Chapter 38

Zhou Mingxing was highly efficient. As soon as Wei Sheng signed the contract, Zhou immediately arranged an assistant for him.

The assistant’s name was easy to remember—Huang Lixue ¹(Mechanics).

Upon hearing the name, Wei Sheng’s mouth twitched twice.

He really wanted to ask if he had a brother named “Liangzi” (Quantum).

After all, when in doubt—quantum mechanics, right?

Unfortunately, he didn’t.

According to Assistant Xiao Huang, his hometown was full of people from the Huang family, and names were given according to generational ranking. His generation all had the character “Li” in their names.

His name was actually one of the more normal ones. He had twin cousins whose parents, not being well-educated and worried about picking names that were too complicated to write, simply named them “Li Da²” (Great Strength) and “Li Xiao” (Little Strength). This led to frequent misunderstandings in school, where teachers assumed that “Li Da’s” younger brother should be called “Wu Qiong” (Infinite). Who could have guessed he was actually called “Li Xiao”?

Wei Sheng was speechless once again. If these brothers ever applied to a securities firm, HR would probably ask if they had another sibling named “Li Kong” (Bear Market).

And if they did, that guy must never be allowed to set foot in the company!

Still, what made Wei Sheng feel much more secure was that Huang Lixue was actually a retired soldier! He could drive, had solid combat skills, and was highly proficient in counter-surveillance!

Clearly, Zhou Mingxing was certain that Wei Sheng would rise to stardom in the entertainment industry—so much so that he had already arranged security measures in advance.

Not long after, Wei Sheng was added to a small group chat.

One glance at the group name, and he immediately regretted joining.

The name was “Zhou’s Pigsty of Handlers.”

However, little money-lover Wei Sheng quickly changed his tune.

His senior brothers and sisters were loaded! The moment he entered, a flood of red envelopes came his way.

He checked the transfer amounts—wow! A series of 8888s!

Zhou Mingxing: Xiao Wei, accept your welcome gifts. Everyone’s busy—this is peak earning season—so I won’t organize a welcome banquet. We’ll do that at the end of the year when everyone’s back.

Wei Sheng: Okay (cute and obedient expression). Thank you, Senior Brothers and Sisters, for the red envelopes!

Zhou Mingxing: I’m busy, so introduce yourselves. Start with Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng quickly started typing:

Wei Sheng: Hello, everyone! I’m Wei Sheng, 24 years old (traditional age system), a local from J City. I don’t have many hobbies—just enjoy exploring good food. When you all come back for New Year’s, I’ll treat you to a meal at my place!

After sending it, he realized that this kind of introduction wasn’t very entertainment-industry-friendly, so he quickly added:

I can also play the piano, flute, sketch, and do colored pencil drawings. I play table tennis… Oh, and I can spin a diabolo!

Yang Junyao: Pfft~ (Sends a giggling emoji.)

Zhang Hanxing: I want to see the diabolo trick!

Yang Junyao: Hello, little brother Wei Sheng! I’m Yang Junyao. Age? Confidential. Height? Also confidential. Just remember that your senior sister is the most beautiful in the universe—that’s all you need to know. Any other info, just search Qiandu (Baidu), guaranteed authentic!

Zhang Hanxing: Hello, Junior Brother! I’m Zhang Hanxing. Personal details? Search Qiandu—100% authentic!

Wei Sheng’s mouth twitched.

No wonder! When he signed on, Zhou Mingxing made him fill out an extra-long personal information form and required that everything be verifiable—no loopholes allowed. It seemed like “Qiandu Guaranteed Authentic” was one of the company’s iron-clad rules.

Although Wei Sheng had never been into idol culture, he had occasionally seen trending news about celebrities getting exposed for falsifying their Qiandu profiles—altering their age or height, for example. Those were easy lies to debunk. No wonder Zhou insisted on full transparency.

This was definitely a company with a strong sense of crisis management!

There were five people in the group. The last person took a while before showing up.

Shen Yi: Sorry, I was filming just now. Hello, Junior Brother Wei Sheng! I’m Shen Yi, 36 years old. I think I’m the oldest in this group besides Boss Zhou. You can call me Yi-jie like the others.

Yi-jie? Pfft—her name (Yi) literally meant First, and it suited her perfectly! She must be the legendary top-earning actress under Zhou Mingxing’s management—Shen Yi!

Wei Sheng wasn’t too familiar with the rising young idols Zhang Hanxing and Yang Junyao, but he definitely knew Shen Yi!

His mom was currently obsessed with a Republican-era tragic romance drama, and Shen Yi played the lead female role!

Her rise to fame was practically legendary.

She was the definition of a late bloomer in showbiz—she only became famous at 30!

By that age, most actresses were already transitioning to behind-the-scenes roles or starting their own businesses, but Shen Yi was just emerging from an unhappy marriage at the time.

In her youth, Shen Yi was stunningly beautiful and had studied acting in university. Unfortunately, she married too early—while still in college, she fell in love with a teaching assistant and, upon graduation, smoothly pursued postgraduate studies and became a faculty member, thanks to her stellar academic record and her boyfriend’s family connections.

On paper, it seemed like a great path—successful career, a stable job as a university lecturer, and a husband, Fang Yifan, who was being groomed as a future department head. It looked like a perfect life, straight out of a dream.

Shen Yi also believed she had found the right person.

Until one day, she received a call from a stranger.

The caller was a young woman—one of her husband’s students.

She was pregnant.

And the father… was Shen Yi’s husband.

Even more ridiculous? After the affair was exposed, not only did her husband show no remorse, but his parents even stepped in to “talk some sense into her.”

Back then, Shen Yi was able to stay at the university thanks to her in-laws’ connections. She never expected that her supposedly refined and scholarly in-laws would actually try to persuade her to accept the mistress and illegitimate child!

“Our family can afford to support them. It’s just two more mouths to feed. Giving them ten or twenty thousand a month won’t affect your marriage.”

“We’re not just siding with our son, Xiao Yi. Think about it—there are so many young, pretty girls at the university every year! Yi Fan is at an age full of energy. Even if he doesn’t want to, there will always be girls throwing themselves at him for opportunities like research positions, scholarships, and overseas studies.”

“Instead of causing a scandal later, I think it’s better if you just let him keep this woman outside. You stay in the house, she stays outside, and together, you can keep an eye on him. That way, no one else can get in.”

Shen Yi was stunned!

She couldn’t believe that such ignorant, misogynistic nonsense could come from a supposedly esteemed professor.

The Fang family was clearly taking advantage of her. She had married far from home, had no family backing, and even her job had been arranged by them. If she wanted to keep both her job and her status as their daughter-in-law, wasn’t she supposed to just accept it?

On top of that, Shen Yi was too thin and had trouble conceiving, which greatly displeased Fang’s parents. Now that their son’s mistress was pregnant—with a boy, no less—they saw this as their chance to have a grandson and had no intention of letting Shen Yi “make a fuss.”

But they underestimated her!

She knew that if she openly fought back, she might keep her job, but her career at the university would be over. So, she played along, pretending to be heartbroken yet too weak to resist.

Seeing this, the mistress got bolder, even calling Shen Yi daily to “comfort” her and flaunt the “precious Fang grandson” she was carrying.

Shen Yi coldly recorded every single call.

Then, she confronted Fang Yifan.

“Two women serving one man? Serve your damn self!”

“You think your tiny little cucumber can handle that?!”

She made it clear—there was no way she was staying in this marriage. She would even help them keep their reputation intact, ensuring that the scandal didn’t leak.

But Fang Yifan shouldn’t think he could just walk away free.

She had two conditions:

1. The house they lived in would belong entirely to her.
2. The Fang family would pay her 600,000 yuan in compensation.

Fang Yifan hesitated.

Honestly, Shen Yi was leagues above his mistress in every way—looks, intelligence, and demeanor. But like many men, he had the typical mindset of “the wife isn’t as good as the mistress, and the mistress isn’t as exciting as an affair.”

Still, what truly made him hesitate wasn’t losing Shen Yi—it was losing the house.

The property had been bought with both their salaries and a down payment from his parents. It had barely any commercial loan, and its value had skyrocketed. If he agreed, he’d be handing his ex-wife a place worth nearly five million yuan!

But Shen Yi was ruthless.

“Think carefully before you answer me, Fang Yifan.”

“It’s just a three-bedroom apartment and 600,000 yuan. I’ll even keep paying off the housing loan myself. Don’t tell me the mighty Fang family can’t afford that?”

“If you meet my two conditions, I promise to never say a bad word about you. You’ll remain the promising Professor Fang, with a bright future ahead.”

“With your position, you can earn back a hundred times this amount in the future. I’m not even asking for much.”

She gave him one meal’s time to decide.

And she knew he would say yes.

Her demands were designed to sting just enough to hurt, but not enough to be completely unaffordable.

Most importantly, Fang Yifan was their only son. His future was something they couldn’t gamble with.

Sure enough, after making a phone call, Fang Yifan agreed.

He had no choice—Shen Yi had solid proof of his affair, and worse, his mistress was a student!

If she exposed it, his career would be over. He might even end up in jail.

She had hit their biggest weakness.

Compared to his career, a measly house and 600,000 yuan were nothing.

The funny thing is, when Fang’s mother heard that Shen Yi insisted on keeping their marital home, she mistakenly thought that Shen Yi still had lingering feelings for her son. She even advised her son to transfer the house to Shen Yi first, focus on staying with the other woman until she gave birth, and then, once Shen Yi’s anger subsided, he could try to reconcile with her.

By then, as a divorced woman nearing thirty, Shen Yi wouldn’t be able to find a decent new partner anyway. When Fang Yifan went back to beg for reconciliation, wouldn’t the house, the money, and the wife all still belong to the Fang family in the end?

Ultimately, Fang’s mother still looked down on the mistress and preferred having a university professor as her daughter-in-law.

But what the Fang family never expected was that as soon as the property transfer was completed, Shen Yi decisively rented out the house, resigned from the academy, and disappeared without a trace…

By the time they saw their former daughter-in-law again, Shen Yi had already become a rising star in the entertainment industry.

A woman nearing thirty and divorced—by all logic, someone with her background would never meet the requirements of major talent agencies for a debuting artist. She shouldn’t even have been considered for a contract!

But luck was on her side—she met Zhou Mingxing.

Unlike his peers, who only favored young, fresh-faced idols and delicate beauties, Zhou Mingxing understood a fundamental truth:

In any industry, once homogenization becomes too severe, competition among the same type of talent becomes ruthless.

Take the domestic entertainment industry as an example—those young male and female idols of similar age and experience were constantly embroiled in vicious online battles, fighting tooth and nail for resources.

But have you ever seen veteran actors fighting over roles?

Forget fighting over roles—many scripts specifically tailored for young idols were desperate to cast seasoned actors just to elevate the production’s acting quality!

When Zhou Mingxing first signed Shen Yi, his peers laughed at him behind his back. They mocked him, saying that after joining a traditional media company, even his connections had deteriorated—he actually signed a middle-aged woman who was practically ready to dance in public squares!

That was until Shen Yi, with her graceful figure, flawless fair skin, and an elegant cheongsam, made a breathtaking appearance in a Republican-era melodrama. Her styling became an instant sensation, and her acting completely overshadowed the exaggerated performances of the rookie actors in the cast.

Only then did the industry realize—what middle-aged woman?

Zhou Mingxing had signed an absolute goddess, a woman who had both beauty and acting skills!

From playing the sultry young stepmother of a warlord in a Republican-era drama to portraying the ultimate villain in a fantasy series, and now taking on the role of a small-town female entrepreneur in a mainstream drama—Shen Yi had rarely been cast as the main lead, but no one could deny that with her as the “golden supporting actress,” the overall acting standard of any drama she joined skyrocketed.

Now, many directors in the industry were eager to work with her. She had so many scripts offered to her daily that she barely had time to go through them all. Zhou Mingxing, with his sharp market instincts, had carved out an uncontested path to success for this “overage newcomer” in the entertainment industry.

The best part?

Because she had been divorced and suffered at the hands of a scumbag, Shen Yi had absolutely zero interest in romance—making her practically “scandal-proof”!

A career downfall due to a relationship scandal? Impossible.

Even if the sky collapsed, Shen Yi’s “scandal-proof” reputation would remain intact!

With her strong public image, excellent reputation, and a solid guarantee of “no scandals,” Shen Yi had also become the top choice for national brands seeking celebrity endorsements.

According to conservative estimates, between acting fees, endorsements, and appearance fees, Shen Yi’s annual income now exceeded 100 million yuan!

Even after company cuts and taxes, she was still raking in tens of millions every year—she was no longer that pitiful woman who had to negotiate with a scumbag for a mere few hundred thousand.

Reconcile?

Screw that! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

She was making tens of millions a year—who the hell needed a man?

(End of Chapter)

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Notes:

1. The joke is that Lixue (黄力学) means Mechanics, so if he had a brother named Liangzi (量子), their names together would be Quantum Mechanics (量子力学)—a famous physics theory. ↩︎
2. –Li Da (李大) & Li Xiao (李小): Their names mean “Great Strength” (大力) and “Little Strength” (小力), respectively. However, because “Da” (大) means “big” and “Xiao” (小) means “small,” it seems like their names were just chosen for simplicity rather than deep meaning. This straightforward naming method led to misunderstandings.
   –Wu Qiong (无穷, Infinite): Teachers assumed that if one brother was named “Li Da” (Big), the other should logically be “Wu Qiong” (Infinite), following the pattern of increasing magnitude. But in reality, he was just “Li Xiao” (Small), which subverts expectations.
   –Li Kong (李空, Bear Market): In finance, “bull” (牛市, rising market) and “bear” (熊市, falling market) describe market trends. “Kong” (空) means “empty” but is also associated with “short-selling” (做空), a strategy in a bear market. So, if there were a third sibling named “Li Kong,” their names would humorously reflect market trends:
   ->Li Da (Big) → Bull Market (rising trend)
   ->Li Xiao (Small) → Market correction (decline)
   ->Li Kong (Bear Market) → A full downturn ↩︎