Chapter 114 - 111: To the Bedroom Again

Chapter 114: Chapter 111: To the Bedroom Again

Gao Yuan didn’t tell Lin Hongnian his true intentions.

In business, if you go around announcing your plans before they’re implemented, you’re just asking for failure.

He had already decided to test the waters with GY first. After gauging the market’s reaction for a while, he would then focus on developing the traditional Chinese-style series.

This would not only accumulate some users in the early stages but also help the team get into sync.

He would definitely not be sharing the profits from the system-labeled products with the Lin Group.

In exchange for 15% of the shares, letting the Lin Group have access to the system’s secret formula was already Gao Yuan’s bottom line.

’Don’t even think about anything else.’

If Gao Yuan’s foundation weren’t so weak—if he had even a few tens of millions in hand—he wouldn’t have chosen to cooperate with the Lin Group at all.

Lin Hongnian smiled and nodded. Over the past few days, he had heard some of Gao Yuan’s plans from Lin Wanyu, and they were basically the same as what Gao Yuan had said before.

But the Lin Group wouldn’t be doing the same.

Having been in the skincare industry for so many years, the Lin Group was more than just a contract manufacturer.

They had long since established their own brands and sales channels. In recent years, with the rise of the internet, the Lin Group’s online business couldn’t quite compete with the big foreign brands.

But it still ranked among the top ten domestic brands.

"The Lin Group will also create a new team to build a brand-new mid-range brand based on this secret formula."

"We will differentiate it from your GY brand to target a different demographic."

Hearing Lin Hongnian’s words, Gao Yuan understood the Lin Group’s reasoning.

They were also planning to leverage superior product quality to crush the competition, just not as ruthlessly as him—he was diving headfirst into the mass market.

This way, the two parties would effectively be targeting different customer bases.

Even when Gao Yuan later launched his exclusive high-end traditional Chinese-style brand, its target audience would be different from the Lin Group’s. Even if there was some overlap, it likely wouldn’t be significant.

Next, Gao Yuan discussed his initial order quantity.

One million facial masks.

Five hundred thousand hydrating masks and 500,000 whitening masks, which amounted to 50,000 boxes of each.

This amount was no problem at all for the Lin Group.

Besides, the Lin Group was already planning to produce five million sheets of each type, which should be more than enough to last until next year’s 618 Mid-Year Shopping Festival.

For this negotiation, all Gao Yuan needed to do was hand over the packaging design for the masks to the Lin Group.

Originally, Lin Hongnian wanted to let Gao Yuan ship directly from the factory. This would mean Gao Yuan would only handle front-end sales, while the Lin Group would take care of dropshipping.

Gao Yuan rejected this proposal.

’What a joke.’

’Customers are so precious these days, and acquisition costs are so high. How could I possibly hand my user base over to the Lin Group?’

Although he was the Lin Group’s second-largest shareholder, it wasn’t his own company, after all.

Besides, one shouldn’t underestimate ordinary users. When they decided to spend, they could really spend. As long as they were women, they all wanted to be beautiful.

When the traditional Chinese-style series of products came out, these women would also represent a huge consumer group.

’These people could use the GY products in combination with the traditional Chinese-style products!’

Although the effects wouldn’t be as immediate, it would still be much better than using only GY products.

For example:

A wealthy person might use up a set of the traditional Chinese-style products in two months, needing five or six sets a year.

So, couldn’t these ordinary people use two or three sets a year, combined with two or three sets of GY products, and still achieve beauty?

After settling the supply issues, Gao Yuan and Lin Wanyu got up and left.

Lin Hongnian had been particularly busy lately. Not only did he have to manage the group’s daily affairs, but he also had to make specific arrangements and plans for the skincare formula provided by Gao Yuan.

He had even personally checked in on the newly formed e-commerce team several times.

After leaving the Lin Group, Lin Wanyu invited Gao Yuan to Jiangnanli again.

The reason was that she had gotten tired of eating Qi Zilin’s cooking over the past few days and wanted to eat something made by Gao Yuan.

It was just a little past ten o’clock, so Gao Yuan sent a message directly to Li Mengqing, telling her he would bring her lunch.

Upon arriving at Jiangnanli, Gao Yuan immediately went into the kitchen to prepare the ingredients.

Fortunately, the refrigerator was well-stocked with a variety of vegetables, so Gao Yuan could make all the dishes he had in mind.

However, Gao Yuan wondered why he hadn’t seen Qi Zilin since they got back.

At that moment, in the third-floor master bedroom.

Qi Zilin slowly opened her eyes, hearing some noise from downstairs.

She had fallen asleep without realizing it.

She rubbed her eyes and was about to get up when her leg bumped into something. She reached out to touch it and instantly remembered what she had been doing before she fell asleep. She quickly got up and put the object in a box in the corner of the wardrobe.

After changing into some loungewear, Qi Zilin slowly walked downstairs.

She had just reached the second floor when she ran into Lin Wanyu, who was going upstairs to see her mother.

"Zilin, you don’t have to cook lunch today. I had Brother Yuan start cooking!"

After saying that, Lin Wanyu walked straight to her mother’s bedroom.

Qi Zilin watched Lin Wanyu enter her mother-in-law’s room. Standing in the hallway, she craned her neck to peek downstairs, but she couldn’t see Gao Yuan in the kitchen from this angle.

She hesitated for a moment, then turned and continued downstairs.

For lunch, Gao Yuan was preparing rice, along with braised pork ribs, a few stir-fried side dishes, and a bowl of hot and sour shredded tripe soup—a simple meal of six dishes and one soup.

It looked like a lot, but the portion sizes for each dish weren’t very large, so nothing would go to waste.

Gao Yuan was completely engrossed in cooking, so he didn’t notice someone standing outside the kitchen.

Watching the busy Gao Yuan in the kitchen, Qi Zilin found him more and more charming.

’There was just no comparison to her husband.’

She glanced back toward the second floor, then quietly slid the kitchen door open and stepped inside.

Inside the kitchen, Gao Yuan was chopping vegetables. Hearing the door open, he assumed it was Lin Wanyu and didn’t turn his head.

Not until he finished chopping, wiped his hands, and turned around did he reach out to hug the person behind him.

Just as he was about to lean in for a kiss, he froze.

The person in front of him wasn’t Lin Wanyu, but Qi Zilin!

At this moment, one of his hands was around Qi Zilin’s waist, the other rested on her bottom, and his lips were only a few centimeters from hers.

Their breaths mingled in the small space between them.

After a brief daze, Gao Yuan took the initiative and let go of Qi Zilin. She quickly took a step back, opened the kitchen door, and ran out.

Gao Yuan, on the other hand, just shook his head and turned back to his cooking.

He didn’t actually have any designs on Qi Zilin; he just saw her with an appreciative eye.

’He never expected to get a handful by a twist of fate.’

’But still,’

’it was pretty big and round.’

A moment later, the kitchen door opened again.

This time, Gao Yuan had learned his lesson. He glanced over as soon as he heard the sound and saw Lin Wanyu coming in.

Gao Yuan smiled at her, then turned back to his cooking.

Lin Wanyu placed both hands on Gao Yuan’s shoulders and said in a surprised tone, "Brother Yuan, that medicine of yours is amazing!"

"My mom said it doesn’t hurt as much when she moves around a little."

Gao Yuan was also a little surprised by the effect Lin Wanyu described.

He believed in the pills produced by the system, but he hadn’t expected them to work so quickly.

’Looks like I’ll have to be careful about using these little pills in the future. I need to make good use of them.’

After he finished cooking, Gao Yuan first set aside a portion for Li Mengqing, even taking care to pick out a few meaty, easy-to-eat pork ribs for her.

When he and Lin Wanyu were eating, Qi Zilin reappeared.

She told the two of them to eat first, dishing up a bowl for herself and saying she was going to feed Li Xiumei first.

The two of them quickly finished their lunch, grabbed the lunchbox, and headed for Wuyou Media.

After taking care of Li Xiumei, Qi Zilin came downstairs and sat at the dining table. Looking at the food before her, her thoughts couldn’t help but drift to Gao Yuan.

Especially the memory of that large hand on her bottom, which made her blush throughout the entire meal.

She tried all the dishes Gao Yuan had made, and every single one was perfectly to her taste.

After eating and tidying up the kitchen, Qi Zilin went to the second floor, glanced at the resting Li Xiumei, quietly closed the door, and once again headed for her bedroom on the third floor.

Wuyou Media.

The three of them were gathered in Li Mengqing’s office once again.

This was the first time Li Mengqing and Lin Wanyu had seen each other since they all returned from Hang City. The two of them had endless things to talk about.

Li Mengqing ate the loving lunch Gao Yuan had brought her, a smile constantly playing at the corners of her eyes. This time, she showed no shyness at all. Even when faced with Lin Wanyu’s embarrassing questions, she answered them all calmly.

Gao Yuan paid no attention to their conversation and continued playing on his phone off to the side.

On his phone, messages from Tongtong were coming in one after another.

Somehow, Tongtong knew the moment Gao Yuan and Lin Wanyu arrived at Li Mengqing’s office.

And she started bombarding Gao Yuan with messages, much more frequently than before.

Ever since that "little incident" with her in the office, Tongtong had been messaging Gao Yuan every day, and he would reply half-heartedly.

Since his return to Hang City yesterday, Tongtong’s messages had suddenly become more frequent.

Things like "good morning" and "good night" messages came like daily check-ins.

She also indirectly reminded him to take care of his health.

"Brother Yuan, I bought some new tea. Want to come to my office and try some?"

Looking at Tongtong’s invitation, Gao Yuan silently replied, "So, do you prefer tea, or do you prefer yogurt?"

He had just sent the message when Tongtong replied instantly.

Tongtong didn’t send any words, but an emoji sticker instead.

It was a picture of a girl with yogurt dripping from the corner of her mouth, with the four words "Words Left Unsaid" above it.

Gao Yuan hadn’t expected Tongtong to be so direct. ’Truly a woman of the world; she gets it.’

"I’m going for a walk."

Gao Yuan said to Lin Wanyu and Li Mengqing before getting up and heading for the door.

When Gao Yuan suddenly announced he was going for a walk, the two women just glanced at him without a word.

After Gao Yuan left the office, Lin Wanyu turned to Li Mengqing and said, "Guess where our ’brother’ is wandering off to?"

"His feet are attached to his legs. How should I know where he’s going?"

Li Mengqing rolled her eyes at her best friend.

’You’re the one who lets him have his ’snacks,’ and now you’re asking where he’s going to get them. You worry too much.’

Gao Yuan left Li Mengqing’s office and navigated the familiar path to Tongtong’s office door.

Seeing the operations staff member at their desk outside the office, Gao Yuan nodded at them and pushed the door open to Tongtong’s office.

Tongtong was sitting in her office, about to send another message to Gao Yuan, when she heard the door open and immediately looked up.

When she saw it was Gao Yuan, she immediately put down her phone and ran over happily.

"Brother Yuan, I missed you so much!"

Tongtong actually threw her arms around Gao Yuan.

Gao Yuan let her hug him for a moment before giving her a slap on the butt.

Tongtong, ever so perceptive, immediately let go of Gao Yuan and pulled him over to the sofa.

"Brother Yuan, when can you help me shoot a short video?"

Although Tongtong’s coquettish act was dripping with "green tea" vibes, the contrast with her short video persona was something Gao Yuan quite enjoyed.

"Just let me know two days in advance when you want to shoot."

After all, Tongtong had put in some real "effort," so Gao Yuan didn’t refuse her again.

In his heart, Gao Yuan just saw Tongtong as a bit of fast food—not even that, really.

’Honestly, she’s already on to the lollipops this quickly. Who knows how many flavors of lollipops she’s tasted?’

He had no desire whatsoever for any "deep exchanges."

He was genuinely afraid the woman might be a little... unclean.

Especially with that huge scandal that broke in the news a few days ago about a girl who worked as a "game companion." She was apparently pretty wild, but the problem was, she was HIV-positive!

Who knows where all the guys who hired her were crying right now.

And who knows how many families she would end up destroying.