Chapter 40. Shen Li's steps suddenly halted. ...
Shen Li suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Fang Xuan was stunned by the blow. He took two steps back and leaned against the wall, staring blankly. The stinging pain on his cheek clearly told him what had happened.
"You hit me?" Fang Xuan asked in a shrill voice, finally realizing what was happening. "What? Are you angry because your thoughts were exposed?"
"Shut up!" Wang Luo glanced back warily, and seeing the door tightly closed, he breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes were fierce as he warned Fang Xuan, "Since you already know, then be obedient. Once I catch up with Shen Li, I'll use his money to support you."
I really like you, but I've also liked many other people. Come to think of it, Lu He'an is actually your brother.
Fang Xuan's pupils suddenly contracted: "You talked to him?"
"Hmm, the carrot pillow you like to use when we make love was bought by him, isn't that a pleasant surprise?"
Fang Xuan's eyes widened in fury. He raised his hand and swung it at Wang Luo's twisted, smug face: "You bastard!"
Wang Luo easily intercepted Fang Xuan's hand. His face was gloomy, and a long, narrow smile appeared on his lips. He lowered his voice and said, "The problem is that you can only satisfy my desires. You can't give me anything else I want. Do you understand?"
But Shen Li is different. He's rich. Once I become his boyfriend, his money is my money. I can have him help me get a role in a production with funding; I can sleep in a mansion, have five or six people serving me every day; I can drive luxury cars and feel the envious glances of passersby—all of this is something you can't give me.
I can give you all of these!
Fang Xuan's eyes were red, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he almost shouted.
However, he bit his lip tightly, his eyes filled with disappointment, and remained silent.
"Yeah?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the corner of the stairs. The two people who were arguing were startled at the same time. Fang Xuan subconsciously looked ahead and saw the protagonist of the voice leaning against the stair railing with an indifferent expression.
Fang Xuan suddenly lowered his head, not daring to look at Shen Li, for fear of seeing disgust on Shen Li's face.
Unlike Fang Xuan, Wang Luo looked as if he had seen a ghost. He turned around with a forced smile and casually inquired, "When did Xiao Li arrive?"
Shen Li: "I heard everything, including your desire to be my boyfriend."
Shen Li's brown eyes were filled with coldness, and his tone was icy: "Who do you think you are?"
"No, Xiao Li, let me explain. This was all Fang Xuan's idea, yes!" Wang Luo seemed to have found an exceptionally perfect excuse for himself. "He asked me to get close to you and swindle your money. He wanted to live a better life. I just loved him too much, so I was bewitched. Yes, yes, that's it."
Wang Luo's face was full of fear. He was incoherent, his words were disjointed, and he only knew how to distort the truth, ignoring even what he had said before.
Fang Xuan was completely heartbroken.
Wang Luo staggered forward two steps, reaching out to grab Shen Li's hand, but was frozen in place by Shen Li's cold, warning gaze.
"Xiao Li, I promise, I will treat you well. I can give you everything I have. I will let all the fans know that you exist. I will never let you suffer any injustice. I will definitely be better than your current husband!"
"Do you think I believe that? I have eyes to see what kind of person Fang Xuan is; I don't need you to twist the truth here." Shen Li couldn't help but sneer. "Besides... what do you have to compare with him? Your ability to live off a woman?"
Wang Luo's facade of self-respect was ripped off, and he completely exploded, shouting, "Isn't he also living off you? Why can't I?!"
"Just because he's better than you, more capable than you, and more handsome than you. Not to mention that he doesn't need to be a kept man at all, even if he wanted to, I'd be happy to let him be."
On the other side of the second floor, Feng Wei and his three companions also noticed the commotion. They opened their room and came over.
Just as Feng Wei was about to say something, Ji Yu, who was standing to the side, noticed the red and swollen handprint on Fang Xuan's face and quickly pulled Feng Wei aside to signal him to stop.
Feng Wei swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and turned to walk downstairs.
A minute later, Zhao Xian came up herself.
She glanced at Fang Xuan's face, then at Wang Luo's guilty expression, and combined with what had happened in the past two days, she already had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Zhao Xian said to Fang Xuan, "I'll arrange other rooms. You can stay downstairs tonight, Xiao Fang."
Fang Xuan: "Thank you, Director Zhao."
Fang Xuan's gaze shifted. Yin Xi, Shu Fu, and Ji Yu stood behind him, with Shen Li and Feng Wei between him and Wang Luo, and Lu He'an holding up her phone next to them.
The group formed a protective circle around him, creating a relatively safe area. Fang Xuan's eyes reddened as he struggled to hold back his tears: "Thank you everyone, I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
Fang Xuan packed his luggage and moved to a room downstairs.
——
Shen Li leaned against the bed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and seeing Lu He'an's excited expression, he sighed: "You sent the video to Huai Chuan?"
“Yeah, right.” Lu He’an fiddled with his phone. “If he saw this video, he’d be so excited he’d be doing a Thomas-style spin and working three days straight at the company!”
Shen Li: ...That won't happen. At least he's sure that this person won't show up in the pitch-black office tomorrow night.
The next day, the makeup artist applied a thick layer of foundation to Fang Xuan's face to barely cover the raised red handprint.
Perhaps Zhao Xian had spoken with Wang Luo's agent about something last night, because he was unusually quiet today.
On the way to the bakery, the camera panned across the four people and then focused on Shen Li. The comments section was filled with strange and quirky messages calling her "wife."
Good morning, wife~ (holding a rose in her mouth)
My wife looks so gentle in that outfit today!
Hehe, I'll lick it, no one's noticing, I'll lick it again.
Shen Li smiled, her eyes crinkling, and greeted him, "Good morning, and don't call me wife."
[Hmm, honey, being a good wife isn't the right way to address you as 'husband']
Hahahaha
What did you say?
Shen Li sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
The camera panned to Fang Xuan, who waved at the camera and said, "Good morning."
Good morning, cutie!
What cutie?
Fang Xuan stared wide-eyed in astonishment, his puppy-dog eyes looking left and right, his face full of confusion.
He was stunned.
[So adorable, hahaha!]
Fang Xuan pointed to the tip of his nose and asked suspiciously, "Is Little Cutie calling...me?"
Yes, that's right!
Fang Xuan's face instantly turned bright red, and he quickly dodged out of the camera's view like a rabbit.
“Hey, you have so many emojis on Weibo.” Before Lu He’an could finish speaking, Fang Xuan’s head had already squeezed in.
Fang Xuan is not tall, about 1.72 meters. Standing among three people who are over 1.8 meters tall, with his fluffy curly hair and innocent puppy eyes, he looks especially cute.
During yesterday's live stream, he didn't cause any trouble or try to steal the spotlight. He focused on completing his tasks, and many netizens had a good impression of him, creating numerous memes of him.
"Why are all yours so cute, while mine are all abstract?" Lu He'an flipped through two posts, feeling unconvinced.
Shen Li watched silently, not daring to speak, for fear of getting into trouble and turning the second half of the journey into a meme-sharing session.
After all, some of his memes are... well... good enough to be used as negative examples in internet cleanup campaigns.
Thinking of the emoji Jiang Huaichuan sent this morning, Shen Li wished she could bury herself back under the covers.
I don't know which netizen took this picture, but it's a picture of him with his eyes half-closed and his mouth slightly open, with the caption "Husband, hug me."
[Is Fang Xuan feeling unwell today? Her foundation looks too thick, it's masking her beauty!]
[Haha, so you have to rely on makeup to save yourself from being ugly, huh?]
Don't hate them too much; you can tell their fandom affiliation at a glance.
——
The dryer and oven had stopped working. Lin Guo, wearing oven mitts, took out the baking tray, and the rich aroma of cookies filled the entire workroom.
"It smells so good!"
The other three finished products were all good, the only problem was that when the cookies were taken out, everyone sighed inwardly.
Lin Guo started the quality inspection, and five minutes later, she shook her head: "Only half of these cookies are up to standard."
Everyone's faces darkened. The fact that the cookies were substandard meant that the other half of the cookies had taken time, effort, and materials, but would not bring any profit.
Based on a price of 20 yuan per bag, half of the biscuits can fill at least 20 bags, worth 400 yuan.
【ah? 】
We really have to feel sorry for this baking group.
This is a classic case of one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch.
Wang Luo's fans couldn't stand these words, and they expressed their opinions in the live chat.
[Show some respect to those who came before; what does it mean to be a rotten apple?]
[Rat droppings, rat droppings, rat droppings! You dare say your brother didn't make these cookies?]
[Didn't Fang Xuan do it too? Maybe his wasn't up to standard!]
Lin Guo pointed to the fifth plate: "This plate was made by Teacher Fang. As you can see, the cracks and integrity of this plate are the best. Apart from these few, all the others in this plate are qualified products."
[Oh, you got proven wrong~]
[They're all qualified products, so where are the substandard ones?]
Shen Li frowned in thought. Since these were handmade products, there were bound to be some defective ones. If he were the shop manager, how would he handle this batch of cookies that didn't look good...?
Suddenly, Shen Li's gaze fell on the shelves outside. She noticed that the items on the upper left shelf were completely different from yesterday's. Compared to yesterday's comfort, this shelf looked much more messy today.
The packaging bags are neatly arranged one by one, so why does it look so out of place?
Shen Li stepped out of his workbench and stood in front of the shelves, lost in thought.
Lin Guo's eyes were full of smiles and approval; it was worth the effort she had made to rearrange things last night.
A sudden inspiration struck Shen Li, and he asked Lin Guo, "These broken and substandard products only look bad; the materials used are all the same. Could we sell them as two separate products?"
"Mr. Shen, could you please share your thoughts?"
“We can sell the qualified biscuits for 20 yuan per bag, while the ones that don’t look good can be sold to customers for 10 yuan per bag, with the main focus being a trial pack.”
Ultimately, everyone agreed that the plan was feasible, as it would generate profits without wasting ingredients, achieving two goals at once.
Following Lin Guo's demonstration, everyone packed the finished products into transparent bags. The shop's logo was in the middle of the transparent bags, which Fang Xuan had already glued on yesterday.
After packing the cookies, everyone took advantage of the high midday crowds and pushed their carts to Central Park, the busiest area, to sell them.
Central Park has a huge lawn specifically for pets to run around freely, and on the weekend, the lawn was full of adorable animals.
The small wooden table is unfolded, the goods are placed on it, and price tags are hung up; this marks the start of the final segment of the program.
Lu He'an shouted through a small megaphone: "Pet bakery, all products are freshly made, come and take a look and buy some!"
Soon, two or three people gathered around.
"Give me a bag of dried duck and pear meat and some biscuits, okay? Hmm, you have two prices for your biscuits? What's the difference?"
Shen Li held both the special offer pack and the regular pack in her hands, allowing customers to see for themselves: "The cookies in the regular pack have intact patterns, while the ones in the special offer pack are more broken."
The girl examined the two bags carefully, then pointed to Shen Li's left hand: "Give me the regular one, my dog likes pretty food."
"Woof!"
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