Chapter 53 Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 28 Name Your Price

Two popular actors showing up at a fast-food restaurant was never that big a deal to begin with. A bit of discussion outside was only natural.

What was disgusting was those unscrupulous media outlets jumping in, blowing it all out of proportion, tossing out wild commentary, and steering the narrative.

Long Haoshu instructed Shi Lan that if any media came to interview her, she was not to respond and should leave it to him.

She agreed, and truly stopped bothering with it. Everyone had their own specialty, and professional matters should be left to professionals. Unless something unexpected happened, this was someone who would likely be accompanying Du Heng through decades in the entertainment industry. There was no need for her to worry over such a small storm.

Even though this was not yet the era of traffic-driven celebrity, this wave of attention pushed Shi Lan’s two restaurant chains beyond their birthplace and into the awareness of entertainment-gossip followers across the country. That was probably something those media outlets had never anticipated.

Judging by revenue, after this incident, every branch saw some degree of growth in sales. The branch Du Heng and Yang Chong had helped out at in particular had recently started drawing long lines. It looked like the buzz would not die down anytime soon.

After Yang Chong found out, he even called specially and joked that he ought to be paid an endorsement fee.

Shi Lan gathered the managers of every branch and held a mobilization meeting.

During this period, both chains were under a lot of scrutiny. The staff had to uphold their service principles and be careful with their words and actions. For all they knew, there could be entertainment reporters among the customers conducting undercover visits.

Of course, Shi Lan was not about to let this wave of popularity go to waste. She planned to open branches in other cities as well.

The first area chosen was the southeastern region.

There were two reasons. First, the southeastern region had always been prosperous, with Haidu at its center. Second, Shi Lan had heard from Long Haoshu that Guangzhou Street and the Qin Palace complex in Hengdian¹ had already been completed and were now open for commercial leasing.

In the future, Du Heng would inevitably have dealings with that place, so she naturally wanted a foothold in its business scene, even if it was only a very small one.

At present, the area was still relatively remote and had not yet developed a mature tourism industry. Business there mainly served film crews, so it should still be fairly easy to secure a spot.

Building a branch in Hengdian and then gradually expanding into the surrounding cities was not something that could be accomplished in a single day. It needed someone to take charge. After much consideration, Shi Lan decided to send Li Wei. He had been by her side for nearly two years. He certainly had shortcomings, but if he never went out and got tempered by real experience, those shortcomings would remain forever.

Li Wei was not as excited as she had expected. After thinking it over for several days, he brought her his proposal.

Shi Lan was even more satisfied.

That left her with one less assistant at her side, so she told HR to keep recruiting for her, while she herself went to talk with Qin Luo.

She informed her that the locations in the headquarters city were basically saturated and that they also needed to expand outward to the surrounding areas. Shi Lan planned to hand this matter over to her.

“I haven’t been overthinking it, President Shi. I may be a few years older than you, but after staying by your side this long, I’ve definitely grown a lot too. I’m quite satisfied with my own rate of growth.”

That kind of awareness was good.

She was too embarrassed to tell Qin Luo that her psychological age was much older.

With headquarters entrusted to Qin Luo, Shi Lan brought Li Wei to inspect Hengdian. This branch had a different significance. She intended to make it into a base of operations. Naturally, she could not handle it according to the same old pure fast-food model as before.

After the inspection, Shi Lan’s plan was this.

Not only was she going to open a restaurant in Hengdian, she was also going to open a hotel. Whether it ended up being useful or not, this place would exist here as Du Heng’s support and resource.

She was not counting on it to make money. Or rather, she was not counting on it to only make money.

The property Shi Lan had her eye on was very large. She leased a small six-story building.

The location of the building was somewhat special. Both the first and second floors faced the street, just different streets and different directions.

The first floor would continue as affordable fast food. The second floor would be turned into a restaurant with private rooms, making it convenient if Du Heng wanted to invite people over to talk business. All the upper floors would be turned into a hotel.

Then came another round of tormenting the designer and going through the renovation process.

Shi Lan knew the restaurant business, but when it came to hotels, she was a complete amateur. Great, now she had to hire again, and this time it had to be a whole group of professionals from top to bottom.

Not just Li Wei, who was being worked so hard he felt like he was shedding a layer of skin, even Shi Lan was worried sick.

Li Wei looked like he was on the verge of tears as he sprawled in his chair. “President Shi, with all this trouble we’re going through, does Mr. Du know about it?”

“Nope. I haven’t told him yet.” Shi Lan sounded equally drained. “There still aren’t many crews filming at this studio base right now. Who knows how long it’ll be before Du Heng comes here.”

Then couldn’t we do this later?

Shi Lan struggled to sit up and went back to looking at the drawings and calculations. She was nearly sick of the sight of them.

“Absolutely not. If I don’t get everything prepared in advance, then what if he comes one day and this place is in complete chaos?”

Li Wei suddenly stared at the ceiling and said blankly, “I really envy Mr. Du.”

Shi Lan joked casually, “That’s not something you can envy. The blessings he has in this life were earned through the good deeds he accumulated in his last one. If you’re really envious, then do more good in this life. Maybe in your next life you’ll have that kind of good fortune too.”

Li Wei tugged at the corner of his mouth, which barely counted as a smile, and said, “So even for the next life, you still have to wait in line.” His voice was very soft.

Shi Lan said, “What?”

Li Wei sat up too and downed an entire cup of coffee. “Nothing. President Shi, how about you head back first? I’ll sort through all this stuff, and once I’ve straightened it out, I’ll show it to you again tomorrow.”

“Forget it. Let’s do it together and finish it faster.”

–

Shi Lan received a phone call. It was from the village secretary of Shujia Village.

He was calling especially to share good news, saying the road had been completed. From every household in Shujia Village all the way to town, it was wide and level, paved inch by inch with concrete. Buying fertilizer and selling grain would be much more convenient from now on. Cars could drive right up to people’s doors.

After Du Heng became famous, they had donated a sum of money according to what had been discussed before, and the town government had taken the lead in building a road for Shujia Village. It had not even been that long, yet it was already finished.

“It’s finished already? That fast?”

The village secretary chuckled happily. “It wasn’t that fast. The labor all came from several nearby villages. Being able to earn money while staying close to home and also get the road built, everyone was happier than you can imagine. They all worked very seriously. Once this road was built, it didn’t just benefit our village. The surrounding villages all benefited too. I never thought that before I stepped down, I’d get to see the children from our village become so promising. Now I can die without regrets.”

His voice sounded choked with emotion.

Shi Lan hurried to comfort him. “Uncle, you’re overstating it.”

“Right, right, listen to me. This is supposed to be something happy. The main reason I called today is to ask whether you two have time. At the beginning of next month, we’re planning to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony² for the road opening. Can you come back?” Without waiting for her answer, he continued on his own, “If you can’t come back, that’s fine too. I know you’re both busy. I just thought I’d ask… hehe… just ask…”

Shi Lan could hear the earnest hope in his tone, but this really was not something she could promise. In business, she was decisive, but facing this old village secretary, she could not bear to say the words of refusal.

“Uncle, we…”

Before she could finish, the secretary had already understood what she had left unsaid.

“I understand, I understand. Just make sure you’re both doing well out there. Everything in the village is fine, and everything at home is fine too. Now that the road’s been built, everyone can’t thank you directly, so all that gratitude has been poured onto Du Heng’s family instead. Don’t worry.”

After hanging up, Shi Lan felt an indescribable emotion in her heart.

This road, which had moved the old secretary to tears, had cost only tens of thousands of yuan from start to finish. Compared not even to Shi Lan’s other investments, but simply to the project she was planning in Hengdian, it was no more than a drop in the bucket. Yet for Shujia Village and several nearby villages, it truly was a road to survival.

The weight of it was too heavy, so heavy that it made her chest ache.

She picked up the phone again, dialed the company extension, and instructed her newest assistant, Zhang Bo, “Notify HR and the finance manager to come to my office this afternoon for a meeting.”

“All right, President Shi.”

Zhang Bo was a properly trained business major, and the only reason Shi Lan had managed to recruit him was because of the salary she offered. Since joining her, he had grown faster than either of the two assistants before him, and Shi Lan had genuinely been able to relax a lot more because of it. Now, not only did he handle his own work, he also helped train several assistant reserves. That was at Shi Lan’s request.

She did not know when she might send one of her assistants out to take charge on their own, so it was better to be prepared.

That afternoon’s meeting had only one topic: establishing a public welfare committee and recruiting the appropriate people to lead it.

Shi Lan knew her company was not all that large yet, and there was only so much it could do, but doing a little was still better than doing nothing.

She could not keep relying on herself to poke at things here and there on impulse. There still needed to be an organized structure, with proper planning and layout.

When your ability is limited, you do less. When your ability grows, you shoulder more. That was enough.

These past few years, time had flown by unbelievably fast.

Du Heng had been busy filming, traveling all over the country. These days, if you turned on the TV, you could spot him after flipping through just a few channels.

Shi Lan’s branch stores had also been blooming everywhere. Compared with her other locations, the restaurant and hotel in Hengdian were not particularly profitable, but this year’s financial reports showed steady improvement all the same. She had copied Hengdian’s business model to other film studio cities, as well as to several cities where Du Heng often went for filming.

The whole idea was simple: it made it convenient for her to visit the set, and convenient for Du Heng too.

As the business kept expanding, the standards for personnel naturally grew higher as well, yet several of Shi Lan’s regional heads had come into the field midway through their careers.

So she simply waved a hand and signed everyone up for an executive training program. She attended it herself as well. The full program lasted a year, but everyone involved was incredibly busy, with no time to sit through classes from start to finish like elementary school students. So the courses were arranged once a month, with each session lasting two or three days.

It looked very casual, like fishing for three days and drying the nets for two³, but the tuition was outrageously expensive.

Whether someone could really learn anything depended on the individual, but one thing was certain, they really could make connections, and their classmates were all industry heavyweights from different fields.

For that reason alone, Shi Lan felt the tuition was money well spent.

By the time it was already five in the afternoon, the instructor was leading the executive trainees, who had been divided into several groups, through practical simulations and could not keep an eye on the entire room.

Shi Lan picked up her coat and handbag, had a few of her subordinates cover for her, and prepared to skip class and slip out.

Her subordinates looked at her. “…”

Shi Lan cursed under her breath, “What are you staring at me for? Just do your own work and keep the teacher’s attention on yourselves so I can get out. Don’t draw everyone’s eyes to me.”

Her subordinates: “…”

Whatever they thought, she did not care. The people under her had become capable now, so she no longer had to handle every little thing personally. What was wrong with skipping a class or two?

Besides, she had a legitimate reason for skipping class. She was going to see Du Heng.

Ever since they had both gotten busy, they really had been spending more time apart than together. When a couple was never in the same place, all sorts of problems were bound to crop up. Was it easy for her to maintain a marriage and relationship?

This time, the two of them just so happened to be in the same city on the same day. Of course her husband was more important.

Du Heng had come back to the company for a meeting this time. When she arrived downstairs at the company, he still had not finished, so she waited for him in the reception area.

There was another young woman there about her age. After chatting a bit, Shi Lan found out that the woman was actually a screenwriter. She had put a great deal of care into writing a script and had submitted it to many companies, but none had accepted it. They all said her subject matter would not work. She was on the verge of giving up, but still unwilling to let it go. She had heard there was a producer here who liked unusual stories, so she had come to try her luck.

She had originally made an appointment.

But that producer had already kept her waiting for five hours and still had not shown up.

Wasn’t that an obvious rejection?

This girl really was stubborn. She had actually sat there waiting like a fool the whole time.

Seeing that she had brought the script with her, Shi Lan grew a little curious. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Of course not. Anyway, everyone who’s read it says what I wrote is trash, so as long as you don’t mind.” The girl laughed at herself.

Shi Lan accepted it with both hands.

The more she read, the more astonished she became. She looked at the script, then at its author, then back at the script, then at the girl again…

Closing the script, Shi Lan was full of admiration. She praised her sincerely, “The people who turned you down have no idea what an exquisitely brilliant story they missed out on. That’s their loss, not yours.”

The girl blinked. “Huh? You’re not saying that sarcastically to mock me, are you?”

Seeing her reaction, Shi Lan smiled faintly and said in the full style of an overbearing CEO, “Name your price. No matter how much, I’m buying this script.”

Translator’s Notes