The charity banquet ended, and Fu Dongting soon received a call from Luo Yuanjiu.
"Mr. Fu, congratulations, your 'The Ode to the Nymph of the Luo River' sold for three hundred million at a high price."
Fu Dongting chuckled coldly, "Such quick news?"
As if Luo Yuanjiu didn't detect his sarcasm, he continued, "According to the contract, Senior Sister Luo will take a ten percent commission, which is thirty million..."
"Don't worry, for such a small amount of money, I'm not about to break my word."
After hanging up, Fu Dongting's brows furrowed tightly.
"Dongting, what's wrong?"
That painting had sold for a record price, so many people were celebrating, and there were even media interviews, so why didn't he seem happy?
At that moment, Sheng Congzhi and Qin Zhenzhen came out from the venue.
As they approached, Qin Zhenzhen greeted him with a smile, "Mr. Fu, you really have great taste and courage. I wanted to bid on that painting to give to my brother, but alas..."
"You and your brother have a good relationship," Fu Dongting said as he spoke, but his gaze was fixed on Sheng Congzhi.
How could such coincidences exist in this world?
She was Senior Sister Luo's friend; today, she brought her best friend to deliberately drive up the price. With a thirty million commission, she must have received a decent share of the benefits...
Yes.
Even now, Fu Dongting had not doubted whether Sheng Congzhi was actually Senior Sister Luo herself...
"Mr. Fu," Sheng Congzhi said with a light smile, "don't forget to transfer the money to Senior Sister Luo."
Fu Dongting snapped back to reality, turned around with a cold face, and walked away.
Ye Jiaorui hurriedly followed him, "Dongting, it's still early, why don't we..."
"I'm a bit tired, I'll take you home," Fu Dongting interrupted.
Ye Jiaorui: "..."
The medicine had been in her hands for several days, but Fu Dongting simply didn't give her a chance to come in contact with it...
"Hahaha." Over there, Qin Zhenzhen burst into laughter, "Sis, I just made you a net profit of thirty million in one evening. What do you say?"
Sheng Congzhi was very generous, "The latest Hermes model, pick whichever you like."
"Deal!" Qin Zhenzhen eagerly picked up her phone.
"Sister Zhi," Chang Wan came over, "Sister Zhouzhou is calling."
Sheng Congzhi took the phone, "Hello."
"Don't forget the kick-off ceremony tomorrow at noon."
"Got it."
"And," Yu Zhou advised, "tomorrow your dress is off-shoulder style, so take it easy tonight, don't let your husband leave any marks..."
As luck would have it, a certain person just happened to come out from the venue.
Sheng Congzhi averted her gaze, "Don't worry, he's not coming home tonight."
After hanging up the phone, she quickly turned around, "Let's go."
Qin Zhenzhen hurriedly followed with small steps, "I've made my choice! I'll take this one!"
...
Fu Yan squinted his eyes, watching the dark green figure ahead, not even hearing the people speaking beside him.
"Fu Er!"
Lu Jiangnian nudged his arm, "What are you looking at?"
Fu Yan glanced at him, "Anything else you need?"
Lu Jiangnian chuckled awkwardly, "I have to go home, can you give Zixi a ride?"
"It's out of my way."
"How is it out of the way? Aren't you going home? It's pretty close to the Xia family..."
"Who said I was going home?" Fu Yan's voice carried a touch of languor, "I've been on night shifts lately, so I'm staying at the hospital dormitory."
?
Lu Jiangnian felt like cursing.
"It's fine," Xia Zhixi joined in, "Since you are all busy, I'll just take a cab home."
"Forget it, forget it," Lu Jiangnian waved his hand, "I'll take you. It's not safe for a girl to take a cab at night."
Hearing this, Fu Yan let out a rather playful chuckle.
Lu Jiangnian shot him a glare, "Are you coming to the 'Palace' kick-off tomorrow?"
Fu Yan raised an eyebrow, "Where is it?"
After hearing the address, he declined, "Too far, I won't go."
Lu Jiangnian: "... Fine."
Who could say anything when he was the true backer behind Shengyao?
"Ah Yan," Xia Zhixi asked, "you haven't changed your cell number, have you?"
Fu Yan said he hadn't.
"I sent you a message before and you didn't reply, so I thought maybe you changed your number."
Fu Yan ran his fingers over his phone, his expression unflappable, "I get so many spam messages, I never look at them."
"... Alright then," Xia Zhixi said with a gentle smile, "you're still just like before, very popular with the girls."
Once Fu Yan drove off, Lu Jiangnian opened the car door, "Zhixi, get in."
Xia Zhixi turned away.
After getting in the car, however, she suddenly asked him, "Do you know who Ah Yan is giving those earrings to?"
Lu Jiangnian blurted out, "He didn't give them to you?"
Xia Zhixi smiled, "Why would he send me a gift?"
Lu Jiangnian: "..."
What were these two up to?
They were both adults, if they liked each other, couldn't they just be straightforward about it?
**
The next day, at 9 a.m., Sheng Congzhi left for the set in the nanny van.
Along the way, staff bustled around styling her.
Upon arrival, the main creative personnel of the production crew were all there.
With a budget in the hundreds of millions, and the director making a television series for the first time in many years, "Palace" attracted many top stars to guest star. The extensive cast meant that even the start-up ceremony drew a lot of media reporters crowding by the red carpet, and even fans who heard the news came.
The green support group of the leading lady, Sheng Congzhi, was the most spectacular.
But the pink circle next door was not to be outdone.
Someone was surprised, "Ye Jiaorui's popularity is so high now?"
"Her variety show is number one in ratings, she's trending every day. Otherwise, do you think she could play the second lead?"
"Being born into the right family sure is great."
…
After getting out of the nanny van, a group headed backstage to prepare.
A crowd surrounded the makeup room door; Ye Lianhai and Sheng Wanrou were there, and even Aunt Ye Wanmei had come…
Everyone wore smiles, clustering around Ye Jiaorui, who held a large bouquet of pink roses, like stars around the moon.
Sheng Congzhi's features were clean and simple, but Chang Wan couldn't help but complain, "Sister Zhi, isn't Ye Jiaorui going too far? Bringing her whole family to an opening ceremony? Is she not weaned yet?"
While talking, Ye Jiaorui looked back.
A smug smile slowly spread across her face.
As for the other members of the Ye Family, their eyes and hearts were filled only with this precious daughter.
However, Ye Wanmei glanced over and then said in a low voice, "Big brother, sister-in-law, that foster daughter of yours has arrived."
Ye Lianhai said nothing.
Sheng Wanrou, however, sneered, "I don't have that kind of ingrate for a daughter."
Last time, because of Fu Dongting's painting, she and Jiaojiao were humiliated in Tinglan Garden!
She still remembered that incident well.
"Let's go," Sheng Congzhi spoke up, leading the way past everyone into the makeup room.
Before long, Ye Jiaorui also came in, followed by Sheng Wanrou and Ye Wanmei, chattering and being solicitous.
Sheng Congzhi looked in the mirror, pretending not to hear.
Until…
"The formal dresses have arrived!"
The staff moved the dress boxes in one by one.
Chang Wan glanced at the label and opened one of them.
It was an off-the-shoulder champagne-colored evening dress, the hem adorned with scattered diamonds that sparkled in the light.
"So beautiful!"
"This dress is the latest from Brand J."
"Brand J's dresses are all handmade, look at these diamonds; they were sewn on by the designer personally."
"I heard it costs over two million."
"Absolutely stunning!"
When Wu Li opened the adjacent box, inside was a light yellow cocktail dress with layered ruffles and three-dimensional flowers, vivacious and romantic.
But the discerning eye could see that it wasn't on the same level as the champagne-colored dress.
Sheng Wanrou spoke up directly, "This dress is for our Jiaojiao to wear."
Chang Wan spoke hastily, "Mrs. Ye, you must be mistaken. This dress was custom made by Brand J specifically for our Sister Zhi…"
"It's not written with her name on it. In my opinion, only our Jiaojiao has the temperament to wear this dress!" After finishing, Sheng Wanrou looked at Sheng Congzhi, "Do you have an objection?"
She was just a foster daughter, what right did she have to wear such a fine dress?
"Mrs. Ye!" Chang Wan became anxious, her face flushing red, "How can you be like this?"
The surrounding staff also sported a variety of expressions.
They'd seen female stars privately vie for resources and tear each other down, but they'd never seen a mother openly snatch like this!
Sheng Wanrou was accustomed to being domineering, her word was law, "Wu Li, take Jiaojiao to try on the dress."
"Sister Zhi!" Chang Wan turned to Sheng Congzhi.
With a sigh, Sheng Congzhi stood up from her seat.
Her chestnut-colored curls were styled perfectly, her oval face full of makeup, her finely outlined almond eyes both blazing and stunning, and her words even more blunt and scathing, "This dress was made to fit my size; Ye Jiaorui's waist is thicker than mine, her shoulders wider, but she's flat-chested and lacking curves, it's simply not suitable…"
"You're going too far!" Ye Jiaorui stood up in a rush.
Sheng Wanrou was also quite angry, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Exactly," Ye Wanmei added, "Our Jiaojiao's figure is so good, how could she not fill it out?"
"I didn't say she couldn't fill it out, I'm worried she might burst it," Sheng Congzhi smirked, "That dress is made of real silk organza, and if she were to burst it on the red carpet…"
"Shut up!" Sheng Wanrou's voice was fierce, "How can you be so malicious? To actually curse Jiaojiao!"
"If you don't want to let it go, just say it," Ye Wanmei added fuel to the fire, "It's just a dress, if worse comes to worst, my sister-in-law can just buy it!"
Sheng Wanrou didn't want to waste words any further, "Jiaojiao, go try on the dress."
Ye Jiaorui nodded obediently, "Okay."