typically takes about a month.

Unexpectedly, when the fact that Ye Hantao's older brother was Maze was revealed, the traffic surged.

They were afraid that other companies would beat them to it, which is why they finalized the deal so quickly.

Ye Hantao was surprised, "I thought you were interested in my older brother being from Maze."

Song Manhui admitted, "It's undeniable that we did get a great deal."

After explaining the details of the script, Ye Hantao sat down for the makeup artist to style her hair.

This time, the theme focuses on the natural beauty of the mountains and fields, with a focus on a light and natural makeup look.

At this moment, an unfamiliar staff member hurried over and whispered something in Song Manhui's ear.

Ye Hantao noticed Song Manhui glancing at her in the mirror.

"Did Vilo approach you to be their spokesperson?"

"I heard Jia Yue mention it briefly yesterday," Ye Hantao said, puzzled. "How did you know that?"

Song Manhui handed over her phone. "It's trending on social media. People are saying you're asking for an exorbitant endorsement fee from Liao Jiayue."

Almost as soon as Song Manhui finished speaking, Ye Hantao heard the electronic voice.

[Disease progression: 42.6%]

Ye Hantao immediately unlocked her phone and quickly learned the whole story.

Ten minutes later, netizens saw Ye Hantao's response.

Ye Hantao v: I don't associate with stingy people.

-----------------------

Author's note: Updated ahead of schedule!

--Randomly dropped small red envelopes--

(From TaoTao's card, which has an inexhaustible 2 million [Let me see])