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"Are you serious?"
Xie Zhiyan's tone was calm, yet it carried the aura of a superior who had absolute authority.
The word "marriage" clearly entered Ning Yuxuan's ears; it would be difficult to mishear it.
Ning Yuxuan: "..."
She couldn't help herself and called him by his full name as before: "Xie Zhiyan, are you serious?"
Xie Zhiyan chuckled lightly: "Do I look like the kind of person who would joke about marriage?"
Ning Yuxuan thought to herself, "She talks as if she knows him very well. How would she know if he is?"
However, since she needed his help at that moment, she refrained from speaking her mind.
"Mr. Xie..." Ning Yuxuan tried to regain her composure, and changed her form of address back to normal, "You mean, if I marry you, you're willing to invest money?"
The conditions the man offered were so sudden and absurd that her instinctive reaction was not to refuse, but to try to figure out what Xie Zhiyan meant.
Xie Zhiyan hummed in agreement: "You said you want to buy two of the branches?"
Ning Yuxuan: "Yes."
Xie Zhiyan: "I can provide you with sufficient funds to buy all four stores and renovate them. The profit sharing will be as you requested, 50/50."
Ning Yuxuan was so surprised that she couldn't speak.
In fact, the WeChat messages she sent to Xie Zhiyan were no different from a scheme to get something for nothing, making Xie Zhiyan bear most of the funds and risks while she could get half of the profits.
If it weren't for the fact that the two had known each other for a long time, and that Xie Zhiyan had helped her a few times before, leaving her with the impression that he was relatively easy to talk to, Ning Yuxuan wouldn't have dared to ask for such an exorbitant amount.
Her expectation was that as long as Xie Zhiyan was willing to pay, she could compromise on other conditions.
To my surprise, Xie Zhiyan agreed immediately.
Of course, the additional conditions he proposed were also completely unexpected by her.
After a moment of silence, Ning Yuxuan spoke: "Could you give me a few days to think about it?"
Xie Zhiyan: "Okay."
"There's one last question," Ning Yuxuan said, "Why...why do you want to marry me?"
The man replied casually, "Dealing with my family's pressure to get married is too much trouble. It's better to find a suitable person to marry. My mother likes you very much, and she would be very happy if you were the one she marries."
Ning Yuxuan was slightly taken aback, realizing that she hadn't seen Aunt Zheng in a long time.
Ning Fei and Xie Zhiyan's mother, Zheng Xinmei, were classmates at the Film Academy and longtime friends.
The difference is that Ning Fei was selected to play the female lead in a TV series as soon as she entered school, while Zheng Xinmei was not outstanding in the acting class and did not enter the entertainment industry. Instead, she got married and had children right after graduation.
Afterwards, Ning Fei retired from the entertainment industry at the peak of her career to get married. She went to Jincheng, thousands of miles away, and gave birth to a son and a daughter. After that, she divorced and returned to the entertainment industry.
Zheng Xinmei has been a stable full-time housewife in Beicheng until now.
The two had completely different life trajectories, yet they miraculously maintained their friendship for over thirty years.
After Ning Fei divorced, she moved to Beicheng with her two children, and Zheng Xinmei helped Ning Fei a lot.
Zheng Xinmei had always wanted a daughter, but she injured her body during the birth of her first child, and only had one son, Xie Zhiyan.
Therefore, Zheng Xinmei really likes Ning Yuxuan, who has been beautiful and cute since childhood, and buys her gifts every year during festivals.
However, since meeting Gu Yunhao, Ning Yuxuan has not visited the Xie family or Aunt Zheng for many years.
Xie Zhiyan's clear voice came through the phone, pulling Ning Yuxuan out of her memories.
"Otherwise, why do you think it is?" he asked.
Ning Yuxuan blinked: "It's nothing."
There really isn't any other possibility. It can't be that this big shot who strikes fear into the hearts of people in Beicheng's social circles has actually been secretly in love with her all along, right?
"Thank you, Mr. Xie," Ning Yuxuan said. "I will give you an answer as soon as possible."
...
Hengjiang Building, CEO's Office.
Xie Zhiyan put down his phone and briefly closed his eyes.
Two seconds later, there was a knock on the office door.
Assistant Liu Cheng entered: "Mr. Xie, all the documents you requested are here."
Xie Zhiyan nodded slightly: "Okay, you can go out first. I'll go to the conference room in a bit."
Liu Cheng replied "Okay," hesitated for half a second, and then asked, "Mr. Xie, would you like me to make you a cup of coffee?"
Xie Zhiyan: "Alright."
Liu Cheng did as instructed and went out.
Normally, given Xie's decisive and efficient style, Liu Cheng wouldn't have asked this question.
Xie Zhiyan had just finished a business trip to the Southern Hemisphere and had only returned to China yesterday after a flight that took more than ten hours.
As Xie Zhiyan's special assistant, Liu Cheng naturally accompanied his boss on the business trip, so he hadn't adjusted to the time difference yet.
Liu Cheng had been suffering from insomnia for a long time last night, and when he woke up this morning, his temples were throbbing.
Xie Zhiyan acted as if nothing had happened, even arriving at the company five minutes earlier than his assistant.
There is an important meeting in half an hour, where senior executives from various departments will report to Xie Zhiyan.
Liu Cheng couldn't help but sigh, otherwise why would there be so many wealthy young men in Beicheng, yet only Xie Zhiyan held such great power at such a young age?
With that kind of willpower and iron-clad physical strength, it's something that ordinary people can't match.
...
Ning Yuxuan was still thinking about the phone call she had just received.
If they wanted to buy those hotels before Gu Yunhao, it seemed there was no better option than accepting Xie Zhiyan's suggestion.
Ning Yuxuan couldn't think of anyone else in the entire Beicheng who had the financial means to buy four hotels at once and was also willing to help her.
If she has to contend with Gu Yunhao and the Gu family in the future, with Xie Zhiyan's help, she will have a better chance of winning.
However, marriage is no small matter, so Ning Yuxuan did not choose to give an immediate answer.
She went to the bathroom at home, ran hot water, and added rose-scented bath salts.
According to the book, Gu Yunhao likes pure white flowers and loves the light and elegant fragrance of aquatic flowers.
In the past, every time Ning Yuxuan went on a date with Gu Yunhao, she would take a bath with bath salts that smelled of water lilies and then spray her clothes with perfume from the same series.
Now, Ning Yuxuan lies in the bathtub, surrounded by the rich scent of roses, and feels her mind is clearer than ever before.
It feels so good to be free from the control of the plot!
After a relaxing bath, Ning Yuxuan changed into a bathrobe and casually picked up her phone to check her message center.
Normally, aside from family and Gu Yunhao, no one would contact me on WeChat, but suddenly several new messages popped up.
The top one is from the Gu family patriarch, Gu Yunhao's grandfather.
Ning Yuxuan used to pin everyone related to Gu Yunhao to the top of her chat list, but she hasn't had time to unpin them yet.
The old man sent a voice message: "Yuxuan, did you and Yunhao have another fight and break up? Don't worry, Grandpa Gu will back you up. Come to my birthday banquet in a couple of days with Yunhao, and I'll talk to that kid for you."
After listening to the voice message, Ning Yuxuan's eyes revealed a hint of helplessness.
After awakening, all she felt for Gu Yunhao was disgust.
However, Ning Yuxuan still respected Grandpa Gu.
Grandpa Gu has always been very good to her. In fact, the reason she was able to be with Gu Yunhao was because of his strong support.
The old man never explicitly said it, but Ning Yuxuan could guess that the reason he was kind to her was because of her father.
After all, the old man didn't seem to know her mother, Ning Fei, well, but he would always say a few more words whenever she mentioned her father, who was far away in Jincheng.
The old man was in poor health, so even if Ning Yuxuan disliked Gu Yunhao, she wouldn't easily speak ill of an elderly man who had always treated her well.
As for whether the two have truly broken up or are not simply having a conflict, that should be decided by Gu Yunhao, their grandson.
After thinking for a moment, Ning Yuxuan didn't reply directly to Grandpa Gu. Instead, she sent Gu Yunhao a message: "Your grandfather messaged me. You should explain to him that we've officially broken up."
After sending this message, Ning Yuxuan finally had time to read the messages from others.
The messages came from her college classmates and former colleagues with whom she had worked briefly; the sentence structures were very similar:
[Ning Yuxuan, I saw you're trending on Weibo!]
The last time I received so many messages at the same time was when the show officially announced the guests, and everyone was surprised that she was the daughter of actress Ning Fei.
Ning Yuxuan wasn't particularly proud of her mother's achievements in the past, and the reason for this probably stemmed from her childhood memories—
In that old mansion, almost everyone referred to my mother as an "actress," their disdain evident in their eyes.
Over the years, Ning Yuxuan rarely revealed her relationship with Ning Fei. It wasn't until the show was officially announced that many of her classmates and colleagues realized that she and Ning Fei were mother and daughter.
Ironically, when she learned that Gu Yunhao had a crush on a young actress in the entertainment industry, she immediately went to act as well.
Now that she's come to her senses, Ning Yuxuan realizes how incredibly foolish she was to have valued a man more than her mother.
Fortunately, it's not too late.
Opening Weibo, Ning Yuxuan found two trending topics related to herself, ranking sixth and eighth respectively:
#Ningfei's daughter says she wants to be a full-time daughter#
#Ning Fei's daughter looks exactly like Ning Fei when she was young#
Clicking on the first topic, the top trending post is a screen recording from the pilot episode's live stream, specifically the part where she answers questions from staff.
The second post is a screenshot showing Ning Fei's eyes filled with love. The caption at the bottom is Ning Fei's quote from the show: "If I could, I would certainly be willing to be my daughter's support for the rest of my life."
The comment sections of both Weibo posts were very lively.
The comments under the first post are mostly jokes from netizens, and some are even recommending the show.
[Haha, Ning Fei's daughter is quite self-aware, much better than those cringeworthy celebrity kids who are still being heavily promoted.]
Putting everything else aside, just in terms of looks alone, Ning Yuxuan surpasses 99% of celebrity offspring!
Putting myself in Ning Fei's shoes, I would also want to be a full-time daughter.
This clip is quite interesting. Is the show called something like "Mom and Daughter"? I'm starting to think about watching it.
[It's the mother-daughter reality show "Dear Mom"! I watched the live broadcast, and the atmosphere in Teacher Ning's family was incredibly loving. I highly recommend everyone watch it!]
[Yes, yes, Ning Shiyue is also incredibly cute in it, such a big contrast! This show is definitely worth watching!]
The other comment received even more comments expressing envy.
[I'm so envious... Honestly, I've never seen a look like that on my mom's face before.]
Now I finally understand what overflowing love means; this look in her eyes is the tangible expression of maternal love!
I'm so envious! I can't believe how happy it must be to be Ning Fei's daughter!
Is it too late to be reborn as Teacher Ning's daughter? I need to get in line!
[Haha, that's hilarious! Becoming Teacher Ning's daughter is probably out of the question, but becoming her granddaughter might be a better chance. [doge emoji]]
Another topic leads to a comparison video where someone montaged Ning Yuxuan's scenes from the live stream with Ning Fei's works from her younger days.
The comments section is full of people praising his looks.
Both the mother and daughter are so beautiful!
Times change, but aesthetic standards remain constant. Regardless of the era, such looks would make her an absolute beauty!
Seeing that Teacher Ning's daughter is so beautiful puts my mind at ease; such good genes haven't been wasted.
...
In an apartment in Beicheng, Cen Meng nearly bit her teeth to pieces while staring at her phone screen.
She never expected that on the first day of the show's pilot episode, Ning Yuxuan would actually trend on social media with positive coverage, and even trend on two separate occasions, both in the top ten!
It's worth noting that in the three years since her debut, she has only made it into the top ten trending searches twice. One time, her team bought the spot for her, and the other time, she was photographed having an affair with a male actor in the same production.
Even though Ning Yuxuan's name wasn't mentioned in the trending topic, and she was only referred to as "Ning Fei's daughter," it was enough to make Cen Meng grit her teeth.
According to Cen Meng's estimation, Ning Yuxuan's personality was already unlikable, and coupled with the power of Gu Yunhao's timely breakup, this pilot episode would definitely not be well-made.
Forget about trending on social media; Ning Yuxuan will be lucky if she doesn't get criticized by netizens and become a hot topic.
For this reason, Cen Meng didn't even hire online trolls to control public opinion beforehand, as she felt it was unnecessary.
Now, Cen Meng deeply regrets her decision.
The top comments in the current comment section are all praising her, so even if she tries to find someone to control the comments, it will be difficult to reverse public opinion.
Cen Meng took a deep breath and comforted herself—
It's alright, Ning Yuxuan won't be smug for long.
At Grandpa Gu's birthday banquet in a couple of days, Gu Yunhao will introduce his girlfriend to everyone and, incidentally, distance himself from Ning Yuxuan.
Cen Meng had already found out that apart from the Gu family patriarch's attitude towards Ning Yuxuan being so-so, the rest of the Gu family didn't really like Ning Yuxuan, especially Gu Yunhao's mother.
With her gentle and understanding nature, it wouldn't be difficult for her to win everyone's favor, especially compared to the domineering Ning Yuxuan.
only……
Cen Meng glanced at the Weibo comment section again, still feeling indignant.
She first confirmed that she was logged into a secondary account, then edited her comment: "To put it nicely, she's a stay-at-home daughter; to put it bluntly, isn't she just a parasite? What's wrong with netizens' values these days? They're actually idolizing this kind of person."
After venting her frustrations, Cen Meng felt much better.
She went to the kitchen to heat up a glass of milk for herself, and when she came back and looked at her phone, she was stunned.
Within minutes, several netizens had replied to her.
[Haha, you're the kind of person with such a strong moral compass, an orphan who's never been loved by family, right?]
I can't even be bothered to scold you; you deserve to never experience a mother's love.
[The mother and daughter are both willing, why can't you, an outsider, approve? What kind of lunatic are you?]
Here's a picture for you: [sb]
...
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