Chapter 745: Jiaojiao 25

Zong Qi flatly refused, "There’s no need. The way things are now is fine. Let’s just forget about the shares. Like you said, the money from people like Ye Rong is dirty."

Chen Jiao was stunned for a moment, then she suddenly broke into a smile. "That could be a huge sum of money in the future."

Zong Qi said calmly, "I earn a good amount as your assistant, too."

Chen Jiao fell silent and just lowered her head to eat. Zong Qi glanced at her, and a faint smile touched his lips.

Zong Qi stayed until almost midnight, which was when Chen Jiao finally managed to finish copying the entire proposal. In contrast to Chen Jiao’s bewilderment, Zong Qi had gradually become engrossed in it.

Chen Jiao shook her sore, stiff wrist. "You understand it?"

The corners of Zong Qi’s eyes crinkled. "I understood some of it. It’s quite interesting. You’re really amazing."

’I’m not the amazing one, Tan You is,’ Chen Jiao thought. ’This man in front of me is amazing too. He has such high Combat Power and can even understand this proposal. I, on the other hand, didn’t understand a single thing.’

’I’m basically just a copying machine.’

After feeling down for two seconds, Chen Jiao’s expression brightened. ’So what if I don’t understand the business proposal? I can act, and that’s enough!’ It had to be said, this kind of optimistic attitude that didn’t waste energy on internal friction was truly excellent.

"Since you understand it, why don’t you explain it to Li Shun and the others when they come over tomorrow?" Chen Jiao decided to delegate the task. It wasn’t that she was being lazy, but that Zong Qi was far more suited to deal with people like Li Shun than she was.

First of all, she was an actress; she didn’t really understand the criminal underworld or the unwritten rules of society. Secondly, Chen Jiao genuinely couldn’t spare the time. She was already busy as hell, so when would she ever have time to get into business?

Zong Qi agreed readily. "Alright, I’ll explain it to them."

After seeing Zong Qi out, Chen Jiao finally relaxed, flopping onto her large bed. Tan You appeared beside her. "You trust Zong Qi that much?"

Chen Jiao rolled over. "Well, you’re the one who approved of him, Teacher. Besides, he actually understood your proposal, which is incredible. Professional matters should be left to the professionals. As long as I’m sure he’s a reliable person, that’s enough for me."

Tan You raised an eyebrow. "Is that something your dad taught you, too? Trust those you choose to rely on?"

"Mhm," Chen Jiao said, propping her chin on her hand. "But ever since I entered the entertainment industry, I haven’t found anyone worth trusting."

Tan You chuckled. "That’s normal. True friendship in this industry is hard to come by. It’s fine if you don’t want to handle these things; I’ll keep a close eye on them. But since you’re passing this on, you’ll have to be even more dedicated to your acting."

"Don’t worry, Teacher," Chen Jiao said, her eyes crinkling into a smile. "I think acting suits me much better than business."

Tan You couldn’t help but smile as well. As Chen Jiao looked up at her, a thought occurred to Tan You. ’Let’s raise Chen Jiao’s beauty value to its maximum. I’ll add one point each day so it’s not too sudden.’

The Beauty System responded cheerfully. ’Who could possibly understand? The host has nearly three hundred beauty points just sitting there collecting dust! She hasn’t used them for several worlds. What a waste.’

’Now that I’m maxing out Chen Jiao’s beauty value, I finally have a purpose in this world!’ the Beauty System thought. ’Could anyone have less of a presence than me? My only function for the host right now is to remotely monitor other people.’

’The host doesn’t need me for anything else.’

Tan You didn’t mention the matter of beauty value to Chen Jiao. It wasn’t that Chen Jiao was oblivious to her own good looks. She had known since she was a child that she was pretty; she just didn’t rely on her appearance and so didn’t pay it too much mind.

The next morning, after they finished filming a scene, Liu Fu stared at the footage for a long time, then turned to stare intently at Chen Jiao’s face. His gaze made her a little nervous. "What’s wrong?"

Liu Fu clicked his tongue. "It’s only been one night, but I feel like something about you has changed. You seem... prettier."

Chen Jiao pulled a mirror from her bag, turning her face this way and that. "Have I? I don’t see it."

Liu Fu looked skeptical. "Maybe I’m just seeing things?"

Even Tan You was a little surprised. For the first time, she sized Liu Fu up seriously before letting out a laugh after a long moment. ’I seem to have misjudged him,’ she thought. ’I didn’t expect his powers of observation to be so sharp.’

’It was only one point of beauty value, yet Liu Fu could actually see the difference. With the right guidance, his directing skills might not be half-bad.’

At this thought, Tan You smiled playfully, her gaze falling back on Chen Jiao. ’If Chen Jiao and Liu Fu collaborate on a movie in the future, she’ll definitely need to understand directing techniques. After all, you can’t have an amateur like her directing a professional like him, can you?’

’I don’t need her to become an expert, but she at least has to know the professional terminology. In short, even if she has to fake it, she needs to be able to act like a professional director.’

’But there’s no rush. I need to save up more. Preparing for a movie requires a huge amount of capital. At the rate Chen Jiao is earning money from acting, she might not have enough even in twenty years.’

’So I’ll have to come up with a way myself.’

Mulling this over, Tan You opened up the stock market for the day. ’Honestly, when it comes to getting rich overnight, winning the lottery is definitely more satisfying and convenient,’ she mused. ’Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about it.’

’So I’ll just stick to investing. Or maybe I’ll wait until Chen Jiao has more money and then start another venture. After all, the girl is quite idealistic; she wants every penny she earns to be completely clean.’

Sometimes Tan You found Chen Jiao’s principles to be stubbornly naive, but she never once thought about changing that. In Tan You’s eyes, that stubbornness was precious, an edge she wanted to protect.

As for Zong Qi, Li Shun and his men found their way to the film set around noon. Zong Qi had just brought Chen Jiao her boxed lunch. Knowing she was usually frugal, he had also opted to eat the standard crew meal with her.

Chen Jiao wasn’t picky, so as her assistant, he certainly wasn’t going to be either. Just as Zong Qi was digging into his fourth boxed lunch, Li Shun’s timid voice piped up, "Brother Qi..."

Zong Qi turned and saw it was Li Shun. He quickly shoveled a mouthful of rice. "Give me five minutes. We’ll talk outside."

Li Shun nodded furiously. Just as he was about to leave, his stomach rumbled loudly. Zong Qi glanced at him and silently pushed the two remaining boxed lunches toward him. "Are the others here too?"

Li Shun began to wolf down the food. "They’re all waiting for me outside. They couldn’t get onto the set, so I said I was here to see Sister-in-law..."

Zong Qi shot him a look. "What Sister-in-law? Call her Miss Chen."

How sharp was Li Shun? He immediately corrected himself. "I said I was looking for Miss Chen, and they let me in right away. None of us have eaten... times are tough for us right now..."

Chen Jiao put down her chopsticks. "It’s not a good time to ask for more crew meals. Since they’re here, just take them to eat somewhere outside. I’ll be on set all afternoon, I’m not going anywhere."

Zong Qi was a little uneasy. "I’ll definitely be back before you wrap for the day."