Chapter 39 was a complete mess, but he was already secretly looking forward to it...
However, he already had a faint expectation in his heart.
A few days after filming the advertisement, Ning Buyi continued his live stream in a small private room. A message popped up, and his face, which had been dull and lifeless from being beaten up in the canyon, suddenly broke into a smile.
It was a few messages from Zhu Zhu. The promotional videos he filmed had caused Taozi's shop to have a surge in orders, with sales increasing several times over. After settling his order, Zhu Zhu sent him a large red envelope as a token of his gratitude.
Inside the office building, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie stood in front of Zhu Yanhe's desk, leaning on a jewel-encrusted cane.
Zhu Guanghai also regretted slapping his daughter a couple of days ago. If Zhu Zhu was willing to apologize to him, he could relax a little on Zhu Zhu's unseemly hobbies.
But in the morning he only received a message from his daughter saying how she was doing and that she could live well even without the Zhu family.
Seeing this, Zhu Guanghai felt a surge of anger rising to his head. Instead of backing down, he came to his own father to provoke him, which made him so angry that he threw down the porcelain cup in his hand and rushed from home to Zhu Yanhe's office.
Zhu Guanghai said with a stern face, "Yan He, no matter what, she is still your sister. Are you just going to watch her go astray?"
"Do I need to repeat how you educated her before?" Zhu Yanhe looked down at the documents, her tone indifferent. "She is an adult. Besides, being a photographer is indeed a profession. You'd better understand these points."
The middle-aged man snorted and said, "Do you think I don't know anything about young people's stuff? Is what she's photographing anything respectable? A bunch of men and women in weird clothes are surrounding a cross-dressing transvestite and taking pictures of his legs."
Hearing the description, Zhu Yanhe finally looked up: "Leg photos?"
A document was slammed down in front of Zhu Yanhe, the sharp sound shattering the quiet atmosphere in the office.
Zhu Guanghai's tone was somewhat impatient: "Take a look for yourself at what good stuff Zhu Zhu has done."
The document contained promotional images and shop information, which he described as useless, indecent, and offensive.
Zhu Yanhe reached for the document, glanced at it lazily, and his gaze settled on a photo. A black mole was visible through crossed legs. He squinted and carefully flipped through the pages. Model? Photographer?
Zhu Yanhe remained expressionless. He closed the file without offering any comment, and simply pressed the call button to summon his assistant.
“Investigate the relevant store names and personnel in the document.”
After the assistant left, he asked, "Where did you find her?"
Zhu Guanghai raised his chin and snorted coldly: "In that office building of the Silver Shop, there's a film studio. I told you it's some indecent films, and you still think I'm old-fashioned."
"What kind of good people could she associate with, especially that transvestite who has no respect for elders and even pointed at me, an elder, and cursed at me, ha."
Zhu Yanhe tried hard to suppress the smirk that was creeping onto his lips, while Ning Buyi pointed at his nose and cursed at him; it was indeed quite funny.
"You should go back to your retirement home; I'll take care of these things."
After seeing Zhu Guanghai off, Zhu Yanhe reopened the folder. Under almost every picture that was translucent, one could see Ning Buyi's legs. His eyes darkened; he was quite bold.
Zhu Yanhe took out his phone and searched for the store using the website address. It seemed no different from any other store, but surprisingly, there were many reviews. Zhu Yanhe glanced at them casually, and some words stood out particularly.
Let's use this method to find jobs from now on, okay? This time it was great, very satisfying.
Such words stood out among a bunch of serious reviews. Zhu Yanhe keenly sensed something was wrong. He searched the page but didn't find the special channel he had imagined.
Meanwhile, Ning Buyi, completely unaware of the situation, was looking at the reassuring number in his phone's balance. He wanted to buy his sister a gift; they had been together for a month.
He had never bought it before, and after thinking it over, he finally sent a message to Jingjing asking for help. Jingjing was very responsive and replied to him quickly.
It's nothing more than dresses, jewelry, cosmetics, and the like. Ning Buyi wasn't familiar with these things, but while browsing shopping apps, her eyes were drawn to some sparkly accessories.
He held up his phone and asked Li Chang, "Brother, what do you think of this?"
Li Chang glanced up briefly, and his mouth dropped open in disbelief. On the screen was a necklace, encircled by a ring of multicolored diamonds, with a large, deep pink teardrop-shaped diamond in the center. What kind of aesthetic is this? It's so ugly.
"You want to break up?"
"Isn't this pretty? How about this one?" Ning Buyi slid his finger to the left, revealing a bracelet, also made of diamonds, with a tacky and ugly design that was inversely proportional to its price.
Seeing Li Chang's furrowed brows, he continued scrolling. The nouveau riche-style pure gold and diamond-encrusted design wasn't exactly ugly, but it was downright awful.
Li Chang shook his head and continued swiping. After swiping several more times, Li Chang still looked pale. Ning Buyi turned off his phone and asked seriously, "Brother, do you have a problem with my girlfriend?"
Otherwise, why would Li Chang be dissatisfied with every single one of them? He had already found dozens of photos.
Li Chang hesitated for a moment, then said, "You're shameless. Are you sure it's not you who has a problem with your girlfriend?"
He then added, "Those ugly things you picked out, even if you gave them to me, I'd find them taking up too much space at home, let alone your girlfriend."
What's ugly about it? He even did some research online; diamonds symbolize eternal love, which is perfect for him and his sister.
Li Chang took out his phone and scrolled through several posts, pointing to each one. Every gift he saw completely outclassed Ning Buyi's choice.
"Did you see that? Did you see that? What kind of old Qing Dynasty item did you choose?"
Ning Buyi's facial features were contorted in disbelief, and she also expressed her incomprehension of Li Chang's gaze, which showed no sign of love.
Li Chang pondered for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration: if he wanted something new and heartfelt, why not just make one himself?
He slapped Ning Buyi's thigh: "Why don't you just make one for her?"
The blow made the boy wince in pain, clutching his reddened thigh: "But I can't."
This looks like a technical job.
Li Chang swiped a few times on his phone and held it up in front of him: "Look, a one-stop shop for handmade goods, it's really popular lately, you can get rings made there."
His eyes lit up. This was exactly what he had in mind. He would definitely be moved to tears if he were the older sister. It's just that the styles were all very ordinary and not as nice as the ones he had picked.
Thinking that he took the phone and looked at it carefully, he realized that it could be used to make couple rings, and recommended that the two of them go together... He could also ask Zhu Yanhe for help, which would make things much easier.
Zhu Yanhe's itinerary was arranged by Ning Buyi without her knowledge.
A sliver of light fell on the large French windows, the rustling of turning pages mingled with soft breathing, when a sudden knock on the door shattered the tranquility.
Zhu Yanhe responded, and the door was pushed open, revealing a person carrying a laptop.
"President Zhu, the investigation you instructed us to conduct this morning has yielded results."
He looked up and gestured for his assistant to place it on the table.
"This store mainly sells socks, and its target audience is mainly women and cosplay enthusiasts."
Zhu Yanhe understood, but there should be more to it than that, after all, there are quite a few men in the audience.
The assistant then reported: "However, after investigation, it was discovered that there is another gray industry in the store."
As Zhu Yanhe guessed correctly, this shop ostensibly operates in the stockings industry, but secretly also provides model photos to a niche group of people with specific fetishes.
Zhu Yanhe frowned upon hearing this and asked, "How did you purchase it?"
The assistant clicked the mouse to turn the page of the document on the screen.
Purchase eligibility is granted only through private messaging customer service with a specific number. This is to ensure the safety of the store for potential buyers.
"We've investigated this and found some users who said they gained purchasing rights by joining a group chat. Should we investigate this further?" The assistant was a little unsure, wondering why President Zhu wanted to investigate this.
"Check, and also send me one of the buyers." Zhu Yanhe's tone was so cold it could freeze. The thought of someone doing disgusting things to Ning Buyi's photo sent an uncontrollable wave of irritation through her.
The other party quickly accepted the friend request. Without wasting any words, Zhu Yanhe directly asked how much he could pay for the photos in the other party's possession.
As the photos arrived one by one, Zhu Yanhe's face darkened, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged from the excessive force. He gritted his teeth and flipped through the sexually suggestive photos. Given Ning Buyi's innocent-looking face, any man who saw them would inevitably have the image of him beneath him.
When Zhu Yanhe thought about how that person had been deceiving him under false pretenses for the past two days while doing such things behind his back, the raging fire in his heart almost burned away his reason.
He opened the chat window that was still showing "Good morning" and typed out a message.
Zhu Yanhe: What have you been doing these afternoons?
Ning Buyi: I went to work and made a lot of money!
The word "work" made him sneer. Was Ning Buyi really that short of money? Why didn't he just tell him he had plenty of money?
Zhu Yanhe: Is your job to take explicit photos and show them to others?
Zhu Yanhe: Don't you think the money you earn is dirty?
Zhu Yanhe: Why don't you ask me for money if you're short?
Zhu Yanhe: Do you even have a heart?
He then sent a series of transfers. He lost control of his emotions and cursed at Ning Buyi for the first time. He turned off the screen and threw his phone hard into the sofa. He wished he could throw away his feelings for Ning Buyi like he threw away his phone.
He has a girlfriend but still does this kind of work; he doesn't care about himself at all, he has no heart. Zhu Yanhe leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his hands, utterly humiliated.
But Zhu Yanhe always knew that while she enjoyed the benefits it brought, she couldn't accept its other side.
Ning Buyi stared blankly at the chat box. He had originally wanted to share the surprise of making the ring, but instead, he was doused with a bucket of cold water, feeling utterly dejected.
He didn't, he didn't...
His explanations went unanswered. He had simply taken a picture of socks to earn more money so he could not only do his own thing but also buy gifts for his sister.
But my sister said his money was dirty...
The jubilant little bird was suddenly shattered by the wings of someone close to it, falling to the bottom of the abyss. It didn't know what to do and could only continue to explain, its fingertips trembling, but the messages it sent always disappeared without a trace.
Everything seemed as if a biological weapon had suddenly swept across the land, turning all life into death. Ning Buyi gripped his phone tightly in his hand. Even though the sunlight was shining on him, his palms were cold and numb, and his whole body felt as if his blood had frozen.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Actually, they're both a bit silly, haha. Ning Buyi always seems to have the upper hand in their feelings, while Zhu Yan and Tian Tian are just thinking, "He doesn't actually like me." [Exaggerated praise] I think they represent the two types of people who love most purely.
Mini-theater:
Zhu Yanhe: You really took the picture?
Ning Buyi: It's necessary for the plot! (Covering his butt)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
